Monthly Archives: November 2017

NEW Weird DifFerent Special & Limited Edition Foods out There November 2017

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There is ALWAYS something new, weird, different and special or limited edition out there in the wonderful world of food. I never know what I’ll come across when I go to a store. This month I came across mostly sweet things. Here is a bag of Sweet Maple Pancake Pop-corn. Did you ever guess you’d see Sweet maple Pancake Pop-corn anywhere….I know I didn’t.

Here’s Birthday Cake Pop-corn. Now this one makes more sense to me and might be a festive treat at a party.

This one is very strange and weird to me. They took almonds and coated them with something that is suppose to taste like strawberry cheesecake. I think someone was on something funny to come up with this combination…….

Sriracha Oil…?

I reckon sour cream can’t be plain anymore either. Here are sour creams in Cilantro Lime, Spicy Jalapeño and Chipotle. I don’t know about you but I prefer my sour cream to taste like sour cream. maybe these flavored sour creams are good for making dressings or an ingredient for to flavor potato salad.

Hershey’s Cherry Cheesecake Chocolate Bar…UUUUUMMMMMM? I tried this one…..WOW it tasted just like cough syrup……

Strawberry KitKat filled wafer bars……..KitKat comes up with new flavors and makes Foreign Flavors in Asia like Green Tea. I think I’ll try this one because I like strawberry.

Apple Crisp Wafer Cookies with real apple…might be tasty?

Krispy Kreme is famous for their sweet doughnuts. Well here is their cake mix….guess if you make doughnuts you can pump out a cake?

The Cheesecake Factory is well known for Cheesecakes. They got the idea to put out cupcake mix now….?

Limited Edition Artificially Flavored Apple Pie Oreos with Graham flavored cookies. Sounds good but the filling is always waxy and the flavor always taste fake. I never liked Forking Oreos.

Limited Edition Waffles & Syrup Oreos….Artificially Flavored Waffles and Syrup….blech! Sounds sweet and gross to me…….

Look at the picture on the package.

Is it my imagination or does the cream filling look like an egg?

Well that was the New, Weird, Different, Limited and Special Edition Foods out there for November 2017.

Who knows WTFork I’ll come across next month?

The Forking Truth

WTFork is That?…………………(The Blue Foot Mushroom)

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I came across these Blue Foot Mushrooms at Whole Foods. So I picked up a few because I never tried them before. I FORKING KNOW most people just brush them off but on these I used a very damp paper towel to clean them because I don’t like the taste of dirt.

This small amount of mushrooms coast about $6.00.

These mushrooms feel more dense than your average mushroom.

I thought I better read about them before I prepare them.

I read on www.HonestCooking.com that the Blue Foot Mushroom needs to be thoroughly cooked because it contains some of the same chemistry as from psychedelic mushrooms.

On www.HonestCooking.com they suggested slicing the mushroom in half or thirds and placing them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Then brush the mushrooms with oil and cover lightly with foil and place in a 425 oven for 20 minutes and turn over and maybe another 20 minutes.

I cut my mushrooms smaller because I wanted them in smaller pieces. So mine only needed 20 minutes.

The mushrooms came out crispy and soft at the same time. This is an excellent easy way to cook those tougher kind of mushrooms.

I taste a piece of mushroom.

THEY DON”T TASTE LIKE ANY OTHER MUSHROOM that I know of.

They are very earthy but they lack that dirt taste.

They also taste very FLORAL with a bit of a nutty grain taste.

Blue Foot mushrooms are very unique and don’t taste like any other mushroom.

WTFork is That?

The Blue Foot Mushroom

Special Thanks to www.HonestCooking.com with your informative directions on how to cook the Blue Foot Mushroom.

The Forking Truth

 

 

Every FORKING THING is Subject to Change

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I recently went to a new Korean Restaurant that was fabulous on my first visit.

On my first visit they started us off with 17 delicious side dishes. Our server also told us what each of the side dishes were.

This time we received 8 side dishes that were just delivered without a mention of what they were and some old brown salad.

We came back to try the BBQ and ordered Bulgogi and Short Rib.

The Bulgogi is tasty and was prepared with a delicious marinade but the meat never got to develop any caramelization and came out almost braised. It was still good………..

By now the BBQ was a little hotter and the Short Rib developed a little caramelization. The meat was a little chewy with a small amount of grizzle. My husband finished the Short Ribs for us.

They also served us a Vegetable Tofu Soup that was like a Asian Tomato Vegetable Soup with lots of soft tofu….I never had soup like this before. It tasted like Tomato soup goes Korean. It wasn’t really spicy just tasty.

Last time they cleared our plates.

This time they let the plates all pile up.

I really enjoyed my first visit to Seoul BBQ & Sushi. This second visit was still ok but not GREAT like the last visit. It might be partially due to the server I had this time………..I’ll still go back to try the off the menu items and see how that goes again sometime.

The FORKING Truth is the EVERY FORKING THING is subject to change and YOUR or MY Forking Experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Dining Out With Dogs in Metro Phoenix November 2017

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Dining out with dogs is just a “Fluff” story about my dining adventure out with my dogs. This isn’t a full blown review. We usually go to casual eateries that aren’t too far from home. Many restaurants in Metro Phoenix do offer patio dining but not all patios are dog friendly. Even if a patio is certified Dog Friendly it is always a good idea to call the restaurant before your arrival to ask if it’s ok to dine with your dog because you never know if the patio is booked for a party or if the restaurant suddenly changed the dog friendly policy. I also find that it is always better to dine at off times because it’s better to avoid most people and most people’s dogs. Sometimes people have allergies or just don’t like to dine around dogs and sometimes other dogs get wild and bark at each other and you might be asked to leave. There are some rules to dining out with dogs. Dogs are not to eat off restaurant plates and not allowed to sit on restaurant furniture. Dogs should also be close to your side at all times. You also need to be aware that most food and drink you consume isn’t good for your dog. Much of the food you eat can be harmful or TOXIC to your dog. To be on the safe side try to just feed your dog plain lean meat without sauce. It’s a good idea to contact your veterinarian and get a Dog friendly food list or a list of foods to avoid.

Our first dining destination is Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. This is a Pho-Free Vietnamese Eatery. The specialty of the house is The Banh Mi Sandwich on Vietnamese Style Baguette (wheat and rice flour roll) They also offer a nice selection of appetizers, salads, rice plates, noodle bowls and much more!

Today I got one of my favorites……The Vietnamese Style Chicken Curry with Rice.

This is different than Chinese and Thai Curry. It might be a little sweeter, it seems much lighter, thinner and refreshing. The white meat chicken is melt in your mouth tender. There is also some carrots and potatoes.

“Ummmmmm It’s very tasty and aromatic!”

“Lip smacking good!”

My husband got one of his favorites…..The Shaken Beef Banh Mi.

“The Beef is so tender and delicious…I think it’s tenderloin.”

“It’s just Forking Delicious!”

“More Please!” “We always enjoy our visits to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in Phoenix.”

www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com

“Tonight we are on our way to Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ”

Cucina Tagliani is a casual family friendly American Italian Restaurant with an OFFICIAL Licensed dog friendly patio.

They also bring pans of water for the dogs comfert.

Tonight the dogs get to share my salad. I think the Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad that Tagliani’s serves is among the better salads in Glendale. The cheese they use is creamy and mild and the strawberries always taste fresh picked. Almond slices are toasted. Tonight the chicken is perfect. It’s nicely caramelized and juicy. The house made dressing is tasty.

Here might be a better picture of the salad.

My husband got the Papa’s Platter. He’s a BIG EATER and even for him it makes 2 1/2 meals.

It’s a Veal Parmigiana, a Sausage Lasagna and two spinach cannelloni’s.

“Ohhhh Can I have some?”

“Not till I get some first!” Haha!

www.CucinaTagliani.com

“We are on our way to Salad and Go in Phoenix”

Salad and Go is a local growing fast food chain that specializes in Drive Threw Salads. Salad and Go offers about a dozen different salads. They also serve breakfast, smoothies, wraps and children’s meals. This is a drive threw restaurant without a dining room or restrooms but they do offer a dog friendly patio.

“What are we having?”

I went with the seasonal fall harvest salad ($7.29)

I got fresh greens, sweet potatoes, crisp apples, beets, candied pecans, feta cheese and champagne vinaigrette. The dogs get some sweet potato, apple and chicken.

“That smells pretty good to me!”

“We are ready for more chicken please!”

www.SaladandGo.com

That was Dining Out With Dogs for November 2017.

We hope to see you next month!

The Forking Truth

In Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017

The Forking TRUTH is that Honest reviews get Filtered Out on a Popular Review Site.

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The Forking Truth is that I happened to notice on a popular review site (that begins with a “Y”) that honest updates to reviews by this site’s advertisers get filtered out.

It is a fact that the last two reviews I tried to update by this particular site’s advertisers got filtered out. I was very surprised because I have a high activity writing reviews on this site. It’s also very hard to tell if your review got filtered out on this site because if you are signed in it appears that your review is still there. You actually have to do some fishing around by signing out and search the filtered reviews to find out if your review was filtered out.

It’s a fact that in both the reviews I tried to update that my more current experience wasn’t as great. This site will not let me tell the truth about my experience possibly because these businesses are both ADVERTISERS on this site.

The Forking Truth is that honest reviews get filtered out on a popular review site.

I randomly stumbled on to this when I was reviewing filtered out reviews. (These are two updated filtered out reviews)

 

I also tried to contact this review site on this matter on their website, on twitter and on Facebook and didn’t receive any reply. I found that it is impossible to communicate with this particular website.

I DO UNDERSTAND that any review site can remove what ever they want. It’s their website and they can do whatever they want.

On this particular review site they do note that they use automated software to determine the helpful reviews. They also note that they also determine what they want to post by the reviewers activity on this particular website AND they also note that Paid Advertisers get no special treatment.

My personal experience seems to have differed………..

Well any who…..

Here you go!

Now that was THE FORKING TRUTH……………..

The Forking Truth

Ocotillo Restaurant in Phoenix AZ – Worth a Fork!

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Ocotillo serves quality casual detailed American Food with International and Local accents. The menu is wonderfully enormous with an astonishing variety and changes with the seasons. There is more than a Modern Stylish Dining Room to dine in. They also offer a Beer Garden, a Coffee Shop and Multiple patios. This might be an acre foodie paradise Compound in Phoenix.

Ocotillo is among my favorite restaurants in Metro Phoenix and I do drive across town to dine here.

It was extremely difficult to decide on what to order. They had about THIRTY items on the menu to try that all sound delicious and special. The menu was broken down into Salads, Vegetable Plates, Small Plates, Sandwiches, and Large Plates.

We started out by sharing one of the Small Plates…..but as you can see by my photo the plate isn’t actually small.

Here was the House Smoked Salmon Plate with Crispy Potato Cake, Celery Root Puree and Apple Herb Salad. The salmon was nicely seasoned and was rich and buttery with a careful amount of smoke. It was resting over a very delicious crispy potato cake that was zippy with a little hot pepper. The apple herb salad was light and refreshing and balanced out the rich parts on the plate. The creamy celery root puree was different and creative and ties all the flavors together. I would have been happy just to have this plate as my meal.

For my meal I ordered the Fried Korean Chicken Sandwich.

My photo really doesn’t do this sandwich justice….or shows how ENORMOUS this sandwich really is. The sandwich is delicious and wonderfully spicy. It was made with Juicy flavorful chicken. The sandwich was made with gochujang (a spicy fermented sort of ketchup made with Korean peppers), grilled scallions and kimchee slaw. It’s powerfully flavorful. I don’t believe a sandwich has to be gigantic to be good but it doesn’t hurt a bit to enjoy the rest of a delicious sandwich a second time either. I didn’t weigh the amount of chicken in this sandwich so I don’t really know how big it was but I am guessing that they gave me 8 ounces of chicken (at least…..maybe more!). Off on the side was a detailed grain salad with vegetables.

My husband had the Crispy Pork Flautas. (off the Large Plates Section)

Three Pork Flautas, Green Chili Hominy, Crema, Pico De Gallo, Queso Fresco and a Fried Egg that has also been Grilled. You can see this plate is very detailed.

Beautiful food so far I always enjoyed myself here!

I have to say Ocotillo is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.OcotilloPHX.com

As we ALL KNOW everything is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Most Viewed and Pinned Recipe of 2017

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Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi

On PBS TV they featured Cook’s Country Recipe for Pierogi. My site has gained a massive amount of followers since. I noticed on days that the Pierogi recipe is aired on PBS I always get 100 to over 200 views on the Pierogi. It was a no brainer…….. I had to prepare the Pierogi recipe as soon as I noticed it in the Cook’s Country magazine over a year ago. I thought the dough was amazing…It was so easy and came out so well….You don’t even need a pasta maker…just roll the dough out easily. I did my own few minor tricks to the filling to add a little more flavor….My trick of just boiling the potatoes with onion, garlic and a hot pepper do make a difference…I also know that pierogis are just boiled the first day and the leftovers are usually fried with some onions. I know that hundreds of people a week have searched for this recipe….on The Forking Truth…..so here it is again because everybody loves this recipe. I do note that I didn’t change Cook’s Country Recipe but I am only telling you that I boiled the potatoes with onion, garlic and a hot pepper to add more flavor to the filling.

Ingredients for about 33-44 pierogi….about 8 servings. (leftovers freeze well and don’t get soggy)

1 lb russet potatoes cooked and pealed (I added onion,a hot pepper (I used a banana pepper) , and garlic to boil with potatoes for more flavor…then threw them out)

4 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded

2 Tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1 large yolk

salt

Directions

Sift dry ingredients together. Use stand mixer with dough hook and mix on medium high for 8 minutes. Transfer dough to a floured board. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Once dough is chilled roll dough 1/8 inch thick in 3rds. use 3 inch cutter and add a spoonful of filling and shut and seal with water.

 

The potatoes, cheese, butter salt and pepper get mashed together and set to the side.

Boil the pierogis in salted water.

Fry leftovers with onion and butter.

Everyone will FORKING Love this recipe! A great big THANKS to Cook’s Country for coming up with this FABULOUS Recipe!

This was the most viewed and pinned recipe on The Forking Truth in 2017.

The Forking Truth

 

 

Be a GOOD Guest and not a FORKING Turkey at Thanksgiving

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Some people have been raised by wolves and don’t know how to act like normal people at Thanksgiving. Here are just a few things some people need to know.

Be a good guest and if you came down with a bug BE CONSIDERATE to others and politely decline Thanksgiving. DON’t FORKING be a TURKEY and make other people sick!

If you are bringing kids with you don’t be a TURKEY and let the kids walk in like Zombies totally ignoring the host that are generously feeding you and yours Thanksgiving Dinner.

Don’t be a TURKEY and set the alarm on the washer and dryer at the house of your host.

Don’t start screaming something like, “I HATE Profiteroles!” at the table if you see some there. Only a Turkey would be that rude.

YOU are a Forking TURKEY when you bring your host something that you already ate and put back and refilled and re-gifted to your Thanksgiving host that isn’t good. (What kind of person does this?……)

If you make a mess or break something in someone’s home you should let your host know. Only a TURKEY doesn’t say anything.

Only a FORKING TURKEY would stand up and say, “I would rate Your Thanksgiving  Dinner at TWO STARS!”

Don’t act like you are trying to be helpful and offer to clean up and then just throw out the serving ware. Only a Turkey does such a thing.

Be a Good Guest and DON’T BE A FORKING TURKEY on Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Gobble gobble.

I hope the only turkey at your table is the one you eat!

The Forking Truth

A few Secrets to Serving the MOST FORKING AMAZING TURKEY

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The BEST FORKING Turkey should be prepared in separate preparations. I note that I do start with a brined turkey. With a few herbs and things the SousVide oven will guarantee perfect moist delicious breast meat. You can also brown the Sous Vide Breast if you care to and you crisp the breast skin in the oven. Wings can be easily oven fried relatively fast. Then legs always come out amazing being oven steam roasted.

Every time I did Turkey breast I set the Sous Vide at 140 degrees…and a few hours latter always perfect…not messing with that…

 

Forking Tasty Sous Vide and Browned 1/2 Turkey Breast

I prefer the leg quarters to be roasted….I do them at 350 in a pan with vegetables, herbs and fruit. The produce and herbs are a big bed that is a natural rack and produces flavorful steam. Then the pan gets a tight cover and in about 3 1/2 hours the legs are full of flavor and are very juicy.

The wings to be oven fried at 425 F for about 50 minutes on a rack. I like preparing the oven fried wings the most because it is very little work and comes out wildly flavorful with a crisp skin.

Oven Fried Turkey Wing 425 degrees F at around 50 minutes. Wing was lightly coated with vegetable oil and lightly sprinkled with seasoning. Leave it rest for about an hour. Very Juicy with a crisp skin and very flavorful with moist flesh.

I like to crisp up the skin separately. This can be done a few different ways. Sometimes I just throw the skin on a pan in a 350 degree F oven. After 30 minutes I turn the skins over and loosely cover them and within 30 minutes they will be done.

Another way is to set the oven at 375 F and line a sheet tray with parchment and the towel blotted skins. Then COVER the skins with parchment and set ANOTHER tray on top for about 45 minutes in the oven. This way you get nice flat crisp perfect skins but I warn you that this way it makes a big mess.

Well that’s what I do you do what you want!

Those were a few Secrets for serving the most FORKING Amazing Turkey.

The Forking Truth

Fabio on Fire in Peoria AZ is ON FIRE and is WORTH A FORK!

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Fabio on Fire is a small Italian Restaurant in Peoria AZ. They specialize in Neapolitan Pizzas, House Made Pastas, Baked Goods and Gelato. Fabio on Fire became an instant hit in Peoria. He was also already established and well known at Farmer’s Markets, Events and Festivals due to his mobile Pizza Oven and Bakery Stand. Word has traveled quickly about how good the food is and the small restaurant is usually packed before 5pm.

On my last visit they offered a list of specials in addition to the menu.

Just like on my previous visits they started us off with Fabio’s House Baked Bread, olive oil embellished with balsamic vinegar.

This time I ordered the Spinach Ravioli in Walnut Sauce.

WOW! I was wowed at first bite. I never had anything like these ravioli’s and sauce before.

The spinach pasta was really well made and inside tasted like fresh made ricotta cheese filling. The spinach inside was very flavorful with a little onion and garlic and other surprises but didn’t overpower the cheese. The ravioli were lightly dressed with a buttery tasting walnut sauce and Italian cheese.  These were extremely detailed ravioli and were just bursting with great flavors. I couldn’t believe how flavorful and delicious they were. These were among the best ravioli I have ever tried in my life.

My husband tried another one of the specials and it was the Veal Tortelloni.

He kept saying these are really well made. This is really good!

Then I let him try some Spinach Ravioli with Walnut Sauce. He said that REALLY IS AMAZING!

All the food I tried from Fabio on Fire was really good but some things do stand out like the Spinach Ravioli with Walnut Sauce.

I haven’t been able to eat my way threw all the offerings yet…But another STAND OUT is Fabio’s Strawberry Gelato.

Don’t get me wrong….The Chocolate gelato, the Blood Orange and the Pistachio are all very good but the STRAWBERRY is MAGICAL. It’s like eating the very best strawberries you ever had in your life! My husband isn’t a big sweets lover but even he thinks the strawberry gelato is AMAZING! I can only dream that Fabio opens a Gelato Shop or mass produces that Strawberry Gelato. He should it’s that GREAT!

Of course I didn’t have room for more food but I took home a Sfogliatelle from the awesome looking dessert case for the next day.

Even the next day the painstakingly made pastry was very crisp and inside wasn’t the usual cream but a moist rich delicious cake inside.

Fabio on Fire is Certainly WORTH A FORK!

Worth a Fork! You might travel across town to try the Spinach Raviolis and Strawberry Gelato!

www.FabioOnFire.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth