Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Random Forking Items of Interest

A different way to prepare Eggs in a very light way.

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I haven’t seen this before so I think it’s unique. I took two eggs and cooked the beaten whites with some scallions

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and cooked them in a regular (not forking non-stick) fry pan with a little canola spray on medium heat.

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Then slid them out on a plate.

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Then I beat the two egg yolks with some sautéed red bell peppers and onions.

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I sort of scrambled them and placed them as filling in the cooked egg white.

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Topped it with salsa.

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Folded it up.

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Added some potatoes.

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Something Different. The Yolks in the center are super rich without the whites and seem indulgent.

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

Your Food Might NOT Be What You Forking Think It Is

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Food manufacturers get forking sued because they put things on their labels that isn’t forking true and the other problem is that they don’t tell you what’s actually in the product.

According to Top Class Actions Diamond Foods labeled several varieties of their Kettle Tias Tortilla Chips as “All Natural” although they contain the synthetic Maltodextrin and Dextrose.

The FDA has no definition of what is  forking “natural” according to naturalnews.com.

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Tropicana markets it’s orange juice as “Fresh from the Grove” “Great tasting 100% Juice” BUT THE FORKING TRUTH is that it’s heavily processed with added chemically engineered flavor packs.

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Besides no longer going snap, crackle and POP! No forking person would ever guess that this forking box of Rice Krispies has unidentified animal in it that’s possibly liver or kidneys in this box of cereal. I forking purchased this box and noticed it didn’t have any mark for dairy or kosher or vegetarian so I thought that was odd and I read the ingredients and nothing seemed unknown at all. I forking called up Kellogg’s myself and asked them if the cereal was vegetarian. I was told the Riboflavin was sourced from an unidentified animal. I looked up riboflavin and found out it comes from Livers or Kidneys from animals.

Uncertified V for vegan and uncertified K for Kosher appear on food packaging. I was told it’s legal for manufacturers to do so. The Gelatin box below has an uncertified K and is not kosher although the misguided or forking stupid manufacturer believes the product is kosher.

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Pork can never be forking kosher.

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Maybe some day someone will chemically change forking lumps of poop into meatloaf  and tell you it’s not poop. How the fork would THAT go over?

Certified Vegan and Vegetarian Symbols.

Vegan and Vegetarian Symbols

Vegan and Vegetarian Symbols

Certified Kosher Symbols.

Kosher Symbols

Kosher Symbols

If you purchased processed bread and baked goods you might be purchasing L-Cysteine. Anything made with common L-cysteine also not Halal, Not vegetarian, Not Vegan and Not Kosher.

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I wrote about FORKING L-Cysteine a few post back. It’s crazy that people would use such a thing.  I do understand it’s possible that it might be needed in certain countries that are very poor where people are starving but it shouldn’t show up in the United States.

The one that I can’t get the fork over…..is another WTFork.

This is Forked Up!

This is Forked Up!

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If it’s listed on your food label it’s listed as “Natural Flavor” and that’s because IT IS natural flavor but what they don’t tell you is that it is called Castoreum. It’s the secretion from the castor sacs of beavers. It’s the scent gland located by the beaver’s anus and the very strong scented liquid gets mixed with beaver urine and most of it’s food use is for flavoring vanilla, strawberry or raspberry items. Only a trace amount is needed. I have no FORKING idea why someone would want to eat castoreum and why the FORK that person would think other people would want to eat it.

Packages that are marked Vegan, Vegetarian or kosher don’t contain castoreum.

It doesn’t forking matter if you read the label. Your Food Might Not Be What You Forking Think It Is!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop #4 The Search for Lox in Metro Phoenix AZ …Mission Complete

The Smoked Fish Supreme Platter from Scott's Generations Restaurant Phoenix AZ

The Smoked Fish Supreme Platter from Scott’s Generations Restaurant Phoenix AZ

I had to forking eat my way threw three other delis (* see the other searches Stop #1, #2 & #3 The Search for Lox if you forking care too) until I just discovered Scott’s Generations in Phoenix AZ. My forking goal was to find a deli that had very good lox and tasty pastrami that’s seasoned in a similar way to what I used to eat back east.

As I walked into Scott’s I noticed the decor is a little dated and so were most of the help but they had a current grade “A” health inspection so that was forking OK with me.

The menu is very large and they offered far more fish items than I’ve ever seen on any deli menu before. I also noticed that they offer both the belly lox and the nova.

I went with the smoked fish supreme platter with a choice of three of the many fish they offer. I did ask for belly lox but they were out of it so I went with the nova.

I received fresh hand carved Nova Scotia Lox of very good quality. (Bingo) The white fish was outstanding and the sturgeon was good. I think anyone would like the meaty sturgeon even if you don’t usually eat fish. I don’t know how the sturgeon compares to other places because I haven’t eaten much sturgeon since it can run $70.00 a forken pound. The pickles were fresh crisp and garlicy. The potato salad and cole were nicely flavored and fresh but a little drippy. The everything bagel was unusual but good. It was more like a very oniony bagel with a little everything topping. My platter was very large and I took enough home for another meal.

My husband had The #5 “Harvey” Triple Decker.

#5 "Harvey" Triple Decker from Scott's Generations Phoenix AZ

#5 “Harvey” Triple Decker from Scott’s Generations Phoenix AZ

All three meats Turkey, Corned Beef & Pastrami seemed freshly prepared. The turkey tasted like fresh carved turkey, The corned beef was good. The Pastrami was very good and tasted like regular pastrami you’d get back east. It’s not the hand sliced kind but this pastrami from Scott’s is very good and the most authentic tasting I had in a long time. The sandwich platter came with a forking mountain of what seemed like fresh cut red potato fries, crispy zesty pickles and fresh cole slaw.

I recently seen the new movie called “Deli Man” and after that had a very strong desire for deli food.

Deli Food is made by people who are preserving history. “The cuisine of the Delicatessen comes from a world that no longer exists” (from the movie “Deli Man”)…

Scott’s is the best East Coast Style Deli in the Metro Phoenix Area to me at this forking moment.

 Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

Forking Tiny tables and an Inexperienced Hostess Story

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I find that service from newly opened restaurants usually isn’t smooth and something will always happen.

We dined at a newly opened restaurant in Glendale AZ.  We were about to forking leave after we were seated because someone turned up the music to an uncomfortable level. My head was forking pounding. Eventually the music did get turned down so we stayed.

We dined at a pizza place and ordered individual pizzas. The pizzas arrive and they were good. They both had nice light crispy crust and were topped with quality toppings and were tasty.

What forking bothered us most about our dining exsperience was not the food or our server but the hostess.

The dining room was basically forking empty. Only us and a single man were seated in the dining room.

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Then the hostess comes up to us and starts removing half our table that she sat us at and forking says something like she needs to table to seat a party of five next to us. We didn’t pick this table she sat us there. This was two two-tops that were pushed together.

The whole place is forking EMPTY and I counted at least forking TWELVE people standing around that looked like wait staff so it’s not like they only had one server on.

She could have forking sat the party of five to our other side or anywhere else in the FORKING dining room but NO she has to disturb us….the only forking people in the room since the single man left by this time. It’s not that I minded having a table next to us. It only was a problem because the tables are very small.

I didn’t finish my forking pizza so I had a box and made the mistake about ordering dessert. I found out latter this was a mistake because the table wasn’t big enough to hold a small pizza box and  a dessert plate.

Someone runs out our dessert to us and says something like,”I don’t know what this is but here it is”. I feel bad for that guy because the restaurant didn’t train him in what he was serving.

The dessert was a mistake to order because we didn’t have room on the small table with the box for forking dessert. My husband insisted we couldn’t put it on top of the box because the box was hot.

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We stuck our box on the empty table on our other side so we could eat the forking dessert.

And THEN the forking hostess sits a forking people at that forking table on our other forking side so we have to pick up the forking box.

Tiny tables and an inexperienced hostess doesn’t usually add up to the greatest dining exsperience.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

Some Stuff that I saw at the Asian Market

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I can’t tell you what the box says but these sure look like forking Oreos.

Some sort of boxed soft chocolate chip cookies.

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PO – T- U? Pooh- TEE-U? Forking Cheese Stuffed Crackers.

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Real Moon Pies?

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Sweet Pumpkin Yam Tea?

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Instant Coffee.

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O!Karto – Italian Gratin Potato Chips made in Korea?

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Wasabi Corn Puffs. (Watch out Lay’s!)

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Water Buffalo and Cow Butter?

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And

Israeli Couscous that’s really Israeli.

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Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

Are YOU a Forking SUPER-TASTER?

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According to Popular Science people with lots of taste buds are forking super tasters.

Not only does this super tasting ability have to do with the amount of taste buds but it also has to do with the way your taste buds work or their ability to detect different molecules.

It’s forking somewhere in the brain we get the message that recognizes bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami (savory).

Also some of this is genetic. People from Malaria-Infested parts of the world tend to carry a gene that makes them less sensitive to bitter. (I didn’t forking make this up…Read it your forking self from Popular Science)

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According to supertaster.com Super-Tasters have a hard time and much less of a preference towards consuming-

Raw Broccoli

Grapefruit Juice

Coffee

Dark Chocolate

Fatty Foods

Sugary Foods

Scientific American reports that super-tasters just taste these foods much stronger than other people.

Wikipedia’s list of foods that super-tasters are sensitive towards and prefer not to consume foods that are-

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage

Kale

Coffee

Grapefruit Juice

Cheddar Cheese (no whey!)

According to some of the references. People who are not sensitive to the above forking lists are non-tasters but people do fall in-between.

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I have found some of this information BUT NOT ALL is linked to purchasing forking taste kits to find out if your a super-taster, a non-taster or somewhere in-between.

Are YOU a Forking SUPER-TASTER?

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

 

Some Forking Truth about Cinnamon

Cassia

Cassia

According to www.superkidsnutrition.com only true cinnamon is called Ceylon Cinnamon and mostly everything else is cassia.

True cinnamon is the bark from an evergreen tree that’s mostly grown in Sri Lanka and Southern India. About a forking dozen different species of trees are called cinnamon but only a few are forking harvested for cinnamon.

True cinnamon sticks are thin like parchment paper and are rolled tightly from one side.

Cassia sticks are rolled from both sides and are much woodier, hollow and happened to cost forking less.

True cinnamon is sweeter and more refined in flavor.

references

www.superkidsnutrition.com

www.wikipedia

www.spice-racks.com

www.huffingtonpost.com

That was some Forking Truth about Cinnamon.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Chennai Chettinaad Palace South Indian Buffet Phoenix AZ

 

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Ever have Sambar, Rasam, Upma Pulav, or Dum Aloo before?

You really get the feeling you visited India when you dine at Chennai Chettinaad Palace in Phoenix Arizona. Indian Television is playing on the large screen TVs above the bar. Unfamiliar but fragrant spices fill the air. The restaurant was packed with people and everyone except us were of Indian decent.

We were seated and I sort of expected someone to greet us at the table but after a while the person that sat us just said “it’s a buffet you help yourself.” As I approached the buffet I noticed a grade “A” Maricopa health inspection and that one side of the buffet was strictly vegetarian and five meats dishes were on the other side. Three dishes were chicken, one dish was fish and the last meat dish was goat.

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The Buffet started with appetizer savory mini donuts and a few vegetable soups one of the soups was called rasam and is a tamarind based vegetable soup that was more flavorful than the sambar vegetable soup.

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Some of the vegetable dishes had more heat to them than the meat dishes but it was a gentle heat that didn’t build.

Some of the vegetarian dishes were-

Upma- A porridge with vegetables

Pulav- Spicy long grain fluffy rice with vegetables

Dum Aloo- Baby potatoes curry

Channa Palgk- Spinach with Chickpeas

Baby Corn with Chilies

Dhal Tadka-Lentils

Mutteer Panger-Peas and Cheese

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Most of what I tried was delicious. Very flavorful food. Only two things I didn’t care for that I tried was the Dahi Vada and the Upma due to that I wasn’t brought up eating them. People that are new to Indian Food might have a hard time with lentil dumplings in yogurt and vegetable porridge.

I tried small amounts of the chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, chicken bryani and the fish curry. I found them all to be fresh and well prepared for a buffet meaning not dried out.  The meat dishes were all delicious I think anybody would like them. They had interesting flavorful spices to them. They all differed but all were interesting. Nothing was too salty or oily.

Desserts looked very foreign to me.

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Small fragrant soaked fritters were in one pan called Gulab Jamun. I skipped over the second pan and did try some of the carrot halwa that’s basically carrot pudding seasoned with cardamon and cashews.

It felt like a trip to India but with much better traffic and my trip only cost $13.99.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Salmon it’s what I might order for dinner

Over the past year I ate a forking lot of salmon out because often that’s the only forking fish choice in a restaurant.

I live in Arizona and in the area I live in is very hard to come across fresh tasting fish. So it’s actually a FORKING TREAT to eat fish out for me.

I don’t know if it’s forking just me but I find that meat fills me up much more than fish or chicken and just sits in my stomach and then I don’t have room for bread or dessert that I forking might enjoy when I go out to eat.

I’m also NOT a FAN of, and FORKING hate dry or chewy meats and I am very rarely served dry and chewy fish. The down side of often ordering fish is…. there are times when I’m served fish that isn’t fresh tasting and sometimes the fish is over cooked. Fortunately that only happens once in a forking while.

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At any forking restaurant for dinner I usually DON’T order chicken because I eat chicken at home often and usually prepare it well.

Some chicken I prepared

Some chicken I prepared

 

Forking more often than not I usually get served dry tasteless chicken. So ordering chicken out is usually a forking waste for me.

Taco Haus Scottsdale AZ (wow that was really bad)

Taco Haus Scottsdale AZ (wow that was really FORKING Bad)

 

The exception is a lunch out where I might order forking grilled chicken to top a salad.

In the area where I live it’s very rare that I can buy fresh fish and usually leave what I see to salmon else. (excuse the forking pun and this forking photo)

Think these are snappers?

Think these are snappers? Sorry don’t have a forking salmon photo!

At very good restaurants I ate salmon.

Bouchon Napa CA

Bouchon Napa CA

Also at Forking not nearly as good places I ate salmon.

La Torretta Scottsdale AZ Salmon Alla Francesca

La Torretta Scottsdale AZ Salmon Alla Francesca

And all the salmon I had in-between. I do note these photos are in no particular forking order.

Arriv Fountain Hills AZ

Arrivederci Fountain Hills AZ

The Pink Pony Scottsdale AZ

The Pink Pony Scottsdale AZ

Cindy's Napa CA

Cindy’s Napa CA

BBQ Salmon Salad Rhythm & Wine Scottsdale AZ

BBQ Salmon Salad Rhythm & Wine Scottsdale AZ (this was excellent salmon)

Broiled Salmon with Spaghetti Squash and Pasta in lemon-caper butter $13

Cucina Tagliani Glendale AZ

This is what absolutely perfectly prepared good quality salmon looks like.

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Salmon it’s what I might order for forking dinner!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

EAT at the Boulders for some of the most Breathtaking Views in the metro Phoenix Area

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Once you pass threw the entrance of the Boulders you take a fairy long but scenic tour.

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You should plan your forking visit during daylight hours to view the beauty of this resort.

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They even have a gorgeous duck pond.

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Many quail live here too.

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We were coming up on the big boulder, the really GIANT Big Forking Boulder.

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I couldn’t photo the water feature but water was flowing down the crack. (looks a little like a forking butt doesn’t it? but it’s a pretty butt)

The most beautiful resort I’ve seen in the Metro Phoenix area.

Several Restaurants can be found at the Boulders. We decided to pop into The Grill at the Boulders. They do have a lovely dining room that overlooks the golf course but only one waitress was on and we didn’t want to make her forking run from the bar to the other end of the building so we sat in the bar area that has a view of the forking golf shop.

I saw New York Pastrami on the menu so I had to ask if it really was New York Pastrami or just New York Style. I was told New York Style and ordered it because it was house made.  After a little while I received it.

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I liked that the meat wasn’t too fatty and also not too lean. It was very unique in flavor with an unusual spice in it that I think might have been cloves. The meat was delicious, flavorful, and moist. The sandwich was layered with a very small amount of fresh crispy but average coleslaw and was held together with some sort of grained pumpernickel bread. The fries were hot, fresh and lightly salted but slightly disappointing because they seemed like fast food kind of fries. I also thought house made pickle might come with this sandwich because it cost around $15.00.

My husband tried the BBQ Brisket grilled Cheese.

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Both sandwiches came with an enormous amount of fries. The brisket inside was very moist and flavorful. The bread was grilled nicely and quality cheddar cheese was used but for some reason this sandwich seemed more like a brisket sandwich with cheese other than the grilled cheese with brisket that we thought it would be. Also priced at around $15.00.

We found the service to be friendly and efficient.

The Grill at the Boulders and the Palo Verde Restaurant at the Boulders in beautiful Cave Creek AZ both participate in the Scottsdale preferred savings card and if you have one you can get one meal for free.

Eat at the Boulders for some of the most Beautiful Views in the Metro Phoenix Area.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth