Hmmmmmm…how to get that caffeine fix. Do you drink coffee? How about a Coke?
Choices choices choices.
Well, my friend Alan just pointed out to me that you may no longer have to struggle over that choice. In 2006 Coca-Cola Blak will hit the market – Coke infused with coffee. It’s another one of these mid-calorie versions – not a kilzillion calories but not diet either. France will get the first taste, and it will make it’s way to other countries later in the year. So…are you going to try it?
Back in early July I wrote this blog about bubble tea and the Mexican soft drink, Jarritos. I was responding to a blog over at Mexico Movies praising the soft drink, but I had never had it.
Well, I don’t feel quite so bad now. Jarritos was amazingly hard to find. The first time I saw it is was warm, so I decided to wait until I could find a cold one. Finally, about 2 weeks into my trip I got one at a grocery store, cold and everything. But, I guess I’m just not an orange refresco kind of guy. So I stand by my original comment on Dennis’ blog entry – it’s Coke or manzana for me! And by the way, there are some wonderful manzana (apple) varieties now. And I’m afraid the new Sour Apple Crush from Cadbury just doesn’t compare.
Today I had bubble tea. It’s a drink that originated in Taiwan over 20 years ago, also called pearl tea, QQ drinks or boba drink. Bubble tea is generally sweet iced tea with milk and large tapioca balls. It was actually pretty good, although a little sweet for me. I realize it’s an odd beverage choice when I’m about to leave for Mexico, but hey, I’m an international guy.
In my defense, I was just watching Dennis’ blog about the Mexican soft drink Jarritos, and I told him I’d have to try it. I’ve probably had it, but for some reason I can’t remember. I was always more of a Coke or manzana guy.
Speaking of Mexico again, remember those butterflies we were talking about in the last blog? Well, we were hanging out outside yesterday and God sent us one to photograph for you (alas, no, I didn’t take the picture you saw in the last blog entry). I like to call this butterfly Susana. I’ve uploaded some photos of Susana for you in our photo gallery. Check it out! You can also see photos of our holiday from last week.
Today I finally got some Lime Coke (not diet Coke, the new Lime Coke). I think I’ll have to have a few more cups before a final judgement, but so far so good. It’s not what I expected.
You’ll notice that in our last poll our site visitors chose Coke as their soft drink of choice. Y’all would fit in great in Mexico, where the Coca-Cola company…well, it does very well! (Be sure to take our new poll)
Actually, I enjoyed a wonderful meal thanks to Shari – some tacos with lots of yummy fillings, and then for dessert a fresh pineapple. Actually, it was unintentional, but we were running out of salsa, so I went to the store this afternoon. I must have been quite a site, wearing a ball cap that said “Mexico” and buying only two jars of salsa and a lime. Believe me, I’m not trying to be a stereotype!
Other than that, today was spent slugging through my last assignment for my course. May its end come soon… 😯
I’m not sure why, but several times I’ve been asked for advice on how to cut a pineapple. Sometimes by total strangers. I don’t know if I just look like someone who should know, or what.
Well, I may not be an expert pineapple-slicer. But strangely enough, I used to work at a golf and country club, and the chef there did indeed teach me how to do it right. So the last time I had the opportunity, I took these pictures so that you too can learn to cut pineapples the way the elite do it. 🙂 Please remember that this is really only one way to slice it. It’s good any way you slice it, especially if you buy it fresh from a market in Mexico… The pineapple originated in South America. It eventually became popular in the Caribbean and there became known to the Europeans when Christopher Columbus and his crew visited.
Pineapples are difficult to ripen at home (I’ve heard it said that you should turn them upside down to ripen them), so it’s best to find them fairly ripe at the market. A good pineapple will have deep green leaves, and will smell sweet. It should be free of bruises and very soft spots. First, slice off the top and bottom of the pineapple, as shown. Now you’re going to slice off the skin, using a knife, from top to bottom. You can see that I’ve already done one slice here. Now I’m going to look on the side and use that as a guide for my next slice. At this point, I just want to cut off the skin, but I’m not worried about all the eyes. After a few slices I’ll be all the away around the pineapple. You’ll see that I happened to peel this pineapple in seven slices, so it is now septagon. This will give the slices a nice look when we’re done. At least, in theory.
Now we’re going to remove the eyes – here’s how we do it. We’re going to take the knife and put it at an angle to the pineapple. We’ll make two slices at an angle to take out each eye. You’ll see what I mean in the next picture (I hope) – this is the hard part to describe. You may have been tempted to stick the point of your knife into the pineapple and twist out the eyes. You might save a bit more of the pineapple, but you might also mangle it, and you won’t have the cool look that I almost succeeded in getting at they end (hey, nobody said I was actually good at this!).
Now you can see what I meant by cutting at angles – there are cuts all around the pineapple, all at the same angle. It looks almost like a screw, except of course the grooves are short and don’t go all the way around. It’s time to actually slice the pineapple. Try to slice it nice and evenly. If you cut out the eyes properly, you might get a nice pinwheel effect in the final slices. It worked for me a couple times, but of course I didn’t take a picture of those slices, so too bad for me.
I simply sliced out the core at an angle on each half slice, but another nice way to do it is with a round metal cookie-cutter, if you have one the right size. Eating the core won’t kill you, but it’s a little hard. There they are, in all their glory! Serve them however you want, don’t let me intrude upon your creativity. They’ll even keep in the fridge for a couple of days – but who wants to wait that long? Now your family and friends can sit down and enjoy the fruit of your labours. There’s nothing like fresh pineapple!
It’s the time of year for chocolate again. Actually, any time is the right time, but with Christmas just past, Valentine’s Day coming and then Easter, it’s a perfect time right now.
Have you ever noticed how, at this time of year, all kinds of studies come out to tell you that chocolate is good for you? Have you ever wondered if it’s true? Well, to some extent, it is. But there’s a catch. Most of the studies focus on the actual cocoa bean – meaning that the chocolate you’re probably getting in your supermarket grocery store just won’t cut it. In fact, there’s quite a large movement of people saying that milk chocolate shouldn’t be called “chocolate” at all – there simply isn’t enough chocolate in it!
So if you want real chocolate, where do you go? Well, you need to look for something that is at least 70% cocoa. Thanks to the publicity, there are more and more chocolates that fulfill this standard. But even they aren’t created equal. Some are delicious, others aren’t quite as good.
If you really want to give really good chocolate a try, check out some Galler chocolate. Galler Chocolate Noir is one of the best chocolate bars in the world. Galler is a family company – a Belgian family. But not only is this a Belgian company, this is the company that supplies chocolate to the Belgian court! So if you really want to experience the chocolate culture, you’ll have to pay a little extra, but you might as well try the best.
If you want something for the kids, Galler even has something for them. Try their famous Cat's Tongues. This is a box of individually wrapped chocolates.
Wondering about some of the health benefits? You may have heard that chocolate is an antioxidant. It’s a good source of magnesium and folic acid. It’s being investigated for its use as a treatment for coughs. And it tastes pretty good too. Just remember, eat it in moderation!
Chocolate, of course, originates in Mexico. Where would we be without the Mexicans? 🙂
