Eclectic Eats 9.3.15

It’s that time again folks. The time for me to share with you some of the most interesting, offbeat, surreal, or downright icky food I’ve seen in my Internet travels. I’ve decided to start including beverages in the mix too, as you’ll see with two entries. Which ones will I be willing to try? Which ones shall never touch my lips? Read on. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the entries!

 

SALMON SUSHI CAKE

Using a bowl as a guide, take two sheets of nori paper and cut them into circles. Add the first layer of rice, then avocado, and last the sushi.  Finally stack both layers on top of each other to complete the cake. Then grab some spicy sauce and chopsticks and call your friend over. Or keep it for yourself, I won’t judge.

There is little here I find appealing. I’m one of those boring sushi eaters. I don’t care for any of the raw stuff-and yes, I tried many. In fact, several years ago, I briefly dated a guy who decided to introduce me to different kinds of sushi. I’d warned him that I’m picky and that I wasn’t likely to eat much of the raw stuff. Since I was willing to try some, he said he’d order a bunch of rolls, which is exactly what happened. I want to say there were like six different kinds of sushi rolls. I didn’t like most of them bc I don’t like the salmon or the tuna or cream cheese. I like Dragon Rolls-love them in fact. I also like Crunchy Shrimp Rolls. That’s about it. So this cake, with all that raw salmon? Not for me.

Verdict: No intention of trying this. It does look nice tho’.

* * * *

Along with a new Pumpkin Cheesecake Square (which doesn’t interest me), Dunkin Donuts will soon be featuring the Reese’s Peanut Butter Square:

The Reese’s Peanut Butter Square is filled with Reese’s peanut butter and topped with chocolate icing and an orange-hued drizzle.

The Hershey Company told Mashable, “Our last collaboration with Dunkin’ Donuts was over six years ago in 2009…. ‘Toffee for your Coffee’ featured chopped pieces of milk chocolate and English toffee from one of Hershey’s iconic brands, Heath.”

Both creations will be available nationwide Aug. 31 through Oct. 2015.

Ok, I’m really torn here. I like Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. A lot. I don’t eat them as much as I did when I was a wee lil’ shoop (mostly bc I can’t handle superduper ultra-sweet desserts like I could years ago). Back then, I could down one of those four packs, but it took me time. You see, I would eat all the chocolate around the outside, and then eat the peanut butter. Eating the chocolate on the top and sides was easy, bc that was fairly thick. I often gave up trying to eat the bottom bc it was too thin (wow, there’s some innuendo there I’m going to leave alone). In any case, I liked them. Still do. But I don’t like my donuts stuffed with anything. And I don’t like my donuts topped with chocolate. What can I say, I’m picky!

Verdict: I would try it, although I doubt I’d like it.

* * * *

CHICKEN FRIED STEAK BIRTHDAY CAKE

What happens when your husband doesn’t like sweets on his birthday?

An Abilene restaurant makes him a “Chicken Fried Steak Cake” as part of the celebration.

“My husband (JoeMax Tomlin) is not a sweet’s fan and has never really enjoyed birthday cakes,” Chasidy Tomlin said in an email. “He always jokes about getting a Chicken Fried Steak Cake. I called Taylor County Taphouse and spoke to the manager … and chef … just to see if this was even an option.

“They were definitely a little shocked but excited to take the challenge. We didn’t know exactly how it would turn out but wanted to try it. Well it turned out amazing. It looked just like a cake and tasted DELICIOUS. I am happy to say a Chicken Fried Steak Cake will be happening annually for my husband.”

I love chicken fried steak. I love the look of this. I love that the restaurant was willing to prepare this dish for the guys birthday.

Verdict: Fuck yes. I’d eat this in a New York minute.

* * * *

Necto Cooler is a sour wheat beer created by the Ardmore, Pennsylvania-based Tired Hands Brewing Company, who is known for creating all sorts of experimental brews, that is inspired by Hi-C’s orange flavored Ecto Cooler drink. The classic Ecto-Cooler box featured The Real Ghostbusters character Slimer, who is the mascot that Tired Hands Brewing Company also chose to promote their beer.

The limited edition craft beer was released and sold out in a matter of days at their Brew Cafe. Necto Cooler’s flavor consisted of a “tart summer bier brewed with wheat. Hopped gently with Simcoe and Citra. Soured in the kettle then conditioned on top of nectarine purée” at 4.5% alcohol.

The first alcoholic beverage I ever drank was a sip of a Budweiser when I was 16 (?). I hated it. Didn’t try anything again until I was 21 (I had one screwdriver for that all-important birthday). I did not try beer again until my late 20s when I worked at the Fish House here in Pensacola. I don’t recall what beer it was, but I didn’t like it. A few years after that (same restaurant), we got a bunch of local micro-brewed beers. I tried each of them-hated all of them. Then, a few years later (different bar), I tried another beer, Purple Haze maybe. I really can’t remember what it was, but I didn’t like it either. I think I’ve done my due diligence of trying beers. I think I’ve sampled enough to know that I just don’t like beer. Oh, wait. It wasn’t Purple Haze, it was Guinness (yeah, I could go back and rewrite this, but I occasionally write kinda stream o’ consciousness-like and I think it gives my writing a quirkiness to it; my friend Iris Vander Pluym says she imagines I write in a manner similar to the way I speak, and there is quite a bit of truth to that). Getting back on track-my point is I’m just as certain that I won’t like this beer as I am that there are no deities.

Verdict: No way am I trying this. But I can think of a certain blacksmithing Roost reader who might try it.

(via Laughing Squid)

 

* * * *

And now for a different kind of beer-Root Beer. But not just any old kind of root beer. No, this is Not Your Father’s Root Beer!

The libation, created at a suburban Chicago small-town brewery that goes by the appropriate name of Small Town Brewery, contracted with the much larger City Brewery to produce it, the La Crosse Tribune (http://bit.ly/1NFoE2c ) reported.

“It’s a phenomenon,” City Brewery CEO George Parke said during a recent interview. “It’s a great opportunity. It alone is supplying 45 jobs or more” among the roughly 500 salaried and hourly workers at the plant.

“This time of year normally is slow,” often requiring some layoffs, Parke said. But the plant has not had to do so, “and Small Town is a huge part of that.”

“It is different this year, with more overtime, no layoffs and no shutdowns,” he said. “From a production standpoint, we never have seen anything take off as fast and as strong as Small Town.”

Underscoring that assessment is the fact that the brand’s sales frothed up to $7.2 million from the beginning of this year until June 14, according to Beer Marketer’s analysis of IRI data.

It was the sixth-best-selling craft brewer for the four weeks that ended July 12, accounting for 3.3 percent of retail craft dollar sales, an achievement that stuns Tim Kovac, Small Town’s founder and brewmaster.

I’m not quite sure how to put this. This is good stuff? No. No. That doesn’t cut it. I really like this adult root beer? Nah. Just doesn’t quite capture my excitement. Oh, I know–THIS IS SOME GOOD SHIT YA’LL! Yeah, that sums it up. I was first introduced to NYFRB earlier this summer and fell in love with it immediately. As I said above, I don’t like beer. This stuff masks any traditional beer ingredients behind the root beer flavor. Between that and the alcohol content, I like the stuff. A LOT.

Verdict: Already tried. Already fell in love with it. Will buy more.

What did you like? What did you not like? Drop your thoughts in the comments section. I’d love to hear them!

 

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Eclectic Eats 9.3.15
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11 thoughts on “Eclectic Eats 9.3.15

  1. 1

    I’m not finding much on here to excite me. Not a raw fish fan, I don’t like donuts with goo in them, I don’t drink beer (or any alcohol) because I hate the flavor, but I might be willing to try the Chicken/Steak cake, though.

    I’m like a persnickety five year old. I can’t eat stuff.

  2. 2

    Salmon Sushi Cake: No. Just, no.

    Reese’s Peanut Butter Square: I’d try it. But I prefer my stuffed donut-like objects to be raspberry or cherry-filled. Or, oooh!—lemon!

    Chicken Fried Steak Birthday Cake: Hell no! Not a chicken fried steak fan, at all, at all. And if that is white gravy over top….
    *shudder*
    I dislike white gravy with great enthusiasm and zeal.
    Horses sweat it out their pores; peas wallow in it.
    *shudder*

    I do not care for beer, in general. But I like root beer, so I might give the Not-Dad’s Root Beer a try.

  3. 3

    I’m one of those hypocritical vegetarians who occasionally eats fish. I love sushi, but that thing? Just no. Sushi is about subtlety, simplicity and restraint. It’s not about giant portions and extravagance.

    That doughnut? Oh hell yes. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are on the top of my all-time favourite I-really-shouldn’t-but-I’m-going-to-anyway snacks list. They’re also completely unavailable here in rural Australia. Ms. Fishy bought me a case lot last year for my birthday over the internet. I didn’t manage to give myself into diabetes, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

    Chicken Fried Steak Cake. Nope, I’m vegetarian enough to walk away from that.

    Not generally a fan of wheat beers, but I’d give it a go. I never drink for effect any more, so how it tastes in paramount this leads me to be a bit more experimental with my beer choices than I would be with other things.

    I like root beer well enough, but I also like my alcohol to taste like alcohol. Not interested.

  4. YOB
    4

    YOBling has declared that the sushi cake WILL be her next birthday cake. I’ll help her eat it, if she’ll let me. HFW has declared “oh, hell no! I ain’t eating that!”

    The donuts? I’ll try anything once. But I don’t think I’ll like it. Not really a donut fan of any kind.

    I was raised on a rural Texas cattle ranch, so I loves me some CFS. Sadly, I’m a bit of a purist, though. That does not appeal to me at all. Willing to try.

    Necto Cooler Beer? Oh Hells yeah! Gonna hit my bar owner buddy and fellow beer Knurd up tomorrow to see if he can score me a taste. If he can, I’ll give a report.

    NYFRB? Hmmm… Intrigued but skeptical.

  5. 6

    Sushi cake and sushi in general:
    – tried sushi only once. Work colleagues order it sometimes and they recommended a plate with several kinds. I dutifuly tried one of each kind but.. ugh. The only one that didn’t have raw fish had raw cucumber instead. Which is worse than raw fish.

    That sugar bomb with peanut butter and chocolate – I’d try it but I wouldn’t expect to like it.

    Chicken Steak Cake- I’m not so sure about all that white stuff. I’m one of those people who don’t like when their food mixes on the plate. Gravy all over everything sounds like a nightmare.

    Beer. I’d try.

    There is a craft beer appreciation store here, but I feel a bit bad about going. It’s not like I’m an expert and I’m afraid I’d be the first person of female persuasion walking in there ever.

  6. 7

    I also tried sushi only once. Didn’t like it. I don’t mind the whole raw fish thing and don’t mind cucumbers, but the entire thing was just too big! How am I supposed to fit it in my mouth without bits of rice falling down?
    My general approach is that if something isn’t street food (like stuff in a pita or lafa) I should be able to it with a knife and fork or a spoon. Anything else is not for me. Yes, that includes chicken legs, wings and anything messy that you’re supposed to eat with your hands.

  7. 11

    Sushi cake: Hell yes!
    Donut: Nope. Peanuts and sweet don’t go together in my taste
    Chicken steak cake: only in theory. Not in that version. Probably without steak.
    Beers: Not a beer fan, unless it’s very dark and malty, like Guinness.
    Tripe: Tried it once as a kid. I found it to be rather flavourless and of an unappealing consistency.

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