A few random bites: late March edition

In like a lion and out like a cold, wet lamb: that's March for you. Just a few items as we ease slowly into spring.

1) I recently boiled peanuts (you'll read about it in a few weeks). It's hard to find raw peanuts in this area, though you can find them at Giant. I have decided to try growing them myself. I've rented a second garden plot in the city, which I hope to start clearing this weekend. Most of it will be for straightforward vegetable and herb planting, while a section of it will be purely experimental. We are about as far north as one can go and still hope for some success in growing peanuts. Let's see how it goes.

2a) I spent this past weekend in Rehoboth with a large group of friends (Some of you are reading - thank you again for a fun weekend! I'm already looking forward to next year). I ate out at a few places. One place where the cupcake trend hopefully continues is the Cake Break on First Street. For $6 (each for $3) I got two fascinating cupcakes.


My favorite one was their Guinness cupcake: a cupcake with Guinness Stout baked into the batter, and topped with frosting infused with Bailey's Irish Cream. This was evil. Evil, I tell you. And so good. The other cupcake was their Rehoboth Beach cupcake which I must only describe as "adorable" (oh God, I hate myself for saying that). It was made to look like a crab crawling out of the surf onto the sand. The crab tasted good too.

2b) While the best food was that which my friends made (again, kudos on the gumbo, Jim & Ralf), the best restaurant food I had came on my way out of Reho. La Tonalteca (note: their website is less than impressive) is a southern Delaware franchise of Mexican restaurants that had some pretty good Mexican food, some of the best I have had this side of the Mississippi. I got one of many of their lunch specials, an enchiladas poblanas, two enchiladas covered in mole poblano.


Everything about the enchiladas was delicious - these were no warmed over sorry excuses for enchiladas. As for the rice and beans: even in California, it is rare for me to find rice and beans that are worth eating, much less finishing. The rice was fluffy and soft and the beans were smooth, and neither was too salty. This may be a go-to stop on my way out of Rehoboth the next time I head down, especially at $6 for the whole thing.

3) A few weeks ago I saw the cleverly named Naanwich from Sukhi's, at Whole Foods. The one I got was a simple helping of tandoori chicken inside a folded-over piece of naan bread. While I wouldn't buy this all the time, it is convenient and tasty, the chicken soft and flavorful enough to not be a waste of time, and the naan pleasantly soft and chewy.


4) And finally, this from Churchville, Harford County:


And remember: Haste makes Waste Waist... get bigger!

Kashi Lime Cilantro Mush

Kashi - making the world better with healthy, natural foods. Ahhhhh.

Steer clear of at least one Kashi product: their Lime Cilantro Shrimp. This microwaveable frozen entrée that I had for lunch today had tastier shrimp than I expected - actually quite good for a frozen dinner. And its lime cilantro sauce was delicious, too. The veggies were, well, eh. But the one thing that detracted from everything else, so much so that it is the one thing that sticks out in my mind, is that cooked Kashi pilaf. This mix of soggy, mushy "whole oats, long grain brown rice, rye, hard red winter wheat, triticale, buckwheat, barley [and] sesame seeds [and water]" could use a better preparation than this. It turned out like a gritty, lumpy flavorless porridge.

They may be trying to get people hooked on delicious, healthy food, but they're not doing such a good job of it with their pilaf. Ick.

Ethnic Gourmet

Just a note: if you want to try the Ethnic Gourmet line of microwave meals (locally available at Whole Foods), don't do it for the rice. I had the shahi paneer (firm cheese cubes in a wonderful butter tomato sauce with raisins, much like a murgh makhani, but with raisins). The part with the cheese and the tomato sauce was delightful. The rice with peas (very gummy and hard rice, and flavorless peas), however, was disappointing. I hate to recommend one half of a frozen dinner, but I am. The shahi paneer was delicious, though please don't buy it for the rice.