Review: Spatenhaus

Spaten is one of my favorite Munich beers, and we had the oppurtunity to visit the Spaten braukeller to get food and drink. For my meal I shared a plate of ox, boar, lamb, and beef which had been grilled and placed over country potatoes (fried wedges) with a side of cheese spaetzle (a German pasta, when used in this dish a sort of German mac and cheese) and a salad.

The meats were some of the best I’ve had in Munich thus far, and the spatzle was almost too rich to eat–in fact, my order ended up being shared with many others. I’ve come to realise that spaetzle is something generally considered the ‘vegetarian option’ in Munich restaurents. Much better than a portobello mushroom, in my opinion.

Munich Part 1

 

As I sit I am listening to a children’s television program, 3d like Jimmy Neutron or Reboot. What’’s different, I suppose, is that it’s in German. We have only two stations, CNN and BBC that are in English. Ah, but eating! That’s what’s interesting.

Gutentag from Germany!

Hey everybody!

This is Jess. I may have forgotten to tell you all, but I’ll be spending the week eating, seeing, and otherwise being in Munich, Bavaria. And also half a day in Heathrow Airport, not like that’s a good thing. 

 

 

The best sandwich in America?

As mentioned earlier, I’m a recent college grad. This lends itself to going to grad parties. Grad parties lend themselves to a few late night drinks. And a few late night drinks leads to sleeping on the floor and waking up sore, confused, and with a stomach that hates you.

Like most the best things in the USA, the solution comes in automobile form (more or less). The solution after the jump.

Collasal Falafel Failure: How one pantry meal almost caused tears.

You know what I love? Salt. I love salt. I have tried everything from pink Hawaiian sea salt to Morton’s and I just can’t seem to get enough. Salt is a lot like the Force. You can use it for good, or for evil. Casbah Natural Foods’ falafel uses it for dismal, terrible evil. A single serving (1/3 cup dry or 4 patties) contains 680 milligrams of sodium, or 28 percent. Assuming you eat two servings you’ve just consumed over half your day’s salt. And while some foods, like Twinkies, are also high in sodium, they don’t suck the moisture out of your face in quite the same cruel, Darth Vader like way.

Paired with jasmine rice, yogurt sauce and mixed vegetables I was hoping for a simple, healthy, vegetarian meal. What I got was the same feeling I got at age 10 when I accidentally pranked myself by putting salt in the sugar bowl (I was a bright child.)

Trader Joe’s Pork Gyoza: Cheap and Filling

Mmm…Dumplings

Like any college student, I occasionally don’t have any money. On this particular occasion I also had a somewhat violent craving for Pork Gyoza, so I had my boyfriend Jim pick some up from Trader Joe’s on his way home. Way too many gyozas later, I was stuffed full, and all for about 1.75 a person. These dumplings are really good, especially for the price. While we had made a feeble attempted at ordering dumplings from our local horrible Chinese restaurant, they were horrible. And expensive, at 6.00 for much less food than we’d gotten from Trader Joes. To go alongside these I whipped up a quick dipping sauce from soy sauce, apple cider vinegar (I had no rice wine vinegar), and a tiny squirt of Hoisin sauce, plus some chives and red pepper flakes for color.

These make a filling, cheap, and delicious dinner, so I give them a 5/5.

Photo and Text by Jess.

Set Sail to New Ports of Call: College is Over!

Today I wrapped up my last assignment of my Senior year in college, a photo essay about NJ Senate Republican candidate Murray Sabrin. The essay will be posted shortly on my portfolio site, www.jameshoude.com As always, fell free to contact me about jobs, freelancing, or if you’re passing out free food or money. All aspiring journalists need those things. Just as statistically, most journalists need a drink. Classy review after the jump.

Look at the thick clingy legs on that one

What the World Eats

I saw this post on wordpress’s front page, and I fell in love with it immediately. It describes the food habits of people the world over, and is completely amazing. Some people seem to get so little for their money, while some people get plates and plates for basically nothing in american dollars. This could be due to an agrarian society, however. Anyway- Click on it!

Yarr…and the octodog was too much for me…

…that’s where I got me peg leg…

Are your children JUST NOT HAPPY with plain hot dogs? Then you should obviously get the Octodog, the “Fun, simple and safer (?) way to turn ordinary hot dogs into exciting to cook and super fun to eat octodogs”. Sure, it’s phallic. But so are half of foods. I’m considering getting one of these just to suprise/horrify/amaze everyone around me…but, as a friend just said, “I’ll only be giving my children flat sandwiches”.

Comsmopolitan KitKats: Flavors from Japan

Jess: Just when you think you really know everything about Kit-Kats, a product from Japan sets your opinions reeling. At Mitsuwa Marketplace we discovered these Kit-Kats in green tea and caramel flavoring. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they weren’t worth the four dollars we paid for them. When opening the caramel Kit-Kat’s package, you got a definate and lovely smell of caramel. Like caramel delicious enough to make you into an enraged ape diving for the Kit-Kat like it was some sublime banana. Unfortunately, the caramel Kit-Kat is a tease. It lied to us–to me. There was almost no caramel flavor.

The green tea one was even more of a rip off, at four dollars and no green tea flavor. At least they were beautiful, as James Houde’s photos let us see. At least.