Garlic Soup

I am not a fan of milk. I think it has something to do with my childhood but since I can't blame everything on Mom, I will say it's because I've come to enjoy soy milk. But every now and then I have milk around the house for various recipes and it's always the case that I need only a tablespoon and am now left with almost a whole carton. That combined with the recent reporting on NPR that 3 out of 4 Americans have a vitamin D deficiency, I decided to see what I could do to incorporate a little milk and vitamin D into my diet without me actually having to drink the beverage.

I remembered eating at my first french restaurant with my family when I was a young child and there was a creamy simple soup served before the main course. The soup wasn't fancy, just rich with simple flavors. I decided to try to throw something together resembling that sliver of a memory. Results were awesome. The soup was ridiculously easy to make and is something I could throw together whenever I have some milk lying around because I always have the other ingredients on hand. The Beta Eater came home as the soup was just done and said, "I smelled something wonderful in the hallway and I was hoping it was coming from our apartment." Indeed it was coming from our apartment, instead of our Russian neighbor's who waft wonderful smells into the hallway almost on a daily basis. He very quickly ladled himself a bowl before he could even take off his tie.

1 onion

6 cloves garlic

Butter (About 4 tbspns, but just eyeball enough for the garlic and onions to cook)

2 tablespoon flour

2 cups milk
2 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock, whatever you have on hand)

Tiny pinch of nutmeg
chopped parsley
French Bread or day old bread to make croutons

Finely chop the onion and garlic. Saute on low heat with butter in a medium sauce pot until soft. Add flour to create a simple roux and stir to mix with the onions and garlic. Add milk and vegetable stock and turn up to medium high heat. Stir to mix flour with the broth. Once soup begins to boil and flour has thickened the soup turn stove down and add the pinch of nutmeg. Garnish with chopped parsley. Use fresh french bread to soak up the goodness or use day old bread to make croutons.

Maybe next time I won't be a starving maniac and actually add the garnish and take a photograph on a real camera instead of my iPhone before I begin stuffing my face! :)

Taste Tripping Party

After a long absence from the blogging world, I knew I had to come back with something very interesting if not delightfully delish. After traveling abroad and eating some very interesting/delicious and interesting/disgusting things, moving back to San Francisco could only mean good things to come for the palette.

I had read about this magical Berry in The New York Times last May when I should have been actually working in my minute cube. The West African Berry has exploded on to the scene at "Taste Tripping" parties across the country, thanks in part by this article. The perfect opportunity arose for me to have a party of my own as it was the Beta Eater's birthday and our housewarming party.

The berry, Synsepalum Dulcificuma, works it's magic by hindering your sour and bitter taste buds. For approximately half an hour to one hour your taste buds will change and you will experience foods you are familiar with in a completely different way. We were intrigued by the promises of beer tasting like milkshakes, cheese like cake frosting, and grapefruit like Pixie Stix’s. A word of advice; the berry works on mainly sour foods, people think crazy changes will happen and sardines will taste like caramel or other ridiculous fantasies.

Since it only changes your taste buds which are on your tongue, the food still has its original properties on your lips and once you swallow. For instance, if you eat horseradish, it may taste differently on your tongue but it will still sting when you swallow. Another warning is lemons and limes have the most dramatic change and will no longer be tart but a sweet and delicious. Some other trippers have even eaten the rind because it is so delicious. Be warned that this caused them to eat too many and suffer either mouth ulcers or a really upset stomach the next morning.

The Tasting Menu
Lemons - Delicious and sweet, tasted like lemonade.
Limes – Very sweet.
Grapefruit – This was a very tasty grapefruit to begin with but it was just very sweet, like we had added a whole spoonful of sugar.
Tobasco Sauce - While still spicy, it had lost some of it's kick, the sort of tang that separates Tobasco from other hot sauces. This was definitely one of the favorites for the night.
Dark Chocolate - Same
Guinness - Some thought this tasted like melted ice cream, this was different for everyone.
Lay's Salt & Vinegar Chips - My favorite of the night. It tasted just like regular potato chips, totally canceled out the salt and vinegar.
Sour Cream – Light frosting
Goat Cheese - Sweet cheese
Kiwi – Sweet and juicy
Sour Patch kids – Still sour, perhaps the power of the Kids could not combat the tablet.
Red Wine - Grape juice
Cider Vinegar – Same. Perhaps too strong for the little tablet.
Tequila - Lemonade for a moment when on your tongue, when going down, it's still a Tequila shot. In a Margarita, the drink was ridiculously sweet. Very dangerous!
Watermelon - Same
Granny Smith Apples - Same
Olives – Green olives in a jar, more sweet, but not a significant difference.
Tomatoes - Still like a tomato, but a very wonderful local-vine-ripened-mid-summer tomato, not a mid-February-imported-from-Mexico tomato.

A side note on the tasting, a lot of the fruit tasted the same but we did not have a before and after tasting. My thought is sometimes an apple or a kiwi fruit is more bland than other times and varies by fruit to fruit. Because we did not try the fruit before the tasting, we were not able to recognize any subtle differences. Perhaps the apple we tasted was like any other sweet apple, but perhaps it was just a watery bland apple beforehand.

Aside from throwing awesome parties, the berry claims to help cancer patients and those on a diet. The berry can be a bit on the expensive side, about $3 per berry, but what really increases the cost is the shipping which is 2 day shipping and in fancy freezer packs which can increase the cost per berry to be almost $6. We found some cost effective tablets called "Frooties" which claimed to work the same as the berry. The way to eat a berry/tablet is to suck on it and make sure it coats your tongue. We found the tablets to be true to their word but the change to only last about half an hour when an entire tablet is taken. I couldn't tell you the difference between the tablet vs. the berry since it seems reviews on the internet are of people who have taken one or the other, not both.

Overall, definitely worth a try and a great idea for a party for those who have exhausted other fabulous options such as Beer Pong or Flip Cup.