My wife recently won some passes to check out the various offerings by The Hershey Company in Hershey, PA.  One of these included free admission to The Hershey Story and a chocolate tasting at Cafe Zooka.   The chocolate tasting in this case consisted of a series of single origin drinking chocolates from around the world.  They were made by melting chocolate and blending it with milk in a 1:3 ratio.  Each serving is 1-1.5oz depending on who at the counter is pouring.

You get 6 different varieties, and a small glass of water, in the tasting.  The chocolates, with percentage cocao, are from: Mexico (70.1%), Ecuador (66%), Sao Thome (70%), Madagascar (66%), Tanzania (75%), and Java (32.9%).

(My daughter couldn’t wait)

We began the tour in Java since it has the lowest cocao rating and worked our way up.  With Madagascar and Ecuador tied we took the one nearest us, respectively, which left me with Madagascar.  In between each sip we cleansed our palates with the provided water.

Initial impressions left us rating them, in descending order of preference, as follows:

Me: Java, Sao Thome, Tanzania, Mexico, Ecuador, Madagascar.

My Wife: Ecuador, Java, Sao Thome, Mexico, Tanzania, Madagascar.

After talking about it with one another we discovered why we rated them this way.  Those at the top were the most familiar and reminded us the most of a regular dime store chocolate bar.  The further you got away from that the more unique the characteristics were, which made them foreign to our tastes.  As we sipped further and took our time, each individual variety opened up some of its secrets and by the end of the event we found that they had each grown on us and they were all of equal caliber.  Our only complaint is that by the end they had begun to cool and the flavors started to close up as they did so.  Ideally, these should be drank warm and fresh, each glass finished in 3 or 4 sips at most.  Do not go slow to keep savoring each flavor but let it fill your mouth and overwhelm your senses.  Revel in the experience, but share it with someone whose company you enjoy.

Would I go and enjoy these drinking chocolates again?  Most certainly.  At $9.95 it is an affordable and enjoyable little decadence, something that is getting harder and harder to find.

And it makes for a great date.

I love what my wife can find in the freezer aisle of our local Giant grocery store.  For some reason this is where they decided to put the clearance/damaged goods rack.  It has become routine for her to stop there and see what crops up.  Quite a few of the natural, organic, and/or gluten free items show up here regularly.  That was the case with the Nature’s Path Crunchy Vanilla Surprise cereal.  The box was crushed at the edge but the contents were in great shape and oh what a great product this is.

Corn puffs that remind me of Kix.  Flakes made of amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat.  Rice puffs round it out.  Holding up well under the influences of milk it remained crunchy from the first to the last bite, all of which was permeated by a light vanilla flavor.  Whether I picked out a single puff or a heaping spoonful it was not overpowering and complimented the grains perfectly.

This is a nice breakfast cereal for a change.  Though I got it at a discount this time around, it is going on my list of cereal choices when I’m looking for a cold breakfast option.

I have had some problems when locating gluten free seafood products.  Gorton’s is clear about the ingredients of their products, but they seem to change.  Obviously, the breaded products are right out.  Much to my surprise, so are many of the products that include sauces.  From my first research on their website it looked like quite a few items were safe.  Only when I started grabbing them and bringing them home did I realize, much to my chagrin, re-reading the labels revealed unidentified food starch and yeast extracts.  With my sensitivity I can’t trust them to be pure so passed on eating them.

As I sit down to write this I have three different boxes of Gorton’s Grilled fish.  They are current production purchased this past weekend. Below is each product and the latest ingredient list.  I hope this helps you eat better, allergen free.

Grilled Salmon – Lemon Butter

Wild Salmon, Water, Canola Oil, Salt, Butter (Cream, Salt, Annatto Color), Natural Flavor, Sugar, Fructose, Citric Acid, Monosodium Glutamate, Dehydrated Lemon Peel, Gum Arabic, Maltodextrin, Nonfat Milk, Dehydrated Parsley, Whey, Sodium Caseinate, Lemon Juice Solids, Xanthan Gum, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Soy Protein Isolate, Turmeric Color, Sodium Tripolyphosphate (To Retain Fish Moisture), Propyl Gallate (added to Protect Flavor)

Contains: Salmon, Milk and Soy.

Grilled Fillets – Garlic Butter

Pollock, Water, Olive Oil, Canola Oil, Sea Salt, Corn Starch, Nonfat Milk, Butter Solids (Cream, Salt) Garlic Powder, Spice, Gum Arabic, Parsley, Sugar, Xanthan Gum, Natural Flavoring, Tocopherol (added to Protect Flavor)

Contains: Pollock, Milk.

Grilled Tilapia – Roasted Garlic and Butter

Tilapia, Water, Canola Oil, Salt, Roasted Farlic Powder, Modified Corn Starch, Butter Solids, Natural Flavor, Spice, Maltodextrin, Parsley, Hydroxypropyl Methycellulose, Monosodium Glutamate, Citric Acid, Nonfat Milk, Whey, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Caseinate, Caramel Color, Sodium Tripolyphosphate (To Retain Fish Moisture), Enzyme Modified Butter, Calcium hydroxide, Annatto and Paprika Extract Color, Propyl Gallate (to protect Flavor), Carrageenan, Ascorbic Acid, Tocopherol.

When was the last time you grabbed a snack, looked at the serving size, and realized just how little you got for that calorie count.  Did you weigh or count out the exact portion?  Or just toss some into a bowl figuring it was close enough?  If you are in the latter category the changes being considered by the FDA may be able to help you make more realistic choices when you decide to eat.

You can catch the full article on the topic here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35268111/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/

I have had it in my mind to do a post about food and menu planning when I ran across this story. A woman in Texas planned out her entire menu for a year and now shops around only what is on that schedule, buying in bulk and on sale whenever possible.  May it help you eat better on a smaller budget.

The news story (video):

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/consumer&id=7227646

Link to her 2009 Calendar (Pdf):

http://dig.abclocal.go.com/ktrk/ktrk_011910_dinnercalendar.pdf

After watching Food, Inc. our oldest daughter decided that she would like to know more about where her food is coming from, especially when it involves the death of an animal.  As my wife and I are dedicated omnivores with wide ranging palates we committed to helping her explore this path. In doing so, we will also show her how life must change in order to seek this goal.  Simply put, locally organically grown meat is expensive compared to industrial agri-business products.  We are fortunate that we can afford to buy these items, but not without some changes.

We must eat less meat to do this.

To do so, our meat-centric diet needs to be curtailed.  Initially, my thoughts were simply to reduce the amount of meat served at any given meal and up the starches and veggies, we are after all a stereo-typical meat and potatoes family.  My wife recalls growing up in a family that served up a large portion of meat, some form of potato, and a vegetable.  Though she left out one small detail about the vegetable portion that I have gotten to experience first hand with her mother’s cooking: there will be butter.  After searching through our recipes and putting some thought into what to serve and how to par back while increasing other portions so that it is still balanced about the same, our conversation changed; the problem with these thoughts is that meat is still the main portion of the entree.  Steak with potato gratin is still steak first regardless of the portion size.

I am looking at our meals in this new light and see that there will need to be more changes to our eating than just choosing to put less meat in. New recipes will need to be found and developed for our liking that have less meat to begin with.  They will need to incorporate it so that it is not the focus. Eventually, we can change our family’s decades of eating habits to a new lifestyle that includes vegetarian meals and only a few servings of meat a week.

Has your family made this kind of change?  How did you do so?  What recipes are now staples that you wouldn’t have eaten before?

Can you tell I’ve been looking for as many chain restaurant’s as possible that offer gluten free menus, not just individual items?  As I find more I’ll get them posted for you.

Bertucci’s Italian Restaurant, with locations in 10 states and Washington D.C., offers a very nice GF menu offering everything from appetizers through desserts.  There isn’t one close enough that I’ve been able to make a trip out, but the food sounds great and I want to plan a trip to try it.

If you have eaten there, please let us know about your experience.

http://www.bertuccis.com/#Gluten%20Free%20Menu

If you have a problem with cross contamination you will probably want to avoid anything off the grill.  The GF menu bears a note that many of the items come from the same grill and there is not a gluten free grill.  I am thankful however to see that more chains are working on offering gluten free menus.  It provides more options for enjoying a meal out.

http://www.carrabbas.com/menu/pdf/GFmenu.pdf

My wife and I were remarking on how long it has been since we went out to dinner when I decided to go looking for local places that have a gluten free options.  Much to my surprise, Outback Steakhouse provides a clear and detailed menu.  Helpful hints abound for how to modify your order to make it gluten free.  One thing that surprised me, and was a bit upsetting, was to find out that Aussie fries are not gluten free.  There are consolation prizes though: Chocolate Thunder From Down Under is a decadent gluten free dessert!

http://www.outback.com/foodandmenus/pdf/glutenfree.pdf

http://www.farmshow.state.pa.us/

This is a great event.  Family friendly, great exhibits, and the food court is to kill for, though may give you a heart attack.  For anyone who is thinking of goingp some things to check out:

Lancaster Farming.  You can get a free issue at their stand which is worth checking out.  This is an excellent weekly newspaper about agriculture.  Though the focus is primarily PA and the surrounding areas, it also addresses national and world issues.  The latest issue has an excellent article on antibiotic resistance in animals and how it is effecting people.  Also opinion pieces about food security.

Milkshakes.  All the way down on your left when you enter the food court from the main exhibit hall.  Chocolate.  Vanilla.  Black and White.  You can’t go wrong.  Stand in line and wait it out.  They are worth it.

Fries.  These are immediately on your left when you enter the food court from the main exhibit hall.  This line moves quickly.  Even if you see it wrap halfway across the floor, you won’t be standing there long.

Fried veggies.  Directly across from the milkshakes.  You get a lot for the money and the onion rings are outstanding.  Mild onions with a slightly sweet batter.  Mmmm.

The Junior Rodeo.  There are two shows of the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo on opening day.  Go out and support the kids who do it, they put on a great show and work real hard.  Doing well here can earn them points towards a spot at the national competition.  There is no prize money for them plus they pay $50 per event they participate in.  Go out and give them the biggest applause and roar of the crowd you can.  It is their biggest reward.

The Professional Rodeo.  This rounds out the week and is on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.  Tickets are reasonable at $15 for general admission and $25 for “VIP Gold Seating”.  On Thursday only children 12 and under are just $5.  I do recommend the upgrade to Gold Seating if it is in your budget because you are looking down directly onto the rodeo floor from the sides, like if you have 20-20 yard seats at a football stadium.  The rest of the seating curves around then ends and isn’t as good if the cowboys are pushed to the walls.

One final note: Parking prices have been raised this year to $10 per vehicle, so if you are going make sure to carpool.