I tried chocolate Silk soymilk today, and after the initial “that tastes weird”, it’s actually pretty good. Just remember that it’s a chocolate DRINK, not chocolate MILK. Smoother, kinda rice-y, and great for lactose-intolerant people. I’m slightly lactose-intolerant, in that I feel thirsty after drinking milk. This is refreshing. Highly recommended.

On the back of the carton, it lists “Six great reasons to love your silk”, and #6 is “It’s chocolate – need we say more?”. Nice. Also, from their website, Silk soymilk is certified Kosher OU-D, and it’s vegan-friendly. In the simplest terms, that means it’s healthy and uses no animal products(good for environment).
Hmm, also, they use wind power to run their plants. NICE! I’d love to install a windmill in my back yard, but it would be better out in the country. Solar panels? Too many trees here. Best thing I can do electricity-wise would be to move to a more energy-efficient house and buy an energy-efficient clothes dryer/washer.

Today I’m trying palak paneer, a dish from India described on the box as “Curried spinach and cottage cheese cooked to perfection in a mild sauce.” I found this at Fox Farm Foods in Joplin, Missouri. It’s made by Ashoka, and takes 1-2 minutes to heat up in the microwave.
According to the Wikipedia entry, it’s often served with a lassi, which is a sweet milk drink from the Punjab region of India. I would SOOOOOO love to have a mango lassi with this. If you live around an Indian restaurant(not Native American, but Indian), see if they have lassis, and drink up.

The box says that it contains all natural ingredients and is suitable for vegetarians, which is nice. I like to eat healthy. Here’s what it looks like garnished with a chicken chunk from our local Charlie’s Chicken:

Now, on to eating it. The paneer is very similar to spinach dip. In fact, next thing I did after tasting just the paneer, was dip my chicken into it. It’s very good like that, too. Just like spinach dip, the spinach doesn’t come across as yucky as you might expect. In fact, did you notice the word “curried” in the description? Anytime you see “curry” or a variation thereof, that means “spicy”. Not in the sense of jalapeno or pepper spicy, but with things like ginger, green chilli and cumin. Indian spices. I don’t like spicy foods, but I can tolerate a small amount of it. The spiciness was just enough to give it flavor, and cause me to reach for my water a few times. The chicken I added has its own spices, and blends nicely with it. You can also try chips in this, since it’s so similar to spinach dip.
There are also large chunks of “Indian cottage cheese”. Tastes like mozzarella when I get a really large chunk of it. At first I thought they were potatoes, with how they’re cut. Cheese is always a good addition to spinach.

I give this palak paneer two thumbs up. It’s really not a weird dish, if you’ve tried spinach dip before. I do recommend adding something like chicken to it, though, to vary the taste a little, and in my case to dull the spiciness.

wikiHow has a WIDE variety of how-tos, and when I saw this one, I decided I should know how to do this, just in case I have to kill a snake in self-defense.
HOW TO COOK A SNAKE

Recently, we finally bought our digital TV converter boxes*, and are really enjoying the THREE PBS stations we’re getting with it. We’re really enjoying the Create channel. While I was eating my mac & cheese & hot dogs, I decided to see what was on that channel. They were showing how to make pies, and the first one used vegan butter. Hmm, never heard of that. Looking online, it’s basically normal margarine. I figured vegans had found some plant that simulates butter well. They did well with soy milk(as long as you don’t expect it to taste like milk).

Then they had a segment called “Boomer Fitness”. My first thought was kangaroos. Aussies call male kangaroos “boomers” because they make a loud booming sound with their feet to warn their mob of danger. Yes, a group of kangaroos is called a “mob”. Then I realized they were referring to baby boomers(i.e. “old people” …just kidding). I always hear them called “Baby boomers”, so without “baby”, “kangaroo” is what I think of. Add to that, that we’re getting a “Kangaroo Gym” nearby(youth fitness center), and it’s no surprise that “Boomer Fitness” got me thinking of kangaroos.

*(On digital converter boxes: In February of 2009, United States TV stations are switching to 100% digital. Cable & Satellite subscribers won’t be affected, but people who use antennas will have to either have a digital TV or a digital converter box. One nice advantage of digital TV is that it shows the name of what you’re watching, like satellite has done for a while.)

IRONY PLATTER

I’ve mentioned that I’m trying to eat less meat.
We eventually found Morning Star soy sausage patties at the other local Wal-Mart(we have at least 4 Supercenters), so today I had 100% vegetarian no-pigs-harmed soy sausage patties… with real eggs. Something seems conflicting about that. What was surprising, though, is that the patties actually contain egg whites AND dairy products. There goes the “vegan” status right there(also it makes the meal redundant). It IS still “100% vegetarian”, though, as it says on the box. (for the uninitiated: vegetarian=”no meat”, vegan=”no animal products whatsoever”) So how does it taste?

Recently, I’ve been trying to incorporate more vegetables in my diet, and am even considering trying Silk soy milk again(vegans say it tastes much better than a few years ago, and I tried it MANY years ago). While I’d kinda like to go 100% vegetarian, I’d have to redefine what I consider “food”, because I’m quite carnivorous.
Anyway, I’ve seen veggie burgers at Wal-Mart for several years, and today I decided to finally pick some up. THEY JUST RECENTLY STOPPED CARRYING THEM! At least, they were nowhere to be found and the 2 employees I talked to didn’t know where they might be. I suppose they might get them later, but I will probably be checking one of our health food stores soon. Although, the idea of eating anything fake sickens me, so real beef sounds good right now.

Oh, but they had POCKY! Wal-Mart had POCKY! Never thought I would see the day they carried that.

Yesterday, I had some tasty frog legs for lunch at the new Webb City’s Family Restaurant on Main Street in Webb City, MO(across from Route 66 Theater). The limbs were fried, served on a lettuce leaf next to mashed potatoes and gravy. My mother says they taste like chicken, but it’s been maybe 15-20 years since we last had them(grandma’s house), and I gotta say they don’t taste like chicken. The texture is that of a chicken leg, eaten the same way, but the taste is like fish. It was such a large serving(with soup, salad and a roll), that I’m splitting it into 3 servings(well, my second serving was small). I think frog legs are really more of an appetizer or side item, really. They’re like buffalo wings, I suppose.

I was surprised at the variety of food at Family Restaurant. Burgers, spaghetti, shrimp, chicken, and several omelets. They have all the basic sandwiches, and I’ve gotta try their reuben sometime. I love reubens. The only bad reuben I’ve had was at Arby’s. Weird, bland bread. I have high expectations of Family Restaurants’ reubens, though.

In conclusion, I think the only places to get frog legs in the Joplin area are Family Restaurant, and the stream.
EDIT: Heh, AND ONLINE! My first comment comes from the PR manager of Marx Foods. They also have alligator tail! I had alligator tail at Outback in Branson(it’s the only Outback restaurant with alligator tail, as it’s a different company). I remember it tasting like chicken. Good stuff.

After cooking ramen noodles, I garnished it with a peach, and it was a rather nice addition. This was with Oriental seasoning.