7x7 Big Eats 2012 - Anthony's Cookies

Location: 1417 Valencia Street, San Francisco, California 94110

Date: Wednesday, May 23rd.

Food: Cookies & cream cookie
Price: $1.25 each
Comments: The Cookies & cream is not overly sweet & it is definitely a unique flavor that is not often found in other cookie bakeries.  Anthony's recently readjusted his prices & lowered the cookies from $1.50 to $1.25 each; however, he also removed the bulk discount for people who purchase his cookies in dozen(s).  In addition to the cookies & cream, I would also recommend the Cinnamon spice as well as the Toffee chip.


*Please note that due to the increased price of organic peanut butter, Anthony's will not be serving peanut butter cookies until further notice.

7x7 Big Eats 2012 - House of Prime Rib

Every year, San Francisco's very own 7x7 magazine publishes its list of Big Eats,100 things to try in San Francisco before you die.  I have wanted to tackle this list for a couple of years now & this year I'm finally going to try to consume as many as I can get my hands on.

Location: 1906 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, California 94109

Date: Saturday, May 19th.

Food: Prime rib

Price: $35-$45 (depending on the cut of meat)

Comments: Prime rib comes as a dinner with salad, potato, cream spinach/corn, & Yorkshire pudding. The beef was absolutely delicious but everything else just was too salty for me.  If you are not one for salt, ask for less jus & maybe sauteed spinach instead.  For anyone who finishes their steak, the restaurant gives free seconds (maybe even thrids & fourths) but it was no steak; this was about 2 ounces of thinly sliced roast beef that sat in way too much jus.  Service was great & it's never a bad thing to add a little cheesy theater to dinner.  We wanted to love it but...

Gone Greek...Still

A few weeks back I wrote about my recent fascination with Greek yogurt.  Although I tried a decent number of brands & determined a favorite, my fascination is still going strong as I found myself standing in front of the yogurt fridge @ the grocery store the other day searching for more blueberry Greek yogurt.

Specimen #7: Open Nature 100% Natural
     6 ounces
     140 calories.  0g fat.  23g carbohydrates.  22g sugar.  14g protein.
     This is Safeway's organic brand & the yogurt is all natural & does not use milk containing rBST (an artificial growth hormone).  The yogurt was semi-mixed together with the blueberries & it was thick but creamy.  In terms of flavor, it was not tart & it was not blueberry'y @ all; it actually tasted kind of artificial. This was by far the sweetest of all the yogurts I've tried.  It shows again that even if something is "natural" or "organic", it can still not be very good for you.

In short conclusion, Fage reigns!

Gone Greek

In recent years, it seems that countless numbers of diets, cleanses, health food trends, etc. have been popularized, phased out, & popularized again.  But one health food trend that emerged 2-3 years ago - the Greek yogurt - seems to be sticking around; at least for the next little while anyway.  First popularized as a snack, the Greek yogurt's utility has expanded & it is now a widely promoted substitute for mayonnaise, sour cream, & creme fraiche.

Just exactly what is Greek yogurt?  From my research (a.k.a. Wikipedia), Greek yogurt is a type of yogurt called strained yogurt.  Strained yogurt is exactly what its name says; it is yogurt that has been strained through a cloth or filter in order to remove the whey & excess water.  By doing so, the end product is thicker & has a more substantial texture.  So Greek yogurt = dried regular yogurt, what's so special about that?  According to LiveStrong, Greek yogurt is superior to regular yogurt in 6 ways:

1. Greek yogurt can have 2x as much protein as regular yogurt.
2. Greek yogurt can have up to 50% less sodium than regular yogurt.
3. Greek yogurt has about 44% less carbohydrates than regular yogurt.
4. Greek yogurt contains less lactose which makes it easier to digest.
5. Greek yogurt has more utility in cooking than regular yogurt.
6. The rich texture of Greek yogurt leaves eaters feeling more satisfied.

Recently, I have hopped onto the Greek yogurt train because I really do enjoy its tangy flavor & rich full'bodied texture.  But I have realized that there are quite a number of brands of Greek yogurt out there.  In order to make sure that I pick the best one for the long run, I conducted a taste test using all blueberry flavors & here are my evaluations:

Specimen #1: Yoplait Greek
     4 ounces
     110 calories.  0g fat.  18g carbohydrates.  13g sugar.  8g protein.
     Purchased as a 4 pack, each container has plain Greek yogurt with a blueberry "sauce" on the bottom.  While the "sauce" is made of real blueberries, it was not blueberry'y @ all.  The yogurt had a fairly thick consistency & it was tart; however,the tangy'ness was short lived.

Specimen #2: Fage Total 0%
     5.3 ounces
     120 calories.  0g fat.  18g carbohydrates.  16g sugar.  13g protein.
     This was a blueberry & acai flavor & it was a container of plain yogurt with a separate container of "sauce."  I thought the design of the container was very clever since I could add as much or as little of the "sauce" as I wanted.  The yogurt was very thick & it was tart even after I added in the fruit.

Specimen #3: Trader Joe's Nonfat Greek Yogurt
     5.3 ounces
     120 calories.  0g fat.  16g carbohydrates.  14g sugar.  13g protein.
     This yogurt came already mixed together & it smelled really sweet.  The texture was thick but it was a bit gritty & it was not as tart as Fage.

Specimen #4: Chobani 0%
     6 ounces
     140 calories.  0g fat.  20g carbohydrates.  20g sugar.  14g protein.
     The yogurt was mostly mixed together but there was extra blueberry @ the bottom.  It was too sweet & not very tangy.  It was also very smooth like regular yogurt.

Specimen #5: Oikos Organic
     5.3 ounces
     120 calories.  0g fat.  16g carbohydrates.  15g sugar.  13g protein.
     This was another one that had the fruit "sauce" at the bottom.   While it was not very sweet, it didn't taste like blueberries.  The yogurt was think & it was very much like regular yogurt.

Specimen #6: Lucerne Greek Nonfat Yogurt
     6.0 ounces
     140 calories.  0g fat.  24g carbohydrates.  22g sugar.  11g protein.
     The yogurt itself was sweet, runny, & did not taste anything like blueberry.  In terms of nutrition, it has disproportionately more calories, more carbohydrates, more sugar, & less protein; this is everything you don't want in a Greek yogurt.

As you can probably see, the nutritional content across different brands is pretty similar; except for the sugar so that's definitely something to look out for.  In terms of flavor and texture, the Fage was definitely my favorite, albeit it was the most expensive one.  I will be continuing my search in order to increase my sample size, but in the mean time I am going to grab a Fage out of my fridge & have a little mid-afternoon snack.

     

Getting Canned...Again

Earlier this year, I wrote a post on the Boy's behalf about his taste test of canned coffees.  After trying 3 different brands, he had to stop his experiment because (1) they were all really gross tasting & (2) the high amount of sugar within each of these drinks could seriously cause Diabetes.

On a recent trip to the East Village, we discovered a cozy little Asian market where the Boy's eyes once again fell upon a can of coffee.  I don't know if he's just stubborn of if he just didn't learn his lesson the last time, but here we go again...

Specimen #4: UCC Hawaii Kona Blend with Milk
     At the price of $1.49 & 15.6g of sugar per 8oz, this specimen was...that's right...too sweet! But @ least it was tolerable enough that he drank the whole can.  Unfortunately, like all 3 of the original specimens, the texture of the drink was no match to one that is freshly brewed.

Although this attempt was the best of all the attempts, the verdict still stands that coffee in a can is a no-can-do.