Originally posted by FieryIce

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Sofi, have you had natto? I have not but I'm curious and I'd like to try it sometime. I like beans, so why not fermented ones?

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No, I haven't! I was reading about them today, though. I heard they taste kinda like blue cheese and if they do, then I'm up for them.

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About the author: A prolific contributor to Jul with some 2088 posts published, Sofi better fancies herself as a cinema geek, a composer, an occasional gamer, a budding fashionita, an absolute cooking newbie and a general life enthusiast-satirist. She is responsible for a number of notable discussions about meteorology and current events and may be contacted at any time through private messaging.

Okay, whatever. I know this is a double post but it's been like two days and I really want to talk about my breakfast.

I've been cooking dishes that make use of Worcestershire sauce. It's a pretty strange sauce but it's filled with that totally exclusive umami flavor that deepens the flavor profile of like everything. I've been adding it to burgers and even mac and cheese to get that sour-spicy-savory feel to them and it's pretty great so far. Worcestershire sauce is such a strong sauce that it's kinda scary. The bottle I have dispenses it by drops.

One pretty classic use of Worcestershire sauce is in the breakfast I had this morning. That's right, I had Eggs Benedict. Egg Benedicts are basically this super-cool British breakfast where you toast and butter half an English muffin, put Canadian bacon on it followed by a poached egg and topped off with Hollandaise sauce and some chopped chives. I know, it's so legit Anglo-Saxon it hurts.

The Worcestershire sauce is part of the Hollandaise sauce which consists of that plus lemon juice, egg yolk and a shitload of butter. To make Hollandaise sauce you have to set up a double boil system which means you have a saucepan with water simmering in it and then you put another pot or a mixing bowl or whatever on top of that making sure the top pot doesn't touch the water of the bottom pot. This is to prevent the egg from turning into scrambled eggs. Then you mix everything putting the butter in slowly until the mixture reaches a creamy consistency.

Everything else is nothing special. I used butter-canola oil spread for the muffin and I didn't have any Canadian bacon so I used a strip of regular bacon instead. I poached the egg in the pot with the simmering water and then took it out with a slotted spoon I didn't know I had.

The whole thing was unusual but tasty. Usually people eat two of these to make use of both halves of the English muffin because the portion itself is kinda small but since the calorie count is so enormous I just ate the other half with some butter and then followed it up with some orange juice lifted with lime seltzer water.


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In the future I want to use authentic Worcestershire sauce, fermented anchovies and all, instead of the crappy generic store brand I have and that goes for the English muffins, too, which have like the totally least cool texture ever.

The dish was fun to make.

Overall rating:


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About the author: A prolific contributor to Jul with some 2094 posts published, Sofi better fancies herself as a cinema geek, a composer, an occasional gamer, a budding fashionita, an absolute cooking newbie and a general life enthusiast-satirist. She is responsible for a number of notable discussions about meteorology and current events and may be contacted at any time through private messaging.

Why did you have to turn off your refrigerator? It sounds like there's an interesting story somewhere here.

Anyway, I was in the city again today and I had sushi for the first time in way too long. I had yellowtail and scallion maki plus a single piece of salmon nigiri. Rolled sushi is always a treat but I really think I like nigiri the most because you get to feel more of the texture of the raw fish. Raw fish is just so good.

I have to try sashimi sometime. I'm going to get it next.

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About the author: A prolific contributor to Jul with some 2100 posts published, Sofi better fancies herself as a cinema geek, a composer, an occasional gamer, a budding fashionita, an absolute cooking newbie and a general life enthusiast-satirist. She is responsible for a number of notable discussions about meteorology and current events and may be contacted at any time through private messaging.

I made homemade Chinese steamed eggs (with ground pork!) tonight for dinner using this wok I picked up from my grandmother's place. This is a dish that I ate a lot growing up and I think this is the first time I prepared it all by myself. To make Chinese steamed eggs, you put three eggs in a bowl and added soy sauce, sea salt, black pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a little oil and white wine and beat them together with the ground pork and then steam all of this in a wok with the lid on for about seven or so minutes. It came out a little undersalted but it was perfect texture-wise. This is served with rice and makes a great meal for like two or three people.

What I really want to talk about, though, is this milkshake dessert thing I've been making lately which consists of "Party Cake"-flavored Turkey Hill ice cream mixed with some 2% milk. It's really sweet not to the point that it's sickening but to the point that you feel kinda guilty about it and worry about your health. It's something I really really have to try not to make too much. I came up with it originally because I was eating some insanely spicy kimchi-flavored Korean instant noodles and I really needed to kill the spice fast.

What's really tempting is making an ice cream soda out of it.

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About the author: A prolific contributor to Jul with some 2106 posts published, Sofi better fancies herself as a cinema geek, a composer, an occasional gamer, a budding fashionita, an absolute cooking newbie and a general life enthusiast-satirist. She is responsible for a number of notable discussions about meteorology and current events and may be contacted at any time through private messaging.

Domino's just launched this totally laughable foray into pseudo-haute cuisine in the form of "artisan", yes, "artisan" pizzas. As if at this point we're to expect any different, they also invested in this relentlessly self-aware ad campaign about how impossible it is to convince the general public that Domino's is making "artisan" pies. In the modern world, it seems post-irony is just irony made twofold. Where's New Sincerity marketing when we need it?

Anyway, whatever. I hear the pizzas are actually "good" according to random early reviewers so I momentarily shed my anti-corporate shield and dove in for a taste. I wasn't alone though, since the Domino's was like fucking packed with people. I guess the ad campaign was a "success". Unfortunately I totally missed out on the free pizzas thing Domino's was doing so we had to shell out $8 for this. Okay.

The pizza comes in this rectangular box that declares "WE'RE NOT ARTISANS". They are totally playing this self-aware thing all the way.


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As some sort of assurance of quality or something, they even had the store manager sign it on this dotted line. Mine was signed "Karollyne =)".


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I got the "Italian Sausage & Pepper Trio" variety which consists of "Parmesan-Asiago cheese and sliced Italian sausage complemented by a trio of roasted red, green, and banana peppers, on an artisan-style crust, topped with a dash of oregano". The pizza itself is 13" × 9" and cut into rectangles like some actual gourmet pizza places (and school cafeterias) like to do. It serves two. You probably can't tell from the picture but in person this pie looks like pure Domino's quality. Take that how you want.


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Tastewise this is pretty mediocre. The toppings are okay but evidently Domino's always uses shitty cheese, sauce and bread. This is not artisan pizza and this is what passes as "artisan" these days then I'm totally hitting up Wendy's for some of their "ultra-gourmet burgers". With quality like this, their post-modern wink of a marketing tactic may succeed at drawing customers in but it won't keep them there. Let's only call ducks ducks if they actually walk/swim/quack like one.

It'd be inappropriate to say I'm disappointed because that'd mean I had expectations in the first place. Boston can't claim to be New York City but at least it has some decent local and cost-effective pizza options homemade made by, like, you know, real Italians. That comes with the plus of directly contributing to the local economy too but that's a horse of a color non-gustatory.

Overall rating:


(Soundtrack: Bon Iver's self-titled.)

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About the author: A prolific contributor to Jul with some 2116 posts published, Sofi better fancies herself as a cinema geek, a composer, an occasional gamer, a budding fashionita, an absolute cooking newbie and a general life enthusiast-satirist. She is responsible for a number of notable discussions about meteorology and current events and may be contacted at any time through private messaging.

They're cheaper at local places. There's a place here with single slice meal-sized proportions for like $1.60.

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About the author: A prolific contributor to Jul with some 2117 posts published, Sofi better fancies herself as a cinema geek, a composer, an occasional gamer, a budding fashionita, an absolute cooking newbie and a general life enthusiast-satirist. She is responsible for a number of notable discussions about meteorology and current events and may be contacted at any time through private messaging.

I made a pan-seared ribeye steak with mashed potatoes and then the drippings from the steak on my stainless steel pan I used to try to turn into a wine reduction sauce. The sauce was good but I didn't make enough of it or reduced it enough. The mashed potatoes were made from a blend of red, Yukon Gold and Russet potatoes. I marinated the steak this morning with salt and pepper and some Worcestershire sauce.

The mashed potatoes were okay but the steak was overcooked because our meat thermometer is broken and I ended up putting in more than I was supposed to.

My mom seemed to love this meal but I can do so much better than this. Oh well. I have to wait until next time, I guess.

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About the author: A prolific contributor to Jul with some 2124 posts published, Sofi better fancies herself as a cinema geek, a composer, an occasional gamer, a budding fashionita, an absolute cooking newbie and a general life enthusiast-satirist. She is responsible for a number of notable discussions about meteorology and current events and may be contacted at any time through private messaging.

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