Armchair Dining on DP

I didn't realize that you are a chocoholic, too.

I will specify that I prefer dark or semi-sweet chocolate but milk chocolate will do in a pinch. One of my favorite candy bars is Mounds bars which feature a coconut filling covered by dark chocolate:



I suspect that there are many cool forms of chocolate treats from around the world? Would love to hear about them!

 

Doing some grocery shopping this morning and saw these in the line at the check out counter:



I have had chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered pretzels, various types of chocolate covered fruit, but not this combination. Has anyone tried these before? Or any other great combinations of chocolate and other snacks? I am dieting right now, so will be unable to try these for a while. I can dream, though...

 

Update on the chocolate covered pistachios, which I finally got around to trying: they were not very good. The dark chocolate flavor completely overwhelmed the pistachio taste so much that I really did not taste the pistachios much at all. Kind of like putting tartar sauce on lobster: the delicate taste you have paid top dollar for gets lost. Oh well, on to the next delicacy!

 

Same here my wife got me dark chocolate covered almonds with coconut and the chocolate ruined it for me. It had this funny bitter aftertaste.

 

That's interesting, because the "formula" for that is very similar to an Almond Joy candy bar, which I like. It could be that the Almond Joy uses milk chocolate, instead of dark chocolate. Dark chocolate may not be a good mix with nuts, in general. I do like Mounds bars which are dark chocolate and sweetened coconut. I do have to say that had I seen the package that your wife got you on a store shelf, I would have been tempted to try it. Will steer clear now. Thanks.

 

So, my daughter decided that I needed and Allies Donut Birthday cake to celebrate this weekend:



It was good, as usual. For those of you new to this thread, this cake is made entirely out of donut dough, so when you cut off a piece, you eat it by hand as you would with any other frosted donut. I had a palm of the palm tree as my first slice.

 

So, I have been living in Rhode Island for almost two decades now and had never heard of the Dynamite sandwich. It looks an awful lot like a sloppy joe, but contains, celery, peppers and onions (along with a few other spices) that make the taste quite a bit different. Some RI residents buy it by the gallon from the Castle Restaurant in Woonsocket which is one of a very few restaurants still serving this longtime favorite:



The DP World Food Tour would be remiss not to include this on our itinerary because it is right next door to where the Tour Bus is being maintained and upgraded to travel worldwide. We are, in fact, looking at making it driverless so that everyone on the Bus can focus on eating and not have to take shifts driving.

 

I live in the North East of Brazil and this is one of the famous dishes here. CRABS = DELICIOUS!

 

Very nice! It looks great. I have a friend for whom crab is the ultimate food. I like it quite a bit, too. What type of crab is it?

I have distant family in Brazil, by the way.

 

It's a small mud crab that lives in the river estuaries. As you can see in the pic, thy are very small and don't have a lot of meat on them. It's very much a tradition here that people eat them at the beach accompanied by a few nice cool beers. If you are ever down this way, you must try them!

 

We will absolutely schedule a stop to your area during the DP World Food Tour! This tour is looking to last for months, even with the advanced travelling capabilities (land, sea, and air) being engineered into the Tour Bus.

 

I am an unabashed lover of the traditional American Thanksgiving Dinner. Her is a photo of a great looking turkey ready to be carved and served:



For me, I expect to enjoy white meat, dark meat, mashed potatoes, sausage or cornbread stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, dinner rolls and cranberry sauce. Have I missed any of your favorites?

A bit closer to Thanksgiving, I will put up my thoughts on the great desserts that I will be eating during the holiday.

 

Okay, the first important Thanksgiving dessert has been ordered from a local bakery: coconut cream pie, which happens to be just about my favorite pie. It took me a while to find a representative image based upon my specific requirements:



Note that toasted coconut has not touched this confection. Also, the coconut filling is coconut "cream" not "custard." We have found a new pie maker whose coconut cream pie looks to pass muster, at least superficially, so we ordered one and I look forward to sampling it next week.

On another note, I have been informed that someone is bringing a chocolate cream pie that includes cherries and nuts. Sounds interesting, though I generally do not like nuts in pies. Cherries, on the other hand, might be really interesting. Stay tuned.

 

We will be going over to my brother-in-laws house later in the day on Thanksgiving for dessert and my niece usually makes the following candy treat that I really, really like:



It is a "mouse" that is made of a Hershey's kiss (head,) almond slices (ears,) and a chocolate covered maraschino cherry (the body and tail.) You can pick it up by the tail and pop it in your mouth and the resulting taste is absolutely wonderful. I am looking forward to having some again this year. Highly recommended!

 

TURKEY OR CHICKEN?

This year we've decided to go with chicken instead of turkey. In my family everybody can eat that turkey dinner only once. The leftovers don't seem so enticing afterwards. I think it's because turkey meat has more flavor, more fat and is more filling.

 

I definitely prefer turkey for Thanksgiving, but my kids (and some times my wife) would absolutely prefer chicken. Of course, you must have heard of turducken, which is a chicken stuffed inside a duck which is stuffed inside a turkey and roasted whole. That would give you even more options. My daughter is doing temp work at a business during the holidays while she studies for her pharmacy exams. They gave her a ham yesterday, so that could be an option for some folks, too.

We are going out to a local country club for Thanksgiving dinner this year (one of the few places serving on Thanksgiving around here.) This allows my kids (and other family members) to select a meal other than turkey (I will be getting their turkey dinner, of course.) It also means that my wife will not have to cook and do dishes, so it is significant for her. She gets to just bake a few desserts, which she like to do. Makes the whole holiday stress-free, in many ways. No leftovers, though.

 

Are there are Oreo cookie fans out there? A truism among marketers is that Oreo is the classic brand and all marketers should strive for their product to be so universally recognized and admired. I am not sure if this is worldwide or just an American brand, but they are a great cookie, as far as packaged offerings go. Anyway, I am one of those types who rips off half the chocolate wafer on each of two cookies and combines the two iced cookie wafers into a complete cookie with much more filling. So many people did this that Oreo came out with the Double Stuff (they got taken to court for not actually doubling the filling and had to change the recipe, early on.) Of course, I would also double up those cookies, thereby having a cookie with 4x the filling of a standard cookie.

What has Oreo done now? See for yourself:



I don't think that it is a double Double Stuff, but maybe a 3x instead of the 2x icing in the Double Stuff. However, old habits die hard, so even with this cookie, I rip off one side of the chocolate wafer (by the way, I like eating the single chocolate wafers as a precursor the resultant overly iced cookie) and double up two iced halves, thereby getting a cookie with about 6x the filling of a standard Oreo. It looks like this:



My wife, who is used to my gastronomic peculiarities saw one of these 6x creations and indicated that I had gone too far this time and it looked disgustingly sweet. I say, bring it on Oreo, I am ready for the UltraMegaStuffPlus!

 

I really do not drink alcohol that often. It has probably been about a year since I last had an alcoholic drink. But, I may have one or two over the holidays and if I do, I may drink a "Cape Codder" which is named after the famous Cape Cod in Massachusetts because it is made with cranberry juice and there are a lot of cranberry bogs in and near Cape Cod. In fact, the entire drink is four parts cranberry juice, one part vodka, and a slice of lime garnish. A very festive looking drink; perfect for the holidays:



Cranberry juice is more tart than sweet, so it makes for a very satisfying drink and I recommend that you try it sometime if you do partake in alcohol.

 

You know, what? Your enthusiasm has sold me; I will definitely have to have one. Probably New Year's Eve. They are good.