Popcorn Indiana

Sometimes, you just want a bag of something satisfying to munch on while you sit on the couch.  For me, popcorn, or ideally, kettlecorn, ranks very high on my list of munchie favorites.  Nothing beats fresh popped popcorn, or the amazing kettlecorn from the farmer's market in my hometown, but I keep trying packaged varieties hoping to find one that is a good substitute, for when I'm too lazy to pop my own ...

Popcorn Indiana makes a wide range of popcorn products, starting with a slew of "classic" popcorns, ranging from simple (butter, salt), to savory (white cheddar, american cheese, bacon ranch), to sweet (classic kettle corn, cinnamon and sugar).  Then they have some "exclusive" flavors like sriracha or hot cinnamon.  They also make a healthier "fit" line, or the complete opposite, several caramel flavors and "drizzlecorn".  And they also make popcorn chips in a variety of flavors.

Everything I've tried has been good, but I won't generally go out of my way for it.

Kettle Corn

Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn.

• Original Kettlecorn: Meh, not sweet enough. [ This is kettle corn, not caramel corn, so it isn’t that sweet.  But it also doesn’t have much salt either.  Mediocre. Not enough sweet & salty to keep it addictive. ] [ Not bad.  Salt level is very low though, more just like likely glazed popcorn.  Some pieces have lot more sugar than others. Its ok, but not great.  Better frozen. *** ]
• Cinnamon Sugar Kettlecorn: Decent cinnamon flavor, slightly caramelized pieces from the sugar, not bad.
• Hot Cinnamon: Sugary coating, like a red hot candy melted onto popcorn.  Good cinnamon flavor.

Chip'ins

I like popcorn.  I like chips. And I was pretty into Popcorners, a cross between chips and popcorn.  So when I saw that Popcorn Indiana had a similar product, I wanted to try some out.  Available only in savory flavors, like Jalapeño Ranch or Hot Buffalo Wing.

White Cheddar Chip'ins.

Close up of a White Cheddar Chip'ins.

These were exactly like Popcorners.  I would never be able to distinguish between them.  Decent white cheddar flavor, nice crunchy chip, slight popcorn taste.  I again liked the form factor.

Not bad, not great.

Drizzlecorn

And, I saved the best for last.  The ever-so-decadent drizzlecorn!  This is their base kettlecorn, already a bit sweet and salty, then drizzled with even more goodness, like dark or white chocolate, peanut butter, and other delicious things.

Dark Fudge Peppermint Drizzlecorn.

Ok, this sounded downright amazing: "rich, dark, chocolaty fudge that’s been sprinkled with the perfect amount of natural, cool, refreshing, peppermint".  Even if I didn't love the kettlecorn on its own, this sounded VERY promising.

Unfortunately, it sounded better than it was.  It was very one-dimensional.  It was kettlecorn, and it was drizzled with dark chocolate, and there were little bits of peppermint, all as promised, but the flavors just didn't pop.  It was sweet, but not sweet enough to be a real sweet treat.  The chocolate was indulgent, but there wasn't enough.  And really, what I wanted, was some salty counterpoint to balance it.

It did have the strange effect of being *almost* good, so that I kept eating it, strangely addicted to wanting to find a good bite of it.  So, at some level, they did make an addicting product ...

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Out The Door

Last week, I had an interesting problem.  I needed to get a little bit more food to supplement a dinner we were having at work (long story!)  I had to be able to pick the food up a few hours in advance, and didn't have facilities for re-heating it, but I could store things in a refrigerator.  So I needed cold items that could hold up for a few hours.  And ideally, I didn't want to go far to get it.

I quickly settled on Out The Door, in the nearby Ferry Building.  They are the casual takeout spin-off of the Slanted Door, known for having pretty good Vietnamesse food.  I've been many times, and although I've never raved about it, it has always been pretty reliable, and I knew I could ask to have the salads undressed so I could mix them at serving time, and figured things like spring rolls would hold up well.

There are several other Out The Doors too - one in Pacific Heights that was really awful last time I was there, but where I'd gotten decent take-out before, and a now closed one in the Westfield Mall that I used to love.  The Ferry Building outpost I've mostly used just for their cooking kits and baked goods, but I've always been a fan of them.

The food pretty much met my expectations.  All solid, decently priced, and certainly filled my needs.  Nothing was amazing, but nothing was bad.  I'd go again in a situation like this.

Taro Milk Boba.  $3.50.

While I was waiting, I got really excited when I noticed that they had taro milk boba! Unfortunately, I hated it.  The tapioca was decent, not gloopy or anything, but the taro milk part was really bad tasting.  I love the taste of taro, so it wasn't just me not liking taro.  It was also a strange thickness, presumably from the taro?

Sadly, I prefer the fake version from Quickly much more, and I wouldn't get another.

Fresh Spring Rolls. $8.00.

The non-vegetarian spring rolls are filled with gulf shrimp, pork, mint, lettuce, and vermicelli.  I ordered mine without the pork, as I don't like it.  The rice paper wrapper was fresh and had a good chew to it.  There wasn't too much of the vermicelli noodles (I hate it when rolls are 90% noodles!).  There were plentiful greens, that were fresh, crisp, and really made the rolls feel light and refreshing.  The shrimp was disappointing however, fairly fishy tasting.  Overall, a well executed roll, but I didn't love it.  They held up fine for a few hours.

The vegetarian version came filled with tofu, shiitake, cabbage, and mint.  They were likewise fairly well executed, but unremarkable.

The peanut sauce, which I was hoping to love, was just thick and gloopy, and I didn't care for it at all.

Overall, I just didn't like these much.  $8 is a fair price for rolls of this size, they are $12 in the restaurant.

Niman Ranch Beef Salad.  $9.50.

The salad gave no details on the menu, just that it was a Niman Ranch Beef Salad with oranges.  I'm not quite sure what I expected, but sounded better than it was.  It was basically just a mixed greens salad, with some slices of valencia orange, red onion, and crispy taro root.  I liked the crispy taro strips, but the rest of it, besides the beef, was fairly standard, and the red onion very harsh and a strange pairing with the sweet orange.  The beef was good: thinly sliced, with a really nice crust on it, well seasoned.

Overall: meh.  Would not get again, and didn't really seem worth the $9.50 price tag, particularly compared to prices of the other dishes.

Green Papaya Salad. $8.00

When I lived in Sydney, I got hooked on papaya salad.  Some places there made ridiculously good versions!  This was good, but fairly standard.  It contained shredded green papaya, shredded carrot, fried tofu strips, crispy shallots, roasted peanuts.  But not a whole lot of flavor, even with the dressing.  Fresh tasting ingredients, and I liked the crunch from the peanuts and crispy shallots, but still, fairly unremarkable.

I had some left over, and ate it the next day at lunch, and actually enjoyed it more.  The tofu and shallots were no longer crispy, which clearly wasn't as good, but the papaya soaked up the delicious dressing.

$8 was a good price for a large salad, normally $12 at the restaurant.

White Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Gelee and Cookie Crumble, Salted Caramel Pot De Crème .  $5 each.

And finally ... desserts!  They offered four types of puddings, each layered, served in little jars.  You know how much I love puddings, so it was really hard to pick just two!

The first was my favorite.  The main layer was a creamy white chocolate mousse.  It was intensely white chocolate flavored.  So often things claim to be "white chocolate" and are really just fakely sweet.  This was actually very identifiable as white chocolate.  The bottom layer was strawberry gelee.  It was sweet, and a good flavor paired with the white chocolate.  The cookie crumble on top was I think a sugar cookie, and added a nice textural element.  This dish reminded me of cheesecake in many ways, creamy and rich, with fruit and cookie components somewhat mimicking crust and topping.  It was a bit hard to get a bite with all three layers since the jar was fairly narrow.  Overall, successful, and I'd eat it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

The next was the salted caramel pot de crème.  It was basically a sweet pudding, with a layer of very runny salted caramel, with whipped cream on top.  The overall consistency was too thin for my liking, a bit hard to eat, particularly the middle layer.  It was also too sweet.  I think it may have paired really well with a black coffee, but on its own, it was a bit over the top.  The salted caramel flavor was good though, and I did enjoy it, but probably wouldn't get again.

$5 was a fine price for desserts of this size, and the desserts were definitely the highlight of the meal.

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Scharffen Berger Chocolate

The first time my mother and sister came to visit me in the Bay Area, I lived in Sunnyvale.  I was working a zillion hours a day and had barely even been to San Francisco myself.  My world basically consisted of  apartment, my office, and the route between them.  I had no idea what to do with tourists.

Somehow, we found our way to the Scharffen Berger factory, to go on a tour.  It was my first chocolate factory tour, so it was somewhat interesting.  I know they are our local chocolate maker, so I feel like I should be loyal, but I don't really love their products.  They aren't bad, but really aren't that great.  Maybe they were better before being acquired by Hershey?

I've had a lot of Scharffen Berger over the past few years, but I didn't take notes previously.  I recently received a sampler pack including a milk, bittersweet, and extra dark variety, so we tasted them as a flight.

• 41%: This was very creamy, very smooth, nice mouthfeel, but a milk chocolate obviously, and not something we normally go for.  One fellow taster said: "not bad for milk chocolate ... just really really sweet!"
• 70%: Very bitter, not smooth/refined/balanced flavor at all. One fellow taster said "That is a lot better than the 36%".  [ hmm, now I like it, although very bitter for sure, like the bitterness ] [ Decent snap to it, fairly bitter, but not that balanced ]  
• 82%: More bitter, but still not smooth or refined.  One fellow taster remarked that it was "really fruity.  Doesn't have the best texture".  None of us really liked it.  Noted that it was good for baking.

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