Handi-Snacks Pudding

One day, I was really craving pudding.  It can be such a comfort food for me, like ice cream, but, uh, not cold.  I wanted something easy and fast though, and thus, packaged pudding, from the grocery store, it was.  I know I don't love Snack Packs, the kinda standard in this product space, so I tried something different, Handi-Snacks, made by Kraft.  I think these have been rebranded to "Grab 'n Snack", as I can't find any references to Handi-Snacks on Kraft's website, and they have puddings branded as "Grab 'n Snack" now.

Anyway, packaged pudding is not something I grew up with.  My school lunches always had mom's homemade cookies, and dinner dessert was always (again, homemade) pie or other goodie, or, perhaps ice cream.  We never had packaged pudding in our house.  When we had pudding, it was homemade.  As an adult, once I started going out to restaurants, I learned all about the joys of more sophisticated "puddings" like creme brulee, panna cotta, and the like.  My love of puddings deepened.  My culinary skills did not.  And thus, packaged pudding it was.

Butterscotch Pudding.

 I <3 butterscotch pudding.  I grew up with amazing homemade butterscotch pudding (usually in pie form), made by my grandmother, using a recipe handed down over the years (*dark* brown sugar, is the magic ingredient), that was made on the stove top over a double boiler and required constant stirring.  It was a labor of love, and, I really loved it.  Thick, rich, just, glorious butterscotch pudding.

I knew this would not be my grandmother's pudding.  I still had hope.

It was, as you may have expected, another fake tasting butterscotch, although unlike the Snack Pack, it at least wasn't plastic flavored.  But it was crazy sweet.  I also did not like the consistency, it was too runny.  I wanted richer, thicker.

I salvaged it with plenty of toppings and whipped cream, but I would not get again.

**+.

Coco Leaf Dessert Cafe, Boston

It was a gloriously hot summer day in Boston.  I was loving every moment of it, and, as always when I visit the area during the summer, I pondered moving back east.  I miss summer, and in particular, the warm nights.

To celebrate the warm night, I decided to treat myself.  I'd already had ice cream earlier in the day, and, I was tempted to just get more soft serve (in particular, I found place with ube soft serve!) or bubble tea with all the goodies, as there are sooo many bubble tea places near where I was staying, but as I was browsing around on Uber Eats, one place jumped out: Coco Leaf.

Coco Leaf brands itself as a dessert cafe.  Now this is a concept I can get behind.  And not just any dessert cafe, a Vietnamese dessert cafe with plenty of treats perfect for a hot night.  I was in.

Worried about long lines, as I wanted to just pop over, get my chè and head back to the hotel to work (I know, bo-ring, but at least I'd get a nice evening stroll in!) quickly, I ordered in advance on Uber Eats (but, for pickup, not delivery, as I did want that stroll after all!).  The ordering experience wasn't great - there were a few chè that I wanted that weren't listed on Uber Eats, but were on their online menu.  I took a gamble, ordered a different one, and put in the notes that I wanted a different one instead.  This actually worked fine, my order was prepared quickly, and they did indeed make the one I wanted.  

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• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Setting

Coco Leaf has two locations in the Boston area, the one I visited was on Newbury Street, right on the main drag.

Signage.

  Like many businesses, it was on the lower level, and had a sign up on street level to draw you in.

Outside Dining.

Coco Leaf is downstairs, with a patio area that isn't right along the sidewalk, which makes for a nice setting.  There was very little seating inside, but a decent amount on the patio.  This works great in the summer, although I wonder what it is like in the winter ...

Chè Menu.

"Chè is a Vietnamese word that refers to traditional Vietnamese sweet beverages, sweet dessert soups or puddings. Chè is most commonly made with mung beans, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, tapioca."

Coco Leaf has a lineup of milk teas, fruit teas, etc, but I was there for something you can't find everywhere: chè!  It had definitely been a few years since I had it, and there are easily 15 bubble tea shops within 4 blocks of Coco Leaf.  It is the chè that really sets Coco Leaf apart.  I appreciated the picture menu.

I was drawn in by many of the options, but I knew my focus would be on ones that incorporate taro, ube, and pandan.  

Dessert Case.

While most known for the drinks and chè, Coco Leaf does offer up a few other desserts, in a display case in front.  The creme brulee in particular actually looked pretty temping.

Other options were macarons, mango mousse tarts with lots of fruit and cream on top, and cakes.

I saw a reasonable number of people with these items, so perhaps they actually are worth a try?

Chè

Since I placed my order online in advance, I was able to look past the pastry case, and since I went there intentionally seeking chè and not bubble tea, I at least knew I wanted to order that.  There were several chè creations I would have been happy with, and I'd certainly be happy to return to try more, in particular, the halo halo!

Chè Okinawa: Ice on the side.. $8.

"Mochi, signature pandan jelly, purple sweet potato, taro and coconut milk."

Since my order was a pre-order takeout, they had the toppings/mix-ins packaged in one cup in the fridge waiting for me, and the ice separately on the side.  I arrived within just a few minutes of placing the order, but I appreciated this, as it meant my order didn't melt at all, AND I could add as much or little ice as I wanted.  Normally if you order in-person, it comes mixed.  I think I also got far more goodies as a result, as this cup was full, and there was no room for ice, and normally the ice is in it, so, less toppings? 

The ice was perfect, it melted quickly, no chunks, just perfect consistency.

Chè Okinawa: Taro, Purple Potato, Pandan Jellies, Mochi.

"Mochi, signature pandan jelly, purple sweet potato, taro."

So, the goodies.

The mochi were small size, assorted colors, soft, sweet, fairly standard, but good.  No better nor worse than most mochi.  They added a good texture to the drink/dessert. ***+.

Pandan jellies are their "signature" item, made in house, and were very good.  Super soft, nice chew, clearly freshly made, not just mass produced item.  Great to slurp up with my boba straw.  There was TONS of this. ****.

And then, swoon, the taro and purple potato.  HUGE hunks of both, and plenty of them.  They were soft but not mushy, savory which helped balance out the sweet coconut milk.  Very good, and I loved having fresh taro!  ****.

Chè Okinawa: Assmebled.

"Mochi, signature pandan jelly, purple sweet potato, taro and coconut milk."

Here you can see the fully assembled creation, although I devoured much of it before snapping this photo.

The coconut milk was very sweet, certainly sweetened, and the pandan jelly and mochi were both lightly sweet too, so it really needed the slightly savory taro and purple potato to balance it out.  I think actually some beans (red or white, they use both in their other creations) would be great in here.  It did trend a touch too sweet for me, and I'd prefer it less sweet (no option though to modify).

Overall though, this was fun to eat with a spoon to get chunks of taro/potato and ice, to slurp with a straw, and really, just enjoy.  It ate very well.

I actually had to dump out about half the toppings to add ice (and luckily had a freezer mug with me to dump them into!), so I was able to make a second serving later - score!  The value was clearly there for $8, as it was so generously loaded with things.

I enjoyed this, but, as I noted, I found it more sweet than I wanted, and I did find myself wishing for either a crunchy element (I'm not sure what exactly, it certainly doesn't quite make sense, but granola or cookie crumble or something?), or a savory milk foam / cheese top to balance out the sweet.  It was still quite good though, and I'd return to try others.

***+ overall, and a nice change from standard dessert offerings.

Swiss Airlines, Business Class, ZHR-MUC

As part of my trip to Munich, I flew on Swiss Airlines with a connection in Zurich.  The trip took an unexpected turn when I had to upgrade to First Class, which meant I had an incredible fine dining meal in the Zurich lounge.  I wasn't planning to eat on my flight to Munich, nor did I even really expect there to be a meal, as the flight was, literally, 40 minutes long.

But there was a meal.  The flight was ridiculously empty, only 4 of us in the front of the aircraft, which is European business class (e.g. just normally middle seats blocked).  In this case we all had multiple rows to ourselves.  As soon as they could, our cabin crew sprang to life and offered us a meal, along with wines and other drinks.  I honestly think it was like 7 minutes from takeoff when I had a meal in front of me.  They put US airlines to shame.

Snack Platter.

So, my "snack".

I don't know what this was, really. There were no options, no description given, just this platter offered. I was quite full from my First Class lounge dining just before, and my First Class flight late dinner and breakfast before that, AND it was only 10:30am in my world, but this was strangely good. I'm glad I tried it, hunger or not.

Mystery Savories.

The first item seemed to be a grainy nut bread (soft, not dried out, great texture, loved the crunch from walnut), with some kind of ... creamy fluffy spread.  Honestly, no clue what it was.  Not tangy enough to be cream cheese, light and fluffy, kinda maybe a slight aspect of egg or paprika to it?  Squash?  I really don't know, but I found it strangely really quite enjoyable.  Jetlag?  Captive audience?  No idea why, but, I found this so good.  I wasn't hungry, but devoured it.  I still wish I knew what it was.  ****.

The other open faced sandwich thing was less delicious, just white bread, with a little bit of aioli or mayo, a slice of roast beef, and a slice of hard boiled egg.  There was nothing wrong with this, but I think I just wasn't into the roast beef. ***.

Pot of Joy!

And then, the little pot of joy!  Yes, I adored my cheesecake in the First Class Lounge, but this was a very tasty little pot.  Creamy sweet vanilla pudding (panna cotta?), sweet and fruity strawberry base.  Much much better than most international business class desserts, let alone this short little hop.  It was also far better than the First Class dessert on my earlier flight, but, that was US based catering, and this was out of Zurich. ****+.

To complete our meal, we were given little bars of Swiss chocolate.

40 minute flight, food I couldn't identify, but, really quite good.