Cosmos Creations

Update Review, October 2017

Several years ago, I tried several varieties of Cosmo's Creations, sorta like puffier popcorn (one of my favorite snack foods), and I enjoyed the unique, very munchable, form factor.  I intended to try more flavors, but, uh, seem to have forgotten about them.  Until now.

Peanut Butter.

"If there’s a hall of fame for flavors, crowd-pleasing peanut butter surely holds a place of honor. This irresistibly good recipe is a blend of sweet and savory, all-natural peanut butter atop a crunchy, corn puff. It’s a simple snack to satisfy your craving on the go. Packed with dreamy peanut butter flavor, we’ve baked up another bite-sized snack that is deliciously addictive."

This was an impulse buy.  Not a standard move for me, as I'm usually quite calculated in my purchases.  But I was at the grocery store with my mom, and saw that her local grocery store carried Cosmos Creations, and remembered really liking the fascinating form factor.  And then I saw they had a peanut butter flavor, and, well, into the shopping cart it went.  (They also had maple pecan, and I also almost grabbed that one ...)

I'm glad I went out on a limb and got these.  The form factor was the same as the other flavors I've tried, a bit strange, hard to wrap your head around, somewhere between popcorn and popped corn cereal, very light, very snackable.

And the peanut butter coating?  Yup, exactly what I was hoping for.  Nicely coated, good peanut butter flavor.  And shockingly?  I didn't feel the need to freeze these, which is saying something.

Original Review, April 2014

In my world, there are certainly not only three meals in a day, and snack foods are a particular weakness of mine.  I love to munch on things.  Even better if they are sweet things.  Even better if they are some form of popcorn.

I was delighted to discover Cosmos Creations, aka, "Heavenly Morsels of Baked Corn Creations".  Not popcorn exactly, because there are no kernels or hulls involved.  Instead they are made from cornmeal that is extruded and then baked, more like a corn puff.  Like any good snack food these days, they are also gluten-free, non GMO.  I'm still not sure why I should be happy to avoid kernels and hulls though, but their marketing certainly drives this point home.

Cosmos Creations come in both sweet and savory varieties.  I did not try the savory flavors, but I could imagine them being like cheese puffs.  I also wasn't able to try their original sweet flavor, caramel, but instead got to try the rest of the sweet product line.

The satisfied my munchy cravings, and I'd happily try out more varieties.

Salted Caramel.

I know they said that it wasn't popcorn, but I somehow still expected something more popcorn-like.  As you can see in the photo, the pieces were about the size of popcorn, and at a first glance almost look like popcorn, but ... they aren't.

Since they are a puff, they are lighter and not as crispy as popcorn.  I like the crunch of popcorn more.  I do see some appeal of not ever having unpopped kernels though.  But overall, the form factor wasn't great.

But my real problem was the flavor.  Caramel can often have a bitter taste, in a good way, but this was a bit bitter in a bad way.  I didn't really taste salt, which should be a distinguishing feature of a salted caramel flavor.

Other samplers said, "these are like cereal, but better!"  Others said they couldn't quite decide if they liked them, but they had to keep eating them because they were so "intriguing".  We were interested enough to try another flavor, but wouldn't purchase this flavor again.

Cinnamon Crunch.

Next, I tried the cinnamon crunch.  I expected the pieces to just be coated in cinnamon, perhaps cinnamon and sugar, but instead they were covered in cinnamon caramel.  Much better.  The pieces were very, very, well coated, resulting in an incredibly crunchy exterior.  They seriously met my munchy desires.

The cinnamon caramel was sweet, but the cinnamon flavor was quite intense, so they were more spicy than sweet.  Really quite good.

I gladly shared the Salted Caramel flavor with others, but these I kept all for myself.  I intended to save a few to try with coffee, which I think would have been fabulous.  Black coffee paired with cinnamon and sweets?  Yes!  But ... alas, the bag was gone before I knew it.  I also intended to save a few to heat up in the toaster oven, because they actually recommend this on their web site.  But ... alas, I devoured my bag in record time.  Whoops.

I'd certainly eat these again.

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Pretzel Perfection

Update Review, October 2017

Several years ago, I wrote about Pretzel Perfection, a gluten-free pretzel manufacturer that made flavored pretzel sticks that I kinda liked, although they were not really like normal pretzels (which, I consider a good thing).  I appear to not have been the only happy consumer, as their product lines have expanded dramatically since then.

They still offer interesting varieties of savory sticks (and they ditched the one flavor I didn't like), and the sweet clusters I was never able to find, but have now added more sweets, in the form of white chocolate covered "Twists", in decadent flavors like raspberry truffle, lemon cheesecake, and english toffee.

And ... they've added seasonal products.  Some I don't quite approve of, based only on concept (yes, they have pumpkin spice twists, sigh), but others sound great (egg nog clusters!).  I was able to try one of these new seasonal items, Cool Peppermint Twists, around the holidays.

Cool Peppermint Twists.

"Gluten free pretzel Twists covered in creamy white chocolate infused with all natural holiday peppermint flavor."

I was pretty happy when I saw these on the shelf at the grocery store in my parent's hometown.  I knew that I liked Pretzel Perfection products already, and, uh, coat things in white chocolate and add peppermint, and I'm even happier.  Dessert pretzels!

These were ... almost good?

The pretzels were just as I remembered, crunchy in a different way, but, good.  The white chocolate coating was applied evenly and all pretzels had a nice layer.  The coating was creamy.  But ... there was something in the flavor of the coating that didn't quite do it for me.  It tasted like fake sweet peppermint, like sugar-free peppermint syrup.  This makes no sense, since, the peppermint comes from peppermint oil, and there is only real sugar in it, but, that is what I tasted.

I still liked them, but there was just this slight hint of not-quite-real that I wasn't a fan of.

Original Review, June 2015

Pretzel Perfection is a gluten-free snack food manufacturer.  I'm not gluten-free myself, but I love snacks, so, I was excited to try them out.

They make two product lines.  The first is their signature "Twice-Baked Pretzel Sticks", which look like any old pretzel sticks, but are available in five different flavors (they don't seem to make them plain at all).  The other is Clusters, which are sweet options, basically pretzel bits covered chocolate, with things like nuts and dried fruit mixed in, and even one version, dubbed "Ultimate Clusters" with butter toffee, peanut butter chips, and butter toffee peanuts!

Sadly, I never found the Clusters, but I've tried several flavors of the Sticks.

The pretzels themselves were far more crispy than I am used to, seriously crunchy.  I originally thought that perhaps they were stale or something since they were so hard, but, they didn't taste stale, so I guess not.  Plus, every flavor I tried was like this.  I think the unique texture must be the gluten-free aspect?  Regardless, I actually liked the crunch.  And the flavors were good.

I'd certainly eat these again, and will keep my eyes on the lookout for the flavors I never got a chance to try, and those Clusters!

Chipotle BBQ Sticks.

"All-natural, gluten-free pretzel sticks with a blend of earthy smoked jalapeno and southwestern spices."

These delivered in the flavor department, and had some serious kick!  They tasted more like Worcheshire than bbq however.  I didn't mind, and thought they were quite tasty, but the flavor wasn't quite what I was expecting giving the product name.

I really, really liked both the flavor and texture of the sticks.  Hmm, gluten-free pretzels, who knew?

Tomato Basil Sticks.

"All-natural, gluten-free pretzel sticks with a blend of tomato, basil, tangy balsamic vinegar and spices."

These ones were also really flavorful. You could taste the tomato and basil, and a touch of sweetness from the balsamic, yet they were certainly savory.  Incredibly munchable, and far more interesting than a bag of chips.

I really liked these too, and would gladly get another bag.

Lemon Toffee Sticks.

"All-natural, gluten-free pretzel sticks with a tangy blend of lemon, old-fashioned toffee and rosemary."

I was most excited for these, after really liking the others, since these sounded sweet and dessert-like.  But ... they didn't deliver the toffee as promised.  I'm not sure I tasted lemon either.  Certainly not "tangy" as described.  I did taste the rosemary.

I still loved the crunch from the pretzel, the texture, etc, but I was expecting a sweet treat, and was thus disappointed.  My least favorite variety.

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IHOP, 2017

Another year, another 2 visits to IHOP for free pancakes (one for my birthday, and one for IHOP club anniversary).  Start with my reviews from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 to read about previous adventures.

I love my IHOP.

August 2017, Lombard Street Location

For my first visit, I went to the Beach Street location, by myself, per my tradition.

I picked this location because it usually is more relaxing and comfortable, particularly as a single diner.  It is much smaller than Beach Street, and has no counter dining, but they usually tuck me away in a little booth on the side, as I described last year.

This year though ... the experience was not nearly as pleasant.  I arrived around 10:30am, and had a 15 minute wait, longer than usual, but not unreasonable.  And then I was given the worst table in the restaurant.  I was at a table literally in the middle of the room, in the big main dining room.  People on all sides, a small little table with people bumping into me constantly.  I asked how long the wait for a booth would be (they have two person booths there too, so I wasn't actually trying to take up a bigger table), and I was told 20 minutes at least.  Sigh.  So I kept my awful table.

On the plus side, the table allowed me to eavesdrop on at least 6 different tables around me, always my favorite past time at IHOP anyway.  IHOP customers, particularly tourists from other countries visiting for the first time, are just far too much fun.

I was rewarded with a family of 5 next to me - mother, father, teenage son, and two other children.  It took them nearly 20 minutes to order, because the son was hyper-optimizing their order, trying to get the best price by finding out what everyone wanted (e.g. "How many pancakes will you eat?"  "How many slices of regular bacon?  Sausage?  Turkey bacon?"), and then trying to pack the order into IHOP's combo meals that they could split, rather than letting each person just order what they wanted.  "Ok, if we need 20 pancakes, 4 slices of turkey bacon, 2 regular bacon, 2 sausage, 4 eggs, we can get 4 combos, plus a full stack ...".  It was hilarious, really.  He also polled the group about orange juice, excited about the prospect of "premium" Tropicana (which his father tried but failed to explain was not indeed a premium product) and determining how many glasses of orange juice they should get to split.  His plan however was foiled by the unlimited refills policy, which prevents sharing.

The real fun for me of course was listening to them all say, "I normally eat 3 pancakes", and then listing off the sides they wanted in addition to the pancakes.  They were expecting, well, regular sized pancakes.  But this is IHOP.  The server even tried to warn them, suggesting that they order the short stacks rather than full stacks, and confirming multiple times, "So, you want 20 buttermilk pancakes?  Each full stack is 5 pancakes, and you want 4 of those stacks?  Not just 4 pancakes?  And not 4 orders of the short stack of 3?  You want 20 buttermilk pancakes?  Ok ... "  Note that they had other varieties of pancakes, and plenty of other sides as well.

My food took about 30 minutes to arrive, a rather long time for pancakes, but not awful.  My server did apologize at one point that it was taking so long.  I ate slowly, because I really wanted to stay to observe what happened when their food arrived.

It was everything I wanted it to be.  Mounds of food arrived at their table.  Their eyes went wide.  "How is this one pancake?  How can anyone eat 3 of these?  How could they ever eat 5?  I can only eat one of these if I'm having the other stuff!"  Very quickly, the huge scoops of butter were removed from the stacks of buttermilk pancakes.  "Why is there so much butter on here?  These are like ice cream scoops ... of butter!  Quick, remove the scoops of butter before it melts in!"  And then, when the server said, "I'll be back with the stacks of blueberry pancakes, all your eggs, and the other sides", the mother looked like she was going to have a breakdown.  I left before getting to see how far they made it through their ridiculous feast, but, they easily ordered enough food for 10 people.  Good times.

Split Stack: Cinn-a-Stack Pancakes & Double Blueberry Pancakes. $9.98.

The birthday freebie covers any of the Rooty Tootie Fresh & Fruity stacks (usually $10.79), or, any other pancake variety, up to that amount.

This year, I headed to IHOP intending to get the new-ish Cupcake pancakes, loaded with rainbow sprinkles, topped with cupcake icing, whipped cream, and more sprinkles.  I've been eyeing them since they came out.  But when I got there, that level of just sweet dessert didn't appeal.

I considered picking blueberry or red velvet pancakes again, both of which I got, and enjoyed, last year, and both of which I knew would freeze and re-heat fine.  But then I saw that Cinn-A-Stack were still on the menu.  They were in a corner, the only ones without a photo.  I've almost gotten these nearly every time I have visited IHOP, and somehow never have before.  I know that their time may be limited, and I may not have another chance (although, to be fair, they were removed from IHOP menus in 2014, but my local IHOP is one of the rogue ones still offering them).  But I also wanted blueberry.  Decisions are hard.

Stacks at IHOP are 4 pancakes (5 for buttermilk).  They only offer a short stack for buttermilk (3 pancakes).  But the combo meals with eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, etc) all come with stacks of 2.  Omelette combo meals come with stacks of 3.  I know the kitchen can make these other stack sizes.

So, I asked my server if it was possible to do a split stack - rather than 4 of one kind, 2 of one kind, 2 of another.  I was told that was fine, just considered 2 sides of 2 pancakes, but, she wasn't entirely sure it would work with my coupon.  She offered to check with her manager, and quickly came back saying it was fine.

Thus, I ordered both the Double Blueberry and the Cinn-a-Stack, intending to mostly eat the Cinn-a-Stack, and bring home the leftover blueberry.  My plan didn't exactly work out, but, I am very, very glad I was able to do the split stack, as I only ended up liking one variety.

Double Blueberry Pancakes (2). $4.99.

"Double up on the blueberries! You’ll get a stack of four fluffy pancakes filled with blueberries, then topped with sweet, warm blueberry compote and creamy whipped topping."

Since I knew I wouldn't eat all 4 pancakes, I asked for the toppings for the blueberry pancakes on the side, so I could pack them up to bring home and freeze.

The blueberry pancakes were fabulous, everything I remembered from last year.  Light, fluffy, puffy, great buttermilk tang, loaded with juicy berries.  They were delicious just to eat plain, good with syrup.  I did want butter to go with, but they don't normally come with it (since usually smothered in compote and topped with whipped cream), and I wasn't going to eat enough of them to be worth asking for it.

The compote was just as I remembered, sweet berries in goo, totally not fresh fruit, kinda like canned pie filling.  I didn't really like it with the pancakes, although it was good mixed with whipped cream, but I remembered the advice from the man next to me last year, and brought it home to warm up and serve over vanilla ice cream.  It is so fabulous that way!

I really liked the blueberry pancakes, and I will gladly get them again.  I eagerly await pulling my leftovers out of the freezer soon too.

A normal stack is 4 pancakes, and costs $10.79.  These were priced at $4.99 ... less than half the price.  I'm very confused how a half order (2) is priced at $4.99 ... two half orders (4) would be $9.98, cheaper than a full order, and contain twice the toppings?

Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes (2). $4.99.

"Buttermilk pancakes layered with cinnamon roll filling & topped with cream cheese icing."

The main attraction was the Cinn-A-Stack pancakes.  Finally.

I love cinnamon rolls, I love icing, and I love IHOP pancakes.  These sounded amazing, and I understood why IHOP has kept them around, even though they are supposed to be discontinued.

For the Cinn-a-stack, I did not get the toppings on the side, so they came layered with cinnamon roll filling (between the pancakes and on top), drizzled with cream cheese icing, and finished with whipped cream.  I really, really wish I had asked for the toppings on the side.  Because, I hated them.

The cinnamon roll filling was gritty, thick, intensely cinnamon-y, and I did not like it at all.  It was very generously applied on top, and even more generously between the layers (more on this soon).  The cream cheese icing was far too sweet, and again, applied in far too much quantity.  The cinnamon roll filling and icing alone add 310 calories to a regular stack of buttermilk pancakes, which, makes sense now that I see the quantity.

I tried, in vain, to find bites that weren't covered in one or both of the toppings I didn't like.  But it was impossible.  I really can't evaluate the base pancakes, as I wasn't ever able to taste them.

But I can tell you about the toppings, the toppings I wished weren't.

Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes: Inside.

The icing on top, and cinnamon roll stuff on top, seemed like too much to begin with, but what was between the layers was even worse.  Here you can see under the top pancake where I ate it, just how much cinnamon roll filling is between them.  The ratio was just all off, even if I had liked the toppings.  No syrup whatsoever was needed, or could be tolerated, with these.

The only thing I liked about these was the whipped cream, so I could use it with the blueberry stack.  It was just generic whipped cream, pretty melted.

This stack was also priced at only $4.99 vs a full stack at $10.79, which again made no sense, particularly given the extensive toppings.

I couldn't finish these, and knew I didn't want to take them home to freeze, so, I sent Ojan a message asking if he wanted me to save them for him.  He loves cinnamon rolls and Cinnabon in particular (which many people say these remind them of), but he was pretty skeptical that leftover, coated in stuff, pancakes would be any good (which, I do agree with).  Still, I brought them.

He tried them cold.  And, uh, liked them.  Really liked them.  He heated a small portion up, and said it was fine that way, but he preferred them cold.  I tried a bite, wondering if they somehow transformed.  Um, no.  Worse.  But he loved them.  They didn't go to waste. But I will never get these again.

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Taro Milk Tea, Santa Cruz Boardwalk

During my recent visit to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, I indulged in ... too many things.  It started with my first Klondike bar in years (actually, quite good!), at the company picnic.  And then, uh, a Blue Bunny sundae cone (which I've reviewed before), also at the picnic.  And then ... an absolutely insane, but not tasty, apple pie funnel cake with whipped cream and ice cream from the Boardwalk concession stand.

But I wasn't satisfied.  The funnel cake was so bad it left me wanting ... something.  I really did want a soft serve cone, but, I needed to rush to the return bus, and didn't actually want to bring a cone on board.  But I recalled seeing a coffee shop that also had bubble tea on the menu, and I figured this was a great choice.  I could get a bubble tea, throw it in my bag (since it would be sealed), and bust it out in an hour or so on the bus, once my blood sugar started crashing from all my other sweets wearing off.

This plan did not work.  Mostly, because, well, this wasn't really a bubble tea shop.

Coffee Shop.

The menu was mostly made up of espresso drinks, hot, iced, and made into frappes.  They also had a Numi hot tea selection.  And bubble tea, listed on the menu, as, bubble tea.  Bubble tea was offered in 4 flavors: thai tea, green tea, taro, and mango, with or without tapioca pearls (strangely, for the same price).

I opted for taro milk tea, as I adore taro.  With pearls.  When I ordered, I was asked if I wanted whipped cream on top.  This should have been a sign.  Whipped cream on a bubble tea?  Hmm.  How does that work with the sealed cups they use?  Answer: it doesn't, they don't actually have one of those machines.

Taro Milk Tea?  $5.95.

This was not a taro milk tea.  It was more of a taro smoothie I suppose?  Not necessarily a bad thing, but, not what the menu said, and not what I thought I was getting.  I didn't actually want a blended icy beverage at this point.

It started with ice.  There was also milk (real milk, not non-dairy powder like much bubble tea).  And I guess taro powder at some point, but I never saw it.  That all went into a blender, just like they used for their frappes.  After being blended, it was poured into a plastic cup on top of the boba, before being topped with generic whipped cream from a can.

It was a total mess when it was handed to me, the contents dripping down the sides, as the person pouring it didn't do a great job actually getting it in the cup.  She kinda cleaned it up.  A regular dome lid with a big hole in the center was stuck on top.  And then it was handed over, without a word.

I asked if they had straws.  I was pointed at the regular straw dispenser on the side.  "Do you have wide straws for sucking up the boba?", I inquired further.  The worker just shrugged, said, "Those are our straws".

Well, ok then.  No idea what I was supposed to do with the boba.

So, it was a blended smoothie, in a regular cup, without a straw to suck up my boba.  It needed to be consumed then, not stashed in my bag as I planned.  I had no choice but to drink it as soon as I got on the bus.

It ... was not good.  It did not taste like taro.  At all.  It was horribly, cloyingly sweet.  The base was sweet, and the boba was absolutely covered in sweet syrup.  I couldn't suck up the boba, obviously.  They were standard size pearls, and I had a regular straw.  This does not work.  The flavor was just ... awful.

It also was not blended well.  It did not have ice chunks at least, but, it was entirely separated.  And the whipped cream?  Meh.  Just stuff from a can.

I did not like this.  But, I was stuck on a bus, with nowhere to throw it out, or even set it own.  The ride was going to be about 2.5 hours.  I couldn't really just hold onto it for that long.  So, I had to drink it.  I hated it.  So sweet, so horrible tasting.  Do not get this.

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Miss Saigon

Update Review, September 2017

I first reviewed, and visited, Miss Saigon back in 2013.  I didn't return until this year.  Back then, I had some decent enough Vietnamese salads, an excellent taro smoothie, and my first experience of Vietnamese desserts (although, they were out of the ones I wanted, so, my dislike was somewhat swayed by not getting what I wanted).

I'm not really sure why I never went back, but, I didn't, until I found myself really craving the style of desserts I had in Sydney at Chat Thai.  Coconut milk, taro, strange mix-ins ... that is what I wanted.  And I remembered that Miss Saigon had those things.

I ordered ahead (using, OrderAhead), but showed up before my pick-up time, so it wasn't ready.  No problem, the very friendly staff member just made it on the spot for me.  The staff were very friendly and welcoming.  I like the family feel of the place, and I'd like to return again.

Che Thai. $4.

"Fruit with coconut and milk."

I've seen Che Thai described as "Vietnamese fruit cocktail", which, maybe is accurate?  I'd describe it more like ... a bunch of bubble tea toppings (except no boba) in a very sweet coconut milk?  Or, coconut milk and toppings soup?  I ordered it because it reminded me of so many of the creative Thai desserts I had in Sydney at Chat Thai, and, indeed, it is a Vietnamese take on a thai dessert.

I honestly had no idea what to make of this thing.  It was served in a cup, like a bubble tea, with a wide straw.  It was drinkable, with the straw, and when you did so, many strange things got sucked up.  But it also came with a spoon, and some of the ingredients inside were too big for the straw.

It was also ... crazy sweet.  The coconut milk base was over the top sweet.  The mix-ins were all sweet.  There was not a single slightly savory ingredient, no tapioca, no taro.  There was no salty component.  Just, sweet.  It was too much for me at first, honestly, and I found myself thinking, "Gee, this would be good with some corn in it, or shaved iced", which of course made me laugh, as I found those ingredients crazy the first time I had them in dessert.

I think this did have dairy milk (likely half and half, per my internet research) mixed in, as I ordered it when I had a cold, and, sadly, it made my throat react like I had dairy, which I was intentionally avoiding.

One quick note on packaging; just like when I picked up food previously, this made a horrible mess.  It was full to the top, with a lid that didn't seal, so, it leaked everywhere just carrying it out of the store.  At least they put it in a bag?  I was amused by the napkin though, as it was soaked already by the time I opened my bag, rendering it useless.

Che Thai: Inside.

There were so many things hiding in it.  I have no idea what most of them were.  This is why I love this style of dessert, it always fascinates me.

There was medium sized firm white cubes.  Irregular shaped green softer blobs.  Smaller red cubes.  Smaller orange cubes.  Yellow rectangles.  Large white bean-shaped things. Besides the bean-shaped things and the yellow rectangles, they all seemed like some kind of jelly?  The description just said "fruit", but I'm fairly certain that many of these items were not fruit.

Here are my guesses on what things were:

The white beans I'm fairly certain are toddy palm seeds.  I think the longer yellow pieces were either jackfruit, or not-very-ripe mango.  I could believe that some of the white cubes were young coconut meat or coconut gel.  The green things were grass jelly and the assorted mix of smaller colored cubes were rainbow jelly?  I somewhat expected lychee or longan, but I don't think I found any.  I was glad to not discover any durian.

To be honest, this is not a high brow dessert.  Sweetened coconut milk plus a bunch of canned fruit and jellies.  Hmm, maybe fruit cocktail *is* the right description, after all?

Anyway, I did somewhat enjoy this, once I added some crushed ice to water it down a bit.  It was a fun exploration of ingredients, but, overall, too sweet, and not quite my thing.  I'm glad I tried it though.

Original Review, September 2013

As I mentioned last week, I had the task of providing dinner for my group at work for a few days.  Since it was going to be takeout, I went for all cold items.  I didn't want to deal with re-heating food, or serving lukewarm, soggy food.

For one meal, I decided on Vietnamese, as there are a number of classic dishes that are takeout friendly, like cold salads and spring rolls.  I didn't have anywhere in mind, as last time I did this, I went with Out the Door, and it was good, but not amazing.  So I did some research, and discovered Miss Saigon.  The reviews were plentiful and strong, for everything but the spring rolls, and they had a fantastic sounding dessert menu.  So, I did what any crazy person does, and went to two places, supplementing the salads and desserts from Miss Saigon with spring rolls from Freshroll, as I reviewed a few weeks ago.  Yes, I could have gotten delivery, from a single restaurant, but ... that just isn't how I roll.  I wanted good food!

Anyway, Miss Saigon is located at 6th & Mission, just a few blocks from Freshroll, so it was easy to pick up both orders.  I don't tend to venture down much past 4th or 5th, so it was also uh, a cultural experience.

It is a simple restaurant, no fancy decor, but clean, and the furniture all matches.  No real personality to the place except ... the mannequin at the entrance.  I have no idea why they have a mannequin, but they do.  I wish I'd taken a photo of it.

The staff were friendly and pleasant taking my order, but I was not impressed with the service.  I placed my order, and sat to wait for my food to be ready.  It was brought out by the kitchen to the counter area pretty quickly, but then it just sat there, while the server did a bunch of other random things.  He even walked over and picked up my containers several times, and then put them back down, and did other things.  He wasn't helping other customers, but instead collecting dirty cups, wiping down counters, etc.  I assumed that some of my order must just not be ready, but nothing else was ever added to it.  I think it was ready a full 10 minutes before it was handed over to me, even though I was sitting there waiting, and one of my items had ice and was melting.  There was only one table seated in the restaurant since I was there mid-afternoon, so it wasn't that he was busy.  I was pretty annoyed by this, and still really can't figure out why he kept picking up my food and then ignoring it.

Anyway, the food was all solid, and some of the hot dishes did look good, so maybe I'd consider dining in, but I don't see any real reason to return otherwise.

Packaging fail: sauce from papaya salad all over the place, soaked through the napkins.

One thing I noticed is that when the server would pick up my containers, he noticed that one of them was leaking everywhere.  He wiped it down, and looked like he might try to do something about it, but then just put it back.  When he picked it up another time, it had leaked out everywhere again, so he again wiped it down, but did nothing to fix the situation.

When I opened my take out bag, everything was completely coated in sauce.  There was a lake in the bottom of the bag, which was just a low quality thin plastic bag, so it also leaked into the larger bag I brought with me to carry my purchases.  The napkins and utensils provided were drenched in the sauce, the napkins unusable, the utensils sticky.  This was a really crappy container to package saucy food in, and they seem to do a lot of togo business, so you'd think they'd have decent containers.  Grumble.

Taro Smoothie With Boba.  $3.75.

I've been craving taro milk tea for a while now.  Basically ever since I had the amazing one from Quickly months ago, and my craving was not satiated by the awful one from Out the Door a few weeks later.  When I saw taro boba smoothies on the menu, it was what made my final decision of where to get the food.  I wanted one, it was a hot day, and nothing sounded better than slurping up a taro boba!

The name "smoothie" concerned me a little, as I didn't quite know what to expect.  When I saw a blender and ice get pulled out, I knew it wasn't going to be the milk tea I was expecting.  I'm not sure what else went into it, clearly something milky, something sweet, something taro flavored, and obviously the boba.

It was really nicely blended, full of tiny little bits of ice, like a slushy.  Not what I was expecting, but I actually liked it even more.  It was almost like a milkshake.  It was creamy like one too.  It was sweet, but definitely not too sweet, and the taro flavor was good.

It was loaded up with boba, hard to see in this picture, but there was actually tons of it.  Perhaps a bit too much.  By the end, I was very sick of it.  The pearls were a good size, and the straw perfect for sucking them up.  They started out soft, but actually got kinda icy as time passed, since they were immersed in the icy mixture.  That was fairly fascinating, I liked them soft at first, I liked them as they got a bit chewy, and I liked them once they got icy.  Kinda fun to enjoy it as it evolved!

Overall, this was pretty good, and I really enjoyed it.  I still wish I knew what went into it.  At $3.75, it was more expensive than the others I've had, but it did have more work put into it.

Goi Ngo Sen Tom Thit. $7.25.

This is a cold salad of lotus root, carrots, cucumber, shrimp, pork, ground peanuts, and rau ram.

I wasn't entirely sure what this was going to be, but I like lotus root, so I decided to try it.

The lotus was sliced differently than I've had before, I usually have it in disks, this was in strips.  It was crispy and fresh.  The carrots and cucumber were fine, and added some color, but did kinda overwhelm the salad in bites, as they weren't evenly distributed throughout.

The shrimp were small, poached, and sliced in half.  Not offensive, but not very good either.  I ate around the pork, as I don't like pork, but it was in thin strips.  I could taste it in the salad though, which I didn't like.  My own fault, for ordering something with an ingredient I know I don't like.

Overall, it was lacking in any real redeeming qualities.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very flavorful nor interesting.  I wouldn't get again.

Priced slightly lower than the salads at Out The Door, but didn't seem as high as quality.

Goi Du Du Bo. $7.75.

When I lived in Sydney for a few months, I got totally hooked on papaya salad.  There was one place that had a version that came with caramelized bits of pork belly on top.  It rocked my world.

I've tried the papaya salad at many Thai and Vietnamese restaurants in SF, but have failed to find one that really packs any punch flavor-wise, or has the freshness I'm looking for.  When I saw that Miss Saigon offered 3 versions, including one with beef jerky on top, I was excited.  Would the beef jerky be like my caramelized pork? Surely it would be closer than all the tofu or shrimp versions I've had.

The papaya was fine, there were plentiful peanuts, and some beef jerky bits.  The beef was a nice change, but not nearly as good as my pork belly memories :)  It had good flavor, but wasn't crispy, nor really caramelized.

But overall flavor-wise, there was not much going on here.  Perhaps because all the sauce had leaked out?  Again, not bad, but not really good.  I probably wouldn't get again.

Priced at $7.75, it was on par with others I've had, but not as good.

 Goi Du Du Dau Hu. $7.25.

We also tried the vegetarian version, with crispy fried tofu on top.  The salad was the same, although it seemed to have a lot less sauce.

The tofu was awful.  Soggy, definitely not crispy, and totally soaked in oil.  Quite nasty.

Che Dau Do. $3.00.

You know me and desserts.  The highlight of my meals.  Their dessert menu sounded fascinating.  I was most excited for the "taro root with sweet rice and coconut" and the "yellow com and sweet rice with coconut".  I love taro, I love sweet rice, and I was fascinated by the idea of corn in dessert.  Sadly, they were out of those desserts, even though it was only mid-day.  Boo.

So I moved on to my next selections, including fruit with coconut milk.  Again, they were out of all of those!  The menu had about 10 desserts listed, but they only had 4 available.  One had ice cream, which didn't make sense for take out, one was a banana cake, which really didn't sound or look good, and then two others were things I'd never pick, but ... I wanted something, so I got them.

So first up, was this one, described as "red bean with coconut".  It was basically just some red beans, in a very milky soup.  Seriously, soup.  I guess it was sorta coconut flavored, but not much.  Maybe this is a traditional dessert, but I was expecting something different, more like red beans with a thicker coconut cream drizzled on top.

I wouldn't get again, but it was interesting.  $3.00 for a dessert this size was good, and it actually came in a container that sealed, unlike the salads, so the soup didn't spill everywhere.  Points for that.

Che Dau Trang. $3.00.

The other option available was described as "black eye peas with rice and coconut".  He said it was just like the taro or corn ones that I wanted, just with black eyed peas instead.

I dislike black eyed peas.  I don't like them in savory preparations, and I couldn't imagine liking them in dessert.  But I was desperate, so I went for it.

The coconut flavor was quite nice in this one, much stronger than in the red bean.  That part was good.  And maybe if you liked black eyed peas, they were good, but I hated them.  There wasn't much rice, but what was there was good.

I think I really would have liked the taro or corn versions of this.  Sadness.  If I return to Miss Saigon, I'd like to try those desserts.

Again, $3.00 for a dessert this size was good.

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Will's Fresh Foods

Will's Fresh Foods is a packaged picnic salad distributor from the Bay Area (San Leandro).  They make all the basics: pasta salads, potato salads, slaws, tuna/chicken/egg salad, etc.  And for each category, the range is shockingly large.  18 pasta salads alone, 55 salads total.  The products are sold through many big distributors in the area, including Costco, and all the standard grocery stores (Safeway, Albertson's, Lucky, Raley's, etc), so if you are a Bay Area resident, you have probably seen their goods.

Will's makes, I'm not joking, 17 different potato salads.  17!  The range starts out with the usual suspects: diced potato salad, with or without egg.  German (non-mayo) style potato salad, with or without bacon.  Red bliss, with or without egg, with or without mayo.   Then comes "Homestyle" potato salad and "Old Fashion" potato salad (yeah, what is the difference? Homestyle has scallions, eggs, and mayo.  Old Fashion has parsley, sweet onions, and mayo.  Then what is the regular diced one?  It has bell peppers, celery, onions, and mayo).  Then there is ... "Natural" with celery, eggs, relish, and mayo, which sounds like the most normal one to me.  Things get more fun with Southern Creole (yams, bacon, and bbq sauce?!) and Roasted Poblano (poblano and jalapeño in this one).

Then there is San Francisco style.  Wait, what?  We have our own style of potato salad now?  It is their signature salad, and top seller, available in salad kit form too.  The packaged version is what I tried.

And before you wonder why on earth I'm reviewing deli salads, let me remind you, I, uh, tend to love these things.  I really love deli salads, particularly macaroni, potato, and slaw, particular when loaded with mayo (like the shockingly good ones from Fountain Cafe's salad bar, or the herbaceous, crunchy Ensalada De Papas from Playa Azul ) or the lackluster options (like the not flavorful enough versions from The Sandwich Spot, Deli &, and Muracci's, the later of which also had corn and broccoli in the potato salad, or mushy ones like A.G. Ferrari, or just plain unmemorable like Wise Sons).  Delica's wasabi potato salad, as crazy as it sounds with snap peas and romaine hearts in it, remains a favorite.  The potato salad from the Qantas business lounge at LAX was the highlight of all my lounge visits in LA, and the Qantas business lounge in Sydney also had some salad hits.

I like deli salads, what can I say?

San Francisco Potato Salad.

"Thin slices of tenderly cooked potatoes blended with rich, creamy whole egg mayonnaise, onions and pickles. A 65 year traditional favorite!"

So, "San Francisco" potato salad is classic mayo potato salad, with onions and pickles.  What makes that ... San Francisco exactly?  I have no idea.

I eagerly scooped up a big plate full, and dug in.  The potatoes were mushier than I like.  It was very creamy, which was good, but I just didn't like the seasoning.  I'm not sure why.  I'm all for pickles and onions, but there was something about this that I just really, really didn't like.

So, 1 point for creamy, -1 point for kinda mushy, and -many points for flavor.  This was not for me.

I realize now that years ago, I had potato salad from Bayside Market, and it was called San Francisco Potato Salad.  It looks just like this, and, well, my review is almost a direct match.  Pretty sure I figured out where they source their salads from!

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Quinn Popcorn

I've reviewed a lot of popcorn by now.  You know it is my favorite snack food.  You know I have ... a problem.

But I also have a new discovery.  A real innovation in microwave popcorn.  Yes, really.  They have changed things.

Let me introduce Quinn Popcorn.  Their tag line is that they are reimagining food.  I don't entirely disagree.  They make bagged, popped popcorn, microwave popcorn,  and pretzels (gluten-free).

I know that doesn't sound very interesting, but, Quinn took the concept of microwave popcorn, and made it ... more work for you.  More work, but, more payoff.

You have to add the oil.  You have to add the seasonings.  You have to shake.  A lot.  They don't have make crazy flavors, and you likely have all the ingredients in your own pantry to do this without their popcorn kits.  You could just pop plain popcorn and add oil and seasonings from your own pantry at a fraction of the cost.  But they do combine it all together in one pretty box, and use quality ingredients.  I'm not entirely sure it is worth the rather high cost (I paid $5.99 for 2 bags of popcorn ... nearly movie theater prices!), but, it is clearly a high quality product.  I also tried their more mainstream popped bagged popcorn.

Microwave Popcorn

Microwave Popcorn is available in 5 varieties, 4 savory (Just Sea Salt, Real Butter & Sea Salt, Real White Cheddar, and Parmesan & Rosemary) and 1 sweet (Vermont Maple Kettle Corn).  I tried one of each category.

Packaging.

The boxes are all cardboard, which I guess all popcorn boxes are, but these felt ... nicer?  They weren't covered in glossy writing and bright colors.

The packaging really matches the product.

Descriptions: Aged Parmesan & Rosemary.

Inside each box is two bags of popcorn, two pouches of oil, and and two seasoning packets.

On the back side of each is info on what's inside, down to the details such as "rosemary: grown and dried in peru and spain"  and "sea salt: harvested in brazil".

Clearly Labelled Packages: Aged Parmesan & Rosemary.

On the front,  the packets are clearly labelled as steps #1 and #2.

So, how easy to make was this?

Well, the popcorn step was like any other microwave popcorn.  Put in microwave on high for 3 minutes, stay close by, listen for popping to slow, grab it before it burns.  Elevate if you have convection oven.  Easy enough.

The bag itself seemed to just be paper.  It even said it was compostable on it.  It wasn't coated in plastic inside.

The popcorn comes out entirely plain, very unlike any other microwave popcorn I've made.  Not only did the bag not have a plastic lining, it didn't seem to have anything but popcorn in it.  No "butter", "oil", or other chemicals in there.  Just a paper bag.  And out of it?  Just, plain popcorn.  Good plain popcorn.  So far, not very interesting.

Now, to transform it.  Pouch #1, for both varieties I tried, was sunflower oil.  I easily opened the pouch with one hand, given the little slit in the packaging.  Points to them for that.  And I poured in some oil.  I'll admit, the first time, it felt a bit weird pouring in so much oil.  I poured on about a third, and started shaking it.  I actually thought I wouldn't use it all, and could go a bit lighter.  But ... it really does all soak in.  So I added more.  Shook again.  And more.  It felt a bit gross adding so much oil, when you can see how much you are adding, but, it was the right amount, and I used it all.

Finally, step 3, the seasoning.  It was a bit harder to get evenly throughout.  I dumped some in, shook, and then went to add more, and saw most of it still on top.  So I shook even more, but still, it didn't distribute very well.  I started creatively adding more, down the sides, and then shook, and it all worked out, but, it wasn't quite as easy as they make it seem.

This popcorn does take effort.

The second time, I did it kinda in batches.  I did probably 60% of pouch #1 (oil) in a few batches, and again, felt crazy adding so much oil, but every taste test I did, tasted better the more oil I added.  I set the rest aside, to see if I really needed it, and got to work on pouch #2 (seasoning), again, in little pours with intermixed shakes.  I taste tested as I went.  Then, I poured out the top half off the bag, and got back to work on the bottom half of the bag.  Sure, it had some of the oil and seasoning already, but, I added the rest to the second half of the bag, and again, taste tested as I went.  The more oil and seasoning you add, the better it gets, so, yeah, just use it all.

Next time,  might just dump it into a big bowl for easier mixing?

Final Product: Aged Parmesan and Rosemary.

"Parmesan & popcorn, we totally stole your idea."

The end result?

Pretty good popcorn.  The base popcorn was actually really quite good, nicely crunchy, kinda light.  The oil wasn't too oily.  And the coating?  Really tasty.  Slightly cheesy, hint of rosemary, slightly salty.  The seasoning for this really was just parmesan cheese, sea salt, and dried rosemary.

Overall, really quite good, and, yes, different from regular microwave popcorn.

Ojan came out when he heard me shaking and shaking and shaking some more, and asked to try it.  He also loved it, and asked for his own portion.

Of course, there is nothing about this that required that you buy Quinn popcorn.  You could pop any good quality plain popcorn (they do sell the kernals too), add a high quality oil, and dump in parmesan cheese, salt, and dried rosemary from your own spice rack.  I'm sure you could achieve the same quality level.  At a fraction of the price.  But, Quinn does make it easier, if you want quality popcorn.

Final Product: Vermont Maple Kettle Corn.

"Like a fresh stack of flapjacks that you can eat with your hands."

I love kettle corn.  There is a stand at the farmer's market in my hometown that makes the most amazing kettle corn ever.  No other kettle corn ever compares, but, of course, I try it everywhere I see it.

More context: I grew up in New Hampshire, on the border of Vermont, with a family that makes their own maple syrup.  And somehow, maple kettle corn was entirely new to me.  I not only had never had it, I honestly just never even thought of it.

The popcorn and the sunflower oil for this were the same as the parmesan and rosemary flavor, the only difference is the seasoning packet, this time filled with just two things: maple sugar and salt.

Given my sugaring upbringing, maple sugar is not new to me (I have a shaker in my pantry, alongside my other sugars).  Putting sugar and salt on popcorn is the classic recipe for kettle corn.  Why it never occurred to me to put maple sugar I don't know.  But I'm glad I have now.

As with the other flavor, the popcorn itself was light and fluffy, quality stuff.  As with the other, I felt crazy adding so much oil, but, it was necessary to make it even tastier.  The maple sugar and salt was a nice combination, not super maple-y, but sweet, a bit more fun than regular kettle corn.

It still wasn't as amazing as the farmer's market kettle corn, but I liked the maple flair, and would get it again.

Packaged Popcorn

Quinn also sells bagged, popped popcorn, in 3 plain (olive oil, coconut oil, or sea salt), 1 quasi interesting flavor (white cheddar), and 1 .. strange one (super kale and sea salt).  I went for the later.

Super Kale Popcorn.

"Organic kale + popcorn = snackable superfood."

I obviously like popcorn.  I obviously like it both sweet and savory.  I don't mind kale.  

But kale popcorn?

This did not work for me.

It was green.  Very green.  That was fun.  It was a healthy option, only 43 calories per cup, compared to the standard oh, 240 calories per cup of caramel corn I usually go for.  But.  That didn't matter.

It tasted like kale.  Too much like kale.  It also had carrot, onion, and garlic, but I just tasted kale.  When eating popcorn, it turns out, I don't want to taste kale.

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