Week 12 - Baked Cuddlefish

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The baked cuddlefish crisps from Thailand looked like they might be tasty. To be classy, I poured a glass of chianti to go with my baked cuddlefish. I like squid and seafood and I like salty snacks so I figured that while a bit odd or different, it couldn't be all that bad. I was wrong. Way wrong. This was the most most god awful thing I think I've ever eaten. It had the flavor of a fish that's been rotting in a landfill on a hot New Jersey day. I had a very hard time even swallowing this. Every ounce of my being told me to spit it out in the trash. I wouldn't give this to the dog. Not all of the wine in California could make the taste go away. I honestly thought it wouldn't taste that bad.

The ingrediants list contains only five items: Cuddlefish 92%, Sugar 4%, Salt 2%, Chili 1% and Soy bean sauce 0.95% (I'm a little worried about the missing 0.05%). I did enjoy the packaging of this product, especially Squidy the mascot.

Week 11 - Peanuts Coffee Flavor Coated

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Again, I grabbed something quick that I didn't have to cook. These looked tasty and could possibly travel with me. Although I did eat them, I didn't get around to photographing them and writing about them here.

The taste of these is different than expected. I was expecting something very sweet. These however tasted more like espresso beans coated in peanut dust than the other way around. They really weren't sweet at all. Everyone else that I had try them thought the same thing. They weren't bad though once you got used to the unexpected flavor. It is actually nice not having everything super sweet. Since trying the ice cream which wasn't very sweet and now these, I'm beginning to wonder if the Asian palette doesn't enjoy things as sweet as the Americans. Perhaps the all the sugar and high fructose corn syrup packed into American foods has altered my perception of sweet. Or maybe I just happened to get some stuff that wasn't so sweet. I'll have to keep investigating.

One of the more interesting things about this product is the list of other flavors on the side of the can. It looks like there is chicken, shish kabob, shrimp, seaweed and some sort of seafood soup. Maybe in a few weeks, who knows.

Week 10 - Hello Panda Strawberry Cream Biscuits

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Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been in cold, far away countries for the last few weeks. Think Hoth, but with better skiing. (Sorry, I had to throw the nerd reference in there.) Anyway, I want to get caught up, so I picked up a few quick items. The first item is "Hello Panda Strawberry Cream Filled Biscuits". I actually bought these a few weeks ago figuring that I could eat them on the plane, but the prospect of eating and photographing Japanese cookies in a stuffed airplane seemed like a bad idea when the time came.

The box claims new sports printing, and they weren't lying. On each cookie was a panda playing some sort of game like tennis or soccer. The box shows a liquidy creamy strawberry center. The centers really not creamy or gooy in the slightest. They did taste pretty good though. These little things do make for a nice snack. Not too bad.

Week 9 - Silk Squash

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This is the first week that I bought something at the Asian market and I don't know what it is. The label at the Asian market said "Water Squash." When I Googled it, I couldn't find anything about it. After Googling around some more, I located sites that listed this as silk squash or Chinese okra. There's another squash that I saw in the market that is apparently the same plant called angled lufa. The angled lufa is long and has much more pronounced ridges. I'm not quite sure I understand what the difference is. I decided to treat whatever this thing is like a zucchini. This website has a lot of info on Asian squashes.

I sliced the squash up and I could smell a strong Earthy scent. I tried one of the raw slices and it tasted very Earthy, actually kind of like dirt. I sauteed the slices with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Fresh herbs would probably taste good as well, but I didn't have any.

The verdict: The Earthy flavor was still there after cooking, but it mellowed somewhat. The overall flavor was similar to zucchini. The skin was a bit tough, but not too bad. I might consider peeling it next time before cooking. If you want to try a new summer squash, I would recommend this one.

Week 8 - Pickled Green Mango

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Things have been kind of hectic lately and I totally blew it last week. To make up for it, I'm going to get two things this week. The first item bought is pickled green mangos. I love sweet ripe mangos and I like pickles a lot. I'm just not so sure about the combination. Green mangos are also more on the tart side, rather than sweet and are very firm as well.

Normally I would just grab one out of the jar and eat it like an animal, but I decided to be classy and slice one on a plate so it looks pretty for this blog.

The verdict: I'm not entirely sure what I think. It tasted like an unripe mango, with salt and vinegar, ie, exactly what you would expect a pickled green mango to taste like. I think I may have to eat more to acquire a taste for them. I think they would be better in smaller batches, like in a martini or on a sandwich or something rather than an entire slice by itself. I'll have to return to this post in the near future with an update.