I’ve always used the dry powdered dishwashing detergent. It just seemed more economical and easier (since I didn’t have to keep making trips to buy more because each box of the powdered stuff holds more loads than a typical bottle of liquid). So, I’ve never actually tried the liquid dishwashing detergent until now. I got a bottle of Liquid Cascade and I really like it. We run the dishwasher fairly often (especially when I’m preparing something for an article on Cooking For Engineers or just testing recipes) and sometimes when I’m in a hurry and the box if full, it’s easy to spill some of the powdered stuff onto the ground (got to make sure your hands are dry before you try to pick up powdered detergent!). But the liquid stuff seems so easy to pour and control quantity - just squeeze until the right amount is in the cup and you’re done! The powdered stuff is a bit harder to control the flow of. This seems like a silly reason to switch, but after running a couple dozen loads with liquid, I’m seriously contemplating sticking with the Liquid Cascade for my dishwashing needs from now on. Also, I noticed that I don’t seem to need a rinse aid anymore - the Cascade seems to rinse of by itself really well even though we’ve got hard water.

So, Tina and I are in San Francisco celebrating our anniversary. I took her to Jai Yun and we had one of the best meals (if not the best - right now we think it’s the best but I’ll wait a few days before deciding). One thing it lacked was dessert and both of us had a craving for rice pudding. So on the walk back from Chinatown to Union Square (where our hotel is) we stopped at an E&O Trading Company.

They had a rice pudding with lemongrass, coconut milk, and a strawberry basil sauce. We decided to stay and ordered it. Unfortunately, the rice pudding was subpar - very mild, bland, and barely sweet. We couldn’t even taste a hint of lemongrass. Oh well. With this experience and our previous dinner (six years ago) that was entirely unmemorable (except for the corn fritters), what resulted was a new rule - never eat at E&O Trading Company.

This sounds like fun. Carrabba’s Italian Grill, a nationwide chain of Italian restaurants (that seem to be everywhere except for California… I wonder if they’re any good), has a promotion where they’ve partnered with a Tuscan winery (Ruffino) to produce a wine (they describe it as a baby super tuscan blend) for sale at the restaurant. They’re asking for submissions for a unique name for the new wine. What does the winner get? A case of the exclusive wine, a special dinner for twelve, and a years worth of dinner at Carrabba’s. I’m not too good with names… the best I’ve come up with is Savory Oak which is kind of lame. I’d be interested in hearing some of your ideas (whether or not you actually participate in the contest). I never gave wine names much thought before.

After making a few batches of cold process soaps and waiting patiently for 3+ weeks while they cure, you are probably wondering if there’s another way of making soap that doesn’t require such a long waiting time. What if you need to make gifts for an upcoming party/holiday/special occasion, and there’s not enough time left? What if you are like me and sometimes just don’t have the patience to wait that long to use your new soaps? Then you should try hot process soap making - make it in the morning and use it in the afternoon! Hot process involves cooking the soap mixture in a slow cooker, double boiler, or stock pot for a couple of hours until it becomes neutral (heat speeds up the saponification process), and the soap is usable right away.

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It’s funny how sometimes the best things to eat are the simple things. I haven’t been to this restaurant in a couple years, so I thought I’d stop in. B44 is a restaurant specializing in Spanish (Catalan) cuisine and is situated on Belden Place among several other western European places to eat. After my last visit, I’d recommend the Catalan toast and ox tails appetizer. From memory their paellas are quite good, but for us last night it was the basic appetizers that hit the spot. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera on me, so no pictures - just descriptions.

B44 (Google Maps)
44 Belden Place
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 986-6287
b44sf.com

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Tina set up the vanilla ice cream test right after I set up the Choctal test. We tried the three vanillas in our freezer - Strauss Family Creamery Vanilla, Choctal Madagascar Vanilla, and Trader Joe’s Vanilla Ice Cream. I also tried to guess which was which and was COMPLETELY wrong. I guessed that the flavors were Choctal, Strauss, and mystery brand (I forgot the third brand in the freezer). It turned out they were Strauss, Trader Joe’s, and Choctal.

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While prepping the photos for a Guacamole recipe, I removed the pits from four avocados. It was at this time that I began to wonder what was inside the pit. Was there a nut inside this over sized seed like the pit of a peach, almond, or cashew?

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Sometimes Tina and I do blind tastings. This time I had my friend Trevor over so we had an extra mouth to taste test. I picked up the lineup of Choctal ice creams available in my local markets - four single origin chocolate ice creams (Kalimantan, Dominican, Ghana, and Costa Rican) and vanilla ice cream (Madagascar vanilla). I had previously tasted the same five Choctal products at the 2007 Fancy Food Show, but neither Trevor nor Tina had. I set up the test (mainly to see which of the four chocolates we would prefer).

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Every few days, when I need a break from my audio books, I’ll listen to the news and talk radio while driving. Over the years, I’ve just gotten used to listening to KGO Newstalk 810. With the Democratic primaries finally over (now that Clinton has endorsed Obama), there have been a few shows letting listeners chime in and express their thoughts on Obama as a candidate. What irks me is that there are quite a few listeners that still say Barack Obama may give a good speech, but in the end he doesn’t really have any plans (for health care, withdrawal from Iraq, the economy, whatever issue that listener cares about). I think the last time this happened, a Clinton supporter called in on Gil Gross’s program and stated that she was afraid the American people were adopting a “wait and see” attitude concerning Obama. She felt that people were just voting for Obama because the alternatives reminded them too much of our current administration and that this was very dangerous since Obama is all talk and doesn’t have a plan for health care or Iraq. The host of the show (don’t know if it was Gil since I tuned in late, but it sounded like Gil) agreed with her! I have a BIG problem with this.

I don’t know who started it (was it Hillary Clinton’s campaign or McCain’s or someone else) but there’s this “rumor” going around that Barack Obama gives great speeches, but in the end he doesn’t have a firm plan to make any real changes. People I talk to seem confused about his stance on taxes, how his plan for health care differs from Clinton’s plan, and seem to believe he wants to pull all the troops out of Iraq on Day One. Unfortunately, people believe what they want to believe and don’t bother investigating for themselves.

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Tina and I took her parents to a couple of caverns in Califonia’s Gold Country. We first went to Black Chasm Cavern but found out the entire area didn’t have any power (so no bathrooms were available there and almost everything in the town of Volcano was closed). They were still giving tours, but with flashlights. I was all for going on the flashlight tour, but Tina and her parent’s thought it would be better to move on to a town with power (so we could get some food) and to Moaning Cavern. (I called ahead to make sure they had power - they did.)

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