Netherlands

This month’s box of goodies from Universal Yums featured snacks from the Netherlands.  

There was only one item in the box I disliked and a couple of them I was meh about but I happened to start off with what turned out to be my favorite.

The Choco Stroopwafels is a delicious caramel and cookie combo wrapped in chocolaty goodness.  You can see the caramel trying to escape from the chocolate prison but the only place it went was in my belly.  Nice start to the box. 

My second favorite was a box of cookies.

These rectangular spice cookies reminded me of windmill cookies I used to buy at a bakery outlet back in the 80s.  I think you can still find them in stores.  The taste was not quite gingerbread but definitely cinnamon spiced and maybe something else.  The texture was a bit crumbly and they are topped with sliced peanuts and very light glaze.  These rivaled the stroopwafels when paired with a good strong cup of coffee.

For the most unusual I’m going to say it was the truck gummies.

These little trucks came in three different styles and colors and each one had a different flavor and texture.  The light brown ones were the least “gummy” and broke down quickly as you chewed them.  The flavor like licorice with a heavy dose of brown sugar or molasses.  The medium brown were like a combo of caramel, licorice and a hint of milk with a more gummy texture.  I know that sounds weird but they weren’t bad.  The dark trucks were the most stretchy and chewy of the lot and tasted most of licorice but also caramel mixed in. 

As odd as the trucks might sound the truly oddest also qualified for the worst of the lot.

From the bag of candies came the Napoleon Zwart-Wit in the top right of the photo.  This little nugget of nastiness was supposed to taste like licorice with a salty filling.  Now I like licorice a lot and I’ve tried some salted styles from Denmark that I quite enjoyed but even salt couldn’t save these balls of bad.  It tasted faintly of licorice with an ammonia aftertaste which was off putting to say the least.  Turns out ammonium chloride is an ingredient.  I’m game though and stuck with it until the hard shell melted enough for the salt kick in.  That did dampen the ammonia a bit but the overall taste experience was like sucking on some kind of caustic cleaning product.  These were the Waterloo of the Netherlands box.  Just in case you thought I was on the fence these were disgusting.

I did want to go ahead and mention a couple of the others because they were good or at least interesting.

The pink Cadillacs were fruit gummies that tasted pretty good but I could only sit there hearing Aretha Franklin Freeway of Love song in my head the whole time I was eating them.  They came in strawberry, cherry and black currant.

The Roka Cheddar & Raspberry cheese crispies were worth a mention two because they had some of the best cheddar taste I’ve had in a cracker.  The texture of these were like a pastry dough that had been sliced thick and back with the cheddar and the little dried raspberry bits scattered in for a surprise sweet taste every now and then.  

Overall the box was 75% good, 17% meh and 8% yucky.  That’s a win percentage I can live with.  Decembers box is going to be a holiday box with several countries represented and I’m looking forward to it.

German Food Truck

This last Food Truck Friday was one I was looking forward to even more than usual. I’d scoped out the list of trucks prior to and they had a new one in the mix, StrudelTeig.

A food truck with German food or at least German inspired food, sign me up.

As usual my first stop was the beverage tent where I procured a Catawba Brewing Co White Zombie witbeir to go with the warm evening and whatever I selected from StrudelTeig.

There was only a short line and all the options looked good but I settled on their Pretzel + Brat meal.

It was a nice choice. The bratwurst was a fine imported specimen that had a great taste. The pretzel was warm, soft and made from scratch and the sauerkraut was actually not very sauer due to it being “apple infused”. I didn’t really taste the apples but it did have a sweetness to it that I was surprised about until I reread the menu and saw the apple bit. I liked it and it paired well with the salty pretzel. Let’s talk about that pretzel. It was amazingly good.and if you notice it is a bit more rectangular than a regular pretzel and the holes are smaller. That’s because they use this for sandwiches as well including a grilled cheese that sounded pretty awesome. The obligatory mustard was a wonderful coarse ground Bavarian mustard that I dipped the brat and the pretzel in.

So while I sat enjoying my meal by the fountain a Journey cover band called Trial by Fire entertained the crowd.

They were ok but best when the music was a little louder than the vocals. I was more entertained by a group between the band and I.  I first noticed three “old ladies” really into the music.  Then it struck me the “old ladies” were actually about my age so what my mind meant was three “classic ladies”.  One really had the 80’s going and just to reinforce the whole vibe the rest of the Breakfast Club started showing up as well.  First was a dude wearing a flannel shirt with the arms torn off and long hair and a two day growth of beard channeling his inner Judd Nelson.  Next up was the jock wearing a Carolina Panthers jersey and his gothy / emo lady friend.  So in case you’re wondering they aged well after the movie and are hitting the Rock Hill food truck scene.

After being entertained for a while I decided to head back to the food truck and grab a Cherry Strusel Cake to go.  That and the interesting sodas they had caught my eye the first trip.  Turns out  first I had to deal with a significant line that wasn’t there the first time.  In a venue like this line standing is a bit of an art because you have a lot of traffic going perpendicular to the food truck lines and they need to cross somewhere.  I’m usually pretty good at line standing due to all my DragonCon experience but my mind wandered and the guy in front of me moved up and the gap between us opened a couple of centimeters and the crowd spotted the weakness in the line and surged for the opening.  It was like watching the sand in an hourglass go through the choke point.  I shifted back just a hair and hit the lady behind me who had apparently honed her sense of personal space on a Japanese subway.  Fortunately the line moved forward and during the shift I regained optimum distance to prevent line breakage.  Anyway I finally got my cake and soda.

The strusel cake was good, not too sweet and just enough cherry filling to give it a nice flavor without overwhelming the whole package.  Another thing I wanted to mention since you can see it clearly in the photo but these folks use wooden utensils.  The wooden knife did the job on the sausage but I wouldn’t want to try it on a steak but it was something I haven’t run into before and if your replacing plastic it’s not a bad way to go.

The interesting soda I selected was a Summer Pear, which was pear, green tea and honey.  I’m sure more than one of you went “Yuck!” but it was not bad at all.  The honey flavor was most prevalent and the pear was more of an undertone and the green tea seemed like an afterthought.  I could see adding some alcohol to this and calling it some fancy cocktail name.

In summary it was another enjoyable Food Truck Friday at Fountain Park.

Belgium

From Syria last week I continued west to Belgium and if you search Belgian food you’ll inevitably come up waffles.  So the passport went to Cast Iron Waffles in the Ballantyne, NC area for their “authentic Belgian Liege waffle”.  Now to be transparent I have had these waffles before at work for a special occasion breakfast so I had a good idea what I was in for except these would be hot of the iron.

The place is pretty easy to find as it’s right on the corner of a couple of side streets but parking is pretty scarce.  Luckily I got a place on the street right in front since it was just after 7:00am.  The outside is brick and the interior continues that design with some brick façade inside and a café appearance.  You order at the counter and they have a few tables in a seating area and they do “to go” business as well.

I went with a “naked” waffle although they did have plenty of toppings if I’d wanted some additional flavors with my breakfast.  To wash it down I opted for plain coffee rather than one of the expresso drinks they serve.

Naked in this case did include a dusting of powdered sugar, which honestly was just gratuitous sweetness.  I’m not going to do it justice but let me try.  The waffle is made from a very sweet batter that has enough sugar in it that the very hot waffle iron creates caramelly crystalized areas across the waffle.  Those spots give you an occasional sugary crunch that compliments the soft pastry like interior of the waffle.  It’s like a sweet bread but a bit denser without being heavy.

I’m definitely more of a savory breakfast person than a sweet breakfast person but one of these once in a blue moon is a treat.  Like I said there are other toppings you can get but aside from maybe a sprinkling of cinnamon I think you start getting too sweet at a certain point.  Adding syrup to these would be a travesty and now that I think about it I didn’t see a bottle of syrup in the place.

As I mentioned I just went with a standard coffee so I can’t speak to their specialty coffee drinks but the Saratoga dark roast I had was very good plain coffee. So the pre-sugar crash verdict is this was a fine Belgian breakfast that is worthy of recommending but only one or you’ll go into a sugar coma.

Be sure to check out the Tell Me More page for a recipe, the 2017 Belgium Eurovision entry and more.

November Food Truck Friday

Sadly this was the last Food Truck Friday of the year so there was no way I was going to miss it.  It also marked the opening of the ice rink that will stay up through mid-January.

As normal I stopped by the beverage tent and acquired a beer to sustain me while I perused the offerings of the trucks.  The selection of beer wasn’t as great as previous weeks but they did have a Harvest Lager that seemed appropriate for a cool November evening.  After sufficient perusing I settled on the Comfort Food truck as they had a couple of different items that looked good.  Standing in line I met a local attorney who happened to be a Gamecock fan and it naturally came out that I was a Dog fan and we still managed to maintain a cordial conversation.  Politicians could learn from our example.  Anyway, I decided to try the Mango Jerk Chicken w/ yellow rice and mac & cheese.

The chicken was great.  The mango flavor was very understated but the jerk sauce was very much in evidence.  The chicken was fall off the bone tender too.  The yellow rice was actually spicier than I would have expected but tasty too.  The mac & cheese was surprising because they used pasta shells instead of the traditional elbow macaroni. It was good, not great.  While I ate the Fantasy Band was treating us to music that made it understandable why they are a popular wedding band.  There were some Commodores & Sam Cooke that I recognized and others I didn’t but they all had a nice beat and you could dance to them if that was your thing.

After the meal and on the way out I decided to grab a little something for later at the JessKakes truck.  My plan was to get banana pudding but they had sold out so a jumbo red velvet cupcake was plan B.

Overall it was a fine evening of good food, drink and music.  It’s going to be a long few months until food truck season starts again next year.

Litchfield / Pawleys Island

Hold on this is a long one.

This weekend I packed up the Culinary-Passport and headed out for a late beach trip.  I got a good deal on a couple of nights at the Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort.  I arrived early, as is my nature, and couldn’t check in.  Since it was lunch time I wandered over to Murrell’s Inlet and drove down Business 17 where I picked out the Marshview Seafood Kitchen & Bar from the multitude of restaurants on that stretch of road.  Definitely a casual place.  You walk up and order at a window and they give you a pager that will alert you when to visit the Pick Up window.  There’s a bar if you want something other than water, tea or soda.  You can sit inside or outside and you have a nice view of the marsh as the name implies.  I was intrigued by the crab cake and pimento cheese sandwich so that’s what I got.

The crab cake was good and the pimento cheese was also good but honestly didn’t add much to the sandwich.  The fries were hot and dusted with seasoned salt so they did their job.  Overall the sandwich was good but the main recommendation for this place as far as I am concerned is sitting on the deck enjoying the view.  After dining I still had a few hours to kill so I decided to check out Huntington Beach State Park.

The park was part of an estate that has a really cool house on it called Atalaya.  Google it, it’s cool.  Turns out it was a special weekend when they have the Atalaya Arts & Crafts festival so after a walk out to the beach to see if there were any good pictures to take I checked out the festival.  The house is arranged around a courtyard which had artisans filling it and inside the three wings were more craft folk and in a separate little courtyard were some food vendors.  I was still full from lunch but decided to try out a muscadine cider slushie from one of the vendors.  I liked it enough to buy a bottle.  I also picked up a Christmas present so it was a good side trip.

After the park I got the call that my room was ready so I moved in and then walked the property to familiarize myself with the resort until dinner time.  Because I didn’t want to take any chances on missing a minute of the UGA football game I ate at the on site restaurant, Websters.  They had a prime rib buffet but I wanted more seafood being this close to the ocean so I ordered the Webster’s seafood medley.

It came with a house salad served on a tile so that was different.  The real food was a nice piece of flounder, a couple of shrimp, a pair of scallops, whipped potatoes and parmesan green beans.  The seafood had a light, seasoned coating that tasted the same on all three but stood out most on the shrimp.  The flounder was nice and mild and the shrimp were some of the best fried shrimp I’ve ever had, even if they did cut them oddly before frying them so they looked almost like Siamese twins joined at the tail.  The scallops though were my favorite. They had a really nice salt water taste and were as tender as you could ask for.  The potatoes and green beans were nice and complimented the seafood.

The next morning I wanted to find a breakfast place that wasn’t a chain or chain wannabe.  I drove until the Litchfield Restaurant caught my eye.  It looked like a locals kind of place that had been around a while.  When I walked in there were only two guys sitting at the counter and three employees.  Folks were chatting real friendly like and I made my way to a choice table with a stunning view of the highway.  The guy running the place came over to welcome me and bring a menu.  Right behind him was a smiling young lady who made sure I had coffee before coming back with more smiles to take my order.  They’ve got a few interesting things on the menu that I might have tried like the Fish & Grits or the Crabby D but I was looking for something pretty standard this morning.

The sausage & cheese three egg omelet with hash browns and a side of smoked sausage did the trick.  The omelet wasn’t fluffy but there was plenty of sausage and they used real cheddar cheese not that fake cheese nonsense.  The smoked sausage was nothing special but did fit nicely into the biscuit for sausage biscuit appetizer.  The food was good but the service and friendliness of the people had to be the reason there were at least 30 people in the place by the time I left and they were a mix of locals and tourists.

After breakfast beach time transitioned into lunch at Moe’s Original BBQ.  I thought getting a sandwich and two sides might not be too much since I knew I wanted to be done in time to catch the Carolina Panthers game.

The pulled pork sandwich had to have had half a pound of meat and the sides I got, spinach casserole and red beans and rice were both generously portioned.  I’m not going to lie I knew I would be prioritizing right off the bat and the sandwich had first dibs on my appetite.  It had a lightly smoked flavor and the sauce was a sweet, tangy sauce that was somewhere between a NC vinegar and a KC thick sweet sauce.  A dash of the hot sauce and it was very good.  The spinach casserole was ugly but tasty.  It was creamy with plenty of spinach plus mushrooms and onions in small amounts.  The red beans and rice were initially a disappointment because I like my beans and rice to cook together for a while and this was clearly ladled over minute rice.  Having said that though it did have a nice flavor with plenty of beans, tomatoes, celery and onions plus some bits of smoked sausage (low grade) and chicken.  I didn’t mention it earlier but this is another place where you place your order at the counter and leave your name and they bring it out to you.  You have a choice of inside seating, screen porch seating, or outside next to the corn hole pit.  Folks were nice, portions were plentiful and the food was decent.

After the game I did some additional walking around to burn off lunch and a bit of driving to check out some of the other parts of the Grand Strand area of SC.  Feeling a bit peckish I dropped in at the Anchor.  They have a very limited menu because their main thing is their seafood buffet so that’s what I went with.  I got there an hour before they closed and the only folks I saw who weren’t employees were some who were leaving (I saw them go in when I was parking) and one lady at a booth.  I wasn’t sure what kind of omens those were but figured what the heck.  The buffet was a three sided affair with salad and the start of the vegetables on one side, more vegetables and grains on another and the seafood & chicken plus desert on the last side.  I tried not to be a pig but I did make two trips.

You’ll notice all the seafood was fried.  If you wanted grilled that was on the limited menu.  I powered through though and managed to try some flounder, scallops, shrimp, oysters, clam strips and catfish. I supplemented those with some mac & cheese, butter beans and something new to me, collard green rice.  Oh and some hushpuppies.  The seafood was all good and lightly breaded but my favorites were the oysters and the catfish.  The catfish was really mild and had an almost chicken taste to it.  The mac & cheese was nice too because it was simple with a high cheese to noodle ratio and not loaded with fillers and liquids and junk.  Now on to the new things and I’m classifying the butter beans as new too because they were cooked with okra plus some smoked meat.  I enjoyed them and they made me wish I could have shared them with my Grandfather because he would have loved them.  I’m pretty sure he would have dug the collard green rice as well.  There was nothing complicated about the rice, it was just what it sounded like; rice mixed with finely chopped collards.  It happens that those collards were seasoned with smoked neck bones and other smoked pork.  I know because I found vertebrae and pig skin in with it.  Aside from being skinny & boney I liked the rice quite a bit as you can see I got some both trips.  Oh and the hushpuppies were cold but not bad.  As I was leaving I talked to the owner a little bit and heard him earlier interacting with another patron who came in for a take out run at the buffet and he was a really nice guy.  Personally I loved this place even though it looked a little dumpy from the outside.

The last meal before heading home was at the Applewood House of Pancakes.  They are a bit like an upscale IHOP.  I was greeted by a very pleasant lady who let me know about some of their specials and let me know I was still in time for the early bird specials.  As a nod to Fall, in spite of the fact that it was 76 degrees and as humid as, well the South, I ordered the pumpkin pancakes.  At the little smile of delight the lady taking my order got she thought I’d made a good choice and it was.

You may have noticed there is no bacon or sausage in the picture.  I certainly did when she dropped off the plate with just pancakes.  I didn’t realize it was only the pancakes and couldn’t believe she wouldn’t have tried to upsell me and I started to ask for some but I figured it probably wouldn’t kill me to have one meatless meal.  There were three dense pancakes in the stack topped with that quarter stick of butter you see in the photo and dusted generously with cinnamon sugar.  I decided to taste them before adding any syrup and I’m glad I did as the syrup would probably have just detracted from the experience.  The cinnamon sugar plus the pancakes sweetness and pumpkin spices were more than sufficient.  The lady who was waiting on me was a petite lady who had to be in her late 60s but when she came over to check on me one time and asked “don’t they remind you of Thanksgiving & Christmas?” she had a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye like a little kid.  They did have a nice taste of fall about them and I almost didn’t miss the bacon.  After that it was time to hit the trail.  I was happy with all the culinary choices I made during the trip and wouldn’t hesitate to go back to any of them.

Peru

This is the one year anniversary of the first culinary-passport blog entry so there is a giveaway to celebrate and a return trip to the first country’s cuisine.  Details on the giveaway are at the end of the post.

To represent Peru this time I went for the Machu Pichu restaurant in Pineville, NC.  With that name they’re kind of in your face with Peru so I thought I’d see what they brought to the table, literally.

The restaurant is in a well established shopping center on S Polk St, named after the presidential Polks.  They weren’t that busy so when I wasn’t greeted and seated right away I hoped that wasn’t an omen of how the visit would go and fortunately it was not.  After I got seated the server brought over their equivalent to chips & salsa, popcorn or peanuts at some other places and that was choclo.

At first I thought it was peanuts (it was dim in there) but when I picked one out of the bowl it was lighter than a peanut would have been.  Turns out it is a giant kernel of Peruvian corn that was roasted and salted.  The outside was crunchy and chewy and the inside was starchy and you better have something to drink as the starch will dry your mouth out in a hurry.  It’s definitely not sweet corn but it turned out to be a nice snack to munch on while waiting for the main course.  For a drink I tried one from the chirimoya fruit which they make to order judging by the length of time it took to get to me.

I have to say I liked it quite a bit.  It was a little sweet and had a very subtle flavor that is hard to describe.  It was a bit like a melon and apple cross and very refreshing.  It paired well with my entrée, Tiridito en Tres Salsas.

I’m going to quote from the menu here so you understand what I was working with when I ordered. “Thinly sliced fish marinated lightly in lime & covered with Peruvian yellow pepper cream, rocoto peppers cream & a classic white cream; served with sweet potatoes & corn.”  All of that was very true but I was surprised as I went for the first bite and the dish was cold and oh so uncooked.  I got over the surprise and just went with it because the sauces were all very tasty.  They were each tangy so the sweet potato went nicely and chirimoya was a great contrast.  And as you can see from the photo they work to present a plate that’s appealing to the eye as well.  So in spite of the surprise that I got the Peruvian version of sashimi the meal was enjoyable and the portions were not too much.

I had a good chuckle when the young lady who was acting as hostess came over and asked me how I liked the dish and when I said I like it she said “Really?” in a surprised tone and made a little face, “I don’t like it.  I don’t like raw fish.”  I would definitely recommend this place and will try them again.  Having said that I have two caveats for anyone going.  First, they are moderately priced, not a cheap meal but not overly priced either.  Second they are very friendly but not fast so if you are in a hurry head to the BK just down the road but if you want a leisurely meal it’s a good place.  In fact even though I was clearly through and she had bussed the table the server didn’t bring the check until I caught her eye and asked for it.  It wasn’t because she forgot either because she checked on me to see if I needed more water or drink, she just wasn’t going to rush me out.  A win on the blogaversary.

Giveaway Contest

The rules are pretty simple. The contest is open from Jan 28th, 2017 through Feb 3rd, 2017 and open to anyone who can legally receive the prize.  I know, blah blah blah, “What can we win?”  The prize is a $25 Amazon gift card to a single winner (’cause I ain’t rich).  “Well how can I get in on this amazing prize” you ask?  In the spirit of bloggery and the pretext that the audiences should be expanded you will get an entry for each Like, Comment, Share, Retweet, etc. and I’ll use random.org’s random number generator to find the winner.  Each type of action on a single social platform will get an entry so for example if you comment multiple times on FB it’s a single entry but a like on FB and Instagram and Twitter would be 3 entries.  Winner will be announced in next blog post.  Thanks for reading this far.