Uncle Louie G's Italian Ice

Earlier this summer a franchise of Uncle Louie G's Italian Ice opened up near my house, on Route 527 in Old Bridge. Rarely ever going to Rita's, I decided to check it out. Alex came too. He had no choice.





I was shocked at the flavor selection. It completely blew Rita's out of the water. There were the standard ice flavors, but, there were also some really interesting flavors like Chocolate Jelly Ring (with real pieces of jelly ring), Holi Cannoli, and Rainbow Cookie. We tried seven flavors: Spumoni, Chocolate Oreo, Vanilla Oreo, Rainbow Cookie, Bubbly Bubble Gum, Cantaloupe Balls, and Wassup Watermelon. Everything was amazing. Later in the week I also had the chance to try Vanilla Chip Dip, Holi Cannoli, Coconut Crave, Creamolata, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Chocolate Jelly Ring, and It's A Crime Lime.



Pricing wasn't bad. A small is two scoops and is $2 while the large will run you $3 for three scoops. You have the option of getting a different flavor for each scoop, giving you the perfect chance to try as many flavors as you want. Ice Cream is also available, as well as cakes. This particular location stays open from May to October.

Quick Update

Ok wow, I haven't posted anything in almost a year. Kinda bad. Here's a few quick updates:
- The bitch has been ditched. No more Paul. Everyone is happy.
- My adorably sweet rotweiler Madison passed away earlier this year.
- We have a new puppy now, a South African Boerbel. She's 12 weeks old and 24 pounds.

Thats it for the time being. Stay tuned.

Chick Pea Cakes

After seeing something on the Travel Channel, I tried to make it. It was some sort of flat bread-ish looking thing made of chick pea, olive oil, and flour. Seemed easy enough, so, I made my own. I'm not sure if it had the correct texture or taste because it's hard to judge that just from watching a show, but everyone seemed to like it. I put 2 cans of chick peas (drained) in the food processor to grind them down to a paste. I added that to some olive oil, then gradually added flour till I got a consistency I liked. After that, I threw in some salt, pepper, cumin, onion powder and garlic powder. I grabbed small, round pieces of the dough and made them into flat little cakes and put them in the pan with some olive oil. They cooked for about 3 minutes on each side. They came out pretty good. I also made a spread for them with avocado, plain yogurt, minced garlic, onion powder, salt, paprika, and cumin. Very tasty.

Cupcakes and Cheese Steaks

Two weekends ago, I decided to make some cupcakes. Scratch baking these really wasn't an option, so I used a box mix with some modifications. First up were Golden Vanilla with Strawberry Frosting. I added a pinch more vanilla to the mix and after frosting them, I added some metallic sprinkles to the top. They looked.......cute. After that, I did Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting. For these I added a bit of ginger and cinnamon to the batter. I also put some heart shaped sprinkles on the top. Cute. I also made a batch of Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Ginger and Black Pepper. These, surprisingly, came out great. The ginger was very lite, so next time I will increase to 3 tablespoons instead of 2.




August 16 was my first anniversary with Paul. We spent the day together and it was great. The day before that we took a day trip to Philly to see the Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Institute. The exhibit was great and I actually learned quite a bit. After that we took a walk over to the fountain, then to Ginos for cheese steaks. I've been there twice now and honestly I'm not impressed. I've gotten better cheese steak in a Jersey diner. In any case, it was a great trip with a great guy :)

Long Overdue Post

Yeah, I haven't posted in a long time. I'm an ass, I know. Here are some updates:

-Current weight loss is at 41 pounds.
-Mad that Aria and Brad got eliminated. Keeping my fingers crossed for Tom.
-Possibility of opening a bakery is somewhere on the horizon.
-Paul and I are coming up on 1 year.
-Pretzel MnM's are the shit.
-I've had multiple suggestions that I market my Paleo-friendly Spice Rub.
-Red Dead Redemption should be crowned Game Of The Decade.
-I was almost rendered unconscious by HORRIBLE tooth pain 2 weekends ago.

Anyway, I'm sure there's more but I can't remember. I've spent more time in the kitchen lately working on some stuff for this diet that actually tastes good. First thing I came up with was my Rub. People seem to really like it, and, it's sodium and sugar free. I also came up with some sort of Honey and 5 Spice Powder Glaze. Not bad either and mom loved it.

Recently I got Paul to watch an episode of No Reservations and he loved it (much to my surprise). We'll be sure to watch more of that sometime soon. That's it for now. I will try my best to update this beast more often for the 2 or 3 people that actually read it :)

Paleo Diet

So, I've been on a diet now for about....close to 3 weeks. At this point I've lost 16 pounds, which I don't think is too bad at all. It's the Paleo Diet and although your choices of what to eat can be somewhat limited, I'm finding it easy to follow. Basically you cut out things like bread, pasta, dairy, beans, sugar and salt. Things with natural sugar, like fruit, are just fine. A typical day of meals for me is:

Breakfast - 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites scrambled with some fresh fruit or unsweetened applesauce.
Lunch - 2 pieces of fish (tilapia usually) with half an avocado.
Dinner - Lean steak or chicken breast with fresh vegetables.

During the course of the day I'll snack on things like fresh fruit, or unsalted cashews or almonds. Peanuts are a no since they are technically a bean and not a nut. Things are good so far, and the weight comes off really easy. There's a wealth of information online if anyone is interested.

"A Taste For Hotter, Mintier, Fruitier"

I just read a really good article on Yahoo by Miriam Gottfried about how Americans palates are changing and what food companies are doing to satisfy the need. You can link to the article HERE, but I will give some highlights:

• "The buttery taste found in packaged foods isn't just butter flavor anymore. Increasingly, it is browned-butter flavor, formulated to taste deeper and more savory than plain butter"

• "American cuisine is adrenaline cuisine"

• "Food companies describe some of their efforts as adding "umami," a Japanese word that, roughly translated, means good flavor"

• "As people crave intensity in flavor, some traditionalists are wondering if diners will become desensitized to natural flavors. Regular mangoes may taste bland when eaten next to mango-flavored gum or a mango energy drink, they say"

• "New flavors used to originate in fine dining kitchens and work their way down, but now they come just as often from the Food Network or from ethnic or international sources"

Certainly worth the read. There's a lot of interesting material there. Check it out.