Cooking for Brevitt

Random Monday Rambles

Today is a post much ado about nothing really - just a rambling of thoughts. So let's start the show and see what comes out...

• It's St. Patrick's Day..woohoo! Although it makes me said to hear about what's happening back in Dot, but when you think about it - change is good and hopefully the old timers and new influences make a better neighborhood
• It's not a whole river in green like Chicago, but I'm eating Pear flavored Skyr for breakfast - the package is green, does that count?
• Report on 10,000 BC from AICN - blissfully retarded. Report on 10,000 BC from friend in Iceland - worst movie ever made....hmmm?!?!
• I had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich for dinner last night. It had cucumbers on it too - I didn't feel good afterwards
• Dexter is a great book series and it's been fun to watch some of the episodes from Showtime - good stuff
• My back is hurting - can't wait to get back to the US for my massage therapy appointment
• Iceland needs a Dunkin Donuts store or five

Well that's it for now kids! Come back later in the day once I have some more time to read up on the latest news from around the webz!

Food Will Kill You - Apparently

Although not a frequent part of my posting arsenal, I try to touch on Food and Drink comments now and then. Besides, come on now - everyone loves food and drink! I'm often amazed on certain articles/posts that get published by major outlets. Becoming an 'expert' appears to be a rather simple thing to do. I'm not talking about people who like certain things in life, nope I'm talking about full-time 'experts' spitting out recommendations to the masses.

A vast majority of those 'experts' seem to gravitate to Food as it continues to be such a hot topic in US culture. Maybe it's because I was raised by parents who cared about my nutrition or maybe it was just an interest in food that helped me ensure I ate smart when I was a kid. No matter what it was, I've been able to stick to that plan for the most part.

So it is always interesting to me when someone releases a 'How-To Eat Healthy' tips on a major website as they are usually full of fairly normal decisions. I don't know, maybe I just lucked out and became educated about food when I was younger, but tips like these just seem so full of common sense, I don't see why you need them.

Let's review some of the tips though with standard snarky comments from Brevitt!

• Don't eat sour cream - really, we really need to be telling people that eating this is bad for you?
• Eat grilled fish - hot damn this one is revolutionary! Eating fish..wow?!?!
• Alfredo sauce is bad - hmmm, liquid cheese and butter is bad for me?
• Tuna - ahhhh, the mercury is everywhere!!
  
  • On a side note, is this real or some overblown media circus on mercury levels in fish?
• Chopsticks - apparently instead of being smart and using portion control, we should use chopsticks to eat everything
• PS: extra cheese and pepperoni on pizza is bad for you!

Then there are the comments - please, I have to touch on these!

• "Grilled fish sounds great. Not sure where to purchase this other than the market. Will check into it. Thank you."
  • WTF?!?!? You don't know where to purchase grilled fish? How about you go buy some fish and then grill it!
• "Am a little surprised that most postings felt like they learned something."
  • Yay...common sense.
• "Heard about a book entitled "French Women Don't Get Fat". It is largely based on the concept of moderation and savoring your food, eating slower, eating to enjoy-not to engorge etc."
  • Yup!

Well that's it from me! Go read it and let me know your thoughts.

Cherry Chocolate Rain: Tay Zonday!

Sweet lord of all good things - have you SEEN this new video from Tay Zonday?!?!?

The master of Chocolate Rain has teamed up with Dr. Pepper to put together a video advertisement for the new Dr. Pepper Cherry Chocolate flavor. I'm going to gloss over the fact of how disgusting the drink flavor sounds and go straight to Tay Zonday - wtf is up with this shit?!?!

Good for him to earn some cash and I'm sure it's hard to tie in Chocolate Rain to any product outside of the bathroom variety, but this video is all shades of funny!

So, please please please join me in welcoming Tay Zonday's Cherry Chocolate Rain to the party!

I Ain't Got My Taco

Watch and enjoy.

Missing the Dunks

Hello my name is Brevitt and it's been six-weeks since I've had a Dunkin Donuts coffee.

Although there are many people out there that can't stand the taste of Dunks, it's hard for me to move past my morning cup from one of the eight trillion locations around Boston. Sure we have some super duper espresso machine here at the office and a Starbuck's next door, but still - I miss my Dunks!

In my travels through ATL, I've only come across two Dunks. Although one is close to work, I will say that visiting Dunks outside of New England has never been a pleasant experience. They just can't seem to make the coffee like Boston stores can.

Luckily I'm headed back to Boston this week and can enjoy the Dunks!

Portable Pop-Tarts..Oh Man!

Who doesn't love food? Ya you have to eat it to live and all, but come on now - for the most part, the shit tastes pretty good! Well except that sheep face I had at Porrablot which is still giving me the creeps.

A friend of mine in college wanted to become a food photographer which I thought was really odd, but when you think about it: hot sexy pics of fruit and cereal is a real job! On the other end of the food industry are those marketers who are tasked with coming up with the 'cool' new ways to sell the same old food. Yogurt becomes Go-Gurt and healthy became Organic even if there are no real regulations on what Organic means!

Thanks to Lore Sjoberg over at Wired (seriously kid"z, read his shit more often - it's brilliant!) for a fun little article on how marketers are creating new food tricks: Manic Marketers Teach Old Snacks Crazy New Tricks. Let me pull out some of the best tidbits:

• "As I was raised by a hippie mom in the Age of Carob, I encountered much more whole grain than I would have liked."
  • For those that have never tried Carob - please don't! It was a horrible joke pulled on thousands of children whose parents embraced healthier living when that meant eating food that tasted like dirt
• Remember how it used to be so difficult to transport yogurt? When yogurt only came in 50-pound reinforced steel containers that had to be moved using federally regulated yogurt transportation vehicles?
  • Haha - this is great!
• And how many times have you said to yourself, "I would love to leave the house, but that would mean being aw\ay from my beloved Pop-Tarts"? Well, they make Pop-Tarts in portable form now.
  • Anyone know if they make travel containers for Pop-Tarts....maybe that would help here

Good stuff!

Papa's Pizzeria Flash Game

Flash games can be a lot of fun - they are usually fairly simple and a good distraction from work or studying. This isn't Halo 3 or WoW people - it's pure fun. Enter stage left - Papa's Pizzeria from Flipline Studios.

You are delivery boy Roy and you are in charge of the pizza shop today. Take orders, build the pizzas, bake them, cut them in odd shapes and best of all - earn tips!

Easy to use, fun to play and the music reminds me of some random Mario level. Good stuff all around - go check it out.

Damnit Dunkin Donuts!

Listen double D - you know I love you and drink way too much of your brew, but let's ease up on the craptastic online banner advertising you got going on through Hotmail....mmmkay?

As much as I enjoy my morning French Vanilla, what I don't enjoy is having to reload my Hotmail when I check my email because your drop down banner takes over the upper portion of the page, thus eliminating my ability to navigate. This is only compounded by the fact that one must move the mouse from the top of the page to the middle, thus always scrolling over said Dunks advertisement!

I've had enough - do not make me get Rachel Ray and her galactic smile of doom involved!

Extra Milk, One Sugar

That right there folks is how I start pretty much every morning at the Dunks in Harvard Square (let's see if you can spot me one day!). Although this seems like a pretty easy order to fulfill, now and then it apparently can get quite confusing.....like today for instance:

• Brevitt: 'Large, extra milk, one sugar'
• Dunks Guy (after he has poured the coffee into the cup): 'Did you say extra cream and sugar?'
• Brevitt thinking to himself: 'Is this guy on another planet?'
• Brevitt to Dunks Guy: 'Nah man - extra milk, one sugar'
• Dunks Guy: 'Haha...ah ok'

I should have known I was in trouble when I rolled up to the store and the usual guy I order from wasn't there - oh well. At least I got my morning cup of joe which has been approved by Rachel Ray as tasty....haha!

Pat Created the Raspberry Mocha

I love it when I get comments from people outside of my friend's list - good to know I'm reaching the masses and all! As long as they aren't spam they get posted, but never have I had a reason to comment about one of my comments.........until now!

Awhile ago I posted about my Top Five Barista Drinks...mmmmmm - coffee! One of those was the Raspberry Mocha from Peet's Coffee. A wonderful creation that I'm not ashamed of enjoying. Although, much like my love for Starbuck's Maple Lattes I had no idea how the Raspberry Mocha was created........until now!

Thanks to my new reader Pat for pointing out: 'I invented the Raspberry Mocha. Peet's stole it off me like a Flaming Homer.' Now I know and as all children of the 80's will understand - knowing is half the battle!

Not only is that one of the funniest comments I've ever read - it makes me happy now knowing that Pat is the rightful owner of said Raspberry Mocha IP and that Pat made a reference to a Flaming Homer!

To you Pat, I say cheers and good show! Hope you come back soon - you are always welcome in my kitchen.