In no particular order:

Miss Vickie’s Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Chips. I love chips.  I can easily eat a full sized bag of chips in one sitting.  It’s disgustingly great.  I really like the ever so popular kettle cooked chips and this is my new favorite flavor: Buttermilk Ranch.  I was a bit wary about anything milk related being in a chip bag and I remember something about our minds not naturally associated blue colored things as edible (which was an explanation why it took so long for Hershey’s to add blue M&M’s — this could be completely false and maybe it was a dream but I think there might be some truth to it) but they are delicious!  It’s weird because it looks a little like they’re going to taste like Sour Cream & Onion but they taste more like Cooler Ranch Doritos.  But imagine it on a kettle cooked thick potato chip.

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The Boiling Crab. I love this place.  The place is totally kitschy with all the wooden tables and booths and fishing knicknacks — complete with a boat’s steering wheel at the front counter.  They cover your table with a large sheet of paper, take your drink orders (which comes in Styrofoam cups) and then dump a bunch of limes on your table.  They also place these small plastic containers filled with salt and pepper for each person.  Luckily I love Vietnamese food and I know that this is like what you dip Bo Luc Lac (Shaken Beef) in.  We ordered 3 blue crabs for each of us — one crab of each seasoning flavor (Garlic Butter, Lemon Pepper, and Cajun).  Unfortunately we didn’t try the Whole Shebang seasoning.  We also ordered some corn on the cob which was obviously microwaved and heavily buttered but still good.  It’s hard to ruin corn.  Everything comes in plastic bags.  It’s kind of a strange setup, but it works.  The crabs were incredibly fresh and I loved the seasoning.  The Cajun and Garlic Butter crabs were a lot better than Lemon Pepper crabs.  I loved dipping the sweet crab meat into the salt, pepper, & lime dipping sauce.

The most delicious part of the meal was when the bill came out.  The blue crabs are listed at $5.99/lb and we had no idea what that translated into as far as how many pounds a crab was.  Our total bill for two sodas, 6 blue crabs, and 3 corn on the cobs was $32 before adding tip.  Cheap!  We’ll definitely be frequenting this place a lot during crab season.

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Brasserie Max & Julie. We went here last night to celebrate Carlos’s 30th birthday.  I’m not really a fan of French food.  I like their breads and pastries (especially savory pastries like quiche; wait, does that qualify as a pastry?) but I’m not a real fan of the food.  I mean, I’m okay about it.  I was really pleased with my meal here.  The food was pretty good, I had the Rabbit Confit and the husband had the Duck with Honey and Lavender.  I think his duck was better than my rabbit (I’ve had better rabbit) but I’m also really partial to duck so I don’t know if that’s a good assessment.  The bone marrow appetizer was a bit disappointing because there wasn’t very much to spread on the toast.  The profiteroles we had for dessert were pretty standard.  It’s hard to mess up cream puffs, vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate syrup!  The prices were really reasonable and overall it was a good meal.  The service was top notch here and I think that made the whole dining experience a good one.  The atmosphere of the place was really cozy and unpretentious which is sometimes hard to find when it comes to French food.

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Mark’s American Cuisine.  We went here for our anniversary dinner.  Easily one of my favorite meals in Houston.  We started out with the smoked seafood platter.  I love smoked anything so I was really happy with this appetizer.  For our entrees, the husband had the veal and I think I had the tenderloin medallions.  That’s the thing about New American cuisine.  I always really enjoy it when I eat it (it might be my favorite kind of fancy food) but it’s never that memorable.  I liked the interesting sides that came with the entree; there were several vegetables I didn’t recognize.  They paired the flavors really well!  I also liked their bread basket — especially this one type of onion bread that tasted a lot like Chinese Onion Bread (literally translates as Flower Roll).  Dessert was really good — but I can’t remember it!  Haha man.  The service was excellent here.  The husband let them know it was our anniversary and they brought out our desserts with a candle.  The place is as cozy and romantic as advertised.  We were on the farthest table from the door on the first floor so we had a great view of the place.  I’ve always thought that churches were romantic.

“The miracle fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, is native to West Africa and has been known to Westerners since the 18th century. The cause of the reaction is a protein called miraculin, which binds with the taste buds and acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids…” - “The Miracle Fruit, a Tease for the Tastebuds” by Patrick Farrell and Kassie Bracken, NYT

We had a miracle fruit party this past Saturday at our place and it was a lot of fun!

Here’s Jin (our supplier) and the berries!

Here’s our lineup of foods that we tried:

• raspberries
• tabasco sauce
• extra stout Guinness beer
• shiraz wine
• grapefruits
• limes
• 100% cacao
• balsamic vinaigrette
• saint arnold’s divine reserve
• harvest moon pumpkin ale
• kim chi
• salt & vinegar chips
• pickles
• sour gummies

The berry’s effects weren’t as powerful as advertised — for example, the balsamic vinaigrette did not taste like caramel.  But some things were really great.  My favorite was the lime.  Denver described it as a fruit that tasted like a limeade.  It still had the lime flavor but it was sweet enough to where you could bite into it like an orange.

It was really interesting to see something and expect a certain flavor but then taste something very unexpected.

Everyone experienced the effects to a different degree.  Some people’s taste buds were altered completely while some people didn’t experience any changes.

Curious about it?  Buy your own berries here and host a party or look for a local party to join!

My Google Reader is easily my favorite Google app these days as it has streamlined and regulated my browsing habits as well as introduced me to new websites and ideas from my friends.  I have a widget on my sidebar that shows the latest feeds I’ve shared (the dark blue box under the heading “sharing is caring”) but I figure I’d mention it in a post because my sidebar isn’t very friendly.  (Thanks to Denver for converting me to the GReader.)

Speaking of efficiency, I ordered a white, 16GB iPhone 3G this past Sunday.  They said it will take 4-5 days to come in so that means I should receive a phone call tomorrow or Friday.  I haven’t been this excited about a product since I got my Sony XBrite monitor in college.  I don’t mean to be over dramatic but I think this purchase will change my entire lifestyle.  For those who don’t know me, I’m not a very well connected person.  I am an email junkie during the weekdays but during the weekends and in the evenings it’s difficult to contact me unless you are with me in person.  I used to go days without knowing where my cellphone was and checking my voicemail once a month was not unusual.  With the help of the husband, I’ve curbed most of this behavior and have really made an effort in the past year to stay better connected.  But I still have my days.

Once I get the iPhone, I’ll always know where my phone is (it’s too expensive not to!), I’ll always have access to email, my spontenaeity will be much better informed, and I’ll finally have my calendar on me!  While this sounds great for efficiency, I hope I don’t get too sucked in.  I don’t want to be that guy (or girl) who is constantly checking his/her phone.  I don’t want to forget the pleasure of reading a paperback book on the beach.  You know, that sort of thing.  I think I’ll be fine, I’m just slightly apprehensive.

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We went to the new H MART yesterday to pick up some ingredients for our Okonomiyaki dinner.  It’s a lot closer than Chinatown, has Korean, Japanese and Chinese foodstuffs and snacks and it’s cheap!  The produce section was really clean (sometimes hard to find in Asian Groceries) and looked really fresh.  They also have a mini foodcourt and some prepared food.  If you haven’t been, make a trip out there sometime soon.

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I’m sold on the Houstonist.  Last week it told me about the St. Arnold’s Scavenger Hunt Pub Crawl that was happening.  (We were outside of the first 200 entries, but they’re still letting us come to the party, we just won’t be eligible for the kegerator raffle.)  And this week I read about BarCampHouston3 which the husband and I will be attending this weekend.

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EDIT:

I just received the following email from AT&T!

“Your iPhone 3G order has been shipped and is on its way to the AT&T store in which you placed the order, please see address below. Your credit card has been charged.”

Since I’ve been working out at the gym a lot more recently, I decided to reward myself by buying Gatorade from the grocery store.  Kroger’s was having a 10 for $10 deal (the huge 32 oz. ones) so I picked out ten different flavors to find out which one was the best.

My favorite so far is Gatorade Rain Strawberry Kiwi (Berry flavor pictured above).

A close runner up is the new Gatorade Tiger line.  I know it’s just a marketing gimmick but they cost the same as the other Gatorade products and the flavors are pretty good.

The absolute worst so far is the new low calorie G2.  It’s sickeningly sweet.  Don’t buy this at any cost.

Went to a farewell party this past week and I baked cupcakes for it.  I enjoy cooking a lot more than I enjoy baking but I liked the way these turned out so I thought I’d share.  It’s also a not so subtle nod to Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade.  I don’t like all of her ideas and I rarely like her decorating ideas but I think she’s on the right track to cooking/baking in today’s fast paced world.

Step 1 - Mix Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Lemon Supreme dry cake mix with eggs, vegetable oil and milk (substitute for water).

Step 2 - After filling your muffin cups 2/3 full, put a half teaspoon of lemon curd on top of each cupcake.  The lemon curd will sink during baking.

Step 3 - Bake for 18 minutes in a preheated 325 degrees Fahrenheit oven.  When toothpick comes out clean the cupcakes are done.  Be sure to avoid overbaking because browning isn’t very attractive on cupcakes.  They will appear a little pale when you first remove them but will cool to a pretty golden yellow color.

Step 4 - After the cupcakes have cooled, ice the cupcakes with Pillsbury Whipped Supreme Fluffy White frosting. Note: I ran a little low on frosting and I only iced about 20 cupcakes (I ate 2 or 3 unfrosted — purely for testing purposes of course) so you might consider picking up an extra container of frosting.

Step 5 - Arrange on a platter and enjoy!

I plan to tweak this a little bit as the lemon curd had the tendency to sink too far down the cupcake instead of being right in the middle.  I might mix the lemon curd with cream so that it is lighter and not as dense.  I might also consider making the batter a little thicker.