frivolous things
Last night I made a favorite recipe, Israeli couscous with roasted tomato sauce. There's something about it (probably the roasted garlic/tomatoes) that pretty much immediately triggers a pleasure response that precludes all rational thought. Since it's not nice to be selfish, here is the recipe. The only change I make is to cook the couscous according to the package instructions rather than using the recipe's cooking times.
While I was in the Kosher aisle getting the couscous, I saw Bamba on the shelves. I remembered seeing this mentioned a lot in the news a couple of years ago after a study revealed that peanut allergies are much less prevalent among Israeli kids than their US/UK counterparts. One possible explanation was that early exposure to peanuts might have something to do with the discrepancy, because most Israeli kids start eating Bamba, a popular peanut-based snack, at a very young age. I don't recall if anything ever came of that idea, but when I saw Bamba on the shelf I naturally had to try it. The verdict: I definitely would have loved this stuff as a kid. The shape, texture, and crunch is almost identical to a cheese puff, but it's got a light peanut-butter coating. It's not appealing enough to my adult (ha ha ha) palate that I'd eat it often, but it was fun to try. Bamba also wins the Frito prize for ingredient list simplicity; there are four: peanuts, corn, vegetable oil, and salt.
I'll be going back to Munich for a conference this summer, so I'm making a list of things I didn't do there in 2010 that I need to fit in this time. Tops on the list is the airport tour if it's still available: a behind-the-scenes guided tour of the airport that gives a close-up look at the aircraft, maintenance areas, engine testing facilities, and other operational areas of the airport. Also today I saw this linked from reddit. Yes, those are indoor tube slides, and that building is the faculty of math and computer science at T-U Munich. Evidently it is open to the public. Added to the list!
While I was in the Kosher aisle getting the couscous, I saw Bamba on the shelves. I remembered seeing this mentioned a lot in the news a couple of years ago after a study revealed that peanut allergies are much less prevalent among Israeli kids than their US/UK counterparts. One possible explanation was that early exposure to peanuts might have something to do with the discrepancy, because most Israeli kids start eating Bamba, a popular peanut-based snack, at a very young age. I don't recall if anything ever came of that idea, but when I saw Bamba on the shelf I naturally had to try it. The verdict: I definitely would have loved this stuff as a kid. The shape, texture, and crunch is almost identical to a cheese puff, but it's got a light peanut-butter coating. It's not appealing enough to my adult (ha ha ha) palate that I'd eat it often, but it was fun to try. Bamba also wins the Frito prize for ingredient list simplicity; there are four: peanuts, corn, vegetable oil, and salt.
I'll be going back to Munich for a conference this summer, so I'm making a list of things I didn't do there in 2010 that I need to fit in this time. Tops on the list is the airport tour if it's still available: a behind-the-scenes guided tour of the airport that gives a close-up look at the aircraft, maintenance areas, engine testing facilities, and other operational areas of the airport. Also today I saw this linked from reddit. Yes, those are indoor tube slides, and that building is the faculty of math and computer science at T-U Munich. Evidently it is open to the public. Added to the list!