Tag Archives: Product Reviews

08.29.11
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Going Green for Ice Cream

Call me spoiled, or call me Asian, but I certainly love my green tea. Depending on the plant used, the flavour can be exotically smooth or gently earthy. To infuse it as a flavour to go along with ice cream is tricky, and I can’t always visit a restaurant to sate my craving. Some establishments manufactures them in house but others will just buy a stock brand and dole them out for customers to enjoy.

In the few specialty ice-cream establishments I went to in town, the Marble Slab Creamery scores on the very good scale in making a smooth, buttery, green tea combination that I’d consider great, but also very sweet.

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06.28.11
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Boylan’s Natural Root Beer

Available at Aubergine Specialty Foods and the Market on Millstream.

If I have to describe Boylan’s product in one word it would be “delicious.” But I don’t have to and if I did, it’d make for a very short article and this company deserves better. I discovered their brand of old-fashioned soda on a trip to one of the well-known local eateries, the Little Piggy.

Jersey’s Boylan Bottling Company is located in the area of the Hackensack River Watershed (a funny Jersey name) in the small town of Moonachie (which even sounds funnier). Their product was registered a year before Coca-Cola (1891.) And there are other good things that’ve come from New Jersey, such as the Four Seasons, Kevin Smith and Abbott & Costello. And if you believe the Moonachie locals, the Berry Creek Restaurant.

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05.23.11
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A Quick Connoisseur’s Guide to Sea Urchin

In all the Japanese restaurants that I’ve frequented in the past five years, I have always asked if they have sea urchin (uni). Low grade pieces can be as salty and briny as one may expect, with a strong taste not befitting for most people to eat; and the uni one finds in grocery stores will most likely have been processed–further altering its taste.

They aren’t worth touching unless one is desperate. There are a few restaurants that may order these processed packs, but if one sees the real deal, spikes and all, the pieces of roe coming from off the sea is far better than what a processing factory may do.

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03.23.11
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I Don’t Want This Brand, I Want That Udder Guys

The Udder Guys provides a nice creamy treat with their wild blackberry flavoured ice cream. The great thing about this is that I can’t taste the fat like I can with other brands. Out of all of my experiences, only Chapman’s surpasses The Udder guys. With such a price for a small container (500 ml), I was rather worried I was receiving very little bang for my buck—but I was wrong, the ice cream is sweet but not sickeningly so. And it only takes a few scoops to satisfy ones appetite.

Real berries from Vancouver Island were used. I’m not only finding the seeds in my treat but I’m also seeing the blackberry juices in the cream.

Buying ice cream with blackberries in it is better than foraging. Think of the trouble and time I’d save from picking them. Think of the clothing I won’t have to wash. And look mum, no bloody fingers! The Udder Guys do the job for me. While they certainly won’t show-up to garnish my ice cream with blackberries, they will garnish my blackberries with ice cream.

Purchased from Western Foods (Langford).

10.28.10
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Halloween Treats and Eats

Rocky Mountain
Chocolate Factory
1225 Government St.
Victoria, BC
(250) 382-8811

An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but it’ll be the cream filling that’ll keep dentists drilling if Halloween has any say.

Upon leaving Absolute Underground’s new digs in Trounce Alley today, dropping off my video edit of an upcoming Fun Guys episode—where I went mushroom hunting and cooking with my pal Brydon Parker—I walked by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory’s display of Halloween themed caramel apples. And oh boy, it did more than stop my heart.

I paused long enough and decided to go in to ask how much those monster-sized treats cost. As the image will show, I had to put a ruler next to the apple just to show how big they are. And At $11.99 before taxes, I thought why not? I’ve always wanted to take a bite back at all those zombie infested dreams I sometimes get.

I grabbed an apple that was plumper than my own fist and like a kid coming home with a large haul, I immediately nipped at this apple.

The caramel had a great smooth consistency that worked well with the delicious granny smith apple. While their chocolate is as good as Victoria’s own Rogers Chocolates, I wasn’t here to compare. Their cute use of white chocolate as a ribbon surrounding the apple was a nice touch, and I tasted combinations of dark and white at each bite.

And this is one apple I can’t finish off in a night. Well, that’s assuming I want to sleep at all. Maybe it’ll be candied apple dreams tonight.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

08.27.10
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The Quest for the Perfect Cup of Tea

Tea India
A Harris Tea Company

Chai or in this case, Indian orange pekoe, has long been enjoyed by people from the Indian sub-continent. Promoted heavily by the British owned Indian Tea Association in the 1900’s, their campaign encouraged factories and businesses to give their employees tea breaks. It not only boosted the sales of British owned tea companies but also introduced the pleasure of tea to the uninitiated while creating a new social environment among the working class.

My first attempt at brewing ended up with a weak tea tasting like mud water (which I had not the pleasure of since I was a child). And a second chance was definitely required. I must’ve fouled up somehow. So I did what many males dare not to do; I read the instructions. Sure enough I corrected myself. The tea bag needs to be in the cup before the hot water was poured. I added milk and my usual spoonfuls of sugar to offset the stronger taste. The end result was a nice steady tea. I usually have trouble with higher caffeine teas, especially black but this one is manageable. It’s definitely not Red Rose by any means but it’s still a pleasant cuppa.