Food

Oysters

For someone who has always made simple food choices, I would say trying oysters was a brave decision for me. And I say that particularly because if you’ve seen the episode of Mr. Bean where he has them and falls sick, you’d need a brave heart to try them as well. Yes, I agree that they lack a visual appeal, but they are indeed now one my favorite foods to have.

One of my closest friend and I went to enjoy some sea food in Boston about an year ago and she changed my life by introducing me to the world of oysters. A lot restaurants and oyster bars serve them raw although cooked versions are available as well. I have only had them raw yet. So they are served on a bed of crushed ice with cocktail sauce, horse radish and cucumber mignonette and just have to spoon the oysters with these and they are ready to consume. Recently, I also discovered that adding to 2 drops of the Green Tabasco (jalepeno pepper) makes things even more interesting.

Oysters are very light and refreshing and taste like the sea a little, especially since they are briny inside. There’s no point in trying to chew them because they are so soft, so they are best slurped down!

Oysters have very high nutritional value as well with a good amount of Omega-3 and Iron. But one should be cautious of where they are having oysters since the water in different places is affected differently by the seasons thereby increasing the risk of bacteria in water. For instance, in USA one should avoid having shellfish in the west coast during summer. However, the east coast has no such problem. But one should still be quality conscious of the place where they are eating them. My personal favorite is Legal Sea Foods where I love the Wianno’s (from Cape Cod). This restaurant chain has a lab where they test their daily landings for quality control which at least helps psychologically knowing that it’s safe to consume.

If you do end up trying and liking them, don’t forget to share your experience. Slurp away!

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Coca Cola Freestyle

Easily one of the most impressive things I’ve seen during my travels. This fountain soda machine is amazing! It’s the called the Coca-Cola Freestyle, it’s got a touch screen and offers a “100+” drinks (and flavors). The first I came across one of these was in Washington D.C. at a Five Guys Burger.

The welcome screen (top) shows the various drinks they have to offer and the following screen (bottom) shows the flavors. Then just hit the ‘push’ button and it’s Christmas.

You can find one near you and probably win a free drink by downloading the coca cola freestyle app here

Heineken: A Late Encounter With a Classic

Let’s start off by clarifying any suspicions of me being a connoisseur for any sort of alcoholic beverage: I’m far from it. I like to think of myself simply as an admirer. I really enjoy beverages or food that taste good and then recommend them to people. Simple.

This particular blog post though is a little ironic; I’ll explain in what sense. The first beer that I can recollect seeing as a kid is Heineken. It used to be lying right next to the cheese in the refrigerator but as far as I can recall, no one ever drank it and then I just saw the can in the trash one day. Keep in mind I was only 11 and alcohol was off limits and neither did I have any curiosity to find out what was the contents of the can tasted like. However my first impression of the Celtic green can with the black and silver logo on it was that it is definitely some pathetic tasting concoction.

Forward to present day when I’m well within the legal age to consume alcohol. I have tried a lot of different beers ranging from American classics like Budweiser and Coors, to Stella Artois from Belgium, Kingfisher from India and to the renowned Corona from Mexico. I have only tasted a handful of the brands out there globally but within whatever I have tasted, I have broadly classified them into 2 simple categories for my personal decision making process: lager and wheat beer (and then there is ‘ale’ which is dark and I’m not brave enough to try it yet). And until now, I had 2 favorites from these categories: Corona (lager), which is a very refreshing beer and Blue Moon (wheat ale) which is light and goes very well with almost any type of food and is best served with a slice of orange.

But here is the irony that I mentioned earlier; I had never tried Heineken, the first beer that I had ever seen, until 3 days ago and like one of the early iPhone ads used to say, “This changes everything”. I had one sip and then I stared at the glass with surprise. For someone who had not tasted beer in a long time, I was enchanted for that moment. It tasted perfect and when say perfect I mean it was very light and smooth, the exact opposite of what I had expected. It was poured in the glass from a bottle and for a good pale bottled beer it surprisingly had the perfect carbonation, almost as if it was a mildly pressurized draught beer. It was very smooth for a bottled carbonated beverage in general and went great with grilled fish. I am in complete awe (as evident as I have made it in this paragraph) and I’m looking forward to trying it again.

I really enjoy moments when I discover something amazing that has been around but just came to my notice. It’s probably in amazement of my lack of observation of things in plain sight and the relief that I noticed them sooner than later.

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