The IRON CHEF!

Good to the last chop.

I tried eating at Grass Root on Tuesday (and Wednesday, which is where that picture is from). The organic, vegan friendly fare is excellent, as is the atmosphere.

When I took this picture, it shows how much I had that day:
I had the Cucumber Chop (green bowl), which was marvelous — crisp and sweet, with a bit of a tang to it to add in that returning bite, it made me stop at the beginning, so I could enjoy the rest of it at the end. I could almost swear that I tasted celery in this, too… I’ll have to ask.
Along with the Chop, I had the Classic American Burger (yellow-ish plate), which, given this restaurant, has absolutely no meat in it, was unbelievable. I’ve had okay burgers, I’ve had good burgers, but this one was actually several kinds of awesome.

Accompanying the sandwich and salad were two glasses — one for a drink called ‘Mango-Ra’, and the other for a glass of Iced Ginger Green Tea.
The Mango-Ra is interesting, to be sure, given its ingredients: Mango, vanilla extract, strawberries, pineapple juice, lime and agave nectar.
Notice that I didn’t say Sugar? High Fructose Corn Syrup? Turbinado?
The Agave nectar is the sweetener of choice here, and makes the drink quite deliciously sweet. Combined with its thickness, it would serve well as a meal substitute of its own! I had trouble finishing it because I was feeling full.
The tea, however, isn’t to be ignored, with its subtle ginger hints, and a crisp sweetness that is missing from most teas. This too, was excellent.

I’m not a practicing vegetarian, vegan, or raw foodist, but the food here is seriously delicious, and just might make an impact on your health.

Bon Appétit!

I have to leave for work in six hours. I can’t seem to sleep.

Instead, I’ve Rickrolled, Tayrolled, sought out lulz over the internet, Looked at my Nintendo DS, PLAYED my Nintendo DS, and still can’t get over sleep hill here.

I’m tempted to get up and go eat some spaghetti, since I never did eat my dinner when I came in, opting for a lighter bowl of cereal to try to get by on.

I’d like some barbecue ribs at the moment, though. I miss having mom and dad’s barbecue a lot right now. It’s just not the same going to a chain restaurant, where they ‘barbecue’ ribs and serve ‘em, after being used to putting the meat on the grill, watching it sizzle and burn.

Why do I like the taste of burnt flesh, anyway?
Maybe because it soothes something in me?
I’m an anti-vegetarian’s best friend — gimme a medium rare steak.

This is more of a joke, an aside, than anything else, but chew on this:

We seem to make an artificial flavor for nearly anything. Even artificial meat flavoring for people who are transitioning over to a vegetarian / vegan lifestyle from actually eating meat. Artificial flavors compose our lives in their own special way, if you look at it like that.

How do you think people would react if they were offered an antifreeze flavored soda?

It has to be done. After all, we have Brussels Sprouts flavored soda, as well as Turkey and Gravy flavored soda, soooo…

[tags]soda, humor, weird, antifreeze, artificially flavored[/tags]

A bit of a humorous aside, but I’ve got this small container of Tetley Rooibos Vanilla and Pear tea here on my desk.

The problem is, I can’t spell Rooibos most of the time, unless I’m looking at it.

I blame being in the furry fandom too long as the problem, because I keep spelling it as roobois unless I look and correct it.

It’s really a great tea, however, and the smell is so aromatic and lovely, that I’d keep a serving here, hot and ready, just to absorb the wonderful aroma of the brewed tea.

[tags]Tetley, Rooibos, Tea, Humor[/tags]

So, I had that mini Luther Burger earlier today (well, yesterday), and shortly after I ate that thing… I was seriously sleepy.

The sandwich was, quite simply, delicious. You’d never realize how well a grilled Krispy Kreme doughnut goes with freshly cooked ground beef, five strips of bacon, and melted cheese, until you bit into the sandwich. The texture and flavor of the grilled doughnut actually goes well with the crispy bacon (I opted for the brown sugar bacon, at that) and the freshly cooked ground beef patty.

I even cheated when I was making it, though it was a subconscious thing. I made it healthier than it should’ve been, becuase of the preparation methods I took to make this sandwich.

Here’s my current recipe.

Ingredients for my mini Luther:
1 Krispy Kreme doughnut, glazed, sliced in half.
1/3 lb ground beef.
1 slice of American cheese. (NOT CHEESE PRODUCT. CHEESE.)
5 strips of bacon. (While the type of bacon you choose to use is irrelevant, remember that thicker bacon will not go well on this sandwich.)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste. (I enjoy black pepper. There was lots of it, and it was coarse grind, baby. :))
2 tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese.

Start with the ground beef.
Prepare your patty with the black pepper and parmesan cheese. I recommend mixing the ingredients together, and then shaping the patty from the resulting mix.
For a more traditional, greasier burger, you may fry the burger in hot grease at this point, as long as you deem necessary. Some like a little pink in their meat. Others like it well scorcheddone.
Alternately, if you’re not into the spattering drips of a frying pan, place your burger on a George Foreman grill, and cook it as long as you desire. I opted for six minutes.
Be warned, however, that smaller grills do have the chance of overflattening your burger, making it too wide for your Krispy Kreme.

While this is going on, do your bacon. I opted for five minutes in the microwave for the five strips, which I placed on paper towels, and then put on a paper plate to nuke. The paper towels will absorb much of the natural oiliness of the bacon, letting you live just a bit longer to enjoy the sandwich.
Alternately, if you’re frying the burger, fry the bacon right alongside the patty.

While these are going on, you can grill your doughnut. Take the sliced doughnut, place it sticky side UP on a sheet of aluminum foil, and place it in the oven. Broil it until you can see the sugary glaze caramelizing.
Again, shortcut if you’re using a George Foreman grill: Stick the halves onto the grill, press it for a minute or so. This too will toast the doughnut good and proper.

Just as the burger’s finishing up (last flip, if you did it in the frying pan, else, just as soon as you open that grill), add your slice of cheese to the patty. It needs to start melting while you’re putting the bacon atop it.
Break out that grilled doughnut, and place the meat onto one half. I recommend placing the meat on the sticky side, so that the grilled sides give you a better spot to pick it up from.

Complete the sandwich by closing the doughnut — put it on top.

Feel free to slice the sandwich and enjoy. The amount of moisture in the sandwich should allow you to forego adding condiments such as ketchup or mustard, which is why they were conveniently omitted in this recipe.

Things to try: Fry up an egg to top the bacon and burger in the sandwich, before closing the ‘bun’. I think that’d be awesome.

Luther, 02

By ‘greatest’, I mean that it’s something that everyone should try at least once, even if it kills them.

By ‘it’, I mean the legendary [tag]Luther burger[/tag], known to induce a strong case of The Itis (made popular by Aaron McGruder’s “The Boondocks” episode of the same name).

I opted to make this smaller than the official sandwich from the series, in that I only used one doughnut, sliced in half and grilled (which holds up quite damned well, I should add), a 1/3 pound burger instead of the full pound, and only one slice of cheese.

I need to avoid having such a severe case of [tag]the Itis[/tag] that I don’t make it to work, so I can only eat the downsized version.

In the future, I promise that I’ll try a full pound Luther, and maybe even a small podcast to go with the thing.

Until then, enjoy my 1/3 pound burger with five strips of bacon, a slice of American cheese, between one grilled [tag]Krispy Kreme[/tag] doughnut.