Non-Dairy Milk ~ Part 8

Forager® Project

Organic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain

https://www.foragerproject.com/cashewmilk


While shopping at my local grocery store last week, I came across another new(-ish) non-dairy milk product: Forager® Project Organic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain. I really like cashews[1] and figured this might be another good bovine-milk alternative. Well, sometimes ya just plain figures wrong...

This was not truly 'orrible in any way, it was just very disappointing. I normally like most anything to do with cashews, so I think that I might have set the bar too high for this cashew-based product.

My two major tests for any of these non-dairy milk products are how it works and tastes "in a tall glassa with cookies" and "on cold cereal in the morning". I tried a coupla glassas with a few different cookie types and on at least three different breakfast cereals (two flake-type cereals and one Cheerios™ flavour). Sadly, 
it really did nothing to enhance either cookies or cereals. It actually tasted both kinda bland and off at the same time.

Additionally, I even gave it a go in a cuppa hot Chocolate (just your boring ol' Nestlé®-brand powdered junk ~ I used this cheap stuff 'cause I did not want to waste a test on any of my superior Bettys product [I only have a little left from Christmas]), and it really did not add anything special. I suppose I  coulda just used hot water in the mix and it woulda tasted just about as good (or bad). Plus, when heating up this kinda faux-milk, you really have to watch it while it slowly boils. The ingredients in it tend to break down a bit and you have to constantly stir it around.

Forager® Project offers their cashewmilk line-up with four different options: (the one I tried) Organic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain; Organic Cashewmilk ~ Original; Organic Coconut Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Vanilla; and Organic Coconut Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain. Unfortunately, I did not think enough of the flavour that I did try that I will be bothering to try any of the others. I have had other brands of cashewmilk before and seem to remember liking them much better.

On the plus side, Forager® Project also offers a line of cashewmilk-yoghurt, which they are marketing as "Cashewgurt®" (these d*mn companies and their completely madeuppery words!). Now, I have had several of their flavours of Cashewgurt® and have actually liked them a lot. They are very creamy, but not quite as good as αυθεντικό ελληνικό γιαούρτι (and I do not think that anyone would ever try to make a good Τζατζίκι outta this stuff). I did not even put the two products together when I first bought their cashewmilk, and did not realize they were the same company until I checked out their web-site recently while researching this 'blog-episode. (Hmmm?! Could that be a new portmanteau "'blogisode"?)

In conclusion, do not let the sound of "cashewmilk" fool you into believing it might actually taste as good as cashews in milk form. I mean, pistachios happen to be one of my favourite "nuts"[2], and I generally love all thing pistachio, too (Ice Cream, Kulfi, plain/roasted, etc.); however, I think that even I would possibly have to draw the line at pistachiomilk... maybe...


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Forager® Project Organic Cashewmilk ~ Unsweetened Plain ~ 5.8;
(however,) Cashewgurt® (various flavours) ~ 6.7

(Whereas: 
100% organic Bovine juice ~ 8.3;
Almondmilk ~ 7.0 - 8.2 [depending on the brand and/or flavour];
Coconutmilk ~ 7.0;
Hazelnutmilk ~ 6.9;
Cashewmilk ~ 6.8 [other brands]; 
Flaxmilk ~ 6.7; 
Ricemilk ~ 6.5; 
Soymilk ~ 5.8;
ripple™ Unsweetened Original Nutritious Pea Milk ~ 5.2; 
Hempmilk ~ 5.0 [ugggh! and I am only including it here on the list with the rest of these because I did try it... once... never again])

___________________

1. Of course, the cashew is not truly a "nut"; it is actually the seed of the cashew apple (fruit).

Stupid, useless cunning linguist (etymological) pointer of the day:

Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree caju (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈʒu]), which itself is derived from the Tupian word acajú, literally meaning "nut that produces itself". The generic name "Anacardium" derived from Greek άνά (aná), meaning "outside", and καρδία (kardía), meaning "heart", refers to the unusual location of the seed (the heart) outside of the fruit.

2. Pistachios are also not another true "nut" botanically, but another tree seed, and, surprisingly, also a member of the cashew family.

And just for the h*ck of it, here is another stupid, useless cunning linguist (etymological) pointer of the day:

"Pistachio" comes from late Middle English "pistace", from Old French, superseded in the 16th century by forms from Italian "pistacchio", via Latin from Greek "pistakion", from Persian "pesteh".

LaLe

A morning haiku:
Oh, breakfastary repast!
ありがとう, Doc.

http://www.lalesf.com/


Place: LaLe[1]

Location: 731 Irving Street 
(between 8th and 9th Avenues)

Hours: breakfast and/or "Brunch" are served daily at 8:00am

Meal: Cairo (Scramble) ~ lamb (which I made sure to ستة وثمانون), peppers, tomatoes, onions, Feta cheese, with a side ramekin of Tzatziki (well, more like Cacik as this is a Turkish joint), served with home style potatoes and housemade (well, restaurant-made) English muffin; and a glassa Mint Lemonade to drink


Roses can be red.
Tulips can also be red.
Haikus do not rhyme.


Finishing off the early-2019 workout of my Breakfastary Starting Rotation, I returned to LaLe 
(see last 'blog-entry from Saturday, September 15th, 2018).

Even after several visits to this restaurant, there are still some good remaining ideas to check out:

Ciudad de México (Scramble) ~ chorizo (which would be ochenta-y-seis-ed), green onions, mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, cheese;

Toronto (Benediction) ~ ham (No thanks, ya hoser!), grilled tomato, spinach;

or

Fennel Cabbage Salad ~ green and purple cabbage, fresh fennel, apples, arugula (where I would probably have them add a poached egg or two on top of the pile of rabbit-food to make it a bit more breakfastarily-sound).

Plus, there is always the possibility of reordering their most-excellent Dutch Baby Pancake. 

I had also given a brief thought to reordering Boston (Benediction) ~ bacon (nah, it ain't wicked pissah), guacamole, arugula, tomatoes ~ as a superstitious aid to help the New England Patriots win the AFC Championship Game in Kansas City this afternoon. But I had ordered that same dish exactly a year ago and figured (hopefully) that the Patriots do not need my fake mojo-ocity (besides, I am wearing a pair of Patriots socks and my old-school Patriots [the one with the Minuteman-guy in a three-point stance] baseball cap).

I was very happy to see that this was made with πολύ Φέτα, as this was the main reason I ordered it today. Otherwise, it woulda just been a peppers, tomatoes, and onions scramble.

One thing that I learned very early on when living in Greece, Τζατζίκι (or Cacik even) and potatoes are a great pair! Because of which, I did not dump the ramekin on top of the scramble mess (like they were expecting me to do), I dumped it all over the homefries instead (Ha! Take that, LaLe!). This was not a mistake in any way. 

I did not really bother to ask what LaLe might still have to offer in the way of condimentary supplements (in the past they just had Tapatío® Salsa Picante Hot Sauce). I used some of my own H*ll's Kitchen® 
Sriracha Chili Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom!) on the scramble. I did make sure to use some of their own very good homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) marmalade and strawberry jam/preserves ~ one teaspoon of each ~ on the two different halves of the English muffin. They also now have jars of both of these for sale. This turned out to be very à propos as I was planning on buying some jam/jelly/preserves after breakfast while grocery shopping on my way home, anyway. I made sure to take advantage of this and bought one of their marmalade jars for home-use, Lady. 


Awaken my morn,
Nubian liquid goddess.
Java... Joe... Coffee!

(not really such a) Strange Coffee Interlude

After breakfast, I would normally grab a cuppa around the corner at Snowbird Coffee to enjoy whilst galumphing around San Francisco Botanical Garden. However, it was (still) raining (light as it may have been) and I did not really relish (nor ketchup) being wet and uncomfortable all morning. Plus, more importantly, I have wayyyy too much of my own Coffee still to use up at home. Sooo... when I got home and was keyboarding-up today's 'blog-entry thing, I made myself a cuppa (single pour-over style) Bettys Kenyan Karatina (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!).

https://www.bettys.co.uk/kenyan-karatina-single-origin-coffee


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Cairo (Scramble) ~ 6.8;
homemade (restaurant-made) marmalade and strawberry jam ~ 7.2;
Bettys Kenyan Karatina ~ 7.4

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/semi-cultural and historical pointer (refresher):

Tulips are called "lâle" in Turkish (from Persian: "lale" "لاله"). 

When written in Arabic letters, "lale" has the same letters as "Allah", which is why the flower became an Islamic holy symbol*. It was also associated with the House of Osman, resulting in tulips being widely used in decorative motifs on tiles, mosques, fabrics, crockery, etc. in the Ottoman Empire.

*(Much the same way the letters in "Jesus Christ" are an anagram for the Greek words "gefilte fish" and the reason you see so many "Jesus-fish" on people's bumpers.)

lokma

https://www.lokmasf.com/


Place: lokma[1]

Location: 1801 Clement Street 
(on the corner of 19th Avenue)

Hours: open Tuesday - Sunday at 9:00am for "Brunch"

Meal: Türlü[2] Omelet ~ Turkish ratatouille, Cacik (cucumber, yogurt, & fresh dill [simply put, Turkish Tzatziki]), and house potatoes; to drink with the meal a demi-cuppa Turkish Coffee; and, beforehand, I stopped at home again (because it is only two blocks down Clement Street from this restaurant) for a cuppa (this time) Coconut Vanilla Latte

http://home-cafe.cafes-city.com/

(What is the EweToobular juxtaselection here? Simples! The Tallest Man on Earth[3] is a big fan of ratatouille and Tzatziki.

[Nah, not really ~ well, he may be, but I do not know that ~ they were playing one of his songs on the house-stereo and I thought that I recognized the singer right away. One of the waitress/server-lady persons confirmed this information for me; she is a fan of his music, too.])


I had dinner last week across the street from this brand-new (only open since February of this year) restaurant and liked what I saw on their (even if they call it) "Brunch" menu. So I made a mental missive to check out  lokma some time in the future... and today must be the future, Marty.

The seating area is medium-sized (well, for a little corner neighborhood joint) with five window-bar seats (along the 19th Avenue side), four two-seater tables, two three-seater (well, kinda; there were three chairs at smaller tables that looked like they might only seat two comfortably) tables, and six four-seater tables. It looked spacious enough inside that if they ever needed to add a few more tables, it would still seem comfortable and not crowded.

There are a few other ideas (even for stupid vegetarian-types) that I will probably be returning to try:

Menemem ~ Turkish egg scramble, tomatoes, sweet peppers, Feta cheese, oranges[ sic ] slices & warm pita (I have had this same dish a few times at other restaurants and already knew that I liked it, so I went with the choice that I did today to try something different, which turned out to be an excellent move);

Breakfast Sandwich ~ toasted bun, two fried eggs, Feta, arugula, tomato, aioli, & house potatoes;

Traditional Turkish Breakfast (this is only offered as a meal for two, so I would have to make sure to share this with someone) ~ sujuk (Turkish sausage), pastirma[4] (air dried cured beef), over-easy eggs, Feta, seasonal hummus, olives, tomatoes, cucumber, kaymak (clotted cream) & honey, herbs & pita (of course, I would have both the sujuk and pastirma junk seksen-altı-ed);

or, if I am in a sweet kinda mood,

Greek Yogurt Pancakes ~ seasonal fruit, honey, blueberry compote, almonds.

This was really a very good choice. A ratatouille omelette? What is not to like? Not only was an omelette made with ratatouille inside it an interesting dish, this had a tasty Cacik on top of it, too. Plus, their house potatoes were very nice and crispy-crunchy (probably deep-fried-then-baked style); I bet a side order of their Cacik would have been great poured over the potatoes, too.

I am not sure what they may have had to offer in the way of any bottled condimentary supplements; I did not ask. I just used some of my own Dat'l Do-it® Zesty Chipotle Hot Sauce (Thanks, Mom! And that successfully kills another bottled soldier finally. I am now down to only 29  hot sauces in my refrigerator... only.) on the potatoes.

(not necessarily such a) Strange Coffee Interlude

The Coconut Vanilla Latte at home was good, but just not quite as exciting as either their Lavender Latte, Rose Latte, or Cookie Monster (Latte, too) that I had previously tried. It did not have quite enough coconut flavour in my opinion; I probably shoulda had them make it with coconutmilk (if they had any; I noticed that they did have almondmilk as a cow-milk substitute). Not that I really needed the extra caffeination with breakfast, but I saw that lokma 
offered Andytown Coffee Roasters as their house Coffee (and it was an Ethiopian one ~ not sure which roast/blend, though) in addition to standard Turkish Coffee. I went with the Turkish Coffee over the Andytown Ethiopia because I figured "... when in Istanbul, do as the Istanbullers do... "

http://www.andytownsf.com/

Good house-music!
Andytown Coffee!! (which, in my opinion, is one of the best local roasteries)
A unique Turkish ratatouille omelette!!!
Location... location... location... !!!!
Yeah, I will definitely be returning (for breakfast and probably dinner sometime, too)!!!!!

This has been a very good weekend for me for new breakfastary finds.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Coconut Vanilla Latte ~ 6.7;
Türlü Omelet ~ 7.0

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, bölüm bir:

The Turkish words "lokma" and "lokum" are derived from the Arabic word "luqma(t)" and its plural "luqūm" meaning "morsel" and "mouthful" and the alternative Ottoman Turkish name, "rahat-ul hulküm", was an Arabic formulation, "rāḥat al-hulqūm", meaning "comfort of the throat", which remains the name in formal Arabic.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, bölüm iki:

"Türlü" in Turkish means "hodge-podge", but in this case it means "mixed vegetables" (as in ratatouille).

3. Kristian Matsson is kinda like the "Swedish Robbie Zimmerman". If you have never heard his music, check it out. Very nice stuff.

http://thetallestmanonearth.com/

4. Yeah, I coulda written another stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer, but seeing as the friendly folks at WikipediA have already stolen... er... posted this information, I just stole... er... borrowed it for use here myself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastrami

Garlic ~ Part Too

"Roses?! We don' need no stinkin' roses!"[1]

(Sorry, you try finding decent garlic-studded songs. Besides, you know you all wanna give "garlic gumbo gravy guava" a go-go.)


garlic[2]
noun | gar-lic | \ˈgär-lik\

1 : a European allium (Allium sativum) widely cultivated for its pungent compound bulbs much used in cookery; broadly : ALLIUM
2 : a bulb of garlic

— garlicky \ˈgär-li-kē\ adjective


This is just a quick follow-up on garlic (see previous 'blog-entry from Wednesday, February 11th, 2015). This is the kinda thing that pops into my head late at night (well, 3:00am early in the morning) when I can not sleep.

While garlic may not necessarily be a mandatory ingredient for the first meal of the day (and just how come those smarmy bastages at the Pancake Home of Internationality [better known as "PHOI®", of course] have never come up with a decent "Garlic Pancake"?), it really does enhance most breakfastary dishes. Any decent homefries/country potatoes worth its merits should include at least a little (or, like the truly Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes at Eats, a lot) of this tasty underground fruit. ("But... Brian... garlic is not really a 'fruit' is it?" Seriously?! This is a silly li'l 'blog-post about "garlic", fercryinoutloud, and you are actually questioning my botanical authentification. Besides, if you don't believe me, you can check with those monkey-experts at Scopes.com [see, they don't just fight smelly bad-breath now-a-days, they fight smelly bad-breathtaking rumours, too].)

Most of the great cuisines of the World utilize garlic to some extent in their dishes (with the exception of certain sects of Buddhism[3]): Chinese, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Indian (the Hindu-type, I am not sure about the Native American take on garlic, but I bet it would be great with fry-bread), Burmese (Myanmarese, too), Vietnamese, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Arab, Israeli (and also European/American Jewish), Ethiopian and Eritrean, Russian, Afghani, Cuban, Jamaican, and Irish[4].

Garlic always goes great in/with some of my favourite foods: Pizza (and, yes, in my family Pizza is a traditional breakfast dish, d*mmit!), potatoes (in the chips form and most all forms), etc. I have even had Garlic Ice Cream (once) and it wasn't that bad (of course, it was late in the afternoon at the Gilroy Garlic Festival[5] and by that time everything tasted like garlic anyway). Not to mention... Τζατζίκι! (and do not try and tell me that Tzatziki is not a true breakfast dish; it has yoghurt in it, right?) However, I do draw the line at garlic-Coffee and garlic-Beer.

And just another good reason that garlic is a great breakfast addition ~ not that I expect people will run out to their local Garlic Julius® tomorrow to start drinking up this stuff ~ but a 3.5 oz/100g serving of garlic has 38% of your Daily Value of Vitamin C (okay, sure, the equivalent serving of oranges pack a 64% of Vitamin C, but when was the last time you asked for extra oranges on your Pizza Margherita?).


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:
Garlic (plain) ~ 6.8;
Garlic (roasted) ~ 7.2;
Τζατζίκι ~ 7.2-8.2

___________________

1. http://www.garlic-central.com/stinking-rose.html

First off, I am impressed that there is an actual web-site dedicated to garlic. 

Secondly, while garlic is not actually a member of the Rose-family, it is interesting to point out that apples (as well as pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries, loquats, strawberries, and almonds) are. How do you like them roses?!

2. Definitionary results courtesy of little Miss Mary-Anne Webster.

3. Do you really wanna know the complete arbitrariness of that particular dietary restriction? You can read my somewhat explanation in my initial garlic 'blog-entry. The ban also includes not using onions, leeks, and a few other good-tasting stuff. H*ck, different Buddhist sects can not even agree as to exactly why this is. 

Trust me, this Buddha guy would not last a week on the food network.

4. No, "Irish Cuisine" is not a culinaristic oxymoron.

Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

For any of you wise-a-guy pun-dits wondering just what the word for "garlic" in Gaelic might be, it is "gairleog". 

5. https://gilroygarlicfestival.com/

the Dipsea Café

A(nother) breakfastary roadtrip:
Mill Valley, Marin County, CA

http://www.dipseacafe.com/


Place: the Dipsea Café
Location: 200 Shorline Highway, Mill Valley, CA
Hours: open for breakfast at 7:00am every day 
(but probably not tomorrow morning)
Meal: Vegetarian[1a] Frittata[1b] ~  mushrooms[1c], tomatoes[1d], onions[1e], spinach[1f], zucchini[1g], and Jack cheese, served with home fries, homemade (well, restaurant-made) buttermilk biscuit or toast and homemade (again, restaurant-made) jam; a side of Tzatziki (which really isn't offered on their breakfast menu, but I ordered some, anyway); and a glassa Homemade (Do I really need to say it?) Lemonade[1h]


♫ Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla Wash., and Kalamazoo! ♫

Because the traditional Day-After Festivus meal should be Greek in origin[2], I headed north this morning across the Golden Gate Bridge back to the Dipsea Café 
(see last 'blog-entry from Sunday, March 30th, 2014; it seems like I get there every second year now, but this place really deserves more-often return trips) for breakfast.

Some other good ideas (and more-often reasons for a return trip): 
Mill Valley Omelette ~ egg whites, mushrooms, avocado & Feta (it's a strange-sounding combination, but I am game for anything with Feta and avocado);
Pear-Walnut Omelette ~  with Brie cheese and balsamic onions (another strange-sounding combination, but I am also game for strange-sounding foodstuff); 
or the authentically Hellenic Huevos Rancheros ~ two poached eggs on a fried corn tortilla with red and green salsa, Jack cheese, pico de gallo and sour cream, served with black beans, chips and steamed tortillas. 

This was a very decent version of a frittata. I had asked to have Feta substituted for the Jack cheese, but they must have forgotten to do this. This was no biggie, I just think this would have been much betta (like most everything) with Feta. I went with the homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) buttermilk biscuit as my bread-option, because even I know how to make "homemade" toast. This was deceptively a lot of food. At first glance it was misleading and I thought that I would have no problem finishing it all. As it was, with the homemade (restaurant-made, whatever) buttermilk biscuit and extra large portion of potatoes, I could barley clean my plate. The frittata itself was no slouch (I prefer my frittatas made with chicken eggs and not slouch eggs, anyway). I also liked that they went with the moniker of "Vegetarian (Frittata)" versus the ubiquitously odious name of "Veggie".

As for the side of Tzatziki, I made sure to use it all wisely on top of the potatoes.

For condimentary supplementation, the Dipsea Café 
offers Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (both Original Red Sauce and Green Jalapeño Sauce). I just used a little of my own El Yucateco® XXXtra Hot Sauce Salsa Kutbil-ik® de Chile Habanero on top of the frittata. One of the Mexican waiter-server-guys even complimented me on that choice; he said that he uses that same brand at home himself.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Vegetarian Frittata ~ 6.7 (this mighta even been a 7.0 if they had remembered the Feta);
Τζατζικι ~ 7.5

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, νούμερο ένα:

Here are the corresponding words in Greek:

a) χορτοφάγος (pronounced: "hortoFAgose") or φυτοφάγος (pronounced: "feetoFAgose"; I am not really sure of the distinction between the two, though)

b) ομελέτα (pronounced: "omeLEta" ~ see, this cunning linguist stuff ain't always επιστήμη πυραύλων)

c) μανιτάρια (pronounced: "maniTAria")

d) ντομάτες (pronounced: "toMAtess" ~ and sometimes this cunning linguist stuff ain't even εγχείριση εγκεφάλου)

e) κρεμμύδια (pronounced: "kremMEEthia")

f) σπανάκι (pronounced: "spaNAkee")

g) κολοκύθι (pronounced: "koloKEEthee)

h) λεμονάδα (pronounced: "lemoNAtha" ~ simples)

2. If you don't believe me, just check out the Official Festivus Handbook that is provided annually by the Human Fund.

Ro Cafe

Breakfast on Geary (redux), Part 28B

(No official web-site.)


Place: Ro Cafe
Location: 2739 Geary Boulevard (between Masonic Avenue and Wood Street); phonicular contact: 
(415) 340-9765
Hours: open at 7:00am every day
Meal: Morning Fresh ~ (a sandwich of) cream cheese, (bell) pepper, onion, mint, cucumber, yogurt; one piece of homemade (coffeehouse-made, whatever) Kurdish baklava[1]; and a small (12 oz) cuppa America's Best Coffee Roasting Company Medium Roast Blend

http://www.ambestcoffee.com/

(Yeah, sure, this EweToobular juxtaselection is a bit of a downer, but there are only just so many good 
"river"-themed songs, and I really couldn't quite qualify linking Bruce Springfield's biggest hit here: 
"I Wish That I Was Jessie's Girl".)


I wanted to check out some other offerings from 
Ro Cafe (see previous 'blog-entry from November 7th, 2015) so I went back there this morning for breakfast.

I still plan on getting back again one day to try their other breakfastary sandwiches (suitable for stupid vegetarians, that is): Avocado Egg (avocado, fried egg, toasted bread) and Sthara (jam, cream cheese, baby spinach, Mozzarella; I am really intrigued to find out just how jam and spinach will combine into a sandwich). 

There are still a few other of their (coffee)house-specific items that I might need to try for lunch or dinner one of these days. There is Kurdish Style Nachos (Kurditos) ~ chips, Mozzarella, yogurt, mint, Ro sauce (which can have chicken or beef added to it for those of you that partake of the dead, decaying animal flesh). And, especially, there is something called vash. The counter(/owner?)-lady was making a fresh batch of it this morning while I was leaving. I forget what is in it, but I do remember her telling me the last time I was there that it is stupid vegetarian-friendly (much like trying to find an English-Kurdish/Kurdish-English translation site, finding a decent Kurdish cuisine dictionary is about as impossible). I really want to get back and see exactly what that is. She told me it can be eaten for breakfast, too.

I also asked the counter(/owner?)-lady if the Kurds also offered a version of Turkish/Arabic/Greek Coffee. She said that they do, and I then saw that it is offered on the Coffee drinks menu. A little later I saw the above picture on the wall. (Can anyone tell me how do you say "D'oh!" in Kurdish?)

(You really can't tell much from this photo. I suppose that I shoulda oughtta probably maybe opened up one half of the sandwich to show the inside stuff.)


I just have two words to say about this sandwich: 
"Brilliant!" 

(Okay, for any of you mathematicaltitian-types out there keeping actual count: "Positively absolutely brilliant!")

A Tzatziki sandwich! Who knew?

This was even freshly made; I saw the counter(/owner?)-lady actually dicing up fresh cucumbers and mixing the whole mess together. I was wondering how yoghurt might perform in a sandwich ("That's more messed-up than a yoghurt sandwich!"), but with the addition of the cream cheese, the viscosity 
actually worked very well in a sandwich (and tasted much better than that vile white goop stuff ever does ~ see 'blog-entry from June 6th, 2012).

The Kurdish version of baklava definitely had a bit of lemony flavour to it (as stated on the sign in the pastry window/shelf). I always like baklava and this was a good version. Of course, Kataifi is always the best of all Middle Eastern pastries.

Once again, I didn't bother to check what Ro Cafe might offer in the way of condimentary supplementation. I didn't even bother schlepping any of my own hot sauces with me because I pretty much already had in mind what I was going to order, anyway. Tzatziki and hot sauce might not be such a great combination (and I am almost positive that baklava with hot sauce is never needed). 


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Morning Fresh ~ 6.7; Kurdish baklava ~ 6.4

___________________

1. I had to ask the counter(/owner?)-lady how to say "baklava" in Kurdish. She said it is pronounced pretty much like "balawa", with a "w" in place of the "v".

For what it is worth, there is still no English-Kurdish/Kurdish-English offering on Google Translate.

Garlic

"A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat." 
~ unknown, old Yiddish proverb


Garlic (unlike potatoes ~ see specific 'blog-entry from February 8th, 2012 ~ and Coffee ~ see last specific 'blog-entries from February 26th, 2014 and February 28th, 2014) is not necessarily a mandatory breakfastary staple (unless you are making Garlic Pancakes or Garlic-stuffed French Toast, of course), but I do really like the addition of garlic in most of my savoury breakfast dishes.

Garlic (Allium sativum) is in the same Genus as onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, and chives. However, I am pretty sure that it is not related in any way to Marijuana (Cannabis sativa). (See, "sativum/sativus/sativa" are just forms of Latin botanical adjectives meaning "cultivated". Anyone that has ever tried smoking garlic leaves will know this for a fact.)

Garlic ~ etymology and numerous stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers:

Etymology: Old English "gārlēac" (Mercian), "garlec" (W. Saxon), from "gār" ("spear", in reference to the clove) + "lēac" ("leek").

Arabic = ثوم (I don't have the correct transliteration, but it sounds something like "thoom" which is good enough for Gub'mint work)
Czech = česnek (pronounced "CHESS-nek")
Chinese = 大蒜 (transliterated as "dàsuàn" and pronounced something like "DA-swen")
Dutch = knoflook (pronounced "Ka-NO-flouk")
French = ail (pronounced "aye", with a silent "l")
German = Knoblauch (pronounced "Ka-NO-bloukh", with the "l" pronounced, Chuck)
Greek = σκόρδο (transliterated as "skortho" and pronounced "SKOR-tho")
Hungarian = fokhagyma (pronounced "FOK-hagima", or close enough; what do you expect, I was only in Budapest once and then only for four days)
Irish (Gaeilge) = gairleog (simply pronounced "garlic"; sometimes these cunning linguist pointers ain't Brain Science)
Italian = aglio (pronounced "AL-yio")
Korean = 마늘 (transliterated as "maneul" and pronounced something like "MAN-ay")
Polish = czosnek (pronounced "CHOSE-nek")
Portuguese = alho (pronounced "AL-yo")
Russian = чеснок (transliterated as "chesnok" and pronounced as "CHESS-nok")
Spanish = ajo (pronounced "a-HO")

Garlic is native to Central Asia, and it has been used by humans for over 7,000 years, both for culinary uses and medicinal purposes.

While garlic is used (more than) generously throughout Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, it is mentioned only once in the Bible (they must be a buncha anti-Semites to mention it just the one time, though):

Numbers 11:5 [1] ~ We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely: the cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.

Which is why you probably never hear Israel referred to as "the land of milk and garlic".

Interestingly enough (well, it's "interesting" if you are either a food-geek or Cliff Clavin, I suppose), there are certain Buddhist sects (and I am not sure if that is even the correct designation for a branch of Buddhism), in addition to being strictly vegetarian, that do not allow/recommend the use of garlic (or onions). (And you all thought that the Jews and Muslims had some strange dietary laws.) It seems there are differing ratiocinations for this by separate branches of Buddhists. East Asian Buddhists do not eat any root vegetables (to include: potatoes, carrots, or onion and garlic); apparently this has something to do with "killing" any plant life. Other Buddhists avoid eating "strong-smelling plants"; something to which they say "tend to excite senses" (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean). All I can think about is that aren't ginger roots also grown underground (and aren't they also pretty strong smelling and "sensually exciting", too)? And what about lotus roots? Apparently, ol' Sid Guatama never smelled a ripe jackfruit or durian either. (Whew! "Strong-smelling" would be putting it overly nicely there.) And, of course, these arbitrary dietary restrictions came into play centuries before the New World was invaded by the Europeans and chillies were "discovered" and then imported for use in almost every major cuisine in the World (to include Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indian). I suppose that capsaicin isn't considered "sensationally arousing" in local Buddhist temples. Plus, you just try eating a mango or a banana without "killing" it first; those suckers won't go down without a fight (be extra careful when wrestling with bananas, though, they do tend to bruise very easily).

Gilroy (the one in California) self-proclaims itself as: "the Garlic Capital of the World". However, in fact, the entire U.S. of America is only the 9th top garlic producer in the World; whereas, China is by far the largest producer of garlic ~ making up for about 81% of the World output of garlic (growing about 100 times as much garlic as the entire U.S. does). That doesn't keep the city of Gilroy from holding their annual garlic festival (and completely messing up traffic along Highway 101 all the way from San Jose to Salinas) for three days every summer.

http://gilroygarlicfestival.com/

And, of course, garlic is one of the main ingredients in that most supreme of the Foods of the Gods: Τζατζίκι! 


1. Of course, on the West Coast, this is usually known as "Numbers 8:5", except in Hawai'i and most of Arizona during Daylight Saving Time.