It’s been a seriously crazy month or so for me. Crazy. Work and personally. I just haven’t had the time I wanted to put into Culinary Zest. There has been a lot sitting on the back burner, so today I thought I would try to get something out there, cause this is the stuff I really love to do and I hate not being able to find the time to get it done.
Today is the day, it’s just a simple thing, but hey it makes me happy and that is good enough for me 🙂 So I thought it was time to blog about my adventures in snacking!
One of the things I really like doing when I’m exploring new places, is to check out all the little interesting nibbles that are available that I don’t see back home. My Partner-in-Crime and I hit up lots of little spots on our travels to explore new fun and interesting things to eat.
My most recent trip back out to Vancouver, BC, provided me with ample opportunity to do just that.
Some of these little nibbles I discovered at grocery stores and others in little ethnic shops along our travels. Some I managed to save and bring home and some just ended up in my tummy before I even could take pictures of them. C’est la Vie!
I gained 6 lbs that vacation week. Yah, I had some serious foodie fun! My weight went back down to normal after, but I would totally do it all over again, some things are worth adding on a couple of pounds here and there.
I have a thing for ginger, I lurvssssss the stuff, in all its shapes and forms. One of my favourites is Ginger Tea and another is candied ginger…which is even better dipped in chocolate 😀
On my Summer vacation this year, I sampled an assortment of nibbles and treats, brought some home and discovered some new snack loves that left me totally hooked!
Hello my new love Spicy Sriracha Peas.
OMG, these little suckers may have been the best of them all. The second I pulled back on the metal tab, the aroma that wafted up to my nose was everything that I love about Sriracha sauce in the first place. Garlicky. Crunchy. A slight spiciness, a gentle warmth that slowly builds. The best part was that they tasted exactly like they smelled. That little can did not last long. I need to find some more. Stat!
There was also some Sriracha Potato Chips, they didn’t last long either 🙂
I can buy Kettle Brand chips at home, but I’ve never seen Sriracha Sauce flavoured ones…what a shame, cause I totally loved them. I found these at a local Vancouver grocery store. Hey Maritime grocers….stock the chip aisle with some of these awesome chips. I can’t be the only one that loves anything that has to do with Sriracha sauce 🙂
I picked up some funny little nibbles in an Asian grocers, there were so many interesting things to try, most of them we had to guess what it was. They had some super awesome little candy kits, but I found them a tad pricey to bother with. Maybe next time!
These little chestnut chocolates were surprisingly good. I love chestnuts and nothing says Fall for me like freshly roasted chestnuts. These candies caught my eye and I liked them.
These were simple little chocolates, nothing really all that special, other than they were funny!
I got a text from a friend that was in San Fransisco on business while I was on vacation in Vancouver. It included a picture of a funny drink he had just tried. The next day I walked into the Asian grocers shop and boom there they were. So of course I had to try them too!
I tried the Melon flavoured Ramune Drink. I can’t say I really liked how it tasted, it was mildly carbonated, had a very artificial taste to it and was pretty sweet. The thing that I found interesting about it was that it had this funny marble and plunger set up, which is frankly what made me super curious to try it out.
The cap had a small plunger, you placed it over the marble at the top of the bottle, pushed down and injected the marble into the drink. I didn’t finish it, it just didn’t do it for me in the taste department, but it was super fun to try 🙂
Dan-D-Pak Cashew Pucks, interesting texture wise, thin wafer disks sandwiching cashew brittle in-between.
Crunchy. Not overly sweet. It was an adventures in snacking curiosity.
Texture wise I found them interesting, but on the flavour front not as much. I think these are a middle of the fence thing for me. I love cashews and brittle. I’m just not sure how I feel about the thin wafers part of this snack. Bland but not bothersome. I ate them all, so it clearly didn’t prove to be much of an objection.
Dan-D-Pak Cajun Supreme Mix. I loved this stuff. It reminded me of a snack mix that my parents often served with drinks when they had friends over for social gatherings. I’m not really sure where the Cajun part of this snack came in. To me, it was more Asian based. There were sesame sticks and the other nibbles were coated in a dry sweet salty seasoning, which reminded me a lot of Tamari sauce. The only thing in them that might qualify as Cajun might have been the corn nuts, which I found bland and out-of-place with the other elements. Otherwise, this was strictly an Asian snack mix for me.
This last Adventures in Snacking nibble was probably the biggest disappointment for me. The Bhuja Mix. I love East Indian snacks and nibbles. I love the crunch. I love the spice. And I’ve rarely come across one that I didn’t like. This one was just bland and boring. There was nothing about it that reminded me of some of my favourite Indian snacks. I picked this bag up at a convienence store on the way to the harbour to jump on my brother’s boat for a day of sailing in English Bay. If I had to pick a dud in the Adventures in Snacking…this one is it. Just boring. End of story. I didn’t even finish the bag. I’m not even sure why I brought it home with me, except that I think it got left in with my other treasures!
