Last Call for SnoBall

Saturday, October 30, is the last day of the 2011 Hansen's SnoBliz season.  The Halloween menu is fab.  Here is my (half-eaten) Corpse Bride: wedding cake snowball with strawberry sauce, whipped cream and posdered milk.  Ashley Hansen says that while the powdered milk is great for the Halloween Ick factor, it's also a traditional snowball topping in Costa Rica.  It took a bit of getting used to (a bite or two) but it's actually quite nice.  Almost makes you feel like you are eating dry cake batter mix from the box.  Strange but but not at all awful.

If I can get back by Saturday, I'm going to have the Murder On The Orient Express (cream of coffee with cardamom), now that the temperature is dropping.  Even though it's snow, I still think of cream of coffee as a cool weather flavor.  Can't help it.

Read more...

Beaucoup NOLA

I thought that the first time I tried Beaucoup NOLA, I'd want a fresh fruit juice snowball.  That was my plan going in.  But, I got there and there was this whole wall of smoothies beckoning me and I caved.  You might too.

Dustin, the guy behind the counter, told me that the most popular smoothie is The Tipitina (or The Local) featuring ponchatoula strawberries, farmer's market peaches, banana, local honey and soy milk.  Since peaches aren't in season yet, he would substitute with something else that was good and delicious.  I left it to his judgement and he added pineapple and a bit of watermelon.

Delicious.  Fresh, beautifully textured and super satisfying.  My favorite part was how wonderfully present the honey is.  I tasted it throughout the entire smoothie and it made my heart sing.

In summary, Beaucoup NOLA smoothies are 1000x healthier and more delicious than Smoothie King (super official scientific data *slurp*)  They have a great Freret St location, are full of local art and have a full juice bar.

Next time, I'm definitely going for the snowball.  Just look at the flavor options!

Read more...

Hansen's Sno-Bliz 2010: Four New Flavors!

WOOO!  Hansen's Sno-Bliz opened today for the 2010 season!  Hooray!  I hustled down fast to get my favorite Nectar Cream Sundae (I've been craving since last summer) and because I was so quick on the draw, I only had to stand in line behind one person!  I'm the luckiest.

What's more, Ashley Hansen gave me the scoop on four new, all natural flavors she is bringing out this year and gave me a sneak peek taste test.  The flavors are Vanilla Bean, Raspberry, Gingersnap and Cardamom.  I tasted the Raspberry (delightful) and the Cardamom.  When she first told me Cardamom, it was so unexpected that I didn't even recognize the word and had to ask her to repeat it a few times.

Ashley: "Cardamom."
Me: "Huh?"
Ashley: "Cardamom"
Me: "What??"
Ashley: "Cardamom!"
Me: "What is that?"
Ashley: "It's a spice."
Me: "OH, YOU MEAN CARDAMOM?!?"  

Yeah, I know.  I'm an idiot.  Anyway, cardamom does happen to be one of my all time favorite spices so I was thrilled to get a taste and guess what, it tastes exactly like cardamom!  Only cold.  And sno-blizzy.  It's utterly delicious.

On my way out, I stopped at McKeown's Books and picked up copies of Simple Cuisine by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop and Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl.  Looking forward to some leisurely perusing this evening.

Read more...

Nectar and Orchid

Working from home can be lonely and isolating but has definite culinary advantages. I can cook myself a decent lunch or get a head start on dinner. I can go out to eat without worrying about making it back in less than an hour (or harder still, 30 minutes). And... I can take a snowball break.

Plum Street Snoball is close and quite good. While not a match for Hansen's Sno-Bliz (my favorite), it does have reasonably fine and fluffy snow and a good Nectar Cream syrup, my latest snowball flavor of choice. I've spent the last 10 years always sticking with my favorite combination: cherry and coconut. This summer, I've decided to branch out and have started trying the cream flavors. Nectar Cream is at the top of the list and is difficult to describe. I had it first at Hansen's as part of a Sundae which consisted of layers of ice and syrup topped with canned cream (I had no idea there was such a thing and if there was, that I'd want to eat it, but it really does work beautifully), crushed pineapple and a cherry. Super sweet but an absolutely craveable winner for me. I'd love to know what Nectar Cream is composed of. There are notes of something like nectarine, maybe a bit of a cherry and then something else that I can't seem to identify. It's fantastic.

This time, at Plum Street Snoball, I paired Nectar Cream with Orchid Cream because the name was so irresistible. The staff described it to me as a French Vanilla which was a bit of a disappointment, but sounded fine at the moment. I should have known better. There isn't much to be said for fake vanilla. It was far too cloying and not at all to my taste.

Next time, I'm heading back to Hansen's to get a taste of their tart flavors. Will report back.

Read more...