by Ethan Johnson
June 14, 2007

Note: Please refer to the ethmar.com Food and Drink Ethics Statement regarding food and drink reviews on this site.

by Ethan Johnson
May 28, 2007

Note: Please refer to the ethmar.com Food and Drink Ethics Statement regarding food and drink reviews on this site.

I love me some tea. But as our weather in Texas gets progressively hotter, my desire to drink it wanes down to nothing. Who wants to heat up water on the stove when you're sweltering as it is? I absolutely loathe iced tea, so my tea-drinking options are to tough out the hot stuff or wait until our two months of "winter". How about some of this:

by Ethan Johnson
November 22, 2006

Note: Please refer to the ethmar.com Food and Drink Ethics Statement regarding food and drink reviews on this site.

I love me some tea. I have a whole kitchen cabinet shelf full of it, and my collection is creeping ever further into our already tenuous storage space. Just the same, if I see a tea that I don't think will be easy to grab any other time, or can't resist a particular flavor, well, time to make room. I discovered this particular brand of tea at a new Middle Eastern market that just opened in town. Here's the scoop:

by Ethan Johnson
September 28, 2006

Note: Please refer to the ethmar.com Food and Drink Ethics Statement regarding food and drink reviews on this site.

When it comes right down to it, it's cheaper (and often more rewarding) to make your meals "from scratch", or with a few choice shortcuts, than it is to order the same thing in a restaurant or pre-packaged in the frozen foods aisle. But there is a certain siren call of the microwave that says "ehhh, let me handle this" that has many of us answering the Pavlovian ding of the "all done" buzzer. But as I am wont to say, if we can't break free of our vices, we can at least exercise some measure of control over them.

by Ethan Johnson
August 26, 2006

It's party time! But what to serve? Joe didn't eat, because he heard there was going to be "food". Jane doesn't eat meat. Mike can only eat organics. Jill is allergic to gluten. Jim isn't coming if Jane's gonna be there. Well, you can't be all things to all people, sadly, but you can still serve up the good stuff and please some of the people some of the time with:

Star Fruit and Black Bean Salsa

Recipe adapted from Nuevo Cubano Cooking: New Fusion Recipes From Florida by Sue Mullin.

by Ethan Johnson
July 17, 2006

I am increasingly on the lookout for things that are good "yes ands". Such as "This tastes great! Yes, and it's good for you too." So why drink plain old water when you can get water and vitamins?

Vitamin Water by Glaceau claims to fit that bill nicely. Let's run the data sheet:

by Ethan Johnson
June 30, 2006

There is no denying it: We Americans eat way too much crap. And by "we" I mean "we". Even the more floaty organic-minded grocery stores have some amount of plain old garbage. But enough about brussels sprouts. Market Street is trying to walk the line between responsible/healthy and trashy/typical. Thus, their frozen foods section runs the gamut between pure organic goodness and fake, awful trash. My personal rule of thumb is becoming this: If you can't easily pronounce the ingredient name, don't buy it. I'm a long way away from applying this to all of my food choices, but the frozen foods aisle is a start.

by Ethan Johnson
June 14, 2006

Sadly, it's back to the microwave again. This is kind of like quitting smoking: if you can quit outright and never smoke again, great. It's the "social smoking" and whatnot that creeps up on you and poof, you're back to your old habits. Fortunately I never got into smoking.

But if one must fall off the wagon, one may at least pick one's vice. I went to Sprouts and opted to check out their microwave-ready fare. Since space is at a premium there, they try to make their shots count as much as possible, and they are picky about what they carry. As a result, it was no surprise to see some Ethnic Gourmet offerings. I picked one up for the next time of need, but decided to go a different direction and try the "Burrito Grande with Chili Verde Sauce" by Cedarlane Foods.