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Cake Sister Labs experiments with Mimosa Cake

Earlier in the day we had been told by Cake Sister that she was doing some sort of super secret cake testing at Cake Sister Labs. This was confirmed when we received the following text later in the afternoon:

 

When we arrived, we found Cake Sister Labs in a sort of mad scientist disarray. Something was definitely going on.

 
  

Cake Sister was in the middle of making a super experimental cake for us to try. Or, as it turned out, four cakes in one. Each of the four quadrants of the cake were a different filling combination.

 
 

Cake Sister explains what she does with the cake layers:

Then the yummy fillings go on...

With all the different fillings, the experimental cake was starting to look like a Boston Creme Pie. Well, it had champagne custard in it, so it was more of a Rheims Creme Pie.

 

Cake Sister explaining to Girlfriend Actual why it does this, and why her normal cakes won't:

Finally, the finished experimental cake. Note the four quadrants denoted by candied orange peels.

 
 

Cosmopolitan Girlfriend thought it was some sort of elaborate dream sequence. Don't worry Cosmo, the cake is real, and you get to eat it!

 
 

Cake tasting gets under way...

 

The Table of (cake) Judgment. Most people busy scribbling down tasting notes.

 

One of the tasting pieces, showing off all the filling, screaming EAT ME

 
   

Girlfriend Actual was not willing to share her super secret tasting notes.

 
 

Here's Cosmo's ballot so you can see what all was tasted. 

 

Until Cake Sister finalizes funding to start the Cake Sister Empire of Cakes, her cakes are limited to family and friends. More for me, none for you. Sorry!

Oh, and I can't end this without posting a picture of Cake Cat.

 
 

CHOMPLE NEEDS YOU: The Chomplespondents Program!

Do you want to be part of the Chomple Army? But of course you do.

Apply for the Chomplespondents program!

Details are below.

What are my responsibilities?

• You will periodically be asked to go out and eat at restaurants around you and take plenty of pictures
• It is your choice whether you want to write your own post, or just send me the pictures and your commentary which I will turn into a post
• If you eat out anywhere or cook something awesome, send us the pictures and details, we'll blog that too (we love food)
• You may be sent to a food event in your general area
• You may get random crazy assignments from Chomple (i.e., go find Gold'n Krisp chips)
• You may be asked to send us various things we can't get in Northern California (you will be compensated for this, don't think we're trying to run some sort of crazy I have a Craving!!! food bank over here)
• You can TURN DOWN any assignment that comes your way. We realize this is all on a volunteer basis and you are all our pals

Wait, so what do I get out of all this?

• Fun, amusement, and great dining (or greatly bad)
• An awesome excuse to eat out
• Your name(s) in lights and the adoration of all of the Chomple readers
• Various gift cards and gift certs sent your way
• Various prizes from the Chomple treasure chest (it's full of fun stuff, trust me)
• A meal and two drinks on us when either party is within 50 miles of each other. That's TWO drinks, one drink never made anyone happy! If you have a spouse or domestic partner they get the same benefit. If the other person is a girlfriend/boyfriend, they may be forced to undergo interrogation to discover whether they really like you

We need Chomplespondents EVERYWHERE, but specifically in the following areas (don't not apply because your locale is not listed):   

Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose/Milpitas, CA
Seattle, WA
Portland, ME
Portland, OR
New Orleans, LA
Cincinnati, OH
Durham, NC
Kansas City, MO
Miami, FL
NYC--Restaurants
NYC--Street Food (the two NYC are different assignments)
The part of New Jersey close to NYC

Interested? Email us at chomplespondents@gmail.com

You can put whatever you want in the email, but make sure to include the following information:

• Your name(s)
• The area where you live
• Your mailing address
• What kind of foods you like
• Which food allergies you have
• If you have one, your Paypal info (so we can send you money if necessary, we don't your login info)

We have received a lot of feedback wanting a program like this, so here it is! We can't wait to sign you guys up!

Welcome new readers!

My executive manager tells me we're going to get tons of new readers today. And don't forget to come back here November 2nd when I go raw vegan as a result of my VIP dealer fundraising efforts.

So to start you out right, here are some fun things that we wrote in the past year!

Meet the Chomple staff

My infamous trip to a Mexican Walmart

The best meal I've ever had

Chomple Awards: 2009 Winter Fancy Food Show

The best Mexican food in Rocklin

We pretend to be Dutch colonials

The time I ate an endangered species

Why Cosmo Girlfriend is named for a Chinese dinner

Barbie Girlfriend gets put in time out

I have breakfast at the SF Ferry Building

Eating at Roseville's only French restaurant

All my boss wants is some chocolate milk

The infamous Apology Cookie story

Why my neighborhood sushi place is better than your neighborhood sushi place... and I don't care what neighborhood you live in, it's still true.

I raid Grocery Outlet

Sushi and Frozen Yogurt Extravaganza

Better Foods Deli: Meet my favorite deli in town.

Better Foods has been my favorite deli in Roseville for quite a while now. The problem is that I break into hives when I go anywhere near the chutes and ladders area of Roseville. 

Luckily I was right down the street looking at a house with Team Orange. I actually considered buying the house solely on the grounds that it was in walking distance of Better Foods Deli.

Better Foods Deli is not a Jewish deli. It's a neighborhood Italian deli with the best Italian pork products you would ever want in a sandwich. These guys use the good stuff. How many delis can you name that actually use Columbus salame products? 

The decor in this place ROCKS. You can tell it's a neighborhood eatery. I know a few people who live around this place and they eat here at least once a week. I would too! CHECK OUT THAT MENU BOARD!!! WIN. With decor like this the sandwich could taste like Olive Garden and I would still love it. Luckily for everyone, their sandwiches are really spectacular.

 
 

The front counter and the back seating area. Check out the awesome wall art and local Norcal sports team memorabilia. 

 

The lines get long really fast. They take time making their awesome sandwiches, so it's totally worth the wait.

 

Our culinary journey starts with deviled eggs. Not too sweat, not too creamy, all dense with yolky goodness and just the right amount of sweet pickle. Almost as good as my future mother-in-law's. ALMOST. 

 

Actual's hot corned beef. Juicy, salty corned beef with lettuce, pickles, mayo, and mustard all on a fresh sourdough roll.  Jewish deli nuts... back off, this is an Italian deli in California. They can do whatever they want with their sandwiches, and the result is damn good. Actual says the fresh roll is especially, wildly, totally, nomlicious.

 

Here's my sammich. Same as Jody's, minus lettuce, plus onions and jack cheese. Oh and I swapped the corned beef with a layer of prosciutto and a layer of toscano salami. This sandwich lasted all of 90 seconds. OM NOM NOM!

 

Now I just need a new job that will hire me an assistant to drive down to downtown Roseville and pick me up some sandwiches from Better Foods. Holy crap this stuff is good. Can't believe I forgot about this place for so long.

     

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Chomple WON! Now pick your prize.

[This will all be mailed to you (like actual mailed, in an envelope) but since you all read the blog anyway I'm telling you now, so deal.]

Thank you to all of our readers that donated! Chomple was the #1 VIP Dealer fundraiser for the Active 20-30 Club of Greater Sacramento #1032's Annual Monte Carlo. Because of your donations, three GREAT charities will get a delicious blob of money to continue doing the great things that they do. 

Also, because of your donations I'll be suffering through a week of raw veganism AND doing all of the necessary housework in my homestead. You guys have made Girlfriend Actual as well was the local animal population VERY happy. 

So... for those of you who donated, please pick a reward from Chomple for being such great people. And yes, I realized this is all economically backwards. I'll end up spending more thanking you wonderful people for helping kids than I would have donating all of the money myself. But where's the fun in that? 

Here are the prizes you can choose from. You don't need to choose now. Just know I owe you something from this list for being so generous in this Bushcausediteconomy and you can call it in whenever you want. It doesn't matter how much you donated. Big or small, all of you deserve it.

• Anytime you are within 50 miles of me (or if I am within 50 miles of you, if I'm traveling) I owe you a dinner and two drinks. I get to pick the venue, although if I'm in your territory I will end up asking you where we should eat anyway.
• I will go out and write/photo a Chomple post of your choosing. Doesn't matter what it is as long as it is reasonably doable. Just don't send me to review TGI Fridays, because all of those around Sacramento went bust.

Many thanks to all of you! You've made some deserving kids very happy.

Lisa and Dan's Big Ohio Adventure!

Today I was sitting there, eating some potato chips... thinking about all the foods from my hometown and home state that I miss and can't get here.

That's right everyone. Yod craves Ohio food.

Meet the first two members of Chomplespondents: Lisa and Dan. These two are my pals from high school who luckily for me still live in our hometown and can find all of the stuff I have odd cravings for. They are standing in front of my first grocery store which used to be called Acme Click. Their claim to fame was that they were the only store for a long time that actually had filet mignon. Some of these pictures are from another store in town called Fishers Foods. I'd say about 50% of my current BMI began life as stuff sold at Fishers. I refuse to post a picture of Fishers though... they changed their exterior styling and it makes me sad.

The Chomplespondents program will be going into full swing in a few weeks, so be ready!

 
 

Pickled eggs. Deep red pickled eggs (beet juice contributes the color). PICKLED EGGS! I know many people find these things to be completely foul, but these are the nice lightly pickled ones from Fishers. They are also refrigerated which helps them not get too pickled. See those tall containers? I can eat one in one sitting EASY. Well, until the cholesterol takes hold. If you ever find some good Midwestern pickled eggs (versus the sour, rancid Southern ones) please give them a try. They are amazing!

 

Gold'n Krisp potato chips. I'll take these over the other "regional lust" brands of chips (Utz, Tim's, etc) anyday. In fact the only chips I like more than these are Rusty's Island Chips, however, one 2oz bag of Rusty's costs more than that entire bag of Gold'n Krisp pictured here. Note the "Internationally Known" printed on the bag. LOL. Well, I'm Asian. Does that count?

 
 

Probably one of my favorite foods on the planet and definitely on my short list for last meal foods. Trail Bologna is made in Amish country. It's hard to describe. Sort of like a smoked low moisture cotto salami with a finer grind on the spices. It's almost impossible to get outside of Ohio, mail order or otherwise. Last time I was in town I brought back an entire bag of the stuff. 

 

And then this inexplicable display. Ok, while they are individually very delicious, they are GROSS TOGETHER. A SMOKED SAUSAGE DOES NOT GO WITH PICKLED EGGS. Gawd. But maybe they are just trying to capture my business in case I walk in one day. In which case, they are a success.

 

The Chinese food station at Fishers. It wasn't very good back then, so hopefully it has improved. I remember trying every single item there and the only thing I could eat was the fried rice.

 

Speaking of supermarket cuisine... check this out. It's regular supermarket sushi... or is it. I have NEVER seen this here in CA. Cream cheese roll?!!? WTF?!?! Is this for people where California Roll is too much to handle? Maybe... you should just not eat sushi.

 

The best spaghetti sauce on the planet: Mid's. This is the sauce that beat Classico and Prego up in middle school. Crazy megaton tomato flavor. Note that I said spaghetti sauce, not pasta sauce. This stuff belongs on a bed of delicious spaghetti and only spaghetti. If you grew up on this stuff, you're ruined for life. The only sauce that can match Mid's is Rao's, and Rao's costs 10 bucks a jar.

 
   

And now: my favorite processed cold cut. For most people this doesn't mean much, but I have been a lifelong connoisseur of processed meat. This is by far my favorite of the cold cut category. Dutch Loaf is a salty spicy loaf made from a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. But this isn't any Dutch Loaf. No, this is the stuff from Sugardale, my favorite purveyor of cold cuts on planet Earth. Everything they make from their bacon to their ham is fantastic, but their Dutch Loaf is out of this world. Those of you out there who would never even share a room with a piece of bologna, you have to try this stuff. It's magically coldcutlicious!

 

And lastly, Lisa trying to get bonus points. Lisa! You're already the first Chomplespondent! You're in for life unless I catch you at Olive Garden!

 
  

My birthday lunch and the death of a red velvet cake kitten

We decided to all meet for lunch on my birthday at Rudy's Mexican Gourmet. This eatery has been featured at least four times on this blog, so we though it would make a good place to meet up and have some food on my birthday. I just opened a tab and let everyone order away...

Rudy's has Mexican Coke in the glass bottle that's sweetened with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. WIN! (if you drink sugared soda, that is)

 
 

Girlfriend Actual opted for Rudy's mammoth taco salad. It's about the size of the Taco Bell taco salad but contains at least three times more ingredients than the fast food version. Also it tastes far faaaar away better.

 

Naruto Girl was in a loopy mood, as usual. After so many people have told her that she could make it big in the modeling industry, she's stopped letting us take pictures of her "for free". Then again, she lives in Work Girlfriend's house "for free" and eats my food "for free". But hey, I don't bother arguing with 16-year-old girls. That stopped being a worthwhile proposition when I graduated from high school. 

 

This is Sharon, aka Mrs. Rudy. In this picture she seems to be presiding over a battle between Naruto Girl and Work Girlfriend. This seems to be one of those "add your own caption" moments.

 

Fried ice cream! This is my birthday present from Sharon. Great as always. Note the very unflattering picture of me that I did not crop out... this is apparently payback for all of the unflattering pictures I've posted of all the women involved in this blog.

 
    

And now my birthday cake! This is a red velvet sugar free cat shaped cake. It's supposed to look like Ebby, my wonderfully eccentric black cat. The problem is that the spray on black cake color didn't stick to the sugar free frosting and caused the urban digital camo pattern that ended up on the cake. This being a Cake Sister cake, it tasted tremendously good. 

We'll all be at Fancy Food West in January, so pastry/cake product manufacturers, be ready. If you make an awesome spray on cake color product, we're THERE.

 

OMG YOU KILLED EBBY! YOU BASTARDS!

 
  

Mourning the decapitation of my cake cat. 

 
 

My birthday choucroute garnie!

For the night before my birthday, my sister in almost-law made me a choucroute garni. The name of the dish loosely translates to dressed sauerkraut. Between all of the meats and sauerkraut, I was always convinced that this was some sort of German dish, but it turns out it's Alsatian.

The meal was spectacular. Cake Sister rules.

Cake Sister had an assortment of awesome mustards to go along with the meat. She actually, without asking me, had my second favorite mustard of all time on the table (#1 is Colman's).

 

Cake Sister also supplied some delicious Irish Kerrygold butter. Or should we say BUTTer. Take a look :)

 
  

Here's the main platter. The fresh-cured sauerkraut stewed in Alsatian riesling is in the middle. For the meats, clockwise from the top: ham, fresh bratwurst, blood sausage, smoked bratwurst, ham hock, bacon, and pork loin. Every single item was freaking fantastic. I probably could have eaten this entire platter myself and subsequently died from happiness/cholesterol/congestive heart failure, but instead we all shared it. Sooooooo good!

 
 

Supposedly what Cake Sister was trying to seduce me with were red potatoes with butter, salt, and pepper. That's bullpucky. There was a significant amount of crack and or meth in these because they were way too addictive for a bunch of potatoes. Note her pirate shirt. POTATO PIRATE!

 

The whole table looked something like this...

 
  

Cake Sister's husband was not happy about the meal. He didn't like the mocking of his stylish Elmo cup.

 
 

Well, at least Cake Sister and Cosmopolitan Girlfriend were happy. At least, I think they were. It could have been the wine. Or all of the nitrites.

 
 

I'm going RAW VEGAN and DOING HOUSEWORK to help people in need. DONATE NOW!

Ok, this is my final desperate plea for money. Please PLEASE donate money to the cause. It benefits three very worthy causes, my favorite being an organization that throws birthday parties for underprivileged/homeless children. What can beat that?

All donations have to be in by the 10th, so do it now!

Click HERE to donate!

So what's in it for you?

It's simple. At certain cumulative fundraising thresholds, I will abuse myself and my palate for your amusement. Of course, I will blog about the horrible, miserable things I'm doing to myself in the name of charity so you can all share in my misfortune.

Remember, these are all cumulative, so I will do everything on this list that is covered by the total amount of money donated.

$50--California Nightmare

When at least $50 has been donated, I will go to Sakuran Sushi and order a California Roll as my entire meal. I will turn down anything they try to comp me with saying that I'm now a California Roll kind of guy.

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

$100--The McItalian Job

At this threshold, I will go eat a meal at Olive Garden, not only one of my least favorite restaurants but also a restaurant with which I have serious moral and philosophical issues. I will also NOT order any alcohol, so I will be forced to endure the entire experience while sober.

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

$150--Starf*cks

When reaching $150, I will open a post on Chomple asking people to specify any ridiculous Starbucks drink that is physically possible to be made for under $20. I will go order it and drink it. If you have the Starbucks iPhone app, you realize how scary this could get.

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

$200--Diners, Drive Ins, and overpriced crap

I will return to the restaurant that tried to smear me online: Johnny Garlic's. This is one of Guy Fieri's restaurants and the last time I went it was a total disaster. Various members of their staff left grumpy messages on my blog and reported my reviews on Yelp for being inappropriate. As you might guess, I will be returning to the restaurant in a disguise and paying with cash.

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

$300--That's not food, that's what food eats to become food.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I will go vegetarian for an entire week. Now, I know some of you are vegetarians and are thinking "Why is this a punishment?" Simple. I'm a meatatarian.

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

$400--Quit cooking out all the nutrients!

On top of going vegetarian, I will go raw. Nothing cooked above 120 degrees for a week.

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

$500--You're secretly a granola chompling hippie! YOU KNOW IT.

When we make it to 500, I will go strict vegan for the week. No animal products whatsoever. 

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

$750+-- Let's make Yod miserable while making Girlfriend Actual happy.

On top of everything else, I will attempt to do everything on this list in the same week, which means I will try to get a raw vegan California Roll  (lol, can't wait to see the chefs try that one) and also try to eat a raw vegan meal at Olive Garden and Johnny Garlic's. In addition, I will switch Ebby to organic free-range cat food for a week so that she will be extra grumpy and hate me forever. 

Also I will do ALL of the housework for the week, which will probably equal more housework than I have done since the Browns were in contention for an AFC championship.

Want to see this happen? Click HERE to donate!

And for your reference and joy, some examples of the faces I may make during these events.

 


 

Weekend at Rudy's

Previous reviews of Rudy's here and here.

We were up in Roseville with Team Orange looking at houses. After heading to Denio's for some fruit, we decided to spend lunch at Rudy's Mexican Gourmet, our favorite Mexican restaurant on Earth.

I'm not usually up here during the weekends so I miss out on their menudo and pozole. I got their Cecilia's Pozole today. It was soooooo good and had the thick hearty broth you can only get by simmering lots of collagen heavy meat. For those of you that aren't used to traditional Mexican food, real pozole is a difficulty 8 out of 10 dish. Depending on who is making it, you could run into pigs feet or other animal parts you are not used to. If you're a burger and fries kind of person, you may want to skip the pozole for something more standard. 

 

Best fish tacos in town right here. Unlike other places that fill their fish tacos with what amounts to crinkled fish sticks, Rudy uses fresh red snapper. The difference is instantly obvious when you bite into these tacos. I have a love hate relationship with red snapper. Red snapper is very delicious when treated nicely and extremely foul when overcooked, cooked at too high of a temperature, or marinated poorly. Unfortunately, most places that serve any type of red snapper dish are guilty of one or more of the red snapper sins. Rudy gets it.

 

This is a torta, or loosely translated, Humongous Mexican Sandwich. This is their ham and egg variety. From top to bottom:

• toasted bread
• tomato
• avocado
• green chile
• queso fresco
• diced ham
• egg omelette with diced ham
• toasted bread

Was it amazing tasting? What do you think? We're at Rudy's!!!

 

Lastly, a big surprise. Pupusas are one of my favorite foods. They are handmade corn cakes stuffed with pounded pork, cheese, veggies, or some combination of all three. This was one of the most amazing pupusas I have ever had.

The surprise is because pupusas are a traditional El Salvadorian food.  I have never had one of these things outside of an El Salvadorian restaurant and those restaurants are hard to find. Turns out a couple of people in Rudy's kitchen have El Salvadorian roots and they decided to put pupusas on the menu. THANK YOU!

This one is their pupusa con chicharrones. Unlike the Mexican meaning of the word (pork rinds) the El Salvadorian version means pork pounded into a mush like consistency.

They play games with their pupusas too. The pupusa itself barely has any salt in it but the sauce is very salty. Eat both at the same time and the combination is perfect. Eat them separately and you'll be shocked at how they've creatively assembled the dish.

The stuff on the left is a picked cabbage slaw. Also great.

This was an absolute steal at under $4.00.

 
 

Some of you still eat at other Mexican places. I don't know what else I can do to convince you to go to Rudy's. Maybe you don't like Mexican food.

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