Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Kefir

      I'm kind of kicking myself about this one.  I'd noticed kefir in my local Shop-Rite supermarket several times over the past 6 months or more, but I ignored it, thinking I'd already had and posted about it years ago.  I was confusing it with skyr, the Icelandic dairy product I discussed in my December 7, 2016 post.  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I realized my mistake and rectified it by buying a couple.  Both were from the Lifeway company, out of Illinois in the U.S.--their strawberry and blueberry flavored kinds.

     Kefir is an ancient beverage.  It's thought to have been invented over 2000 years ago, in the Caucasus Mountain/Russia/Eastern Europe area.  It involves putting a bacteria/yeast combination called kefir grains in milk, and then letting this concoction ferment.  The word kefir is thought to be a Georgian or Caucasus word, but others claim it's possibly from a Turkish word for foam ("kopur") or a Kurdish word for foam or bubbles ("kaf").  Traditionally, kefir was aged in a goatskin bag, hung by the door to the house.  People coming or going would knock into the bag, either accidentally or intentionally, thereby keeping the developing kefir properly mixed.  Kefir has expanded its reach fairly recently.  In the past 20 years or so it's moved to Japan, the rest of Europe, the U.S., and much of Central and South America (where they refer it as bulgaros ("the Bulgarian drink.").  Because it is fermented, kefir is sometimes alcoholic.  However, it is usually pretty weak, being about 1-2% alcohol, or about one quarter to a half of a typical Light beer, for example.  The manufacturing process also breaks down most of the lactose in the milk, meaning those that are lactose intolerant can usually tolerate kefir.  Also, kefir can be made from a variety of substances.  Cow, sheep, or goat's milk is the most common, but basically any milk will suffice.  Or plant based substitutes that vegans enjoy, such as rice milk, soy milk, coconut milk, etc.  It can even be made using fruit juice or water--essentially you can drop kefir grains in just about any liquid and age it, and it will probably turn out okay.  Kefir is also sometimes used as a milk substitute for cooking, such as replacing buttermilk, or for making sourdough bread.  It's even an ingredient in traditional Lithuanian borscht (see my post on July 4th, 2020, for more info on that food).

    The maker of the kefir I tried, Lifeway Foods, Inc. was started in 1986 by an Ukrainian immigrant couple, Michael and Ludmila Smolyansky.  They make many kinds of kefir, including some with more or less milk fat, and other flavors such as mango, coconut, pomegranate and acai, mixed berry, campfire s'mores, and Russian style.  They also make farmer's cheese, and the product I had confused kefir with, skyr.  Because it's a dairy product kefir is a good source of protein, calcium, and Vitamin D.  And the bacteria that actually create kefir cause the consumer to get good gut bacteria, aiding digestion.  Lifeway proudly touts its products as being free of GMOs and hormones, and gluten.  The official company website notes that kefir is apparently kosher in general, but not for Passover.  (I guess Passover edibles have stricter guidelines for kosher-ness?)  Additionally, I noted that the company seems to be politically progressive--a recent post on its blog is pro Black Lives Matter, and they're contributing to many like-minded charities and causes. 

     Lifeway original kefir, strawberry flavor:  This was made with cultured whole milk (cow's I guess), and had a 3.25% milk fat content.  I intentionally picked the smallest bottle, only 8 ounces (236 mL), in case I didn't like it.  It looked like pinkish white, thick milk.  Detectable strawberry-ish odor.  Overall it tasted like a slightly sour lassi, the Indian yogurt drink.  The texture was very thick and creamy.  Pretty good.  I thought it would be sweeter, with a stronger strawberry sweetness, but not bad.  More tangy than say, a fruit smoothie.  A solid milk-like drink.

     Lifeway original kefir, blueberry flavor:  Same size bottle, same milk fat percentage, and also made from cow's milk, evidently.  This one had a purple-white color, and had the same thick texture as the previous.  Some berry odor once again, too.  Pretty similar to the other kind, only with blueberries instead of strawberries.  Tangy, sour-ish, and decent.  I might buy either of these again, or try alternate flavors.  They weren't excellent, but good.  Although I doubt they would taste good over cereal--I think they'd be too sour and thick.

     So, in conclusion, I can see why folks appreciate these.  Especially lactose intolerant folks, looking for a milk-like drink that won't make most of them sick or uncomfortable.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Candy Made in Every Single Country in the Whole Wide World

      Okay, I'm exaggerating, of course.  But it is a really complicated situation.  The candy I'm talking about, Kinder Joy, includes both a candy half, and a toy half, each comprising half of an "egg."  The candy itself was made in Poland.  The toy was manufactured in China.  "Final assembly" took place in the U.S.A.  But, the company that owns and makes Kinder Joys is Ferrero, which is an Italian company.  Although "kinder" in this context is a German word meaning "children."  So you can see why I went with the snarky title for this post.

     Ferrero was started by Pietro Ferrero back in 1946.  In addition to making confections and candy, the company also makes some frozen desserts, and spreads.  Arguably their biggest, most famous product, is the hazelnut spread Nutella, which was developed in 1964.  To give you an example of how huge a brand Nutella is, 25% of the whole world's annual hazelnut supply is used by Ferrero to make this product.  Ferrero is a giant across the board, too.  It's the second biggest confectionery company in the world, based on sales, trailing only Mars-Wrigley out of the U.S.  (To be fair, some websites claimed that another company, Mondalez International, is the real #2 company, but these were older articles, so I think Ferrero is the legitimate #2 as of 2020.)  Not surprisingly, given its success, Ferrero has acquired many other famous candy and cookie brands over the years, such as the English Thorton's,  and the American firms Fannie May, Famous Amos, and the Little Brownie Bakers, makers of Girl Scout cookies.  Also, confusingly, the American Ferrara candy company.  Ferrero exports to over 170 countries across the globe--pretty much everywhere except for most of Africa, and much of the Middle East.  They employ over 30,000 workers.  The current CEO, Giovanni Ferrero, is currently credited as the richest person in Italy, and the 43rd richest period, with an estimated fortune of 26.3 billion (U.S) dollars.  I was amused to read that this behemoth business is allegedly extremely publicity-shy, and very concerned about corporate spying.  One article said that Ferrero has never held a press conference, nor allowed any media to visit their plants.  Perhaps this will change after the five Golden Tickets are found, or a disgruntled Oompa-Loompa successfully escapes and tells their story.  But seriously, other main products of Ferrero are their Mon Cheri, Pocket Coffee, Ferrero Pralines, the Kinder line, and the breath mints Tic Tacs.

Kinder Joy:  As I said, the containers looked like eggs, being that shape, and approximate size, about 7 cm. by 5 cm. (or about 2.75 inches by 2 inches).  Once opened, there are two compartments, corresponding to that half of the "egg."  One holds the toy, and the other the food.  The latter is two flaky brown colored balls, surrounded by a yellow/white/brown layered gooey substance.  The spheres tasted like chocolate cookies, and the goo was a sweet cream and chocolate spread.  A small scoop was enclosed, to better get up the goo.  The flavor of all these things was good--decent cookies, and solid cream and chocolate filling.  I actually got two Kinder Joys, and the toys were different.  One had a plastic basketball hoop to construct, with cardboard "players."  The other was a plastic winged dragon, which again required a little assembly.  So, my overall impression was positive--a good confection, and fun cheap toys--I can see why kids enjoy these.  They were maybe slightly overpriced, at $2.19 per egg, but I can see myself buying these again on occasion.  Here in the U.S. they've become near ubiquitous on cash register checkout lines, so they're in prime position for impulse buys.

     Kinder Joys have only been sold in the U.S. (and Australia), since 2018.  Which explains why I only recall seeing them for sale fairly recently.  Also, one of the products in the Kinder line, Kinder Surprise, is banned in America.  It's a plastic egg "yolk" encased in a candy coating.  This violates U.S. federal laws against having food with non-nutritive objects in them.  Which, actually seems reasonable--having this seems like an obvious chocking hazard for young children.  At least the Kinder Joy eggs have a clear demarcation border between the candy and the toys.     

  

     

Unexpected Anthology News!

                                      

     Just wanted to inform everyone that there's been a change in the release date for "Welcome to the Splatter Club."  Partially.  The paperback edition is still coming out on September 1, 2020.  However, you can pick up the anthology in Kindle form as of a few days ago, August 12th.  Since I didn't previously, I'll include a list of each author's story title below.

John McNee--"Splatter Party"

KJ Moore--"Cheese"

Robert Essig--"I Hang My Hat and There's No Blood"

CM Saunders--"Holiday of a Lifetime"

Brian Asman--"Sometimes the Penguin Eats You"

Chandler Morrison--"Neutered"

Nikki Noir--"Grinder"

Joshua Rex--"The Woman in the Ditch"

Airika Sneve--"Dickey Dykstra"

Paul Stansfield--"23 To 46"

Matthew Weber--"Code Black"

Patrick Winters--The Big Bad Boy"

Matthew Vaughn--"Splatter in Space"

     The price for the Kindle edition is $3.99.  You can find it on Amazon.  The publisher is Blood Bound Books.  K. Trap Jones both edited the anthology, and supplied the artwork.  Lori Michelle did the interior layout.

     If you'd like to see a review of the book before getting it, you can check out a video review on YouTube.  Simply type in "Welcome to the Splatter Club   Bizarre Book Club" and it should pop up.  (And thanks to Bizarre Book Reviews for doing this.)

     I'll wrap this up by including the book's blurb once again, if you didn't get a chance to read it a few months ago.  Also, at the end are reviews for some of the people involved with "Welcome to the Splatter Club."

Splatter (adj.) - characterized by extreme or excessive gore or violence

Punk (adj.) - often referring to a musical genre of short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often containing subversive lyrics and social and political commentary.

Welcome to the Splatter Club is thirteen stories of hyperintensive horror with no limits!

Editor K. Trap Jones guides this initiation into our favorite genre of dark fiction: Splatterpunk

The ceremony includes black magick curses, encounters of the fourth kind, and bizarre office politics. Story settings range from a dystopic United Kingdom down to the a convenience store stocking a very malicious product.

Praise for the editor and authors:

"There's a new generation of horror writers bursting onto the scene, and K. Trap Jones is one of the leaders of the pack." ~ Edward Lee, author of Header

Fantastically warped and wonderfully twisted, John McNee is a writer with a towering imagination, and he knows how to use it."
~Victor Gischler, Edgar Award-nominated author of Gun Moneys and Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth.

"Nikki Noir is a sultry new voice in erotic horror, one you should watch as closely as a black widow in your bed sheets." ~ Kristopher Triana, Splatterpunk award-winning author 

Interview With Author Nikki Noir

                


                                                         

     Over the past few months I've posted several times about the two upcoming anthologies which both feature stories that I wrote.  (And since "Welcome to the Splatter Club" is due out on September 1st, and "Shadowy Natures" hits on September 10th, you'll be seeing more about each one in the coming weeks.)  Anyway, today I'll be interviewing one of my coauthors from "Welcome to the Splatter Club," Nikki Noir.  In addition to her interview questions and answers, scattered about you'll find a couple of her book cover images, along with her website avatar above.  And stick around to the end to find her website address, along with where to locate some of her other works.  This is probably self-explanatory, but the black text is me, and the red text is Nikki.  Enjoy, and welcome, Nikki!
                                               

Thanks for having me, Paul! I’m pretty much brand new to writing fiction, especially extreme and bizarro stories. I have family and friends involved in the community and they gave me a push to jump into the genre starting with reviews. I outline my journey into this crazy world of fiction on my website Redrum Reviews.

As I go along, I’m taking chances at writing stories and seeing if anything sticks. I have a lot of story starters and teasers on my website, but very few finished pieces.  My story “Grinder” happened to stick, and I’m happy to make my anthology debut in Welcome to the Splatter Club #1.

1)      If you could talk to any writer, living or dead, who would it be, and what would you discuss?

Chuck Palahniuk. I really love the way he structures his stories and I would love to ask him how the ideas come to him. Speaking of where ideas come from, Carlton Mellick III, would be my next choice. Have you seen his plots and cover art? How does a person come up with those ideas?!

2)      Do you plan your entire story or novel all out in advance, with a complete outline, etc., or do you just start writing, and see where it takes you, making it up as you go along?

I usually get an idea—something extreme, crazy, or sexy—then turn into a single scene right away. It’s graphic and fun, but it’s usually isolated, there’s no real story to go with it. I think of it as a movie trailer without the movie. No one is interested in that.

I have about twenty random scenes (trailers) jotted down in notebooks, just waiting to be fleshed out. But that fleshing out stage doesn’t happen unless that first scene leads into maybe three. Once I see three loosely connected scenes, the possibility of something bigger, forms in my head.

Plotting for me it more like making it up as I go. I usually see the ending I want and those few pivotal scenes I wrote earlier. But there is no road map connecting them, so I just start writing and see what happens!

3)      What writers have influenced you the most?

One of my goals is to replicate the extreme horror of writers like Kristopher Triana, Edward Lee, Wrath James White, and the like but with a female slant to it.

4)      What is your current work in progress?

The Lockdown with S.C. Mendes. He works with me on pretty much all my projects in one form or another and helped get me into this genre. Mendes started The Lockdown book years ago, but never finished. The idea morphed several times and eventually he came to me as a sounding board on how to change the main character to a female.

The book has now turned into something super experimental. I’m not sure it’s even horror anymore. It’s a dark YA mystery. We say it’s graphic enough for an adult, but made for a teen. 

5)      Do you prefer writing short stories, novellas, or novels?

Short stories and novellas! I think today’s world is super busy and many readers want entertainment that they can enjoy in short bursts. It can be hard to sit down with a 700-page novel everyday for months on end.

6)      What do you do to break a case of writer’s block?

Bubble bath and glass of wine.

7)      What’s your stance on reviews of your work?  Do you ignore them, read every one, obsess over them?

I currently read all of them since there’s less than fifteen out there, haha. But I like getting feedback. Especially at this stage in my career, which is newbie. I changed my whole Black Planet book series after receiving helpful reviews. Readers loved the story, but they hated that the first book ended on an insane cliffhanger. I learned that even though a book can end on a cliffhanger for a larger mystery, the immediate conflicts need to be resolved. I literally had the book end with one character tied up in a burning room, no resolution and it’s took almost a year to get readers the next part.

Yeh, I don’t do that anymore, lol.

You can now get all four books in one 😊

8)      About allegory and symbolism—do you often intentionally insert these things into your stories?  Have you ever looked back on one after you’re finished and realized you put in some of these without consciously realizing it?

I don’t put any symbolism in on purpose. If it happens, it’s all been done subconsciously. That’s not to say I don’t put significant meaning into certain scenes and character actions, however, I don’t pick the color of a character’s clothes or a location/address based off some great significance of numerology or color symbolism chart. 

9)      What’s your post-writing process?  Do you edit extensively?  Do you use beta readers or writing groups?

I use a lot of collaboration. Many times, I come up with, what I think is, a really interesting idea. I have a concept or theme and can type out a few scenes. Then I hit a brick wall. I usually collaborate with an author and editor after that, bounce ideas around and figure out what the story is really about and if we can do something with it. Then I go back to work. After my first draft is done, I’m give it to several beta readers and be sure to listen to their advice so I don’t have another issue like I did with Book 1 of the Black Planet Series lol

Beta Readers are super helpful and I think everyone should think about using them. Most will give you feedback in return for a copy of the paperback. Which is helpful for struggling writers with small pockets.

10)  How much of your work is based on your personal experiences, such as work, relationships, and so on?

Luckily, very little of it has to do with my personal experience. Lots of murder, black magick, and horror sex.

11)  Do you have any writing rituals, such as doing it at a regular time every day, or writing in public places, or while listening to music?

I know I should have set times, however, between kids, work, family obligations, and everything that comes with life, my writing often gets put on hold.  It’s much easier for me to write a review than it is for me to write an entire story due to this.

When I do have the chance to write, I stick to instrumental music, something dark, slow, creepy like I’m in a haunted house movie.

     Thanks for stopping by, Nikki Noir!  As I mentioned before, here are some addresses to locate Nikki's website, and some of her books.

website:  www.redrumreviews.com

Amazon page:  https://amzn.to/30swlk3

The Lockdown: https://amzn.to/3kmwBlw

Black Planet series:  https://amzn.to/2XatefS

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Philadelphia's Tomato Pie: An Alternative Pizza

     I remember many years ago hearing my dad talk about something he'd eaten as a kid growing up in Philadelphia, PA--something called a tomato pie.  He described it as being pizza-ish, but not quite.  He thought it was a precursor, or early form of one of the most popular meals in the U.S., and probably around the world, too.  Anyway, a few weeks ago I was hurrying through Shop-Rite on my weekly shopping trip when I saw something new--tomato pie, from a Philadelphia establishment called Gaeta's.  I picked one up, and brought it home excitedly.
     As it turns out, tomato pie isn't an early form of regular pizza exactly, but is instead a contemporary offshoot of it.  The origin of pizza is decidedly murky--some claim it's thousands of years old, made by Romans, others say it's Middle Eastern, and on and on.  The main issue seems to be agreeing on what precisely constitutes a pizza.  Baking up dough in a flat shape and then putting meats and vegetables and maybe some kind of sauce on is probably an ancient practice, but does that count?  That's an argument we won't solve here, of course, but fortunately the history of Philly-style tomato pie is a bit better known.  Reportedly by the late 1800's, in Sicily, people were making a type of it.  The lack of mozzarella cheese on it was practical--the parts of South Sicily we're talking about didn't have many dairy cows (or water buffalo, see my post on July 16, 2013 for more information), so very little cheese was available.  Many of these same Sicilians, and Italians, came to settle in Philadelphia in 1900-1910 especially.  With a few changes, such as deleting the anchovy and onion toppings, these folks continued to make a newish version of this tomato pie.  Some credit Iannelli's Bakery, which opened in 1910, with either being the inventors, or at least one of the first makers of it.  Other famous makers of tomato pie were Marchiano's Bakery, Cacia's Bakery, Sarcone's Bakery, and Scalea's.  All of these places still exist, in one form or another.
     So now we know something of its history, what exactly is a tomato pie?  There are different versions of it, but the basic template is a thick crust, usually of focaccia bread dough, which is very reminiscent of Sicilian style pizza.  Upon this is a thick coating of tomato sauce, which has various herbs and such mixed into it.  Unlike traditional pizza, as I mentioned before, there is no mozzarella cheese layer atop the tomato sauce.  Some places sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top, but it's nothing like the complete layer a regular pizza has.  And that's basically it.  The shape of the pie is usually square, or rectangular, again like traditional Sicilian style pizza.  Perhaps the oddest thing about tomato pie is that it's usually not served hot out of the oven--instead it's at room temperature, or even cool.
     The place that made the tomato pie I tried, Gaeta's actually has a pretty long history of it, since they use the original recipe developed by Scalea's Bakery.  Gaeta's used to be in the Germantown section of Philadelphia (which doesn't really fit in with the restaurant's Italian heritage I guess), but has since to Castor Avenue.  The Gaeta's menu is pretty limited--they basically just serve tomato pies, regular pizza, and "breads," which are breads with pizza toppings stuffed inside, kind of like a calzone, it looks like.  They also make a tomato pie with cheese, which puzzles me a little.  Isn't that just Sicilian style pizza?  Anyway, Gaeta's is takeout only, but they're big on shipping to grocery stores, like Shop-Rites in Southeast Pennsylvania and of course Southern New Jersey.  If Google reviews are accurate, Gaeta's and Marchiano's make the best tomato pies, as they boast an excellent 4.9 (out of 5.0) rating.  So by most accounts I had a very traditional, and very good example of this local cuisine.

Gaeta's tomato pie:  I ate this before reading up on it in detail, so I followed the preparation instructions on the label.  These were putting it into a preheated oven at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 6-8 minutes.  The pie was rectangular in shape, 12 inches by 9 inches (or about 23 cm. by 30 cm.), and looked like a Sicilian style pizza without cheese, save for occasional bits of parmesan cheese.  It had a very powerful tomato-y odor, not surprisingly.  And it tasted like...a Sicilian-style pizza without mozzarella cheese.  Which isn't a bad thing.  I've enjoyed pizza in various forms--"regular," New York style, white, Chicago deep dish style, for example, and Sicilian style is cool.  It had a thick, chewy crust, and the tomato sauce was nice--presumably there were abundant herbs in it, such as oregano.  I can't say I liked it better than most of the pizza I eat (which is usually New York style), but it was still respectably tasty.  It was a pleasant, different take on an old favorite.  I definitely would recommend it, unless you're a person who hates Sicilian style pizza, or only likes white pizza (which for those who don't know is regular pizza without tomato sauce, and usually with ricotta cheese on it, too).  I learned later that I ate it the "wrong" way by heating it, so maybe next time, and there probably will be next times, I'll eat it unheated, right out of the box.  Oh, and for those concerned with practical matters, this tomato pie set me back $6.99, so the price was reasonable as well.

     Finally, in reading up on pizza for this post, I discovered there are many variants of it that I have never heard of, or tried.  Such as a charred and clam-studded version from New Haven, Connecticut, a Detroit style kind which is square and topped with marina sauce, a chicken and barbecue sauce version from California, and even a very new sort which uses a mustard sauce instead of tomato sauce.  So I'll have to try these when/if I can.  Moreover, there is a Southern New Jersey variant of tomato pie, known as Trenton style.  But this isn't like the Philly kind at all--it's basically regular pizza, with mozzarella cheese, crushed tomatoes, and a thin, crunchy crust.  Or, in other words, it doesn't seem that different from everyday New York style pizza.  Which is disappointing.  But, I'll be a completist and try this one too, if I get the chance.