Tamarind Boba Adventure

May 31, 2023 by Alyssa D in drinks

“What does tamarind taste like?”

We were at a Mexican grocery store food court in California with a friend from Serbia pondering flavored drinks. While I searched for the right descriptors, an employee offered him a tamarind agua fresca sample. Nothing beats actually trying it: sweet and sour, light and deep.

That was on my mind when I tasted a horchata boba drink one afternoon in Los Altos. Culinary fusion is next-level in the Bay Area. The creamy, subtly-spiced Mexican drink contrasted delightfully with dark, chewy Taiwanese tapioca pearls.

After Guillaume brought home a box of whole tamarind pods on a whim, I imagined tamarind boba must be someone’s specialty out here.

S’mores Chocolate Bark Adventure

March 31, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert

For weeks the craving kept popping up. We were staying in Longmont, Colorado, temporarily displaced from home by smoke damage from the Marshall Fire, huddling together at night with our cat, trying to get through each day.

Some food cravings can be an indication that you’re deficient in something, like a vitamin. But I wanted s’mores oh so badly.

Clearly this was a joy deficiency.

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks Adventure

May 28, 2020 by Alyssa D in main course

I know, I know. You might be wondering, “Where’s the adventure in cauliflower?” Indeed, pulling the giant white vegetable hunk out of a grocery bag made my heart sink slightly.

For weeks up until that moment, we’d been trying to make do with bags of frozen cauliflower. Those epithet-laden meals prompted Guillaume to grab the first fresh one he could lay his hands on at the store.

Anything I did to it would automatically be better than microwaving the frozen cauliflower.