A Centennial

Guess what you are reading right now??? The 100th post of Gillianasana!!! How exciting!!!!

And in honor of this very special post, I will....um, continue with my weekly theme. Because what better way to celebrate a food blog centennial than with food?

So, welcome to Day 2 of Yogurt Week! I've recently tried a couple fun new brands - Wallaby and Ricera.

Nonfat Bartlett Pear.

I really like the funky colors/kangaroo design!

This was "Australian-style" yogurt, which is verrry similar to European as far as I can tell - in other words, the polar opposite of thick, tangy Greek yogurt. Each has their place in my heart - I had a serious love affair with the vanilla yogurt I found at our grocery store in Florence. Yes, it was thin, but the flavor was amazing. I miss it...*tear* This was a slight letdown - I was really exciting about the pear flavor, but I couldn't taste it at all. It was pretty much just sweetened, runny yogurt. It wasn't bad, per se, just not pear-y. And if the flavor is kind of blah, I at least want a nice thick texture. BUT, there was nothing "fake
 about the flavor - no odd sweetener aftertastes or anything, and that I liked. Whole Foods has lots of other flavors and I'm all about second chances...so stay tuned ;)

I was really interested to see what this was like. Rice Yogurt! I have tasted rice milk before (my roommate at school is allergic to casein and prefers rice milk over soy/almond/etc) and it tasted like...um, rice+milk, so I was very interested to see what a flavored yogurt would be like.

I figured vanilla was a good trial-run flavor, no?

Nothing spectacular about the stats, but I do appreciate the more-or-less readable ingredient list :)

Texture-wise, I'd say it was pretty normal yogurt-y. Not particularly thin or thick, but not freakishly gelatinous like other brands who use a grocery list's length of various additives and weird, unpronounceable "edible" things. It was very sweet and rather starchy (in rice yogurt - imagine that ;) The vanilla flavor wasn't so prominent - a more apt description would be brown/cane sugar. It was basically rice pudding without the added bits of rice in it. I didn't love it, but I was happy to satisfy my curiosity. There are other flavors, but the high price tag might keep me from trying them again in the very near future.

I tried a food-blog-world fave today:

Gotta love that ingredient list!

Dates are pretty cool, that they can turn into this.
I've had the peanut butter cookie flavor, and it is my favorite Larabar ever - duh, it has peanut butter in the title. Cashews in general I have a more ambiguous relationship with. Sometimes I can't get enough, other times they make me gag. I never claimed to be normal. Anyway, I just didn't like this. Too sweet (dates are SUPER high sugar), I think the fact that cashews are kind of naturally sweet plus the dates just overdid it. That, and the fact that I'm not cashew's biggest fan led to a semi-disappointment. But, if you adore cashews, you'll probably enjoy this.

I also celebrated with a big bowl of appleberry oat bran. YUM!

I made it with 1/2 c. almond milk & 1/4 c. water, cinnamon, cardamom (essential ingredient - just a teeny tiny bit makes all the difference!), and vanilla. After the first round in the microwave, I threw in a handful of blueberries to cook and get juicy in the bowl. Unsweetened applesauce (I use Musselman's, I can't stand Mott's version) stirred in at the end, and a couple more bluebs thrown on top for aesthetic appeal. MMMM!

There was an interesting article today in the paper, about how suddenly everyone has become a food critic with the help of sites like Yelp and Chowhound.

It started me thinking about blogs and reviewing things here. Is it wrong/bad/out of place? Honestly, I don't think so. We're not getting paid, and all restaurants should treat paying customers like they're food critics anyway, regardless of whether or not they actually are. The other thing about reviews on blogs that I think is most important to keep in mind is that everyone is different! We all like different foods, or consider different things better or worse in terms of quality. I love reading lots of different reviews about the same place or food because it gives me a better, more detailed idea of what it's actually like. This article went into some not-so-nice goings-on behind the scenes with the actual internet companies being, well, money-hounds - and that I certainly am not a fan of at all. That's just sleazy. But when it comes to blogs, I say write on. Just keep in mind that the writer's experience is totally subjective, and you never know what you will think of it yourself. 

Y'all, a terrrrrrible thing happened today - my mo took my brother and I to Panera, and upon sitting down and preparing to enjoy my half of a Mediterranean Veggie, I felt something was missing....LuLu!! Gah, you can tell a young food blogger when they forget to bring their camera with them everywhere. (P.S., for any new readers - my blue Canon Powershot camera is named LuLu. Yes, I name my technological accessories. Makes it easier to yell at them when they inevitably screw up.) It was tasty though :)

After a visit with the elliptical at the gym, I popped over to heaven on earth Whole Foods to have some fun. Among other things, I grabbed this little container of fluffy wonder:

Yes, that is all-natural marshmallow creme!

Pretty sweet ingredient list, for what is traditionally the epitome of fake food!

Hmm, now what to test-drive my new present on?

Waffle. Duh.

It would will be better with peanut butter, but I'm quite impressed. I never, ever had a peanut butter-fluff sandwich when I was a kid, and never particularly desired to, but this stuff is just plain fun! I'm thinking gooood on top of some epic oat bowls too...and mixed in with greek yogurt...and on top of smoothies...oh, the possibilities!

I had one of those days where I found myself all of a sudden starving multiple times - as in, dinner was a turkey-hummus-spinach wrap because it was the fastest thing I could think of. Then at the end of the day I feel like a stuffed sausage, like my bottomless pit all of a sudden got way too full. Oy. It's all good, it all balances out eventually anyway. Just ranting :)

This chick needs to shower and hit the sack STAT - I have a special little "meeting" tomorrow AM. I actually to have to arise before noon. The horror!

~Namaste~