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August 28, 2009

Tartufo Time at Rothchilds Restaurant and the Rigatoni was Great but the Panini was too Salty

Filed under: Reviews — Tyler @ 11:42 pm

Rothchild’s

2407 E Coast Hwy
Corona Del Mar, CA 92625-2079
(949) 673-3750 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (949) 673-3750      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (949) 673-3750      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

I went to this semi-expensive restaurant in Corona del Mar, California today called Rothchild’s for lunch with my mom. Rothchild’s is a primarily Italian Restaurant, the food is good and the service is friendly too. If you aren’t prepared to spend at least $15-$20 per person I recommend that you go somewhere else. But if you want Italian food in a nice, semi-fancy environment with pleasant staff, then Rothchild’s is a great choice for Newport Beach dining.

My meal started with garlic bread that was covered in powdery cheese. That tasted good. I like the garlic bread because it is a bit crunchy and the shape of the bread is elliptical and slanted. So the garlic bread has a nice texture when you bite into it. I ordered The Pavarati Panini with Home Made Rigatoni with mushrooms in marinara sauce. The Pavarati Panini was made of bread and it had prosciutto inside it with brie cheese and asparagus tips. If you don’t know what prosciutto is, think of it as a salty thinly sliced ham. I personally think that the sandwich had too much prosciutto on it and the saltyness overpowered the flavor of the brie and the asparagrus. So the next time I go to Rothchild’s I am going to order something else. Also the color of the greenish pesto didn’t mesh very well with the panini. The pesto gave the sandwich a funky tint.

But the Home Made Rigatoni with mushrooms was superb. The rigatoni had the shape and texture of large pieces of calamari and I loved it. The rigatoni tasted so good. It was the perfect chewyness to softness with each bite. And the mushrooms were about the size of your thumb and they were prepared to perfection and had enough moisture per bite. The sauce in the Rigatoni was mild yet it was still compelling. I usually like a bit of spicyness with my rigatoni sauce but this was quite good. It tasted very fresh, and the pieces of tomato were recognizable.

For desert I ate a white chocolate Tartufo. This is a white chocolate covered ice cream dish that had raspberry sorbet in the middle. I really liked the raspberry sauce that covered the Tartufo! It was mildly sweet and very tasty. I was surprised because I expected the Tartufo to be super sweet. But it seemed to be just the perfect mix of flavors.

A little background information of Rothchild’s Restaurant…The place started as a Wine and Cheese spot over 30 years ago by its German owner. It was successful but the owner wanted to expand the business to include a seated fine dining environment. So Rothchild’s became a full fledged sit down restaurant. It has had the same owners for over 30 years, and only recently has new things been changed to Rothchild’s. The exterior has been redone and there is more lighting so you can find the place from East Coast Highway. Also the sandwich that I ate was a recent addition to the menu. Rothchild’s in on the corner of East Coast Highway and Begonia Avenue in Corona del Mar, California in the City of Newport Beach. This place may be pricy but if you want to have a nice meal with your parents or take someone on a romantic date, Rothchild’s could be the place for you!

August 27, 2009

The Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake from Starbucks has 320 Calories of Deliciousness and little Nutritional Value

Filed under: Reviews — Tyler @ 2:34 am

Starbucks food used to give me a stomach ache because I psychologically knew that the stuff was bad for me. Maybe the guilt of eating artificially flavored foods with trans-fats and stuff psychosomatically made me want to feel sick after eating an entire scone or especially a muffin. But now Starbucks has pledged not to use artificial flavors or ingredients in their foods. So with the guilt of eating unhealthy stuff out of my mind I decided to try their Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake.

When you first bite into the top of a Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake from you’ll notice the chewy topping. It’s the yellowish-white part of the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake. I love this part. The top of the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake tastes like the doughy batter of a blueberry muffin except better. I usually pull off the top of the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake with my hand and much on it as I’m walking out the double doors of my Starbuck’s in Corona del Mar, California. The inside of the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake is filled with squished blueberries and raspberry pieces. The blueberries taste moist and I like em. They remind me of the blueberry muffins that my mom used to make back in Illinois. There is nothing that beats Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffins on a cold Illinois winter’s morning. The bottom of the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake is a brown cake-like substance that doesn’t taste that great. The bottom of the cake is my least favorite part. I think it could use a little butter or something to make it taste better.

The Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake from Starbucks is a snack with less nutritional value than watermelon or a serving of Cheerios. Let’s take a closer look at the Nutritional Value Facts for Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake. There are 320 Calories per slice. That’s not too bad for a slice of Coffee Cake. But 9 grams of fat per serving is pretty fatty. 470 mg of Sodium is something to watch out for. I just read that people only need 500 milligrams of Sodium per day. So this one Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake gives you enough sodium to power your entire day with Sodium. And the American Heart Association says that you shouldn’t exceed 2,400 mg of Sodium per day. So this little slice of cake is quite a bit of sodium. There’s a little bit of protien, 6 grams,and 55 mg of Cholesterol. But that’s not very substantial. So don’t think that this Coffee Cake will be replacing your lunch or anything. There’s no potassium in the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake so remember to bring your banana with you to work or school.

When it comes to vitamins and minerals Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake is pretty sparse. This is what makes it more a snack food than a meal. There is only 6% daily dose of Calcium and Vitamin C%. And if you are looking for Iron the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake has a small 8%. Vitamin A is even lower, only 4% Daily percentage of your daily vitamins and minerals. These facts mean that the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake is some thing that should be eaten sparingly. I eat a slice every other day and I think that’s too much. Actually I think, I’m starting to overeat based on my low exercise level. But the cake tastes good. But is it worth it? I’m not sure. It’s more like a comfort filler food than a nutritious substance. There are definitely healthier alternatives to the Reduced Fat Very Berry Coffee Cake at Starbucks so check back at www.overidon.com for more articles on your favorite snacks!

August 25, 2009

Nutritional Value Adventures with Cheerios the Real Facts

Filed under: Reviews — Tyler @ 1:54 am

I eat a great deal of cereal. It’s fun to eat. The small cereal pieces float in milk and my dog eats it if it falls on the floor. Just a few minutes ago I was pouring a bowl of Cheerios and some pieces spilled on the floor. My dog Harvest sneaked up behind me. I didn’t even know she was there. And like a ninja stalking her prey, Harvest ate the dropped Cheerios. What a good dog. Dogcuumcleaner.

But not all cereals are created equal. I like Original Cheerios and Special K a lot more than Rice Krispies. For some reason Cheerios tastes substantial, as if you are eating something with whole grain or wheat in it. Oh that’s right. Cheerios has the slogan that it’s “Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal,” this makes sense because it tastes toasted. Not that it tastes popped, like Rice Krispies or Smacks or anything, this stuff tastes like it was put inside some kind of huge toaster conveyor belt.

Cheerios are made by General Mills. What kind of company is General Mills? Do they make nutritious products? Here’s a link to General Mills self proclaimed ethics. They say they “…strive for the highest quality in our products, services and relationships.” So does this mean that your cereal will be healthy for you? Sure I read the slogan and I trust they use whole grain, but a lot can happen to a cereal as it’s being turned from whole grain to a finished product. Let’s take a look at the Nutrition Facts for Cheerios and make an educated evaluation of the cereal from its label.

I don’t know how many people reading this use skim milk in their cereal. Skim milk in cereal is kind of like watered down ginger ale. You don’t know what you’re missing until you taste it. Then you’re like, “Oh right, this is nasty.” I hate how they use skim milk for as the serving information for cereal. They do that just because it lowers the stats on the information, or maybe they want to spread the word on skim milk because some people think it’s healthier? Regardless, let’s look at skim milk stats because that’s what’s written. According to the Nutritional Facts Cheerios has 140 calories per serving. This isn’t bad but 1 serving is about 1 cup. People don’t eat just 1 cup of Cheerios. That’s BS. We eat at least 2 servings. So when you’re reading this let’s double all the Nutrition Facts. Total Fat for Cheerios isn’t bad, only about 3% per serving. That’s not too much. But here we go. The sodium per serving is 190mg. Remember my article on Trader Ming’s Gyoza Dipping Sauce? Too much salt in your diet can be bad for you so if you have a high salt content in your diet you might want to watch how much cheerios you eat. I know I ate a big bowl of Cheerios today and then had a salty ham sandwich for lunch (it had capers and tomatoes and man was it good). I think I have too much salt in my diet. Sometimes my tongue feels burnt from all the salty foods I eat. I think the reason why I’m attracted to salty foods is because sodium is part of neurotransmitters and blogging and video editing uses my brain juice. Or maybe I just like it. There is a decent amount of Potassium in Cheerios, 170mg per serving. That’s a good percentage of your daily value per serving, 11%. There isn’t that much sugar in Cheerios. Remember I’m talking about Original Cheerios not Honey Nut Cheerios. I personally don’t like eating candy in the morning and neither should you. Honey Nut Cheerios are way to sugary. Maybe if I was in grade school again I’d eat them. But that just doesn’t make sense. I don’t like how there are 16 grams of “Other Carbohydrate” (s) in Cheerios. What are those mystery Carbohydrates?  I especially don’t like the ads in between plays of songs on my MySpace players. I’m trying to listen to “Fancy Footwork” by Chromeo over and over again and I keep getting ads for Plentyoffish.com and McDonalds. I wish they’d shove a Double Double in  KFeds fish face once and for all. I’m done with it! Do you know how easy it is to meet women? All you have to do is go to a bar and have a pulse. I remember I was at this bar in Santa Ana called Proof and this girl eyed me and I was locked in. That’s why I wear a beard. The beard means, “I’m working, thanks! I want to have enough money to live comfortably before I reproduce.” I really don’t get guys who like to date tons of women all the time. When do they have time to blog? Or write Fantasy/Adventure stories? People need to prioritize before they get victimized. “Organize and Thrive!” That’s my motto. Stay organized.

Ok! Let’s talk Cheerios and vitamins and minerals. Cheerios has a whopping 45% Iron value with or without milk per serving. That’s a great percentage. Iron is good for your blood and can help you from being tired all the time. Cheerios is also a great source of Folic Acid, with a percentage of 50%. Folic Acid is good for cell division and for red blood cells. This one is important. Red Blood cells need Folic Acid to help prevent Anemia. You can learn more about Anemia by checking out this article on Wikipedia. Cheerios also has a decent source of Riboflavin and Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is important for Metabolism; this is a key human life function.

Cheerios is a great cereal and it doesn’t need extra sugar or honey or anything on it. Not even berries. A banana is good with Original Cheerios but I like to eat it on the side not in the cereal.

Awesome, thanks for reading my article on Cheerios Nutritional Facts and Information.

-Tyler

August 18, 2009

Square Watermelons Strange New Shape Same Great Nutritional Value

Filed under: Reviews — Tyler @ 9:30 pm

The Japanese have been making their fruit square! It is a form of fruit conformity that has hit the grocery store with a vengeance! The crafty Japanese farmers have been growing watermelons in containers to make them acquire a square shape. This makes the watermelons have a cube shape when they are done growing.

What are some advantages to cubic watermelons?

  1. This is why watermelons roll around in your fridge!

    This is why watermelons roll around in your fridge!

    They fit in your refrigerator better. Since refrigerators are designed to store rectangular shaped items, it makes sense that a square watermelon would waste less space. They also tip over less. This is because when a circle touches a flat surface the circular shaped watermelon is constantly tangent to the surface of the refrigerator. This is similar to how a wheel on a car is able to move quickly along the road. A wheel stays in a state of constantly falling once it is in motion. Well the same principle holds true for your round watermelon in the fridge. Once it gets knocked by the milk jug as you are trying to make your midnight snack of cereal, the watermelon will want to move around and cause havoc in the fridge. Well, if you have a square watermelon, it will lie flat on the refrigerator surface. This is because a square watermelon is tangent along its parallel line of its rind in relation to the refrigerator. This is unlike the round watermelon, which is tangent to the surface only at a single point in its rind at a time.

  1. Square watermelons are small and cute and you can give them as presents. Expensive presents though. CNN says that in Japan the price of a square watermelon is as much at $82!!! This is a hefty price to pay when you want some watermelon. In Japan the usual price is around $20. That’s nutty! We know from my last article on watermelon nutritional value that even a big watermelon doesn’t have more than 1,000 to 2,000 calories. So I think a square watermelon would make a good gift but it would be expensive for a family to get used to getting them regularly.
Watermelon Bonkers

Watermelon Bonkers

  1. Is it just me or do these square watermelons remind you of Bonkers? Yeah, remember those cubical candies that had fruit flavors. They used to have awesome commercials of people getting served by huge grapes and watermelons. Well, maybe square watermelons are where they got the juice for the square Bonkers….oh wait, Bonkers were artificially flavored.

Sources:

Patterson, Thomas “Japan Corners the Market on Square Fruit”

CNN.com, June 15th, 2001

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