Food Lab 101 - Do You Play With Your Food?

The Vegetable Orchestra performs with instruments made from fresh vegetables, which must be built anew for each concert and each rehearsal.

Who says you can't play with food? The Vegetable Orchestra at TEDxVienna
 

Good morning, on this chilly Saturday morning! I've put my Superman hoodie on, to sit down and tell you about the salad I 'invented' yesterday. We like to have Butterfly shrimp, and have use them in salads before, but after re-discovering Tater-tots in my memory, I decided to combine the two in a salad.

It turned out to be Super! I was gonna take a picture of it before eating, but I was in a rush to eat it! The shrimp & taters are about the same size, color and texture, and was very light to eat. It was amazing! It was a "Big Deal"!
:cool: Enjoy!

Shrimp and Tater-tot Salad:
Single serving:

handful of Romaine lettuce
small slice of sweet onion separated
1 slice of tomato cut up
5 black olives cut in half
7 baked butterfly shrimp with tail removed and cut in half
9 baked tater-tots
Italian dressing

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I heard of a cereal bar some time ago. Like: thishttps://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170607/avalon-park/slurp-like-king-cereal-bar-with-thrones-opens-on-south-side
But it's not what I imagined a cereal bar would be.
I would like to see cereal 'cocktails' of mixes of different cereals - because I don't really want to eat a whole bowl of one flavor, or no flavor of chex, flakes, etc.
Or customers could order any combination they want, like; 2 scoops of cinnamon toast crunch, a scoop of vanilla chex and scoop of coco-crisps.

When I was a kid we always mixed cereal when one box was emptied (and didn't fill the bowl - or when two kids wanted the same cereal and there wasn't enough).
 
Not playing with food but...

I don't know when I started it, but when I cook I always measure out the dried spices and the main liquid first and combine them.
I believe it un-dries the spices and more evenly, thoroughly disperses them in the dish.
 
I heard of a cereal bar some time ago. Like: thishttps://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170607/avalon-park/slurp-like-king-cereal-bar-with-thrones-opens-on-south-side
But it's not what I imagined a cereal bar would be.
I would like to see cereal 'cocktails' of mixes of different cereals - because I don't really want to eat a whole bowl of one flavor, or no flavor of chex, flakes, etc.
Or customers could order any combination they want, like; 2 scoops of cinnamon toast crunch, a scoop of vanilla chex and scoop of coco-crisps.

When I was a kid we always mixed cereal when one box was emptied (and didn't fill the bowl - or when two kids wanted the same cereal and there wasn't enough).
In the first post of this thread, I tried mixing all of the different little cereal boxes in the Variety pack, that we had as kids. It turned out to be very interesting.
 
I never played with food. My son drove me crazy with wanting all his food served on different dishes when he was a kid. He didn't want anything touching each other. Then, one weekend we stayed with my Philadelphia relatives at their Poconos retreat and my cousin Bob was sitting next to my boy at dinner. Bob, as always just took what was on his plate and mixed it all up together and I though my son would die. Ever since we were kids Bob did that and I was always turned off by it myself. My son out grew his nutty quirkiness about food eventually.
 
The term "Food Lab" sounds like a name given to "Home Ec" when they invited boys in. As Seniors, we should feel free to experiment with our food.....or going against all childhood warnings....play with our food!

I was in the cereal Isle, fighting sensory overload, when I thought about my favorite cereal as a boy....Variety Pak! Ten different cereals in small boxes, packed together. One side of the box was perforated, and the box lined with waxed paper, to allow a boy to bypass the bowl and add milk and eat right from the box!

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So, as I looked around, I found a Kellogg's brand, Fun Pack of 8 boxes (1.3 oz ea). When I got home, I had the thought that It might be fun to mix them all together and make my own "Crazy" cereal. I know where that thought came from... when we died eggs as kids, I would like to save the last egg to dip into a mixture of all the colors. It always turned out to be Olive Drab!

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So I took the Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops(2), Frosted Flakes(2),and Cocoa Krispies(2).....and dumped them into a large bowl.
I transferred it all to a plastic cereal container and "there you have it" CRAZY CEREAL!

I measured out one cup into a bowl and added a banana & milk. It was a little overwhelming. The Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops seemed to disappear and the Froot Loops and Apple Jacks took over! The Cocoa Krispies just seemed to clog things up a little.

My new cereal is quite colorful, and definitely NOT gluten free....but I like it!
:p
Yup, and it was bad when all the good kinds were gone and we had to eat the shredded wheat🤮.
I remember them from my childhood, are they still around?
 
My son drove me crazy with wanting all his food served on different dishes when he was a kid. He didn't want anything touching each other. Then, one weekend we stayed with my Philadelphia relatives at their Poconos retreat and my cousin Bob was sitting next to my boy at dinner. Bob, as always just took what was on his plate and mixed it all up together and I though my son would die. Ever since we were kids Bob did that and I was always turned off by it myself. My son out grew his nutty quirkiness about food eventually.
I was 'that kid'
Nothing touching
One time my mom bought the TV tray things, with the separators.
I was in heaven.


Bob, as always just took what was on his plate and mixed it all up together

Funny, my childhood buddy, Bob, did that too
One time he reached over, took my lunch pail, and mixed in his canning jar of squash into my PB&J
So, I took what was left of his squash mess, and poured it into his thermos

Bob, was different
Farm boy
I mean, who'd bring a jar of squash to school for lunch?
....and bread pudding for dessert (ugh)
Of course his milk was raw, with little clumps floating around

Bob drank down that squash/raw milk glop like it was his favorite (shudder)

Later in life, I learned mixing food wasn't so bad
I didn't purposely mix it together, but if some gravy happened into my green beans, well, it was kinda good.
 
Yup, and it was bad when all the good kinds were gone and we had to eat the shredded wheat🤮.
I remember them from my childhood, are they still around?

Full size Shredded Wheat is the only cereal I’ll eat. Before that it was Muffets, which were maybe only available in Canada. They don’t seem to make them any more. ā€Only one ingredient.ā€ I add sliced banana & skim milk.
 

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