Popcorn Chicken + Sauerkraut + Relish

Rating: 6/10

Popcorn chicken topped with sauerkraut and relish. Why not? I was debating between the chicken and a hotdog with the works before I realized the only reason I wanted hotdog was for the toppings, so best of both worlds here. The juicy-stringy, sour and sweet sauerkraut plus relish combo added an extra pow of flavor to the salty, crunchy, chewy chicken. The strength of taste was a bit overwhelming without something creamy to lighten it like maybe mashed potatoes or alfredo pasta. But it was interesting and I don't mind this outcome much. I'll take it over hotdog any day.

Fennel Arugula Salad + Rice Krispies Treat

Rating: 8/10

Fennel arugula salad eaten with Rice Krispies Treat. I haven't had Rice Krispies in maybe a decade now. But somehow it found itself on my counter top when I was stir frying the fennel, so I figure why not combine. The sweet, chewy, crunchy treat just adds another layer to the already tasteful, leafy salad. Taste buds a-tingle!

French Toast + Udon Noodles

Rating: 8/10

French toast eaten with udon noodle bowl. So many things go well with udon it's hard to pick. But the sweet, crunchy toast offers a lovely counterbalance to the salty, slippery soft noodles and soup. Perfect example of two things that are good separately also being good together. Not always the case. So cheers to this!

Mint Chocolate + Spicy Crab Risotto

Rating: 9/10

Dark chocolate mint pieces eaten with some spicy crab risotto. This turned out unexpectedly good. And I don't even like mint. Just thought what the heck it was in front of me so I might as well combine it with other foods. Such a pleasant surprise that the sweet, chocolatey mint chunks actually worked with the salty, spicy, soft rice dish. In a way, the spicy and minty sort of canceled each other out yet still leaving some semblance of the two characteristics in my mouth. It was a bit surreal and kind of awesome. Yay another one of those happy accidents in life. More please! And the chocolates are shaped like little Santas, which adds to the creepy-cool factor depending on which end of the spectrum you fall.

Cinnabon Pancakes + Sandwich Melt + Potato Soup

Rating: 9/10

What's a road trip without a stop at IHOP? The Cinn-A-Stack pancakes, Pot Roast Melt sandwich, and Potato Bacon soup eaten together is such a killer trifecta. Ah, the beauty of breakfast and lunch for dinner. Soup and sandwich is a pretty common combo, but add in some Cinnabon-style pancakes and you got a party in your mouth. The sweet, soft, Cinnabon-filled pancakes. The savory, chewy, toasted sandwich melt. The hot, creamy, chunky soup. There is no separation when eating the three, they are one.

Nutrition:

• 2 IHOP Cinn-A-Stack Pancakes =  445 Calories, 29g sugar, 6g fiber
• 1/2 IHOP Pot Roast Melt Sandwich = 530 Calories, 1580mg Sodium, 3g fiber
• bowl of IHOP Loaded Potato and Bacon Soup = 430 Calories, 1310mg Sodium, 1g fiber

Total Calories = 1,405
Rich meal but yum. And filling.

Feta Cheese + Naan Bread + Babaganush

Rating: 8/10

Naan bread dipped in babaganush eaten with feta cheese. I like flavorful cheese because otherwise you're just eating a tasteless block of goo. I'm no fan of cheese texture-wise unless it's melted. The salty, sour cheese goes so well with the salty, chewy naan and savory, garlicky creamy babaganush. Not as good as naan and babaganush with rotisserie chicken but worth the re-eat.

Buffalo Chicken Roller + Half Baked Ice Cream

Rating: 7.5/10

This was like a midnight snack except eaten at about 10 PM and as dinner. Result of a late night trip to 7-Eleven in a strange town for toilet paper that turned out rather unnecessary. I totally thought the rollers were some kind of taquito-like wrap, but no just fried chicken in stick form. Anyway, the strongly salty, spicy, chewy, crispy chicken was nicely complimented by the lighter touch of the sweet, creamy, chunky ice cream. Worth a nighttime redo.

Nutrition:

• 7-Eleven Buffalo Chicken Roller = 190 Calories, 880mg Sodium, 1g fiber, 10% of daily Calcium
• 1/4 Ben & Jerry's Half Baked ice cream = 270 Calories, 27g sugar, 10% of daily Calcium, 10% of daily Vitamin A

Total Calories = 460
Not great but fairly harmless.

Beef Chili + Chocolate Eclair

Rating: 8/10

Beef chili eaten with chocolate eclair. I was debating between the eclair or a red velvet cupcake, but the eclair won out. I figure the light creamy custard and crunchy-chewy shell goes better than the heavy cream and cake taste/texture with the already heavy chili with its hot, savory, spicy, chunky taste/texture. Good call on my part. The chili could be better but this combo is killer.
(eaten @ Sculpture Garden Restaurant, Washington DC)

Scrambled Eggs + Ice Cream

Rating: 9/10

Scrambled eggs chock-full of turkey plus basil and cumin seasoning eaten with Haagen-Dazs Blueberry Crumble ice cream. I was going for ham and eggs scrambled but ran out of ham, so turkey slices to the rescue. Probably healthier anyway. The hot, moist, savory, salty, cumin tasting eggs wonderfully compliments its opposite in the ice cream's cold, chunky, creamy, sweet and sour range. I feel good about the world after eating this. I mean, with a start like this the rest of the day can do what it wants to me. I'm set.

Oreo Gelato + Bread Pudding

Rating: 10/10

Oreo gelato over freshly baked and glazed chocolate-caramel bread pudding. The combo's probably been done before since it's basically the same idea as a hot fudge brownie sundae. But so much better. The cold, creamy, sweet ice cream with the warmth of the sweet, chewy, moist cakey-pudding texture is just perfection. Any time these two amazing things can be put together, never not choose this option! Neither would meet its full potential without the other.
(eaten @ Phillips Flagship, Washington DC)

Rugelachs + Noodle

Rating: 7/10

Chocolate and raspberry walnut rugelachs eaten with fried-then-stirred garlic scallion noodles. I normally don't combine anything with rugelachs but milk, lest its deliciousness be polluted. But I was craving something sweet as I was eating the noodles and rugelachs were the only thing sweet I was in the mood for, so comes the sacrifice. The noodles' combined savory, garlicky, oil-glazed flavor and slippery texture totally overpowers the rugelach's sweet, creamy chewiness. Still good, but what a waste. Maybe some kind of fruit or ice cream would've sufficed with the noodles. The rugelach stands alone.

Fried Dumplings + Babaganush

Rating: 5/10

Had some stale pork fried dumplings lying around. Thought I'd try to dress it up a bit with babaganush. This turned out surprisingly bland. It wasn't terrible but certainly not worth repeating. The light savory of the dumplings and the savory, garlicky babaganush sort of cancelled each other out. The creamy vs. crispy-chewy difference between the two doesn't even register. Blah.

Boiled Peanuts + Kiwi

 







Rating: 6.5/10

Salt boiled peanuts eaten with fresh kiwi slices. Only kind of peanuts I like is the salty, moist boiled kind that's chewy rather than crunchy. This balanced well with the sweet and sour juicy kiwi, though it would've been better if the kiwi was in the less sour and more sweet dimension. As it was, comme ci comme ça.

Vodka Sauce + Feta Cheese + Naan Bread + Avocado

 



















Rating: 5.5/10

A lazy homemade pizza with random ingredients I found in the kitchen. First we have the kick of creamy, tomatoey vodka sauce poured over the chewy fluff of naan bread. Then cover it with chunky, salty-sour feta cheese crumbles and bake it in a toaster oven before topping it with the buttery, green lightness of sliced avocado. This turned out really salty, which I didn't particularly expect. But I guess basically everything combined here is salt-based and when you put them together it all adds. The avocado did nothing to calm the strength of  taste here. While not as much variety in flavor as I would prefer, still a somewhat pleasant experience. May work better with mozzarella and arugula instead of feta and avocado.

Nutrition:

• 1/5 Bertolli Vodka Sauce = 150 Calories, 730mg Sodium, 2g fiber, 15% of daily Vitamin A
• scoop of President Feta Crumbled = 70 Calories, 260mg Sodium, 10% of daily Calcium
• Reya Tandoor Baked Naan = 280 Calories, 740mg Sodium, 2g fiber, 16'% of daily Iron
• avocado = 240 Calories, 10g fiber, 25% of daily Vitamin C

Total Calories = 740
Kept me full for the rest of the night. Wow looking at the Sodium count, that's almost a whole day's worth. But hey also got over half a day's worth of fiber too. Win some, lose some. Plus some Vitamin C & A, Calcium and Iron.

Hot Apple Cider + Tiramisu Ice Cream

Rating: 7/10

It's an apple cider float! With Ben & Jerry's Tiramisu! Looks awful but tastes pretty great. The hot, sweet and sour of the cider blends surprisingly well with the cold, creamy ice cream. It's like drinking chunks of frozen tundra floating in a boiling river Styx. The tongue is mesmerized. Though the texture and flavor of it does tend to be uneven as the ice cream melts and the cider cools. The tiramisu pieces dissolving in cider is actually tastier than I expected.

Nutrition:

• cup of Zeigler's Apple Cider = 120 Calories, 30g sugar
• Ben & Jerry's Volun-Tiramisu mini carton = 200 Calories, 19g sugar, 10% of daily Calcium

Total Calories = 320
Eh nothing worth mentioning here, except maybe I thought there would be some dietary fiber in apple cider.

Rotisserie Chicken + Babaganush + Naan Bread

Rating: 10/10

Creamy, garlicy eggplant babaganush and savory seasoned rotisserie chicken wrapped in hot-off-the-toaster-oven fluffy, chewy naan bread. It's basically the lazy man's chicken gyro. The babaganush is the glue that holds it all together and ramps up the flavor. This is like my favorite meal concoction right now and the last two meals I've had. Add in some fennel and/or arugula, this may be unstoppable.

Nutrition:

• 1/6 Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken = 140 Calories, 460mg Sodium
• 2 large scoops of Golden Taste Eggplant Babaganush Dip = 160 Calories, 280mg Sodium, 2g fiber
• Reya Tandoor Baked Naan = 280 Calories, 740mg Sodium, 2g fiber, 16'% of daily Iron

Total Calories = 580
Wow that's a lot of Sodium. No wonder I drank like 3 bottles of water afterwards.