Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

So far, Diho Siam has the best Wor Wonton Soup in Costa Mesa.  The broth is amazing!  Due to the weather and being under the weather, I’ve had a lot of Soup lately.  This is the second day in a row I’ve had the Wor Wonton Soup Bowl from Diho Siam — (949) 645-3259.  Too bad I didn’t photograph it yesterday, the Broth was crystal clear like the best Consomme ever seen, and the Shrimp was on top.  It would’ve made for a better photo.  Consistently both, and all previous bowls, were flavorful, convenient and satisfying.  If local and under the weather too, you’ve got to try it.  And if searching for other cold comforts read here or to view more Diho Siam meals click here.

It’s always fun to try something new, even though some things we like and some we don’t.  We thank Carl’s Jr. for the opportunity to try their new menu items.  We recently tasted their 100% Black Angus Beef Burger (aka Original Six Dollar Burger), which they purport to be “better than the new McAngus Burger from [the] clowns down the street.”  Although we haven’t tasted the referenced competition, we’d most likely agree, since our preference is largely every Burger over a McAnything.  Also pictured above, we tried Carl’s Jr.’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Hand Scooped Ice Cream Shake and their Chicken Parmesan Sandwich.  Although there’s real Ice Cream in the Shake, our preference is for a hard serve scoop, rather than a soft serve Ice Cream – Carl’s Shake is too rich and creamy.  While that doesn’t sound bad to some, we’re not a fan of their ”hand scooped” Shakes.  And finally, the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich isn’t bad.  We hoped for more Sauce on ours, like in the commercials, but ultimately we’d choose the Charbroiled Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich over it – That’s our favorite.

FYI:  We were surprised to learn that Carl’s Original Six Dollar Burger, recently marketed as the 100% Black Angus Beef Burger comes with Sweet Pickles instead of Dill Pickles.  We’d want to swap ‘em for Dill next time.

I love my Quick From Scratch Food & Wine Cookbooks — They seem to have the best recipes.  Today I made the Corn and Cod Chowder with Orange Roughy instead of Cod, since it was the freshest Fish at the market.  I like Cod in this recipe too, but Orange Roughy is a tasty substitution.  All other ingredients are the same, except I used Chicken Stock in place of the Clam Juice.  It’s usually a seamless replacement I prefer in recipes.  I like Clams, but have a mental problem adding Clam Juice to a recipe.  When called for, I’ll generally substitute Chicken, Vegetable, Shrimp or Lobster Stock.

As you can see from the cookbook stains, I’ve had Food & Wine’s Quick From Scratch Fish & Shellfish for quite sometime and everything I’ve made from it has turned out great.  That can’t be said about all cookbooks, thus I highly recommend this one and Food & Wine’s Quick From Scratch Pasta.  I’ve made many fabulous meals from both.

It’s Soup season and time to make comfort dishes that fragrant the house.  They’re cozy, convenient and ready to be warmed up for lunch or dinner throughout the week.  All I need tonight is a piece of Sourdough with (real) Butter, a bowl of this New England style Chowder and a blankie.  The work is done and now it’s pure enjoyment time.

If you don’t feel like cooking and cleaning on Thanksgiving, check out my post on Examiner.com.  It provides an excellent collection of the best menus being served in Orange County on Thanksgiving Day.  As you can ascertain from the photo, our family wrongly loves the crisp Turkey Skin, thus haven’t been able to capture a pristine photo of a beautiful Turkey out of the oven.  A little Turkey Skin with a little Salt is generally a tasty Thanksgiving appetizer.  Bon Appetit!

Sadly, I’m unable to attend the First Annual Blogger Festival that starts today — I had hoped to meet hundreds of foodies in San Francisco this weekend, but instead my diet has been (and will be) consisting of Cough Drops, Mucinex DM, Sudafed PE, NyQuil, etc.  I’m sure none of that will be on the Foodbuzz menus.  I’m envious thinking about what everyone else will be eating.  Nibbles of Tidbits will be there in fantasy and spirit and I truly hope to meet y’all next year.  Have an amazing weekend, but not too amazing.

Do you like entering cooking or recipe contests?  Some rewards can be quite fabulous.  I certainly like entering them when I have time.  Contests, sweepstakes, games and alike have been hobbies of mine for years, especially if they relate to food.  To assist you (and myself in the future), I’ve scoured the Internet to collect the best up-to-date contest resources.  I’ve linked a few below and will continue to add additional findings to this post.  Good luck to ALL!

Contest Cook

Food Reference Contests

Food and Drink Contests in Yahoo

Food Network Contests and Offers

We were going to run this report on Examiner.com for National Liqueur Month (October), but didn’t have the necessary “Liqueur” to qualify for that category.  And since it’s now National Pomegranate Month (November) and I received POM Wonderful’s New Pomegranate Nectarine and Pomegranate Kiwi the very same day we planned this drink comparison, we substituted it in place of the Liqueur.

We set out to make 6 different Pomegranate Drinks and rate them.  The numbered rating cards are from one of my favorite boardgames, iMAgiNiff.  They come in handy for taste test comparison parties like this.  We got all our recipes from the PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur site, but used POM Wonderful’s Juice in place of the Liqueur.  We’ll post about the PAMA Liqueur later this month.  Overall, we found the recipes very adaptable and most tasted fantastic.

For this taste test, we made a Margarita and unblended Daiquiri, respectively posted above, and Pomegranate Juice with Club Soda, a Blushing Lady, a Pomegranate Juice Lemon Drop and a Martini, respectively shown below.  POM’s Juice substituted well for all — We particularly favored the Pomegranate Nectarine Juice, which is refreshing and flavorful on its own.

And since Pomegranate Juice is so good for you, we felt we received a healthier buzz, if you will.

We garnished the drinks with a variation of Lemon wedges and twists, Lime slices and Pomegranate Seeds (fabulously in season), then determined our favorites.  Our number one cards were awarded to the Margarita and Martini– Both tasted as if they were prepared by a professional mixologist and thus made us very happy.

We found the Pomegranate Juice and Club Soda a refreshing combination for any day, since it was the only drink without alcohol.  We’d probably pass on the Blushing Lady next time, but give the Pomegranate Lemon Drop an honorable mention.  Overall, we think PAMA’s recipes are good and look forward to trying their Liqueur.  And we always appreciate having POM Wonderful’s Juice — It’s the best 100% Pomegranate Juice.

Although Halloween is officially over, our DC Correspondent, Steven Woo sent us a few photos we just had to post.  He reports:  “Arghhh — I was in the Port O’ Baltimore for a Halloween Party, hosted by a zombie bride and groom.  They had some very creative decorations, including a skull ice sculpture that chilled the punch kettle, chili with and without flesh, mad scientist lab jars (cauliflower = brain, grapes = eyes, fennel = heart) and an inflatable coffin with ice cold beverages.  The last shot was some of my intake for the evening.  Are Rolaids available in fun size?”

Thanks Steven — It looks like it was a morbidly fun party.  They certainly were creative with the use of food.  Hopefully that’s not a real finger on the chopping board!  And I agree that Rolaids (like candy) should come in fun size packs too.

Our resident Junior Chef Lexi made this beautiful Cake from scratch.  It’s sure cheery for a Halloween Cake with its festive colors and application of Sweet & Sour Peach Candies.  We don’t have the recipe, since we’re featuring the Cake for its creative outer decorations.  Lexi is currently 10 years old and made this entire Cake on her own.  We post it to show that kids can create great things in the kitchen too.  Thanks Chef Lexi — It sure looks delicious!  We can’t wait to see what she makes for Christmas.  For more kid creations, be sure to check out our Kids in the Kitchen section.

We randomly drew a winner of French’s Party Pack and it’s Kathy.  Congratulations!  We’ll be contacting you shortly to learn where French’s can send your prize.  If you also entered the recipe contest, good luck winning that fabulous $25K prize too.  And thanks to all who entered this fast and fun giveaway.  Now I’m craving a Hebrew National with Tommy’s Chili and French’s Classic Mustard, all currently in my fridge – Goody.