NJ SPICE

February may have been short on days (and temperature), but not on delicious foods to enjoy. From trying the limited edition Red Velvet Oreos (not as sweet as I feared, actually liked them better than the original, which I don’t care for), to working more vegetables into my diet (thanks to a visit to a nutritionist, more on that in future), to various slow cooker adventures (that sausage/sauerkraut dish was too darned sweet), and just a meal or two out in between snow/ice storms, it was a culinarily eventful month.

Note the first photo, of bostock, which I wrote about for the Feb. 27 Packet. It doesn’t look like that article went online, so I’ll post it here soon.  Also, the last photo, of a terrific take on Canadian poutine, a dish many of us would spurn. Trust Main Street to make a delicious version, and that inspired an upcoming In The Kitchen for the Packet, which should be out March 6.

Note my salt tester in the gallery below, lit up like a Christmas tree. I’d bought an “upscale” pot pie. The label indicated a very reasonable amount of salt, but at the first bite I tasted a lot of salt. Really, really a lot. So I reached for my handy-dandy tester, and sure enough, it was off the charts, clearly exceeding what the label indicated. I’ll be contacting the producer, whose products are usually just fine. I had a similar experience with a restaurant dessert recently, and they quickly ascertained that it was a bad batch (i.e. a measuring mistake). It happens, and I’ll be back for another try, since they handled it so well. I always say that if you have a problem with a dish, it’s best to bring it up, rather than sulk in silence. Any responsible businessperson would rather know and have a chance to right the wrong, rather than have you complain to everyone but them.