Afters Ice Cream

Welcome back! I'm glad you could stop by for another wonderful post. What I have for you wasn't really intended to be a blog post, but it kind of worked out that way. In the end, it was a bunch of coworkers having a good time and enjoying good food and good company. Before we get that far, let me fill you in on how a bunch of pastry chefs hit the streets in search of ice cream.

As a chef, it can be easy to get jaded when it comes to food. After a while, nothing seems to pique the interest unless it is bizarre or pushing the boundaries between food and pornography. And just when you think you have heard all the bullshit and all the so-called foodporn, you hear about something that sounds....good. You hear about something that may not even be original, in a sense, but presented in a way that drives your curiosity and genitals wild! For me, it was two words that caught my attention: Milky Buns

If you know me, you can probably guess that my first thoughts after hearing the words Milky Buns were perverted. Milky buns, to me, equated to white ass cheeks. Hey, that doesn't sound bad at all! Sadly, ass cheeks wasn't on the menu. What was on the menu was a glazed donut that is cut in half and filled with a scoop of ice cream and whatever topping that you want to go with it. I'll give you a moment to pick your jaw up from the floor.

At some point, a bunch of my coworkers decided to hit this place up one night after work. I was lucky enough to have been invited. PLUS, it was a bunch of females and I was the only guy there. GIGGITY!

Upon arriving, I saw a long line of people stretching outside the shop. Seeing that this was about 9:30 at night, I'd say that was a good sign.

My good friend Aimee Lynn was the one that found this place. I've mentioned her on this blog before, and she is one of the first people I talk to when it comes to food. She had been there before and had a few recommendations on what to order. I decided to go with the cereal milk ice cream with corn flakes as a topping. If you are wondering what cereal milk is, let me try and break this down as quickly as I can.

Cereal milk is made by pouring cold milk over your favorite cereal and letting it sit for a little while. Then, you strain out the cereal and place the milk back in the fridge. The milk has now taken on some of the flavor and sweetness of the cereal. The Momofuku Milk Bar was the first place I had heard of really using this technique to instill more flavor in their desserts.

After a 15 to 20 minute wait in line, we got our milky buns and scoops of ice cream. We sat down and talked about....everything. Food, work, rumors, Ouija boards, Iowa, and everything in between.

While the pics aren't the greatest, you can see what is going on. The top is mine. The bottom is what my lovely lady got. She ordered the Cookie Monster ice cream. It was blue and had all kinds of shit going on with it.

My ladies ice cream was everything it should have been with a name like that. Bright, sweet, crunchy, and fruity. Mine was on the more subtle side. Milky flavor with an undertone of the cereal in every bite. The corn flakes added a nice touch, but I think I will try it with cap n' crunch next time.

The donut itself was good. You could tell it was very fresh and wasn't oily. A well made donut.

While this was a tasty treat, it really needs to be just that: A treat. Mixing these two items will give you a fat ass and a bad heart in no time! Honestly, I could only indulge in something like this once every blue moon.

Aside from the food, it was just really cool to hang out with some of the work buddies away from the slave ship. To be able to just kick back and relax with the people you just went through a long, arduous shift with is a priceless thing.

These two lovely ladies are Hannah and Alexis. Hannah is the one who introduced me to Zankou Chicken. Alexis is a bit of a Star Wars fanatic who somehow got stressed out watching the latest Godzilla movie. Oh yeah, Alexis also rocks in the kitchen and trains a lot of the new hires.

This is Victoria. She is from Montana. Wait, I think she is from Idaho. No, that's not right either. Oh, I got it! She's from IOWA!!! I only say that because it was a running joke that no one could ever remember she was from Iowa. They would say every other state BUT Iowa!

Victoria, without a doubt, got the best picture of the night. Plus, this woman brings such a wonderful, exciting and positive energy to the kitchen. While there may be some really miserable sons of bitches running around the kitchen, her presence can quickly turn a frown into a smile. In my opinion, every job needs at least 1 Victoria.

These were the only pictures I got. So let me give a shout out to Kaycie, Nicole, Sam, Aimee, Jaclynn, and my lovely lady Becky. Together, we made a night I won't soon forget.

Oh yeah, try Afters when you get a chance. ;-)

Afters Ice Cream

18030 Brookhurst St.

Fountain Valley, CA 92708

I'm out.

Catch Up and Reviews

Welcome back. I know it's been sometime since my last post, and I would like to thank you for not forgetting about me. I certainly haven't forgotten about you. During this time away, I've come across and made some pretty damn good food. In fact, so much so, it couldn't possibly fit into one blog post. So, what I have for you this time around is sort of a high-lite reel of what has been happening. Before I get to that, it's time for me to get a little personal.

For me, blogging is something I purely want to do. This isn't a need. I'm not getting paid from this, nor do I have lofty dreams of becoming some sort of writer. I do this because I love food and sharing it with others. Even if I only get 10 views a day on my page, I'm happy knowing it's out there for the world to look at.

While the thrill of having my food and thoughts floating around the internet does get the blood rushing, it also drives me crazy as well. When it comes down to it, I'm a control freak. Maybe it stems from being a chef, but I feel like if I'm going to put out a product, I want to be proud of it. I don't know how others do it, but it takes me a couple of hours to get down 1 post. The writing itself takes the longest. Then I attempt to proof read it. Then I make sure I have all the right pictures in the right places. Then I make sure I have all the necessary links set up. THEN, after all that, I publish it. That's when I have all the work of advertising on the numerous social media sites I'm plugged into. All this stuff takes time. And this, as they say, is where the plot thickens....

My time is extremely limited these days. Between work and family, there just isn't enough time in the day. I have to almost make a reservation with myself just to get on the computer these days. Lately, even when I do have the time, I might not even be in the mindset to sit down and write. I want to enjoy this, I don't want to write in a shitty mood. Even now, as I'm sitting here at the dining room table at 12:30am, I'm not in my usual frame of mind for writing. It feels a bit forced, to be honest. Forced or not, I'm doing this now, because I feel like my blog is slipping away. Plus, it's a good way to let my few readers know I'm still alive and kicking.

So, without further ado, lets get this freak show started! And what better way to kick things off than with a food FAIL!

That's right, I messed up some kind of way with the dish at the top of the screen. I was attempting to make a dish called Mofongo. To sum it up, Mofongo is a savory fried plantain mash. Guy Fieri goes nuts over this stuff on Triple D, so I figured I would give it a shot. I found what seemed like a good recipe and tried to follow it. When I was done making it, I just didn't like it. Maybe I over did the plantains, or maybe I added too much garlic. In the end, I just threw it out and chalked it up as a learning experience.

Speaking of Guy Fieri, I recently got the chance to go to a restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives. The name of the place is called Momma Cozza's.

Before going, I had heard mixed reviews about this place. Some people liked it, some said the food was bland. Before I tell you my opinion, let me show you how the meal started:

Before the drinks even got to the table, this thing was plopped down in front of me and my lady. No ranch to go with it. No oil drizzled on it. Nothing at all to accompany these tired, worn out slices of vegetables that were probably cut the day before. Honestly, this is a goddamn shame.

The rest of the meal? Bland. I ordered some pasta with a vodka meat sauce and a small pizza. The sauce was very bland, needing every spice and condiment on the table to make it taste decent. The pasta itself was cooked perfectly. The pizza wasn't bad either, but there are better pizza options in the city.

Sorry Guy, I wasn't impressed with that place.

On a better note, I did have some bomb-ass food from Romano's Macaroni Grill.

The name of this dish was...sweet potato 4 cheese tortale-whatever-the-fuck. I can't remember. Plus, Italians keep renaming their food every few years to hide the fact that they haven't come up with anything new in CENTURIES! Sorry Italians, I had to spill the beans on that little secret. Please do not get mad to the point where you need to track me down and throw empty olive oil bottles at me. A simple hateful comment at the bottom will suffice. :-)

I also had a bowl of soup at a Corner Bakery. It was like a Loaded Potato soup. Some good shit! I would order it again!

I also tried a couple breakfast offerings from Taco Bell.

I didn't try both of these the same day, and my stomach and colon are happy I didn't do that either. I can be a glutton sometimes, but I have my limits.

The breakfast wrap is just aight. Not alright, ahh-ite! The one I got, I think they fucked up on. The hash brown was crispy as all hell! Normally, the center will still be a little soft with a crunchy exterior. The whole fuckin' thing was crispy, inside and out! It felt like they dropped it in the deep fry and forgot about it for a couple days!

The waffle taco may not be a pretty sight, but it didn't taste bad at all. They give you a side of syrup with it, but I just dipped the taco in the syrup as opposed to pouring it over the taco.

Like I said, the taco tasted good. Not great, but definitely not bad. My only gripe was that it was really greasy.

It's not the best pic, but my hand was glistening with grease! No driving and eating with this one!

That's about it for this one. I have to admit that my mood is much better now than when I first started writing this post. I hope I can get that feeling back a lot easier for next post. And let me tell you, I got some doozies lined up that will make your sphincter take notice! I'm not sure if that last sentence made sense, but I wanted to get the word "Sphincter" in here somewhere!

I'm out.

p.s. SPHINCTER!