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What an awesome conversation I had with Zena, owner of Zena SASS Everything Sauce. Believe or not but, I’m not the one to hold a conversation over the phone. But, for some reason my ear held on and I wanted to hear more.Her voice alone sounded as like it had angel wings moving through soft fluffy clouds. Kind of made me feel I was tucked in bed and I can see bright stars following her every moves.

Santa Cruz has an angel and her name is Zena. Although in her early career, she to experienced some trials and tribulations as the great Gods once did. Not only food she had her hand in. She has exceeded in graphic arts, interior design, skiing, dancing which she talked about for 10 minutes on the phone and a stint in business management. Maybe her name should have been the Warrior Princess. You know Lucy Lawless. I know she has the letter Z and the Warrior Princess is with a letter X, yes I get it!

A couple of years ago the Gods led her to make a comeback into the food world. Coming back with her which she has perfected overtime into her recipe is called SASS, the “Everything Sauce”. Sassy Almond Sesame Sauce to be exact. As you can see above she also developed other flavors as well. Sassy Peanut Sesame Sauce comes in regular and hot. Almond as well. Not to mention, she didn’t forget the diabetic community, all four sauces are
gluten free and low glycemic.

Take a look at my video while I give a detail look at the sauces.

What’s always all natural, forever handmade, and completely vegan? Malcolm. What is gourmet extra virgin olive oils by Tasty World. Correct for five hundred points!

Over the weekend I had so much fun with these oils. A few days earlier, I received 15 bottles such as; EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) w/ Basil, Orange, Garlic, White & black Truffles, Rosemary, and many more. This past weekend, I only used 2 of them.

The first EVOO bottle I used was infused with Garlic. Right away I knew what I was going to do. The plan is getting some family members involved in the process. We’re going to make pizza. Homemade pizza that is. Homemade pizza that is. The very first thing I did was have a tablespoon of the EVOO.  I opened the bottle for a quick smell. That smell made my eyebrow raised and created a little smirk with my lips. You can definitely tell the garlic his present but not overbearing. It’s rich, smooth, silky, and the shine is paramount.  At that time, I’m totally confident knowing how I’m going to utilize the oil.

I quickly asked myself. Why not use the oils on every pizza we’re making and go with coordinating Italian flavors. So I grabbed another bottle of EVOO with Basil this time. Incorporating the oils into the pizza dough and also topping when it’s done for an extra infused taste.  I did the same with the garlic earlier and having a tablespoon to taste. I absolutely love the aroma. I also brushed the crust with it to have that nice golden brown look.

According to Tasty World “say good bye to bad tasting supermarket oils”. I’m a true believer on what they are doing and you should be too. However Tasty World is experiencing some challenges ahead. To achieve a broader audience, they’re looking to improve their current machines and other equipment to provide their oils. To get a good look on what they’re trying to accomplish please visit them on KickStarter.

 

I’m a true believer that a good marinade comes in threes. It is also my job to get you to think the how I think. The best thing “Man ever made is marinade or sauce”. Period. Two lovely marketing representatives of  Teryaki World informed me they have the best teriyaki sauce. As soon she said that, I knew I had to have my hands on it.

This is no ordinary teriyaki sauce review. It is well beyond standard. This is how it went down. Let’s see, I believe I received the package Saturday morning  from Hawaii. Since I live in the northeast , New Yorkers were getting slammed by a snow storm. Lucky Hawaiians’ . From being snowed in I used what I had in the house. A little saying my mother used to say “pot luck is what we having”. Now that I’m grown that saying doesn’t bother me.

I opened my fridge. Surprisingly it’s stocked, but I don’t feel like prepping, cooking or even baking especially from shoveling all day. Finally I looked down and there was a glowing aura surrounding a bag of mix salad. I quickly began  to brain storm. I turned around to one of my counter tops. The package from Hawaii is glowing too. It’s go time.

I opened The All Natural Teriyaki Marinade bottle to taste. My eyes blinked several times and I’m completely surprised. It’s not salty. Literally I can take a shot of this. Again it’s not salty. Usually I stay away from teriyaki sauces like Kikkoman or Lowery’s, because of its high sodium content. I glanced on the back of the bottle. Clearly it states Non GMO. Above everything else, it has great balance between the ginger and garlic, not over powering, and the right proportion of sugar. Oh yeah, I forgot it’s gluten free. Here’s what I did:

CLICK COMPARE THE SODIUM CONTENT: KIKKOMAN TERIYAKI SAUCE, LOWERY’S TERIYAKI SAUCE, MAUI MAID

Ingredients

• 1 Bag of store-bought Spring Salad Mix
•  2 medium sized chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1/2 of medium sized onion, thinly sliced into halves
• 1 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 of an navel orange, thinly sliced
• 1 cup of Maui Maid All Natural Teriyaki Sauce to marinate

Directions

Marinate Chicken w/ Maui Maid All Natural Teriyaki Sauce about 30- 1 hour before cooking

Pour about half of the Spring Salad mix into a bowl, set aside.

Completely peel orange, then cut into half, then into slices. Same w/ onion, set aside.

Cook chicken on stove top or on grill until done and tender.

Combine orange and onion slice together w/ Spring Salad mix and top w/ Chicken.

Top w/ Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic vinegar.

Optional: you can also top w/ parsley or sesame seeds.

Ladies and gentlemen I have the hottest pieces of chocolate in my hands. No literally. These hand crafted artisan chocolates are produced by Lenny Award winners for best sweets, Renee Rohrbach and Chef Ricky Sanders owners of The Madison Chocolatier.

A couple of days ago Renee introduced herself and her hot product to the hottest food review online, Food Nation NY. So, I guess you can call it a match made in hell. In our first initial conversation, she actually gave me the option to select several pieces. I quickly rubbed my hands in an up and down motion like some villain in a cartoon or something. I’m thinking to myself, this is going to be hard. She replied as a heads up “please allow 5-7 days, because they’re made to order.” I had chosen the Zinger Truffles, Brazilian Wedding Grapes, and the Sweet Burn Butter Toffee.

First we have the Zinger Truffles. To be completely honest, I love how Chef Sanders thinks. He takes Szechuan peppercorns and blends it perfectly with an unknown tea. Now, I have a pretty good palette, but I couldn’t lay a finger on this one. Maybe we can ask him later. The dark chocolate outside just hugs the inside giving you unforgettable sensations in your mouth.

Secondly, I experienced The Brazilian Wedding Grapes (see above). OMG! It’s so good when it touches your lips. Frank the Tank in the movie Old School remember? As you can see above, Chef Sanders uses green grapes and I can see why, for its tartness obviously. It complemented well with creamy caramel. Mimicking a candy apple almost. The outer shell is dark chocolate which is the final element that brings all the flavors together. Killer Combination right here!

Finally I recommend getting a glass of milk for this one. This is the evil one out of the three, The Sweet Burn Butter Toffee. Why is it the evil one you might ask. Two words. Ghost Pepper. Don’t worry this treat has a cavalry. Bacon baby, and the toffee and chocolate serves as the relief. Every bit of flavor simply competes in your mouth. If you love spice, I’ll tell youthe Ghost Pepper wins every time.

Hey guys Malcolm here, and do I have a treat for you. This killer concoction hails from the Thunderhead Gardens of Western Montana. And get this. These guys raise all kinds of goodies from; Chile and jalapeno peppers, cherry tomatoes, herbs and various types of fruit.

What if these guys got creative and made a sauce using ingredients grown from their own farm (light comes on). Adding key elements like garlic, apple cider, brown sugar, roasted chipotle peppers and fresh raspberry juice. Not to mention using mesquite wood for a smokiness taste. Guess what? They did, and they call it Thunderhead Raspberry Chipotle Sauce.

So I have this Holy bottle in my hands. I’m looking up into the heavens. I asked myself, what can I make that can hold up to a protein that I may choose?  A couple months back, I did an article with Fischer & Wieser’s sauce. My creative juices then went with scallops on a bed of spring lettuce with a touch of roasted peanuts. It’s crazy because some strange voice spoke to me sounding like Emeril Lagasse “let’s kick it up a notch”. Okay! So here’s what I did. Real simple:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of Thunderhead Raspberry Chipotle Sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
• 12 medium scallops
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 12 slices prosciutto
• 2 cups arugula
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions

You may want to ask yourself this; Where to buy sea salt caramels or just finding a caramel candy store online. Well this past Valentine’s weekend a little package from Colbert, Washington arrived at my door step. I thought, maybe it’s a secret admirer of some sort, but better it was Divine Caramel Creations. I opened the shipping box and I quickly glanced at an angel holding a basket of treats. I also thought I got everything out of the shipping box but another treat was waiting. Beneath the red wrapping paper was their newest creation, Caramel Apple stack.

Where do I start? I’m writing this article and sampling their Vanilla Sea Salt Caramel. The first thing I thought of is a small glass of milk. Yeah right. I will have a bad afternoon if you know what I mean. So that thought quickly vanished. As soon as I knew it I had another. The first one I tried I put the whole thing in my mouth. That’s way I like to eat candy. Unlike most caramels it doesn’t get stuck in your teeth. That’s a good thing. As the caramel starts to melt away, the sea salt arrives to compete with the sweetness of the caramel. My first swallow was paramount. I actually tasted the vanilla in the back of my tongue to ease conflict between the saltiness and sweetness. I wanted this to happen again, and that is why I had another.

Even though I have Huckleberry, Cinnamon Apple Cranberry, and Expresso Sea Salt caramels in my possession, I have to try this Apple Stack. I mean look at it. As you can see, that nice layer of creamy caramel covering dried apple rings. Mind you Ellie, the founder of DCC and her staff picks, peels, slices and dehydrates apples from orchards surrounding her business.

So I opened the candy wrapper and the apple tart aroma cruises out. You know its tart when your glands starts to react. I tried to tear myself a piece without the pecans falling off. Speaking of the pecans, it’s a great canvas for texture in my opinion. As mentioned above the apples are dehydrated and they’re kind of stacked against each other. That itself creates another element of surprises on your palate. Then finally the caramel starts to melt away but then again it acts like a bonding agent to hold everything together. Ellie is pure genius in my book.

Today is a good day, I get to experience a gourmet coffee cake from Christine Welch’s The Coffeecake Connection Company. I guess my excitement all started with the packaging. It’s nicely done in a coffee brown color box and bow tied with various brown colors. I opened the box and the nicest aroma of cinnamon swiftly moves across my nose. What great joy knowing I’m going to enjoy today’s breakfast accompanied with a cup of Joe.

Okay here’s the skinny. I think I’m the first person to try their newest creation. Can we say gluten free? Christine indicated to me they’re looking at March for its release to the public. Anyway from that aroma alone it’s clear I’m sampling their Cinnamon Swirl Cake A Lette coffeecake. Again it’s gluten free.  I asked myself this;  if the cake is beautiful as the actual cover, I can only imagine how the cake stacks up. Speaking of stack, it’s not. One layered, obviously. As I cut me a couple of slices…sorry diet. I’ve noticed inside darken cinnamon and brown sugar swirls, but there’s definitely some other spices I just can’t put my finger on.

How to care for your cake? This is something Christine and The Connection’s strongly believes in. Here are few things to you should consider. First off, when baked they use the freshest ingredients. No nuts just in case you’re wondering. Absolutely no artificial colors, no flavoring, and no preservatives. So when the time comes and you want save a slice, haven’t it frozen is truly an option. You can freeze your cake up to 6 months without losing its freshness. If you’re like me, devouring it within 3 – 5 days is recommended.

Okay moving on. Let’s say you want to heat it up. Here’s my theory, skip nuking it altogether. You have to care for this like a lady. Remember that part in Wedding Crashers. I know what Jeremy is talking about. Place the cake on a cooking sheet into the oven and heat give or take between 170-285 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

By me writing this article, I finished the cake and half of the coffee pot is gone. So whatever I wrote about the movie Wedding Crashers is out the door. Ha! With Valentine’s, Easter, and Mother’s Day approaching this here and along with Apple Caramel Cinnamon, Eggnog, multiple fruit cakes and their Signature cake are great gifts. Here’s how….

Here’s the deal! Seafood stores online are a lot fresher than buying seafood at your local supermarket. Period! I’ve done some extensive research on buying seafood in your area and mine as well. I’ve also realize some people live nowhere close to the ocean. Mid America! So here’s my argument and a lot of you might just agree with me.

First of all from experience I used to work in a food distribution center, and I’ve seen what goes on in there. Think about it! Let’s take your local supermarket it has a food distribution center or food warehouse…they all do! They probably get their shipment from various suppliers. Ok, I get that. But that fact of the matter is those suppliers give them a bulk selections, that’s why supermarkets run specials on them. Whose to say that live stock has been sitting there traveling in those trucks or even trains. Those crustaceans are suffering from various temperature climates. Do you want that?

PLEASE NOTE: I PURCHASED THE CRAB LEGS FROM HERE Canadian Wild Caught Snow Crab Clusters, 10 LB

Here’s another thing to consider, if you’re a seafood lover. You want the best and you want fresh! In most cases in warehouses they are going against time management to make pallet sizes and route runs, because it’s called selecting. I’ll be honest I did it and I didn’t care as long I’m beating the time, but that’s neither here nor there.  Now when I go into my local supermarket those workers behind the counter could care less about those things. Half the damn time they don’t want to touch it!

Like I said I did some research on purchasing seafood online and I came across several online seafood stores just in case if you’re wondering where to buy live crabs online or even lobster. Giovanni’s Fish Market and The Crab Place just to name a few.

Lastly think about this one scenario. Those companies, I mentioned above literally catches them and ship seafood daily. In my opinion that’s a huge selling point. Again, why buy seafood or just lobster lying in that tub with one or two dead floating lobsters in the same tank. That’s horrible! Visit those online companies and order lobster now!

Greetings! My name is Malcolm Fa, Founder of Food Nation NY, and my confession is…..I  Love Chicks! I love short little naturally round ones. Sweet and spicy, ones with the sesame crunch to it! Honey roasted ones and not to mention there’s always that one that always sticks out. That’s Chai vanilla. What? You thought I was actually talking about women with that type of a description. Chick please! Not this time. I’m talking about “Chick.Pz”

I received a package from Nuttybeanco.com about a week ago and now I’m here to describe these gluten free products. I have to admit, roasted chick peas as a snack! Come on! But this little round veggie is a sure thing. I kid you not, when I received these bad boys, immediately I went for the “Sweet and Spicy Chipotles” Why? It’s the Ying and the Yang. Hello! You have two of the flavors competing inside your mouth. Something almost like a heel versus a face. Honestly the spice wins this battle. Flawless victory!

Secondly you have the “Honey Roasted” chick peas. Oddly enough it looks like some type of a kid cereal. Kix to be exact! Again you have the Ying and Yang element there, which is spot on. The crunchy texture is paramount! The taste of honey is the best sidekick. Overall a great roasted rustic smell to them. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say these are best out of the four I’ve tried.

Next is the “Chai Vanilla”. As I mentioned above, this is the one that sticks out. In every group of four, there’s always that one is the vigilante. The David Ruffin. The flavor is original! The taste is lacking something, maybe a hint of cinnamon probably. Definitely in my opinion it needs an extra component there to complement the other flavors.

Finally Sesame Crunch! This is a healthy version of Crunch-N-Munch. Flavors and smell are pretty much identical. Texture is definitely on point. When I first had them in my hands, it’s kind of like I wanted to dip the chick peas in some type of sauce. Visually they look awesome! Taste wise, you’ll be glad you ate them or even the whole bag.

In conclusion, the Nutty Bean Company is crawling with chicks. In addition no added oils, low in fat, high in fiber and a good source of protein. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ll see this product in the movies, gyms, schools across the country or even your local fast food joint. If you didn’t know now you know! You’ll be pleased with “Chick.Pz”.

So, I get up in the morning and I’m checking my emails as usual and I see an email from Rommel Artis that catches my eye.  The email is all the way from Texas….Now, without even knowing exactly what the product was I was hoping it was BBQ sauce!  Texas is famous for their BBQ and I for one have a soft spot for some BBQ sauce, it is one of those condiments that I cannot live without. I have this saying that I try to preach to anyone that will listen and I am going to tell you all today, right now in fact! There are two kinds of sauces that you can use on almost anything and enhance the flavors of a variety of foods. That is BBQ sauce and salsa. Ok, so now can you tell why I was so excited to see Texas in my email? WORD!  So, living in NY I get what we have to offer here.  You go in your local grocery store and you have all of your named brand BBQ sauces, step foot in a health food store and you have sauces that will not just cut it with flavor, or so I’ve tried.  You can also go the homemade route; which better suits my needs for something different. When Mr. Artis offered me the opportunity to taste his Sweet Thang All Purpose Sauce I was more than happy to take on that challenge.

A few days later it was here…the package that would make my taste buds dance…the package that had my tummy rumbling…the glowing package that had me hearing angels singing above…the package that made me hug the delivery man…the package that, ok you get the point. So, the first thing I did was marinate chicken legs in this all purpose sauce, once that was all done I threw those babies on the grill and waited to taste the magic! Fast forward everything and let’s get to the most important part…..the tasting!  First bite and I was blown away because I have never had a sauce like this before.  There are different stages you get when eating this sauce. First, the sweet hits you and your saliva just starts running wild in your mouth, then you have this tangy factor that replaces the sweet…lastly, when you swallow you get a hint of spices that hits the back of your throat.  How in the world did they do this?!  I mean that it what I was literally thinking as I’m eating my chicken and even dipping it in more sauce. This sauce is hands down the best sauce I have ever tasted, no lie.  This sauce is no joke and you WILL not find it here in NY…unless you order some for yourself by visiting the website http://www.sweetthangsauce.com/

The sauce is a BBQ, but they call it all purpose sauce because it can literally go on anything…hence my reasoning for loving this kind of sauce. At $4 a bottle you can get a lot of taste to spruce up almost any meat that you desire.  I loved this sauce so much that I will order my own supply. I mean all Mr. Artis had to do was let me try and that was all that was needed to get me hooked. I love the fact that this sauce was created in a family kitchen.  That just shows how much love and passion was put into making this all purpose sauce. Mr. Artis reminded me why I love food so much. It is in your kitchen where all starts is and this family definitely knows what it takes to makes a tasty sauce.  I will never forget the first time I tasted this sauce…it is that good!