Boylans Ginger Ale.

I don't normally drink soda, but I have to admit that I am a sucker for classic ones like ginger ale. I'm always on the the look out for a good ginger ale or ginger beer, so I picked up a 4-pack of this the other day.

Sweetened with cane sugar which makes a big difference in both flavor and body. The ginger wasn't very strong either because it doesn't use the enhancers like Canada Dry can or because it was super carbonated. Carbonated almost to the point of being painful. I had it first out of a bottle and then later tried it out of a glass. It was much better out of a glass. All that being said, it is really refreshing. And it has a sweet, green glass bottle.

Kimchi Chigae.

Kinda surprised I haven't gotten around the making this before. Or maybe I did? I don't remember. But it was delicious. Could have used a bit of gochujang and green onions would have been good but I didn't have any. I also used pork shoulder instead of pork belly since I don't know where to get pork belly, but the shoulder had some good marbling that worked out well. I need to make Korean food more often.

Mexican Monkey Cake.

Sourced from Farmgirl. I was actually little disappointed by this recipe. I was expecting something more like monkey bread, but it's basically just a banana walnut bread with way too much chocolate and sugar. Oh, and the "Mexican" is just the addition of some cinnamon.

Petit Petite Sirah.

In terms of taste and body, my first impressions are that of a grape juice made from concentrate that didn't get enough water added to it. No tannin, no spice, no unique character. A bit overweight and flabby and flat. Too mild for me. I must say that this is the first PS where I've been downright disappointed.

AND THIS CAME FROM LODI APPELLATION. BUMMER.

Shakshouka.

Sourced from Kevin. The idea is an egg poached in a chunky tomato chutney. An un-Mexican huevos rancheros? I dig it. I let the egg cook for too long and the yolk cooked through. Runny yolk with good bread and tomatoes with good bread are wonderful things.

Jankris Picaro.

50% zinfandel blend with dabs of PS, some sangiovese and something else I don't remember. Nice blend, the sangiovese tempers the zin a bit and the PS brings some nice tannins and body. The strange thing was that it felt like it hit the tongue a bit carbonated. Weird.

Orange and Vanilla Yogurt Cake.

Had the idea since I had some vanilla yogurt that was past its best-by date but still sealed and some oranges. I mixed recipes sourced from two new blogs, here and here. I ended using one stick of butter and two full eggs to two cups of flour, only a cup of sugar, a cup or so of vanilla yogurt, and only one orange. In retrospect, I would have used the zest of two oranges. Bake time was probably closer to 45 or 50 minutes.

I tried to do something with the chocolate chips but it didn't pan out.