What I Learned from Blue Apron {review}

 

Note: I was not compensated for this review. I spent my own money to try Blue Apron for three weeks (minus a $20 coupon I found on Facebook, which was available to anyone on Facebook). 

When I first heard about Blue Apron, I wasn’t completely sold on the idea.  What it is, for those you who haven’t heard of it yet, is an online subscription service that delivers you a box all the ingredients you need to prepare three meals each week.  It comes with step-by-step instructions, complete with photos on how to cook each meal.  They have two plans to choose from – a two-person plan and a family plan.  It works out to cost about $9.99 per person, per meal. 

My initial thought was that it was a service for people who didn’t know how to cook, and I believed I already did.  So why would I pay for a service to learn how to cook?  And I can cook a decent meal at home for less than $9.99 per person.

It was actually at the tasting for our wedding reception, when the venue manager, who has a culinary degree, mentioned that he and his wife used Blue Apron.  (Oh, btw, J. and I got married last October! That’s why the blog has been on a hiatus for awhile – but more on that later.)

Now, I have no formal training in cooking. I have learned to cook mostly from watching the Food Network (back when they actually had cooking shows on it), reading a lot of food blogs and cookbooks, and a lot of trial and error. So if this guy with a culinary degree used Blue Apron, I could give it a try too.  Plus, once I went on the Blue Apron website, I saw the recipes they were offering looked really cool! There was an interesting variety of cuisines, ones that caught my eye were Indian, African, Cajun Creole, cuisines that I would never bothered to make on my own because the spices would be too hard to find. 

So with the start of the new year, and in turn, the new year’s resolutions, I found a coupon for my first two meals free on Facebook, and signed up.

I have to admit, I was actually really looking forward to the delivery. On the first night, when the delivery man rang the doorbell, I ran down the stairs to get the package.  It felt like Christmas all over again as I tore the package open.  The package was very well packed with layers of cardboard and ice packs to keep the perishable meats and vegetables fresh. I had picked the recipes that I wanted to make online, but I didn’t  look too carefully at the ingredients, so I only had a vague idea of what I was getting.   The first package had some vegetables that I didn’t even recognize at first, like jicama and lemongrass. Fortunately, all the vegetables came in a little plastic baggie with a label identifying what it was.  (Though I did feel labeling  the “carrot” might have been unnecessary.)  Since the first package had come around 7 pm, I hadn’t starting making that evening’s dinner yet.  I so intrigued by the new ingredients, I scratched whatever I had planned to make that night, so I could get started right away on the first recipe, Thai Shrimp Soup.

I found the recipe instructions to be easy really easy to follow.  Each recipe breaks down every step, right down to washing and cutting the vegetables.  It was actually a handy reminder for me to cut all the vegetables ahead of time for me, since I have a tendency to miss something, and find myself chopping a vegetable when I am already in the thick of the cooking process.  And it was great to have all the ingredients pre-measured for me, so there was no guesswork (I tend to eyeball spices and condiments rather than measure). 

Here’s what the finished product of the Thai Shrimp Soup.

Looks pretty close to the picture, right? This was the first time I had ever used lemongrass, which added a nice bright flavor.  I loved the silky smooth texture of the soup, and the bright perfectly cooked shrimp.  When I cook shrimp, I sometimes overcook it, but this time, following the directions, they came out just right.

Here’s another one that I was particularly excited to try, Chicken Mulligatawny Soup. 

I had never made Indian food before because I was always intimidated by the spices.  But having the spices shipped right to my door definitely made it more accessible.  While I liked this soup, I did find it to be a lot milder than I expected.  I guess I’ve been spoiled by all the great Indian restaurants we have here in Jersey City!

Here is another one that surprised me, Pulled Chicken Tacos.

Unlike the Chicken Mulligatawny, the tacos turned out to be a lot spicier than I expected! This recipe had a new-to-me ingredient – jicama! It was sliced and made into a salad with red onions, and brought cool crunchy contrast to the spicy tacos.

This is another one that I was really looking forward to making – “Korean-style Tteok” – what Blue Apron calls a pork “ragu” with Korean rice cakes.  What caught my eye with this recipe was like the Mulligatawny, that it was something totally different that I had never had eaten before, so it was an adventure to make it.

But one thing I did notice was like the Mulligatawny, it was spicy, but not nearly as spicy as I expected it to be, and I had used all of the gochujang, Korean chili sauce, that came in the package.

So here’s my takeaway from Blue Apron…

The pros:

• it makes new-to-me recipes more accessible.  I never would have made Indian food or Korean food on my own because I never would have gone through the trouble to find all the ingredients.  It really got me out of my cooking rut, where it felt like I was making stir-fry every night.
• It’s convenient – can’t get more convenient than having groceries brought to your door!
• The meals are relatively healthy.  Plus, when you know what you’re going to cook that night, you are less likely to eat out or order in.
• It’s cheaper than eating out or ordering in.
• The meals are fun to make.  For me, at least, because I like to cook. Believe it or not, while I was driving home, I actually looked forward to what I was going to make that night, because each meal was a recipe I never made before.
• I learned to cook new foods and even picked up a few pointers.  Cooking is always a learning process, and no matter how much you know, you can always learn more!

The cons:

• The courier service they use in my area was inconsistent. When you sign up, they give you certain blocks of times that you have to choose for delivery.  The first week, we chose Wednesday from 6pm to 10pm, and it worked out fine.  For the two weeks after that we switched to Tuesday nights and had some issues with delivery.  Maybe their Tuesday night driver was different?
• You could buy your own ingredients and make your own meals for less than $9.99 per person. (But you would probably have to buy the spices and things in much larger containers, and have a lot of obscure spices that you don’t know what to do with left)
• You might end up with duplicates of things you already have.  Since I already have a pretty well-stocked fridge and pantry, I found that that I wouldn’t be using up things I already had. For example, limes, garlic and onion were common ingredients in the delivery boxes, which I almost always have on hand.  So I found that I was using the Blue Apron garlic and onion, but then my own lime, garlic and onion would go bad.  It’s a minor problem, but I hate to waste food, so it irked me.

Minor issues notwithstanding, I actually had a lot of fun using the service and it was a treat for me to try new recipes.  Because of the cost $60 per week, though, it would get pricey to do every single week.  Plus, I like having flexibility to cook whatever I want.  That said, going forward, I would probably order a box once a month, whenever I see an interesting recipe I want to try on the menu, or when I am in a bit of a cooking rut and want to mix things up.  Fortunately, it’s easy to skip deliveries, but you have to remember to do it at least six days advance.  What I would like to see is an option to subscribe to a once a month plan, which would fit more for my schedule and budget.

How about you?  Have you tried Blue Apron?  Would you subscribe if they had a once a month option?

Austin Food Highlights: Part 3, BBQ!

Before we left for Austin, I asked around for suggestions of places to eat and drink in the area.  One of suggestions that kept recurring was barbecue at The Salt Lick in Driftwood, about thirty minutes outside of Austin. Friends and acquaintances raved about how great it was, while food blogs and reviews on the internet were telling me the Salt Lick was touristy and overrated.  So I knew that there was only one way to get to the bottom of this - I had to see it for myself.

We went for lunch on Tuesday, which made it the perfect time to go, since there was no wait for table.  When you first walk in you get to see the meats cooking here:

We ordered the Rancher plate, which is a sampler of brisket, sausage, turkey and ribs that you see in the lead photo.  When we ordered it, the waiter dutifully asked, "Do you have a preference on brisket?"  Being a barbecue novice, this question baffled me.  Apparently, there are three choices when ordering brisket: lean, moist and burnt ends.  We ordered a little of everything to get the full experience.

Overall, the food was solid.  My favorite meat was the sausage, which moist and flavorful. I learned that my preferred form of brisket is "moist" - the burnt ends were a bit too crispy for me, and the lean was just bland.    The turkey went very well with the barbecue sauce that kept in a squeeze bottle at every table.  While this was hands down better than any barbecue I had in the North, I could see why some may call it overrated.  The barbecue was very good, but it was mass produced, and didn't seem very special.

So after talking to locals a few days later, we learned about Lockhart, the self-proclaimed "BBQ Capital of Texas."  One google search on the smartphone and we cruising down the fastest highway in the country to Black's Barbecue.  Here's some of what we ate:

What you see here are pork ribs, beans, potato salad, a deviled egg, and what is the largest beef rib I have ever seen.  Here's a close-up of this giant beef rib:

This rib was massive, and delicious.  It easily eclipsed the Salt Lick.  The rest of the food was great too.

The difference in the barbecue at Black's was that it had punch, it was in your face, it had personality.  When you ordered your food over the counter, you could see the guy behind the counter cutting your meat right in front of you.  It just had more of a personal touch than the mass produced meat at the Salt Lick, where the meat was basted using a mop.  Don't get me wrong, the Salt Lick was good, but if I had to choose one for barbecue, it would be Black's, hands-down.

Austin Food Highlights: Part 2

Hope everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy is safe and secure! I'm typing as fast as I can before the power goes out...

This is where I go a little out of chronological order in my trip, since I am saving the best for last.

Breakfast taco from Wholly Cow:

I have been told that the breakfast taco is to Texas as the cheesesteak is to Philadelphia.  Which I have to agree because it really is ubiquitous in Austin.  Though a more apt analogy is is the breakfast taco is to Texas as the egg and cheese on a roll is to NYC, in keeping with the breakfast theme.  The breakfast taco really is everywhere you go in mornings, coffee shops, food trucks, fast food joints.  In fact, we got ours from Wholly Cow, which is actually a burger joint that serves local grass-fed beef burgers near our hotel.  (We went there because it was the first place we stumbled upon that had them). What was a little disappointing was it took a while to get our tacos after we ordered them, apparently the place was quite busy filling takeout orders that it took about 20 minutes to get ours.  But once our tacos were brought to us, they were great.  This is a chorizo taco with eggs, potatoes and cheese.  The stuff you see dripping on the end was red salsa.

Chalupas from Juan in a Million

I will admit my ignorance; before coming to Juan in a Million, the only chalupas I have ever encountered were the Taco Bell version, which are effectively tacos with a crunchy shell.  I didn't realize that chalupas are actually tostadas, which is something I am familiar with, Although you can tell from under the mountain of lettuce and cheese, these were bean and beef chalupas, which were very good.  My favorite item, although not pictured here, was the salsa that came with the chips before our food came out.  Most of the time, when you go to Mexican restaurants, the chips and salsa are just as ordinary as the bread and butter that comes out before the meal in American restaurants.  But this salsa was special, spicy and fiery, making it unlike any other restaurant salsa that I've ever had. 

Ribeye Steak from Hoffbrau Steakhouse

Don't let the picture fool you - as plain as this steak may appear, it was out of this world.  Just like this steak, when you first walk into Hoffbrau, you will notice its humble atmosphere, the room was un-airconditioned, the tables are covered in vinyl checkered tablecloths.  It basically looks as if it hasn't changed since it first opened in 1934.  The waitresses were friendly, but with a no-nonsense attitude - they take pride in the fact that they have no menus, simply a piece of paper on each table slid into one of those plastic holders normally reserved for the daily specials or a drink menu.  But the food is great.  Their "Take it or Leave it" Salad is dressed with a garlic dressing so sharp it has a bite to it.  The steak was bathed in a lemon butter sauce as you can see here, and served with a side of potato wedges.

Frito Pie from Doc's Motorworks Bar and Grill

Before I came to Austin, I knew that Texans took pride in their chili, which has a strict no-beans prohibition.  So of course, I wanted to try it.  And if I got to try "Frito Pie,"  which is Texas chili on top of Fritos, another Texan product, even better.  During my last full day in Austin, I realized it was the last item on my list to try, but oddly I had trouble finding any places near where I was serving them. Google searches on my phone for "Texas chili" kept bringing me to locations for Chili's, the chain restaurant.  Finally, I came across it while having drinks at Doc's Motorworks.  While it made for a good snack, this version of it was mostly cheese and toppings, that I felt I was only getting accents of chili.  So one day, I will have to try again to get the full Texas chili experience.

You may be wondering, where's the barbecue? Don't you know that Texas has great barbecue?  What about the Salt Lick?  Well, I've saved the best for last, but that will have to wait for another post.

Austin Food Highlights: Part 1

J. and I just came back from our lovely trip in Austin, TX -  and just in time for Hurricane Sandy to hit the Northeast!  There was  A LOT of amazing food in Austin - the majority of my pictures were of food, and not much else! So I've divided the trip into multiple parts to make it more manageable to read (and for me to write).

Before the trip, I garnered tips from friends, acquaintances, the internet, and food blogs, and made a list (yes, I made a list) of all the food places I wanted to try, categorized by cuisine and setting (i.e. fast food, or sit-down restaurant).  In essence, most of the restaurants fell into four categories:

1) Mexican/ Tex-Mex - (I read from the Homesick Texan, that Mexican food in Texas is essentially Tex-Mex.  I've never been to Mexico, so I can't really make an assessment on that.  All I knew is that the food is deliciosa).

2) Southern (e.g. chicken fried steak, biscuits, etc)

3) BBQ

4) Steak (in my book, steak has its own category)

Arguably, the last three could be clumped together, or be subcategories of "Southern" - but this was my list, so this is how I organized it.

First stop: Breakfast at Biscuits and Groovy.  I first learned about this cheerful food stop through my friend Molly.  I love biscuits and gravy when I first had them in North Carolina about two years ago, so I was excited to try the Texas version of it.  I was not disappointed.  What is neat about this place is that they have a  mix tape trade and most of the menu items are named after famous music celebrities.  I chose the classic Biscuits and Groovy:

J. had the "Gloria Gaynor"

All the food is prepared to order in a little trailer and the guy (presumably the owner) was very friendly.  The portions were also very generous, so we were full well beyond lunch time.  Which brings me to our next stop;

Fried Chicken at Ms. P's Electric Cock

Also served from a food truck (food trucks are a thing in Austin).  The fried chicken was almost unbelievably juicy and succulent - it rivals the fried chicken at Soul Flavors in Jersey City, now for the best fried chicken I've ever had.  The mac and cheese, next to it, was also good, very rich and decadent.  Even the roll was special in that it was slightly sweet, whereas at fried chicken places in "the North" the roll is more of an afterthought.

Dinner at Hoover's Cooking

Pictured here are BBQ pork ribs, seasoned green beans, corn on the cob, chicken fried steak, and jalapeno corn bread and sweet potato biscuits.  My favorites were definitely the meats - but the sweet potato biscuits were interesting.  They were sweet and glorious when slathered with butter.  I never would have thought to make biscuits with sweet potatoes.

Believe it or not, this was just Day 1 of our trip to Austin.  Like I said, there is a lot of amazing food in this city, so stay tuned!

Note:  As always, I was not compensated by any establishments in my reviews.

Chicago Food Highlights

J. and I took a weekend trip to Chicago.  We had limited time, about 30 hours or so in city.  So I had three food-related goals:

1) Have a Chicago-style hot dog

2) Eat at a Chicago steakhouse

3) Try deep-dish pizza

So here goes!

First stop, Chicago-style hot dog.   I had done some research on Chicago-style hot dogs before the trip and well, it turns out I don't like pickles, hot peppers, mustard, onions, or anything that goes in a Chicago-style dog.  But I was still determined to try a hot dog in Chicago.  So after a turbulent flight and landing, and checking into the hotel, we stumbled upon this place:

It had a sign claiming to have been "voted #1 hot dog in Chicago", so this place was as good as any other.  I found out that this is a local Chicago chain.  Its founders are two brothers that traveled the nation in search of hot dogs in every city.  Hence the name "America's Dog."   On the menu, they have a different hot dog representing a different American city.  So I had the Memphis Dog, which had pulled pork and coleslaw....

It was pretty tasty, even if it's not a "Chicago-style" dog in its own right.  But I had a hot dog in Chicago, so that makes it a Chicago dog, right?

To be fair, J. had a real Chicago-style hot dog, which he enjoyed. 

Next stop, eat a a Chicago steakhouse.  While exploring the downtown area of the city, we came upon Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse.  J. informed me that Harry Caray was a famous announcer for the Chicago Cubs, and a Chicago personality. I had no idea.  But the filet mignon was nice and juicy, and cooked medium-rare just the way I like it. 

Also, another neat tidbit about the place is, if you drink at the bar (we did in the afternoon before dinner), they give you complimentary (and highly addictive) house-made potato chips!  

The next morning, we took a walk off the well-beaten path to the Maxwell Street Market.  I had read about this weekly Sunday market from the Paupered Chef and learned that it was essentially a flea market, but with really good food. So I knew to not be put off by rows and rows of tables selling used merchandise from baby clothes, to power tools, to knock-off sports jerseys.  (Incidentally, J. bought a Chicago Bears jersey, while I got myself a pair of knock-off DG sunglasses.).  Here are the cheese enchiladas we had for breakfast:

The vendors, spoke little English, and we ate off of a paper bowl on bright green plastic tablecloths (as you can see in this picture).  So you knew it had to be good.  This wasn't one of the my three goals, but I was glad we made this stop!

But no trip to Chicago is complete without Chicago-style deep dish pizza...

This pizza came from the Exchequer Pub. On the day we were there, their exhaust fan was broken, so they had a limited menu, mainly pizza, which worked out quite well for me.  You can't see it too well from the picture, but there was pepperonis, sausage, and bacon in this pizza.  Also don't be fooled by the size in the picture.  This was  A LOT of food.  The pizza was about 10 inches in diameter and about 3 inches thick.  J and I shared it for lunch, and still had some leftover to bring with us on the plane.  (Which I ate at the airport since our flight was delayed.  It's still good cold, despite its brick-like consistency)

So that concludes our whirlwind food tour of Chicago!

Note:  As always, I was not compensated by any of these businesses to make this review. 

Seattle: Food Highlights

The day of the Chocolate Tour was actually the first day of my vacation.  The following day, J. and I boarded a plane to Seattle.  A  friend was getting married there on July 3, so we decided to make it a vacation of it and stayed for six days.  We were quite fortunate with the characteristically dismal rainy weather in Seattle and enjoyed about three days of beautiful sunny Seattle.  The weather was a cool 60 to 70 degrees out, which was a huge relief from the 90-100 degree heat wave that was going on in New Jersey. 

We took advantage of the abundance of fresh seafood in Seattle.  One of the things I love about Seattle is that Seattle residents (Seattle-ites?) take care to get fresh ingredients that are local and sustainable.  

But no trip to Seattle is complete without coffee.  

Okay, I cheated, this is actually hot chocolate, but the foam art was so pretty that I had to take a picture of it. 

The best meal we had was at Etta's, which was behind the Pike Place Market.

Grilled Octopus 

Etta's specialty - "Rub With Love" wild king salmon with sauteed greens, cornbread pudding and shiitake relish 

Chocolate malted milk cake with rice crispies 

The wedding was lovely, but most notably (food-wise, at least) was in lieu of a wedding cake, the happy couple served cupcakes from Cupcake Royale.  (Which, in my opinion, is the best idea ever!)

For breakfast, we went to Portage Bay Cafe twice, because it was next to our hotel, and the food was delicious.  Most notably, they serve pancakes that includes an all-you-can-eat toppings bar, with fresh fruit, freshly whipped cream, and other goodies. 

On to more seafood...

In case you can't tell, that is an oyster on the button, which I tried for the first time at Elliot's Oyster House.  I actually quite enjoyed my oysters,which were salty, sweet, and briny and didn't have too much of a fishy aftertaste.  Not sure what took me so long to try them. 

The weather was so nice, we were able to sit in the back deck at Ivar's Salmon House, where we had this gorgeous view of the Seattle waterfront.

From left to right, seafood cocktail, smoked salmon, and fried clams and chips.  (And, yes,  that is J. wearing a Charlie the Tuna T-shirt 

For our last dinner in Seattle, we went to Chandler's Crabhouse. Once again, we were lucky enough to be able to sit outside. 

King Crab Legs with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus

Grilled salmon with rainbow quinoa pilaf

You may have noticed the lack of mention of Seattle' famous Pike Place Market, which we did go to.  I had been there before on previous trips to Seattle, so I didn't feel the need to take any pictures.  Even if we hadn't gone, I'd say we had a lovely trip with plenty of fresh, delectable eats. 

Note: I was not compensated by any of the above establishments for this review.

New York Chocolate Tour

Those of you who know me know that I have a bit of obsession with group deals such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Google Offers and the like.  Every morning I wake up to at a minimum six new emails with new daily offers from each of these companies.  Most recently, I took advantage of a deal for discounted tickets for me and three friends to take the New York Chocolate Tour by Celebrity Planet.

While it was upwards of 90 degrees out, this two-hour walking tour with chocolate samples at each stop was well worth the trip.  Here are some of the highlights of the tour:

First stop: Jacques' Hot Chocolate Bar in Chelsea Market

While I had my doubts about sampling hot chocolate in 90 degree weather, the hot chocolate I sampled was rich, creamy, sweet and spicy.

Li-lac Chocolates

I don't remember what I sampled here, I think it was some sort of dark chocolate.  But they had this adorable chocolate shoe in their display. 

Chocolate Bar

I remember I sampled a dark chocolate with gray sea salt here.  But I bought an iced mint tea that was deliciously refreshing on a walking tour.  This place has a nice, relaxed coffee shop feel to it, that I wouldn't mind coming back to.

The famous Magnolia Bakery where we had this double chocolate cupcake:

Xocolatti

Now this store was cool! The store is very small (as many are in Manhattan), only about 6 people could stand inside at one time.  So to efficiently make use of the space, it was designed in such a way, as you can see here, so that the walls are filled with chocolate boxes.  The owner is a 24-year old immigrant from India, so the chocolates are exotic concoctions, such as the mango paprika white chocolate slate that we sampled.

Pasticceria Bruno

This place's claim to fame is that they beat Bobby Flay in the Throwdown for best cannolis, which we sampled.  The cannolis were good.  But I had to take a picture of this chocolate shoe display, which seems to be a recurring theme in the chocolate scene in New York.

The last stop was Vosges Chocolate.   I didn't take a picture of it, but it was a neat store that sells all manner of unique chocolates, most notably bacon + chocolate.  We sampled the Barcelona Bar, though having been to Barcelona, I am not sure what it had to do with Barcelona. I also tried some of their red-fire tortilla chips.

Finally, one stop we did not go to that is normally on the tour, was Milk & Cookies, where we would have gotten to try a chocolate chip cookie.  Unfortunately, the store was closed on the day I was on the tour, so I was a bit disappointed.  But I definitely want to check it out some time soon, as well as come back to any of these stores to buy chocolate gifts for friends, or when I am just hankering for some chocolate for myself!

Note:  I was not compensated by Celebrity Planet or any of the above businesses to give this review.

Wine Tasting and Tour of Hopewell Valley Vineyards

My latest obsession has been finding awesome deals at LivingSocial, Groupon, Google Offers, and the like, which has brought me some neat stuff like $10 off at Whole Foods, 50% of at certain restaurants and museums, and even $4 admission at the Bronx Zoo! My rule is to only buy deals at places that I would normally go to or have been thinking about going to anyway. But every once in a while, I jump at a good deal, even if it is a 50 mile trek to South Jersey. This would be one of those splurges.

It started out innocently enough, I got the email from LivingSocial for $15 for a wine tasting and winery tour at Hopewell Valley Vineyards (a $30 value! and it comes with two souvenir glasses! How could I resist?) Of course, I realized it was a bit of a drive to Pennington, New Jersey, but since a couple of friends who lived nearby were having a party soon, I thought I could swing by for the wine tasting and head over to the party, thus killing two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, the timing did not work out so well, and we ended up making a special trip for it yesterday. And I must admit, the trip was well worth it. The vineyard is family-owned and modest in size, but our tour guide (one of the owners, who actually used to be a lawyer) was very knowledgable and had a delightful sense of humor. Plus, we got to taste varieties of wines that I had never tasted before and learned about the wine-making process.

The oak barrels where the red wines are stored and aged

Here were my two favorite wines of the tasting portion of the tour:

On the left is the Spuma Rossa, a sparking red wine. I can't wait to try it with some fruit salad, or maybe a fruit pie. And on the right is Barbera, which actually is made from grapes grown right on the property, and has an earthy taste, unlike anything I've ever tasted. I'm excited to pair it with beef and other red meats.

So all and all, it was a fun trip, and at a good price too.

Note: This review is my personal views and opinions. I was not compensated by Hopewell Valley Vineyards or Livingsocial to make this review.