Darkoshi

During most of my school years, I brought my own lunches to eat.
In the first few years, my mom fixed my lunchbox for me. Later I fixed my own lunches.
One school during the 5th grade was so close nearby that I could walk home for lunch (my memory is hazy, but I think that is what I did).
So I think it was at most two years that I ate the lunches that the school cafeterias provided.

Yet just now, shaking my almost-empty half-gallon carton of soymilk and hearing the distinctive sound of ice flakes sloshing around in the liquid gave me a flashback to those little half-pint cartons of milk that were part of the school lunches. They often had ice flakes in them like that.

random thought:
I wonder if anyone's ever put ranch dressing in a milkshake.

.

Per the ingredient list, Kroger's Simple Truth Chocolate Oat Milk contains cane sugar. I don't see any other sweeteners listed:

OAT BEVERAGE (FILTERED WATER, OATS), CANE SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: HI OLEIC SUNFLOWER OIL, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SEA SALT, GELLAN GUM, NATURAL FLAVORS, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, ERGOCALCIFEROL (VITAMIN D2), RIBOFLAVIN, CYANOCOBALAMIN (VITAMIN B12)

Yet it has an intensely sweet flavor like an artificial sweetener or stevia. I dislike it. It doesn't taste good to drink on it's own, so I've put it on my breakfast cereal for the last few days. Today I've put it in a milkshake. Yet even that way, the unpleasant flavor is still unpleasant. I will throw the rest away, which is quite unlike me.

Per this page: Guidelines for Natural Flavor Labeling with Stevia,
stevia can be included as a "natural flavor" in some cases without being listed by name.

So I strongly suspect this oatmilk product contains stevia. I am contacting Kroger's customer support to find out.

Updated to add more links:

How would you list Stevia on a supplement facts panel (Oct 2018)
We just recently received a letter from the FDA saying that Stevia is not approved as a food additive and states "It must be one of the approved forms (rebaudioside A, for example)."...

Stevia doesn't have to be listed as an ingredient now? (July 2020)

New stevia extract ingredient can be labeled as natural flavor (May 2019)
...have introduced a glycosylated stevia extract called Zolesse that may be labeled as a natural flavor under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s definition.

It's a cold rainy winter Saturday. I'm chilly. It's a perfect time for drinking tea.

But do I want to make myself some tea? Nope, it is too much trouble. It is a hot drink that I'll have to let sit a long time till it's cooled enough not to burn my mouth. It's an unhealthy sugary drink, because even the ones that taste all right plain, I prefer sweet. It's a hot sugary drink that takes effort to make, and which will end up making me need to pee more than usual.

I'll stick to cold water, thank you very much.

Thinking through this, I realize that despite having a cabinet full of teas, I'm simply not a tea drinker. Maybe that is *why* I have a cabinet full of teas - because I hardly ever drink them!

I mean sure, given a choice between coffee and tea, I'll take tea because coffee I can't even. And given a choice between black tea and herbal, I'll take herbal because I can do black, but only with even more sugar to mask the bitterness; I don't actually *like* black tea.

I have nostalgic memories of drinking herbal teas as a child. When it's the right temperature and amount of sweetness, it can taste quite good. And there are so many flavors to choose from!

But still, given a choice between making myself tea or pouring myself a glass of cold water, the latter usually wins.

This year I've been smelling chlorine every so often, in the tap water coming out of the faucets. Before this year, I don't remember it ever smelling that way. Granted, most of the time it still doesn't smell that way, but it is pertinent to this post.

A few times the smell was so strong that I didn't even want to shower in it. One of those times there turned out to be a possible reason for it; some issue with the water supply which may have caused them to increase the added chlorine. Other people on the Nextdoor site were complaining about it too, so I knew it wasn't only me.

This year I also started using stainless steel water bottles to take water to work, instead of the glass bottles I used before. I made the switch because glass bottles can't be cleaned as well; the top is too narrow to get a brush in. With the steel bottles, I can brush them out after each use.

This year, I also started to smell an occasional unpleasant bleachy smell in the water from my steel water bottles, when drinking it at work. This is in spite of me using a faucet-mounted filter for my drinking water, like I've always done.

Yet the drinking water that I store in liter-sized glass bottles in the fridge never has that smell. (I'm not as concerned about not being able to clean those bottles out as I never put my lips on them. I only pour water into and out of them.)

It occurred to me that maybe the chlorine in the water doesn't dissipate as quickly in steel bottles, as the steel doesn't let light through.

So I started to store the filtered tap water in a couple of big glass jars by a window for a few days, before pouring it into my steel bottles to take to work. But I still notice the smell sometimes.

So. I'm not even sure if the smell is due to the water quality, or if it is somehow due to these steel bottles. Maybe it's due to the size of the bottle opening. Glass bottles have small openings, so maybe with those, the smell never hit my nose the same way. Drinking glasses have wide openings, so maybe with them the smell dissipates much quicker, also not hitting my nose in the same way. Or maybe it has something to do with the silicone ring on the bottle's cap, or something about stainless steel itself. Or maybe I've gotten more sensitive to the smell for some reason, even though the amount of chlorine hasn't changed.

I could switch back to taking a small glass bottle to work, to see if it makes a difference or not.

Maybe I should start refrigerating the water before putting it into the steel bottles, to see if that makes a difference. I could even boil a big pot of water once a week and store it, but from what I've read, I'm not sure even that would help.

Each time I've done research on the topic, I get overwhelmed by data, when I'm really looking for a simple fix.

Chlorine test strips, to see how much chlorine is in the water... apparently they are not very accurate, and rely on you comparing colors. Knowing how much bleach is in the water wouldn't really help with my problem anyway.

The smell may be from chloramines, not chlorine. Chlorine dissipates quickly when water is boiled or even when it just sits for a while. Chloramine takes much longer to dissipate even when boiled.

Based on the city's yearly water quality reports, they've been using both chlorine and chloramines for the water treatment since at least 2009. So it's not a new thing.

Now I've just read that adding vitamin C to the water can get rid of the chloramine. But I also read on a different page that some things break down chloramine into chlorine and ammonia, or something like that, and you need to make sure the ammonia isn't left in the water...

If vitamin C works, surely vinegar would too. I wonder if a small amount of vinegar in the water would taste bad or not. But I don't think I'm going to do that. Acid isn't good for teeth.


https://www.thesprucepets.com/remove-chloramines-from-tap-water-2924183
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/does-boiling-water-remove-chloramine.857730/
https://www.morebeer.com/articles/removing_chloramines_from_water
https://waterandhealth.org/healthy-pools/smells-chlorine/

Oh, I just remembered another thing. On my recent trip, the tap water in one motel in New Jersey smelled as bad or worse than the worst it's ever smelled here. I didn't want to shower and even brushing my teeth was unpleasant. I'd hate to live in a place like that.

I went to a Lowes on the other side of town yesterday, as per the website that store still had 17 of an item (rubber stair treads) that was out of stock over here. When I got there, I looked all over but couldn't find the item. An employee found them for me. They were on a top shelf, above my line of sight. That's probably why that store still had so many in stock; other shoppers probably didn't see them either.

While over there, I went to an Indian grocery store I hadn't been to before. They had several interesting items.



Cumin soda! I want to see what that tastes like.

Lemongrass Basil seed drink! There were several flavors, but this was the only one that seemed to be without artificial coloring.

This morning I remembered my spice cabinet has a jar of Thai "sweet basil seed", which either my mom or I bought a long time ago in an Oriental grocery. Tiny black seeds with a mild cucumber-skin flavor. We never could figure out what to do with them. But now I've read that they can indeed be used like chia seeds, to thicken drinks or desserts. So I finally have a use for them.

Rose petal spread! I believe I bought this same thing a long time ago, and didn't remember it being particularly good. Even so, I couldn't resist, because rose petals. It does taste good, but the texture is very sticky and thick; not something easy to spread on bread.



The Sabudana Poha is tapioca flakes. I've bought that before. The flakes soften and cook much quicker than tapioca pearls, so I can make a quick pudding out of them.

The Namak Para are fried wheat-flour chips flavored with Ajowan seeds. I seem to recall having a jar of ajowan seeds in my spice cabinet at some point in time, but it's not there now. Maybe I didn't like the flavor enough to keep it. (I'd say ajowan tastes similar to oregano.) But it tastes very good in these chips.

The Gol Matthi are "fried round patties" flavored with black pepper. I haven't tried them yet. I was initially attracted by the picture on the box because they look like chocolate chip cookies. But the ingredient list does not include any sugar or sweetening, so I'm intrigued.

I avoid buying any Indian grocery items which list chili powder or even generic "spices" in the ingredients, because even what they consider very mild is too hot for me. That rules out a large portion of the items for sale, but makes my choices simpler.

Silk finally came out with a nutmilk that tastes as good to me as their soymilk - their "Protein Nutmilk". It has added pea protein. It also has added high oleic sunflower oil, giving it 8g of fat per 8oz serving, and which I suspect is what makes it taste better than their other nutmilks, which have 2.5g or less of fat.

The plain version which I tried has, per 8oz:
140 calories
8g fat
6g of sugar
10g of protein
220mg sodium
80mg potassium
45% RDA calcium
25% RDA vitamin D
8% RDA iron

They also have a low-sugar version which has 2g sugar. I haven't tried that one yet.

Normally I buy Silk's organic unsweetened soymilk, which has:
80 calories
4g fat
1g sugar
7g protein
75mg sodium
350mg potassium
30% RDA calcium
30% RDA vitamin D
6% RDA iron
50% RDA vitamin B12
and more of various other vitamins


Given that they both taste about the same good to me, it looks like the soymilk still has overall better numbers.

The flavor and consistency of the protein nutmilk reminds me of the Vitasoy brand soymilk which used to be my favorite until they stopped selling it over here.

Hah!... Vitasoy has had a factory in Ayer, MA since 1998!
So why haven't I seen their American-branded soymilk for sale in like, 10 years? I've only seen their Chinese-brand soymilk that comes in metal cans; the one time I tried that, it didn't taste as good as the previous "American" kind.

Hmmm. This article, Home / Articles / 2005 / New Food Products: Vitasoy Complete
New Food Products: Vitasoy Complete: says "But faced with a U.S. market that appears to be leaning toward refrigerated products, Vitasoy and also Hain announced in December 2004 they were exiting the U.S. refrigerated soymilk market."

Now that I think about it, maybe I have seen their non-refrigerated product for sale in some places. Or was that Silk's non-refrigerated boxes? Now I'm not sure of my memories. Maybe after Vitasoy hadn't been available for a while, I switched over to Silk, and then even if I saw Vitasoy again, I didn't buy it because the aseptic boxes which don't need refrigeration aren't recyclable here like the refrigerated soymilk boxes are.

Update, 2017/04/16-18:
I've now also tasted the lower-sugar version of Silk's "Protein Nutmilk". It tastes as good to me as the first one did (apparently the first one was also vanilla-flavored, though I didn't really notice). But I have noticed that both of them do have an unusual flavor when drinking them straight, which some people might not like. It's sort of a chalky flavor, maybe from the added calcium or the pea protein. Maybe it is even more pronounced in the lower-sugar version.

But they taste quite good to me mixed with other things, like in a milkshake. And over preserved cherries - the nutmilk curdles into a lovely texture.

I must say, the package labeling on them is confusing. One is labelled "Vanilla" and says "HALF THE SUGAR of dairy milk". The other is labelled "2g sugar per serving". Now based on that, how are you supposed to know which one is the lower sugar one? In the store, I had to check and compare the numbers on the Nutrition Facts labels, to figure it out.

Qiao and I drove to Massachusetts to visit family last week.

The HappyCow App was very useful in helping me find nearby vegan/vegetarian restaurants to stop at for lunch&dinner on the way there and back. I'd highly recommend the app and website for other traveling vegans. (However, the app starts automatically in the background when I turn on my phone, and apparently tries to connect to the internet right away. Why? I don't know. In case you don't like it doing that, you may want to search via the happycow.net website instead of installing the app.)

One highway rest area, in Virgina I believe, had a nice big building. One of the vending machines had oranges in it!

You know how the motels have little soaps and bottles of shampoo and such? One motel also had a packet labeled "Deluxe Vanity Kit". Curious, I opened it. It contained 2 cotton swabs, a cotton ball, and a tiny emery board. Deluxe, indeed.

Another motel had a cute rubber ducky in the bathroom to greet us.

Lately, I've acquired a taste for this "Synergy" line of kombucha drinks. They have a slightly sour flavor like apple cider vinegar, but are also slightly sweet, and naturally effervescent!

A few months ago, I came across some tasty-looking recipes for Mohnschnecken, which are similar to cinnamon rolls, but with a poppy-seed filling rather than cinnamon. I remember having eaten them a few times in Germany, and was inspired to make some vegan ones for myself. So I bought 2 cans of ready-made poppy seed filling from the grocery store.

Since then, I haven't felt up to the task of making the rolls, until today. One of the recipes I looked at today mentioned something new to me: a Tangzhong / Water Roux starter. It's simple to make, and is supposed to make the bread/rolls stay moist and fresh longer. I will try it out.

Interestingly, one of my favorite brownie recipes includes something similar to the water roux starter, but it is made with rice flour rather than wheat flour. Those brownies always turn out very chewy and moist.

I was doing the search on persimmon leaf tea, as it was one of several boxes of tea that Forestfen gifted us with. That tea tasted all right, and I was curious as to any medicinal properties of the tea.

One of the other teas she gave us was cerasee tea from Jamaica - cerasee being another name for bitter melon. Now, Qiao can normally stomach just about anything. He drinks extra spicy V-8 juice, and likes super hot sauce on his meals. There are only a couple of food/drink items which he actively dislikes. This tea is now one of them. It is very bitter. Amusingly, the box states "Not only taste Good, it's Good for you". Taste good? When I looked up information on it, every source of information I came across said that cerasee was one of the foulest-tasting concoctions available! The tea made from fresh leaves is supposed to be even more bitter than the packaged dry tea. Myself, I'm able to drink it (having been exposed to other supposedly healthful bitter-tasting teas in my youth), but I agree with Qiao that it doesn't taste good at all.

Cerasee tea is claimed to be good for a lot of conditions including diabetes - but diabetics need to watch out as this tea can also mask blood sugars. I was intrigued by claims of it being used for birth control. It may have been coincidence, but on the couple of times I've drunk the tea now, I've had menstrual spotting soon afterwards.

Today, I made a pumpkin-pie cake and some chocolate-chip pumpkin muffins. Now I'm making a spiced pumpkin/corn/bean/peanut stew with tomato sauce, and a beet/pumpkin stir-fry with garlic, ginger, pineapple, and seasoned wheat gluten.

I gave Forestfen 4 cups of pureed pumpkin, and still have 2 cups left over. There's also still a good-sized chunk of fresh pumpkin left.