So(y) Good

It all started with a coupon.

In the continuing effort to save money, I've made it a habit of stealing the insert of my parents' Sunday Globe and basically tearing it apart for coupons I think might come in handy. One such Sunday I came across a deal for a carton of Silk Soymilk, and out of curiousity decided to cut it out.

I've never had any issues with my standard skim-milk. I'm not lactose-intolerant, and I'm not a vegan, so I never really had a reason to deviate from dairy - however, I'm always on the hunt for new healthy and delicious things to incorporate into my Weight Watchered diet, and soymilk always seemed (to me, at least) to have this reputation of being better for you than milk.

So on my next trip to the grocery store I bought a carton of the Silk French Vanilla (I admit I was wary of trying the straight up soy for my first foray into the alterna-milk), and I tried it - and I liked it. It tasted great in my cereal, and made a pretty kick-ass smoothie. I even tried a couple sips by itself, and despite the not-really-milk like flavor, it was actually pretty good. It would definitely take a while for my tastebuds to make the adjustment, but how often do I drink regular milk by itself? Not very.

I made another discovery a couple days later that only added to the success of my soy-experiment.

I was in the Harvest Co-op picking up a few things and was having a major craving for something chocolatey. I saw the all the cookies and gourmet organic chocolates that looked extremely rich, delicious and fattening, and figured that if I was going to indulge my craving, I was going to do it in a kind of responsible manner. I walked over to the freezers where there was an abundance of organic ice creams, frozen yogurts, cakes, and a startingly large assortment of soy ice creams. Remembering how not awful the Silk Soymilk was, and after looking at the nutrition labels, I grabbed a carton.

And guess what? Soy ice cream is AMAZING. Namely the Chocolate Peanut Butter by Soy Delicious. It's sweetened with fruit-concentrates, is very low-cal, and 5 of the flavors offered have less than 3 grams of fat per serving (the Chocolate Peanut Butter just misses the mark with 3.5). So I didn't feel TOO badly when I finished the entire carton later that night :/

Aside from being lactose-free, soy ice creams are also cholesterol-free and are lower in fat than traditional ice cream. They are also a good source of calcium - milk is not your only option.

And here is where I started to consider whether I should make the switch to soy: Would it help with my weight loss? Is it considered more "green"? Is it really better for you than regular milk? Does it have any other health benefits? People who drink soy always seem to be SUPER healthy and fit - do they know something I don't? So I did a little online digging.

While cow's milk is an excellent source of vitamin D and calcium, many soy products (while not containing them naturally) are fortified with these same nutrients; and like cow's milk, soy milk is a great source of protein. It also contains very little fat and cholesterol, and a diet low in fat and cholesterol is good for the heart- however, in terms of fat-content soymilk is pretty much on par with skim cow's milk.

One downside to going soy is that soymilk is generally more expensive than cow's milk, so if you're on a budget and don't need to make the switch for health or dietary reasons, you'd be fine sticking with regular skim.

If you're attempting to be more eco-conscious, both can come with asterisks that may cause you to prefer one or the other on simply a moral basis. Some soybeans are grown on raized acres of rainforests, and some soy products use genetically modified soybeans (soybeans grown with the use of a pesticide to protect the crop) - the products' containers are usually say whether they are GMO-free or not. On the other hand, some dairies use a hormone treatment so the cows will produce greater quantities of milk, and those hormones usually travel into the milk we end up drinking.

So at the end of the day, neither can claim a major nutritional advantage over the other - it really just depends on the individual, their values and their personal lifestyle. I doubt that I'll make the switch completely, but if I ever have another coupon for soymilk I'll probably use it, and I'll most DEFINITELY be purchasing that brand of ice cream again.


Oh, and Tapeo's $5 Tapas Thursdays totally didn't disappoint. Rambling On...

This Restaurant's Wings Are Melting

It was a friend's birthday last weekend, and so to celebrate in the style that he deserved, we booked a very large table at a very fancy South End restaurant. Icarus should have been honored to be host to everyone's (or just our) favorite Dutchman. But I guess they weren't, because they wouldn't offer our extremely large party any sort of deal on wine/alcohol - something we were all very prepared to drink plenty of.

Odd.

But maybe not so much, since I've heard that apparently they're going out of business closing to renovate. Not so surprising then, I guess. Honestly, with the state of the restaurant business right now, wouldn't you want to entice diners to return to your establishment? Instill some sense of loyalty? What better way to do that than to ply them with discount booze?? The management at Icarus must have missed that class on recession-management.

They did, however, print special menus for our table that read "Happy 26th Birthday Vincent!". Sweet.

The decor was nice, if not a little stuffy. I've described it to a couple of people as very Blue Blood - dark panelled walls, cherry furniture, deep-colored carpeting, chandeliers, the smell of money.... I walked in and expected all the men to be wearing navy blazers and all the women to be dripping in pearls.

I suppose it's a good thing that Icarus is "renovating", because the layout was definitely a problem. The bar was small and poorly situated, and it seemed that no matter where you stood you were in someone's way. The dining room was effectively split in half, where one portion was raised higher than the other, making it so that the ceiling was significanly lower over that half of tables. We were seated on the raised portion of the floor, and the low ceiling did nothing for holding conversation - I found myself almost yelling so that the person next to me could hear what I was saying. Luckily, our reservations were on the late side, so as the restaurant emptied conversation became much easier.

Apart from poor floor-planning, the meal was delicious. I found myself ordering the lighter fare on the pre-fixe menu (escarole salad, chickpea crepes and lemon panna cotta) and enjoyed every bite. The crepes had a hint of curry and the panna cotta was totally refreshing.

To continue the evening, we journeyed down the street to the totally trendy Beehive, where a funky rasta was performing and my friend's beer Fisherman's Brew was on tap. Our group nearly had the run of the place by closing, and while a small scuffle broke out at the door we emerged unscathed. After a cab ride back to Cambridge and an after-party thereafter, I finally made it home sometime around 5.

The birds were already up, and as I crawled into bed, light was beginning to stream through my window.


And after all that, somehow there's more! Continue on for a quick run-down of the Restaurant Club's outings to Oceanaire and Venetian Moon.


Oceanaire Seafood Room: I'll just begin this by saying that we couldn't have chosen a better place for Restaurant Club Does Restaurant Week. I had heard good things about the place, and it did not disappoint.

The evening was off to a great start with the currant-infused vodka cocktail I got at the bar. It was like drinking candy. And the discounted prefix menu could have easily passed for a full-price meal at any swanky restaurant. While our waitress warned that the portions would be smaller, my piece of swordfish was still a solid 8 oz and took up half my plate.

While no substitions to the prefix were allowed, the choice of apps, entree and desserts were varied, so there was definitely something for everyone. I was very happy with choosing the sorbet over the cheesecake, and the crab cakes and flounder were a hit along with my swordfish. While some restaurants participating have offered a wine pairing with each course for an extra $10-$15, Oceanaire listed three different bottles of wine to choose from to go along with the prefix menu. 3 bottles of discounted wine at a fancy restaurant for the 6 of us? OK!

The ambiance was nice, and despite the high ceilings and the filled tables, the lighting gave the space an intimate feel. Overall, an extremely enjoyable club meeting.

Venetian Moon: The Club decided to go on a field trip and met at this North Reading restaurant. Amazing food, the most comprehensive martini menu I've ever seen, an extremely accomodating kitchen, and always humerous Cougar/faux-tanned Cougar-hunter interaction - but -

COULD YOU BE ANY HARDER TO FIND SRSLY??? Make sure you know EXACTLY where you're going and what you're looking for, because you WILL drive by it 5 times without having any idea you've passed it, and you'll wonder why your GPS is mysteriously re-routing you.

Besides my GPS being absolutely no help whatsoever and navigating me to "Points of Interest" throughout North Reading and Wilmington rather than to my destination, I must have walked past the place 2 or 3 times before spotting the enterance. However, the every-martini-you-could-ever-think-of list and the out-of-this-world food completely made up for the slightly shady, quasi-speakeasy enterance.

The official Restaurant Club post for Venetian Moon can be found HERE.
Rambling On...