Freebie: muller Greek corner

My friend called this afternoon - Can you come down?

Sure.

Turns out he found himself passing by a truck in the city of Boston giving away samples of muller Greek corner.  They were rather generous, so he ended up with a bounty of two cartons, and gave one to me.

Each individual serving of Greek yogurt came with a separate section containing a blackberry/raspberry sauce.  The yogurt was thick and tangy.  The fruit sauce was sweet.  Although the seeds did their part to convince me that the sauce was made of real fruit, still I wish it were seedless.

Foodler - Delivery Service

Last week I noticed on a local blog the posting of a referral link for $5 off your first order with the Seamless food delivery service.  Well, I haven’t used Seamless, but I do use Foodler now and again.  Although Foodler does not seem to offer a referral bonus, they have posted on Twitter recently that they’re offering free FoodlerBucks for bloggers to post honest reviews of their business.  So, okay, let’s give this a shot.

Foodler according to Foodler:
Foodler is an online restaurant ordering service that lets you find local restaurants, browse menus, and place orders for delivery or take-out at no extra charge.

The concept is good – review menus online at your convenience, place your order, mark it for delivery or pick up, collect points for every dollar you spend to go towards items such as a Foodler T-shirt, FoodlerBucks, or a gift card from a limited number of businesses (Amazon, Starbucks, Apple), and potentionally receive a variety of discounts such as a percentage off your first order.

As Foodler accepts credit cards and allows you to include the tip when placing your order, you don’t have to worry about not having cash on you with which to tip the delivery person.

You may set up under your account a number of addresses so that Foodler may present to you the restaurants that will deliver to your location of the moment.  I currently have 5 addresses saved, but if there is a maximum, I haven’t hit it yet.  The carry through is pretty good on the whole – I received my delivery in a reasonable time, my take-out orders were always ready and waiting for me, the interactions with delivery person and counter folk were pleasant.

However, I have noticed that sometimes the menus are a bit off.  For example, Boston Kebab House –

I had ordered the Musakka.  Well, Boston Kebab House does not have this entrée on their regular menu – at times they have it on their Meze Bar & Hot Station buffet line, but not on the day I ordered it.  Actually, I’m highly doubtful that any of the beef or chicken entrée options, fish entrée options, pasta entrée options listed on Foodler are actually available, as none of them are listed on the restaurant’s take-out menu.  The From the Grill options are more accurate, however, rather than a choice of 8 sides, Foodler offers the plates with 3 predetermined options (rice pilaf, bulgar, and shepherds salad) – I guess I could use the Special Instructions section to make a different selection, but I haven’t tried that yet.   I really wish that the Foodler menu would let me order the popular Build Your Own Tossed Salad as an individual portion rather than only as a catered order of $52.25 for a small.  Also, when you place an order directly with the restaurant, you can add a soup or a side of fries to your entrée for $2; Foodler lacks this cost saving option.

Service wasn’t always smooth.  My first Foodler delivery placed a couple of years ago arrived with the wrong flavor of gelato.  But when I called to inform them of this, they willingly offered to come back with the correct flavor, so they redeemed themselves quite nicely.

One thing I would love, that I haven’t quite figured out – perhaps because Foodler can’t handle it? Yet? – is how to place an order further in advance (whether the same day or several days earlier) for a scheduled delivery or pick up.  This would be a most helpful option for those of us who know in advance what we want to eat and when, but in the midst of the busy-ness of work, we lose track of time.  So, by the time lunch comes back to mind – most likely when the stomach begins to growl  – we’re already hungry, so instead of taking the time to place an order on Fooder and waiting… we’re more likely to just head on out to the closest take-out lunch spot and pick up something quick.

Basically, however, Foodler does its job well.

Edit 9/18/2012

1) Turns out there is an option to schedule an order on the same screen where you select your payment method! Terrific!

2) I finally received the $15 credit - took a while since the point person was on vacation, but the offer is legit.

3) So, I was asked to refer other bloggers who might be interested in posting an honest review for $15 Foodler credit.  So, if you are interested, please add a comment to this post with a link to your blog and an email address and we'll get you connected.

Fresh Corn from the Farmers' Market

Here in the city of Boston, we are fortunate to have two Farmers' Market options:

1) Dewey Square, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30am - 6:30pm, May 24, 2012 - November 20, 2012

2) City Hall Plaza, Mondays and Wednesdays, 11am - 6pm from May 21, 2012 – November 21, 2012

MacArthur Farms at the City Hall Plaza Farmer's Market

Today, I meandered on over to the Farmer's Market at City Hall Plaza.  Having passed stalls of fresh veggies and baked goods, I arrived at the last (or first, depending upon your direction) - MacArthur Farms - and asked for help to select one nice ear to microwave at work for a snack.  The fellow who came around from behind the tables of produce felt a few ears and selected a firm one for me.  He broke off a bit of the stalk, ripped off a few outer leaves and stuck it in a plastic bag for me.  And for 50 cents, it was mine.

fresh corn!

I mentioned to him that I had heard that corn on the cob could be microwaved.  So, he told me to wrap it up in wet paper towels as is, and to microwave it for about a minute and a half.

Wrapped with wet towels before microwaving

After its visit in the microwave, I set it aside for a bit in order to avoid steam cooking my fingers.

All cooked and unwrapped

Thus, I was awarded with firm kernels that were plenty sweet, and well worth the calories.

No Soup for Me

Larry Thomas, the Soup Nazi of the Seinfield TV series fame, arrived in Boston today along with the Seinfield food truck to greet fans and to give away a variety of Seinfield-themed food and drink.  They were scheduled to be at the Dewey Square location by South Station from 3-4pm, however, I heard that they had arrived late as they had been delayed at the Harvard Square spot (noon - 2pm) due to the wonderful turn-out.

The line was super long when I arrived on the scene shortly after 3:30pm, and those of us at the end of the line were were soon told that we were unlikely to get the chance to meet the Soup Nazi, as they had to shut things down at 4pm on the dot.

So nope, I didn't get to have my picture taken with the Soup Nazi.  I did, however, go home with a keychain, black & white cookie, Twix, and Snickers (the latter two both rather melted), as after the Soup Nazi departed, his henchmen continued to give away the remaining goodies.  But there was no soup for me... as the literal soup had sadly run out early on.

The Charles River Food Truck Festival

Rain was in the forecast today, but it managed to hold off until the late afternoon hours - and then it let go full force- luckily for The Charles River Food Truck Festival at DCR's Artesani Herter Park in Brighton, MA, which was scheduled to take place from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM (ET), and those who went to enjoy it.  


While I know that we were highly recommended to use public transportation (subway then bus) as there are few parking lots near the park, since I was headed over a bit late (arriving in the area shortly before 1:30pm), I decided to risk driving in.  Annoyingly, however, they had blocked the vehicle entrances to the single large parking lot by the Publick Theatre, so I had no chance at parking at one of the handful of vacant spots that I could see... just... over... there...  But I did manage to find myself a parking spot without too much trouble and to make my way across Soldiers Field Road and to the festival that was sprawled across the three smaller parking lots and a couple of fields....


Tickets were available on site at one of the three ticket tents, or could be purchased ahead of time via Eventbrite:
20 Taste Tickets $25 + $2.37 fee
30 Taste Tickets $37 + $3.03
40 Taste Tickets $48 + $3.63

Tickets were also available on site for $13 for 10 tickets.  So, the taste tickets basically ranged in cost (pre-fee) from $1.20-$1.30 apiece.

At the first incarnation of the Food Truck Festival held at UMass Boston, prices were set at $30 for a general admission ticket ($35 day of), which included one serving from each of the participating food trucks.  Yes, I have heard that it was a horrendous experience for many of the attendees, with the super long lines, and many of the trucks running out of food around 2pm.  With the assist of an offer through Groupon, 4,000 tickets were sold and yet each food truck was asked to bring only a minimum of 1,000 portions; I must say that sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.  But still, I couldn't imagine how much it would cost to taste a single item per truck under this new taste ticket system.  Fortunately/Unfortuntely, I wasn't really planning to find out though, given the physical limitations of the human stomach.

As a guest of a sponsor, I was armed with 40 tickets and off I went to see what damage I could do.  The longest line between the first two clusters of trucks I came through was the one for The Taco Truck with its short simple menu of Baja Fish Taco (5 tickets) and soda (2 tickets), and that was perhaps 25 customers long.

Now, remember, with a value of $1.20-$1.30 per ticket, that places the value of a 5 ticket item at $6-$6.50, while the Pescado Taco on The Taco Truck menu is listed at $5.  The Taco Truck wasn't the only truck with such a price differential from their normal prices, but I guess that's what happens when you enact a food ticket method of pricing.

Anyhow, on to the food.  I had the opportunity to try a few items.  Some I didn't particularly care for, as they were not very flavorful...

Go Fish Seafood Fritters Sampler with lobster, crab & grilled corn

Some rather tasty, although I'm not too sure they were worth the rather long wait as the bread griller got caught up with the orders... (although that didn't quite explain the long wait for my fried veggies while I watched my slider sit cooling on the counter)...

Compliments Truck Sirloin Slider & local fried veggie sampler

or tasty, yet filled with mainly claw meat...  at one point, I briefly considered creating myself a little lobster tasting as 3 different trucks offered some variation of lobster rolls or sliders (or both), but I decided against it for the opportunity to try a variety of food instead.

Lobsta Love Lobster Slider

While a complete list of the trucks' offerings and the ticket prices was missing from the ticket tents, volunteers stood around with signs advertising their truck's menus for our convenience.

Volunteer Menu Holder

It was an enjoyable afternoon's repast, filled out with drink samplings from among the variety of business tents.  With my strip of tickets I was managed to try 9 items from 6 trucks.  My one regret was the missed opportunity to expend some energy at the Bounce & Boogie area, but my belly was inconveniently rather full by then, as were my hands.  When I stopped by Gabi's Smoke Shack at 2:45pm, they had unfortunately run out of their pulled pork.  Other than that, the only other menu items I had noticed crossed out was the St. Louis Ribs and pulled pork slider at Red Bones when I had first arrived at the festival.  Not too bad.  And good thing too, since there was still a rather good sized line at the ticket tent when I left at nearly 3pm.

3pm ticket line

Given the inconvenient (public transportation-wise) location, a rather wise transportation alternative was to bike there, as a good number of folks elected to do.  Real smart, I thought...

Bicycle parking area

Truck Sighting - Cookie Monstah

Lookee what I spotted yesterday!

Cookie Monstah Truck - new to me even if not new to you!

Cupcakes for Charity

For a limited time (July 17-22), you can buy a cupcake ("The Green Monstah,"), contribute to a charity (100% of the sales will be donated to Jason Varitek's Pitching in 4 Kids), and beat New York (Georgetown Cupcakes' Sophie LaMontagne is teaming up with Bernie Williams to sell a special New York “Pinstripe Pretzel” cupcake baked with gourmet butterscotch chips and crushed pretzel and topped with a butterscotch-infused buttercream frosting... yeah, that sounds good!) with a single purchase!

Georgetown Cupcakes is open on Newbury Street, at 83 Newbury Street, Boston, MA  02116, 617-927-2250 or go to www.georgetowncupcake.com to order your box of "Green Monstah" cupcakes!

As a special treat however, Jason and Katherine, with the help of his wife and her mom, came out to Faneuil Hall this afternoon to personally hand out free cupcakes to the masses, of which, I was one. :)

Jason Varitek hands out "The Green Monstah," a limited edition Green "Red Velvet" flavored cupcake

Katherine Kallinis of Georgetown Cupcakes and TLC's DC Cupcakes

The goods (ours anyhow) -  "The Green Monstah" and coconut