Ames and I are both fairly easygoing and don’t turn our noses up to many things. If there is one thing we are persnickety about though, it’s Orange Juice. You know the stuff they serve at the continental breakfast buffets at most hotels? Horrible. Almost every single OJ available the grocery store? Blech! Even among the “Not from Concentrate, Fresh Squeezed, 100% Juice” varieties, there are very few products that we actually enjoy. Why do we hold such strong opinions over something so trivial as a morning beverage? Location. Location. Location.

We both grew up in a little-known city on the East coast of Florida called Vero Beach. The main reasons Vero exists are tourism, retirees, and citrus. Our beaches are beautiful, but most tourists come because they’re less crowded - which is why you’ve still never heard of it. Retirees give a boost to the local economy, but don’t make it an exciting place to grow up - unless you enjoy golf & shuffleboard. The real reason I’m proud to be from Vero Beach is because we have the best citrus in the world. That’s right California, you’ve got nuthin’ on our juicy fruits. While you’ve probably never heard of Vero Beach Citrus, you may have seen Indian River Fruit before. Vero is in the heart of Indian River County, and Indian River County is to Citrus what Napa Valley is to wine.

So yes, Amy and I have deep rooted & geographically influenced opinions about OJ and we both strongly agree that the best orange juice on the planet comes from one place: Hale Groves. Hale Groves’ orange juice is like heaven in a cup. It’s so good that they drive traffic to their retail store with signs that say “Free Orange Juice”. They have fountains inside that are constantly flowing with ice-cold, fresh-squeezed OJ. Beware though, for if you partake, you will leave with a gallon of the stuff and will never look at OJ the same again. The only problem with Hale Groves OJ is that their 1 store (they had several when we were growing up) is the only place you can buy it.

Living in South Carolina, it’s hard to find a comparable substitute for Hale Groves’ orange juice. We used to buy Indian River Select’s 100% Valencia Orange Juice which is available at several grocery stores. It’s no Hale OJ, but the taste was as close as we could find….until this week. Publix, a Florida-based grocery chain, recently started carrying Natalie’s Orchid Island Orange Juice so we decided to give it a try. Wow! The orange juice snobs were impressed! On a scale of 1-to-10, I’d give it a 9½. After reading through their “our juice” page, it’s easy to see why. They’re all about the pulp:

Oddly enough, a good indication that your juice is Fresh Squeezed is to observe some separation. Technically speaking, Fresh Squeezed juice separates because of the interaction between enzymes in the fruit and the pectin in the juice. When the juice is pasteurized or concentrated, the heat neutralizes enzymes, thus preventing separation. By allowing the enzymes to stay in their natural state, Fresh Squeezed juice tastes great and gives it the “FRESH” taste customers love.

Tropicana and other national brands try hard to make good, fresh juices but they rely on some pretty intense pasteurization processes to extend shelf life. As a spoiled Vero Beach native, the “Pure Premium” OJ simply doesn’t cut it. Until the next time we make it home and get our Hale Groves fix, we’ll probably be buying Natalie’s.

Honestly, I didn’t see this one coming. I never thought of the idea of adding soda to my coffee or coffee to my soda. If you haven’t heard, Coca-Cola has added a new beverage to their lineup that is just that: Coffee and Cola. Even though Coke wasn’t the first to come up with this idea, they are certainly the first to market it with bongos and funk music riffs - Visit the official Coca-Cola BlaK site.

I actually heard about Coke BlaK back on April 10th after my friend Jeremy tried it during a national sampling tour. Apparently he grabbed one on his way to work in New York:

jeremy: Hey man
me: Hey Jeremy, how’s it goin?
jeremy: not bad…just tried the new Coca Cola Blak
jeremy: not good
jeremy: not good at all
me: LOL
me: haven’t heard about it…
jeremy: coffee+coke=sick

Ever since then I’ve been casually watching the aisles of the grocery store hoping to try some “Coke effervescence with coffee essence”. About a month later, the 4-packs showed up at Publix here in Columbia, SC. At over $7 for 4 I was a little hesitant to pick it up but I had to know what this stuff tasted like. After letting them chill in the fridge, I pulled one out of the pack and passed another to a friend that was visiting for the weekend. I tried giving one to Ames, but she wasn’t all that interested. At first swig it tastes almost like regular coke, but as you swallow you immediately get an aftertaste of coffee and aspartame (mmmm, aspartame). I’m sure the intention was for that coffee taste to be like that of espresso, but it tastes more like overbrewed regular coffee. It wasn’t akk (freudian slip) all that bad in my opinion, but not what I expected. My friend didn’t particularly care for it, but made the observation that the more you drink of it, the more you just taste the Coke and lose the coffee flavor.

If I had to give the stuff a rating, I’d give it about 6.5 out of 10. I would probably have one again if it were free, but at almost 2 bucks for a tiny 8oz bottle, I probably wouldn’t pay for one again. I don’t drink soda that often, but when I do, I want soda - preferrably a Dr. Pepper - not coffee. The same applies for coffee. If I want a good coffee, I’ll go to a coffee shop.

I was curious to see what other people thought about Coke Blak, and there are quite a few reviews out there about it. Here’s a quick sampling:

It didn’t taste like Coke with some cold coffee mixed in, it tasted like coke with drops of Coffee Flavor #57 dropped in. I don’t have a better way to describe it other than ‘artificial’. Michele gave it a taste and said, “My god, that’s horrid. I mean truly terrible!” Zoe took a taste as well and commented, “That’s yucky.”. Sadly, I tend to agree.

- via Cruftbox

Folks, I can say with serene confidence that yes, it really is f***ing awful. It’s really bad. Terrible, actually.

- via Plognark
(which also has a sketch of his experience…)

There wasn’t a soul in Times Square without a bottle of complimentary Coke BlaK, but for all of this clever/shrewd/whatever marketing to work, the drink really needed to not be awful. I’m happy to report that Coke BlaK is NOT awful. I will never buy it, but it’s not awful.

- via X-entertainment Blog

You could probably recreate the flavor of Coke BlaK by opening up a can of Tab cola and adding a small droplet of brewed hazelnut coffee. Seriously, Coke BlaK tastes a lot like Tab with a slight hint of bad, flavored coffee.

- via Brand Autopsy

It tastes like coffee candy. Also I don’t know how much caffeine is in here, but I feel crazy. My eyes won’t focus or something.

- via Pocket Pig

We tried a little taste and found it to be quite good. It’s really not that sweet and is much better than say a Starbuck’s bottle drink because of being less sweet.

- via Single Serve Coffee

They call it a “caffeinated fusion beverage,” but all they managed to fuse together is disgust and revulsion.

- via Needcoffee

Did it taste like coca cola? Not really, but it did taste good.

- via Slashfood

Coke Blak is suprisingly gross. After the first sip, my brain went: “Really? That?” It suffers from the same problem that afflicts all the big [brand-name cola + vanilla/cherry/whatever] sodas: the additives are too chemical-y, too fakey.

- via Knowledge for Thrist

It tastes like they’re using a low quality coffee extract… It is very artificial tasting.

- via Idea Sandbox Blog

So you’re wondering about the taste. Well, I give it two thumbs up. If this were a five star rating system, I’d probably give it four out of five stars. The coffee flavor is definitely there, but I almost feel like it could be a little bit stronger.

- via Drink It!

The taste of the product is enjoyably sweet and creamy, but the aftertaste is somewhat brutal, with bitter flavors of coffee and aspartame left behind.

- via BevNET

So I tried the new Coca-Cola Blak on my way to work this morning, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It reminded me of Coke float with a hint of coffe, or maybe it was creme soda with a coffe flavor.

- via Brody Vercher

If someone left coffee sludge in the bottom of a mug and poured Diet Coke and sugar into it, you’d have Coke Blak.

- via Chicagoist

Now, I love Coke, and I love coffee. But even I’m not sold on this odd little concoction. But I’ve got 3 more bottles to decide.

- via Metroblogging Chicago

Yesterday I did something I don’t normally do. I went back to a REALLY OLD post, edited it, and opened the comments. Ever since I started keeping an eye on my stats with Refer and Shortstat (I have been dragging my feet about signing up for mint…but I will eventually.), I’ve seen traffic dribbling daily into that entry from search engine queries on “Publix Sushi”. I was curious about why such a steady flow of people would be interested, so I made a note and opened up the comments. Well, there haven’t been any comments yet, but going back to the post made me hungry for sushi…so I went out to our local Publix grocery store to pick up some lunch.

Today’s sushi choice: Dragon Roll. The roll consisted of freshwater and sea eel, cucumber, avocado, rice, seaweed, and was beautifully wrapped in thin slices of avocado. I used to always get the Spicy Roll when I lived in Gainesville, but the Dragon Roll was excellent and I would definitely get it again.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written about what I had for lunch, but a Free Joey Bag of Donuts from Moe’s Southwest Grill seems worthy enough. I thought they were giving out free food as an anniversary stunt, but apparently it’s all about establishing Cinco de Mayo as Cinco de Moe’s, a day of “doing absolutely nothing”. I think it’s particularly humorous that this propaganda page has an “Employment Info” link at the top, and that Cinco de Moe’s obviously means that people working at Moe’s will be working harder with the influx of customers there for a free meal.

All that said, Moe’s is still one of my all-time favorite lunch destinations in Gainesville. Since there is 1 (soon to be 3) Moe’s locations in Columbia, South Carolina, it stands to maintain that position even after Ames and I relocate in mid-July. I actually just got around to posting a few pictures from last weeks trip. Hopefully I’ll have some rafting pictures to post, but we still need to get the water camera developed…but it seems we only took digital pictures while we were camping at Chau Ram Park. I guess that makes sense since we were just driving around looking at houses the rest of the week. I’ll be sure to write about our experience and lessons learned from house hunting as soon as that’s all finished. I’ll also be writing soon about future employment. I would say that I found a great job, but it’s more accurate to say that a great job found me. Details coming soon…

I just had about 800 calories for lunch: Grilled Beef Patty, Macaroni and Cheese (Mexican Style), 2 pieces of Wheat Snack Bread, and some Nacho Cheese filled pretzels. According to the packaging this is Menu No. 8 Hamburger Patty. It was actually a pretty good lunch, but even after running 4 miles this morning, I probably shouldn't have eaten the whole thing.

After hurricanes Frances and Jeanne cut through my hometown of Vero Beach, the National Guard was there passing out water, ice, and these meals. So this weekend, when my sister-in-law and her boyfriend came up for the Gator game, they brought some for me and Amy. It would have made a great meal for camping or hiking since they're pretty much good forever, but I thought it would make a great novelty lunch in the office.

For those looking for something fun to do with the heater pack in an MRE, Chris (our programmer with military experience) says that pouring about 3-4 of the small bottles of Tabasco in the pouch will create a "pepper-spray like gas". Fun! Unfortunately I opted for a warm hamburger patty rather than a dangerous prank.

Or should that be fat of sugary goodness? As far as Ames and I are from the typical roles of domestic housewife and working husband, she is a culinary juggernaut (thanks Robby). With a chef for a mother, it's easy to see where she gets it from, but she's always trying to out-do herself. Usually she tries to come up with mostly healthy meals for us. Whenever we get together with our young married friends for a potluck however, her main goal is to get Suz Upp to say that it's "Killer".

Tonight's theme is finger foods and we're putting together an amazing fruit kabob tray with dip and a pot of bacon wrapped, brown sugar marinated, lil' smokeys. I just transfered them from the oven to the warming pot this morning so they can continue to simmer while we're working today and...well...they're going to be GOOD!

I've set aside my usual lunch of tuna on salad for a similarly healthy, but much more tasty meal of reheated Bul-gogi, Gim bap, Gimchi and steamed rice. No, this isn't take-out Korean, it's homemade Asian goodness - in Tupperware.

Amy and I have been talking to our neighbor Kun Suk about the differences between American culture and Korean culture for a while. Kun has been trying to explain how different American food was from Korean foods and last night we finally got to experience those differences in all their culinary goodness. Amy cooked up a typical American meal, and Kun's wife (Hye Song) prepared a Korean meal, and we had their family (complete with their 2 boys) over for a feast of international proportion.

For our half of the meal, Amy made Chicken Marsala, served over farfalle pasta with a spinach salad and Garlic Bread. Yea, yea, mostly Italian, but it's a favorite in our house. Hye Song brought Bul-gogi, (translated: firemeat) a Korean marinated meat dish; Gim bap, Sushi-like rolls of rice, vegetables, and crabmeat; Gimchi, a very spicy fermented cabbage dish; and steamed rice. Both of our families had a great time, and at the end of the evening, we exchanged recipes and leftovers.

The post below is over a year old, but somehow I get at least one person per 24 hours that ends up here by Googling for something related to Sushi and Publix. Comments on this post were never enabled since it’s so old. I actually don’t even live in Florida anymore, but fortunately I’m still close to my favorite grocery store and still enjoy Publix Sushi from time to time.

So what’s your excuse? Why are you here? I have to know WHY you are all searching for Publix Sushi, Sushi from Publix and Publix Sushi Department. Does Publix Sushi make you happy too? Are you curious about Publix Sushi but haven’t tried it yet? Is this the Publix PR department trying to find out what people are saying about their products? If that last answer is yes, please send me a Publix Gift card… Otherwise, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do. Comments are now open.

Update (1/16/06):

From the comments so far it looks like most of you are looking for the nutritional facts on Publix Sushi. I thought about asking for them at the store, but I decided to do a little research first. I remembered that the branding on all of the sushi is “Southern Tsunami” so I checked, and sure enough, they have a website: http://www.afcsushi.com

The Southern Tsunami website could use some work, but they do have a nutrition chart. Now I know that my Dragon Roll tray has 508 calories and 18g of fat. Not too bad compared to a Joey Bag of Donuts from Moes at 1121 calories and 29g of fat. But…not great compared to a 6 inch sweet onion chicken teriyaki from subway at 370 calories with only 5g of fat. Anyway, hope that research was helpful.

For those of you wondering how to make sushi, my friend Adrian posted a Sushi Tutorial on her site. (As seen in the comments below.) I still haven’t tried her tutorial yet but I did buy a “MAGIC julienne slicer” already and hope to get to it one of these days.

The original post:

Publix is the best grocery store EVER! Sure, other grocery stores are ok - except for maybe Win Dixie, but if the choice is available, I go to Publix. They always have the cleanest stores, the freshest produce, and the best selection of regular products. Some stores like Walmart Supercenters (which don’t exist here in Gainesville) can beat Publix prices, but when it comes to shopping experience, you get what you pay for.

I guess I’m on this little advertising rant because I’m on my lunch break enjoying my tray of fresh spicy rolls from the sushi department. MMmm. What other grocery store has a fresh sushi section? The only thing I’m not so sure of is if rice is on the diet that Amy and I are on.