Grox from the Super U via Lilli and Swisher

Farmaggio (get it?) No.1 in Italia grated Parmigiano-Reggiano was
strangely savory, and even though I remain convinced that it's
made out of rinds and rejects, was as tasty as anything we can
get in the US, including off a $30/lb wheel.

Panzani capellini was, likewise, superb. It was just al dente
and delicious when I had to go over and talk to Ian for a sec
(turned into five minutes), and when I came back, it was still
better than acceptable, almost al dente, with a light wheaty
taste and very smooth going down. Properly cooked on a different
occasion it was just about perfect.

Can't say so much about Panzani Bolognaise, whose ingredients
are tomato pulp and tomato concentrate (56%), meat 17.5% (beef
9%, pork 8.5%), water, vegetables 9% (carrots 6%, onions 3%),
salt, sugar, modified wheat starch, parsley, sunflower oil,
flavorings, garlic. This tasted rather liked sweetened tomato
juice with Spam. I.e., not good. I added a clove of garlic, a
knob of butter, and a teaspoon of hot pepper flakes and made
something sort of tolerable.

Beers from Brasserie de la Vezere via Ian:

blonde was a mixture of barley and wheat and had characteristics
of both - it wasn't a foul beer but perhaps half foul - decent
hops with a sour undertone, but altogether too Belgian for my
taste;

seigle (rye) - malty, a touch sweet, good body. Low hopped,
went down easily despite a whopping 8% alcohol;

white with elderflower was a sort of saison, rather sour, much
strangeness, also sort of semi-Belgian, not to my taste either;

Indian Summer, another sort of blonde, with a high percentage of
wheat, hence the summer part, but an extra dose of hops, hence
the Indian part, okay, but I wouldn't choose it;

a sweetish IPA with the usual maybe 40 IBUs balanced by barley
sugar but unbalanced by a dearth of acid;

and an amber that was malty, middle of the road, and acceptable
to all. It comes in big and little bottles. The big bottle was
made available to those who didn't want the Chablis with their
peri-peri (or piri-piri) chicken. It was identical to the little
bottle except a little less fizzy.

A snack of Lay's roast chicken flavor chips deserves mention.
Do not buy! I didn't know what these were supposed to be and
ventured a guess of Spam with an unvoiced second guess of
deviled ham. Jacquie said they'd changed the formula, and they
weren't nearly so nice as they used to be. Ian rather
crestfallenly said, Actually, I still rather like them. Even
the best palates can be addled by an extra dose of MSG.
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