Month: September 2022

Candlelight Motel Neon Sign
Ozark AL, 2022.

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Ozark AL, 2022.

The post earlier on the place that makes almost exclusively eggrolls got me thinking of Chinese restaurant signs…

China Chang, Bessemer AL, 2005

This 2019 sign at Mr Wang’s in Birmingham AL asks people to not put food in their pockets or Tupperware:

China Garden, Marks MS (love that G in the sign)

In Yazoo City, Mississippi, 2019

China Pavilion, Tuskegee, Alabama, 2020

Selma, Alabama, 2020

We found a place in Gadsden, Alabama called Mae Khan’s Kitchen that makes mostly just one thing: eggrolls. And they are really big, and really good. We got a variety so there were some we liked better than others (one of them really tasted like it had — I know this sounds crazy — creamy soup as an ingredient) but this was a fun diversion for something different.

One orders at the window, dairy bar-style, and it’s ready a few minutes later.

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Not too far from Mae Khan’s Kitchen is Golden China — I took the kids and some of our friends there once when we were on a trip for some take-out lunch to eat at the river

There’s a sign on this pothos:

Jungle Jim’s, Cincinnati, from a visit last year

I was thinking today about a super, crazy, easy little candy that I’ve done a few times just as a quirky kind of thing, and — some of you are going to be disappointed (others trilled, I’m good with either) in how little effort this takes but it’s actually fun and yummy —

Cereal bark.

Meecro-wahvay a tray of that white chocolate wanna-be almond bark, careful not to let it burn, then stir in whatever cereal you’re feeling, pour it onto a cookie sheet (covered in parchment paper or not, your decision) and let it cool, break into pieces, serve.

I’m not even a Froot Loops person, but I’ve done FLs because they’re colorful. You *know* Cinnamon Toast Crunch would be great.

I mean, let’s just go on a little cereal adventure today.

Next to Crave in Tupelo, which also has great desserts, I mean:

Yes.
There was — I thiiiiink it’s closed now, but I’m not certain — an attached restaurant there called Cereal Killer:

This was their Bates’ Cuckoo Cocoa Bowl (Cocoa Pebbles, Cocoa Puffs, Krave Chocolate, whipped cream) 

We last went in 2019 as a little treat. I think that’s the point in time when cereal- and cereal-adjacent restaurants were really peaking: Milk & Cream Cereal Bar in NYC, Bol & Bagel in France, Bumsan Organic Milk Bar in LA, The Cereal Killerz in Las Vegas, and others (I saw somewhere that a Day and Night Cereal Bar is coming to Atlanta), but probably the one most of us think of that really popularized cereal in- and on- is Milk Bar. I’ve been to the one in Las Vegas:

corn cookie (not a huge fan) but the Corn Kid likely would 

compost cookie (better, but I sat there thinking we could probably make it better by playing around at home)

…and we did — we used the Milk Bar cookbook as a guide. There are actually a few Christina Tosi (founder) books now: the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, Milk Bar Life, Milk Bar Kids Only, All About Cake, and her latest, a non-cookbook, Dessert Can Save the World. Christina made popular the cereal milk ice cream, and the “naked cake” which is that category of cakes with the un-iced sides.

If you watch this video, she explains that the idea of not doing the sides comes from all the pressure in culinary school and seeing people spend incredible time on making absolute masterpieces in decoration, and she was really not into it. She says that this time should be put into other things and not the decoration because “for what? This isn’t a pottery class” but mmmmm if I’m having cake, I want alllll the icing, so that’s a pass for me, but she’s great!

BTW, have you seen the new Cath Kidston advertising campaign, for their partnership with The Great British Baking Show? It immediately made me think of that scene in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.

 

really, the compost cookie is all about (recipe here) putting cereal, M&Ms, chocolate chips, potato chips, pretzels…just annnything you think sounds good for snacking

…and it did turn out better. Infinitely customizable.

We’re really liking Mochi Donut at H Mart in Atlanta

My fave is the one with the Asian version of Honey Crisp cereal:

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PS: prob not a huge surprise, but Kellogg’s and Post have recipes for their cereals, like Monkey Munch using Honeycombs, Grape Nuts granola bars, and Puffed Wheat Cereal Bars using Golden Crisps.