Last night after a totally-packed KGB, we descended upon the Dessert Truck. Everything I’ve ever had there has been awesome, so I decided to order their seasonal offering, caramelized pears with anise panna cotta.

What it should have tasted like:

What it actually tasted like:

It tasted like canned peach pieces from an old school lunch, poured on top of rancid vanilla pudding. I don’t even think it was the anise flavor, because I love licorice; I even love the crazy Danish licorice with that sour salt on the outside that burns the roof of your mouth off! Strong anise – not a problem. But this anise panna cotta crap has GOT to STOP. And the PEARS, UGH. I got home and scrambled for my mouthwash, just to get the taste out of my mouth. It was spectacularly bad.

I plan to go back soon and get something else, one of the many desserts they have that does not taste like some unholy poison, but word to the wise: don’t order the pears.

Because it gives you a recipe for salted water:

When salting water for cooking, use 1 tablespoon of salt for every 4 quarts of water.

And the eight hundred reviews of the recipe.

* As a Canadian, I am on the metric system and have no idea what a quart is. Furthermore, I had to substitute beavers for the salt, and beer for water. The boiling process caused my igloo to melt, leaving me homeless. Two forks.

* I used iodized sea salt and added an extra 1/8 tsp. Definitely upped the ante. My guests were begging me for the recipe.

* I have been making something similar to this since it first appeared in Gourmet magazine in 1992. But I misplaced the recipe years ago and have had to improvise since, with out much luck. Thank you Epicurious for reacquainting me with this oldie but goody!

My own review: this website gave me my review for lemon icing. Proceed with caution.

There’s a 7-11 in my neighborhood! I could hardly contain myself when I found out. I immediately bought a Coke Slurpee and a roll of Shock Tarts, now apparently called Shockers. It was my breakfast almost every day in high school. School started at 7:20, and I had to be there at 6:30 to get a space, so we’re talking a Slurpee and the world’s sourest candies at 6:15am five days a week for years.

(Yeah, think about that and try not to get sick. How I lived this long, I’ll never know.)

We’re going to pretend that having them for dinner is not so bad, though, because they make a delicious dinner. And time warp. Let me show you my execrable two-person play! Also, later I’m going out with my friends to the Apoptygma Berserk show and finishing up my European History essay.