Event #5 Sodas

For event #5 we tested different sodas from around the world.  We tested 10 different sodas from 7 countries.  We broke the testing up into 2 days of testing 5 at a time.  Day 1 consisted of the cans which was all the citrus sodas that all happened to be from Europe.  Day 2 was the 5 remaining sodas all in glass bottles.

Day 1

Austria:  Almdudler Soda

This one was not the best. It had a slight lemonade flavor and strange taste and looked like ginger ale

              

Austria:  Fanta Orange Soda

This was a decent soda with a good orange flavor, but more like real orange juice unlike some other orange sodas.

           

Austria:  Mezzo Mix Soda

This tasted like Cola with a slight orange flavor.  This one was not really very good.

              

Germany:  Paulaner Spezi  Soda

This one had an orange, lemon, and cola flavor.  It had a weird taste and was, not the best.  Definitely the worst soda of day 1.

 

Bronze Italy:  Italian Soda, Blood Orange

This soda was from Whole Foods it was a very good soda with good blood orange flavor, the clear favorite of day 1.

 

 Day 2

Japan:  Hatakosen Raspberry Ramune Soda

This had a decent raspberry flavor that made for an okay soda. It also had the most interesting bottle that had a marble inside.

 

Gold Mexico: Jarritos Mango

We bought this at a local Mexican restaurant Mi Tierra.  I’ve seen these at Mexican restaurants but had never tried them before.  This was a very good soda and had a very good mango flavor.        

Mexico: Sidral  Mundet   Apple

We also bought this at Mi Tierra.  I didn’t like it very much.  It had an apple flavor, but I thought it tasted a little funny.  Everyone else liked it more than I did.     

 

UK:  Fentimans Cherry  Cola

This one we all thought was awful, I at first got just a cherry cola taste but soon after it tasted like potpourri smells.

              

Gold US:  Boylan’s Crème Soda

This was just a really good crème soda and definitely a winner

 

After 2 days of testing, we finished with a tie for the gold medal between the US and Mexico with Italy winning the bronze medal.

Event # 4 Homemade meals

For event # 4, we attempted to make meals at home.  We ended up making 6 different meals representing 6 countries.  These meals were either homemade or partly homemade with part of the meals being store bought.  Some of the recipes were from my mom’s old cookbooks.  After we made and ate, we voted on our favorites.

Gold    South Korea       Bulgogi 

Years ago, my mom learned how to cook a little bit of Korean food and it has always been every ones request for special occasions.  This time she made the chicken version of bulgogi.  We served the bulgogi with rice and a Korean cucumber side dish recipe with a cucumber fresh out of the garden.  This meal was the winner!

 

Silver    Mexico  Carnitas

We tried carnitas awhile back and enjoyed them, so we decided to make our own.  For Father’s Day we found a simple recipe in an old Mexican cookbook my mom has.  We opened a couple jars of salsa and cotija cheese from Whole Foods.  We ate this as tacos and we had an excellent meal.

Bronze       Sweden          Swedish meatballs

This recipe was from my mom’s old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. We’ve been using this recipe for years and always enjoy it. I also bought a jar of lingonberry jam to go with the meatballs.  This meal came out excellent as always.

India      Tikka Masala

I bought a jar of Braswells Tikka Masala Slow Cooker sauce from world market.  Then we cooked it with chicken thighs in a slow cooker and served with basmati rice and garlic naan from Whole Foods. This was very good and very easy to make, but just not quite a medalist.

US          Rockie dogs

This is my favorite concession item at a Rockies game.  We made a better version this time at home. We grilled hotdogs and topped them with sautéed peppers and onions with sauerkraut.  Everyone enjoyed these but they were not quite as good as some of the other meals.

Poland      Potato Cheese Pierogi with kielbasa

I bought a bag of Pierogies Factory Pierogi at Whole Foods.  We just boiled them, which was okay, but I think they would have been better sautéed. These were good but very filling. We ate the Pierogi with kielbasa and sauerkraut

Event # 4 was a lot of fun, we enjoyed making, eating, and awarding medals to all of these different international meals.

2021 Food Olympics - Event #3 Frozen Appetizers

 

For Event #3 I bought and ordered some frozen appetizers from Omaha Steaks, Whole Foods and King Soopers.  We found 8 appetizers representing 6 different countries.  Then over the last couple of months we tried them out one at a time.  After we tried all of them, we ranked them 1-8 and awarded medals.

The first thing we tried were the 2 appetizers from Omaha Steaks both representing the US.  The Filet Mignon Pastry Bites were really good.  

They were like mini pot pies with beef and a few veggies in a little pastry cup.  These got out ahead on the leader board quick and weren’t about to move anytime soon.  Next was the Gourmet Franks in a Blanket these were pretty good as well.  

They were little all beef hotdogs with puff pastry wrapped around with a hit of Dijon mustard.  These were good just not as good as the filet mignon bites.

Then we followed up by eating the appetizers from Whole Foods.  The first one was another US contestant the Jalapeno Cream Cheese Small Bites.  

These were little triangles filled with a mix of cream cheese and other cheeses with diced fresh jalapeños.  It was similar to a jalapeño popper but with a different outside shell and diced jalapeños that were fresh and not pickled.  They Had a decent amount of heat.  These I thought were just better than the franks.  Next, we tried the Tres Latin Foods, Chicken and Cheese Pupusas.  pupusas are a typical food in El Salvador.  These particular ones are made in Boulder, CO.  

They had a chicken, bean and cheese filling inside a masa patty.  They tasted like a bland enchilada with no sauce.  They were much better if you added some salsa.  This was definitely the worst appetizer yet.  Next up was the Sukhis potato Samosas our Indian contestant.  

These were also triangles These had a crispy pastry like outside and filled with peas, potatoes, and Indian spices.  They were very good on their own. The box also includes a cilantro chutney that was kind of like a salsa which made these samosas even better and into the silver medal spot for now.

Next up was the Brazi Bites Brazilian Cheese Bread.  

These were bread balls with a lot of cheese.  They were pretty good and would go good with anything.  Not the best appetizer but also not the worst.  After this was the Spinach & Cheese Spanakopita representing Greece.

 

These had layered phyllo dough that kept breaking off with feta and spinach.  They were excellent, I really enjoyed them.  They just beat out the Indian samosas to get into solid medal position.  

Then we finished up with South Korea.  We tried the Bibigo beef and vegetable mandu that we found at King Soopers.  

These were basically like Chinese dumplings or potstickers but a little larger.  They were filled with a lot of bulgogi beef and a few veggies carrots, onions, cabbage, and a few glass noodles.

And as the last contestant the Bibigo mandu takes the gold dropping the Omaha Steaks filet mignon bites to silver, the Greek Spanakopita to bronze and the Indian samosas out of the medals.

Gold South Korea Bibigo beef and vegetable mandu

Silver United States Omaha Steaks filet mignon bites

Bronze Greece Whole Foods Spanakopita