To seaweed or not to seaweed….

Recently I had a chance to sample some Asian cuisine from Annie Chun’s.  Now before I tell you about this stuff let me give you a little background.  I have LOTS of experience eating those quick microwaveable meals from the freezer section (I always panic when its time to take food to work for lunch since I’m too lazy to do it the night before, and well, they are just handy), some “Asian style” ones and others not.  I also have lots of experience eating at buffets at Asian restaurants.  I have little experience with eating anything that may be somewhat “authentic” Asian Cuisine.  So here I had this opportunity to try this all natural Asian cuisine, and I had my hopes set on a somewhat low level, as I wasn’t really sure how this was all going to turn out.  I mean I have had a little experience with trying new things, and a lot of times, it sounds good on the outside, but just ends up disappointing.  Well let me show you what I was able to try out:

 Annie Chun’s Teriyaki Noodle Bowl.  Look at how good this looks on the picture!  I was actually pretty excited to try this one.  

  Here is what it looks like after I made it.  Not quite like the picture, but it actually did taste pretty good, so I was impressed.  What I was not impressed with was all the steps I needed to follow to make it.  First I had to fill the bowl with a certain amount of water (I think like 1/2 a cup) and mix in the seasoning mix.  I DO NOT have a measuring cup with me at work, so I just guessed.  There is a little line on the bowl that says fill line, but why don’t the directions just say “fill to the line” then?  Anywho, once you add water, then you have to cover it with the lid, but not tight, and heat it.  Then go drain the water using the lid, then come back and mix in the liquid flavoring.  Okay, this may not seem like all that many steps, or all that bad to anyone who has an actual employee lounge or lunchroom or break-room at work, but all I have is a bathroom down the hall and a microwave under my desk.  It makes it pretty inconvenient to say the least.  I just want something I can pop into the microwave, run it for a few minutes, and eat.  

 The next day I tried this Udon Soup Bowl.  I was not quite as excited to try this one, as I am not really a soup fan unless it is chicken noodle and dumpling…my fave!  I figured I would give it a shot though.  Unfortunately I did not take a picture of this one after I made it, but it did look pretty similar to what is on the packaging.  This one was a tad easier to make as I didn’t have to drain the water, because it is soup is my guess but you can make your own assumptions.  The taste was okay.  I probably wouldn’t buy it for myself as this just isn’t my thing, but for those who really like Asian food or really like this kind of soup, or soup in general, you would probably really like this.  It is convenient to have around since it required no refrigeration, and the noodles actually come pre-cooked and soft (not like the hard packaged ones you get in the freezer meals).  They are sealed using a fresh seal technology (I don’t really know what they do, but it keeps the noodles soft and tasty so whatever it is, it is working).  So I say go for it if you tend to like this kind of food, you will probably be impressed.

 The next day I was really hard pressed for time and was rushing out the door for work, well this is pretty much every day, but today I was particularly behind.  I didn’t have any leftovers I could just grab so I figured I would just grab this rice bowl and eat this. Now typically I would say you need to have something to go with your rice, but I was in a hurry and anything would do at this point, plus this actually looked really good on the packaging.

  Here is what my rice bowl looked like after I made it, for breakfast.  Yes, I was really hungry and I usually eat breakfast but I didn’t have any time and when I got to work my stomach was begging me for food.  I made the rice bowl and ate it.  As far as rice goes this was excellent, however, I still say that you really need something with your rice.  A sauce, stir-fry, chicken, anything to make it a little less….bland.   This is actually something that would be really handy to have around at work if you have some leftover stir-fry, roast, or anything else and you want to have a little rice to go with it.  To make it you just crack the seal and pop it in the microwave, you don’t even have to run to the bathroom down the hall and add any water, it is just ready to heat and go!  I would probably get more of these just for that reason.  This one I like.  

So far the stuff I’ve been able to try out has been okay and some of it pretty good.  Then we have this little bugger:

  I was actually really excited to try these, and I really, really wanted them to be tasty and delicious and everything my kids and I would love to snack on.  Unfortunately, they taste pretty much like you would expect seaweed to taste.  Like Seaweed.  Even a little fishy to be honest.  Now I got a bunch of these samples to give out to my moms in my moms group, and was able to get quite a few reactions to these.  The consensus was pretty much unanimous, everyone gave them a fair chance, the good ‘ole college try, but they just really weren’t something that anyone would eat or buy for themselves.  I can’t blame them.  My husband wouldn’t even try the wasabi flavor, which I thought actually tasted a little better than the Sesame flavor, simply because as he claimed, “it just has a bad aftertaste, I can’t eat anymore.”  Sorry Annie Chun’s, I really wanted this one to be good and my go-to snack, but I’m just gonna have to pass on the seaweed snacks.

Now don’t let the seaweed snacks throw you off of Annie Chun’s other products.  The other things I tried were actually quite good, and they have tons of Asian products on their website that are probably really good.  Check it out for yourself here:  http://www.anniechun.com/

Oh, and if you order anything by Oct 31st you can get 20% off your entire order.  Just go to the website http://www.anniechun.com/ and click “shop online.”  When you are ready to order, just enter “momsmeet20” at checkout.