Episode 3/Transcription

Ursula: Hello again, everyone out there in Internet land! I should really get another intro to that, 'cause I'm sure someone else uses that already, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.
Kevin: It's just that sort of thing. It is the third episode of what is tentatively titled Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap, because we can't eat expensive all the time --
Ursula: Or very much of the time, anymore, unfortunately --
Kevin: Yes, it is sad. And this week we have --
Ursula: Buy art. Buy art, people, and we'll start doing Kevin and Ursula Eat Expensive.
Kevin: Um, yeah! I like this idea, I like the idea of Kevin and Ursula eating expensive. I would say that this week's choices aren't exactly cheap but they seem to be -- we'll see if they're a good value. So, yeah, if you like the name that's great, tell us about it; if you don't, please, feel free to tell us about it.
Ursula: Or suggest a better one.
Kevin: Yes. We're still looking for names and when we have a name that we can actually, you know, get a domain for then we'll actually end up in iTunes and stuff like that. And here is our regular visitor, Sammy the cat. So beware meows and purrs and loving on the microphone.
Ursula: This week's review --
Kevin: Yes, this week's review --
Ursula: We have two of the idiot-level cooking --
Kevin: I wouldn't call it idiot-level, but, uh, the simpler items --
Ursula: I'm doing the cooking, so I'll call it idiot-level.
Kevin: All right, yes, we have two. One is a frozen tortilla casserole and black bean by Amy's, a brand I really have enjoyed other things from, and also we have some Thai single-serve pad thai.
Ursula: From Thai Pavilion --
Kevin: Thai Pavilion, yes --
Ursula: "True Thai food, microwavable and ready in three minutes," or so it claims.
Kevin: So --
Ursula: And for our intermediate level, for those of you who can operate a frypan and a stove without having to call the fire department, we are reviewing the Contessa frozen stir-fry Mongolian Beef.
Kevin: And we'll actually talk about that one, since we're not cooking it live, while we're cooking -- uh, you want to go with the Amy's bowls first and I'll talk a little about --
Ursula: I'm afraid they'll thaw out while we're talking, so I'd better cook them.
Kevin: Yeah. Now the thing about the Amy's bowls noodles is a frozen dish, it runs about five dollars at our local grocery store --
Ursula: It's probably the high-end spendy of the single foo-- single, you know, person lunch menu --
Kevin: Yeah, now one of the great things about Amy's Kitchens, I've seen them several times --
Ursula: *rustling noises* Wait a minute, am I supposed to take it out of the plastic?
Kevin: Yes, you're supposed to-- hold on. Directions. You see, this is how we do this. "Microwave: Make a two-inch slit in overwrap--"
Ursula: --whoops--
Kevin: "--cook on high four to five minutes." Well, if you've split it -- close enough.
Ursula: It's more of a five-inch split, but we'll go with it.
Kevin: Whatever.
Ursula: Holy crap! I made hot apple cider three hours ago and forgot it was in there.
Kevin: All right, so, as you can see we do record live in our kitchen. As I was about to say while she's --
Ursula: How long do I nuke this for?
Kevin: Uh, four to five minutes. So, one of the things I really liked about Amy's... foods, in general, they're organic, they are family-owned --
Ursula: They're entirely vegetarian and surprisingly good nonetheless.
Kevin: Surprisingly good. If you haven't seen -- if you watch Food TV, every so often on Unwrapped, or on, I think it's Science and How It's Made, they'll do a feature on the stuff that Amy's makes. What I really like about it, yeah, again, it's organic, it's -- this particular dish is gluten-free, it's really well-done, family-owned, they really care about quality.
Ursula: And there's a little note saying that it has no GMOs, there are no bio-engineered ingredients. Honestly, I have no idea how much that matters -- I'm pretty laid-back about bioengineered food, as long as it looks like a cow and they're not just, you know, harvesting large flanks of steak from, you know, quivering blobs laying in the field -- although that might actually be better 'cause then I wouldn't feel guilty about it, it's hard to sympathize with a quivering blob. But anyway, that's neither here nor there.
Kevin: Right.
Ursula: I'm a little iffy about the GMO salmon they're producing that's the giant salmon that gets twice as big twice as fast; I'm sure that's gonna cross with the wild population and then we're all gonna be really sorry, because then we'll have a lot of freak salmon out there!
Kevin: And very confused bears, as they were saying on NPR earlier today.
Ursula: Yeah, well, the bears might be happy with it, but it'll probably turn out that they're horribly radioactive and if you eat them you get like toenail cancer or something.
Kevin: I, I, um... anyway.
Ursula: For the most part, though, I don't worry about it that much. Although if you can, and you're growing your own vegetables which occasionally I even manage to do, go for heirloom varieties; they throw much truer seeds, you can grow the same thing, it's not like, you know, some of these crap where you plant a seed and you can't harvest any seeds off of it because it's illegal and won't grow and all sorts of things.
Kevin: So one of the things that Amy's is really big on is organic, family-owned -- they actually started the company because when their daughter was born they were like "well, we want her to have the same food options when she leaves the house and -- and in our house as we do" because they were committed vegetarians, and they ran into the problem that it's very hard to buy vegetarian food outside of the home, and so started producing their own stuff.
Ursula: It must be said whenever they interview the owners, they seem like very nice people and I'm -- they also seem like barking moonbats. But they're well-meaning barking moonbats who put out a good food.
Kevin: They put out an excellent food.
Ursula: However, we must dock them points, because on the back, when they are describing the dish, they say "The result is delicious and might remind you of a bowl of nachos", but there are quote marks around the nachos. Abuse of apos-- of punctuation does dock you points.
Kevin: And we have yet to figure out a rating scale. I think we're doing it what, week to week now?
Ursula: Yes, it's on the fly. I believe this week we are doing our ratings out of, uh, collapsible forks.
Kevin: Sure! Collapsible forks works for me.
Ursula: Yes. We have another minute and a half to run on --
Kevin: -- minute and a half, so, a quick word about the Mongolian --
Ursula: -- the Contessa Mongolian Beef.
Kevin: The Contessa Mongolian Beef. This is a reasonable easy dish if you're familiar with frypans and oil, because the basic steps is you take out this frozen bag of food, you separate the different compononents out --
Ursula: They come in neatly separated bags.
Kevin: Pretty much. You heat the oil and you brown the precooked beef so that it's crispy, you add the frozen chopped vegetables and you microwave the bag of rice, and then when it's all done you add the sauce, simmer everything together for like a minute, it takes about -- it took about, what, ten minutes maybe?
Ursula: The bag says that it's "A skillet meal in six minutes", I'd allow for ten. That said, it's actually pretty easy, we're saying intermediate 'cause there is some cooking but this was a dish I could have made in my single days without burning the house down.
Kevin: Yeah, if you're afraid of a frypan with frying oil, approach with caution, but it's really not that difficult, so...
Ursula: It was pretty good. I have to say, I actually rather liked it, it was not quite -- it was a good quality mall Chinese, maybe, not good -- you know, a mediocre restaurant Chinese.
Kevin: I will agree with that. One of the nice things about it is the -- oh, look, the Amy's is done -- the beef was not your usual cut-grade chewy chewy beef; it was obviously processed beef of some sort, but it wasn't -- you know, the usual extra-stringy been-frozen been-thawed been-reheated kinda thing that you get.
Ursula: That said, it was very easy to overcook the beef, Kevin overcooked it just a tad.
Kevin: Just a tad.
Ursula: It wasn't actually bad that way, it -- but you could tell that it was easy to go over.
Kevin: Yeah. I love the timing on this on Sunday afternoons, because after our brunch earlier -- bacon and pancakes, by the way -- I'm actually hungry --
Ursula: You could talk about the canned Bisquick.
Kevin: We will, uh, we'll save the instant -- not instant, but the shake-and-pour pancake mix for another day -- but by the time we get to recording this, I'm actually very hungry. We end up eating these and then having a very very light dinner because we're having, you know, a lot of food late in the afternoon.
Ursula: Okay, one complaint about the Amy's meal --
Kevin: Yes?
Ursula: It's in a thin cardboard kind of bowl, which will probably break down in a landfill much quicker, which we should certainly endorse -- 
Kevin: Right.
Ursula: -- but it is kind of messy to grab ahold of. It tends to buckle a bit, so you're having to grab the ends of this hot flimsy cardboard and it's kind of making a little taco shape.
Kevin: Perhaps we should put a plate under it. So, advising right now --
Ursula: Oh, you and your logic.
Kevin: -- put a plate underneath this before you cook it just so that you don't burn yourself, which is what we're... running into at this point.
Ursula: Or spill it all over the counter or your feet.
Kevin: Or your feet, feet would be bad.
Ursula: One last word about the Contessa, it's about $7.99 usual, we got it on sale I believe for either $5.99 or $6.99 --
Kevin: Yep.
Ursula: It serves two people as long as they're not incredibly ravenous, it doesn't leave leftovers. It's not a bad bargain, it's not an amazing bargain, but it's sufficiently tasty that I would give it, y'know, three and a half, four toasting forks out of five?
Kevin: Three and a half or four, all right, I'm gonna take the picture -- people have asked for pictures of these things, so I'm taking a wonderful lovely iPhone picture of the Amy's bowl.
Ursula: It doesn't look too dissimilar to the packaging.
Kevin: Yeah. While -- before we start eating that why don't you -- we look at the, um...
Ursula: Pad thai?
Kevin: Pad thai. This is a little more complicated, so -- all right, let's taste this first so that when we have to get into the complicated we're not, you know, trying to do two things at once. So...
Ursula: I am trying -- this comes in two halves, there's a black bean half and a tortilla casserole half. I am trying the black beans.
Kevin: I'm after the tortilla casserole here. Hmm. Hm, that's... that's microwaved tortilla all right.
Ursula: I'm gonna say refried black beans are refried black beans pretty much whatever you do to them.
Kevin: Yeah.
Ursula: They're not terrible, they're -- you know, they're decent. They're... my world is not being rocked, but it is a rock-solid refried black bean.
Kevin: Mhm. I am -- heh, I agree with my mouth full. The tortillas are definitely, you know, wet, kinda soggy tortillas, I wouldn't expect crunchy in this particular situation; they're tortillas with sauce on them. And cheese. The beans are... beans, yeah.
Ursula: This tastes like leftovers.
Kevin: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Ursula: This is like nuki-- this is like when you make nachos and the next day -- or, you know, tamales or something -- and next day you nuke it, and...
Kevin: Mhmm, yeah.
Ursula: And some of the flavors are still there but the texture has gotten kinda mushy.
Kevin: Mm-hm.
Ursula: So...
Kevin: All right, if I was a vegetarian, who was looking specifically for this kind of food, I would be very very happy with this.
Ursula: I don't know, I think vegetarians deserve decent texture in their food too.
Kevin: Well --
Ursula: Some of my good friends are vegetarians.
Kevin: But I mean, in terms of availability, in terms of convenience, in terms of knowing that I'm getting it and I'm not, you know, I don't have to worry about... stuff.
Ursula: If taste is not your primary concern in what you eat, this is a perfectly good food.
Kevin: Actually, I rather like the beans.
Ursula: Yeah, the beans, I'm not --
Kevin: -- the beans are great.
Ursula: It's really hard to screw up a refried black bean.
Kevin: Mmm, that's fair.
Ursula: They're definitely the better part of the two, though.
Kevin: Mm-hm, mhm.
Ursula: So this -- ehh...
Kevin: Mm, could use a little more cheese.
Ursula: I'm gonna give it two and a half out of five toa-- collapsible microwave forks.
Kevin: I'll give it three and a half. It's really hard to do frozen Mexican, and this is very ambitious for -- I mean, if this were like, you know, Stouffer's, trying to do this sort of a dish would be very ambitious. But --
Ursula: You can reward ambition if you like, I am a harsher critic.
Kevin: Yeah.
Ursula: Also I'm more concerned about texture than Kevin is, generally --
Kevin: Mm-hm.
Ursula: -- and texturally the casserole really doesn't quite work. Beans are good, though.
Kevin: The -- now that I'm getting a little further into the actual tortilla bits, the flavor's not bad. All right, you're gonna start on the Thai food now?
Ursula: Yeah, you can finish that out, it's not rockin' my world.
Kevin: Okay, it's not rockin' your world.
Ursula: For the price, definitely not a world-rocker.
Kevin: Yeah -- well, there's the uplift on price because it's organic and it's vegetarian and they're, you know, doing their best to be responsible and that always ends up costing more at the grocery store, unfortunately.
Ursula: I will put in a word -- Amy's canned chili kicks ass.
Kevin: Amy's canned chili is tremendous --
Ursula: Good in nachos.
Kevin: -- and is it Amy's organic ketchup that I have?
Ursula: Uh, Amy... no, it's Annie's organic ketchup.
Kevin: Is it Annie's org-- okay. Because I can't have high fructose corn syrup, I have to look for -- oftentimes look at the organics for ketchups and mustards and the condiments, because they're shoving high fructose corn syrup in those like nobody's business.
Ursula: For the record, I have opened the pad thai --
Kevin: --okay--
Ursula: -- and what I have is a bag of noodles --
Kevin: Bag of noodles --
Ursula: -- a foil packet of something --
Kevin: All right, I'm gonna, while you, you stand over here and describe, I'm going to take the picture.
Ursula: -- a foil packet of something, and one -- something I've never seen before, which is a little tiny packet of oil.
Kevin: You hadn't seen that before?
Ursula: No, I have not seen that the -- the oil packet before, normally -- I guess I don't eat food where they give you oil.
Kevin: I've seen this in other brands and other packaging. Like some of the big cheap ramen bowls, they're advertising "yes, we have the extra flavor in it" and it's basically a bag of flavored oil.
Ursula: They gave you a cheap-ass plastic fork, too.
Kevin: Ooh, and that one includes a fork.
Ursula: Yes. It is, this is a standard plastic, like, picnic-ware fork.
Kevin: It is a standard-size fork. That is good.
Ursula: Unlike the other kind we reviewed, however, this is not one of the cornstarch biodegradable anythings, this is all plastic, it will stay in a landfill forever.
Kevin: Unfortunately. Well --
Ursula: Or at least until they develop a bacteria that eats plastic, which will happen one of these days.
Kevin: Eats plastic. Or in the immortal words of George Carlin, maybe our whole purpose on this planet is to create the plastics, and when there are enough plastics the earth will shake us off like a bad case of fleas, so that it will be a world with plastics because it doesn't need us anymore. I always liked George Carlin; sometimes he was a little bleak, but it was funny. So! 
Ursula: All right, I have -- I am adding enough water to submerge the noodles. This would be better if the noodles didn't float!
Kevin: Okay, that's a problem, yes.
Ursula: However, by smooshing them down, I can get them submerged. 
Kevin: Okay, so you are submerging the noodles...
Ursula: These noodles are submerged.
Kevin: All right. How long do you microwave that for?
Ursula: Uh. "Microwave uncovered at -- for three to four minutes or until noodles are soft."
Kevin: If it's in the microwave -- I've always wondered about that -- if it's in the microwave, how do we determine if the noodles are soft? I mean, there's... microwave for thirty seconds, squish the noodles, put it back in the microwave, put it back in the microwave -- that always seems very inefficient since there's always that surge when the microwave starts, but we're talking convenience not energy-efficient in a lot of ways.
Ursula: Also I feel we're starting to get into philosophy, you know, if the noodles become soft in the microwave and no one squishes them does it make a sound?
Kevin: Yes, this is -- this is fair, I've had my share of crunchy noodles overdone in -- or that weren't quite cooked enough in a three-minute cup-o-noodles, I've had noodles that were overdone in a three-minute cup-o-noodles. 
Ursula: You know, mine are almost always underdone in the three-minute cup-o-noodles. Granted, I haven't eaten those for a long time, ever since this one time that since I couldn't really cook and we had to bring our own food on the camping trip -- it was a week-long camping trip, I was twelve, I packed I think twenty cup-o-noodles? And ever since then, I have not -- and they were all pork-flavored, no less -- and ever since then I have not really been quite as big on cup-o-noodles as I was in my long-ago youth.
Kevin: And in fairness, what'll often happen is I'll be at work, I'll make a cup-o-noodles, and then I'll have to answer a question or a phone call and they'll sit there for five minutes. 
Ursula: Whereas I was always the person who was hovering over the cup-o-noodles going "is it done yet? is it done yet? is it done yet? is it done yet?" and then I got very al dente cup-o-noodles.
Kevin: Yeah. So there is that. It is microwaving away happily.
Ursula: Your kids like cup-o-noodles.
Kevin: My -- well, I recognize that. And I like cup-o-noodles on rare occasions. I'm trying to not allow my kids to live off of cup-o-noodles given the option --
Ursula: No, I totally did when I was a kid, I lived off those things and my grandmother used to say "for God's sakes, you're going to get scurvy." That was her refrain was you have to -- you're gonna get scurvy if you keep eating that, you should drink some milk, because it turned out Grandma had no idea what caused scurvy, so she was convinced if I just drank enough milk with my cup of noodles, I would not get scurvy. I -- she was a lovely woman in many ways, but... science was not her strong suit.
Kevin: *dryly* I'm guessing. Fortunately I'm not worried about scurvy with my kids because they actually like -- absolutely adore things like watermelon and oranges and grapes, so...
Ursula: Well, is the -- well, okay, oranges have vitamin C.
Kevin: Oranges have -- well, everything sort of gets -- and then of course the cereal might be loaded with sugar but it is enriched with things like vitamin C and D, so.
Ursula: Hardly anybody gets scurvy anymore.
Kevin: No, there's enough in -- there's enough additives to prevent that. So! The microwaving goes and goes and goes, and we're just not as entertaining this week. 
Ursula: We're tired. 
Kevin: We are.
Ursula: We could always cut this part.
Kevin: We might. I don't know, we'll see. Although I like giving everybody the unfiltered experience while the microwave is rolling.
Ursula: Speaking of unfiltered experiences, everybody cheer, Kevin has been a nonsmoker for a month at about this point, and at some point should probably do a review of stop-smoking methods... *laughs*
Kevin: Um, it's really -- the big thing, any one of them will work if you put your mind to actually deciding to quit. The most interesting thing about it, on topic of food, has been that I used to be very very big into the very hot and spicy and then I had to stop eating it just because of... GI problems associated with that, and now even, you know, things that were lightly spiced before -- I was still a little -- you know, it's a little bland but whatever -- and all of a sudden, the mild things are all up in my face, I had mild wings the other day and it was... incredible. I was like "wow, this is a lot hotter than I remember these being". And I think that is an effect of the not smoking at this point. I haven't noticed any significant difference in... general flavors, but intensities seem to be a little different now. And there goes the microwave, so! What's the next step?
Ursula: Uh. "Danger."
Kevin: Danger?
Ursula: Yes, okay, it is microwaved uncovered, now I must "Secure the lid to the tray" --
Kevin: Secure the lid to the tray --
Ursula: -- then "Carefully drain hot water from tray through the corner holes of lid by tipping tray towards holes."
Kevin: All right, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to dial 9 and 1, and hover by the final 1 and the Send in case of... burns. This is by far the most complicated we've gotten in one of these.
Ursula: Oh, and also it spilled a whole bunch in the microwave which is now soaking wet.
Kevin: Oh, so it boiled over in the microwave as well.
Ursula: Yes. And I -- why don't I have a potholder?
Kevin: I don't know, why don't you have a potholder?
Ursula: Because it fell on the floor and I put it in the living -- laundry room to be washed, and why am I mopping up boiling water with a paper towel that is wicking boiling water onto me?
Kevin: I... I don't know. Um, we have more than one potholder. We do.
Ursula: So you claim.
Kevin: So I claim. 
Ursula: Actually, let me just say, I have a lovely potholder that was crocheted for me by a fan some years ago --
Kevin: Well, there you go!
Ursula: -- and I have clung to it, it is very vivid, I am very fond of it.
Kevin: It is, I think it's much better than my Tasmanian Devil barbecuing with his little... hat, his cowboy hat on and his stuff. So... uh, I... like Warner Brothers --
Ursula: Yes you do.
Kevin: -- and they had a store in New York City near where I lived and so I bought a lot of... housewares from them, because hey, where else can you get a Tasmanian Devil hot-hand? She is pouring...
Ursula: Internet.
Kevin: Internet? Oh, well, they didn't have them on the Internet at the time. Now, maybe, but at the time the only place was, you know, the Warner Brothers store on Fifth Avenue. 
Ursula: So yes, I'm gonna say right now, do not attempt this dish without potholders. 
Kevin: Right. This one requires -- how are the noodles looking?
Ursula: I'm still happy not to be dead.
Kevin: All right, that's fair. She has successfully drained -- I can stand down on the cell phone, which -- okay, the noodles look good, the noodles look good at this distance.
Ursula: I am sampling a -- ow, hot, hot, bugger! I --
Kevin: You, um --
Ursula: The noodles -- noodle -- they're fine.
Kevin: They're fine, okay. Then there's, you know, the acceptable method is not necessarily to eat them but to throw them at the, uh, I usually throw them at the refrigerator and if they stick they're done.
Ursula: If you're at work, do not throw them at your co-workers. Unless they like that sort of thing.
Kevin: Yeah, well, and that's a very special workplace. So, no throwing at co-workers.
Ursula: "Remove lid, add contents of both oil and seasoning packet."
Kevin: All right, so there goes the seasoning packet, it looks like -- 
Ursula: -- which is completely dry, so --
Kevin: -- completely dry, so it's the liquid in the noodles and the oil packet that is going to provide the good stuff for this one. Am I right?
Ursula: Yeah, I'm fine, stupid oil...
Kevin: Oh yeah, the oil packet, and I bet you're slimy now too.
Ursula: Somewhat, yes.
Kevin: Yeah.
Ursula: So yes, there is oil wrestling involved.
Kevin: Oil wr-- well there, we've just said the statement that will make a whole bunch of fans very happy in very very strange ways. Oil wrestling with Ursula. ...I can't believe I just said that. All right, now you are stirring with the provided fork.
Ursula: I am stirring with the provided fork. One might as well go all out.
Kevin: All right then. How is that working? 
Ursula: Enh.
Kevin: Enh?
Ursula: Let me -- here, I will describe for the studio audience --
Kevin: Okay. Oh, there you go, yes.
Ursula: -- or the non-studio audience. It's kinda gritty looking, but -- and there are little fragments of something that might be chive --
Kevin: May I?
Ursula: Yes, please, feel free.
Kevin: Okay, here we go, it's -- yeah, this fork is almost inadequate for this -- it requires a lot of -- be easier if I could just shake it up. Shaking would be good. All right, I think I've got a good coating on everything now.
Ursula: Yes, it's looking fairly even.
Kevin: There we are. All right.
Ursula: I can't say this looks that m-- well, okay, this is sorta the same stuff in the photo, except in the photo on the box they put it on an attractive tray with a completely different metal fork, not the provided one, and a garnish and peanuts. So if you want to put this on an attractive dish, garnish with peanuts and -- I believe that's some kind of lettuce -- and get a nice fork, it might look like that.
Kevin: Hmm.
Ursula: Kevin is eating it with an expression that indicates he is not sure what he is eating.
Kevin: Interesting. Give it a try.
Ursula: I have to say this got a little... gloppy.
Kevin: Mm-hm. There's a little grit, there's a little spice...
Ursula: Yes. It's kind of spicy.
Kevin: ...not used to spicy pad thai...
Ursula: It's -- the texture is a little gritty --
Kevin: Yeah.
Ursula: And the noodles got a little gluey.
Kevin: They did, they did indeed.
Ursula: So they're gritty and gluey --
Kevin: Ah, aah, mm.
Ursula: -- which is not a great combination. Kevin is however eating with the provided fork.
Kevin: Mhmm! The provided fork is not a collapsible fork, and the gooeyness of it means that you get large glops of noodles, so I had to basically lift that up over my head and now I have noodles on my face.
Ursula: This is difficult to eat if you have a beard. Fortunately, I do not.
Kevin: There you go. 'S, the noodle ended up on my nose. Mm, what do you think?
Ursula: I'm gonna throw this into the -- it's food, and if you're at work, it will keep you going, it's fuel. It is not something that I would rush out and go "I gotta buy me twenty more of these", it's... adequate.
Kevin: Um, yes. 
Ursula: It's food.
Kevin: It's a fairly standard noodle bowl, with spices. It's a little warmer than your average noodle bowl --
Ursula: In terms of hot spiciness.
Kevin: Right. And -- but it's not something to write home about. In a very crowded market, this doesn't really differentiate itself in my mind from --
Ursula: How much did it cost, do you remember?
Kevin: I... don't remember how much it cost. It didn't seem to be that much different than similar products from, uh, what was...
Ursula: Simply Asia...
Kevin: Simply Asia and stuff like that, yeah. Or Taste of Thai. 
Ursula: I'm gonna give this two outta five collapsible forks. 
Kevin: This is a two and a half. It's average. There's nothing special or exciting about it, except the packaging which makes it a lot easier to drain the noodles than a lot of the other ones I've seen.
Ursula: I don't think it makes it easier to drain the noodles, I think it makes it a lot more dangerous to drain the noodles. I would actually give this the two based on difficulty of preparation -- you have to have potholders, or you have to have extremely durable fingertips.
Kevin: Yeah. Unlike some of the other things -- I guess you're right, some of the other things that I've had at work where you can -- that come with a drainable lid, a much easier-to-drain lid, that one was a little more difficult. Yeah.
Ursula: Yeah. So I'm meh.
Kevin: Eh. But I mean, it's average, it's nothing to write home about. And I grabbed it because it was -- you know, something new on the shelves, which is how I decide a lot of these, "ooh, what are we going to review this week? I don't know, what's out there?"
Ursula: Although I'm agitating for an all mac'n'cheese episode.
Kevin: Yes, and there are several to work from with that.
Ursula: Yes. We would have to do some preparation in advance so that we could, you know, compare and contrast, but --
Kevin: Right. So, all right, to summarize. Amy's chili bowl, Amy's -- ah, here we go. Amy's Tortilla Casserole and Black Beans Bowl, from the frozen section, about...
Ursula: Mediocre and overpriced.
Kevin: I'd go with average and overpriced. Our Thai Pavilion Single-Serve Pad Thai, "True Thai food". Eh - no, it was an average instant noodles, it was an average sauce...
Ursula: With an element of danger.
Kevin: With an element of danger...
Ursula: Meh.
Kevin: Meh. So, so far so good, and then what was the Mongolian?
Ursula: The Contessa Stir-Fry Frozen Mongolio-- Mongolian Beef for Two. Slightly on the spendy side but easy and actually pretty tasty.
Kevin: That was what, like seven bucks for two people.
Ursula: Right, and if you can get it on sale it can be even less, I've gotten it for $5.99 for a pack, I think it usually goes for $7.99 or $8.99?
Kevin: Yeah.
Ursula: Also, that particular variety is -- and sadly we don't have a photo -- is made in one of those new green factories that are like the zero emission or the things, which is all over the label, so.
Kevin: Yeah.
Ursula: There's something to be said for that.
Kevin: There's something to be said for that.
Ursula: So while I'd recommend that one, I don't think I'd really recommend either of the --
Kevin: Yeah, they're -- it -- maybe for a break occasionally, but it's nothin' to write home about, nothing to get excited about.
Ursula: Yeah.
Kevin: You know, and maybe, the frozen one, a little pricey, compared to some of the other frozen meals. So.
Ursula: All right, well, that'll do it for this week, then.
Kevin: All right! And then next week we'll see what is in the grocery store and we'll find something to talk about.
Ursula: Write us if you have any suggestions of food you really want to see reviewed.
Kevin: Write us if you think the name is appropriate or if you think we're -- we should have something... a lot different.
Ursula: Perhaps involving the beagle. I will also say to clarify, the beagle would've eaten anything described today.
Kevin: Pretty much, pretty much.
Ursula: Yes.
Kevin: He was begging for the Mongolian; he's sleeping right now, so I guess he's not as interested in the noodles.
Ursula: He probably wouldn't have eaten the plastic fork but I wouldn't put money on it.
Kevin: Nah, I wouldn't put money on it.
Ursula: Thank you, and talk to you next week!
Kevin: Mm, bye.
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