Examinations of Gustatory Response

Today marked our long awaited (2 weeks) return to the Market. You know what that means!!!

Gotcha! This wasn't a breakfast burrito. Unfortunately, that guy wasn't at the Market today. Luckily, there was another delicious option:

This polish sausage was really very good. It should be too, let me tell you.

Sidney went the more frugal route and got a cinnamon roll from the church.

It was really really good.

Also, this week Sidney discontinued her double chocolate banana muffins in favor of lemon poppy seed muffins. Of course, we had to sample one, of course for quality assurance purposes.

It was very very good as well! It's just a given that anything Sidney makes, especially if it's baked, is going to be amazing. Take, for instance, this week's Frankencookie.

Since I wasn't around yesterday to share this cookie with her, Sidney saved it for today. It was a little bit chocolate chip walnut oatmeal, a little bit breakfast cookie, and a little bit Devil's chocolate.

Again, it was very very good.

When we got back from the Market, I had some baking to do myself. Without completely spoiling the surprise, I'll give you a little sneak peak:

Of course, when undertaking projects such as these, there will inevitably be instances of:

These weren't the only two examples either. There were quite a few more.

Sidney and I then headed to my parents' house. When we got there, my mom recommended some tortilla chips that were extremely "fluffy" and delicious, for lack of a better word. I tried one with some salsa.

Then we started on dinner. We decided on burgers tonight, so I fired up the grill and broke out the cast iron skillets.

After the buns were toasted, it was time for burger assembly. I started with my secret weapon for today's burgers:

Then on went a patty with cheese and some onions.

This was followed by another cheesy patty and some mayonnaise on the top bun.

Instead of fries, I hit up the tortilla chips and salsa to complement my burger.

I also had a yogurt and poppy seed salad.

At this point, I was surely artificially intoxicated with all the poppy seeds I had today. But just look at this burger:

It was very very good (the theme of the day). It may have even been as good as griddle burgers. Granted, using cast iron skillets is really very similar to using a cast iron skillet, but these weren't smashed quite as thinly. But, again, they were still really good.

After everyone had eaten, there was still one patty left. I decided that not only would I eat it, but that I would also make something I've been wanting to try.

For months now I've been wanting to try to make a homemade version of Freddy's now famous Fry Sauce. I knew it was essentially mayonnaise and ketchup, but I had recently found a recipe online that looked pretty promising. So I pulled that recipe up and whipped it all together really quick.

 
I plopped a generous amount on the bottom bun and placed the burger on top.

It was actually better than I expected it to be, and I had high hopes for this. It was interesting, though, when I considered that the main ingredients in this sauce were all things that are already very common to find on burgers. These ingredients are mayonnaise, ketchup, and pickles (juice, in this case). At any rate, it tasted really good.

I also tried the sauce with some potato chips, and this was quite good as well. I think this homemade sauce would be excellent on fries. Hmmm, fry sauce good on fries...brilliant!!

My dad then proceeded to belt junk food at me, so I obliged in carrying out an unbiased and purely scientific examination of gustatory response. The test subject: Suzie Q.

Results: Decent, but the cake was a little dry.

A little while later, my abilities in gustatory response examination were again required. This time, the test subject was chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Results: Very very good (as if it could be anything else).