Wednesday, July 1, 2026

BelGioioso Burrata Minis

On balance, I'm glad I live alone right now (for both allergy and noise reasons), but there are a few major downsides, and one of those is burrata. This is a set of 4 "mini" balls (each being a 2 serving 2-ouncer, so not actually that mini at all), and as the packaging warns you, you better eat it within one (1) day or you will suffer the most horrible agony. One of these is great on pesto pasta, or with olive oil and tomatoes, or whatever you have going along those lines. Two is a little much, but maybe doable if that's all you're eating that day. That leaves 2 burrataballs that solo-you simply cannot eat or you will suffer intense agony, either from overeating fatty cheese (a lesson I've learned a few too many times) or eating very smelly expired milk product (a lesson I only needed to learn once). You can't freeze it, either. The only choice is to waste food or to never buy it. Or, I guess, to have friends?? 

Anyway, as I said, it's very good. Mozz outside, wet mozz-goo inside. Good temperature contrast to hot food. Fun. Makes me think of Alyssa always getting burrata at trivia and me being jealous and also scared because it came with walnuts. And it is for those reasons that I made the sad choice to buy it...  just this once. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10 

Kennedy Creek Growers Basil

I really need to get my herb planting situation sorted. Buying fresh herbs is like one of the dumbest wastes of money in my tightly-controlled life (cofe and snacks don't count because those aren't wastes ty), and yet!! There's always something more urgent to do (like write this blog post? Hmm). Basil's one of the worst culprits because I go through a ton of it (more now that the only cheeses I eat are fresh) and, as this exemplar showed, it only lasts 1 day (IF THAT) when you buy it from the store and live in the fiery pits of hell. Anyway, I sprayed it with hourly cold water and it survived just enough to produce the 1.5c of basil I needed for my nut-free pesto, which was fresh and delicious. And the company is at least local to me, so I guess it could be worse. We did it, basil! 

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [3.50, fair but demoralizing]
Taste: 7/10