Just got them today because they were on sale for $3 for 12. They were in the bakery section in a plastic box. They are *delicious*.
Author: admin (Page 35 of 51)
Over the years I have come across recipes that called for smoking whatever you were grilling by putting wood chips in the BBQ grill’s smoker box. I have a very simple gas BBQ grill, so of course it does not have a smoker box – so I usually just ignored those recipes. But a week or two ago, I came across a smoker box at Grocery Outlet and I figured, why not give it a try? The box is a rectangular metal box with a metal lid that has holes in it. You put it on top of the burning element, under the grill.
I first tried it last week when I made Smoked Tri Tip with Sicilian Herb Sauce for a small BBQ that I threw. Alas, the sauce (which I used as a marinade) was too strong to let the smoke flavor come out. Today, however, I “smoked” two cheap Safeway NY steaks, and I can’t believe just how good the meat was. Even Mike was surprised.
I was also quite happy about how easy the whole process was. I’ll be experimenting with other meats in the future.
Golden Tea Garden is by far my favorite tea house in the East Bay. Today I visited it for the fourth time in four months and once again I had a great experience.
This time I tried the Margaret’s Hope tea (after researching and finding out it is, indeed, black) – and I liked it more than the English Breakfast or Earl Gray. It’s a Darjeeling, but one that can stand up to milk and sugar. It’s particularly good if you let it seep for a while. Mika (my 7-year old daughter and companion) once again had the caramel tea which she loved.
Golden Tea Garden now offers a “wee tea” for children 10 and younger ($7). It consists of a small pot of tea and a little plate of goodies. Today they consisted of a bite-size brownie, a petit four, two mini-sandwiches (the chicken salad one was quite good), two slices of green apple and a bag of gummy bears. Mika was happy with the petit four and gummy bears, but declined to try the rest. Instead, she went for the cakes in my “Tea Garden sampler” ($13), which consists of a large pot of tea and 3 desserts. Every time I’ve gone so far, the 3 desserts are three huge slices of cake – definitely enough to share (or to take one slice back home). Today there was a peach one that I really liked, a pink champagne one that Mika loved, and the perpetual red velvet cake that is a favorite of both of us. Yes, we both ended up in sugar coma.
Service, once again, was wonderful – and once again Mika got to be a princess with a complimentary jewelry set. She also loved trying the hats in a big box by the entrance.
My only concern with this tea house is that it’s so empty on Sundays. I really, really like it, and I really want it to survive – so go!
Feb. 2010 update. I returned to the Golden Tea Garden with my friends Vienna and Lotty a couple of weeks ago and once again we had an amazing experience. The food was excellent, the service first class and the little touches as cute as always. Vienna had the tea with sandwiches this time, a newish option, and she raved about everyone one of them – the chicken salad was a particular favorite. Lotty had the scones, which were also first rate, and I had my usual “garden sampler” which includes 3 huge slices of cakes. This time they featured a no-sugar-added chocolate cake which I found a bit dry and not very chocolaty. Vienna and Lotty really liked it, though, they appreciated it being less sweet than the usual kind. We also tasted their new gluten-free raspberry cream cake which is absolutely delicious.
Of course, Mika was jealous that she didn’t get to go – so I’ll be taking her there soon, I’m sure.
The Kids’ Tea
The Dessert Sampler
The Golden Tea Garden
22630 Main Street
Hayward, CA
(510) 538-4832
http://www.buylocalcampaign.com/teaGarden/
Th-Su 12 – 8 PM
Original Review
Reviews of Bay Area Tea Houses
Someone must have brought this wine to my wine-and-cheese birthday party a few months back, because I don’t remember buying it. I did put it in the fridge, however, and it came out this weekend when I threw a very small BBQ. I’m glad it did, because it’s a very good wine and one that I’d definitely want to have again.
This Chardonnay comes from the Central Coast and does not fulfill the stereotype of California Chardonnays as being very heavy and oaky. It’s crisp, with a nice balance of sweet to tart, and bare hints of fruit and butter. It’s easy to drink, but complex and layered enough to stand up to food. I had it with a marinated tri-tip and it went quite well with it. The leftovers kept well in the refrigerator for a few days.
In all, a very good wine, specially for its $12 retail price. The only problem is that I don’t know where to buy it.
While looking for a picture of Royale Center Cut Naturally Smoked Bacon, or at least a link to the manufacturer’s website, I came across bacon tasting from the SF Chronicle in which Royale Bacon came at the bottom. The bottom bottom, getting only 24 out of 100 points. The winner, Tyson (really, Tyson), got 80 points.
I have to say that I don’t agree with the tasters. Royale may not have the best bacon, but I actually think it’s pretty good. It has a slightly sweet flavor that I like. Is it the best bacon I’ve ever had? Probably not, but it’s great in my spaghetti carbonara.
I bought it at Grocery Outlet, which carries several Tyson products, so I will look for the Tyson bacon and give it a try.
Grocery Outlet had these cookies for sale last week in a variety of flavors. Some of the no-name products have actually turned out to be quite good, so I decided to give the chocolate walnut cookies a try. Well, they were so bad that my 7-year old daughter, not the pickiest of gourmands, stated that these “must be the worst cookies ever”. Mike also commented as to how bad they are.
Alas, I have to agree, they have no chocolate flavor whatsoever and nothing that could be identified as a walnut. They just suck. Perhaps other flavors are better, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I just received the following e-mail which is clearly a scam. In the e-mail a purported company wants to make reservations at “your” restaurant. They ask for a set menu and offer to provide their credit card details for full payment.
Now, I’m not sure *how* this scam works exactly* – but I know it’s a scam because of several “clues”:
-The letter is written in the ultra-formal/non-idiomatic/contrived English that Nigerian/African scammers usually use.
-It purports to come from a representative of the company, but it uses a yahoo.com reply-to address. It’s sent, however, from a bluehost.com server.
-It does not name the restaurant where they are making the reservations, just calling it “your restaurant”. Same with the location of the restaurant, “your area”.
-There is no info online on “Exxon Energy Plc.”, and a search of the address or phone number lead nowhere.
Update Through the years the scam has gone beyond restaurants to include hotels, tour companies and even painters. Please read through the comments for copies of scam letters sent by readers from all over the world.
I also learned how the scam works. The scammer will make a big reservation/purchase from you. He will then tell you that he also needs to pay someone else (limo drivers, transportation company, etc.) but for some reason he can’t do it directly, so he says he will pay you what he owes you plus what he owes the other company, and ask you to pay the other company for him. He will then give you either a stolen credit card number or a fake check. When your bank figures out that the credit card was stolen or the check was not good, it will require that you pay the falsely credit amount. By then you will have paid the shipping company that is in cahoots with the scammer, and you’ll be losing a big chunk of money.
Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:05:36 -0600
To: marga@lacabe.com
Subject: Enquiry.
From: Stewart Graham <stgraham93@yahoo.com>
Hello,
I am Stewart Graham, Public Relations Officer (P.R.O) of Exxon Energy Plc. United Kingdom. Your restaurant has been approved by my company for dinner reservations for my workers visiting your area for a project, so i therefore want to book dinner for this group of workers.
They will all come for dinner in your place as from AUGUST 18th, 19th and 20th, 2009 by 8:00pm each day. They are fifteen (15) in number.
**NOTE THAT IT WILL BE THE SAME 15 GUESTS EACH NIGHT**.
We will appreciate if you prepare a 3 course menu for my group for the dinner. No special dietary. Also your suggestion will be appreciated since this is our first dinner in your restaurant.
Kindly provide the total cost of the dinner for the 15 persons for the 3 nights dinner so as to provide my credit card details for full payment confirmation if there is availability in your restaurant.
Your swift response will be appreciated.
Regards,
Stewart Graham
40 Lothian Road
EH3 9BY,
Edinburgh,
SCOTLAND.
Phone number:+44(0)7024014792
*NOTE Here is an explanation of how the scam works.
I think that with my finishing of this Cypriot Menu I’m off the Mediterranean for a while – though I still have to make desserts from the Baleares to finish off the area. I ate a lot of Mediterranean food in May and June: Balearic, Cretan, Cypriot, Corsican, Caprese and Catalan. Though Mediterranean food is great, I can’t say that I’m sorry to leave this region to explore others.
Marga’s International Recipes.
Some time, in food as in life, less is more. This is invariably true with respect to cheesecakes. You can adorn them any way you like, with chocolate and caramel, strawberries or pumpkins, even chilli peppers, but nothing is as good as a plain, old, New York cheesecake. This epicurious.com recipe is a breeze to make and positively delicious. I’ve made it a bunch of times, modifying it as I’ve gone along. Graham crackers traditional for the crust, but use Nila wafers instead and you’ll have heaven on your plate.
If your springform pan is tight enough, you can make the cheesecake directly on it. If you have doubts about it, you can also line it with parchment paper. Just remember to grease both the pan and the top surface of the paper.
One word of warning, while the first time I made this cheesecake it did not crack, it has cracked for me every time since.
New York Cheesecake
Graham crust
- 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers
- 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
Nila wafer crust
- 1 1/2 cups finely ground Nila wafers
- 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
Filling
- 4 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 5 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
Instructions
Preheat oven to 475F.
Make the crust by mixing the cookie crumbs with the butter, sugar and salt. Grease a 9″ springform pan. Press crumb mixture onto the bottom of the pan and 1″ up the sides. Pun the pan on a shallow baking sheet and set aside.
In an electric mixer, mix together the cream cheese, sugar and flour using high to maximum speed. Add eggs and yolks, one by one, mixing at low speed. Mix until they are fully incorporated, scraping the sides as necessary.
Pour the filling into the crust. Place the baking sheet and pan in the middle of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 200F and bake for one hour, or until the cake is mostly firm.
Cool on a rack and then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. A half hour before serving, carefully separate the cake from the pan using a knife, if necessary, and open the springform pan. Transfer the cake to a serving plate. Let rest at room temperature for about half an hour and serve.
Today I had a BBQ and made this marinade from an epicurious.com recipe. I thought it was quite yummy and somewhat reminiscent of chimichurri. I’d make it again.
Put thyme, oregano, salt and garlic is a mini-chopper. Process until garlic is finely chopped. Add lemon juice and process until well mixed. Repeat with olive oil.
Marinade tri-tip in the sauce for at least 2 hours.
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