Category: Food Items (Page 15 of 20)

I have been using Better than Bouillion for several years now, always with perfect results. It’s much better, denser and flavorful, than the bouillon cubes I’d previously used, and even than the ready-made broths you can buy at the store. Plus it’s convenient – you use as little or as much as your recipe calls for, and store the rest in the fridge. Though the jars have an expiration date now, I called the company years ago and they told me the concentrates are good pretty much forever.
Years ago, whenever a recipe called for broth, I used to boil the water, mix it with the base and then add it to the other items. But I’ve become lazy. What I do now, is add the water instead of the broth, wait until the liquid gets hot, and then add and mix the concentrate. Much easier and it works just as well.
Now, I’ve never made broth myself (and I’m not likely to), but I do wonder if home made broth is better than Better Than Bouillon. In his book Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain talks about how he improved in the homemade stock he had to make for cooking school, with commercial concentrate. The results were better than what anyone could otherwise make. Of course, in his cookbook Bourdain talks about the virtues of homemade stock – but I don’t think I believe him 🙂

My friend Charlotte got me a big bag of True North Pistachio Nut Crisps, along with other food products, for Xmas (yes, I opened the bag early), and I’m amazed at just how good they are. The main ingredient is pistachios, and you can clearly taste them. They’re perfectly salted, and yes, crispy. Only problem is that I can’t stop eating them (and they’re quite caloric). For those with actual will power, they do come in a resealable bag.

Yesterday we went to the Ghirardelli’s factory store here in San Leandro, and tried their new pecan pie chocolate squares. It’s delicious, my favorite of all of them (the caramelized almonds one was my former favorite one). Check it out. And if you do get them in San Leandro, look for a 20% off your whole purchase coupon in the San Leandro Times.

Wednesday I got a shipment of mini-cheesecakes from The Confectional – a cheesecake bakery in Seattle that does mail order. They wrote to me a few weeks ago asking me if I’d like to review their cheesecakes – and after thinking about the ethics of such things – I decided to do it. I knew I’d feel bad if I had to give them a bad review, but really, how likely was that when we are talking about cheesecake?
As it turned out, the cheesecakes were great – in particular their plain cheesecake. I got 8 different kinds, and I’ll review each one below. The cheesecakes are small and round, each one the size of a generous personal portion, and come in a variety of flavors.
The first cheesecake I tried was the Seattle’s New York-Style cheesecake, and it was probably the best cheesecake that I’ve ever had. It was rich, creamy, sensual – plainly delicious. I think one of the things that made it so great was the crust. In my experience, cheesecake crusts often taste stale and are usually not very tasty. These ones would be good enough to eat by themselves – they are sweeter than your general crust and taste fresh with a vibrant, crystal flavor. Yummm.
The kids and I shared the Peanut Butter & Chocolate cheesecake – and this one wasn’t as successful (but how could it be?). The main problem was the dark chocolate – I’m sure it will fully satisfy you if you like dark chocolate, but I thought it was a bit bitter and Mika (my 6 year old) found it too bitter to eat at all. I liked the peanut butter part, but more when eaten by itself rather than in combination with the dark chocolate. That said, Camila (my 4 year old) really liked it.
Later on, we had the Caramel cheesecake. We all loved it. According to Mika “It is yummy! I love it so much. You make good cheesecakes.” Camila, meanwhile, says: “I like all the cheesecakes. I like them a lot and a lot.” This cheesecake was sweet, though not overly so, with a definite but not overwhelming touch of caramel.
By my fourth cheesecake, the Raspberry white chocolate. I liked this cheesecake quite a bit, it was refreshing and just as creamy as the other ones – and the (chocolate?) crust was delicious as well. But I still liked the Seattle NY cheesecake better.
After that, I decided that I couldn’t really wait to taste all the cheesecakes, so I took bites of all of them – sharing some with my kids.
I did not like the Coconut Cherry Chocolate cheesecake – made with lighter chocolate than the peanut butter & chocolate cheesecake. But then again, I do not like cherries. I didn’t realize it was cherry when I tried it, but was unhappy when I encountered the fruit – both because of its taste and its consistency. Camila didn’t like it either, which I found surprising. Mika, on the other hand, loved it and had it all for herself.
I shared the Cookies & Mint Chocolate cheesecake with everybody. Mike, a mint fan, specially liked it – though he didn’t think it tasted much like a cheesecake. Camila thought it was very yummy, and I thought the mint flavor had been well incorporated into the chocolate. Mika, on the other hand, wasn’t impressed – no reason why.
I’m not the biggest fan of cinnamon either, so the Pumpkin cheesecake was not my favorite. If you like pumpkin pie with a lot of spice you’ll probably like it – but then again, why not eat pumpkin pie then?
And finally, if you want a real kick, you have to try the Mexican Chocolate cheesecake, sprinkled with cayenne and cinnamon. I hadn’t checked which one it was before I tasted it, so the spiciness (and it is very spicy) really surprised me. I can’t imagine I could eat a whole one at once, but I’ve gone back for other bites here and there.
And that was it. My general feelings are that these are very high quality cheesecakes, with great cookie crust, well balanced flavors and a great consistency, creamy, yet firm. I also think that they are very well priced at $32 for 9 cakes – that’s less than $4 a serving – and you probably can’t make a cheesecake for that price. They get even cheaper – per cheesecake – if you order more (however, I don’t know how much the shipping costs are – they may make the cheesecakes significantly more expensive).
The cheesecakes look very elegant, so I think they would be a great end to a dinner party. While I personally would order a box just with plain cheesecakes (though I would like to try the quadruple chocolate and the kahlua white chocolate cheesecakes), I think for a dinner party you should order a variety (though of course, you then risk people fighting over their favorite one).
This cheesecake experience actually made me change my plans for Xmas dessert. I was going to make Frozen Grand Marnier Torte with Dark Chocolate Crust and Spiced Cranberries, but now I think I’m going to make individual cheesecakes. I’ll definitely use the Maria cookies from Spain (what they use), if I can find them. I was thinking of making plain or white chocolate cheesecakes and adorning each one with a strawberry and a couple of mint leaves 🙂 I’ll let you know how they come out.
Finally, the cheesecakes came very well packaged, with four cooling packages that were still semi-frozen when they got here. The cheesecake arrived at a perfect temperature – not too cold, but still not room temperature and had the perfect consistency right off the box.
Once again, you can find these cheesecakes at The Confectional in Seattle.

Last night I had my friend Aamani and her family over for hors d’ouvres and sangria. I wasn’t up to actually cooking, so I let Trader Joe’s do the catering. I got the Coconut Curry Chicken Sticks, the Pastry Bites with Feta cheese and caramelized onions and the Mushroom Turnovers. I’d had all before. The chicken sticks are pretty good but they scream for some kind of dip – probably that Thai sweet and sour sauce. I didn’t have any, though. The mushroom turnovers are also very tasty, a favorite of mine. But the pastry bites were just delicious, I can’t imagine I could make something better. I can seem myself buying a couple of boxes for my next party (hey, nobody needs to know). The only problem is that I may eat them all myself.
I also served TJ’s andouille sausage, which nobody ate, and bread with triple cream brie, which was very good.

We bought this bacon because we liked the idea that it doesn’t have any nitrates or nitrites added (not that I know the difference between the two). I don’t think consuming these substances is good for children. As a “healthier” (very much in quotation marks) bacon, I was afraid it wouldn’t be as good. Boy, was I wrong. It’s simply delicious. It has a great smoky flavor that doesn’t taste fake, and it’s deep and satisfying. It’s a bit too salty for me, however, though that is often true of bacon. In any case, I’ll buy it again – specially if it’s on sale at buy-1-get-1-free like it was last time.