Category: Food Items (Page 17 of 20)

I couldn’t find it in their product list, and I don’t have a picture of it, but Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Fudge Sauce is just delicious. Dark, intense, creamy, perfect over ice cream or from a spoon. I know it’s available at their factory store in San Leandro. You should certainly try it.
I found Sunny Harvest Blueberry Preserves at the 99cents only store and, after looking at the ingredients and noting the use of sugar and not corn syrup, I just had to try it. They were great. I served them at my last tea party along with a large selection of jams and spreads, and these were the favorite ones (after dulce de leche, of course). They have a very strong and definite blueberry taste. Interestingly, they are made in China, which I’d never pegged as a big producer of blueberries.
I’ve said it before, but I love going to the 99-cents store and seeing what treat I can find for my 99-cents. They are particularly strong on preserves of all kinds, which come from all over the world. I suspect much of it could be sold by European-type stores for many times as much.
What a difference a butter makes. I got some President Unsalted Butter at the EuroMix deli on Piedmont Ave. and I’m in heaven. That butter is just so, so good. I recognize it as being the butter I enjoy at many high-class restaurants (which, I’m sure, don’t churn their own). It also wasn’t particularly expensive given the quality.

Last week I went to London for a meeting, and I got to taste kangaroo. Needless to say, it was the first time. It was served in a salad, and the vinagrette dressing overpowered the flavor of the meat (served medium rare), but it had the look and texture of beef, but a milder flavor, sort of like venison. I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to order it again, but I’m glad I tried it.
Indeed, this is the second exotic meat I’ve tried recently. On my trip to the northwest of Argentina last December I had the opportunity to try llama – both in empanadas and as a steak served with the sauce. I found the meat reminiscent to pork, rather dry and not very flavorful in itself, but good with other condiments or sauces. Again, not something necessarily worth ordering but for the novelty aspect.
Alas, what I did not have in this very brief trip to London was either Indian food or fish & chips. Or anything, really. I had a couple of pasties – self contained bready pies with meat fillings – and they were very good. I imagine they are full of calories, but they do make a cheap and convenient meal. Other than that, I either ate at the conference or at the home of the friends I was staying with. And given the prices of the food in London (and everything else for that matter), I can’t say I feel too bad about that.

A week or so ago I found (organic) green garlic at the farmer’s market. I’d had heard of it for the first time only recently, when it was featured in one of the dishes we ate at Chez Panisse. But I figured it was worth trying to cook with it.
You basically use it like green onions or leeks, slice/chop the bulb plus the white and light green parts of the stem. It has a much milder taste than regular garlic. I tried mine both chopped and mixed in with mashed potatoes and mixed with cheese as a stuffing for hamburgers. In both situations we really liked it, though I think it’s particularly flavorful when it’s been browned.
Green garlic has a short season in the spring so get it now and give it a try.

A couple of weeks ago I bought organic celery at the Farmer’s Market – it came in a bag. I left it out on the table that afternoon, in moderate heat. By the evening it had completely wilted. Or had it? Had it been like this all along? I must confess that I’ve never seen such flacid celery in my life – not that I’m a celery connoisseur or anything. Weird.

Today is my birthday (yay!) and my friends Victoria and Penelope got me a great (and very appropriate) gift of yummy, exotic foodstuff. They went shopping to the Euro Mix Deli in Oakland, a place I’ll definitely have to check out. Their comprehensive gift basket included:
Gia Russa Artichoke Bruschetta Topping from Italy. Haven’t opened it yet 🙂
ZerG

In one word: yummy. I’ve had Trader Joe’s Green Curry and Red curry sauces before and I had enjoyed them, but I have to say this one is my favorite. It’s thick and creamy and sweet and spicy (good spicy, but too spicy for my kids) and pretty well balanced. Mike found it a bit too sweet for his taste, and I almost agree, but I like sweet food. In all, a great sauce to have in the pantry for when you want something quick and easy.

I found these Canadian sodas (also available on Cranberry & Raspberry, Cranberry & Blueberry and Cherry flavors) at the 99-cents store and I was intrigured enough to try them. They are organic, and GMO free, and have no artificial colors or flavors. They also come with the recommended daily value of vitamin C. And at 3 for 99cents, they’re pretty cheap.
Alas, I didn’t really like it. It’s too sweet for my taste, it tastes mostly of lemon oil with a hint of coconut (must be the “oil” aspect of it). I couldn’t even finish the bottle.

I just tried Barilla Plus Spaghetti, from the new pasta line from Italian pastamaker Barilla. It was surprisingly good. It’s a little bit darker (and the spaghettis seemed cut a little thinner) than regular Barilla pasta, but it tasted pretty much the same. That’s not too surprising as its main ingredient is still semolina – but what makes this pasta special is that the semolina is mixed in with a mix of ground lentils, chick peas, oats, spelt, barley and flaxseeds) which give the pasta extra fiber and protein (4g of fiber and 10g of protein per 2 oz portion). The flaxseeds also give it a lot of omega3. The pasta still has a lot of carbs (38g) and calories (200), but it does seem a healthier alternative to regular pasta. For me it’s particularly enticing as Mika doesn’t like sauce on her pasta, so when she eats it she has it plain – which doesn’t do much for balanced nutrition.
Anyway, I think it was about 2.50 at Safeway for a 1lb box – expensive but I think worth it. I’ll definitely continue buying it.

Trader Joe’s frozen pad thai is surprisingly good, it’s sweet and spicy, with nice chunks of chicken. The noodles are a tad too soft (and I like soft noodles) but all in all it’s one of the better frozen entries I’ve had.

During my last trip to Trader Joe’s I stocked up on bottled and frozen items. I tried the Trader Joe’s korma simmering sauce. It didn’t taste at all like a korma, it wasn’t creamy, it was sort of spicy and quite acidic, in other words, it tasted just like their curry sauce. I wouldn’t buy it again.
I also got the frozen nan bread. At $2 for 4 pieces it’s kind of expensive, but I think worth it. In all it’s pretty good, it tastes just like the nan bread from a good Indian restaurant, it’s light and fluffy. Plus as you cook it yourself it’s also quite warm when you get it. The only minus is taht you have to preheat the oven for 10 minutes before cooking it, though I’ve done it for less time in my toaster oven.
Finally, I got a bowl of tortellini with pesto sauce – not worth it. The tortellini themselves were good, nice al-dente consistency, yummy cheese filling, but the sauce was completely tasteless. They were actually better without the sauce.