MollyGee's Recent Activity
Chowhound Post
Does good butter matter? If so, what to get in San Francisco?
See, I'd think for a simple brown butter sauce the quality of the butter wouldn't really matter. You're steaming off most of the water and browning the rest.
For baking I get the Kerrygold from Trader Joe's that others have mentioned.
My opinion: baking and eating fresh on a slab o' bread = oh yeah, the butter matters. For cooking = it shouldn't matter. I'd like to hear back after you've tried some other butters, though. I wouldn't mind being wrong.
Chowhound Post
Which Ice Cream with Banana Cream Pie?
Ice cream and banana cream? Are you skipping a whipped cream topping? I hope, at least, the ice cream is in its own bowl. And then I'm going to be boring and say vanilla. Banana is so overwhelming a flavor and cream pies often so sweet that any ice cream would have to be very strongly-flavored. Cinnamon might work out or cardamon. Or a REALLY rich chocolate.
Chowhound Post
Casual Food Near the Downtown Berkeley BART Station
Or, better than Naia (if you ask me) and just up the street, Gelato Almare. My kids' favorite ice cream (or ice creamesque) place in town. Not the million flavors that Naia has, but way better texturally and flavor-wise.
Chowhound Post
Pickling Cukes?
Do the folks from Lucero Farms (of strawberry fame) go to any of the SF markets? Best. Pickling. Cukes. EVER!
Chowhound Post
Berkeley: A new ice cream maker on 4th Street - Chocolatier Blue Patisserie
Took the kids for ice cream on Saturday and I was a bit disappointed. There was some problem with the temperature regulation for the ice cream and it was half melty and half too frozen. The chocolate that I had was not very chocolate-y and the caramel ice cream that the kids had was way WAY too sweet for my tastes. My son ate all of his, but my daughter took only a few bites and that was it for her. I like the teeny tiny cookie that comes with the ice cream.
I LOVE the chocolates at Chocolatier Blue (and, of course, they have them at the 4th St shop - perhaps a smaller selection), but I'm REALLY hoping the ice cream improves. If they can do with ice cream what they can do with chocolates I'll be a little less sad that Sketch is no longer there. Plus, I'm a seven-year-old when it comes to ice cream: I want it in a cone
(and the kids always feel a little ripped off by the lack of cones and don't EVEN get me started on Lush Gelato with their little-scoops-of-ice-cream-in-a-cone logo and their lack of cones: don't tease me that way and I'm only forgiving Lush because their mint chip was the best mint ice cream/ gelato that I have ever had and I am bordering on obsessed with mint ice cream.)
I wish I'd tried the cremeaux. It really looked lovely. And the fellow serving up the treats was very friendly.
Chowhound Post
Do you still shop at the Oregon St. Berkeley Bowl? If yes ... why?
None of the above. I prefer The Old Bowl because I think the produce is better and easier to shop for (BBW: those low bins, the separate organic/conventional sections, the having to have your organic produce weighed: sheesh, what a hassle!). The tomatoes are over-chilled, the stone fruits are more likely to be overly ripe, I've yet to buy a decent pineapple at BBW.
Also, I have yet to run into anyone I know at BBWest. It's...weird. I've lived 'round these parts for decades and I don't recognize anyone at the new store. Where is everyone coming from? And shoppers seem less friendly to me. Maybe they're just trying to find where everything is and falling into shopper-trances...I'm not sure. The checkers at BBW are much more fun to chat with than at the Old Bowl, though.
I know where everything is at the Old Bowl. I only occasionally suffer parking frustration and they have a few things that the new store doesn't have.
But, I live 3 blocks closer to the new store and have to cross over only one major street to get there so I stop in a lot to pick up a half gallon of milk or bread between shopping trips. I'm glad the new store exists.
Chowhound Post
Organic Salsa ID?
Primavera (known for their tamales) is from Sonoma.
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
Thanks for reporting back on the jams and jam-related and adjacent products. I made a trip to BB West today to check it out and pick up a few things. They do seem to have a pretty decent selection with some less exciting jams (like just apricot and raspberry- but no strawberry unfortunately) for folks like me who go through lots of jam making p b 'n' j's for the kids. I didn't buy any this time around, though.
I was *so* tempted by those Frog Hollow Santa Rosa's and every box I picked up had one or two overly ripe plums and after checking four boxes I gave up. I wish I had them now, though. It was a good deal even with a few rejects included and I'd imagine we're at the tail end of the Santa Rosa's about now.
Chowhound Post
Great carrot cake, east bay?
I second the Sweet A suggestion. I think the carrot cake is the best thing I've ever gotten from Sweet Adeline. It had a beautiful crumb, the carrots added a wonderful moistness and were very finely grated (so it didn't have a crunch like you sometimes get with carrot cake) and the cream cheese frosting was applied with a light hand that really highlighted the delightfulness of the cake. I should add that I had the carrot cake in the form of an Easter cake ( shaped like an egg), so I don't know if it is their standard recipe or if it was a specialty product. Whatever. I'm obsessed with cake and I occasionally think about that carrot cake...
Chowhound Post
Costco birthday cakes?
The cake itself is ok and certainly better than Safeway cakes, but the frosting is that overly sweet, semi-gritty hydrogenated oil stuff you can expect from a cake that is something like 16 bucks for half a sheet.
I admit to buying them , though, when I need a cheap cake for lots of people as in institutional-type events. You know, you just want a cake to have a cake. The Costco cakes represent "cake". No one is going to rave about it, but no one will complain, either. Oh, and the cream cheese-based frosting was better than the other option, chocolate is better than vanilla (but I just lean that way regardless.)
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
Ooooh! No. What other jams do they have, do you remember?
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
Another good thing, too, is a much nicer jams and jellies section in the West. Lots and lots of Frog Hollow preserves and jams, for instance.
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
I was wearing penny loafers*, so no. I don't mean a *type* of shoe I mean a kind of shoe. Like Crocs but with an umlaut.
*I wasn't really wearing penny loafers.
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
I'm alternating my weekly grocery shopping between old Bowl and West and my vote is right now with the old Bowl. Maybe it's my unfamiliarity and confusion with the new store or West still finding its sea legs...
There's still a lot of empty shelves in the shampoo/ soaps/ vitamins/ toiletries area, so this'll change, I'm sure, but there are only about two bar soaps. They don't have bulk unsweetened coconut (found some pre-packaged stuff in the bulk area, but none in the bins). The fresh bread selection is not nearly as extensive as the old Bowl's. Why aren't the canned tomatoes with the pastas and jarred sauces? Arg! Now I'm going to forget the pasta.
And the organic/ conventional produce section segregation is even more aggravating each time I go. I can't compare and now I have to walk the organic nectarine back to its neighborhood to go pick out the better looking conventional nectarine. Plus, I can't eyeball all of the various pineapples at once in the conventional section because of the display island dynamics. AND the beans and peas -things you have to fussily pick through- are displayed way below waist level making it really awkward for more than one person to select, say, English peas (or even neighboring legumes) at the same time. And the dairy shelves are way too tall. I could barely reach the heavy whipping cream on tip toes and I had to take what I could reach rather than finding one with a fresher date. Hopefully the coconut cream pie won't suffer unduly.
And the staff is going out of their way to be very friendly, but the other shoppers seemed way less friendly than the old Bowl. Maybe its the wide aisles and people want to be undisturbed in their shopping daze, but almost every time I communicated with a fellow shopper, they seemed startled or acted like I was trying to sell them life insurance. It was so bad that when I got back to the car I checked my teeth for foliage and sniffed my armpit (none and fine). Maybe they were from out of town (I've noticed a lot of folks with accents and/or unusual shoes) and maybe where they come from strangers don't chat about the quality of produce or how-do-you-cook-that-farro.
The good: so easy to get to and so easy to park. Tons and TONS of sweet baked goods: lots and lots of cakes and cookies. Much wider selection of organic vegetables.
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
Yes, they do.
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
Went West this morning to do my regular shopping and I was slightly less enthralled than I was on Sunday.
The produce being separated into organic and non- turned into a problem. If the organic tomatoes don't look fantastic (and, well, it's June, right?) I like to get the conventional Odoriko tomatoes. So I walked from one section to the next, leaving my cart behind. Someone walked off with my cart (and shopping list!) and it took a while to track it down.
The conventional tomatoes are so close to refrigerated sections (I'm told the island they are kept on is 52 degrees), they felt too cold to me. The one I sliced into for lunch was fine, though, texturally, so hopefully it's not an issue. On a brighter note, the potatoes seem to be unrefrigerated, unlike most of 'em at BB "East".
Selection of organic stone fruits was pretty minimal - less than I found last week at the eastern Bowl. A lot of the produce seemed more tired in the West. The red velvet apricots referred to in the Chronicle's Sunday article about the store opening
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...
were squishily over-ripe. One of the produce dudes was on the phone asking that the conventional bananas be pulled because they were past their prime. I felt like the produce people were much less experienced than at BB East (I recognized one guy from the old store out of the 3 or 4 I talked to). Still, the employees I talked to were really friendly and did their best to be helpful.
I found some things that they don't have East. Uh, nothing too exciting. Triscuits. Mother's Cookies (Hey, looks like they were bought by Kellog's), but it seems like the selection of fake meats is slimmer pickings than East and the fresh bread department was pretty disappointing. There seemed to be extra room, though, so I'm assuming that there will be a larger bread variety in the future.
The huge amount of available parking, though, gosh...that's just swell. And it's so much easier to get to than the old Bowl, at least from my point halfway between the two stores.
I have to admit that I missed all the hub-bub, characters and chatting, though, that the eastern Bowl is so notoriously great and/ or hated for. It kind of felt a little cold and clean cut to me...like shopping at Whole Foods. I suppose that will change when the word gets out more. Meanwhile, my vote is currently undecided.
Oh, and I brought the bag I got on Sunday and also got another one today. If they have them you get one each time you show up for now.
Chowhound Post
Berkeley Bowl West - The promised land ... west of Eden
Wow! I would never have gone to the old Bowl on a Sunday), but I went to BB West today and found parking right away.
I just needed a couple of limes and was with my six-year-old so it was a whirlwind tour. It looks fabulous with, as everyone has said, wide aisles and more stuff. I can't say if there was any more selection than the old store or if it was just a larger quantity of what's available at the old Bowl, though. There may have been fewer bulk items, but there was still a fairly empty aisle there, so maybe more bulk goods are planned for that space.
Word is out, though. There were not a lot of people shopping (or maybe the wide aisles just made it seem that way), but I had a pretty long wait at one of the 4 or so 15-items-or-less lines. I did get a cloth bag.
Chowhound Post
Williams Sonoma Chocolate Croissants - Please help! lost my recipe!
I found this on someone's blog. It's about the regular croissants, but I'm sure the instructions are similar:
http://thehungrycat.blogspot.com/2007...
Chowhound Post
Melted Candy Flames
Yes. This is what I did, ultimately. Should have done the dough idea. Even oiled, the candy got stuck in the tinfoil and the edges broke. I think I can chip at it to get the right shape, though.
In a 350 degree oven it only took about 7 minutes for the crushed up candy to melt.
And graduating the color, chowser, woulda been really pretty. I separated the colors.
Chowhound Post
Melted Candy Flames
Maybe you can help, though it seems more like an art project than "home cookin'"...
I'm making a cake that would benefit from candy flames. I plan to make them by crushing hard candies and melting them in the oven.
Any ideas on how to make a "frame" for a flame shape? Tin foil? Cardboard? Manipulate while hot and dangerous?
Chowhound Post
Help me satisfy my night-time sweet tooth: chocolate cake to go in the East Bay?
The Edible Complex? I miss that place. It was one of the few places that was open late and had decent food. Now in that spot is that seriously subpar crepe place (unless it closed).
I second the Andronico's suggestion. The one on Solano has Just Desserts cakes (maybe other Andronico's, too, it's just that I bought one at that specific store within the last year, but it closes an hour earlier- at 10 - than the other Andronico's in Berkeley). I'm obsessed with cake and they make a very good chocolate cake.
But if you want to sit down and have it served on a plate Bittersweet Cafe, as mentioned above, would be where I'd look.
Chowhound Post
your best homemade granola recipe
Alton Brown's is always the granola recipe I use, too. I vary the nuts, seeds and dried fruit also. I like it with sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and raisins.
Chowhound Post
Chocolate- Cinnamon Frosting?
I did the recipe in the link and left out a teaspoon of cinnamon which I used to dust the tops of the cupcakes. Very, very tasty. I'd add more chocolate next time.
Chowhound Post
Chocolate- Cinnamon Frosting?
Any good chocolate-cinnamon frosting recipes out there? I found this one:
http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Dess...
but that seems like a lot of cinnamon.
I'd accept a plain cinnamon frosting recipe that you thought was tasty, too.
(See, I though red hots would make a lovely decoration for my V. Day cupcakes.)
Chowhound Post
Buttermilk: How can you tell when it's gone off?
Buttermilk is already "off". I'll use buttermilk for baking until it is waaay past the expiration date. If it's no longer pourable (after shaking) that's when I discard it but I do so not because of food safety reasons but because it's no longer the proper texture. Bad milk is called "cheese" and many people consume cheese w/ few ill results.
Chowhound Post
Do you travel over 10 miles to shop at Berkeley Bowl?
Right. What I was really referring to is frequent comments about how horrible the people who shop at the Berkeley Bowl are (as if they are a uniform group). Specifically, one person in this thread commented upon how "entitled" the shoppers seem. There's plenty of actual reasons to dislike the BB. So...where's that promised thread?
Chowhound Post
Do you travel over 10 miles to shop at Berkeley Bowl?
It's my closest store, but I also like that I can get a (I'll keep it seasonal here) decent crunchy apple and that the produce guys always know which oranges are best and they're always right and are happy to let you try a sample. I absolutely appreciate the bulk spices - yeehaw: 75 cents and I've got enough crushed red pepper to last a year! I like seeing the familiar faces of the people who regularly shop there. I like chatting in line with amenable folks.
It's funny because I think a lot of the bad 'tude about the Bowl is the result of the bad-attitude holders shopping in a place in which they are not entirely familiar. I always feel weird and unwelcome when I go to Whole Foods, say, or Andonico's or Safeway. I don't know instantly where everything is, I don't know which checkers are slow and grumpy, the other shoppers move in unexpected patterns (they probably move more quickly because they know where stuff is, but maybe it's that I'm not attuned to the mood of the place).
This is definitely not the store to randomly stop in to pick up a quart of milk and a bunch of bananas, though I often do because it is proximate. But, really, you need a plan.
Chowhound Post
Caramel trouble
I make caramel very often and rarely use a candy thermometer nor do I drop any bits of the candy into water nor do I wipe the side of the pan with water. It's a visual thing, caramel-making and my biggest piece of advice is to never turn your back on the caramel and to err on the side of lower heat and longer cooking time...but your problem is, most likely, that the pan you used wasn't completely clean and, so, the sugar crystallized around little bits of debris. I once used vanilla bean sugar to make caramel and the end result was somewhat gritty. Please don't give up.
Chowhound Post
Secret to making great mashed potatoes?
I peel them, cut them into one inch think rounds, boil them until easily pierced with a fork, drain them. I then return them to the now empty pot they boiled in and heat for one minute to dry them out a bit. I smash them with a ricer and mix in scalded cream, nutmeg, salt and melted butter with a spoon. Don't over-mix.
Things that ruin mashed potatoes: Not cooking the potatoes enough = lumps. Overcooking the potatoes = watery and poor tasting. Mixing too much = glue. Adding cold milk/cream/butter: room temperature potatoes. Using the peels in mashed potatoes = ew, you've ruined the lovely texture of the mashed potatoes and it looks ugly as all get out and people say they do it because they want to "keep the most nutritious part of the potato", but they just couldn't find a ten-year-old to peel the potatoes for them.
