Is this in the meat/cheese section? It sounds great and I'll be looking for it tomorrow.

If you have it in your area... Vi Zorro white is a Spanish white box wine [also found in bottles] that is surprisingly good and would be a good choice for this application. It's got nice fruit and is fairly dry and it's the right price for a sangria wine.

I have been using a vigneto wine opener for years and love it. It doesn't have a fold out blade but a wheel foil cutter so I think it would make it through if they allow the worm.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/produc...

I've had mine for 8 years and it's still tight at all the joints and doesn't flop around like some do after a few years.

While not the most excellent breakfast burrito in the world it's made fresh and at $1.99 it's dirt cheap. Flame Catering Cafe on 3rd across from the courthouse. The main flaw is the tortillas but that might be said about many places.

Laredos Grill has some pretty decent breakfast tacos on the weekend served with beans and rice for $6. Laredos also has really tasty beans though not traditional refried. They have more seasoning but they are tasty. The $6 weekend happy hour brunch menu is a nice way to start your day on a weekend.

The USDA prohibits giving hormones or steroids to chickens so all US chicken in hormone free.

Finally tried the sushi at the Seattle store. This is made in house with Tamaki Gold rice. I tried the California roll with dungeness crab and the smoked salmon roll. Both were very good. Fresh and quality ingredients. Better than the kaiten sushi California rolls. $9.99 for 2 rolls. I really liked the smoked salmon roll which is made with lox. Looks like the Kirkland wild sockeye lox due to the dark color.

Dim Sum House has shrimp toast but they are on Beacon Hill.

The Hannah brand tzatziki sauce is also excellent. I found it at the Seattle store.

I like to use the fountain to just get a soda water plain. There is one that will give you just water [by the lemonade] and another one that will give you carbonated water... though I usually just leave the cup and eat the dog.

In the end I wish they would sell just the dog without the drink.

I have bought them at the Seattle store but they are not often in stock around here.

At the Shoreline store they have the plastic packed boneless short ribs that used to be carried only at the Business Center or available by business delivery. The price on these is great though you do need to remove membrane and slice them yourself. But at $4.49 a pound [I've seen them for $3.99, too.] it's worth it.

Strange that all the meat is cheaper at Shoreline than it is at Seattle.

Costco has Olio Nuovo a November 2012 harvest California olive oil for $7.99 per liter and it's really good. Has a nice grassy, vegetal taste and creamy mouth feel and the finish is pretty smooth. Much less bite than the Tuscan.

Also referring to Costco only since that's my only membership. I prefer buying meat there because the quality is much better than my local supermarkets [Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC]. The places that have quality as high charge twice the price. I usually buy the top sirloin for $4.99 lb and then re-package and freeze most. We also buy the organic chicken breasts $5.99 lb, cheaper than at the supermarket. They also carry local chicken breasts for about $3 lb. which are the producer as you would get for double the price in the supermarket [unless on sale].

In the Seattle area we buy the frozen 6 oz. portions of wild sockeye and cod from Trident seafoods. Excellent quality. When thawed it tastes fresher than most of fish in local grocery stores fish cases and the portion size is just right for us.

For veggies we usually get the organic baby kale, peppers, organic apples, asparagus if the price is right. Potatoes, onions, etc. are in too large a quantity for us so we just shop sales for those.

I thought I would start this one with our new find. Olio Nuovo, new crop olive oil from California's Nov. 2012 harvest. We liked it even more than the Tuscan. Great grassy flavor and creamy mouth feel but with less bite in the finish than the Tuscan. It's also only $7.99 a liter.

This was at the Seattle store.

One thing that is nice to try at the Market is to stop by Bavarian Meats and get a landjaeger as a snack. It's kind of like a sausage jerky. Bavarian Meats has been around making good German style sausage for over 45 years... I've been eating there sausages and wieners for more a little more than 45 years and they are still really good. The German salami is also treat. It's near the Starbucks.

In the Seattle store we bought the hearts of palm and they are very good though not as good as fresh. 2 jars wrapped together. We like hearts of palm salad. We made the Americanized Chinese version of Kung Pao chicken and subbed hearts of palm for the bamboo shoots and it was very good.

It does give some coconut taste to your food when you cook with it. You can fry in it. We use it to fry coconut prawns. It's also good for stir fry, particularly if you are making Thai food or coconut curry. It substitutes for us in places we would otherwise use peanut oil. We use coconut for Indian food and Chinese too.

You can also use it make refried beans if you want a more carribean flavor.

My wife is trying out a gluten free, or at least very low gluten diet so we tried the Tru Roots gluten free penne and it was excellent. We got it at the Seattle store. It's organic brown rice, corn, quinoa, amaranth, made in Italy. It cooks quickly, about 5-6 minutes and the texture is really good. It doesn't taste like wheat but it tastes good.

I'll admit I was expecting something akin to the whole wheat pasta I never liked in the 80s so it was a nice surprise.

We're hoping Costco will get the Tru Roots fusilli and spaghetti.

I've never had a burger at 5 Guys but I love the fries and they give you so many it's almost a meal.

Update to the La Vielle Ferme... Instead of Cote de Ventoux they now have just a vin rouge label and it's no where near as good as if used to be.

My current favorite is Szechuan Garden in Lynnwood on 196th. Order off the Red Menu for the authentic dishes. One of the employees from Szechuan 99 struck out on her own with this place and it's even better than 99. Nicer digs, too.

Szechuan Garden is new and really good. I've always been a big fan of Szechuan 99 and this one was better, though just one visit so far. I did see some familiar faces from Szechuan 99 [the owner used to work there]. Prices are not bad and at least at this newly opened point it's one of nicer Chinese restaurants. It's a pretty big place so a group should work well there.

The Tuscan was gone for a long time in Seattle but now it's back. This my favorite EVOO [well, really Trampetti is my fave but a little pricey]. I also like the Kirkland organic EVOO.

Organic baby kale at the Seattle Store #1. Prewashed and very tender when cooked.

I tried it and it's very good coffee. The best Costa Rican coffee I can remember tasting but I tend to prefer things like the aged Sumatra.

If you want to try it without paying $7 you can use a reward on your Starbucks card to pay for it. That's what I did.

How many hipsters does it take to change a light bulb?

Um, it's a really obscure number. You wouldn't have heard of it.

Since you mention that it's for a gift basket... Smoked salmon, some higher end senbei, some of the dried squid snacks, a pepper cheese would be good with the nigori, smoked whitefish or black cod.

Small jars of ikura or other caviar would be nice.

If you are in Shoreline it's worth going a little bit further to Szecuan 99 in Lynnwood. Any of the special bean curd dishes are a must try. I can't remember if it's the hot braised beef or the Szechuan 99 beef that was spicy beef served over napa cabbage but it was excellent. Other dishes I like are the Szechuan chicken, chicken with small peppers, red pepper chicken. Look for the chef specialties symbol on the menu.

In Seattle they have the Farro in stock at the 4th Ave S store.

At least in the Seattle area stores all wine is 20% off November 7-11.

They have been carrying one that I can confirm is decent. Manhattan Project Cabernet Sauvignon at $5.99. That's the only one I can vouch for at this time.