Last time I asked Smitty's, they said they do not ship at all.
I looked into shipping from Blacks, Lulling or Snows...but the prices were a bit hard to swallow after paying $35 for a box of 25 sausages at Smitty's.

I'll have to check out the HEB for some sausages. Also, that B & W Meat Co. looks awesome!

hi y'all!

I wanted to pick up some sausages to take back to my husband in San Francisco.

Usually on our visits back to Texas, we pick up a box of 25 cold sausage rings at Smittys in Lockhart. We didn't have time for the usual family tour, so sadly there will be no Smitty Sausage until next summer. I'm visiting my folks in Houston and was hoping to find a place to buy some sausages. If not a bbq joint, possibly some Texas-made sausages from a grocery store.

Any suggestions would be welcome as long as they are tasty! :) Thanks!!

Has anyone tried "I love Blue Sea" ?
http://www.ilovebluesea.com/

I was curious since you can pick up at 18th and Illinois or they possibly do office deliveries in the Bay Area.

You can order the seafood online and its all sustainable.

So my husband and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary and have a nice bottle of Zenato's Bardolino 2008 for the occasion.

We got the bottle last year at a Slow Food Restaurant named La Contrada in Desenzano near Lake Garda when we were in Italy for our first anniversary . Zenato Winery grows their grapes near the lake so we paired the wine with Lake Fish ravioli and other delicious lake creatures. At the end of the meal, the Chef was kind enough to give us a bottle to take home and we were really happy we got it since they don't sell Bardolino here.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend an Italian Fish restaurant to eat at? Was thinking of Boulevard because of their seafood or Delfina for their Italian, but not sure......

Appreciate any and all recs. Thanks :)

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Delfina Restaurant
3621 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

RWC GO

Rummo Pastas .79 (All different shapes and the usual )
Kettle Chips .99 (5 oz) Low Sodium, Cheddar Sour Cream, Salt & Vinegar
Lehi Roller Mills Artisan Flour .99
White Lilly Cornmeal Mix 1.99 (Excited to find this flour because I love their white flour for biscuits and haven't seen it in Bay area)

They also had Tom's Toothpaste for $2.69. I was very excited since it hasn't been at RWC Costco!

ooooo Thanks for the advice.

Went to GO for the first time EVER today!

Redwood City RWC:
-Hartford Reserve Baked Wheat Gourmet Crackers .99
-Hartford Reserve "Everything" Flatbread .99
-Fornini Rosemary and Sea Salt Cracker Sticks .99
-Goldbaum's Brown Rice Linguini Pasta 1.99

And "Floodplain 2005 Proprietary Red Wine" based on the wine guy's suggestion.
Are Sam's recommendations usually good?

When I visited my parents last month, we stopped at the newly opened wine shop "The Urban Vine" I thought this shop was a really nice addition to the Cypress area, since its locally owned and offers weekly wine tastings!

http://www.theurbanvine.biz

The wine tastings are Wed and Fri nights for $5. Plus they are teaming up with Mezzanotte restaurant for monthly wine tasting dinners that are only $27 a person!! (I'm used to San Fran prices of $60/person at the least, so this seemed like a major steal to me....

We bought a bottle of wine to take home for dinner when we were there. The lady owner was really friendly, and gave us lots of input on what kind of wine we would enjoy. My Mom even said the prices are way better than HEB. lol :)

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Mezzanotte Ristorante
13215 Grant Rd, Cypress, TX 77429

The Urban Vine
13215 Grant Rd #700, Cypress, TX 77429

I bought one of the 20x36 gelpros at Costco today. Had never heard of them and was hesitant about the price.

But now that I'm reading the reviews, I'm happy I bought it! And now realize its a good deal too at $70.

I know I'm resurrecting a verrrrrry old post, but I found your peperoncini macinati at Lucca Ravioli. Was the first time I've bought it and we were surprised how the depth it gave our tomato sauce. YUM!

I'm on the hunt for Calabrian Peperoncino to make Chili Oil.(high quality chili flakes) Unfortunately Lucca Ravioli did not have it.
http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/shop/...

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Lucca Ravioli
1100 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

""The entire schedule, with dinner descriptions, will be posted
on March 15th to review - with a FRESH new website!
Tickets go on sale Saturday, March 20th.""

is what the email said....sooooo we can start viewing where and when on March 15th :)

Hi all,

So they are about to release the new dates on March 15th.......
For those not familiar, here is the site and all will be explained.
http://www.outstandinginthefield.com/

My Sweetie and I were wanting to go, buttttt have read a ton of mixed reviews.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/532569
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/628554
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/529512

We are very wary of paying $200/person for a very bad time. I'm not expecting Michelin but I would like to be fed some good food, and get a nice farm tour.

We had some good friends who had a great time last year so I was curious if anyone else from 2009 had a great time? Maybe they listened to the bad reviews of 2008 and made improvements?

Thanks for any feedback or advice on Farms to go attend for the event. :)

Does anyone have any favorite places to get Budae jjigae?

We had it at Sahn Maru in Oakland and at first thought it was just ok there. Took home the massive amount of leftovers from the pot. Ate it the next day and was really good. By the third day, IT WAS AMAZING! We were ready to break the take out container in two and lick it clean.

I've been craving some and heard they have it at Jang Su Jang in Santa Clara.

For anyone who doesn't know what Budae jjigae is, here is a great wiki explanation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budae_jj...
Basically a Korean Stew with everything you could think of in it. :D

Thanks for any help!

-----
Sahn Maru Korean BBQ
4315 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

I appreciated everyone's help with my Bordier Butter issue. But now I realized I'm not good for my dinner in Paris after seeing the recent "Le Comptoir du Relais" post.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/643272

My friend who suggested it acted like he walked in easily for dinner. Must of been beginner luck!
I should have known better as I've made reservations 2-3 months in advance at some Cali restaurants.

So I'm thinking I should try to make a reservation somewhere else and not be at their mercy.
(I was mostly looking forward to the cheese and jam course at Le Comptoir du Relais. I love to make jams. )

Now thinking of trying Fish, Le Duc, Au Gourmand, L'Entetee or Chez L'ami Jean....is it too late in the game to make reservations for a Friday?

Any suggestions on what I should do for dinner on Friday Sept. 18th would be very appreciated. It will be our last night in Europe and we would love to end it with a wonderful meal. 75-100 euro a head at most(including wine) Also we'd love a young and fun atmosphere.

BUT of course most of all great food, we will eat any and everything. Thanks for any help offered.

Wow Thanks for all the wonderful input and I really appreciate the different Butter suggestions as well.
I was not aware that many of the cheesemakers there made butter as well. Very exciting and I feel foolish for not realizing that earlier. :)

I'll be sure to report back on my experience with the butters. Thanks!

Hi,

This will be our first trip to Paris and I think I have everything figured out almost everything EXCEPT I must have Beurre Bordier.

I read the below article about it in Saveur a few years back and it always stayed with me.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen...

Is there a restaurant that has a sampling of all the butters or would I be better off purchasing them at a shop?
Is it allowed to take butter back with you to the states?

Thanks for any advice. :)

Just got some apple-bananas today from her again today. Sooooo good!
She said her schedule is as follows:

Saturday: Alemany Farmer's Market
Sunday: Palo Alto California Ave. Farmers Market

Also, she told me she only attends the San Carlos FM on Thursday for 2 months in the summer when she has extra fruit.

Hope this helps anyone hankerin' for an apple-banana!

PS
The Burro Banana sounds similar, but with a lemon taste. I've never had one though....

-----
Alemany Farmers' Market
100 Alemany Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94110

The other type of Banana is called Golden Fingers. I ended up getting those today because she was out of Apple-Bananas.
I've only seen the A.B.s on display once, so most of the time you'll have to ask for them. Just look for the lady with bananas at the San Carlos FM, only one there lol.
She sometimes sells cut up pieces of JackFruit as well as the above items.

She said her farm is down south. She was really busy today but I'll try to get a detail list of other FMs she attends next time.

The San Carlos FM is on Thursday 4-8pm.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/san-carlos-fa...

Not sure if she is there all the time..... I'll be going again in 2 weeks and ask her what other FMs she is at as well.
ia that apple bananas are wayyyyy better. My folks are going to now be VERY happy when they visit us. When we were in HI, they ate all my apple-bananas! lol

-----
San Carlos Farmers Market
Laurel St Cherry St, San Carlos, CA 94070

Hi ya'll,

I was really excited to visit the San Carlos Farmers Market and find a lady there who was selling bananas. She grows regular bananas and apple-bananas on her farm. Next time I'll ask her for more details about where her farm is located, but I was really excited since we have been trying to eat mostly local.
The apple-bananas are soooo good too!

Does anyone know of other farmers markets where the banana lady appears?

PS
I haven't had apple-bananas since I was in Hawaii. I had even inquired about having apple-bananas shipped a few years back and been put on waiting list. Wouldn't you know, the day after I find apple-bananas, I get an email from them saying they are ready to start shipping. Deja-vu & too late! lol

Hi,

I was wondering if any of the CSAs/Farmers Markets do a Mystery Box deal?

I live in San Francisco, and one of the Farms puts together a mystery box of produce that they sell at a restaurant in the city every other Thursday.
Was great for me for trying a CSA one time and I thought my cousin in Astoria would love that too. Got me excited about signing up for an actual CSA.

Just curious if there was any 1 time deal?

Thanks for your help!
PS I'm double posting this on Manhattan Bd as well since she works there.

Hi y'all,

I got some nice Roasted Red Peppers at the Costco in San Francisco. Unfortunately, I live in Redwood City & our Costco, plus the one in Foster City do not seem to carry them. booo

Does any other Costco in the area carry them?
Thanks for any input!

I love candied kumquats!
I used this recipe when I made them before.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives...

After you candy, you can use them to make tea, fancy mixed drinks or use some of the syrup to glaze a chicken or duck.
I've had them added to a cheese plate at a restaurant as well.
Or just snack on em!

Hi all,

I was lookin around for a good tamale place in San Antonio when I ran across the above site.

One reviewer had said to skip Rubens and just order from this site if you want really good tamales.

Has anyone ordered before? I'm very curious about this since I live in San Franciscos atm.

Thanks!

I wanted to pick up some freshly made tortilla chips for a party this Saturday. In the style of Tere's Mexican Grill or the Whole Foods in Pasadena where they cost about as much as my student loan payment.

Any recommendations of other stores or places to get them at?

Thanks for any advice and recs.

I have a jar of very yummy Frog Hollow Farm Orange Marmalade. And I'm making a ton of Fig Jam as my friend just gave me 2 huge bags of figs from her tree.

I was curious if I added 1/2 cup of Orange Marmalade to a batch instead of half a cup of sugar, would that be bad?

On a side note:
And right now I'm at 112 jars of peach, pluot, plum, apricot jam. Only about 100 more jars till I have enough jars as gifts for people at our wedding. Wheeeeee

All of these comments are great advice! I'm making tons of Jam and its my first time. Making it as wedding guest gifts. I figured having to do it over and over again would really teach me how to can. lol

My QUESTION is about the seals? I know it says you only can use them once but can you reboil them again if you don't use them to seal? For example, I haven't been sure how many jars to prepare since it's my first time. So I've been boiling more lids than I need. Is it ok to reboil them since I don't actually use them to seal? Or can they only be boiled once?
Thanks for help and any tips are welcome!

Oooo Kevin, your blog made me even more excited for Craft!! The pics of the food look amazing!

I will definitely suggest we order family style. Like the idea of trying a bunch of different items. Maybe if we see a dish that peaks our fancy on the tasting menu, we could always ask about possibly ordering it separately...

Hi All,

We are going to Craft for the first time on Saturday night. We will be a group of six.
Should we go for the tasting menu?
$95/person plus $65 for wine pairing. Has anyone gotten it before?

Or will we get more bang ordering family style since we can pick and choose. Won't be stuck with 6 same dishes....

Thanks for any advice and recs!

Hi everyone,

Sorry its taken me a lil while to respond, trying to plan a wedding in 4 months. yeekz! No wonder my parents are running away to Canada. lol

Anywho, Thanks so much for everyone's great recs. All of you went above and beyond. Very appreciated and I would expect nothing less from my gracious fellow hounds! :)
Also, so many different restaurants. Sounds like there are a lot of great places to eat in Vancouver and Victoria! Definitely see a trip there NOW in my future.

So I narrowed the list down to

VICTORIA*****
Brentwood Bay Seagrille
Lure
Blue Crab
The Aerie

VANCOUVER****
Ocean 617
Giraffe

Called my parents and their ears perked up at the mention of The Aerie. Turns out they had wanted to possibly stay there, but the price made them feel too extravagant. But they loved the idea of eating there, especially when their daughters are footing the bill!

So my parents picked the time, and I called The Aerie to make the reservation. They do not do certificates, but will keep your credit card on file with the reservation and charge the meal to it. So all worked out well.

I'll be sure to report back on how my parents enjoy the meal. Thanks again everyone!