I've never been a fan of Starbucks' hot chocolate—or of any hot chocolate that's made with syrup, for that matter—but today they've introduced something they call a "drinking chocolate" (very European), and it's outstanding. The banner ads for the drink, called Chantico, refer to it as (if I remember correctly) "a cup of chocolatey chocolateness, with extra chocolate on top." That about sums it up. They serve it in little 6oz. cups, which is plenty—it is indeed very intense,...
November 12, 2004
From the wrapper around the New Queen Anne Bakery custard bun I bought at the local Korean supermarket: Ingredients: All trumps, Almond Flour, Full Strength Flour, Soft-Silk Flour, S-500, Cake Mix, Corn Flour, Honey, Brown Sugar, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Srawberry Jam, Raspberry Jam, Margarine, Butter, Egg, Cheese, Milk, Dry Milk, Cream Butter, Mayonnaise, Oil, Whip Cream, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Yeast, Chocolate, Fudge, Chocolate Chip, Cocoa Powder, Cinnamon Powder, Apricot Filling, Almond Paste, Red Bean Paste, White Bean Paste,...
September 29, 2004
I wanted to mention a couple tasty items I've come across in the past few months and that I've enjoyed again recently. The rootbeer floats at Taylor's Automatic Refresher in the Ferry Building in San Francisco are the best I think I've ever had. The rootbeer is delicious, with a nice peppery finish, and the ice cream is smooth and creamy and has a fresh, authentic vanilla flavor. Best of all, the proportions of rootbeer and ice cream are...
February 4, 2004
Now that we have a functional kitchen, I've been cooking and baking like crazy. I've been testing out several muffin and coffeecake recipes on Al (and on my parents, who visited this past weekend), as well as making freezable meals like quiche and baked ziti. (The more we eat in, the longer I can afford not to work!) I've never really been able to bake so frequently before, so I now have an opportunity to really test recipes—to determine...
December 21, 2003
I just returned from a really pleasant five days with my sister, her family, and my parents. I drove down to Maryland on Wednesday, picked up some last-minute Christmas gifts, mailed a few more, and then went to the local Giant supermarket to buy baking supplies. My super-kind sister was letting me use her kitchen to do my holiday baking, since mine is completely gutted. After cleaning the Giant out of butter and sugar and cookie cutters, I headed...
September 23, 2003
So I walked into a Dunkin' Donuts this morning (my first DD trip in Philadelphia) and ordered a small decaf coffee, light. What I got was something so horrible, so undrinkable, that I began to wonder whether "coffee, light" means something different in Philly than it does anywhere else. It appears to mean the equivalent of "coffee, regular", which in New York (and, I thought, the entire northeast) means "cream, two sugars". I was under the impression that "coffee,...
August 14, 2003
I want a chocolate donut. But really, I want a chocolate donut the way it tasted on a Saturday morning when I was 7, not the way it would taste now....
April 4, 2003
I've been doing some research lately. I've come up with a hypothesis that I'm trying to verify—entirely through anecdotal evidence, which isn't very scientific, I know. However, it's all I've got right now. Here's the hypothesis: Women baristas make better lattes than men. I had noticed that sometimes I got really excellent lattes (creamy, smooth, comforting), and other times, they sucked (bitter, sour, scorched, unsatisfying). I thought about who had served me the good ones and who had served...
March 20, 2003
Funny where you get when you hop around the web. I started at Loobylu this morning, then jumped from there to French Toast Girl, where I saw a link to a diet that involved eating everything with chopsticks. The description of it reminded me of a book I read back in the mid-90s called Overcoming Overeating. I totally understood the principles, but it was really hard to let go and surround myself with food, to trust that eventually I'd...