Yesterday I had a slice of pizza at the pizza place next to the Shattuck cinema in Berkeley. $2 for a Berkeley-size slice. I liked it a lot, it had that slightly alcoholic taste (don't tell me it's something bad) that pizza sometimes gets. The thin dough was pretty flimsy, though, if you picked it up from the outside crust, the end of the slice would fall down. The cheese also didn't stick to the crust, making eating it somewhat messy (in other words, don't get a slice of pizza to eat as you walk), but the taste was great.

The pizza place (I don't know its actual name) has a couple of counters with stools, it'snot really kid friendly (hard to eat the pizza & control the kid) but I've been there alone with Mika a few times without too many problems.

Kathy wanted meat with sauce and I decided on making a beef stroganoff. I've made one years ago without great success, then had a great one prepared by a Russian friend in Italy so that I can now really tell the difference between good and not-so-good. The recipe I found at allrecipes.com was supposed to be great, it got 5-star ratings, but at least in my hands it ended up being not-so-good. It was edible, all right, but it didn't have much flavor. Maybe I should have used more mustard.

A friend of mine sent this glossary of foods, and I figured it may be useful to keep it here for future reference.

They're so good they are evil. Mike warned me against getting them. He knew I'd not be able to stop myself from eating them. He even took them off the cart (but then went and got himself some shortbread!). But I had to have them.

They are sooo good, so crunchy, they taste just like you expect them too.

Obviously, I won't be buying any more tubs.

Is there anything more delicious than sweet orange juice made from ripe, plump California oranges? A couple of years ago Mike gave me the best birthday present every: an orange juicer. A few months later I bought one for my father, which he then returned to me as my sister didn't like the taste of juice made from this juicer (I'm not kidding, there are weird people in the world). It worked out, because it was better than mine.

Mike buys a 10 lb bag of oranges on Saturday at the Farmers Market. It's usually $5-6. Then, when he remembers, he makes me fresh orange juice in the morning. Today's was sooo sweet, so delicious, I drank every last drop of it. I wonder if I could convince him to buy 2 bags of oranges on Saturday.

A couple of months after I actually cooked it, my Bermudian menu is online. It features recipes for fish chowder, pienapple spareribs, coconut rice and banana pie.

I like Albertson's chicken salad. It's nothing out of the ordinary, but it's tasty and crunchy and just like chicken salad should be. It's also very convenient, not having to make it myself.

Today we got some Kheema Turkey Paratha (Indian flatbread filled with minced turkey) made by Shukkhi's Freshables and sold at the farmer's market. It's really good, not in the least spicy but very, very tasty. Much tastier than the keema nam usually served at Indian restaurants. It doesn't seem to have anything "bad" in it either, though it doesn't spicify which "spices" it uses.

The one down side could be the price, Mike didn't remember if he paid $4 or $6. It would be OK, though not cheap, at $4 but defnitely very expensive at $6.

They were very good. At 450 calories for the 12 containers in the package, a little bit too caloric for an everyday meal - but very, very tasty. All ingredients look good as well.

I got peaches & plums at the farmers' market last Saturday. So sweet & delicious. Unfortunately I got too much fruit and some of it seems to have attracted fruit flies.

Last night we went to see the Boca-America game at SBC Park (Boca destroyed America 3-1) and we had "dinner" there. We sat at the club level and got food from McGraw's Derby Grill. The food was OK.

Mike has a chili-dog which he thought was quite good. He thought the same of the chicken-apple-sausage sandwich he got for Mika ($5). Michaela actually ate the whole sausage (leaving the bread), which means it must have either been very good or she must have been really hungry.

I was much more unlucky with my cheeseburger ($6.25). The plain burger had been sitting under a heat lamp and was very dry. It was school-cafeteria quality (i.e. McDonalds would have been an improvement) and it came plain. You could add onions and other condiments in theory, but the cheese had fused the burger with the bread to the point that they were unseparatable. In other words, don't order burgers here.

We has an order of fries (~$3) which was fine, and a churro ($3.50) which was disappointing. It was worm but kind of soggy.

Fountain sodas (~$3 for a small) were a little weird-tasting but strill drinkable.

In the same level there was a full bar, a stand selling quesadillas and other bad-looking Mexican food, and a stand selling pizza.

We ordered Lake Chabot Pizza after getting a couple of door-flyers for it. Apparently it's under new management but we'd never try it before.

We decided on ther 2-medium, 2-topping pizzas for $17 (includes a free soda) deal.
I was happy to see that Lake Chabot pizza hasn't downsized their pizzas like so many other pizza joints in the area have. A small pizza is 12", a medium 14" and a large 16" (they also have 8" personal pizzas, and 18" extra-large pizzas).

The pizza arrived within half an hour.

We didn't really like the pizza. The problem was mostly on the pizza dough, it was too thick and not very flavorful. I actually like thick-crust pizza, but only when the crust tastes good. The sauce was also too mild to impart any flavor on the pizza. The toppings (extra-cheese & pineapple for mine, sausage & pepperoni for Mike's) were fine, but they couldn't compensate for the crust (that was specially the case with mine).

We probably won't be ordering from here again.

Yesterday we drove I-5 to LA and in our neverending quest to find something descent to eat on the road, we stopped at Cazuelas, a Mexican restaurant in Coalinga. We'd never been there before, so we had hope. It was slowly dispelled.

The restaurant actually looks better from the outside than the inside. The architecture of it is fine enough, but the twiching fluorescent lights and ugly vinyl chairs and formica tables gave it a definite dive look, though most of its customers were Mexican families.

There were only a few tables occupied when we got there, but service, still, was very slow. It took over five minutes for us to get seated, and we waited for a long time to get our food, the bill, etc.

Still, our culinary experience started well. The tortilla chips and salsa were actually good. The chips were crispy and only slightly salty, and not in the least oily. The salsa had the right note of spice and lime.

The menu featured standard Tex-Mex items (no cazuelas) at average prices (~$10). Mike decided on that night's special, a tostada combo ($6) while I went for a carne asada torta (sandwich) with french fries ($8). My sandwich was OK. It would have been much better if the meat had not been oversalted. A slice of avocado and chopped tomato helped with this, however. It wasn't very substantial, however, and I expected more for $8. The accompanying french fries were quite good, though a little on the soft-side for Mike's taste.

Mike's tostada was a whole different deal. To begin with it was a small shell with a tiny bit of chicken, some cheese and a whole lot of shredded lettuce. It came served with tasteless rice and watery, thin refried beans. He could not have been more disapointed on his dish. Unfortunately, it was very memorable. He woke up the next day with a bad case of food poisoning. As I'm pregnant, I'm extremely thanksful that I didn't eat any of his food.

Our drinks were OK. I had a fountain coke and it was mostly flat but it tasted OK.

In all, we'll be avoiding Cazuelas in the future as the plague, which it may just be :)

Cazuelas Restaurant
179 W Polk St
Coalinga, CA
(559) 934-0751

I just tried the flan from costco. AFAIK it's a new item and was in the cakes section (next to a fruit cake and a cheesecake). It's delicious. It tastes just like great flan, but it's incredibly smooth and creamy. I actually missed the rough texture I get when I make flan, but my mom loved the smoothness. It's also very, very rich. Yummm.

Of course it has some ingredients I don't like (like corn syrup), and at $13 for the 3 lbs flan it's not exactly cheap. Plus it's very flat so I wouldn't serve it to guests. But lord, is it good!

Michaela and I have fallen in love with Trader Joe's frozen gnocchi. Both their Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, with a tomato sauce and mozarella cheese and their Gnocchi al Gorgonzola are great. We specially like the gorgonzola one, though it's terribly caloric. One 1lb. package has almost 1,000 calories and while it's supposed to be four servings, that would only be if you served them as a side dish. Mika and I had no problem devouring one whole package for dinner last night, and she was even hungry enough to have some more gnocchi from my mom's plate.

The gnocci alla sorrentina is much healthier, with 510 calories for the 1lb package. Of course it's not as yummy, but it's quite good nonetheless.

You can make them with less sauce for less calories and less mess.

They are made in Italy, without any artificial ingredients, though the gorgonzola gnocchi has margarine in addition to butter. You can heat them on the microwave or in a frying pan (7 minutes). In all, it's a delicious and quick meal.