Category: Food Items (Page 1 of 26)

Wilkin & Sons ‘Tiptree’ Orange Marmalade Review

May 17, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

When I was a child, I hated orange marmalade. I associated it with hard toast and tea at my grandmother’s friends homes. I felt those old ladies were cheap and wouldn’t spring for the good stuff, strawberry or raspberry jam.

Now that I’m old myself, I know better. There is nothing quite as delicious as the bittersweetness of a good orange marmalade. A good orange marmalade is complex, outrageously bitter – a stand in for the biggest tragedies in life -, while bright and sweet – for the nicest memories. For two decades now, orange marmalade has been my favorite.

While I love orange marmalade, I’m not a big jam eater in the first place, so I didn’t have any at hand when I decided to make a roasted lamb recipe that called for it. Rather than go for my usual grocery store marmalade, I decided to do a bit research as to what is considered the best orange marmalade out there. Surprisingly, it’s not always the fancy brands. Wilkin & Sons ‘Tiptree’ Orange marmalade might look fancy – because it comes from England, it has a weird name and an old-fashioned label -, but in England it sells for just $3.70 for the 12 oz bottle (at today’s exchange rate). Of course, it was over twice as much in the US – $8 at Amazon, to be exact – but that was actually less than many other imported marmalades.

Unlike American – and other imported – marmalades, this one lists only two ingredients: sugar and seville oranges. It has plenty of slices of orange peel and a rather thick consistency. It’s very adult and absolutely delicious. It is a tad too sweet, but just a tad. Despite its low original price, it feels like a high quality marmalade. I like it.

New York Style Sausage Company Ground Pork: Deception on your face

May 2, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

I’m not a big fan of pork, but I need to get some to make some Latvian meatballs as part of my international food project. I saw this New York Style Sausage Company Ground Pork on sale at Safeway, but something made me suspicious. Upon close examination of the photo, I realize that this product says “No preservatives” and then, under very small letters, hard to see in the blurry photos online, it lists the ingredients in the package: pork, sodium lactate and lemon juice concentrate. And what are sodium lactate and lemon juice?, you might ask. Preservatives.

I’m not sure what the point of this deception is, but the fact that they are so obviously deceitful makes me just not want to buy items from this company.

Tate’s Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies review

March 11, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

Not bad, but too sweet

Tate’s cookies were on sale at Safeway, and while I’m not usually a cookie buyer, I was curious to give these a try. They looked pretty fancy and the regular price was quite high. I thought they were good for a commercial cookie, but not something to write home about.

The cookies are smaller than similar ones – those from Pepperidge Farms, for example – which is not a bad thing for those who want an occasional sweet treat and can limit themselves to just one. They are crispy, which I enjoyed, though they also sell “soft” cookies. Flavor wise there were hints that reminded me of the homemade cookies my aunt used to make, but just hints. Mostly, they were sweet. They didn’t have enough walnuts – or large enough pieces of walnuts – for either their flavor or texture to push through.

I did like that the cookies have mostly natural ingredients: unbleached flour, semi-sweet chocolate chips, butter, white and brown sugar, walnuts, eggs, salt and baking soda. It does have added “natural flavor,” whatever that is, and I think it probably takes away rather than add to the quality of the cookie. There is a lingering sour/metallic taste that I don’t quite like (it could be from too much baking soda too).

I appreciate that they come in an easily resealable package so that they can stay fresh. Each portion of 2 cookies has 150 calories, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 11 grams of sugar (21% of daily value!) and 9 grams of fat.

Signature Select French Toast Sticks Review

March 10, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

Terrible in every sense – except for taste

I shouldn’t have bought these French Toast Sticks at Safeway. I was planning to get plain old frozen waffles to have as a snack mid-morning, when hunger finally hits me but I feel it’s too early to actually have lunch. But then I saw these and I was curious. Curiosity killed the cat.

These French Toast sticks are bad nutritionally. The serving of 4 sticks – equivalent to a single thick slice of bread, has 310 calories and 40 grams of carbs – and that’s before you dip them in maple syrup. They don’t seem to contain any egg. As far I can tell, they are made by dipping bread slices in soybean oil and then dusting them with a batter made of flour, sugar, water and other ingredients with caramel and turmeric for coloring. They are probably then fried once more. And they are expensive if you compare them with the cost of making French toast at home, even if you use now-expensive eggs and milk. The package of 12 sticks, equivalent to 3 thick slices of bread, is $4. And you can’t cook them in the toaster. When I got them, I thought I’d be able to cook them just like frozen waffles, but these have to be cooked in the oven, toaster oven, air fryer or microwave.

My first time, I tried them in the air fryer and God, were they good! They were crispy outside and melt-in-your-mouth soft inside. The perfect texture. Dipped in maple syrup (and you don’t need much of it, given how much sugar they have to begin with), they were just delicious. Alas, because they are mostly carbs I was left hungry not too long after. In all, I don’t think I’ll buy them again, but I enjoyed them when I had them.

Harry & David Pop! Cinnamon Caramel Popcorn Review

March 10, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

My husband picked up a package of Harry & David Pop! Cinnamon Caramel Popcorn at Grocery Outlet and finally decided to open it today. I had been avoiding it as I don’t take to like cinnamon in commercial products – it’s often fake and tastes horribly. But I tried them and they are pretty good. Not great. I won’t be scarfing them down or encouraging him to buy another package, but they weren’t bad.

First, the cinnamon flavor, which comes from “cinnamon powder,” is pretty subtle. It’s there but it’s not on your face in an offensive way. It mostly just tastes of corn syrup, the ingredient they used to create the “caramel”. And that’s a problem because it doesn’t have those toasty caramel notes you want from caramel. The popcorn is just sweet, overwhelmingly so.

Harry & David introduced their Pop! line of popcorn in 2022, but I don’t see them being sold at the Harry & David website or mainstream retailers anymore, which suggests it’s been discontinued as a brand.

Guolis Conitos Review

March 6, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

Are these conitos better than Havanettes?

Once upon a time, conitos – or as we then knew them, Havannets – were my favorite treat. These are small cone-shaped sweet with a thin cookie base, and dulce de leche coated with chocolate. If you like dulce de leche, you’ll like them.

While for decades, conitos were the exclusive province of Havanna and maybe Balcarce – the two posh brands of alfajores Argentina had -, as new brands of gourmet alfajores exploded in the 90’s, so did conitos. They are now available from a large variety of brands, at least in Argentina.

Guolis is one of the brands having a moment right now. My cousin Adriana brought me a box of them when we saw her in Washington DC. She told us they had become popular as they are overstuffed with dulce de leche.

Indeed, they are, but otherwise they didn’t seem very different to me than Havannets. I don’t think I could tell them apart in a blind taste. They were very good and I enjoyed them, but not more or less than an Havannets. I’d buy them if they were available for sale – as long as they cost the same or less than Havannets.

By the way, I buy my Argentine treats through Pampa Direct (this is a referral code that if used will give both of us a $5 off coupon).

Cuisine Adventures Butter Chicken Naan Bites Review

March 4, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

I’m not a huge appetizer eater, but when I saw that Costco was carrying these butter chicken nan bites I was curious. I love nan bread, I love butter chicken, and combining the two in a bite seems to make a lot of sense.

The 25 oz package comes with 2 bags of nan bites, each with 18 pieces. They can be baked in the oven or cooked in the air fryer. I did the later, preheating it at 350F for 5 minutes, then cooking the bites for 4 minutes, tossing them and then cooking them for an additional 3 minutes. Even though I let them rest for another 3 minutes they were extremely hot when I bit into one. I’d advise to let them sit for at least 5 or 6 minutes before attempting to bite into them.

They were pretty good. They look little samosas but the shells are a little puzzling. They were crispy on the outside and rather thin, but pleasantly chewy.

The filling was tasty, though it was closer to a generic chicken curry than to butter chicken in particular. It had none of the complexity and yuminess of the latter. There was also not enough chicken. Moreover, the sauce spurts all over when you bite into them, particularly when hot. They were a bit on the oily side, however.

All in all, I don’t think I’ll buy them again but I will likely finish the package.

Update: I ate some more dipped in honey mustard dressing and they were absolutely delicious. Of course, most everything with honey mustard dressing rocks, but these went particularly well. They are still too greasy for me to buy again, but I am enjoying those I have left.

Cuisine Adventures is a brand of frozen products made by Plats du Chef, a once Canadian company now owned by a private American company.

Junior’s Mini Cheesecakes – Review

March 4, 2025 / marga / 0 Comments

A nice treat

Last year, when we went to New York City, our first gastronomic stop was at Junior’s – the famed coffeeshop that was credited with serving the best cheesecake in town. We liked it, so when I heard that Costco might be carrying their cheesecakes I directed Mike, my husband, to get one. It turned out that what they are actually carrying is a package of mini-cheesecakes, and that what he finally got for us a few days ago.

The package comes with 24 frozen cheesecakes and costs around $21. I say around because Costco actually forgot to charge us for it – and charged us for an extra of another item instead. Unlike the regular cheesecake, these ones don’t come with a cake or cookie base, they are all cheese. Indeed, the ingredient list is very simple: cream cheese, sugar, heavy cream, eggs and milk. You are supposed to keep them frozen and let thaw at room temperature for an hour before serving, but I thawed them in the fridge to no ill effect (so far).

The box comes with three flavors of cheesecakes: “original” (plain), strawberry and chocolate. The original cheesecake was pretty good, but not as good as the cheesecake we remembered from Junior’s. That one had a rustic flavor which made us think of a farmer’s cheese. This one just tasted like regular cheesecake, albeit a less sweet version. Indeed, while it was still a tad too sweet for my taste, I did appreciate that it wasn’t as sweet as most cheesecakes are. And I didn’t miss the cake base layer at all.

The strawberry cheesecakes have a swirl of strawberry sweep on top and what seems like a thin layer of strawberry syrup in the middle. The syrup tasted “real,” like what you get when you cook strawberries with sugar and then puree. It was pretty good, and gave bright, fresh hints to what is otherwise a very uniform experience, but I wish there had been more of it.

I had a similar thought with the chocolate cheesecakes. These ones had a swirl of chocolate cheesecake – rather than chocolate syrup – a bit deeper than the strawberry one. The flavor of the chocolate cheesecake was very good, but there just wasn’t enough of it to reach every bite.

In all, these are a good dessert both to serve to others and to practice portion control – particularly if you thaw one at the time.

Trader Joe’s Mandarin Style Orange Chicken Bowl

October 6, 2024 / marga / 0 Comments

No go

My daughter loves Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken, which she eats on rice, so I thought she might enjoy this Mandarin Style Orange Chicken Bowl as well, and save herself the trouble of having to heat up the chicken and the rice separately. Alas, she didn’t. She didn’t explain why she didn’t like it – but I’m noting it here so I know not to buy it for her again.

Safeway Bakery Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Icing Review

October 6, 2024 / marga / 0 Comments

Delicious, after microwaving

Safeway has these cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing on sale for $2.50 every few Fridays (regular $6), and I got them several weeks ago. They are very good – as long as you microwave them first. They are semi-freshly made, so they don’t have the annoying, metallic preservative taste of the ones that come in a can and you need to bake yourself. They are obviously not as good as home made ones, but they don’t require the work either.

I love cream cheese frosting, so I loved this, but it is ridiculously sweet, so I can’t eat more than a bite. Still, it’s a very good bite.

Category: Food Items (Page 1 of 26)

Wilkin & Sons ‘Tiptree’ Orange Marmalade Review

New York Style Sausage Company Ground Pork: Deception on your face