I first discovered the Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Merlot at a dinner at Rick and Ann’s. I’m not a merlot person but I, as well as everyone else at the table, really liked it. Later, we enjoyed a bottle with Thanksgiving dinner to great accolades.
I wanted to try other wines from the collection and last night was the turn of the Zinfandel. I didn’t like the wine at all – I found it overly bitter. I’m not sure what else I can say about it, because the bitterness and dryness overwhelmed any other aspect of the wine. I’m not sure what my guests thought of it, because nobody said anything about it (everyone, however, praised the Hess Collection Reserve Cab, reviewed on my next post).
So thumbs down for the Coppola Zin.
Page 102 of 162
Last night I made chicken adobo. I think it was the second time I’d ever cooked the dish, the first one being over 15 years ago. But I’ve been eating it at Zen’s in San Leandro, and really enjoying it. I chose a very simple recipe from epicurious.com, and the results were quite good. It didn’t have the depth of flavor that Zen’s adobo has, but the chicken was moist and tasty, and most importantly, then kids (my kids!) loved it.
I will say that we ended up eating the chicken without the sauce, and not browning it after removing it from the sauce. We just couldn’t wait 🙂 The following is my adaptation of the original recipe:
Chicken Adobo
- 1 Tbsp. oil
- 5 lbs chicken parts
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
- 2-4 bay leaves (depending on size)
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Put a large pot over medium-high heat and brown the chicken parts on the oil. Add the garlic cloves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the vinegar, the peppercorns and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce temperature and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the soy sauce and sugar, mix well and then simmer for 20 more minutes.
Remove chicken from pot, keep warm and reduce the sauce until it’s about 1 cup. Remove fat and serve over chicken.
Marga’s Best Recipes
Perhaps it’s sad to say that Round Table Pizza is the best pizza in San Leandro – but after tasting most of them, that is my conclusion.
Round Table Pizza is relatively new to me. I think I’d eaten at the restaurant a couple of times, years and years ago, and the pizza hadn’t made much of an impression. Then I had it at my friend Charlotte’s house a few weeks ago, and I was surprised at how good it was (as I said, better than anything else in San Leandro). I had it again in a pizza buffet during a trip, and finally a couple of days ago when I had nothing in the house to cook and we were too lazy to go shopping. It was good.
The kids got the plain cheese pizza ($17 for a medium, probably 12-14″), and that was fine, though nothing terribly special. They liked it quite a bit, though, but I don’t know that they are that particular. I thought it was terribly, terribly overpriced, however. Alas, that’s what they eat, so I’m not sure there is anything I can do about it.
I had the Maui Zaui (ham, bacon, pineapple, tomatoes, red and green onions, with 3 cheeses), and it was positively delicious. I particularly liked the bacon, but all the toppings were very nicely balanced. I definitely would order it again. I had it again the next day (microwave for 30″ per slice), and it was good, though of course not as much as they day before. Surprisingly, the pizza was only $2 more than the plain pizza.
I will probably order again from Round Table. The only thing that makes me hesitant are the prices. After tax and tip, the two relatively small medium pizzas came to $42 – more than the cost of a dinner out for the four of us, and this didn’t include drinks.
Round Table
1359 Washington Avenue
San Leandro, CA
(510) 581-9994
http://www.roundtablepizza.com/
Last Sunday I made toffee for the first time. I think it was my first time making candy period, and I was surprised at how easy it was. The results were absolutely delicious – better than any toffee I’ve eaten (the caramel was softer and less sticky). Later that day we tasted some toffee at Costco and Mika was quick to assert that mine was better.
The recipe is from allrecipes.com – I followed it faithfully until the end. I had no problems whatsoever with separation, I stirred it quite often before it boiled, and then every 2-3 minutes afterwards.
Toffee
- 2 cups salted butter
- 1 cups white sugar
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 cupped finely chopped almonds
Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil
Combine butter and sugar in a heavy pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until the butter is melted. Let come to a boil and then cook until the mixture becomes dark and the temperature has reached 300F
As soon as the toffee is ready, pour it onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle it with the chocolate chips and wait a couple of minutes for them to soften. Sprinkle with the chopped almonds and spread the melted chocolate throughout the toffee, pressing lightly (I used the back of the wooden spoon I used to stir the toffee).
Let cool, and then place in the refrigerator. Break into pieces and store in an air tight container.
Yesterday we went to the Ghirardelli’s factory store here in San Leandro, and tried their new pecan pie chocolate squares. It’s delicious, my favorite of all of them (the caramelized almonds one was my former favorite one). Check it out. And if you do get them in San Leandro, look for a 20% off your whole purchase coupon in the San Leandro Times.
Fatty Patty’s is the worst restaurant I have never eaten at. I had read the reviews of the place, and they were pretty positive. Granted, they were mostly about the breakfast and how huge the portions were, but they did say the food was good. What they didn’t say, was that the food was bought pre-cooked.
We went there for lunch while we were visiting my in-laws, and I requested a cheeseburger cooked medium-rare. They told me they couldn’t do that because they bought the patties pre-cooked, and all they did was warm them up! My God, even McDonalds grills them themselves (they are frozen, granted, but at least they are raw). I can’t imagine how sucky these must be. Alas, they didn’t really have much in the lunch menu that wasn’t patty-based, so we actually walked out of the place.
It’s a pity, because I love those mom-n-pop, all-American, hole in the wall breakfast places. I don’t expect the food to be great, and usually a visit is enough for me, but visiting one is like traveling to another country.
I don’t know that I’d go to Fatty Patty’s for breakfast either, the hamburger experience scares me away (I’m imagining commercial frozen-pancakes, warmed up in the microwave). But at least it was a (short) experience.
Fatty Patty’s Restaurant
10501 NE Highway 99 # 31
Vancouver, WA
(360) 574-4940
Marga’s Restaurant Reviews – Outside the Bay Area
Yeah! I’ve made it! Good rolled sugar cookies that are easy and quick to make and don’t break! I based it on a recipe at allrecipes.com – but I made a couple of changes based on the ingredients I had at hand. As I said, they came out great and Mika (who helped me make them) loved them. I will certainly make them next time around – better safe than sorry :-).
Note that this time I made the cookies a little bit thicker than last time, they are not as crispy but, as I said, they don’t break.
Note 2. So the cookies cooled down, and I realized that they are not that tasty after all. They are definitely not very sweet, even with the added granulated sugar on top, and my 4-yo rejected one after taking a bite (which is saying quite a bit). So I’ll keep looking for another recipe.
Rolled sugar cookies
Makes 24 LARGE cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. orgeat (or 1/2 tsp. almond extract)
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- flour for rolling
- sugar for dusting
In an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg and the vanilla and orgeat and beat well. Add the flour and baking soda and mix well. Add the lemon juice and mix again. Put dough in the freezer for 30-40 minutes or in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease cookie sheet(s). Flour a flat surface and a rolling pin – roll a large chunk of dough, leaving the rest in the refrigerator. Cut with cookie cutters and place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 8 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Let cool for 5 minutes on pan before removing.
Marga’s Best Recipes
I just made Christmas cookies using this recipe from allrecipes.com. They turned out OK, they taste great, but they are very delicate. So far all but two (a star and a Xmas tree) have broken. It may be because I made them too thin, or because I’ve taken them off the cookie sheets while still warm (I’m letting the last two batches cool before I take them out), but this did not happen with the rolled sugar cookies I made for Halloween – I just wish I knew what recipe I used (thus the point of this post, this was not the recipe I used last time).
I halved the recipe, btw, and it made about two dozen HUGE cookies.
I will probably make another batch of Xmas cookies in the next couple of weeks, hopefully they’ll work better.
I just got a message about this new Burmese cookbook: hsa*ba, Burmese cookbook. hsa*ba means “please eat” in Burmese (is that the name of the language?). I haven’t seen the book, but as there aren’t many books on Burmese cooking, I thought I’d mention it. The website also has some Burmese recipes.
My cooking page on Burmese food is here. I enjoyed cooking the food, as it was quite different – but comforting – from what I usually make.
Wednesday I got a shipment of mini-cheesecakes from The Confectional – a cheesecake bakery in Seattle that does mail order. They wrote to me a few weeks ago asking me if I’d like to review their cheesecakes – and after thinking about the ethics of such things – I decided to do it. I knew I’d feel bad if I had to give them a bad review, but really, how likely was that when we are talking about cheesecake?
As it turned out, the cheesecakes were great – in particular their plain cheesecake. I got 8 different kinds, and I’ll review each one below. The cheesecakes are small and round, each one the size of a generous personal portion, and come in a variety of flavors.
The first cheesecake I tried was the Seattle’s New York-Style cheesecake, and it was probably the best cheesecake that I’ve ever had. It was rich, creamy, sensual – plainly delicious. I think one of the things that made it so great was the crust. In my experience, cheesecake crusts often taste stale and are usually not very tasty. These ones would be good enough to eat by themselves – they are sweeter than your general crust and taste fresh with a vibrant, crystal flavor. Yummm.
The kids and I shared the Peanut Butter & Chocolate cheesecake – and this one wasn’t as successful (but how could it be?). The main problem was the dark chocolate – I’m sure it will fully satisfy you if you like dark chocolate, but I thought it was a bit bitter and Mika (my 6 year old) found it too bitter to eat at all. I liked the peanut butter part, but more when eaten by itself rather than in combination with the dark chocolate. That said, Camila (my 4 year old) really liked it.
Later on, we had the Caramel cheesecake. We all loved it. According to Mika “It is yummy! I love it so much. You make good cheesecakes.” Camila, meanwhile, says: “I like all the cheesecakes. I like them a lot and a lot.” This cheesecake was sweet, though not overly so, with a definite but not overwhelming touch of caramel.
By my fourth cheesecake, the Raspberry white chocolate. I liked this cheesecake quite a bit, it was refreshing and just as creamy as the other ones – and the (chocolate?) crust was delicious as well. But I still liked the Seattle NY cheesecake better.
After that, I decided that I couldn’t really wait to taste all the cheesecakes, so I took bites of all of them – sharing some with my kids.
I did not like the Coconut Cherry Chocolate cheesecake – made with lighter chocolate than the peanut butter & chocolate cheesecake. But then again, I do not like cherries. I didn’t realize it was cherry when I tried it, but was unhappy when I encountered the fruit – both because of its taste and its consistency. Camila didn’t like it either, which I found surprising. Mika, on the other hand, loved it and had it all for herself.
I shared the Cookies & Mint Chocolate cheesecake with everybody. Mike, a mint fan, specially liked it – though he didn’t think it tasted much like a cheesecake. Camila thought it was very yummy, and I thought the mint flavor had been well incorporated into the chocolate. Mika, on the other hand, wasn’t impressed – no reason why.
I’m not the biggest fan of cinnamon either, so the Pumpkin cheesecake was not my favorite. If you like pumpkin pie with a lot of spice you’ll probably like it – but then again, why not eat pumpkin pie then?
And finally, if you want a real kick, you have to try the Mexican Chocolate cheesecake, sprinkled with cayenne and cinnamon. I hadn’t checked which one it was before I tasted it, so the spiciness (and it is very spicy) really surprised me. I can’t imagine I could eat a whole one at once, but I’ve gone back for other bites here and there.
And that was it. My general feelings are that these are very high quality cheesecakes, with great cookie crust, well balanced flavors and a great consistency, creamy, yet firm. I also think that they are very well priced at $32 for 9 cakes – that’s less than $4 a serving – and you probably can’t make a cheesecake for that price. They get even cheaper – per cheesecake – if you order more (however, I don’t know how much the shipping costs are – they may make the cheesecakes significantly more expensive).
The cheesecakes look very elegant, so I think they would be a great end to a dinner party. While I personally would order a box just with plain cheesecakes (though I would like to try the quadruple chocolate and the kahlua white chocolate cheesecakes), I think for a dinner party you should order a variety (though of course, you then risk people fighting over their favorite one).
This cheesecake experience actually made me change my plans for Xmas dessert. I was going to make Frozen Grand Marnier Torte with Dark Chocolate Crust and Spiced Cranberries, but now I think I’m going to make individual cheesecakes. I’ll definitely use the Maria cookies from Spain (what they use), if I can find them. I was thinking of making plain or white chocolate cheesecakes and adorning each one with a strawberry and a couple of mint leaves 🙂 I’ll let you know how they come out.
Finally, the cheesecakes came very well packaged, with four cooling packages that were still semi-frozen when they got here. The cheesecake arrived at a perfect temperature – not too cold, but still not room temperature and had the perfect consistency right off the box.
Once again, you can find these cheesecakes at The Confectional in Seattle.
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