grocery shopping, products and prices

After a conversation with a vegan friend about almond milk, I decided to peruse three various health food stores in my neighborhood for (cow) milk alternatives with the exception of soy (I'm allergic). An interesting observation I made, not for the first time, was the difference in price of identical products in various supermarkets and health food stores. Something to note before I continue: most supermarkets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan are ridiculously expensive. A box of Tazo Tea which can be purchased for about $5 at Starbucks (yes, Starbucks) goes for about $8 at the Gristedes up here. It's ridiculous! Health food stores generally have a reputation for being very expensive, and many of their products are quite pricey, but certain items are actually much less costly. Quinoa, for example, was at least half the cost and sunflower seeds were about one third. I was happy to notice that one health food store carried four brands of rice milk, three brands of almond milk and one each of oat milk and hazelnut milk. And, guess what, the prices were either equivalent to or cheaper than the (cow's) milk at the supermarket.

Something to remember: if you have time, explore various grocery and healthfood stores and compare prices; you'll be surprised at how much you can save by purchasing certain items at different places!

let's go back in time - part II

Tartine

Tartine, a popular bakery in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco (also where the Bi-Rite Creamery is located), has been written up in numerous magazines - even a German one! The bread pudding was recommended to me so I decided to try a cup of it accompanied with a cappuccino.

Tartine seeks to use all organic products and receives their dairy and meat from a nearby farm. The bread pudding is made with whatever fruit is currently in-season, which while I visited was banana. The sweet taste of banana was offset by that of egg, and the texture and taste of the sweet syrup-soaked bread set a nice base to the dish. While I like the taste of eggs - huge omelet fan - I realized that I don't like to experience it in a sweet dish such as this. I'm not sure, but I think I'm just not a bread pudding fan. Maybe if I was, I would have found the dish delicious. And you're wondering how the cappuccino was...eh it was just o.k. Some places might be more of a trend, some, like Bi-Rite, live up to the hype, some don't. I must say though, the more savory options such as quiche or croque monsieur looked tasty, so if you do find yourself in the Mission area of San Fran, stop by Tartine for a savory lunch and then finish it off with some unique-flavored ice cream from the Bi-Rite Creamery.

let's go back in time - part I

I'd been thinking about starting a blog for a while, and with the encouragement of two wonderful friends on separate occasions I finally decided to start. Naturally when I made the decision I was across the country visiting Marta in San Francisco and didn't have a computer. Thankfully good old pen and paper did the trick and I wrote my "first" blogs so to say, in various cafes throughout beautiful San Fran. Here they are, posted one at a time:


Bi-Rite Creamery & Bakeshop

The line was out the door and around the corner. Marta and I waited in line for the popular ice cream because how often am I in San Fran after all? Time in line passed quickly as we had plenty of catching up to do and delicious recipes to exchange. When I saw the list of flavors (see picture), I was a bit overwhelmed but finally decided on ricanela (canela is cinnamon in Spanish), which is essentially cinnamon ice cream with snickerdoodle cookie dough, and brown sugar with ginger-caramel swirl. Yum! The white chocolate with raspberry and the salty caramel also sounded delicious. The brown sugar with ginger-caramel swirl was one of the most delicious ice cream flavors I had ever tried (and I am a huge ice cream fan). So, if you're ever in San Francisco, be sure to visit the Bi-Rite Creamery.

the remaining zucchini

After using one zucchini to make the last zucchini bread, I realized that I still had to create something with the three others I had left. I decided to make a zucchini, spinach quiche with feta. Now, no one recipe was used; instead, I read various recipes online and tried to remember how my mom always made the quiche we had growing up (it was mostly spinach). Unfortunately, due to excessive time in the oven (oops!) it was a bit dry. The zucchini and chopped spinach mixed well, however, as did the 1/4 onion, salt pepper and garlic. At first only two eggs were used, but right before placing it in the oven, I decided another egg would be a good addition. Instead of mixing in the egg, I beat it with a fork and poured it on top. I love to experiment, but sometimes the outcome isn't ideal. The final egg is a great example. It only lead to a rather rubbery texture on the top of the quiche. Ah well, if you ignored the interesting top, the taste was pretty good, if a little dry. Not a terrible experiment.

While the quiche was baking, I decided to grate the last two zucchinis to make another zucchini bread. I used the same recipe as the last time, but made some "healthy" changes. Instead of one cup of veggie oil and 1 3/4 c sugar, I used 1/2 veggie oil, 1 cup apple sauce, and only 1c sugar. I also used about double the shredded zucchini. The outcome was a bit more dense, but plenty sweet, less oily and much much tastier. Success! My fellow gardeners at the Rooftop Farm loved the bread as well. It's great to have taste testers every Sunday.

zucchini!

After a long day of classes, volunteering, and too many crowded subways, I decided to try making zucchini bread from a recipe I found on http://www.recipezaar.com/. I had a bit too much batter for my pan, so I made some mini-muffins in an old muffin pan I found stored in the oven (yes, we lack space and therefore store baking pans etc in the oven). The mini-muffins were done no more than 15 minutes and weren't bad. The recipe called for what seemed a good amount of oil. Indeed, I was correct; the zucchini bread (more of a cake really, just like banana bread) is a bit greasy for me. Some would call it moist. Next time I'll use less oil, more whole wheat flower and maybe some applesauce. There are still four zucchinis, so I can try a few more recipes in the next couple of days...will let you know the outcome.

volunteering and free produce

After a somewhat crazy day filled with confusing information regarding a course requirement and misinformation, I volunteered at the Lenape Edible Estates opening with Growing Chefs. Basically this event was to show what the Lenape people, otherwise known as Lenapehoking or Delaware Native Americans, grew in our local area. We served three sister succotash and corn cakes with berries. Our three sister succotash consisted of fresh, local and raw sweet corn, steamed local zucchini, and cooked Lima and black beans. It's essentially a bean salad and is absolutely delicious. The corn cakes with berries were small pancakes made with cornmeal, corn kernels, raspberries and blackberries, served with either NY maple syrup or honey. All ingredients except the flour, Lima beans and black beans were local.
At the end of the event Annie gave me leftover steamed zucchini, four whole zucchinis, a gallon of organic local milk, and a dozen beautiful eggs from heirloom South American chickens (born and raised in NY state) which come in three colors: blue, brown and white. The eggs are quite small because the chickens are still young, and the yolks are more orange than those we're used to. These chickens roam around, picking bugs and worms to eat in addition to their feed. A chicken's diet definitely affects the color of the yolk. These eggs remind me of those my grandparents in Germany always had; eggs purchased from the "Eiermann" or egg man who used to bring fresh eggs from his small farm to clients in the city. The eggs with their deep orange yolks were delivered once a week right to their door and were delicious!
I'll post pictures of the beautiful eggs and whatever I decide to bake (zucchini bread?) from the excessive amount of produce that now finds itself in my fridge.

the beginning of grad school!

Last Tuesday grad school finally started and, oh wow, I love it! It felt amazing to hear my professors tell me that I would have to read about why certain recipes work and some don't, that we would be discussing food allergies, eating disorders, cultural differences as illustrated by various cuisines, diseases due to poor nutrition and so much more. I made the right decision to return to school for a masters in nutrition and dietetics; phew! I'll admit, I love reading most of my textbooks (chemistry being the exception). Wednesday is my first food science lab i.e. cooking class and I couldn't be more excited. What will we cook first...?
So welcome to my blog where I hope to post recipes and interesting foods and dishes I am exposed to (I love to learn about cultures through their kitchens), as well as thoughts on nutrition. Thanks for reading!