Sunday, August 31, 2008

Royal Grounds Cafe's Spinach Quiche

8....something '08
Located on the SE corner of Shattuck & Channing.
Pretty good...way better warm than cold. Kurtis had a pastry/sweets craving so he got a cheesecake, and I got this.

Vegan Hot Dog @ Calapalooza 2008

8.28.08
Pretty good...but doesn't taste any different to me.

House of Curries: Palak Ghosht, Naan, Papad, & Chai

Wednesday, 8.27.08
Menu here.

Top to bottom: Papad (crispy lentil bread--free because the cashier guy wanted me to try it), Steve's garlic naan, and my regular naan:


Chai (soo good):
Tried a lamb dish for a change: Palak Ghosht...

Cheeseboard's Blueberry Scone

Kurtis gave me this the other day. :)

Once again, I wasn't disappointed with Cheeseboard (aka The Cheese Board). I think I'd rather have it without the sugary topping, but it was still good.

Naked's Banana Chocolate Smoothie

Mom's free sample at Caltopia 2008. I don't normally like chocolate + banana products, but this was pretty good. Still on the sweet side, but I'd actually spend money on it.

Jamba Smoothie: Strawberries Wild

Another free sample (this time it was out by the main entrance of the Downtown Berkeley BART station). Good in general, but I wouldn't pay money for it. Too sweet.

Cheeseboard's Corn & Cherry Scone

Go ahead...say it...I'm a pig. I just keep splurging for special occasions. Need to stop having those I guess.

Maybe I should have a blog tag for Cheeseboard products.

8.30.08
It's like a hard, sweet cornbread...with cherries. I coulda done without the sugar on top, but it was still good. Julie and Seumsack shared a cheese roll. Julie seemed to like it, but Seumsack said it was just "alright." Wow--the first person ever to say anything even remotely bad about something from Cheeseboard.


Saturday, August 30, 2008

French Chocolates Straight From France

I am really picky with chocolates...but these are GOOD!! Three layers! Thanks, Minh-Chau!

Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #8: Ethel's Chocolate Lounge

8.7.08
819 W. Armitage Ave.
Website here.



My samples:

Oops...it got squished after I bit it. This was REALLY good--and I didn't expect to like the peanut butter + jelly combination in a truffle. The jelly and peanut butter parts were separate.

I think this was a dark chocolate raspberry truffle. I don't normally like raspberry-flavored things either, but this was really good.


Cute little tea bags!:

Friday, August 29, 2008

Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #7: Bacino's

8.7.08
2204 N. Lincoln Ave.
Website here.

This is a stuffed crust spinach pizza (WAY good!). Click here for thin crust and deep dish Chicago pizza pics. This stuffed crust pizza was sooo delicious. The flavors, the textures, the hot temperature,...oh gosh. I'd get this again in a heartbeat. I thought Zachary's in the Bay Area was good (and it REALLY is), but this is my new favorite stuffed crust pizza!!

Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #6: Catering * Chocolate

8.7.08
1712 N. Wells St
Website here.

Don't these look good??:

Our sample at this stop was bread w/ cheese:

Haha...their temporary sign (they were remodeling the outside or something):

Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #5: The Fudge Pot

8.7.08
1532 N. Wells St.
Chicago, IL

They had pretty much every shape/creature you could think of made of chocolate. Our sample was a piece (actually...several pieces) of chocolate/nuts-covered brittle.


Talked about melting this huge bar down so they could make shapes:


Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #4: Old Town Oil

8.7.08
1520 N. Wells St.
Website here.

This was just one side of one row of oil cans:


Didn't take too many pics because I was too busy trying to sample as many oils and balsamic vinegars as possible. I think I tried nine total. So good. They had every flavor you could think of, including regular EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) to roasted walnut oil and blueberry, pomegranite, and pecan oils...and the balsamic vinegars were pretty good too. Some vinegars were so sweet our tour guide said that sometimes people order them to drink as a little dessert.


Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #3: The Spice House

8.7.08
1512 N. Well Street
Website here.





Thursday, August 28, 2008

Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #2: Tea Gschwendner

Sample 2 = Some kind of orange black tea I think. It was good and such a great idea to have on a suny day when you know you're going to be sampling food here and there.

Tea Gschwendner website here.

Chicago Food Planet Tour Stop #1: Azkenaz Deli

Go here for the tour's website. Pretty neat tour, as you will see.

Our first "free" sample (its price was included in the tour) was a potato pancake (aka latke). I only have the sour cream pictured because we were sorta rushed and someone else had the apple sauce.