More From Ethel's: American Pop Flavors

My Aunt J and Uncle J went to Las Vegas and bought us a lot of chocolate from Ethel's! This was a few months ago.... I've been way behind in my blogging.
Here are the American Pop flavors. Didn't like the cheesecake or blueberry (but when do I like blueberry truffles?). I did like the peanut butter one...but my favorite is still that PB&J one. I didn't really try the rest. Oh! That American pie one was a let-down. So was the pudding pie, but that American pie was just weird. I didn't know what kind of pie it was supposed to be.

Overall though, YUM!!! I'll post the rest of the pictures later (of the non-American Pop truffles).



Wayy better picture of my beloved PB&J truffle (remember this post from that Chicago food tour? That picture of the same kind of truffle was blurry, and the truffle was all squashed). I love the separate little compartments for the jelly and the peanut butter! Oh yes...and the jelly was less liquid-y this time.

Either the gingerbread one or the maple one (Hey...They look the same!):

Cream Puffs From Judy's Donuts - Fresno, CA

Judy's Donuts - Several locations in Fresno

Hmm... They're not as good as I remember them being, but I think it's because I used to like custard more than I do now. These things are amazing if you like custard. They're soft, delicate, and covered in powdered sugar that makes it feel cooler in your mouth. You know what I mean? That's probably my favorite thing about powered sugar.


Here's a not-so-great shot of that pink thing hiding under the cream puff above. It's the only type of donut I really like: a French cruller (I prefer regular ones though--not chocolate or strawberry... Got these for my co-workers). More cream puff/egg-y than regular donuts. I wish these would have less icing though. I was looking for older pictures of other French crullers, and I found THIS, which is actually also from Judy's Donuts...and it's funny because I said that it had too much icing then too.

Mangosteen

Mangosteen
4965 N. Fresno Street
Fresno, CA 93726

Sorry. I don't remember the exact names for what we ordered. I sometimes take notes on what I order, what the food tastes like, and the general ambiance of the place, but I didn't this time, and I went back in January or February, so I can't remember a lot of things. This was the second time I ate there though, and both times I really liked the food.

Appetizers: A layered Indian bread that was SO GOOD but different (lighter, thinner, and not as layered) than the layered bread I had at Udupi Palace (sorry...no post on the multi-layered bread yet) in Berkeley, which was also very good, and fish balls (pretty much like kamaboko covered panko. It was funny how the wairess mispronounced "panko." It should be like "pah-n-ko," but she said it like "pan-ko" like...a frying pan kind of "pan." hehe I probably slaughter words from other languages too, BUUUUT I think she should know how to pronounce the dishes at the restaurant that's employed her, don'tcha think? Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of kamaboko unless it's in udon, somen, or somen salad. Pretty much tastes a little like soft plastic (sturdy but slightly squishy) fish....

Can't remember exact names...but we got their pineapple fried rice (it was something like "Heavenly Pineapple Fried Rice" or something with "Heavenly" in it), white rice, pad thai (it was less citrus-y this time), some kind of Thai curry, aaand some kind of green bean dish:

Baked Rigatoni w/ Tiny Pork Meatballs

I thought this recipe would be easy, but it wasn't. Not really. My mom made a comment about the bèchamel (cool name, huh? Makes you feel special for knowing a new French cooking word. It was also my warning that it wasn't going to be easy) but didn't say anything further until we were finished--after she had made the sauce herself. Such a nice mom. So be warned. It's not as easy as it looks. It's not awfully difficult either though. And it was good!!

Umixed:Raw pork balls covered in flour:


Some of the meatballs:


Recipe HERE. I'm not even going to try to reword this recipe because it's worded funny. Mom and I had some trouble understanding some of it, so maybe you would understand it better from Smitten Kitchen or from the person from whom she got the recipe. ::Shrugs::

I think the only change we made to the recipe was lowering the amount of nutmeg 'cause Mom doesn't like it.

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

She likes to give her visitors tea and food. Those are pistachios. I just realized you can't see the seaweed-covered snacks that look like these. This was from last Sunday (3/14/10).

Lemon & Choc. Cupcakes from Reedley's Crab Feed 2010

The Reedley Buddhist Church likes to feed people crab (and chicken for anti-crab people) every year. The idea sickens me (I hate crab with a passion), but they have cool stuff auctioned off like these cupcakes (the rest were given away to other people):

Marble Slab's S'mores Ice Cream

Marble Slab Creamery
Website here (various locations).
Went about a week or so ago with Michelle and Desiree before we went to Aqua Shi (yeah...bad luck, death, etc. Still good - edit---Aqua Shi closed).

I think I like Marble Slab more than Cold Stone. Haven't figured out exactly why. Maybe Cold Stone is TOO creamy. Too rich. I don't know. Marble Slab isn't healthy either though. Anyway, I got this because lately I've been into s'mores stuff. Ever since watching all of those chocolate-graham cracker-marshmallow things on The Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate. I would have liked this better if the chocolate chips had been hot fudge instead. I don't usually like hard things in my ice cream (like gummy bears...ugh). Still good though.

Panera's Chocolate Chip Bagel

Panera Bread w/ Tiffany, Megan, and Kim (Sunday, 3/14/10).
Website here (various locations).

Really good. Better than Uncle Harry's chocolate chip bagel (this one has just the right amount of chocolate).


The bottom (I love how it's slightly crispy and extra chocolatey).

Au Bon Pain Chocolate Croissant

Yum!

Reminds me of Obon every time ("au bon" is pronounced very similarly). They have Au Bon Pains all over New York. Got this guy at La Guardia Airport back in February on my last day of that grad school interview week.

Macadamia Nut Kisses

Apparently these are special because they're only sold in Hawaii (my mom got 'em from her co-worker). Interesting. The ABC Stores sell them according to this. I went there a long time ago and saw a lot of those places, so these guys should be easy to find.

Brunch @ Huckleberry's

Julie, Jenny, and I got delicious biscuits & gravy, some kind of soup ("Hearty vegetable"?), and the French Connection (kind of like a fancier McGriddle from McDonald's) at Huckleberry's the other Sunday. We want to go back.


Menu descriptions:

The French Connection:
"Two slices of French bread egg dipped, golden grilled & stuffed with sliced ham,
eggs & Jack cheese. Served with country reds, and thick maple syrup. 7.95"

Biscuits and Gravy:
"BISCUITS & HAM GRAVY 2 fresh biscuits, 2 bacon or sausage links. 5.55"

Funny thing outside the restaurant (note the girl's missing foot):

Jacques Torres in NYC

I actually wanted to go to Jacques Torres ever since Giada di Laurentiis mentioned their spicy hot chocolate on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, but I hadn't planned on tracking it down when Ijust happened to walk by it in Manhattan the other week when I was looking for Levain Bakery (post on that coming soon).

Anyway, this chocolate is sooo, so good. I only tried the Coffee Break and Dangerously Dark (I looove dark chocolate) bars. I think this was the first coffee-flavored bar I've liked. If I go back, I'd get chocolate bark (apparently that's the thing people familiar with the place do: They come just for the bark because it's the cheapest bar you can get - They're messy, broken-up pieces of chocolate without the fancy wrapping for prices around $1.60/$1.90 ... vs. the $2.00 bars shown below) and a spicy ("Wicked") hot chocolate. I didn't get a drink this time because I had just had the frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity the day before.

Sorry for the bad flash again.

Old Mini Alcoholic Beverages

Uncle Jerry brought these over from Grandma & Grandpa's house:


Pretty cool stuff. I left the dust on there to show how old these things are. The one on the left below is gray--not just covered in dust.

With flash:

Without flash: