Nostagic Childhood Candies

I am absolutely grateful that I am still in touch with my elementary school friends.  Yes, elementary school friends!! We've all met as 6 or 7 years old...and over middle school, high school, college, jobs, boyfriends, husbands, and now kids, we somehow all managed to stay in touch.  We don't see each other often, but 2-3 times a year, we try to have a get-together.  This past Saturday, we went to YW's house in Castro Valley.  Our group has grown from us 5 girls, to 10 including boyfriends and husbands, and then now to 15 including kids.  The group will only get bigger in the years to come! :-)

The wonderful host, YW, gave us each a goodie bag.  Inside the bag was an assortment of childhood candies and snacks.  Oh, it was so nice to see (not to mention eat) the candies...sure brought back a lot of childhood memories!! I remember that after school, we would go to this convenient store on Stockton & buy all sorts of candies and snacks! Here are some of the candies I remember buying and eating away... (no wonder I had such bad teeth!!) Do you recognize any of these candies?

Sour Apple Chewy Gummies - I think they sold for 5 cents each

Hot Tamales - similar to Mike & Ike. I think they sold for 10 cents??

Jaw Breakers!!!

Juicy Fruit - 25 cents for a pack of 5!

Lemon Head - they sold for 10 cents a box!

Fun Dip - 15 cents each!

Nerds - I think they sold for 25 cents each?  My favorite flavor is Watermelon!

Smarties - 5 cents each

Sugar Straws (thanks TJ for this reminder!) - sold for only 1 cent each!!

Sugar Daddy - I believe these sold for 5 cents each

      Thanks YW for taking us back memory lane...

A Lazy Cook's fall-of-the-bone Baby Back ribs

This is a super-easy Baby back rib recipe. I got it from Allrecipes.com.

2 lbs baby back ribs

1 bottle of store bought BBQ sauce

Salt and pepper

1. Cut ribs into single pieces

2. Sprinkle some salt and pepper onto the ribs

3. Cut about 4 pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil (about 15" long)

4. Put 3-4 ribs in each of the foil and smother BBQ sauce all over, fold over into small pouches

5. Marinate for 4-5 hrs or as long as you can (overnight is preferred)

6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees

7. Put the aluminum pouches into an baking pan (in case the sauces spill over).

8. Bake for 3 hours

9. Carefully remove the ribs from oven, and the ribs out of the pouches. Discard the remaining juices inside the pouches

10. Brush additional BBQ sauce on the rib and serve!

The meat will be super tender and will fall off the bone!! Absolutely delicious!! I personally like to use the Hickory Smoke BBQ sauce, but you can choose any you like. There is a lot of variety in supermarkets to select from.

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TJ products

Garlic Bread - $1.99

This is found in the freezer section. Bread is about 6" long, 1 side only, and needs to be baked in the oven 425 degrees. I find the taste more "cheesy" than "garlicky." It's OK for me, although my husband liked it a lot. The good thing about it is that it didn't give me a nasty after taste. Would maybe buy again, once in a while.

Pork Gyoza Potstickers - $2.99

I love these! There are about 24 - 28 in a pack and it's perfect for a quick meal when you can't think of anything to eat. Don't need soy sauce or any other sauce. They are perfectly seasoned already. Pan fry for 1 minute in high heat, and then add water & simmer under low heat for 5 minutes. It comes out really good every time. Would buy again.

Mango & Cream Bars - $3.49

If you like mango, you would love these. They totally taste like the real fruit! The bar is small, probably the length of your tallest finger. 8 in a box. The bars don't come with a wooden stick so it makes it necessary to eat really fast before it melts 'cuz it can get messy. But you totally can eat this in 3-4 bites because it's really good. Would totally buy this again.

Dried Cranberries - $2.99 ?? don't remember

one of my favorites. They are not too sweet nor too sour. Just right. Perfect. I eat these to snack - although you can also use these to bake. They are really addicting. I can finish 1/4 of a bag in one sitting.

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Trader Joe's products

I've always been a fan of Trader Joe's but in the past, the only one in the city was on Geary. The location is a bit out of the way for us so we don't make it out there often. However, now there are two new locations that are much closer: Stonestown and Daly City's Westlake. Today I went to TJ in Stonestown and tried some out some new items (not necessarily new in TJ, but new to me). I'm going to try to document the items I've tried - as a reminder for myself.

Carne Asada-$6.99 per pound
It is marinated beef sirloin, used primarily for tacos. I used it as stir fry and it works just as well. The taste is peppery and a hint of lemon/lime. The beef is tender. The taste for me was "just OK." I was mistaken to think that that the meat was already sliced (as per the package) but they are not. They come in 3-4 chunky slices in the package. I am not fond of cutting already marinated meat because I always feel like all the marinade is gone by the time I'm done cutting. That may be just me.

Organic Strawberry Lemonade - $3.29
Okay, probably not as good as the strawberry lemonade from Cheesecake Factory but this is close. The juice is not too sweet nor too sour. I can taste the strawberry which is a plus. Contains 21% juice.

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super Easy Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

The recipe is SOOOO easy for this savory pork tenderloin!

Ingredients:
5 TB soy sauce (low sodium if you have it)
2 TB olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1 lb pork tenderloins

Directions:
1. In a large resealable plastic bag, combined the first 6 ingredients; add pork. Seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight

2. Drain and discard marinade. Place the tenderloins in a baking pan (Pyrex works best). Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with pan drippings.

Miette Cupcakes

I am not much of a cupcake eater - my friend Sylvia is a big cupcake fan. Quite frankly, the ones I've eaten so far are mostly those made from a Betty Crocker box. So I didn't know what a "real" cupcake tastes like...until I ate from Miette Cakes. OMG! Their cupcakes are divine! I got a chocolate one today with Vanilla buttercream frosting and it was really really really good!! It was great! The cake itself was moist and the frosting creamy. Not too sweet ~ perfect! There are a handful of other flavors like a raspberry frosting, which I shall try next time. There is a Miette Cakes in the Ferry Building...close to work ~ Dangerous!

Food-Filled day!

The Fourth is definitely a Food-Filled Day! SQ and I woke up late today, did some garden clean-up and went for a late lunch at the Outerlands. It is a nice, sweet little cafe in the Avenues (Judah and 45th). I always like to patronize our local eateries whenever we can. The Outerlands has an unique decor - their walls, tables, chairs, benches, and floor are all made from re-claimed wood. It not only has a very rustic feel to it, it is environmental-friendly. Since today is a holiday, the cafe served a limited menu selection. We shared a corn chowder, which was really really good. Not too heavy, filled with fresh sweet corn, potatoes and my favorite, roasted bell peppers. Yum! It was so good that the bowl was gone before I remembered to take a pic of it! We also ordered a Roasted turkey open-faced sandwich, complete with cheese and granny-smith apples. It was delicious! I would definitely come back to try some of their other dishes... Yelpers said that their Mac and Cheese is to die for!
As if we didn't already have enough food, we ended up going to Bi-Rite Creamery for their specialty ice cream. They have the best ice cream in town...yes, IMO, even better than Mitchell's. I got the Balsamic Strawberry and SQ got Toasted Coconut. Both flavors are first timers and keepers! Enjoyed the ice cream with a free show at Dolores Park.

Bi-Rite Creamery is also associated with the Bi-Rite Market on 18th & Guerrero. They are very well-known in the neighborhood, because they promote and sell only organic and locally and sustainably-raised meats, poultry and seafood. It is actually a very small market, but check out their cheese selection!

While in the neighborhood, we would be shot if we didn't stop by Tartine Bakery. It was close to 3:30pm by this time - and we were both very stuffed, but we still managed to chow down their famous bread pudding and a cup of latte. The peaches are in-season and extra-delicious! I am not a big fan of bread pudding but this is indeed quite good. SQ loved it!!! Next time we have to come back on an empty stomach.

I wonder if we will skip dinner tonight, having eaten more than we can possibly eat? Chances are, probably not! We love food too much!

Others go out of town on the 4th. Others BBQ. Others go watch the Fireworks. For SQ and me, we chow down on the 4th!!

Abalone Harvest

Aaahhh... fresh Abalone harvested right out of the Bay. SQ, along with 6 other guys, went to harvest abalone this morning. I heard the garage door open and close at 3am -- yes 3am (not a typo)!! After a 3-hr drive up North, the guys suited up head to toe, climbed down a steepy cliff, braved the freezing waters, and walked along the slippery rocks to catch these creatures. The wonderful news was that within 15 minutes, all of the people got their 3 abalone (the daily limit). There is a limit due to fear of overfishing. Abalone is "hot commodity" in the Chinese community. Although it is illegal to sell your catch, some people still do it. I heard that the market price is at least $50 each. Each abalone also has to be at least 7 inches wide in diameter. The 3 SQ got were around 8-9 inches. According to the seasoned harvesters, it was easy to find them this time. They picked a good spot. They then drove home - another 3 hrs back to SF. By the time they were driving home, I was still in bed :)

SQ had a good experience for his 1st time abalone fishing. For me, I had a good experience eating them! We gave 1 of them to my mom - she probably will cook it with chicken soup. SQ cook 1 today for dinner 2 ways: (1) stir-fry with mustard greens, and (2) deep fried w/ tempura batter. Yum yum yum! We left the last 1 in the freezer for another time!!

Rainbow Veggies

While grocery shopping today at Irving St., I came across 3 unique color palettes on the shelves: Purple, Orange and Green. A closer look revealed that these are cauliflower!! So odd! I've never seen them in these color variations before. I wonder if they taste any different than the normal white ones we see?

Pringles Reduced Fat Chips

Please, please take my advice: DO NOT BUY. It's not the same. 30% less fat, but 100% less the taste. Yuck.

My favorite Starbucks drink

I took a quick walk with my collegue during lunch today. It was such a warm day. Yep, one of those lazy Sunday afternoon feel. We went to Starbucks and I got an Iced Caramel Macchiato. It's my favorite iced coffee drink at Starbucks. In case you don't know, this drink is a creamy mix of vanilla and milk (whole milk please!) over ice, combined with espresso and topped with caramel sauce. It's a whopping 190 calories for a Tall, but it is SOOOO good, especially on a hot day like today. I love it when I suck up the caramel chunks. The sweetness of the caramel has just the right to balance the bitterness of the espresso. Yum!!