A different kind of community supported product, Pandora’s Breadbox

pick up site: Berkeley | website | @pandorasbread

A while back, I read an online blurb about a different kind of weekly food subscription, Pandora’s Bread Box, which is a bread-lover’s dream.  I immediately sent an email requesting to be added to the waiting list and was soon signed up for the next round of the CSB (community supported baking).  I get to choose from a variety of offerings which rotate each week and am enjoying a wide variety of delicious baked goods for $7 a week.  Here’s what I’ve had so far.

Week One. I got a couple of Orange Hazelnut Biscotti that I enjoyed in the morning with a cup of coffee.  The grated orange rind was richly aromatic and combined perfectly with the toasty bits of hazelnut in the crunchy dense biscotti.

The Anadama Loaf was a delight.  It was dusted with coarse cornmeal and was surprisingly light in weight with a hard crust that didn’t give much when I picked it up in my hands.

The bread had a fantastic fine interior with a delicate crisp crust that was sublime toasted and slathered with butter and jam.  This was one of my favorite loaves so far.

Dutch Crunch Rolls, soft inside with a delicate crackly crust.  I couldn’t help myself and bit into the roll before I remembered to take a picture…

Week Two Baguette, Bagels and brownies bakesale for Haiti. I got two baguettes and a variety of bagels and no brownies.  The sweet baguette had a lovely crisp crust and soft yielding interior, and was so good smeared with sweet butter.

On her blog, Julia posted about difficulties she had with flattened bagels, but had worked the kinks out by the time I picked up my breadbox.  I got a variety of toppings: sesame seeds, poppy seeds and everything bagels, which were the boiled kind.  Dense and chewy  – just the way I like them.

Week Three: the Oat Currant Scone was the best scone that has passed my lips ever.  I’m serious!  I wished I had more of them, and am considering going another round of the CSB just for these…

not that there was anything wrong with the Multi-grain Batard. Look at this gorgeous rustic crust.

This was peasant bread, heavy and dense.  The interior was filled with small airy pockets and seeds throughout.  I loved it toasted with peanut butter.

The Potato Rosemary Roll was soft and fragrant, perfect for a burger.

Week Four: Focaccia and cranberry walnut bread, but I opted for just focaccia. It was really lovely with fresh herbs and sundried tomato.  Some came with slices of briny olives.

It was fantastic toasted and I especially loved it dipped into roasted garlic infused olive oil with a bit of balsamic vinegar (Julia suggested this preparation, and I recommend it too)

Here’s a shot of the woman behind this wonderful labor of love, Julia A, taking out a batch of biscotti fresh from the oven.  She is a genius with dough and every week I look forward to picking up my bread, especially because her kitchen smells heavenly.  She continues a family lineage of baking and said that she was inspired by her grandmother who was famous for her home made breads.  Don’t miss the next SF Underground Market where perhaps I can find more of those sublime scones, as she said that the last one was the bomb. Besides Pandora’s Breadbox, you can find her spreading Indian tikka taco love at the indilicious cart, (follow them on Twitter @indiliciouscart) and is exploring her options in developing the Algarden Lunch Café, an exciting new venture with PatriciaA of foodscaping.

email: pandorasbreadbox [at] gmail [dot] com

Ming’s Excellent Chinese Restaurant in Pleasant Hill

2653 Pleasant Hill Road, Pleasant Hill, CA  94523 | 925.934.9393 | Tues-Sun 11:30 am – 9:30 pm

I’ve been prowling the various neighborhood Chinese restaurants in obscure strip malls strewn about Coco County and found this one that was highly recommended by yelp.com.  Yes, I am looking at social networking sites for food recommendations and welcome any good words and suggestions for the general Concord/Pleasant Hill/Walnut Creek area… help!  We thought this was pretty good – decent serving sizes and the food was well prepared, but this is not something you would just happen upon, unless you live in the neighborhood…

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Phở Gà Huong Que Cafe, Oakland

1228 7th Ave (between 12th St & 14th St) , Oakland, CA 94606 | 510.835.8488

Yes another noodle soup post – but it’s been chilly and that’s what I’m craving…  in fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about the delicious bowl of Phở Gà that Mr. K and I enjoyed at Turtle Tower earlier this month. We decided to stay in the east bay and ventured over to the small Vietnamese neighborhood in east Oakland that is along the northern end of International Boulevard.

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i ♥ ramen noodles, concord

1930 Salvio St, Concord, CA 94520 | 925.689.8802

In the chill of winter, there is nothing more satisfying than a hot steaming bowl of noodles. We noticed these bright cheery signs posted up near downtown Concord and were soon on our way to check it out for lunch.  We found it to be worthy enough to return several times so I can show you a variety of dishes we tried.

Out here in Contra Costa County, aka coco county, there are a surprising number of ethnic restaurants tucked into the many obscure strip malls.  This is next door to I ♥ Teriyaki and Noodles (same owner) and I was so excited to see they had Okonomiyaki on the menu too!  The restaurant opened at the end of November 2009, just in time for ramen season… There’s a movie theater next door, which must explain the film strip motif that is the first thing you see when you walk into the restaurant.

I had to try to Tonkotsu ramen when I saw it on the menu.  The broth typically is made from boiling pork bones for many hours, suffusing the broth with flavor and a creamy consistency like milk or melted butter or gravy. The broth here was light and satisfying, but nothing like the sinfully rich and hearty versions at Santouka Ramen, Halu Ramen or Santa Ramen.  Here’s the large Tonkotsu Ramen ($8.95), topped with cha-su, bamboo, spinach, seaweed, mushroom and green onion.  I asked for menma, or fermented bamboo shoots, not knowing that the dish already had some…  The noodles were springy, the soup was savory and hot – it was a very satisfying bowl of noodles, but it lacked what can only be called assertiveness.  It’s hard to explain; it tasted good but it was missing that over the top flavoring that makes a really top notch bowl of ramen memorable. Momofuku’s David Chang has it down, he says it should be …not quite too salty but almost.  Very seasoned.  Underseasoned broth is a crime. I’d agree with that and say that this is slightly underseasoned…

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Fending my way through the Fancy Food Show…

I ditched work last Monday to attend the Winter Fancy Food Show for the afternoon, which was epic and enormous, taking up both halls of the Moscone convention center.  It would be impossible to see everything even in a single day as it is the largest marketplace for the specialty food industry on the West Coast.  I focused on the north pavilion which featured 600 exhibitors specializing in natural and organic products.

There were a few booths that didn’t want me to take pictures, in fact a hard faced dowager at browniepops almost smacked me and chased me off telling me that pictures were not allowed…  too bad cuz those browniepops looked so adorable and I know you are just dying to know what they looked like…  I was surprised to be spurned at a few other booths as well, I suppose they thought I was trying to steal trade secrets or rip off their booth design…  but that was just a few of the 1300 exhibitors, so fear not I did snap a good number of pictures…

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