Everyone has their own Best Husband Ever, but mine really is The Best.  Aside from putting up with my everyday nonsense, he indulges me when I get an idea stuck in my head that inevitably involves a lot of heavy labor on his part.  And he doesn’t even roll his eyes when I insist it won’t take long to complete.

My latest project was a new garden bed.  I have a fenced-in garden in the backyard, complete with its own drip irrigation system.  I also have a small raised garden bed, one that’s maybe 10 inches high.  It grows the best strawberries, herbs, and peppers and manages to stay pretty weed-free.  But the strawberries have pretty much taken over and I wanted another one with more room for things like lettuce, kale, carrots, and beets.  I also wanted it to be higher, so I wouldn’t have to kneel on the ground or put up annoying fences to keep the dogs out.

Once we moved the chickens to their new enclosure, we tore down most of the posts that made up the grape arbor and had a nice, clear area just waiting for something new.  I mapped out a few different garden bed layouts and somehow settled on a u-shaped version that was a little trickier than just building two narrow beds.  But that “u” part gives me four extra square feet to plant!

I also inadvertently made it “easy” by sketching out lengths that matched the lengths of the boards we found at Home Depot.  The beds are 10 feet long and 2 feet wide and the whole thing is about 28 inches tall (three 10-inch boards stacked on top of each other).  The boards come in 10-foot and 8-foot lengths; we had to trim some 8-footers to make the 6-foot part on the end, but that also gave us the 2-foot sections we needed to connect everything.  I’d draw you a diagram, but that seems too complicated…

We also bought, like, six brick-things of garden soil which was completely underestimating the volume of these beds.

We discovered we were going to need a lot more dirt after we filled one side of the garden bed and it was looking pretty empty.  Then Travis had the brilliant idea to fill the bottom with straw bales (which fit perfectly in a 2-foot gap!) and then shovel the dirt/soil on top of those.  Eventually, the straw will break down and decompose and we can slowly add more soil as we need to.  That picture above is after we, and I do mean “we” even if I only managed to drag one bale across the yard, put the straw bales in the left side, shoveled dirt from the right side over to the left side and then started making room to put straw bales on the right.

There’s the straw bale at the bottom, with a pile of soil on top.  We left the bales banded in the hopes that they’ll decompose and settle down slower.

There’s a dog and a bucket, for scale.  I suppose.

We bought six straw bales (about $10 each) and ended up with about half a bale left over.  I planted garlic at the far end of the garden bed and used some of the straw as mulch, which seems to be working pretty well aside from the fact that I think hay is starting to sprout through.  The rest of the straw went into the regular garden where it will also act as mulch until I’m ready to plant it in late spring.

This whole project took most of a weekend and more than a few trips to Home Depot to bring lumber and soil home in batches.  It also took quite a few trips to get the straw bales home.  If you’re curious, a Prius can hold a maximum of two straw bales in the back with the seats folded down.  More than one, but not quite three.  The guys at the feed store were impressed that it fit two.  We also found a feed store in Poway, which is nice to know since we usually go to Hawthorne Country Store in Escondido.

I’m very thankful to my sweet husband who abandoned his own weekend to-do list in order to build and fill the garden bed I decided I “needed” just days before.  If you were to look around our home, I think you’d find evidence that many of my whims are indulged and I am indeed one lucky girl.

I thought it was interesting that Mary and Kirbie tried the walnut shrimp and soup dumplings and kung pao pork, too.  But, I think they are dishes you kind of have to try.  Obviously, if someone in San Diego has xiao long bao on the menu, you have to find out if they’re good or forgettable.  Same with walnut shrimp.  I’ve had some pretty terrible walnut shrimp dishes, so I’d consider it a small measure of overall quality if I’m served a really good version.  I do admit that the walnut shrimp stuck in my head after reading that Mary’s was crispy and good.

In related news, Del Mar Rendezvous has provided a link if you’d like to sign up for their e-mail list.  You’ll get a 20% off coupon for your first visit.  It’s probably not valid during Restaurant Week, but you’re also getting a pretty good deal there, since their 3-course meal is only $30.

And now, we’re off to Portland for a mini trip.  I have no idea what we’re going to see or do, or where we’ll end up eating (I have a list, but you know how those things go), but I’m sure we’ll have a blast.  Also, our house is being looked after by friends, in case you were thinking of coming by and robbing us blind.  Also, also, we just gave a bunch of stuff to Salvation Army since I’ve been on a clean and purge kick, so we’re running out of things to steal, anyway.  If you’re going to steal a dog, please take the skinny white one.

Way back in 2011 (December), we celebrated our friend Jeff’s birthday at Alchemy. Not just for tasty bites, but for their whole suckling pig dinner.  I heartily endorse this method of celebrating birthdays, since it involves a good group of friends and some really delicious food.  I’m a fan of good food, in case you haven’t noticed.  And since you need 8-10 people to really do this pig dinner right, a birthday seems like the perfect excuse to gather everyone up, which is exactly what his lovely wife Cami did.

Along with your suckling pig, you get tostones (fried plantains) and a garlicky mojo sauce, black beans, and yucca.

I can only show you the tostones and mojo, because once the pig arrived (ahead of the side dishes), things got messy and the camera got put away.  The tostones were crispy chewy and salted, but the mojo and roasty garlic cloves really gave it some oomph.  We had ten people in our group, and I think everyone got enough tostones.  I certainly did.

Once you’ve finished the tostones (or, once you’ve been given warning that the plate will be cleared to make room, so if you want ‘em, eat ‘em), the table is cleared and the roasted baby pig is brought out (see above).  Our server explained that our pig came from a farm collective in Iowa where he had run about and lived a happy (albeit, short) life.  And that the pig’s name was Hampton.  I’m curious, if anyone else has done the pig dinner, if your pig was also named Hampton.  Or does the pig arrive with a name tag?

After that, we were kind of left to our own devices.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I was the first one to pick up the tongs and make a hole in the pig. Someone had to get it started and I’m certainly not afraid of digging into a whole animal.

Incidentally, we were given a whole bunch of tongs and one knife.  The knife kind of cut okay but the tongs were utterly useless.  You know that game where you try to pick up a stuffed animal with a claw, but the claw has no real grip and as it comes up the toy just slips through?  That’s what it was like trying to pull pork off with these tongs.  They wouldn’t grip, they were flimsy, and I could have done a better job with my hands.  If you plan on doing the pig dinner, I highly recommend bringing your own tongs.

Other than that, Hampton was a tasty pig.  You could really taste the marinade in the meat, the meat was moist and succulent, and the black beans were phenomenal.  The yucca was… okay.  I guess it was good for being yucca, but I don’t find yucca very exciting.  Definitely save the mojo sauce that came with the tostones.

Alchemy says they ordered the “larger” pig for our group of ten, so if we had added a last-minute couple, there would have been plenty of pig to go around.  I’m hesitant to agree with that.  You can have as much yucca and black beans as you want; in fact, I think we did get more bowls of the beans.  But at the end of the night, we pretty much picked that piggy clean.  And that’s after going for the cheeks and flipping that sucker over to search for hidden morsels.  I’m sure if we had 12 people we would have made sure everyone got enough pork, but I’m also pretty sure I would have felt like I had to eat more beans. Or yucca.  Which is odd, since they would have charged those two extra people the $38/person, but really we would have only had more tostones/yucca/beans. Not more pig.  If we had started with a party of 12, would they have ordered an even larger pig?  I’m not sure.

It seemed like a waste to leave the bones and whatnot there, but it’s not like we would have made pork stock or anything out of them.  I did take the ears and snout for the pups, as a treat, and Travis wrenched off a foot and the ribs as a treat for the chickens (what? chickens eat meat!)  I figured, the dogs like those dried pig ears, perhaps they’d like a freshly roasted and marinated one!  They accepted the pig ears and snout, and ate them, but they all gave me a look like they weren’t quite sure why I gave it to them with such enthusiasm.  Also, in case you’re interested, the chickens picked the ribs clean but totally ignored the foot. I have also ignored the foot and have left it to be buried in dirt and coop shavings.

Since that dinner, the UT put out an article on other whole-animal meals in San Diego.  It makes sense to me that such meals would be priced as a flat amount, so I’m not sure why Alchemy does it on a per person basis.

All in all, it was a delicious meal and a really fun way to celebrate a birthday.  I certainly felt we managed to get our $38 worth out of food and enjoyment, even if I’m still iffy about the what-if scenarios of more or less people with the same sized pig.

Disclosure: Our meal was complimentary but I was not compensated for this review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Sooo… happy New Year?  I’m not really going to apologize for ignoring this blog for weeks on end.  Life got busy, but the fun kind of busy, and life in the sunshine takes precedent over internet musings any day.  Besides, I was just giving you plenty of time to go make your own tomato jam and candied jalapenos (which I have been enjoying with Brie and waffles as a lazy leftover lunch).

We’ve been doing a fair amount of eating out, thanks to hectic schedules, odd hot wing cravings, and restaurant coupon expiration dates (not all in the same visit).  But the visits have been about eating, ending my hunger, and not really about blogging.   But then Jennifer Jenkins at BAM Communications asked if I’d like to review the menu at Del Mar Rendezvous prior to San Diego Restaurant Week. I have to be honest, it’s been a couple of years since we’ve participated in SDRW.  And we probably won’t make it this month, what with a short weekend trip out of town, my birthday, and a pending baby arrival (not mine!) I was also considering whether or not I wanted to review a restaurant in Del Mar, since we don’t really get up there very often (although, now that I work up there, it’s more feasible).

Spoiler alert: I accepted, we dined, and I’m so glad we did. You’ll be glad, too, since I now have a fun giveaway for you!

Del Mar Rendezvous has been serving the good people of Del Mar for eight years. How it is they’ve never come across my radar confounds me, but there you go.  The owner is the same genius behind Dumpling Inn, Kahn’s Cave, and Dragon’s Den, with some input on China Fun, as well.  Chef/partner Tony got his start in cooking while at Dumpling Inn, so he brings all that talent to the kitchen at Del Mar Rendezvous, too.  One of the managing partners, Dan, gave us the restaurant lineage and was tremendously friendly to boot.

We sat down a little before 7 pm and the restaurant filled up very quickly after that. I was a bit surprised, but Travis reminded me that 7 pm is pretty much prime dining time. To me, 7 pm is a late dinner, which shows you how much of a night owl I am.

Travis was impressed with the beer list and started with a Tripel Karmeliet. I went with a pot of hot tea, but was intrigued by all the various beer specials they have throughout the week.

Knowing that Del Mar Rendezvous is linked to Dumpling Inn, I had to try the steamed pork dumplings (xiao long bao).  I also thought we should try some dishes from the SDRW menu, so I could tell you whether they were worth trying.    So, we had the seared ahi (one of Travis’ favorite things) and the spicy ginger eggplant (I am a sucker for eggplant dishes).

The seared ahi portion was huge! There were at least ten slices, maybe more – I don’t know, I didn’t think to count. I kind of just kept placing them in my mouth.  the ahi was fresh and tender, with a nice sesame crust on the outside. Not too thick, not too thin… just right.  The pork dumplings were delicious, too!  They have a slightly thicker wrapper than the ones at Dumpling Inn, which I actually appreciate because I think it keeps the soup in better.  I always feel like my dumplings at Dumpling Inn lose all their soup before they get to me.  I did miss the slivers of ginger to eat with the dumplings, but the dipping sauce was tasty.  Travis didn’t even use the dipping sauce; he thought the dumplings were flavorful enough on their own.

Now, the eggplant was my favorite of our starters.  I love eggplant to begin with, and this dish was full of soft, creamy eggplant, covered in a (not spicy) sauce I almost wanted to lick off the plate.  I fully intended to save most of it to take home, since I knew we still had entrees coming, but I kept eating “just one more piece” and before I knew it, there were only three pieces left on the plate.  Not much sense in taking three pieces home, so we ended up finished that dish pretty quickly.

For entrees, we got the kung pao pork tenderloin, which I believe is an SDRW-only dish, and the walnut shrimp (mainly because of Mary’s review but also because I love a good walnut shrimp). I have also had quite a few bad walnut shrimp dishes, so I consider myself a good judge of the stuff.

I’m pleased to tell you that the walnut shrimp lived up to my expectations and more.  First, the shrimp are not tiny at all – I would call them three-bite shrimp. You could eat it in two bites, but they would be big bites and you’d look pretty silly trying to chew it.  Or maybe you have a bigger mouth than I do.  The shrimp aren’t overly coated with sauce (slightly sweet and slightly creamy, not all white and gloppy like some places) and the coating is so light and crunchy.  The walnuts are candied and the broccoli was perfectly cooked.  No mushy veggies!

The kung pao pork came sliced, and Travis was impressed that the sauce made it in between each of the slices of pork.  I was a little hesitant to eat it with chopsticks, but the pork was so tender that it was super easy to bite it in half.  And the snow peas were crispy and crunchy, too. We actually saved half the pork to take home, mostly because pork reheats better than walnut shrimp. And because I wanted to save some room for dessert.

I was debating between the mud pie and the xango (banana cheesecake wrapped in cinnamon pastry), but Travis felt that cheesecake would be too much after such a filling meal.  After typing out what xango is, I kind of wish we had tried it, but I’m also pretty sure we’ll be back soon, so I can just wait until then.

The mud pie was a tower of ice cream on a cookie crust, studded with almonds. I just realized the ice cream flavor is mocha almond fudge, which would explain the almonds. I told Travis the ice cream was coffee flavored – oops.  Eating the mud pie made me realize how much I enjoy mud pie and left me wondering why I don’t eat it more often.  Dan said they are thinking of adding a more Chinese-style dessert to the menu, but I can see how that might be a tricky balance when catering to Del Mar palates.  I’m just happy they have a dessert menu.  Sometimes a fortune cookie just isn’t enough.

We were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed our dinner.  Travis said it was the best Chinese food he’s had in San Diego, while I would note that the category doesn’t include things like dim sum, Peking duck, or Schezuan-style dishes.  But since Del Mar Rendezvous says they are Chinese fusion cuisine, I’ll go along and say they really do have top notch food.  I can guarantee we’ll find ourselves back there when I get a craving for eggplant.  Or walnut shrimp.  Plus, there are pages and pages of other items we’ll have to try!

Now – onto the giveaway!  I have one (1) certificate for two (2) SDRW meals for you.  All you have to do is a leave a comment on this post and tell me what you’d have for dinner at Del Mar Rendezvous, either off their SDRW menu or their regular menu.

The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM, Tuesday, January 10th, 2012.  The winner will be chosen at random and contacted Wednesday the 11th.  I hate to make it such a short window, but I need to get the certificate in the mail before we leave for Portland.  And I want you to have it in time for SDRW!

Similar to the jalapeno plants, tomatoes are always present in my summer garden. Beefsteak, heirlooms, cherry, and some sort of plum tomatoes are usually in the mix. Travis loves a good beefsteak tomato sliced onto a sandwich. I feel there’s nothing better than a warm, just-picked heirloom tomato drizzled with olive oil, sea salt, and a chiffonade of fresh basil from the garden. The cherry tomatoes are for salads or oven roasting with garlic (scooped up with crusty baguettes). And the plum tomatoes get crushed and canned or pureed into sauce. I’ve tried growing San Marzano varieties and they don’t do well, so I just stick with the hearty plum tomato starts from the nursery.

As the plum tomatoes ripen, I toss them into a gallon-size freezer bag and store them in the freezer. Once I have a couple of bags filled, they get defrosted and the skins just peel right off the tomatoes. It takes a good day to defrost a bag of tomatoes, and you have to deal with really cold fruit, but (to me) it beats standing over a pot of boiling water to blanch the skins off.

This year I didn’t have time to can and process a whole bunch of jars. I wanted something that would use up all my tomatoes but wouldn’t be a lot of work. I started thinking along the lines of tomato chutney and somehow found my way to tomato jam. Once again, the recipe is from Tasty Kitchen. Because I really only changed the type of vinegar I used, it seems a little redundant to post the recipe in full here. So, I won’t. I don’t feel the change in vinegar made the tomato jam that different. The recipe on Tasty Kitchen doesn’t specifically say to leave the seeds and skin on the tomatoes, but from various internet poking, I decided to take off the skins (since it was easy to do on my defrosted tomatoes) and leave the seeds in.

I left the pot at a simmer, with the lid off, stirring the mixture occasionally until I felt it was thick enough. I think I also gave it a quick whir with my immersion blender to smush up any big chunks of tomato and onion. Three pounds of tomatoes gave me four half-pint jars, which is not nearly enough to get you through to next summer. I haven’t tried using canned tomatoes yet, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in a pinch.

A dollop of tomato jam on top of a Ritz cracker smeared with cream cheese is a happy bite. Much like the candied jalapenos, I think the tomato jam would be a good complement to chicken or pork, but it’s also nice in an egg taco or with a hot biscuit. And, if you mix a jar of candied jalapenos with a jar of tomato jam, you get a sweet, tangy sauce that is like bbq sauce, but without the smokiness.

‘Tis the season for holiday baking and gift giving. While I have yet to do either so far (we don’t even have a Christmas tree yet!), I have dipped into my stash of jars twice already for potluck-style parties. And, it occurred to me that someone out there might also appreciate having a stash of these goodies for impromptu appetizers. Today I’ll introduce you to the candied jalapenos; tomorrow you can learn about the tomato jam. I’ve found that they are lovely on their own and combined, on top of the fact that they are super easy to make and you really only need to can them if you want to hold onto them long-term.

Every summer, I plant at least two jalapeno plants in my garden. I started doing this because I love bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers and there is nothing more fun that filling up a platter for a summer bbq and popping them in your mouth. With my garden jalapenos, it sometimes becomes Popper Roulette as some peppers end up much hotter than the others. This is completely different than the year I grew both jalapeno and Serrano peppers and got them mixed up in the picking basket (the serranos were huge!)

This last summer, we didn’t get around to planning a bbq until late in the year, so I had bushels of peppers with no purpose. I’ve frozen them before, which is fine for stews and stir-frys, but they’re too squishy to stuff with cream cheese and wrap with bacon. I thought about making pepper jelly, but you don’t actually use a lot of jalapenos in pepper jelly, unless you’re making a vat of jelly. After some Googling for “what do I do with too many jalapenos” and flipping through the Ball canning recipe book, I decided to make some candied jalapenos, also known as cowboy candy (although, I don’t know why – do you?)

The most referenced recipe I found for candied jalapenos is the one on Tasty Kitchen, so that’s what I started with. I swapped the apple cider vinegar for regular white distilled vinegar, since we have a massive jug from Costco (I also use vinegar in the laundry, while telling Travis I used softener on the towels and sheets… shhh). Three pounds of peppers gave me about six half-pint jars and one half-pint is perfect for serving over a block of cream cheese. I’m also pretty sure you could bake chicken or pork loin and use the peppers as a glaze and it would be fantastic.

Most people recommend letting the candied jalapenos sit for at least a week to mellow out. They definitely get less intense after a while, but I’ve used them the day after canning and feel they’ve mellowed out a lot in just that one day. If you’re really averse to heat, slice the top off the jalapeno and scoop out the seeds and membranes before slicing. I have a grapefruit knife that does the job perfectly. Actually, since I use a mandoline to slice the peppers, I hold it by the stem, start slicing the tip of the pepper, then core the seeds out once I’ve sliced enough away. I also slice garlic cloves into the mix instead of using granulated garlic. Since you’re essentially pickling the peppers and garlic, I’m not worried about the garlic killing anyone.

Candied Jalapenos (adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients

3 pounds jalapenos
3 garlic cloves
2 cups white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
6 cups sugar
½ teaspoons turmeric
½ teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Slice the jalapenos and garlic thinly (between ¼ and 1/8 inch, eyeballed), either with a knife or mandoline. If you want less-hot candied jalapenos, remove the seeds and membranes from the peppers before slicing.

2. Combine the vinegar, sugar, and spices in a large pot and bring to a boil. Simmer the mixture for 5 minutes, then add the sliced jalapenos and garlic. Boil for 5 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to transfer the pepper slices to sterilized canning jars.

3. Boil the remaining sugar/vinegar syrup for 6 minutes, then ladle the syrup over the sliced peppers in the jars.

4. You can place the lids on the jars and store them in the fridge, or water-bath can them for 15 minutes to seal.

Disclosure: Our meal was complimentary but I was not compensated for this review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Just in case you haven’t heard, a fabulous new breakfast/brunch spot has opened up in Hillcrest. I’m almost hesitant to tell you about it because I will be sad when the wait becomes super long as word gets out. On the flip side, I want them to have lots of crowds that stick around so they’re successful, because I’m pretty sure they’ve just become my favorite place to eat breakfast. Ever.

Snooze first entered my world when we were in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. When we’re out of town, I like to make sure that I have plenty of food options so we’re not leaving meals to chance. Leaving things to chance is how you end up at weird places by the side of the road or across the street from your hotel. Yes, sometimes you discover a hole in the wall worth remembering. Other times, you end up at a greasy diner grumbling because you’ve “wasted” a meal on bad food. When this happens, I’m actually a little grump until the next meal or snack makes up for it. Yup, I’m a total dream to travel with. At least now you know it.

Anyway, I found Snooze, read good things about it, and discovered it wasn’t too far from where we’d be staying. They don’t take reservations and we had a fairly large group, but I was determined to make it happen. Long story short, it was delicious and what I remembered most was that they had a pancake flight on the menu. Three different flavored pancakes on one plate so you didn’t have to choose just one. It’s a brilliant idea.

I wasn’t able to attend any of the fundraising media breakfasts Snooze held in San Diego before their official opening, but Bread and Butter PR was kind enough to arrange a time for us to come in and see if the food was as good as I remembered.

People – I dare say it was better.

Our lovely and totally sweet server, Julie, went over the basics of the menu with us and brought us coffee to get started. When I mentioned how excited I was about the pancake flight, she told us that you can also order half orders of French toast, two kind of eggs benedict for each plate (since they come two to an order) and just about any side you want. This knowledge completely changed our ordering strategy. We stuck with coffee and didn’t go for a cocktail since we were also going to the San Diego Bay Food & Wine Festival Grand Tasting in just a few hours. The lightweight in my wanted to focus on food and not booze.

Of course, I ordered the pancake flight. Julie brought us a surprise first: one pancake of the day, which was a fluffy, almond buttermilk pancake with almonds, caramel, and a persimmon compote. This meant I could choose three additional pancake flavors for my flight. I went with the Red-Eye Velvet and Pineapple Upside Down pancakes, and then a sweet potato pancake on Julie’s recommendation. I also ordered a side of corned beef hash because I really wanted to try it, I wanted a bit of meat to go with my carb overload, and this would free up Travis’ order for something else. A side of hash is not on the menu, but we found they were super nice letting us order things that would make us happy. I really, really love this in a restaurant.

Travis couldn’t decide between the Sandwich I Am (breakfast sandwich on a pretzel roll) or an eggs benedict. We confirmed we could order just a pretzel roll (I am now a sucker for pretzel rolls) so Travis went with a classic Ham Benedict III and a Bella! Bella! Benny.

The pancakes were light, fluffy, tender and amazing. I know the pineapple one is one of the most popular pancakes, but it was my least favorite. Nothing was wrong with it, I just didn’t love it as much. The almond buttermilk pancake was my favorite – I think because it was just slightly almond flavored, but light and tender. Oh, and covered in a caramel sauce. The sweet potato pancake was a surprise. I never would have ordered a sweet potato pancake, but it turned out to be my second favorite. Not overwhelmingly sweet potato-y or too sweet, just a good pancake. The Red-Eye Velvet was like eating chocolate cake. Which I love, but it felt a little naughty eating it for breakfast. However, because you can also order a single pancake, I think it would be a perfect choice for breakfast dessert! With so many amazing flavors of pancakes, I am eternally grateful for pancake flights. There should be more food flights available, don’t you think?

Travis loved his eggs benedicts, but the classic ham version was his winner. I was slightly pouty he didn’t go for more adventurous pickings, but I’m glad he ignored me because he was so pleased with the Ham Benedict III. The Bella! Bella! was good, with the prosciutto and ciabatta bread (from Bread & Cie!) underneath, but the cream cheese hollandaise was a little too rich and overwhelming. Travis was also intrigued that he could slip the yolk out of the poached egg white and it stayed intact. I attribute it to the freshness of the egg: it’s something our chicken eggs would do but I’m pretty sure the older grocery store eggs would break apart. The yolk did not stay intact after I flipped it onto the corned beef hash, in case you were wondering.

You can tell the corned beef hash did not come from a can. There are tasty bits of corned beef mixed in with shreds of potato. A plate of this, two eggs, and a pretzel roll would make a delicious breakfast plate. I had a plate of hash, an egg yolk, and half a pretzel roll, but I think the experience was pretty similar. There is a corned beef hash plate on the menu, but it comes with toast or tortillas. I bet the tortillas would be good, but I’m also betting they would let you sub in a pretzel roll.

Things I want to order next time: French toast, different eggs benedicts, more pancakes.

Hillcrest is a bit of a drive for us on weekend mornings, but if we’re going to leave the house for food, we might as well go where our tummies will be happiest, right?

Have you been to Snooze yet? Are you planning to (because I really think you should)?

Disclosure: I was sent a bottle of Hak’s BBQ Sauce to review by Duo Public Relations but was not compensated for my review. As always, all opinions are mine.

Chef Sharone Hakman came to San Diego during the Gourmet Experience in Del Mar to promote his sauce and do some cooking demonstrations. I was offered a ticket to the Gourmet Experience, but had to decline since we were going to be out of town. But, I did accept a bottle of his bbq sauce to try. I am not really a bbq sauce connoisseur, but Travis is. He loves finding new sauces, trying different ones, and I’m pretty sure he’s always on the search for the perfect sauce.

Forgive me for not taking pictures of the things we ate with the bbq sauce as we evaluated it and discussed whether we liked it. First, we tried it with leftover rotisserie chicken, then broccoli and roasted cauliflower. I wanted to brush it onto shrimp and grill them but 1) it was raining that night and 2) the shrimp I thought I had in the freezer were no longer there. We had it with turkey meatloaf and finally I brushed it onto chicken drumsticks and baked them (425 F for 30 minutes).

The first time we tasted the bbq sauce, we were surprised by the smoky sweetness. And then we were hit by the chipotle heat. It’s a heat that is subtle at first, but builds on the back of your tongue and your lips. The bbq sauce is also very thick. It pours out of the bottle nicely, but it’s a thick sauce and you can even see pieces of onions in it. Because it’s so thick and hearty, I found it a little overwhelming poured over the meatloaf and dipping chicken into it. However, as a glaze for the drumsticks, I think it really shined. The heat from the oven caramelized the sugars in the sauce to make a sticky, crispy skin on the outside, with enough saucy sweetness to give the chicken some flavor. Next time, I think I’ll marinate the chicken in the sauce for a few hours, then brush on fresh sauce before it goes into the oven.

Travis was enamored of this particular sauce, but he did like it. It’s a little too bold for me and I’ll be enjoying it in small quantities, not smothering foods in it. The bottle is flask-shaped and heavy, and the descriptive text on the label is entertaining. I wouldn’t say I “need” this sauce, but it’s certainly a good one to have around. The main quibble I have is that you can only order it online and it’s expensive – $8 + $2.99 shipping (although, if you buy 3 you’ll save $4 overall). That’s a lot of money to pay for a bottle of sauce and, I have to admit, not something we would pay when there are so many options in stores around town.

Chef Hakman – you make a heck of a bbq sauce, but maybe you can dial down the price a bit (and also the arrogance on the label, perhaps?) to make it more competitive with the other players on the bbq shelf.

Disclosure: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received coupons for two dozen Land O’ Lakes eggs but was not compensated for this review. As always, all opinions are mine.

For the first time, since we got chickens a year and a half ago, I had to buy eggs. For the last six months or so, we had been accumulating eggs so quickly I was giving away a dozen eggs once we had 3 or 4 dozen in the fridge. Then egg laying dropped dramatically and I was only finding one egg every other day or so. One of our hens (Ginger) is molting, so she has a pretty good excuse (molting chickens typically don’t lay, but it also takes them almost 6 months to get back to laying). But the other two are just fine and should be laying, but they’re not. Maybe they don’t like the new chickens running around in their pen. Or maybe the darker days are just really messing with the egg schedule. In any case, I went to make breakfast one morning and found 2 eggs in the egg carton.

So, the timing of Foodbuzz’s Land O’ Lakes egg campaign was pretty good – I went out over the weekend and purchased (well, picked up for free with the coupon) a dozen cage-free, organic, all-natural eggs (right now, Stacy is rolling her eyes at the “all-natural” designation). They weren’t as easy to find as I hoped they’d be. I was at Sprouts and swung by the egg section, but they didn’t carry the brand. Neither did the Target grocery aisle. I found them during a last-minute Vons stop, so I imagine any national chain grocery store would also carry them.

I’m not going to go into the whole cage-free, organic, all-natural mumbo jumbo regarding the eggs. I’m also not going to compare them to our chicken eggs because that’s a completely unfair comparison and I would also be very biased. Instead, I’m just going to evaluate the eggs and pretend we’ve never been spoiled with eating just-laid eggs from chickens who eat a balanced diet in the sunshine while also being spoiled with cake, weeds, and leftover pasta.

The Land O’ Lakes eggs are a gorgeous shade of brown, with medium-thick shells that crack open easily. I do feel the need to tell you that most organic/natural/non-factory eggs are brown because there is a public perception that brown eggs are healthier than white eggs or that brown eggs come from non-factory farm chickens and are therefore better for you and the chicken industry. The color of an eggshell has nothing to do with how a chicken is raised, how happy the chicken is, how well it is fed, whether it eats vegetarian feed or ground beef, or the nutrition content of the egg it holds. The color of an eggshell is completely dependent on the type of chicken who laid it. Chickens have earlobes (albeit, tiny ones) and they can be white, yellow, red, brown… and maybe some other colors in between. Chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs; chickens with colored earlobes lay brown eggs (or colored eggs). That’s it. No magic, no mystery. Thus ends my PSA..

Breakfast was made the day after purchasing the eggs: one egg over medium and a two-egg omelet.

The egg looked like every other egg. The egg white was a bit watery (indicates age of the egg) and the yolk was yellow. The two eggs beaten in a bowl (for the omelet) whipped into a pale yellow mixture. And they tasted like regular eggs, except that the white of the over-medium egg was a bit rubbery. The End.

Okay, not really The End. It’s hard to objectively evaluate Land O’ Lakes eggs after being a chicken owner. I assume people want eggs from chickens that are not penned up their whole lives, but I consider “cage-free” as being minimal effort. I can see how being fed organic feed is better for the chicken (much like eating organic foods are generally better for us), but I’m not quite convinced how much of that goodness affects the actual egg content. What it really comes down to is this: one dozen Land O’ Lakes eggs normally retails for $4.99 at my Vons. That’s $5 for a dozen eggs, nearly $0.42 per egg! I personally feel that’s a really high price for brown eggs, organic or not. I also feel that if you are looking for a happier, healthier source of eggs, you can probably find better value at a farmers market. Or maybe even your local non-chain grocery store. [ed note: Looking at the website, I notice that the organic, "natural" eggs are most likely the most expensive of the Land O’ Lake eggs offered. Interesting that it was the only type available at my store.]

What kind of eggs do you eat? Where do you buy them? Sometimes I feel like I want to hold a Chicken Workshop and show people what it’s really like to think about where your eggs come from.