Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

Enjoy the weekend — There’s much to report after a mini vacation.  Have a Cookie.

It starts off cute, simple and sweet with a melting Snowman Sugar Cookie, or is it sad?

Purity, honesty, clarity, simplicity and love are white, so are Pumpkins, Parsnips and Pigs.

When asked my favorite color, I used to say WHITE, to often hear “white’s not a color.”

Is white a color?

Pearly White French Macarons are so luxurious and seem a joy to lick.

A Clam in Broth is calming and innocent, what it should be, but could be incredibly bland.

Eggs, a versatile ingredient that’s trippy when over-analyzed, like the Meat aisle.

Talent, intuition, cleanliness, transparency and wisdom are cherished gifts in ones short time.

So much is bigger than you and me, let’s just eat, laugh, love and be grateful for all.

I’m unimportant compared to many things, but better off than Bacon – It’s too well liked.

Cheese made from a cow, goat and sheep are shared with bountiful Root Vegetables from soil.

A Picnic in a Vineyard is on a to-do list — Realized someday with a camera Lord willing.

In color a surprise would be clear or white – Yes?!  Though not analogous to above unknowns.

And a white to-go bag for two today — Sometimes it’s just better that way.  Ciao.

The Nutrition Source INFO may be helpful — Be humble, it’s not all about YOU (or me).

Note: Continuing our Food Coloring Series with WHITE – Click color links to see previously posted orange, green, yellow, blue and purple foods.  Next up will be red, black, and then…

Check it out — La Espiga De Oro Panaderia.  Remember what we said about it?  And the verdict is… It’s as great as it looks and relatively inexpensive for the quality and splendor.

All that’s pictured totaled $8.55 — Why not take a box of this to the office instead of Donuts?

There’s a lot more to choose from than what you see here.

This fine Panateria is off 19th and Placentia in Costa Mesa.  Have a nice day!

We see that you’ve been searching for Halloween ideas, thus we’ve gathered our previous posts and linked them here for easy access.  How about some Fruit Punch with skeleton shaped Ice Cubes?  The hands are easily made with rubber gloves filled with water and then frozen, but you’ll need to find a creative cast to make the face.  Do you plan to decorate Halloween Cookies or Cupcakes?  If so, several ideas can be found here, here, here, and here.  Are you looking for the perfect Vodka for your Halloween Party?  How about Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head?  Or how about a Trick-Or-Eat Dinner at The Cellar in Fullerton?  We went a couple years ago, though unsure if it’s happening again this year.  We’ll report back about it and other Halloween ideas.  Who’s gonna check me Boo?  Happy Halloween.

Note:  Thanks goes to our Guest Blogger Steven Woo in Washington, DC for the photo.

Chef Lexi of Kids in the Kitchen loves the Funfetti Mix Kits by Pillsbury and recently made their Whoopie Pies for a Pool Party.  They were a hit  – Everyone was excited to see and eat them.  They are much better than the Whoopie Cushions she usually brings to a party.  Thanks Lex.

Katella Deli, Bakery and Restaurant (established in 1964) has been a favorite for a long time, since the South Street Deli days, if you recall it in Los Cerritos Center (aka Cerritos Mall).

Though only the Bakery is captured here, Katella Deli is a quintessential Jewish Deli.

Impressive Bakery too, as shown here.

Wouldn’t it be fun to take a bite out of each!?

They also have a full Bar, a counter, booths and patio, generous portions, excellent Meats, good Cucumber Dressing, fresh Bread, a nice atmosphere, etc.  I’m glad they’re still around.

Cookies and Cinnamon Sugar Bagel Chips are packed to go.

And last, but should be first, I LOVE their Pickles.

Katella Deli is down the street from the Los Alamitos Race Track, if of interest.

Would you believe I just learned what a Blondie is?  It’s like a Brownie without Chocolate.  Did you know that?  Since I’m one of the few people in the world who doesn’t care for Brownies, this year I chose to make Blondies for the Culinary Arts Competition at the Orange County Fair.  Having never made (or ate) one before submission time, I practiced by varying three different recipes to ultimately create the award winning Blondies pictured here.  And it’s a good thing I did, since the first few batches didn’t turn out well at all — Then at last I was happy with the ingredient combination, taste and texture.  Following is the final BLONDIES RECIPE.  It’s a winner, literally.

1 Cup of Flour

1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder

1/2 Cup of Butter (1 Stick)

1/2 Cup of firmly packed Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup of firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar

1 Large Egg

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup of chopped Pecans

1/4 Cup of Milk Chocolate Chunks (Chocolate Bar rustically cut)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine the Flour and Baking Powder in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl, melt Butter and stir in the Light and Dark Brown Sugar until well blended, then whisk in the Egg and Vanilla.  Add the Flour mixture until all is incorporated, then stir in the Pecans and Milk Chocolate Chunks.  Pour batter into a 8 X 8 baking dish and bake until the Blondies are set in the center, about 25 – 30 minutes. Let cool, cut and dig in.

Albino Oreo Cookies modeled by a burglar — But for the name Golden Oreo, he probably wouldn’t have stole ‘em and I wouldn’t have bought them.  For $1 a box, I had to try at least one.  And it’s a good quality Sandwich Cookie, but plain.  I prefer its dark, older cousin, Oreo.

Since Easter is upon us and the current most popular search here is “Easter Cookies” and it’s looking like we’re not going to be decorating new ones this year, we post an Easter Cookie Drive By linking photos of Easter Cookies gone by — Baked naked and amateurly dressed.

Final decorated Easter Cookies are linked here.

And more decorating ideas can be found here.

This post is probably more like an Easter Cookie drop off than drive by.

All I have to say is good thing Girl Scout Cookies are only sold once a year, as I can’t stop eating their Samoas now known as Caramel deLites.  They are more like mini Candy Bars, than Cookies.  I’m limiting myself to (2) boxes this year, until I run out and pass another Girl Scout on the street offering more.  Do you have a favorite Girl Scout Cookie?

It’s Taco Tuesday again and time for a Lucky Taco.

It’s a Mexican Fortune Cookie and today my fortune reads — Get your sunglasses on, your world is about to get a lot brighter.  Sounds good to me!  And I also learned the Spanish word for shark: tiburon.  Important stuff, but where are the lottery numbers?

Lucky Taco’s taste good too — Red is Strawberry flavor.  Check out their website to learn more about the different shapes and flavors they offer.

We broke in and stole everything.

I’ve always wanted to do this.

This Gingerbread House tasted good too — Learn more about it here.

Bûche de Noël is a traditional French Yule Cake and the pictured is from Gelsons.  We received a lot of tasty deliveries at the office this week and I tried my first Bûche de Noël — YUM!  It’s now on my “To Make” list to be displayed during a future Christmas post.  Perhaps next year.

And with respect to the Gingerbread House from Torrance Bakery (and Sarnoff), we love it and can’t wait to dig in with a swift karate chop to the snow covered roof — We’re admiring it for now, but once Christmas passes, it’s scheduled to be devoured, if not too dry.  The Gingerbread man is already missing.  Who ate it?

Merry Christmas to YOU and your family!

It seems that more and more good things are coming from trucks.  Not only did Sarnoff’s Summer Splash include a couple Kogi BBQ trucks as previously reported, but also Coolhaus, a gourmet Ice Cream Sandwich truck.

Coolhaus Ice Cream is all natural and handmade.  As you can see, the Ice Cream Sandwiches are gigantic too — And the paper wrapped around ‘em is edible.  How fun is that!

They’re happily served from converted chromed-out postal trucks with pink tops.  The flavors are cool too — Dirty Mint Chip on Chocolate, Vanilla Bean on Chocolate Chip, Meyer Lemon on Ginger Cookie, Chocolate on Snickerdoodle, Brown Butter with Caramelized Bacon on Chocolate Chip, plus other varying flavor combinations.

Believe it or not, several reported that they ‘really liked the Brown Butter with Caramelized Bacon on Chocolate Chip’ Ice Cream Sandwich – They said it didn’t taste much like Bacon, but more like Butter Pecan Ice Cream.  That’s a good thing.  Coolhaus is a cool house.

* We’re not sure what’s up with the serious looking photos on the side of the truck!?  It looked a little trippy.

Cost Plus is so worldly.  It’s been one of my favorite stores for over 20 years.  I recently took a trip to England, Australia, Thailand, India, Italy, Japan, Sweden, China and a few other stops along the way at Cost Plus World Market.  Did you know that it’s a food lover’s paradise?  It truly is!  Many travel far and wide for the Wine deals at Cost Plus, which are impressive alone, but you’ve got to check out the large food section.  It offers hundreds of sought after treats from all around the world.  If you’re looking for something in particular and haven’t found it elsewhere, give Cost Plus a call.  If they don’t have it and there’s a demand, they may consider offering it in the future — They strive to satisfy their customer’s needs.

Since there is so much FOOD to try and report about at Cost Plus, Nibbles of Tidbits will be posting a series of articles highlighting many of them.  We’ll be calling it our Cost Plus World Series.  For starters, we are planning a Chip Taste-Off, whereas we’ll be sampling several of the numerous bags of Chips available.  After that, we’ll be going on a Gourmet Picnic bringing only Cost Plus goodies (it can easily be done), and then we’ll be touring several regions for dinner, etc.  The possibilities are literally endless.

Note:  The first honorable mention goes to Nyakers Gingersnap Cookies from Sweden (above).  They’re Sweden’s Best Cookie and Cost Plus built a facility to have them made especially for you.  They are phenomenally crispy, thin and tasty.  We’re hooked.  Be sure to follow our Cost Plus World Series to learn a lot more.