Premium Gold Flax Treats

The Premium Gold people sent us an extremely generous sample of two of the products, Gluten Free Flour and Golden Omega Ground Flaxseed and we proceeded to enjoy the delicious treats you can create using their gluten free line of products. Tea Time will add more to this post, so check back if you're interested in gluten free pizza dough!

J.K. baked this amazing chocolate fudge cake from Premium Gold's recipe. The recipe includes directions for buttercream frosting, but Tea Time doesn't like the taste of uncooked confectioner's sugar, so J.K. used the blender frosting recipe from Judy Rosenberg's All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed Baking Book, which has only three ingredients: chocolate, evaporated milk and sugar. We've made gluten-free recipes before with other brands of flour, but, while all were acceptable, this Premium Gold's product is outstanding. We could not tell this was a gluten-free cake.

 J.K. also tried substituting flax meal and water for the egg in her favorite muffin recipe. This worked,  but she didn't have the same luck with a pizzelle recipe. If you know anyone who is gluten-free or someone who is allergic to eggs, you'll find the Premium Gold Flax products live up to their name! 

Eat Real Festival 2016

I volunteered with setup for Eat Real Festival 2016 but this time I stuffed vendor badges instead of goodie bags. This was much easier and didn't end with washing and drying all the cookware for the chef demos.

I returned for lunch on Friday. I usually case the whole festival first, but couldn't resist a crab cake near the entry. It was served on a bun, with slaw.

  

Mozzeria was there, with their fancy pizza truck, but Tea Time occasionally eats at their brick-and-mortar location in the Mission.

After checking out the rest of the offerings, I decided on a poke bowl. This looked so good that I forgot to take a picture of the truck.

And for dessert, I again had a chocolate fudge popsicle from Fat Face Popsicles.

The Eat Real Festival is on for the whole weekend, and there are more vendors on Saturday and Sunday. More Festival-goers, too, which is why I go on Friday, but if you don't mind crowds, you will be rewarded with a wider choice. There are also exhibits and free samples, which vary from year to year. This year Clover was giving away yoghurt and Toyota was giving away plants in pots that could be decorated on the spot, among other swag.

Lobster Me

I was searching the food court at the San Francisco Centre for something interesting to eat when I spotted Lobster Me, a fast food lobster restaurant. Lobster Me serves Maine lobster in many different forms. And they are really fast! My lobster roll was ready in less than five minutes.

You can see the menu more clearly on the website,
but some items are not available in some locations

I'm from Connecticut, so I like my lobster roll with butter, not mayonnaise. The rolls are served with coleslaw and house-made chips. The platters at Jimmies of Savin Rock come with cole slaw and fries, but Jimmies is a little out of my trade area these days. Lobster ME provides the closest to an authentic experience as I'm going to get, and I will definitely  be returning. Besides, if I'm in Connecticut in the right season, I order the soft shell crab platter at Jimmies.

And for dessert, a scoop of Belgian Chocolate at Haagen-Dazs. This flavor is available only at Haagen-Dazs shops.

UPDATE:  Belgian Chocolate is now in stores as part of the Destination Series. If you don't see it, ask your shopkeeper.

Divine Delights at the 2016 Fancy Food Show

What's that noise? Oh, it's just Angela screaming with Divine Delights because we've found the source for our favorite petit fours. Yes! The ones they serve at Lovejoys and Diandas. Scrumptious melt in your mouth bites of cake and fondant. Who could resist? J.K. suggested standing and sampling our fill, stuffing our faces until we could never look at another petit four again. Angela was afraid that could never happen. So we just took one each and savored them as we walked away. These are always a Taste of Heaven.

English Rose Tearoom

Second Sunday Tea at 3 had to move to the third Saturday in February this year due to Valentine's Day falling on the second Sunday of the month, so we decided to change the day as well so we could visit The English Rose Tearoom in Pleasanton, which isn't open on Sundays. This tearoom features an inviting tea themed garden area, gift shop corner and loose leaf teas for sale.

Our beautifully set tables were waiting for us right by the sunny front window. There were six of us that day, so two of the tiny tables were pushed together for the group. The Tearoom encourages diners to experience as many teas as they want, but due to the small size of the tables, limits the selections to two pots on the table at a time. However, these can be swapped out at any time, even if they're not quite empty.

Housemade Lemon Curd, Jelly, and Clotted Cream Yummy!

The tea delicacies were tasty and so generous that some of us couldn't finish them, even though we sat there from 3:00 until 5:30, eating and tasting many different teas. The owner and staff are very accommodating, checking in frequently to ask if we needed our tea pots topped off or wished to change to a new pot. Informal and fun, this tearoom is ready for all comers, large groups or single guests just craving a cuppa. They even offer a tea sample with cookie just for stopping in their storefront.

Standard three tier tea tray full of deliciousness. (gift shop in background)

 The platters were arranged so that each person's selections were together

sweets and scones

fancy savories and fruit

Sammies galore including a pastry cup with goat cheese and honey

Chocolate Caramel Brownie Tea,
with sugar and cream

In addition to delicious beverages and tasty food, we were encouraged to stay after we finished the food and taste even more teas. The English Rose Tearoom has an extensive list of teas for customers to peruse for tasting. Angela most preferred the Creme Brulee, and of course J. K. loved the Chocolate Caramel Brownie. Both are flavored black teas. Other types sampled were Herbal Peppermint, Genmaicha, Partridge in a Pear Tea and Indian Chai just to name a few!

U Matcha–by the Republic of Tea

The Republic of Tea gave us each a very generous press kit (it included samples of several of their teas–Angela's Mom found her favorite Red Velvet tea via a sample) at the Fancy Food Show, then emailed to ask if there was anything else we'd like to try. We chose the U Matcha Charcoal, which is so tasty we built an entire lunch around it.

Angela cooked rice with U Matcha in the water and topped it with smoked salmon plus veggies. A simple salad of greens with U Matcha in the dressing was a perfect accompaniment. Just add 1-2 teaspoons of U Matcha to your regular vinaigrette dressing recipe and shake well.

Tea Time does not consider a meal complete without dessert (actually, we sometimes consider dessert a complete meal), so J.K. made marshmallows the night before. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to cut them in the morning, so she brought the whole pan.

The marshmallow syrup was as green as the salad dressing, but after 15 minutes in the mixer, the whipped product was only slightly tinted. Whip it!

 That changed, of course, after we dusted more matcha over the powdered sugar coating.

When making marshmallows, cooking spray is essential. J.K. sprayed her mixer bowl, whisk attachment and bowl scraper. Also the foil lining the baking pan, and the knife she used to cut the finished marshmallow. Any spray oil would work, this is just the brand we had on hand.  After we cut the marshmallow into blocks, we got to work on the truffles.

This recipe for rustic truffles is quite simple. Pick your favorite type of white chocolate chunks  (about one cup), and melt with a bit of heavy whipping cream (two tablespoons) in a double boiler over medium heat. Angela added a tablespoon of U Matcha to the melted chocolate, stirred until incorporated and  stuck it in the fridge to chill. Once the filling was cold we hand rolled balls quickly. If the filling gets too warm, simply chill again.

nudie matcha balls

 We rolled them in the matcha/powdered sugar and dusted them with cocoa. These soft truffles should be kept in the fridge and served cool. Otherwise they will begin to melt at room temperature. If you want to keep them around longer you can simply take a page from J. K.!

dusted and ready for eating

Later, J.K. was dipping dried fruit in tempered chocolate to take to an Oscars-watching party, so she dipped a few truffles, too.

Due to the powdered sugar and cocoa, the truffles weren't quite coated after dipping, so she dipped them a second time after the first coat set.

The perfect creamy filling!

Tea Time isn't sure if turning U Matcha into dessert still counts as a detox, but that's okay. We'll split the difference and just call it "healthy dessert."

Katia's Russian Tea Room

Second Sunday Tea at 3 met at Katia's Russian Tea Room for a very different afternoon tea. J.K. was worried about having to choose her savories from a totally tempting list, but fortunately that was taken care of in advance by the group's leader. Tea Time has enjoyed several outing with the SST@3 group and this time was a great experience as well.

The food was all delicious, and there was plenty of it. We started with bread and butter on the tables.

Russian Bread and Butter with a sprig of dill

The bread was quickly followed by Eggplant Caviar to spread on it.

Next we had Salmon Roe Blini.

Blini : delicate crepes, brushed lightly with sour cream
and filled with smoked salmon

The Blini were followed by Pel'meni.

Pel'meni : Tender, round, beef filled dumplings sauteed and 
served with a light curry sauce.

And of course there was tea, served in podstakanniki (silver glass holders). My Russian-born elders drank their Swee-Touch-Nee tea from glasses, without the holders. Herbal tea bags were available for those wanted a caffeine free beverage. Sugar, lemon and milk were ready to doctor up your drink as you desired. 

Our last savory was Potato Vareniki.

Potato vareniki : crescent shaped dumplings, filled with potatoes, 
steamed until they look like fat little pillows. Served with caramelized onions.

And then there was dessert! The first item was syrniki, fried cheese patties.

The Chocolate Walnut Meringue Torte was a big hit. Fresh fruit and mint were a lovely and tasty garnish on the dessert platters.

And of course Napoleons are always popular with any nationality. All the food was in perfect portions for family style sharing, and what our group didn't eat was available to be taken home! Our sweet waitress told us that Katia may consider retiring in the next year, so hurry up and make your reservations to try their tea offerings. Or if you're craving Pel'meni, stop in for dinner. Just make sure to try dessert!