Belinda Powell learned how to make pickles as a young girl with her mother and grandmother. The pickles are an old family recipe and boy are we glad we finally discovered them.
On a recent trip to Arizona we were treated to a fresh jar of the sweet, sour and hot variety. Like a bag of fresh potato chips it's impossible to eat just one, two or three of these pickles. Killing a whole jar in one sitting is not uncommon. We didn't believe it either until we tried them.
Really? Can a pickle be that good? Yes. We're not exactly sure how Belinda does it but there's got to be something more than the ingredients listed on the jar.
So if you're looking for the best pickles in the world, we've got the hook up. Call "The Pickle Lady" and she's likely to pick up the phone herself. She makes pickles because she loves making people smile and they're smiling all over the United States and Mexico. Yes, she'll ship you a fresh batch but it's tricky business packing pickles so be prepared to pay a little extra.
Otherwise, be sure to stop by the Downtown Phoenix Public Market on Saturday mornings and make sure to try the sweet, sour and hot. You'll never look at pickles the same way again.
For more information contact "The Pickle Lady" directly.
"THE PICKLE LADY" 602-672-6344 www.belindaspickles.com
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St. John’s Grill in Sunnyvale is a Silicon Valley favorite for beers, burgers and onion rings. They dole out a baby bag of potato chips with every order but most op for the onion rings or greasy fries. This is where engineers and product managers go to escape a crazy week with some good old fashioned comfort food. This is not a place to count calories.
We're always skeptical of burger joints but must say this place lives up to it's reputation in both ambience and quality of food. This place is good.
It's often packed but the line moves quick and there's plenty of seating both inside and out. You get one of those little vibrating discs that tells you when you're order is ready. There's probably an iPhone app for this place too.
Bonus: It’s just a half mile away form another Silicon Valley institution Fry’s Electronics. Have lunch. Pick up some gadgets. What could be better? So if you need your burger fix in the valley. Definitely make the trip to St. John’s Grill.
Visit St. Johns for more information and to check out the menu.
1. Sear 5 lbs coarse ground or diced meat (chuck, round, stew meat, venison, poultry, or meat of your choice) in a large skillet or sauce pan till brown; then drain off fat. 2. While browning meat Chop the Onion & Green Pepper. Combine all ingredients in cauldron and bring to a boil while stirring frequently 3. Add meat to cauldron and bring to a boil while continuing to stir frequently 4. Cover and simmer for one (1) hour stirring occasionally 5. Stir Mesa Flour into a ½ cup very warm water to make a thick, but "flow-able" mixture 6. Add Mesa Mixture to Chili until desired thickness (I thicken just barely enough so that my wooden spoon stands up)
This Recipe Yields about 4 quarts. Freeze what you don't eat for another meal. Serve with mustard, grated cheese, sour cream, oyster crackers, and Sriracha sauce to taste... Mmmm...tasty Chili.
The best custard puff in the Bay Area can be found at the corner of Scott and El Camino in Santa Clara.
Copenhagen Crown Bakery & Deli was previously the location of Souza’s Bakery which specialized in Portuguese donuts. These were truly from outer space and not to be missed.
A young Scandinavian bought the bakery and perfected the art of the custard puff. He later grew tired of running the business and sold it to new owners who that kept the name, tradition and all the tasty recipes of the original owner. In fact, the puffs seem a tad bigger and packed with even more custard. Yum. We miss the Portuguese donuts but the custard puffs more than make up for it.
But that’s not all. Copenhagen also serves up a vast array of cakes, cookies and pastries all worth trying.
Give them a call to place special orders or just stop by. You will not be disappointed.
Copenhagen Crown Bakery and Deli 2079 El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA 95050 (408) 243-5443
This is a tasty beverage. If you’re looking for a refreshing tea that’s not too sweet check out Tea’s Tea from ITO EN. The latest batch of teas includes a very good “Mango Oolong”. We love mango and we love oolong so this is pretty much a slam dunk when it comes to flavor. The best part is ITO EN doesn’t add a bunch of sugar. It’s nothing like Arizona ice tea which is nothing but sugar. ITO EN teas actually taste like real tea and not some wacked out concoction disguised as tea.
ITO EN has a whole lineup of Tea’s Tea to check out including "Citrus Black" and "Blueberry Green". And if you don't want any sugar at all in your tea the plain stuff will do the trick. It’s all very good, especially when it’s ice cold. This will be our summer cool down beverage of choice for some time.
Visit ITO EN for more information about Tea’s Tea and to find a retailer in your neck of the woods.
This is a killer sandwich. Specialty’s Cafe and Bakery is a great fast stop for a cheap and cheerful meal. It’s always packed but the line moves fast and the staff is friendly. But best of all the food is pretty damn good. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Are, Washington or Chicago you gotta get one of these.
Our current favorite is the “Turkey and Cranberry” deluxe sandwich. It’s a simple combination that will take the edge off during lunch. Mix in a bag of chips and a peanut butter cookie for good measure and you are dialed for your afternoon meal. We also like the “The Mediterranean”, a cheesy masterpiece on Focaccia with mozzarella, tomato, organic spinach, kalamata olives, balsamic Vinegar…you get the picture.
Not everything is great however. The Big BLT is subpar at best. The bacon was horrible and the peppers were in hiding. The whole thing just felt like an afterthought. “Hey we have some leftover bacon, let’s throw it all on this one sandwich.” Seriously it was that bad. Had a certain funk to it and not it a good way. You're hearing this from a bacon lover from the midwest by the way.
Well you have to know what to order anywhere you go. So do yourself a favor and find a Specialty’s in your neck of the woods and sink your teeth into a crazy good Turkey Cranberry sando. You won’t be disappointed.
If you like a good old fashioned hot glazed donut and a variety of others you have to stop by Stan’s Donuts in Santa Clara some time. Stan's is in the heart of Silicon Valley located on Homestead between San Thomas and Lawrence and directly across the library and International Swim Center in Santa Clara.
It’s a classic donut joint that locals frequent. Once visitors experience a hot glazed Stan's donut there's no turning back and they always return whenever they're in town, whether it's a two hour trip from Sacramento or a cross country trek from back east.
One of our favorite things about Stan's Donuts is it never changes. It's the same long counter, same chairs, same people working there. The only thing that's really changing is the clientel. It just keeps on growing. Yeah, you can take that to mean a couple of different things and I guess both would be correct.
This will help get you in the mood for Fat Tuesday. If you can't find yourself an authentic Paczki, tread yourself to your favorite baked good, preferably one featuring fried dough.
Ready for the Superbowl? Not until you’ve tackled making this masterpiece. The geniuses at Holy Taco walk you though exactly how to recreate this edible monstrosity in all its Twinkie-Mini-Weenie-Chex-Cheetos Glory.
Hey, anyone can order a pizza. Why not give this a shot? Even if you never get around to actually assembling the stadium you’re halfway to a pretty solid junk food lineup for Super Sunday. Enjoy!
Visit Holy Taco for step by step instructions on how to make this masterpiece.
We first discovered the ginger chew a few years back at Trader Joes. It’s an exceptionally tasty chew perfect for settling the stomach after a meal or for a quick snack to take the edge off. Not paying much attention, we thought this was just another one of Trader Joes’ snacks that come and go off the shelves from time to time.
Enter the Peanut Ginger Chew. The geniuses over at The Ginger People have unleashed arguably one of the most satisfying snacks on the planet. This little chewy brick of goodness is the benchmark for “a little something”. It’s got just the right amount of bite nicely balanced with the not-to-sweet flavor of peanut butter.
We know peanut butter pretty much makes everything taste better but this was unexpected. Do yourself a favor and pick up a pack of Peanut Ginger Chews from Amazon or wherever you like to shop. Amazon sells them in bulk and believe us you’ll want them in bulk.
Two chews contain 40 calories, 0.5g fat, 4mg sodium, 9g carbohydrate and 8g sugars.
Visit The Ginger People for more information about all their great ginger snacks.
What would the holidays be without poppyseed roll? If you come from eastern European roots odds are your family makes some kind of “roll”. Whether it’s a nut roll, almond is popular, or something similar to a poppyseed roll. The problem is not everybody in the family perfects the recipe and it’s a lot of work to tackle one of these recipes let alone perfect it. It’s one thing to make it. It’s another to make it great.
Having lost hope on finding a decent poppyseed roll I stumbled a great little restaurant that also did custom orders. I used to order poppyseed rolls from this polish woman and her family. She would get up at 3am to make a handful of masterpieces ready for pickup by late morning. She ended up making more money with her catering business and simply doesn’t have the time to make poppyseed rolls anymore.
Luckily I found Calumet Bakery outside of Chicago. When I discovered this bakery they weren’t taking online orders. I had to sweet talk the owner in to shipping out some rolls in return for some free website consulting and referrals to the bakery. I told him, “Listen, if you poppyseed and other rolls are as good as I’m hearing you could make a nice little online business out of this.”
Now you can order one of the best poppyseed rolls on the planet direct from Chicago. They ship in a 2-pack and are nicely packaged. My standard order is 8 rolls, 4 with icing and 4 without. This is as good as any poppyseed roll I’ve had, homemade or otherwise from New York, LA, Poland and the little Polish woman who gets up at 3 am. Seriously, do yourself a favor and order a few for family and friends right now. Poppyseed roll freezes well so don’t be afraid to order early for Christmas or whatever you happen to be celebrating this year.
Visit Calumet Bakery to order the best poppyseed roll on the planet and other tasty treats.
St. John’s Grill in Sunnyvale is a Silicon Valley favorite for beers, burgers and onion rings. They dole out a baby bag of potato chips with every order but most op for the onion rings or greasy fries. This is where engineers and product managers go to escape a crazy week with some good old fashioned comfort food. This is not a place to count calories. 
Brock's Famous Chili Ingrediants: 
The best custard puff in the Bay Area can be found at the corner of Scott and El Camino in Santa Clara. 
This is a tasty beverage. If you’re looking for a refreshing tea that’s not too sweet check out Tea’s Tea from ITO EN. The latest batch of teas includes a very good “Mango Oolong”. We love mango and we love oolong so this is pretty much a slam dunk when it comes to flavor. The best part is ITO EN doesn’t add a bunch of sugar. It’s nothing like Arizona ice tea which is nothing but sugar. ITO EN teas actually taste like real tea and not some wacked out concoction disguised as tea.
This is a killer sandwich. Specialty’s Cafe and Bakery is a great fast stop for a cheap and cheerful meal. It’s always packed but the line moves fast and the staff is friendly. But best of all the food is pretty damn good. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Are, Washington or Chicago you gotta get one of these.
If you like a good old fashioned hot glazed donut and a variety of others you have to stop by Stan’s Donuts in Santa Clara some time. Stan's is in the heart of Silicon Valley located on Homestead between San Thomas and Lawrence and directly across the library and International Swim Center in Santa Clara. 
Ready for the Superbowl? Not until you’ve tackled making this masterpiece. The geniuses at Holy Taco walk you though exactly how to recreate this edible monstrosity in all its Twinkie-Mini-Weenie-Chex-Cheetos Glory. 
We first discovered the ginger chew a few years back at Trader Joes. It’s an exceptionally tasty chew perfect for settling the stomach after a meal or for a quick snack to take the edge off. Not paying much attention, we thought this was just another one of Trader Joes’ snacks that come and go off the shelves from time to time. 
What would the holidays be without poppyseed roll? If you come from eastern European roots odds are your family makes some kind of “roll”. Whether it’s a nut roll, almond is popular, or something similar to a poppyseed roll. The problem is not everybody in the family perfects the recipe and it’s a lot of work to tackle one of these recipes let alone perfect it. It’s one thing to make it. It’s another to make it great.