Whole Foods Market

[chipotle]

...is a bad place to "discover" when you have no income.

I put discover in quotes because I'd known of the place before, and I'd even had lunch there in Palo Alto once. But it wasn't until just a month ago that it really sank in that I passed by one just a few miles from the house when I went back and forth between here and Los Gatos, right across from Lunardi's, an upscale grocery chain. Whole Foods really isn't more expensive than Lunardi's, but it's mostly organic, and they have a lot of bulk foods available, which actually reduces the price. (The "steel cut oats" I bought a can of a couple months ago I could have gotten for about a third of that price, it seems, just by leaving out the can.)

And it's just got so much stuff, even things I didn't see at Draeger's, the canonical snooty food store of the Bay Area. Real posole, which I'll be tempted to make now. ("Posole" is both a dried corn, like hominy, and a stew you make from it.) Four grades of maple syrup, as opposed to the "Grade A Medium Amber" you normally only see, and explanations as to what the difference actually is. Raw milk--which I had to get some of, since I needed milk anyway. And damn if it doesn't taste better than pasteurized milk.

I got some of their store brand root beer (which isn't bad at all, it turns out, although it has a flavor characteristic that's somehow common to organic root beer), and a couple other sundries. And, due to Cargo's posting about making his own granola using an Alton Brown recipe, I decided I'd make some myself--they had all the dry ingredients in the bulk section, and I chose the dark amber maple syrup, which has a strong overtone of caramel to it. I'm actually looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.

I expect the "no income" problem to be remedied soon, at least temporarily. Then I can actually go back and (gasp) plan recipes.

Or buy a lot more green coffee, but that's another story.

Comments

[mordrul.livejournal.com]

I've had raw milk before, both cow's and goat's milk. And before anyone knocks that last, I was raised on the stuff. Everyone I've ever talked to who's had it says it tastes much better, and I'm inclined to agree on both counts. I just wish they sold it around here. I could have sworn it was illegal to sell unpasteurized milk. Except right there at the farm, I think. I admit to not really knowing the billion and three laws, rules and regulations involved. And to be honest... if you've ever seen a modern dairy farm, you'd probably want it sterilized to death three times over, and then only given to your worst enemies. The one I saw, anyway, I guess I shouldn't stereotype them all like that. But if I could get the raw stuff, from one of those non-factory farms, I think I'd go back to occasionally drinking some again.

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

That's where I pick up my steel-cut oats and -yep- I discovered it the same way you did: after I'd bought a can of the stuff at another store and spent about three times as much!

I tend to go there only rarely, mostly because they're in a more distant part of the city. But, then again, it's the only place I've found where I can buy pommegrannite juice!

(Oh, and Alton's recipe for steel cut oatmeal is excellent! I've been making it ever since that episode first aired! I just add some dried apples, brown sugar and slivered almonds...)

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

Re:

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is definitely a small family farm doing it, pretty local to the area (Watsonville, about 30 miles south of here). I'd seen a company selling non-homogenized milk, but not unpasteurized before. There is a warning label on the bottle which could be summarized as IF THIS KILLS YOU IT IS NOT THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA'S FAULT. (I remarked to a friend the other day that California's state flower is the warning label.)

And, your description of a modern dairy farm seems to generally apply to most "factory farms," from everything I've heard and seen, which at least makes me want to try to find the alternatives despite them being a little more expensive.

I've never had goat's milk, although I've had cheese made from it.

Re:

[mordrul.livejournal.com]

They're both pretty good. Goat's milk is rather stronger than cow's milk in taste, and a lot of people are probably likely to turn up their nose at it (even without actually trying any). I've also read that goat's milk is much closer to human milk than cow's, the main reason I was raised on it (I was raised on a farm, too, so that helped). I think as my dad put it, "What's cow's milk designed to do? Make little bitty baby cows into big strong adult cows. You don't want that to happen to you, do you?"

Not that I'm ranting about diets or anything. As Scott Adams said, "I don't care what you eat, as long as your cold dead rotting corpse isn't blocking my driveway".

[chastmastr.livejournal.com]

I love Whole Foods (we have them here too) and mainly get the more-affordable stuff from them -- bulk herbs and spices and cereal, free-range eggs (always cheaper than the regular grocery store), etc., but not so much of the other stuff I can get elsewhere. They also have those 70% cocoa dark chocolate bars (less sugar, you see, plus both the cub and I prefer dark chocolate to milk choc).

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

I have been experimenting with that granola recipe, putting in chocolate chips and things. It's very flexible. I now leave out the cashews, which are expensive and don't add that much. It works best when it's mostly rolled oats and almonds in fact. I have been using grade B maple syrup from Trader joe's which has a higher sugar content and a slightly more 'raw' flavor, kind of like molasses.