By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
Everyone has the
same dilemma at this time of year: that one person who is
impossible to shop for. More often than not, these are the
same people who eat three meals a day, and some of them even
look down and pay attention to what theyre eating. If the
person you have in mind doesnt fit that description, Marty
Jaffee can tell you why you should embrace Christmas on page
3. For everyone else, a mother lode of fine eating awaits
you.
As loyal guinea
pigs to the community we serve thats you, dear readers
the staff of JTNews held our very own food fest, just
so you could have ideas of some of the yummy snacks out
there that could also double as great Hanukkah gifts.
We visited three
stores for our big bounty: Metropolitan Market, the kosher
Albertsons on Mercer Island, and Trader Joes. We attempted
to create as diverse a selection of goodies that we could,
with one caveat: everything had to be kosher. We tasted
nearly everything we purchased, and passed around the foods
we enjoyed the most. By the end, none of us had any desire
to see anything with sugar in it ever again, but these are
the sacrifices we make!
We decided to
group our purchases into several different categories.
Well start
Mediterranean-style. We picked up several items that
would fit in to this category:
Margarets
Artisan flatbread with Sundried Tomatoes (Metropolitan
Market, K-tablet, $4.99
Osem
Mediterranean Greek Manzanilla Olives (Albertsons, OU,
$3.49)
Millers Goat
Cheese (Albertsons, OU-D, $3.79)
Athenos Hummus
(Metropolitan Market, Circle-K, $3.39)
Joyva Chocolate
Halvah (Albertsons, Chaf-K, $2.99)
Trader Joes
Baklava Ensemble (Trader Joes, KSA, $4.29)
Well be honest
here: with some of these items, you could do better. But you
could also do much, much worse. Take the Margarets
flatbread. Though the sundried tomato gave these flaky
crackers a strong flavor, taster Lynn found them to be
light and crispy with a hint of cheese. The flatbread
could stand on its own, but we had several items to add on,
such as the hummus, which taster Susan loved.
Ive always
liked this stuff, Susan said. Taster Patti found it to be
too strong, with too many spices.
The goat cheese,
which came in a soft spreadable package, should have been an
excellent complement to the flatbread, but compared to other
similar products on the market, we decided it could have
been better.
Its flat
tasting, its like it has this blah finish, said taster
Karen.
The olives come
in a can. Like every olive that comes in a can, you always
feel like you can do better if you get them fresh, and this
was, unfortunately, no exception. The olives had the nice
bite to them that can be found in olives from this region,
but after spending who-knows-how-many months packed in away
in a basement somewhere, they were a little too soft for my
liking.
The halvah is of
course an acquired taste, as anyone who likes to put blocks
of paste in their mouths knows. But you cant go wrong with
the sweet honey baklava.
I thought it was
very good, said Susan, who also enjoyed the variety of
baklava pieces in the container. I like its an ensemble
package. Therere different kinds.
Lynn said the
baklava needs a tad more honey. Fantastic. A great
dessert, and Patti liked the nice buttery flavor.
Next we decided
to go local (but not lo-cal). We found all
kinds of treats from around the Pacific Northwest and came
up with these yummy items:
Barrys Bakery
French Twists (Metropolitan Market, OU, $3.49)
Partners Black
Pepper Crackers (Metropolitan Market, Chaf-K Dairy, $3.29)
Salmolux
Alderwood Smoked Salmon (Albertsons, Chaf-K, $2.49)
Dagoba Organic
Lavender Chocolate Bar (Metropolitan Market, KSA, $2.65)
Della Nonna
Savory Biscotti Rosemary (Metropolitan Market, Chaf-K,
$5.49)
Moto Bars –
Banana Split, Cranberry Orange, Others (Metropolitan Market,
Chaf-K, $1.59)
Biringer Farms
Lemon Tea Cookies (Metropolitan Market, Chaf-K Dairy, $2.99)
Cougar Lemon
Snickerdoodles (Metropolitan Market, Vaad, $2.99)
Pumpkin Seed
Butter (Metropolitan Market, BC Kosher, $8.49)
Chukar Cherries
(Pike Place Market, REI, Chaf-K, prices vary)
We matched the
items with these not-so-local products, but still
great for creating a fun gift basket:
Terra Red Bliss
Potato Chips with Olive Oil, Sundried Tomato & Balsamic
Vinegar (Metropolitan Market, Chaf-K, $2.49)
Pacifica Wasabi
Mayonnaise (Metropolitan Market, OU, $4.99)
Duchy Originals
Gingered Biscuits (Metropolitan Market, OU-D, $6.99
Cocoa Petes
Berry Berry Dangerous 4-Piece Dark Chocolate Bar
(Metropolitan Market, OU-D, $2.99)
First, the
Sweets Lovers Package:
Well start with
the french twists, with a touch of cinnamon and sugar.
This is very
good. Crisp and sweet, said taster David, while our other
taster Becky said, these french twists are excellent, and
theyre very low in fat and sodium. Im definitely going to
buy these.
Mix them with the
Dagoba chocolate bar, which I liked as a nice chocolate
with a good aftertaste, as well as did Susan, who at first
couldnt find the lavender.
I really dont
taste…oh, there it is! she exclaimed.
Since were on
the subject of chocolate, with Cocoa Petes dark chocolate
the Pete, incidentally, is the same guy who stuck his name
on Petes Wicked Ales you cant go wrong. The sweetness of
the berries inside balances the bitterness of the chocolate
on the outside.
These are good!
announced Karen. I thought this was great, and great
packaging, she said of the little cardboard box the
turtle-shaped chocolates come in.
Biringer Farms,
which like Chukar Cherries sells its wares in a storefront
at the Pike Place Market, satisfied us with its
tart-but-tasty lemon tea cookies. I thought they were a nice
bite-sized treat. The powdered sugar counteracts the lemon
tart. Susan said theyre really tart, theyre quite good.
And speaking of
the Chukars, we got ourselves a big box of their sampler,
which had everything from dried Rainiers and Bings to nuts
covered in white or dark chocolate. Lots of options, and
lots of different explosive flavors. Like their fresh
counterparts however, most of us liked the pure fruits the
best.
We tried Cougar
Mountain Baking Companys Lemon Snickerdoodles, but their
soft, tasty cookies come in many flavors. David, who
inexplicably tasted his cookie with a splash of wasabi
mayonnaise, said, Very, very good. The mayonnaise is a
little overpowering for the cookie. Its very good.
Mix in the Trader
Joes Fat-Free Caramel Popcorn, and youve got yourself a
basket!
The Savory
Treats Basket:
As aficionados
of sweet things from bakeries, the JTNews staff was
taken slightly aback by the Della Nonna rosemary biscotti.
It wasnt sweet at all! Its beautiful packaging, and I
like that its local, said Karen. Our taster Louise liked
the rosemary flavor.
The Vashon-based
Partners, with pepper crackers and granola, wowed us with
their great flavors (though at a premium price).
These are really
good. Id buy these crackers, said Susan, but Patti said
they taste like theyre run-of-the-mill Ritz crackers. Becky
liked their low fat content, and all of us liked them with
the smoked salmon, which comes from a fishery right down the
road in Federal Way, and all of us found to be quite
delicious, on top.
Between the fish
and the cracker, to add a little kick to the hors doeuvres,
Patti found that the wasabi mayonnaise is the high point,
in terms of interesting and tasty.
You might think
of potato chips as an odd gift, but Terra, with its pretty
bags and gourmet-style flavors, has raised the bar from the
run-of-the-mill Frito-Lays. I thought that they tasted a
bit like powdered tomato soup, but not bad for potato chips.
Like we said, the
bags are a pretty color.
For the active
member of your family, the Moto bars might be a good idea,
though we expect theyll taste better after a heavy workout.
It smells like
fake bananas, said Karen of the Banana Split flavor. For
shoppers in the health food aisle, the pumpkin seed butter
which a lot of us expected to be somewhat akin to peanut
butter was nothing even close. To be fair, well say that
this is definitely an acquired taste, and one to take in
small doses.
Its green! I
said upon opening the container. After tasting it: and not
so good.
If you want to do
all of your shopping at one store, with one brand name, the
Trader Joes basket will do you just fine. The
grocery store, which specializes in its own branded packaged
items, has many kosher ways to make a fun Hanukkah gift
basket, but we decided to choose just a few:
Trader Joes
Dried, Pitted Montmorency Cherries (Trader Joes, K, $3.39)
Trader Joes
Chocolate Cluster Trio, (Trader Joes, OU-D, $6.99)
Trader Joes
Fat-Free Caramel Popcorn (Trader Joes, Chaf-K Dairy, $1.29)
Trader Joes
Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds (Trader Joes, OU, $1.29)
Trader Joes
Organic Mini Pretzels (Trader Joes, OU-D, $1.39)
Trader Joes
Roasted Salted Mixed Nuts (Trader Joes, KSA, $3.29)
Not a lot can be
said about the taste of nuts that hasnt been said before,
but to mix them with the dried cherries and even pretzels
can make for a satisfying sweet-and-salty snack and a nice
Hanukkah treat. Throw in the chocolate clusters, with three
different kinds of nut mixed in chocolate, and the baklava,
and youve got yourself a basket which you can also
probably find at your neighborhood TJs!
While weve tried
to come up with ideas to soothe the gourmet in your life, if
you really want to make a hungry person happy, show up at
the Mazon Night of a Thousand Latkes dinner on December 12
and make a donation. Every cent from the meal puts food in
the stomachs of those who need it most.