About a year and a half ago Paul, of the Sacramento Epicureans , and I had discussed getting knowledgeable guides to take us through ethnic markets to point out unfamiliar foods. Paul has better contacts than I and was able to take the idea and pull it together. Today he sponsored a guided tour down Stockton Blvd. to stop at different ethnic markets. He recruited Linda, the owner of Boon Boon Cafe, to be our guide. He did a great job of putting it together by offering a $10 lunch at Boon Boon, $10 for the tour, and then $25 for an hour foot massage at the end. He took time to give us note paper and pens with names and addresses of where we were going and did a run through with Linda beforehand.

We started with a noon lunch at Boon Boon where we selected off of the lunch menu. I had the Spicy Basil Beef. Basil chicken is my favorite Thai dish and so I was interested in trying it with ground beef. I had a very generous portion of it with steamed rice, a small salad, and a drink. It was nice and spicy and I was well stuffed before we started off.

I got to carpool with Linda in her car. Boon Boon has been open for several years now and Linda explained that she's gotten to really know the different markets and which ones are better for prices, produce, meat, and seafood. Not one market is good for all. She's also frequented many of the other Stockton Blvd. businesses to save costs on such things as signage, printing, and other items.


Our first stop was to a Hispanic grocery - La Superior at 4940 Stockton Blvd. Paul explained that this is a great location to buy your Hispanic ingredients such as chilis, avocados, and spices.


I agree that these markets are always a better deal for getting many spices. When we buy Spice Island or McCormick spices in those little bottles, we pay a premium. And, if you didn't know, spices have a short shelf life. Many spices should not be kept for more than a few months. That's why I prefer to buy these smaller packages of cheaper spices. (Guess we pay for those bottles vs. these plastic bags.)


Here's a great example. This large bag of cinnamon sticks is $9 at La Superior. A couple of weeks ago I got six sticks at Raley's for $3 in the Hispanic foods section (not the spice/baking aisle). Glad I know where to go now.


Check out the size of this avocado! Only $.99 at LS. At Safeway you get a smaller avocado for $1.50-2.00 each.


There is an extensive butcher counter which includes all those great parts like tripe, ears, pigs feet, etc. I found the ox tails were $4.99 a pound. I got a two pound package at Winco, which is a cheap grocery, for $12. I'll be coming here in the future. They also have these pre-seasoned meats so that you can quickly cook up tacos or fajitas when you get home.


And, of course, there is the pasteleria for all those baked goods.

Our next stop was Gold Star at 5815 Stockton. Linda said that this was a very good store to get your seafood at - and nothing else. We went through quickly and I did notice it was also a good place for duck legs at $2.99 a pound. I want to make some rillettes from the recipe on Hank's website and so now I'll come over here to get the 12-24 duck legs needed.


We continued down to 6105 Stockton and Vinh Phat grocery. Linda said that this location was particularly known for it's deli.


They had good BBQ duck here and other pre-made foods. I noticed that they had 35 pound roasted whole pigs for $155. (A detail to keep in mind for a future party I'd like to throw.)


I was surprised by this little find - duck tongues. When I had them on a salad at Mulvaney's (see review) I had wondered where you got them and the poor tongueless ducks. Now I know where they are should I decide to spring these on my gourmet dinner group.

We walked by Wing Wa market and Linda commented that the only thing you need to know about it is that they are the place to buy rice - lots of varieties.

We had a small tasting at JJ Bakery. Paul said it was one of the best Asian bakeries for bao. He had stopped by earlier in the day to buy some for us to try because they sell out of bao by early afternoon. The bakers brought out a tray of his bao sliced so that we could try some. I chose a coconut one since I had always had BBQ pork before.


We also stopped here at A&A Supermarket at 6545 Stockton. Linda said that this was the store you wanted for everything besides fish and meat. In other words, get your pantry and frozen foods and non-food items here.


Linda buys some of her cookware here, even for the restaurant. A couple of folks were interested in woks and other kitchenware.


I noticed that these large pineapples out front were three for $5! You'd probably get just one at Raley's.


Our last stop was SF Supermarket at the corner of 65th and Stockton. This may be the largest Asian grocery store in Sacramento and certainly has the largest seafood and meat sections. There are many large tanks of live fish...


and plenty of bins of frozen fish. If you buy your fish here or at any of the Asian markets, be sure to tell them to clean and trim your fish or they'll just bundle up the whole thing for you. Some of them also offer free frying.


Certainly this is a good place to buy your lobster or crab. By the way, an Asian market not on this tour with a great seafood reputation is the one on Broadway and 11th. In the market is Sunh Fish and they are known for supplying fish to many of the sushi restaurants in town.

Another tip for shopping in these markets is to be picky. Asians are picky shoppers and will pick out the choicest fish or the ripest fruits. But if you are not Asian and just ask for a fish, they might try to give you a lesser quality one. Speak up and point out exactly which one you want. Don't be afraid to barter as well. If you want more than one of something, see if you can cut a deal.

Here are a couple more Stockton Blvd. tips Paul and Linda pointed out.

There is an education center at 5451 Lemon Hill Ave. that has a computer science department where you can get your computer repaired for cheap. It's considered a learning tool for the students.

If you need to replace a tire or want a full sized spare, there are tire places that will sell you used-but-still-good-tread tires for as little as $10. Wish I had known that last month when I had to buy a new $89 tire cuz I blew one out.


And lastly, to Huong Lan Sandwiches, around the corner of the building from SF. We didn't stop there for our tour because we were out of time. Now that we were done I was in the mood for a bubble drink and so I headed over to take the pictures and get a mango shake with tapioca pearls. HLS makes the best Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwiches. A banh mi sandwich will cost you about $2.75.


But there are lots of grab n go food items as well.



It's my hope that either I or Paul will be able to organize another guided event where we can find a Vietnamese person to explain and sample some of these items in the future. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to organize an event at a Filipino grocery, bakery, and restaurant with my Filipina friend Marie.

Jelly Belly factory

I'd find it hard to believe that we don't all have a little kid in us that wouldn't want to eat a Jelly Belly jellybean. How lucky are we that we have the factory in our own backyard. Long a staple of family outings and tourist stops, the Jelly Belly factory tour is one place that many of us find ourselves going to over and over again, myself included. My past outings had always been on weekends. Problem is, they aren't operating on the weekends. The tour goes through a quiet a building. So I took the opportunity of a recent weekday off to go and do the tour again so I could see the place in operation.

Jelly Belly gift shop

The tours run from 9 - 5 with the last tour leaving at 4. Depending on the time of day, year, and just plain luck, you could end up waiting in line for about an hour if school is out or it's a holiday. I got there bright and early on a normal weekday so that I got into the first tour of the day. Even so, the first tour didn't leave until about 9:20 and so I had a chance to do a quick run-through of the gift shop to see if there was anything new.

Finally the little paper hats were passed out and we were told to put away the cameras. Bummer. It's not like they have any secret, Willy Wonka style processes going on in there we can see. Besides, the tours are done from high above as you walk enclosed catwalks.  First stop was for picture taking. This is a new addition since I was last there. Makes sense to add it. Like so many other attractions, people want that souvenir photo and frame with you sitting next to Mr. Jelly Belly bean. Just that it takes a bit of time. I skipped around the line to wait for them to finish. We were given a couple of beans to chew on while we waited. Then we were off.

The nice thing is that there are short little videos that are shown at each stop along the catwalk. They explain a little about the history, the process, and other trivia tidbits. They also give you tasting beans along the way. First was the jelly center. They say that they put flavoring both in the jelly and in the coating. I didn't taste any flavor in the supposed red raspberry center I was given to taste. Later we got a finished wild blackberry bean and that definitely tasted like blackberry. And everyone loves that at the end of the tour each person gets a sample bag of assorted beans.

What many folks don't know is that you can go on a more intimate tour if you are willing to pay. The JB University tours are $47 and take you out in groups of six onto the actual floor of the factory. I'd love to hear from anyone who has gone on this tour.

What surprised me as I went on the weekday tour was how few employees were actually working on the floor. It was so automated with robots and conveyor belts that there were a lot less employees than I expected. But I was happy to finally see the machines in action and the beans flowing down the lines.

Most famous Jelly Belly fan, Ronald Reagan

It's always nice to see the artwork as well. Some of the pieces can take months to finish and have over a million beans.

Jelly Belly tasting line

The tasting station is a popular line. You can go through and taste a few flavors. The gross flavors are no longer related to Harry Potter because I guess they lost the contract or it expired. So now they call them BeanBoozled flavors. You can see above that there is barf, rotten egg, boogers, and more. I watched some people try those and make horrible faces. That told me to stay away from those! During the tour they made a big deal that it took forever for them to perfect kiwi. I tried it and have to say that they've still got work to do. It didn't taste like kiwi to me. My favorites are all the berry flavors, sours, and pomegranate.

There is also a fantastic chocolate counter. I successfully stayed away from purchasing any this time. Boy, was that hard. I love some of the gigantic whipped chocolate haystacks they have with all sorts of add-ins like nuts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, toffee, etc. Mmmmmmmmm.

I also found the bulk sales room by the cafeteria. They sell ten pound boxes of single flavors there as well as some other decorative and farmers market-y type stuff. If you really love one flavor, then a 10 lb. box is $90!

Most people stay in the gift store and buyout the belly flops - the reject beans that are too small, too big, or stuck together. I grabbed a bag to take up for Thanksgiving next week. I also wanted to try their soda pop and selected the green apple. They are made with cane sugar and are very brightly colored. I tried it later, at home, and found it way too sweet. I ended up pouring most of it out. Another favorite item I like is their Sport Beans which have caffeine and some electrolytes. I use these when I go on long hikes and need a burst of sugar and energy.

If you are hungry they have a large cafeteria with a lot of offerings. I've never bothered to eat there myself. But I can see that some families get caught there at lunch time or need a snack. There is also an ice cream counter with JB flavored ice creams.

If you are one of the rare locals who hasn't already gone on a Jelly Belly tour, then you are overdue. Time to venture forth and pay them a visit.

Jelly Belly car

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But it's fun!,

A few months ago I stumbled upon the XOSO League. This league plays those games we played in grade school: kickball, dodgeball, and volleyball.

Now, I am one of the most non-athletic people you could ever find. I'm terribly uncoordinated and I have a balance problem. This means I'm a loser at skating and it took forever for me to learn to ride a bike. I still don't dare to let go of the handlebars and go hands free. I would have been one of the last kids chosen for teams but somehow avoided that childhood embarrassment.

At the same time I also had the lucky benefit of not gaining weight until I hit 30. I was able to avoid exercise at all costs. The thing is, it all catches up to you. Boom! Hit 30 and ten extra pounds suddenly appeared. Last week I was instantly depressed when Dr. Oz said I can expect to gain 12-15 pounds just from menopause. Then you start to think about aging and that to age in a healthy way, you need to exercise.

So now I exercise whether I like it or not. And I don't like it. It's become an unfortunate necessity. I might hate it, but at least I've crossed the line so that now I have to workout because my body is in more pain if I don't. My cardio of choice? Spin class.

But I saw the XOSO league and was really wanting to join. After all, kickball and dodgeball don't take great athletic ability. Surely I can handle it. When my friend, Mark, said he wanted to play I said I would join him. We'd both try it out together. There was a new foam dodgeball season starting up that is only going to last five weeks. That seemed harmless enough. If I didn't like it, I would only have to survive five weeks.

Turns out, I like it! We had our first games and my team, the Sactown Smackdown (named by Mark), had a double header. Each match lasts 30 minutes. The teams are coed and they mix up the teams so that you are playing with people from other teams. It makes it more social and less competitive. It's all in good fun.

I was worried when I had read over all the rules. Actually, it turned out to not be that bad. You play as many games as you can within the 30 minute match. My only problem is I can't throw a ball worth a darn. I've got no power and no aim. Most of the time I just dodged and then handed balls to the guys to make the throws. Still, we won a majority of our games.

Afterward everyone headed over to Streets of London. They give a discount to league members if you are wearing your team shirt. The games didn't stop. All of the teams mixed together and started playing a drinking game. It became apparent that any fitness benefit from playing dodgeball was soon negated by the calories ingested via the drinking games. But I really liked how social the league was.

Alan, a new teammate who has played in a couple of XOSO leagues before, told me that the social aspect is what he loves about XOSO. Unlike a softball league where you pretty much bond with your team but not necessarily with opposing teams, the XOSO teams all mix and socialize together.

So after only one night I am very happy with joining the league. I think I might be the oldest one in this season, but age isn't really the issue. It's about getting out, finding a new physical activity that's fun, meeting new people, and not sitting at home on a Wednesday night.

100 Days. As of September 23rd there were only 100 days left in 2010. In those 100 days fall the holidays when many of us will enjoy fine feasts with family and friends. But for many people, especially in this economic downturn, there are many days of hunger and not so much feasting.


The River City Food Bank is one of the organizations in the area that tries to help those under dire circumstances. I must admit my ignorance since I had only been familiar with and volunteered at the Sacramento Food Bank. Even though I had heard of some of River City's events, I hadn't been conscious of the difference.


River City Food Bank (RCFB) was founded in 1968. It is open daily to provide food to those below the poverty line - often families. They will provide a family three days worth of nutritional food once a month. When they have the funds they can also help in terms of shelter. They might provide rent assistance or provide a couple of days in a motel. They can also help with preventing the shutting off of utilities. Unfortunately, this all depends on their coffers, which apparently are empty right now. My friend called for the rental/utility help recently and the recording said they had no funds available.

The event I went to on Thursday was the kickoff for the 100 Days of Food, an effort to collect food and funds to fill the coffers for the stressful holidays. The effort’s goal is to reach 100,000 pounds of food. It took place on the top floor of Sutter Hospital’s garage with great views above the treetops of the city. Food was donated by Panda Express and Chipotle.

There were a couple of displays about what the RCFB does, but what caught my eye was a cooking demonstration by Chef James Lyon. He was making a vegetarian chili using ingredients that are found at and handed out from the food bank. The food bank supplies nutritional foods and also provides recipes using the ingredients they hand out. There are nutritional classes offered as well. Certainly it is better than just handing out junk food for the sake of handing out food.

I was introduced to Eileen Thomas, Executive Director, who gave a speech thanking the volunteers and donors. She said that when the economy took a dive, the number of people seeking help from the RCFB increased by fifty percent. Even though the economy is supposedly improving, they are not seeing that number decrease. It is not news that all charities are having a difficult time collecting funds, which only makes the need so much greater. Thomas held up empty shopping bags and challenged everyone to fill up one or more bags. This year they have teamed up with Goodwill so that food can be dropped off at any of the numerous Goodwill donation centers around the area.

I have my empty bag and plan on filling it soon and dropping it down the street at my nearest Goodwill. I hope you will join me in doing the same.

I have a Things to do Before I Die List. Have had it for years, long before that Bucket List movie. (Now realize that's an upcoming blog post.) So whenever there is a unique, cool opportunity I try my best to do it.

Such was the case last night. I had the chance to be in a Brad Pitt movie. He's playing Billie Beane, the Oakland A's general manager, in Moneyball. The story is of his unique method of forming a budget team using computer analysis. Also in the film are Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jonah Hill, and Robin Wright (Penn).

Years ago I had gotten on a list for movie extras. Most of the time the announcements are for Los Angeles. But this being about the A's, it was being filmed at Oakland Colisseum. They are shooting nightly for over a week. Each night required signups for people to sit in the bleachers and play the crowd. There are two shifts. the first was supposed to be from 4:30 to 11:30. The second shift was 10:30 to 5 am.

Our day got a late email saying they didn't need us until 6. I arrived at the parking lot at 5:30 and found a line the equivalent of three blocks long - huge! I knew this was gonna be bad. The email said only 300 people per night and you had to pre-register. Forget that. This line was a couple of thousand. I headed for the porta potties  first in preparation of a long wait. I then decided to see if I could get up in line by being adopted by a nice group or family. I approached the front and saw a nice woman and her son and said I had come by myself from Sacramento and was hoping to be adopted. Turns out Karene and Max Richins were from East Sac. They hadn't gotten the email, so they had been there since about 4.


I stood in line with them and we waited and waited. At 6:15 they finally started processing the releases and giving us tickets. Then we stood in another line within the fence. At one point we saw shuttle buses go by with cast. I'm pretty sure I saw Brad in one. As it drove by it honked and he waved out the window. We stood in this line until about 8:30 before we were finally security screened (no cameras) and let into the stadium where we could finally visit the bathroom, get some water, and sit down.

The emails had said given preliminary instructions. It said we would be fed on set. Luckily I had hit Jack in the Box right before the Colisseum just in case. Thank goodness. There was only water, coffee, chex mix, and later on there were hot dogs. There were also going be raffle prizes at the end of the night, a paid walk-on role and a flat screen TV. We were told that throughout the night we would be shuffled around the stadium depending on where they needed background. We were not to take pictures and not to shout at Brad because he was working and not there to give autographs.

Our first shuffle took our group to behind the dugout. We got THE first row behind the dugout and were so excited. Right in front of us in easy conversation distance was Phillip Seymour Hoffman. But they were shooting from an angle and told us that our side of the area was out of shot and we needed to move to a different section up and over. The three of us dragged our feet and didn't go very far from our original seats.

I've always been a good star sighted like when we had seen the stars at Russell Crowe's star. Others had spotted Billy Beane. Soon I noticed a guy wearing a grey hoodie and realized it was Brad. Later someone else realized that it was Angelina standing nearby. It was apparent that Brad wasn't filming, at least not any time soon. He was just wearing a track suit.

We were told that we were representing game 20 of the 20 game 2002 winning streak. This was the 9th inning and the score against Kansas City was 11-11. They did a shot of the players returning from the field and we needed to sound both encouraging and yet frustrated at the score. Then Scott Hatteberg emerges from the dugout and we all cheer encouragement. They did about six takes. Finally we had to cheer as if he was at the plate, a ball, a strike, a hit, HOME RUN! By this time I was getting hoarse.

It was now 11 and time for their lunch break. The extras had shift change and our shift was invited and encouraged to stay. But I had to still drive back to Sac and I had seen what I had come for anyway. I waited for the raffle and then left.

Perhaps Brad had to act later in the night. Who knows. A previous night they had shot Jonah Hill siting in the crowd watching a game. That would have been cool.

So it was another check of my List and someting to share with you.

You go to the store or the farmers market and find that a small clamshell of blueberries is $4-5. If you make a little effort to head to Apple Hill, you can get a pound of blueberries for $3.50 if you pick them yourself. And isn't that more fun anyway?

Apple Hill is a lot more than apples. Most people know about the wineries and Christmas tree farms. But there are also places to pick your own cherries and berries at the right time of the year. Cherries are better in June and the berries are better in July.


Poor Girl Kimberly and I headed up on Saturday with blueberries as our goal. Bolsters Orchard was our first stop where a bucket holds six pounds of berries and the going price was $3.50. If you don't want to pick them, there are pre-picked bags for a little more money.



We got there when they open at 9 a.m. and it was already getting pretty hot. I had heard that berries needed to be picked in the cool morning for better sugars and so we had gotten there as early as we were allowed. It took us about an hour to fill our buckets. I got 5.5 lbs and Kimberly got 3. The nice thing about the blueberries is they aren't thorny like black and raspberries. Blueberries are available til the end of July.


Our next stop was Patrick's Berry Farm. They have about six varieties of black berries and three of raspberries. The raspberries weren't ready except for these tiny black ones that Kimberly picked. She really liked the flavor. I wasn't interested in such tiny, seedy gems that cost $5.50 a pound.


I opted for a mixture of Marionberries, Boysenberries, and New Zealand blacks, which are thornless. I thought the best tasting were the Marionberries. Kimberly thought that the berries that were warmed by the sun tasted more alcoholic. I guess a bit fermented. I tried my best to pick berries hidden on the inside of the vines under the shade of leaves.


The blackberries were $4.50 per lb. and raspberries were $5.50 per pound. The raspberries weren't going to be ready for a few more weeks.

It doesn't take long to pick enough berries to keep you going depending on what you are going to use them for. To keep them the best, take them home and rinse them. I lightly swish them in a bowl of cold water with a bit of veggie wash to get rid of the dust, loose leaves and thorns, ants, and pesticides. I then transfer them to a clear, cold water bowl for a second rinse, drain them in a colander and then poor them on a towel. I line cookie sheets with wax paper and then arrange the berries on the tray loosely. Berries freeze really quickly. After about an hour you can then transfer them from the trays to freezer bags and then work on the next batch of berries. This method works great. You just have to have a light touch with the berries for each step.

This weekend was the Sunset Magazine Celebration in Menlo Park. Each year Sunset Magazine holds a kind of open house on their campus. The public is invited in to see their test kitchens and gardens and to visit with some of their favorite product vendors and get ideas.

This celebration weekend is one of those things that myself and my carpoolers had wanted to go to before, but had never gotten around to. After all, for us Sacramentans, it is a bit of a trip. You either have to have a burning urge, friends who also want to go, and best to have both. This year there were a couple of other Meetup members who wanted to go and so we set off at 7:30 with the thought of getting there when it opened and hopefully beat the crowds.

We arrived right around the 10 a.m. opening time and were able to find free parking on the street a couple of blocks away. Tammy had joined Sunset's wine club and one of the perks was free admission tickets for two. Niefia and I bought another ticket and split the cost. The wine club membership allowed them to get free glasses and entry to a VIP section which was nice and air conditioned. We needed that later in the day.

The headquarters is located over several acres in few single story buildings. No high rises here, which is comforting considering the Sunset mystique. Throughout the campus were booths, stages, and vendors galore.

I hadn't known what to expect and I will tell you - I had a great day. The place was, of course, packed. We were given reusable shopping bags upon entry and immediately got into a line for free samples. In a 50 foot stretch were about twenty vendors with samples of sorbets, teas, sauces, chocolates, and more. The line crawled and so after getting a chocolate fix we moved on to see the test kitchens.


They have one large kitchen with four cooking sections. Each section has different appliances that are typical to those found in household kitchens. After all, they want us all to be able to replicate the recipes that they provide with the same equipment. That's why one kitchen is gas oriented, another electric, there's one with grills, another with a convection oven, etc. Each recipe gets prepared at least four times and sometimes as much as a year in advance. It's the beginning of June and they had just finished testing Thanksgiving recipes.

Later we walked through their garden area, They had some interesting growing products that I wanted to look into, including Wooly Pocket planters and Plants on Walls, both for growing plans on your walls. I also saw potato towers which I'd like to try next year. In a two foot square area you can grow a mess of potatoes vertically in a cage structure.


There were also a couple of hands-on areas that were good for kids. One area you could paint a ceramic pot and in another area you could string together Hawaiian leis.

We never had to buy anything to eat or drink because there were plenty of items to sample. There were great products to view and every county in California and some places in Oregon and Nevada had booths trying to get you to visit.

I enjoyed myself and think I will go again next year. The lesson we learned for next time, go first thing to sign up for any seminars you want because they sell out right away.