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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanks and Thanks Again, PLUS a Seven Things Meme

Today, I heard a knock at the door.

By the time I opened the door, the FedEx van was already pulling out of the driveway.  I looked down and, lo and behold, there was a box that had been sent by Annie's good friend in Michigan.  Inside was an apple pie from Zingerman's Bakehouse!

Zingerman's Bakehouse Apple Pie

Zingerman's Bakehouse Apple Pie

Last year, Annie had gone to visit her friend and came back with an amazing apple pie from Franklin Cider Mill in Franklin, MI.  It was far and away the best apple pie we had ever had, even beating the pie we had at Gizdich Ranch.  But Annie's friend said that the apple pie from Zingerman's was also good.  I guess this was our chance to find out how good it is.

Old School

The label on the side of the box tells us that this is an old school apple pie.  It's got lard in it, as well as butter. Aw, yeah.

Zingerman's Old School Apple Pie

 Zingerman's Old School Apple Pie

The Zingerman's apple pie crust is incredibly flaky.  But it held together reasonably well.  I'm surprised it survived the trip to San Jose!  But we're thankful it did.  This is one delicious apple pie!

Zingerman's Flaky Apple Pie

 Zingerman's Flaky Apple Pie

We like the Zingerman's pie for its flaky crust, but we like the Franklin Cider Mill's pie for the apple filling.  Either way, they're better than anything we've had here in California.  Thanks, girlfriend!

Thanks Again

Something else arrived in the mail today:

Real Vietnamese Cinnamon Bark

 Real Vietnamese Cinnamon Bark

Earlier this month, Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple gave away some sticks of Vietnamese cinnamon that they brought back from their recent trip to Vietnam.  The cool couple graciously bequeathed to us a stick of this hot spice, and we are very grateful.  I have plans to make some beef pho using the recipe on Andrea Nguyen's Viet World Kitchen.

Thanks Todd and Diane!

We've Been Tagged!

You don't normally see awards, badges and memes being talked about on the House of Annie blog. It's not that we don't appreciate the good wishes and community aspect of blogging.  It's just that sometimes life gets too busy for me to do dedicated badge or meme posts.  I feel bad enough that I can't always regularly respond to all your comments!

But since I have a little down-time, I'll bite.  Our friend Deb of Kahakai Kitchen, whom we met at our FoodBuzz dinner at Tokkuri-Tei in Honolulu, fellow FoodBuzzer and Malaysian food blogger Shirley of Sweet Like Chocolate, and yet ANOTHER Malaysian Food Buzz blogger, Zurin of Cherry on a Cake all tagged us with the Seven Things meme.  Basically, we're supposed to reveal seven things about us.

So let's see...

  1. I used to work in a 1-Hr photo store in Waikiki.  Got so efficient that I could process a roll of film in 23 minutes! (I can hear some of you saying, "what's a roll of film?")
  2. I started in the Civil Engineering program at University...and flunked out of first year Surveying!
  3. I've been to China three times and Malaysia five times, but haven't even gone to Canada or Mexico...yet.
  4. Annie plays the piano and the tambourine (and she is trying to pick up bass guitar).  I play the guitar and the ukulele (and play a mean air drum too).
  5. Annie reads more than 150 fiction/non-fiction books a year.  She typically has 3-6 books started at the same time (her current pile includes "The Man Who Ate Everything", "Best Food Writing 2007", "Breaking Dawn", "The Last Chinese Chef", "The Search for Significance", and "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles").
  6. I am an info-junkie.  I would do pretty well on Cash Cab but not Jeopardy (the literature section always gets me).
  7. Annie is afraid of heights, while I love roller-coasters.

Okay, now who to tag?

  1. Jenn of Use Real Butter.  For good, honest writing and beautiful pictures.
  2. Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple.  For being such a cool and giving couple.
  3. Pomai of Tasty Island. For constantly making me miss Hawaiian food.
  4. Bee of Rasa Malaysia. For being such an inspirational food blogging friend.
  5. JS and TS of Eatingclub Vancouver. For running an excellent and exciting food blog.
  6. Andrea of Andrea's Recipes. For creating the wonderful Grow Your Own recipe roundup.
  7. Lydia of The Perfect Pantry. For opening pantries up the world over to new visitors as well as new ingredients.

Rules:

1. Link to my blog on your blog.
2. Give seven facts about yourself.
3. Tag another seven bloggers by leaving a comment on their blogs and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

Aloha, Nate

16 Comments:

Maria Verivaki said...

locally produced processed food is always best, and i like the emphasis on the packagaing of this pie stating that it contains Michigan apples - looks delicious too

Food For Tots said...

Guess you must have a huge collection of books at home. Looking forward to your beef pho recipe.:)

Anonymous said...

I need better friends! Nobody sends me pies like these. Sigh!

Anonymous said...

For my birthday last year a friend sent me a Zingerman's gift bag with all the fixings for corned beef sandwiches. It was the most amazing gift, but that pie looks pretty darned delicious, too.

Deb in Hawaii said...

I'm glad you played along--that is an interesting 7 things. Annie and I have a pretty similar reading pile and the several books at once thing in common. The pie looks delicious too!

Unknown said...

The apple pie looks tempting. Can I have a bite? :P" Just kidding...

Anyway, thanks for doing the Meme for us. We really appreciate it ;) Thanks for sharing :D *hugs*

Anonymous said...

That pie looks phenomenal! Give us a bite, please.....awwwww(opening mouth wide)...

We know you guys will be putting that cinnamon to great use. Can't wait for the pho-licious results!

Anonymous said...

That pie looks too tempting. You have very nice friends.
Your photos are phenomenal as usual Nate.

koko

shavedicesundays said...

Yummy apple pie! How does Annie like the Twilight series? I'm secretly in love with Edward.

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

Hi Nate and Annie -- thanks for the tag and we're working on it.

Jen Yu said...

thanks guys, for the tag :) i'm terrible about memes these days, so forgive me if I am 1) late or 2) never in getting around to it. i will try. love the char siew!!

Nate @ House of Annie said...

@Mediterranean Kiwi - It was really, really good.

@Food For Tots - yes, lots of books, plus a fantastic public library system!

@Carolyn - Maybe you could drop subtle (or not so subtle) hints ;-)

@Lydia - thanks!

@Debinhawaii - mahalo nui loa!

@Shirley - sorry, all gone :D !

@Todd and Diane - just looking for the perfect opportunity to do it now. Thanks again!

@Koko - thanks!

@Shavedicesundays - Annie thinks he's too much of a control freak.

@JS - looking forward to it!

@Jenn - thanks. I know you have better things to do...like tackling that next ski slope!

Sarah said...

If you ever get a chance, visit the Zingerman's store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is like foodie heaven! We LOVE Zingerman's.

TS of eatingclub vancouver said...

I like how lard is in bold like that. =D

TS of eatingclub vancouver said...

We finally have our 7 things up! =)

Nate @ House of Annie said...

@Sarah - Annie may be visiting there soon. I hope she brings back lots of stuff!

@TS - and it is quite an interesting 7 things!