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

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

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

 

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

 

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