This week we’ve been to Fry’s. Safeway, Walmart Grocery and Bashas supermarkets. Fry’s was reasonably well stocked except for paper products. Walmart Grocery was also reasonably stocked and out of paper products but I was lucky to find eggs this week. They were almost out of eggs but had around 6 flats in the refrigerator and I was lucky to get one with a limit on one. Last week Walmart Grocery was the only supermarket near me that had fresh raw chicken. Safeway was the least stocked of all the supermarkets with very little produce and no paper products. They didn’t have their usual brands of chicken and offered frozen raw whole chickens of a brand I never heard of. I bought one and it made Walmart Chicken seem like the best chicken in the whole wide world. This Sun something brand of Safeway Chicken had an abnormally large breast and tiny legs that were like white meat wings. It was one of the worst chickens I’ve ever tried with a weird texture and not the best taste. I don’t normally shop at Bashas because there isn’t one near me. I stopped into a Bashas because I was in the area of one and needed fresh herbs I couldn’t find near me this week. They had the herbs but this was the only supermarket that didn’t offer hand sanitizer and also didn’t offer sanitizing wipes. They still used the moving belt by the cashier without sanitizing it. I felt unsafe shopping there during this pandemic.
I don’t know if my experience is typical from other similar super markets.
That was Week 3 of Grocery Shopping during the CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ.
Everything is subject to change and I hope it does for the better.
You have to travel far to find delicious rye bread in certain parts of metro Phoenix. I make my own and just came up with this even easier version of rye rolls. This recipe is easy but it requires a stand mixer and takes a little over five hours. It makes eight nice sized rolls.
Ingredients for 8 servings
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons bread flour (plus more for dough to rest and to knead)
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark rye flour
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/8 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 Tablespoons caraway seeds (plus a few pinches for sprinkling the tops of rolls)
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup oil
2 Tablespoons semolina flour – to rest unbaked rolls on (can substitute corn meal)
1 egg white – beaten
small pinch French salt flakes for finishing
Set oven to 425 degrees F
In your stand mixer bowl add the flours, sugar, salt, yeast, caraway seeds, water and oil. Before you start up your mixer you need to mix this up with a fork so when the mixer mixes it your flour doesn’t fly all over the place. Once you have the batter reasonably mixed then attach your dough hook. Set it on Medium High and let it go for ten minutes. The dough should pull away from the bowl and wrap it’s self around the hook.
Get a large bowl and add some bread flour for your dough to rest on. Take the dough off the hook and knead it and roll it into a ball. Let it rest in the bowl for FOUR HOURS covered with plastic wrap.
You need either one large baking sheet or two smaller baking sheets to be covered with parchment and the parchment needs a light coating of semolina flour.
After 4 hours punch it down and divide it in quarters and divide each quarter in a half so you have eight even pieces.
Kenad each piece in a ball. Slap it around a bit. Roll it in a log and then knead it into a ball and place on semolina lined parchment. Repeat till all 8 rolls are done spewing them apart some.
Brush with egg whites twice. Be careful and don’t get too close to the parchment or you will glue the roll to the paper. Sprinkle each roll with some caraway seeds and a very light pinch of flaked salt.
These go in a preheated 425 degree F oven. When they turn brown (13-15 minutes) turn down to 350 degrees F. They only need maybe 5 more minutes in the oven. In my oven the rolls took a total of 20 minutes. The timing may differ some.
ENJOY
Rye Rolls
My husband kept raving about these rolls. I thought they were pretty darn good.
I made this easy quick kraut style slaw to go on my turkey pastrami. It’s flavored like kraut but no fermentation. It’s not as harsh as some krauts are. It takes about three days to get full flavored. This recipe might make more kraut slaw than you need but it will stay good for at least two weeks. My idea of serving size will differ from yours but this makes over eight serving.
ingredients for around 8 servings
1 small cabbage – sliced very thin on a mandolin
1 red onion – sliced very thin on a mandolin (white or sweet onion is fine too)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
8 juniper berries – ground
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
Directions
Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well. Let this sit on the counter for one hour. Mix well again. Refrigerate. Mix once a day till day three.
Enjoy!
Here it is on a Forking Truth Rye Roll with Forking Truth Turkey Pastrami.
We are supporting local restaurants as much as we can during the pandemic.
We did take out from a newly opened casual Taco Fusion. I’ve been there a couple weeks ago and was blown away with how great the food was….(particularly the mild habanero chicken taco with pineapple salsa…)…. I also was so happy that it wasn’t too far from where I lived so I thought it was extra important to stop here and give them some business. When we made our take out order we were told that they were offering 4 of their 8 salsas today and didn’t have pineapple salsa today.
All the tacos and quesadilla was delicious. The tortillas are hand made. The flour tortilla is thinner and bigger with less flavor than the hand made corn tortilla. The asada is more flavorful and more tender than from another popular taco place in the area. The fish taco is different and is topped with sweet carrots. They are all very good tacos but I still like the mild habanero chicken taco best. It’s full of really good flavors. It’s the one taco that is even better than a chicken taco from Mexico. (I’ve actually tasted many tacos on the streets of Mexico a few times) The sauces are good..we got one I’ve never tried before anywhere. It’s a dark ultra spicy sauce that is borderline too hot for me but if I only use a drop or two is wildly delicious. Very GOOD Tacos from Taco Fusion in Glendale.
Our next take out was from Pita Kitchen in Glendale. This is small Greek Casual Mediterranean restaurant.
We packed up our dogs and did a pick up.
I got my usual chicken kabob salad. I have to say that this chicken is abundant, moist, developed with flavors, delicious with a really tasty char on it. I really think their chicken kabob is the best in town.
My husband got the gyro Greek salad with added pickles.
We also got delicious fresh pita bread that they make there.
Our friends also helped us enjoy the food on our patio.
We did get take out from the AMAZING Confluence Restaurant in Carefree.
We picked up a fresh baked fontina roll that is to die for.
Tried some delicious vegetable soup that was so light and different. It was made with the fancy cauliflower and lots of parsnips.
For dinner had that incredible FORKING DELICIOUS Fried Chicken with broccolini and buttery cooked potato.
The sweet ending was a dark chocolate brownie for dessert.
We enjoyed delicious Thai Food from Sala Thai in Peoria.
I had the spicy pumpkin basil with chicken and brown rice.
They gave us a CRAZY amount of brown rice. After we took what we wanted there was THREE EXTRA whole cups of rice that I portioned out and froze.
My husband had the spicy egg bomb with chicken and brown rice.
Then we went to Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol in Glendale.
I got my usual chicken fajita salad.
My husband got some sort of Mexican Beef Plate with rice, beans and tortillas.
We got margaritas to go. They were packed nicely and were very strong.
This week we were able to support five restaurants.
Taco Fusion in Glendale
Pita Kitchen in Glendale
Confluence in Carefree
Sala Thai in Peoria
Popo’s Fiesta Del Soll in Glendale
We are doing our best to help support small business restaurants. If you care about a small business you should give your support.
I happened to have some potatoes, sage and fontina cheese that I had to use and came across Melissa Clark’s recipe for Mashed Potato Casserole with Sage and Fontina Cheese from Food and Wine Magazine. I did her recipe but when I tasted the potatoes they didn’t seem flavorful enough. Maybe it was a typo since her recipe didn’t include salt to boil the potatoes? I bet Mellisa Clark used better potatoes than mine. If you ever tasted potatoes from the farmers market you know that they taste a whole lot better than super market potatoes. She also maybe used a better quality fontina cheese that had more flavor so her recipe was good with better ingredients. I added additional spices and a 1/2 teaspoon of bomba (an Italian hot pepper condiment) and I thought the potatoes tasted much better. Incase you aren’t familiar with bomba it’s a delicious condiment that I highly recommend. It’s full of flavors and heat. A little bit just adds so much flavor to foods. Incase you are wondering the potatoes aren’t spicy but are very flavorful. Bomba is a secret weapon to make food delicious. I also cut her recipe in half because I didn’t need eight servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 1/2 lbs potatoes – peeled and cut in maybe 6 pieces
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 oz creme fraiche (or substitut sour cream or a thick yogurt)
1 1/2 teaspoon sage – chopped
4 oz fontina cheese – shredded
1 Tablespoon parsley leaves – chopped
1/2 teaspoon bomba
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
few grates of fresh ground nutmeg
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter – grated
2 1/2 Tablespoons bread crumbs
2 1/2 Tablespoons parmigiano reggiano – grated
small handful fresh sage leaves
A little oil to fry or oven fry the sage leaves
non stick spray or butter or oil to grease a small baking dish
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F. Grease your smaller baking dish and set it to the side.
The potato go in a pot and get covered well with water. Bring to medium boil and boil them till tender (usually 15 minutes). drain and mash them with butter, creme fraiche, chopped sage, fontina cheese, parsley, bomba, salt, peppers, nutmeg.
Add this mixture to your greased baking dish and smooth the top.
In a small bowl mix up the remaining butter, bread crumbs and parmigiana reggiano cheese and spread it out evenly over the potatoes.
Put in oven till the crumbs are nicely browned (about 15 minutes). Then cover to stop the browning for around 5 more minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
Bomba Mashed Potato Casserole with Sage and Fontina
A special THANKS to Melissa Clark for her Mashed Potato Casserole Recipe that inspired my version.
Last week was brutal. My local Safeway super market was only filled with 20%-30% groceries. There was very little that could be purchased.
This week I went to Walmart Grocery.
I almost cried when I saw all the produce. It’s so much closer to normal.
They were also out of a lot of things like onions, potatoes, hot dogs, eggs, all paper products. A lot of things were very low or missing but at least they had fresh looking chicken so I was happy.
packaged cheeses
No eggs today.
Since I’m down to my last paper towel I stopped at CVS. They had a few paper towels left with a sign that says limit one. I grabbed a two pack of bounty paper towels. I don’t know if they priced gouged me because with tax the two rolls cost over TEN DOLlARS…dang I normally pay a little over a dollar a roll in a big multi roll pack from Costco….
A few days latter I went back to Walmart Grocery. I also had trouble buying my dog’s Blue Buffalo Food. The Dog Food Stores were out of the big bags and I was almost out but got lucky and found a couple small bags at Walmart. They still lacked paper products but there was maybe a half dozen containers of eggs with a limit of one per customer. I was lucky to get eggs this time. They only had 6 cartons and one was an extra large box of eggs so I snagged it up.
I also went to Costco. They now make you wait in a line and so many people are allowed in at a time. Many were waring masks. I’m not a fan of Costco raw chicken since they switched to Foster Farms Brand but they were still out of raw chicken and most paper products. I did notice that the empty shelves from last week now are filled with water bottles. They also had eggs this week. Now they block off the aisles and funnel you to one area with six foot spaces to check out. All cart contents stay in the cart and sneeze guards have been installed by the cashiers.
That’s how things were this week.
The CoronaVirus Apocalypse in Metro Phoenix Week Two – Annoying but no Famine this week.
Everything is subject to change and I hope it does for the better.
Dining out with dogs is just a “Fluff” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started when my dog Louie was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. He was given 3-6 months. He already was old and couldn’t do a lot but he enjoyed going out to eat so I took him out as often as I could. Instead of the 3-6 months Louie made it another 17 months. Today my current dogs enjoy going out to eat.
Before you dine out with dogs there are some things to know. Most restaurants in Phoenix have patios but not all patios are dog friendly. It is always BEST to call any restaurant on the day of your visit and ask if it’s ok to dine there with your dog. That way you find out if it’s ok to bring your dog and you also find out if the patio is available that day. It’s also AWAYS BEST to dine at off times to avoid as many people and other dogs as possible. Not all people share your love for dogs and some people are allergic to dogs. It’s best to avoid other dogs because dogs like to bark at each other and you might get asked to leave.
You need to beware that when dining out with dogs that your dog must be by your side at all times. Dogs are NOT permitted to sit on restaurant furniture or to eat off of restaurant plates. You should bring a bowl from home for water for your dog. You need to be aware that most food and drink that you consume can be harmful or even TOXIC to your dog. You must get a list of safe and a list of foods to avoid from your veterinarian. Usually a small piece of lean meat that is without sauce is usually a safe bet. Here in Phoenix you also need to know that your dog is not as heat tolerant as you are. All people and all dogs do have different tolerances for heat. In general but not for all dogs I’d say over 90 degrees F is too hot to dine out with dogs. Maybe 90 degrees is tolerable but only in FULL SHADE. All dogs do differ. Hopefully you know your dog well enough to decide. When there is any doubt PLEASE LEAVE YOUR DOG AT HOME.
Now I will let The Forking Truth go to my dogs. They will tell you about their dining experiences.
“We were on our way to Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante but my folks didn’t make it early enough and the patio was full of people so we left.” “BAH!” “But we did great at Phila-Deli.”
“The nice owner runs us out some turkey before my folks got their meals.”
“Our female human companion got a turkey wrap again.”
“It’s a different brand of turkey today.” “I think I like this one better because it’s more moist without that smoke taste and I really like the pepper jack cheese that gets pulled out for us.”
“We also really Forking love cheese steaks (without the onions for us dogs!’
“We always get a “Phila-Belly from Phila Deli…….(we enjoy that!)”
www.PhilaDeliAZ.com
“We are on our way to Culver’s in the Deer Valley part of Phoenix.” “Culver’s is a national group oof quick casual restaurants.” “Culver’s is famous for their signature never from frozen butter burgers, hand battered Icelandic cod and their daily made fresh frozen custard.”
“That butter burger is nicely caramelized and smells delicious.”
“We get the eat some yummy butter burger!”
“Our folks like the limited walleye special.” “It’s a very large platter.” “We helped eat that one too!”
“We always do great at Culver’s.”
www.Culvers.com
“We are on our way to Banh Mi Vietnamese Bistro in Phoenix.”
“Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery serves up most of your usual favorite Vietnamese foods except for pho.” “They are a pho-free eatery and post signs that say,”Eat a banh mi instead.”
“Today our folks got a lotus root salad ($5.00), chicken potstickers ($4.00) and a pork rice plate ($10.00).”
“We are doing so good today!”
“We loved everything we tried from Banh Mi Vietnamese Bistro!”
“Yep that was delicious!”
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
“Holy FORK!” “Now we are having a coronavirus crisis!” “Our folks did take out from Fabio On Fire today!” “We got to enjoy a small amount of sausage pizza.”
We didn’t get any of the bufalina pizza because it isn’t dog friendly with the balsamic vinegar.”
“So we were fed some eye roast she made.”
“We also did Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery this week because it’s very important to keep our local restaurants in business.”
1/2 of chicken banh mi
“Helped with two lunches out of one chicken banh mi.”
“We also helped with a delicious shaken beef banh mi ($8.00).
“We also got to eat food from Cucina Tagliani.”
www.CucinaTagliani.com
“Well that was Dining Out and DINING IN with Dogs in Metro Phoenix for March 2020.” “We hope for the best during this pandemic.” “We also hope that you’ve enjoyed and we hope to see you next month!”
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
We are supporting local restaurants during the coronavirus crisis. We did Fabio On Fire in Peoria and took out two pizzas.
They converted the restaurant to “CURB SIDE ONLY” and ordering and payment is online. They communicate with you by text messaging. Then you order is placed on an outside table. After you pick up your order the table is sanitized.
My husband enjoyed a sacciccia e funghi pizza $14.95. (sausage and mushrooms)
“Good Stuff!”
I enjoyed a bufalina pizza $15.95. (arugula, imported buffalo mozzarella, balsamic and extra virgin olive oil.
Another take out was Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.
Everyone was doing take out from here because they ran out of rice, noodles and pork.
They are a PHO-FREE Vietnamese Eatery…Most of your usual Vietnamese favorites but no pho.
Eat a banh mi instead!
Today I took out a chicken banh mi ($7.00. I ate half today and will eat the other half tomorrow.
half the sandwich is pictured
I had some help from my furry friends.
My husband had a shaken beef banh mi ($8.00).
This is half
We always enjoy everything from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery.
We also did take out from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale.
The dinners came with lots of garlic toast.
I had grilled salmon with asparagus and spaghetti squash in a lemon caper sauce ($23.99). My husband had shrimp diabolo ($21.99).
My husband surprised me with an added on mascarpone chocolate cake.
It’s a very big slice and feeds at least four people but it really is delicious!
That was my take out in Metro Phoenix during the coronavirus.
Fabio On Fire
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery
Cucina Tagliani
It’s important during these times to support your local eateries!
I was watching a competition Food Network TV Show where the contestants had to make rugelach. It is a cream cheese and butter pastry that is wrapped around a filling such as jam, chocolate chips, nuts and or cinnamon and sugar. I looked up recipes for rugelach. Basically most are 1/2 flour and the other 1/2 is 1/4 cream cheese and 1/4 butter. I know these pastries are always delicious and now I know why……They are very rich and fattening. I decided that since these pastries are very rich I only wanted to make a very small batch and figured out on how to only make EIGHT small pastries. The FUN part is that you can make any flavor you want. Figure out what filling you want. Then you have to roll out the pastry in some sort of sugar…see if you can figure out something that matches your filling in the sugar. I went with pistachio. I had in imported pistachio spread. And I mixed crushed pistachios with the sugar that I rolled the dough in. These came out FORKING AMAZING….Next time I will do a high end Nutella filling and do my sugar mixed with hazelnuts. I think a date filling with chocolate chips would be delicious. I think orange marmalade with a orange zest sugar topping would also be delicious. We could do a cherry filling with crushed almonds and sugar…..Could go on and on and on….The fun is for you to pick your flavor! (This recipe does not include a filling recipe…you have to come up with that yourself)
Ingredients for 8 servings
1/2 cup flour
small pinch salt
2 oz cream cheese
2 oz unsalted butter – chopped into small cubes or grated (I grated on a big hole grater and lost some of the butter)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 egg yolk
sugar to roll dough….I used course raw sugar maybe two tablespoons, use any sugar you want like flour to roll sticky dough
optional -other add ons to sugar
A small amount of filling for your pastries (chocolate chips, jam, nuts and honey, peanut butter, etc)
Directions
Mix up the flour, salt, cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and yolk with a fork. You don’t need to mix it up all the way more like 80%. This dough is rich and soft so you need to wrap it in plastic wrap in a disk shape and chill it in the refrigerator over night or give it a few hours.
When you are ready to roll.
Set your oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Use your sugar like flour to roll out the dough and make it into a round shape. (I used raw sugar and crushed pistachios)
My sugar was mixed with crushed pistachios
Spread your filling on the dough.
Cut like a pizza in quarters and cut threw each quarter so you have 8 wedges.
Roll UP from the large or crust end and place on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Place on middle rack. Mine took 14 minutes in the preheated 375 degree F oven. Timing may differ slightly.
I didn’t noticed much of a change shopping for food until this past weekend. I was at Costco a warehouse shopping type of store. I didn’t really need too many things so I didn’t look for too many things either. It seemed like they offered most of the foods they normally offer but they were out of paper products, eggs and bread. It’s possible that they were out of more things but I didn’t notice. To me it didn’t seem like a crisis but it sure did seem annoying.
First time I’ve seen empty shelve at CostcoLots of empty shelving at Costco
Latter in the week I thought I’d go to Safeway for chicken because Costco sells a brand of chicken that I don’t like. I had no idea that Safeway’s shelves would be like this.
Not much here.
Tomatoes are usually here.
They have a few things. They have Japanese eggplants and it looks like yellow beans and green beans. On the other side is Savoy cabbage.
Here’s most of the rest of the produce.
No potatoes or onions.
The meat counter is out of meat. It’s not like I came in at an off time. I came Tuesday just after lunch.
They are out of all raw chicken and raw turkey today.
They have some meat but it’s vegetarian, some beef and some pork.
Not much here.
Not much here.
Not much here.
Not much here either.
This is a crisis. Nobody can live forever like this.
This is the FORKING CoronaVirus Apocalypses and this is what it’s Forking Like To Buy Food. It seems like Famine in Phoenix Week One. I can only hope that next week is better.
Everything is subject to change and I FORKING HOPE THAT IT DOES!
