An Ovation For Newest Newman-O’s

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A marriage of peanut butter and chocolate

I tore into a bag of the new Newman-O’s Peanut Butter Creme Filled Chocolate Cookies, and curiously took a bite. As I contemplated whether I liked the new cookie sandwiches, my hand started reaching for another. And then another.

That answered that.

Basically, I had to close up the bag and move it to another room so that I wouldn’t end up inhaling the entire package. The deep cocoa-tasting, crisp chocolate cookies encase a creamy, subtly salty peanut butter filling. I especially like how the cookies are not that sweet.

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Korean Tea, Part 2: The Traditional

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Ellen Kim performs a traditional Korean tea ceremony.

Driving past the profusion of strip malls that make up El Camino Real in Santa Clara, it’s easy to miss so much.

But look closely along that stretch, and you’ll spot what was until recently the only Korean tea house in the Bay Area.

It’s easy to overlook Chasaengwon tea house on the second floor of a non-descript office/retail building at bustling 3330 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, near a See’s Candy store. But if you do, you’ll be thoroughly missing out.

Jinsook Hong opened her charming tea house/cafe here because the city already was home to a sizable Korean-American community. Hong operated a tea house in her native Korea, until immigrating here 21 years ago.

Kabocha soup

A quiet matriarchal figure, Hong is here seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., carefully preparing all the tea and all the food, such as hearty kabocha or abalone soup, and the most popular item – a huge bowl of green tea shave ice with green tea ice cream, mochi and fresh fruit that’s big enough for four people to share. She will even prepare a special menu if given advance notice.

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Korean Tea, Part 1: The New

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Korean corn tea that tastes like popcorn in a mug

You’ve enjoyed trendy wine bars. Now, take a seat at a soothing tea bar.

Puripan Tea Garden opened its doors a month ago at San Jose’s Santana Row. This cozy oasis sells 70 types of loose-leaf teas, the majority of them Korean. Although Koreans traditionally don’t drink black teas, the store has imported a range of black teas from India and China, as well.

If your experience with tea has been limited to the bagged variety, you are in for a treat here. Most run-of-the-mill tea bags contain more tea “dust” than actual leaves. Glass containers here display tea leaf samples that can be opened to experience their intoxicating fragrances.

Take a breather at Puripan Tea Garden

Besides many types of green tea, Koreans have a tradition of brewing tea from grains such as corn and barley, as well as more unusual plants such as persimmon leaves. Store proprietor Ellen Kim explained that during Korea’s Chosun Dynasty (the 1300s), the tax on tea was so high that people resorted to brewing “tea” with other ingredients.

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Nuts About These Nuts

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Regular blanched almonds on the left; Sicilian Pizzuta almonds on the right.

As you know, I love nuts of all kinds. My latest paramour? The native Sicilian almond called Pizzuta.

This rather flat-shaped almondÂis amazing. It has a rich, intense, almost creamy flavor. Think marzipan — but with a pleasant, toasty bitterness and none of the aching, cavity-inducing sweetness.

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Don’t Miss Your Chance to Meet Food Gal at Draeger’s in San Mateo

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Food Gal looks forward to meeting you all at Draeger's. (Photo courtesy of Joanne Hoyoung-Lee)Yes, there are still a few tickets left for “Everyone’s A Critic,” a class I’ll be teaching at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at Draeger’s Cooking School in San Mateo with my buddy, Sheila Himmel, former restaurant critic for the San Jose Mercury News.

Between food bloggers, Yelp reviewers and Zagat voters, it does seem like everyone is a food critic these days. Here’s your chance to learn how to become a better one (or at least better articulate to your friends what you loved and what you despised about the last place you dined).

We’ll teach you how to judge a great or a dismal dining experience, while entertaining you with stories about our own experiences in the eating arena. Join us for an evening of wonderful wine, delicious food, and fun banter.

Price is $55. Sign up here, and hope to see you there.

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