Aquatic Park Photos
So this friend of mine (endustry, linked off to the right) has some great neighborhood photos. When I talk about Aquatic park, this is what I’m talking about:
and this is my moodier version:
Success and Failure Shopping in North Beach
XOX: failure. Will try tomorrow.
me: can I get 40 truffles
guy: yes, what kind.
me: (after much quibbling) 5 earl greys, 5 oranges… wait, can we separate them somehow in the box?
him: no.
me: you mean, I can’t just put a napkin between each kind? Because you can’t tell what they are from the outside.
him: yes you can.
me: no, I can’t. earl grey and orange look the same.
him: (silence) the napkins and the truffles won’t fit in the 40-piece box.
me: what if I get the 40-piece box, but put 20 pieces in it with napkins?
him: it will cost the price of the 40-piece box.
me: I get the distinct feeling you’re not going to help me.
him: I get lots of customers.
me: and you don’t want my business then?
him: (shrug)
Result is that I’m going back tomorrow to talk to the manager. If only they weren’t the best chocolates.
Palermo Deli. I was excited about it but the selection is pretty limited. Molinari’s – after waiting about 25 minutes I got Frank. There was a biker character in there ordering in loud Italian, to which Frank responded in English. Ongoing, the entire 25 minutes. Kind of funny. Biker drives from Novato twice a week to buy stuff from Molinari. My hometown’s Italian food was not bad, in that it was originally an Italian settlement, and also, heck, Oakland has the huge Italian warehouse food place: Ratto’s.
I figured out that getting Molinari to cater would be cheaper, but also Frank just didn’t seem that into it, and he’s helped me before (once got an amazing olive collection from him) so instead I picked out a bunch of meats, the best of which I know is going to be the copa (like copa cabana) proscuitto.
A couple of cheeses later, a ton of meat later, lots of olives later, I paid too much for an antipasti extravaganza.
I walked one block from Columbus to Stockton and looked around the Chinese food markets. I thought I’d pick out some seasonal stuff, but all they had was that big spikey fruit, which I think is breadfruit. I may update this later with the real identity.
Hardware store, which is an obvious cover for people picking locks. The woman took my key adn made a dupe in about 2 minutes flat. This is funny only in that in the South Bay I tried OSH and Home Depot and both key makers claimed I had to go to a locksmith to make the same one. Go Chinatown! Get your non-licensed, fenced, “dropped off a truck” merchandise here!
Cost Plus / World Market on Bay is the next great success, in that I finally f***ng found marzipan. Now I remember this being in a tube that you bought in refrigerated sections, but noooooo, Frank @ Molinari’s couldn’t understand what I was talking about, and pointed me to some hard nougat candy. Stella’s sells no baking supplies. Victorian Bakery recommended Trader Joe’s and Cost Plus. Kind of funny that all these stores buy it wholesale and no one buys it retail. Nobody makes fancy almond croissants in their kitchens anymore! But Cost Plus not only had marzipan, but they had cool non-dairy custard mix from powder, double-cream from England, lemon curd, an alternate to Nuttella, the list goes on. I thought Cost Plus had really sold out but I guess they are still importing weird food from distant lands.