During NA #372 Adam chimed in with his own Outstanding Product proclamation. Adam was ecstatic about his crunchy Ottmer’s Family Butter pickles he picked up at an Austin farmer’s market. Adam even got a whole, named chicken to roast. Dvorak was skeptical about buying a chicken with a name – the kids might not like that! Adam said that he and Micky love going to the local farmer’s markets as they only cost a third of what Whole Foods charges.

“Outstanding product” declared John C. Dvorak while he was describing the crisp, tasty carrots available at Port Angeles’s Nash’s Produce. Dure NA #369, he also described them as being extremely sweet and super crunchy. John encourages anyone travelling near the Olympic Peninsula to make an effort to go to Nash’s to try these specially bred carrots.

nashsorganicproduce.com
4681 Sequim-Dungeness Way [map]
Sequim, WA 98382-7834
(360) 681-6274

Adam’s been munching on these tasty Dutch, mini waffle cookies. Consisting of two, thin mini waffle layers sandwiching either a caramel or molasses-like spread.

We at No Agenda Entertainment decided to investigate where to find them near our Oakland home. Yesterday while picking up some items at the Rockridge Trader Joe’s, I  was looking at products in the open refrigerator aisle, when I became transifixed by a little bag of cookies on a higher shelf  labeled ‘Caramel Bites’ – “these look like the little dutch cookies Adam was talking about.” I flipped the bag over and  saw in small type that they were indeed, Stroopwafel!

Dvorak was giving Adam some Thanksgiving cooking tips with this Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potato recipe from Emeril.

John said you just have to take several large Garnet yams and bake them for 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool a bit, then while carefully holding the potatoes with a towel or pot holder, scoop out the insides into a bowl. Then, you mix in cream, butter and bourbon!

During NA 227, Dvorak mentioned his son is a beer geek and discovered this delicious, seasonal beer from Anchor called “Hummer”. Close John – the beer is actually called Humming and it’s produced by San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Co. from August through October.

We at No Agenda Entertainment highly recommend the Anchor brewery tour. It’s usually on Friday’s and take a couple hours. At the end of the tour you get to drink a lot of tasty Anchor products.

A long time pet peeve of John C. Dvorak is Canola oil. There is no such thing as a Canola plant (as erroneously reported by PBS). Canola is manufactured from rapeseed oil in Canada. Rapeseed oil is naturally unsafe for humans due to it’s high acidity, so only hybrid or genetically engineered rapeseed with low acid levels are used for oil products.

The Canola name is derived from Canada, Oil and Low Acidity.

Served from a dirty microwave near you...

Dvorak was cranky on Hot Pockets during NA 224. He questioned if these things are even safe to eat! He furthered hypothesized that they seem to be based on an English pastie or a Eastern European Piroshki. Dvorak reminisced while he was in Cornwall and ate ‘the best pastie in Cornwall’ and thought it was crummy, terrible and gross. Adam reported that he was on a Scandinavian airline around twenty years ago and was served a mini version of a hot pocket filled with reindeer meat and it seemed, “quite tasty, I liked it, it was a great snack!”.

I wonder if Mevio makes Head Crank John C. Dvorak sit right next to these young, ‘Millenials’. If so, it probably leads to many peeves!

Rain Vodka

John Dvorak wanted us to make note  of the new, official No Agenda Vodka, Rain!  It comes from New Orleans’ famous Sazerac distillery.

Juan Gil Monastrell 2008

John Dvorak passed sent out this wine tip to @neoEdward who asked about a good red wine.

@neoEdward Just a good quality everyday dry red? Juan Gil’s Monastrell (silver label). Always a steal.

@neoEdward @NoAgendaEnt http://www.juangil.es/ing/juangilm12-i.htm <– at most Costcos.

From the Juan Gil website:

We selected the Monastrell grapes for this wine from 40-year old parcels in our estate vineyards. Here shallow, chalky soils on a bed of limestone and rock, combined with an arid climate, produce the low yields (1,8 ton per acre) required for wine of this complexity. After harvesting, the deep purple grapes are whole-cluster macerated “sur lie” for 25 days, and then pressed and aged for 12 months in French oak barrels.

- TASTING NOTES:

It has a very dark cherry colour with purple tones. In the nose it has powerful aromas of red berries, toasted and smoked notes from their aging in the oak barriques.
It has good structure with ripe and sweet tannins. In the mouth it is very long, and with a perfect balance between fruit, alcohol and the oak tones, which make it very pleasant and easy to drink.

Creative Commons - Some rights reserved by neror

Adam used to live in Gitmo Nation Low-lands, better known as Holland. One of his favorite places to get a late night snack is at  Ben Cohen’s Shwarma. He says it’s important to get the white garlic sauce with the schwarma. Some of the locals even drink a couple glasses of milk with these.

Located at Rozengracht 239 in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam. [map]
Open 5PM to 3AM.

Get it at Amazon

After PG Tips was discussed on No Agenda, the Yorkshire tea company sent some of it’s Yorkshire Tea to Adam’s UK office and asked that it be the new gold standard!

Dvorak also mentioned Lifeboat Tea as an alternative British Tea. He said it is delicious and quite tasty! Used by the British Emergency Corps. for an extra punch of caffeine. Mentioned during No Agenda #7.

A culinary food tip from John C. Dvorak!

In No Agenda #8, John Dvorak found a great deal on some white wine vinegar so he buys it up then buys a bunch of tarragon. Next, he takes half of the tarragon and shoves it into the white wine vinegar bottle and leaves it in there for 3-6 months. It makes a most terrific product says John.

Dvorak likes finding great deals at his local Richmond Costco. Here are two that he mentioned on TWiT #238 [March 7, 2010].

John thought the 2006 Lucente, a Sangivoese from Tuscany was delicious and only $19. Also for $19 was 2006 BV Rutherford Cabernet, which was described as, “absolutely beautiful”.

Dvorak has mentioned the bountiful produce several times at Berkeley’s Monterey Market. It’s a no-nonsense place that is packed inside and out with tons of fresh produce. It’s in a gem of a little neighborhood in North Berkeley. Many well known East Bay restaurants (Chez Panisse) chef’s get their produce here.

I would like to add my recommendation for getting some the best pizza in the Bay Area down the street at Gioia Pizzeria.

Yelp Review
Monterey Foods
1550 Hopkins St (between California St & Monterey Ave) map
Berkeley, CA 94707

This is one of Dvorak’s ‘Easter Egg’ deals that he found at the Richmond Costco. He calls them Easter Eggs because  they are rare finds of very high quality for a low price – Costco proabably made  a special buy of these products so they are a great value.

I went out and scored some of this fine French fromage for around $10 but was pretty disppointed in it’s flavor profile. I guess this cheese isn’t for me but maybe someone else will dig  it.

Back in the early days of No Agenda, one of my favorite topics was when John and Adam would discuss their Bay Area dining experiences. John has a vast knowledge of food and wine – he also is real good at finding what he calls ‘Easter Egg’ deals at the Richmond Costco.

I am starting to post some of these restaurants and food finds here in hope that some of the new fans of No Agenda can benefit from them.

Dvorak thought this was tasty wine. Fall, 2008.

Get it at Amazon

PG Tips was first mentioned in episode #4 of No Agenda A tasty, black tea from Gitmo East (UK). It’s Adam’s favorite and Dvorak called it the, “gold standard of British teas”. Not because it’s the absolute best, but because it’s what other teas our compared to. Dvorak also mentioned Sainsbury’s Red Label.