National Flags made of food. Yum! India looks especially delicious.
http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/09/08/national-flags-made-out-of-food/

Creme Fraiche Scone w Strawberries

Bought some creme fraiche at Trader Joe's, mistaking the round container to be one for soft cheese. Silly rabbit.

After some thought, I decided to make some scones for breakfast. A little on the dry and crumbly side. Also a tad sweet - will reduce sugar next time.

Peets Sweets

Decided to give Peet's chocolate chip cookie a go today. Good chip dispersion, pretty good dough, but not terribly memorable other than the fact that the whole cookie tasted like coffee. The coffee aroma permeating the store must have somehow seeped into the cookie and confused my senses.

Turned out that the highlight, food-wise, was actually the reduced fat berry peach scone. I remember when Starbucks first entered the Hong Kong market, American scones were hard triangular things - nothing like what I experienced today. The triangular morsel was delectably soft and bread-like, not overly sweet, with an appropriate dispersion of raspberries and peach slices. Simply delicious.

Vegan - are you sure?

Popped into the Whole Foods on 4th St between Folsom and Harrison to get some naan bread and ended up lingering in the baked goods section. There was another guy there who was also there contemplating his cookie fix. Apparently, they used to have really good chocolate chip cookies but according to him, the person who used to bake them passed away, and he wasn't a fan of the new ones. While cookie goodness can be quite subjective, I thought I would give the vegan one a try instead of the usual.

Compared to most vegan baked goods, this was surprisingly un-mealy and un-bland. Chewy in texture, but a little more tough than I would like on a regular basis. Easy to eat because while it doesn't taste as good-for-you as most baked goods, but it also doesn't taste rich.

One Big Cookie

This is not a cookie. This is a meal. When I first walked into Tart to Tart I almost walked right back out as I didn't see a chocolate chip cookie in their baked goods section - or so I thought. Once the friendly lady approached me, I felt compelled to ask for a cookie and then leave once I got the expected "no, sorry." However, the lovely lady whipped out a monster of a cookie that may well be the size of my face.

I couldn't stop exclaiming about how big it was. I told her I wasn't sure whether I could finish it but she laughed, saying that that was what the last guy said and, well, "you never know."

The cookie was crisp and dry but kept its shape well. The dryness had a slightly chewy texture of a cooled homemade cookie rather than the crumbling mess I had at another location. The dough to chip ratio was good for me and it was less sweet and buttery than Specialty's, which is probably why the last guy managed to finish it in one sitting. It was fairly addictive but I harnessed my discipline and put some of it away in a zip-lock bag. While the cookie wasn't too rich, I would probably feel rather sick if I finished it in one sitting. Especially considering I'm generally more of a savory person.

That's "Mrs." not "Ms."

Mrs. Fields. Not Ms. Not Miss. No dilly dallying. Mrs. Fields. The warm sweet scent of my childhood and memories of pulling at my mum's sleeve for a cookie or raspberry muffin. Mmm~

I tried out a semi-sweet chocolate chip cookie at the Powell Station location in SF today. Apparently their best selling cookie is milk chocolate, then white chocolate with macadamia nuts. The girl at the counter and I both agreed that white chocolate really didn't cut it (for all I know, she was humoring me, but I appreciated it).

Sadly, it seems that the semi-sweet chocolate chip no longer cuts it for me either. The edges have a nice chewiness to them, but the middle feels loaded with sugar rather than flavor. Perhaps I would fare better with a nibble-sized cookie?

CMB Sweets

I stopped by the CMB Sweets stall while at the Ferry Terminal today. The cute little stall had an assortment of delightful jam - and chocolate chip cookies! Buttery and sweet, but a tad too soft. The cookie actually drooped a little from its own weight. Good for those who like super soft cookies, but not the cookie for me.