Friday, March 02, 2007

Food By Mail: Steaks, Olive Oil and Spices

From left to right: Penzey's Spices, Alejandro and Martin Olive Oil, Montana Legend Steak

Thanks to the magic of the internet, just about any food item I could dream of can land on my doorstep within days--even supposedly outlawed items like absinthe. However, I can't say that there's much I long for here in Los Angeles that I can't get within a 20 mile radius of my apartment. Surfas and the farmer's markets alone cover most of the bases, and you can't turn the corner in this city without running into a great ethnic market--be it Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Armenian, Korean, French or Thai.

Recently, I've sampled some fancy food products available by mail, and though I liked them all, other than the incomparable Penzey's Spices, I'm afraid I won't be inclined to order them
until I move from LA to a remote cabin in the northwoods of Wisconsin.

Montana Legend Steaks: Tannaz of All Kinds of Yum was kind enough to invite me to a sponsored steak-tasting BBQ last weekend. The steaks from this over 100 year-old ranch were tender and tasty, especially the dry-aged ones. Though not officially organic, Montana Legend cows are humanely raised on all natural grassfeed and finished with they call "granola" but is basically corn as far as I can tell. They don't use antibiotics. Though yummy, I'll stick with my local farmer, Greg Nauta of Rocky Canyon Farms.

Alejandro and Martin Olive Oil: Though when tasting these olive oils I refused to aerate them in my mouth as the packaging suggested, it was quite the eye opener to sample the four oils that came in my complimentary gift box (mild and delicate-France; fragrant and fruit-Greece; Olivey and Peppery-Italy; green and grassy-Australia) then taste my everyday cooking Trader Joe's extra virgin olive oil. Blech. The Trader Joe's stuff tasted like motor oil. These oils are great for salads and dipping bread and I'm impressed with the range in flavors. I would definitely send these as gift for a fellow food-loving friend.

Penzey's Spices:
The low prices and the ridiculously huge scope make Penzey's a winner in my book. I wrote about my first ever order here, and my sister was kind enough to treat me to their Baker's Gift Pack recently. I've got big plans for the Ceylon Cinnamon this weekend, and was thrilled with the extra bay leaves they tucked into the packaging--they always seem to include an extra treat or two.

Photos from each company's website.

4 comments:

Chubbypanda said...

Planing a move we don't know about? =b

Anonymous said...

Hey Erin - Anah and I say that you should really try harder to get that camera of yours back from your aunt and stop stealing images off the web. Only loser bloggers like myself steal pics!

tannaz sassooni said...

Erin, glad you could make it out to the meat event and get a taste of our little motley crew, and it was great to meet your J! I feel like quite the insider now that I know his full name. =)

Anonymous said...

Erin, nice to meet you and thanks for stopping by.