Blueberry pancakes by Stonewall Kitchen

I make pancakes for my family just about every weekend. And, when it comes to breakfast I can tell you they're a tough crowd to please. The blueberry pancakes from Stonewall Kitchen accompanied by the brand's blueberry maple syrup, however, won them over this morning. So much so, in fact, that today we even ordered some for relatives.

First of all, as soon as you open the can of mix you're hit with the delightful smell of blueberries. This takes slightly more work than the usual instant mix--it requires melted butter, milk, an egg and 15 minutes for the batter to sit--but it's worth it. My wife enjoyed the natural texture of the pancakes and my kids loved the syrup. Indeed, all were in agreement, that to fully enjoy the pancakes, the syrup is a must.

Hawaiian Style Chicken by Naples Kitchen

For all the churn at Costco, this one is a regular. With chicken thighs of any sort harder to come by during COVID-19, I brought this home. The meat's tender but the sauce is sweet. Really sweet. Like, almost candy sweet. So, you'll need to eat this with a lot of starch (I can't imagine this going well with anything except for white rice).

Don't worry about the fat content--the entire container has only 15 grams of saturated fat and 70 grams of fat overall. It's the cholesterol (43% RDA per serving) and sodium (21%) you need to worry about. Nutrition information is in the photo below.

Sourdough Batard from Firebrand Artisan Bread--Oakland, CA

My family's munching on this bread and we enjoy it especially with cheese. We had it delivered through Good Eggs (more on that in a later post).  Yes, the bread is fluffy soft. But, for me what stands out is the flavor--it's truly sour and I love it.

Tres Leches by La Gruta del Sol

Our family enjoyed this hard cheese which, although stinky (like a teenage boy's feet in the summer), had a rich creamy flavor. The "tres leches" refers to the different types of milk involved: sheep, goat and cow. If you told me it takes no fewer than three animals to make a cheese so delicious, I'd have no choice but to believe you.

Photo below: About one-third pound of Tres Leches cheese at $23.99/lb.

Safe and Fair Birthday Cake Granola

Yes, the boys and I truly enjoy this product. After all, who doesn't like the flavor of a birthday cake, which this cereal does an adequate job of mimicking? This should be thought of as more of a treat, though, rather than a truly healthy breakfast. Maybe it's an attempt at trickery, but the nutritional information is for a serving size of 1/3 cup. So, the total 27 grams of sugar per cup is about double that found in a cup of Frosted Flakes from Kellog's.

Mochi donuts at J&J Street Kitchen in Cupertino, CA

If you're into the super-sweetness offered by, say, a glazed donut but with the fight and chewiness of mochi, then mochi donuts could be for you. It's an unusual mix and, at $2.25 per ring, not necessarily a cheap one either. I recommend trying it for the experience but you wont' find it addictive.

Pictured: strawberry in the foreground, matcha in the background. The four of us found both flavors to be equally inviting. At J&J this is also available in lychee flavor.

Vampire Penguin--Cupertino, CA

The Vampire Penguin in Cupertino sits in a mall in the midst of renovation. As such, it was largely empty when we went there last weekend and there wasn't a line. We got a couple of shaved snow desserts including the Green Snow Thaiger shown here and the S'Mored, which features marshmallows and chocolate-flavored snow. The large version here is $10; the small is $8 at about half the size.  I enjoyed the tea flavoring of the Thaiger, my son thought the best part was the crushed Oreos with condensed milk.

Perhaps due to the size of the dessert and the presentation--thick, honest-to-goodness ceramic plates--we liked the snow here more than at Teaspoon.