Monthly Archives: November 2010

Costco: To buy or not to buy…

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I thought this was an appropriate follow up article to my previous post from a few months ago, Costco:Love/Hate

It’s a list of things you should and should not buy at Costco.

Items not to buy:

  1. Designer Clothes
  2. Imported Shrimp
  3. Sheets and Towels
  4. 12-Pound crates of navel oranges

Things to buy:

  • Chocolate truffles
  • Eyeglasses
  • Laptops
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In my opinion, they left out the item at Costco which is near and dear to my heart: Prime Grade Beef. The price has gone up a few bucks since that article.  It may be due to the proximity of the Holiday Season with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. But it’s still a steal compared to what you’d get at Safeway or Whole Foods.

Brian’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

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(Update 12/19/2012: I updated the recipe here.  This one still works, but if you want the latest and greatest, check the new post.)

Last weekend when we were at my parent’s place in Sacramento (yeah, they moved from Bakersfield to Sac back in August), my mom introduced me to a recipe for chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, which are my favorite kind of cookies ever! I have no idea why this kind are so hard to come by. People make chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin (yuck!) cookies all the time, but hardly ever will you find a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie.

This particular recipe is called “Jack’s Chocolate Chip Cookies“. Frankly, I don’t know Jack…er…I mean, I have no idea who Jack is.  But the problem is that Jack obviously didn’t have an allergy to walnuts, whereas I do. So with that, I present to you, “Brian’s Chocolate Chip Cookies”.

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a stand mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Add the eggs , milk, and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips.
  3. Make golf ball sized portions, and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat silicone baking mat. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies on wire racks.