I'm making brownies

[christie1111]

kayharris says:

Do you have a World Market? I think they sell the chocolate. Whole Foods has it as well and would more than
likely have the fresh tomatillos. I'll be happy to get the chocolate and send it to you.

We do have Whole Foods. I will check there (Trader Joes I checked at long ago, of course, being in there all the time). Thanks for the send offer but I want to see if I can line up a local supply before I have to ask that. This is one of those "teaser" items that used to be stocked at at least one local chain (Star Market, now owned by Shaws) & then suddenly they dropped it. After they had me hooked. They still carry Ghirardelli's baking chocolate, & luscious chocolate chips, & that presweetened cocoa mix, but not the "plain" cocoa powder.

Fresh tomatillos are a bigger problem; I used to rely on that brand that supplies the fresh salsa mix (El Mexicano, I think) & suddenly the stores that stocked it stopped carrying it. I had read at the same time that due to expenses, a lot of people growing ingredients for Mexican food had stopped growing "the less popular" items. I wouldn't have thought tomatillos would be one of them, but apparently they are.

I have since run in to articles, one pasted in the window of a local Mexican restaurant, about this. The restaurants all seem to have their own private sources of tomatillos, though. A local farm was mentioned in one article, so I've been on the lookout for them at farmers' markets, but haven't seen them there. Every so often, a supermarket I don't like for other reasons (MarketBasket) will have them, so I have to stop in there every so often & check.

I was very surprised to see them stocked, with no fanfare, at a supermarket in my home town. I was going to take a bunch back on the plane, but the logistics didn't work out (meaning we didn't get to the store ahead of plane time). I wonder whether the airport security people consider them "solid food", now allowed in carry-on, or "too gooey", based on the seeds inside. They are not related to tomatoes despite the name, & are not gooey, but I guess I'd have to demo that for the TSA.

You don't have a Stew Leonard's up there do you? They might only be in CT?

They have the fresh tomatillos. Not sure about the cocoa, I can check stop and shop. Have you tried Big Y? I think Kay is right though, Whole Foods will probably have both.

CT and NY.

They were supposed to put one in Orange but some small group of people blocked it.

Really annoyed at that.

I hate having to go to Westport.

[sunflower]

kayharris says:

We do have Whole Foods. I will check there (Trader Joes I checked at long ago, of course, being in there all the time). Thanks for the send offer but I want to see if I can line up a local supply before I have to ask that. This is one of those "teaser" items that used to be stocked at at least one local chain (Star Market, now owned by Shaws) & then suddenly they dropped it. After they had me hooked. They still carry Ghirardelli's baking chocolate, & luscious chocolate chips, & that presweetened cocoa mix, but not the "plain" cocoa powder.

Fresh tomatillos are a bigger problem; I used to rely on that brand that supplies the fresh salsa mix (El Mexicano, I think) & suddenly the stores that stocked it stopped carrying it. I had read at the same time that due to expenses, a lot of people growing ingredients for Mexican food had stopped growing "the less popular" items. I wouldn't have thought tomatillos would be one of them, but apparently they are.

I have since run in to articles, one pasted in the window of a local Mexican restaurant, about this. The restaurants all seem to have their own private sources of tomatillos, though. A local farm was mentioned in one article, so I've been on the lookout for them at farmers' markets, but haven't seen them there. Every so often, a supermarket I don't like for other reasons (MarketBasket) will have them, so I have to stop in there every so often & check.

I was very surprised to see them stocked, with no fanfare, at a supermarket in my home town. I was going to take a bunch back on the plane, but the logistics didn't work out (meaning we didn't get to the store ahead of plane time). I wonder whether the airport security people consider them "solid food", now allowed in carry-on, or "too gooey", based on the seeds inside. They are not related to tomatoes despite the name, & are not gooey, but I guess I'd have to demo that for the TSA.

You don't have a Stew Leonard's up there do you? They might only be in CT?

They have the fresh tomatillos. Not sure about the cocoa, I can check stop and shop. Have you tried Big Y? I think Kay is right though, Whole Foods will probably have both.

CT and NY.

They were supposed to put one in Orange but some small group of people blocked it.

Really annoyed at that.

I hate having to go to Westport.

We have one in Newington, that's the one I go to. I love their guacamole. Also love the cider donuts, year round, yum!

I remember that battle in Orange, it went on forever!! It started when I still lived in Seymour. What did they end up doing with that land, building houses on it or something, right? Or did it actually stay farm land?

[SportsFan68]

My fabulous co-worker brought chocolate-covered strawberries AND brownies!

And I got a corner piece!

Life is good.

[sunflower]

My fabulous co-worker brought chocolate-covered strawberries AND brownies!

And I got a corner piece!

Life is good.

YUM!! I took the easy way out with just brownies. I left two of the edges home for myself, brought in all the middle and the other two edges. I can't wait to eat those tonight after my massage. Happy Friday the 13th/Valentine's day to me!!

[ghostjmf]

christie1111 says:

You don't have a Stew Leonard's up there do you? They might only be in CT?

They have the fresh tomatillos. Not sure about the cocoa, I can check stop and shop. Have you tried Big Y? I think Kay is right though, Whole Foods will probably have both.

We do not have Stew Leonard's, at least not that I've ever seen. Also no Big Y, same explanation. We do have Stop & Shop, which I'm almost 100% positive I checked; I checked the one in Arlington, in a richer neighborhood (which I drive past on my way to TJ's; note to locals: I know there's a TJ's on Storrow Drive in Cambridge, but its almost the same distance for me as to the one in Arlington, & a much harder drive to navigate even if you don't take Storrow Drive, off of which it is impossible to turn without being clobbered by traffic). I figured they would be likely to have the cocoa, if not the tomatillos, but no go.

[ghostjmf]

Whole foods had them both. They said they even had Valrhona cocoa powder (I've never had Valrhona cocoa powder, but have certainly had goodies made with Valrhona baking chocolate slabs; very very yum) but didn't have it packaged at that time. Strangely enough, the Ghirardelli's was $7.00, I think, for 10 oz, whereas they self-package the Valrhona at $12.00/16 oz, making it not that much more expensive. I wish I could buy "just a little bit" 1st to try it some day. I sort of hinted at that, but they didn't take it. (Just because Valrhona makes great baking chocolate doesn't mean their cocoa powder will be great, but all pointers point to that.)

The tomatillos were there & good; homemade chilaquiles was last night's dinner.

[kayrharris]

I like a happy ending. Glad you found what you needed.