Category Archives: Products

TEPCO as Dishware Obsession

Marker drawing of three pieces of TEPCOware on a white background. One if a needles and pine plate. Two are sunglow - a cup and saucer - with a red band

Interested in old pots and pans and dishes? I too. Don’t start with me about “I” and “me.” “I” is correct here because it’s the implied subject in an elliptical construction, though I agree it sounds unnatural and pretentious. Me too. (It was a quandary, but I went with common usage. I have either pleased all my readers or none of them. Hard to say.)

Back to old cookware.

I think I’ve officially rounded the bend when it comes to my current obsession: TEPCOware. By TEPCO I mean The Technical Porcelain & Chinaware Company, not Tokyo Electric Power Company.

While doing research for a piece I wrote for El Cerrito Patch, I fell in love with the ware this now-defunct El Cerrito, California, company produced, and have been incorporating it into my art, looking on eBay for plates and saucers, and even combing the edge of the San Francisco Bay for fragments. (Good God, ‘eBay’ has made it into the WordPress spell checker!)

Oh, yes: TEPCO dishware.

Methinks I’ll start borrowing some TEPCOware from fellow El Cerritans (my spell checker wanted to change that to ‘Cretans,” by the way) to draw so I don’t wind up with 200 variations of Needles & Pine.

Oh, be sure to test for lead before you use old dishes you know nothing about. Just look for a lead test kit at your local hardware store.

Jazzed-up Matzo Brei for Breakfast

Matzo brei with turkey ham and aged cheddar on a Tempco pinecone pattern plate with a slice whole-grain bread

Matzo brei with turkey ham and aged cheddar

At this point in time I’m starting to ponder the half-case of Passover matzos I’ll have hanging around after next week. We’ll have had a sea of smoked whitefish salad on them by then, and no one will want any.

If you’ve never heard of matzos, then you probably live in a place where there are no Jewish people. It’s cracker-like unleavened bread made of only flour and water–looks like a very large cracker, actually–that’s eaten during the Passover holiday instead of leavened bread, which is strictly forbidden.

Consider Deuteronomy 16:3:

Kirkland Fresh White Truffles

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Package of white truffles at my costco

Package of white truffles at my Costco on 12/23/10

Well, not Kirkland, but you get what I’m saying.

I was at my Costco (Richmond, Cali) yesterday and they had fresh white truffles for $1,799.99 per pound. No kidding. Really. Not behind any kind of glass or protected by armed guard. Out in the open in a case next to other stuff for $8.99 a pound. Not to be believed. I thought I’d seen it all.

These truffles are more valuable than the jewelry or cameras they sell.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Gres des Vosges at my Costco

125 gram box of gres des vosges cheese on black background

You normally don’t find 125 gram packages of any food item at Costco. Well, maybe caviar.

I was very happy to come across this wonderful little fern frond-topped cheese — essentially a pasteurized milk version of Alsatian Munster — at the Richmond (CA) branch.

The real deal — meaning raw milk Alsatian Munster — is illegal to import/sell in the US unless it has been aged 60 days or more, in which case it would be dead.

This is a soft cow’s milk cheese with a washed rind. Earthy, yeasty, pungent and a little fruity, it’s quite funky when very ripe, which I always appreciate. Life’s a bore without a little stank, and I felt the presence of this baby in the cheese case even though it was situated next to some overripe teleme that had all but run out of its package.

Have it with some bread, fruit and a spicy white or dessert wine.

Little Crab Casseroles

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Individual crab casseroles in little fiestaware ramekins

Here’s an easy recipe for decadent little creamy crab casseroles I developed based on a couple 1950’s dip recipes.

They work very well if you are having people over and want to serve a comforting, hot appetizer.

Do me a favor, though: buy decent ingredients. Good mayo, like Best Foods/Hellmann’s, Raley’s or the new Costco version, and real cream cheese without gums, fillers and all the rest of the garbage in popular brands. Gina Marie is good, and is available at some Costco locations in addition to upscale and natural markets.

Creamy Crab Casseroles
Makes 8

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
A few drops of chili oil and a couple dashes of white pepper OR a little regular old pepper
16 oz crab meat
1 tablespoon butter
8 ramekins (about 3/4 cup capacity)

1). Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and mix with a stiff spatula or spoon until softened.
2). Mix in sour cream, mayo, cheese and chili oil/white pepper or black pepper.
3). Carefully fold in crab meat.
4). Lightly butter the ramekins.
5). Distribute crab mixture evenly among ramekins and smooth out tops.
6). Bake at 325 deg F. until a bit bubbly – about 20 minutes.
7). Broil for a minute or two to brown tops, but carefully so as not to burn!
8). Serve with good crackers or some crusty bread.