As I have been known to confess on these very pages, when it comes to sweets, I am an unabashed purveyor of the pedestrian. Most people who have been to a Ralph’s Supermarket have probably noticed the bakery section with its apple turnovers, banana muffins, red-velvet cupcakes, entire cakes and even half cakes—presumably to add variety for the discriminating tastes waiting at home. Whatever glutenous confection you have a hankering for you can pretty much find in this section of the store, right in front of you, the minute you walk in. Since I am stuck with the kind of willpower that needs constant reviving and have been unable to resist many of these offerings in the past, I try to enter the store at the other end, where the fruit is colorfully, bountifully ensconced. But to no avail.
Unfortunately, one item in that dreaded bakery always summons me: chocolate donuts. Clamshells with a twelve-count sit stacked on the bakery tables, neat rows of the taunting chocolate visible through the plastic. Only $4.99 for the Ralph’s Club member. How can one resist? Don’t they contain all the food groups, milk, eggs, flour, and cocoa (yes, I count cocoa as a food group)?
One of these perfectly round donuts and a glass of milk means instant transport to childhood. The chocolate coating cracks a bit as your teeth sink into it, and the edges of the fresh golden cake beneath break away first. Then you’re left with a thick knot of cake and chocolate at the center, one perfect bite.
In Italy's Piedmont region, where polenta may be better loved than
anywhere else on Earth, the cornmeal mush is a food of the fall. When
the air turns crisp with the first frost and people await the arrival
of snow, housewives labor over their cooking pots, stirring, stirring
as coarse meal slurried in water gradually thickens and becomes sticky
and delicious. To serve, it's poured out onto a wooden board in a rich
golden puddle like a harvest moon. 
Are you looking for a little something to go with the Academy Awards? No, this dip does not emulate any of the films up for best picture. There are so many creative-Oscar food posts out there. However, if this was up for an award....OMG it would take home the trophy in every category. Yes...it is that good. It definitely falls into that "crack" dip category. This would have been amazing during football season.
I seldom watch football. But, I never pass up a Super Bowl party. It’s not the football game that lures me. It’s the food. Super Bowl Sunday is one of the best food days of the year. While the football fans hoot and holler, you’ll find me dipping chips, nibbling spicy chicken wings, loading up a bowl of chili with lots of toppings, slipping sliders onto my plate and maybe grabbing a slice of pizza.
Whenever I'm in Hayes Valley around lunchtime, I'm always tempted to stop by