Category: Food

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 11, 20269:34 pm

Better Beans, British Baked

I love baked beans, but not the amount of added sugar that is typical for the recipes, particularly from canned brands like B&M and Bush’s. My culinary adoration is cultural: Home-cooked baked beans are a Saturday night tradition throughout parts of Maine. The practice goes back to the Puritans, who cooked beans ahead for the Sabbath. That method remains in the Modern era as “bean-hole beans“, which inside a cast-iron pot are buried in burning embers of a campfire to cook overnight.

One canned option does appeal to me. While not the liveliest recipe, being somewhat bland, Heinz baked beans imported from United Kingdom are tasty enough and they have the lowest amount of added sugar—4 grams, for a total of seven—of any variety from any manufacturer. Serving size: Half cup. I last bought them from World Market in summer 2021—two 12-can cases. But the cost currently is too high: $3.99 for a 13.7-ounce can, or $47.88 per case.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 10, 202610:28 pm

So Cold, You’ll Hibernate

Flashback to May 2, 2025. My wife and I are walking along Texas Street, between El Cajon and Meade, in our San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. I see a lid for a product for which I am unfamiliar. Ah, hum. Ice Cream for Bears? Is that because of honey used to sweeten rather than cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup?

The company touts the natural sourcing of ingredients, such as milk from grass-fed cows and honey to sweeten. From a complex sugar perspective, honey isn’t as unhealthy as refined sugar.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 5, 20269:30 pm

A Fresh Pot of Bean-hole Beans Unearthed

This is what absolutely authentic photography looks like. To digital content, I can apply film or vintage filters using any of several editing apps to make a photo look like the Featured Image. But this is the real deal, as captured by someone using my father’s film camera—likely in June or July 1972 or ’73. That’s a pure guesstimate.

Likely location: The lumberjack camp the Wilcox brothers called “Dodge City“. During the early 1970s, a group of hunters would spend as much as three weeks in the Allagash Wilderness, which is along the St. John Valley in an area also called the Maine North Woods. My Uncle Glenn had jacket patches made identifying the group as the Falls Brook Rangers, Yankeetuladi.

Photo by Joe WilcoxFeb 4, 202610:12 pm

Nana Banana

Oh the moments 21st-Century Kids are deprived of. There is something oh-so nostalgic about Jell-O made with overripe bananas and a cup or two of real cane sugar. That’s what Nana prepares in the Featured Image, which my father would have taken. Date is unknown, but sometime in 1972 or `73 is my guess.

We sure ate a lot of Jell-O growing up in the 1970s. Eater book review “‘Joys of Jell-O,’ There’s Nothing You Can’t Do with Colored Gelatin” claims that at the height of the jiggly dessert’s popularity, 1968, the average American household consumed 16 boxes a year. You should also read: “How the class history of Jell-O came full circle“—Marketplace”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 28, 20269:19 pm

The Golden Arches

Let’s stay a day longer on the food theme. The University Heights McDonald’s is located at El Cajon Blvd and Texas Street. While walking along the Boulevard this afternoon, I looked back to see the Golden Arches framed by nearby trees—and I happened to be carrying along Nikon Zf and NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens.

I took two shots, being concerned that the first suffered from shutter shock. This is a new problem that fresh habits will fix over time. I had previously used Fuji X100 series cameras and more recently Leica Q and Q2—all of which rely on leaf shutters that are virtually silent and vibration-free. As such, I am too quick pressing the shutter and moving along.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 27, 20269:12 pm

You can Resist!

I don’t long for sweets like days gone by. Thirteen years ago in July, I radically changed my diet by vastly cutting carbohydrates and reducing added sugars to a nearly immeasurable amount. My health improved, my weight dropped, and I avoided diabetes; my doctor had been ready to put me on an insulin regime. Not necessary.

Discipline and self-control are possible, and I say that to everyone who wants a lifestyle of having your cake and eating it, too. You can’t have both. Eat your cake, or donut, and there will be consequences to your health. I love pasta, for example, and consumed it heartedly. I gave it up. You can, too.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 23, 20268:38 pm

When Less is More

When Twiggs shuttered both locations—Park Blvd in University Heights, Adams Ave in North Park—in October 2023, many locals, me included, were blindsided. The coffee shops operated for about three decades successfully—granted, changing owners several times and more recently a few years before the sudden end.

New shops replaced both storefronts. The one on Park simply took over the space, with so little changes that one might not realize that Twiggs ever went away. But over on Adams, the new coffee shop is a complete makeover. The change isn’t just dramatic; the place stands apart from every other coffee shop in the five-community locales of Kensington, Hillcrest, Normal Heights, North Park, and University Heights.

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 20, 20257:51 pm

When Size Doesn’t Matter

This morning, I delivered food and packages to our daughter, then took her out for some Better Buzz. Just as I was about to drive off, she insisted on giving me an apple—the tastiest she had ever eaten—purchased from Ocean Beach People’s Food Co-op. She promised big taste, so I was shocked by the small size.

The Featured Image gives perspective. I don’t know the variety of the fruit but placed alongside a Gala you can see just how diminutive the apple is. We’re talking bite size and not really big enough to share. My wife did the honors, and she confirmed the remarkably big flavor.

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 9, 202511:54 am

Makeshift Food Bank

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history means millions of people are not receiving federal funds for basics—you know, things like food. People employed by Uncle Sam are either furloughed or working without pay (and delayed only, hopefully). Don’t get me going about families who count on SNAP benefits and won’t receive them for November.

To the Congress, I say this: Do your job! Pass a damn budget. Stop pissing away days whining over line items like expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Agree to punt! Fund the damn government for X number of days and fight among yourselves meantime about a final budget. Don’t punish people while you bicker like kids in the schoolyard or, worse, an angry soon-to-be-divorced couple gouging one another in spiteful rages over splitting assets (or assigning child custody).

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 17, 20258:57 pm

You Can Say It’s Not Tariffs, But…

A few weeks ago, we restocked the bulk beef burger patties we typically buy from Costco Business Center. Near the end of August, the foodstuff was sold out (it never is), so I suspected that the warehouse store no longer carried the item. Today, the patties are back—and for shockingly higher sale price.

Backtracking, when we started buying the 10-pound burger pack during the last decade, Business Costco charged $29.99, which was a good deal compared to competing choices. Fat content was higher (78 percent lean), but savings mattered more to the Wilcoxes. During the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 mandates era, price rose to $31.99 and then to $33.99. During 2025, the price continuously crept up—reaching $39.99 a few weeks ago. Currently: $49.99! Ten bucks more than in August!

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 26, 20259:47 pm

Well, it’s Not Dairy Queen

Two weeks ago, my wife and I shopped at the Grocery Outlet on Waring Road, which is sandwiched between San Diego neighborhoods Grantville and Del Cerro. I tend to blitz through the grocery store. Annie is more deliberate, thoughtful, and so she tends to take longer.

So, I had some free time to mill about the strip mall, where is the ever-so non-descript TC’s Rockets comic bookstore. On another Saturday, I ventured into the cavernous space, where—beyond the racks and stacks of goodies for sale—guys (mostly) spread out on long tables and engaged in various role-playing games. Oh, the joy, of seeing real board gaming and imagination, rather than dudes planted in front of the TV, controller in hand.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 20, 20247:40 pm

Adios, Aldi

Food inflation is way worse than official, government data states if my local Aldi is a measure. The German-owned grocery was my favorite supermarket—until today’s visit. The many changes—higher costs among them—dismay and disappoint.

Aldi is about a 20-minute drive from our apartment, making it an expedition when other grocers are walking distance away. I hadn’t been to the place since sometime in 2023, although my wife has ventured there more recently. Today’s trip was my suggestion.