Braved rush hour Tuesday (my one-way trip there took more than an hour!) to stock up on bread before the shop closes in observance of Passover, and left wondering why I even bothered at all- I even risked having a handyman wait for me while I fought traffic to rush home to meet with him. I was told by Ben that Funky Monkey came in two sizes (1- and 2-lb. weight loaves), but only had the smaller loaf to purchase that afternoon. Also, the baker there was not as helpful, nor as understanding, with my allergen ingredient questions than Ben was. From now on, I will only visit if Ben is there to offer up a more amiable approach to customer service!
Today's purchases:
1. Sweety Wheaty loaf ($6.99?, plus tax), sliced to order. I specified sliced to serving size (2 oz.), and I'm glad that the machine's calibration was set so that the resulting slices were even thinner (more slices than specified serving size amount). Gotta find ways to cut down calories!
2. 1-lb. Funky Monkey loaf ($4.99, plus tax)- I suppose the cute packaging is useful in gift-giving, but I prefer the packaging treatment given to those loaves sold at Whole Foods- first wrapped in parchment paper and taped, then wrapped again in a beautiful and classy brown bag with store logo and nutritional info decals. Granted, those loaves I buy are of the 2-lb. variety, which incidentally are currently marked up by at least $2 ($2.50, I think)! Definitely get these at SB. Of course, WF' store hours are much more useful to those of us who cannot visit SB during its business hours (9a-5p) Mondays to Fridays.
3. Tasty and gorgeous (esp. the pepper) focaccia "rolls," ($0.77 each); non-herbed and sun-dried tomato. Both have great toothiness and surprisingly rich and complex favors, yet are a bit too salty, esp. the tomato. The non-herbed, which touched the paper-side of the bag they were both sheathed in, did leave a HUGE grease stain (the entire width and length of the roll), which indicated a hefty amount of butter and/or oil was used in the recipe. I'm glad to see the grease stain on the paper bag, actually, as this showed that less of the grease made it into my digestive and cardiovascular systems! ;) The sun-dried tomato roll was touching the plastic side of the bag, so I detected less grease stains emitted, but I'm pretty sure it was also fat-laden, bec. it just tasted so buttery and simply utterly sinful! Oh my! I can't wait to go back and get some more (but only when Ben is there to assist me!).