Whole Foods prepackaged baked goods: A mixed bag

We live within easy walking distance of a Whole Foods grocery, and (until recently, for reasons completely unconnected to this post) have done most of our grocery shopping there. For fresh goods, both the price and quality regularly beat the local big-box grocery contender Safeway. The same is even true for some prepackaged things: Traditional Medicinals tea is a fair chunk less per box at Whole Foods than in Safeways organics section for no reason that I can imagine. Boxed cereal and canned goods, on the other hand, tend to be cheaper at Safeway. None of which has much to do with the discussion at hand, but is here anyway.

There are also some things that Whole Foods just does better than Safeway: their fresh-baked stuff, for example. In-house breads and (in particular) cakes at Whole Foods range from very good to fantastic. Perhaps with this information in mind, we've tried a few of their house brand of prepackaged baked goods - alas, with much more mixed results.

( Sandwich bread, English muffins, naan, and pizza crusts )

So... overall, Safeway is better for prepackaged baked goods too.  Oh well!

Movie ponderings

• I just read a neat article over on nytimes.com about the fact that the ten short films nominated for Oscars this year are being put together and shown as a single 'movie' in select cities. From what I can see on the official website, you're out of luck if you don't live on the East Coast in Washington DC or points north. Folks in the NYC, New Haven, Rochester NY, and Boston areas, take advantage of what you've got - these look really neat. Hmph - maybe they'll open in other theaters later.

• Want to see Coraline! Huz and I are reading the book to each other now, and enjoying it quite a lot (Gaiman does so much with so few words!). The film has mostly been getting quite good reviews, and looks (somewhat astonishingly) to be regularly offered in 3-D even on non-Imax screens. Want want want.

• Also want to see Slumdog Millionaire! I remember listening to a blurb about it on NPR driving out of Berkeley one evening back in November, and I've heard almost nothing but good stuff since then. Especially since digitalemur says you gotta see it on the big screen.

So, the movie industry will be getting some of my dollars soon. That's fine - it's stimulating the economy, right?

EDITED to add: Ooo!  Ooo!  Ooo!  According to their official website, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is now available on Amazon, complete with "Commentary!  The musical."  Huzzah huzzah huzzah!

Which Firefly character are you?

Ganked from Nathan Fillion's blog (he comes up as Kaylee):


Your results:
You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 80% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 70% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 65% Wash (Ship Pilot) 60% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 55% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 45% Inara Serra (Companion) 45% River (Stowaway) 40% Alliance 35% A Reaver (Cannibal) 15% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 10%

Dependable and trustworthy. You love your significant other and you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Not what I expected.  Not sure who I would have expected.  Inarra, maybe.  Amused to score higher as a Reaver than as Jayne.

Also amused to find that Malcolm Reynolds = Nathan Fillion = Captain Hammer, which is how I found this meme in the first place.  See what I do for fun Friday nights?

I'm sure my post rate will decrease again soon. Apologies for the spamminess; I thought I'd put up the prepackaged baked goods review earlier today.