How I plan my day

Cleaning out the spice rack

2009-09-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Michelle

Flour + Water

2009-09-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

At 7:30, we are told there is a two hour wait for a table. No, we are not allowed to leave our number, so that we may get a cocktail around the corner (they are beer and wine only). Ignoring this warning, we walk to the Homestead and have a gimlet and an glass of bitters. This is after quizzing the bartender mercilessly about his lack of maraschino liqueur (he has Aviation gin, specifically crafted for the purpose of making Aviations, but not maraschino liqueur).

Back at F + W at 8:30, our table has been given away. "No worries" I say, like a Californian, knowing we had taken a gamble. We have a glass of wine and wait. Miraculously, they have Lambrusco by the glass, very unusual. This reminds me of Parma, and they earn brownie points. We are seated at...9...something? Don't remember.

Our server has long blond hair that she has plaited into a double braid and wears a leather bow tie on a necklace. She is friendly and very enthusiastic about the new restaurant. A foursome to our right makes disparaging comments about interracial couples (specifically, Asian and White), in spite of, or perhaps because of the couple to their left. They are Asian.

Food arrives...Rare duck breast, sliced with figs and raisins and some strident microgreens. The duck is smoked and perfect, the greens better left on the plate. Then the bigoli (enormously thick handmade spaghetti), with a sauce of tomatoes, onions, shell beans, and pancetta. Fits right in the with strange end of summer weather we are having, and is a little spicy. Last comes our pollo al mattone (which they call chicken al mattone, strange, as all the paste and pizze are designated by uncommon Italian words). It is crisp and moist and all of the things that a chicken cooked under a brick should be. Unfortunately, we did not count on both the pasta and secondo being heavily spiced, and they are not a good match.

Although the dinner as a whole was excellent, I might venture to say that the chicken was over seasoned, and lost a little because of that. And the greens under it were very heavy on the acid. This may have something to do with the great quantity of wine that was drunk while waiting for our table. We'll have to try again with reservations, and see how things go minus the sour wine tongue.

Krispy kreme makes mini donuts!

2009-05-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

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White plates make even a lazy dinner look good.

2009-05-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

On Demand and frozen pasta are so appealing after a long weekend.

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Bad hair day

2009-04-28T21:23:00.001-07:00

Some trees in front of city hall acting as a test for blogger mobile.
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Challenge: beer.

2009-04-28T21:13:00.001-07:00

So, the secret ingredient for Saturday's cookoff was beer, chosen by the chooser of ridiculous ingredients, Nate. I'm sure you'll be surprised to see the winner:

Yes, that is ice cream. Bailey's ice cream, actually, with Jameson marshmallows and Guinness syrup. Quite good, although a bit of a sugar overload. Mr. Chef, Josh, thinks that the winner, Christian, is a pastry chef in disguise.

And something a little more expected, beer can chicken. This was my entry, along with some fizzy beer margaritas and although it barely got an honorable mention, I was super pleased. Not counting the trek to the Bayshore to get a new propane tank, it was very easy to make, the skin was perfectly crispy and the chicken itself was full of spice and not dry at all.

Adventures in easy Japanese food.

2009-04-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

I would like to say that this chicken katsu recipe is from my favorite new cookbook, "Let's Cook Japanese Food," but all of my katsu skills are courtesy of the katsu master, Kiko's mom.

Omelet with chicken tomato rice. This was surprisingly good, although I have yet to make an omelet that isn't a bit overcooked. Unfortunately, we lost our appetites a few minutes into Slumdog Millionaire as the protagonist was zapped with a car battery.

Not actually Japanese food, but leftover Easter brunch made into mu shu. The pancakes were surprisingly easy, but Nate didn't really appreciate the collard greens in lieu of cabbage.

Easter.

2009-04-13T15:08:00.001-07:00

I couldn't let another Easter go by without lamby cake, so here are the remnants, trapped under a cheese dome.

All alone in Mendocino.

2009-04-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Don't be scared, we're still married. It was just so nice to be away from the hubub that was Phoenix the week before the wedding.

The best burgers ever. Really.

Ignore the bratty girl in front and admire the view.

Why can't you find this at Walgreens?

When we own a winery and are making the best late harvest muscats in Sonoma, we will have poppies like this in our charming terrace boxes.

2009-03-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

Last night we finally tried Farina. It was very busy when we arrived at 8:30 PM without a reservation, but we were seated at the focaccia bar within twenty minutes. Luckily, we had stopped at Minimum (my new favorite bar) on the way there to have a glass of cava and cheese plate, so the wait wasn't painful.

The focaccia bar is awesome. There are lots of old marble blocks acting as counters and attractive young chefs make pasta and focaccia. We were there during the Festa del Pesto and I was very excited to try the pesto that Shaina has been raving about. Nate, however, was absolutely insistent that we try the ravioli filled with veal and sweetbreads, and I backed down.

The star of the night was something they called Focaccia di Recco, two thin layers of dough filled with Stracchino and baked until crispy. Oh Stracchino. When I lived in Italy, my host mom would often pull the aluminum foil wrapped package of Stracchino out of the fridge, and we would slather it on hard dusty rolls from the bakery downstairs. It's sour and smooth and a little astringent. A great snack cheese. Like Laughing Cow but less fake (maybe) and more complex.

My attention kept drifting away from the conversation and towards the enormous pasta roller three feet away. Then I was mesmerized by the girl chef rolling out dough for Focaccia. Nate said, at one point, "I hope someday we win the lottery so you can go to cooking school." See, this is why I love him.

I never get sick

2009-02-16T11:26:00.001-08:00

Everyone at my office has had a cold for the past few weeks. I was feeling very smug with my clear airways until Friday, when they were no longer so clear. I got the cold. Not the horrible version that a few of my offcemates have had, but unpleasant enough. I have alligator scales on my cheeks from blowing my nose, I had to lay my head on the table during a massage instead of in the face donut thingy (which made my neck hurt), and I cannot smell. This last bit is really the most upsetting.

Not being able to smell is horrible. I cannot taste my food and wine, and I cannot smell my house or Nate. My day slides by without asserting itself. Somehow, I was in charge of food for the non-Valentine's dinner party on Saturday night. I think it turned out okay, but who am I to judge? I found myself making pronouncements on the wine, but who was I kidding?

However, I think I may have developed the perfect dinner for a cold, rainy night and a cold. Last night, I had rice and creamed kale with a sunnyside up egg on top. I may have it for lunch again. The richness of the egg is detectable without functioning scent receptors and the whole thing is salty and a little bitter. I feel like it's reasonably healthy, too (but I also thought the Greyhounds I was drinking yesterday during poker were good for my cold).

I am thankful for...

2008-12-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

Capay farms!

Look at what I got delivered to my doorstep yesterday:

All organic and local (as long as you specify Capay only) and all for $29. I suppose that might seem like a lot, but it's all very fresh and tasty and I don't have to shop for it.

The leeks and chard are going into some soup for me tonight. I feel on the brink of a cold, but I hope to stave it off with this magic concoction.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

Due to a last minute freakout on my part, Nate and I found ourselves sitting through 17 hours of traffic the day before Thanksgiving. I decided, last minute, that I absolutely could not be in the same country as my family and not see them on Thanksgiving. So we went, and listened to a very bad audiobook, and Nate was nice enough to drive most of the way.

I am so happy we did. Really, the only way I am able to live 1500 miles from my family is that I somehow manage to see them once every couple of months.

Above you see the beautiful turkey my Grama roasted in the oven. It was very good, as turkeys go (turkey is not my favorite fowl). We had all the other usual suspects. One thing that was missing from the table, that I sorely missed, was the sweet potato, bacon, Gruyere, and rosemary casserole. This recipe was adapted from a Martha Stewart twice baked potato thing-y many years ago, and we have loved it ever since. However, this year, Grama's friend brought the sweet potatoes. No bacon, no love, in my opinion.

My contribution was Grama's famous onion and mushroom casserole (weird how we switch jobs around here) - I believe this is adapted from an ancient Sunset magazine recipe. We made it with fresh onions this year, instead of frozen, and I thought it was an improvement. Here's how it goes:

Blanch a bag of pearl onions in boiling water for a minute. Once they are cool, slip them out of their skins. Saute the same amount of mushrooms in a chunk of butter until they are a bit browned.

Remove mushrooms to a casserole and combine with the onions.

Saute a spoonful of flour in the leftover fat and then slowly whisk in a cup of milk. Remove from the fire and whisk in a cup of grated Swiss cheese, along with a bit of oregano and parsley. Pour this into the casserole and fold in the veggies.

Top with buttered croûtons and pop in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

how i really plan my day

2008-11-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

Chow has an interesting thread going about when people eat, what and why. My response is below:

weekdays: oatmeal with raisins around 9 am at work, occasionally a snack of cheese and crackers or fruit mid-morning, lunch of leftovers at my desk anytime between 11 and 2, snack of yogurt and raisins or crackers mid-afternoon, snack of popcorn or cheese and crackers (i like cheese and crackers, you see) at home around 6, dinner around 8, usually rice or pasta based with a glass of wine. on rare occasion, will have a cookie or a few spoonfuls of salted caramel (thank you, bi-rite) ice cream after dinner. i don't love sweets.

weekends: decaf coffee with milk and sugar whenever i wake up. eggs of some sort an hour or so afterwards. snack (popcorn, fruit, or chips) in the early afternoon or lunch depending on when i woke up. dinner out or take away, usually around 7/8.

i eat when hungry, out of necessity. i get very cranky, nauseous, and tired if i don't eat as soon as i am hungry. however, the food choices are usually purely for pleasure, although i like to use up the contents of my csa box for health reasons. hopefully those vegetable experiments turn out pleasurable as well.

Something to talk about

2008-08-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

I've eaten two foods in the last two weeks that forced me to sign onto this blog. The first, french fries from Magnolia gastropub on Haight. The second, halibut and gazpacho from Cortez.

Magnolia is delightful. It's a real pub, not in the completely dark and wooden English sense, but in the Californian sense. There are big tables and wood pillars, but there are also lots of windows and light. The beer is great, even at 2 pm on a hungover Sunday. Actually, I'm not sure that the people who were actually hung over that Sunday (my twin brothers and their friend) would concur, as one of them didn't even have a beer. But my pale ale was refreshing and alcoholic enough to put a fun spin on the rest of the day.

So, the beer is good and the sandwiches are good. Really good, actually. Their Cubano has spinach on it, which may seem like heresy, but the house made (I assume, as they're too delicious to come from a market) pickles will quell any uprising. What is great at Magnolia, and I mean really great, are the fries. They are crispy, maybe double fried, maybe parboiled in advance of frying to dry them out a bit. And then tossed in parsley. They are officially the best fries I've had in my 27 years.

So, go to Magnolia, have a beer and some fries, and disfrute.

And then, when you're done with the pub atmosphere, head to Cortez for dinner. Cortez makes a regular appearance here, as it should in any diner's playlist. Cortez is consistently interesting, with well-crafted drinks and attentive service. Friday was no different, although our entrees were almost unforgivably late coming out of the kitchen. But then our server comp-ed us dessert and two glasses of Moscato, and all was forgotten.

On to the standouts. I had halibut with a beautiful crust, perched atop skinned cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and croutons. And after the server set down my dish, he poured a moat of perfectly salty gazpacho around the fish. Honestly, I was a little concerned about the hot fish and cold soup and the potential tackiness of it all. But it was so good that it inspired me to make gazpacho this weekend. An inspiration I should have ignored (or at least I should have followed a recipe).

And then there was dessert. Pistachio crusted french toast with pancetta ice cream, washed down with Moscato d'Asti. The french toasts were more like nut crusted beignets and the bacon ice cream was all that it promised to be.

Thank you Cortez, for making me feel like a grown up.

Heaven.

2008-08-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Yogurt, lamb, and rice. Boring, you say? Pedestrian?

No, it's heaven.

This little piece of the sky can be found at Fattoush on Church and 26th St. An unassuming Middle Eastern restaurant, this place holds the recipe for my new favorite dish, Mansaf.

According to Wikipedia, Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan. I'm glad to hear this, as it definitely needs an official designation.

I'm not going to attempt to describe it, except to say that it tastes like three of my favorite things: cheese, rice, and butter. However, Mansaf is truly more that the sum of its parts. Try it and you'll see.

While you're there, have the cold meze platter, full of wonderful spreads and fresh falafel (not cold). The mango laban is good, like a thin lassi. And then order the crazy pink hairy dessert, for fun. It's actually quite delicious (if Nate is not around to make unfavorable comparisons to it).

Getting away from it all.

2008-07-14T10:26:00.001-07:00

In wine country. Nate says it doesn't really count as camping (because we ate lunch in town) but Kara, Shaina, and I slept in tents by Lake Sonoma this weekend. It was awesome. No cars, no pollution, no stinky smells (except for those in the outhouse).

Some highlights:

Friday night, I built a fire! It lasted for several hours, and on it we cooked preformed burgers from Big John's Market. They had little cubes of cheese in them and lots of Worcestershire sauce. So good and easy. They would have been even better on buns, but we ate them on regular bread, because that's what we had. And we were roughing it, you know.

Saturday morning, I swam in the lake. I did somersaults and headstands and tried to float. I lost myself in the water until my myopic eyes thought that K + S were making faces at me and wanted me to get out. I love swimming. That's one way that SF and I are not compatible - no good swimming 'round these parts.

Saturday lunch. Best BLT ever. On toasted white bread. At a place in Cloverdale called the Owl Cafe. The coleslaw was also amazing and had just the right amount of dry mustard in it.

Saturday snack. Orange freeze. Like a root beer freeze, but with orange soda. We got our sodas at Pick's Drive-in, also in Cloverdale, and sat on the picnic tables in our shorts. It was like being ten and going to Dairy Queen after swim practice or Grama's house.

Really, the whole weekend was like being ten, with the warmth and the swimming and the junk food and the girl talk. It was wonderful. Thanks ladies.

third time's a charm

2008-07-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

Beretta was fabulous, as usual. The only fault I can find with the place is that the drinks are so good, it's very challenging to leave without having at least two. And really, is that a fault?

I'd say no, considering how delicious the drinks are. One of them, the Lonsdale, is so wonderful that we are trying to steal the recipe. Our server was going to ferret it out for us, until she realized that might not be good for business. Next time we go, we'll sit at the bar and order Lonsdales until we've figured it out. It includes apple, gin, lemon, honey, and basil, but it's the proportions I'm after. And is the apple in juice form? Fresh squeezed (I'm sure)?

The food is not too shabby, either. Burrata on pizza? Yes, please. Pork wrapped in pancetta sitting atop green beans (which were swimming in butter and wine)? Don't mind if I do. And grilled asparagus. I'm trying to avoid saying something silly here, like "Finger lickin' good," but it seems I cannot help myself.

See, Beretta drives me to distraction. I think I'll have to make it a regular habit.

Where does your food come from?

2008-07-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

So, a bunch of people recently had salmonellosis. The FDA thinks that the bugs are from tomatoes, although they are starting to change their minds a little. Problem is, no-one knows where the tomatoes came from. Why? Because tomatoes are imported from god-knows-where to US distribution centers, where they're repacked and sent to stores, etc. And what does the FDA say about this? Let's track the tomatoes better. What do I say about this? Let's get our tomatoes from a farm. Let's have them picked ripe, not green, let's have them go from the vine, to the picker's hands, to a box, to my doorstep.

Now, before you suggest that I get off (or fall off) my high horse, know that I buy fast food and don't always eat at restaurants that grow their own veggies in the backyard. But, in an ideal world, I wouldn't (eat fast food) and would (eat as locally as possible). Why does the government's answer to all of these food contamination problems involve even more money, oversight, and centralization, when so many problems can be solved by going smaller?

Coco500 has fried green beans

2008-06-18T10:58:00.001-07:00

And truffled zucchini flower flatbread. They are awesome. Also good but not awesome was the duck liver terrine and the tomato braised pork shoulder.

Nate and I had eyes bigger than our stomachs last night and ordered two small plates, a large plate and one flatbread (after consuming lots of wine and white cheddar Cheezits at home). We finished about half of the food. Our waiter chastised us. When we ordered dessert (!?) he said that he wouldn't bring it to us unless we promised to finish it. Well, it was hard not to, given its deliciousness. Cherry gelee with buttermilk panna cotta and nice little shortbreads on the side. A fifty-fifty, it was called. And really, just the perfect mix.

Now I'm enjoying a fancy lunch of leftover truffled flat bread and cottage cheese (eaten separately) while I type a report and try not to think about wedding dresses.

Eat your veggies!

2008-06-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Nate doesn't like green things, except for salad. He especially doesn't like greens that verge towards bitter, like collards and kale. Unfortunately, it's that time of year when the grocery box is full of these things. And I like them, having a penchant for bitter tastes (Campari and tonic water being my favorite examples).

My not-so-sneaky plan is to just make them, regardless of Nate's preference. He seldom eats them, but it means more lunch for me the next day. The grocery box people are nice enough to include a letter with recipes specific to each week's box. A few weeks ago, they had a recipe for collard greens, which I made to great effect for the Southern BBQ cookoff. It involves a little garlic, raisins, and orange juice, which soften the bitter edge of the greens (I think).

It goes something like this:

Blanch the greens (which you've washed and torn/sliced into bite sized pieces)
Shock them in ice water
Soften some garlic in a bit of olive oil in a saute pan
Put the drained greens in the garlic-y pan, along with some raisins
Squeeze half an orange in with the greens (drink the other half's juice, if it's nice and ripe)
Cover the pan for a few minutes to braise the greens
Voila!

I mixed this with some brown rice for what turned out to be a ridiculously healthy meal. Tonight, to repent, I'll have something cheesy or meaty.

Please forgive me, gluten-free cobbler.

2008-05-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

Eagle-eyed reader Kara spotted a grave omission from my cookoff post. Although I listed apricot cobbler in the list of delicious dishes on offer at the barbecue, I forgot two very important points about it.

1. It was awesome. Despite (or perhaps due to) being made with gluten-free flour, it was crunchy and sweet and gooey, just like cobbler should be.

2. It tied for first place!

So, gluten-free cobbler of Kara's, I beg your forgiveness.

Range is good.

2008-05-26T16:53:00.001-07:00

Very, very good. Too good to write about.

Just know that we are so happy to have it in our neighborhood.

You should be jealous.

Just kidding - we started out with a selection from Range's nicely composed cocktail list. Actually, I had the special cocktail of the evening, a cherry margarita, up. And Nate had the Envy, which he described as a cucumber mojito. As aperitifs, I think his won, as it whet the appetite a bit better than mine. We had the goat cheese ravioli and marinated leeks (two separate dishes) to begin. No clear winners here. The ravioli had a nice bite, provided by both the filling and the pasta. And the leeks were topped with a poached egg that released its eggy goodness with each forkful.

I was very excited to try the Tokaji Furmint that was on the wine list. I read about this wine several years ago and have never gotten around to having a glass. Luckily, our server felt that it would go perfectly with the roasted chicken, my main. And it did - a little flower and minerals to balance the oil in my bread salad. Nate had a Temperanillo (as is his way) with his pan roasted hangar steak.

To finish, I cheese and a glass of Madeira. The kind of cheese escapes me, something sheepy, but it was exactly what I was looking for. A little sharp and very creamy. I had to have a a bit of Nate's dessert, of course. Who could say no to chocolate crepes with grapefruit and pepper ice cream? No one sane, I think.

And the winner is...

2008-05-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Audrey's pulled pork and beans. With homemade barbecue sauce. Sooooooooo tasty, especially on the Wonder Bread she brought.

Yesterday was the occasion of our third cookoff - the theme this time was a Southern barbecue. We had the aforementioned pork and beans, black eyed pea and ham soup, biscuits, red velvet cupcakes, apricot cobbler, cole slaw, collard greens, bacon wrapped shrimp, corn, mashed sweet potatoes and cheese, and Rice Krispie treats. A great spread, considering it was potluck and not planned at all.

Sadly missing from that list was the pork butt that I started a little too late in the day to enter the competition. I rubbed the porks with brown sugar, cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. They went down on the grill at noon, along with our little smoker box. I kept them on indirect heat with the grill around 260 F all afternoon. I was mistakenly thinking that two smaller pieces would need less time than one larger piece, but they held out for eight hours on the grill (and another hour in the oven). Oops. Most of the cookoff participants had left by the time the pork was ready to eat, so Lindsay, Kara, Ben, Nate and I were able to throw manners out the window and stuff shreds into our mouth with our hands. So greasy, greasy good.

Perhaps a picture is in order.

Champagne and burritos

2008-05-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

What better way to celebrate the hottest day of the year than with our usual Thursday fare and a fantastic bottle of Bollinger from Dad? I know it was meant for Nate and I to share, but we wanted to spread the wealth. Surprisingly, champagne is a great foil for Papalote's masterpieces. After Kara, Kiko, Rudy, Josh, Nate and I savored the first bottle, we opened Josh's offering of Moet. Yummy. Normally my bubbles are along the order of Freixinet, so this was an exciting departure.

While we're on the topic, I have to mention that our backyard is sooo much more wonderful with a table on the deck. Really, it was useless before, and a backyard shouldn't be useless.

How I plan my wedding

2008-05-12T10:29:00.001-07:00

Nate and I are engaged! It's amazing how quickly you have to start talking about all of the details - it only happened last Thursday and already we're picking a date.

What do you eat at a backyard wedding reception in March? Mind you, this will be in Phoenix, not San Francisco, so the weather will be balmy.

I suggested grilled steaks, but Nate feels that a barbecue is either too bo-ring, or too tacky. So maybe...?

I'm at a bit of a loss. Any comments are appreciated.

Veinte y siete de abril

2008-04-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

April 27th is the new May 5th, in my book. Josh, Rudy, Lindsay, Anna, Kara, Nate and I BBQed it up. Kara came over first, around lunchtime, and we made delicious hamburgers for lunch. Despite Nate's nay saying, I ground the beef chuck myself, in the food processor. This is better from a food safety standpoint and I think it makes the meat taste fresher (I'm sure the latter is an artifact of my imagination). To give credit back where credit is due, Nate suggested including pickles and onions in the hamburger patties, so I threw a few spoonfuls of bread and butter pickles into the mix. The hamburgers were quite good, although a little overcooked, thanks to Kara and I's dawdling. The real star of the meal was the banana sauce and mayonnaise spread, which we slathered on our burgers. It was a great dip for the Tater Tots, too.

Banana sauce alone is a little boring (don't tell Nate), but added to mayo is a thing of beauty. It brings a little spice and a lot of sweetness and turns it an appealing pink. I first had this dip at the Spider House in Boracay with their magical meatloaf cum hamburger sandwich.

Later in the afternoon, we grilled up some carne asada on the replacement BBQ (which is now chained to the deck, to prevent another backyard robbery). This was my first attempt at marinating my own and I think it turned out well. It wasn't exactly like that of Super A Foods in Eagle Rock, but good in its own right. I drenched a fair amount of top sirloin slices in a mixture of sliced onions, garlic, key lime juice, orange juice, oil, cumin, and cayenne pepper. A few hours (and beers) later, we threw this on the grill and gobbled it down with some warm corn tortillas. And a great pineapple, cilantro, onion, avocado, and jalapeno salsa courtesy of Josh. And...a sugar snap, corn, and spinach salad with blue cheese dressing that would have been more interesting with real blue cheese.

Please sun, grace San Francisco with your presence for a few more weeks (or the whole summer if you're feeling particularly generous).

More badass than we knew

2008-04-23T09:20:00.001-07:00

It turns out that we finished in 31:13:31! At 147th place (out of 250ish).

199 miles, 33 hours, no sleep

2008-04-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

I did The Relay this weekend with 11 random people. We were trapped in a van for two days, running, eating, and not really sleeping. It's amazing what your body can do if you push it.

The following times are approximate:

12pm: cheeseburger and half a beer.

4pm: ran my first 5.5 mile leg. The wind was blowing so hard that it added 30 seconds to my pace and I felt like I was running backwards.

9pm: ate a roast beef sandwich for the first time ever and washed it down with tortellini soup and a chocolate Interlude (thanks Mac). Slept on the bench of a van for 1.5 hours, then woke up and brushed my teeth.

4am: ran 6.4 miles in the dark. Nearly hyperventilated from fear. Back on pace though, running away from imagined bad guys.

8am: half a Jimmy Dean sausage and egg sandwich, a blueberry bagel with cream cheese, apple juice, and a hard boiled egg (eaten whole on a dare from Alek). Slept 2 hours on a mat on a cold gym floor.

2pm: ran 6.2 miles on Highway 9 through little towns like Ben Lemond. Had some energy to sprint to my last handoff (I'll give the egg credit for that).

7pm: ate 2.5 tacos and half a plate of nachos at Las Palmas in Santa Cruz, washed down with a Pacifico.

9pm: nearly fell asleep on the way home to SF. Thanks for picking us up, Nate!

Balut

2008-04-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

The bag o' balut.

A peek inside.

"Balut soup" down the hatch.

A wee little duck.

All done!

More Philippines pics to come...

Sometimes PB&J just won't cut it

2008-03-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

My breakfasts are usually fairly simple: peanut butter on toast, cream cheese on a bagel, fried egg in a tortilla. And the one I had this morning while walking to my bus stop was no exception to this rule of simplicity. It tasted different, though, like Sunday brunch.

If you hate the idea of eggs with anything sweet on them, then read no further. I know that there are a class of people who do not like their food to mix - sauce and rice, broccoli and pasta, eggs and syrup. I am not one of those people, so this breakfast doesn't make my stomach turn. However, if you are, then this is not for you.

Toast an Eggo Nutri-Grain waffle, or your favorite kind of frozen waffle. Don't use homemade - they aren't sturdy enough (I'm not partial to Eggos on a regular basis, but they are particularly suited to rushed mornings). Now, put it in the toaster. Foam up some butter in a frying pan. Crack an egg into it. Break the yolk, if you want (I like to do this while I'm hard frying an egg so that the layers are more evenly dispersed). Sprinkle with salt and fresh pepper. When done to your liking, slide it onto the waffle (which came out of the toaster while the egg was frying, and now has syrup on it).

Et, voila! Sunday morning on Monday morning. Or Tuesday. If you don't go overboard with the syrup, you can eat it on the way to the bus. Or in your car.

Big afternoon.

2008-03-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

We had an Italian cook-off yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, the wine, pasta, and daylight savings time change have conspired to rob me of the will to live (or more specifically, type). Suffice to say, it was fantastic. We had all varieties of baked and boiled pasta, some delicious calzones, and a beautiful chocolate torte. Perhaps I will post the winners and some pictures here tomorrow, when I have my strength back.

Rejection song.

2008-03-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

I got a rejection letter from UCSF yesterday. I'm feeling okay about it, in spurts, but it's really heart breaking to be told that you aren't wanted. The situation clearly called for a mourning dinner.

The new place down the street, Lolo, has gotten mixed reviews, but I've always been intrigued by the menu. So off we went. Nate and Josh and friend and I arrived around 8 and two tables were efficiently pushed together for us. We ordered a lot of food, so it's probably easiest to do this in list form.

Huitlacoche dumplings: umm, eww. Corn mold tastes like mold. And the "white corn foam" tasted like cold masa with a bunch of air bubbles.

Shrimp "tacos": these were fun. The tortilla was actually a big slice of jicama, and the whole thing was very refreshing.

Octopus tiradito: the standout. Sharp dressing, thin, pretty slices of octopus. We lapped it up.

Venison carpaccio: eh. The meat was tender and sweet, but it was too sweet. Not enough salt, which Josh continuously reminded us of by making motions like a salt shaker. He never asked for any salt, though. However, I think he identified the insidiously sweet spice, which may have been mace.

Three meat bites: warm and salty, which always gets points. But beyond that, not a winner. Little meat patties of beef, lamb, and bacon atop toast.

Salmon something or other: interesting. Breaded chunks of salmon that were raw in the middle. For a person that doesn't like cooked salmon, this was a happy medium, so I liked it for that.

An Argentinian Malbec: just made me happy that Josh has now been wrong twice about Argentinian wine. Ha.

I think that's all we had. Really, the "ehs" far exceeded the standouts, making me think we won't be repeating our visit. But a fun evening nonetheless.

Thanks for helping me laugh away the sting of rejection, guys.

Food for giants.

2008-02-05T13:37:00.000-08:00

A brief note on the gluttony of Super Bowl Sunday.

Kara and Josh arrived. We threw some celery into the blender to make Southern Exposures. Nate found the recipe in the Chronicle on Friday, courtesy of Daniel Hyatt of Alembic. They were...weird. It was hard to find the right balance between gin and celery juice and they wound up a little...thick? But interesting and maybe even refreshing, if you had only one.

We also consumed a large quantity of chili with Casa Sanchez's organic tortilla chips. Before you think this is a shameless plug for all things organic, know that their organic chips are infinitesimally better than the non-organic ones. The chili was from the day before, and invovled black beans, pork, chipotle peppers and beer. I added some cheese to make it more dip-like. I also smashed a couple of avocados with Papalote's famous salsa. We made quick work of that.

After Nate and Kara moved on to the game, and Josh and I moved onto beer, we put some chicken wings in the oven. And then had the brilliant idea to start some spareribs, so that they would be ready in time for House.

The Giants, as we all know, prevailed, and we ate enough food for both teams. We ate all of the wings and most of the ribs, and somewhere around 8pm I thought we needed a snack of nachos composed of chicken and chili and cheese. I ate most of those myself.

And that, my friends, is gluttony at its finest. The game was pretty interesting too, I hear.

Dan Dan Mien

2008-01-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

We had a pile of not-so-fresh egg noodles in the fridge, procured during last week's expedition to Ocean View Supermarket. What to make? Nate's vote for chow mein didn't sound particularly appealing, and then I had a brainstorm. Dan dan noodles! Embarrassingly, the dan dan noodles I had my most recent experience with are not particularly authentic - the Marco Polo noodles from Long Life at the Metreon. These are the ground pork and cucumber version, and in the Long Life incarnation they have a slightly sweet sauce. Aside from this they are unremarkable. The other place I have had them is PF Chang's, where they are actually called Dan Dan noodles, and are ground pork and cucumbers with a spicy/salty sauce. I am mildly embarrassed that this is my only experience with the dish, as both of these noodle purveyors are poo-pooed (to borrow a Nate phrase) on the illustrious Chowhound. But it is, and I find them comforting, regardless of the inauthenticity.

On to the food-making. I found a PF Chang's copycat recipe for Dan Dan Noodles and began heating the wok. The sauce consisted of sherry, soy sauce, chicken broth, oyster sauce and something I'm surely forgetting. An aside on the sherry - the sheer volume of cooking wine sold at Ocean View is enough to boggle the mind and confuse any customer that does not read Chinese. This goes into the wok where the pork and ground chile is frying. And on and on.

We tuck into the noodles in front of a rerun of Mythbusters and begin enjoying the combination of crisp cucumbers, salty pork and chewy noodles. Really salty pork. Too salty. How can this be? I walk into the kitchen and there lies the answer - a full can of chicken broth that I forgot to include in the sauce. Instead of a 1:4 ratio of soy sauce to chicken broth we were probably working at a 2:1. Blech. I still feel like I swallowed sea water and that was two days ago.

The quest for open-ended lumpia ends.

2008-01-10T10:17:00.001-08:00

I have been looking for open ended lumpia for sometime. Occasionally they appear in food trays at the office, but they did not appear at a crucial moment a few months ago, when Nate's mother made lumpia at our house. Hers are very delicious, but they have closed ends.

To my delight, Ocean View Supermarket on Alemany has many different kinds of prepared lumpia in their freezer case. Including the kind with the open ends! The brand was Pampanga's Best. I asked Nate if that was a good brand. Yes, he said, Pampanga is known for delicious food. Lovely, I remarked - but is this brand good? Yes, he said, it's Pampanga's Best! What a confusing name.

And now I see that I have been fooling myself to think that these open ended lumpia were any different than their closed counterparts. They are just halved! Only one end is open. They were very good - but not, as Nate pointed out, as good as his mom's.

Back by popular demand.

2008-01-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

If by popular demand, I mean at the request of one person.

There was a showdown at San Tung last night. Original dry fried chicken: wings vs. diced. I was on the side of the wings and Kara was trumpeting the virtues of the diced. I'm not sure how the rest of our party aligned itself - or whether they were interested at all. As I expected, the wings triumphed. They are richer and their coating has a more pleasing crunch. An easy victory.

Unfortunately, not everything we ate was so exciting. The mu shu's extra pancake was hard. Like, crispy cracker crunchy hard. I, the martyr, ate it anyway, like a tostada. And the spinach with bean threads, which looked so appetizing on another table, was rather uninteresting. Apparently bean threads have very little flavor.

However, we were surprised by both the hot and sour soup and the tomato beef chow mein. These dishes sound so boring that you might be sleeping already, but they were not. The soup was peppery and had a nice helping of tree fungus (my favorite) and the chow mein was heavy on the garlic. Which can only be a good thing.

On an unrelated note, the January issue of Gourmet is engrossing. I parked myself on the couch for an hour on Saturday and read it cover to cover. "What is Southern?" According to Gourmet, a lot of fantastic recipes and beautiful photographs. I've made one recipe so far, the buttermilk cookies. Make them, now. You will want to eat all of them at once, so make sure there are a few other people around when you open the oven. And please, let the edges brown. The sugar turns into caramelized deliciousness.

Que lastima!

2007-11-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

The last time I ordered a super veggie burrito at Taqueria Cancun (the one at 19th and Mission) I was sorely disappointed. The tortilla was dry and flavorless, there were very few beans, and the avocado was nearly non-existent (abundant avocados being one of my primary attractions to Cancun). This was about two months ago.

Kara had a similar experience last week. Last year I was getting consistently satisfying burritos there - fresh tortillas, lots of avocados, even melted cheese inside the burritos.

Should I just not bother anymore?

On a happier note, Papalote is definitely not a one off. We've gotten burritos there three times now, and each time I am very happy with the beans, and especially the salsa. They put fun things in the veggie burrito, like carrots and potatoes, to make it more satisfying. I've had the shrimp and prawn burritos, and I don't love them, but I think I'm just not a big fan of this burrito filling. The salsa and tortillas make up for it.

Nate ordered the super tacos, and were they ever super! Absolutely enormous (each order comes with two) and the carne asada was very tasty.

Cancun RIP (the walk to Papalote happens to be more pleasant/less noisy as well).

Not your average meatball sub.

2007-10-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

The weather has been beautiful in San Francisco lately, making it very difficult for me to stay inside my windowless office all day. Even around Civic Center, where the wind is usually gale-force, it's been sunny and warm, perfect weather for eating and walking outside.

Yesterday I went to the Heart of the City farmer's market to grab my weekly ration of snack fruits. After I picked out my apples and raspberries, a carton of pink mushrooms caught my eye. Pink tree oyster mushrooms, said Mr. Mushroom Man. They'll turn a lovely salmon color when you cook them, but use them right away. Apparently they have a short shelf life. Also, they are smelly, I learned as I trucked them around the city in the afternoon. By the time I got home, they stunk so badly that I had to throw them away. Quel dommage.

Today I broke my rule of "trying to eat more food from home" for the millionth time to try a bahn mi from the best sandwich shop in the 'loin (according to Yelp! and SFWeekly). Saigon Sandwich, on Turk and Larkin, had a line out the door when we arrived. I took a chance on meatball, and was happily rewarded when I bit into my sub a few minutes later on the lawn in front of City Hall. Heaven. Also, for $2.50, I don't have to feel badly that I am squandering my money on lunch.

Vegetarians have all the fun.

2007-10-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

My go-to spot for lunch lately has been Ananda Fuara, a vegetarian restaurant run by followers of the guru Sri Chimoya. This might seem like an odd choice by such an ardent proponent of all-bacon, all the time, but really, it's just comfort food. I think the best thing there is the curry and salad combo, which includes the curry of the day, basmati rice, and salad with lemon tahini dressing (if you're smart and pick the lemon tahini dressing). The servers all wear silky robes. Well, the female servers. The men wear blue t-shirts. No equality in dress here. And the ceiling has a trompe l'oeil sky, complete with puffy clouds.

Having vegetables and tofu for lunch makes me feel very virtuous. And calm. And it's a nice place to study anatomy, or read weird books about folk remedies by M.F.K. Fisher, both of which I am apt to do during lunch.

Something new.

2007-09-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

The first food picture!

I have broken the seal, as Kara says. Perhaps there will be more to follow (this usually happens when a seal is broken).

Kara and I made these vanilla cupcakes with cherry frosting in honor of S, bride-to-be. The cake was a bit of a disaster. My mom thinks this is because I over-mixed the batter. I think it is because I took the recipe, "Happy Day Cake," out of a scary book I found in her kitchen cupboard called Happy Living - A guide for brides.

Although the aforementioned book is good for many laughs, I do not think it is good for light, fluffy, buttery cake batters.

However, the weekend in Phoenix was good for food. We had the fabled Chino Bandito, although I do not think Kara liked it as much as she pretended. And we had very small quiche and eclairs at S's wedding shower. We ate brisket under the misters at S's house, and I learned how to make a sandwich out of brisket and a bialy.

Someday, Phoenix and San Francisco will merge into one, so I can have Tartine for breakfast, Crazy Jim's and/or Miracle Mile for lunch, and then dinner at my mom's house.

Eww.

2007-09-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

That's all I have to say.

My work friend gave me a tamal to eat for my lunch today, courtesy of one of her clients. This work friend is a vegetarian, and suspected that the tamal contained pork. She was right.

This tamal was done in the Salvadorian style, wrapped in a banana leaf instead of a corn husk, then also wrapped in some kind of paper. The intense wrapping led to a very moist tamal, which seemed like a bonus at first. Then I noticed that the masa was a little chalky. But the flavor was good, so I took another bite. And I bit right into a big glob of fat. Pig fat. Not crunchy, yummy pig skin, or a little fat attached to some muscle for flavor. A big, gooey glob of fat.

I gagged. I hate it when that happens - I feel like a food wimp.

I walked to my neighbor's office to tell her the story and advertise the presence of more tamales in the fridge. Then I returned to my office and attempted to finish my lunch. No luck. Visions of fat prevented me from eating more than two bites.

I'm hungry.

The Raska's are gone.

2007-09-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

Nate and I usually keep a box full of Raska's in the fridge. These are pre-packaged ounces of cream cheese in little tubs that can be brought to work to eat with a cold bagel. The breakfast of champions (when the champion in question no longer smokes cigarettes for breakfast). They are called Raska's because that is the brand. They are from Costco.

Tragically, the last Raska is gone. Empty box. Usually this is remedied by a trip to Costco, but I think our membership has expired. We certainly haven't been there in months...possibly since before our move. That box of Raska's lasted a long time.

The book I was reading on the bus this morning, called "It was probably something you ate," is making me think that I shouldn't be eating packaged cream cheese. Or anything from a store. Or a restaurant. Which is a problem, because I didn't pack my lunch today. I don't think I can survive the day on almonds and a red pepper.

Why, in San Francisco of all places, do they not have one of these "100 mile grocery stores" that my friend Ben shops at in Portland? I know, I can go to the farmer's market and get my grocery box, etc., but what is that saying when even Rainbow imports some of their stuff from Chile?

Mission number three (behind the missions of getting into UCSF and training for a triathlon): make more food at home. Try to buy most things local. Be a quasi-locavore.

Also: make my own cheese.

Michelle, denizen of the Mission, too embarrassed to speak Spanish

2007-08-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

Ah, fruit lady and her friend, you make me so nervous. On a hot afternoon, I ride the bus home, preparing my request for fruit in Spanish, getting hungrier and more sure of myself. Then I arrive at your cart, and mumble, "Mango, please."

Yesterday was no exception. I decided on the way home that I wanted to try these elotes that everyone is carrying about, so I rehearsed my request in my head: "Quisiera un elote, por favor." I even played out the possible ways that the conversation would go, so that I would be prepared. But, as usual, when I got to the cart, I chickened out. Corn, please. If only she was alone, I would be less nervous.

Kara says that someday we will go to the fruit cart together, and she will order in Spanish first. Then I can just say, "lo mismo." Sounds like a cop-out.

On a more food-related note, the elote was not exactly what I was hoping for. It seems that there are different preparations for these goodies, but what I got was corn slathered in mucho mayo (as fruit lady's friend commented), sprinkled with cheese and powdered chile. It was delicious, but smelled rank. And really not a treat for a hot day. Maybe next time I will skip the mayo, or ask for a little bit. In Spanish.

By special request.

2007-08-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

A devoted reader needs to know: how did my brothers' visit go? My three brothers and their friend, Skow, visited many, many days ago, during the week of my birthday. This was also the week after the marathon and the week after the first of many post-marathon celebrations. I was tired, and sore, but strove to be a delightful host. We saw many sights, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Sutro Baths, Golden Gate Park, and Chinatown. We also went to Stinson Beach, where we expected to see sharks thrashing about in the water, eating seals and surfers, per Nate's recollections, but alas. No sharks. Most of these sights were seen in the company of Francesca, who sat on laps in the backseat of the beleaguered Pathfinder.

The BEST and funniest thing that happened during this visit was the "Great Frisbee Rescue." After Skow and Willie purchased frisbees from the Presidio SpoBa, we went to Marina Green to try them out. In the parking lot, Skow punted his frisbee, which promptly caught a gust of wind and zipped into the bay. Undaunted, Skow rushed to the car, jumped into his boardshorts, and dove into the bay after it! The bay that is 60 degrees on a good day. The bay that is filled with sharks and drowned Alcatraz escapees and rough looking waves. But the frisbee was saved.

The WORST and lamest thing that happened during this visit was the "Great Suppenkuche Switcheroo." Our house and others met at Suppenkuche for what was going to be a great feast. Closed! For renovation! Set on German food, we trucked over to Walzwerk. A poor substitution. Disappointment all around, except for the waitresses, who kept exclaiming - We have been so busy all week! Sam (I think) was kind enough to point out that Suppenkuche was closed. Poor Walzwerk.

Post-marathon laze-about

2007-08-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've fallen into a degenerate state of sloth. In the two weeks since the marathon, I've had more to drink and eat than I did during the whole of training (exaggeration, I hope). This weekend was no exception.

During my birthday celebration last weekend, me and some marathon buddies pinky-swore to spend an afternoon and evening in Sonoma. This plan was made many, many times during marathon training and never happened, so we were all surprised to show up in Sonoma on Saturday afternoon. Upon arriving at Rob's fiancee's grandpa's house, we set out on a major shopping trip to Sonoma Market. We spent outrageous sums on groceries, and then trucked it all back to the house. Josh and I made a pitcher of white sangria in preparation for several hours by the pool.

Having never used a high-tech juicer before (the kind that can juice an entire peach, let's say), I assumed that the juice would fall into the clear container on the side. Instead, the pulp fell into that container, and the juice streamed out of the spigot. That I had not noticed until that point. A good start to the afternoon.

Post-swim, we started to prepare the feast. Fried zucchini flowers stuffed with feta, caprese salad, five varieties of stinky cheese with baguette, garlic olives, crackers with smoked salmon and creme fraiche, and the piece de resistance, courtesy of food-magician Josh: Georgian chicken. I think this is something of his own creation. A chicken, stuffed with carmelized onions, brown rice, cherries, pine nuts, and fennel, barbecued until crispy while being basted with cherry butter. Yes, barbecued. It was amazing.

I will also say that the zucchini flowers were better than expected. I had never made or eaten them before, but I found some at the farmer's market on Saturday morning. They are quite simple to prepare, and oh how delicious! I will be making them more often.

An evening full of hypocrisy.

2007-07-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, I was invited to a vegan bake-off. I eagerly accepted, as I like all excuses to bake and sample others' baked goods, but then I was stuck: what can I make that doesn't have eggs in it? The go-to website for dessert recipes, Orangette, was full of eggs and butter and more eggs. Google searches revealed hidden pockets of raw-foodists and vegans allergic to soy. They were no help. Back to trusty Orangette. One dessert revealed itself to need only butter, not eggs. And it seemed like I could make it in under two hours.

Now, butter is not vegan, of course, but I happened to have a box of Earth Balance Trans-Free Shortening in the fridge. I bought this one day at Trader Joe's, convinced that I was about to have a pie-baking frenzy. The frenzy never came, for good or bad, and I was left with tasteless looking blocks of fat in the refrigerator door. Make that vegan tasteless looking blocks of fat.

Nate obligingly picked up some bananas and flour (we were running low - quel horreur!) and I was ready to make Coco-Banana Bread. I made the bread, radically altering the recipe (subbed cognac for rum, shortening for butter, sweetened for unsweetened coconut, and more), and was less than pleased with the inital results.

I arrived at the bake-off location, and...no vegans! Not a single person participating in this debacle was a vegan. Some reformed vegans or vegetarians, one actual vegetarian, but no vegans. Confused by the rules of the contest in the absence of an obvious driving force, I was told that it was, as many things are, a long story. Involving vegan cupcakes. A gauntlet was laid down, and the bake-off was born. Not so long a story, I suppose.

Miracolo of miracolos, my bread came in second! It sunk in the middle while I cut it, becoming denser and sweeter, and the crust became crispier as it cooled. My strange shape-shifting bread lost to a peach-cherry cobbler. I happen to prefer a crisp, but the peaches were delicious. Hats off to the peach cobbler!

Marathon day approaches, and we cower in fear.

2007-07-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Marathon is July 29th, and I'm registered for the race. Finally, after six months of training and three months of injuries, I feel like I might be able to attempt this thing. My goal for the race is to finish before the course closes. And to be lucid enough post-race to enjoy a nice cold beer.

Speaking of which, Kara and I nearly had beer and cookies for dinner last night. After another long baking experiment that resulted in anticlimactic gingersnaps, we were too tired and full to contemplate dinner. Until 9pm, while watching Bridezillas!, when the Sam Adam's Summer Ale in our glasses awakened something resembling hunger. Tuna salad on toast to the rescue! Oh, to be 22 again.

How harebrained schemes begin, or Why my job blows

2007-07-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, feeling particularly sickened by a deadly combination of florescent lights and rude, presumptuous clients, I sent Kara and Nate a craigslist "For Sale" posting. A mixed use building, two flats above, and a commercial space below. Perfect for living in and starting, say, a bakery. That produces primarily strawberry cupcakes.

Kara and Nate, being wise and practical, pointed out that large real-estate purchases should not coincide with going back to school. And, although it is nice to dream about becoming known for the best strawberry cupcake in the whole world, and getting rich, fat, and happy off of that, I think nursing skills are the more practical thing to acquire.

But then, I happened on an idea that really took my mind off of my reports and computer and complain-y messages: a cupcake catering business! Kara is on board, but pointed out that to make only cupcakes would be "very 90's", so we will make other desserts, too. And so the dessert trials begin. We made macaroons on Tuesday, and now I have a cookie jar full of chocolate-covered crack in the fridge. Really. They are that good. Anyone need dessert?

so many fights, so little time

2007-07-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

My parents were in town this weekend, which is probably the most exciting thing that has happened all month. Since visitor weekends always involve a lot of eating out, they suggested (forcefully) that I should write about these meals. Although I'm sure I won't do them justice, here are some highlights of the weekend.

On Friday, after breakfast at Tartine, we took the ferry to Angel Island. We spent the majority of our time lying on a defunct gun battery, getting sunburns (in San Francisco - mon dieu!). A small bit of time was spent eating the picnic lunch that my mother collected from the Ferry Building. Being my mother, she was wise enough to seek out the riches from Lulu Petite. Also being my mother, she packed more desserts than savory dishes. We are clearly not related.

Saturday also began with Tartine. If I could make their morning buns, I would be the Grand Ruler of the World. I'm sure this is why they exclude the recipe from their cookbook. Saturday continued with a wine soaked visit to Foreign Cinema (sans Francesca) and a windy drive to Half Moon Bay (avec Francesca, who pranced in the ocean and now smells like dead mussels). And Saturday ended with...Cortez! For Nate's birthday dinner. The food was wonderful, as usual, and I had their signature cocktail, a Cucumber Gimlet. Very refreshing. And very intoxicating, as indicated by the shenanigans that followed our pre-dinner cocktails. Lots of giggling and Mom-shushing and speculations on the occupations of fellow diners. Also a VERY loud fight about word choices. I'm sure our server was happy to be rid of us, although he was very charming and helpful.

We wound down on Sunday with homemade peach pancakes and lunch at 'WichCraft. Sad to see Mom and Dad go, but US Airways whisked them away that afternoon.

I seem to have forgotten about our dinner on Thursday night. For good reason - although the appetizers and desserts are innovative and fresh and delicious at Baraka, the entrees seem to come from a different kitchen entirely. I must remember that the next time we think we are too hungry to wait for Chez Papa or Aperto.

2007-07-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Clearly I have lost my own bet. Day three of "week of writing every day" and this is my second post. Well, as they say in both dieting and recovery circles, take it one day at a time. There will be an entry today.

S+O, Kara, and I went to Lo Coco's for S's birthday dinner last night. Lo Coco's generally thwarts our attempts at frequenting their establishment (like last Tuesday, when we wound up at Chez Panisse). Not last night, though. At Kara's suggestion, we decide to BYOB, and picked up a Barbera and something white from Vintage Berkeley. Two very exciting events occured before and after this Vintage Berkeley visit. Before: Pretty in Pink cupcakes from Love at First Bite. I think I have discovered their secret for the strawberry flavor. I will not divulge that here. After: Found and purchased a first edition of MFK Fisher's translation of the Physiology of Taste. !!! Nate thought I was crazy when I brought home a 60 year old book and wouldn't shut up about it. Perhaps I am.

Lo Coco's was excellent, as usual. The hostess had a bit of an attitude, as they sometimes do, but she loosened up as the night wore on. We had a green salad, insalata caprese, tortellini campagnola, linguine with meatballs, and pizza with eggplant and garlic. All fresh and well-prepared. Standouts: tortellini campagnola and the meatballs. The tortellini are bathed in a cream sauce with a touch of nutmeg. There is always a lot of sauce left on the plate after the pasta is gone, which is great, because you can soak the homemade bread in it. The meatballs have currants and pinenuts in them! They are sweet and delicious and wonderful. Sigh.

attempts to be a real blogger.

2007-07-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

I believe that four people check this website regularly. One of them, a real blogger, tells me that I need to update my blog more frequently. As in, more than once a month. In an attempt to appease her voracious appetite for food-related nonsense, I am going to write every day for the next week. Ha. We'll see what happens.

On a happier note, two of my most favorite things came together in one dish at Garcon. Oeufs cocottes and foie gras. Eggs, baked in a ramekin with butter and cream, and some foie thrown in for good measure. Accompanied by long toast spears. Mmm. I know that Garcon tends to get mixed reviews, but for the rich things, like foie gras, and pork butt, and other fatty, dark meats and legumes, they're good. Maybe it has something to do with their proximity to my house. Boh.

Unrelated to Garcon, aside from the cost of the meals, is a spontaneous visit S+O and I made to Chez Panisse on Tuesday. One of the highlights, along with eating at 10:15 and feeling very continental, was the Vouvray we had with our first two courses. I'm not exactly sure what it was, aside from the fact that it was French (duh) and in a demi-bouteille. But it was good. Also, the goat cheese salad at CP is always great (in my limited, two visit experience). In Paris, all goat cheese salads are good, mysteriously, but that is not the case in America. Many thanks to Chez Panisse for warm creamy cheese and a well-constructed vinaigrette. Also, I have to mention the baby onions that accompanied the lamb shoulder for our main course. They were yummy.

Clearly, I am having trouble describing food, and writing in general. I think that I have florescent light poisoning. And wobbly desk syndrome. And my job is mindnumbingly boring and thankless disease.

Perhaps things will look up tomorrow.

two brief thoughts (on mojiters and salad greens)

2007-06-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well-made mojitos are dangerous. On Sunday, Nate and I had lunch with my family at Chelsea's Kitchen. Nate ordered a mojito, and my dad and I followed suit due to peer pressure. By the time the server had returned to take our order (5-10 minutes), I had consumed the entire drink. She suggested another, and I agreed. It was hot out and the mojito was cool and refreshing. I could not refuse. After we finished our lunches, I suggested that we order a sundae (which also looked cool, if not refreshing). My suggestion was laughed off of the table and I was accused of having mojito-eyes. Oh, the shame.

I realize that small, fancy, bitter greens are hip. The more esoteric the leaves, the better. However, I do not like these salads. I eat them, and appreciate that other people enjoy them, that they are most likely better for you than baby romaine, etc. But I do not really enjoy them. The only bitter substance I truly enjoy is Campari. Secret exposed.

redemption song, part dalawa

2007-06-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a magical day in San Francisco. The kind of day that you find in Hawaii or San Diego regularly, but is so precious here. Everyone in the neighborhood was feeling it. We walked F to the park, where the hipsters were out in full force. Such is the lure of a sunny day, even for those dressed in black.

After an hour of lounging on the grass with Kara and Amy, I was itchy and needed to pee. So, we headed to my house to experiment with Mint Juleps. Much harder to perfect than the "simple" recipe makes it seem, the kitchen looked like a tornado (or a four layer cake) had gone through when we were done. After adding a lot of simple syrup to our original concoctions, they were delicious.

The day was coming to a close, but we still had enough time to sit in the backyard with our Juleps and play Boggle. Not the ideal rocking-on-a-porch-swing, Julep-drinking situation, but it worked. Talk turned to dinner and there was a heated debate. What should we show off to Amy that she cannot get in DC? What does Kuzman like to eat? Is Nate going to press the issue of Panchita's? Is Michelle going to add anything to the debate, or will she just call Nate boring and laugh?

San Tung won, as it often does. The pilgrimage began. The line was just manageable, and we were teased several times by the host about the readiness of our table. 30 minutes later we sat down.

Kim chee: Great. Always Great. Burned my mouth a little, exacerbated by the hot tea.

Martinelli's apple juice: Umm, for some reason I cannot eat at San Tung without ordering this. If you ask, I will not give a logical answer.

Steamed shrimp and leek dumplings: Chewy dough, light shrimp flavor, dunked in vinegar and chili oil. Amy says that a real man's lunch is 24 of these with two bottles of beer. I am not a real man.

Potstickers: I don't love these. But they're fried, which is a plus.

Veggie mu shu: Hoisin sauce makes everything wonderful. Also, the tree fungus is delicious. And they make their own pancakes, nice and thick.

Mongolian beef: Actually good. The beef is not battered, but is crispy nonetheless. How do they do it?

Kung pao shrimp: Eh. Brown-ish sauce.

Spinach and garlic: !!! That is all. No, not all. Wonderful and green - none of the icky too-cooked spinach astringency.

Original dry fried chicken: The piece de resistance. Words cannot describe the crunchiness of the batter or the exquisite sel et sucre sauce - but they try.

I <3 San Tung. And owls.

Fried glands, take two.

2007-05-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

Fennel and cilantro. These are the remains of the first organic vegetable box to be delivered to our household. A good idea, that. I don't think that I would have thought of buying kale at the market, but I'm happy it arrived in the box last week - tasty. But the fennel and cilantro have been the unfortunate victims of a common disease in our household. We are soo lazy, sometimes. I have excuses. New dog. Energy-sapping, soul-sucking job. It's often a lack of imagination. Perhaps the next box will fare better.

Often the outcome of a moment of extreme laziness is an unforgiveable sin. Domino's. McDonald's. Boston Market. I would go on, but then everyone would know my shame. Sometimes the outcome is a different kind of unforgiveable sin. Gluttony, I think it's called. These dinners don't happen often, but when they do, they're worth writing about. Ah, Cortez.

I know that sweetbreads are either the pancreas or thymus gland of a cow (and/or baby cow). What I do not know is how to tell which of these glands is on the plate when it comes out of the kitchen. Regardless, what came out of the kitchen at Cortez last night was very exciting. Sweetbreads and squid with onions...ooh-wee.

Starting with El Diablo: tequila, creme de cassis, lime, and ginger beer. Then the sweetbreads + squid. And...salad. But not boring salad. Mizuna greens and manchego. Also ravioli with mushrooms and parmesean foam. Remember Marcel from the last season of Top Chef, with the molecular gastronomy? Yeah, like that. But, as I'm sure you could not tell through the medium of TV, the foam is great. Rich, and then it disappears. A whole meal made out of foam would be a dieter's heaven. Perhaps. Not sure how the calories fit into that.

Moving on. A glass of white burgundy with crusted halibut. The standout of this dish was the super sweet onion and the way it blended with the fish and spinach. Really, not a standout, I suppose. More like a perfect combination. And although it was not my dish, I must mention the aged sirloin. Because it was. That. Good. Like a fantastic New York Strip, but smoother. More of a bite, more flavor. Atop a bed of potatoes and cheese (?) pureed beyond recognition. The forkful, followed by a sip of cabernet, was intricate and satisfying. I won't try to relay the moment in any further detail.

And, dessert. Toffee parfait inside cruchy chocolate, with popcorn ice cream and sour gelled fruit. Junk food, but pretty. With a shot of maple liquer. I wasn't driving.

And now you can see why it was so hard to come up with something to make for dinner tonight. Lit'l Smokies and pasta just aren't going to top fried glands, invertebrate seafood and liquid toffee fluff. Although I do love Lit'l Smokies.

How to eat fried glands

2007-05-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, S + O and I went to Chapeau! in the Richmond. I've wanted to try sweetbreads for several years now, and I heard they were on the menu. Also, S and I always like an excuse to drink too much wine and be driven around by O.

Ah, thymus glands. The sweetbreads at Chapeau! were fried and drizzled with a deep mushroom sauce, with some itty bitty carrots and parsnips on the side. They have an organ-y taste, but it's very light, as is their texture. We also had the foie gras, which was fantastic. Seared lightly on top of a bit of toast, with an amazing vinegar and honey sauce. It gave the foie at the General's Daughter a run for the money.

Altogether, Chapeau! gets an A+. The proprietor is charming (and was happy to see another Parisian in the form of O) and suggested a great wine to go with dinner. Embarrassingly, I cannot remember what it was, except that it was something white and a little buttery, from France. Normally, I prefer a crisper white, but it was perfect with our wide range of dishes: foie gras, sweetbreads, salmon, halibut, monkfish, and cassoulet.

Hat! - we will be back.

Who can't polish off a keg? We can't.

2007-04-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Kara and I held a fundraiser for the SF AIDS Foundation. It was not the most effective fundraiser in the history of the universe, which was mostly my fault. I must have missed class on the day that "making money" tips were handed out. I think those tips would have gone something like this:

Don't buy fancy foodstuffs and libations if you're not throwing a fancy party, where people will be inclined to donate hundreds of dollars. This seems self-evident, but not for me. I insisted upon offering a selection of fine foods - thai barbecue chicken, kefta kebabs, and baked tofu, among other things. I think they were all delicious, and I got to try my hand at some new recipes, but really...necessary? Same thing goes for the variety of beverages. Also not necessary.

Don't buy a keg if you are not absolutely, positively sure that many, many people will come to the party. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - cool and refreshing. A keg of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - catalyst for an excellent afternoon gathering. A keg of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale + not as many people as you expected - melty keg on the stairwell all week. Oops.

Well, it looks like I've only come up with two rules so far. But they are important ones, of which I will probably never take heed.

The bottom line is...we made lots of money for the AIDS Foundation (our expenses standing in as our donations) and had a great afternoon drinking white sangria and eating meatballs. Rephrase: I had a great afternoon drinking white sangria and eating meatballs. I hope everyone else had fun, too.

Perks.

2007-04-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I joined a posh gym. They have scented shampoo in the showers and Q-Tips on the bathroom counters. Also, TVs on most of the cardio machines and small towels near the weight machines. One of the perks that comes with the joining of this posh gym is two personal training sessions, the first of which establishes your "fitness profile." I met my trainer yesterday, and he declared that he could make me stronger than any of the other girls (his word) training for the marathon.

I fear, however, that he is going to make me change my diet. Last night, for dinner, boyfriend cooked (heated up a frozen pizza and made a salad). Not just any frozen pizza, mind you, but one from Trader Joe's, their margherita pizza. They are delicious, I think, but not exactly diet food. So what will I have to do for lazy dinners? Make plain chicken breasts? Blech. We shall see. I am meeting with the Minister of Doom after work tonight.

In response to the possible diet change, I stopped at a favorite lunch place after the gym. Oasis Grill makes delicious gyros, falafel sandwiches, and something called the Mediterranean Melt. This involves chicken and mushrooms and gooey cheese wrapped up in a lavosh with vegetables. All these sandwiches are best spicy, which the guys behind the counter know. After you order, they ask, "Spicy?" Say yes, if you know what's best for you.

Please, buff trainer man, don't take away my Mediterranean Melt.

1.5 days worth of food

2007-04-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

I'm turning into a junk food addict. We just had a diner lunch, courtesy of St. Francis Fountain. And McDonald's on Thursday night (don't tell anyone). I think I'll skip the McDo description and move on to the wonderful find we made a few weeks ago.

St. Francis is my idea of a perfect 1950s soda fountain, right on 24th St. Apparently, it's the oldest ice cream parlor in the city. My "club" sandwich had avocado on it instead of bacon, because not everything needs bacon (although my boyfriend would beg to differ). They use shredded iceberg on their sandwiches in lieu of the big watery chunks. How delightful. I ordered egg salad on the side, which may seem like an odd choice until you try their egg salad. It has lots of relish in it and a little red onion, along with the regular stuff; seems simple, but it's so good.

Surprisingly, this one meal has been holding me all day. That's bizarre for a Saturday, because it's a long run day. I'm training for the San Francisco marathon with the National AIDS Marathon Training Program, and this morning we ran 14 miles. Such a lengthy run generally leads to me eating a full meal every two hours. But not today, on the longest run ever. Strange.

Okay, now I'm hungry. Everything's back to normal.

the red pearl

2007-04-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Last night, at the Elbo Room, I had a Pearl Pomegranate Lemonade. Sounds delicious. I like Pearl Pomegranate vodka (more than I like ordinary vodka, which is not very much). I like lemonade. I think that I would like pomegranate lemonade, if I had it. But this drink...not so much. Too sweet. And I'm pretty sure it was all vodka. Which led to a Jaeger shot, somehow. Eww.

All of the above led to one of my favorite things, which is the I-stayed-out-too-late-and-need-something-heartier-to-eat-than-a-bagel breakfast. A bacon, egg and cheese sandwich from Specialty's bakery, to be precise. With an iced latte. The kind of indulgent breakfast I can only justify after a night out. So happy now, and full of many, many crispy pieces of bacon. They must be from a special supplier of non-organic, unhealthy meat products, because they are unnaturally thin and crispy. But they are delicious.

How I plan my day.

2007-04-11T14:04:00.000-07:00

As anyone who has ever visited me can attest, I plan my day around where I will eat. I live in San Francisco, where it is easy to eat good food all of the time, and so I have come to expect that I can have a wonderful meal every time I sit down at a table. But sometimes, wonderful meals happen on a couch, not at a table.

On Monday night, my boyfriend was nice enough to break our no-eating-out-so-that-we-can-lose-weight-and-save-money rule to pick up Manora's on the way home. Manora's makes wonderful comfort food (specifically their pad thai or red curry shrimp). Sweet, tangy, salty, savory: like the Girls Next Door (a comfort TV show). We were lucky enough to discover it while living in SOMA, and although we are farther away now, we still make the pilgrimage about once a month.