Food for Thought

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010! Yes, I know that it's been more than a year since my last post, but I'm looking forward to getting back on the blogging wagon this year.

Wishing all of your a happy and prosperous year!

Still Here!

2008-08-11T00:41:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm still here, but with a wedding, a (short) honeymoon, and a move coming up, you can imagine that I don't have much time to post these days. But fear not, once things settle down (which hopefully will happen in the next few weeks), I will return to the world of food blogging once again.

Catching Up...

2008-07-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

With the wedding less that two months away, I unfortunately have not had time to post very often. If I were to have some spare cycles, here are a few things about which I would write:

A recap of our dinner with Jeremiah and Tesha at Manresa back in March, complete with pictures of course

Our short trip to Napa, doing a bit of wine tasting and ending the day with a fabulous dinner on the patio at the newly renovated 25° Brix in Yountville

A short congrats to the 2008 Bay Area James Beard Award winners

Five Facts for Karen: After I posted my list for Scott, Karen suggested that I have a list with non-food related facts

Progress on "The List" - yes, I will share it with everyone some day...

There are more things, but these were the ones that came to the top of my mind. Of course, I will also write more about our wedding: the planning that we did, the vendors that we chose, etc. But all in good time...

I hope that everyone has a restful and relaxing Independence Day! I know that I can use the day off. Don't forgot about your favorite annual eating contest. Let's see if anyone will break the 20000 calorie barrier at Coney Island this year.

Top Chef: The Finale

2008-06-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well, again life and work has gotten into the way of some quality blogging time. Unfortunately, I missed the live showing of the Top Chef season finale. I finally got around to catching a rerun of the final episode last week. Wow, I guess that I didn't miss much. I don't know about you, but I thought that was perhaps one of the most boring episodes of Top Chef that they've ever broadcast. It would have been a forgetable mid-season episode, but for a season-ender, it was a downright snoozer. I would have almost rather watched an episode of that train wreck on the Food Network. Almost.

If you missed the episode, I suggest that you check out David Dust's summary of the episode for a fictional but far more entertaining version of the finale. Despite the end of the season debacle, I'll still be tuning in for the next season of Top Chef which will be set in the Big Apple.

Five Facts for Scott

2008-06-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm in the middle of a five day off-site for work this week up in Napa Valley (I know, rough life), which unfortunately means that I will miss the live season finale of Top Chef. I hope that they upload the episode to Hulu tomorrow evening so I won't be kept in suspense for too long.

However, since I do have some time on my hands this evening, I thought that I would response to the meme for which I was tagged by Scott at One Food Guy.

So, without further ado, here are five facts about me, all food related of course:

For this off-site event, I took full responsibility for making all of the food selections. A few of my co-workers have joked that if the food sucks, they'll let me hear about it on my blog. So far, the feedback has been pretty good, but in case any of my colleagues are reading this, I'll be moderating my blog comments with extreme prejudice. Heh.

While I will pretty much eat nearly any food, one things that I can't stand is cottage cheese. It's pretty much an issue with texture. About the only time that I didn't gag from eating cottage cheese was during a visit to the Cowgirl Creamery, mostly likely due to the fact that this particular sample of the vile cheese was mostly curds with very little whey.

I eat a lot of frozen fruit directly from the freezer, mostly strawberries and blueberries from Trader Joe's.

Like Homer, many of my favorite cuts of meat comes from a wonderful, magical animal.

Karen is amused by the fact that I was happy to find out on our second date that she too enjoys eating that wonderful, magical animal.

So, Jo from Taking Over the World One Bite at a Time, Jen from Eatingplum, Chef John from Food Wishes, Biggie from Lunch in a Box, and Charlotte from her eponymous web, here is your mission, if you choose to undertake it:

Link to your tagger (me in this case) and post these rules.

Share 5 facts about yourself.

Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.

Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Didja Notice...

2008-06-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

...that tonight's winner and loser had the strongest and weakest sous chefs, respectively? I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the whoever has the best assistant next week will be crowned Top Chef.

The Final Four

2008-06-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well, we're now down to the finals of this season's Top Chef. The venue for the last two episodes will move from the Windy City to the warmer climes of Puerto Rico. Had Lisa been eliminated instead of Dale, I believe that the top four of the original sixteen cheftestants would be vying for the title of Top Chef. Who will it be, early favorite Richard or five-time Elimination Challenge winner Stephanie? Or will it be one of the dark horses?

In any case, the Top Chef finale should prove to be some entertaining television, of higher quality than the train-wreck-that-I-can't-stop-watching, The Next Food Network Star. I hope that at the very least, they'll eliminate that chef from planet Vulcan before she drives me nuts with her "cooking education, community outreach, and culinary craft" blather.

D'oh!

2008-05-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Padma, Ted, and ~~Tom~~ Tony,

I love your show, but you sent the wrong chef packing last night. Lisa's gotta go.

Yours truly,
A Devoted Top Chef Fan

Hawthorne Lane: Take TWO

2008-05-19T00:48:00.000-07:00

Last week, I took Karen out to celebrate her birthday. Since it was a "school night", I thought that it would be nice to go somewhere interesting, fun, and low key. So, I decided to take Karen to TWO. Located in the space once occupied by the restaurant Hawthorne Lane, TWO was born out of chef/owner David Gingrass' desire to reinvent his restaurant to have a hipper and more casual atmosphere. We had the opportunity to visit Hawthorne Lane twice before it closed, the last time for its final cooking class.

While Karen had already been to TWO once before for lunch, I had not visited since our cooking class. While there were some differences in the decor, notably the wall panels and the lighting fixtures, the place still seemed to be quite similar to its previous incarnation.

Soon after we were seated, we were pleased to be presented with their starter plate of flatbread and biscuits. The flatbread was deliciously cheesy with a hint of heat and the biscuits were flaky and wonderfully buttery.

After a round of drinks (Karen ordered a mojito and I got a glass of Gloria Ferrer sparkling wine), we were ready to order dinner. We started out with a decadent appetizer, slow-roasted marrow bones served with crusty bread and caramelized onions. There was the perfect amount of marrow in the order: one bone for each of us with enough marrow to spread over the toasted bread. Despite the richness of the marrow, there was just the right amount so that we didn't feel overly sated by the starter before our main courses.

Since we were both pretty hungry, we decided to order a couple of entrées which we split. The first main course was braised beef cheeks with gaufrette potatoes, maple glaze, and horseradish crème fraîche. The beef was really flavorful and fall-apart tender and went very well with the horseradish. The maple glaze was interesting, having a slight hint of port, but was perhaps a touch sweet for my taste. Nevertheless, this was an excellent dish.

Our second main dish was a pan-fried pork cutlet, which could be prepared in two different ways. We could have ordered it with broccoli rabe and lemon, but opted to have it with spicy marinara and aged provolone cheese. The huge cutlet was deliciously tender and not at all greasy. With the marinara and cheese, it was reminiscent of a veal parmesan. It was another fine dish, though given the heaviness of the marrow and beef cheeks, it would have been more prudent to go with the lemon and rabe option.

For our side, we continued with the rich food theme and ordered some truffled macaroni and cheese. I enjoyed the mac and cheese, though the truffled flavor was a bit too strong for Karen's liking. I am curious if they used real truffle oil or something that came out of a laboratory.

Though we were getting quite full, it was, after all, Karen's birthday, so we ended the meal by sharing a decadent dessert, their signature "TWO Chocolates" mousse cake. The dessert consisted of semisweet and milk chocolate mousses, devil’s food cake, and caramel rice krispies. It was wonderfully rich and delicious. Even though I'm not a dessert guy, I'd definitely order it the next time I'm there.

So, there you have it, a fabulous birthday meal. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't do anything special for Karen, as per my OpenTable request, but the food was great and the service was prompt and attentive, so we really can't complain too much.

Six Left Standing

2008-05-18T22:49:00.000-07:00

After ten weeks of Top Chef: Chicago, six cheftestants remain going into the Restaurant Wars episode.

With a half-dozen chefs remaining, I'm going to make a prediction for the rest of the season. I predict that the chefs will be eliminated in the following order:

Spike
Lisa
Antonia
Stephanie
Dale

This means I predict that Richard will be named "Top Chef".

Who do you think will be "Top Chef"? Let's hear your predictions!

The Interview

2008-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

My friends are at it again... another Random Act of Cheetos.

The Accidental Proposal

2008-05-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

With the multitude of Web 2.0 and social networking tools available today, many companies are turning to viral marketing to help promote their brand awareness. One such campaign was the Orange Underground, a viral marketing effort put on by the makers of Cheetos. The campaign asked fans of the cheesy snack food to film "Random Acts of Cheetos" (RAoC) and upload their videos to an online video hosting site. From the submitted entries, four finalists would be selected, with the winner being chosen through an open vote. The grand prize winner, to be announced in June, will receive $5000 in cash and a year's supply of Cheetos.

A few of my friends got into the act and filmed a couple of RAoCs. Though they didn't make it to the final round, I think that their videos were quite funny. Check it out:

Cooking for Mom

2008-05-15T00:22:00.000-07:00

My mom was in town for the past few weeks to help out with the wedding planning, so I had a rare opportunity to cook for her on Mother's Day. Since we were doing engagement photos on Mother's Day, we actually decided to cook dinner for my mom on Saturday. My mom didn't really have any preference as to what she wanted for dinner, so it was up to us to decide what to prepare and serve. We spent a good part of the morning deliberating various options but ultimately, Karen came up with the fabulous menu that follows.

We began our dinner with a simple fennel and orange salad. It was crisp and refreshing and a nice way to start off our meal. Plus, it was fun to suprême some oranges.

For the main course, Karen decided to go with surf and turf. The "surf" dish was roasted sockeye salmon with roasted plum tomatoes and caramelized lemon slices, courtesy of Dave Lieberman. Not only was it a fabulously colorful dish, it was quite delicious as well (even though I did overcook the salmon a little bit this time). We used Meyer lemons in the dish, which added a bright, citrusy flavor.

The "turf" component of our meal was a roast of the Bay Area-favorite Fred's Steak. Not the prettiest thing to look at, but in this case, looks are deceiving - it was wonderfully tender and flavorful as usual.

We didn't neglect our veggies. In fact, we had two sides of vegetables. The first was a side of roasted purple cauliflower:

We also enjoyed some tender asparagus tips, which we roasted with garlic and sesame oil.

Yes, it was a lot of food. Probably too much, but it was a lot of fun to cook for my mom. Of course, we didn't forget dessert. For the sweet ending of our meal, we had macerated strawberry and raspberry shortcake with a little bit (okay, a lot) of whipped cream and mint chiffonade.

It was a very hearty and satisfying meal. I have to give kudos to Karen for putting together such a fantastic menu. My mom loved the dinner and is looking forward to many more meals cooked by us in the future.

Engagement Photos!

2008-05-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... Things have been pretty quiet around the FFT blog the past few months, but there's a good reason! As I mentioned earlier, Karen and I got engaged last summer and have been ridiculously busy working out the details for the wedding. After months of work, we are finally looking down the home stretch of wedding planning.

The past weekend, we had an engagement photo session with Laura, our fabulous photographer from Beautiful Day Photography. Accompanied by my mom (on Mother's Day!), we had a really fun time getting shots from multiple locations around San Francisco, including Alamo Square, the Presidio, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Chinatown.

Yesterday, Laura gave us a sample of some of the shots that she took this weekend and they look fabulous! Below is one of our favorites. You can see more photos from our weekend shoot on her blog.

Photo courtesy of Laura Grier/Beautiful Day Photography.

We had a blast working with Laura and are really excited that she will be working with us to capture a special moment in our lives.

0 Fer Four

2008-04-24T00:33:00.001-07:00

Another week, another Top Cheftestant going home. Indeed, another Bay Area chef has been eliminated, which leaves us with the following numbers:

Number of Bay Area chefs remaining out of the four who started the competition: zero

Number of seasons in which a Bay Area cook has been named Top Chef: zero

Looks like we are still below the Mendoza Line.

Got Milk?

2008-04-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

If any of you happen to be passing through Charleston, Illinois tomorrow evening and have a hankering for a big glass of milk, you might want to stop by the South Quad on the Eastern Illinois University campus. At 6:30pm, you can enjoy a glass of cold milk (a very big and tall glass) with competitors in the MilkGallon Challenge, a contest which involves drinking a gallon of milk in an hour and holding it down for the remainder of that hour.

While this may not sound too difficult, it's actually much harder than you might think. Despite the urban legends that claim impossibility of this feat, it has been done. Our very own Bay Area "foodie" Joey Chestnut has done it before, downing an entire gallon in 41 seconds.

As an incentive (really, as if you needed one), the contest organizers are offering cash prizes to the first three finishers. Even if you can't complete the challenge, you could still win $10 for the most dramatic "reversal of fortune". You'll need to pony up $3 to compete in the contest. You'll also need to bring your own gallon of milk. No cheating now - the milk needs to be at least 2% - no wimpy attempts using skim milk are allowed.

I'd actually like to see someone drink and hold down a half a gallon of half-and-half in half an hour. But that's just me.

A Couple of Quick Comments

2008-04-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

Lots of work + loads of wedding planning = no time to post on my blog...

I just have enough time for a few quick comments about my current favorite TV show, Top Chef:

1. Is it just me or are the chefs this season weaker as a whole than in past seasons? Maybe it's just the San Francisco-based chefs who are sucking...

2. Is it just me or are the cheftestants quite a bit more snippy and aggressive than in past seasons? See how often they are dropping the F-bomb on the show? Even Tom commented on the noticeable increase in profanity this season.

3. If you are looking for some morning-after commentary on the week's show, check out David Dust's Top Chef episode summaries - they are simply hilarious.

Ya Know, I'm a Foodie and All....

2008-03-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

...and willing to splurge for amazing dining experiences at places like the French Laundry and Manresa, but it would be terribly hard to justify ever spending $5K a person to attend a food event (unless I were to hit the Mega Millions jackpot, I suppose) like the attendees at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival paid this past weekend. I'm amazed that over 3000 people shelled out that kind of change for the four-day event. I guess that there are a lot of wealthy foodies out there.

Can You Beet That?

2008-03-30T22:49:00.001-07:00

A beet hater learning to love those ruby red roots?

I've heard that story before.

From the Glad Family of Products....

2008-03-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

Did any of you notice the conspicuous product placement in the Chicago Block Party episode of Top Chef? I suspect that most people may not be aware of the fact that Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce, and Kingsford Charcoal are all cousins to the Glad family of products, one of the major sponsors of the series.

Another Strong Bay Area Showing

2008-03-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

This past week, James Beard Foundation announced their nominees for the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards. Like last year, the Bay Area food community is well-represented. Boulevard and The Slanted Door, two perennial San Francisco favorites, are up for the Outstanding Restaurant Award. While not a clean sweep like last year, four of the five nominees in the Best Chef in the Pacific Region (California and Hawaii) are from the Bay Area: Douglas Keane of Cyrus, Craig Stoll of Delfina, and Michael Tusk of Quince are repeat nominees from last year, with David Kinch of Manresa joining them on the list of nominees.

Nate Appleman of A16 and SPQR is a repeat nominee in the Rising Star Chef of the year. Nicole Plue of Yountville's Redd and Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson of Tartine Bakery were nominated for Best Pastry Chef of the Year.

Other Bay Area nominees include Terra for the Outstanding Service Award and Merry Edwards of her eponymous winery for the Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional Award. Bobby Stuckey, formerly of The French Laundry and now co-owner of Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado, is another nominee in the latter category.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center on Sunday, June 8, 2008.

Top Chef Chicago: The Block Party

2008-03-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

Three weeks into the new season of Top Chef and the first San Francisco-based chef is gone. It was too bad to see Erik go - having eaten at his restaurant, I was hoping that he would stick around for a while. So much for those rumors.

It was interesting to see the SF contestents group themselves onto the same team, though given the political leanings of this area, it probably would have been more appropriate if they had been on the Blue Team.

Let the Flames Begin!

2008-03-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Top Chef will be kicking off Season 4 tonight. Karen is a bit surprised at how much I've been looking forward to this new season of Top Chef, and I guess that I'm a bit surprised myself, especially since I don't watch all that much TV.

Anyway, I'll be looking forward to watching the flames begin!

A Blast for Breakfast

2008-03-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Has it really been nearly a month since I last posted? I guess that time really flies when you are busy with work and wedding planning. Even the extra day in February didn't seem to buy me any free time to write. Anyway...

A few weeks ago, I read an article about a new entry into the breakfast food market, Batter Blaster. Yes, what you've always wanted, pancake batter conveniently sold in an aerosol can. After hearing some more buzz about this product on the radio later that week, I decided that I wanted to give it a try.

An opportunity came up a few days later when Jeremiah invited Karen and me over for Sunday morning brunch. I eagerly offered to bring the ready-made pancake batter as my contribution to the meal. Jeremiah seemed a bit skeptical about the batter, but told me to go ahead and bring some, no doubt swayed by the fact, which I repeated multiple times, that Batter Blaster is USDA certified organic.

When Sunday morning came around, Karen and I dropped by a neighborhood grocery store to pick up a "fresh" can of batter. As I was checking out, the clerk mentioned that the pre-made pancake batter had been flying off the shelves ever since they started stocking it. I guess that Batter Blaster had been selling like, well, like hotcakes...

When we got over to Jeremiah's place, he had already fired up the griddle on his Viking stove and had started browning up a batch of home fries. Fortunately for me, he had reserved some room on the griddle for some hotcakes. So, I shook up the aerosol can of batter and pressed the nozzle, forming neat, little circles of soon-to-pancakes on the hot cooking surface.

Just like that - quick and easy with no mess. (Well, you do need to clean off the nozzle, but that's a snap - just run it under some hot water.)

A short while later, after Jeremiah cooked up some bacon and eggs to go with the home fries and stack of pancakes, we were ready to eat.

The verdict? Eh, honestly I was a bit disappointed. The pancakes had a distinct sweetness to them, not like the flavor that you get from maple syrup, but more like that of straight sugar. I guess that I could have expected that, given the third largest ingredient in that batter (after filtered water and organic wheat flour) is organic cane sugar. However, it probably would have been fine for waffles, which is an alternate recommended use for Batter Blaster. Also, the product information indicates that you should be able to get approximately 28 4-inch pancakes from a single can, but we did not get nearly as many, even though we nearly exhausted the can. However, that could have been due to user error, as I may not have shaken the can enough, especially for the last few cakes that I made.

Well, it was worth a try, but at $5.99 a can, I had really hoped for more.

"Hey, did you go to Carleton?"

2008-02-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, I seem to hear this question quite often when I am wearing the attire of my alma mater. Karen is amazed at the number of random places where people, seeing me wearing a Carleton shirt, ask me if I actually attended the college in Northfied, Minnesota. The encounters have occurred in many different situations including, while eating lunch in Maui just before exploring a volcano, during a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park on a trip to Boulder, and while seeing the terra cotta soldiers in Xi'an. Of course, there have also been a lot of Carleton call outs during my eight years in the Bay Area, including shout-outs on the streets of San Francisco and a few brief exchanges in various locations in Wine Country. You might think that my entire wardrobe consists of college gear, but, in reality, I only have a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. (Okay, I do have more Carleton shirts lying around, but none that I ever wear; I doubt the '89-'90 Third Myers floor t-shirt even fits anyway.)

Yesterday, while wearing my Carleton sweatshirt, I went over to the Ferry Building's Saturday morning farmers' market in search of some Fatted Calf bacon. While wandering around the stalls, I was asked not once, not twice, but three separate times in the course of an hour if I attended the small liberal arts college. One of the people who asked me, Dave, is actually a vendor at the market. After procuring some bacon, I stopped by his booth, Andante Dairy, to check out his offerings and picked up some butter, which was hand-churned by Dave himself. After trying some of the butter on some crusty bread that I picked up from the Acme Bread Company, I can attest to the quality of this delectable, creamy, high-fat content butter. I'll definitely go back for some more butter in the future.

One place where I haven't gotten a Carleton shout-out is in Europe, even though I've been there almost a dozen times over the past few years. I guess that it's a function of me not really wearing much Carleton gear during my business trips over to the Continent. Perhaps I'll have to include one of my Carleton shirts to wear during one of my forays into Heidelberg after working hours. I'll let ya know when happens.

A Foodie in Stockholm

2008-02-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

Around these parts, when work gets busy, blogging gets slow. Unfortunately, it's been quite busy at work lately. However, now that a long weekend is here (a three day weekend of my own creation as Presidents' Day isn't a work holiday for me), I thought that I would take the opportunity to catch up on my backlog of posts.

As you may recall, I paid a visit to Sweden late last year. For the most part, the trip was packed with work, but I was able to break free one day to do some sightseeing around Stockholm. Despite the less than perfect weather, my colleague Dan and I roamed around the city center, taking in a number of historic sites in the Gamla Stan (Old Town), including the Royal Palace, the 700-year-old Riddarholmen Church (which, unfortunately, was closed), and the famous statue of St. George and the Dragon. We also wandered by the Den Gyldene Freden restaurant, the site of a workshop dinner a few nights earlier. With minimal changes since 1722, Der Gyldene Freden is a living example of a 18th century restaurant. Unfortunately, I can't say that I liked the food very much - the bleak roe appetizer and arctic char entrée were rather bland and left me wanting for some spices.

Toward the end of the short afternoon (short indeed, as the sun set around 3:30pm), we stopped by the famous food market Östermalms Saluhall,

Like the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco, the Östermalms Saluhall market is a collection of various food shops and cafés housed under a single roof. Similar to its Bay Area counterpart, this food marketplace targets the higher-end of the culinary spectrum. For example, check out this refrigerated case:

Crab, foie gras, and beluga caviar - you'll need a hefty wallet to shop out of that case.

Of course, there are more mainstream foods available as well, such as beautifully marbled cuts of beef:

Seafood is a big part of the Swedish diet, and this market offers up an ample selection of both fish and shellfish.

You can even buy yourself a tasty anglerfish if you so desire.

Of course, you can't live on meat alone (at least not healthily anyway): the Saluhall market also offered a large assortment of vegetables and fruit, undoubtedly imported from some warmer climes.

I even found some miniature pineapples. These grenade-sized fruit made me think of, well, grenades.

And for those people who think dessert is the best part of a meal, the Saluhall market also had plenty of sweet treats.

It was definitely a cool site to visit, a spot that all foodies visiting Stockholm should consider putting on their list of places to see. Perhaps next time, I will see if I can find myself a can of surströmming to bring back as a souvenir.

Top Chef 4: Chicago

2008-01-29T22:54:00.000-08:00

Attention Reality Food TV fans: Top Chef is back.

Set in Chicago, the Emmy-nominated series will begin airing new episodes from Season 4 on Wednesday, March 12. While I've been critical of Top Chef in the past, the last season reeled me back. I'm looking forward to the new season, especially with four local chefs in the running: Erik Hopfinger, executive chef at Circa; Jennifer Biesty, the executive chef from COCO500; sous chef Ryan Scott of Myth; and chef/consultant Zoi Antonitsas, formerly of the Presidio Social Club.

As Michael Bauer noted in his blog post today, San Francisco has been underrepresented over the past couple of seasons. Hopefully, one of the chefs will be able to take home the title of "Top Chef", bringing the prize back to where the series was first set.

Mad Knife Skillz

2008-01-23T22:54:00.000-08:00

For the most part, I think of myself as having relatively decent knife skills. I can finely dice a onion without much effort, debone a chicken, julienne a potato, cut a carrot into a brunoise, etc. - not half bad for an amateur chef like me.

Well, despite what I think of my knife-wielding skills, I got taken to school this past weekend. My mom, who's in town visiting, wanted to make some low bock gow or turnip cakes for Karen and me. Most recipes for low bock gow call for grating the daikon radish that goes into the cake. However, my mom prefers to cut the radish instead so that it does not get too wet and soggy while it's being cooked.

Watching my mom slice the daikon into a fine julienne was most impressive. Each cut was very clean and precise, and all of the strips were nearly uniform in thickness. While I'm pretty sure that I could duplicate the end product, I seriously doubt that I could do it with the same blinding speed in which she took apart the radish. As Karen can attest, my mom was wickedly fast, even though she was just using a cheap cleaver and not my fancy Shun santoku. While she isn't as crazy fast as Hung from Top Chef 3, she was definitely impressive for a non-professional chef.

I guess that I'll need to go to Costco and buy a bag of potatoes on which to hone my skills. Maybe one day, I'll be as fast as my mom with the knife. At least I should have the right genes.

La Fleur de Bretagne

2008-01-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

Did you know: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, collard greens, and kohlrabi are different cultivar groups of a single species, Brassica oleracea or Wild Cabbage?

While it would be a stretch to call either Karen or me a huge fanatic of cauliflower, this so-called flower of Brittany, has been making it on to our dinner plates with increasing frequency. Though cauliflower is typically steamed or boiled, we've recently prepared it in a couple of different ways that we've both enjoyed.

After returning from our trip to Mexico, Karen made a cauliflower and bacon soup using a recipe from one of our favorite San Francisco restaurants, Range. The soup was really easy to make and very delicious - the smokiness of the bacon paired very well with the cauliflower. It was a perfect way to enjoy this vegetable which is at its peak of sweetness during the winter.

A couple of weeks back, I headed out in the rain to the Sunnyvale Farmers' Market, where I picked up three heads of cauliflower for dinner: a purple head, an orange one, and a head of Romanesco. Each of these varietals has an interesting characteristic. The color of the purple version, the type that we previously had with ratatouille, comes from the presence of anthocynanin, an antioxidant that is also found in many different types of berries and red wine. The orange varietal has 25 times more vitamin A than the common white version. And the romanesco is, well, just cool - the fractal pattern is quite fascinating, especially to a math guy like me. We cut up the florets from each of the three heads into bite-sized pieces, tossed them with olive oil and sea salt, and roasted the vegetables in a 400° F oven for 20 minutes. This was also delicious - the two of us polished off more than half of the cauliflower.

The other day, I was shopping at Safeway and noticed some items that I had never previously seen in their produce department: baby cauliflower.

They came in several different varietals, including white, purple, orange, and green.

Somewhere between the size of a ping-ping ball and a tennis ball, these little veggies looked like they came in individual serving sizes.

So, you might ask how many of these miniature flowering heads I picked up. Answer: Zero.

Why?

Yep, you read that right... $3 each... I think that works out to about a dollar a mouthful. At that price, I think that I'll just stick to the normal sized versions.

A 'Buzz in the Air

2008-01-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

If you are a regular reader of Food for Thought, you may have noticed that I recently became a Featured Publisher for Foodbuzz, a virtual community dedicated to the love of food. Last week, the virtual intertwined with the real as the Foodbuzz team hosted a Featured Publishers' dinner at the Slanted Door in the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

Over a delectable assortment of appetizers and entrées, I took the opportunity to meet the fabulous editorial staff at Foodbuzz, as well to chat with some of my fellow Bay Area food bloggers, including the authors of The Petite Pig, The Whole Wheat, Cheese N' Things, Taking the World Over One Bite at a Time, and Lunch in a Box.

(Photo originally posted by eatingplum.)

I'd like to thank the gracious staff at Foodbuzz for putting together and hosting a fantastic event. I had a wonderful time and hope that there will be many more dinners with the Foodbuzz crew and other Bay Area bloggers soon!

The Food-Loving Comedian

2008-01-13T22:57:00.000-08:00

I was recently introduced to the humor of Jim Gaffigan, a hilarious stand-up comedian who has made several appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman. Much of Gaffigan's humor involves food, including routines about eating out, cake, and bacon. His signature piece revolves around his fascination with the microwaveable sandwiches in a sleeve, Hot Pockets.

Looking Forward to 2008!

2008-01-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

Like many of you (at least I hope!), I'm looking forward to a great 2008. This is going to be quite a big year for me. As many of you already know, Karen and I got engaged a few months back and are in the midst of planning our wedding. We haven't set a date yet, but we are looking to getting married in the Bay Area sometime toward the end of the summer or the beginning of the fall. Over the next few months, I'm sure that you'll see some posts chronicling the trials and tribulations of our wedding planning. Of course, not all of it will be bad - I'm sure that we'll have a fun time tasting wedding cakes and sampling delicious food as we go through the process of selecting a caterer, so stay tuned!

I'm also looking forward to an exciting year at work. Last year, I picked up a lot of new tasks and additional responsibilities, so I hope to continue expanding my role in my immediate team and in the larger organization. I'll likely be doing some travelling, both for work and for leisure, which should give me the opportunity to expand my culinary horizons, as well as to continue my airline food reports.

Of course, I will continue to blog about our food adventures. Work and wedding planning permitting, I will try to post at least as frequently as I did last year. I recently joined up with the Foodbuzz Publishers Program, which will hopefully motivate me to write more often. And yes, I still owe you "The List" of restaurants - hopefully I will be ready to share it with you very soon.

Anyways, I'm pretty excited to see what 2008 will hold. I look forward to your continued comments and encouragement which make writing this blog so fun and enjoyable, so keep them coming!

A Mexican Getaway

2008-01-04T23:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Belated New Year! My apologies for the lack of recent posts. Between the post-holiday vacation recovery (funny, I always seem to need a vacation after a vacation) and the head cold that I've been fighting, I hadn't felt up for posting until today.

As I mentioned in my last post, Karen and I took off for a little winter getaway last week. Our destination: the Riviera Maya, just north of the Mexican town of Playa del Carmen on the Caribbean Sea. We started our vacation very early on Christmas Eve, dragging ourselves to the airport in the middle of the night for our 6am flight. Our journey would take us most of the day, with a short layover in Phoenix. We arrived at the Cancún airport in the late afternoon, found our luggage (after an annoyingly long wait), and met up with the car service that we booked to take us to the hotel. (I'd like to give props to our transfer service, Balam Caribbean Transfers. Not only are they cheaper than a taxi, they also take you to your destination in style; we rode in an Escalade on the way to the hotel and in a Mercedes E-Class on the way back to the airport. Plus, the drivers were very courteous and were right on schedule.)

Highway 307, the dusty road connecting the airport to the Riviera Maya, was completely unremarkable save for the ubiquitous billboards that interrupted our view of the surrounding forests and the occasional giant-sized speed bumps that brought traffic to a standstill. Finally, after 40 minutes, our driver slowed down, made a left turn, and drove up to the gate leading to our destination, the Secrets Capri Riviera Cancún resort. One of Trip Advisor's top-rated hotels in the area, the all-inclusive Secrets Capri would be our home for the next week.

As we arrived, we were greeted with a flute of champagne and a cool towel. After checking in, we headed up to our room, a third floor unit with a balcony overlooking the lush tropical forest that surrounded the hotel. Though we were tired from a long day of travel, we took a quick tour through the hotel, pool, and adjacent beach front (all beaches in Mexico are owned by the federal government) before we headed to dinner. Since it was Christmas Eve, the resort was hosting a special dinner in the Riviera, their general-purpose buffet restaurant. Both Karen and I were very pleasantly surprised with the dinner spread. We both started with a plate of appetizers which included crab legs, smoked swordfish, several different types of pâté, and an outrageously rich duck foie gras mousse.

The main dishes were somewhat typical of an American-style buffet: roast beef, turkey, grilled asparagus. A couple of highlights were the truffled mashed potatoes and the lobster-stuffed portobello mushrooms. For this special dinner, the restaurant prepared a large assortment of delectable treats for dessert.

Though it was the night before Christmas, the only snow to be found was on the gingerbread houses.

The next day, Christmas Day, we slept in, paying off the sleep debt that we incurred on the journey from the Bay Area to the Caribbean. Since we had dinner at the Riviera the previous night, we wanted to try one of the other four restaurants at the resort. We decided to have lunch at Oceana, the seafood restaurant overlooking the beach, where Karen dined on a pan-seared grouper filet, while I enjoyed the grilled Atlantic salmon. In addition to the Riviera and Oceana, the resort has three other restaurants: Portofino, an Italian restaurant; Himitsu, which features Pan-Asian cuisine; and the Seaside Grill. Over the course of our stay, we had the opportunity to sample the food at each of these restaurants.

After lunch, we headed out to the pool and spent the afternoon soaking in the warm rays of the sun lying out on the chaise chairs on the deck and floating on the foam mats in the pool. The figure-eight shaped pool was quite nice; it was actually separated into two different pools, one warm and one cool, so we could choose which one suited our particular preference. Hanging out by the pool would be our primary activity during our stay. As we lounged in the sun, we caught up on our reading list: during our trip, I finished up The Omnivore's Dilemma, a book that I started during my trip to Sweden, while Karen read Heat. While we read our books, we took full advantage of the all-inclusive package by making sure that we were supplied with a steady stream of cocktails. For me, the drink of this trip was the strawberry daiquiri. At first, Karen laughed at me for ordering these foo-foo drinks, but by the end of our trip, she was ordering them with me. Since it was Christmas Day, the resort had another special meal in store for us that evening, a Christmas dinner on the beach. That night, we dined under the stars, enjoying fare such as marinated flank steak, grilled chorizo, and paella, which was prepared just a few feet from our table in a giant paella pan.

The next day, we grabbed a quick buffet breakfast at the Riviera. The fare was fairly typical of an American style breakfast - omelets to order, pancakes, sausages, and bacon. After finishing breakfast, we spent the bulk of the day once again reading poolside. After a day in the sun, we went back to our room to clean up and get ready for our evening massages. As a special gift to the guests, the spa was offering half-price treatments that day, so we jumped at the opportunity and booked a couple's "Under the Stars" massage session. We received our treatments after sunset on a raised wooden platform in one corner of the resort right on the beach. The idea of a massage under the stars was quite romantic, though it did get a bit chilly with the wind gusting off of the water. After our massages, we headed off for dinner at Oceana, where we both ordered their version of Surf and Turf, beef tenderloin with grilled shrimp. While Karen was content with the shrimp, I asked if I could substitute lobster, which was offered in another entrée, for the shrimp. Our waiter said that it wasn't a problem. However, instead of substituting the shrimp, he brought me both entrées! I guess that with the all-inclusive package, you can practically get as much of anything off the menu as you desire. The lobster turned out to be spiny lobster instead of American lobster, but I wasn't going to complain too much about that.

The next day, we decided to mix up our activities a bit. Since we were in the Mayan region, we wanted to check out some of the ruins in the area. One of the most famous coastal ruins is Tulum. We woke up early and caught the bus for the hour-long ride to the ruins. Unlike the more famous Chichen Itza, Tulum is considerably more compact, so our tour would only take a couple of hours. The first part of the tour was led by a local Maya guide, who gave us a very entertaining lecture on the history of the ruins and surrounding area.

The last half of our visit was unstructured time, so we took the opportunity to wander around the site and snapped many photos of the ruins, including the main temple where the high priests performed human sacrifices to the gods.

The ruins run right up to a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Below the cliffs is a beach that was packed with visitors who walked down the wooden staircase to enjoy a dip in the warm ocean waters. Before Karen took a quick dip at the beach, we got a few photos that captured the spectacular view of the azure waters of the Caribbean.

After returning to the the resort, we grabbed a quick lunch at Riviera before we headed out to our usual spot next to the pool. After another relaxing afternoon in the sun, we decided to try a new restaurant for dinner and checked out the Seaside Grill. Located in the same building as Oceana, this restaurant featured a meat-centric menu. Karen ordered the grilled pork chop, while I selected the ribeye steak. The "ribeye" turned out to be a strip steak cut, which was fine with me, but it was a touch on the fatty side, especially with the large pat of compound butter which topped the steak.

Unfortunately, the next morning I woke up with a bit of a stomach bug. Luckily for me, it was not a full blown case of Montezuma's revenge, but it lingered with me on and off throughout the rest of the trip. It wasn't too serious and didn't prevent me from doing anything during the trip, but it was definitely a nuisance. As a result, I only ate a light meal at the Riviera before we grabbed a taxi and headed into Playa del Carmen to check out the town. Since our cabbie dropped us off near the beach, we decided to check that out first. The beach in Playa del Carmen was crowded, quite a bit more than the one at the Secrets Capri, which made me appreciate the relative space that we enjoyed back at the resort. Despite the crowds, Karen and I enjoyed a nice, long walk on the soft, white sands of the beach before finding an open spot to settle down. We both took a quick dip in the ocean water, which was very refreshing on this warm day.

While the all-inclusive package was nice (we certainly enjoyed our share of cocktails), it also discouraged us from checking out the local food - we definitely weren't going to get refunds for the meals that we didn't eat at the resort. However, since we were already in town, we thought that it would be nice to sample some of the local cuisine, even though we had already paid for the food back at the resort. We hung out at the beach until the sun was low on the horizon before heading into the central district in town which is centered around 5th Avenue. As we walked down 5th Avenue, we were surprised at how touristy it was - it was very reminiscent of Fisherman's Wharf. As we neared the south end of the street, Karen remembered that there was a Maya restaurant nearby. Heading down a side street, Karen quickly found the restaurant, Yaxche Maya Cuisine. Finally, we had an opportunity to sample some local food! As it turned out, we weren't all that hungry, but as we had eaten lightly that day, we decided to get two dishes. We selected the boxito, small shrimp tacos with a burnt blackened pepper sauce, and an order of cochinita pibil, a traditional Yucatán pork dish wrapped and cooked in banana leaves and served with red onions and a side of beans. The cochinita was delicious.

Returning to the hotel after an afternoon and a meal in Playa del Carmen, we debated whether or not we should have dinner. We decided to wait until later to see if we were hungry or not. Around 10pm, we were both starting to get hungry again so we went to grab a quick bite at Portofino. We started with some of the lighter appetizers: Karen ordered the melon with serrano ham and I ordered the carpaccio of tuna, salmon, and mahi-mahi (pictured below). Both starters were delicious and reasonably light. For the main course, we ordered the veal agnolotti and the linguini with pesto. Both dishes were also pretty tasty.

I think that Portofino was my favorite restaurant at the resort. We made a return visit a couple of days later, where we enjoyed the veal saltimbocca (pictured below) and the rack of lamb. All of these dishes were also very good.

Saturday was a big adventure day for us as we headed to Xcaret, an archaeological and ecological resort park just south of Playa del Carmen. We were both very excited as we had signed up to swim with the dolphins while we were at the park. We had a great time playing with the dolphins, who were very well trained and quite playful, even though both of them were pregnant. One of the highlights of our hour with the dolphins was the footpush. We would have gotten some photos of us playing with the dolphins except that they were charging outrageous amounts for the pictures that they had taken - can you believe they were asking us to pay $59 for four digital photos on a CD? And that was the cheapest package! (Unfortunately, personal cameras were not allowed at the session.) After our session with the dolphins, we continued with the water activities by floating through some underground rivers. This was not nearly as fun as playing with the dolphins. Not only were the rivers quite crowded, there was not a whole lot to see in the dark caves through which the river flowed.

In the afternoon, we went around the park checking out the flora and fauna, which include jaguars, some giant sea turtles, a tapir, and a variety of fish in the aquarium. Our day at the park ended with a two hour performance at the very impressive Grand Tlachco outdoor theatre. The show included two historical ball games (including one that was like a fiery version of broomball), a ceremony dedicated to the Sun God, and a music show highlighting songs from the different regions and states of Mexico.

After we got back to the hotel after this long day in the park, we were both hungry and tired. Since we had one more restaurant at the resort to check out, we decided to have dinner at Himitsu. Billing its fare as Pan-Asian, the restaurant really features an amalgam of Chinese, Japanese, and Thai cuisines. I have to say that we were a bit disappointed. While the sushi was decent (especially the hamachi, which was excellent), the rest of the food was rather ordinary. Though the presentation of the food was nice, the food was just not what we expected. For example, the dim sum appetizer that Karen ordered to start was deep fried and overcooked.

Sunday was out last full day at the resort before we headed home, so we decided to spend it relaxing. Unfortunately, it rained quite heavily that morning, so we were stuck inside until showers stopped in the early afternoon. We spent some time at the beach, relaxing on hammocks as we enjoyed our strawberry daiquiris.

Overall, this was a great vacation. I have to give major props to Karen, who did all of the work to put this vacation together for the two of us. (Thanks, sweetie!) We both had a lot of fun and I was very happy that Karen got a chance to get away from the cold weather that she dislikes and enjoy some time in the warm sun. Though we were reasonably happy with the accommodations and the fine service we received from the resort staff, we'd probably opt for a non-all-inclusive resort for our next beach vacation. Not only was it quite expensive, we felt that we also missed out on opportunities enjoy more of the local culture and cuisine. For Karen, this was a nice reminder of the people and culture of Mexico, and for me, it was a great introduction to our neighbor to the South.

Heading to Warmer Climes

2007-12-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

I'll be offline for a bit as Karen and I leave the Bay Area to enjoy some warmer weather down south. We'll be back soon, so stay tuned for the report from our beach vacation.

Happy Holidays!

Dine About Town '08

2007-12-19T23:36:00.000-08:00

Nearly 100 restaurants in San Francisco are now taking lunch and dinner reservations for the 7th Annual Dine About Town event. Participating restaurants will be offering three course prie fixe lunch and dinner menus that will allow you enjoy a wide variety of gourmet cuisine throughout San Francisco.

The event will run January 15-31, 2008 and will feature three course lunches for $21.95 and dinners for $31.95 (excluding beverage, tax, and gratuity). You can book your reservations online at OpenTable.com.

The Cuisine of the Friendly Skies

2007-12-16T22:53:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I took my last business trip of the year, a short (five day) jaunt to Sweden. The corporate travel agency booked me on an outbound flight on Lufthansa and had me returning on United, so I had an opportunity to compare their cuisine a few days apart, which is about as close to head-to-head as I would probably ever get to experience. I had flown in United Business just a few months earlier, but hadn't flown on Lufthansa since late last year, so I took the occasion to reacquaint myself with the fare on German flagship airline.

I took the Monday afternoon flight from SFO to Frankfurt. After my customary nap through take-off, I spent about a half an hour fiddling around with the settings on the new Business Class seat before a flight attendant came around with napkins in hand to kick off the dinner service.

To start my meal, I could have selected a pistachio crusted shrimp with mango salsa and cilantro aioli, but I instead went with the smoked duck breast with sweet corn flan and cherry vinaigrette. The duck breast was pretty decent, though I barely noticed the vinaigrette, but the flan was ice cold.

For the main course, I had a choice of three entrées: turkey escalopes, grilled salmon, or saffron fettucine. Though I normally don't order fish on flights, this time, I decided to try the salmon, which came with celeriac purée and sweet pea and fava bean jus. The salmon was surprisingly good, flavorful and cooked to almost a perfect doneness - the middle of the filet was about perfect and the ends were, if anything, just a touch overdone, but when you are 39,000 feet in the air, it's pretty close to being perfect. However, all of the sides were pretty forgettable. It would have been better if they had just put down some mashed taters next to the salmon.

The next course was a cheese plate consisting of (from the left) Cambozola, Sage Derby, and Gruyère. All the cheeses were quite good, though I would have enjoyed some more dried fruit on the plate.

After the cheese plate was cleared away, I was served with some apple raisin bread pudding with sweet cream and a box of chocolate truffles. Both the bread pudding and truffles were very good - a couple of small, but tasty treats to finish off the meal.

After a few hours of intermittent sleep, I woke myself up for breakfast as we cruised over England. I groggily ordered some coffee and selected a fruit plate with some cold cuts (turkey and salami) and cheese (Brie and pepperjack). The plate was tasty, especially the fruit, which was very ripe and surprisingly sweet.

After landing in Frankfurt and passing speedily through immigration, my colleagues and I had a few hours to kill before our connection to Stockholm, so we headed up to the United lounge to stretch our legs and rehydrate ourselves. While we were in the lounge, I showed one of my colleagues some pictures from our dinner at the French Laundry. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off my camera. By the time that I noticed, we were just about to start the meal service on our short SAS flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm. It was too late to do much about a dead camera battery, so I was not able to capture the food on this flight. Oh well.

The next few days in Stockholm were quite packed, as I was busy conducting a design-led innovation workshop with several colleagues from Germany and the United States. One of my colleagues and I did have an opportunity to do some sightseeing around Stockholm on Friday, but that's another blog post...

Heading back home on Saturday, we boarded an early morning SAS flight to Frankfurt. Once again, I was not able to capture my meal, as my camera was stowed away in the overhead compartment, access to which was blocked by the slumbering passenger in the aisle seat next to me. I guess that photos of the food on the SAS flights were not meant to be, at least not on this trip.

After another short visit to the United Red Carpet lounge, we boarded our United flight to return home. After settling in my seat, I dozed off for a bit before being awakened for the main meal of the flight. We started off with a cold appetizer of Parma ham, tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella with balsamic vinaigrette. Unfortunately, this was not a good starter. The plate apparently had been refrigerated, so the tomatoes were completely flavorless and had a mealy texture. The balsamic "vinaigrette" had the look and viscosity of used motor oil, so I didn't even try it. There was some spongy-looking orange and yellow thing on the plate. I had no idea what it was (and still don't), but it didn't taste very good at all, so I pushed it aside after a single bite. I guess that that mozzarella and Parma ham were okay though...

After the disastrous course was cleared away, I had a selection of one of three entrées: a pan-seared filet mignon with three peppercorn sauce, a mushroom stuffed chicken breast with shallot Madeira sauce, and a spinach and ricotta stuffed tortellini Antonio with creamy chive sauce. Despite my rather poor experience with the filet on my last flight, I decided (for whatever reason) to give it another try. I'm glad that I did. While it was far away from being a great steak, it was actually halfway decent. First of all, unlike the meat from the previous trip, the steak actually looked like it was a filet. While the steak was still overcooked, I was still able to detect a faint pink section in the middle, which was definitely a step in the right direction. Best of all, the steak was actually quite tender and tasted like steak. Not bad for hot box cooking six miles above the ground. Unfortunately, the accompanying Lyonnaise mashed potatoes with cheese were pretty disappointing, though the green beans were okay.

After the main course, I passed on the ice cream dessert and instead had the cheese platter, which included smoked chili and Sbrinz cheeses. I like these simple cheese plates, but I do wish that they would use seedless grapes.

After finishing dinner, I actually managed to get some decent sleep, which I generally have trouble getting when flying from Europe to the United States. We took a very northerly polar flight path which, at this time of the year, meant that the sun set (from our perspective) and rose again before we landed. I woke up relatively refreshed in time to catch a light snack before landing. The snack consisted of another cheese plate (apparently I can't get enough of them) with cheddar, Brie, and Edam cheeses and seasonal fruit. It was a light and tasty snack which would carry me over until I had a chance to enjoy a real dinner after we landed.

Well, now that the year is over, I'll have to endure a couple of flights in economy before I'll qualify for Business Class travel again. Stay tuned for my meal reports from back in the cattle section of United and Lufthansa.

Bacony Goodness

2007-12-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Do you love bacon? Well, one of the folks over at the Good Eats Message Board found someone who might like bacon even a bit more than you do...

Starting with breakfast, this connoisseur of the cured porcine product has found heart-stopping ways to enjoy bacon in sandwiches and in burgers. I can't wait for his next bacony creation.

Menu for Hope 4

2007-12-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

Today marks the kickoff of Chez Pim's Fourth Annual Menu for Hope fundraising event, benefiting the UN World Food Programme. In the words of Pim,

"It's that time of year again, when food bloggers from all over the world join together, taking leave from our usual frivolity. Throughout the year, we celebrate food as a source of joy, but for two weeks every December, we ask you, our readers, to help us support those who are not so lucky, to whom food is not a mere indulgence but a matter of survival. This Menu for Hope is our small way to help. Please join us."

For the next eleven days, food bloggers around the world will be working together to host an online raffle for a vast assortment of culinary prizes. For every $10, the donor will receive a virtual raffle ticket. This year's fabulous list of prizes include a tour of El Bulli with Ferran Adrià, dinner for two with wine pairing and a private tour of Manresa's biodynamic garden, and a private lunch with Harold McGee.

Last year, Menu for Hope raised $60,925.12 to help feed the hungry though the UN World Food Programme, the world's largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries.. Proceeds from this year's fundraiser are earmarked to benefit the school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa.

For additional details, including how to donate and a complete list of prizes, check the home of the fundraiser at Chez Pim.

A Night to Remember: Dinner at the French Laundry

2007-12-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, things just work out.

One of those times happened to Karen and me recently. Taking advantage of the Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to head up with Napa Valley for a few days. Since we don't usually stay up in Wine Country more than a single night, we thought that it would be fun to see if we could land a coveted reservation at the French Laundry (6640 Washington Street, Yountville; 707-944-2380). Owned by world-renown chef Thomas Keller, this 62 seat restaurant is recognized as one of the premier dining establishments in the world. Landing a table during the dinner hours in this tony Yountville restaurant is extremely difficult. In fact, there are web pages dedicated to doling out advice on how to get such a reservation.

So, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, I picked up the phone and called the reservation line at the French Laundry. When the receptionist answered, I told her that we going to come up with Napa for a long weekend and was wondering if we could get ourselves on the waiting list for each of those nights, with the hope that someone might cancel on a two-top during one of those evenings. Boy, was I surprised when I heard that there actually was a table for two available on Saturday night! I took advantage of this good fortune and immediately booked that open table. We were going to the French Laundry!

Arriving 15 minutes early for our 9pm reservation, we waited in the foyer of the rustic brick building, perusing the Bouchon and French Laundry cookbooks on the coffee table. After a few minutes, the host called our names and led us through the dining room to our seats. We sat down at the table, taking in the environment as we looked around the room. On the table in front of us was a neatly pleated napkin, on which was clipped a French Laundry clothespin.

Our dinner commenced with a couple of amuse bouche dishes. The first dish was warm Gruyère gougères, small savory pastries filled with cheese:

The second amuse bouche were a pair of ice-cream cone shaped salmon cornets with filled with crème fraîche. The cone was crunchy and its texture contrasted nicely with the minced salmon and silky crème fraîche.

At the French Laundry, you have the choice of two menus: the chef's tasting menu and the "tasting of vegetables" menu. (As I understand, there is also an unpublished 20 course tasting menu, but that needs to be ordered in advance.) Since it was the first visit to the French Laundry for both of us, we decided to order the chef's tasting menu.

The first course of the nine course tasting menu was the classic Keller dish "Oysters and Pearls", a sabayon of pearl tapioca with Beau Soleil oysters and white sturgeon caviar. The dish was wonderful. The texture of the tapioca contrasted nicely with that of the sabayon, and the oysters and caviar provided a perfect amount of briny flavor. We enjoyed this fabulous course with a flute of Pierre Gimonnet, a classic pairing of champagne and caviar.

For the next course, we had a choice. We could have had the hearts of palm salad, but we opted for the Moulard duck "foie gras au torchon" with stewed Oregon huckleberries, Tokyo turnips, spiced bread crumbs, and Garden Mâche, which was available with an additional $30 charge. If you follow our food adventures in this blog, you'll know that both Karen and I are huge fans of foie gras. Without a doubt, this was the single best foie gras dish that we've ever eaten. It was absolutely phenomenal. The foie gras was served with three different types of salt: a grey salt from the Brittany region of France, a Japanese sea salt, and a "Jurassic" salt from Montana, each with a different flavor and coarseness. Served with a side of toasted brioche from the Bouchon bakery just a couple of blocks down Washington Street, the dish was a meal in itself.

One very nice touch: in the middle of this decadent course, one of the servers came by to refresh our accompanying brioche with a hot slice of freshly toasted bread. The wine director steered us to a 2006 Yves Cuilleron Blanc "Roussilliere", which paired fabulously with the foie gras.

Next came the first of the fish courses. For this course, we had a choice of two different dishes, so Karen and I ordered one of each. I order the "Tartare" of Kona Kahala with cauliflower fleurettes, toasted Marcona almonds, Satsuma mandarins, and mizuna greens. I have to say that I was a bit underwhelmed by this course, especially after the two previous dishes, both of which were simply stunning. I was expecting some bold flavors, but this dish was a bit flat in my opinion.

Karen went with the line-caught Atlantic striped bass with glazed sunchokes, wilted Arrowleaf spinach, San Marzano tomato compote, and niçoise olives. This dish was pretty good, much better than my choice of fish. For this course and the next, we enjoyed a glass of Spencer Roloson viognier, which again was a great pairing suggested by the wine director.

Our second fish course was the fantastic sweet butter poached Maine lobster tail with caramelized cippolini onions, sugar snap peas, Yukon Gold "Pommes Maxims", and "Mousseline Bearnaise". This dish was as good as it looks. The lobster was perfectly cooked and buttery, especially with the luxurious Bearnaise sauce. The potato crisp was crisp and savory, but a bit difficult with eat with a fork and knife.

After the two fish courses came the meat courses. The first meat that came out of the kitchen was the all-day braised Kurobuta pork belly with grilled hearts of romaine lettuce, celeriac purée, and Périgold truffle glaze. The pork belly was succulent and fall-apart tender. The purée was a nice complement to the rich pork, but the romaine lettuce seemed a bit out of place on this plate. To go with this course and the following one, we had a glass of 2005 Brewer Clifton pinot noir. The wine was again quite good, a testament to the fine skills of our sommelier.

Our second meat course was a herb roasted saddle of Elysian Fields Farm lamb with globe artichokes, Nantes carrots, golden chanterelle mushrooms, and sweet garlic "jus". We could have opted for a course of Wagyu beef in place of the lamb, but the $100 supplemental charge seemed a bit steep to me. The lamb was amazing tender and quite flavorful. I enjoyed this dish very much, but I think that Karen was a little less impressed.

After finishing the lamb course, both of us were getting pretty full. We had finished all of the main courses, so we were now heading into the desserts. Our first dessert course was a cheese plate: "Petit Sapin" with Royal Blenhein apricots, red beet relish, and arugula leaves. I was not expecting a soft cheese for this course, but I liked it. I think that Karen enjoyed this dish as well, even with the beet relish.

Next came a palate cleaning feijoa sorbet with Maui pineapple relish and angel cake. The sorbet was very refreshing and the angel cake was very light. Given the heaviness of the previous courses, this was a welcome dish to enjoy at this point in our meal.

The last of the nine courses on the menu gave us two options for dessert. As it is our habit, we picked one of each course. I chose the "Charlotte aux Poires et aux Dates" with Bartlett pear sorbet, "Japonais", candied hazelnuts, and pear coulis. Like the previous sorbet dish, I like this dish quite a lot. At this point in the meal, I was definitely okay with enjoying some lighter dessert fare, and this dessert was lighter than it appeared.

Karen picked the "S'Mores" with cashew nut "Parfait", caramel "Délice", and "Sauce a la Guimauve brûlée". As with the corresponding dessert during our last dinner at Manresa, I wasn't a huge fan of the S'more, but that's probably more of a reflection of my personal preference than anything bad about this dessert.

With the last of the nine courses, we were finished with our dinner. Oh wait. We still had the mignardises.

After clearing away the dessert plates, the waiter brought me a Meyer lemon pot au crème and set a Tahitian vanilla crème brûlée before Karen.

After those two desserts were cleared away, we were completely stuffed. But there was more yet to come. Next came a little bowl of chocolate caramel macadamia nuts and some olive financier cookies (not pictured).

Next, we were presented with a huge platter of chocolates. On the suggestion of our waiter, we picked one of each type of chocolate for a total of six. It was six chocolates more than I should have eaten - now we were completely stuffed.

At this point, our waiter asked me for my camera so that he could take a photo of the two of us to commemorate the occasion. Here's a photo of two very sated diners:

Last, but not least, about a quarter past midnight, came our final mignardises course: a gold box filled with pâtes de fruit and other petit fours. I managed to try each of them, somehow finding a tiny bit of open space in my stomach.

Of course, such opulance does not come without a price, and a hefty one at that. Here's the damage:

Ouch.

As a final treat, our waiter presented us with some shortbread cookies to take home, courtesy of their pastry chef.

The service that we received that evening was impeccable. It was perhaps the cleanest and best executed service that I've ever experienced at a restaurant. The pacing of our meal was superb and we were never lacking for attention. Throughout our dinner, the waitstaff cleared our empty plates as soon as we finished our food and kept our water glasses full with complementary bottles of Hildon still water.

The members of the waitstaff were obviously well-practiced, delivering top-notch service throughout the evening with spot-on precision. It seemed like each of their movement were deliberate, well-thought out, and completely choreographed. Our main server was quite friendly, but it was not the personalized-type service that we've enjoyed at other restaurants, such as Frasca and Chapeau, though I don't think that either of us would have expected that type of atmosphere at a restaurant like the French Laundry.

All in all, we had a fabulous meal. It was definitely one of the best meals that I've ever enjoyed at a restaurant. Everything was there: spectacular food and flawless service in a luxurious setting. But, on the other hand, neither Karen or I thought that the food was far superior to that of Manresa, where we've enjoyed a couple of fabulous dinners at a much lower price point. In fact, we both thought that the food was, in fact, quite comparable. While the service at the French Laundry was superior to Manresa, I'm not convinced that it justifies the difference in price. So, did we enjoy our dinner? Absolutely - it was a fabulous dinner, perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity to dine at one of the best restaurants in the world. Would we go back? Maybe (and really just maybe), though it wouldn't be any time soon, especially with Manresa just a short drive away.

Absinthe No Longer Absent

2007-12-04T23:37:00.000-08:00

As of December 21, American-made absinthe will be legally available in the United States after a 95 year absence. Bay Area distiller St. George Spirits, best known for their high-end Hanger One vodka, will be selling bottles of the newly legalized liquor at its Alameda tasting room and at a few select retail locations. Though the absinthe must legally have less than 10 parts per million of thujone, the chemical thought to be responsible for the liquor's hallucinogenic effect, the high alcohol content (typically around 120 proof), should get you to where you want to go.

All the Lobster You Can Eat

2007-12-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

The price: $2,995.

For that price, you get your very own lobster trap for the season and all of the crustaceans that you catch (guaranteed minimum: 40), courtesy of Ready Seafoods. The price includes shipping, as well as other accoutrements, including mussels, clams, Maine-made gourmet desserts, bibs, cooking instructions, and gift cards, as you catch a piece of Maine.

2900 Calories, 182g of Fat, and 240g of Carbs...

2007-12-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

... is what you would consume if you ate the worst of the 20 worst foods in America.

Catching Up.... On Thanksgiving

2007-12-03T19:56:00.001-08:00

After being out of town for most of the past two weeks, I'm back at home for a bit, so I can catch up on my blogging.

First, some pics from our Thanksgiving dinner. Since there was only two of us, we made a small-ish (12 lbs.) turkey. Instead of doing something overly complicated, we simply put some compound butter under the skin, stuffed some aromatics in the cavity, and roasted the bird, basting it periodically with butter using my mom's tried and true technique. We ended up with this:

The sides (clockwise from the upper left): baked squash hotdish, bread stuffing, braised leeks, and cranberry compote.

To go along with dinner, we had a bottle of 2006 Peju Sauvignon Blanc. We managed to enjoy our Thankgiving dinner without stuffing ourselves silly, unlike a couple of nights later...

Good to the Last Drop

2007-11-30T00:42:00.000-08:00

I've been hanging out in Stockholm this week for work but will be making my way back home early tomorrow morning. With the nine hour time shift and the resulting jet lag, I've been feeling pretty tired all week, so I've been keeping myself well-caffeinated. Luckily for me, the coffee over in Sweden is quite good - I haven't had a bad cup o' joe yet. No wonder that Sweden is among the world's leading countries in the per-capita consumption of coffee.

Just Sit Tight... Will Be Reporting Back Soon...

2007-11-28T14:34:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are waiting for the report on our visit to the French Laundry, just hang in there for a few more days. I had to travel to Europe this week for work, so I haven't had a chance to sit down and write a proper post. Once I return from Sweden, I'll get cracking on the write-up. I'll just say that we had a wonderful evening - it was one of the best meals that I've ever eaten.

Thanks for your patience!

Getting Ready to Feast Tomorrow

2007-11-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

I just got done with the last of my Thanksgiving Day grocery shopping. I'm glad that I took the day off to relax and avoid the mad evening rush at Safeway that inevitably happens the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. As I picked out a fresh turkey for tomorrow night's dinner, I was asked by two different people on how to select and prepare the turkey. I was happy to help, though a bit surprised - it's not like I was wearing a Butterball Turkey Hotline cap or anything like that.

Since it'll only be the two of us for dinner tomorrow, we're going to keep it simple. The menu for tomorrow is (tentatively):

Roasted Turkey (not sure what I want to do quite yet - the last time, we made a miso butter-rubbed version)

Bread stuffing (I'm not a huge fan of stuffing, but Karen likes it)

Cranberry compote (both of us will be making our own variation)

Braised leeks (Karen loved the leeks that we had at Ad Hoc, so I thought that I would make some for her)

Baked Squash Casserole

Hmmm... I guess that we'll be having a lot of leftovers...

My Aha! Food Moments

2007-11-20T23:10:00.000-08:00

Every so often, each of us experiences an "Aha!" moment. During these brief flashes of insight, you make a quantum leap and suddenly have a profound revelation that changes the way you view the world. Over the past few days, I've been thinking about the "Aha!" food moments that I've experienced. I came up with a list of five such moments which I would like to share with you.

O-Toro
Date: July 9, 2005
Place: Sushi Ran, Sausalito, CA
During the summer of 2005, I had my first encounter with o-toro, the most luscious cut of maguro available. I can still remember that piece of tuna belly just melting away in my mouth like it just happened yesterday. The taste and texture were simply amazing and unlike anything else that I had ever eaten before. That utterly decadent slice of fish changed the way that I think about eating sushi. Since then, every time that I eat o-toro (which is nearly every time I eat sushi), I close my eyes and hope that I can once again experience the feeling of eating o-toro for the first time.

The Complete Dining Experience
Date: August 17, 2005
Place: Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, CO
It was during my dinner at Frasca when I first understood how exquisite service combined with exceptional food executed with culinary precision can elevate a simple meal into an out-of-this-world dining experience.

The Corn Croquette
Date: October 1, 2005
Place: Manresa, Los Gatos, CA
Karen and I celebrated our first year together with a fabulous dinner at Manresa. Ordering the tasting menu, we were treated to a series of amuse bouche prior to our main courses. One of these amuse bouche offerings was a croquette, a small, breaded morsel meant to be eaten in a single bite. When I bit down on the croquette, I was completely surprised by its warm liquid center which released the pure and unadulterated taste of sweet corn into my mouth. Its sun-soaked flavor simply made my taste buds sing. The croquette utterly captured the delectable essence of corn and demonstrated that little packages can be full of wonderful surprises.

The Cheese Plate
Date: November 21, 2005
Place: Le Bistro de l'Olivier, Paris, France
At the end of an otherwise ordinary meal at a mostly empty bistro in the 8th arrondissement, Karen and I were both blown away by the cheese course. The plate had a couple types of cheeses and was served with a smear of honey sprinkled with lavender. The cheeses tasted fine, but combined with the honey and lavender, their flavors were elevated to extraordinary level. For the first time, I understood how good a cheese plate could be, the elements of the plate coming together to show how the whole can be far greater than the sum of its parts.

And there is one more moment, but it's certainly not the least important. In fact, it probably is one of the defining moments of my life as a foodie.

Beer Can Chicken
Date: Early Summer, 2002
Place: Chez moi, Silicon Valley, CA
One afternoon, I pulled out my copy of Steve Raichlen's How to Grill book and found the recipe for beer-can chicken. It looked simple enough, so I followed the recipe and set up my gas grill to hot smoke the poultry until it was golden brown. Taking my first bite of chicken, I was utterly amazed by the exceptional flavor and juiciness. I asked myself if I could have actually made that bird myself. It was better than any rotisserie chicken that I had ever bought at a store and it was so easy and simple to make. I even remember calling my mom to tell her about what I had made and how good it was.

The important point of this "Aha!" moment is that up until this point in my life, I considered myself to be an adequate, though unexceptional cook. Sure, I knew how to keep myself well-fed and even improvise a bit on existing recipes, but I never strayed too far from the tried and true. However, at this moment, I realized that I might have some potential in the kitchen. Perhaps I always had it in me, but this moment gave me the confidence to believe in my own culinary abilities and set me off on a course to being a foodie, a path that I'm still following today.

One of my favorite quotes from Julia Child is:

"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."

This moment gave me that "what-the-hell" attitude.

So folks, I'd love to hear some of your "Aha!" food moments. I hope that you will share them with me!

As Simple as That...

2007-11-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, I picked up the phone, dialed a number in Yountville, and landed a Saturday evening dinner reservation here. Woo-hoo!

A New Layout (or Not)

2007-11-18T21:43:00.000-08:00

Some of you may notice some minor changes in the look and feel around here. I just finished migrating the blog from Blogger Templates to Layouts. I can hopefully take advantage of the some of the features in Layouts as well as get fixes to issues that have never been resolved in Templates. If you encounter any problems or have any comments or suggestions, please let me know!

Happy reading!

1300 on Fillmore

2007-11-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

(This post is way overdue, but better late than never, right?)

A couple of weeks ago, Karen took me out for a fabulous birthday dinner at 1300 on Fillmore (1300 Fillmore St; 415-771-7100), a new restaurant located in the Fillmore Jazz district of San Francisco. Having opened only five days prior to our visit, 1300 on Fillmore features American food with a Southern flair. Indeed, their website describe their cuisine as "Soulful American". Opened by Executive Chef David Lawrence and his wife Monetta White, 1300 on Fillmore is located in the Heritage on Fillmore high-rise, next to the soon-to-be-open Yoshi's Jazz Club.

Arriving at the restaurant, Karen and I initially walked right by the nondescript wooden front door. Once we realized our mistake and made our way through the entrance, we found ourselves surrounded by the dark walls of the stylishly appointed space. Designed by the MCCARTAN design firm, the restaurant exudes sophistication without feeling overly formal. Covering its walnut and chocolate brown walls are portraits of famous legends of jazz, an homage to the heritage of the surrounding Lower Fillmore neighborhood. Strategically placed rows of indirect and spot lighting provide just right amount of illumination to offset the dark walls without losing the intimate and cozy feel.

When we arrived, the restaurant had ample availability (not surprising given its recent soft opening and the time of our mid-week visit), so the hostess led us to a four-top near the Eddy Street-facing windows in the main dining room. Since it was my birthday, we started off our dinner with a little bubbly - I enjoyed a glass of Gloria Ferrer as we perused the menu.

Both of us were pretty hungry, so we ordered two appetizers: the freshwater shrimp hush puppies and the bourbon braised pork belly. These hush puppies differed from ones that I had eaten in the past as it appeared to have a simple cornmeal coating as opposed to a layer of deep fried cornbread batter. Accompanying the basket of shrimp hush puppies was a small ramekin of spicy ancho chile remoulade. The Louisiana-style remoulade was different from mayonnaise-based ones that I've made myself, but it provided just the right amount of heat to accent the flavor of the piping hot and tasty hush puppies. After polishing off the shrimp, we started in on the pork belly. The generous portion of braised meat was fall-apart tender and simply succulent. However, I didn't care so much for the shelled white bean puree on which the pork was served. Normally, I like the combination of sweet flavors with pork (ever tried pig candy?), but in this case, the sweetness of the bean puree just did not work for me in this dish.

For the main courses, Karen and I split the skillet fried chicken and the maple syrup braised beef short rib. The fried chicken is one of the house specialties and requires 30 minutes of prep time. The chicken was excellent - its crunchy coating was packed with flavor (highlighted with cumin, if I'm not mistaken) and sealed in the juices, resulting in a savory and moist entrée that's well worth the wait. The side of truffled mashed potatoes with pan gravy was tasty as well, but it is the chicken that is the highlight of this dish. With three pieces of chicken per order, there is plenty of goodness to share. Our other main course was delicious as well. Our order of short rib had only a small sliver of bone, which meant that we were able to enjoy a generous portion of tender beef between the two of us. I don't normally associate sweet flavors with beef, but it definitely worked in this dish, in marked contrast to the braised pork belly. The sides of mashed potatoes and braised greens were good, but it was the short rib that was the headliner on this dish. We liked both of our selections quite a bit, but if there was a small complaint, it was that both of these dishes came out to us a bit on the cool side. The plates were each very hot, but the food itself was less so. Nevertheless, the chicken and beef were very good, despite cooling off quickly. We just chalked it up to newness of the restaurant; hopefully, they'll be able to work out the kinks quickly.

The service at 1300 on Fillmore was impeccable. Our server, Annette, was very friendly and attentive to our needs, as were the bussers who kept our water glasses from going empty all evening long. Since it was a bit slow that evening, Annette stopped by our table frequently, not only checking to make sure that everything was going well, but also chatting with us about the restaurant when we expressed interest. Both Chef Lawrence and his wife paid a visit to our table in order to welcome us to their new venue as well as to pass along birthday wishes, which I thought was quite nice. At the end of our meal, Annette brought us an order of chocolate-filled beignets, on the house, topped off with a birthday candle. The freshly made beignets were accompanied by chocolate and vanilla dipping sauces - they were a delicious end to a very nice meal.

While it was a bit slow during our visit, I suspect that soon it might be difficult to land a reservation there, especially on weekends. During our dinner, a large party came in to the semi-private 22-person party room, located just off the main dining area. Apparently, they had already been receiving some requests for that party room, even though they had not yet started taking reservations officially at that point in time. Once Yoshi's opens, I think that they'll be getting a lot of the spillover traffic from its next-door neighbor, especially since they will be serving dinner until 11pm and a lounge menu until 1am. They have also applied for permits so that they can host live jazz entertainment, which will be quite nice once they start up their weekend brunch. We plan to pay them a visit again soon.

Makin' Some Chowdah

2007-10-28T15:04:00.001-07:00

Now that Karen has left for the airport to head back to the Bay Area, I can share my next recipe with you. (You see, I want to have a little surprise for her when she gets home.)

Using the chicken stock that I made yesterday, I put together a simple chowder, again adapting a recipe that originally called for turkey. Made with some of Karen's favorite foods, including bacon, wild rice, and sweet corn, I thought that this soup would make for a nice "Welcome Home" meal.

Before starting to work on the soup itself, I had to prepare some wild rice. I had just enough wild rice in my pantry for this recipe, though it looks like I will need to put in an order to Minnesota for another 10 lbs bag. After the rice finished cooking, I put it aside and started the work on the soup. I started by browning up some bacon my trusty Dutch oven. The recipe called for pancetta, but unfortunately Safeway is a bit challenged when it comes to specialty items such as this.

After browning the bacon, I drained it on paper towels and removed some of the excess fat from the cast iron pot. Then, I threw in some cremini mushrooms and cooked them for a few minutes in the rendered fat.

After the mushrooms were cooked down, I remove them from the Dutch oven and began softening some diced celery, carrots, and shallots in melted butter. I cut down the amount of butter called for in the recipe in half, since I didn't see the need to use an half a stick of butter for this. After the vegetable mixture had softened up a bit, I put in some flour. As I had reduced the amount of butter, I also reduced the amount of flour proportionally.

After the roux had cooked for a couple of minutes, I returned the mushrooms to the pot and added the chicken stock and some dried rosemary.

Once the stock and vegetable mixture came to a boil, I lowered the heat and simmered the soup for 15 minutes or so. Then, I added in wild rice, the reserved bacon, the meat from the chickens that I used to make the stock, and some sweet corn.

After allowing the soup to simmer for another 10 minutes to meld the flavors together, I added the final ingredient, a cup of heavy cream, to finish off the dish. I tried some of the soup with a simple garnish of flat leaf parsley.

The chowder was delicious, very hearty with a nice silky finish. It'll definitely keep you warm on a cool, autumn evening.

As I was making the chowder, I was simultaneously baking some Amish friendship bread using a starter that Karen gave me.

Does anyone want any bread starter?

Stocking Up

2007-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of fall and cooler weather, it's a perfect time to enjoy some warm and hearty soup. In order to make soup, you need some sort of base liquid, such as a nice chicken stock. Of course, the best stock is the homemade variety, so today I set out to make some for myself, adapting a recipe for turkey stock from the latest issue of Bon Appétit by substituting two chicken carcasses for the turkey.

A stock is basically a liquid made from simmering a few ingredients in water. All stocks are made with some sort of animal bone, often chicken or beef. The main flavor of the stock comes from the cartilage and connective tissues in the bones. The collagen in the connective tissues is transformed into gelatin during the simmering process and contributes to the resulting mouthfeel of the stock. Most stocks also contain other flavoring agents, such as mirepoix, an onion, celery, and carrot mixture (often in a 2:1:1 ratio), and aromatic herbs, such as parsley and thyme. The recipe from Bon Appétit is comprised of these components.

First, I had to prepare the mirepoix. In general, a rough dice will work; I had roughly 1/3 inch cubes in my mirepoix mixture.

I didn't have a large onion for which the recipe called so I used three medium onion halves (which conveniently allowed me to use up all of the cut onions in the refrigerator):

This recipe called for four aromatics: fresh parsley (left), dried thyme, a bay leaf, and whole peppercorns (right, clockwise from the top):

Not owning a true stock pot, I pulled out my Le Creuset dutch oven, heated up some vegetable oil, and softened up the mirepoix.

Ater a few minutes, I added the two chicken carcasses with enough cold water to cover the bones and the aromatics:

I simmered the stock for about three hours. By the end of that time, the bones were very soft and easily crushed. Removing the pot from the heat, I strained out the solids in a stainless steel bowl using a colander. I used a potato masher to press out the liquid from the mass of bones and aromatics. I let the stock cool down for a while and then used a separator ladle to remove the layer of fat that had floated to the surface.

Here's the final result, after the fat was skimmed off. (Gotta love those Cambro containers!)

I ended up getting about 7 cups of stock, so I topped it off with water (as the recipe suggested) to 10 cups. The stock can be stored in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer if you want to use it in the future. I'll be using mine tomorrow!

Edit: The San Francisco Chronicle today published an article in which Bay Area chefs share their opinions on the best way to make stock. (10/31/2007)

One Dram at a Time

2007-10-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, Karen surprised me with a fabulous early birthday present: tickets to the First Annual San Francisco Whisky Fest hosted by Malt Advocate magazine. We met up after work yesterday evening at the Hyatt Regency, site of this tasting event, and headed into the main ballroom where more than 200 of the world's finest single malt and blended whiskies were waiting for us to sample. Whiskies of all kind from around the world were present at this event. There were Canadian and Irish whiskeys, Japanese single malts, and Kentucky bourbons distributed among the 70 or so booths at the gala. For me, however, the highlight of the evening were the Scotch whiskies, which were well-represented at this event.

As we walked around the ballroom, it was difficult to figure out where to start, but after a few minutes of wandering, we ran into the table for Highland Park, a single malt label that I had been looking to try for some time. Not only did I get a chance to try to 12 year old bottling, I also was able to sample 15, 18, 25, and 30 year old versions of this fine liquor. The gentleman pouring the drams for us at the Highland Park table was very friendly and happy to answer our many questions. This was our experience all evening: many knowledgeable and nice people who were more than pleased to serve us their version of the distilled beverage and share their extensive knowledge about this famous liquor. Over the course of the evening, we took the opportunity to sample the whisky from many different distilleries, including Talisker, Oban, and Dalwhinnie. We also sampled some blended whiskies, such as The Famous Grouse, and a Japanese whiskey, Suntory of Lost in Translation fame. Karen and I also sampled some of my favorite Scotch, The Macallan. We capped off our evening with a tasting of various bottlings of Glenfarclas.

At each booth, we had the opportunity to try multiple offerings from each distillery, including some 30 year old whiskies and a few 110+ proof cask strength ones as well. I learned that I'm not a fan of full cask strength whisky, but I also realized that just a tiny bit of water opened the liquor enough to enjoy the complex flavors. Even though each pour was quite small, the total amount that we consumed added up, so we took several breaks from imbibing to eat some pasta, roast beef, and crudite in the adjacent ballroom.

Interspersed throughout the evening were a number of breakout lectures on whiskies, on topics ranging from "The Art of Japanese Whisky" to "Scotch... or... Bourbon?" and "Deconstructing Glenfiddich 21 Caribbean Run Finish". We decided to check out the lecture "Chocolate and Scotch Pairing", also known as "The Fruit of the Gods meets the Water of Life". Our session was sponsored by the maker of Laphroaig and The Dalmore single malt whiskies and Bay Area chocolatier, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker. The session was hosted by Simon Brooking, Master Ambassador for the two aforementioned distilleries. Simon delivered a very engaging and entertaining lecture about the making of Scotch whisky, which contrasted markedly with the far less energetic presentation given by his chocolate making counterpart. It was interesting to see the parallels between the making of Scotch whisky and chocolate, and even more intriguing to try various types of Scotch paired up against specific kinds of chocolate. Some of the pairings worked better than others, but all of them were palatable.

All in all, I had a really fun evening enjoying some whisky with my sweetie. It was a great birthday surprise and an event that I hope to attend again next year. (Hint, hint.)

The 2008 Michelin Guide

2007-10-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

Today, the second edition of the Bay Area Michelin guide was released, with 34 restaurants receiving a one star rating or higher. Out of this list, Karen and I have been fortunate enough to visit a few of them: Bouchon, Boulevard, Gary Danko, Quince, Range, Redd, Sushi Ran, Cyrus, and Manresa, with the last two restaurants garnering a two star rating.

In addition, the guide lists 50 other Bay Area restaurants which earned a Bib Gourmand rating. According to the guide, this rating is given to restaurants that are "an inspector's favorite for good value. For $40 or less, you can enjoy two courses and a glass of wine or dessert (not including tax and gratuity)." Out of these restaurants, Karen and I have sampled the fare at A16, Cafe Gibraltar, Delfina, Hong Kong Flower Lounge, Junnoon, Kokkari Estiatorio, Koo, Nopa, Perbacco, Poleng Lounge, Pres a Vi, rmn, Tomasso's, and Yank Sing. We've also visited the predecessor of TWO (namely, Hawthorne Lane).

(Edited 10/24/2007 to include links to past dining experiences.)

What We Ate... At Saha

2007-10-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 17

Dinner: Saha, 1075 Sutter Street; 415-345-9547

Tonight was Date Night, so where does a guy take his lady? For a dining experience in ~~the Tenderloin~~ ~~the Tendernob~~ Nob Hill, of course. For our date tonight, I decided to try something a little different, so I took Karen to Saha, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the Hotel Carlton. Named after the Arabic word meaning "a toast to good health", Saha serves up Middle Eastern fusion cuisine, combining the flavors of Yemeni cooking with Californian and French influences.

What we ate:

Stuffed avocado: Knaffe (see below) coated & lightly fried avocado stuffed with pomegranate, couscous, tabouleh, and served with semi-soy marinated tofu and raspberry reduction. This starter had an interesting mix of textures and flavors with the crunchy coating contrasting nicely with the creamy avocado. The slices of tofu were surprising good as well.

Kofta: Yemeni meatballs of ground lamb and beef marinated with allspice, cumin, mint, cilantro, onion, and olive oil. Served with zahaweg, a spicy tomato and chile sauce. The meatballs were nicely charred and tasty. The accompanying sauce provided quite a bit of kick.

Classic Moroccan couscous: prepared with 7 seasonal vegetables and 8 spices in light saffron broth with chicken and merguez sausage. This dish was excellent, with the couscous soaking up the plentiful juices from the meat. This plate had an interesting mix of vegetables too, included what I thought may have been daikon.

Lamb tagine: served with basmati rice. This was another excellent dish. The lamb was very flavorful, with a slight hint of sweetness, and fall-apart tender. This dish was a special addition to the menu tonight.

Knaffe: a sweet dessert made with shredded phyllo and melted cheese. A fabulous dessert, not overly sweet, with an interesting contrast in textures between the phyllo and cheese. Worth the 20 minute wait.

What we drank:

Sokol Blosser Evolution: a blend of 9 varietals, from Willamette Valley, Oregon

Angels and Cupcakes

2007-10-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, San Francisco hosted Fleet Week, an annual event held during the Columbus Day weekend to honor the Sailors and Marines serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The past few years, Karen and I have missed Fleet Week, as either one or both of us have been out of town for some reason or another. (For instance, we were in Hawaii during last year's event.) This year, both of us were in town, so we decided to head down to the waterfront to check it out.

One of the main draws of the weekend is the airshow, which is highlighted with an aerial performance by the Blue Angels, the Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron. Though I had been to a few other airshows in the past, this was the first one where I saw the Blue Angels. They did not disappoint. The precision in their maneuvers was amazing; at times, it appeared that the six planes were moving as a single entity, as the fighters flew together with just a few feet of separation between them.

From our vantage point near the shore, we could feel the immense power of the jets as they roared overhead during their 45 minute show. One of the more memorable moments for me was when a solo F/A-18 did a high-speed pass at what must have been no more than 50 feet above the water, the vortex of its mighty wake turbulence parting the waters of San Francisco Bay. It was just a lot of fun to watch the planes weave between one another against the gorgeous backdrop of the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge.

After the show ended, Karen and I decided to take advantage of the fact that we were in the Marina District to grab some sweet treats at Kara's Cupcakes, named after owner Kara Lind. An advertising sales exec turned baker, Lind sources the organic ingredients for her cakes from local suppliers to ensure that her products are as fresh as possible. After having read about this little bakery in both the Daily Candy and in the local paper, both of us were excited to pay them a visit.

Luckily, we beat the big rush and only had to wait a minute or two before it was our turn to order. Karen decided to go with the Chocolate Velvet (below left), a chocolate cupcake with a velvety bittersweet chocolate buttercream, while I went with the Raspberry Dazzle, a chocolate confection frosted with a raspberry buttercream.

The cupcakes were very good, a bit lighter than I expected. At $3 (or more) per cupcake, it's also a bit on the expensive side. I wonder how the cupcakes compare with those from New York City's Magnolia Bakery, of Sex in the City and SNL fame. Maybe it's time for a West Coast v. East Coast, SF v. NYC, cupcake face-off.

A "Great" Start to the Day

2007-10-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today, Hardee's announced their newest breakfast offering. The new Country Breakfast Burrito is composed of two bacon, sausage, and ham omelets, five hash rounds, shredded cheddar cheese, and country gravy wrapped in a flour tortilla. Ladened with 920 calories and 60 grams of fat, the breakfast burrito is a perfect complement to Hardee's 1420 calories, double quarter pound Monster Thickburger and its 83 grams-o-fat Southwest Chicken Salad. Hopefully, they will have AED units available at all locations.

United v. Lufthansa, Part II

2007-10-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been on a road a couple of times in recent weeks. Shortly after my trip to Minnesota, work took me to Europe for another week-long journey away from home. On this trip, I flew United, so I had the opportunity to sample their Business Class cuisine. As you might recall, I wrote about my dining experience on Lufthansa earlier this year, so to be fair, I figured that I should share my thoughts about United's culinary offerings. This time, I remembered to bring my camera so that I could share my experience via pictures.

On its international flights, United offers exclusive menu selections created in partnership with Chicago restaurateur Charlie Trotter. Known for his highly regarded eponymous restaurant, Trotter worked with United to create several different dishes for First and Business class passengers on U.S. outbound flights.

For dinner, we started with citrus-cured smoked salmon with caramelized fennel citrus salad and organic yuzu-miso vinaigrette. This Trotter-designed dish was pretty good. The salmon was tasty, as was the fennel citrus salad. I didn't really see the need for the vinaigrette though; there was enough dressing in the salad and the salmon was fine without a sauce.

For the main dinner course, I chose another Trotter-inspired offering, a mustard-braised pork medallion with roasted banana fingerling potatoes and rosemary honey glazed carrots. This dish was not good. The pork was dry and lacking in flavor. It was overcooked as well; I prefer pork to be cooked to medium, with a just slightly pink center. On the other hand, the carrots were completely undercooked. It felt like I was eating warm, but raw carrots. In hindsight, I should have probably picked the Boursin lasagna instead.

For dessert, I had vanilla and strawberry ice cream. It was quite nice, especially with the glass of port that I enjoyed to help me fall asleep.

After a good six hours of sleep, it was time for breakfast. Once again, I had another Trotter-created dish: Florentine quiche with Hollandaise sauce, pork sausage, and crispy bacon. The quiche itself was decent, but the Hollandaise sauce was quite odd, having a consistency similar to crème brûlée. I had a taste, but it just didn't seem quite right. One of my colleagues got very sick the following day and he thinks that it might have been related to eating the sauce. The sausage and bacon were okay, about what I would expect from airplane breakfast meats. The highlight of this meal was the accompanying fruit platter, which was quite good, especially the cantaloupe.

On the return trip, there weren't any Trotter-inspired items, so I just went with what sounded good. I was flying back on the late flight, so dinner service started soon after takeoff. The starter was marinated prawns and salami with pineapple mango chutney, vegetable ratatouille, artichoke hearts, and stuffed green olives. This plate was good, though I didn't care so much for the chutney.

For the main course, I selected the pan-seared filet mignon with porcini mushroom sauce, roasted potato wedges with rosemary, and lemon brown buttered asparagus. I should have known better than to go with a beef entrée. The filet was way-overcooked, definitely well-done, quite tough, and totally dry, even with the mushroom sauce. I can't even vouch for the claim that it was a cut of filet. It could have been a hunk of round, for all I could tell. The out-of-season asparagus was stringy and overcooked. I should have gone with the herb and cheese stuffed gnocchi with spinach cream sauce.

Since I had ice cream on my previous flight, I decided on the cheese platter for dessert, which included grapes and crackers to go with the Bavarian Blue and Red Cheddar cheeses. The platter was excellent. The cheeses were very flavorful and paired well with the grapes. I would have definitely liked seconds on this dish.

Since I enjoyed the cheese platter so much, I selected the cheese plate for the snack just prior to landing. The plate had Cheddar, Brie, and Chaumes cheeses and a selection of fresh fruit. The fruit was excellent, surprisingly ripe and flavorful. The cheeses were excellent as well. It definitely hit the spot.

The final verdict? Eh, the food was okay, with a few hits and some misses, the Trotter effect notwithstanding. I guess that there's only so much you can do using those heating units in the airplane galley, so even though the concepts might have been good, the execution was lacking. (Of course, the contestants on Top Chef seemed to do reasonably well under those conditions.) One interesting side note is that United has actually gone back to using metal knives in their flatware in Business class. I always thought that it was a bit silly to offer plastic knives when the airlines were still using metal forks.

On the Road Again

2007-09-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since my last post! It's been a busy month for me, one during which I was on the road a couple of times. Three weeks ago, Karen and I managed to get away for a long weekend trip to Minnesota. My high school friend Chris was getting married in Minneapolis, so we headed back to my home state for the wedding and took the opportunity to spend some time with my mom and sister. It was Karen's first trip to the Land of 10,000+ Lakes, so I wanted to take her around for a tour of the Twin Cities. We checked out the most obvious tourist attraction, the Mall of America, on our first evening in town. Due to the timing of our flights and the wedding events, we only had one full day to take in the scenery, but we were able to fit in a tour of downtown Minneapolis and take a nice drive around Lake Calhoun. We also drove around the University of Minnesota campus and saw the site of the collapsed bridge. In the afternoon, we took a long walk in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden next to the Walker Art Center and enjoyed the fabulously warm and sunny weather.

While we were there, I wanted to introduce Karen to some regional food specialties. Unfortunately, our trip took place a week after the State Fair ended; otherwise, we probably would have sampled some food on a stick. I wasn't sure where we could go out for some authentic hot dish, so instead I decided to take her out for a pannekoeken breakfast. Despite living in one of the world's food meccas, I have no idea where one can get these Dutch pancakes in the Bay Area, but you can definitely find a few restaurants in the Twin Cities, such as Pannekoeken Huis, that serve these Dutch treats. The location near my mom's house recently closed, but fortunately there is another location not too far away. There were a lot of pannekoeken selections from which to choose. I settled on the bacon pannekoeken, while Karen went with the rhubarb special and added in some fresh strawberries. My mom ordered a non-pannekoeken dish, much to my surprise, as she missed a chance to order her favorite banana cream Dutch pancake. While the pannekoekens were tasty, I must admit that I was slightly disappointed that our server didn't run out of the kitchen, with hot skillets in hand, announcing the arrival of our order to the rest of the diners. Then again, it would have been quite amusing to see our tall, tattooed waiter calling out "Pannekoeken!" as he delivered our meal.

Served Up on a Stick

2007-08-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, SF Gate food critic Michael Bauer attended the Association of Food Journalists conference in my home town, the Twin Cities. While he was there, he and the 60 or so conference attendees from around the country took the opportunity to visit the annual state get-together, the Minnesota State Fair. In his blog, Bauer writes about his visit to the festival, an homage to the state's agricultural heritage and a celebration marking the end of another summer past.

While the fair features a multitude of art and science exhibits, musical performances, and carnival rides, I would argue that it is the food that draws people to this event year after year. Indeed, for a brief twelve short days at the end of each summer, the state fairgrounds become the proverbial center of the culinary universe. You see, among the 4-H livestock judgings, the farm equipment displays, the roller coasters, the REO Speedwagon concerts, and the stock car races lies the true raison d'être of the State Fair: food-on-a-stick. As any true Minnesotan knows, it is not the molecular gastronomy nor the Slow Food movement that marks the leading edge of the culinary world today, but it is rather the answer to the simple question,

"What food can I serve on a wooden stick this year?"
As Bauer notes, the Minnesota State Fair is the home to all foods served on a wooden skewer. From walleye pike-on-a-stick to alligator-on-a-stick to spaghetti and meatballs-on-a-stick to Reuben Dog-on-a-stick to macaroni and cheese-on-a-stick to pork chop-on-a-stick to the classic Pronto Pup, the State Fair has it all. You can even get hotdish-on-a-stick, complete with cream of mushroom soup dipping sauce, though I'm not sure why it took until 2006 before someone revealed this secret to the entire world. Of course, you can find other culinary gems there such as deep fried cheese curds and cinnamon sugar lefse, but it's the food-on-a-stick that brings the people back year-in, year-out.

This food-on-a-stick phenomenon is not just restricted to the Upper Midwestern food scene. Folks visiting the Texas State Fair can now enjoy peach cobbler-on-a-stick. Sadly, the cobbler is the only entry for the Big Tex Choice Awards this year. Hopefully, if all goes well, you will be able to enjoy Fried Coke-on-a-stick at the next state fair.

The Best Thing Since Sliced...

2007-08-28T00:04:00.000-07:00

...Spam! Yep, you heard that right. Your favorite canned luncheon meat now comes pre-sliced in a single-serving pack for your dining convenience.

What will those guys in Austin think of next??

An Afternoon in Bodega

2007-08-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Karen and I drove up to the Bodega Seafood, Art, and Wine Festival in Sonoma County, about 90 minutes north of San Francisco. What started as an overcast and cool day turned into a sunny and warm one as the day progressed. We listened to some music and checked out some of the pieces being sold by the many artisans and craftspeoples exhibiting their work at the festival. Of course, we also had a chance to check out the delectable cuisine being sold by the many food vendors in attendance. Here's a rundown of some of the food items that we encountered (and devoured):

A shrimp po'boy on a Dutch crunch roll. We were a couple of bites in before we remembered to take a picture:

Teriyaki chicken with a side of garlic fries. The chicken portion was huge:

Some homestyle macaroni and cheese:

A funnel cake topped with powdered sugar, strawberries, whipped cream, and cocoa powder:

Happy Birthday, Big Guy

2007-08-24T00:58:00.000-07:00

The Big Mac turns 40.

Alive and Kicking

2007-08-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

Lest you think that my recent lack of posts means that I have been not eating (as my friend Doug seems to think, at least judging from his comments in a recent post), let me reassure you that I am alive and well, but simply quite busy. Despite our somewhat hectic schedules, Karen and I have managed to fit in a few dining outings here and there.

A couple of weeks back, Karen took advantage of her half-day Friday to hop on a mid-afternoon train and head down in my direction, meeting up with me just as I was getting off work. We had made plans to meet up with one of our friends, Diana, before she headed out to the other coast for grad school this fall. We left the dining plans up to Diana, who wanted to enjoy some cuisine that she might not be able to get in her new home city. She thought that some Indian food would be nice, so we headed to Amber India (377 Santana Row; 408-248-5400). This was our first visit to the Santana Row location, though we had previously dined at the Mountain View restaurant. I was a bit surprised at the differences in decor between the two locations. The atmosphere at the original restaurant is subdued and traditional, a marked contrast from the new location's trendy and sophisticated decor, which fits in perfectly at Santana Row. For dinner, we decided to share a few entrees: asparagus kofta, maans ki soweta, and butter chicken. The kofta was good, but then again, how could a paneer cheese dumpling not be good? We also liked the maans ki soweta, a lamb curry with yogurt and corn, but our favorite was the butter chicken, which was very rich and quite decadent.

The next morning, we slept in and enjoyed a late breakfast of egg, cheese, and Spam sandwiches (yes, I do like Spam) before heading up to the City to meet up with a group of friends at the Nihonmachi Street Fair in Japantown. It was a nice day for a walk, during which we took in the sights and sounds of the fair. We also liked the smells that were coming from the many food vendors, who were grilling up large quantities of teriyaki chicken and beef over hot coals. Though I was tempted, I refrained from ordering any street food as we had agreed to an early dinner with our friends. After walking around the fair for a bit, we wandered down to Fillmore Street and checked out Pacific Heights, one of my favorite neighborhoods in San Francisco. Soon, all of us were starting to get hungry so we decided to pick a nearby dining establishment for dinner. We settled on The Elite Cafe (2049 Fillmore Street; 415-346-8668), a Cajun/Creole restaurant located in Upper Fillmore. By the time we were seated, all of us were quite hungry. We definitely needed some starters. We ordered a dozen of Doňa Luisa's Infamous deviled eggs for the entire group as well as a mess of cornbread, which we devoured as soon as the food hit the table. For the main course, I ordered the duck confit, shrimp, and andouille sausage jambalaya, while Karen opted for the Niman Ranch pork chop. The jambalaya, which came out in a large steel pan on a big plate, was chock-full of generously-sized portions of duck, shrimp, and sausage and pretty tasty, though I was expecting a bit more spice and heat from this dish. The pork chop was very good as well, but the accompanying side of corn stole the show - it was simply bursting with flavor.

The next morning, Karen and I met up with another group of friends, one of whom was passing through town on her way from Hawaii to Norway. We brunched at Pomelo (1793 Church Street; 415-285-2257), a cozy (35 seat) restaurant located in Noe Valley. The menu at Pomelo features traditional selections from around the globe; the items are named after locations in the countries from which they originated. I picked Cork, aka corned beef hash with eggs, while Karen selected the Altamira, a plate of three white corn buns, each containing a different filling. The Cork was one of the best hash dishes that I've ever had, with huge pieces of delicious corned beef. It would have been the best version of this dish had they omitted the accompanying vinaigrette, whose sharp flavor felt way out of place on this dish. The Altamira was decent, though the egg filling was rather bland. After this delicious brunch, we hung out with our friends for a while before heading off to enjoy an afternoon walk in the Mission District. On our walk, we stopped by La Palma Mexicantessen (2884 24th Street; 415-647-1500), where we picked up some carnitas, which is sold by the pound, and birria, a spicy, stewed goat dish. We also grabbed a dozen fresh corn tortillas, hot off the griddle and better than any tortilla that I've ever eaten previously. We threw in a small order of chicharrón for good measure and brought all of this food back to Karen's place, enjoying it later for a very tasty and filling dinner.

Fast forward to last weekend. Last Friday evening, Karen and I took a relaxing, evening drive down beautiful California Highway 1 from San Francisco down toward Half Moon Bay. Our destination: Mezzaluna (459 Prospect Way; 650-728-8108), a Southern Italian restaurant located in little harbor town of Princeton-by-the-Sea. We started out dinner with an order of calamari, which we quite liked for its very light batter. For our main courses, we ordered a plate of Mezzelune al Salmone, half-moon shaped ravioli filled with salmon in a tomato cream sauce, and a politically incorrect Chilean sea bass dish. Both of these fish dishes were excellent, especially the sea bass, which came with an olive tapenade, grilled polenta, and a pea puree. We were quite happy with our dinner selections as they were not only quite tasty, but also reasonably light.

The next morning, we caught up on some much needed sleep before we got up and headed out to Le Village for its monthly open house. We picked up some pâté, cheese, and crackers, which we enjoyed for lunch after we returned home. We also picked up some Veuve Amiot ~~champagne~~ sparkling wine at the spectacular price of $84 for an entire case. After lunch, we spent the afternoon doing absolutely nothing, which was great - both of us continued working away at our sleep debt by catching a cat nap. That evening, Karen had plans with her friends, so I headed back down toward my place in the South Bay, but not before grabbing a Matisse crepe with her at Frjtz Fries (570 Hayes Street; 415-864-7654) in Hayes Valley. After I got home that evening, I whipped up a batch of macaroni and cheese using a recipe from the new issue of Bon Appétit. Karen had requested this dish, which I was more than happy to make and take up to her.

The next day, I putzed around my place, doing some of the mundane chores that I had neglected for the past few weeks, before heading back up to Karen's place, with a Pyrex pan of mac and cheese in hand. Of course, I already knew that I would not be tasting the macaroni dish that evening, as we had dinner reservations at Zuni Cafe (1658 Market Street; 415-552-2522), the James Beard award-winning restaurant featuring Mediterranean-inspired cuisine. You would think that as self-proclaimed Bay Area-based foodies, we would have been to Zuni already, but this was my first visit there. Zuni is very well-known for its roasted chicken for two. This dish, which comes with a panzanella salad and dressed with mustard greens, is roasted to order in a wood oven. As you might expect from a roasted-to-order chicken dish, you have to endure a long wait (up to an hour, according to the menu) for your dish to arrive, but it is well worth the wait. The moist chicken and nicely roasted skin is absolutely delicious. The best part is that since you get an entire chicken, there'll be leftovers for the next day. The only drawback, in my opinion, is the cost; the roasted chicken dish for two will set you back more than four sawbucks, which is quite steep, even for this delectable dish.

So, dear readers, no need to worry about whether we are eating or not. (This means you, Doctor No.) Our Bay Area dining adventures continue.

Hot Dogging

2007-08-10T01:16:00.000-07:00

Between a family visit, a sudden surge at work, and a wonderful event in my life (about which I'll probably blog one of these days), I haven't really been thinking much about food lately, especially not about cooking. In fact, I haven't really cooked anything for three weeks and counting. (No, making sandwiches and reheating leftovers don't count.) I know, it's quite disappointing, but hopefully things will settle down soon.

Anyway, to tide you faithful readers over until that time comes, I thought that I would mention a CNN article that I read about Chicago's best hot dogs. This week, I transited through Chicago twice on a trip for work but never left O'Hare, so I was unable to sample any of these dogs. Luckily, there are places here in the Bay Area that carry that bright green relish that is a necessary component of a true Chicago dog.

What We Ate... At The Alembic

2007-08-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 30

Dinner: The Alembic Bar, 1725 Haight Street; 415-666-0822

Last Monday, we decided to check out The Alembic, a trendy new bar in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.

What we ate:

Sliders: Moroccan spiced lamb burgers with harissa aioli and olive tapenade. Tasty, but I wish that we got more than two burgers for $10.

Stout-braised oxtail: with melted cheese and roasted peppers on toast. Good, but also a bit expensive.

Herb and Spice Dusted Fries: with lemongrass, garlic, and aromatic aioli.

Spaetzle: with braised rabbit, bacon, gruyère, dijon mustard and tarragon. Absolutely delicious, our favorite dish of the evening.

What we drank:

Bourbon Old Fashioned

Mint Julep

Mellow Yellow: not the soft drink, but rather a variation on a whiskey sour

Sara's Ruby Mild from the Magnolia Pub and Brewery, The Alembic's sister restaurant

Bottled Tap Water

2007-07-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Recently, a lot of attention has been raised about bottled water and its negative impact on the environment. In addition to the obvious need to manufacture plastic bottles (much of which ends up clogging up landfills), a lot of energy is consumed transporting the water to the consumer. Bottled water opponents also argue that bottled water is far more expensive and no cleaner than tap water (which, in the United States, is quite clean). In many cases, it is simply bottled tap water.

In fact, PepsiCo just announced that they would be changing the labeling on the Aquafina bottled water product to say just that. Aquafina bottles will now have the words "Public Water Source" listed on the label. I wonder if Coca-Cola will follow PepsiCo's move toward corporate responsibility by updating the labels on Dasani, their line of bottled water.

A Quick Update

2007-07-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the recent drought of new posts. I was out of town for most of last week attending a work event at the Seascape Resort in Monterey Bay. With family in town visiting me this week, I haven't had much time to catch up on my favorite blogs, much less add to my own. I definitely hope to get back into the swing of things next week with some new blog entries.

However, I did want to pass along some unfortunate news coming out of the Chicago food scene. Grant Achatz, executive chef of Alinea, announced that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth. Achatz, who worked under the tutelage of Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, opened his restaurant two years ago to much acclaim, serving up unique and innovative dishes such as his "PB&J", the essence of the sandwich compressed into a single bite. Achatz is undergoing chemotherapy treatment which could potentially affect his sense of taste. Hopefully the treatment will go well and he will have a speedy recovery.

Introducing... What We Ate

2007-07-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the first in what hopefully will be an on-going series of posts summarizing some of my dining experiences. I often find that when I am busy, especially with work (like I am now), I tend to let this blog go by the wayside. Hopefully, with this is condensed version, I can still share some of my stories, even when other things take over my life.

Friday, July 13

Lunch: Coco500, 500 Brannan Street; 415-543-2222

One of the perks of Karen's job is that they have summer hours, which means her weekend starts at 12:30pm Friday afternoon. This past Friday, I took a half-day off to join her in an early weekend.

What we ate:

Braised duck panini: shredded duck on lightly toasted bread - dee-lish! Came with a watercress-orange salad on the side.

Spaghettini: pasta with local squid in a ink-based sauce with a hint of lemon and olive oil. Also excellent.

Truffled squash blossom flatbread: Also very good, though it seemed that it would be more appropriate as an appetizer (which is how we had it) instead of a main course

What we drank:

Blueberry fizz: blueberry infused gin, milk, egg white, organic sugar, lemon, seltzer. The citrus was stronger than we expected, but it was still quite good.

Samuel Smith's Organic Lager

Dinner: Chutney Restaurant, 511 Jones Street; 415-931-5541

Ah, nothing like dinner in the middle of the Tenderloin at 10pm on a Friday evening (Friday the 13th no less).

What we ate:

Saag gosht: Nice tender pieces of lamb in a spinach-based sauce.

Chicken Biryani: The rice was nicely flavored, but the chicken was a bit dry.

Lamb Kofta: Tasty with a nice amount of spice and seasonings.

Naan

Saturday, July 14

Brunch: Mayflower Restaurant, 428 Barber Lane, Milpitas; 408-922-2700

Karen and I went out to dim sum with my mom, who flew into town late the previous evening.

What we ate:

Dim sum: We had a lot of our usual favorites, including shu mai, chive dumplings, shrimp rice noodle rolls, and fung zau

Dinner: Out the Door, 865 Market Street, Westfield San Francisco Centre; 415-541-9913

Karen and I stopped by for a quick dinner before the Ani DiFranco concert at the Warfield.

What we ate:

Imperial rolls: With shrimp, pork, tree ear mushrooms, and glass noodles. Very tasty and quite filling.

Grilled lemongrass pork over vermicelli noodles with lettuce, cucumber, and mint: A nice, fresh-tasting dish.

Star Route Farm baby chard, kale, and mizuna: Sauteed with garlic just the way we like it.

What we drank:

Ayinger Jahrhundert

Trumer Pils: I'm not sure how we ended up ordering two European beers at a Vietnamese restaurant.

Range: Our Dinner in Pictures

2007-07-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Karen and I were finally able to meet up with Tesha and Jeremiah for dinner out on the town. Even though my ex-pat friends have been back in the Bay Area for over nine months, it's been amazingly difficult find a mutually workable time to get together for a nice, sit-down dinner due to our exceedingly busy schedules. In fact, we were fortunate that Tesha had just flown back from Europe last Friday and was eager to meet up for dinner (despite the jet lag).

Karen and I thought that we would introduce them to one of our favorite dining spots in San Francisco, Range (842 Valencia Street; 415-282-8283), a Mission District destination featuring American cuisine. Karen has this knack for picking out up and coming restaurants before they become the buzz of the town. Range was one such find, a restaurant that we visited well before it received its Michelin star rating.

We started our dinner with a round of drinks. The ladies both opted for a peach bellini, while we guys went for the cocktails: Jeremiah had a Dark and Stormy, while I chose the Siren. While we were sipping on our drinks, we ordered a couple of appetizers. We put in for an order of the chicken liver mousse, the silky smooth and fabulously tasty starter. It was so good that I probably could have devoured the entire serving by myself. Since Tesha isn't a big fan of offal, she started out with a bowl of the lentil soup, which was also quite good as well.

After we polished off the starters, we each ordered a glass of wine to go with our main course. Rather than going through a detailed analysis of each of our entrees, all of which were very good, I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

Karen ordered the Alaskan halibut with a stew of pancetta, flageolet beans and fennel:

I went with the slow cooked pork shoulder with romano beans and a morel mushroom sauce:

Jeremiah ordered the special of the evening, roasted quail on a bed of trumpet mushrooms:

After some deliberation, Tesha picked the pan-seared hanger steak with fingerling potatoes and a horseradish sauce:

As usual, the food was fantastic. Each dish was generously portioned, full of flavor, and just well-executed. As delicious as the entrees were, the desserts, made in-house by pastry chef Michelle Polzin, might have been even a bit better.

The bittersweet chocolate-armagnac soufflé with chocolate sauce:

The strawberry shortcake with lemon cream:

Freshly made crêpes with blackberries and ice cream:

The Three Sister's Serena cheese plate with raw cow’s milk cheese with date purée and hazelnuts:

A snapshot of us, the happy diners:

Once again, our dinner at Range was excellent. It is simply a great place for dinner, whether you are celebrating a special occasion or just passing though the neighborhood during the evening hours. Range is one restaurant that I plan to visit again and again.

Ratatouille!

2007-07-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not talking about the movie, but rather the dish! My wonderful girlfriend surprised me last Friday evening by preparing this simple, but tasty French recipe for dinner. Karen opted to go with a quick version of the recipe with poultry sausage. She spent a good part of the afternoon shopping for ingredients and dicing vegetables, which included red bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, Japanese eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. In lieu of a hot pepper, Karen used a spicy turkey sausage with cilantro.

The recipe was very fast and easy to make. First, she sauteed minced garlic in olive oil for a few minutes. Then, she added in all of the vegetables except for the tomato and continued to saute the mixture until it began to soften, perhaps about 7-8 minutes longer. Then, she mixed in the diced tomatoes and cooked it for an additional 3-4 minutes. Finally, she put in the sliced sausage, and the chopped basil and parsley, and cooked the mixture until the sausage was warmed through, which took another 4-5 minutes.

To accompany the dish, Karen prepared some purple cauliflower that she had picked up at the Old Oakland Farmer's Market. She cut cut up the head into small florets, tossed them with some light olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted them in the oven while we were preparing the ratatouille on the stovetop. The cauliflower was done just as the ratatouille was ready.

The results were fabulous. The ratatouille was colorful and delicious. The roasted cauliflower was crunchy and contrasted nicely with the colors and textures of flavorful vegetables in the ratatouille. This dinner combination was definitely a winner and something that we will make again (hopefully soon).

A Visit to the Kwik-E-Mart

2007-07-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

On the way home from work tonight, I stopped at the local Kwik-E-Mart. Yes, the Kwik-E-Mart. In conjunction with Twentieth Century Fox, 7-Eleven has transformed 11 of its convenience store locations into Kwik-E-Marts to promote the upcoming The Simpsons Movie, which opens nationwide later this month. One of these temporary Kwik-E-Marts is located in Mountain View, CA, just around the curve from the Googleplex and, fortunately for me, on my way home from work.

As I drove up to the store, I noticed that the 7-Eleven signs next to the parking lot had been liberated of their newly applied store logos, undoubtedly the work of souvenir-seeking scofflaws. However the store itself, with its new facade, was left unscathed.

Not surprisingly, a lot of other people were also checking out the newly transformed store. I counted at least 25 people, both outside the Kwik-E-Mart, snapping photos and loitering about a la Nelson Muntz and crew, and inside the store, taking in the new decor.

In addition to the cosmetic changes, 7-Eleven Stores are also selling a special line of Simpsons-inspired products, including Buzz Cola and KrustyO's cereal. Unfortunately, this particular location had run out of many of these specialty items for the day. However, I was able to procure a Squishee (although not the all-syrup Super Squishee which I had wanted):

The Squishee helped to wash down the pink frosted doughnuts that I picked up. Mmm.... sprinkles.

While my mission for KrustyO's and Radioactive Man comics was left unfulfilled, I'm sure that I will have ample opportunity to pick some up. These Simpsons specialty items will be sold at 7-Eleven stores across the country, so even if you don't live by one of these Kwik-E-Marts, you too can pick up some of your favorite products from the town of Springfield.

Joey Brings the Mustard Belt Back Home

2007-07-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

In a high noon showdown earlier today, Joey Chestnut took down six-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi by downing 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes to win the 2007 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Chestnut shattered his own world record of 59 1/2 dogs, which he set last month in the Southwest regional qualifier. Kobayashi was credited with eating 63 dogs in a losing effort, but there was a moment at the very end of the competition where it appeared that he suffered a "reversal of fortune". Karen and I were both surprised that he was not disqualified for this seemingly obvious breach of the contest rules.

A Strawberry Cooler for the Summer

2007-06-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

On our trip to Napa Valley last month, Karen enjoyed a wonderful pre-dinner cocktail at our visit to Redd. The drink, Strawberry Blonde, was very refreshing and a wonderful thirst quencher, perfect for a warm summer day. Karen was talking about the drink for days afterwards so I decided to see if I could get the formula for this cocktail. Guy, the general manager at Redd, was kind enough to share the recipe with us.

The recipe calls for 3 parts of strawberry-citrus infused vodka, 1/2 part lime juice, 1/2 part Velvet Falernum, and a splash of simple syrup. These ingredients are mixed together, topped with club soda, and served on the rocks in a highball glass. The drink is so smooth that you barely even notice the alcohol.

Of course, in order to make this cocktail, you need to have some strawberry-citrus infused vodka on hand. Since you'd be hard-pressed to find such a flavored vodka at the liquor store, you'll have to make it yourself. A few weeks ago, I picked up a magnum of Ketel One vodka which would serve as the base for the drink. We decided to simplify the recipe a bit by focusing on the strawberry component of the flavoring, so I brought home several pints of fresh berries. After washing and hulling the berries, I cut them in half, dropped them into a glass spigot jar, and poured in the entire bottle of Ketel One. I sealed the jar and placed it into the refrigerator to allow the flavor of the fruit to infuse into the alcohol.

After a surprisingly enjoyable but exhausting hour of trampolining, we decided that we needed a drink to cool off. We had only infused the vodka for a week, but we thought that we'd give our homemade concoction a try. The cocktail really hit the spot. It was very clean and refreshing, and went down far too easily for a drink with that much alcohol in it. The flavor of the vodka was good, though we both thought that another week of infusion with a fresh batch of berries should up the flavor to the desired level. Nevertheless, the cocktail was excellent, good enough for us go back for a second drink. We are looking forward to enjoying the summer with our new cocktail.

Garlic Crab Noodles

2007-06-24T12:40:00.001-07:00

A while back, Karen and I went out with a few of our friends to celebrate the beginning of the dungeness crab season, which starts in mid-November and runs well into the new year in this area. We chose to have dinner at PPQ Dungeness Island (2332 Clement Street; 415-386-8266), which specializes in this crustacean delicacy. The restaurant features several different preparations of crab, including roasted, drunken, and curry versions. As tasty as the crab is, a necessary component of the meal has to be a big plate of garlic noodles. The version served at PPQ Dungeness Island is very savory and pairs wonderfully with the sweet and delicate crab meat. Karen just loved these noodles and ate so much at that dinner the she coined a new phrase, garlic noodles full, to describe her state of being afterwards.

Last night, I decided to surprise her with a little treat by making her a crab dinner which included, of course, a large plate of garlic noodles. I thought that it would be an interesting twist simply to add the crab directly to the noodles to create a plate of garlic crab noodles. Yesterday afternoon, I dropped by Costco to pick up some Phillips jumbo lump crab, but they apparently were completely out of stock. Luckily, their Seafood Roadshow was taking place at the store this weekend, so I was able to obtain several nice looking king crab legs.

When I got home, I took half of the crab legs, cracked them, and removed the meat from the shell. (Helpful hint: A pair of kitchen shears come in quite handy for this task.) I would use this crab meat for the noodles. For the remaining legs, I would prepare them using the Alton Brown recommended cooking method and served them alongside the noodles. On my way home from Costco, I had picked up some fresh egg noodles from 99 Ranch Market. I prepped the noodles by quickly dunking them in boiling water, rinsing them with cold water (both to stop the cooking and to remove the excess starch), and draining them in a colander. Now I was ready to made the garlic crab noodles.

I set up my wok on medium-low heat and melted a generous amount of sweet butter. After the butter had melted, I threw in about six cloves of minced garlic and cooked them until they were just about to turn brown, about 3-4 minutes. Next I threw in the drained egg noodles and jacked up the heat to medium-high. Quickly stirring the noodles to mix in the garlic and butter, I poured in about a 1/4 cup of oyster sauce, and a small amount of granulated sugar which I mixed in with a bit of nước mắm, a Vietnamese fish sauce. I stir-fried the noodles for several minutes until they were thoroughly heated through before the final step of mixing in the king crab. Since the crab was already cooked, I didn't want to toughen the meat by overcooking, so I was careful to take the wok off the heat as soon as it got up to temperature. Here were the results:

Karen and I both really liked the noodles, but the next time that I make the dish, I think that I'll make a few tweaks. First, I'll add in some more garlic. I was afraid that I would overpower the crab so I held back a little, but I think that the dish can handle some additional cloves of garlic. Also, I might use an extra-virgin olive oil and butter mixture instead of straight butter to give the flavor a little more depth, though I'm not sure how the taste of the oil will mix with Asian flavors of the oyster and fish sauces. I also wonder if it would be good to add a few flakes of dried chiles to add a little kick to the dish. I guess that we'll all know the next time that I make garlic crab noodles.

Tsunami Revisited

2007-06-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

Last night, Karen and I dropped in for dinner at the restaurant where we had our first "official" date, Tsunami Sushi (1306 Fulton Street; 415-567-7664), in the NoPa neighborhood of San Francisco. We had thought about ordering take-out last night, but the evening weather was pretty nice, so we made the short walk from Karen's place over to the restaurant. As an added plus, we brought along a $15 gift card from our CozmoDeck that we purchased earlier this year.

The interior at Tsunami is cozy and the decor is very trendy; with the contemporary music playing in the background, you almost feel like you are in a nightclub rather than in a sushi bar. We didn't have reservations, but luckily there were a couple of open seats in the lounge area. We started out our dinner with an order of Tsunami fries, rectangular planks of yams lightly coated in tempura batter, deep fried, and served with a small dish of red salt. To accompany our meal, we decided to order a bottle of sake. Tsunami is well known for its extensive selection of sake, all imported from Japan. We settled on a bottle of Tedorigawa Daiginjo "Chrysanthemum Meadow", which was fragrant and floral.

After polishing off the tasty fries, we moved on to the main attraction: sushi and sashimi. Our first main dish was a Scorpion maki roll, which had tempura shrimp, kani (crab), and cucumber topped with unagi (freshwater eel) and avocado. The roll was big (8 pieces), which was good as we both really enjoyed this dish. After we finished off the roll, the empty plate was cleared away and replaced by a platter with all of the sashimi specials of the day: waloo (escolar from Hawaii), seigo (Japanese sea bass from Nagasaki), Kona kampachi (amberjack from Kona, Hawaii), hirame (halibut from the East Coast), and aji (horse mackerel from Japan). We split the sashimi right down the middle with each of us getting one of the two pieces of each fish. All of the fish selections were very fresh and flavorful. While each type of sashimi was quite good, we both really liked the waloo, which had an amazing texture to go along with its fine and delicate flavor.

After the sashimi, we moved on to nigiri sushi. We ordered some unagi (our usual) and a plate of amaebi, raw prawns served with their deep fried heads on the side (which is the real reason for ordering this dish). Both orders were good, especially the amaebi head, though I was a little surprised that the unagi didn't come coated with the usual sweet sauce. I was still a bit peckish, so we ordered a second round of nigiri consisting of an order of hotate (scallop) and broiled bincho (albacore tuna). Both dishes were good, but the broiled albacore didn't taste much different from the non-broiled version that I'm used to.

In between the two rounds of nigiri, our server (whose name unfortunately escapes me) brought over a small tokkuri of umeshi sake, on the house. While the gesture was nice, we normally eschew warm sake, so we continued drinking our daiginjo. However, after the bottle was empty, we decided to try the complementary sake, which cooled off to room temperature. Boy, were we surprised! The sake had a pleasant aroma of almonds, which was strong but not overpowering. It was very smooth and quite sweet. Normally, I can only tolerate so much in the way of sweet alcoholic drink, but the amount of sake that we had was just right. It was a really nice way to cap off our dinner.

Karen and I both had a good time last night at dinner. Each time we have been to Tsunami, the food has been great and the service friendly and attentive. The complementary sake was very nice as well. In addition, they gave us a gift card from the CozmoDeck to the sister restaurant, Nihon, which I thought was another nice touch. We'll definitely have to make another return visit to Tsunami.

Pizza and Beer

2007-06-20T00:02:00.000-07:00

Ah, pizza and beer - a pair made for each other, right? If you think so, you might want to check out the new brew coming from the land of Bill Swerski's Superfans, pizza beer.

The Menu - Revealed

2007-06-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

Last week, I wrote about a menu that I created for Karen for our first home-cooked meal together. At the end of that post, I posed a few questions about the menu for you readers out there. Due to popular demand, here are the answers to those questions:

Our first dinner: Oven Roasted Chicken and Cheesy Grilled Polenta
I was a bit disappointed with my polenta as I didn't allow the grill to get hot enough before I threw on the slices of polenta. The result: very sad-looking grill marks. As Karen says, it's not grilled food without the marks. My bad. I have since done a better job with grilled food items.

Dishes that I had never made before: Maryland Crab Cakes, Cheese Filled Triangles, and Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Nope, no entrees, just a couple of the appetizers and one of the sides. If I would have known how easy it is to make the crab cakes, I would have made them earlier.

Dishes that I have yet to make for Karen: Grilled Garlic Cilantro Sea Bass and Smoked Standing Rib Roast
I haven't made the former due to the depletion of the population; okay, that along with the price and availability of the fish, but given that Whole Foods is carrying it once again (albeit for a pretty penny), I may give this dish another try or use a different type of fish, such as halibut. I haven't made the latter because of the amount of food that I would prepare. Perhaps it's time for a dinner party so that we can enjoy a nice smoked prime rib. Mmmmm....

Guest Blogging: Party with Paella

2007-06-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Karen writes about our most recent cooking experiment: paella.

Growing up, I never celebrated Christmas or waited for Santa Claus to come down the chimney bearing gifts (instead I partied with Hanukkah Harry over eight glorious nights). Late December wouldn’t mean much for me if not for the unique New Year’s Eve celebration cooked up by my parents.

It all started innocently enough. When my brothers and I were young, my parents went out and celebrated New Year’s Eve in the traditional manner. They hated it. Paying exorbitant prices for the same entertainment they could get on any normal night of the year, worrying about drunk drivers, and leaving the kids back home was not their style. So they decided to defy tradition and do up New Year’s Eve their way.

And thus was born the New Year’s Eve family feast. Meals generally started around 7ish and the final course never finished before midnight. Dick Clark was often on in the background and the menu was always gut busting. Hors d'oeuvres were varied and plentiful and included rumaki, cheese, chips, artichoke dip, spareribs, and cheese puffs. The appetizer was usually shrimp cocktail (with homemade cocktail sauce). Paella stole the show as the main course (although in later years Beef Wellington was sometimes served). Without fail, dessert was a layered parfait of fruit, whip cream, and nuts. In true celebratory fashion, sparkling wine was free flowing for all. In our younger days we were served the sweet goodness of Asti Spumanti (until we grew up and learned to appreciate finer champagne).

Thanks to the New Year’s festivities, paella holds a special place in my heart. So it came as little surprise that among the gifts my parents brought from a recent visit to Spain was the Spanish Bar and Restaurant Cooking cookbook full of paella, tapas, and sangria recipes. Taking the hint, Loren and I decided we should get down to business and cook up a storm.

We decided on a paella mixta (mixed seafood, sausage, and chicken) with serrano ham added in for good measure. The recipe was fairly extensive and included clams, garlic, onions, tomato, red pepper, olive oil, chicken, paprika, rosemary, thyme, cumin, rice, chicken broth, saffron, chorizo, shrimp, and capers. We seasoned and browned the chicken as well as the garlic, onions, tomato, and pepper. Then we sautéed the rice, added the chicken broth, and sprinkled in the saffron. Here was our first mistake - we used saffron threads but did not steep them first. As a result, the paella never got that deep yellow color we were expecting.

Next we were to transfer the rice into a paella pan (which we didn’t have) and mix in all the other ingredients. I don’t think we were prepared for the massive quantity of food resulting from the recipe but did the best to distribute among the closest paella type pans we did have. We then baked the paella in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven and waited. Here was mistake number two - we needed to bake the paella far longer than the recipe indicated (probably because we were using two pans). Initially the rice seemed hard and as if it would never fully cook. But our patience was eventually rewarded and we took the paella out to finish on a high heat on top of the stove to crisp up the rice and create the socarrat - the crisp, caramelized, golden rice that sticks to the base and sides of the pan. In attempting to create this toasty goodness we made our last mistake - the aroma of toasted rice coming from the pan signals a socarrat has been achieved. The point between socarrat and burn is slim, we ignored the smell and left the pan on high heat a touch too long. The rice and paella were still edible but just not perfect.

Here in all glory is our first attempt at paella. While no new traditions have yet to be born, I am sure we’ll be trying this again soon.

Posted by Karen

Is It Over Before It Even Begins?

2007-06-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Reports from Japan suggest that hot dog eating champion Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi may skip the annual Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest this upcoming 4th of July. Apparently, Kobayashi has not trained in months, having taken a sabbatical from competitive eating after his mother passed away earlier this year. If this is the case, the contest organizers might as well just give the Mustard Belt to Joey Chestnut, who recently shattered the world record, set by Kobayashi in last year's contest.

Spam Wars: BK v. McD

2007-06-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

Did you know: Over 6 billion cans of Spam are sold every year?

It looks like Burger King is going head-to-head against McDonald's in a battle over breakfast in Hawaii. Both of the fast food giants are now offering breakfast platters featuring slices of Spam served with eggs and white rice in their Hawaiian locations.

Now while I am, in fact, a fan of Spam - yes, I believe that you can call yourself a foodie and enjoy canned spiced ham - I wonder how well these breakfast platters will sell against the various types of loco moco-style plates sold by local eating establishments.

Goodies in the Mail

2007-06-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today, I received a package in the mail. Inside the padded manila envelope were two copies of the Zagat 2007/08 San Francisco Nightlife Guide. Apparently, my blog caught the attention of one of the Marcom guys at Zagat, who sent me a nice email last week and offered to forward a couple of complementary copies. I actually have a paid subscription to Zagat.com (not that he knew about that) so I already had online access to all of the content in the book, but it's still nice to have a physical copy that I can leave in the car.

I'd like to send out a big thanks to Michael in Corporate Communications, not only for sending me the guide (which is very cool!), but also for keeping in touch with the blogosphere and reaching out to their constituents. You can count on me to renew my subscription next year.

The Menu

2007-06-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

When Karen and I first started dating a few years back, one of the first things that I wanted to do was to prepare a home cooked meal for her. Knowing that she is also a foodie, I thought that it might be more fun to have her select what she wanted for dinner. So, I created a dinner menu, from which she could select the dishes of her choosing. Here were her choices:

Appetizers

Maryland Crab Cakes
With a side of homemade aioli
Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
Marinated in soy sauce and rolled in sugar
Florentine Artichoke Dip
Served hot with crusty French bread
Cheese Filled Triangles
Spinach and cream cheese filled phyllo triangles

Entrees

Grilled Rib Eye
Rubbed with Montreal seasoning and seared on the grill
Baby Back Pork Ribs
Cured with a spice rub and glazed with homemade barbecue sauce
Thai Coconut Curry Chicken
In a spicy green chili sauce over steamed jasmine rice
Oven Roasted Chicken
Smothered with a lemon zest garlic pepper paste
Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin
Marinated in a spicy habenero paste and grilled
Smoked Standing Rib Roast
Infused with garlic silvers and slow smoked over hickory
Barbecue Pulled Pork
Slow cooked for ten hours in a hearty homemade sauce
Smoked Chicken
Hot smoked with hickory wood
Grilled Garlic Cilantro Sea Bass
Chilean sea bass marinated in an Asian-style sauce
Home Style Meat Loaf
With a honey tomato glaze

Sides

Sesame Garlic Asparagus
Grilled Zucchini and Yellow Squash
Scalloped Potatoes
Cheesy Grilled Polenta
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Wild Rice and Sausage Casserole
Baked Squash

Dessert

Dessert of the day

To make it more interesting, I put a few dishes on the menu that I had never previously made and that I would make for the first time for her dinner, if said dishes were selected. (Of course, I didn't tell her which ones they were.)

In the past few years, I have made all of these dishes for her, save two. Do you know which ones they are? Also, can you guess which dishes are the ones that I had not made prior to the creation of the menu? Finally, can you guess what I did make for her for dinner?

Swinging Steaks U.S.A.

2007-06-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

What I thought was a passing fad appears to be a national trend. As you might recall, I recently posted about two festivals, one in Wisconsin and another in Utah, celebrating what is probably one of the more famous 'cuts' of offal, namely Rocky Mountain Oysters. Well, it seems that there are many other such events taking place all over the country. I was able to find the following:

Past events in 2007

The 16th Annual Calffry, in Stillwater, Oklahoma; You can buy tickets for next year's festival starting March 1, 2008. There also appears to be a College Fest scheduled at some time later this year.

Tiro Testicle Festival, in Tiro, Ohio, last Saturday in April;

Testicle Festival East, Washington D.C., April 28

Olean Testicle Festival, in Olean, Missouri, June 2;

Upcoming events in 2007

Ryegate Testicle Festival, in Ryegate , Montana, second Saturday in June

Round the Bend Steakhouse's 14th Annual Testicle Festival, in Ashland, Nebraska, June 15-16;

The 25th Annual Testicle Festival, in Missoula, Montana, August 1-5;

Clinton Testicle Festival, Clinton, Montana, every September;

(Honorable mention) 28th Annual Turkey Testicle Festival, in Byron, Illinois, October;

I'm sure that the list goes on and on...

Reality Food TV

2007-06-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

I told myself that I wouldn't do it, but I'm getting sucked back into watching reality food TV. Last night, I watched the special Top Chef All-Star Challenge pitting selected chefs from Season 1 against competitors from Season 2. I know that I said that I wasn't sure if I would watch that series again after the stuff that went down at the end of last season, but I did. Was it just me or did that show appear to be rigged? What a marvelous coincidence that the antagonists from each season (Stephen from Season 1, Marcel from Season 2) were selected to lead each team and then were set up against one another in a head-to-head battle! Or how about each season's winner (Harold from Season 1, Ilan from Season 2) duking it out over "Battle Duck"? In my opinion, the best thing that came out of that show was that a deserving charity got a $20,000 donation.

Tonight, I caught a rerun of the premiere episode of this season's The Next Food Network Star. I found it oddly entertaining, though certainly not a demonstration of culinary excellence. After watching the episode, I had a feeling that I just watched a slow-motion train wreck. A two hour train wreck. Nevertheless, like a rubbernecker staring at the scene of an accident, I was sufficiently drawn in to continue watching for the time being. Not so sure about this season's Top Chef though, but then again, I might change my mind.

Taste of the Nation: San Francisco

2007-06-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

Join Traci Des Jardin, chef/owner of Jardinière, as she hosts a fundraising dinner for Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation event in San Francisco. The dinner will take place on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at her Acme Chophouse restaurant located at AT&T Park and will feature cuisine conceived by Des Jardin, Tyler Florence (newly settled in the Bay Area), and April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig restaurant in New York City (and a Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef in 2007). Also attending will be Chris Cosentino of Incanto, Citizen Cake's Elizabeth Falkner, Loretta Keller of Coco 500, and Acme Chophouse chef Thom Fox. The event will honor Chuck Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma.

Proceeds from the dinner will be donated to benefit the Foodrunners and Sports 4 Kids charities in the Bay Area. Tickets for the dinner can be purchased online from the Taste of the Nation web site.

Will the Mustard Belt Be Back in American Hands Soon?

2007-06-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

In today's Southwest regional qualifiers for the 2007 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, the Bay Area's very own Joey Chestnut shattered the world record by eating 59 1/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. The previous world record of 53 3/4 dogs was held by Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, who set the mark during the 2006 event, held annually on the 4th of July on New York's Coney Island.

With his amazing performance, Chestnut is probably the odds-on favorite to take the title this year. He may be the best chance that the United States has had in years to bring the Mustard Belt back to American turf. The title has been claimed by Japanese contestants the past seven years, with Kobayashi winning the past six contests. Not since Steve Keiner won the event in 1999 with a measly 20 1/2 hot dogs has an American held the title for the crowning event of the International Federation of Competitive Eating.

Go Joey, go! Eat Joey, eat!

Guest Blogging: Karen's Analysis of the FFT Readers

2007-05-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I'm going to put aside the keyboard to allow Karen to share some of her thoughts. Take it away, sweetie!

How'd You Get Here?
Did You Know: Food for Thought gets more hits from Google searches related to Fred Steak, Real Men of Genius, the Testicle Festival, and the nutritional value of food (generally sushi and Johnsonville Brats) than anything else?

For almost a year now, Food for Thought has been a personal labor of love consistently read by a relatively small group of friends and family. But in recent weeks, traffic to the site has been inching its way upward and Loren has been getting pretty excited. Being a Web 2.0 guy, he’s happy to see his work shared with a broader community. People have been coming from all over the world and getting here in the most interesting ways. I know because Loren (on more than one occasion) has shared his sitemeter statistics with me. While the numbers are nothing compared to the big blogs out there, I think the findings are worthy of note and would like to share some of my favorites.

Before we get started, let me stress again that Loren is thrilled by everyone who comes to visit his blog. The views presented here are mine only. Please don’t take any offense if you happen to see one of your own search terms listed; I am noting it because it was either entertaining or thought-provoking in some way. Come back often!

First, a look at the demographics of Food for Thought readers (from recent statistics):
The majority of readers (82%) come from the US. No big surprise there. But also represented are Australia, the Philippines, Austria, Canada, Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia, China, and the infamous Unknown Country. I know there are German readers out there too - not sure why you guys are getting slighted.

Lots of folks come into the site either through referring URLs (Food Wishes, Carleton, etc.) or personal bookmarks. But as mentioned above, many also come in as the result of various searches. Examples include:

Testicle Festival

Search terms have included: testicle festival utah, testicle festival woodruff, black gold festival 2007 woodruff. Similar searches result in links to the post about the festival at Mama's Place.

Real Men of Genius

Search terms include: bud light real men of genius, bud light present real men of genius, real men of genius boneless buffalo wings inventor.

Food Nutritional Value

Search terms have included: unfiltered sake calories, calories in unagi don, compare calories in baby back ribs and fish, calories in johnsonville brats. Links are taken to the July 2006 and August 2006 archives (among other places).

Fred Steak

Search terms have included: freds marinade, freds steak marinade, fred’s steak recipe, fred steak.

Beer can chicken and cherry picking are also starting to pick up popularity due to recent posts. And math pie/cosahedron/mathematical baking has also popped up more than you might think. Other intriguing searches include: quadruple BK stacker, taco in a bag, wild hotdish, loren cook "grill" (from China no less), and mmmm.

There are too many searches to even begin to mention (and the history only goes back so far). My, until very recently, all time personal favorite (and perhaps the most humorous search getting to Food for Thought) is: massage happy ending boulder co

But a new front runner has taken its place. Thanks to a searcher in New Jersey with ideals similar to mine, "beets nausea" can take its rightful place in the pantheon of Food for Thought Searches. And that lucky reader ended up reading a lovely story.

Let’s see what you come up with next!

Posted by Karen

Kicking Off the Summer with Beer Can Chicken

2007-05-30T00:54:00.000-07:00

For many people, Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer. Of course, the start of summer also means the start of grilling season (not that I waited until this past weekend though). Yesterday, I decided to kick off the summer grilling season with one of my all-time favorites: beer can chicken. Popularized by Steven Raichlen (who even wrote an entire book on this dish), beer can chicken comes in many forms, but the basic idea is the same across all recipes: take a whole chicken, season it with some rub, put an open, half-filled can of beer in the cavity (i.e. shove it up the chicken's butt), and hot-smoke it over indirect heat until it's done.

On the way home from work, I stopped by BevMo to pick up the key ingredient: a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon, my official beer of choice for beer can chicken. I have bottled beer at my place, but you can't substitute bottles for cans in this instance. (Alright, I like to use PBR because it's cheap, okay?)

As usual, I decided to make two chickens, as it doesn't take any more fuel to make two chickens than it does to cook one. (In this day and age, it's best not to waste energy.) First, I took two whole chickens that I picked up at Costco this weekend, removed the giblets from the cavities, and washed them out very well (both inside and out). After patting the chickens dry with paper towels, I seasoned them with a dry rub. For these chickens, I used a generous amount of McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning. Yes, I know that they make a chicken seasoning, but I like the steak version; plus, that's what I had on hand. I also like to use Penzeys Galena Street Rub, but I didn't have enough for the two chickens.

After seasoning the chicken, I opened two PBRs, drained out half of the can (I made an attempt to drink the extra beer, but it's just not that good), punched a few additional holes in the top with a church key, and poured in some of the excess rub. Then, I put a can into the cavity of each chicken and folded back the wings so that they wouldn't burn while cooking.

In order to cook a whole chicken thoroughly without charring the exterior, you need to cook the chicken over indirect heat. Therefore, I would only need to use one of the two burners on my grill. I know that a grilling purist would probably make this over a charcoal or wood fire, but I like using gas, as it is easier to regulate the heat and smoke. (Yes, I have made this recipe over charcoal on a Weber grill, but I still like using my propane rig for this better.) On the side without the flame, I placed a foil pan to catch the drippings from the chickens, which I would be placing above. On the other side of the grill, over the lit burner, I set a smoker box which I filled with hickory chips that I soaked in water for 20 minutes. The hickory would provide the smoke that I wanted to flavor and color the chicken.

Using the can and the two drumsticks, you can form a fairly stable tripod so that the chicken is cooked upright. This is the secret to beer can chicken. The beer will steam out to keep the chicken moist as well as to help cook the inside of the cavity. I placed the chickens on the grill in the upright position, taking care to leave some space between the chickens.

I started the burner on high in order to get the wood to smolder. After 5 minutes or so, I saw that there was a decent amount of smoke coming from the grill, so I dropped the temperature to low and left the chicken to smoke for the next hour and half or so, turning the chicken every 30-35 minutes to ensure even cooking.

After the 90 minutes were up, I took my instant-read probe thermometer to check on the doneness. Even though many people think that you need to cook chicken to 180 degrees F, you really only need it to get to 165 degrees F in order to kill any nasty bug. Counting on carryover heat, I pulled the chickens off the grill once they hit 160 degrees F in the thickest part of the thigh.

After a short rest to allow the juices to redistribute, I took one of the chickens, carefully removed the half-filled can of hot beer (no, the beer won't completely evaporate), and placed the cooked bird on the cutting board.

A few deft cuts later, I was ready to eat!

100!

2007-05-29T22:41:00.001-07:00

This post marks the 100th post of my blog. I've really enjoyed writing about my food adventures in and around the Bay Area and I hope that you've enjoyed reading about my exploits as well. Thanks to everyone for their comments and encouragement, especially my sweetie Karen, who has been phenomenally supportive of me and my writing. Please pass along any comments and suggestions that you have. What started out as an exercise to help me improve my writing has turned into a very fun and fulfilling experience for me. Thanks again!

Cherry Picking

2007-05-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

Karen and I took advantage of the day off yesterday to head over to Brentwood and pick some fruit at some of the many u-pick farms located in that area. The holiday weekend was the opener for many of the farms and fruit stands, which attracted people to the area yesterday in droves. We first stopped at Pomeroy Farm, where we picked up some cherries. The farm had both Bing and Rainier trees, but we mostly stuck to the Rainiers, whose fruit seemed riper and sweeter. Normally, you need to purchase a minimum of five pounds of fruit, but the friendly guy who was tallying the bill let us slip under that limit.

After our round of cherry picking, we headed out looking for some other types of fruit. We had hoped to find some u-pick strawberries, but apparently no such fruit was to be had. Cherries seemed to be the dominant fruit available for picking yesterday. After a short drive around the area, we stopped at the Farmer's Daughter Produce and Drive-Thru Coffee Bar. Though the coffee bar wasn't in operation, they had a bunch of fruit-bearing peach trees, from which we picked up a large load of sweet and delicate white peaches. The women working at this stand were really friendly. We were happy that we stopped here to support them as they were going through a bit of a rough season; with the construction at the corner of Walnut and Marsh Creek Roads, they had limited access to the orchard prior to this past weekend.

After gathering our haul of peaches, we had a quick lunch. We had actually packed for a picnic, but with the afternoon sun beating down on us, we nixed the picnic and decided to hang out in the air-conditioned car and have the sandwiches that we picked up earlier from Alamo Square Market and Deli (535 Scott Street; 415-861-7120) to go along with the peaches and cherries we had just picked. After the late lunch, we drove around for a bit, but nothing really caught our eye. We stopped at a fruit stand that advertised picked strawberries, but they had sold out just prior to our arrival. With that, we decided to conclude our excursion and head back into the city. Though we didn't get all of the fruit that we wanted, we definitely had enough to tide us over for a while. Here are a few pictures from our day:

As Karen says, eating the fruit is the best part of picking fruit:

Me, under a peach tree:

Some of the fruits of our labor:

Lunch 2.0

2007-05-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

Who says there's no free lunch? Many high-tech firms around Silicon Valley offer their staff a free or subsidized lunch in the company cafeteria as one of their many employee benefits. Of course, one could argue that these sorts of perks are meant to keep people in the office working longer hours, but at the same time, you still have to eat, don't you? Perhaps the most well-known benefactors of the free lunch are the employees at Google, who down complimentary gourmet meals in their fabled cafeteria at their Googleplex headquarters.

Ever wanted to see on what you are missing out? If so, perhaps you should join up with the Lunch 2.0 guys. Lunch 2.0 is comprised of a group of Silicon Valley folks who are united in their goal of getting a free lunch. So far, the group has eaten free grub at such places as Yahoo, LinkedIn, and yes, Google. Many Valley firms are embracing these noon-time cafe crashers and looking at a Lunch 2.0 meal as an opportunity to network and recruit.

My own employer also offers complimentary meals to us employees (and a decent lunch at that, though I suspect that it's not nearly the haute cuisine served at Google), so I wonder if we will host a Lunch 2.0 event in the near future.

In Case You Forgot Your Sack Lunch...

2007-05-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who missed out on the feeding frenzy at Mama's Place Bar and Grill, you're in luck. The Black Gold Cattle Company will be holding its 7th Annual Testicle Festival next month in Woodruff, Utah. Brenn Hill will be among the entertainers at this event, which is held over three days spanning two weekends. Proceeds from last year's event, totaling $4,500, were donated to charity to help children with medical problems.

On a related note, Chris Cosentino recently updated his blog with additional information on duck fries. Note that duck fries are not French fried potatoes cooked in duck fat, as the name might lead you to believe.

You Can't Have Too Many Grills, Can You?

2007-05-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Every so often, Karen's employer holds a silent auction at work, with the proceeds benefiting local charities. This past Thursday marked another such occasion. Knowing that the money would be going to a good cause, Karen took a quick break from work and went downstairs to check out what was available. Among the items up for bid was a MasterBuilt 7 in 1 Smoker and Grill. Seeing that no one had yet bid on this, Karen put down an offer. She figured that if she won this, she would just give it to me. (Aww, that's very nice of you, sweetie!)

Well, guess what? She won the smoker, along with every other item on which she bid. (And she bid on a lot of stuff!) We're going to be over in the neighborhood for a birthday party this weekend, so we'll probably drop by the office to pick up that 50 pound box.

With the acquisition of the smoker, we now have four grilling/smoking/BBQ apparatuses between the two of us. In addition to the smoker, we have:

A Black Weber 22 1/2-Inch One-Touch Silver Kettle Grill: a gift from Karen's mom and dad which she hauled back from the Poconos a few years back

A Blue Weber One-Touch Gold Kettle Grill: a 5 year anniversary gift from my employer; I actually have the 18 inch version

A Char Broil Quickset EvenFlame 30,000 BTU Grill: not exactly this model, but one of its predecessors

Good thing that I haven't pick up one of these Brinkmann electric smokers as I have been thinking about doing...

Redd is the New Black?

2007-05-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Karen and I headed to Napa Valley for a short getaway to celebrate her birthday. In addition to taking her on some wine tastings and indulging her fondness for massages, I wanted to take her out to a nice setting for a birthday dinner. I had heard good things about Redd (6480 Washington Street; 707-944-2222), a relative newcomer to the high-end dining scene in the town of Yountville. Named after executive chef Richard Reddington, Redd is located on the south end of Washington Street, just down the road from The French Laundry and Bouchon and next to Thomas Keller's latest venture, Ad Hoc, which we visited earlier this year.

Unfortunately, Karen's birthday fell on Mother's Day weekend this year, so all of the prime-time reservations had been booked well in advance. When I called a couple of weeks before her birthday, the only available slots were before very early (i.e. before 5:30) or quite late. Since we wanted to have a relaxing time and didn't want to be in a rush to drive up to Napa, we opted for the late time slot. Of course, this meant our dinner reservation was set for 9:30pm.

We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes early and were immediately seated at our table. We are both fond of tasting menus, but given the late hour, we were unsure about whether we should instead order a la carte this time, or if we would go with the five- or nine-course menu. Eventually, we settled on the five-course menu, though we felt a little boxed into this decision, something on which I will elaborate in a moment.

One of the interesting things about the tasting menu at Redd is that though everyone at the table is required to order the menu (just like at many other places), each diner gets a different dish for each course. So, for our five-course menu, we were going to get the opportunity to taste ten different dishes.

Our dinner started out with fish dishes: hamachi sashimi with sticky rice and edamame in a lime ginger sauce, and yellowfin tuna tartare with avocado, chili oil, and crispy fried rice.

I really liked both of these dishes. The tartare was especially good, highlighted by the contrast in textures between the tuna and the rice, which was very crispy. The sashimi was also quite tasty; the fish was very fresh and well-prepared.

The second course of the tasting menu consisted of two seafood courses. The first was a John Dory filet with creamy jasmine rice, mussels with chorizo in a saffron curry nage. The other plate was a caramelized diver scallop over cauliflower puree and almonds with a balsamic reduction. (Apologies for the washed out photos of these dishes; there's only so much that you can do with a little point-and-shoot digital camera with those lighting conditions.)

The fish, mussel, and chorizo dish sounded odd to me, but the flavors worked pretty well together. The scallop dish was also quite nice and had a nice contrast in textures with the shellfish, califlower puree, and nuts.

Our next courses were the glazed pork belly with apple puree, burdock root, and soy caramel and the quail with broccoli rabe, sausage, chili flakes, and white beans.

I thought these dishes were decent, but perhaps not quite as good as the other courses. As we were eating this course, Karen said that she thought that the dishes up to (and including these) were on the verge of being too salty. I too had noticed that while the first bite of each dish seemed to be bursting with flavor, there also appeared to be an increasing note of saltiness with each additional bite. Perhaps you could chalk this up to personal preference, as neither of us are heavy-handed with NaCl, but I suspect that others would have found the dishes to be saltier than the norm, if not too salty.

Next came the meat courses: The Napa Valley spring lamb, served two ways (braised and roasted) with spring vegetables over a bed of creamy mascarpone polenta, and the Prime New York steak and shortribs, with fingerling potatoes and creamy ramps.

Luckily for us, these dishes were not oversalted. The lamb was very tender and flavorful, with nary a hint of gaminess. Both preparations of the beef were also tasty as well, with the New York steak roasted to a near-perfect doneness. The portions on both plates were really quite substantial, especially for a tasting menu course. We asked our server about the portion sizing, and she said that the a la carte portions are substantially bigger.

For dessert, we had very different plates; the first dessert was a Meyer lemon flan with crème fraîche, accompanied by cream cheese ice cream with tapioca pearls and a homemade tangerine soda. The second dessert was a peanut honeycomb parfait with a chocolate peanut butter giandula.

Both the desserts were very good, though by this point in the dinner (and at this time in the evening), they were a touch on the heavy side.

Overall, despite what we perceived to be a heavy hand with the salt, we thought that the food was very good. There were a lot of interesting and innovative combinations of flavors and textures which worked well together. However, we were disappointed with one aspect of dinner, namely the service. We found that the wait staff, while courteous and friendly, was somewhat impersonal and seemed hurried. Even though our dinner took two and a half hours, both of us felt rushed by the staff. I know that five courses over 150 minutes can hardly constitute being a short and hurried dinner, but on the flip side, it does taken something unusual to make people feel rushed over that time frame.

Though, given the time, we were leaning towards going with the five-course menu instead of the nine-course one, our server came over and told us that the kitchen informed her that no nine-course menus would be served after 9:40pm, so we could only go with the five-course menu. What kind of rule is that??? We were seated at least fifteen minutes before that deadline, but we took a little bit of time to order our drinks and to peruse the menu, and hadn't gotten around to placing our order until a quarter to ten. As it appears that we were the last party of the evening, was that rule set up to exclude the last party (and only the last party) of the evening from ordering the nine-course menu? That rule simply doesn't make any sense to me. As I mentioned, we weren't leaning toward the nine-course menu anyway, but it would have been nice to have that option or at least be told in advance of this deadline, lest we want to have a three and a half hour dinner starting around 10pm. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the chefs and staff don't want to hang out all evening, but I just don't get why they would institute a rule to exclude a single party from going with that option. Though the food was quite good and worthy of a return visit, the flap in service takes them down a couple of notches in my book.

Bud Light Presents... Real Men of Genius

2007-05-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

As I wrote about the James Beard Award winners, Karen made sure that I also gave props to some of the 2007 Clio Award winners. The Clio Awards are handed out annually by the Nielsen Company to recognize excellence and creativity in the advertising industry.

I'd like to mention some of the winners in the Radio category, specifically two winners from the Bud Light Real Men of Genius series: Mr. Hot Dog Eating Contest Contestant and Mr. Boneless Buffalo Wing Inventor, which won Gold and Silver awards, respectively.

Gentlemen, this Bud's for you.

We Have A Winner Some Winners!

2007-05-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, several Bay Area chefs were nominated for James Beard Foundation Awards this year. Last week, the winners were announced at a gala held at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. The Bay Area was well-represented in the winner's circle. Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc in Yountville was named the Outstanding Restaurateur. Keller also operates the restaurant Per Se in New York City. Also winning a major award was Traci Des Jardins of Jardinere, who was named the Best Chef in the Pacific region. Des Jardins won for the first time after being nominated for this award six previous times. In 1995, she won the James Beard Award for the Rising Star Chef.

Other Bay Area winners included the San Francisco Chronicle, which won for Best Newspaper Section and Best Newspaper Feature Writing with Recipes, and Michael Pollan of UC Berkeley who won the Writing on Food award for his book The Omnivore's Dilemma. Congratulations go out to all of the winners!

Festival at Mama's Place

2007-05-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a long weekend in Wine Country, about which I shall post later. After getting home tonight, Karen found out that during the course of planning for this weekend, we completely overlooked the Testicle Festival, an annual event held at Mama's Place Bar and Grill. Perhaps we could have caught the red eye to Wisconsin had we not had alternate plans in Napa Valley this past weekend. (Hey, we are both fans of offal ya know.)

Oh well, maybe we'll catch the 10th annual event next year.

Easy Baking 101

2007-05-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

While I enjoying cooking very much, I'll be the first person to tell you that I'm not much of a baker. All of the precision and rigor that went along with being a mathematician (in my former life) never made it into in the kitchen for me; hence my general lack of interest around baking. The freedom to improvise while I create is one of the things that I really enjoy about cooking. Unfortunately, improvising is something that does not work well while baking.

However, there are a few things that I don't mind baking. These baked goods have recipes that are characterized by their simplicity (both in the number of ingredients required and the complexity of the steps) as well as their tolerance for being tweaked due to my general indifference for precise measurements. One such recipe was passed along by my friend Christy, who also gave me the famed wild rice hotdish recipe. Friday night, I decided to pop out a batch of these popovers. Here were the results:

Doc Lampi's Never Fail Popovers

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt

Break eggs into bowl. Add milk, flour, salt. Mix well with spoon, disregarding the lumps. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Put into cold oven, set control for 450. Turn on heat and bake for 30 minutes. Success secret is starting with a cold oven and not opening the door to peek. Makes 9 popovers.

Karen mentioned that they looked different from the last batch that I made, but they were equally as good, especially fresh out of the oven. Since the stove was already hot from making the popovers, I actually decided to make a second batch of baked goodness. Once again, it was a simple and easy recipe, one which I first saw mentioned on Slashfood. This second recipe comes from the blog Rasa Malaysia and is a formula for replicating Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

It's been quite a few years since I last visited a Red Lobster, so I can't attest to their authenticity, but these biscuits, like the popovers, were definitely good eats.

Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

2007-05-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

I know that this announcement is coming at the last minute, but tomorrow, postal workers across the country will be collecting non-perishable food items for their Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. If you would like to help, simply place bags filled with non-perishable food items next to your mailbox. Your letter carrier will come by to pick up the food and deliver it to local food banks. A big thanks goes out to my friend Tesha for telling me about this effort.