Vegan Day Three- Oops, I Cheated

So, I made an Orzo salad last night for the birthday picnic I am attending tonight. An ingredient in the salad is Ricotta Salata, and who am I to deny my friends a better pasta salad, so I chose to add it in. I ran over to the incredible Cowgirl Creamery at the Ferry Building and picked up some Ricotta Salata. But when I was there I got a bit distracted. I am going river rafting and camping this weekend so I thought it would be in my best interest to get some yummy cheese for said trip. I asked the very helpful guy behind the counter what a good camping cheese would be. I needed something that was hard and not goopy, and something that could withstand some changes in temperature, bounce around a bit, etc. He helped me choose two cheeses, which will be unveiled after the trip! But OF COURSE I had to taste them. So, whoops. No more vegan. But if you are going to cheat, I truly believe an amazing piece of cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery is worth it.

I told John when I got back to the office that I cheated on our diet and... he did too! He had a yogurt for lunch. I pretended to yell at him but secretly I might feel better than we both did. It was just a bite after all!

I stuck to my guns for dinner though and made Pesto pasta with roasted cauliflower. This was the gorgeous purple cauliflower that I got in my organic delivery. I roasted it Monday night with some olive oil and a squeeze of a lime (I absolutely love cauliflower with citrus). So I tossed it in a pan to reheat it, added some frozen spinach pesto from a month ago or so, and then added the Spinach and Chive and Whole Wheat linguine I cooked.
It was delicious and totally satisfying. John loved the flavors and the extra body the cauliflower added. We also had a green bean and tomato salad. I blanched the green beans the night before (such an industrious girl I am!) and added those with some lovely heirloom tomatoes I bought at the Ferry building. I made a vinaigrette of dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and two teaspoons of sugar. All you have to do is let it sit for awhile. This is really one of those salads that are better off if you dress it way before eating. At least 15 minutes I would say.


The dinner was quite tasty and filling. I didn't even finish my pasta, too much! I have no idea if the nutritional value of this meal was anywhere close to what we need, protein and whole grains wise. There were walnuts in the pesto and one of the linguines was whole wheat. But I have read over and over again that Americans actually get WAY more protein than necessary. So I'm not too concerned. Plus for lunch I had a whole wheat tortilla wrap with tomatoes, cucumber, tofu, tofurkey, ginger, and hummus, so I am pretty sure I am set. All those veggies along with an apple and a peach, I was a pretty vitamin filled girl yesterday! And John was a happy boy as well. It was the perfect warm meal to eat after a nice but windy run at Crissy Field.

Vegan Experiments- aka Peanut Sauce is Good

Part of the Vegan Week is an attempt to create/use flavors that I don't typically use. I am very much a Mediterranean cook. Lots of olive oil, herbs, etc. So making an Asian dish was something I haven't done too often. I don't really have a background in it or a ton of skills, so I was pleasantly surprised that this dish turned out so well.

The first thing I did was roast an eggplant in the oven. I split it in half and stuck it in there, sprinkled with some salt (that's supposed to help leach out some of the water). Then I went to town on the sauce. Once that was finished I cut a block of tofu in half through the middle two make two thinner "steaks." I stuck this, with a sliced zucchini, in the oven on the same tray as the eggplant. I took it all out, cubed the tofu and stuck it in a frying pan, cubed the eggplant, and placed the zucchini all in the pan. Add soba noodles and the peanut sauce and I was done. I topped it with scallions and some toasted sesame seeds.

Now, what would I have done differently? I would have cooked the tofu a little more thoroughly. I don't mind it being super soft, but John thought it was a bit mushy. I also could do some real reading about how to properly cook an eggplant. The problem is I HAVE read how to do it a million times, and there are a million different ways. The whole, sprinkle with salt, lay out on a tray for 40 minutes, blot away the moisture. That seems too complex in my opinion. So I prefer a simpler method (aka- no method).

But we both really enjoyed the dish. And the MAIN thing I will change is little things about the peanut sauce. I used Julie's, a Foodbuzz Friend/Dorian's wife, recipe. It called for 1/2 a cup of peanut butter plus two additional tablespoons of sugar. I used Jif, which is already quite sweet. So when i first tasted the sauce it was SUPER sweet. It was fine, I even it out with an additional squirt of Sirachi, and another tablespoon or so of soy sauce and rice vinegar. IT perfectly mellowed out the sweetness and then it was dinner!

Easy Supper

So, John and I are on a health kick. Ok- maybe I am simply putting him on one. But I decided that I was eating too much crap. And I really don't eat crap, but too many rich foods (yes, the enchiladas were delicious, but after three days of them, I felt a bit heavy. So first off, we are eating vegan all week. What you say? Sacrilege?! Well, not really. I am not much of a meat eater (as discussed at other times in this blog) and I am also somewhat lactose intolerant, so not eating that stuff is both easy and probably better for me.
So I made an easy dinner. We went running along the water at Chrissy Field again and were both hungry when we got home. So, I decided to eat leftover corn and make a salad using basically anything I could dig up in my fridge. This meant spinach, carrots, celery, corn, radishes, avocado, tomatoes with a yummy dijon/red wine vinegar vinaigrette. Yum!
I really love eating simply and easy like this. It feels better going down and I don't liek that heavy feeling I feel so often after eating out.

Enchiladas Supremo- Ole!

Ok- I am not one to toot my own horn very much, but I will say that the enchiladas I made last night were AMAZING. Awesome in fact. I used the filling I had made the previous night and they didn't even take too long to put together. I placed tortillas in the oven while it was preheating to warm them up. I then soaked each one in Enchilada sauce (I bought the sauce but I am going to make my own next time) and slathered some refried beans (low-fat and vegetarian) on each and then loaded in the filling. The filling was the roasted chicken, shredded, a mix of cheddar and jack cheese, green chili peppers (2 little cans, yes I can make these but they are so easy from the can), sauteed onions and zucchini (in sticks), sour cream (I used about 1/2 a 9 oz. container), garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, a pour of the enchilada sauce, and an unauthentic dash of Crystal super hot sauce. I rolled up all the tortillas in a baking dish, covered it with jack and cheddar and a can of the enchilada sauce. I baked these covered for about 20 minutes at 375F and then uncovered for another 5 minutes. They came out looking not the most beautiful, but still good.
For the plating I shredded about 1/2 a cabbage and placed it on each of the three plates. I added a beautiful orange tomato to this and made a quick vinaigrette to go over the "salad." I had bought both fire roasted tomato salsa and a green salsa, so I added about 2 tbsp of the green salsa to a bowl, mixed it with some red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and mixed it all up. I poured this over the cabbage and tomatoes and then added a enchilada on top.
To dress the enchiladas I drizzled each kind of salsa on it, cubed red tomatoes and avocado dressed with lime juice and salt, and some cilantro. The whole thing was really incredible. It was spicy but not too spicy. we had a ton of veggies with the salsas, tomatoes, avocado, cabbage, zucchini, onions, and peppers. Protein came from the chicken and beans. And besides using some sour cream (4 oz for two HUGE casserole dishes) and two blocks of cheese, these weren't bad for you.
I saved calories by not frying the tortillas before rolling them up as well. I can see that this could make them a bit crisper, because I will admit that I think it would be a waste of calories and time. i might also use less sour cream next time and drain the green peppers more effectively, as well as use black beans instead of refried. The refried beans got lost in the texture, so I think that black beans would be able to stand out more.
One thing that REALLY stood out was the addition of cabbage. I thought about this because a) I had it on hand, b) I wanted a green that could stand up to the heat of the enchiladas and add a crunch, and c) in traditional Baja style fish tacos they add cabbage, so I figured that this would not be an unauthentic choice. The mild tang of the vinegar was also lovely, as well as the lime that covered the veggies. I think that these would NOT have been as good if they weren't over the cabbage, this will definitely be a new stand by for me.
These didn't come from a recipe either. I read probably 40 enchilada recipes in the last few days and simply took elements that seemed good from each one. This is the way I cook and why I don't enjoy baking as much. I like guessing and doing what seems right at the time. Anyway, I might have to do this again and actually write down what I am doing so I can share with others one day. Also need to figure out how to freeze these. Do you freeze it before baking or after?
The funniest part is that I roasted corn to go along with this meal, but by the time we finished our enchiladas, we were all too stuffed to eat it. Oh well, I can have it for lunch tomorrow. And dinner tonight. And dinner tomorrow...

Organic Delivery- Planet Organics

Every other Tuesday I get a delivery to my office from a company called planetorganics.com. They put together a group of fruits and veggies for you but I usually customize my own the Friday before it comes. I have the $32 produce box. Now, you can get a box with groceries as well, but I usually stick to only veggies. What did I get in this week's box?
4 nectarines
3 Valencia Oranges
1 lb green Beans
4 White Corn
.5 lbs Black Prince Heirloom Tomatoes (in the bag)
1 Haas avocado
2 peaches
1 Purple Cauliflower
I bunch Pink Radishes
1 lb sweet potatoes
1 lb zucchini
So, what am I going to make with all this? Well, I usually use the radishes in salads throughout the week, as well as the tomatoes. I can make zucchini, green beans, corn, and cauliflower as my veggies sides for the next 10 days or so. I try to eat at least one to two pieces of fruit every day, and the sweet potatoes will be my starch for a couple of days. Or a tasty lunch at work.

I love the organic delivery. They often bring me veggies I wouldn't usually buy at the market, I am supporting a local business and local farms and the product is amazing. Recently I got little purple, yellow, and white carrots that were incredible. We are so used to eating mass produced produce that I forgot how sweet a carrot could be. It really is worth the money because you can save money by not having to use condiments on your veggies. A naturally sweet tomato doesn't need salt or vinegar, it is delicious on its own. So sign up if you can and make sure you eat your veggies! Five a day!

It's not that hard, when I think about it I am certain I eat WAY more than five every day. Already today I had a nectarine, a plum, and carrots, potatoes, beets, and onions at lunch. For dinner I will have tomatoes, both fresh and with the salsa, cabbage (thinking about serving the enchiladas on a bed of cabbage, ooh that sounds good), the chicken is mixed with stewed onions and zucchini, avocado, I am serving corn too... So I am pretty certain I am not missing any vegetables.

It's funny. I am not on a "diet." I never have been. I have made claims to WANT to diet or to need to, but I have never effectively been the kind of person who can limit what they eat, etc. That said, I believe I am fortunate that I actually crave food that is good for me. I love fruit and snack on fruit and raw almonds and pistachios almost every day. And besides the occasional bag of potato chips (Kettle Chips Sea Salt and Vinegar really hits the spot) and french fries if I am out, I don't eat an unhealthy diet. I am sure that I get enough vitamins with the amount of produce I eat. I eat cheese and butter but not in huge amounts (those are really the only dairy products I can consume these days. I have been lactose intolerant, or at least extremely sensitive to milk, cream, ice cream, etc for a number of years now). And since I have a HUGE love of bread, I try to make sure I buy whole grain bread for my daily toast habit (San Luis Sourdough makes an amazing whole grain sourdough).

I didn't eat any red meat or pork for over 15 years and just in the last few months I have been flirting with the animals. That said, I have not actually ordered a steak while out or eaten a hamburger, but I did have a bite out of my very first In & Out Burger the other day on the way home from Tahoe! And guess what, it was ok but I still preferred eating my "grilled cheese" that I had ordered. I like a bite every now and then, but I think I am going to stick to my basic diet of fish, free range chicken, and a little turkey. And I don't even eat those every day. Often times I will realize that it has been a week since I last had any meat products, completely fine by me. I could probably eat spaghetti with tomato sauce for dinner every night and be a happy girl, so there aren't any steak cravings from me!

The only foods I would say I really DON'T eat, or severely limit, is anything fake. I cannot stand the idea of "low fat" cookies or chips or cheese or any of that gunk that is loaded with preservatives and chemicals. I cannot understand how one would ever think that margarine was superior to natural butter, or that the nasty fake frozen yogurt that comes out of a machine is better Haagen Daz which has about 4 ingredients, cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla (or whichever flavor you choose). Eating fresh fruits and veggies and attempting to buy organic meats, dairy etc is really my main goal when grocery shopping. you should try it too!

Roast Chicken- poor little birdy!

After the gym yesterday, where I ran on the treadmill and my hip started hurting- again, I ran to the grocery store to grab some ingredients. I was all psyched to make Enchiladas for John and myself. I have never made them before and for some reason I really wanted to. But John decided to stay home last night, so I didn't want to make them until he came over tonight. I had already bought the ingredients and I needed to cook chicken for them anyway, so I roasted a chicken that I had purchased with some beets I had on hand, carrots, potatoes, a few onions and some garlic and sage. If I am going to make a roast chicken for guests, I try to make it a little nicer than last night's. I usually use a lemon and I will stuff the bird with herbs etc. But I was casual and it was just for me.
Actually, I didn't even eat this for dinner last night. I roasted it for one hour and while I was doing this I got hungry, so I decided to make a mini-Mexican meal. I soaked a tortilla in the enchilada sauce I bought for tonight's enchiladas, layered it with jack and cheddar cheese, and stuck it in a dry pan. Two minutes later my yummy quesadilla was ready. I paired it with 1/4 avocado and some fire roasted tomato salsa. Good stuff!

Another close up of the raw bird...
Anyway, I took the chicken out of the oven and allowed it to cool. I then put all the veggies in a big tupperware and went to town on shredding the thing. I used about 3/4 of it for the enchiladas, the rest I added to the veggies (guess what I ate for lunch today...)

So there's my chicken. Afterwards I am going to admit that I committed the ULTIMATE cooking sin. I discarded the bird instead of making stock. I know I know, I should have stuck that thing in my HUGE pot that I have, perfect for making stock, and cooked it up. I actually have extra carrots, celery, and onions in the fridge at the moment too. I have NO excuse, except it was about midnight and I was tired.

My Favorite Food Writing Books

I cannot begin this post without mentioning Laurie Colwin. Her two amazing books, Home Cooking and More Home Cooking, are two of my absolute favorites. She is funny and warm, descriptive of food, educational and not dry. She is everything every food writer (should) aspires to be. I can't get into the story, because there really isn't one. Just trust me on this one and pick her up.


I had NO idea what to expect when I picked up this book. It didn't seem that interesting and I don't love the cover, so I though, pshh, how good could it be? Well, it is truly on of the most entertaining books I can remember reading. Bill Buford makes you feel as though you are in the kitchen. It is also one of the more realistic depictions of what it actually is to work in a fast paced, professional kitchen. Anyone who has any dreams of becoming a chef or working in a kitchen should read Heat and they will immediately get any romantic thoughts of gracefully chopping carrots and tasting food all day out of their heads. And the chapter on the day Buford went and bought an entire pig and brought it back to his Manhattan apartment is possibly one of the funniest around.


I am finishing this book right now, as we speak. Ok, not technically reading it at the moment, but I will finish it tonight. And so far I like the story. It is not very well written and the mood of it is sort of odd, but Marco Pierre White is too interesting a guy to pass up. He is the one that took Mario Batali in at a young age (there is a chapter on him in Heat, see above), and he also trained such chefs as Gordon Ramsay amongst others. White is the world renowned British chef who is the youngest ever to win 3 Michelin stars (33!) He is also known for his fiery temper and his knack for kicking people out of his restaurants, both in the kitchen and the dining room. He is self taught and truly a culinary genius. But I wish that the book focused more on his obsession and dedication to food, something that he obvious has and has won accolades for, than describing one more bollocking and one more tussle with the boys. He must know that there is something deeper inside that is causing his severe temper and misbehavior, but he chooses not to touch on that subject. Other than that though, the book is great. I wouldn't recommend you bring it as the only book on a vacation, but for what it is it's an interesting story and a fascinating man.

Walnuts and Spinach in Pesto- Oh My! The Incredible Hulk Meal

Yum, this was really good. I made a pesto one night when I realized I had about 2 pounds of spinach and walnuts, but nothing much else. In my Cuisinart I pureed lots of spinach with walnuts, a little too much garlic in retrospect, a handful of leftover basil, some lemon juice and bit of lemon zest, and parmesan and gruyere (I had a teeny bit on hand I wanted to get rid of.) I streamed in the olive oil and I was all set. I also had some spinach fettuccine in the cupboard which went well with the green meal. I have green eyes and find it very important to match my food to my eyes. Kidding. But it would be nice if your food always blended nicely with your complexion or your outfit of choice. I cannot recall what I was wearing the night that I cooked this, but I am sure that it went along nicely.
The pesto was delicious and quick. There was bit too much garlic, we both reeked for about 24 hours, but it was a nice meal. And the pasta was delicious. I will update this when I remember the brand, but it was a spinach and egg fettuccine which completed the greenness of the meal. I think that I still love the classic pesto made with basil and pine nuts, but twisting it with a different leafy green adn walnuts really made the flavor pop.

Yum Yum Teriyaki Chicken Dinner Party

I am getting to that age. What age you ask? The age when EVERYONE starts coupling up and it seems as though there are more weddings than weekends available in the year. My friends seem to be getting engaged left and right, so I decided to have a little dinner celebrating two newly engaged friends. And I thought I would share it would some other friends who are less newly engaged, but not yet married. So, on Sunday night everyone piled into my house for some wine, good conversation, and good food. I decided to make my faux Teriyaki Chicken, roasted corn and zucchini, and Ina Garten's heirloom tomato salad with Roquefort dressing.
Thank god none of these items were difficult or time consuming, because by the time Sunday rolled around my weekend had gotten away from me and I was completely unprepared to make dinner for 8 people (I mean 4 couples naturally, it seems as though individuality is on its way out.) So I ran on down to the ghetto Safeway as I like to call it (which now, funnily enough, looks like one of those neighborhoods that is "mixed" as some call it. High and low. They are currently remodeling it so it has the new larger produce section, the fancy wooden signage, better cheese, etc, but they are in the middle of construction. So some aisles are really nice and the others are full of half empty shelves and ripped up floors. And naturally I cannot find a thing because everything is all mixed up and the signs don't actually reflect anything that is in the aisles at this point...) Enough of that. Safeway was fine. I managed to overfill my basket, as usual, so I was stuck carrying around wine and heavy things and getting even more frustrated at the whole prospect. So I skedaddled on home and started getting things together.
The first thing I did was make my teriyaki-ish sauce. I paid a little attention the the recipe, but I must admit i don't really measure anything. I figure that I can tell if the taste will be alright and I go with my senses. I placed all the lovely chicken thighs and drumsticks in the marinade and stuck it in the fridge.

Over all, the meal was delicious. I would recommend to anyone using Ina's Roquefor dressing recipe to halve or cut it by a third. It made WAY too much,AND I used over 2lbs of tomatoes, and I placed it on a bed of arugula.
And yes, I am going to attempt to become a better food photographer. And I will also attempt not to have the food half eaten before I take the picture!!

Teriyaki- Ish Chicken (I doubled this and it was perfect for 8 people. Also, I used 2 packages of chicken thighs and one of drumsticks. And i kept the bones in and some skin on. For flavor)

6 chicken thighs
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 tbsp chili sauce (I used that yummy thai stuff)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground garlic (use more of these, they didn't show up enough)
Salt and Pepper

Combine all the ingredients and mix with the chicken. Marinate for one hour (or more) and back at 425F for 40 minutes.
Yum Yum.

Halibut- Just for the Hell of It

So, I have been cooking a lot and have nothing to show for it. I mean, I have something to show for it, dish pan hands, a lighter bank account, less time reading, but nothing to show for it on my blog. VERY bad. So, I am back. And I have been cooking. Ok, I already said that. But I have been cooking a lot. The nice part about the change in my life, having another mouth around to feed all the time, is that I am cooking a ton more. When I am alone I eat what I call "single food." This is meals that comprise of any combination of the following:
a piece of toast
and apple
a string cheese
a few bites of salad
an egg
some chips and salsa
a carrot
left over beets
Wheat Thins with cottage cheese
A quesadilla with faux guacamole made of half an avocado and tabasco

Ok- you get it. Basically anything that takes less than five minutes, uses less than 3 dishes. But now that I am cooking for two, I put more effort into it. And I have another person to appreciate the work I am doing. So I have been stirring things up in my kitchen.
For Mother's Day I made Halibut in Papilotte. Now, I had never used this technique before, but I really liked it. I was able to prepare the packages (that is what the name means in french) before dinner so I could relax before I stuck them in the oven for 9 minutes. The fish came out PERFECTLY. Seriously perfect. My mother was very pleased, especially considering halibut is her favorite. Inside the papilotte I also placed some thyme (the herb on hand, I would actually recommend pretty much any herb you have nearby), cherry or grape tomatoes, some orange rind, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper, some butter, and a few olives. This was so wonderful. The tomatoes were hot and oozy, the fish was lovely, and the cleanup minimal.
I paired this with a dish that did not match but I like making, so there. Plus it is a vegetable and starch all together, which makes life that much simpler. It is my savory asparagus, gruyere, mushroom bread pudding. I found this recipe on Epicurious but have added my own tweaks to it. Namely, the mushrooms, which really add an amazing new layer of flavor to it, and then I completely ignore all the measurements and do everything to feel. The pudding has gruyere, swiss, and parmesan cheese. As well as thyme, chives, italian parsley, bread, eggs, milk, etc. It is absolutely wonderful, can be prepared in advance, and would a great brunch dish as well.

Above is the bread pudding waiting for it's "bucket o'cheese'n'herbs" as I like to call it.

I mix this all together and let it sit with the egg and milk mixture for at least an hour. I have actually made this the night before and had it sit all night in the fridge to wonderful results. There should be no concerns there on that front.

But I have been cooking and not blogging enough. Pretty soon I'll be blogging a lot and not cooking and writing a personal manifesto on the joys of toast. Actually, that could happen any day now, as, any one who knows me will agree, toast is my favorite food. In the whole world. Yes, I live in San Francisco where I am surrounded by amazing food at every corner. And yes, I have enough of a disposable income where I can buy any ingredient (barring truffles, saffron, really expensive wine...). But I love toast. My favorite would be the St Luis Sourdough Company. AMAZING toast. Sourdough is amongst my favorite. But I also like chewy whole grain.
Wait, this was supposed to be another blog post!
Back to my great dinner. It was great, no more to discuss there. For a good En Papillote recipe go to the Gourmet cookbook. The big honking yellow one which is wonderfully edited by Ruth Reichl.

Camping Food

So, I went camping. Now, this statement may not sound shocking to those who do not know me, but this is a REALLY BIG DEAL. After a horrific camping experience at 19 (ok, there was a frog that freaked me out and the whole sleeping outside/no electricity/dirt combo is just not suitable to my needs)I swore I would never camp again. This rang true for almost 9 years, but alas, it was dashed on Memorial Day weekend. It all started with my new boyfriend. When you begin a relationship and you are all lovey dovey, somehow one may be convinced to things they might not ordinarily do. Like camping, for example. So, there I was stuck with the conundrum, if J loves camping and I love J, does that mean I love camping?! Does it work like that? (In case anyone is curious, NO, it doesn't. Love is not transitive like that). But I had to experience this for myself. So off I went with a (borrowed) backpack filled with such things as a headlamp, a mini stove, and wine (yes, I brought wine camping) and I was off. Off into the wild wilderness never to be seen again perhaps.

Living in the Bay Area, the wild is really only a 40 minute drive from the comfortable apartment in San Francisco. I refused to go to the Sierras (there was a chance of rain and snow, and I was RIGHT!) and I thought that knowing how close I was to civilization might help put me at ease on the trip. So J, his friend Brian, another experienced camper, and I set off on our expedition. In an Audi. Wearing my new white North Face Jacket, armed with artisan cheese and tabbouleh and wine. Or so we thought.

Now, the three of us arrived in Point Reyes and started unloading our gear. We were doing a 3 miles hike to Sky Camp and we had a site reserved. At my house before we left we had loaded a cooler with food for the trip. Sausages, cheese, wine, my homemade tabbouleh, fruit, etc. We were going to leave this in the car and refill on day two. So as J and I take out our backpacks both us say, hey Brian, where's the cooler? Well people, the cooler was on my kitchen counter in San Francisco. Brilliant! We forgot all the food. Except for some sardines, a package of freeze dried Chili Mac (needless to say I did not want nor did I have anything to do with this), mustard, salami, sausages, and buns. Are you noticing a theme here? (hint, processed meat). Oh, and two apples I had stashed in my backpack. So, we were going to starve. Well I was. For 15 years I did not touch red meat or pork products. This is changing a little bit. I like to say I am flirting with the stuff, a bite here and a bite there, but I don't really want to indulge of a meal of two different sausages and salami. But not really. We simply ran into Pt. Reyes station, picked up some cheese and crackers and called it a day, or a hike.

Well I have never actually hiked to camping. I have car camped, but this was the first time I had ever put literally everything I needed on my back and hauled it straight up a mountain. It's funny, men say that women are high maintenance, but camping, now THAT is high maintenance. You have to carry your bed, food, light, entertainment (this came in the form of a bottle of vodka), toilet, shower, etc all with you. Staying at a nice hotel, LOW maintenance. And I will give credit where credit is due, I had some help carrying things up the mountain. My pack was heavy, but J's was really heavy.

When we got to sky camp it was really pretty. I got to see things like this.


The trail was beautiful and we saw deer and yellow finches. It was quite nice. And for about 5 minutes I was really content sitting on a picnic table, while the boys put the tents up, and relaxing. Then I realized that I had to sleep there and got a little grumpy. But, I started making appetizers and I was really excited. I got into it! The top photo is of my appetizer, a triscuit with mustard, cheddar cheese, and a sardine one it, doctored up by J. He decided it would be nice to fit every food we had into said bite. So there are two types of cheese, salami, smoked salmon, and a sardine atop a pita. I lied, we had some more stuff than I claimed. This looks absolutely revolting if you ask me, but J said it was quite tasty, as evident below.

After a lovely meal of said appetizers and some sausages that the boys hungrily ingested, I thought, ok, I can eat in the wilderness. And I can sleep in the wilderness. It isn't so bad. Then J suggested I should write a cookbook of camping food and he offered to be my guinea pig. He said we can go every weekend and he will taste all the food. I said "don't push your luck buddy."

Lasagna Lasagna- OR The Garfield Meal

So, after a good jog around Chrissy Field last Tuesday I was discussing with my guy what he wanted to eat for dinner. It was about 7:30pm, so the options were closing. I still had to run by the store before cooking and did not want something too labor intensive or that had a long cooking time. So, I offered up the options of fish and orzo, or perhaps some easy chicken or something. Something light and easy. But, I kept getting the lasagna request over and over again, so I conceded. We ran to Whole Foods to buy ingredients and I was off.
I love love love Ina Garten's Turkey Sausage Lasagna. It is just so good. I typically tweak around the ingredients, starting with cutting the amount of sausage down to 3/4 pounds from 1 1/2 pounds. And then when it comes to measuring herbs and cheese, well, I don't. The ricotta comes premeasured, as does the mozzarella, but I figure some extra basil, goat cheese, and parmesan never killed anyone. Well, perhaps over time, clogged arteries, heart attacks, but not in an evening.
So, I set about preparing the lasagna. I said that it would take awhile, but I don't think that J thought he wouldn't be eating until past 10! that said, I made a salad too. And the lasagna was so good, it was worth the wait.
The labor of this dish starts with creating the sauce. Yeah, so it takes a few minutes to dice some onions and chop garlic. But then somehow the time got away from me. Between soaking the noodles, cutting/grating cheese, etc, this dish is a long haul. Writing about it at the moment I realize that it does not sound like much maintenance, perhaps I need to improve my cooking skills so I have a shorter cooking time.
So, the finished product came out and both J and my roomie were hovering over the bubbling dish. I served us up and got raves all around. J and I ate it for lunch the next day and dinner, with another lunch the following day! And my roommate called me the next day and said, what did you put in that lasagna? It is SO good.
There is my recommendation. If you want drooling and happy guests, make this lasagna. Just start before 8:30 pm!

TURKEY SAUSAGE LASAGNA- remember to use half the sausage if you want it less meat heavy.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound lasagna noodles
15 ounces ricotta cheese
3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
1 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large (10 to 12-inch) skillet. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened.

Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with the hottest tap water. Add the noodles and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes. Drain.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, half the ricotta, and one third of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

Top Chef Chicago- episode 9- Wedding Wars

Well well well, can I say “I told you so?” I knew that this would happen eventually and I am so pleased that Nikki is gone. And she failed in a miserably spectacular way this past episode. Impressive, Nikki, you actually managed to screw up your one single talent. More about that later though. The Wedding Wars episode kicked off with one of my favorite challenges, the Relay Race Skill Challenge. I think that these are the great Top Chef challenges because they set aside those who are truly skilled and those who can just cook. I believe that the art of cooking is vastly underrated in the world at large. Yes, so a home cook may not need to supreme an orange very often, but if you respect the history of cooking and are a classically trained chef, these things are extraordinarily important and show respect for the art that you are a part of. And… there is no guest judge because; cue the steam whistle music, Tom is going to judge the quickfire. And there he is, looking so cute, that wiley smile on his face. Everyone is instantly put at unease. Nikki, one of my faves as everyone knows, immediately starts whining about how she hasn’t made mayonnaise for years, kvetch kvetch kvetch. Well Nikki, we all could have guessed that because the only thing you have made ever, it seems, is pasta and roast chicken. And I’m not knocking either dish, but I can kick those two out the park and no one would ever call me a chef. I already know that Nikki will bring her team down, that’s one of the nice, dependable things about her!

So Lisa and Antonia face of with their oranges and paring knives in hand. Lisa starts off with a bang and pulls her team ahead. Spike and Andrew then face off following their partners. Andrew starts late but beats Spike by using a vegetable peeler (duh) to trim the artichokes. Come on Spike! Use your head. Maybe those hats are actually hurting the blood supply to his hairy noggin. It’s a thought. Following up comes the ugly but delicious monk fish. Dale and Richard go to town and are pretty even when it comes to their finish time, although both have questionable finished products. But the drama came to a head, or should I say a peak, haha, when Stephanie grabbed the reins and destroyed Nikki with the mayonnaise. Stephanie really put her effort into it. I cannot imagine how much her arm stung afterwards, but Nikki just looked, well, pathetic, in comparison. Shocker.

So the winning team of Antonia, Richard, Stephanie, and Andrew, we’ll call them Team “Of Course They’re Gonna Win,” got to choose which side of the wedding party they were going to cater for. They surprisingly chose the bride. I was surprised because I felt like the bride would have a lot more expectations and would therefore be a trickier choice. But Richard continues to expose his sentimental side and said that the day was all about the bride, so there. It’s funny; in contrast I think that Richard has softened up a lot as the competition has moved forward. At the beginning he was cockier and seemed to have a rougher edge while Dale seemed very calm and Zen. Now Dale is just a whirling dervish of negativity and contrariness and general misery, and Richard seems to have found some inner peace and romance or something. Last show he discussed his burning desire to make babies, and now he is waxing poetic about weddings and how they are your most special day. Wow, someone has been slipping this man some estrogen. Do you think he wore his fauxhawk in his own wedding? Did he sous vide salmon personally to make sure that the obviously insane woman who married him had “the most special day of her life?” These are questions I need answered. Don’t even get me started on his extreme generosity at sharing his prize with Stephanie. And maybe he has let go a bit because he is obviously one of the front runners and knows that pretty soon Andrew will run out of Ritalin or whatever juice he is on, Dale will break a bone punching something and not be able to cook…

Now I am rambling. Back to the other team, aptly named “A Snowball’s Chance in Hell,” or something of that ilk. Comprised of Sour Lisa, Worthless Nikki, Bitter Dean, and Slimy Spike, this is the team that lost, this is the team the audience is rooting against, and this is the team that’s each other. Self loathing is NOT a good way to start a challenge. So Team Snowball, which has start melting, meets with the crazy groom to plan the menu. I say crazy because who spends a YEAR PLANNING A WEDDING AND DECIDES TO HAVE A TEAM OF RAG TAG COMPETITIVE TV CHEFS CATER IT STARTING THE DAY BEFORE???!! Wow, I feel a lot better now. But seriously, where do they find these people? I know that the wedding is obviously catered for free, which will dramatically help anyone’s wedding budget, but who is that crazy? If you are a “wedding person” as I like to call it, you must actually value the frivolity of this day and therefore won’t leave anything up to chance. But who knows, no one asked me. So Mr. Groom likes Italian, lucky you Nikki. They decided to do a huge array of ridiculous antipasto along with bad looking tenderloin and pasta. Lisa makes the world’s ugliest wedding cake, that thing looked like a shoe box, and Nikki is too busy making bad pasta to help anyone else out. Which means that Dale is flitting around the kitchen doing a lot but not much of anything. He is bitching and moaning and making miserable faces, but not actually stepping up and asking for help or trying to organize a cohesive menu. And Nikki keeps chiming in, I’m not the executive chef, don’t listen to me, even though she is the one who put the most input into the menu and is the resident expert. Oh, so it’s like that Nikki?

Team “Of Course We’re Winning” is tired but staying strong. Andrew seems to have shared his stimulants with his fellow teammates and they are chugging along as well as you can when locked in a box of a kitchen for 2 days. Antonia makes pizza and other hors d'eouvres and Richard make beef or something with “delicious” horseradish and Andrew fulfills his weakest link persona by making bad creamed spinach through a meat grinder (?) and soggy chicken. All while Stephanie whips up a prettier than it tastes, multiple tier wedding cake. The cake really did come out beautifully I will say.

It’s obvious that the Winning Team is the winning team throughout the entire episode. But we still have to show Padma, inappropriately sleazily dressed as usual, come and say in her phone sex operator voice, “can we see: Stephanie, Richard, Antonia, and Andrew.” Oh my gosh, I’m watching what happens but are they going to be the losers, even though first picked, for the first time ever in “Top Chef History?” The answer is an obvious no. They are regaled with compliments, Gale Gand is happily blasé about the entire thing and then they are asked to send in the other team. Team Snowball has been reduced to Team “I Hate All Y’all’s Guts” and they are sent into Judge’s Table looking 100% miserable. Lisa looks like a school yard bully but more poorly groomed, Dale hates himself and everyone else, Nikki is saying “I wasn’t the leader, don’t look at me,” and Spike is just sort of shuffling his feet and hiding under one of the many monstrosities he owns that cover his head. The judges pounce on the chefs, but not as much as they pounce on each other. One by one they begin throwing each other under the bus. The room looks like a slaughter house and Dale and Spike have barely begun yelling at each other. “You didn’t do anything,” “your stuff was bleep bleep bleep.” Nikki is standing there the whole time going, don’t look at me, I didn’t have anything to do with anything and continuing to shirk responsibility. Well, at least she’s reliable. There is more yelling, Lisa continues to look really mean and nasty, and Nikki’s accent might actually have gotten uglier.

But someone must “pack their knives and go” and it ends up being… wait for it, Nikki! Yay! I have been validated. And I know that I have been because every blog and comment I have read about this episode reiterated my dismay for the fact that Nikki was still around. Finally someone wised up and figured out that woman cannot actually cook! Amazing. It only took half the season.

Top Chef Chicago- episode 7- Sayonara San Francisco

Words I promise not to use in the following paragraphs: cheftestant (gag), chopping block.

Words that I have to use because I am so impressionable: Toyota Highlander, GladWare, Evian Water, Kenmore Kitchen, Whole Foods
Bravo really should keep me on their payroll.

So, it is adios to San Francisco. Arrivederci, adieu, auf wiedersehen, salam aleikum. Ok, that’s “may God be with you,” but you get the gist. Jen “I’m doing it for Zoi” Coco500 got the boot. I am actually surprised considering that Nikki “I talk like I’m in Goodfellas” is still around and she is completely talentless and annoying. But she keeps riding slightly above the wave of mediocrity and remains. Oh well, she’ll be gone soon and then we can all rejoice. Richard that cheeky Fauxhawk won, again, and Lisa still hasn’t washed her hair, so all is well in Top Chef land.

The chefs got a real challenge for the Quickfire this time around… dessert! All chefs hate making dessert, at least that has been a recurring theme on Top Chef for its 4 season duration. That and the “I’m not going to dumb down/be inauthentic/I’m really an arrogant jerk” attitude that the majority of cheftestants (damn, it slipped out) inhabit. But the chefs had to pull that one dessert recipe they have memorized out of their toque and attempt to use it, in the small time allotted. I can hear Tom in the back room going “Muahahahaha” like the evil genius he is. Richard “I think I am more amusing than I actually am” won the Quickfire as well with his banana scallops and guacamole. Um, okay. I was surprised that Antonia lost though. Her lemon curd crème brulee and lemon cake looked delicious. But I am a sucker, get it, sucker, for lemon, so I thought it looked tasty. Lisa’s fried wontons looked mildly disgusting but she got a positive reaction from “random NYC pastry chef I had never heard of” guest judge. Perhaps the sour look on her face and the amazing amount of grease resting on her head doesn’t turn him off as much as it does me.

So then our assembly of foul mouthed chefs got to “have the night off” and go see the Second City Improv group. (Plug, plug. It’s really too bad that Season One of Top Chef was already in San Francisco because I don’t remember them so brazenly selling out that first season. Well, they had that awful host, remember Billy Joel’s child bride was Padma, and she had one of the worst speaking voices. Tom was there, oh Tom, I remember when we first met. I didn’t know of you and then you came into my household. Too bad it wasn’t more recently because I would definitely stalk the Top Chef set if they were filming in San Francisco right now). Or so they thought. C’mon my little cheffies, don’t you know by now there’s always a trick up the Bravo sleeves?

So the audience yelled out random words and our poor, downtrodden group of cooks had to create dishes with these themes. Interesting. And wait, the tricks keep coming though. As the theme is improv Tom keeps changing things for the chefs. Oh no, there are no machines! What, we have to pack everything up in our GladWare and get in our Highlanders and drive back to the Top Chef house to finish cooking? You tricky tricky producers!

The chefs were in teams of two, two groups of men, two of women, and then the mediocre pairing of Nikki and Mark who straddled the middle line once again. The chefs had to make courses such as yellow love squash or something ludicrous like that. Richard and Dale, the alpha team, went and “perplexed” up their green tofu assignment by marinating the tofu in beef fat. This scared me a bit but they went on to win, so who am I to judge? The losers Jen and Stephanie mucked up their “turned on” version of an orange asparagus. Why the enormous disk of goat cheese dare I ask? Now, I love cheese, but goat is a particularly strong flavor and will mask all the other flavors on the plate. And why was there tapenade there? But, did you notice the incredible foreshadowing done by the Bravo producers? Jen was putting her knives away and said it was an omen. Oh, Jen, how you failed in your mission to “win it for Zoi.” Too bad. I do think that Jen was robbed a bit.

Lisa and Antonia’s dish completely fell outside the guidelines so I think that one of them (ahem, Lisa) should have gotten the heave ho. Their attitudes were despicable as well. I love how Lisa said that the judges would have called a real polish sausage “bar food” and dismissed it. Um, Lees, haven’t you ever heard of Daniel Bouloud and his uber-famous burgers? They cost about $500 each and are stuffed with truffles, foie grois, lobster, and a bar of gold. They even come with their own leprechaun, to accompany the gold of course. If burgers aren’t bar food I don’t know what is. But all you really have to do to “elevate” it is to call some french fries “pomme frites” or marinate your silly purple drunken polish sausage in some red wine. Hello, they had the most obvious dish to make. But oh no, Lisa was too good for polish sausage. She really does have a bad attitude and I think that she was bringing Antonia down. I guess today is my bash Lisa blog. And if I will continue on that theme then I will say that while I understand that this is the kitchen and this is an authentic cooking show blah blah blah, Lisa, I will reiterate, please wash your hair. No one wants to eat food that has been cooked by someone who looks as though they don’t shower. And while you’re at it, just a little mascara maybe. It would make you look less, I don’t know, tragique. I’m not asking you to adopt the tranny eyebrows that Nikki has been sporting, just something that makes you look a little cleaner and more awake.

Attitude is part of the game. I think that the reason that Andrew and Spike’s soup was so well liked was the three extra hours they had nothing to do but season it, and the obvious enjoyment they took in creating the dish. Spike got his revenge on Antonia by making his squash soup (her comment about if he wins she’ll vomit in her mouth was priceless) and Andrew got to do what he does best, swear and make funny faces. That kooky little man, what will he come up with next?

So in the end the boys were on top and the girls were on bottom. Was it deserved, well, I must say, yes. Am I disappointed in my fellow females? Yeah, I want a woman to be a contender (thanks Rocky). We’ll see how they do next week when the kiddies come into the kitchen. I can already see Dale having a really short fuse with a little kid. And Lisa, oh boy, that will be fun!

Yoshi's- Yum Yum

Aaaah, the art of dining alone. Not something I do very often, and I must admit that last night's solo meal wasn't completely alone. I ran into Yoshi's Fillmore on my way to the "gym" (gym is in quotes because is has recently become a more fictional place than somewhere I frequent with, well, any frequency.) My roommate works there and I thought I pop my head in before running over to Club One. Well, my plan was thwarted, and happily at that. I got there and A said, have a glass of wine. I thought, nah, I'll stick with water as I am going to go run on the treadmill pretty soon. This lasted about 5 minutes. So I sat there and had a lovely sauvignon blanc and read Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely in confident peace. I say confident because it takes some guts to sit in a lounge at dinner time by one's self and read a book. Really, it does, try it. People are on romantic dates, there are groups of friends having a laugh. But I was on a date with Philip Marlowe and that's not too shabby either. While I was sitting and reading the chef came out to sat hello to me. I have met him numerous times as my roommate is a waitress at the restaurant and I have been there a lot, it is very close to my house as well. So we chatted, talked about business, etc, and then I went back to Philip Marlowe, who was having a tough time at that moment to be honest. Well, next thing I know food is being served to me at my little table. I was shocked, I hadn't ordered anything, but I suppose this is what you get when you have friends in high places, aka, the kitchen.

The first dish to arrive was a carpaccio of hamachi (I believe, I never saw a menu). In the center were radishes on top of a bed of the most delicious mozzarella I have tasted (once again, it had to be mozzarella and even writing it sounds strange, but I am confident in my taste buds). There was also an orange colored sauce drizzled around the plate. This was absolutely heavenly. It was incredible. The fish was so soft and with the mozzarella it was just buttery. The radishes gave it a bit of heat and a crunch that perfected the whole experience. This was amazing. Who needs friends when you have food and books (unfortunately this thought occurs to me quite often and I have to remind myself, hey, I do need live people who aren't edible or readable!) The dish really transcends any verbal description, you must have it in your mouth to understand what it tastes like.

The second dish that I was pleasantly surprised by was a sushi roll called the Sarusa. It is poached shrimp, white fish and avocado with a bit of lemon zest in a roll and topped with a Dungeness crab salsa. This was amazing. The freshness of every ingredient was exquisite, and the flavors all complemented each other. It was almost creamy it was so good. As I placed the first roll in my mouth, Philip Marlowe had a large Indian man's hands wrapped around his neck, but I put him down to concentrate on the food. I figured that Chandler's story has been around since 1940, I'm sure Marlowe will be just fine. I was almost happy to be alone, as there was no company necessary but the food in front of me.

When I finished my delicious meal I made the shocking decision not to go to the gym. It was not actually that shocking considering I was now full of food and some lovely sauvignon blanc. Who needs exercise under those circumstances? I was picking up my book to see whether Marlowe would make it out of his sticky mess, when the manager came by and placed a fork and steak knife in front of me. I said "what are those for?" And he gave me the necessary response to any stupid question. He said "well, the knife if for cutting things..." I smiled and he walked away. Pretty soon after that a long and thin rectangular plate came out to join me. On it were organic lamb chops from Colorado served with a garlic mousse and roasted cauliflower. This is where things got sticky.

I have not eaten red meat since I was twelve years old. This means that for the majority of my life, the past 15 years, I have been bacon, steak, hamburger, hot dog, and lamb chop free. This was a choice I made, obviously, a long time ago for ethical reasons and I am now completely used to my diet. I went completely vegetarian for many years, always ovo-lacto though, and have gone off poultry for a six months here or there but eaten fish, etc. But I have never gone back to the red meat. I can say that one year ago I had a bite of a steak and once in high school I had a bite of steak. So this was not a world I wanted to dive back into. I am sure that I have been subjected to beef broth and reductions of things that I do not even want to think about, but I have stayed true to myself for many years. But now I was in a pickle. When someone sends you a complimentary dish that they made for you, you must eat it. I suppose my manners are stronger than my ethics when it comes to this. It is one thing to communicate with your hostess prior to a gathering about your dietary restrictions, but there is NO way I would send this back, yes, capitalized NO. So... I ate it.

At first I just took a bite to be polite. I started eating the cauliflower, which was delicious. Nutty and slightly browned, it was perfectly al dente. And I had a bite of the lamb. I put it in my mouth, scared of the gamey meat flavor that I was sure would arrive on my taste buds, when, wow! It was good. This lamb was incredibly tender and moist. There was some sticky reduction beneath it, and mixed with the garlic mousse, once again, wow! So I went from, ok, I'll have one bite to show my appreciation, to literally gnawing on the bones. Oops!

I don't know if I am reformed as of yet. I cannot imagine actually ordering a dish that contains red meat when going out, and while I can make a mean steak (I have never tasted my own but every time I make steak I get many compliments), I can't really imagine jumping into one on my own. But, I suppose if someone else served me meat it would be rude to say no, right???

PHOTO NOTE- The photo is actually a dish at Yoshi's but one I did not consume. I had my camera with me but felt a bit awkward busting it out as staff was looking at me because a) I was the random girl in the bar reading, b) why does she keep getting food sent to her and c) how does she know the chef? So, in a bid to draw less attention to myself I went picture free. Naturally I regret it, especially considering the food looked like works of art. But I think I am going back next week, so if I do I really could eat that carpaccio again...

Bad Food Day

I had a bad food day on Friday. What, may you ask, is this this? And how is it possible in a city like San Francisco? Hmm, well, it is possible, but I should be smarter than that. It actually started out Thursday night. I restaurant hopped from Little Star pizza to Nopa, which was pretty great. I had one piece of pizza, pepperoni carefully picked off as I was dining with three men who ignored my cries of a veggie pizza. I ate one chicken wing and some carrots, and then I was off, running down the street to meet another friend, and another meal. (Strangely I actually lost weight last week, perhaps it was all the running between restaurants).
I plopped myself down at Nopa and ate a delicious appetizer of "Warm Goat Cheese, Crostini, Pickled Beets, Frisée and Peppercress"- description taken directly from Nopa menu. I was lovely, just the perfect snack. I paired it with a nice pinot noir and I was a very happy girl. But, within an hour of socializing, I was a very tired girl. So I ran down the street, past the park, and into my house to get some much needed sleep (see, more running, and all in high boots too, amazing!) But, I woke up late the next day for work, understandably.
There I was, sitting at my computer, lamenting my choice to stay out too late on a Thursday night, and I was getting hungry. Really hungry. It was almost 1pm and I had yet to consume a calorie, I don't think that my green tea counts. So where to go? My office is situated on a slightly dead block of downtown San Francisco, re- I have to walk at least 3 or so blocks for a good food option. There is a coffee shop around the corner though where I pick up a turkey sandwich occasionally, but turkey and I are still on the outs, to there went that option. I hauled my lazy cookies around the corner to the coffee shop. I got a cobb salad. I figured it was more substantial than the other salad with it's eggs etc. So I ran back to the office, and after picking off the bacon on top of the salad (those pesky pork products again), I dove in. Chew chew chew, um, gross. The lettuce was old, the tomatoes were mealy, the dressing was horrid. I was completely underwhelmed. But at this point I had already spent $7 (I know! $7 for a bad salad, very disappointing) and I didn't have the energy to go elsewhere. So I stuck it out with my bad salad until the end of the day.
I left work late that night and decided that I was in the mood for a burrito. There is a chain Mexican place on my way home, between buses, so I figured I could run in there and get a bite. I trotted on down to La Salsa (yes, once again, this is all my fault. I live close to so many amazing burrito shops and I choose La Salsa). I ordered my "California Veggie Burrito." It is basically rice, beans, avocado, salsa, lettuce and cheese. Simple, right. I mean, that's hard to screw up. And in their defense they didn't really screw up, it was just, not good. I decided to eat in the shop because I was starving. So the first disappointment is realizing that it was Friday night and I was sitting alone on Fillmore Street eating a bad burrito with my nose in a book. (My nose is always in a book, more about that later). But the salsa that I poured onto the burrito so it would have SOME flavor, completely swamped any other taste. Oh well, I figured that I could eat well for the rest of the weekend. It's not like I wouldn't get another opportunity in about 12 hours...
PS- This picture of a burrito was the most unappetizing I could find. I didn't take a photo because of lack of inspiration/unworthiness of photographic evidence.

Breaking Up With My Turkey Sandwich

So, I think it's actually over. Or maybe we're just on a break. But just the idea of a turkey sandwich right now turns my stomach. And we were on such a good roll. It had been a few months of constant turkey sandwiches, pretty much every day. He was my old standby. When I wasn't hungry but felt like I should eat something, Mr. Turkey was always there. And he wasn't always the same, he could adapt to the situation at hand, an important quality in a partner. I did turkey on wheat, turkey on big crusty sourdough rolls, sometimes with avocado, at times with cheese, sometimes with both. Always lettuce and tomato. I even had a turkey pesto panini. There were open faced turkey sandwiches, warm and covered with gravy. The classic turkey cranberry, no onions please, which is refreshing when sitting in the park at lunch. The only constant was mustard. I can't do it without mustard. (Secret- I even keep little packets of mustard in my desk drawer in case, god forbid, there isn't any or enough mustard on the sandwich.)
But, I think we overdid it yesterday. Too much togetherness. I had two, yes TWO, turkey sandwiches yesterday. They were different, one deli made on sliced sourdough with jack cheese, and one homemade on 9-grain bread with avocado and a little mayo. But by then end of the second, my dinner, I realized that we had spent too much time together. So much time that I cannot even fathom eating poultry right now. Yes, I am off the whole species. I may just need a break from sandwiches in general as well. Why oh why. It's so hard to lose an old friend. And I am sure with time we'll start talking again, slowly but surely. I'll see a friend with one and ask for a bite. It won't turn my stomach. The charm will return and I'll venture out and buy one. I'll start simple, just turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mustard. Then maybe I'll go more complex. Add some avocado, perhaps a pickle or a little slice of cheese. I have always thought a nice big basil leaf really augments the flavors. But it is hard for me to talk about it right now. Breaking up can be tough, but maybe all is not lost. Maybe I just need a break. I don't really want to eat anything else, I just can't have another turkey sandwich for a while...

Tip of the Day

The other night I made "kitchen cupboard" pasta. Aka, I boiled some linguine and tossed it with some of the cooking liquid, olive oil, crushed tomatoes, parmesan, gruyere, and a chiffonade of basil. I took a bite and it seemed a bit bland. I thought, oh, crushed red pepper, that will add the necessary kick! So, I added some, crushed it between my fingers, rinsed my hands, and set down my steaming bowl. I was going to relax into whatever was on my DVR at the moment when I realized my eyes were feeling a bit dry. So I ran into the bathroom to take out my contacts and put on my glasses before I began dinner. I reached into my eye ball with my fingers and... OW! Water does NOT rinse the hot pepper oils of your finger tips, let me tell you. (My eyes are actually watering as I write this). I instantly started rinsing my eye under cold water and had a lovely pink eye for the rest of the night (I used my other hand to take out my other contact. At least I catch on quickly).
Oh, and throw that contact out. A night of marinating in saline solution and pepper oils does nothing to ease the pain.
There is my tip of the day. More like a tip for a lifetime.

Bloggers Unite at Blue Jay Cafe

So, there I was on Saturday morning (alright, it was past noon) at the Blue Jay cafe on Divisadero, eating a chicken sandwich and gossiping with my two girlfriends, both named Nicole, about the events from the night before, and lo and behold. The woman at the table next to us takes out an ENORMOUS camera and starts photographing the crab benedict and biscuits and gravy that have been set down on her table. The Nicoles made strange faces and said, um, that is very odd. I on the other hand knew exactly what she was doing! She was taking photographic evidence for her food blog (mind you, these are all assumptions). So, we are taking over the world, one restaurant, one dish, and one photo at a time. Mystery blogger/photographer, who are you? And why didn't I strike up a neighborly, bloggerly conversation? (I just made up that word, what do we think??)
Anyway, I was shy, and should have said hi. (Oh, now the writing skills are really coming out!) But I was too immersed in my chicken salad sandwich with cheddar cheese (minus the bacon) to really figure it out. Now, I love Blue Jay. They have great omelets and eggs, amazing biscuits, and good salads. I wouldn't order the chicken salad sandwich. It's just sort of... odd. I think that there is curry on it. And the toast didn't match up. I have no idea where the matching tops to my sandwich went, but the pieces of toast that were atop my sandwich were in no way the same shape as those that were on the underside of sandwich. Hmmmm. Strange things going on at Blue Jay. Anyway, run in there on the weekend or any night of the week. Enjoy your eggs. Caution the chicken salad...

Fillmore 1300, mmmmm

Walking into Fillmore 1300 is always a welcoming experience for me. The restaurant is so warmly decorated and I like all the different rooms. Plus my friend Dave is the general manager and therefore I get treated probably a little better than the average customer. Well, one of my best friends broke up with her boyfriend so my roommate and I decided that we could either have her come over and we could all sit on the couch and moan, or we could get dressed up and go out to a nice meal (actually, after a can of Tecate, I think this was my suggestion). So the three of us waltzed down the street and into the lovely arms of Dave and his Fillmore 1300 staff.

The evening began with an amuse bouche. This was a small piece of polenta with a roasted red pepper, etc. It was delicious, and quite a musing for my bouche. It was washed down with a lovely pinot noir that Tony, the sommelier, helped us choose. I didn't order a main course this particular evening, I had already eaten quite a lot that day and was not starving. But I did partake in the brussel sprouts that we ordered for the table, as well as the yummy cornbread with pepper jam and butter. I also had a salad of arugula, fennel, endive, apples, walnuts and a champagne viniagrette which I did not submit to photographic memory for some reason.
Now, the best part of this meal was the dessert, which was a surprise and gift from Dave. He sent us four desserts, each one better than the next. We had the sorbet and petite fours, the Bananas Foster Fillmore, the Chocolate Beignets, and one more that I cannot remember. What I do remember is that they were all amazing. And I am not a huge sweets person, as I have said in the past, but I tasted and enjoyed every single dessert. (My lack of memory comes from the fact that this meal was now 10 days ago, a little late on the post, my bad).
I really like this restaurant every time I go. Katie's fried chicken was delicious, the bite I had, and I really like the homage to the jazz age of the Fillmore district and its respect of history. My only complaint would be that every time I walked out of the bathroom I slipped on the hard wood in the hallway, but it is quite possible that is my fault, as I am known for my klutziness.

My Introduction to Korean Food

Recently I was out visiting my roommate at the restaurant where she works, the new Yoshi's on Fillmore Street (don't worry, I will discuss this soon...). So when Alyssa finished her shift, we decided to head down the street to a Korean restaurant that stays open very late. How late, I have no idea what the actual hours are, but I know we were there past 1am, and yes, it was a Thursday. Now, I will say this, I do not actually know what I ate this evening. I do not believe that I have ever eaten Korean food before, and although one would assume I would know what I was eating because I ordered it, when Alyssa and I arrived at the restaurant the food was already set out on the table (that's a story that I won't include in this forum).
What I do know was that there was a bowl of this sauce that was very very salty and peppery but I actually cannot say if it was oil, or butter or what material it was whatsoever. Terrible I know. It was delicious to dip rice into, though. The favorite of the evening was the cellophane noodles. This is to be expected from me as I am a carbohydrate junkie and I pretty much like any noodle dish.

There were also crescent moons filled with chicken (? I hope) that were lovely to dip into the mystery sauce. I am not much of a meat eater. Understatement, I don't eat red meat or pork (yes, some may decry my authenticity as someone who loves food, but give me a break, we can go into that later). But these crunchy bites were also delicious, but I must say that if you deep fry some sort of dough with a savory filling and then dip it into a salty sauce, it is bound to taste good!

But the gizzards, the gizzards, oh my! I recently saw a show on the Food Network, Diners Drive-Ins, and Dives, where Guy went to a restaurant that specialized in chicken gizzards. So I had been recently well versed in a) what the heck a gizzard is and b) how one prepares said gizzards. I know that there is a lot of boiling, etc involved so as to soften the gizzard and make it edible. Now, I know that I have never lived in a society where we must utilize every aspect of each animal we kill. In fact, if I had never been to a petting zoo, I may have never even seen a live chicken before and would have no idea that the pink, shiny, slippery things that I pick up from my butcher have anything to do with an animal with feathers. (Correction- do they have chickens at petting zoos?? As soon as I wrote it it occurred to me that they do not. So, I remember as a child a girl I was friends with lived in Berkeley and they had chickens in the back yard. So I do have a live chicken memory, as dusty as it may be.) Anyway, I am not sure if I need to eat every part of every animal. There are plenty of people out there who like liver and tripe and sweetbreads (it has always seemed like such a contradictory term for what they are. When I was little I used to think, ooh, sweetbreads. I like sweet, I like bread, what could be wrong there? Well, a lot!) (Also, see- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/11/FD7TOST1Q.DTL )

All that said, I shoved a gizzard in my mouth with the surrounding green peppers and onions, quite possibly my two least favorite vegetables. Um... it was chewy. Not chewy bad, but I have to admit, not chewy good either. Well, it was my only bite. I am proud that I tasted it and was more of a food adventurer, but I cannot say I will order the dish on my own volition.
The plum wine was good though!!

I am not a specialist in the world of Korean food after my singular experience, but I will say I want to return to the restaurant and try different dishes. And as it is close to home and open late, I am sure that I will soon. More pictures and thoughts to come on this cuisine in the future...