Lamb Stew With White Beans

If you have a slow cooker, pay attention. This is an incredibly easy way to have meals ready for several days in a row. If you don't have a slow cooker you can still make this, but you'll have to watch the stove for several hours. You'll need:

• two legs of lamb (I used mine straight out of the freezer)
• one can of beef stock or consomme
• one onion, quartered
• five cloves of garlic
• 32 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• two cups of dry white beans (I used great northern beans)
• three to five carrots, cut into big cubes (enough to fill a one quart container)
• celery and corn are great too, if you have them.

Put the lamb, onions, garlic, beef stock, tomatoes, and enough water to cover everything into your slow cooker. Start soaking the white beans in a big bowl of cold water. I then turned my slow cooker to low and left for work. When I got back the lamb was very tender; an hour less might have perfect. I took the lamb out because it was too tender to have cooked for much longer. I removed the bones and set the meat aside while I finished the stew.

I added the white beans and cooked on high (for a slow cooker that's not too hot) for two hours. I added the carrots at this point and cooked for two more hours. Once everything was tender, I stirred the lamb back in. I wasn't planning to eat it that night, so into the fridge it went. I ate it the next day over some rice. Yipee! Very garlicky, tender meat, and plenty of beans and veggies.

In the ideal world, this would be the timing:

• two hours for the lamb, onoins and garlic
• add the beans (leave the meat in), cook for two more hours
• add the rest of the vegetables, cook for two more hours

Divide in half if you're cooking on the stovetop, and watch it very carefully! Or follow the slow cooker times but use an oven safe pot and set the oven to 250 degrees (I think). So it's an all day affair, but great for weekends. Or you can do it my way if you want to make it a two-day (but completely brainless) project.

Madeleine, My Love

I might have to start drinking coffee again, because I've felt sluggish and grouchy at work for the last two days. What this usually means is that I have to resort to eating extra food to get to 5 o'clock without killing anyone.

Anyway, Cafe Madeleine. They are a small chain of three cafes, all in downtown San Francisco. In addition to assorted sweets, they sell a variety of salads, sandwiches, and quiches at lunch. Everything I've ever had there is great, with the exception of some of the baked goods in glass jars. I think what happens with the boring jarred things (brownies, plain cookies) is no one buys them and they sit there for a day or two. Ick. Stick with the colorful treats behind the glass bakery shelves and you'll do swimmingly.

Today I had half a triple chocolate mousse along with a big mugful of some coffee my mom brought back from her whirlwind tour of Italy. The mousse was dark, milk, and whice chocolate mousses sitting atop a thin disc of chocolate cake. A little dab of dark chocolate ganache held a decorative swirly chcolate plaque in place. It was cold, foamy, very chocolatey, and just sweet enough. I foresee needing the rest for tomorrow afternoon.

Nordstrom Cafe

Rainy day blues? Get yourself some hot soup and a pot of tea.

A co-worker and I escaped the office to enjoy Nordstrom Cafe, situated atop the San Francisco Shopping Center. It's usually reasonably quiet there and windows are large so it's airy and bright even on a dreary day like today. We go there every few months because it's really close to the office, the food is good, and the prices are reasonable. What makes me really happy is that the food has always been piping hot and tastes like it was made after I ordered it, not like it'd been sitting around since 10 a.m. waiting to be ordered.

Today we each had a bowl of crab bisque and a pot of Mighty Leaf tea, and we shared fries. The bisque really hit the spot. The texture was not too thin and not too floury, and there were nice pieces of dungeness crab throughout. The great thing about bisque is that it's soup, but it's thick so it sticks to your bones. I could have done without all the pieces of raw bell pepper, but I could see how someone else might really like it. At least the bell peppers were crunchy sweet yellow and red peppers, not grassy green ones. I had garlic breath all afternoon, but it was worth it.

The fries were presented in a cute little bucket, and served with kalamata olive aioli. The aioli was delicious; I'd never had fries and olives before, but the combo was a real winner. The fries themselves were well-seasoned but a little cool and soft. Not impressive, but not bad either.

I had African Nectar tea, which was rooibos with some fruit. It smelled lightly of vanilla, and was very smooth and naturally sweet. My friend had the Green Tea Tropical Blend, which had a sharp acidic green tea flavor and a lot of overtones of tropical fruit. He liked it a lot; I thought his tea smelled incredible but that mine tasted better.

Food and tea came out to under $20, which isn't bad for a long relaxing meal and some fuel to get through the end of the day. In the past we've really enjoyed the steamed mussels and pizza, and today I saw a huge bowl of really fancy looking chicken caesar. One of these days, I might even try to leave room for dessert.

My First Reader Question!

John Ok wrote:

I'm going to be making a cheesecake with stawberyy topping that calls for brandy. I don't drink so I was wondering if you had any recommendations on a good cooking brandy that won't cost a fortune.

***********

Dear John:

First of all, kudos on making a cheesecake from scratch! That's going to win you big points with all the ladies (ladies, are you reading? He's smart and nice, too.)

Secondly, a quick lesson about brandy vs. Cognac. Brandy is a fortified wine, meaning it's made from fruits (not always grape!) but distilled way beyond what a normal bottle of wine experiences. That's why it's brown (like apple juice) instead of purple (like red wine). Calvados is Spanish apple brandy; grappa is Italian grape brandy; Armagnac and Cognac are from France, with Cognac being the most famous brandy in the world. I know, too much information.

VS, VSP, VSOP, and XO denote how long the brandy has been aged--hence the hefty price tag on XO products. If you cook with that brandy fans will hunt you down and skin you.

Having babbled on and on, I have to admit I don't drink actually drink brandy, so I'm not going to pretend like I'm being a huge help. I have Courvoissier VSOP, which would be a very nice French champagne (grape) Cognac. But I only own it because I ordered a cheaper bottle and the safeway.com delivery man brought me the expensive bottle by mistake. I wish things like that would happen more often. You could certainly go with a cheaper Couvoissier, or something right in the $15-20 range. Remember, you can go to liquor store and buy a tiny bottle, allowing you to get something nicer. Or go to Beverages & More and spend $2 on the tiny airline-sized bottles.

Personally, for cheesecake, I'd go with Grand Marnier instead of a brandy. Grand Marnier is brandy-like in flavor, but has an orange and sugar as well. It tastes great baked into the cheesecake, and is wonderful for almost any fruit sauce. It would go amazingly well with what you've got planned. If you bake a lot, get Grand Marnier because it's delicious in cakes, cookies, frozen treats, custards, etc. If you're hoping to cook main courses with brandy, get some Courvoissier. Meat simmering in brandy smells like Heaven. My well-used bottle of each is posted so you know what to look for. And you can always go poke around this link to find out more. It's the same as the "brandy" link above.

I know there are at least one or two people who read this site and cook with brandy. Anyone?

Taco Party!

I really wanted to try my hand at making carnitas, so we rang in the Chinese New Year with a taco party. I'm still plagued by fuzzy photos, but it's getting better! Here's one pork taco, with black beans, salsa, and Mexican cream cheese (aka. crema).

The full spread included: carnitas; chicken with onions, bell pepper, and tomatoes; fresh tomato salsa; black beans slow cooked with onions and a smoked ham hock; hard and soft tortillas; crema; radishes; and margaritas with fresh lime juice and Coralejo blanco tequila.

We didn't take too many pictures because everyone was starving, but here's the tomato salsa: two large tomatoes, half a red onion, a handful of cilantro, one seeded and ribbed jalapeno, the juice of half a lime, and a sprinkling of sea salt. All you do is dice everything, mix it together, and taste to see if you need more salt or lime. Easy, and much more delicious than storebought. In my opinion, the red onion makes a big difference in salsa.

The carnitas, made using a recipe from epicurious.com. The secret ingredients are freshly squeezed orange juice and brandy. I never would have thought of it on my own!

Anyhow, the party was a ton of fun. There's something about sitting around assembling your own food that just makes for a good time. That, and the meal was followed by chocolate cake. What could be better than that?

Rue St. Jacques

This turned out to be a cute little bistro nestled in the residential area between Nob Hill and Chinatown. In a nutshell, the food was good, the value was decent, and the service could use a little work. I'm working with a new camera these days, so please bear with the fuzzy photos while I work out the kinks.

We started the meal by sharing a foie gras terrine. Very nice. The foie gras was very smooth, and the sweet cherry sauce complemented the gaminess of the liver.

Cassoulet: two kinds of sausage and a nice big piece of duck swimming in buttery sauce. The top was crispy, and the presentation in a cast iron skillet on top of two bricks was amusing. A very large portion; I think two people could easily share this if they got separate appetizers and desserts. The only thing weird about this was that some of the white beans were more cooked than the others.

Rabbit confit with mashed potatoes and tarragon sauce. The rabbit was delicious, with crispy skin. I usually think tarragon tastes too much liks licorice, but the sauce was well balanced. I liked this quite a lot.

As we were paying our bill, the table next to us got their salmon and scallops. The smell of seafood was incredible. If we had smelled that on the way in, I would have abandoned my selection in favor of the scallops on a bed of lentils, covered in some kind of pale green sauce. It was all we could do to keep from staring at it.

Service was friendly. I did appreciate the waiter pouring me a sip of my cote du rhone to try before he poured me an entire glass; I think every restaurant that serves wine should make this a habit. One ounce of wine is a small price to pay to ensure that every customer likes what he or she is drinking. Complaints include the fact that a twelve person party of noisy birthday celebrators showed up, but that's not the restaurant's fault. The waiters are eager but unpolished, doing things like popping up right next to us and saying "How's everything going?" very loudly in the middle of our conversation, and asking if we wanted change when without change we would have been leaving a 25% tip. Nothing major, and not at all unusual or off-putting in a little neighborhood bistro.

Rue St. Jacques Website

Chocolate Cake 101

Chocolicious.
I'm posting this mainly as a step-by-step of my first successful assembly of a three-layer cake. You can use any cake or frosting that you want, but I'll include the links to what I used at the end of this post.

Cool cakes completely before frosting, or refrigerate/freeze the cakes to make them firmer and easier to handle. Remember to save the flattest, most even cake for the top. I cooled all my cakes upside down and found that it really helped flatten out that dome they have when they first come out of the oven. However, cakes from different recipes will rise differently so you might have to trim the dome off the top. It occured to me that you could add bulk to the frosting and height to the cake by adding cake crumbles (from the domes, if you need to trim them) or chopped nuts.

I'm still trying to get a handle on how many cups of frosting correspond to what sized cakes, but of course, it depends on how thick you want the filling layers to be. I didn't want too much, so about 2/3 of a cup (or one heaping spatula full) for each layer was plenty. I think it was about a quarter inch thick. I used a small knife to spread the frosting all the way to the edge of each layer. It's easier to spread frosting with a small implement, as opposed to a large plastic spatula. The cakes are now stacked and ready to receive a crumb coat.

To create a crumb coat, spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake. This layer will seal in any loose crumbs so they don't come loose when you're putting on the final layer of frosting.The crumb coat is vital because it seals in all the rough edges of your cake and catches any little crummies that might otherwise get caught in your final coat of frosting. It's possible to frost a cake without taking this step (especially if you baked a fairly dense cake or froze your layers), but it's very easy to snag a delicate cake with dense frosting. As your knife runs over the side or top of a cake, a huge chunk is likely to come off and get caught in the sticky frosting.

The crumb coat can also be used to create a straight edge--note how I filled in the jagged sides with frosting so the cake looks much sharper than it did in the previous photo. Kitchen mess be darned, I blew away the crumbs as I crumb coated. A good crumb coat would be a little thicker than this, but I was running out of my filling/crumb frosting so I had to make do.

Put the cake in the fridge to set the crumb coating. To apply the final frosting, put a huge dollop (at least a cup) of frosting on top of the cake. Smooth towards the edges. Then, taking a knifeful of frosting at a time. start frosting the sides. This way I could control the thickness of the frosting. Last time, I ended up with frosting that was really thick on one side, really thin on another, and sort of medium on top. I managed to get a very even cake this time. To use up the rest of my small stash of chocolate bits, I covered the cake in grated chocolate. I think it would have been much prettier if I'd had dark chocolate, but milk chocolate was all I had. I was really trying to use up as much stuff that was already in my kitchen as possible. The recipes weren't chosen for any other reason that they could help me clean out my kitchen. It turned out well, but you'll want to find a good recipe off epicurious.com or some other reputable website if you're going to go out and shop for ingredients.

I used three 8" cakes because anything bigger is just ridiculous for someone who's not feeding an army of twenty. I wish I had 7" cake pans. My 5" is a bit too tiny and precious, but 7" would be really cute because I think small tall cakes are prettier than big short cakes.

Ghiradelli Empress Cake: I like this a lot. It makes a smooth fluffy batter, and light cakes that are still easy to handle. I would, however, prefer a cake that uses butter instead of shortening. For three layers, I had to one-and-a-half this recipe.

Creamy Chocolate Frosting: this was the filling and crumb coat, using leftover bits of Scharffen Berger 99% cocoa unsweetened chocolate and Bonnat 70% (a French chocolate), Plugra butter, and half and half instead of milk. I also added two tablespoons of Grand Marnier, but it wasn't a very pronounced flavor.

After-tasting edit: the cake is great. I'm torn: the shortening gives it a nice texture, but butter would taste so much better. As for the frosting, it's great warm but a little chalky when cold. I personally would prefer a gooey chocolate ganache, but who keeps a pound of dark chocolate and a pink of cream around at all times? (Okay, I know--me. I slacked). I was also shocked that the layers were incredibly thin even though I thought I'd put plenty of frosting on the cake. To fill and frost this cake, you'll probably need five or even six cups of frosting. I had four.

Baguette Express

The sign does not lie:

The best thing about going to a meeting anywhere near Civic Center is the possibility of eating Vietnamese food for lunch. I debated among Mangosteen (garlic noodles), Turtle Tower (pho ga), and Baguette Express, and decided to let my wallet do my decision making today.

$2.75 for a Special Combination sandwich--apparently "special" costs you an extra quarter here, but it's worth it. Baguette Express uses a lot more pate than the other Vietnamese sandwich places. That's fine by me! Crispy toasted French bread, a bunch of different meat, a cucumber spear, cilantro, jalepeno, and pickled carrots. I do wish they'd include more veggies and add some pickled daikon, but it's really a very small complaint. Baguette Express is also clean and well lit, which are points in its favor when compared to Saigon Sandwich and Wraps Delight (not that I don't eat at those places as well).

Slight disappointment today: they had neither carrot nor sugar cane juice. They did have orange juice (boring) and lemongrass juice (ick; I think lemongrass tastes too much like grass and not enough like lemon). If I'm going to drink a cup of sugar, it'd better be exactly what I want.


Oh, and how many of you know that the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library has a roof garden on the 6th floor? The flowers were looking a bit shabby today because it's winter, but it's always the quietest place in the library. Great secret spot to take a look at your books, figure out what you really want to check out, enjoy some sunshine, and have some peace and quiet. It's even better when you manage to sneak up a Vietnamese sandwich, because you can't eat inside the library but no one's ever cared when I eat out on the garden. To get there, go through the mini museum, which usually has fun artsy things on display.

Blood Orange Rooibos

Every week, I try to find a new way to pep up my water intake. I try to drink at least half a gallon of non-caffeinated liquids a day (and I don't drink juice), so I need to keep it interesting. Sometimes I put a lemon or sliced cucumber in a pitcher of water, sometimes a few strawberries--nothing expensive, just something interesting. And I usually have a pitcher of unsweetened iced tea sitting around.

This week, my obsession is blood orange rooibos tea. Remember the Adagio Teas? I found my favorite blend: a tablespoon of the rooibos, a heaping tablespoon of the blood orange, and sometimes a pinch of the passionfruit. So soothing, and if I leave out the passionfruit it's completely caffeine free. Citrusy teas are the only "alternative" tea (herbal, fruit) that I really enjoy, so this blood orange stuff is doing wonders for my mood. Plus, flavored tea occassionally tricks my stomach into thinking it doesn't need more food. Great for those times when it's not breakfast, morning snack, lunch, three o'clock snack, dinner, or evening snack time. And let's not forget emergency snacks (for when I'm stressed out, pissed off, extra tired, or just plain bored).

I need more official sounding names for all my snacks.

Butternut Squash Risotto

Tonight I had nothing in my fridge, so I made do with pantry staples and a butternut squash that I've been saving for a rainy day. According to the farmer who sold it to me, butternut squash keeps for months after it's been harvested. This one was harvested in October and would have been good for several more weeks.

Risotto doesn't require a fancy recipe: just follow the instructions on the back of the bag and make sure you've bought good quality arborio rice. I sauteed some chopped onions and squash cubes in olive oil and Plugra butter until soft. Then I toasted a cup of rice for a few minutes. I added Imagine Brand vegetable stock half a cup at a time until the risotto started to thicken up, stirring often. This takes twenty minutes and roughly a quart of stock. As per Judy Rogers' (Zuni Cafe) recommendation, I threw caution to the wind and didn't even heat up the vegetable stock; the sky didn't come crashing down, the risotto gods didn't strike me down, and the risotto was fine. When the risotto was just shy of al dente, I added a little cream and a handful of grated Parmesan. I spooned it into a bowl and added a tablespoon of black truffle oil and lots of black pepper. I can't wait to eat the leftovers.

Why did I bust open a bottle of barolo on a Monday night, you ask? Because I can. I've always wanted to try a barolo. The name sounds so sexy, and I always remember Carrie Bradshaw saying "Oh, I had too much barolo!" I know, I'm silly. But today at the wine shop this 1993 bottle was going for so little I couldn't pass it up. I've never had a twelve year old wine, and this did not disappoint. Unlike the young Californian wines I usually drink, this wine was starting to turn a burgundy-brown (unlike the purple-red of young wine). It had lost some of its tanniny edge, but had a lot of complex flavors. I can't say I like it more than a good young wine, but it was definitely tasty and very different from what I'm used to. I might have to stop by for a few more bottles.

Wonton Noodle Soup

Because I'm my favorite person:


Look at that glow; it's like angels made these wontons. When I miss Taiwan, it's usually because I'm hungry. When I've had a tiring day, I usually want freezer food. Hence the birth of today's lunch. I always make and keep wontons in the freezer, so all I needed was chicken stock, tong hao vegetables, pork blood rice sausage, a few fish balls, and a small bundle of dried noodles. Ten minute lunch, done and delicious.

Emporio Rulli Gran Caffe

After dinner drinks and dessert happened in a nice secluded booth in the inner room of Emprio Rulli. We had considered going to a bar or A16 just to drink, but were trumped by those with sweet teeth.

Affogato: simply amazing. Rulli's espresso is perfect for their homemade vanilla gelato. The gelato had a good dense texture, and wasn't too sweet. I did notice some icy parts. Maybe I got the bottom of the barrel. Either the gelato or the coffee had a faint taste of lavendar as well. It was strange to pair lavendar with coffee, but somehow it worked.

Panna cotta: I've never had panna cotta before, but as a fan of flan I think I'm going to stick to egg yolk based desserts. I don't like the chewiness of gelatin as much as the rich creaminess of yolk. Still, I'll have to try Delfina's panna cotta before writing anyone off. And the version we had was very tasty; it had a strong burnt caramel flavor and was deeply milky. I didn't like the nuts and raisins served with it, however. Too distracting.

Espresso: I didn't order the espresso, but was horrified to see it didn't have the foamy crema cap indicative of a good bean and skilled barista. A mocha at our table also looked sub-par.

Wine: they were out of barolo by the glass, and the server initially brought me something I didn't love; thin, a little too green tasting. I asked for something more full-bodied, and he brought me an Allegrini La Grola. I'm going to have to look into this grape more--the wine was delightful for sipping on its own. And at $9 for a huge glass (the bottle retails for $22-24), the markup was very reasonable. The restaurant sells the wine for $24, but I'm currently trying to find a local supplier closer to where I live. $24's not bad; it's what I saw the la grola going for online as well.

(Incredibly dorky insight warning) I thought the Allegrini label sounded familiar, and it finally it struck me: Tyler Florence visited the Allegrini winery in Italy on one of his shows. He went to the winery and made butternut squash risotto with amarone wine. The amarone costs $60. No wonder that risotto kicked ass. I bought a (cheaper) amarone once; it was incredible with Morrocan style eggplant spread.

Emporio Rulli

Tres Agaves

It's not every day I get to invade a restaurant with nine other hungry souls, so I was really looking forward to trying all the highlights of the menu at Tres Agaves. Unfortunately, due to an extended afternoon run (thanks a lot, slavedrive), I didn't jot down the Chronicle's list of hits and misses and had to go from memory. Short version: great meal, good value, but not as unique as I had hoped.

Usually when I see a menu things jump out at me as "Oh, I read about that." Tonight, I drew a complete blank! Maybe I was too hungry to think straight. So we were a bit lax on the appetizers and got every entree on the menu except the escolar, which I tend to regret because appetizers are tasty and I like fish. Note: the menu on the website isn't quite what they're serving anymore. Most notably, the birria (goat) and cangrejo (crab) were missing.

Chips and salsa are served before you order. The chips were thin, crisp, fairly warm, and not at all greasy. The three salsas were all tasty: thin versions of salsa verde and salsa rojo, plus a slightly yellow/orange third salsa that I didn't recognize. It had a slightly smokey taste. Not being a fan of alternative salsas, I stuck mostly to the verde.

Guacamole: good version, nice lime tang, huge (perhaps too huge) pieces of avocado, but not as good as the guacamole at Colibri. First of all, it wasn't made tableside. Everyone loves watching someone make guacamole tableside! More importantly, the portion at Colibri is much larger for the same price, and comes with Colibri's amazing homemade tortillas. Tres Agaves had okay tortillas, but nothing as revelatory as Colibri's version. You can sort of see the bowl of guacamole in the background below.

Queso Fresco: one of the best versions I've tasted. It was crumbly but moister and softer than feta, and had a rich milky mouthfeel. People who don't like the taste of whole milk might want to stay away from this, but I found it delightful. It got a lukewarm reception at our table, so I ended up eating it by the forkful towards the end of dinner. Had I known there would be an entire half wedge left, I would have put it on everything.

Sides. They serve three sides for the table to share: slaw with mango slices, rice, and refried beans. All were fine, none were exceptional. The aformentioned tortillas were also available for general wrapping purposes.

Taco platter: two shredded pork, two grilled chicken. I had the pork, and really enjoyed the pineaple bits on top. I still like the Tonayense taco truck better, though. We got two of these beause people liked them and they were hard to share.

Spit roasted chicken: a bit dry in certain areas, and under seasoned. I doused mine with queso fresco. Yum.

Chile Relleno: here's where I start to gripe about what TA is doing to their menu. On line, the chile relleno is described as stuffed with cheese and huitlacoche, a Mexican corn fungus (euphemistically referred to as "Mexican truffles.") I've had huitlacoche; it's deliciously earthy and mushroomy, depite being an ugly black color. The version we were served were stuffed with zucchini. Boring! I was quite peeved. The chiles themselves were large and well grilled.

Carnitas: a large portion of pork, but slightly overcooked.

Grilled Gulf Shrimp: another winner. Huge crunchy shrimp and slightly charred grilled onions.

Stew: I don't think we had the stew on the menu. It seemed to be more of a pork and sausage stew with beans. I think this was one of the more Jaliscan-style things we tasted, but something about it made me think it had been watered down for American consumption.


Grilled skirt steak: one of the best dishes at the table. The steak was cooked just until the center was pink, and the juices were very flavorful. I like skirt steak about ten times more than I like flank steak, so I was a huge fan of this. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of it.

Flan: very nice, could use a darker burnt caramel flavor. The cookie that came with it had a nice deep caramel flavor.

Chocolate cake: ew. Not enough chocolate flavor, dry, crumbly, and a little mealy. It was like a stale brownie.

Bread pudding: much better than I expected. It's the only non-homemade version other than Tartine's that I've been able to stomach. It's very cinnamony, moist, and has some chocolate cream on top.

All in all, It was a very enjoyable, tasty meal and quite a good value: food for ten, two pitchers of margaritas, and an extra margarita as well. The bill turned out to be $30 a head, without anyone hungry enough that we needed to order more or even finish every last scrap of food. However, I think TA might be slipping. From reading the descriptions of the food on the SF Chronicle as well as on Chowhound, I felt like the food should be significantly different from what I could find in the Mission or at Chevy's. Instead, TA felt like a fancy version of the standard Northern Mexican food that we've all come to take for granted in California. Nothing was as spicy as the Chronicle described, and I didn't see one dish that wowed the table with its uniqueness. It's a shame; if there's a place where people would embrace something different it would be San Francisco.

Everyone enjoyed the Arette margaritas. Even those who had previously regarded restaurant margaritas as "Those icky things with that horribly bitter taste" conceded that TA's margaritas were smooooth. I usually like to blend my margaritas, but tonight's on the rocks version may have converted me to the beauty of a proper margarita on the rocks (or even straight up, chilled). Sadly enough, no one photographed the drinks.

Arette is a solid 100% blue agave margarita, and the restaurant uses the blanco, which had a very distinct floral taste and fruit-forward tang. The tequila really brought out the sourness in the lime as well as the sweetness in the agave nectar (they don't use sugar syrup here). All tequila is divided into blanco, reposado, and anejo depending on how long it's aged. Blancos taste most like agave-fruity, floral, vegetal in some ways. Anejos taste more like an aged brandy, and are dark brown. Reposados, in my opinion, are a worthless half-breed of anejos and blancos. They lack the finer qualities of the others without any redeeming value of their own. Anyway, Arette is great but somewhat hard to find. El Tesoro Blanco and Herradura Silver are usually what the higher end Mexican restarants serve by default. El Patron is great but heavily overpriced and enjoys great marketting success without actually tasting better, in my opinion. Casa Noble is super amazing, but again very expensive.

Tres Agaves

Adagio Teas

Wow. I may never buy tea in a market, tea shop, or restaurant ever again. I got my shipment of Adagio teas today and was really impressed by how cheap and high quality their tea is. I got an assortment of teas I've never really seen in stores, but I may have to just start buying all my tea on line. Except for Taiwan tea. I have an unlimites supply of that through family (tea shop owners in two branches of the family, always contending for our favor. Life is good). My rough estimate is that Adagio's tea costs half what you'd pay for a pricey, well-marketed tea like Mighty Leaf or Republic of Tea, but is higher quality and isn't pre-packed into bags. I don't care; that's what an infuser or teapot is for.

For $20 (I e-mailed myself a $5 certificate), I got:

• Medium sized tins of rooibos, blood orange, and passionfruit black tea
• Sample tins of foxtrot (a chamomile blend) and pear black tea

All of them smell incredible. I don't like too many herbal teas, but I begin to suspect I've just had bad herbal teas in the past. Rooibos is great because it's high in antioxidants but is naturally caffeine free. It tastes like black tea, which I tend to like more than green tea. The passionfruit tea is intended for Hong Kong style fruit tea (make tea, steep oranges and apples in it), and the others were just for fun. I have enough tea to last me several months. Cheaper than coffee, and way more fun.

I've tried the passionfruit black so far. Great passionfruit smell, strong black tea flavor, and a touch of fruity sweetness. Perfect. And the tea's fairly strong, not cheap leaves that I have to use two tablespoons of at a time.

I'm also very impressed by Adagio's packaging. The tins alone would have cost me $15 at Ross. And when I'm done with the tea, I'll have all kinds of containers to use for other kitchen items. Each tea is briefly described and subject to user comments, so you can play it safe by only purchasing teas that everyone else liked.

Adagio Teas

Biscotti Blues

I love making biscotti: the steps are relatively easy, the biscotti keep forever, and the effort:impressiveness ration is really high. "Have a homemade biscotti" always elicits rounds of "(gasp!) you made this? Wow!" And it's really no harder than baking a cake or a few batches of cookies. Biscotti also don't require butter, a big chunk of money in most baked goods. As usual, I have people to thank for this creation. KK's mom and dad, for supplying me with bags and bags of almonds from their family's farm. These are some of the best almonds around (except for the $20/lb Spanish Marcona almonds. Sorry, those are gooood). Almost everyone who tasted these mentioned how crispy the almonds were.

Unfortunately, I can't post a recipe for this biscotti. I think I'm doing something wrong or need to find a new recipe. Any suggestions? I followed a recipe on epicurious.com for almond chocolate biscotti. When I was done mixing the dough, it was way too soft to roll into logs. Some other recipes suggest freezing the dough to make it more shapeable. I think I'll try that next time. This biscotti was tasty, but I added a lot of flour to the original recipe in order to make it work. For future reference, the logs of dough to the right are probably too dense. The biscotti took a lot longer to bake than the recipe suggested.

What are biscotti? Basically flour, water, egg, sugar, and a few flavoring ingredients or crunchy additives. You roll out logs, flatten them a bit, bake, cool, cut, and then bake again until they're completely dry. These were great for dunking in coffee, but I definitely need to give the whole project another shot.

Crazy for Curry

I'm a real sucker for Thai red curry (panang). I had some leftover vegetables and flank steak today, so I threw this together. It's missing a lot of ingredients, so don't judge me and don't whine about there being no real recipe. When I make it again when I'm feeling more precise, I'll include rough measurements.

Sautee together some thinly sliced vegetables. I used bell peppers, onions, and napa cabbage. Carrots, bean sprouts, garlic, and peas would probably all appear in a restaurant version. Alas I had none. When the vegetables are cooked all the way through, set them aside. Put the wok back on the flame, turn the flame down to medium heat.

I used Mae Ploy brand curry paste. Over medium heat, sautee a few tablespoons of the curry paste until it smells fragrant. I used about four tablespoons for one 16 oz. can of coconut cream, but your mileage may vary. If you have it, add a tablespoon of tamarind paste. I like a lot of sugar in my red curry, so equal parts white or brown sugar should go in at this point. When all that's combined and smelling good, add a few tablespoons of coconut cream, being very careful about sizzling. Slowly stir in more coconut cream. You want to go slow, or you'll end up with lumpy sauce.

When your sauce looks and tastes good to you, add the vegetables back in. At this point I remembered I had some spinach, so it went in too. I know, I'm so scientific and precise. I put in some leftover slices of grilled flank steak as well, just so I could say I made beef panang.

Cook until everything's warm, then pour over rice, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and cilantro, and you're good to go.

I Heart SF

Sometimes, I just can't help loving San Francisco. Lunch with a view doesn't really get any better than this.

The weather's getting better, and a lot of cruise ships were floating around in the Bay today. After a meeting in the Financial District, I decided to see if there was anything good to buy at the Ferry Building farmers market before heading to Birley's for a sandwich. As it turns out, I got so stuffed with free samples I couldn't even think about a roast beef sandwich. Recchiuti was giving away free chocolate, the Village Market had fresh strawberries in balsamic syrup, and the Indian guy is always forcing everyone to try his eggplant spread (not that anyone minds).

Lured to the water by the warm breeze and sunshine, I grabbed a butternut and black bean tamale from Donna's Tamale cart and parked myself on a bench out behind the Ferry Building. It was so relaxing. It's not like I've been particularly stressed out or anything lately; it's just been sort of a crazy January and I could feel all my tension melting away as I sat there in a carefree post-lunch stupor. It's as close as I'll ever get to meditating.

The tamale was nice. The cornmeal was warm and moist, though not as tender as some restaurant offerings. The filling was a black bean paste with cubes of butternut squash and kernels of corn throughout. Since it was a vegan tamale, it was very light and non-greasy. Donna's also has a few different salsas to choose from. I got some tomato salsa, salsa verde, and slaw. It wasn't anything more than a nice tamale with a slightly unusual filling, but it was the most satisfying lunch I've had in a long time.

Weekend of Laziness

A pre-theater "everyone bring whatever you want" meal at my place left me with ten bottles of beer, half a bottle of gin, several two liter bottles of soda, eleven cans of root beer, three pounds of ground beef, and a marinated flank steak. Not being a person who usually consumes any of those things in large quantities, I'm going to be in for an interesting month, foodwise. We forgot to take pictures during our feeding frenzy of burgers and flank steak wrapped in lettuce. Suffice it to say everything was delicious.

First, a salute to the German Soldier:

A German Soldier is a drink my better half's German friend introduced him to in Hong Kong. Basically, it's a way to get rid of cheap beer: mix it with Sprite. Guys call it a waste of beer, but I found it refreshing. And for those of you who haven't had Erdinger, it's a stellar beer to try when you can find it. Who knows if it's a real drink; it might just have been some German guy yanking some Chinese guy's chain.

One of my friends left me some yummy Spam musubi. She's really turning into a domestic wonder, that one! They were cold when I took them out again, but a few minutes on a cast iron warmed the rice right up and brought out the terriyaki flavor. Thanks, N!


The toughest decision was what to do with all the beef. Laziness prevailed and spaghetti sauce was made and frozen. I was overdue for a round of freezer food making anyway.

Campton Place

As chi chi girls' day out lunches go, Campton Place's Dine About Town option could not be beat. For $22, this lunch left us so full and so impressed we were speechless and all smiles as we walked back out the front door.

Decorative glass pieces like this sat atop each table. Each piece is a little different. I assume these are for candles in the evening, but maybe they're just pretty and meant to match the lily lamps overhead. The Dine About Town menu included two choices for each of three courses. This meant that between the two of us, we were able to try all six items on the menu. We, naturally, implemented the mid-course plate switch to double our pleasure.

The amuse bouche today was crab consomme with bits of chicken and scallion. This amuse fulfilled its purpose: made me hungry for more food. It was like a really rich, hot soup, chock full of crab flavor. We were also served a bread plate with some French bread and an olive loaf. The Plugra butter that came with smelled incredible, as Plugra always does.

Yes, we're whores for French Fries. This wasn't part of the DAT menu, but we got it anyway. We weren't able to finish this foot tall cornet of fries, but they were some of the best, hottest, crispiest fries I've had in a long time. Plus, they came with an adorable miniature container of ketchup.

Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Almonds and Goat Cheese: by the time the soup reached our table, I had forgotten the description of it on the menu. One bite, however, made it abundantly apparent that a rich but subtle goat cheese was part of its preparation. The soup was bright yellow and much thinner than the usual butternut squash soup. It was very refined, from the drops of olive oil to the dollop of cream in the middle.

Spinach and Frisee Salad with Blood Orange and Candied Pecans: those were some good blood oranges. I was happy to see the kitchen had switched out persimmons, which appeared on the DAT website but really aren't in season anymore. The blood oranges are just coming into season, and these were juicy and sweet. The thing Jo liked most about this salad was its use of just enough dressing to give the salad flavor without drenching the vegetables in sauce.

A closeup of that beautiful orange. It almost looks like tuna sashimi, doesn't it? This is also a pause to speak to the service at Campton Place. All in all, the wait staff ensured us a charming experience. Our coats were whisked away as soon as we entered, and we were seated promptly depite having no reservations. Our server was happy to answer our pesky little questions (What kind of butter is that? What is this in my plate? Can you open this impossibly tight jar of honey?), and bantered with us enough to make us feel comfortable but not so much that we felt like he was hovering over us.

Campton place is a first-rate establishment, meaning our napkins were re-folded when we got up to use the restroom, servers pulled out the chairs for us when we sat down, table scrapers were used between courses, flatware was changed diligently, and everything was served on large silver platters whisked back and forth by an apt staff. The room was simply but beautifully decorated with flower arrangements, and smelled faintly like a combination of cala lilies and food.

Still, things were a little strange. For example, the earnestness with which servers followed us back to our chairs was a little unnerving. As I walked back from the restroom, a server appeared out of nowhere, said "Hi! Welcome back!", followed closely behind me, and pulled out the chair for me. Maybe I'm just not used to classy service, but I really felt like he was herding me back to my table. And even though all the servers were more than polite, it seemed like they were constantly rushing too and fro between the kitchen and the tables rather than casually gliding along and surveying the room. The result of their rushing, I thought, was that our water glasses were often empty for long periods of time. It was also a little hard to grab anyone's attention because before I could raise an eyebrow they had whisked past me. Still, those area minor quibbles for otherwise stellar service. The little flaws show up a lot more when everything else is perfect. On with the food--this pause in commentary corresponds with the long pause between courses that we were given in order to chat and digest.

Glazed Chicken with Ragout of Wild Mushrooms, Brussel Sprouts, Bacon, and Pearl Onions: two things about this dish stood out. First of all, look at the size of the plate in comparison to Jo's torso. It was like a serving platter! It's always fun to be served food in a giant vessel. Second, the sauce for this chicken was out of this world: buttery, not overy creamy, and exceedingly flavorful. Jo said it was like supergood chicken stock. We suspect it contained the crab consomme we had been served earlier, as well as some shredded dried scallops. A nice little surprise were cubes of celery root, which looked like potatoes but tasted much more interesting. The chicken itself was tender and juicy, and had soaked up plenty of the sauce's flavors.

Striped Bass with Warm Chicory Potato Salad and White Anchovy Vinaigrette. Nicely done, but I'm really picky about my striped bass. This could have been cooked a little less, and the salad tasted a little charred. One of my pet peeves is food that's been so badly charred it tastes like butane, and this came dangerously close. The potatoes were nothing terribly exciting. The best part about this dish was the sauce, which was great with some bread. I was also impressed by the masterful sprinkling of pepper to the left of the bass. A long pause followed the removal of the main courses. This gave us time to relax, drink some water, have some French fries, and contemplate the imminent arrival of dessert.

One dessert option was a cheese plate. I thought the cheeses would be on the DAT website so I didn't write down what they were. I'll just decribe them from front to back. The first is a cow's milk cheese that was very much like bleu cheese. We both liked it a lot, but the flavor significantly improved after we asked for a bit of honey to go with. The second cheese was the most interesting. The gray line through the middle is ash, which separates cheese made from morning milk from cheese made from afternoon milk. WTF?! I basically stared at the cheese server in wonder when he said this. He gave me the "Yes, I'm for real" look. The third cheese is a soft goat cheese. It went incredibly well with the dried figs. The figs were amazing, a little juicy and sugary rather than completely dry. The almonds weren't especially good. Just for comparison's sake, we liked our cheese selections from Cav better. Then again, that platter cost much more, and we might have just been all cheesed out by this afternoon.

Chocolate Hazlenut Mousse Cake with Mille Feuille and Passion Fruit: This tasted like a Ferrer Rocher chocolate in cake form. That is to say, it was nice but didn't impress after the greatness of the rest of the meal. I think I preferred the variety and uniqueness of the cheese platter to this run of the mill dessert. Then again, I don't like tangy sauces with my chocolate so that might have biased me. The layers of this cake included chocolate cake, wafer, mousse, and hard top. Well-executed, but not particularly inspired.

We were defeated by the fries and cheese platter. We left a little of both, and left the restaurant exceeding pleased with ourselves. A trip to the spotless, well-appointed ladies' room left us ready to tackle Union Square, with enough money in our wallets to feel minimally guilty.

Campton Place on Dine About Town: main information is here, but the menu we were given today was slightly different from the one on line.

Campton Place Main Website

Cav Wine Bar--A Fresh New Experience

Girls' night out brought us to Cav wine bar tonight. I'll explain where we stumbled with this new restaurant and new (for us) dining concept, but overall it was an exceedingly fun, enjoyable, and unique night full of new things for us.

We started with a three-cheese platter and two tastes of wine each. A taste is 2 oz., and we decided we'd rather taste more wines that way than each settle on a glass and be stuck with it for the evening.

Wines: we each started with one white and one red. to be updated

Cheeses: our server helped us choose three cheeses. The haxaire was a cow's milk cheese spiked with ginger that went nicely with the white wine (French). The bocconcino was a goat's milk cheese (Italian), and the serra de estrela was a sheep's milk cheese (Portuguese). Since we both like soft cheeses, we didn't bother with anything hard. I think both of us liked the bocconcino best, especially after we figured out that it was supposed to be paired with red wine and not white. It was further proof that some foods just pair better with some wines.



The cheeses came with adorable accompaniments. Next to the bocconcino (my favorite) was a cube of quince jelly with a grape perched on top, dried chestnuts, and a spread of unfiltered honey. The haxaire came with sliced pears. The serra de estrella came with candied walnuts and an assortment of dried fruit: figs, apricots, dates, and Spanish almonds. All the fruit and nuts were wonderfully fresh and flavorful.

Cornmeal crusted French fried yams with Greek yogurt dipping sauce: Very interesting. Thick strips of yam were battered and deep fried. I really liked the cool refreshing sauce, but I thought the yams could have been more interesting. They were good, but nothing I couldn't whip up at home on a Friday evening. I really did want to try this, but wouldn't order it again. By this time we were halfway through our two tastes each, and ready to order more.

Wine: to be updated

Charcuterie sampler: they should really warn groups of two not to order this AND a three-cheese sampler. It was too much heavy food for one meal. Towards the end, I was really struggling to hold all the food down. Not to mention I was sorely disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to try anything from the entree section of the menu! As plates of smelt, crabcakes, venison, game hen, and pork floated by, all I could think was "My goodness, I calculated poorly." Still, the charcuterie sampler was very interesting.

The ciccioli was completely new to me. It seemed like shreds of pork solidified in a pork fat jelly. Extremely rich, and served with red wine sauce.

Chicken liver mousse with red wine gelee: the gelee is so perfect on this that this looked like a cup of blood when it came to the table. It wasn't until I poked it that I realized it was solid. It was strange and cold upon first taste, but it quickly grew on both of us. The photo with all three charcuterie shows the gelee after we already mangled it, but it's served as a perfectly smooth blackish red cover for the liver mousse.

The rabbit pate was an instant hit. You just can't go wrong with a meaty pate, a tiny pickle, a caper berry, and some good stone ground mustard. Next time, I'll select one charcuterie and ask if I can just order one cheese. Between the cheese and the charcuterie, it felt too much like we'd made a dinner out of nothing but fat. And as much as I love fat, it would have been even better to work in some vegetables and real meat, and to see what else the kitchen was whipping up.

Photo note: in a place this dark, the only way to avoid using flash is to have one person hold a candle directly above the food being photographed. I didn't discover this until the charcuterie platter. Still, I'm proud of not having resorted to flash photography.
Cav Website

Myconos Loses its Foothold in My Heart

I've always liked Myconos for its braised lamb shanks and roast chicken. The moussaka, though not exceptional, was fine as well. Tonight, I decided to try something new and regretted it. The #1 Dinner for Two included all of the following:

The Greek salad was excellent as always. Someday I'll have to come for lunch and just eat this. Crispy romaine and bland but juicy tomatoes aren't anything special, but the dressing they put on this has a really special flavor that I just can't place. I can tell there's olive oil, a very sweet vinegar, and a lot of oregano. Beyond that, it's a mystery. The feta has a very strong cow flavor here and is a bit on the salty side. I like it quite a lot, especially because it's very soft and spreadable instead of hard and chunky like feta often is.

Pita with dill cucumber sauce was quite good. The pita wasn't warm enough for my taste, but was very soft and light. The sauce was very finely pureed. No chunks of vegetables in this version at all.

The platter was enormous. I know I'm forgetting something, but I'll try.

The cottage potatoes were deep fried potato slices. They were served warm, but weren't crispy at all.

The falafel was cold, mealy, had too much filling in it, and was covered in a sauce that tasted mildly of refrigerator burn. Maybe it was once hummus; I didn't eat enough to find out.

The chicken and beef skewers were tender with a nice char on them. One piece had an unusual amount of sinewy fat in it, though. Other than that, I really enjoyed most of the meat portions of the meal. I kind of wish I had kept my salad around to enjoy the meat with.

The lamb and pork slices (used for gyros) were well spiced, tender, and quite good. There was a healthy serving of both of these, which are going to be great on my salad for lunch tomorrow.

Dolmas were fine. All that I require of dolmas are that they not be too sour; outside of that requirement, I don't like them enough to care one way or the other how they taste.

The big disappointment of the night was the spanakopita. Awful. Simply awful. The dough was mostly hollow on the inside, with one piece of cheese in the very center of the spanakopita. The entire thing had been allowed to cool to room temperature, and the filo dough was hard, greasy, and chewy. We each took a bite and stopped.

We were very full but not terribly happy with our meal at this point. It was fine, but it wasn't great. I was sad that I had brought my friend to Myconos and not let him try the lamb or chicken. Stupid, stupid Pei! Thankfully, the baklava and Greek coffee turned out to be the saving grace of the meal. The coffee was strong, fresh, and well-brewed. Not bitter or sour, though certainly not special in any way.

The baklava was wonderful. It was strongly spiced with what seemed like cinnamon and pumpkin. We called it The Holiday Spice baklava. This was a far cry from the gummy honey-sugar cubes they sell at Costco. The pastry was light and fluffy, the filling was relatively loose and not too sweet, and the baklava was served in a puddle of thin honey. A lovely end to a meal that was certainly fine but didn't quite live up to expectations.

Catfish Salad with Vietnamese Fish Sauce

First step-by-step cooking project of the year, and what it beauty it turned out to be! Beautiful white catfish, fresh greens and carrots, and a zingy Vietnamese-style sauce. I have a few people to thank for my success: Claire for giving me the recipe for the sauce, Joann and her mommy for getting me some amazing fish sauce, and Whole Foods for having catfish on sale the day I felt too lazy to go to Chinatown or the Mission for cheap seafood.


You'll need:

• one catfish filet per person
• about half a cup of flour or cornstarch (I used both)
• black pepper
• canola oil
• one lime
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 2-3 cloves fresh garlic
• 2-3 Tbs. Vietnamese fish sauce
• 1 tsp. chopped jalepeno pepper or a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

For the sauce:

I have a nifty little gadget I got at Ross for $2. It has a few different sized grating plates, as well as a juicer top. Everything falls neatly into a plastic container, which has measurements on the side if I need it. It's great! Okay, end shameless plug for Ross. The sauce can easily be made by chopping everything and throwing them into a bowl.

Combine the zest of the lime, lime juice, sugar, chopped (or grated) garlic, fish sauce, and pepper if you're using it. Set aside to let flavors combine. I didn't do it tonight, but next time I might add a few grates of fresh ginger as well. The amount of everything you put in depends on your personal taste as well as whether or not the fish sauce you use has a lot of salt, sugar, or chili already in it. The bottle I opened had pepper flakes in it, so I didn't have to add anything. Did I mention that Joann's mom is wonderful?

Combine the flour and/or cornstarch with pepper and use it to dust the filets. Some people like to leave on a relatively thick layer of flour because it's crunchy and delicious. For your first time, I would suggest covering the filet well but then patting off most of the flour. It's much easier to cook this way.

Heat a tablespoon or two of canola oil on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully place one filet on the pan. Do not touch the filet after it has made contact with the pan. Here's where patience pays off. Do not touch the fish until the bottom is completely cooked and has crusted a little. You can tell this is starting to happen if the bottom edge of the filet begins to brown and the edges of the side facing up start to turn white. Give it an extra minute if you're not sure, then gently shake the pan. If the filet doesn't move freely, it needs to cook a little longer. Beware: if you jostle the pan too soon, you might break the filet and end up with a broken mess no matter what you do.

When you can swirl the filet around the pan easily, flip it over with a spatula. You might have mad flipping skills, but I still recommend using a wide spatula when working with hot oil. It's just not worth the risk.

Cook until the bottom half of the fish is golden brown, then set on a bed of greens. Drizzle with the sauce and serve. Your tastebuds will thank you.

Cafe Bernardo Wins Davis Some Brownie Points

I have one friend that constantly describes Davis as the pits of hell, so I had to finally go see for myself. Whatever kind of social purgatory going to school in a rural area must feel like, I gotta say they're lucky to have a place like Cafe Bernardo around.

Half our party had the eggs Bernardo, which was basically eggs benedict on a slice of artisan bread instead of English muffins. The bread was good, but I tend not to be a fan of big crusty loaves with slightly chewy dough. This bread wasn't quite sourdough, but it was getting too close for my comfort. The eggs were wonderfully fresh with dark golden yolks and fresh hollandaise. I've had eggs benedict three times in the past six months, which is more than in the last twenty-four years of my life combined. This was as good as the eggs benedict at Washington Square Bar and Grill, but still didn't beat out the crabs benedict or even spinach benedict at Mama's on Washington Square. I really do need to taste Canteen's version sometime, but don't know if I can eat any more eggs benedict for months.

I don't know what I was thinking when I convinced myself to get a side salad with my meal. Thai salad just sounded so good. Instead of noodles mixed with greens, however, I got cold noodles on a slice of butter lettuce. Maybe I read the description on the menu incorrectly. But I think when you call something a salad and it's really more of a noodle dish, you need to make it really clear. For example "thin egg noodles tossed with shredded red cabbage, carrots, and peanut sauce, on a bed of butter leaf lettuce." Is that so hard? Anyway, the noodles were good. Not overcooked or oversauced. A few more leaves of lettuce would have been nice.

A few sugar fiends in our party ordered amaretto French toast. One of them got slices of toast over a foot long each. It was intimidating. It looked great with the sliced almonds sprinkled on top, but I never got to try a bite because I had way too much food of my own.

Most of us ordered the eggs or French toast, but there was also one spinach salad and a salmon sandwich at the table. The salad, in vinaigrette with apples, walnuts, and Pt. Reyes Blue Cheese, was exceptionally tangy. I liked it, though some did not. I didn't try the salmon BLT, but the center of the salmon looked medium rare and juicy.

Coffee was LavAzza, aka: Italy's Favorite Coffee). My latte came in a large bowl and was lightly flavored with adequately foamed milk. Enjoyable, but not life changing. I contend you can't go far wrong with LavAzza. At the couple places I've tried, LavAzza is far superior to Illy, which is far more ubiquitous in San Francisco.

As a brunch restaurant, Bernardo would definitely be able to go toe to toe with the best in San Francisco.

Cafe Bernardo

234 D Street

Davis, CA 95616

(530) 750-5101

Baldo's Carne Asada Madness

We stopped at Baldo's Mexican Food on the way to Tahoe, starving and itching for some California burritos (burritos with french fries in them). The carne asada fries, however, were what ended up doing everyone in. About two pounds of french fries were packed into a to go container. The greasy warm fries were smothered in guacamole, canned salsa, sour cream, carne asada, and cheddar cheese. The entire package was heavier than a dictionary, and served with bottles of mediocre red and green salsa.

It's not fancy food, but when you're really hungry on a cold day it sure hits the spot. When the four of us were unable to finish any more than two thirds of the fries, however, we had to concede that Baldo's had soundly defeated us.

PS. Baldo's is one of the scariest restaurants I've ever been in. It looks innocuous enough from the outside, but it's eerily empty inside. The eating area is kept close to freezing cold, the park bench seats were so rickety we almost broke one sitting down, and there is graffiti inside the restaurant. To top it all off, the bathroom is outside, around the corner, and the door doesn't close. It's the kind of bathroom a girl does not want to go in without a door guard (or several) outside. On our way out of the empty restaurant, we noticed that Baldo's actually does a brisk business--through it's drive-thru window.

Peanut Brittle

What do you do when you're bored and realize you have sugar, water, corn syrup, salt, peanuts, butter, and baking soda?



Make peanut brittle. Turns out making candy is fun and easy if you have a candy thermometer. My camera's battery is running low so I couldn't do a step-by-step, but I think I'm going to start making a lot more candy for special occassions. My only problem with this recipe was that I used a huge baking sheet and the brittle still came out too thick. They should warn you to use two baking sheets (mine was a half sheet, like a big birthday cake from Safeway. I think it's 12x18").

First timer tips:

• I used my cast iron skillet to heat the liquid and it worked well
• Keep an eye on it after the liquid reaches 200 degrees. Before that, all you have to do is stir once in awhile.
• After you add the baking soda, don't stir any more than necessary. You want to keep as many bubbles in the brittle as possible to keep the brittle from being too hard and chewy.
• After this point, you'll want to start working really quickly.
• Butter your baking sheets well, especially the centers.
• Spread the brittle out as thinly as possible by moving your baking pan back and forth. Smooshing it around with a spatula will give you a harder candy.
• I would use two sheets next time, and not worry whether the brittle reaches all edges of the sheets. After all, you're going to break it into pieces.
• If the center of your brittle sticks like mine did, turn your sheet out and give the center a good bang with your fist. The brittle popped right out.

I got my recipe of Recipezaar, but if anyone has a better recipe please do share! I'm trying to recreate See's Candy peanut brittle. Mine didn't seem crispy, salty, or buttery enough. Still, I think my friends are going to like having some extra sugar around.

First Midnight Snack of the Year

Sometimes, a girl just wants pork blood rice cakes with home made peanut butter. A girl from Taiwan, at least. Night market street vendors sell big chunks of this on a stick, slathered in Chinese satay sauce and then dipped in peanut powder and chopped cilantro. It's wonderful as far as food on a stick goes. I got these in the freezer section of Ranch 99 and boiled them a bit. I didn't have satay sauce or cilantro, so some homemade almond peanut butter sufficed. It's wetter than regular peanut butter, so I spread a little on each stick and watched my movie while munching away.