Late Night Baking

Grow, my precious, grow!

Some late night boredom resulted in my whipping out The Tartine Cookbook and trying my hand at the zucchini marmalade bread. I'm actually baking it in my toaster oven, so it's also a trial run to see if I'll be able to lessen my use of the big oven in the future. So far so good. I'm looking forward to the taste test and photo session.

TMM Desserts (Millbrae)

We spent Sunday south of the city this weekend. It's always nice to get out once in awhile. Our final destination was Mountainview, but we made a pit stop in Millbrae to check out TMM Desserts.


The curry squid and fish ball appetizer was just okay. I don't know what I was expecting, but I feel like this is more of an entree that should have come with rice. Instead, it was billed as an appetizer. It also could have had stronger flavors.

The deep fried tofu was incredible. Light, crispy, and piping hot on the outside, studded with tiny granules of salt. The inside was perfectly silken, which I rarely find to be true of deep fried tofu. Next time we're at TMM, we've vowed to try more deep fried dishes. Popcorn chicken and fried squid at the other tables looked divine. Fried food tends to be heavy, but not when the batter is airy and light like it is at TMM.

J had a chicken leg over rice. In keeping with the tofu and other fried appetizers, his fried chicken was nicely crisped and not at all greasy or oil-laden.

And here's my bowl of Taiwanese beef noodle soup, the reason we headed down to TMM in the first place. I had heard that it was better than any version in San Francisc and I can concede that it is true. The soup is nicely balanced, the beef is lean but each piece is meltingly tender and well-seasoned, and the toppings taste fresh and complement the dish without overwhelming it. No one flavor stood out, and I could enjoy the soup because it wasn't too salty. Next time, my only request would be for them to slightly undercook the noodles because I'm a slow eater and the noodles were a big soggy by the time I was through.

And last but not least, dessert. I ordered a steamed milk custard with coconut and loved it. It is a lot silkier and more even in texture than the version at Kowloon Tong. It also tastes less eggy. Does anyone have a recipe for it? I think it should be an easy matter of steaming together sugar, eggs, milk, and coconut milk, I just have no idea what ratios to use. But anyway, TMM was all in all a great meal for about $30.

City View Musings

fires are still going strong all over California, and it's affecting air quality even in coastal San Francisco. The unusually gray sky drew my attention to a distant rooftop.

It reminds me of a David Hockney painting: one brightly colored geometric shape against a blue gray backdrop, stark and silent but captivating just the same.

Mystery Present

Oh Britex, how you tempt me with your siren's call of four floors full of textiles.


I stopped in for something else entirely, but when I turned the corner onto the second floor I was stopped in my tracks by this bolt of fabric. I can only describe it as so cute it makes my eyeballs hurt. I knew I had to make something with it and give it to a friend.

Some thinking and an afternoon of hard work later, I had made a three-pocket skirt apron.

Inadvertently, I hade made the apron reversible! It was too late to add more embellishments, but it occured to me that three small square pockets in the patterned fabric would have been a great addtion.

All folded up and ready to go. It's hard to part with it, but the only reason I sew is because I find it fun and I like sharing little things with my friends. What am I going to do with a bunch of homemade stuff? Better to spread the love.

Crocker Galleria Farmers' Market

I stopped by the Crocker Galleria farmers' market today. It's a small market, and prices are somewhere between exhorbitant Ferry Building prices and common man's Civic Center prices, but all the produce and fruit was beautiful. It's a nice market if you don't need too much selection.

And I didn't know this, but there is a Bay Breads stall. I may show up every Thursday because of this temptation. It took every ounce of self control to buy only an apricot bar and a cinnamon orange croissant. I highly recomment the croissant. Not only is it beautiful (more elegant, I think, than a regular croissant), the crunch from the cinnamon sugar and light orange flavor makes it taste like a special occassion breakfast treat.

Lettuce mix, with plenty of flowers. I know edible flowers aren't for everyone, but I think they are beautiful. I'll probably rip up the biggest ones before I eat them, but the tiny blue, yellow, and pink petals throughout are just precious.

Even though farmers' markets in the financial district tend to be on the pricey side, I usually find one steal. Today's was soft stone fruit. Except that most of the ones in the bin weren't soft at all. Some were completely fine, some had a small puncture (like from a fingernail), and a few were soft from being bumped but not yet bruised. This bowl of a dozen fist sized fruit cost me 95 cents. At that price, I'm willing to deal with a few blemishes. I'll probably eat them all in two days anyway.

Birthday Schwag

My sister got me some really fun things this past birthday. So since I haven't been eating anything exciting this week, I'll just show off instead.

What is it? A pen? A pair of old lady reading glasses?

Any ideas yet?

They are retractable chopsticks! The rage to be green (or is it simply the desire to be assured of clean silverware?) has hit Taiwan, and these are getting very popular over there. I haven't seen them in the States, either in stores or on line, but I hope they catch on. The case is very slender, probably half an inch wide and no more than five inches long. The chopsticks expand to the size of normal restaurant chopsticks, and they handle nicely. I am trying to keep them in my purse so I remember to use them.

And because my sisters almost always get me a silly gift, this adorable piece of chotsky now graces my bookshelf. The only use I can think of is to hold cream and a few chopsticks if I ever serve coffee and fruit after a dinner party. I'm not even sure what the original intent was, other than adorability.

Chilly Summer Chives

Sun, please come out! After exactly ONE hot summer day, San Francisco has returned to being overcast and chilly.


Thanks to the previous weeks of warm sunny weather, my windowsill herb garden is thriving. I even had a surprise chive blossom! I thought my plant was too young to yield flowers, but here it is. I wonder how I'll use it. My mom says they are amazing stir fried with beef, but I think my lone flower will be best in a salad.

Summer Food

A lot of our meals lately have looked like this: noodles in a basic broth, chock full of vegetables and mushrooms, with a little bit of seafood or meat, and some summer fruit. It's easy, filling, and healthy after a week of binging.

The strawberries were from a "pick your own" place in Sonoma! J said they were possibly the best strawberries he's ever had, and he rarely eats strawberries because he thinks they're sour. You can't fault a man for having high standards.

I've also been feeling crafty lately. I finally thought of something to do with a little piece of painted Italian lether I found awhile ago. Isn't it colorful? I got a button stud, played around with a piece of paper until I made a usable template, and then cut the leather out.

As you can tell, there's no sewing or gluing required. It's just a little cardholder for when I don't want to go out with my entire wallet. And the flowers make me happy.

Cioppino, Redux

One day of our trip was reserved exclusively for lolling about the house, enjoying the riverfront access, and tending to a pot of cioppino.


As you can see, the results were well worth it.

J did most of the work, lovingly cooking down a halibut bone stock and creating a second pot full of herby tomato sauce. We then divided up over a dozen kinds of seafood. Some were fresh bought from the day before, others frozen and brought up from San Francisco.

Each bowl was topped with a seared scallop. Somehow the fishmonger miscounted, so my one sister who doesn't like scallops volunteered to go without. Never fear, there were mini scallops in the soup as well.

Everything was washed down with fresh sweet grilled corn, a glass of pinot noir, and some oversized herbed croutons. We pretty much just rolled ourselves in front of the television and sat around in a stupor after this.

Applewood Inn

In a nutshell: a lovely meal in a lovely restaurant, with friendly service on a semi-enclosed deck overlooking a charming garden. Unfortunately, we were all so full from both the oyster bonanza and Cyrus the night before that we did not take full advantage of the meal. Still, everyone appreciated the simple but colorful California preparation of our dishes.

My mom, a light eater by any measure, was perfectly happy with a butter lettuce salad and a little bite off everyone's plate.

I had two appetizers instead of an entree: a rhubarb and celery salad to start, and an excellent steak tartare which I forgot to photograph.

Even J held back. He considered the foie gras, but had this sweet onion soup instead.

He also had a really beautiful dish of asparagus topped with an egg. My photograph doesn't do it justice at all.

My sister had a mushroom risotto.
My other sister had a chicken roulade. This was quite adventuresome of her, since she usually abhors restaurant chicken. She said it was fine, but that if that's as good as it gets she'll never order chicken again. I took a bite and told her "Yes, this is as good as it gets." It was a perfectly cooked piece of chicken breast in a delicious sauce.

My dad almost always gets whatever grilled fish is being offered that evening.

For dessert, we all shared a meyer lemon trifle. Like a lot of desserts this time of year, it came with cooked cherries. Very zingy, and a nice finish to a meal.

Stumptown Brewery

In our research, we noticed this brewery close to where we were living, and of course J had to go! So after we got home from the oyster farms, we took my sisters while my parents took a nap.

The bar is a lot of fun. I don't know how rowdy it gets at night, but in the afternoon it has a friendly, laid back, neighborhood vibe. The large back deck overlooks the river.

We enjoyed the view, a plate of fork tender ribs, and crispy fries with a few beers under the shade of a few tall trees. After that we went home for some kayaking and a jaunt in the hot tub before dinner.

Hog Island Oyster Company

What would a trip to the Russian River Valley be without a day trip to the Sonoma Coast? We started driving on a foggy morning, but by the time we reached Hog Island Oyster Company the sun was starting to break through the fog.

Since it was before noon, we saw a lot of oysters being harvested and brought in for the day. Oysters pretty much cover all the underwater ground as far as the eye can see here.

The oyster are grown inside metal cages, which become overgrown with green algae. The oysters travel up a conveyor belt into a shaker; after the algae is cleaned off the oysters sit in large pools of moving water just beyond the men in this picture. There they await buyers.

Hog Island also sells clams and mussels.

We bought a mix of things from Hog Island and Tomales Bay Oyster Company, then headed to Millerton Point. It's quickly become our favorite pit stop. We went last time with C and M and fell in love with the spot. It was just as lovely this time, and we were better prepared with a cooler full of picnic and barbeque supplies.

Here's a raw oyster, ready to be slurped up.

We also barbecued oysters, grilled corn and pineapples, and cooked steaming bowls of mussels and clams in bowls fashioned out of aluminum foil. Seriously, who wants hot dogs and burgers when this is an alternative?

Happy and full, we went home to this gorgeous sight. The reflection of the trees on the water is so crisp! We relaxed, played in the water, and kayaked a little before heading off to dinner.

Korbel, etc.

Korbel Winery was actually our first stop before we even made it to our rental home. It was a nice little detour. I had a bad experience with Korbel and have always considered it $9.99 sparkling swill, but the trip changed my mind. We left with a very nice blanc de noirs, and I think I'll be adding it to my inexpensive wine rotation.

The grounds are lovely; we even took a very casual tour through their gardens.

Korbel is home to a lot of new growth redwoods. These are about a hundred years old. Our tour guide said the Korbel family was originally in the cigar box business. Hence, they settled where all these redwoods were. When the trees were gone, they planted grapes.

Cute chicken in the wine store. Guess what year I was born...

Now, back to food. Our first breakfast the morning after Cyrus was crepes, but in my haste to get hot crepes to the table I forgot to photograph them. But check out the spread of fillings!

Most of our breakfasts were similar: fruit heavy, with a few meat choices. We knew we'd be eating plenty throughout the day, so we didn't want to fill up too much. This was just a perfect way to enjoy some seaonal fruit and local salumi and cheeses.

My parents, kayaking down the river to check out the blues festival. Who needs $40 tickets when you can float around under the sun and listen for free?

Cyrus (Healdsburg)

We kicked off our weekend with dinner at Cyrus, the Bay Area restaurant most often compared with The French Laundry. I'm probably still a long ways from having either the money or patience to snag reservations for TFL, but Cyrus was a real treat for me. My parents had never experienced a French-style tasting menu or true California cuisine, and they were very impressed by the way the kitchen showcased local flavors and talent. Service, of course, was stellar. There aren't many food experiences more luxurious than a four hour meal during which a fleet of servers attends to your every need.

Cyrus is located in a lovely hotel in downtown Healdsburg. Like most of California's restaurants, it was elegant but casual.



Soon after we sat down, an array of amuse bouches appeared at the table. The concept for the three tiers was "flavors your tongue can sense" or something similar. The bottom tier was umami and salty: sao mai dumplings and a little pastry filled with chickpea puree. The middle tier was sweet and bitter: a pastry topped with something no one can seem to remember, and spoonfuls of campari gelee. The top tier held the representative for the sour camp: raw tuna and mangoes in a tart sauce.


Our second amuse was seared hamachi on ponzu reduction with a sweet potato puree and a side of horseradish sprouts.

We went pretty light on the alcohol as far as tasting menu customers go, I think. My sisters and J opted for Cyrus's famous cocktails, and my father and I shared one wine flight. Everything was well paired, but I'm not sure there were real standouts in terms of the wine.

J's mai tai, which he requested off the menu, was excellent and came topped with a balsamic strawberry. Everyone at the table was also very impressed by Cyrus's sleek metal drinking straws. Does anyone know where we can buy a set?

The first course was cucumber jello with blanched almonds. To me, this was the most unexpected and unique dish of the night. I mean, c'mon. Cucumber jello? It was really quite lovely and refreshing, despite how odd it might seem.

The lobster course was a table favorite. By this time, my dad was in the full swing of things. He got a kick out of tasting the lobster several different ways: by itself, with each sauce, and then with every component of the dish all in one bite.

Another table favorite was the foie gras torchon stuffed with cherries with cooked cherry sauce and brioche disks. At the end of our vacation, my mom declared it her favorite dish of the entire trip. It was a generous portion, and beautifully flavored. The center portion, just around the cherries, was so lightly cooked as to be almost custardy. I'd never tasted foie gras quite like that, and it was amazing(ly addictive).

Liberty farm duck, roasted with a crisped skin. I love when duck is cooked so that it's practically a substitute for beef.

Seared lamb with wild ramps. I love lamb, and this was amazing, but I was almost more interested in the wild ramps because I'd never seen them before.

Like seasoned pros, the kitchen knew at this point in the meal to send out a palate cleanser. That night, it came in the form of a meyer lemon and mango popsickle. It had the crispy texture of granita, and everyone's only complaint was that it was about the size of a small raspberry.

After a well-appreciated long interval, the staff pushed out a rather imposing cheese cart with an assortment of exotic and local cheeses.

This plate almost did us in. I don't remember all the names of the cheeses, but there was an excellent montenegro and a well-ripened Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk. The only cheese I didn't like was the goat's milk blue, and I wish I'd written down the name of brie-like cheese to the right of the photo. The dates and panna forte were both delicious; the figs could have been more ripe.

The first dessert course was a New York egg cream with tiny chocolate chip cookies. The egg cream was delicious, made tableside with Seltzer Sisters seltzer water. However, I felt the chocolate to milk ratio was too high, and the resulting drink was a bit cloying when paired with sweet, soft, fresh-from-the-oven cookies (which were perfect).

Strawberries, rhubarb, tapioca, and in a soup of lemon fizz. I liked this dessert, but found it odd because it was simultaneously very sweet, but sour so that it seemed out of place immediately following a very chocolatey dessert. I hate to say it, but if I had to nit pick about Cyrus I would say their weak spot is desserts.

Beignets that didn't taste anything like beignets. They tasted like deep-fried dense dark chocolate brownies or fudge rolled in sugar. This is not what people want to eat after a heavy meal. We took home an entire box of these, and I think we still ended up throwing some away. I've never thrown away anything from a tasting menu! The lemon mousse on the side, however, was delicious. I could have eaten a whole bowl of that with some cookies.

My mom had requested no deep-fried foods so she got a "carnival desserts" trio instead. Fun concept, but it was hit and miss. The peanut butter mousse and fresh candied corn was delicious and it was quickly devoured. The mint sorbet and ice cream were supposed to evoke memories of snow cones, but it was so minty it tasted a little like Binaca, and the "rocky road" cake was just marshmallow enrobed in chocolate.

Then, of course, came the mingardes cart. Someone please tell me how to spell that.

Everything was tasty, but nothing especially so. I would say standouts included the blueberry pate fruit, the fresh seascape strawberries from the chef's garden, green apple lollipops, and Szechuan peppercorn truffles.

Everyone got a lovely box to take home, filled with a dark chocolate brownie and all our leftover candies. It feels really special when a restaurant gives you a little something to take home and remember them by. However, I feel like after such a bonanza of a meal one expects something a little more exotic than a brownie. The Dining Room, for example, used to give homemade French sea salted caramels, which were especially tasty. The brownies were good, but not better than homemade. All in all, Cyrus is an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone. But if I went again, I'd skew my experience to include more savory dishes and fewer sweets!

After all that happy eating, we happily tumbled home and awaited our weekend of nature and relaxation. This is the view from our private dock; great huh? Parts of California really are a little slice of Heaven. More tomorrow...

Epic Roasthouse

Sorry for the long absence, but I'm back! Russian River Valley food photos will be forthcoming. For now, here are some delicious details from Epic Roasthouse. The restaurant is lovely with a view of the bay, if you are lucky enough to get a table in the right hald of the restaurant. The prices are definitely high for what you get, but on the whole the food is delicious. I wouldn't rank it as highly as CUT in Los Angeles or Wolfgang's in Manhattan, but for San Francisco (not really a steak town, IMO) it's pretty tasty.

The bread plate was impressively unboring. I liked both the cornbread madeleine and mini gougere, but wish that everything had been warm.

Appetizers: two plates of bone marrow, escargots (which surprisingly came in a quiche-like custard), and a small charcuterie plate. The charcuterie was disappointing--three tiny pieces of salami and chorizo and a thin disk of foie gras. The last charcuterie we had was at Traverso's, and Italian deli in Novato. Epic couldn't compare, and the portions were tiny. It's hard to enjoy something when you've just had better at a fifth the price.

Ribeye for two--two pairs of us both got this. I couldn't believe this is considered medium rare, but yum. I don't know how they did it, but the fatty portions of this steak tasted remniscent of foie gras. Dry aged beef is such a rare treat, and this certainly was beefy. It also came with a handful if really amazing fingerling potatoes.

The prime rib was unimpressive. I'd rather go to Houston's or House of Prime Rib for this. I might even venture to say that Daily Grill on Union Square does a better job.

I thought the short ribs were incredibly good. It was definitely the most well balanced entree, since it came with peas, carrots, and arugula.

The mushrooms in an incredibly buttery sauce was everyone's favorite side. So decadent, and perfect with steak.

Garlic broccolini was fine.

J heard great things about the almond cake with burlatt cherries, and it was really delicious. The crumb of the cake is moist and loose, with crispy edges and brown butter flavor.

And, of course, we shared an order of beignets. Definitely the closest to Cafe du Monde beignets I've had outside of New Orleans.

With everyone ordering his/her own entree, four appetizers, two sides, two desserts, three cocktails, one and a half glasses of wine, and a soda, our total was just under $90 a person (gratuity included for large parties). It's definitely expensive, and for my $90 I could list at least twenty places in SF I would rather go before returning to Epic. But for a city like SF, being beaten by twenty restaurants is really nothing to cry about. And if someone specifically asked for steak and a view with price being no object, Epic would recommend it without hesitation.

Signing Off!

Have a great week, everyone! You're going to have to wait until next week for more food photos because I'm going on vacation! My family's in town and J and I are going to take them up to the Russian River Valley for a few days.

Don't be sad, I'll more than make up for my absence next week because we have the following planned:

• a picnic by the bay
• a visit to an oyster farm
• the cioppino blowout to end all cioppino blowouts
• homemade crepes
• Cyrus!
• Seghesio Winery
• Applewood Inn

I'm sure there will be others as well! If anyone has suggestions, I'd also love to hear them. We'll be hitting Healdsburg, Guerneville, Santa Rosa, Tomales Bay, Novato, and basically anywhere along the 101 between here and the RRV.

PS. The margaritas are from Chevy's--watermelon blended and prickly pear on the rocks. I don't care if you like or hate Chevy's food, their margaritas and a basket of chips are one of the best ways to get buzzed for under $10.

Flamingo Oyster Mushrooms

I found these gems at the farmer's market today:

Aren't they interesting? I wonder if the color holds up after cooking. I plan to just lightly stir fry them as a side dish, so that they'll retain their flavor. The lady who was selling them said they have the same flavor as the normal gray oyster mushrooms, but are more pungent. She's right. When I took them home and opened the bag, the stinky mushroom smell was pretty strong--but in a good way! There were some little kids, about six or seven, on a field trip. They stopped by the stall while I was paying, and were wowed by the funny pink mushrooms.

Noodles, Simple Noodles

I love noodles of all kinds, but a simple bowl of thick Northern Chinese style noodles with a copious amoung of mushrooms and vegetables is one of my favorite quick meals.

Last night's version featured shredded bok choy, wood ear mushrooms, shimeji, slivers of pork shoulder, dried shrimp, and bean sprouts. Way to get two or three servings of vegetables in one meal! I cooked everything in a liquid of one can of chicken stock to about two can's worth of water, a few slices of ginger, and a drizzle of sesame oil. Tada! Easy peasy, and delicious to boot.

Cioppino

I'm a lucky gal. Tonight, J cooked dinner! That almost always means seafood, and today his culinary talents resulted in a heaping bowl of cioppino for each of us, topped with chopped garlic and herbs from our tiny windowsill garden.

I wish I had an exact recipe, but J ad libs as much as I do and isn't good about remembering. I know he started with this recipe and tweaked it to his liking. We actually did this as practice for next week, when we're going all out and making a cioppino that will include over a dozen kinds of seafood in it. Tonight's dry run went extremely well and included homemade fish stock, shrimp, monkfish, octopi, squid, and cod.

A quick look at aforementioned garden. The oregano is doing well, and definitely added an Italian flavor to the tomato base.

And the lemon thyme is practically running rampant. I know I shouldn't let my herbs flower too much, but the tiny purple flowers are so pretty I let a few branches grow.

Scarlet Tea Room (Pasadena)

This is a really belated post from one of my trips to LA last month. To celebrate my sister S's graduation, we went to The Scarlet Tea Room in Pasadena. Overall, we all thought the room was beautiful, the service lovely, the food good and generously portioned, some of the teas lovely, and that it's a nice splurge.

The first course was a fresh strawberry sorbet, which we all appreciated after coming in from 0 degree heat. If they hadn't started us off with this I don't know how anyone would have been able to drink hot tea.

Chihuly! A lovely glass blown chandelier to admire while we waited for our food. For those who are wondering why this looks familiar, Chihuly did the famous chandeliers in the Bellagio Las Vegas.

I wish STR had more frilly Victorian English tea sets, but a girl can't be too picky. The teas themselves were fine. My favorite was a chocolate mint, because I've rarely had good chocolate flavor tea. Theirs was lightly fragranced and perfect with just a little sugar.

The strawberry preserves and lemon curd were just okay, but the whipped cream was really delicious. It doesn't make up for their not having clotted cream, though!

Then, the three-tiered snack plates came out! Sandwiches, scones, and more sandwiches! I would say I liked about half the sandwiches, but that's a personal preference. I'm sure everyone would like some and dislike others, but it's not like you get to pick and choose. In general, I like the simple classics: smoked salmon, cucumber/dill, apple/walnut/chevre, etc.

THE BIG WIN: The Scarlet Tea Room takes home the blue ribbon when it comes to scones. These were out of this world delicious: tender, flakey, buttery, wow. I am a scone lover, and I wish I could have taken home a dozen. And yes, they were still good the next morning. Since when is that true of scones?! The chocolate chip ones were especially delicious, and chocolate chip scones are usually cloying to me. The currant ones were also great.

The first dessert course was a refreshing bowl of diced strawberries with a little Chambord, topped with a slightly yogurty whipped cream. Perhaps it was creme fraiche or sour cream with brown sugar.

By the time the petit fours came out, we were all quite full. And honestly, these were fun but nothing to write home about. It's too bad they didn't shine. Every other afternoon tea I've been to has had better petit fours, I'm sad to say.

A PLUS: The Scarlet Tea Room did not skimp on the tea. It really annoys me when afternoon tea places have limits on the number of refills you can get on a pot of tea, or when the server will purposely come by at very long intervals so that you essentially are forced to sit there without a tea refill. C'mon, it's mostly water, and how much tea can an average person drink anyway? The Scarlet Tea Room was not only generous and timely with tea refills, they brewed each pot in the kitchen and then brought out the pot without and leaves sitting in the pot. Hence, no bitter tea no matter how slowly we drank.

A MINUS: Maybe this goes hand in hand with the great service and unlimited tea, but we had a party of ten and we were forced to purchase ten four course tea sets when seven or eight would have been more than enough. We took home a big box of sandwiches and another of petit fours. Which was fine, but it meant our table spent an unnecessary $100. But c'est la vie. When you're a big group, sometimes you don't get to be picky!

Wattleseed?!

From Vosges, my favorite maker of interesting chocolate bars, now comes four brand new ice cream flavors:

The only one I've tried so far is the wattleseed with toasted salted macamadamia uts, which is delicious! I'd never heard of wattleseed before, but it's an Australian seed that's roasted and ground, then used in granolas and desserts. It has distinct flavors of coffee and hazelnut, with perhaps a whiff of chocolate in the background. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes coffee ice cream but can't handle the caffeine!

Of course, now I want to try the other three flavors!

Kowloon Tong Dessert (Ji Dan Zi)

My new home away from Creations Dessert House. I think our total bill for everything was about $20, and it was more than enough for five people!

It's a dinky storefront, but boy are the desserts tasty. And the Chinese name, by the way, translates most closely as " Le Chicken Egg."

This is probably the biggest bang for your buck here: an ice cream waffle sandwich. We weren't given a choice of flavors, but everyone was very happy with the strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, and (canned?) fruit that came smooshed between two warm, crispy waffles. Normally I don't like my waffles thin or overcooked, but for the purposes of holding together ice cream it was actually very helpful that they be that way so that they would retain some crispiness.

Durian ice cream with tapioca in an ice slush. It sounds odd, but if you like durian this is worth a try.

I forget what these are called, but they are essentially hollow balls of crispy dough. Imagine eating only the outermost layer of a crispy waffle. Or an overcooked paper thin crepe.

This isn't a pretty dessert, but it's my favorite so far at Kowloon Tong. It's a steamed custard with coconut milk and black glutinous rice. As the custard cools its consistency goes from that of a thick hot chocolate to that of vanilla pudding, and then to closer to that of flan. It's kind of like eating three desserts at once.

The Ritz (I'm Back!)

I'm back! Apologies for the long absence; I'll attempt to make it up to you. I was too busy and too clueless to figure out what happened, but apparently Blogger is happily allowing me to upload photos again so here goes! My sisters visited last weekend as part of a celebratory post-graduation weekend for the both of them. No, they're not twins; one was just enrolled in a five year program. Anyway, being Head Eater of the family, I took them to The Ritz Carlton Dining Room to celebrate. Since I've posted about The Ritz before, just highlights this time!

Quail egg and Osetra caviar over a bed of smoke. This was the most visually stunning dish of the night. There's a hole cut in the plastic wrap under the spoon. When we lifted the spoon and tapped lightly on the surface of the plastic wrap, aromatic smoke wafted out of the bowl. Really incredible! The smoke is so fragrant that every time another table was served this dish, we turned around.

Foie gras torchon. This is one of my favorite dishes in general, so I was happy to see it that night. Needless to say, it was perfectly done.

Celery sorbet with Campari gelee was a surprise, but well received. I loved how all of the flavor was there with none of the fibers!

Possibly everyone's favorite feature of dinner at The Ritz: the dessert cart (mingardes? Does anyone speak French?). The chocolate macaroons with peanut butter filling were probably my favorite, followed by the fresh beet marshmallows.