Baby Treats

I sure hope a certain someone doesn't check my blog today. In fact, I think I'm going to auto-delay this post so she doesn't see it ahead of time!

What could it be, all rolled up and packaged for gifting?

Why, a baby blanket of course! Homemade blankets are my go-to gift for new babies. They're an excuse for me to sew, and the fabric store always has an exciting new fabric that's cuter than whatever's at the department stores. For example, I love that this print is undeniably baby-appropriate, but does not invove large cotton candy swaths of pink or blue. It's a great blanket for any baby who loves zoo animals--which means all babies, right?

The Perfect Dinner

"Perfect" is a tall order, but tonight J proclaimed that I had cooked pretty much his perfect meal. He likes a lot of little plates of things, seafood, and cold Chinese appetizers. Let's see how I inadvertently hit all these notes tonight.

Clockwise from the top left: stir-fried watercress fulfilled my rule that every meal should have something green. It's sharp bitterness also cut through the oil in some of the other dishes. Then there's sliced pressed tofu with green onions, dried baby shrimp, Korean chili powder, and sesame oil; blanched enoki mushrooms and bean sprouts with cilantro, sesame oil, and white pepper; and finally our first attempt at marinated jellyfish! We paired it with thinly slivered carrots and chopped cilantro and marinated it in sugar, soy sauce, salt, rice vinegar, and black vinegar. Delicious! I loved the vinegary kick. This was a very nice post workout meal for the strangely warm weather today.

Homemade Pappardelle

Bella Trattoria inspired me to take on an all-day cooking project today. Witness: my first batch of homemade pappardelle, drying on a (clean!) wooden stick.  

I'd always heard pasta making was easy, but I was surprised just how easy it really was. I don't own a pasta roller so I rolled these by hand. It was pretty easy getting the dough to be so thin it was almost see through. I wouldn't be able to slice spaghetti by hand, but pappardelle, handkerchief pasta, lasagna sheets, or ravioli would all be easily created with this lovely dough. It is labor-intensive, so I'm not going to stop buying dried pasta any time soon. However, this would be a nice thing to make for the occasional batch of extra special pasta sauce.

Wild Blueberry Mojito

This weekend brought another rare heat wave to San Francisco--yay! We celebrated with afternoon mojitos. This is a recipe for a pitcher, so don't start this project alone!

For 6 lowball glasses:

• 1 cup very tightly packed mint leaves, plus a 6+ sprigs set aside for garnish
• 7 shots white rum (we like flor de cana, nice enough for sipping and only $18 for a 1.5 liters!)
• 1 handful wild blueberries (regular blueberries are fine too, but I found that the tiny frozen wild blueberries from Trader Joe's have more intense flavor and color)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2/3 cup juice (from about 8-10 limes)
• 2 cans club soda
• plenty of ice cubes

Pour the sugar over the mint leaves, and crush with a muddler or other flat object. The goal here is to grind the sugar into the leaves, both to help the sugar melt and to release the oil from the leaves. Add the rum to the mix, and cover for at least an hour. With clean hands, squeeze the leaves dry and discard. The rum will be amber colored at this point, but don't worry. Add the blueberries and lime juice to the rum and let sit in the refrigerator overnight. 

If you prefer to serve this immediately, add the blueberries when you crush the sugar and mint. I prefer the overnight steeping because it releases more color and flavor, and the berries are more attractive and tasty whole than mashed. 

When ready to serve, crush a few mint leaves in the bottom of a glass with a spoon, add a handful of ice cubes, pour in three shots of the rum mixture making sure to scoop in some berries, and top with club soda. Stir and serve!

Bella Trattoria

Today I had one of those "I am so depressed that it took me this long to find this place, but SO HAPPY that it's in my life now" dining experiences. After a long time of relegating it to the furthest back burner of my mind, I finally stopped in at Bella Trattoria at Geary and 3rd. I was in the area for groceries and had jogged 3 miles in San Francisco's summer chill, so I thought I deserved some carbs and protein.

I walked in hoping for decent, and I was completely blown away. This is, without a doubt, one of the top five pasta dishes of my life. I have absolutely no qualms ranking it among the pasta I've had at A16, Perbacco, Delfina, Flour + Pizza, Ideale, or any number of other places where it would have cost several dollars more. And when you factor in value, Bella Trattoria beats all those listed above.

The beauty of this dish lies in its deceptively simple appearance. It looks like just another tomato sauce. But everything about it is in harmony. There's just enough cream to balance the tartness of tomatoes, but not too much to make the dish heavy or cream-based like an alfredo. Every piece of pasta was perfectly cooked. I tend to hope for pasta to be cooked past al dente because I prefer too soft to too bitey. This pasta hit the middle ground perfectly, making it pleasant to chew without being a chore. And the aftertaste? Blew me away. The sausages and sauce left a mild fragrance of fennel and light red wine on my palate and in my sinuses. I found myself scraping up every last drop of the sauce. I think David, the proprietor, was both pleased and amused by my enthusiasm. We exchanged names and I promised to be back. It's a promise I won't have any problems keeping. Have you seen me rave this much about a restaurant lately? I think not. I just hope Bella Trattoria achieves this kind of perfection consistently and across its menu.

Whitefish Stuffed Tomatoes

W gave me this idea for eating down that tub of whitefish salad I was talking about: Thanks!

This was really a very good idea. The flavors went well together and the tomatoes cut down on the oiliness and saltiness of the salad. The one improvement I would make in the future would be to lightly char or roast the tomatoes first.

Green Tea Kit Kat, etc.

My very lovely sister just got back from Japan and Taiwan, and she sent me snack!! I feel so special.  

My favorite item in the box was the green tea Kit Kat bars from Japan. It's the same cookie filling as a standard Kit Kat, but covered in green tea flavored white chocolate. I don't usually like yogurty white chocolate, but this was very good. I hear they can be found at The Candy Shop on Vallejo and Polk. 

The rest of my loot included home grown apricots, cookies from my uncle's bakery, a LOT of pineapple cakes, and assorted baked treats and candy. I almost never keep snack foods like this around, so this is going to last me a long time!

San Francisco City Hall

Da da da dum (that's The Bridal March, by the way).

No, I did not attend a wedding today. But I did get to admire a lovely couple celebrating their big day at City Hall.

What a stunning place to tie the knot. I don't know any other free public venues that are quite so stately.

This is new. I ventured into one of the Light Courts, which now houses a San Francisco Heart celebrating the couples who who tied the knot back in 2004 when Gavin Newsom legalized same-sex marriage.

Close-up shot. It's one of the most clever SF Heart designs I've seen, simple and to the point but beautiful. Too bad it's stuck in City Hall and not out in a park. What was I doing at City Hall, you ask? My secret. A potential new project is on the horizon!

Iceberg Wedge and Whitefish Salad

Despite the less than summery weather around here, we had a warm weather appropriate dinner tonight.

Iceberg wedge with homemade blue cheese dressing, chopped tomatoes, and chopped egg. I know I'm missing the bacon bits, but it was still crunchy and delicious.

Toast topped with whitefish salad, slivered red spring onions (yum!), and chopped parsley. The whitefish salad was a surprise find at Costco this weekend. The ingredients are relatively basic, no strange preservatives, sweeteners, or stabilizers. The flavor is just as good as what I've gotten at San Francisco's admittedly sub-par delis, but at a fraction of the price. We've had it in sandwiches, on toast points, in place of salad dressing--any other ideas?

And here's a close-up of a very pretty egg I snacked on while making dinner. I can't help it, I like a lot of foods half cooked. Shout out to my dear friend who has trouble peeling hard-boiled eggs. You know who you are...

Cable Car Fun

Once in awhile, I steal J's monthly MUNI pass so I can ride the cable car home after a run. Last week I did a three mile jog to Fisherman'ls Wharf, bought groceries at Trrader Joe's, and rode the cable car home without walking more than a block at either end. The weather was gorgeous and riding with excited tourists is a fun treat from time to time. Here's to urban living!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Little Star Pizza

So we went shooting today and...

I kid, I kid. We went to Chabot Regional Park and shot paper targets at the marksmanship range. It's always great to get out to Chabot though; it's amazing that there's such a large area of lush green wildlife in the middle of high developed East Bay. We saw deer, a lot of small birds, and this turkey ambling across the highway. 

After heading back to the city, we went to Little Star Pizza on Divisadero and Fulton and shared a large deep dish classic. Consensus: very tasty! I think we unanimously like Little Star more than Zachary's, which I found too large, soupy, and unwieldy. Little Star's thin crust pizza looked amazing too. I was pretty hungry when we got there so the delicious smells wafting over from the next table really had my mouth watering.

The most unique part of Little Star's pizza is its crust. There's cornmeal in the dough, not just dusted on the outside. And I hear the entire crust is baked upside down, so it achieves a crunchy, unchewy texture like shortbread or croutons. It's definitely not traditional in any sense, but it's quite good and relatively light for a pizza. That is to say, two slices was very much a meal, but I did not get the McFeeling that comes with eating unreasonably greasy or junky food. Little Star gets my seal of approval (and that of about 1400 Yelpers).

Jamba Juice

$1 for 16 oz.
$2 for 32 oz.
$3 for the jumbo. I assume that's 48 oz.

One day only!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Long Bean Fried Rice

Long beans (chang dou) are a popular vegetable at many Chinese restaurants. I seldom cook them at home, because they're kind of a tough vegetable and require a LOT of oil to stir fry until tender. Yesterday, it occurred to me that I should try what I often do with broccoli: blanch for two minutes in salt water, drain, and then stir fry. This worked reasonably well. The long beans still weren't as delicious as at a good restaurant, but at least I could eat a whole bowl without feeling sluggish.

Today, I took the leftover long beans and made a simple fried rice. I warmed up a bowl of rice and the long beans in a nonstick skillet. I added a pinch of salt, plenty of white pepper, and a spoonful of my favorite hot sauce. When the rice was warmed through, I pushed it to the sides of the skillet and poured a little oil in the center well I'd created. In went an egg, which I let set up for about fifteen seconds before scrambling with the rice. In under ten minutes, dinner was done. Visually appealing? No, not really. Easy? Definitely.

Monay Riddle

Who knew there was a time capsule right in SF?! See if you can tell where this is...

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Marin Headlands

Today, J and I checked another "Bay Area Must" off our list of things to do. Although we've lived right along the bus route to the Marin Headlands for the better part of the last decade, it wasn't until today that we hopped on the 76 and found ourselves in the Marin Headlands no more than half an hour later. Now that we know how easy it is to get there, I think sunny Sundays will find us heading there more often for picnics, hiking, or just lying on the beach.

The Visitors Center is the natural first stop, but we bypassed it today because we knew we only had time for one activity. For those who have all day to explore, the Visitors Center is where you can get trail maps for anything from easy 1.5 mile walks to strenuous half day hikes. 

Today, we ended up strolling Rodeo Beach, which is a roughly mile-long stretch of dark sandy beach which sits next to a lagoon between two impressive sets of cliffs. Above is a shot of the lagoon and inland hills from the beach.

Whoosh! There go the waves of the Pacific Ocean. There were plenty of surfers out today, as well as families and dogs. 

We set up camp near these cool rocks. The rocks along the sand and in the water were large and fairly craggy, perfect for climbing!

I love how rocky seaside cliffs turn into grassy hills as soon as the hills crests. This type of terrain is uniquely Californian to me. 

After an hour on the beach we took a stroll along a dirt path. In Southern California, a day at the beach is a day at the beach. In Northern California, greenery takes over just beyond the sand, making for nice strolling. I saw a lot of new wild flowers, and these very interesting berries.

The surprise of the day was the lighter green plants in this photo. J kept saying how pretty they were because the leaves were really soft and almost fluffy looking from a distance. When we finally went near them, I smelled the unmistakable scent of fennel!! We thought about taking a few handfuls of fennel leaves home, but I was afraid of being wrong. Later, we saw a family picking entire baskets full of fennel greens. I don't know what they're planning to do with that many fennel leaves, but it made us regret not taking a stem!

Finally, some pussy willow along the lagoon. I know they're not particularly unique, but there's something about them that makes me nostalgic for the rural childhood I never had. I think there's a part of everyone that just wants to spend sunny afternoons strolling along a dirt path with a poking stick--don't you?

JJ Bakery & Cafe (Hacienda Heights)

JJ Bakery has been a standby in my home town since I was a kid. Recently, its owners decided to open a branch with a cafe serving Taiwanese style casual food. I've been for lunch, dinner, and breakfast, and the quality is pretty darned good! I wish a place like that would open in San Francisco (c'mon mind spies, get on it!).

I judge coffee shops by their lattes, and I judge Taiwanese breakfast joints by their savory soy milk. JJ's is really great: not overly salty, mildly tangy with room for one to add black vinegar to taste, lightly sprinkled with green onions and chili oil, with crispy freshly fried crullers on top. They get two very important things right. First, the soy milk is curdled so that it resembles really tender tofu rather than either mush or rubber. Second, the crullers stay crispy as you work your way to the bottom of your bowl of soy milk.

My sister, on the other hand, judges a breakfast joint by its gua bao, or pork belly bun. JJ's is excellent, and far too big for one (that's not a complaint). The photo says it all. This soft white bun is stuffed to overflowing with tender pork belly, pickled mustard greens, cilantro, and peanut powder. I consider it more of a lunch food than a breakfast food, but to each her own!

Here's our breakfast in its entirety. For those who have stopped trying Taiwanese deep fried crullers because they are so often greasy and cold, give JJ a chance. Ours were piping hot, airy, crispy and perfect for dipping in rice milk. $14 is a lot more than what you'd pay for this spread in Taiwan,  but given the difficulty of finding a restaurant that achieves across the board success making Taiwanese dishes, I think I'll be back again and again.

Seoul Garden (Los Angeles)

I've eaten in Koreatown in LA dozens if not hundreds of times. One of my favorite places remains Seoul Garden, a hot pot joint specializing in what Koreans call "Genghis Khan" hot pot. Amusing name aside, the food is a refreshing change of pace from the BBQ and tofu pots that dominate the Korean culinary landscape.

After the usual panchan (Korean appetizers), a Mongolian style hot pot is brought to the table and placed on the built-in burner. 

The meat, sliced thin like at most hot pot places, arrives arranged on a large tray. This is a two person portion, which was enough for four. We always order beef, although pork, chicken, and turkey are also available.

Then comes a large tray of vegetables: napa cabbage, green onions, perilla leaves, tofu, enoki mushrooms, fish cake, and agar agar jelly. The dining experience is as follows:

1. Cook the meat and vegetables in the broth at your leisure.
2. When you are finished, the server brings udon to the table, cooks it in the broth, and serves it to you.
3. The server mixed a bowl of rice into the remaining broth, cracks in a raw egg and a bowl of crushed toasted seaweed, and the rice cooks into a thick porridge as you eat your udon. 
4. If you are still hungry after these three courses, order a bowl of spicy noodles to share. 

Because the meal consists largely of sliced vegetables and broth, "Genghis Khan" is actually a really light and refreshing meal if you order judiciously. It's wonderful comfort food; if you haven't tried it yet I highly recommend it!

Extraordinary Desserts (San Diego)

I was a busy traveler last week, flying from SF to LA and then driving down to SD during the week. Although the focus of the trip was (for once) not food, I did have a lovely afternoon at Extraordinary Desserts in downtown San Diego. The desserts were indeed extraordinary looking, each more gorgeous than the next. In terms of taste, however, it was a mixed bag. 

My favorite dessert of the day was the passionfruit torte. The passionfruit flavor came through very prominently without being overwhelmingly sour, and the strawberries and kiwi embedded in whipped cream filling were cool and fresh. The trio of sauces mirrored the flavors in the cake, and it was nice to have the choice of whether or not to eat it because altogether it was a little sugar overkill. This cake reminds me of one my favorites, the berry blossom cake at Susina Bakery in LA.

I purchased a lemon bar to go for my sister, because she is a lemon bar aficionado. I didn't end up tasting it, but like everything else at Extraordinary Desserts they lemon bars were covered in beautiful fresh flowers.  

The brownie was served warm and fudgey, but my cousin and I both wished it was all chocolate. 

I thought the shortcake was gorgeous, but that the texture of the cake fell flat. It was a little dry and crumbly, with no discernible flavor.

The lemon torte was light fluffy filling and fresh berries served between layers of crispy pastry dough. This was probably my second favorite dessert after the passionfruit torte. I think Extraordinary Dessert's forte is in chiffon/genoise style cakes with fluffy whipped cream filling, rather than in tarts or mousses. Then again, I'm more a fan of cake than other types of bakery sweets, so I could just be biased. 

The one thing that unanimously fell flat was the mocha. There was way to much chocolate and sugar in it, making it more of a hot chocolate than a mocha. The huge dollop of whip cream on top rendered the drink lukewarm. Even if it had been hot, it was much to sweet to be enjoyed with a plateful of sugary desserts. Extraordinary Desserts is a fantastic place for those with a true sweet tooth or who just enjoy looking at beautiful food. For those who have a more restrained palate, bring a friend or two to share! It's a fun place, but you will leave in a sugar coma.

Taiwan Treats

I'm back in sunny Los Angeles, celebrating my cousin's PhD graduation--woo hoo!

His sister brought these hilarious baked goods from Taipei. They are called bull's horn bread, which is usually the term for croissants. I guess the Taiwanese didn't think the French were getting the look quite right! Instead of being flaky, these were buttery andd crisp on the outside and tender on the inside like Chinese toast. There were also about a dozen different flavored fillings. Definitely a Taiwanese take on the classic croissant, and quite good.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

London Treats

A friend of mine just got back from a month in London slaving away at work. From her pain come souvenirs for me!

Here's a box of Earl Grey from Harrod's. Isn't the box cute? You can't beat Earl Grey from England.

And, my very first fruit cakes! I know, it's shocking that I've lived this long without tasting fruit cake (or, what we Chinese call the mooncakes of the West.) I dug into the traditional flavored one before thinking to take a picture. True to reputation, the cake was incredibly dense and soaked in whiskey and molasses. It smelled like burnt sugar! It actually went nicely with some triple cream cheese we had. It's not something I could eat often, but it was nice to finally try!