Bellissimo Pizza

Blogger continues to befuddle me. Stay tuned as I try to straighten out their ftp issues AND bring my remodel into its home stretch! It's going to be a busy week for me. Hence, relying on Bellissimo Pizza for dinner. Not a bad pie, I recommend it if you need delivery around Union Square!

Assembling a plate of noodles is easy!!

You take a plate of various sliced vegetables. In this case, I used carrots, cucumbers, onions, bean sprouts, and cilantro (not pictured)...

Cook a nice hearty sauce. Recipe forthcoming. Warning: it's a weird one!

Combine artfully on a plate with some cooked thick noodles and toss well before digging in! Now, for the sauce recipe, which for me yielded over a pint of sauce. That should be enough to feed four if not six. These noodles may look like jajang mien, but the flavor and ingredients are definitely not traditional yet surprisingly tasty. This recipe is born of my desperation to use up as many jars as possible before our move. I'd like to get a fresh start, instead of hanging on to things that have been lurking in my cupboards for two years. So here goes:

• 1/2 pound pork belly, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1/2 bunch spinach (totally optional; I had some to use up)
• 1 tablespoon shrimp paste
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 dash cayenne, or more
• 1/2 cup rice wine
• 1-2 cups water

In a tablespoon of oil (I used duck fat; it's so handy to have some lying around!) sautee the onions and pork belly, adding the zucchini when the edges of the onion start to brown. Toss in the spinach if you had it, then add all the sauces and the cayenne. Stir well. Toss a little to toast the sauces, and when stuff starts sticking to the bottom of the pan add the rice wine and light everything on fire. I love a good cooking fire! Then, add the water and stir well.

Fair warning: at this point my sauce smelled pretty gross. Raw shrimp paste basically smells like the day-old bin at a bad fish market. I turned the flame down to a simmer and covered my pot, hoping for the best. An hour later, all the flavored had melded together and become something quite delicious! And the fat from the pork belly had helped thicken the sauce beautifully. A weird but thankfully delicious meal made from what was essentially kitchen scraps.

Le Creuset

*happy dance*

It's a good day. The hardwood is beautiful (though still being sanded), and they're starting on the cabinets tomorrow. But the big news today is my new Le Creuset!

Flame red, 2 3/4 quarts, round, and 50% off! Sometimes I catch really great deals at Williams-Sonoma. I've been wanting another smallish pot for awhile now, and now I have a great one! I used it to cook rice today, and it performed beautifully. It's going to be fun using an LC more regularly.

Edit: what the heck, blogger won't let me comment. Here's what I had to say.

Tuesday Morning and Marshall's often sell Le Creuset pieces, but a lot of their pieces are seconds. There's a way to identify seconds--Google it. Seconds are really cheap and still great for cooking, but often they are deemed to be seconds because the enamel wasn't applied 100% properly. Before this new purchase, I owned one second and one Williams-Sonoma piece, both several years old. The inside of the second is blackening much more quickly, and stains stick to the outside more. Something to keep in mind for those who care about appearance. I've never paid more than $100 for an LC, and this orange one was only $66, so I'll only be buying primo condition ones in the future. It pays to keep your eyes peeled; there was a forest green one left at the Union Square store when I left if anyone wants it!

And sadly, those aren't my new floors. I wish. We didn't move yet, those are the floors at our current rental apartment. Not bad, though! I like our management company a lot. They take good care of the place.

Farm:Table and Verve Coffee

I dragged my *** out of the house extra early today to check on our remodel and go to our new gym (!), so I rewarded myself with coffee.

New coffee shops have been popping up all over San Francisco, bringing with them selections from roasters previously unavailable in the city. Lately, the buzz seems to be all about Verve from Santa Cruz. I had a drink they've dubbed the tendernob, in honor of Farm:Table's location on the edge of the Tenderloin and Nob Hill. the tendernob is equal parts foamed milk and espresso--basically a cross between a macchiato and a cappuccino. It was intensely creamy, which speaks to the quality of the coffee as well as the skill of the barista. I'm very excited that there are now good whole coffee beans as well as a skilled barista in the neighborhood.

And now, dear readers, I hope you've also had your morning coffee. I need you to vote for your favorite hardwood color! The hardwood guys are currently sanding and polishing my floors, filling in the gaps and nail heads, and they'll soon be staining and glossing! Here you can see an area where they laid new hardwood in the corner and are planning to sand and stain it to match the old hardwood. Which stain should I choose? Remember, I'll be covering the whole floor and adding a high gloss, so it won't look quite the same.

Pork Leg Stew

Meltingly fatty, savory, and topped with cilantro and green onions. There aren't many comfort foods better than Chinese pork leg stew. This one was even better because I used pan drippings to cook the rice! That's "brown" rice even J enjoys eating.

Meltingly fatty, savory, and topped with cilantro and green onions. There aren't many comfort foods better than Chinese pork leg stew. This one was even better because I used pan drippings to cook the rice! That's "brown" rice even J enjoys eating.

For one pork leg, which should be enough to feed four if not more:

• 1 pork leg, bone in or boneless
• 1/4 cup rice wine
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups water
• 2 thick slices ginger
• 2 cloves star anise
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 3 green onions, sliced or diced however you like
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

In a pot just big enough to fit the pork, heat a tablespoon of oil and sear all sides of the meat over high heat. When the meat is browned on the outside and the pot is very hot, add the rice wine, tip the pot towards the flames of your stove, and watch out! It should spark a burst of flames for several seconds. Return the pot to the flame and add the soy sauce, water, ginger, star anise, onions, sugar, and white pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn the flame down and let the pork simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until fork tender.

Remove the meat from the flame and carve the meat off the bones. The pieces should be larger than bite-sized, and each piece of fat or skin should have lean meat attached to it. Meanwhile, remove the ginger and star anise from the liquid and turn the flame up to medium. Reduce the sauce to about 1/3 the original volume.

Return the meat to the sauce, add green onions, and serve when ready. Some people like the onions raw, some people like to cook it until soft. Serve over any kind of rice you wish, and sprinkle cilantro on top! Thai restaurants serve a similar stew with a little dish of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chilis, and finely chopped garlic. With or without the sauce, this is a hearty meal.

Bylaws and Leaseholds

Look what I got today! My own little piece of San Francisco history. My building manager dug this out of his files; it's the lease agreement from the very first time my apartment unit was sold in 1927! He says it sold for $2,500, which was a very pretty penny back then. Let's just say J and I paid more than that. Actually, we ran it through an inflation calculator, and we paid more than the $30,000 that that should be equivalent to in today's money. I guess real estate has really changed, eh?

I love this little extra piece of information about my place, and I also wonder what type of person bought it. I know it was a woman who was addressed as missus, so I'm wondering if the apartment was a pied-à-terre purchased by a doting husband, a small city dwelling for a lonely widow, or just the purchase of a rich and independent lady of means?

The book is filled with beautiful signatures from an era when people cared about penmanship, along with meticulous notes and corrections from the purchase negotiations, and fancy embossed notary seals. For a nerd, this is all pretty exciting. Also exciting: my floors were sanded today, and they might be polished by week's end! Things are really moving along.

Dukk Bokkee and Durian Shake

Sorry, J, today I made food only I like.


Once in awhile, I force J to eat dukk bokee, or spicy Korean rice cakes. It's one of my favorite dishes, and one that I'm almost always willing to eat. Sadly, J does not share my enthusiasm for chewy dense rice noodles drowning in spicy red sauce, so I try to remember to put a lot of other stuff in it. Today's version included plenty of pork belly, zucchini, bamboo, fish cakes, spinach, enoki mushrooms, green onions, and yellow onions. He didn't complain (too much) and I got to wallow in my dukk love.

I did also make something we both love: a durian milkshake! If you've never had this incredibly stinky tropical fruit, a milkshake is the best way to try it out because the iciness dulls the smell of the durian. If you'd like to try it, find frozen durian pieces in the freezer section of an Asian market; it'll cost you $4-5 for a pack of six small sections instead of $30-50 for a fresh whole fruit! For one mug:

• 1 section frozen durian, seed removed and cut into three chunks
• 4-5 ice cubes
• 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream if you have it
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp simple syrup if you like things sweet

Blend everything in a blender and serve!

Bridal Shower Weekend

It's only two more weeks until another high school friend of mine ties the knot, so a group of girls got together this weekend to help her celebrate the San Francisco way! Here's a summary of our food adventures. Apologies, I was too busy having fun to photograph everything, but this is a great plan to follow if you want to have 2-3 days of fun in SF

FRIDAY
-Blissful Bites
-Academy of Sciences
-Blue Danube Cafe
-Cha Cha Cha's
-Humphrey Slocombe

SATURDAY
-Tartine
-2223 Market
-Miette
-Paulette
-Tal-Y-Tara
-home cooked jajang myun

SUNDAY
-Hong Kong Lounge dim sum

And now, here come the photos!

I was tasked with getting to the Academy of Sciences and snagging planetarium tickets while another friend picked the bride-to-be from the airport, so I stopped by Blissful Bites and bought a welcome present. I bought the six cutest cupcakes, which were pretty well received by a bunch of cupcake connoisseurs. I only had a bite of the Oreo one, but I really liked it. I was saving room for dinner, though, which was a night of tapas and sangria at Cha Cha Cha's in the Mission followed by ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe!

The next morning, we got up bright and early for not one, but two breakfasts. First, some of us stopped by Tartine because we realized there were too many in our group who'd never eaten there. One chard quiche, ham and cheese croissant, apple bread pudding, and a round of coffees and lattes later and the problem was remedied. The ladies were nice enough to accompany me on a remodel-related errand to Ceramic Tile Design. They had fun though, because the showroom really is more like an art gallery than a tile store.

After that, we met up with the East Bay resident in our group and headed to brunch at 2223 . This was the dark horse candidate in this week's eating adventures. None of us had ever been, but it turned out to be really delicious! I'll definitely be bringing people back in the future. The guest of honor had a fruit and yogurt parfait to keep up her vitamin intake for the weekend.

I shared a fried chicken salad, because I'd already had my fruit in the form of baked apples...

And everyone sort of dug into this delicious corned beef hash with perfectly poached eggs. This is one of the best renditions I've had; the only superior one that immediately comes to mind is the one at Canteen. And at about $10, 2223's entrees are really nicely priced for a San Francisco lunch. After eating all this food before the clock had struck noon, we took a nice walk to Hayes Valley for some window shopping, and a few souvenir purchases at Miette and Paulette.

I can't say we were hungry by mid-afternoon, but we were beat so we headedto Tal-Y-Tara Tea & Polo Shoppe in the Outer Richmond. That's right, San Francisco has its own polo shoppe where you can buy everything to ride like a fine English gentleman/woman, plus a lot of very nice tea to boot. The photo above is motorloaf; a carved out loaf of dark nutty bread. The center is used to make tasty sandwiches, which are then stuffed back into the crust for easy transport (get it? It's food for a motor trip!) The crust is then used for jam and clotted cream. Yum! We also had Harlowe & Sons China Rose tea, and a very interesting herbal blend called Forest tea. It was reminiscent of ginseng tea, but a little more palatable.

After Tal-Y-Tara, we just took it easy. We went for foot massages at a Chinese spa, occupying a private room and getting our cares pampered away for an hour and a half. Then we did some shopping and headed home, where N made everyone some of the tastiest jajang myun I've had in a long time. We spent the evening munching through the various treats we'd gathered and playing Bananagrams, the best new game of 2010 as far as I'm concerned. Then we all went home to bed and met up for a farewell dim sum at Hong Kong Lounge. Not a typical bridal shower weekend, but I think it was a lot more fun! I got to show off my city, eat more than I have in ages, and hang out with lovely people. I can't wait for the wedding in two weeks. Beautiful San Diego, here I come!

Liguria Bakery

I checked another San Francisco institution off the list today: Liguria Bakery. They're famous for foccacia, but they're even more famous for closing shop every day as soon as they sell out. It's infuriating, but it also made me curious. So today, I bought a pizza foccacia.

I hate to say I won't be back. Unlike SF Bagelry, which also only sells one batch of bread a day but makes pretty decent bagels for this coast, Liguria was just okay. It was nice, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it and was glad I didn't make a special trip or anything. And yes, those are boxes of books in the background; let the packing begin!

Dinner, Pre-Plating

Last night's post got me in a "behind the scenes" mood. So today I whipped out the camera while I was cooking, instead of right before we ate.

Here's the soup of the evening. I simmered pork neck and leg bones, then added daikon, watercress, mushrooms, and a root vegetable that I actually have not officially identified. Maybe I'll post a picture tomorrow and see if anyone knows what it is.

We also had stir fried broccoli. Heat a little garlic and oil, throw in clean dry broccoli, toss until the broccoli browns a little around the edges, throw in a few tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt, and cover for two minutes to let the broccoli steam cook. Remove the lid, toss a few times to release excess liquid, and serve. Easy stir fried vegetables infused lightly with salt and garlic.

And finally, our filler: rice with sausage and green onions. I sliced Chinese sausages into thin pieces and charred them in a wok with some green onions, then added them to rice in the last 10 minutes of cooking. Note to other home cooks: I used the oil that the sausage gave off to cook the broccoli. Remember, Chinese moms say a real cook never needs to wash a wok until the end of a meal! Cook your dishes in the order that allows the dishes to build on each other, and save anything that might stick to the wok for last.