Posted at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I'm a pretty lucky gal. My mom is a professional chef--check out her blog adventures from her culinary school--so when I go the 'rents house for special dinners, they are truly an incredible dining experience and worth the 1 hr. commute on the smelly CalTrain down the peninsula after a long day in the office.
Monday was my sister Sara's b-day, and the menu was:
It was an amazing feast and wonderful company.
How awesome is the presentation?
Nice work mamacita!
My iphone died before the soup and grilled salmon came out, but here's "The Kid's Table" Dad manning the grill, on right, in funny apron in the back of this shot:
Posted at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
My first adventure to the new Ferry Plaza Market Thursday Food Fair involved:
All in all, an epic lunch break.
Posted at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
In celebration of the upcoming
move to our very own Foodbuzz offices, we indulged in a final Lazy Susan meal at Jai
Yun, which recently opened their doors for lunch. You walk in, let the server
know how much you want to spend per person ($20 it was today), and let the
foods begin!
No menu, just dish, after dish of
deliciousness…mostly traditional Chinese food dishes you won’t find on an Americanized
menu. I don't know what was in anything...but it was home run the entire meal.
Smoked Fish-smoky spicey
cabbage mixture (w/jellyfish, I think)-squishy/crunchy sweet and soury
lotus root-palette cleansy fresh
Green beans-a little crunchy sweet
Fried baby mushrooms-earthy perfect
Fish with peas and carrots and corn- hot/sweet and comforty
Noodles with edamame- green and scrumptious
Carrots, celery and tofu-healthy umami
Pork-falling off the bone amazingness
Epic lunch. Jai Yun is on Clay and Kearny. Go, soon.
Posted at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Technically, it was Featured Publisher Thursday, but I'm posting today. Giff Constable of Constables Larder was here yesterday for a conference. The entire edit team was cooped up inside during a fairly epic spring day for San Francisco, so we jumped at the chance to sit in the sun for a leisurely lunch. We headed to La Mar. The patio is the perfect place to sit on a sunny day when you want to feel like you’re on vacation (why did we pass on the pisco sours again?)
It was awesome meeting Giff.
Always such a treat to put faces to names and enjoy the good company of our
Featured Publishers offline, too! It was too bright for the photos of the food,
but we have some previous pics here. After lunch, we walked Giff over to the
Ferry Building with instructions to try Cowgirl Creamery Cheese and the Truffle
Salt at the mushroom/truffle shop before he left town…
Posted at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Last night Kiki and I were in need of a celebratory glass of wine and Farina was right around the corner. I've heard mixed reviews about Farina, and had never eaten there, but always it's the same advice: get the Pesto.
So we sat outside ordered this "snack" to go along with our wine. The pesto sauce is incredibly flavorful, smooth but very dense, and really quite delicious.
We also had the foccacia, which had an alfredo-like sauce drizzled over it.
Three cheers to The Kid's Table (our new kid's food writing workshop that starts May 21st !
Posted at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
With little
exception, every Tuesday for the past two years I've joined my grandparents for
dinner at their house, for what we've come to call Tuesday Supper Club. It's
invite-only for the generation of grands-- granddaughters, grandnieces--so
parents are never there. We grands are always encouraged to bring
friends, roommates, boyfriends, and the like. The only rule my Grandma has is
that you cannot bring someone you met the night before. "Two nights prior
is fine," however.
My Grandma is an extraordinary cook, my grandfather a true wine lover, and both
are incredible storytellers. Each Tuesday feast begins with a strong pour of
either Edna Valley Chardonnay or an Italian Sangiovese (my Grandfather's go-to
starter favorites). Over an appetizer, we get an introduction to the meal we
will be eating and the story behind where it came from. We catch up on our
weeks and then head to the dining room to eat. The conversation then shifts to
stories from decades we didn't know with words that we don't use anymore: Punch
boards, wing-walkers, and murder boards, "Say what?! Grandad?"
On a really special night, we'll get my Granddad to bring out the model drones
he designed in the 60's. "Tell us something classified, come on..."
and he'll just chuckle and continue on about the training program for pilots
and how impossible it was to try and knock one of these bad boys out of the
air. We'll continue to drink wine, and needle for the juicy details of
their lives, the parts that our own parents could never really pass on in the
same light. Just as we begin to feel the relaxing post-feast/wine lull set in,
my Grandma will sneak out and come back with a homemade dessert. Have I
mentioned her baking is extraordinary? Over Bananas Foster, chocolate cake, or
strawberry tarts, we'll finish off the last of the wine, and wrap up another
meeting of the Tuesday Supper Club.
I've never blogged about Tuesday Supper Club before. I'm not sure why, but I
suspect it's because I treasure the break from anything online when I'm there.
It's the three hours of my week that I slip into their world, and walk away
completely rejuvenated. I've never really been able to put into words or images
quite what it's like to sit around the table with two of the most incredible
souls.
Last night, however, my Grandma went above and beyond with an Irish
Feast that changed my feelings on blogging about this. Exact recipes from her
dinner while eating at Ballyhoe in Ireland in the late 80's...we looked, the
pictures in the recipe book she brought back were exactly what these look like.
Grandad opened some very special bottles of wine, and all four of us grands
(myself, Devon, Kiki and Meggie) just about died when we tried Grasshopper Pie
for the first time.
"I haven't made this recipe for a good 30 years,"
my Grandma divulged, "but I needed something green"...It was divine.
Irish
Salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, beets, and a mustard cream
dressing.
Lamb Stew with potatoes, onions, carrots and peas.
Grasshopper Pie. The whipped and frozen marshmallow in this frozen treat was delightfully light and fluffy and I totally ate half of Kiki's.
Posted at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
I was incredibly fortunate to experience some unexpected and very epic treats these past few days:
Chocolate Chip Profiteroles filled
with ice cream and drizzled with butterscotch.
Warm Duck confit salad with apples, goat cheese and assorted lettuces.
Grilled Chicken Sandwich: sprouts, melted cheese, roasted pepper aioli.
Escarole salad with a soft boiled egg and bacon.
Miniature root beer float with an edible straw.
Posted at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Above: Best pork carnitas in San Francisco. Do you know where they are from? Read on...
Midtown Lunch was in town last
week with the entire Midtown Family and they stopped in the office for a few
minutes on Friday to say hello. Since we didn’t get the treat of eating with
them, the least we could do was greet them with an office short list of great,
cheap S.F. lunch spots.
1. Mission: La Taqueria.
Must order:
The carnitas tacos.
Must Order: The #4 BBQ Pork Bahn
Mi.
4. SOMA: Snack Depot (303 2nd
street).
They were headed to the Mission,
and were debating over a few recommended Mexican spots. Should they go for the
burritos at Taqueria Cancun, or the pork carnitas at La Taqueria? After some
serious peer pressure, we convinced Zach that he should try La Taqueria.
I think
another Foodbuzz field trip is in order…In the meantime, cast your vote: what’s
the best burrito in the Mission?
Posted at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)