A San Frantastic Workcation

Sometimes work can be fun. In particular, when work takes you to San Francisco!

First on the list—a visit to the Ferry Building where each Saturday they have an incredible farmer's market. The highlight was definitely this strange fruit called Buddah's hand.



The beautiful hallways at The Clift. So Starck.


One night I was lucky enough to get a tour of Palo Alto, attend a lecture at the offices of IDEO and tour the campus of Standford.


Around the corner from the hotel is an incredible breakfast place called Dottie's True Blue Cafe. The routine—line up at 7am so you can get in the door when it opens at 7:30. Don't forget to bring your own coffee, all their creative energy went into the food.


By Saturday morning, I'd had enough of Dottie's coffee so I searched for breakfast options on Yelp. I found The Butler & The Chef, an awesome French bistro


The smolked salmon eggs benedict, fresh squeezed o.j. and a delicious latte. It was so good, I went back the next day so I could line up for 45 minutes to have a breakfast crepe.


Heading to the farmer's market, I walked along the Embarcadaro and right under the Oakland Bay Bridge. Beautiful.


I love my macchiato from Bluebottle Coffee. The only problem... you have to line up for 20 minutes to get one. It's worth the wait.


They have food too! Hello Mr. Waffle.


Random chocolate fountain!


An outdoor indie music fest in the Mission.

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A salad that reminds me of Christmas

Beautiful feathery white ribbons of fennel mixed in with paper-thin slips of apple. Pretty to look at, fresh and crisp to cleanse your palate.

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Last night's dinner

Mushroom gyozas (sorry, I wasn't ambitious enough to make these myself) pan fried and some beautiful purple cauliflower which just got more psychedelic blue-y purple after roasting in the oven. The cauliflower weren't as crisp as I'd hoped, maybe I should have broiled them after the initial roast? But you can bet the dumplings were crispy on the outside and savoury on the inside. The traditional Korean dipping sauce for dumplings and wontons? Vinegar and soysauce.

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addicted

I am seriously addicted to and obsessed with this granola. If you've been following my tweets, or sit next to me at work (yes, you Lionel!) you'll know that I eat my version of olive oil granola every single day with a dollop or two of Liberté Mediterranean-style extra thick, extra fat yogurt with a side of coffee. Friday is my granola supply shopping day, which I usually do with Tomi, who introduced me to brown rice syrup. I think it's the je ne sais quoi ingredient that makes the granola taste like there's crack in it. I substitute brown rice syrup for the brown sugar and maple syrup that the NY Times recipe calls for. This week's granola contains: pepitas, almonds, sunflower seeds, wheat bran, dried cranberries and flax seed.

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Eating what's in my cupboard

A couple of months ago, I decided to run an "experiment" where I had to eat only what was in my cupboards and fridge/freezer. No grocery shopping for special ingredients, or any ingredients for that matter. Once I completely ran out of something, that's when I'd allow myself to go to the store for replenishment. The experiment was supposed to last a week, but it went longer… only because then I sort of got used to not buying groceries and making due with the stuff I had. Also, it kind of became a game for me to see what I could whip up with the odds and ends laying around. I should mention at this point that C was also doing the same experiment at his place so we had double the amount of food since some days he'd cook for both of us. And, I didn't need to buy vegetables since we were getting a weekly delivery from our CSA.

The dinner I made tonight sort of typifies what I would have during the no-grocery days and eating what would be in my fridge and pantry… dried beans, whatever greens would be onhand, and good old eggs. Presto! Navy bean stew with rapini and spinach, potato and eggplant frittata, and a salad with carrots.

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Prosecco eats broccoli (and cauliflower)

Chez moi ce soir: Spelt linguine with Ontario broccoli and orange cauliflower sauce. Deliciously and lovingly prepared by C, now christened by Broccoli as "Risotto". Are you still with me? A dash of olive oil and a dusting of Romano (which I mistakenly bought thinking it was Parmigiano) and dinner is served. Enjoy!

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Dinner last week

I know this looks like a weird, random mélange of food, which it is. But it's not just about looks, it's the taste that counts: kale chips, carrot sticks, marinated eggplant wedges and last but not least– pommes de terre boulangère. As a sidenote: I never used to think I could be a vegetarian, but this dinner was all vegetable and I was very satiated. The only thing preventing me from becoming a vegetarian (and Jewish): PORK. The meat-love of my life.

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A Happy Birthday!

What could be better than having a birthday dinner with friends? For me, only a home cooked meal with friends on your birthday. Prosecco and C (C—I'm officially giving you the blog name: Risotto) invited fusilli and I to the villa for an extravagant meal with fine wine, fine dining and even finer company.

To start we had pork lard on fresh toasted bread... yeah, I ate that so fast, no time to take pictures. Next, melon wrapped prosciutto and a delicious frittata. It was tough, but I was careful not to fill up, I could see at least three more courses waiting in the wings.

Risotto made an excellent, well... risotto. The incredible colour is from the beets.


Another favorite — Osso bucco.


I hope I get this right... chocolate peanut butter bacon pie, with candied bacon on top. Insane? Yes. Delicous? If you like choco-peanut-bacon pie... YES! This wins for the most unusual dessert I've ever had.

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Thanks Giving

Our Thanks Giving tradition is to avoid tradition... no turkey, no stuffing, just Canada's Wonderland and spicy snacks. After maxing out our adrenaline by riding the Behemoth we stopped in at Linda, for Mieng Kum and Crispy Duck.

Mieng Kum is a great example of how a few simple ingredients come together to create something incredible. I can never remember the name of leaf used to create this little pocket of fire, but you pile on chopped lime rind, shallots, peanuts, coconut, chilies, candied shrimp, something like an oyster sauce, and then pop the whole thing in your mouth. I can't describe the flavour, you'll just have to try it for yourself, but be warned... it's a mouth surprise, and the heat isn't for everyone. Have a beer close by!

If you can't make it up to Don Mills Mall, head over to their location on Gould, above the Salad King.

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So Long Speedy Burger

Seems like every weekend, when I get back to the hood, there's something new opening up, closing down or being demolished. On Saturday we were fueling up at our local, F'Coffee, enjoying coffee and breakfast sandwiches, while across the street Speedy Burger was being torn down. I won't miss SB or the rest of the strip mall, but I'm not looking forward to the new condo either. Slowly, all the local colour is bleeding out of the hood and being replaced with a lot of gray. If Jilly's goes, I won't be far behind.

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Going to New York for Dinner

I don't need much prompting to jump on a plane, let alone one headed for New York. So, when Manchego suggested we go to NYC for the weekend, it seemed like a plan. Except that it was Thursday, and last minute flights are hard to come by these days... especially on Porter. I checked for flights, just to see how insane the price would be, and I was shocked to find flights for $95. It was clearly a sign... except to Manchego who bailed and decided to spend the weekend relaxing. Lame.

We didn't make it to the High Line on our last trip, so after breakfast we walked up to the Meat Packing District to check it out. It was the highlight of the trip for me. I love public spaces, and this is an incredible example of how cities can reclaim, and adapt abandoned land. The HL passes under two buildings, the one shown here is the new hotel The Standard. Swank.


After walking most of the afternoon, we stopped into Fatty Crab for a PBR tall boy and a Chupacabra.


Chili Crabs are the specialty of the house, and normally that's what I would order, but after watching our neighbour eating them, I decided I really didn't want to get up to my elbows in sauce. Instead we ordered pickled watermelon and crispy pork. It may not look appetizing in this shot, but the hot/cold, salty/sweet, crunchy/soft contrast of the ingredients was a magical mouth tour.


After first dinner, we headed to the patio at Pastis to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather and watch the outfits stream by. An hour into the fabulous people parade, we decided to see where they were all going. Lesson learned—follow the outfits to fun. We ended up down the street at The Standard Beer Garden, under the high line. It's an open air patio, with two bars and ping-pong tables! There's nothing better than watching drunk ping-pong, which should be called "where's the ball?" Because usually the ball was floating around the floor between fashionable footwear.


For second dinner we headed to Macau Trading Co., a not-so-secret restaurant, behind an unassuming metal grate, marked only by a red lantern. Despite the elaborate interior design, which usually makes up for a weak menu, the food and drinks were on equal footing. It was too dark to take pictures, and almost too loud to talk in the downstairs room, but not too dark for drinks. I had the delicious Mr. Ho, and Fusilli ordered the Dr. Funk. The Macanese /Portuguese menu was full of small snacks, and each dish we ordered was better than the last. Olive oil poached octopus with potatoes and fennel, chicken dumplings in chili oil and mushroom & truffle croquettes.



There's only one breakfast in NYC that's worth traveling 70 blocks, and lining up for 20 minutes when you're feeling hung-over. Barney Greengrass.


The sun was out, and it felt like summer, so after breakfast we headed through Central Park towards the Whitney museum to see the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit. I've been through the park many times, but I've never walked through the Ramble. At certain points, the city pokes dramatically through the trees, highlighting how amazing it was to be standing on a bridge over a stream in the middle of the city.


The Ramble just gets better the further you explore. I was completely lost at this point, but who cares when you've just had breakfast at the Sturgeon King and your only job that day is to make it to your next meal. Welcome to the magic forest.


In an effort to cram as much into two days as possible, we got last minute tickets to the Sufjan Stevens concert at the Bowery Ballroom. I think I would have enjoyed the concert more if my feet weren't so tired.


One last meal before a quick nap and an eaaaaarly flight home.


Pasta and Frisse Salad at Balthazar.

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Galette, a.k.a. a rustic topless pie

 

 

 

A quick trip to Manotick (just outside of Ottawa) a couple weekends ago resulted in an over-abundance of apples. My friend Sunny took us to her favourite apple orchard where we picked Spartans and Cortlands. So crisp and delicious fresh from the tree! But I can't seem to eat them fast enough, no matter how many I've given away. So I've been trying to incorporate apples into every meal. Last weekend was Ontario porkchops with apples, before that it was a huge pan of apple crisp. Last night was apple galette. But what else? How can I use up the rest of these apples??

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(dis)comfort food

The days are getting shorter and chillier so the thought of oxtail ragu and semolina gnocchi really appealed to me. I slow-cooked the ragu for almost 3 hours while the semolina gnocchi chilled in the fridge. The final result was a rich, hearty ragu that definitely offered a comfort aspect– initially. But in the end, the meal ended up being so rich and heavy (from the semolina), that I conked out and actually got sick. I won't go into any further details but let's just say that I'm sort of over the whole thick, stewy, saucy thing for the time being. On the plus side, C made me a very nice Aperol Sprizz as an aperitif. The dinner started off with so much potential, alas it did not end the same way. :-(

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The Publican

Two days of awesome food, capped off with a visit to The Publican. You have to love a restaurant with paintings of pigs on the walls.


Cheap and delicious


The Sunday price fix menu, and three pedicures.


Heirloom tomato salad


Squid and sausage pizza!!! The best pizza I've ever had, hands down!


Yes, that's two fried eggs on french fries... I think it's called "Awesome Fries" on the menu


I was on the verge of exploding, and then the next course arrived.


Dessert

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