Sick day Korean comfort lunch.

One of my best friends, Pat, was sick so I decided to make him a get-well-soon lunch! :) Above is my favorite when I'm sick--잣죽 pine nut jook/porridge.

Rice with some white vinegar and this veggie/sesame seed mix.

Yaaaaay! Not the prettiest because my rice wasn't cooked perfectly for this, but it worked. ;)

Valentine's Day Cupcakes!

I took a bunch of photos, but they aren't uploading correctly, which is really scaring me! I hope everything is okay with my camera. Luckily, this one turned out!

I did red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and my candy heart sprinkles, of course! The frosting is pretty awesome. :)

Happy Valentine's day, everyone!

New favorite ice cream flavor at Bi-Rite, The Mission, SF.

Photo is stolen from Food GPS because my camera was acting up today. :(

This is the Coffee Toffee flavor at Bi-Rite Creamery. OMG. SO AMAZING. That's really all I have to say..

OH! Actually, we went and got this after sharing the Menage-A-Trois from Ike's, and Ike's has changed a ton! The kitchen moved from the left to the right and the register is outside now. Also, the menu is now readable! Yay! Good changes, except I feel like the line takes even longer now (to order) and they fill the sandwiches with less food now! :( Still super awesome sauce, bread, meat, faux-meat, combinations, everything!

While in line, Ike's had us take these surveys today because they are looking to expand. The surveys were odd though. They asked an awful lot of questions about whether or not you would be interesting buying Ike's sandwiches from vending machines!?? I thought that was particularly bizarre. An interesting idea though was also about whether or not you would be interesting in a sandwich club (like a wine club) where you would be a member for a monthly fee and then you would get to try new sandwiches, get perks, etc.. If you go and take the survey they will mail you a buy-one-get-one-free coupon!

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Chinese at Far East Cafe, Chinatown, SF.

A big group went out to Far East Cafe for dinner, and I didn't take any photos of the 10 dishes that came out! When you go to Chinese sometimes it's hard, but here are a few photos I stole from my friend Garland! :)

These lettuce wraps were SO yummy. I need to make some lettuce wraps soon. They are so easy and delicious!

Honey walnut shrimp is one of my favorites. Probably ridiculously bad for you, but it's so yummy. I kind of want to try to make this, too. I feel like it would be pretty simple. These two photos and the eggplant dish I ordered were my favorites of the night!

Thanks for the photos, Garland! :)

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BBQ rib night at home.

I made the salad dressing and tossed the salad, but that was about it. I mixed roasted red pepper, orange juice, olive oil, balsamic vin, basil, black pepper and some garlic powder. Then we had a mix of all sorts of random things: orange bell pepper, hard boiled egg, corn, artichokes and onion, with spinach.

The ribs were easy-peasy and sooo delicious!

Samovar Tea Lounge, Yerba Buena Garden, SF.

Mint tea.

Moorish Platter w/ Halloumi & Veggie Kebabs, Mint Salad, Dolmas, Chevre-Stuffed Dates, Mint Tea
Dismount your camel, unroll your rug, start the fire, and chill out beneath the starry desert night. Your candle-clasping harem will soon follow. A tea service that evolved from the ancient nomadic Berber tribes in Africa

A yummy kabob salad, amazingly fresh and flavorful dolmas and I always love cheese stuff dates, although I like them more when they're wrapped in bacon. ;)

Samovar is so nice. I'll definitely be back and the space at Yerba Buena is really gorgeous.

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Iluna Basque Haiti Benefit Night, North Beach, SF.

Sautéed Scallops over Ratatouille

These were perfectly light and delicious.

Plums Wrapped in Bacon

I've done figs, but haven't even heard of warm plums with bacon! Mmm--divine! And, c'mon, you can't really go wrong with "wrapped in bacon"!

Eggplant & Fresh Tomato, Goat Cheese

I always love eggplant. It was served like a tartare, which was so interesting! I've never had eggplant prepared like that, but it makes sense and is visually quite nice, too. The warm goat cheese added a nice punch of flavor and smooth texture.

Piperade with Sautéed Serrano Ham & Poached Egg

This was the dish I was most curious about. The mix of peppers was light, the ham was a bit lost, but the poached egg was a nice addition.

Stuffed Calamaries in Ink Sauce over Spanish Rice

This was my favorite. I LOVED it. The stuffed squid was soo succulent! I can't wait to go back and get this again. :)

Fondant au Chocolat Raspberry Coulis / Selection of Cheeses from Les Pyrenees with Membrillo

The chocolate cake was fresh out of the oven and was chocolaty, without being too rich. The cheese plate didn't have anything too robust either, but was a fine mix.

We also had the Baked Spanish Tortilla with Caramelized Onions & Chorizo, and I don't know how I missed photographing it..

Mattin (Chef/Owner of Iluna Basque, Top Chef contestant and friend.) hosted a fantastic dinner to a packed house, and all for a good cause. The deal was spectacular, too: 4 courses (2 tapas, one entree and one dessert) plus a flight of 4 wines, and some good karma for $40. Even if you missed this dinner, you really must go try the food!

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Treats & coffee at Tartine Cafe Francais, Hayes Valley, SF.

Erika at the pastry case. We got a apricot jam cookie that was very good and a cinnamon pinwheel that wasn't amazing.

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Korean at Playground 노리터, Japantown, SF.

반찬. Korean side dishes. Not the most spectacular, but good. The most interesting one is the long plate on the far right--corn with melted mozzarella. It's definitely Korean fusion (which basically means with cheese!) and was yummy.

두부 돌솥 비빔밥. We got the dol-sot bibimbap vegetarian, which I've never done before! I didn't know they would make it with fried tofu, but it was very nice.

두무 김치. Vegetarian tofu & kimchi stir-fry. Typically this comes with some delicious spicy pork. When well done, this is one of my favorite Korean meals, but the one at Playground isn't anything to write home about.

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Superbowl eats 2010.

Mini pizza app from Trader Joe's. Very good. We had these to calm our hunger before game time food!

Puff pastry smokies. These were delicious.

Chiiicken. Baked and then smothered in BBQ sauce.

Okay, so we baked potatoes, scooped out potato and set it aside, and then filled the skins with a pre-made mashed potato mix. The mashed potato mix included: horseradish, bacon, chives, sour cream, cheese.

Topped with more cheese and baked! Then topped with some fresh chives and a dollop of sour cream. Pretty darn yummy.

Brynne's cupcakes! Brynne is an amazing baker who worked at Michael Mina and Kara's Cupcakes! Very cool. I was so excited to get her cupcakes. She thought the Saint's were red though so baked red and blue (Colts) cupcakes! :)

Brynne, frosting.

Fooooondant.

Go Colts! :(

Cute.

Silver dusted.

Cheese-on-every-chip nachos with pepper-jack, chorizo..

Black beans, chicken, tomato, red onion. This photo is pre-baked. Most of these are because when the food came out I was so hungry that I was buy eating and not shooting! :)

SoCo, amaretto, ginger ale, frozen lime. This was amazing.

My plate.

Devoured! That was one of the best salads I have had in a long time. I'm going to have to get the recipe, which I guess is from a veeery old cookbook! And the cupcake was pretty darn tasty, too! :)

Louis with the new deep-fryer!

Ooooh man! Potato chips--turned out so well.

Fried pickles on the right.

Mmmmm. I didn't try the pickle, but the little rolls were great! And Niki's aioli was great, too--she put in a bit of Siracha!

Beignet mix from the famous Cafe Du Monde!

I guess the mix wasn't turning out quite right..

Frying..

Rolled in cinnamon-sugar. They were yummy, but not fluffy like beignets. They were a little bit more churro-ish, but I didn't mind! :)

There was a lot more food, too, but I didn't get to take photos of everything--lots of hands in a cramped kitchen with lots of hungry sports fans! :) It was good times though with good food, good people, and a good game. :) Thanks, Niki & Louis!