Saturday, October 23, 2010

Indian delivery from Little Dehli, Tenderloin, SF.

Eep! This is my first non-pizza delivery in the US (had delivery while I was living in Korea)! And my first delivery I've had by myself, but of course, I ordered like I was eating for 10! Hah. I feel like such a city girl now. Haha. ;)

I ordered through Eat24Hours.com, which worked great. The food came in about 15 minutes!

Here's what I ordered: Little Delhi Special Bread; Bengan Bharta; Okra Vegetable; Vegetable Malai Kofta.
I didn't care for the bread, but everything else was quite nice. I had tried everything except for the Vegetable Malai Kofta in other Indian restaurants. I'm so glad I tried the Kofta though--it was my favorite part of this meal and was really a delight.

This was a ridiculous amount of food for $30! I only had about 1/4 of it, froze some and will have some as leftovers this week. :)


Friday, October 22, 2010

Yummy drinks & apps and the Cary.Lane 2 Year Anniversary Party, Hayes Valley, SF.

My man Cary knows how to do it with style! For the 2 Year Anniversary Party of his new location in Hayes Valley, Cary.Lane went all out! We started with some free drinks in this amazing basement side space.

Then moved along to some yummy treats from a few Hayes Valley neighbors: La Boulange, Paxti's Pizza and Dolic Bar.

Rad party, Cary! Happy Birthday! :)


Carrot cake whoopie pies with orange cinnamon cream cheese filling.

Use your favorite cake recipe (I used carrot, but upped the cinnamon), but instead of the wet ingredients, use 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3 eggs.

Mini muffin pan, baby, I like using muffin pans for my whoopie pie haves because A). the batter is still pretty runny so I feel strange dropping it onto a cookie sheet and B). it makes even, perfectly circular rounds!

This was such a trip though because you use a minimal amount of batter. I used 1 teaspoon of batter for each cookie! Basically, whether you're using a mini or regular sized cupcake pan, you want to just cover the bottom of each cup. Needless to say, this makes an large amount of cookies/whoppie halves.

Whoopie cookie halves.

Basic cream cheese frosting recipe with added cinnamon sugar, coconut and orange extract.

Filled and put together! So cute. I hear it's actually good to refrigerate these, which isn't the case with cookies or cake.

Whoopie pies originated from the New English Amish! They are still relatively new to the West Coast, I guess, and I always find some people who know what they are and others who don't, but everyone seems to love them so I thought I'd make them from my friend's birthday party tonight. I have SO many of them though so I'll also be sharing them with friends and bringing some to the office on Monday! :)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Kimchi fried rice with a fried egg.

Kimchi.

Sauteed with sesame oil. Next I sauteed onions and pork, and added rice.

Everything, looking lovely together in the pan.

Fried egg, sunny side up.

Mmmmmmm. This is pretty great.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Chef's Crab Fest at Bistro Boudin, Fisherman's Wharf, SF.

Bistro Boudin and Glodow Nead were kind enough to invite me to a special media dinner previewing crab season at Boudin.

We started off the evening with a little tour of the vast Bistro Boudin space (upstairs) at Fisherman's Wharf. Among other attractions, they have a neat Boudin museum and private banquet room. You can schedule to tour the museum and bakery here.

The Boudin bakers must have so much fun with these creations.

The main dining room. I love all of the dark beams and openness.

We were seated in a cozy private table in the Buena Vista Carneros Tasting Room, which was perfect for our event.

Chef Misael Reyes with Casey Shaughnessy-Gray of Glodow Nead. Chef Reyes, who is originally from El Salvador, was once Francis Ford Coppola's personal chef. He is also the only non-family keeper of Francis Ford Coppola's mother's recipe book--very cool.

Chef Reyes and prepared a lovely, crab-centric menu for us that was nicely paired by Sam, the Buena Vista Carneros Tasting Room manager.

Dungeness Crab Louis - Fresh Picked DUngeness Crab with Deviled Eggs, Avocado, Bibb Lettuce, Asparagus, RIpe Tomatoes & Louis Dressing.
Paired with 2008 Condes de Albarei Albarino

The crab was fresh, light and delicious. It went perfectly with the slightly tangy Louis (Thousand Island) dressing and mix of vegetables.

Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese - Aged Vermont Cheddar Cheese, Fresh Cream & Freshly Picked Dungeness Crab with Buttered Soughdough Breadcrumbs
Paired with 2007 Buena Vista Carneros Chardonnay

Light, creamy and delicious. The crab wasn't overwhelming, but was present and, most importantly, the mac & cheese wasn't too salty or greasy. I happen to particularly love mac & cheese with shell pasta, too.

Soughdough Tortilla Taco - Fresh Dungeness Crab with Avocado, Red & Green Cabbage, Cilantro, Crema Fresca, Pico de Gallo & Roasted Tomato Salsa
Paired with 2008 Sagelands Riesling

Boudin's twist on fish tacos? A soughdough tortilla, of course! What a fantastic and fantastically Boudin idea! The tortillas were great, especially since I'm not typically a huge fan of corn tortillas. The crab was, of course, wonderful although they also offer fish tacos on their menu. The Roasted Tomato Salsa could have used a little more kick though--it was a little bland for my taste. The wine was my favorite wine of the evening though, and, more than the others, really enhanced the flavors in this dish.

Here is a photo of the full-sized portion of the Sourdough Tortilla Tacos. Thank goodness they cut down the portions for our dinner--even with our portions I walked out absolutely stuffed!

Cioppino - Dungeness Crab, Shrimp, Calamari, Mussels & Fish Simmered in a Spicy Saffron-Tomato Broth
Paired with 2007 XYZIN Zinfandel

What a beautiful dish. The calamari and mussels were just divine. They were cooked perfectly. My shrimp was a bit overcooked, but other than that, I really loved this dish. The crab was fresh and succulent and the broth--oh goodness, the broth! I loved the broth, especially with the toasty sourdough garlic bread.

The full-sized portion. Again, such beautiful presentation.

Left to right: Casey of Glodow Nead; Jason and Lizzie of ABC 7Live; Scott of Bistro Boudin; Susannah of YumSugar; Alison of Glodow Nead; Steven of the Nob Hill Gazette and myself.

I had to get a shot of all of us with our crab bibs on! What a fabulous group of people to enjoy a wonderful evening of food and wine with. It was lovely meeting you all.

Trio of Creme Brulee - Double Vanilla with Wafer Cookies; Peanut Butter with Ginger Snaps; Bittersweet Chocolate with Manjari Wafer.
Paired with 2007 King Estates Pinot Gris Vin Glace

What can I say.. I love dessert and I love modern creme brulees! I was already completely stuffed, but couldn't help myself! The peanut butter and dark chocolate were my favorite--so lovely.

A nice little cappuccino to finish off the evening. I only wish I wasn't too full to finish it!

Scott Shuttleworth, a managing partner at Bistro Boudin, and fabulous co-host this evening. Scott was a generous to provide each of us with a Boudin tote filled with all sorts of goodies--very classy.

I really love this tote. I'm going to cary it everywhere.

This limited Boudin baseball cap isn't even available in the gift shop!

Buena Vista Carneros 2007 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

A crab, of course! This is surprisingly soft, too. And as much as I love dungeness crab, I think I'm really going to enjoy this soughdough crab, too!

Bistro Boudin, Glodow Nead, Buena Vista, Casey, Alison, Scott, Chef Reyes and Sam, thank you all so much for such a lovely evening. Cheers to crab season!


Yelp

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pat's awesome mapo tofu.

Mmmm! Yummy cubes of tofu with ground pork. Good job, Pat. Seriously way yummy. :)

The perfect lunch at Split Pea Seduction, SoMa, SF.

Split Pea has some great new artwork on the walls! A customer/artist who teaches classes at 1:AM Gallery did these ballpoint pen drawings--so fun.

Love it. This was perfect for people watching while enjoying my lunch. :)

Everything on their daily menu always sounds amazing. I opted for the vegetarian option (last one listed) with bacon! Their bacon is so good so I really had to. ;)

I was so hungry and this really hit the spot. It was heaven between bread.

The Split Pea is always amazing and I'm stunned with how they keep their soup the exact right, edible temperature. I went for the Sugar Pie Pumpkin Veg.

Ridiculous. I love soups with bread/croutons in them. So so yummy and hearty.

A special little dessert for me! Everyone should try one of their ice cream sandwiches. They're not only adorable, but absolutely delicious!

Now THIS is what lunch should be. :)

Chefs Christian and Sam--you guys rock my taste buds! Thank you both for everything! SO fabulous!

I just have to ad a quick note--Split Pea Seduction is the must-try lunch joint, but Christian also has an amazing catering company, Jersey Tomatoes, that you will not be disappointed with!


Monday, October 18, 2010

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Apple goat cheese salad.

Romaine, apples, goat cheese, candied pecans, honey balsamic vinaigrette dressing, ground black pepper.

Really nice.

Korean bento boxes at Arang, Japantown, SF.

These are amazing! I've been to Arang a few times before and never knew they had these bento boxes! With each box you get rice, salad, two mandoo potstickers, a potato banchan, japchae, and a meat of your choice--all for about $10.

This is an awesome deal for a nice meal that you can get late at night! I got the spicy pork, which was a bit fatty, but was yummy. The mandoo was fine, and the potato banchan was actually really nice! The japchae was interesting. I actually liked it, but it kind of had a glaze or sauce, or something on it that isn't normally found on japchae. I enjoyed all of it though.

Edric got the bulgogi combination, which also comes with tempura.

I love that we rolled from Michael Mina to Arang and got these bento boxes! Thanks so much, Edric! ;)