Olympic club

I stayed with the seafood buffet table and kept to one serving. Oh and a salad plate. For dessert, fresh fruit including dragonfruit. And a small serving of bread pudding with custard sauce.

Acquerello

Tube pasta in a sauce of foiegras, truffles and Marsala.

Raviolio of braised veal, chanterelle and truffle

Chef Suzette

Evergreen

Imperial rolls at Evergreen. Yum!

Koryo Charcoal House

Tucked in small mall in Oakland. Ordered tongue and bulgoki. Tongue could have been a bit more velvety. Overall good charcoal house.

Spanish Tapas

Oatmeal

I’ve taken to eating oatmeal Japanese-style. To hot oatmeal I add vinegared ginger, fish flakes, vegetable pickles, scallions and seaweed. It’s a really yummy way to start the morning.

Himawari-tei

Top to bottom: Jya-jya mein, cold spicy shredded chicken salad, gyoza, butter shio corn chashu ramen.

Tried one of the many ramen houses popping up in the San Mateo area. Himawari-tei is located at 202 2nd Avenue in downtown San Mateo. The salad was good, the gyoza was tasty but not put together very well and fell apart. The jya-jya mein needed to be less sweet and the butter shio ramen had too much butter. The noodle consistency of the egg noodles was great.

Tailgate at the Coliseum

Uji Kintoki at the J-Pop

Green tea syrup, condensed milk and azuki beans made this shaved ice an authentic treat at last week’s J-pop festival.

Home-made Maguro Sushi

Mom stayed with us for a few days last week and she made sushi for a friend’s potluck party. We bought some tuna at the farmer’s market, froze it overnight, thawed it partially in the morning and marinated it in soy, wasabi and mirin for a couple of hours. The half-thawed tuna was easier to slice into thin pieces and we didnt’ have to worry about carting over a soy sauce bottle. I got some large bamboo leaves from the garden to layer on the bottom and sides of the container. Mom made sushi rice, kneaded it into nigiri and overlaid the tuna. Came out delicious!

Mussels and Morels

Two delicious dishes made from Marin farmers market items.  Top: lemon pasta with morels, baby carrots and chervil in cream sauce. Accompanied by corn and fava bean salad. Below:  mussels steamed in wine, garlic and parsley. Accompanied by heirloom tomatoes and fresh goat ricotta drizzled in balsamic vinegar.

Early Summer Vegetables

Marin Farmer’s Market was filled with early summer produce. Top, left to right: multicolored carrots, young garlic and Pt. Reyes oysters. Bottom, left to right: morels, pluots, shallots.

HBG

Burger with swiss cheese and chipotle aioli (above), falafel (below)

We stopped at the Healdsburg Bar & Grill on our way home. It was still warm enough to sit outside (with heat lamps). M had a burger and I had a falafel. The food was good but I felt they were a bit heavy on creamy sauces.

Tart & Palm

Palmier and coffee (above), fruit tart (below)

We stopped here on our way up to Gualala yesterday. It was just the right pick-me-up for the long drive ahead.

T28 Bakery & Cafe

Samosas

Portugese-style spaghetti

We went to T-28 Bakery & Cafe located at 1753-1757 Taraval for lunch yesterday. It’s Macau cuisine, a blend of Chinese and Portuguese food. The samosas were excellent – the potato stuffing was curried a flavorful. The spaghetti had tomato sauce, bay shrimp, sliced ham and bell peppers.

Flour + Water

local rock cod with wilted escarole, jerusalem artichoke & bagna cauda

Maltagliati with brown butter braised giblets & sweet peas

Lamb’s tongue with warm potato salad, poached eggs and salsa verde

We tried different dishes on our return visit to Flour + Water. Lamb’s tongue was on the menu and it was absolutely tender and delicious. So was the square-cut pasta with bits of giblets and the rock cod was cooked firm but not dried up.

Cafe Gratitude

I Am Thriving: squash soup

I Am Whole: shredded kale, sea vegetables, Bhutanese red rice, house-made kimchi and sprouts with garlic tahini sauce and teriyaki almonds

Dinner at Cafe Gratitude was a feast and we were eternally grateful to order just one soup and one entree to split between two. Even then the portions were ginormous and we could barely finish. Luckily our third side salad didn’t arrive and we were able to cancel it. The food here is mostly raw and inventively seasoned. Our waitress said she ended up working here because she used to dine here every day and after a month she was broke. Now she’s happily partaking and getting paid for it.

Ubuntu

From top to bottom: Green olives and marconi olives;chilled green curry broth with lemongrass and creme fraiche; artichokes and fresh veggies; Garguille of Ubuntu’s spring garden, hazelnut sauce; rustic rancho gordo yellow eye bean stew, rosemary, chile, braised kale; organice yellow corn grits, housemade goats milk ricotta, strawberry soffrito, basils, midnight moon cheese.

It’s always a treat to dine at Ubuntu in downtown Napa. The crowds have thinned since they first opened but the food continues to be innovative and fresh. We loved the soup and the two salad dishes in particular, for their tasty fresh vegetables, subtlely seasoned.

Dark Bitter Chocolate at Christopher Elbow

This is half of one serving of hot chocolate at Christopher Elbow. Actually, a demitasse size would have been just right for this incredibly rich, dense drink. Delicious but too too much!

La Santaneca

Salpicon with refried beans and rice

Pupusa stuffed with loroco and cheese, topped with cabbage and carrot salad and hot sauce

Camarones a la Plancha with refried beans, rice, salad

Fabulous Salvadorean food at La Santaneca, 3781 Mission Street, SF

Fudge Sundae at the Ballpark

One of the hidden treasures at Giants’ AT&T Park is the Ghiradelli hot fudge sundae. They make it up the way you want it -vanilla  ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry on top. One order is more than enough for two.

Frida’s in Glendale

A group of us went to the Americana complex in Glendale for Mexican food. Avinger had the beautiful prawn special while I enjoyed the fish taco trio.

A Quick Italian Bite

Avinger, Lois and I had a quick bite at an Italian restaurant on our way to the Getty Museum.  From the bottom to the top: seafood & mango salad, pizza d’erbe and pasta bolognese.

Pasadena: Don Cuco’s

Don Cuco is a funky Mexican restaurant in Pasadena. Avinger ordered the beefi fajita and chile relleno and I ordered the chicken mole. Quite delicious!

Cyrus at Healdsburg

We had a delicious lunch at Cyrus today. Lots of small dishes, lots of flavor surprises. And the wines were exquisite!

Back to Santa Ramen

Tonkotsu ramen with kurobuta added (Mike’s choice)

Tonkotsu ramen with mentaiko added (my choice)

Karaage appetizer

Went here for dinner last night on our way to a benefit art auction at MACLA in San Jose. Surprisingly the place wasn’t crowded – first time ever! I went with my favorite spicy cod roe add-on while Mike tried the glazed black pork. The karaage (fried chicken) pieces were too large – we couldn’t finish it.

Tea on a Hot Day

A refreshing ice tea at Samovar

assortment of cookies and fruit

We went to Samovar after a matinee with the Smuin Ballet at Yerba Buena. With temperatures in the high 80’s we wanted something cold and refreshing. Surprisingly the tea house wasn’t too crowded and we had a delightful afternoon sampling tea and sweets.

La Corneta

One of my favorite Mexican restaurants in the City. I love all their prawn dishes because they grill the prawns to order. On Thursday I had a soft taco with prawns (no rice no beans), avocado slices, lettuce, tomato and hot salsa. Delicious!

Flour + Water

Yesterday we went to a preview of Flour + Water, which formally opens tonight. Part-owned by ArtSpan Board Member, David Steele, this restaurant promises to be a neighborhood favorite. The pizza is made in a very hot oven and the crust is delicious. We absolutely loved the pasta – coin-shaped and black from squid ink.

Humphry Slocombe

There’s a new ice creamery in the Mission that serves up original flavors (flavor of the day Tweeted to fans). I tried a taste of the prosciutto but decided on a scoop of  Thai chili lime. M had a scoop of the lime and a scoop of yamamomo. Very refreshing! I also bought a pint of Balsamic Caramel to try on another day. Quite a different set of flavors from BiRite Creamery or Mitchell’s but just as yummy. Here’s a link to their flavors: http://www.humphryslocombe.com/%7C_Flavors_%7C.html.

Pho Ga at Pho Hoa

 

 

 

Dropped in on this basic pho chain yesterday in Mountain View. Their selections consist of fried & fresh rolls, beef, seafood or chicken pho and barbecued meats on rice noodles. I chose the pho ga (chicken) to soothe my head cold. The broth was a bit thin but still flavorful and the pho came with a plateful of fresh basil, lemon and bean sprouts.

Kahoo Ramen – Saratoga

The shio ramen is exceptional at this hole-in-the wall ramen house in Saratoga. The ramen comes with a salt-based broth, large chunks of roast pork, spinach and thin eggt noodles.

Empire Garden Restaurant

Located inside a former theater, this large Boston dim sum house is bustling with patrons on a Saturday afternoon. The carts of fried, steamed and grilled foods circulate from table to table. I thought the standard selections of ha gao, rice under glass, siu mai and chicken bow were all delicious.

Korean Barbecue at Kunjip

We chose this place from among many Korean barbecues that lined 32nd Street in New York, primarly because it was the noisiest and filled with young people. We shared a bibimbap, which came with a raw egg yolk, beef, veggies and rice. We asked for the hot chili paste which tastes like miso to mix in with everything. Our barbecue was beef tongue. It was sliced a tad too thin and dried out after grilling. I like thicker, soft, velvety tongue better. Side dishes included the usual kimchi and dried fishes. Our favorite was a dish of raw green onions marinated in a soy-sesame sauce. Bad for the breath but delicious! We had 2 soups – a spicy tofu soup and a more subtle egg-drop soup. Oddly enough, there was absolutely no garlic flavor in any of our dishes.

Tiramisu at the Modern Pastry Shop

We had a delicious tiramisu with espresso at this pastry shop on Hanover Street in Boston.

…and a dinner of morels and pasta

Lots of spring produce at the Embarcadero farmer’s market. We decided to get some morels, baby carrots, fennel bulb, an uncut sheet of egg pasta, spicy arugula, and blood oranges to have for dinner. The result was delicious!

A Day of Vietnamese Food

In the morning we went to the Ferry Building to get some fresh vegetables. We had our favorite vegetable bun at Out the Door. Their version is stuffed with fresh, springy mushrooms and chopped vegetables. For the Giants day game, we stopped by Saigon Sandwich, which had a longer than usual line of people waiting to get their banh mi sandwiches. In this tiny shop one woman takes the orders and prepares the fillings (chicken is delicious!), the other woman fills the french rolls with cilantro, pickled carrots & daikon and sliced jalapenos. It’s the best sandwich to take to a ballgame.

April Seafood Dinner at Dan M’s

At Christopher Elbow’s

I had an intense hot chocolate that included curry and coconut at Christopher Elbow’s. It was an astonishingly delicious combination of flavors.

Saturday at Eiji’s

Salmon Skin Salad

Oboro Dofu

A delicious restaurant in the Castro. I love their homemade tofu and their seasonal dishes.

LA Trip: Feb 24-Mar 2

Susan’s Birthday at Vik’s

Young Coconut

Uttapam

Cauliflower Naan

Bhel Puri

Pani Puri

At the Russian Center

We had a tasty dinner at the Russian Festival on Friday. The pelmeni and stroganoff were quite good but the poppyseed cake was outstanding!

Winter Market on Embarcadero

Santa Ramen

tonkotsu ramen with mentaiko (spicy cod roe), fungus and roast pork

grilled squid (ika no maruyaki)

black sesame pudding

We went to Santa Ramen in San Mateo last night, taking a chance with the bad weather. Luckily the line wasn’t long and we got seated within 10 minutes. The dinner menu had a number of side dishes – both grilled and deep fried types. We had yakitori and grilled squid side dishes along with our tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen. For dessert we tried the sesame pudding.  The ramen, by far, outshown the other dishes.

Masa’s

Pot Roast

Dinner at Tanya’s was a delicious pot roast cooked by her b.f, Kurt. What a perfect, homey dinner on a cold winter’s night!

Joy Luck Place

Had a wonderful birthday lunch at San Mateo’s Joy Luck Place dim sum house. The food was fresh and hot off the trays and the dumpling skins were thin and delicious. We enjoyed unusual items such as the black sesame ball, which simply oozed black sesame when cut open. Simply delicious!

Collard Greens & Creamy Parsnips

Made collard greens with smoked pork shoulder with a side of creamed parsnips last Monday. The collards were surprisingly easy to cook and very tasty with the pork shoulder. No seasoning other than chile flakes were needed.

Superbowl Feast

Went to a Superbowl party at a friend’s in Sonoma. The food was plentiful and delicious! We enjoyed the chips ‘n onion dip (classic);  endive spears with blue cheese, cherries and nuts; various cheeses, Moroccan carrot dip, Boston baked beans, cole slaw with boiled dressing, sloppy Joe’s and Jambalaya.

Balompie Cafe #3

Had a great dinner with friends at Balompie #3 last night. From top to bottom: refried beans, salpicon (chopped beef, cilantro, mint, lemon juice),  spinach and chicken pupusas, pollo encebollado (chicken & onions), pollo gusado (stewed chicken).

Farmers Market Pupusas Etc

I decided to have pupusas for breakfast at the Alemany Farmer’s Market. They had a pretty wide selection so I got one zucchini and one cheese/bean. The zucchini one was delicious, especially with the cabbage salad and hot sauce. The jamaica was a bit too sweet – I wish they had diluted it some. After a filling meal, I walked around and filled my cart with winter vegetables. This market has a large Asian selection, including all manner of bok choi and sugarcane.

Quick Sushi at the Mikado

After working out at the People’s Gym yesterday I had a sudden craving for chirashizushi. Luckily there was a Japanese-style restaurant just across the street. The rice was flavored pretty well with just a hint of vinegar but it was undercooked slightly. The fish was frozen-thawed. Not the best, but tolerable.

Lamb

Last night’s dinner was simple: lamb grilled over rosemary, baked butternut squash and string beans.

A Private Room at the Jardinere

Our fabulous menu

The Wine & Food Society held their monthly dinner at Jardinere last night. We were seated in a private room, away from the rest of the members. The brick walls were lined with wine and a door kept us away from the noisy crowd outside. The menu was extraordinary – I particularly enjoyed the gnocci.

Yank Sing for Lunch!

Yank Sing continues to be my favorite dim sum restaurant. These are what we enjoyed with friends yesterday.

Beets and Salmon

I went to the Daly City farmer’s market today and got greens, beets and salmon for dinner. I roasted 2 kinds of beets (red and golden) with herbs, then pureed them in tangerine juice. I heated them back up with a little butter. The salmon was roasted with sliced lime, salt, pepper and olive oil, then finished with unagi sauce. M made a fresh salad of greens and tomatoes.

Izakaya Bincho – Redondo Beach

We had read rave reviews about Yakitori Bincho located on the boardwalk in Redondo Beach. They apparently used charcoal to grill the chicken bits, which got them into trouble with regulations there. When we went there on Sunday night (Jan. 11), they had changed to Izakaya Bincho, serving smallish appetizers with beer and sake. We tried a large variety of dishes, most of them delicious. The standout were the cheese tofu,  chicken balls and black pork. The wings were too salty as was the zosui.

FooFoo Tei, Hacienda Heights

On Saturday night (Jan. 10) we had dinner at FooFoo Tei in Hacienda Heights. It was an unlikely place for a ramen house, a dark street lined with warehouses. And although it seemed to be an isolated restaurant, the place was jammed by young foodies waiting to slurp. We waited an hour and luckily the place had shelves of manga to read. I confess I got completely engrossed in the series about school girl Kagome who falls down a well and enters 14th century Japan and has adventures with Inuyasha. When we finally got seated we ordered tako yaki as appetizer. It came with the requisite brown sauce and a pile of katsuobushi. M ordered butter-miso ramen and I got the negi-shio ramen. Although people have raved about FooFoo Tei, I thought the ramen was just ok. The portions were too large, the scallions a bit too raw. The soup was insipid. On the other hand, M liked his butter-miso very much.

Diva Dinner

On Wednesday evening we hosted a dinner for eight women artists. We enjoyed red wine, paella and watercress/fennel salad and a pomengranate sorbet for dessert.

Parsnips

This was our dinner on Tuesday night. M made a roast chicken and the accompanying vegetables included brussel sprouts and creamed parsnips. The latter is a dish he recently discovered and we have both enjoyed its subtle, sweet flavors. The brussel sprouts are just in season – tender and sweet sauteed with bits of bacon.

Lamb Chops & Sauteed Spinach

Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the gorgeous dinner M made tonight. He made lamb chops cooked in reduced balsamic vinegar and a side of sauteed fresh spinach with pine nuts and dried sour cherries. The cherries were a wonderful discovery at the Marin Farmer’s market. The salad was a mixed mache, beet leaf and cress salad tossed with light vinaigrette.

Winter Farmer’s Market at the Marin Civic Center

It’s time to get root vegetables and greens at the farmer’s market. We rarely make it to the Marin market but today we decided to shop there before going to a matinee. Even though it was late morning none of the greens had wilted because of the cool air. Radishes, the red ball kind and the longish French kind were both available, as were a variety of greens, from black kale to cress, chervil, mesculin, nettle and mache. Root vegetables included pumpkin, squash, beets, fennel, carrots, turnips and rutabaga. Apples were mostly limited to Fuji and gala variety. Citrus too, were in season, and I was happy to see Meyer lemons, clementines and navels. The pear vendor had excellent shinseiki, bosc and comice pears. For dinner, we made baked potatoes with a mache salad mixed with beets, beet greens, boiled egg, walnuts all dressed in a light vinaigrette. Delicious!

Kimchi and Matsutake Gohan

My third attempt at making kimchi. It’s only been pickling for a few days so the taste was sharp, especially the raw garlic. I made the rice with the leftover mushrooms from New Year. I lightly seasoned the mushrooms with butter, dashi and soy before adding it to the rice. The rice cooker did the rest.

Balompie

We started right after breakfast to take down the Christmas tree and the decorations around the house.  At noon we were nearly done, and to reward ourselves, we walked down to Balompie, a new Salvadorean restaurant in the Mission.  The menu at Balompie listed a good variety of pupusas. We decided on Loroc y Queso (described as a Salvadorean vegetable), Chicharron y Queso (pork & cheese), Espinaca y Queso (spinach & cheese) and Pescado y Queso (fish & cheese).  We also sampled the chicken soup, which was the special of the day and the leche empanadas. The fresh fruit juice of the day was pineapple.  The large bowl of chicken soup came with  noodles, potatoes and a chicken thigh in the middle (bone-in). Sprinkled with lemon, chopped cilantro and raw onions, it had a nice, clean flavor. Among the pupusas our favorites were the pescado and the loroc. The fish was subtle and worked well with the mild cheese inside. The loroc added a slightly sour/bitter flavor to the cheese. The spinach was overpowered by the cheese and the pork was lacking in flavor. I felt the pickled cabbage relish that goes on top of the pupusa was a bit too mild, as was the salsa.  The empanadas were deep-fried and were good as dessert fare. The woman at the table next to us ordered a plate of platanos, frijoles, crema and queso that looked absolutely delicious. I want to try it the next time! All in all we were impressed with Balompie and are planning to return with some friends soon.

Zenzai

With the cold weather I wanted to make zenzai and finally got around to it today. I soaked the organic azuki beans last night, then boiled it in water for an hour. Then I added brown & white sugar and a touch of soy. I didn’t use quite the amount of sugar the recipe called for. I had some after lunch, hot, with grilled mochi on top. It was absolutely satisfying.

New Year Food

Happy New Year! Year of the Ox

I got this instant New Year decoration at Mitsuwa in Saratoga. It’s a plastic kagami mochi with a plastic tangerine on top. What’s inside the mochi compartment are actual mochis, which you can take out and grill in about a week.  We invited several friends for a New Year spread that included:

Ozoni – a clear broth with a sliver of lemon, matsutake mushoom, mitsuba leaf, kamaboko, scallions and grilled mochi. Mochi looks like a bar of Ivory soap but is stretchy and very dense.

Nimono – a boiled casserole consisting of a broth made with kelp dashi, water, soy sauce and mirin; burdock, sticky yam potatos, age, grey gelatinous potato strips, carrots and kelp. 

Kimpira – a stir-fry of burdock, carrots, chili peppers and sesame seeds.

Chirashizushi – sushi rice with carrots, age, shiitake, freshly pickled ginger, peas, omelet, pickled lotus root, sweet fish flakes, salmon roe and nori. 

Tiny fishes and shrimps in sweet syrup. The equivalent of fried crickets, people bravely tried some but left most.

Datemaki – a processed fish roll made to look like and taste like sweet egg roll

Kamaboko – processed fish dyed pink and made in Odawara, my mother’s hometown

Kuromame – black soy beans cooked down in water, soy, sugar, mirin

Kombu maki – kelp rolled in gourd shavings cooked in sweet broth. I discovered a dried version that was easy to reconstitute and cost a fraction of the prepared kind. Less salty too.

Green tea, water

A Year of Eating

On this blog, I will document what I eat during 2009. In so doing, I hope to record what I eat, why I eat and all events surrounding food.