FrogPrincesse

Thanks Kay, it's been fun to do this!

For lunch today, we headed near the beach to La Jolla Shores. We had not been to Barbarella for a long time, so we decided to go there for a change. This is one of the first restaurants we went to after our daughter was born, because of its very casual atmosphere. This bistro-style restaurant makes everyone feel welcome; kids have a little play area, and dogs are treated to a bowl of fresh water and a dog biscuit. It almost feels like sitting on someone's patio, surrounded by lush greenery and flowers, with the cool ocean breeze. It's also fun to watch the beachgoers walk right past the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was a friend of the late Nicki de Saint Phalle (who also lived in the neighborhood). The French artist's touches are seen throughout the restaurant, including a large vase on the bar, the pizza oven, and even the kids' menu. The food is Italian-inspired and very simple. Linguini with clams The pizza is always very popular with kids!

For breakfast, I cracked open the beautiful duck eggs from Schaner Farms. These take a little longer to cook than regular eggs since they are bigger. They can be a little tricky to crack open at first, as the shell and membrane are thicker. Lastly, their flavor is very pronounced and rich, but I feel that they are similar in the respect to good-quality free-range chicken eggs. Perky yolk Breakfast was the duck egg cooked sunny side up, with homemade hickory-smoked, maple-cured bacon, golden raspberries, and a glass of freshly squeezed Valencia orange juice. The flowers were from Schaner Farms too. We used a slice of homemade brioche to soak up the yolk.

This morning, I started off the day by a quick sharpening session on the EdgePro using the 220 grit stone. I noticed that my Forschner chef knife was getting quite dull when I was cutting tomatoes earlier this week, so it was time to do something about it. I did not really do a thorough job, but in less than 10 minutes the knife was able to cut through paper again. Then I put the knife into good use by finally breaking into the large slab of bacon I made (and partially carbonized!) a few days ago. It looks like the burn is superficial, which is good news. If the slab of pork belly had had a rind attached when I bought it, it might have helped with the problem, but for some reason the belly was sold to me rindless.

Thank you, Andie and kalypso!

Our dinner tonight was inspired by one of our favorite chefs. Jean-Marie Josselin is a French chef based in Hawaii who used to own a restaurant in San Diego, 808. Unfortunately, his restaurant closed a few years ago. A Pacific Cafe, his former restaurant in Kauai, was also a favorite of ours. He recently opened a new place in Poipu. The halibut was seared with a white sesame seed crust. It's served atop yellow waxed beans with a lime ginger beurre blanc and black sesame seeds. For me, this recipe represents a great example of a successful mix between French techniques with the beurre blanc, and Hawaiian flavors with the lime and ginger. It's a simple idea but I find it quite inspiring. The halibut was local and bought at Catalina Offshore this morning, and the yellow wax beans were from my Specialty Produce farmers' market bag program.

As a pre-dinner snack, we sampled the cheese that we had bought yesterday at Venissimo. On our plates: Midnight moon, a firm and nutty goat cheese from Cypress Grove, a company that helped popularize goat cheese in the US. Selles-sur-Cher, a goat cheese from France, made in the region where my husband and I got married, and where my parents own a small country house. Black emerald grapes from my farmers' market bag. Our second snack was a foie gras mousse topped with fleur de sel, with plums from the Little Italy Mercato on the side.

After coffee, we went back home and spent a relaxing afternoon in the pool. A few hours later, it was finally time for a cocktail. I made him his favorite with my new bottle of bourbon. Perfect Manhattan My personal favorite these days is a White Negroni. We brought back a couple of bottles of Suze during our last week in Paris, one of which ended up behind the bar at Noble Experiment.

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is the coffee shop that we frequent on weekends. It's located in La Jolla, in a lively neighborhood called Bird Rock, just a few streets away from the ocean. This area is full of interesting little shops and art studios. The store itself is very comfortable, with large benches in the windows that are rolled open to let the breeze in. There is even a little play area for kids inside the shop. The coffee is roasted on the premises. All of their coffees are organic and fair trade, and part of them are sourced directly from the farmers. The owner travels around the world to directly select beans that meet his high standards. Cappuccino art The coffee is so smooth and well balanced, there is no need to add sugar to the cappucino. Single espresso

Dessert was just a block away at Pappalecco, an authentic gelateria with the creamiest ice cream. Compared to typical American ice cream, gelato is more dense as it contains less air, resulting in an extraordinary mouthfeel and intense flavors. Pappalecco is a prime example of this style of ice cream. The store itself is like a little piece of Italy transplanted to the US, with Italian staff that greets you in Italian. The display case. Dark chocolate Tiramisu Their signature flavor is a chocolate with amaretto. The coffee station They have good coffee there as well, but we decided to go somewhere else for that.

Micro-greens Pickles Avocados I bought a chicken tamale for lunch. My husband got a pulled pork sandwich from the vendor next door, Ranchwood.

Two more of my favorite vendors, Sage Mountain Farm and Suzie's Farm Padron peppers and dark purple bell peppers from Suzie's Farm This little guy had an incredible sense of style. Bad to the bone!!!

How can you resist this? There was no way I could, so I got a little sampler from Carlsbad Aquafarms, our local source for mussels and oysters. They were wonderfully light and crisp. This French crepe vendor had an incredible technique. Display of French pastries Citrus including a personal favorite, Oro Blanco grapefruit Panini

After Catalina Offshore, it was time for us to pay a visit to the Mercato, the farmers' market in Little Italy, a neighborhood in downtown San Diego. It's wonderful how a group of residents, The Little Italy Association, launched this market a few years ago, and how it went from a few selected booths to a market that could rival with European markets, with over 100 booths ranging from high-quality organic produce to freshly shucked oysters. The market seems to continue to gain in popularity. Today we had a hard time finding parking, and the crowd was definitely there with us! The quality is still the same as when the market was first created. One of the criteria for vendors is that they produce food within a 100 mile radius. A market with a view They always have musicians, which make shopping even more enjoyable. Shopping at one of our favorite vendors, Schaner Farms, for eggs (we got an assortment of duck, guinea hen, and hen eggs), blood oranges, and flowers. We bought a basket of golden raspberries from this vendor. The white alfafa and sage honey had a wonderful delicate flavor, so we picked up a bottle. It's great to see vendors selling local meat since it can be hard to find.

Thanks your vote of support! I am not sure I could keep up with the pace though! But for sure, there is still enough material to cover at least another week, if I ever have a chance to do this again.

Still trying to catch up with my posts! This morning we went to Catalina Offshore to pickup some fish. They are located off Morena boulevard. They were rather busy so we did not have a chance to tour their warehouse. Catalina Offshore is known for its high quality sea urchin that is exported to Japan. That is how their business initially started, by a professional sea urchin diver and his wife. The offerings of the day Their high-quality seafood is used by a number of restaurants all around town, including many of our favorites, Nine-Ten in la Jolla, Searocket in North Park, the Fish Shop in Pacific Beach, and MIHO gastrotruck. Most of it comes from California and Baja California. We got the local halibut that we will cook tonight.

After Nine-Ten, it was time to head to the Noble Experiment. This speakeasy-type bar is well hidden inside a very popular restaurant in the East Village. We made our way past the crowds inside, and went straight to the back of the restaurant to an unassuming hallway. What is behind the wall of kegs is completely unexpected... A small space with comfortable booths. But wait, what is on the wall? It's a fantasy-version of the catacombs with golden skulls! Trust me, it all makes sense after a few drinks. There is even a gallery of paintings on the ceiling. There is a drink menu, but we always have the most fun when we let the bartender create something for us based on our preferences. We prefer to sit at the bar so we can watch the bartenders in action, and see the extended liquor selection on the shelves behind the bar. Last night, Brian took care of us under the watchful eye of Anthony Schmidt, the resident expert mixologist. It was Brian's first evening on his own and he did a fantastic job with our cocktails, together with a great conversation! Our first drinks arrived. I received a variation on the Negroni and got one mixed with Beefeater and Barolo Chinato cocchi, and a grapefruit twist (an idea I am going to steal!). He had a Monk's Buck (cognac, green Chartreuse, ginger, lime and club soda). For our second round, I had spotted a bottle of Bols Genever that I had always wanted to try, and Brian turned it into a John Collins variation. I loved the depth of the genever in that drink. My husband ordered a drink with rye whiskey and Brian mixed something with Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, yellow Chartreuse, orange and Angostura bitters. Anthony himself mixed a few drinks as well so we had a chance to see him in action. Yet the even best things in life have to come to an end, and when the deer on the wall starts blinking at you, you know it's finally time to go home...

Thank you, annabelle!

Fourth Course Mahon, a soft cow’s milk from Spain, served with fried almonds Black Diamond Cheddar from Canada, served with fig jam Fifth Course Toasted Goat Ricotta local blueberries, honey jam, melon-lime granita I was especially happy when this plate was placed in front of me. Gina from the cheese shop Venissimo, who taught me to make ricotta, learned to make ricotta from Jack Fisher, the pastry chef at Nine-Ten. She told us in her class that he felt that "If you can't make ricotta, you probably shouldn't be in the kitchen", which convinced me that I had to try making it at home! So it was great to finally try his ricotta. It had a wonderful flavor from the goat milk, and a crispy tuile of honey on top. Caramelized White Chocolate Mousse marshmallow fluff, graham cracker, dark chocolate-rosemary sorbet My husband, the chocolate-alcoholic, was in heaven with his dessert!

Last night we went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. Nine-Ten is located in the Grande Colonial hotel in La Jolla and serves impeccable Californian cuisine, with interesting touches from chef Jason Knibb's Jamaican heritage. We've had many great meals there and enjoy letting the chef decide for us, so we ordered the "Mercy of the chef", a 5-course tasting menu. Each of us received a different dish, so that's really a good way to extensively sample the menu. We started off with a cooling watermelon and ginger spritzer. First Course Hamachi Sashimi marinated baby shiitake mushrooms, scallion vinaigrette marinated baby shiitake mushrooms, scallion vinaigrette Peach and Nectarine Salad cucumber, purslane, mizuna greens, mustard frill, plum, cilantro flowers, soy-yuzu vinaigrette This was my dish and I really liked the soy-yuzu dressing with the peaches, I thought it was a great idea. The little jelly spheres of plum were a fun touch. I got a rosé wine with the salad, which was surprisingly dry and provided contrast to the dish. The Hamachi was paired with a Sancerre. Our sommelier was great, by the way. Second Course Northern Halibut Chino farms corn, sea beans, hon shimeji mushrooms, peanuts, kaffir lime, coconut & green curry The curry sauce was poured on the fish at the last minute. Wild King Salmon haricot vert, piquillo peppers, castelvertrano olives, shallots, grilled eggplant puree, fennel-chili lemon Third Course Lamb Loin artichokes, fingerling potatoes, chanterelle mushrooms, pecorino, asparagus The lamb was perfectly cooked and I enjoyed the combination of flavors. This might have been my favorite dish of the meal, although it is really hard to pick one. It was paired with a Malbec from Argentina. Jamaican Jerk Pork Belly baby carrots, swiss chard, plantains, black-eyed peas, spicy jellies & sweet potato puree This dish was paired with a Miora pinot noir with smokey undertones that were wonderful with the jerk spices.

Yes, Specialty Produce is amazing. I thought you would all enjoy seeing it!

I am still catching up on my backlog and realized that I never got to post pictures from Specialty Produce. When I picked up my farmers' market bag on Thursday afternoon, I also had an extensive tour of the facility. You see Specialty Produce truck all around town. They are a wholesale distributor of produce to restaurants in San Diego. Their warehouse is also open to the public during certain hours. The amount, variety and quality of items that they have in stock is really overwhelming. Most of it is sourced from local farms, and a lot of it organic. I think that you would be hard-pressed to find anything that they don't have in stock. Their website has a wealth of information. In addition to listing every item in stock (and quantities!), it also provides details on the various items they carry, the best way to prepare them, which restaurants in San Diego recently purchased them, and even videos in some cases! Microgreens and edible flowers, including orchids Cucumbers Herbs Strawberries Porcini Morels Red corn Peppers They also have a large dry goods section with everything from dry pasta to locally-made jams. Slabs of salt for cooking

Before going home yesterday afternoon, we stopped by Great News in Pacific Beach, which is the store where I buy most of my kitchen equipment. They also have a cooking school. I attended their knife skills and pressure cooker classes with my friends a few years ago. Their classes are a lot of fun. Sharp things. I bought my Messermeister from them after realizing how bad my knives were. You should have seen the chef knife I was using then - it was starting to turn into a serrated knife! Shiny things A rainbow of stoneware Le Creuset I know what you are thinking, but I was reasonable and did not splurge on this one! Some things are kept under lock and key. Their cooking school is located at the back of the store.

Yesterday, after picking up an epi at Bread and Cie, we went to a cheese shop nearby, Venissimo. We've been regulars at the store since they opened in 2004. Their first store in Hillcrest is located in a tiny little wedge of a space. Since then, they've opened other stores in Del Mar, downtown, and Long Beach. The downtown store offers regular cheese tastings and classes. I learned to make ricotta at a class that the passionate Gina, who owns the store with her husband, gave last year. The quality of their cheeses surpasses what you generally find in a supermarket, because they are handled with much more care, and are allowed to age properly. And they will always offer you a sample to ensure that you will be satisfied with your purchase. They also offer a small assortment of cured sausages, and various cheese-related items. We bought a couple of goat cheeses, a Selles-sur-Cher and a slice of Midnight Moon that we will be nibbling on tonight.

FauxPas, I see a lot of parallels between cooking and chemistry. I think that the fact that I was more at ease with pastry initially is no surprise, because it's very precise, each item is measured, and there is little room for error. Being a chemist, these are things I am very comfortable with. With cooking, there is much more room for interpretation, and it took me a lot of practice and observation to get a feel for things.