ProfessionalHobbit

On Saturday we went to Mr. Fu Kitchen (335 Noe at 17th in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco) where we had Pork potstickers Prawns with snow peas (pic shot after we scooped up a serving) Five flavor chicken (a weird combination of General Tso's and sweet and sour chicken). Very tasty and not too spicy. Would definitely return. I think the cooks are from northern China; still trying to place their food, and in any event, it's nice to have an alternative to our usual spot. Tonight (Sunday) we had minestrone, served with extra-virgin olive oil and a hefty sprinkling of grated Parm-Reg cheese.

I like them in a salad with endive. There's that interplay of sweet, sour and bitter. Or with delicata squash agrodolce and spicy raisins. I also pickle them, typically with cardamom and vinegar.

typically whenever I feel like it it's 11:21 pm Pacific time right now and I'm about to have leftover spareribs in tomato sauce and leftover braised green beans blood oranges for dessert I prefer eating late whenever possible - but change to earlier times usually on the weekend when I have dinner with B.

For dinner tonight, we had Pasta con sugo di costine di maiale Green beans and endive braised in an olive oil bath with garlic, Meyer lemon and anchovy The spareribs were seasoned with salt and pepper, then set aside for 15 minutes. Then browned in 2 tbsp. olive oil with garlic on all sides, then added 1 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes and 1/3 that amount of water, along with a little more salt and some torn basil leaves. Brought liquid to a boil, then covered and braised for two hours. Uncovered during the last 10 minutes and simmered on high to reduce and thicken the sauce. This is technically two dishes in one. Tossed with some cooked pasta with sauce and grated pecorino cheese, and served that as a first course. The second course consisted of the ribs with more sauce. The recipe for the contorno is here but I reduced the amount of olive oil by 50% and substituted green beans and curly-leaf endive.

for date night tonight, we went to The Gold Mirror - 800 Taraval Street (18th Avenue) in the Inner Parkside neighborhood of San Francisco roasted artichoke hearts, parmigianno-reggiano, olio nuevo avocado stuffed with Dungeness crab meat, lettuce and Thousand Island dressing not the greatest of pictures but it was awesome scallops, shallots, wine sauce, spinach veal sweetbreads, braised veal, porcini and button mushrooms panettone bread pudding, chilled zabaglione not bad; think old school Italian meets New Jersey

It's our preferred brand here in San Francisco. https://cloversonoma.com/ - their farm collective is located in Northern California.

It's Clover Sonoma's heavy whipping cream: https://cloversonoma.com/inventory/heavy-whipping-cream/

For Saturday dinner, we went to this steakhouse in Daly City to celebrate a friend's birthday. I should've gotten the steaks or lamb chops but I wasn't really feeling it w/r/t red meat. I had the baby back ribs and was sorry I had ordered them. Meat was dry at times and the sauce a touch too sweet. Coleslaw might as well have been shredded cabbage with mayonnaise - no acidity, barely any seasoning, completely devoid of interest. French fries were the best thing on the plate. PS. I needed to clean my lens on my camera, hence the blurriness at middle left and bottom right. Then we went back home and had dessert. Tres leches cake from a (new to us) bakery in the Mission. Served with homemade vanilla ice cream (pic not shown), brandy, coffee (for B and our guests) and Laotian ginger tea (for me). The ice cream consisted of 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3 cups cream, 1 cup milk and 1/2 vanilla bean. It was awesome! There was a "clean" flavor that just isn't present in commercial product. I gotta tell you, the days of shelling out $5 for a pint of Häagen-Dazs are over.

She also calls for a ham hock but I skipped that. After the soup has cooked - three hours of simmering, mind you - take the meat out and shred it, then return to the pot. If serving the meat and vegetables separately, accompaniments are salt, black pepper and mustard. B and I are headed to Austin later in the year to celebrate a niece's wedding. I'm thinking of replicating either this or pot-au-feu for his parents.

I haven't done the crockpot method yet. Maybe one of these days. For me, it's 2-3 thinly sliced onions and 3-4 tbsp. olive oil. That's it. Warm olive oil in a pan, add onions, reduce heat to medium-low and fry until onions are caramelized to your liking. These took nearly an hour. There might have been some rosemary mixed in; I don't remember.

It was 2 lbs. of pork shoulder from Golden Gate Meat Company in the Ferry Building. I know because I was the one who bought it.

Garbure (with pork shoulder, duck confit and saucisse de Toulouse ("garlic sausage with red wine and thyme")) For those keeping track, it's from pages 86-88 of "Around My French Table" by Dorie Greenspan. It's an awesome pot of soup and next time, I'll be sure to separate the meat and vegetables from the broth which is luxurious enough to serve on its own as a first course. See you tomorrow!

today: potatoes, carrots, cabbage, garlic, shallots, onions, blood oranges, California olive oil, dried cannellini beans, eggs, leeks

Black truffle. At left is an American quarter coin for size comparison. This specimen cost about $160 and is from Spain. Very pungent too. Breakfast for us was a French omelette (3 eggs, salt, black pepper, 1 tbsp. water cooked in melted unsalted butter) served with a generous shaving of black truffles on top. Good morning!

tonight was date night so we went to a local seafood place Anchor Oyster Bar 579 Castro (18th Street) I don't remember the provenance of these oysters Served with mignonette and cocktail sauce with horseradish Cioppino, served with garlic bread This is a half-portion, enough for two people I finished it, of course. B joked, "Do you have a bottomless pit for a stomach, because I don't understand where you're putting all of that food!" Sea scallops, roasted potatoes, vegetables Then we went across the street to an ice cream shop Snowball ice cream is toasted coconut, marshmallow fluff and chocolate cake pieces...hmmm, no thanks Milk chocolate banana ice cream with hot fudge The exotic flavor known as VA-NIL-LA ice cream with hot fudge See you tomorrow!

Sure - other substitutes can be broccoli or zucchini.

Orecchiette con cavolfiore e acciughe It's so easy you can make it in 20 minutes. Fill a pot with water. Break up a head of cauliflower. Add the cauliflower to the pot of water. Bring to a boil. Boil the cauliflower for 5 minutes. Lift out with a giant strainer or slotted spoon. Chop cauliflower coarsely. Crush a couple of cloves of garlic or if you like, slice or mince them. Add dried pasta to the pot you cooked the cauliflower in along with some salt. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Warm olive oil in a pan along with garlic. Add an anchovy fillet and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to the garlic. Fry garlic until it turns color. Anchovy will disintegrate. Add cauliflower to pan. Saute cauliflower in flavored oil. Cook pasta until just shy of al dente. Drain pasta and reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water. Add pasta to pan with cauliflower. If pasta seems dry, add pasta cooking water. Increase heat to high and finish cooking pasta in the pan with the cauliflower. Taste for salt and pepper, then serve immediately. Occasionally I like to add a spoonful or two of toasted breadcrumbs at the end.

Omelette (2 eggs, salt, black pepper, 1 tbsp. water; cooked in a hot pan with melted butter) Fried potatoes with turnip greens and onion (potatoes, onion, turnip greens, salt, black pepper, duck fat)

Plain. 5 kumquats, sliced thin and seeds removed, combined with shredded endive, salt, black pepper and California extra-virgin olive oil.

Curly endive and kumquat salad Spezzatino di vitello (braised veal with celery, potato and endive)

I've been sick for the past couple of weeks and am getting over a cold, sorry. But we went to the market today so... This is puntarelle, a type of chicory. The traditional prep is in insalata di puntarelle, a salad with anchovy and lemon that's common in Rome. These were selling for $3/lb. Each turnip is no bigger than an American quarter coin. When they're young like these, they're sweet and tender, and need very little treatment to bring out their excellence. Today we bought: Oroblanco grapefruits, kumquats, curly-headed endive, potatoes, purple-white turnips, cauliflower and scallions. Then we went inside the Ferry Building and saw No, we didn't buy any. On the other hand, we got some veal shoulder (for Saturday dinner) and pecorino cheese.

This specimen cost $5 today at my farmer's market. It'll be for Sunday dinner.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Although the book doesn't mention it, I recommend lining a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and parchment paper. You'll save yourself some cleanup later. Drizzle some olive oil on the paper, and season the oil with salt and pepper. Make a shallow cut along some leeks like so: Clean the leeks by running cold water from your tap all throughout the leeks making sure to rinse out each layer. Trim the ends and slice into 4" lengths, then press each leek, cut side down, on the oiled parchment paper. Smoosh the leeks around, making sure to season the cut sides well. Drizzle some more olive oil on top, then season with salt and black pepper. Roast for 30-40 minutes at 425 F, stirring the leeks every so often to prevent burning. While the leeks are roasting, take some anchovy fillets and place in a bowl. Add 3-4 tbsp. Meyer lemon juice. I live in San Francisco and Meyer lemons are available here. If you don't have Meyer lemons, regular lemons are ok. Mash the anchovies with a fork, then whisk in 3-4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil. Taste for salt and pepper. When the leeks are done, transfer to a bowl. Dress with anchovy dressing. Transfer to a plate, crumble egg on top. Spoon more dressing, season with salt and pepper, then serve. I added some minced parsley for color contrast. Roasted leeks with anchovy and egg, page 106.

Is it something like this? http://thewoksoflife.com/2015/02/soy-sauce-chicken/ The recipe says so maybe that's something like what you're looking for?

Very nice, @liamsaunt. I had leftover meatballs. And I also made a batch of sesame-onion scones, adapting this recipe: https://food52.com/recipes/40544-everything-bagel-spice-scones BTW, they're addictive. I could've probably worked the dough a little less though, come to think of it. But they're still good. PS. I've definitely been baking more in the past year. Fig galette, almond pastry cream Blueberry, olive oil and ricotta cake