marie-louise
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Posts posted by marie-louise
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Do any of you, if you haven't bought a cookbook in a while, get an "itch" to buy a new one? I was reading over this thread, and I never saw anything like this mentioned.
I suspect it's never been mentioned because it's probably the norm around these here parts. My kind of folks...
I can quit anytime I want to.
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The Ferry Market is the only farmers market I can think of that has a fantastic bay view.
Excuse me?
Pike Place Market (Seattle) has many views of Elliott Bay. Some from inside restaurants, some not.
Actually, the Oakland Jack London Square Farmer's Market on Sundays is on the very same bay. Only we look at San Francisco,
so if you want to say that the SF view -of our wonderful Oakland hills-is better than a view of San Francisco, far be it from me to correct you.PS Many (but not all, of course) of the same vendors from FBFM are at Jack London Square on Sundays (the rest being at the Marin County Civic Center FM)
PPS Rancho Gordo, I for one would like to hear your thoughts, and BTW, your tortillas were TDF. We made little pigs out of ourselves; we got shamefully close to eating our way through the entire package a few hours after we bought them from you last week!
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Right before guests coming over:
Caught rat in mousetrap. Rat running around kitchen with mousetrap on head; runs into crevice in between cabinet & dishwasher. With an amazing lack of common sense, I assure husband that there is enough slack in hot water line to simply pull the dishwasher out from under cabinet. I was wrong. Broke hot water line, flooding kithen w/ a slick of rat shit and boiling water. Rat is squeaking but not coming out. After running down to basement to shut off hot water valve, husband retrieves rat by attaching a mirror to a yardstick (think dental mirror) and sucking it out with a vacuum.
Dinner was served a little late, and our appetite was not all it could be. Since the cat brought that rat into our house & let it go, she was lucky she didn't end up in the same state as Toasted's. (GREAT story, BTW.)
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(Assuming you have a car), Koi Palace for dim sum. Read about it here.
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(Our family is me and my husband.)
1. We occasionally cook things ahead of time, but not with any plan or consistency. As I've said before, it doesn't seem to matter WHAT it is, once it hits the freezer I lose all interest in it. I always keep stock on hand, and there's usually frozen pizza dough and some sort of pasta sauce in there, but things like six meals of lasagna feel more like a burden than an asset. I do sometimes prep things first thing in the morning for dinner that night.
We try to go out one week night a week, and/or get take-out another.
2. We both do-based on the weather, what's in season, and who's craving what (my cravings are often based on seeds planted from comments on eGullet!)
3. We shop every day or two. Just like the freezer, things stockpiled in the fridge lose their appeal. We used to get a CSA box, and now that we are in town more weekends, we go to the Farmer's Market and buy what looks great, but we don't really "plan" all our meals.
4. Anything and everything. My favorite part of mealtime is lingering over the dinner table, spending time with the guy I love (and finishing the last of that bottle of wine.)
5. Varies, usually about 7:30. We eat most of our meals in the dining room; occasionally we plan a "movie night" w/ finger foods or pizza on the coffee table while we watch a DVD. Frequency of dinner parties varies, too. I love to entertain-sometimes it is every week; sometimes weeks go by... it really depends on just how busy I am at work. Our dinner parties are adults only.
Edited one more time to ask a question of my own: Are we the only two people who lose all common sense at a Farmer's Market and buy WAAAAY too much food? I guess having a meal plan would help, but jeez, everything looks so good and is so reasonably priced we always seem to buy about twice as much food as we'd planned.
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Not quite the Monterey Peninsula, but this is as logical a place to post as any...
On our way down to Carmel, we stayed for two nights at Costanoa. Nice place-note they have "full moon specials" that are half-off the regular rate. My only complaint is that there were a LOT of kids here. We were expecting more of a quiet, adult experience in our room with a spa tub, balcony and ocean view, but instead there were tons of high-energy kids squealing and running amok everywhere. Cute, but... I asked at checkout if there were more kids than usual because it was Easter week and the woman said no, that there's so much for kids to do there that it always attracts lots of families.
We went to some great parks-Ano Nuevo is across the street and the hidden park of the century-Butano State Park-is right nearby. We hiked for two hours in a beautiful spot and the only other person we saw was the ranger. We also visited
Bonny Doon Vineyard's Tasting Room-lots of fun.
The food at Costanoa was pretty good, although the din from all the children made it less than a fine dining experience. The first night we ate at Duarte's-what a disapointment. Everyone raves about the place but sorry, we thought it was pretty awful. I love a funky, old-time restaurant as much as the next person, but this meal was BAD! The artichoke soup was thick and tasteless, my husband's deep-fried oysters were oozing water-not oyster brine-as if they'd breaded and froze the oysters they didn't sell, then fried them still frozen. All of the food was somehow tasteless while being terribly over-salted, which is pretty hard to consistently accomplish, especially with a piece of fresh fish. The center of our table had a crack in it (as if you could add leaves to make it bigger.) It was disgustingly filty and crumb-encrusted, just a big linear glob of brown food right in your face without so much as a paper placemeat to hide any of it. Worst of all was dessert. They are known for their pies and the area is known for its strawberries so how could we go wrong ordering the daily special, Strawberry Shortcake? Well, the berries were pretty good but they were served on a crumble of stale, tasteless crumbs (really, CRUMBS of sweet but dry cake), topped with some sort of this-isn't-a-dairy-product white stuff.
The next day we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Davenport, where we had some of the worst Mexican food I've ever had (and I'm a native Californian, so I have a lot of experience). My husband's mole sauce was as sweet as a dessert sauce, and their guacomole was a scary light white color w/ lots of water in it. My advice to anyone traveling down this stretch of Highway One is stuff yourself in Half Moon Bay and don't think about food again until you get to Santa Cruz!
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Went down to the Monterey Peninsula again last week. This time we stayed in Carmel; it was nice to be able to walk to and from dinner. I don't know when I will have time to write about everything, but I did want to mention a wonderful restaurant: La Boheme. The food was very good, but the dining experience was even better: small cozy place, family-style service in beautiful dishes (the soup came out in a small copper pot), and great but unobtrusive service (by the owners). In my opinion, this is a place to go back to again and again; if it was in my neighborhood I'd eat there every week. The wine was barely marked up-another plus.
Two sight-seeing highlights of the trip: Point Lobos (we hiked all but one trail over two days-it took about five hours to do them all) and the Carmel Mission (a standout among the ones I've seen to date-if you just want to visit one, make it this one.)
More later...
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... We also love the french fried artichoke hearts in Castroville. They are served with a variety of dipping sauces. Buy a bag full and eat away. We either go to Pezzini Farms (which might be closed?) or The Giant Artichoke, but there are lots of other places and roadside stands...
I'm just back from a week down the coast-stopped in at The Giant Artichoke for an order of fried artichokes. Yuck-greasy & tasteless. I LOVED these many years ago-when Highway One ran right past The Giant Artichoke- but boy, have they gone downhill! I hate when that happens. To make matters worse, we ate lunch at Gayle's Bakery but "saved room" for the artichokes. Sigh... I could have sat there and made a complete and utter pig out of myself at Gayle's, but instead I had a half-sandwich and half an eclair.
Joe Ortiz's breads made the sandwiches to-die-for, and well, the picture of that pastry counter speaks for itself. -
Even if you weren't on a limited budget, taking it slowly makes sense. Better to know how to make a handful of drinks well than have a shelf full of liquor and no idea what to do with it.
Summer's coming up-perfect your Margeritas, decide what gin's your favorite for Gin & Tonics, and by all means try out Negronis and a few other drinks w/ Campari.
PS That drink a week link someone posted above is pretty cool. This week's drink is a Zombie (referred to a "fern bar drink")-now THAT takes me back to my college days!
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Two words: Miss Silvia.
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Most of the time I don't know the vendors by name-although I do have my favorites-but I thought it would be nice for us to compile a list of recommendations. I'll start:
Mushrooms: the Mushroom guy at the Jack London Market right by the parking validation stickers (who I could swear has posted on eGullet.) I am rapidly becoming too spoiled to buy mushrooms elsewhere! He has some tiny orange mushrooms called cinnamon caps that are incredible. For the last few weks I have been eating 2-3 meals/ week based on his various mushrooms.
Beans: [with profuse apologies to Rancho Gordo, who's beans I have not tried YET.] Iacopa Farms (not sure I'm spelling that right.) He is at the SF Farmer's Market on Saturdays & the Jack London market on Sundays. I've bought some nice dried Italian butter beans, but my favorites are his fresh cranberry and Romano beans in the summer.
Potatoes: there is someone at the Sunday Marin Civic Center Farmer's Market who has wonderful russets.
Artichokes: there used to be a guy who NEVER smiled or even talked at the center of the Jack London Square Market who had the best artichokes. I haven't seen him in a while, and I haven't found any other artichokes that are as good.
Your turn...
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I was wondering if anybody has recommendations on a good butcher in the Bay Area? I'm specifically looking for the South Bay and East Bay areas, but tips on butchers in any other area are welcomed too.
[all East Bay]: I like Enzo's in the Market Hall on College Ave, next to the Rockridge BART station (also in the SF Ferry Bldg.) Village Market (Broadway Terrace & Harboard) has a good selection on Nimon Ranch meats, plus dry-aged Harris Ranch meat (aged on site.) Piedmont Market also has good meat w/ helpful butchers.
Also, are there any places where I can get fresh seafood without incredibly high prices?Not that I know of....although others have had good things to say about the prices at Ranch 99.
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... The one on our immigrant ancestors was a good read.
I bought this book a few years ago (actually, I think it was one of those free-when-you-spend-$40 at Jessica's Biscuit). I've never made anything from it, but I read it cover to cover. It was a great read; I learned a lot about different cultures that I'd never heard or seen written elsewhere.
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Rats. I've been lloking for that kind of old fashioned glass, but frosted for a while now. A bar in Toronto uses them, and I fell in love with the glasses, but I can't find them anywhere.
Here they are. (Scroll down the page.) I've seen ones that are frosted all the way to the top, but only in bars, never in a store.
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Are these glasses frosted? They look like it.
No. (I would have liked that.)
Crate & Barrel also has a whole assortment of painted Collins glasses at the moment. They'd be pretty cool for a summer party-especially since they have dishes & plastic trays to match.
Now what other glasses should I buy? I have some Martini glasses, but they are big and wide. I hefted one of the Riedel Martini glasses yesterday; they were pretty nice. Any opinions as to whether they are worth the money?
And JAZ, I'd love to know where you buy your tiny martini glassses you talked about in the Q&A.
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I'm copying this from the Regan's Q & A, since I realized that I'd posted the question after was over! Anyway, I went to Crate & Barrel yesterday and bought 4 of the Tempo Double Old-Fashioned glasses I asked about below. While I still don't know if these are the ones that Mardee meant, they are indeed very nice glasses. They feel too light empty, but are perfect when filled; their lightness makes them feel more special in your hand. More importantly, the clerk told me that they have been discontinued!!! They have about 1000 left among all the Crate & Barrels, so if you are interested, don't delay. (I'm going back today to grab another dozen.)
My biggest tip to everyone--Crate & Barrel makes Double Old Fashioned glasses that are my hands-down favorites. The glass is verrrry thin, the bottoms are almost as thin as the sides, they weigh almost nothing and yet they are remarkably sturdy. And they cost only $2 or so apiece. Don't go buy them all out or I'll be heartbroken.My Question to Mardee:
Is the one you like called the Tempo? A search for "double old fashioned" on the Crate & Barrel website brings up 32 choices- but this sounds closest to what you are describing.As long as I was there, I also picked up a set of Tom Collins glasses. Also $2 each.
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My biggest tip to everyone--Crate & Barrel makes Double Old Fashioned glasses that are my hands-down favorites. The glass is verrrry thin, the bottoms are almost as thin as the sides, they weigh almost nothing and yet they are remarkably sturdy. And they cost only $2 or so apiece. Don't go buy them all out or I'll be heartbroken.
Is the one you like called the Tempo? A search for "double old fashioned" on the Crate & Barrel website brings up 32 choices- but this sounds closest to what you are describing.
Thanks for a great Q&A. It is 9am in California, and I am still drinking my coffee, but suddenly I am craving a cocktail...
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The Inn at Victorian Gardens in Manchester on the Mendocino coast is supposed to be very special and also a significant culinary destination.
I've never stayed there, since until last month I owned a home nearby, but it is indeed a fabulous place to eat. I've eaten there many times, and never had a bad meal. His kitchen is drop-dead gorgeous. I know him well enough to tell the truth and say I wanted to come back & look at his kitchen; newcomers should simply ask to use the restroom-it is through the kitchen. I think he might serve breakfast in there if you stay there...
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I don't have a problem w/ making something new-I'm finally over the inedible main course I made for casual friends back in the 70's-but I find it takes a lot more energy and concentration to try and follow a new recipe than it does to make one of my tried and true recipes. So I usually take the lazy way out and make something I know will work. I'd rather be hanging out w/ my friends-and there's no room in the kitchen for them to come & hang out w/ me.
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Dave, thanks for the previous pizza stone, etc. thread. Lots of good info there. I should have look deeper before starting an additional conversation.
Brian
Brian-Thank YOU for asking the question. There are lots of vintage threads that a lot of us have missed. Sure, one person can search and find the answer to their question, but by posting the question, now lots of us have a great thread pointed out to us! BTW, I am referring to the 2002 Pizza Stone thread, which contains a LOT of good advice about making pizza.
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Terra Cookbook gets my vote.
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Your little dance card is filling right up, isn't it?
Yes, it is, but keep these wonderful ideas coming!
If I'm not mistaken, the Auberge de Soleil is the place that will send someone down to the French Laundry to make reservations for you, isn't it? They have a couples mud bath experience as part of the spa choices that sounds quite, uh... special.
"The Rendezvous 90 or 120 min ($195 or $260 per person)
Enjoy the sensual experience of applying warm mud to your partner in the privacy of our couples suite. Next, allow us to cocoon you in a heated mud wrap followed by a couples shower and a nurturing, stress relieving massage."
Who needs to eat after this? This is definitely a contender, although the rooms are, shall we say, not cheap. But you only celebrate such events once in a lifetime.
St. OrresWe had dinner here our first trip north from the bay area. It was a wonderful atmosphere and we enjoyed our meal very much.
St. Orres is indeed a special place. We stayed there a few times and fell in love with the area so much that we bought property on nearby The Sea Ranch and built a home there. Now that we no longer have that home, I'm looking forward to staying at St. Orres again.
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I am going [back] down to Carmel in two weeks. God, this hike looks beautiful-is this Point Lobos-we were going to go there the day we turned around & came home because I was so sick. Please do tell!
I was just reading cookingwithamy's kaseki thread. I think that would be fun one night. Even Masa's would be cheaper than a room & dinner in France.
A day at the spa would be good (more my speed than my husband's.) We live right by the Claremont, but I haven't been there in years and years-it went from over-priced to ridiculous, but it IS vacation after all. Any spa experts in the group-where is the best day spa in the Bay Area?
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Er…and by 25th you did mean years, yes? I’m wondering because I myself find making it even to the 25th month anniversary at times a struggle.
Yes, I did mean 25 years-plus, it being the 70's when we met, we lived together for a few years before that.
I have no idea when or how we got so old!!!These are great suggestions. We JUST sold our Sea Ranch house, so I am very familiar with the north coast. We spent many of our anniversaries up there-the Persied (sp?) meteor shower always peaks then, so weather permitting, we'd sit outside, far away from any city lights, and drink champagne and watch the stars.
This time I'm thinking more of day trips-coming back to our Oakland home every night. Meals in the city, that sort of thing...
SF's Local Scene
in California: Dining
Posted · Edited by marie-louise (log)
The food is as good, the service is as good, the meal is almost as expensive, but the experience is more casual and vibrant upstairs versus more "worship at the temple of food" hushed downstairs. It depends on what you want. Personally, I like upstairs just as much as downstairs, but I'm a casual kind of gal. I do like those Monday night downstairs dinners-they feel pretty relaxed, too.
I think it's very feasible. I just went up to Napa last weekend w/ some friends (mostly because he wanted to take us for a spin in his new car.) Left [Oakland] around nine-ish, went to one winery (Niebaum Coppola-cool movie stuff there), had a late lunch (Rutherford Grill across the street-great ribs), and drove home. We were back in town in about six hours yet I still felt like I'd had a wine country day. The trick is to only go to one, maximum two, wineries.
PS Do try to get up to Muir Woods, especially on a weekday. Go on past the main trail (it is only an hour or two loop and you will get well past the masses.) To me, our redwoods are one of our most spectacular features. Take a picnic, keep going on the same road to get out to the beach, then drive back via Cozelman Road (the one that's in lots of car commercials) and you will have had quite a special day.