BlatherMangia

Spring has sprung

By Stephanie

So I am not too original. And this photo should be accompanied by a spread of lavish bread and pastries. But all you get is this lovely mocha prepared by ace barista Amy at Columbia City Bakery.

San Francisco holiday

By Stephanie

In March, we escaped the late winter in Seattle to see some sunshine in San Francisco. Got a great deal on a room at The Palace Hotel, and they were kind enough to turn our standard King room into a King Suite! My only complaint is that they do not have a coffee maker in the room, so no afternoon tea the cheap and easy way.

We took a walk Thursday night up Grant Avenue looking for some Chinese food. A few young ladies in front of quiet restaurants beckoned us to come inside. We resisted their charms.

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Decided to try Bund Shanghai on Jackson. It's a small place, and it closes at 9 pm, but we slipped in and tried to figure out what to order. It was good, but left us craving for something better. We ate Rice cakes with spinach and Chinese bacon (sticky and tasty) Mongolian lamb (spicy and good), and Eel with yellow chives (slightly weird, picture at left)

Friday, we had breakfast at Cafe de la Presse, just across from the Chinese gate. Big bowl of latte, good berry compote for the pain perdu (boring, but okay) and nice potatoes for the egg and sausage plate, good sausage too.

Later in the day, revisiting The Haight, we stopped for a quesadilla suiza at Zona Rosa - split the giant folded tortilla stuffed with grilled chicken sided with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa before walking to the deYoung Museum for a great view of the city, an exhaustive look at Warhol, and a strange convergence of the end of the floral interpretations of art benefit and the Friday night bar and music scene. We departed the museum to meet up with local for dinner at Aziza. 

At Aziza, we waited a few minutes at the bar for a local acquaintance to join us. I indulged in a rum cocktail of muddled kumquats and fresh thyme. We adjoined to the far back of the restaurant for dinner. We were happy to leave the majority of the decision making up to the chef by choosing the tasting menu. Interestingly, we were able to each select our entree and dessert. Soup too - either lentil or carrot. We order both the lentil soup and the soup of the day -carrot bejeweled with pomegranate foam. Three appetizers, meatball skewers with grapes and jicama, goat cheese with cherry tomato jam, and piping hot limas with feta. We liked 'em all. Of course, I would not have agreed to the tasting menu if it did not include basteeya - a tart made with filo dough, stuffed with chicken and egg, spiced with cinnamon, and dusted with powdered sugar.

After a bit of a break, the entrees arrived,  duck (the least successful), rabbit - look at the cool foam (photo at right), and quail (very nice.)

3 desserts as recommended by the server:

Hazelnut madelines with lemon buttermilk sherbet and a tuile.

Chocolate sesame cannoli with chocolate sorbet and dates, my favorite, though I liked them all (photo below), and Hibiscus granita, rose parfait, citrus tuile.

Worth a visit for dessert alone!

Made for a late night and a long day. Had a harrowing taxi ride back to the hotel, arrived white knuckled, but safe.

Saturday, we arrived at the Ferry Building and farmers' market just after the local contestant from Top Chef, Jamie, left, oh darn. A bit of a drizzle, a nice walk about to admire the spring greens and food booths. We went inside and ate chilaquiles (egg-free but nice side of beans) at Mijita. I also had a mexican hot chocolate oddly spiced with star anise. We picked up some Rancho Gordo beans and red popcorn, some chocolates from Recchiuti, and some kettle corn (for tv watching.) Tucked in for the afternoon to read and rest. I went out to look for a cuppa and stumbled upon La Boulange on Market. I expected it to be run of the mill street deli and then saw the canneles and other lovely pastries. Mighty Leaf tea...a jar of marinated olives, one of Nutella, fancy mustard on the counter along with the cream and sugars. Had a nice pear frangipani pecan slice and a big hot tea.

That evening, staying close by, we had the options of the sister restaurants Anchor and Hope, Salt House, or Town Hall. We tried A&H. Walked right in around 7 on Saturday night. Started with seared scallops, and an asparagus salad with egg and proceeded to trout en papillote, and Tai snapper with fennel, potatoes, and nettle puree and cara cara orange - I liked this a lot.

No room for dessert.

Sunday, we joined old friends at Dosa on Fillmore. I spared them the picture taking, but this was an excellent and fun choice. Comfortable place (an old Goodwill store handsomely renovated) with high quality food. The Dahi Batata Puri were a huge hit - little flavor bombs. The dosas impressed and all the flavors were bright and fresh. We spent some time walking the lovely neighborhood and enjoying the sun in spite of the wind. 

We also managed to find a little something for later, canneles and macaroons. (See right) 

Not feeling too hungry or energetic, we caved to a room service supper (and the season ending of Big Love) and ordered an okay pizza with two toppings and a handsome burger and fries. The fries were still hot and salty, the burger was rare with blue cheese and onions on a house made bun and lots of condiment options. They arrived right on schedule, and the food was hot, except for the icy glasses of water and the crisp lettuce and tomato. 

Before leaving on Monday, we grabbed breakfast back at Boulange on Market - croque monsieur and an egg breakfast sandwich with good smoked salmon on a croissant. Excellent find.

BART to and from the airport (the Montgomery Street station is right there!) made the trip very easy. Got home safe and sound, only to find rain and gray sky...

Happy biscuits

By Stephanie

Two fer baking - another birthday to celebrate and testing recipes for a friend!

Ham and cheese biscuits with fresh rosemary. One of our four plants survived this snowy winter.

For a few years, I volunteered at "Taste Washington" - the annual extravaganza of wine and food. Volunteering = helping the wineries and restaurants unload their wares and getting them into the venue (there were a few.) We also helped set up the place, did greetings, handed out gift bags, and someone must have helped clean up. The event itself, pretty spendy, never held that much interest for me. I liked trying all the food bites, but after tasting and spitting a half dozen wines (of the 500 or so on offer) I was done. If they did not sell out - you could still hustle down to the QWest Event Center this afternoon and support this event. I'd head straight to Dahlia's table for the roast suckling pig and Cadence and Quilceda Creek for whatever they are pouring. And don't forget the dessert and chocolate tastings, with all those late harvest wines.