My new blog, that's why!
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My new blog, that's why!
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Photos on Flickr
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The culinary theme for February and March was beans. I didn't talk about it on the blog, because, honestly, how appetizing do those black-eyed peas cooked with a ham bone look? Let me assure you they were actually delicious.
Anyways, it seems appropriate to mention it now, because beans are a traditional New Year's food, and today begins a new year for me: it's my birthday! And I've decided that instead of making New Year's resolutions, I'll be making some birthday resolutions:
Nofis: 2, Stowe mountain: 1
I'm giving us two points for surviving our second-ever day of snowboarding, but I'm giving the mountain a point for leaving me with bruised ribs and whiplash!
We're quickly becoming hooked on snowboarding, although your guess is as good as mine as to why we are are such gluttons for punishment. A few people have told us that it gets much easier after the first few days, and maybe we're depending on that. Or maybe we have Stockholm Syndrome.
We were doing really well in the morning - I even managed not to fall at all on my second run of the day! Feeling cocky, we decided to try an insanely long trail after lunch. The trail, though rated easy, crossed over several intermediate runs at poorly-marked intersections, causing both Greg and I to tangle with steeper slopes than we were prepared for. I found my way back to the easy trail, but was already feeling too tired to really use good technique. Then, about halfway down the mountain, the ground lunged up and punched me in the ribs, leaving me sprawled on the ground, entirely unable to breath. As I sat there, chest ineffectually heaving, I contemplated waving down a snow patrol and enjoying a little snowmobile ride. Instead, I rolled back over and gingerly started down the mountain again, slightly slower than before. I did make it down the mountain, and even managed another successful run on the bunny slope after a short break, but I think I'll be taking another lesson before I challenge a slope like that again!
One thing that is 100% sane, however, is a post-slope roast beef dinner with all the fixins, a great crowd, and a tipsy game of pop-culture trivial pursuit.
]]>In addition to Jai Yun, we enjoyed the following culinary adventures in the Bay Area:
Chez Panisse Cafe
Finally! Comparing this meal with our experiences at Suzanne's and Auberge in the first part of our trip, it is clear what makes Chez Panisse classic. While everything could be said to be cooked perfectly at all three restaurants, and the style of the dishes were all quite similar, Chez Panisse stood out because of the harmony of flavors on the plate. The side dishes were simple, but perfectly matched to the flavors and cooking technique of the meat, and a simple sauce served to further unify the parts into a whole. To top it off, our waiter was super-nice, and the meyer lemon ice cream BLEW MY MIND.
Ferry Building and Farmer's Market
I can't imagine anything more decadent than the morning I spent here. I spent an hour walking around, taking photos and buying fresh, delicious things, and then about four hours sitting in a wine bar inside the Ferry Building with friends coming and going, drinking red wine and eating rabbit terrine, rich yogurt and sourdough.. and then champagne, oysters and stinky cheese... and then white wine, pastries, and sausage... and then milkshakes, blood oranges and Vietnamese dumpling soup. Seriously, a spa could package this treatment.
El Farolito
When it comes right down to it, I am not a mission burrito fan. For some reason they always seem a little bit bland... I think part of it is a lack of lard - refried beans are not standard, and I never remember to request them. Anyways, El Farolito was great, just not my style.
The Pork Store
The perfect hangover breakfast, and really fantastic sausage. Pretty good hashbrowns too.
Boudin Bakery
I ate a loaf of dutch crunch for dinner. Just dutch crunch. It was that good. I need to find a recipe for this.
Pacific Catch
Fish. It was fried.
Tartine
The best croissant I have ever had. Ever. Also, I do not like cinnamon rolls, unless they are the one Greg had at Tartine. Wow. Might move to San Francisco and gain 40 lbs.
Swann's Oyster Depot
I love oysters, but the highlight here was a fresh sea urchin, served in its shell... like nothing I've ever tasted. Smooth and creamy to the point of sensory deprivation, incredibly mild with no hint of the ocean, and an aftertaste of flowers.
Fraiche
Looking to piggyback on Pinkberry, this place serves frozen yogurt with fruit, but it should ditch the overly-sweet frozen stuff and focus on their excellent fresh yogurt, which is rich and tart.
Ewia
This Mediterranean restaurant in Palo Alto has gone downhill since we were there last, but they still serve a number of tasty appetizers, like tender octopus, small sweet beets, and rich soft beef tongue. They also serve real Greek frappes, even black (although the waitress thought I was crazy), which are probably my favorite way of drinking coffee.
The last part of our trip was spent in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Over the weekend, we spent several hours each at the Ferry Building farmers market, the Golden Gate Park, the Haight, the Symphony (Debussy's La Mer, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, excellent), the Mission, Hayes Valley, Chinatown, and on foot almost everywhere in between. It was the most sightseeing I've ever done in a city I've been to so many times. In Palo Alto we enjoyed hanging out and walking in the pleasant hills over Stanford.
Of course, we spent most of that time eating. So I'll be back with the restaurant reviews soon!
]]>On our first night in San Francisco, we joined our friends for dinner at Jai Yun, a reservations-only restaurant that is reputed to serve the most authentic Chinese banquet food outside of China. It's so authentic, in fact, that no one there, chef, server, or bus boys, speak English. That made for a bit of an adventure, but we managed to communicate. At the end of the meal, the chef came out and we effusively thanked each other without actually exchanging any complete sentences - but I think he understood how much we enjoyed the meal.
The other quirk of this place is that you don't order - you just tell them how much you want to pay, and they start bringing out dishes. It is pretty awesome, and I'd be happy to eat this way more often. But the problem with not knowing what you're getting and not speaking the same language is that... we still don't really know what we ate! We could identify most of the primary components, but there are a couple that were completely mystifying:
A dish that looked like noodles in an egg sauce, except that the noodles were chewy like squid. They tasted mild and eggy, however, without a hint of seafood flavor, and absolutely delicious. MYSTERY SOLVED! This dish was abalone in egg whites.
The second mystery was something that looked like chicken knees, tasted like pork, and was clearly mostly cartilage... but a nice, chewable cartilage. MYSTERY SOLVED! Chowhounders weighed in, and it looks like it might just have been chicken knees after all!
Anyone have any clues?
]]>On Thursday we headed north, driving from Ojai to Santa Cruz. We stopped along the way several times - the first time just to enjoy the windy beach views and watch the pelicans. We took a bit of a detour to Lompoc, to visit Mission La Purisima. I visited this mission once when I was young, and really didn't remember it well, so it was nice to go back. It's a bit out of the way, but really a beautiful and interesting place. Plus, they've got some awesome shaggy sheep!
After La Purisima, we continued to San Luis Obispo. We were planning on just stopping very quickly for lunch and having time to drive up HWY 1 to see the elephant seals before the weather got too bad, but unfortunately, we decided to peek into the mission here too, and while doing so, locked the car keys inside our rental. Even though the locksmith was speedy, it was late by the time we were back on the road, and the rain was coming down. We had to just take the 101 and try to make it up to Santa Cruz in time for dinner.
Unfortunately, we didn't see much of Santa Cruz - between the rain and our tiredness, we ended up just crashing in our hotel room. We got up the next morning ready for a breathtaking drive to San Fransisco through the Big Basin Redwoods State Park... but awoke to more rain. We drove through the park anyways, and while it certainly was breathtaking, some of it was a little more "I hope the road isn't closed up there!" than "wow, that tree is tall." I only hope I get a chance to make the same drive in better weather.
We made it into San Fransisco just in time to buy an umbrella before our lunch reservations. That evening, after getting settled in, we met up with Naomi, Jon, Ish and Aseem to enjoy a night of food and drink... an excellent welcome to the city!
]]>On leaving for California, I had a list of something over 30 restaurants I wanted to try. For a 10 day trip. Obviously, I didn't get to check everything off my to-do list. Greg's list, on the other hand, was finished off on our first night in town, when, after we arrived late due to a delayed flight, we hit up IN ‘N’ OUT for a quick dinner. It’s not the best burger in the universe, of course, but there is a reason there are lines out of the parking lot. Personally, I love the buns, enjoy the burgers, and don’t care for the fries.
We spent the next day snowboarding in Big Bear, and the best thing I can say about the food at Bear Mountain is that by the time you eat it, you are so sore and exhausted that just about anything would be delicious!
That night, however, we ate at CHOSUN GALBEE. While I love Korean food, this was my first experience with real Korean BBQ (not counting a couple encounters at somewhat questionable pan-asian buffets), so I wished we had a veteran there to advise us. We ended up ordering bulgogi, chosun galbee short ribs, seafood pancake and job chae. This, along with the bountiful banchan, was more than enough for three people.
The meat was very good, nicely marbled and really good rich flavors. The seafood pancake was probably the best I’ve had, with a high ratio of seafood to batter and a real harmony between the different seafood flavors and the batter. Job chae is probably my least favorite Korean dish, and Chosun Galbee didn’t change my mind – it was bland and oily. The banchan included some really fantastic kim chee, good cucumber, and fish cakes, and five or six other things, all tasty. While it was a great meal, I don’t think I would eat here often – the prices really kept us from ordering as much meat as I liked (though of course there was more than enough food). I suspect I would be happier at one of the other options discussed on the board for Koreatown.
The next day we spent in Ojai. Lunch was JIM AND ROB’S FRESH GRILL. I’ve been living in or visiting Ojai most of my life, and I’ve usually enjoyed Jim and Rob’s for basic cal-mex. But since my last visit there, they’ve moved into a new building, and I think they’ve lost a lot of charm as well as flavor. I had a carnitas taco and a fish taco. The fish taco was disappointing – the fish was clearly not that fresh – but the carnitas was decent. Unfortunately, neither lived up to meals I’ve eaten there in the past, nor did my husband and mother’s meals.
After a hike up Sisar Canyon, we went to SUZANNE’S CUISINE. My expectations for Suzanne’s were pretty high, as it has a great reputation around town. I ordered trout, which was deliciously cooked and seasoned. Unfortunately, it was served on a bed of plain white rice. It was actually kind of distracting, taking a bite of trout and then the rice – just not a successful combination. Brown or wild rice would have been a much more complementary flavor, but I have to say that one of the reasons it turned me off is that I expected something more complicated or subtle from a restaurant with a reputation for fine food. Around the table it was the same story – the meat or fish was perfect, but the sides were a let-down.
On the positive side, however, the space is gorgeous, a very pleasant place to eat.
We topped off the night with dessert and wine at MOVINO. I like Movino, it is always a good place to kick back with some wine, but I’m pretty sure their desserts are premade/outsourced, so we ordered the chocolate cheesecake rather than the cake, and it was surprisingly good.
On Tuesday we headed down to Ventura to visit family, and due to a time crunch we ended up eating lunch at OZEKI SUSHI. The sushi was blah, the rolls were mediocre, with poor flavor/ingredient balance, and to top it off, the tempura ice cream had this absolutely terrible cakey batter that was thick and undercooked. I would have been happier if we stuck with nigiri and sashimi only.
That night, we went to WOK N’ SOUTH. Mongolian BBQ is my favorite made-up cuisine. I just love it, and I can’t seem to find it on the east coast. Wok n’ South is not the best I’ve had, but it is more than serviceable when you’ve got the craving. It serves up all the essentials (sesame pocket bread, lamb, cilantro, and garlic are my must-haves) in a no-nonsense, no-frills manner.
On Wednesday, we were back in LA to sightsee. We made a detour to San Gabriel to eat lunch at LUSCIOUS DUMPLING. I wish there had been more than three of us, as I wanted to order everything on the menu. We settled on chive, pork, egg and shrimp dumplings, soup dumplings, pork knuckles and bok choy. The bok choy and the pork knuckles were both simply amazing. SO GOOD. The pork, especially, had this hint of five-spice flavor that was just right with the cool, chewy slices. As for the dumplings, the fillings were fantastic, but I prefer the thinner-skinned varieties. If I could go again (and I will, I hope), I would order the dumplings pan-fried, which I prefer for the thick-skinned dumpling. I would also try the soup, which looked great. An older couple next to us ordered two giant bowls of soup with sides of dumplings, plus three other orders of dumplings – all together, that’s about twice what we ordered for three people - and all I could think was, man, I wish I were that hungry!!
That afternoon, we made an attempt at sightseeing, but the MOCA was closed and it started to rain pretty seriously, so we found refuge and cucumber sandwiches at the BILTMORE. They serve a delightful full-on tea, complete with tea-cozies, champagne, and a wide variety of treats. The sandwiches were adorable, with all the right ingredient ratios. The tart shells were perfectly crisp and flakey. Cakes, scones, and chocolate strawberries were all great. The perfect escape for a rainy afternoon, and after all, the tea room is practically a sight in itself, with its ornate ceiling and arches.
That night, as if we hadn’t already eaten enough for three days, we had reservations at AUBERGE in Ojai. I guess this restaurant is under new management, and has been making some waves. I don’t usually care one way or the other about service, although it is nice if it matches the atmosphere of the place, but I definitely noticed that the waiters seemed over-trained and under-experienced here, as if they were new. That may have been due to it being a slow weekday night. As far as the food, it certainly was a contrast to Suzanne’s. All of the meat was again, perfectly cooked. My husband claims that my steak was the best dish on the table, while I voted for the rich, tender pork he ordered. My mom’s lamb was also great, and it had a subtle and delicious Mediterranean spice blend. The side dishes were what made the difference - they were complex and, frankly, hit-or-miss. My mom’s grilled vegetables were well-paired to the lamb, while my bitter, burnt radicchio and sautéed mushrooms and onions did not go with my steak. The mashed potatoes studded with fava beans that came with the pork were good, but would have been better if the favas had been separate. We finished with a chocolate cup/soufflé thing, cooked while we waited and devoured immediately. It was incredibly rich and absolutely delicious.
]]>We spent the first part of our trip in southern California, mostly in LA and Ojai. Our main occupation was eating, but I'll get to that later. We started our trip with a bang by getting up at 4 am to hit the slopes. The slopes being Big Bear, and the hitting being done with snowboards. Neither Greg nor I had ever snowboarded before, but with Mike's advice and some lessons, we were spending more time upright than not by the end of the day. I honestly couldn't even sit in the car on the way back, I fell down so many times, I had to sort of lounge on my hip. Despite that, I enjoyed it immensely, and I hope we'll be doing it again soon. That evening we squeezed in dinner with our friend David before succumbing to exhaustion.
The next day we slept in and then took a hike in Sisar Canyon, in Ojai, with my Mom and our friends Karen and Nathan. It was beautiful, and full of that distinctive oak woodlands smell. We skipped rocks and climbed trees and enjoyed the light drizzle. Then we were treated to a perfect rainbow as we turned for home.
Tuesday was a day for family visits, and on Wednesday we made a misguided attempt to visit MOCA in LA, which was closed for an exhibition installation. We enjoyed a rather damp walking tour instead, topped off with a decadent tea at the Biltmore.
More photos on Flickr
]]>Fancy-pants way: take some plastic gallon-sized freezer bags and fill them with a little bit of water. Fold them in half such that all the water is a flat layer all on the bottom half of the bag. My layers were about 1/4" thick. Lay the bags flat on a box or in a tray in the freezer. The goal is to create at least four pieces of flat ice, of even thickness. After they are fully frozen, cut the bags away and put the panes of ice up in a square. You can mount them in snow or ice - I had to use a steak knife to cut little slits in the frozen icy snow. Put some tealights in there and light them, and voilà!
Instant-gratification way: make a bunch of small snowballs and pile them in an igloo. Put tealights inside and light them, and voilà! You'll have to experiment a little with the igloo structure if there is very much wind - the candles can go out with the slightest breeze in this kind of lantern, while the ice lantern is impervious to the wind.
I put my lantern up on a pedestal, but they look great on the ground too.
Plus, with today's post only, a bonus photo of our tree!
]]>The Ornament Swap, for those of you who didn't see it last year, is just that. You sign up and are assigned to a group of 8-10 people. You make a bunch of ornaments and send them to your group, who, in return, send you their ornaments. This event is basically made for me. You can see my project from last year on Flickr, as well as the group pool for the swap.
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