Things that Make Me Happy

Today was one of those long, lazy days. I was productive at work, but kind of felt lethargic, far away. I had every best intention to go to the gym. But, in the end, I gave in to the fact that today is in fact, a holiday. So, I used that as my best excuse to head home, hit my neighborhood market for some grapes and berries and cook an impromptu meal of spiced Pacific red snapper on a bed of lentils with mushrooms. There's not much of a recipe to share here and it could probably use some tweaks, so I'll save it for another day.

I still had some soup left over from a weekend batch and Sonoma olives from a stopover in Bi-rite. We indulged on cheese and wine the evening prior, so when I made my way into the kitchen, I decided to hold the cheese. And the wine. Instead, after a lovely meal, we sat over two cups of red Chai and spoonfuls of honey, enjoying a luxuriously quiet evening.

View of San Francisco from Dolores Park

Real Times Call for Mozzarella

Now seems to be time to gather with friends and talk. Not just about current blockbusters and TV shows and restaurant openings. But real things that are affecting our lives now. Food doesn't have to be glamorous, but it ultimately has to serve a purpose: to nourish and sustain. These weeks have proven to be an escalating and trying time for our nation and for us as contributing members of society. It's hard to imagine a life pre-911. Before we couldn't carry liquids on to airplanes, our national security had a corresponding color scheme, gas nearly tripled in price by the gallon and chicken breasts became an expensive grocery line item. I find it surprising to meet people who think that our lives haven't changed--dramatically--since September 11, 2001. It seems that the past few years have been building up to a mess of tremendous proportions and it's hard to see where it will all end up. Saturday Night Live skits aside, it seems a time to act and to get a better grasp of what it means to live in 2008.

We had friends over for dinner--to make pizzas, drink some wine and catch up. In the process of pulling together our thoughts for ingredients, we got to talking. About our generation, our desires, our futures, our jobs, our friends and everything in between. We devoured 4 pizzas--all unique in toppings (mine was classic margherita, of course). I pulled together a spring greens salad with roasted golden beets and candied walnuts. Our friends brought over some bruschetta. And I baked a pear cake. With DJ Girl Talk's record playing as our background, we pondered about relationships and the economy and presidential candidates.

This week is the Jewish New Year--Rosh Hashana. My family has never given more time to it than a nice dinner and some traditional dishes, which this year will likely not be happening (I'm getting ready for house guests and then a trip to the East Coast). But this year, I actually feel like I'm more connected to my family and my friends than ever before. Strange, since many of my close friends are far away, but somehow it seems like our pasts and our presents and our similar hopes for the future tie us together in a bigger way as we grow older.

Now that I've gotten all deep and sentimental, I'll share a recipe (slightly modified, of course) from The Silver Spoon cookbook for the above-mentioned pizza. The Silver Spoon is an Italian food bible that's all about simple foods, prepared beautifully. I'll also share with you a couple of delectables had at Radio Africa & Kitchen this weekend, a 'nomadic' restaurant where we enjoyed barely risotto, lamb and appetizers such as edamame hummus, seared yellowfin tuna and lentil & beet salad.

To me, the 'sf' in this blog doesn't just stand in for San Francisco, but also, the simple food that brings us together around table and reinforces the bonds that tie us together.

Margherita Pizza (c/o The Silver Spoon cookbook)

• Pizza Dough (I defer to this recipe), though if you're a traditionalist, you can use the following list of ingredients from The Silver Spoon:

1. 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1/4 teaspoon salt
3. 1/2 oz. fresh yeast
4. 1/2 cup lukewarm water

• olive oil, for brushing and drizzling
• flour, for dusting
• 1-2 tomatoes, chopped and seeded
  
• 1 ball of mozzarella cheese (fresh, if you're ok with a soggier crust or more solid if you prefer a bit crunchier)
  
• about 10 basil leaves, roughly torn
• salt & pepper

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. After making the dough, dusk a cutting board and rolling pin with flour and roll out dough into 2 or 4 small rounds. I like to roll mine really thin so cooking time is very short and crust is almost crunchy. Sprinkle cookie sheet with corn meal.
2. Transfer dough to cookie sheet. Brush with olive oil and spread chopped tomatoes. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Throw in the oven for roughly 4-5 minutes.
3. Take out of the oven and line with mozzarella slices, sprinkle with basil, season with salt & pepper and drizzle with a bit more olive oil.
4. Bake for approximately 5-8 more minutes, until crust is golden brown and mozzarella is melted. Serve with a chunk of Parmesan cheese at the table for grating.

Edamame Hummus (with Tartine Bread) at Radio Africa & Kitchen


Barley Risotto at Radio Africa & Kitchen

East Bay Edition

I rarely make it over to the East Bay and when I do, it's generally to see friends who live in more suburban areas. It's true what they say, you know: us city folk are pretty city-centric (when it comes to our city). Last night though, we had tickets to see Jose Gonzalez--an amazing guitarist from Sweden that I'd highly recommend you check out. The concert was at Yoshi's, but we were hoping to find a little gem of a place for dinner and, boy, a gem did we find. Rather, a coworker who lives in Oakland suggested that we check out Tamarindo Antojeria Mexicana. It's quite a mouthful, but trust me--worth every bite!

It's a close walk from the 12th Street BART station and tucked away on a side street. Dinner was on the early side, so we came into a pretty open space, but it certainly got packed by 7 pm. I knew I already had a few things in mind (ceviche, carne asada tacos) from checking out the menu earlier in the day, but our knowledgeable waitress did not lead us astray with her recommendations. We had the Tostaditas de Tinga Poblana, which were seriously little bites of heaven. The mix of spices, crunchiness, and variety of flavors set against the mild freshness of cabbage and avocado was perfect. The waitress also recommended the Pellizcadas--three unique masa boats. She informed me that the masa boats are made by hand in the restaurant and are slightly thicker than tortillas. We got one of each: potato and chorizo, pulled pork, and a mix of cabbage and other mysterious veggies and cheese. Matt also had the shrimp tacos, which he claimed were absolutely phenomenal.


Now I for one generally prefer my Mexican food simple, cheap and kind of messy. I rarely go out to 'high-end' Mexican places. Having lived in San Diego over my college career, I was pretty spoiled by the fantastic options for everything from fish tacos to burritos. That said, this restaurant really proved to be a step above the rest. Most everything is served in small portions, so you can order a ton of food and taste a variety of flavors. The beef tacos we had were some of the best I've eaten in a long time. They were simple, yet executed perfectly. The meat was tender and juicy and the handmade corn tortillas were spot on. The snapper ceviche also served as a refreshing start to the meal. The food was so good, I wasn't going to stop before dessert, so we split the caramel and nut crepe. Needless to say, I overate.

As I sat in the left hand corner of Yoshi's, listening to Jose possess the audience with his beautiful voice and artful guitar strokes, I wondered if I should have eaten maybe...one less taco? Or, skipped that crepe (which was a good crepe, but one I could have made at home, probably). In the end, after several glasses of Prosecco, I decided that my stomach could take a break today. On a random aside, the reason for my several glasses of Prosecco is due to the fact that the waitress at Yoshi's delivered it in a small little screw top bottle. Airport style. No joke! If I had one piece of advice for Yoshi's, it would be to not make patrons feel like they're in Coach.


So, while San Francisco will remain my dining destination of choice, I must say that it's quite nice to know that enclaves of good food exist beyond and I'm looking forward to more excuses to step up my Wednesday nights.

Installment One: What I Ate This Morning

People are often surprised at my devotion to breakfast. Most can hardly believe that I make it a point to wake up 20 minutes early just so that I can have a sitdown breakfast and get to work ready to roll (with a large mug of coffee in hand) at 8:15 a.m. I think that breakfast sets the pace for how the rest of the day is going to run and I like to get going with something healthy, hearty and delicious.

The summer is coming to a close (produce-wise, though seemingly not weather-wise!) and my beloved figs and berries will soon disappear, so I'm making the most of one of my favorite start-of-the-day bowls: plain yogurt (I like Clover low-fat, not no-fat) with berries, chopped figs and my favorite granola. Sometimes I top this off with some honey, though the granola is pretty sweet all by itself.

I'm off to bed after an awesome night in the East Bay. More precisely, dinner at a find of a Mexican place and a Jose Gonzalez concert at Yoshi's. I'll definitely be sure to update on the food and the music. In the meantime, what's your breakfast go-to?

My Love for Bulgur

I've recently been really into bulgur--a grain that is popular in Middle Eastern dishes, most prominent of which is tabbouleh salad. I love making big bowls of grains with tons of roasted veggies, herbs, spices and a variety of meats (depending on if I want to go veggie or not). I often take cues from Heidi Swanson of 101Cookbooks.

Bulgur is a whole grain that's high in fiber, low in fat and relatively low in calories (compared to, say, brown rice). I've been using it a ton of different ways, but my current favorite is a variation of pilaf. Whenever I make dishes like this, I tend to improvise, so I'll try to wrap up this last concoction in the form of a recipe. I love the heartiness, tenderness and subtle flavor of eggplant and my favorite way to prepare it is to roast it with some olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic and herbs. Once done (depending on the size of the pieces this takes between 25-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven), it can be incorporated into grain dishes, sandwiches and salads.

Bulgur Pilaf with Roasted Eggplant and Raisins
**serves 2
1-2 small Italian eggplants
small bunch of flat leaf parsley and cilantro, chopped finely
1/2 cup of bulgur
roughly 3/4 cup water
half red onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt, pepper to taste
1/4 cup golden raisins
Spices: eyeball a variety--cayenne pepper, smoked paprika (you can also add a pinch of cinnamon and cumin, depending on how crafty you are!)
1.5 tablespoons olive oil

To roast the eggplant:
Turn oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil and cut eggplant into 1/2 inch half rounds. Brush with olive oil, salt and pepper and sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons minced garlic and 1-2 teaspoons chopped herbs. Set timer to 25-30 minutes. Check after 20 minutes. You'll know the eggplant is done once a fork easily slides into it and it has a tender consistency.

In the meantime, pour olive oil into pot and saute the red onion with 1 clove of minced garlic until tender. Add 3/4 cup of water and bring to a boil. Pour in bulgur (I used a medium sized grain, though bulgur also comes in finer and larger sizes), add the rest of the herbs, raisins and spices. Lower heat and cover the pot. The bulgur should take about 10-15 minutes to fully cook (once the water is absorbed and the grains have the same consistency as cooked rice).You may want to use a wooden spoon to stir it around once in a while and add a bit more water if it's starting to look too dry.

To complete the dish, add the roasted eggplant to the pot and toss together with about a teaspoon of olive oil. Serve warm. For variations: try adding turkey or roasted chicken; you can also sprinkle with some goat cheese, toasted almonds, chorizo..I'm pretty sure the possibilities are endless. If you don't like the sweet note of the golden raisins, omit them entirely.

P.S. While this recipe technically serves two, on the above-pictured night, it served one (with some delicious lunch leftovers). And, I'll report that I did enjoy that glass of wine over some reruns of Project Runway.

On a sidenote:
Some of you may remember my delicious trip to L'Ardoise. Well, I went back--with a camera! Check out that barramundi!

Experimenting with New Parts of Chicken

I swear I don't just eat chicken. It's just that, lately, I've been on this kick of trying to do new things with it. And every time I try something different, I get excited by the fact that you can make chicken pretty diverse. I love love love me some Moroccan food. Typically, I feel that this cuisine is able to seamlessly blend together sweet, spicy and savory flavors to create really complex tastes. I'm a huge fan of mixing sweet and savory, but I think it takes a very precise mix of seasonings and ingredients to do this right. Since I don't have a tagine, making a chicken tagine seemed a little too timely and complicated on a weeknight, so I deferred to a recipe by the New York Times' Mark Bittman for Chicken with Apricots.

I was excited by the simple list of ingredients and Mark's promise that this recipe would yield a firm and 'not-too-sweet' sauce. I was somewhat surprised by the lack of oil and butter in the recipe. I tend to find that whenever I cook meat in a skillet--even a nonstick one--I still have to use something. So, I went ahead and used an olive oil spray from Trader Joe's that I think actually contributed a major grease factor to the dish. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably use a small amount of butter to keep the chicken skin from sticking to the skillet.

Mark's recipe was for a whole chicken, but I decided to recreate my tagine idea and stick to thighs (a pretty cost-effective option!). Chicken thighs tend to be a little less healthy than breasts, but often quite flavorful and still relatively lean compared to other protein choices. I otherwise generally followed Mark's directions to a tee (aside from using red onion instead of the plain) and served the chicken over a bed of baked brown rice with herbs and raisins. I have to say, the end result was pretty impressive. I generally find that chicken breasts create a rather bland appearance, but take a thigh, with skin on and you're playing a whole other ballgame! The next day, I reheated the leftovers and found the chicken to be just as tender and flavorful as the night before and the sauce to still be luxuriously sticky.

It goes quite well with a full-bodied glass of red wine, too...I'm obsessed with Douro Valley wines of Portugal. Ever since my trip to Lisbon and Porto, I've been on a major kick. Sadly, it's often hard to find Portuguese wines in normal grocery stores and even wine shops tend to have a limited selection. My Portuguese friends informed me that it's not extremely cost-effective for Portuguese vinters to export wine. That said, check out BevMo--they generally stock at least 1-2 options of red and my other favorite, Vihno Verde. (I'll have to write a separate post about this another time!)

5 Kilometers

Yesterday, I participated--for the third year in a row--in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge.

For the third year in a row, I ran all 3.5 miles, watched the sun set over the Golden Gate Bridge and then chomped down on BBQ at a coworker's house. I'm not a runner, I must admit. I do my gym time on a quasi-regular basis (I try to go 2-3 days a week). But this is the farthest distance that I've run since the last corporate challenge. It's amazing what a field of 6,000 people does for your endurance. Typically, I listen to my iPod when I exercise, but the Challenge is a run that I prefer doing with no musical soundtrack. Rather, I like to try to hold a steady pace listening to the chatter of passing runners, the water, the wind and the observers on the sidelines.

Once a year, I run outside for 5 kilometers. I feel athletic, powerful, peaceful, strong, truly athletic--and I really, truly enjoy it. I feel thankful for the beautiful city that I live in and all of the good-for-your-body vibes that it proliferates.

This is a picture of a carrot cake cupcake from Sprinkles Cupcakes in LA and if there was one here, it's what I would have rewarded myself with following the run. :)

Brownies: A Blast from the Past to the Present

I made brownies a lot as a kid. Growing up in a Catholic, Irish-Italian neighborhood in New Jersey as an immigrant kid, I took every opportunity to be an American. I played softball. I had a lemonade stand. A door-to-door candle making/selling business with my neighbor, Sam. I participated in school book fairs. And I baked brownies--my claim to fame in the kitchen. Before I ever learned to cook anything beyond pasta, I baked one thing. At a book fair, I got my hands on a recipe book for all things chocolate and I stuck to that brownie recipe with such conviction that I didn't ever attempt anything else until college. I mixed it up: sometimes my brownies were topped with powered sugar, sometimes enhanced by nuts. Why fix it if it ain't broken, right? As my palate broadened and brownies became a pedestrian memory of my past, I undertook more challenging tasks: French macaroons, chocolate chip cookies, apple tarts.

It wasn't until about a year ago that I thought it was time to find a new recipe for an old favorite. I pulled something from a random cookbook I had and was pleased with the results, but hadn't revisited the recipe since. This weekend, on a particularly productive Sunday, I decided I had a mission and brownies were my calling.

I turned to the chocolate God, David Lebovitz, for inspiration and he did not lead me astray. I stuck to his recipe, or rather, Nick Maglieri's, from the book, "Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers." I'm not familiar with Nick, but boy were his brownies good. Rich, luscious and dark as can be, with a slightly flaky cellophane-thin crust that crumbled and stuck to my lips and shirt. Since I was only baking for two, err three, as my dad was making a stop at the apartment, I thought the full recipe would be a bit much, so I halved all of the ingredients. I'd also highly recommend letting the brownies sit overnight--the chocolate flavor really evolves. Next time, I think I'll try to improvise a bit more and maybe throw in some espresso, or even chili powder, as I've heard folks say this heightens the flavor of the chocolate and makes the brownies almost spicy.

I used a mix of Lindt bittersweet and Peruvian dark chocolate for these brownies and they were perfect. Here's a link to the full recipe on David's blog.

Just A Weekday Dinner

I'm always looking for new ways to switch up my chicken routine. You know what I mean--same 'ol, same 'ol. I think that chicken is a super versatile protein--if you switch up the routine. I fall victim to the same, grilled chicken with lemon and oregano system, so I was looking forward to mix things up this week. We bought a bag of fresh shitake mushrooms and decided we'd make a little ragu of sliced mushrooms and onions, scooped over chicken.


Here's what it takes:

Chicken with Mushroom and Onion Ragu
**Serves 2

1-2 chicken breasts
salt
pepper
fresh basil
fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 onion, diced
12-15 shitake mushrooms
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Dry White Wine
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Rub chicken with some salt and pepper. Throw in diced onions and let them heat for a minute or so. Pour in 2 tablespoons of a dry white wine (pick a bottle you can enjoy with dinner). Place chicken in the pan with onions and heat on both sides for a total of about 5 minutes (let brown, but not cook all the way through as white wine evaporates. Sprinkle with some finely chopped basil and parsley and let flavors absorb for about a minute. Remove chicken from the pan and place into a casserole dish. Bake for roughly 15 minutes (until juices run clear).

In the meantime, add sliced mushrooms and crushed garlic glove into the cooking mushrooms. Add a bit more olive oil and wine and cook until soft and the mushrooms are just about to caramelize.

When the chicken is done, scoop mushroom mixture over the chicken and eat all together. We had a side dish of boiled green beans tossed with herbs and sea salt.

Eiji Sushi: My New Discovery

A friend of mine has been talking about checking out this little sushi joint in the Castro all summer. We tried to go back in June, I believe, but they were closed for a summer break and we were so disappointed, especially after having looked through all of the amazing pictures on Yelp. Homemade tofu, homemade mochi desserts, glistening fresh fish and unique starters.

I've been running around a lot (Labor Day weekend getaway, San Diego trip) so I was really looking forward to a relaxing dinner to catch up with my friend and have some quality girl time. We had a 6:30 reservation after work, but got there a bit early and were immediately seated. I was impressed by the warm towels we received at the start of the meal. The cooking of the tofu was happening right behind the counter, to the right of our table and we had already spotted a plateful of mochi-covered strawberries. Specials were neatly written on a whiteboard above the counter. We both decided to go big and share all of our goods: seaweed salad, sake-marinated black cod, nigiri sampler with 1 roll, amberjack nigiri and a last minute addition towards the end--eggplant with miso and walnuts.

The fish was incredibly fresh--every piece melted in my mouth. My favorites, as usual, were of course the salmon and amberjack nigiri. The black cod was tender and flavorful and a great start to our meal. When we were nearly done eating, we simultaneoulsy exclaimed, "I can eat more!" so we went ahead and ordered the eggplant special, which came out looking like a little mini pizza. Topped with a dessert-like creamy miso and nut topping, it was so delicious I immediately burned my mouth biting into my first piece.

Of course, we couldn't leave without the much-talked-about homemade mochi, so we split a strawberry. I expected it would be good. I didn't expect it to be THAT good. The strawberry was covered in what I believe to be fresh red bean paste and dipped in soft, tender mochi. If you've ever had mochi before, you probably can imagine a rubbery and firm consistency. This was nothing of the sort. It was jello-like and tender, almost dripping off the strawberry.

With sushi, I tend to be very loyal to my favorite joints, but checking out Eiji reminded me that Japanese food is extremely varied beyond sushi and there are plenty of things I still haven't tried (homemade tofu!).

Matt's Famous Shrimp

This post is devoted to my favorite partner in crime and sidekick in the kitchen--Matt. While Matt is often relegated to the sous chef position (we've taken to referring to ourselves by real kitchen terms since we've been religiously devoted to Top Chef), when he takes on the executive role, he executes. I'm often impressed by his mad cooking skills, so I think it's only fair to acknowledge that I'm not the only cook in our kitchen.

We're big fans of frozen shrimp--and fresh shrimp, too. When we can, we try to buy giant Mexican prawns and serve them with variations of couscous and quinoa, as well as inventive tossed salads, toasted tortillas, chopped veggies and pasta.

When we've got large or giant shrimp, I often request "Matt's Famous Shrimp." He claims that he originally found a similar recipe in the New York Times and has since adapted it. We've made plenty of variations of the below recipe, including making spicy shrimp (with smoked paprika, chili powder and cayenne pepper or with lime, cilantro and garlic). We also sometimes leave the shells on, though this is purely for aesthetic. Most often, the flavors meld better if the shells are peeled off. I'm not sure how he gets these shrimp to always have the perfect texture and flavor, but I've never had a bad batch.

Since I've been really into corn lately, I recently made a variation of my corn salad by tossing in some avocado and served it alongside these shrimp for a light and refreshing dinner. Try these shrimp wrapped in some warm tortillas (just throw them in for about 2 minutes in a 350 degree oven).

Matt's Famous Shrimp
*Serves 2

14-16 large shrimp
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt & pepper
light sprinkling of breadcrumbs (optional)

Pre-heat broiler. Clean shrimp (remove legs, veins, shells). Once fully cleaned and defrosted (if frozen), toss with all above mentioned ingredients and let marinate for 5-10 minutes. Line baking sheet with foil and lie out shrimp. Place in the over on top rack and broil for 2-3 minutes. Flip shrimp and put back in the oven for another 2-3 minutes until cooked (firm and pink in color--so long as they are no longer translucent).

San Diego, My Other Favorite California City

This past weekend, I spent an amazingly packed two days and one night hanging out with my girlfriends from college (plus a few boyfriends, friends and 'significant others' thrown in the mix). We, of course, took advantage of San Diego's fantastic breakfast/brunch scene and hit up two of my favorite spots--The Mission in Mission Beach and The Cottage in La Jolla. I highly recommend the 30 minute to 1 hour wait you'll have to endure if you attempt to go there anytime after 10 a.m. I rarely go out to breakfast here at home unless I have visitors in town and even then, I love getting up early, doing a market run and whipping up some crepes or poached eggs with fruit, or pancakes. In San Diego, I fall into a different pace of life. I wake up a little later (though not late by most people's standards), I can wait until noon to eat brunch, and stay out til 2 am without getting the slightest bit foggy.

San Francisco may be a foodie capital, but San Diego definitely can play game. From the little Mexican joints lining Pacific Beach to more upscale restaurants in downtown La Jolla and San Diego, ethnic hot spots like Little Italy and fusion mixes in Hillcrest, there is no shortage of great food. I've grown more sophisticated from my college days, but I feel that San Diego has grown with me. It can still accommodate my yearning for a greasy fish taco, but can also satisfy the desire for a classy meal.

I spent a lot of time enjoying the beach (and actually swimming in the water--something I miss dearly), roasting marshmallows at a bonfire, dancing and cruising around. We capped our weekend off at Sogno DiVino, an adorable wine bar in Little Italy. Our group shared a bottle of prosecco, cheese plate, scallop ceviche, eggplant rolls with buffalo mozzarella, tuna salad and a panini. Lounging on leather chairs looking out on the street was pure bliss. It's been over three years since I packed up my Honda with four years' worth of stuff and drove my way back to the Bay Area, but every time I go back, I'm always in a state of slight disbelief--over just how beautiful this city is and how unfathomable it is to me that I lived in this beach paradise. As the security agent at the San Diego Airport told me as he scanned my boarding pass, "Life is good, dear." True story!

Roasted Beet Salad

Since I was a child, I've had a pretty antagonistic approach to beets. Coming from a Russian family, I was forced to eat a lot of Borscht--hot, chilled, with sour cream, with cucumber, with sliced eggs. I've developed a certain disdain for it and stopped eating it a few years ago entirely. But, a visit to one of my favorite restaurants and a beautifully multi-colored beet salad later, I had a resurgent desire to love beets. My first attempt was in the form of a marinated beet salad from my Alice Waters Simple Food cookbook.

My second and extremely delicious rendition was another take--a roasted beet salad with roasted shallots, toasted almonds, parsley and a honey-olive oil dressing. With foodblogsearch.com as a my source, I came upon a lovely blog by a woman named Warda called 64 Sq Ft Kitchen. I must say that now that I have tried roasting beets, I'm not sure I'll go back to any other way. By roasting the beets with a little olive oil, S&P and cumin, side by side with some sliced shallots, I found an amazing new texture to this vegetable. Part roasted potato, part sweet potato, part pumpkin. The beets themselves were almost dessert-like in nature. The dressing, shallots and toasted almonds came together beautifully and I devoured almost an entire bowl of it all by myself (I have but 4 little pieces of beet left to toss with some heirloom tomatoes for lunch tomorrow).

I made a few changes to Warda's recipe. Most prominently, I did not have Meyer Lemon nor oranges, so used regular lemon. I also omitted the orange rind and tossed my beets with cumin powder, not seeds. I also used Italian flat leaf parsley for the dressing as well as Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Since I was cooking for myself, I used 1 whole beet, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 large shallot in the recipe. I eyeballed the salt, pepper, cumin powder and parsley (use more or less, depending on how much you like). Also, I only had whole almonds at hand, so I roughly chopped them and threw them briefly on the skillet to toast them up.

While Alice's recipe was fresh and simple, Warda's took beets to a whole other level. I envision many variations of this salad--with goat cheese, as she suggests, served over toasted Israeli couscous, alongside meatballs in tomato sauce...

As much as I want to keep going on and on about how good this recipe was, I must get off to packing. I'm headed down to San Diego for a weekend of beach, beach cruisers, my most favorite breakfast spots and most importantly, some of the loveliest girls I know!

Three Day Weekend Detox, Reviews

Oh glorious 3 day weekends, what lovely little gifts you are. A long weekend, followed by a short week: what a fantastic notion! If only every week could be a 4 day week. Anyway, this past weekend was a phenomenal celebration of food here in San Francisco--Slow Food Nation. According to the festival's site, it was the largest celebration of food in American history and while I partook in wandering Saturday's open air market in Civic Center, I spent the majority of my weekend taking advantage of amazing weather and lounging on the beach. That said, I ate a delicious sandwich from Mario Batali's father's Seattle deli, tried some heirloom apples and grapes, tasted jalapeno sauerkraut, a range of cheeses and a new brand of never-before-tried kombucha. Overall, it was a lovely way to spend my Saturday. I was impressed by the variety of heirloom offerings (I had never heard of heirloom melons and rice!), but was unimpressed by the prices. Despite the decent tags on strawberries and apples, I was not ready and willing to spend $15 on goat cheese. Speaking of which, you MUST try Trader Joe's goat cheese brie. It is a luscious and creamy and an absolute bargain. Can't wait to make an open faced sandwich with, what else, figs of course.

My foodie weekend continued at two new restaurant destinations: Limon's new Rotisserie and Aperto in Potrero Hill. I had first visited the original Limon a few years ago at its Valencia post and was very excited to give this new South Van Ness spot a go. My hopes and dreams were very much fulfilled! Great cozy atmosphere, amazing roast chicken, perfect ceviche and delicious sides such as sweet potato mash with hangar steak and yuca fries. Even the bread comes with two delicious dipping sauces. And the sangria! A pitcher of it sealed the deal for me. I will definitely be going back.

Also took advantage of having a Zipcar and hit up a neighborhood I've never found myself in (Potrero Hill) to check out cozy little Italian trattoria, Aperto. The space was very romantic and inviting (yellow awning!) and as I watched the surrounding tables' portions come out, I was blown away by the size to price ratio (great deal!) We split the watermelon salad with pistachios, pickled onions, cucumbers and toasted riccota salata, which was absolutely delicious and refreshing with a glass of pinot grigio. I also had the night's fish special--halibut with mushrooms, artichokes and tomatoes. The halibut was perfectly cooked and tender. Overall, the meal was quite good, but not necessary something I'd go back for. Not sure what it was, but I feel like something was missing (certainly not fresh focaccia). But, I don't know. It was just...good. But it definitely didn't elicit the same kinds of emotions I had after leaving Limon the previous night. I didn't feel the need to linger for dessert and zipped off to Bi-Rite to get my fill of Mexican Chocolate ice cream.

Yesterday, we headed out to Bodega Bay and enjoyed a leisurely hike between 2 nestled beaches and laid out on the blackish sand for a few hours before hiking back and heading back to the city. Back when I lived in sunny San Diego, I remember lounging on the beach for hours with my sociology readers at hand. I rarely get out to the beach here and having the sun blast on my face, sunglasses smeared with sunblock lotion was just so refreshing. I kept having these moments of deja vu of pulling out of the parking lot at La Jolla Shores, early evening sun creating a shadow on the car seats, wind blowing through my frizzy hair. I'm more than looking forward to catching up with friends this weekend in San Diego and rekindling that good old feeling.