Day 365: Last Hurrah

My husband and I brainstormed lots of ways to conclude this blog but in the end, I decided to keep it simple. For dinner, we returned to the restaurant we visited the most times over the past year and then went to another local spot for one of my very favorite desserts.

It's kind of amazing to remember that we lived in our neighborhood for over a year before we checked out Bistro Aix, just 2 blocks from our house. But, ever since that first visit, we have not been able to stay away. The menu features several staple dishes that we have come to love and in addition, some dishes that come and go depending on what's in season. No matter what we've ordered, we've never been disappointed and tonight was no different.

I went with my favorite Bistro Aix salad, spinach with baby beets and goat cheese. Yummy. For my entree, I decided to go with something new: grilled yellowtail with creamed corn and a small salad. Every element of the dish was delicious but the corn was downright addictive. Had they wheeled a vat of it to the table, I would have dived right in.

Thank you to Bistro Aix for serving me so much amazing food over the past year. As it turns out, this blog is ending at just the right time. Bistro Aix is about to close for renovations for at least 6 months. What will we do??

For dessert, we walked a couple of blocks to Mezes and bellied up to the bar for galaktobouriko and a class of Samos (Greek dessert wine). Galaktobouriko is similar to baklava, but with custard so it isn't as dry. It arrives doused in honey - the whole thing is so sweet that I feel my skin vibrating. I love it.

So...that's it. A wonderful meal to conclude a year of mostly wonderful dinners. Stay tuned for a summary of the year. And thanks for reading!

Day 364: Empty Cup, Full Belly

Uh oh. In my haste to get this delicious chili into my tummy, I completely forgot to photograph it. Imagine a thick, dark mixture of beef, beans, and tasty spices and seasoning, with cheese sprinkled over the top. As you can see, I brushed off the chopped raw onions.

I paired my chili at tonight's Giants game with hefeweizen, my favorite type of beer. An hour of so later, I followed it up with some caramel corn - a hand made specialty at AT&T Park and a treat I can never pass up. For a photo of this ridiculous, mind blowing dessert, check out entry #344, "Go Team!". In this case, though, seeing is not believing. To understand why I go on and on about this stuff, you must try it for yourself.

One day to go!!

Day 363: This Blog's Final Discovery

My husband and I recently discovered the show "Check Please Bay Area", which is produced by and airs on the PBS affiliate here in NorCal, KQED. The show features three guests who each talk about their favorite Bay Area restaurant and then the other guests go and visit it and each reports on their experience.

We recently saw an episode that featured Sociale as one of the three restaurants. Intrigued by the menu and the garden ambiance, we decided we needed to check this place out.

I was taken with the place upon arrival. We had to walk down a narrow tree lined alley which let us out at Sociale's garden patio. It was a bit too chilly to sit outside, so we were seated indoors. The service was stellar - prompt and super friendly.

One of the dishes on the appetizer menu is deep fried olives stuffed with fontina cheese. I needed to try this (pictured). Unfortunately, it was disappointing. It tasted like super salty olives. The cheese didn't come through at all. I ate two of the eight on the plate, my husband ate one, and the remaining five were uneaten.

Next I had a salad of prawns, peaches, and cucumbers. All of the ingredients were so fresh - super crunch cukes and the peaches were so sweet and delicious. I loved it.

My main course was pappardelle pasta with duck, peas, and truffle oil. This dish was rich, savory, and luscious. I'd order it again in an instant, although the menu contained lots of other dishes that I'm interested to try as well.

It would have been great if I'd had any room left for dessert - the goat cheese cheese cake sounded so interesting - the apple and quince tart sounded delicious, and the beignets with blackberry glaze sounded amazing. But alas, I was way too full. But we'll be back. Not in time to tell you the details - but that just means you probably need to check this place out for yourself.

Day 358: Geez Louise - That Was Tasty!!

I had the urge to leave the 'hood for dinner tonight so we tried a restaurant we had never been to in Russian Hill - 1550 Hyde Cafe & Wine Bar.  Looking at their menu online, the numerous salads and fish entree appealed to me.

I loved the restaurant's setting right away.  It's small with simple decor - warm and welcoming with a very friendly staff.  The menu is somewhat limited - about 5 appetizers and entrees to choose from, but the menu changes regularly to reflect what's in season.

My salad was composed of baby greens with bing cherries, toasted almonds, and fiore sardo cheese.  I'd never tried fiore sardo before and as it turns out, this sheep's milk cheese was too strong for me.  When I ate it with a bit of each of the other components of the salad, it was okay - but otherwise it was just too much.  I wound up giving most of it to my hubby.  On the other hand, the almonds were among the most delicious I had ever had. 

I followed up the salad with salmon, served on top of a mix of fresh chickpeas, corn, and spinach.  I absolutely loved the veggies - the fish was okay.

The star of the meal, though, was dessert.  I rarely indulge in sweets after dinner but tonight's special could not be ignored:  nectarine and chocolate bread pudding with almonds, topped with vanilla ice cream.  Geez Louise - this dish was ridiculous!!  It had the perfect amount of chocolate and the nuts offered a bit of crunch.  It could have used a bit more nectarine, but it was amazing.

I adore restaurants that support local farmers and change their menu frequently to include seasonally relevant dishes.  We'll definitely be returning to 1550 Hyde Cafe and I'm glad I was able to include them in this blog before the 365 days are up!

Day 353: Some Assembly Required

To be honest, tonight's dinner was more assembled than cooked.  I purchased some fresh pasta (cooks in 2 minutes!), a package of Aidell's chicken/turkey meatballs, and some shaved parmesan cheese.  All I needed to do was make some quick sauce and prepare the pasta & balls as suggested on their packages and presto - dinner is ready!

To make the sauce, I threw a package of cherry tomatoes and two pressed garlic cloves into the food processor and pulsed it until the tomatoes were crushed.  Then I threw all of that into a pot with a couple of splashes of white wine, a few pinches of dried oregano, and S&P.  I brought all of it to a boil and then allowed it to simmer with the meatballs for about 15 minutes.

Then came the assembly.  I mixed the cooked pasta with the sauce and meatballs in the pot I had used to cook the pasta.  I then sprinkled in a generous dose of the parm and gently mixed it all together.  Once plated, I sprinkled some more cheese over the top.

So - very little of tonight's dinner was made from scratch - but it was tasty, easy, and healthful.  On busy work nights, sometimes that's the best you can do but I think you should be proud about making dinner at home no matter what you make.

Day 349: Fig F-Up

I had designed tonight's menu around some fresh figs I purchased a couple of days ago.  I thought it would be tasty to make a fig and goat cheese salad, served alongside lamb chops.

When I got to the store, however, there were no lamb chops!  I didn't see anything else that really appealed to me in terms of a cooking from scratch so I went with some store made turkey meatloaf that just needed to be cooked up.

Then I got home and realized that somehow, the figs I purchased had been thrown away!  They were in a brown paper bag, which I think was mistaken for a compost bag.  BUMMER!!  Fortunately, we had a package of vacuum sealed baby beets, purchased at Trader Joe's a few weeks ago.  Beets and goat cheese are a beautiful combination, so I simply swapped out the invisible figs for the beets and the salad was still tasty.

Rule #1:  always have a back-up plan (or at least have a well stocked pantry and be quick on your feet!).

Day 347: Celebrating Wedded Bliss

My husband and I went to Spruce tonight for dinner to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary in style.

Spruce is a beautiful restaurant in the Presidio Heights section of San Francisco. We particularly enjoy their charcutterie and cheese platters and so always start and end our meal with them, respectively. In between, I enjoyed branzino (a mild white fish) served over mashed avocado with an olive caper sauce. It was light, savory, and really delicious. But back to the meat and cheese...

Spruce makes their own charcutterie, which we think is pretty cool. The platter tonight included a duck pate (I love it - my husband won't eat it - lucky for me!), a few different pork salamis, soppresetta, and cured pork tenderloin. I enjoyed some of the meats more than others, but that was okay since I had that lovely pate all to myself. We ordered an arugula, fresh cherries, and goat cheese salad to accompany the charcutterie because a little green on the side can make a person feel a lot less guilty about all the fat she is putting in her mouth!

For the cheese course, we ordered the European plate which included five types. The blue cheese (Valdeon Leon) from Spain was my favorite, followed by the crumbly sheep parmesan-like (Durgali) one from Italy and the Italian goat cheese.

All of this goodness was washed down with a really excellent Chateau Montelena Estate cabernet that my husband had acquired for the occasion. He's good like that. Glad I married him!!

Day 343: An Oldie, But a Goodie

The recipe for this tart is from the May 2006 issue of Saveur magazine.  I made it several times for dinner parties when the magazine first came out, but then forgot about it.  Tonight we were having some friends over, so I brushed the dust off the issue and made this delicious tart again.

I'll warn you - this recipe isn't difficult, but it takes a long time to pull it together.  But it is so yummy, so it's worth it, especially if you're making it for people who will appreciate it. 

The main course tonight was flank steak (2 lb), marinated for 6 hours in this delicious mixture and then grilled:

1.5T freshly squeezed lime juice

1T olive oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1t hot chili paste, like Sambel Oelek

1/2t grated or minced ginger

1/2t honey

Finally, we had some grilled figs, which are a seasonal specialty that I absolutely love.  Fresh figs are lightly coated with olive oil, then seasoned with S&P, and grilled for a couple of minutes over medium-low heat.  Simple, but amazing.

I encourage you to try any or all of these recipes!

Day 342: Pretty Pile of Pasta

This beautiful bowl of pasta was a snap to put together and so tasty!  It all started with a package of fresh egg pasta, which only had to boil for 2 minutes!

Rather than sauce, I loaded this pasta with the full flavors of fresh ingredients like heirloom cherry tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, chopped basil, and lots of grated parmesan cheese.

I tossed a pound of cherry tomatoes with about 2T olive oil, 3 cloves minced garlic, and S&P and laid it all out in a single layer in a glass baking dish.  This roasted at 350 degrees for about 30 hour - until the tomatoes began to burst.

Another 4 cloves of minced garlic was sauteed with 3T olive oil and a few shakes of red pepper flakes over low heat for about 5 minutes, until the garlic was softened and mellowed out.

In a separate pan, 3T of pine nuts were carefully toasted over low heat.

When everything was ready, I cooked up the pasta (2 minutes!), drained it, and returned it to the pot.  I then added the tomatoes, garlic/olive oil, and nuts to the pot with it, along with about 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Taste and add S&P as you feel is necessary.  

Serve, sprinkle a good dose of freshly chopped basil over the top, and enjoy!

Day 340: Nectar of the Gods

The focus of tonight's dinner was wine.  You've gotta love that!

Pey-Marin, a Marin County winery that we discovered a few months ago was hosting an evening at our favorite neighborhood wine bar, Nectar.  On offer was a 4-wine flight:  sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, merlot, and syrah.

To go along with the wine, we ordered several small plates of food:

> Phyllo dough triangles stuffed with blue cheese and spinach

> A mixed green salad with beets, almonds, and a minty dressing

> Tuna tartar (pictured)

> Ricotta gnocchi

> Charcuterie and cheese plate

All of it was delicious, but the highlight was the prosciutto on the charcuterie plate.  It was so soft and savory - among the best prosciutto I've ever had.

In terms of the wine, surprisingly my favorite was the merlot.  This is normally a grape I do not much care for but this one was so tasty that we bought 3 bottles!  Yum, yum, wine is fun!  

Day 339: When in Doubt, It's Taco Time

This is one of my favorite work night dinners.  It's takes little time and effort to bring it together and it's so yummy.

I normally make tacos with ground turkey since it's leaner than beef and cook it as suggested on the McCormick's taco seasoning packet.  After slicing some iceberg lettuce, chopping some ripe tomatoes, grating some sharp Tillamook cheddar, making guacamole, and warming up some tortillas, it was chow time.  If you want, you can save time by buying salsa and guac at the store rather than preparing the tomatoes and avocado yourself.

Guac is easy to make, though, and if you've never tried, you really should.  Here's my recipe:

1 large ripe avocado

Juice from 1 lime

1T light sour cream

10-15 generous shakes from the Frank's Red Hot bottle

Salt to taste

Scoop the avocado out onto a cutting board and mash it with the back of a fork.  Transfer it to a bowl and mix it with the rest of the ingredients.  I told you it was easy!

Day 336: Seeking Softness

I'm having a rough couple of weeks.  First, I seriously cut my thumb while slicing eggplant for moussaka.  Then, a few days later, I had a couple of wisdom teeth extracted.  Now, I've found out that there's an infection at one of the extraction sites, which is why I continue to experience a lot of discomfort on one side of my mouth.  So, I continue to try to eat mostly soft foods or to cut things into very small pieces.  With all of this in mind, we went to Isa for dinner tonight.

At Isa, diners are supposed to share all the dishes they order.  My husband and I love to eat that way since we both get to try more things, so we love Isa.  Tonight we ordered:

> Tuna tartar (small pieces of diced tuna, served over mashed avocados)

> Baked goat cheese with tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts (wonderful - and soft - when smeared on the soft insides of Isa's baguettes)

> Scallops with mashed potatoes

> Grilled yellowtail with sauteed zucchini and artichokes

> Flat iron steak with roasted potatoes (I had a couple of bites, but this was mostly consumed by my hubby)

I didn't struggle too much through any of this and the yellowtail, a new dish on the menu, was absolutely amazing.  It was very simply prepared, with the fish left rare in middle, and the whole dish was full of fresh flavors.

It's probably going to be another few days until I'm able to eat normally again.  Fish seems to be the best solution, delivering yummy and healthy protein with minimal chewing required.  Soups, noodles, and well cooked veggies work as well.  As long as I can keep a nice variety of food on my plate, I'll be okay.  Food boredom is the worst!

Day 333: Cooking One Handed

Tonight was the first night I truly attempted to cook dinner since sliced off the tip of my thumb last Monday.  I made stuffed peppers and did a pretty good job, too!  This is a recipe I made up as I went along and I didn't measure anything out so the quantities here are estimated.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 bell peppers (color of your choice), halved, seeded, and white bits removed

3/4 lb. lean ground beef

1 small shallot, minced

3 large cloves of garlic, sent through a garlic press

1/4 cup chopped sweet pear or grape tomatoes

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and gently mix all ingredients (except the peppers and cheese) in a bowl.

Place peppers on  a greased baking sheet or pan.  Fill peppers with meat mixture.  You don't have to press very hard - just place a loosely packed mound of meat in each pepper half.

Bake peppers for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle cheese on top of each pepper and continue to bake until melted.  Sprinkle another round of cheese on top of each pepper and turn broiler on.  You don't have to move the pan to sit directly under the broiler - just having it on with allow the cheese to brown a bit on top.  Watch it carefully to ensure it doesn't burn.

I wish I had served this alongside a salad, but in any case it was tasty.  Hope you enjoy!

Day 330: Still Gumming It

Still on the road to recovery after my wisdom tooth extraction yesterday, I opted for a wholesome and soft dinner of grilled salmon at Capannina. It was served over a bed of artichokes, olives, and thinly sliced zucchini. The menu description said it was "pesto crusted" but I didn't get much pesto flavor. The dish was excellent in any case.

Lucky for us, it's still zucchini blossom season, so we ordered the special appetizer - said blossoms stuffed with cheese and lightly fried. Yum yum delicious.

Day 329: Mush Mouth

I had my last two wisdom teeth extracted this morning.  Fun!  After a day of smoothies and broth I was hungry and ready for some real food, but needed to be careful to find something soft.  We headed to Luisa's for their divine eggplant parmesan.  I've had this dish many times before and I love it, especially when the waiter generously grates parm over the top!

I had been planning to begin the meal with soup, but I noticed a new meatball appetizer on the menu.  Soft minced meat?  Sounded perfect to me!  They were delicious and easy for me to consume once chopped up into small bites.

I expect that I'll need to continue to find more tooth/gum friendly foods tomorrow.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.  Leave a comment if you have one.

Day 325: Human Blood Optional

Trader Joe's had some beautiful eggplant yesterday and so the plan was to make moussaka for dinner tonight.  Rather than slice it by hand, I thought I'd use a mandolin that I purchased years ago but never used.  So, instead of slicing BY hand, I sliced MY hand - took the tip right off  my right thumb.  

For me, this meant a lot of blood, pain and discomfort and a potentially deformed thumb for the rest of my life.  For my husband, it meant that he needed to finish making dinner (after attending to my wound like a pro).

He did a marvelous job.  The dish was delicious, despite the disaster beforehand.  The recipe we used was from page 514 of the amazing Gourmet cookbook.  I'd love to provide the recipe for you, but typing is a challenge right now.  Buy the book.  You'll love it.

Day 324: Italian Feast

During our weekly visit to Trader Joe's today, I found some beautiful basil and decided that dinner tonight would involve homemade pesto.  Pesto is so easy to make.  The following recipe makes enough to stuff four chicken breasts, but if you want to make it as a pasta sauce, you should probably double it.

Pesto:

1 packed cup of basil leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1.5 T pine nuts

1/2 + 1T freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 T butter

S&P to taste

Place basil, oil, garlic, and nuts in a food processor and mix until smoothly, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.  Add cheese and butter and mix again until all ingredients are blended.  Add S&P to taste.

Pre-heat your oven at 375 degrees.  Slice the chicken lengthwise through the middle, being careful not to cut all the way through.  You want to be able to fold the chicken back like a book.  Once folded back, coat the inside of each chicken breast with about 1T pesto.  If you'd like, lay some roasted peppers over the pesto and fold the chicken back up again.  Place the breasts in a greased baking dish and smooth about a teaspoon of pesto over the top of each breast.

Bake the chicken for 25 minutes and then sprinkle some shredded mozzarella cheese over the top of each breast.  Bake for another 5-8 minutes or until the cheese is melted.  Add another sprinkling of cheese and place the dish under the broiler until the top is browned.

Our side dish was sauteed baby broccoli (known as broccolini at Trader Joe's).  I first cooked 3 cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for a couple of minutes.  Once they were softened, I added the broccoli, a few splashes of white wine, and cranked the heat up to medium-high.  I added more wine every couple of minutes when the pan got dry to ensure that the garlic didn't burn.

The best part of tonight's dinner?  It's Sunday but there's not work tomorrow!  Enjoy your Memorial Day, everyone!

Day 323: Liquid & Solid Experimentation

I want to love oysters.  People who like oysters are cool and living here in Northern California, loving oysters seems like the right thing to do.  I've had little experience eating them, though, and I have a mental barrier that says "oysters are snot-like".  So, I've decided to try them when the time and place is right and when I'm feeling adventurous.  Tonight was one of those nights.

After an exceedingly lazy day during which we hardly left the house, we ventured out of our neighborhood for dinner to try a new restaurant, Bacar.  I ordered the field green salad and one of each of the two oysters they were offering tonight:  Beausoleil (from New Brunswick, Canada) and Point Reyes (from California).  Surprisingly, I preferred the oysters over the salad, which I found quite bitter.  I squeezed some lemon juice over the oysters and spooned a bit of cocktail sauce on top and even chewed the flesh rather than just swallowing them whole.  Both were good but the Point Reyes, with a fresh flavor that I really enjoyed, was the better of the two.

For my entree, I chose a lamb dish with middle eastern component:  preserved lemon, harissa, and olives.  It was only after ordering that I found out that the dish feature lamb "three ways":  the loin, a lamb sausage, and braised lamb belly.  I was a little worried about that last one, but all of them were really good.

After our entrees we shared a cheese plate and my husband ordered a flight of Scotch.  Brown liquor (scotch, bourbon, whiskey) goes in the same category as oysters - things I currently do not enjoy but which I desperately want to want to learn to love.  My husband quite likes his brown liquor, though, so I always take the opportunity to sip his.  Two out of three were okay, but I still have a ways to go before I love them.

Still, it was a successful night overall.  It was fun to get out of the neighborhood and try a new restaurant and lots of new things, both liquid and solid!

Day 316: A Real Seasonal Treat

Tonight's dinner with my visiting in-laws was full of tasty treats, but the greatest of all was the stuffed squash blossoms that I had as my appetizer.  Filled with fresh mozzarella, lightly fried, and plated with drizzles of tomato sauce and pesto. 

As I almost always do when we go to Capannina, I ordered fish.  Tonight it was sea bass served with cherry tomatoes, asparagus, and grilled polenta.  Yummy.

And because we had special guests, we decided to splurge and have dessert. Of course I insisted on an order of Capannina's to die for profiteroles.  These light creme puffs are served with two dipping sauces - chocolate and caramel - and they are heaven on earth.  My hubby's choice was molten chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream.

This was a treatful night indeed.  Squash blossom season is a short one - I'll have to try to get back to Capannina again before it's over!

Day 315: Something New To Me!

As an open minded, experimental eater, it's not often that I run into menu items that I have not tried or at least heard of - but tonight was one of those occasions.  

One of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, Bistro Aix, introduces seasonal dishes to their menu on a daily basis.  Today, they featured a salad with agretti with shaved parmesan and lemon juice.  The waitress described agretti as a sea grass with a similar texture to seaweed but with a flavor similar to asparagus.  Well, I love seaweed and asparagus and so I thought I'd give it a try.

I didn't get asparagus flavor.  In fact, I didn't get much flavor at all, other than maybe a grassy taste.  But when paired with a bit of the cheese and lemon juice it was pretty tasty.  I wouldn't suggest that you hunt down some agretti and try it immediately, but if you see it on a menu it's worth a try.

I followed the salad up with my beloved bouillabaise - a mix of calamari, clams, and halibut in a light tomato/fennel broth with croutons and chunks of potato.  This is my very favorite dish at Bistro Aix and I order it nearly every time we go there.

So, a mix of the something well known and something brand new tonight.  Not a bad way to approach dinner!