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 308: Fishy Friday

My husband was away most of this week and so I had relatively boring meals at home by myself.  Today we celebrated his return and the return of Friday by going to one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants for dinner - Cafe Maritime.

As you might expect, Cafe Maritime's menu is packed is fish dishes:  swordfish, tuna, linguine with clams, fish & chips, and so on.  Tonight, after my green salad, I opted for grilled mahi mahi, which I believe is a new addition to the menu.  It was meant to be served with string beans and baby potatoes, but I requested that they substitute horseradish mashed potatoes instead of the baby ones.  As always (I think I almost always make a side swap at CM!) they were happy to oblige.

Lucky for me, after my entree I still had enough room left to share an order of Mark's Mom's Coconut Cream Pie with my hubby.  This is without a doubt, one of my favorite desserts in the world.  Happy Friday, everyone!

Day 296: Please Pass the Burger Bite

Day 2 of my marathon of friends during this trip back east, this one with college friends. There are two couples who live within just a 15 minute drive of my parents' house so we decided to take advantage of the amazing weather we've been having and gathered at one of their homes for a bbq.

It was a great night to sit outside, sip some cold white wine, and enjoy catching up with friends that I haven't seen in well over a year! Dinner was hamburgers and sweet potatoes, both from the grill, and potato salad and green salad. One hamburger became the casualty of "the flip" and broke up into what we called "burger bites" which sort of got passed around throughout the meal, depending on who needed another small does of red meat in their system. The bite on my plate actually wound up in someone else's belly.

The sweet potatoes were definitely the star of the meal, however. They had marinated in olive oil, some herbs, and S&P and then were grilled until tender. Everyone raved about them! Good job, Kelly!

And, I'm thrilled to say that I did indeed carry last night's lesson with me, sipping a beer and some white wine like the adult I am supposed to be! Will it last? The marathon isn't over yet!

Day 281: En Papillote

A few weeks ago, while in a taxi, I went past a cute looking restaurant called Hyde Street Seafood House.  Coincidentally, during an office happy hour last week, a couple of my co-workers were talking about the place and how much they loved it.  This weekend I decided to try it for myself.

The restaurant prides itself on en papillote preparation.  That's when you bake food in parchment paper, usually with veggies and starch, like rice or potatoes.  I went with the New Zealand Blue Nosed Sea Bass which frankly, I had never heard of.  It was baked, as you can see, with loads of thinly sliced zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, and jalapenos.  I squeezed two juicy slices of lemon over the top and presto - a light, flavorful, super healthy meal.

En papillot is actually a pretty easy and very impressive dish to make yourself.  Several months ago, I tried it for the first time with halibut and it was a huge success.  Give it a shot!

Day 273: No Food Envy Tonight!

Last time we ate at Capannina, my husband ordered the seared tuna bruschetta and man, was I jealous!  The dish is totally misnamed.  The tuna doesn't arrive on thinly toasted bread - it arrives on top of deep fried discs of rice!  Tonight, they were mine.  Add a thin of slice of caper berry to each bit and swipe it quickly through the vinaigrette and it's the perfect combination of savory and richness.

I followed this up with the seafood mixed grill, which is one of my favorite entrees at Capannina.   Tonight it included salmon, sea bass, and a tiger prawn - all plated on top of the smoothly mashed potatoes you've ever had.

As always at Capannina, an amazing meal.  Thanks, guys!

Day 234: Celebrating a Milestone

My car has been approaching the 100,000 miles.  I hardly ever drive, but my husband drives it to/from work each day, so I've missed nearly every other major milestone.  I was determined to watch this one happen!

Based on the distance my husband travels each day, we new that tonight was the night.  We figured that by the time he got home, the car will be just 20 to 25 miles away from the target.  So, we decided to do something that we have never done before - leave the city for dinner on a school night.  We decided to try out the Buckeye Roadhouse, a popular and well regarded restaurant in Marin County.  By our calculations, the roundtrip should be the perfect distance to allow me to witness the big event. 

The Buckeye Roadhouse doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside it's quite nice and the menu is full of gourmet dishes (with upscale prices - corkage was $25!!).  We shared two appetizers:  the seared tuna with crunchy cabbage, bell peppers, and crispy noodles and the calamari with tomatillo salsa.  Both were excellent.

Next, I had seared scallops with lemon risotto and chanterelle mushrooms.  YUMS!!  I loved every bite, although I didn't quite finish every bite.  That's probably because we also shared a side order of maple mashed yams - so good I could hardly control myself.

After all this great food, we hit the road and it turns out, we timed this night perfectly.  When we were just a mile from home, the odometer made the much awaited spin.  100,000 miles!!  It looks like my little Honda is all grown up!

Day 221: More Home Cooking on Vacation

We had an utterly exhausting day today lounging on the beach.  Life is tough.

Thanks goodness my dad made dinner easy once again.  Tonight he grilled hamburgers, chorizo sausages, and peppers and onions.  We also sampled some potato chips we found in the grocery store earlier today in Coronado, Panama.  They said they were "limon" flavor, but the picture on the bag was of a lime - intrigued, I bought a bag to taste them for myself (they were lime).

A big part of travel for me is trying out the local food, but it's also been wonderful to have a home cooked dinner these past couple of nights.  Thanks, Dad!

Day 219: When in Panama City...

We had just one night in Panama City and so you know we wanted to make the most of it by having a really good meal there. I had read about Manolo Caracol, supposedly one of the most well known restaurants in PC, and we had our hearts set on eating there but learned on our way out of the hotel that it is closed on Sundays.

Without a back-up plan, we asked the consierge for a recommendation. We said we wanted something local where we could enjoy true Panamanian cuisine. He recommended El Traphiche, but followed (several times) with a cautionary note that it was "nothing fancy". This was no problem at all for us, especially once he assured us that he eats there often.

We decided to order some sangria and the Panamanian Fiesta, a combination plate that promised a range of Panamanian delights.  It included fried yucca, fried plantains, a sweet corn cake, rice, shredded beef in El Trapiche's house sauce, a small bowl of something saucy with chicken, and for lack of a better description, a log of mashed potatoes that had been stuffed with ground meat of some kind.  The platter also came with a bowl of sancocho soup, which I had discovered and enjoyed in CR a day earlier. We also ordered a sandwich (the name escapes me at the moment) that came on something between bread and a tortilla, stuffed with different meats and cheese - it was delish!  We finished up with a giant bowl of ice cream and our entire bill, including tip, was less than $30!  Gotta love that!

I've done a couple of quick searches and it seems that El Trapiche isn't exactly a well guarded secret.  I found a NY Times review of the place and saw that it was listed on Wikitravel in the "Eat" section of the "Panama City" entry.

This was a great experience and we left totally stuffed.  Remember, when you travel, always ask the locals where to eat!

Day 218: Last Night in Costa Rica

We've had a tremendous time in CR and I am really sad to be leaving tomorrow. But, I'm also looking forward to the next leg of our trip - Panama!

To begin to get myself integrated into that new culture, I started tonight's dinner with sancocho, described on the menu as a traditional Panamanian soup. It was so simple but so YUM!! Basically, it is chicken soup with chunks of chicken and potato. The broth was so rich and flavorful, though - much tastier than most chicken soups. I think they must cook it long and slow with potato and corn, with the starches from those veggies adding the richness.

Next, I had some grilled shrimp marinated in garlic. They were good, but not great. Or maybe the super delicious soup just ruined me for anything that followed. Although, to be honest, I splurged and had dessert tonight - traditional Costa Rican rice pudding (which was relatively undistinguishable from US rice pudding) that was very yummy.

I should mention that this meal took place at the restaurant at the lovely Villa Blanco Cloudforest Hotel and Spa where we spent our final night in CR. Unfortunately, we only had one day to spend here and the rainy weather continued, preventing us from fully enjoying the cloudforest itself, but the hotel experience was really nice and we definitely plan to return for a longer period of time one day, hopefully in the near future.

Meanwhile, tomorrow we move on to Panama. What tasty treats await us there, I wonder?

Day 198: Ordering by Process of Elimination

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I almost always cook on Sundays.  Today, however, we were out of town and returned too late to start thinking about making dinner and so we headed over to Bistro Aix.

BA is one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants but tonight's experience was a bit trying.  Upon sitting down, we were informed that they were out of 4 or 5 items on the menu.  Of course, one of them was the bouillabaise, which I love and which I had planned to order.  I contemplated my other options and decided on the steak, but when it was time to order, they had run out of that as well.  Grrrr.  

With few options left, I went for the chicken breast with haricot verts and mashed potatoes.  I very rarely order roasted chicken at a restaurant as this is an incredibly easy dish to make at home.  It's almost as if I feel I'm wasting a night out by having something I could make myself.  Having said that, I was very impressed by how crispy the skin was.  I normally remove the skin since it's packed with fat, but it was so crispy and peppery and delicious - I couldn't resist.

It turns out that we had a very typical Sunday experience at Bisto Aix.  Everything they serve is fresh and they are closed Monday and Tuesday so by Sunday night they are running on empty.  As annoying as it was, I really appreciate the freshness factor and so we'll definitely return - just not on Sunday!

Day 196: I Did What???

Tonight I did something crazy.  I went to Izzy's Steaks & Chops and ordered...swordfish??

I haven't been feeling all that slim lately and so I felt that I needed to avoid my beloved prime rib tonight and go for a healthier option.

I started with the yummy warm goat cheese salad.  A disc of gooey cheese is served on a bed of lettuce with sliced apples and chopped walnuts.  I don't care for walnuts, so I always pick those out and my husband enjoys them.

At Izzy's you get to choose two sides with your entree.  Normally I go with a double order of steamed broccoli but tonight a baked potato sounded good.  When it showed up, it was the size of my head!  I was a little intimidated by it and so concentrated on the fish (delicious!) and the broccoli and once I got through that I was super stuffed and so never touched that dinosaur egg of a potato.

This was the first time that I ever went to a steakhouse and ordered fish.  While I was very  pleasantly surprised, I wonder...will I ever do this again?  Stay tuned!

Day 190: Found Via Yellow Death Machine

The phrase "yellow death machine" was coined by my husband after one too many death defying white knuckle rides in a NYC taxi.

I hopped into a yellow death machine after work a few weeks ago and the driver took me on a totally circuitous route.  Annoyance turned into appreciation when we passed by an adorable restaurant not too far from our house, but on a street I wouldn't normally use.  We gave that restaurant a try tonight.

Amarena was charming indeed and we were warmly greeted when we arrived and experienced very friendly service throughout our meal.  The atmosphere had a cozy, neighborhood feel that I liked as well.  The food, however, was good - but not great.  I think that if we lived closer, we would work Amarena into our rotation.  But because we have a stellar Italian restaurant within walking distance from our place, we don't see much of a reason to board a bus or catch a cab to get to Amarena again.

Okay - so what did I eat?  First, my husband and I shared a beet and spinach salad with ricotta dressing.  The beets were delicious, but the dressing lacked seasoning or any real flavor.  Next, I had the eggplant parmesan "small plate".  I was thrilled when it arrived and the eggplant wasn't fried.  However, a somewhat disturbing amount of olive oil oozed out of it as I cut into it.  The dish tasted good and I know that olive oil is a "healthy fat", but I just didn't really enjoy it as much as I normally do eggplant parm.  My entree was salmon with olives, capers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and potatoes.  This was very yum and I would happily order it again if I find myself at Amarena again in the future.

We hadn't tried a new restaurant in awhile and very rarely venture out of our immediate neighborhood for dinner so tonight was a nice change of pace.  What will be my next yellow death machine discovery?

Day 162: Good Times, Good Friends

What a meal.  What a night.   What fun and amazing friends I have!!

My college friend Jeanne and her mom were in town for a funeral.  We had plans to meet them for dinner and I wanted to pick a place that was chill, fun, laid back, and where we could spend a couple of hours together eating and drinking wine without feeling rushed.  I chose Mochica, a great Peruvian restaurant in SOMA.

Mochica is perfect for a group of people who like to share lots of different dishes.  It was quite a meal - we shared lots of different things and had a wonderful meal and a great time.  Our meal included:

1.  Anticuchos (beef heart on a skewer!!!)

2.  Papita Rellena (Potato ball stuffed with picadillo - pictured above)

3.  Camarones Carlitos (Shrimp in red sauce)

4.  Tiradito en Aji Amarillo (Halibut ceviche)

5.  Chancho Adobado (braised pork with yucca and mashed potatoes)

6.  Paella Mochica  (paella with sausage, shrimp, and fish)

Then we had dessert:  suspiro a la limena (sweet milk caramel with meringue) and torta de chocolate (does this really require translation??).

All of this deliciousness was coupled with two bottles of red wine and some dessert wine.  We were honored to bring some lightness and laughs to an otherwise difficult day for our good friends and nothing helps that along as well as good food and good wine.

Day 155: Pre-Party Sustenance

My husband's company holiday party was tonight and all that was promised was hors d'oeuvres so we thought we'd better have an early dinner before the event.

We went to Pacific Catch, an awesome seafood restaurant that we have visited for lunch quite frequently over the past couple of years, but we had never had dinner there.  Everything I've ever had at PC was fresh, flavorful, and healthy (with the exception, perhaps, for the fish & chips) and I really love this place.

Tonight I tried their daily special, which was grilled salmon with tomatillo and avocado sauce, grilled veggies, and PC's ridiculous sweet potato fries.  My husband took care of those (and teh corn) since I'm trying to maintain some semblance of the South Beach Diet.  The salmon was delicious, despite the sour cream or creme fraiche or whatever that white stuff was.  It was so good that I was well into the fillet before I realized that I had neglected to take a picture!

Pacific Catch has so many tasty menu items and it really is one of my favorite neighborhood joints.  We just may need to find our way over there for dinner another couple of times over the next 210 days!

Day 149: Smells Better Than it Looks (and Tastes)

Turkey has been coming out of our pores these last few days (Thanksgiving + leftovers = turkey overload!) but yet we decided to have chicken for dinner tonight.

I  perused some of my favorite recipe books and decided on Malaysian Chicken Curry from the stellar Gourmet Cookbook (this despite having curried turkey and mango salad for lunch!).  The recipe sounded exotic and different and I used the opportunity to toss in some roasted sweet potatoes left over from Thanksgiving.

The scent wafting through the house while this dish was cooking was amazing.  Total cooking time was about 45 minutes and with every passing moment our hunger and excitement to eat grew.  Imagine our disappointment when we discovered that the aroma was far better than the taste of this dish.

That's not to say that we didn't enjoy this meal -- but let's just say I'm not in a big rush to make it again.  There are far too many other more delicious dishes to cook and to eat.  I guess my greatest memory of Malaysia will have to continue to be that its president was at the center of a murder plot in Zoolander.  Oh, Malaysia.

Day 148: If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix it!

I'll never understand why restaurants tinker with perfectly good or even amazing menu items.  Unfortunately, such was the case tonight at Isa, our favorite neighborhood restaurant which has many a great meal to this blog (entry #78, entry #119).

One of our favorite dishes at Isa was soft, flaky butterfish with a mix of earthy mushrooms baked in parchment paper.  Perfection.  Isa's new version replaces the mushrooms with leeks and artichoke hearts and something has changed with the cooking style.  It's still bundled together in parchment, but the fish is less flaky and more mushy.  We even sent the first one back - something I hardly ever do - but it wasn't even recognizable as fish.  The second one was better but still overcooked.  Sadly, this dish has now moved from our "must have" list to the "should be avoided" list.

Fortunately, everything else at Isa continues to be stellar, including the scallops pictured above.  Served with mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, and bacon, they are absolutely divine.  The baked goat cheese with tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts is simple, warm and cozy, high end comfort food.

So, we'll forgive Isa this one mistake and look forward to many more excellent dinners there.

Day 146: Happy Thanksgiving!!

Holy hell.  I'm full!!  

My parents came to us for Thanksgiving this year and my husband and I took care of all of the cooking.  As you can see from our very full table, we went all out.  Our menu consisted of the following, starting from the upper right hand corner of the table.

Main Course #1:  Turkey!!

Rather than cooking a whole bird, we purchased two breasts at Whole Foods and grilled them.  That freed up the oven for the sides and gave my husband something to do (man + fire = happiness).  We prepared each breast differently the night before to give them a chance to suck up lots of good flavor.

One breast got an herb and garlic rub:  1/4 cup each of chopped fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary, a 1/2 cup of parsley, and 10 cloves of garlic.  All of that was ground up in the food processor and then I tucked a thick layer of it underneath the skin of the turkey.

The other breast was marinated in a mix of the juice of 5 oranges, zest from 2 of those oranges, juice and zest from 2 lemons, 1 large sliced shallot, 6 smashed cloves of garlic, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, about 1/4 cup of olive oil, and S&P.

The breasts took about 2.5 hours on the grill on indirect heat.

Side Dish #1:  Cauliflower with Mustard Lemon Butter

Side Dish #2:  Orange Rosemary Cranberry Sauce

Side Dish #3:  Butternut Squash & Creamed Spinach Gratin

Side Dish #4:  Corn Bread (for recipe, see side of Marie Callender package - this was the only thing I did not make from scratch)

Side Dish #5:  Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms

Mushroom Gravy

Side Dish #6:  Thyme Roasted Sweet Potatoes

All of this was quite delicious and satisfying, but what's a Thanksgiving dinner without dessert?  After a short break, we were ready to dive in.

We had three desserts:

1.  Chocolate Pumpkin Tart

2.  Apple Crisp (made my our friend and dinner guest Julie)

3.  Coconut Macaroons (recipe available on the back of the blue Baker's Shredded Coconut bag)

Everything was enjoyed by all.  We are slipping into a food coma as I type this.  In fact, typing this is becoming increasing difficult.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 131: You Can Take the Girl Out of NYC, but...

We arrived in Key West, Florida today for a few days of vacation leading up to my college friend Jeanne's wedding this weekend. Did we rush right out for conch chowder or fish or shrimp? Hell no! We headed to the Key West outpost of Strip House, one of our favorite NYC restaurants and a place we dearly miss since moving to San Francisco.

I like to describe Strip House as being "female friendly" - at least compared to other steak houses like Gallagher's, Smith & Wollensky's, or Peter Luger - all of which seem to run on testosterone.

Unlike the NYC version, we had the option to sit inside or to sit out on the porch to enjoy the sounds of the waves. While the latter option certainly sounds more appealing, we thought our food would be too heavy to be accompanied by humidity (funny - the locals felt it was hardly humid today while we couldn't get over the wetness!).

So, we had the dining room more or less to ourselves and enjoyed our usual order: petit fillet for me, the whole big mack daddy fillet for my husband, and side orders of potato puree and creamed spinach. Once again, Strip House proved that they have the world's greatest creamed spinach - laced with black truffle oil, it is indescribably decadent and delicious.

The only disappointment served by the Key West location was the lack of onion rolls in the bread basket. Perhaps onion rolls are a Northeast delicacy. In any case, we had an absolutely divine meal and enjoyed lovely, friendly service by everyone we encountered there.

We'll definitely take advantage of the fresh seafood on offer down here in Florida over the course of our visit this week - but meanwhile, Strip House was a perfect vacation kick-off.

Day 113: Saturday Night Feast

99 times out of 100, we go out for dinner on Saturday night (oddly, this is highly provable now that I am into the second hundred days of this blog!).  Tonight, however, I had a strong desire to stay home so we prepared a feast on the grill.

30 days ago, I wrote an entry called "Farewell Fig Season :-(" but tonight we discovered that late season figs (or those that were picked awhile back and somehow stored) are quite good if cooked on the grill.  Just lightly coat them in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and cook for a few minutes, turning frequently to prevent them from bursting.  We mixed them into a salad with fresh arugula, blue cheese, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

The grill also provided us with yummy steaks and veggies tonight.  We marinated some mushrooms, a red bell pepper, half a large zucchini, and an onion in my favorite bottled salad dressing for a couple of hours.

We also peeled a sweet potato and cut it into wedges which we marinated in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, and red pepper flakes for a couple of hours.

The steak marinated for 5 hours in a homemade Chimichurri sauce.  This recipe came from a Williams-Sonoma cookbook called Essentials of Grilling: 

1/4 cup olive oil

2/3 cup sherry vinegar

3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

3 T chopped fresh oregano

6 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3/4 tsp salt

All ingredients were mixed together in a dish just large enough to hold the steaks.  We made one porterhouse and one rib-eye, just to see which was better (I preferred the strip side of the Porterhouse).  The meat should marinate in the fridge and be flipped every hour or so to ensure both sides have a chance to suck up the yummy flavor of the marinade.

Quite a feast indeed!  I'm thinking we should do this more often - like, at least once every 50 days or so!

Day 108: Back in the 'Hood

After a long weekend away with girlfriends and a late flight home, tonight I was really looking forward to some low key bonding time with my husband.  So, we went to dinner at Bistro Aix, one of our favorite neighborhood destinations when we're seeking such a vibe.

The menu is updated daily to allow the restaurant to take advantage of seasonal ingredients.  The dish I chose tonight, however, has been a fairly regular item over the past several months - seared tuna with shitake mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and fried spinach.  I've had this dish many times and it never fails to please.  They will even happily replace one off the sides with something else if you ask them to - usually I trade out the potatoes and replace them with green beans or some other healthier option.  Tonight, however, I splurged and enjoyed every bite!

I love to travel but I also love coming home!