Singles week: reviews

So the hubby has been back for a while, but I haven't posted my reviews yet since I've been going through the 3000 pictures he and his brother took in Washington DC. Anyone know how I can make Aperture serve out the photos, so I can do picture editing while he plays WOW?

Anyway here we go:

Sunday: Crab Festival, Berkeley - this was kind of disappointing since it wasn't that big of a food festival with 3 different food sellers. The crab cakes were the best things to eat, but not sure the long lines were worth it. We watched the chefs slice and dice, but decided not to stick out to see the winner. Our friends picked up their kitchen knives (apparently Sur La Table has a month where they sharpen knives for free in September). We found lots of oversized rustic items at the Napa Style store which we deemed to be Spanish Ranch style but larger than life. Like the futon sized padded lounge chair which was super comfortable but the size of a double futon.

Afterwards headed to Sea Salt for their Happy Hour which happens every day and where you can get $1 oysters. Love 'em! Having not gotten our shellfish fiend on at the festival, the five of us, essentially had oysters, drinks, and dessert for dinner. Yeah, so worth it!

Monday: After going to the survivalist boutique store, G and I went to Weird Fish in the Mission, a pescatarian restaurant (veggie and fish only). I should bring my brother here. Food was relatively decent in comparison to strictly veggie places I've gone. The chowder was not famously delicious, and the appetizer was salty but I went with the Mystery Fish which was wonderful. That day's mystery fish was mahi mahi. The sweet potato side was really good, fluffy and sweet. The white sangria was tasty. Desserts were a mixed bag as well, the faux chocolate chimichangas were blech, but my peach/berry cobbler was delicious. Overall, it's an interesting menu, and a nice place to bring your vegetarian friends.

Wednesday: Since I was in San Jose, I called up K for recs on San Jose restaurants. He and his wife often rave about this one Vietnamese restaurant so I figured I would try it while I was down there. Unfortunately, googlemaps got me lost somewhere on Lawrence Expressway and I had to call K at work to get me out of here.

[Aside: As much as San Jose is in the Bay Area, whenever I drive there, I always feel LA-ish. The street layouts, the repeating architecture of freeway, tract homes, and mini-malls that get me flipped around. While getting lost, I remembered why I neither live nor work in San Jose. Did I mention I had to leave the house by 6am to beat the traffic and get there by 7:30a? Yeah, I know the way to San Jose. I just wish I knew how to get around it!]

Anyway, I finally found the place and realized immediately the "better" route to it. The restaurant was called Bun Bo Hue, so of course, I had to order Bun Bo Hue which is a rice noodle dish, with tendon, beef, pork patties, and pork blood cubes. It was yummy! OK grumpy googlemaps is forgiven! I do not know how they get that kind of flavor in their beef tendon. It's right off 101 right at Lawrence Expressway, right at the mall there. Though K & A tell me, their cousin has informed them of an even better Vietnamese restaurant. Oh really? I told them they were driving next time.

Thursday: I made it down to the Trappist in Oakland where a friend of mine met up with me. You want the nice cozy high ceiling cramped-ness of Europe, then come down here. A chalk board hanging above lists the beers of the day including their alcohol percentage ranging from 4%-8% or so. My friend's Belgian beer, served in the appropriate Belgian beer glass, had a nice rich caramel flavor to it. My Witches' Wit was more light and fruity like a Hef. I'm thinking I will go with the fuller body Belgians next time.

On the back of the beers of the day board they listed a very special beer that would probably knock people out much faster. It was tempting, but since I didn't have dinner, I passed, rather than passing out. If you don't like the specials board, then flip through the thick menu of 15 beers on tap and 150 beers in the bottle. My friend had to go to his Squash match (squash is one of those games I have absolutely no understanding of), and I decided to head home for leftovers, though I pondered going to Tamarindo next door and ordering their Hot Chocolate again. yummy! Trappist was pretty packed, though we managed to get a table. Not alot of elbow room so feel free to get cozy with your neighbor but try not to spill any of the fine fine beer.

Friday: I headed into the City after work for one of my last acupuncture treatments for my arm (whoo-hoo!). Best part about the acupuncturist is that she's across the street from one of the best French bakeries in the Bay, Tartine. I love their croissants, nice and crisp and buttery just like you stepped from the boulangerie! After the treatment, I had trouble coordinating with the guy who was recording my radio literary review, so I decided to try out Palencia/Filipino Cuisine in the Castro. We don't go into the City much anymore, and considering the trouble, for us to go back there it needs to be good. I mean, there are a ton of very good restaurants in the east bay, so why bother with the bridge and parking if you don't have to? I manage to find parking a few blocks away which was pretty damn good for a Friday in the Castro.

I call up hubby from the restaurant to figure out what to get. I went with some serious signature dishes which I felt would capture what kind of Filipino Cuisine we were talking about: kilawin ng hipon, karekare with tripe, halo halo for dessert, and calamansi juice. The Calamansi juice was fresh and didn't even have the tinge of pith in it at all. Delightful! The Chef offered up a taster of pureed jackfruit with pomegranate seeds, mint, and vanilla salt, which was an excellent blend of flavors and made me look forward to the rest. The kilawin ng hipon had a coconut sauce on it with tomatoes, which I thought made it a bit too sweet. I enjoyed more of the bites that had a bit of salt which balanced it out more. Again, it was a fine dish, that could use a touch of improvement. Karekare was a nice smooth sauce as if it was strained, but it blended well with the fried bagoong. Lots of veggies: banana heart, bok choy, sitaw. It was regular meet cubes, but the tripe was impeccable! The tripe could be pulled apart with a fork. I could see how he used the firmer meet and the consistency of the tripe to give the mouth the feeling of oxtail without the excessive fattiness. I asked for a wine pairing, and received a glass of 2006 Pinot Noir from 1001 in Mendocino. The thick berry pinot went well with the karekare. Each made the other taste fuller, an excellent pairing! Halo-halo had the works: cocogel, pinipig pandan, ube jam, ube ice cream, red beans, makapuno. The toppings were served on tasting spoons that allowed the guest to mix to your taste. I of course, dumped them all in. The ube jam was really really good, but it made the ube ice cream disappointing. It would have been better to contrast it with another flavor of ice cream I thought. Still, one of the better halo-halos served and it was huge! Enough for two! Palencia is not your grandma's cooking so don't even think about comparing the two. I did, however, appreciate the direction he was taking Filipino restaurant food and really bringing a heightened awareness of the food's flavors.

Would I go again? Yes, just to see what he's coming up with and tasting the different choices he's making in the food. A long way to satisfy a Filipino food craving, but a great place for the Filipino foodie mind to ponder the possibilities. And along the spectrum of Filipino food in the bay area, Palencia is certainly filling in the sparse high end spectrum, which I gratefully appreciate.

Whew! Maybe I'll add links to the restaurants later. I rested from driving on the weekend and spent it cleaning up our place with the help from my mother. All for now...

singles week: temescal restaurants

I get to be single for a week while the hubby takes a brotherly bonding trip to Washington DC.

In the meantime, I get to do a few things that I don't usually get to do while he is around: reorganize and redecorate a bit and try out a couple of hotspot restaurants.

I'm the kind of person that needs stuff out in the open when I reorganize. I like to spread everything out then try to regroup, but of course we don't necessarily have the room. The other thing I like to do, is try something out for a few days to see how it feels. Both habits mean that I don't finish redecorating projects or even start them if I can finish them in a day. As the hubby gets frustrated with clutter, especially clutter that falls along pathways through our place.

I've started changing out some of the photos we have up on the wall with ones we more recently took. And I found a wall space to put up more family pictures.

The other thing I get to do is try out some crowded bars and restaurants that I've been wanting to try. The hubby, again liking the space, doesn't like going into crowded bars and restaurants. Tonight I tried Pizzaiolo on Telegraph. It was crowded as usual even though there are ample tables that go all the way to the outdoor patio. It was a 30 minute wait to get a seat at the bar, which is fine by me.

I had a the spicy butternut squash soup (about as spicy as the sprinkle of dried red pepper garnish on it, so not spicy at all), one of their cocktails called the Derby, the squid pizza with aioli and tomatoes and the bread pudding with pluots for dessert. Yeah, I overate a bit as I hadn't calibrated my ordering for one person. The drinks are strong, and the paperthin dough on the pizza has just enough structure to deliver the delicious combination of ingredients to your mouth. The squid pizza was excellent, it wasn't too chewy and some of the tentacles had a nice crunch. The bread pudding was a nice light tasting dessert with a cookie crumb cookie and a slight tartness from the pluots that balanced out nicely. Overall I really liked the place and the food, though if I came with others, I would make reservations.

The other day I tried Bake Sale Betty. I bought a tray of their brownies and the fried chicken sandwich that alot of people rave. the brownies and the strawberry shortcake I got were really good! But I don't see what people are raving about in the fried chicken sandwich. I have to admit that the chicken is perfectly fried with a fine golden crunch batter, plus it's alot of chicken. But the rest of the sandwich didn't really support the chicken. I thought the cole slaw would bring more contrast: either a sour or tartness or maybe a creaminess to the crunch, but it provided neither. The thin slices of jalapeno pepper gave it a nice kick, but stepping back, it basically looked like an American version of a Vietnamese sandwich. And I can get 3 of those for the price of 1 of these in Chinatown. I think I like Vietnamese sandwiches better.

Tomorrow I go to Spenger's in Berkeley for a Crab Chef Challenge. All I know is that there's lots of crab and that's all I need to know.

Monday, I'm set to go to the City after work and meet up with a friend in town for a convention. She said she wanted seafood and that the place not be a dive. OK. Drop me a line if you have any suggestions.

Thursday, I may continue my trek of places the hubby doesn't like going to, by finally visiting the Trappist, a European style bar that specializes in lots and lots of beer. The place is barely up to fire marshal code in terms of aisleways to the door, but if you want to feel like you're in Europe without hopping a plane for 12 hours, this is the fastest way to do it. I might go there with a coworker, then also try the new tapas wine bar, Mono Restaurant in Jack London. They have Happy Hour on Thursdays. But we'll see if we make it that far.

Friday, I head to the City once again but this time to record a book review for an upcoming Filipino Roots episode for Filipino History Month that will air on KPFA. I'll reveal the books and the author when I get the air date and time.

rock n roll

We spent Saturday driving around from South San Francisco (to take the twins to their first swim lesson), to Union City for a money group meeting, then back up to Vacaville to visit Tomo Hiteo at Rock N Roll Sushi.

While we had been bringing the twins swimming at our pool, this was the first time that they would be in a large pool with tons of other kids and people in it. The class was half an hour, the hubby and a friend of the sister-in-law sat in the bleachers while the sister-in-law and I took the kids in. The first class was more of an orientation to the water, with ages between 14 months and 3 years. We learned a few songs that the adults would lift the kids in and out of the water. I think the adults got more exercise than the kids, since we had to lift them in and out of the pool. The class was only 30 minutes, which I think was just right as one of the twins hit her breaking point in terms of information/sensation overload and started melting down. We managed to get them dressed and walk the block and a half back to the house.

At money group, had a discussion of the various bailouts, what do they mean, how we got into this mess, and kinds of things to prepare financially to weather the storm. Another member showed off their Warriors Season tickets that they thought they wouldn't be able to afford for another 10 years, but that through their personal money management were able to jump in now. We also gave some tips to one member whose husband works at a call center and who has to deal with a slew of irate callers day in and day out. It's a difficult job with little training on how to really deal with people. We gave him some tips that essentially create a game of it, where he can doodle what he thinks the people look like, since he's an artist or put in a dollar to a jar whenever he's answered the "crazy of the day". When you are faced with dealing with that many irate people on a constant basis, it's easy to start to think, maybe they're normal and I'm crazy. Hopefully, the change in mindset of how he views his work will help him with his stress levels.

We couldn't linger too long at money group, and headed back up to Oakland to pick up a couple of friends to head to Vacaville. We hadn't seen Tomo since he left a restaurant in Pleasanton. Fortunately, he often calls us when he lands at his next restaurant. But, we hadn't been able to get up to Vacaville til now. We had almost forgotten how dining with him is more a culinary stimulation than a dining experience.

The experience is rather very simple. Sit at the bar, ask what's fresh, point to other interesting things, tell him you're full, then stop. It's actually challenging keeping up with how rapidly he prepares the next dish. None of the items are on the actual restaurant menu. Often, his coworkers nor the regular patrons there have any idea the level at which he can prepare dishes, so he gets quite a crowd when he serves things. He understands that most people want what they know as sushi, the rolls, some sushi, so for the most part he prepares that. But if he gets a chance to test out his constantly developing menu on some one, he will. You can see the wheels of his mind turn when you simply ask for uni (sea urchin). In any case, the food is always always extremely fresh. We ask for some things, then he offers up others. For example, we had quite a few scallops since they were very very fresh that day.

We've been watching him develop his "menu" and watched him go through a phase where he was obsessed with southwest flavors: bbq, cactus syrup, hot sauce. When we saw him last, he commented how Americans love to taste the sauces and not the fish, which he commented with a bit of disdain. But I noticed how he actually started to use more and more sauces, layers of them, yet in every dish, none of the sauces overpowered each other nor masked the flavor of the fish.

Our menu included the following dishes that I can remember for now:
-Salmon (sashimi is basic sauces)
-monkfish liver - which he marinates in white wine for a week to get rid of the heaviness. this dish is topped with roe and gold flakes, on a leaf of sashimi leaf that has a minty-basillyness to it.
-marinated oyster wrapped in smoked salmon and topped with roasted rice
-a slightly spicy fish cocktail
-uni served on top of sweet-shrimp with the tail toasted crunchy so you could eat that too
-scallops in a milky green tea sauce
-super white tuna - topped with a thin slice of jalapeno
-bbq hamachi - on a mini flame pot fueled by vodka and rubbing alcohol. I had this in one of the first times we met him, when he used a different fuel. The alcohol left no extra bad flavors on the fish. We took it off with the fish half cooked which made for a lovely texture contrast.
-tako/octopus - a relatively simple serving, which is fine because his octopus is so tender, steamed for 17 minutes, no more, no less; he tells us octopus is good for women to eat, enhances mental capacities (we're not sure why it only works for women)
-aji/mackerel wrapped in sashimi leaf and seaweed, tempura fried with layers of green tea sauce and soy sauce - a great crunchy outside with the fish melting in the middle

ooh I think this is all of it. I had only remembered 9 dishes last night, but it looks like we made it through 10. whew! And while we were all full, none of us felt heavy. What I love about Tomo's food is that the freshness and marrying of flavors really makes you feel lighter. We also drank an ultra premium sake, I think it said Heikkenien or something like that on the bottle.

And again, the second the first dish was in our mouths, the 2nd dish was already plated to be served.

The drive back, the hubby drove, speeding back at 80 mph feeling energized from it.

Distance is not an obstacle when the experience you get at the end is really immeasurable.

an indulgent monday evening

We signed up for the Pride Vineyard mailing list. Usually wineries advertise how they are holding an event at the winery, but this time they held a tasting at the Ritz-Carlton in SF. Mostly to introduce their new wine maker who learned the ropes from Robert Foley. I immediately replied, which was a good thing, because it was immediately filled.

In order to make it to the city on time, we went to work early so we could leave early. We had a wonderful time and particularly liked their Cab Franc, the Viognier (I don't know how they get those flavors out of that grape, but they do, time and time again), and the reserve Merlot. All of those were quite wonderful. The Chardonnay and Merlot were not as good as when we tried it a year or two ago at the winery. And we have to say that the Reserve Merlot beat out their Reserve Cab Sauvignon. Fortunately, they also offered wonderful food to soak up the lovely vino we were drinking.

We also met another couple who actually lived on our side of the bay and hit it off with them much of the evening.

We could have stopped with the Pride wine tasting and ended our evening there. That in and of itself was plenty indulgent. It's fun saying, I went to the Ritz-Carlton for a winetasting. But, no, we had already made it an evening and had reservations at La Folie, a french restaurant 5 min from there to continue the fabulous drink and food.

We had the 3-course meal there. Rhett ordered an item called warm pig feet sweetbread, which you know we had to order. OMG! I can't describe it. All I know is that it fell apart with the touch of a fork, and just had astounding flavor and texture. I had a starter with three seafood tastes including one with uni, seaweed and keffir lime infused roe. This was quite good but on the delicate palate side. For dinner I had the salmon and Rhett had the halibut with the optional shredded truffles. And now we know why people kill for truffles. As an apertif, Rhett had an absinthe martini made of course with our favorite St. George Absinthe and Hangar One Vodka. I had a blueberry mojito which was good, but not quite what I had expected. Accompanying dinner, we had a Chablis Grand Cru 2002 from Burgundy, France, which was nice and crisp and paired well with the savory food.

I packed up half of my salmon so I could make it through dessert, a vanilla brioche in peach soup with buffalo mozzerella. But what I love about dining at restaurants like La Folie are the little extras they throw in, these small dishes that keep your mouth live waiting for the next thing: the poached egg, the taste of cherry and creme fraiche to cleanse the palate, and finally after dessert, the petit fours.

What I love about great food and wine is the adventure and excitement from something new and particularly like in an evening we had, the layer upon layer of flavors and textures. It's one thing to say, yeah I can taste the particular ingredients, it's another to say wow, taste how they blend and merge together to create something else. And grant it the mind comes out a bit relaxed and sleepy from the wine, but there is an added layer buzz on how the mind is engaged. It's the same sensations that I love when I travel and visit some place new. So being able to get that here, without leaving too far from home, makes living in the bay area that much more addicting.

fuzzy logic

One of the things on our wedding registry 2.5 years ago was a fuzzy logic rice cooker. A fuzzy logic rice cooker is a high tech device with numerous settings for different kinds of rice from sushi, to regular, to porridge or just steaming or reheating.

The rice cooker basically stayed boxed at my mother's house in their garage. But as we are making way to make space for various cooking items and the fact that my cousin's roommate is taking off with their household rice cooker, we decided to pull out and finally use our wedding gift and hand off our old rice cooker.

I think we waited this long partially because we were scared of the thing. What do you mean you don't just push the button?

The rice cooker came with a rice recipe book with all sorts of stuff to make with the cooker. I haven't really been into the cooking mode lately, but the new cooker and recipe book have got me excited to try some new recipes.

For now, we are cooking an inaugural 2 cups of basmati rice and we'll see where it goes from here.

J'aime le creuset

The oxtail and beef stew turned out quite yummy: oxtail, beef, carrots, celery, onions, and a bottle of pinot noir from Livermore. Oh, and a couple of tablespoons patis. Now we just have to find a place to store the lovely red pot til we figure out what to cook next!

cheap drinks

It's been a food filled weekend.

Scored a couple trays of leftover bbq pulled pork and now I'm trying to discover different ways to work that into dishes. I gave most of the food away since the two of us can't eat that much meat.

Saturday was a fun filled day. In the morning kali seminar focused on ground fighting. Of course, it turned out that I was one of the few people who could still really do the ground fighting with the rule of thumb being, "if you can still pick yourself up off the ground..." Alot of the guys in particular had already worn out their knees from the years of hard hitting karate and tae kwon do styles. Part of it looked more like movie stunts, like lying on your back and rolling away before a 3-sectional staff comes crashing onto the ground where you were. So yeah, you better move, I don't care how tired you are. We also practiced some throws on the grass and tumbling which I hadn't done in years and wasn't all that interested to tumble on the grass. All I can say is that gravity is exhausting.

Afterwards, spent the afternoon swimming with the nieces. They arrived around 3. We went to greet them at the mini-van where the parents were cleaning up both of the kiddie seats as the twins decided to puke in union. oh yeah. While we went swimming, the hubby did laundry of the car seat covers and accompanying clothing. That's not a whole lot of lounging either since the twins weren't all that happy sitting in their nice inflatable seats. And it took us forever to inflate those things! But I liked the water so much more than the ground. The nice part is that the kids aren't too grumpy when it's time to come out of the pool, since now they know that they can come back fairly often.

Since the sister-in-law is part of the Rosenblum Cellar wine club, we headed to Alameda and got there about 30 minutes before closing and tried out 5 of their wines. I ended up buying a bottle of their North Coast Zinfandel and the Santa Barbara Roussanne which is perfect for a nice summer day. The hubby stayed in the car with the kids. 2 out of 3 of them were fine with the whole thing.

Next stop was Hangar One, which is down the street from Rosenblum. A $10 fee gets you a glass and taste of all their spirits which was at least a dozen from their liqueurs to their whiskeys. We shared it between the three of us which was enough to just coat your tongue with a taste. You can get completely wasted if we had gotten one each. Then they wanted to try some absinthe which is a separate $10 tasting but again you get to keep the glass. They have one of the best absinthes on the market today. We waited for the ice to melt. Between the three of us we only managed to drink half of the glass, so I switched places with the hubby to watch the kids in the van.

Remember the 1 out of 3 kid? Well by the time I got there she was into full on tears, so I let the twins out of their car seats with the instructions that they remain in the mini-van, which was fine with one and only momentarily fine with the other because she was still concerned as to where mommy and daddy were. I took that one into my lap and ran through the gambit of songs she knew from "I have two hands", "Twinkle twinkle", and "itsy bitsy spider". And even though she kept crying a touch, the songs kept her from all out bawling.

The parentals and hubby returned. The hubby, with a bottle of their Qi White, which is a mixture of white tea and their spirits which I like so much better than Qi Black (though I have to say that their Qi Black is vastly improved from the initial batch I had tried over a year ago).

With the kids happy about swimming and the adults happy about the absinthe tasting we headed to our parentals house to give grandma and grandpa some enjoyment. E, the eldest, remembers the house and the people inside, so she loved being there. The twins, went into their shy mode for a few minutes before finally relaxing and running around. They still weren't sure about mom and dad, but they did like the bowl of fresh grapes they provided and couldn't get enough of eating those.

Sunday, went to class. I woke up with my sore and achy legs. Just because I can do the movement doesn't mean I don't pay for it the next day. The hubby had been interested in learning to braise food for quite some time but we didn't have the proper pot that went from stove to oven. Fortunately we had numerous gift certificates from Williams-Sonoma that were still unused (I love that California law that doesn't allow gift certificates to expire.) We ended up getting a 5.5 quart Le Creuset in flaming red, which felt like was half off since the gift certificates. We followed that up with watching Iron Man which was an awesome movie (again using some gift certificates), dinner at Fuddrucker's, then grocery shopping at Ranch for the oxtails and veggies to christen the Le Creuset.

Whew! The hubby finished cooking it at around midnight so we haven't tried it out yet. We'll find out tonight.

Grant it I need a weekend from my weekend, I am glad we have such a fun filled life.

I love market day

I love going to the farmer's market, wandering the stalls, sampling the fresh fruit. The one by our place also has numerous restaurant and specialty food booths with Afghan, Indian, Thai, Vegan Soul Food, French pates and meats, and bakeries.

We take our bayong and take the nice stroll down to the park. It seems like every grocery store is selling reusable bags now, but they really can't compare to a serious bayong that you can load to the hilt and still have it so the handles aren't cutting into your hands. Americans, we're just new to this idea of reusable bags for purchases.

We might have an idea of what we might want to get: bread, some fruit, but for the most part we just wander and see what's there. Often we buy something to inspire us for the weekend meal.

Today's shopping included:

-1 pomelo
-1 original belgian waffle with powdered sugar (that I ate on the spot); they also had nutella and whip cream, but I settled for the basics. It was very good. A really dense waffle, a real breakfast.
-Ceviche - made with sole and another fish; The guy's mother made it, I had to buy it. C'mon, his mother made it! You would have bought it too!
-Sashimi grade salmon- We cut it up and had it for lunch and dinner
-Chicken duck pate with truffles - we got that from the French guy who sells all sorts of sausages. I wanted to try the Cassoulet, but that was $29/jar.
-guacamole
-cheese-mint sauce, lentils, cilantro pesto and two spinach balanis from the Afghan vendors that give tons of samples
-1 sweet french loaf that was soft as a pillow
-1 cheddar cheese loaf
-1 cabbage for the corned beef I bought at costco the night before, which I'll attempt to cook in the slow cooker tomorrow night. It is March afterall.
-1 samosa with cilantro and yogourt sauce from the Indian stand. I wasn't as enchanted with her sauces, but the samosa was very good.

Oranges were tasty, but the strawberries seemed out of their element for this time of year.

In less than an hour we had walked and sampled the entire market, and hiked back up the hill. I can see why my grandmother enjoys going to the market. Here, we only go once a week and keep everything in the fridge. But in the Philippines, they go every day, early in the morning. She likes to go and get the loads of vegetables and meat for the day's meals relying on her 80+ years of knowing what is in season, what is not. Then bargaining with the vendors.

I'm not sure if I would like going to market every day, mostly because I probably wouldn't have time to, but it is a different kind of food cycle. A different way of interacting with the people who make or grow the food you eat.

calamansi + grain alcohol

We had dinner last night at Ninong's place. Him and his wife are in the middle of refurbishing their house and it's looking great! They broke down a wall between the living room and dining room which opened up the space, took down the 70s paneling and popcorn ceiling and added in a lovely wooden floor, then added a splash of buttercup yellow on the walls and salsa queen red on the doors. His wife really has a wonderful decorative touch. They're actually hoping to sell sometime next year and move to a place that has more of a neighborhood feel to it.

They love to travel, so last night's dinner was a simple Italian flair which actually went quite well with the 2005 Twin Fin Cab we brought, which was a rather mellow cab.

But to top it off, they brought out a special bottle of their homemade calamansicello (ala limoncello. They have a calamansi tree in their backyard. Oh can we say yummy goodness? A large mason jar, everclear, and a whole pile of ripe calamansi rinds, steeped for 2 months. hmmm...yet another thing to do next time we get calamansi from the relatives.

It had that nice sweetness of liqueur and the rounder citrus flavor that characterizes calamansi. Definitely good in a mixer or with the cheesecake we had for dessert. It's the kind of stuff that could knock you off your feet in now time since it was so easily sipped. Certainly, would be a favorite amongst the drinking uncles. We might have to make some for a summer party.

As we sipped the calamansicello, talk wandered to the various new Filipino restaurants in area attempting to elevate the level of Filipino cuisine. We hope to make the rounds. But one place that was recommended was The Big Kitchen, in Union City.

repitez!

Seven more days til my birthday! A friend called asking what I was doing for my birthday and frankly I hadn't thought that far ahead.

After chatting with the hubby as to what is in store, going to spend it rather quietly this year. Hubby and I will head to dinner at Fleur de Lys. A bit of a raincheck dinner from our anniversary that will double-up as a birthday dinner.

I had been thinking of having a party in between the holidays, but decided to just lounge around, going against my Capricorn nature of almost overscheduling. Not like we're lacking for parties. Maybe we'll make it into a summer swim party instead.

We shopped at Whole Foods yesterday for ingredients for paella that the hubby wants to cook for Noche Buena at his sister's. We'll try cooking it on Friday night so we're not rushing. Though we still need squid ink for the black squid rice ala Spain. Saturday we have dinner with friends at their house. Sunday, I'll wrap gifts. Christmas will be at mom's. Not sure what I'm cooking for that yet.

We ordered our holiday cards late, but that's why they're holiday cards! Well, more like New Year's cards now.

This is one of the first years where Christmas just came out of nowhere. Or at least that's what it feels like. I'm looking forward to the break since the new year I'll be off and running.

Somewhere in there will be a 1 year old party and then New Year's at the SIL's when the BIL comes o town. Fun times ahead!

rip roarin' good time

I always love reading at Eastwind Berkeley and Harvey, the owner, is always such a welcoming host. You can read more detailed happenings of the event from the woman of the hour.

At a party the day after, I recalled that Al's scroll poem was much like his poetry: a bold swatch of blank ink along a sheet of fine paper that goes on and one, meandering and returning. It's quite hypnotic.

And the sound of ripped paper is not what you expect coming out of a book store, and from the sound of the paper, it too was mighty fine, but that's the sound that permeated as Eileen made her way through the crowd tearing sheets from "The Light Sang as it Left Your Eyes". She had us imagine her walk out the door continuing to tear pages handing them to strangers, and one can only imagine then where the poetry would have taken her, and ponder too if she would ever return.

Tony Robles really is cultivating a Tony Robles style to his poetry with certain wit and charm from the cholesterol inducing ode to a short order cook to personal narrative on Muhammed Ali and his Uncle Ted.

Prau is an even lovelier creature in person. Having spent hours staring at it on the pixelated computer screen, there was a certain warmth to holding it. I kept staring at how nicely the blue came out for Michael Fink's design. And even lovelier still to hear Jean read from it.

I think this was my first reading in about 5 or 6 months. I posted it up on facebook. My co-workers found out about this life I have outside of work. And there in the cozy bookstore, those halves of my life met. It's a strange feeling, like when you introduce your beau to your parents. A slight awkwardness at first until someone dares break the silence and hopefully in a joyful way. Tis the season fortunately and it was joyful. whew! And I did get the Sound of Music song stuck in one person's head with my rewrite of the lyrics. sorry!

One of my coworkers bulked up on his winter holiday reading by buying a copy of all of our books. Thank you! Goes to show that everyone can have a section of Filipino poetry in their book collection and you need not be Filipino nor a poet to do so.

Wonderful too to see Cal and Leny come down from yonder. Always a long and arduous drive but then again having 5 Pinoy poets read at the same time gives a person a lot of bang for their gas mileage! Can I calculate that into poetry economics?

Afterwards we had dinner trading pictures of pets, grandkids, nieces and any other cute adorable pictures we each carried around. El restaurant, El Platano, es muy delicioso. Try the albondigas with the casamientos (fried black beans and rice, that reminds you of totong at the bottom of the rice pot). A yummy dinner to cap a yummy afternoon!

on the menu

We had more of a low key Thanksgiving, heading over to my SIL in South City.

Wednesday evening we stopped by a distant cousin who bakes pies to pick up two cheesecakes (blueberry and plain), and a veggie pie. She has an adorable 10 month old girl who is very sociable and makes funny faces. We end up running into my uncle and his family who are also picking up pies. My distant cousin had been baking for an entire week. She already broke her first oven.

Afterwards, since we were in the area, we headed to Shalimar, one of the best Indian/Pakistani restaurants in the area. And no doubt, when we got there at 9:30p (they close at 10:30p) the line was 10 deep and there were no tables available. The place is packed with South Asians and one or two other Asians like ourselves. We decided to take the food to go. The hubby hates crowds and he hates standing in line for food, but he's willing to stand in line for this food. The complexity of flavors and spices is amazing. We ordered goat, chicken tikka masala, lamb kabab, and some naan. We should have also ordered raita since it's also rather spicy. The hubby was sweating after a few bites.

That evening, my brother and cousin stopped by after their long drive from LA. Can you say 4 hours just to get out of the LA basin? It was late so my cousin stayed over. He was surprising his family and we'd drop him off the next day.

In the morning the hubby started roasting the duck and chicken he'd been brining for 3 days. Then after looking at all the drippings, we decided to make gravy with the giblets. Whew!

The afternoon we spent at the SIL playing with the nieces. Along with the duck and chicken, we had roasted potatoes, pancit and chicharon bulaklak. OK not the typical Thanksgiving meal, but certainly you can argue that chicharon bulaklak is only for for special holidays. One of those foods you know was way too bad for you the second it hits your tongue, but it's oh so good you have to swallow.

While the adults took an afternoon nap and the eldest niece went for a walk, the twins went quietly "hippie" on us (as my cousin puts it) by stripping down to nothing and romping around the house. It's their latest "thing" their mom tells us. Well, in the end it made it a quicker trip to giving them a bath in the evening. So far they don't do it anywhere else. We stayed long enough to put all the kids to sleep and play a few rounds of Smooth Moves on the Wii.

Friday we slept in. Made some duck noodle soup from the leftover duck. In the evening we went to the "So You Think You Can Dance?" tour in Oakland. It was a relatively small crowd, so parking was easy. Along with the top 10 they brought along 4 of the other top favorites: Shawna, Hok, Jesus, and Anya. Danny is just simply mesmerizing and Pasha is quite hot, especially when he did his cape solo. The girls screamed for Neil and he played to them by showing off his body. We finally got to see a hip hop routine by the three hip hop dancers: Hok, Sara, and Dominic. Dominic was from Sacramento so he was enjoying performing in front of his home crowd and had several comedic interludes as part of hosting the show. Alot of people in the crowd wondered where do people go after performing a tour like this. It's not like American Idol. And since it's produced by the same people, the down times were filled with broadcasts of the more recent idols: Underwood, Daughtry, Fantasia, and a twangy chick I don't even remember.

Saturday we actually went out and did some shopping over at REI for warmer workout clothes and Walgreens for household items. Although we browsed through the ads, we didn't join the shopping madness. Plus, the stuff really wasn't that much of a sale. I've seen bigger discounts in the middle of spring when there really isn't anyone shopping.

I tried my hand at baking biscuits to go with the leftover giblet gravy. And also made arroz caldo out of the leftover chicken. Needs more ginger and we need more chopped garlic.

This morning decided to continue to laze about. I guess I'll get around to doing some more chores. It's almost December, the year goes by quickly. Next weekend will be filled with a couple of wine posts with a couple of winetasting parties next weekend. Tis the season to eat, drink and be merry.

bed, bath...

As of late, I have been on a baking frenzy. We finally unpacked many of the kitchen oriented items from our wedding gifts: cookbooks, bowls, mixer, pastry board, etc.

I've learned to make pizza dough, bundt, carrot, banana and persimmon cake. I've rearranged and cleared out several cabinets and baker's rack shelves to keep up with the various baking pans. Consequently the kitchen is getting better organized as I learn to consolidate the tools and ingredients together and come to an understanding of how the kitchen should work.

This morning we went to Bed Bath and Beyond to fill in the gaps of certain kitchen items. If I really want to start baking, especially breads not made from the bread machine, then I needed a kitchen scale as the density of flour in a physical cup cannot be trusted. This inaccuracy in measuring density already left me disappointed during one try at banana bread. I was rather perturbed.

Also on the shopping run picked up a French style rolling pin, a pizza stone (at a very good price), and a roaster with rack. The roaster was for the hubby who wanted a chance to roast various succulent fowls.

I'm not sure why I've been on this kick, maybe it's the opportunity and incentive with new tools to use them. Growing up I always liked baking and learned to make chocolate chip cookies and rice crispy treats at an early age. And I really love bread so learning how to make bread was an extension of that love. Once my technology skills were paid for in part by two loves of homemade whole wheat bread. The best payment I'd ever received.

It's so easy to go into a store like BBB or Williams-Sonoma and think I need all of it, but you really don't. Our next purchase will most likely be a really good cleaver, but that will also have to include the purchase of a really nice butcher board too.

If you pay attention to what you have, then you know exactly what you need.

on the menu

I've finally gotten a chance to browse through the various cookbooks we've bought or be given over the last couple of years. My staple book that is already showing it's wear and tear is America's Test Kitchen.

I used to order from a company that preps meals into ziplock bags so you can freeze them and cook them when you see fit. And based on what I learned from getting those meals, I'm trying to think of how I can do the same thing with these recipes. Obviously stews, casseroles and stir frys are quite good for this kind of thing. And why not prep a week, maybe even a month's worth of dinners in the fridge for an easy quicky stir fry. And if I can do all the prep on the weekend when I actually have time, all the better.

The first step in doing that was to make homemade pesto, which I've never done. We recently unpacked a mini-prep machine we received as a wedding gift, so it was the perfect time to learn to make pesto. I didn't know how much 4 cups of fresh basil was, so we bought excessive amounts. And I forgot to buy pine nuts, but then remembered reading somewhere that pistachios, which the hubby serendipitously purchased, could be substituted. It was enough for three batches, two of which I popped into the freezer and one I added the parmesan to for dinner that night. It worked out well and it was enough pesto to slap on some roast chicken for the rest of the week. yummy! and way better than the jarred variety, which we still have from costco.

Also on the cooking list that night was carrot bundt cake. Before the hubby would buy apple pie or other dessert for the week, but now I'm into making cakes. So far I've tried bundt cake, banana bread, and now carrot cake. I've cooked banana bread and carrot cake before so pretty easy, though it took me 40 minutes to grate the 1 lb of carrots in the batch, but it was worth it. I'd like to try the banana bread and bundt cake again as they turned out decent but not as good as I would have liked.

Next up after I season my pastry board, I'm going to try making pizza dough to compliment the pesto and challah bread. But it also means to look to purchase a couple new things for the kitchen including a kitchen scale (for the bread making) and a roaster, which is what the hubby would like to do more of. Which means I need to rethink a few of the kitchen cabinet spaces to better organize them for what we need and to use up or get rid of things we haven't used.

terrifying but not really dangerous

So balut was ranked number one on that site for the top 6 Most Terrifying foods around the world.

Frankly, I found the other ranked foods more terrifying as not only did they look bad, health wise some of them were quite dangerous to one's health either through the collection of them or just in the process of it. Balut, at least, is neither dangerous to eat (except for your cholesterol) nor to make.

Sheep's head is probably ok, except for the brain part, which I'm sure people eat, as that could potential evoke Mad Cow disease equivalent in humans if you don't know what that sheep was fed.

Frankly I would have made the Italian fly maggot cheese number 1, but then my priority is ranking based on danger as terrifying is more of an opinion. And it seems the top two, the sheep's head and balut were ranked based on an American standard that Americans don't like their food staring back at them. Explains why the mice wine was ranked lower.

But then again, people like danger (blowfish anyone?). And humans survived in this world going around and figuring out what they could eat and what they couldn't. (Thank you to the millions of humans that didn't survive the various food trials over the evolutionary periods. We learned much from you).

so if you had a terrifying food list, what would be on it?

Sweet as Hany

One of my clients is pursuing her dream of being a pastry chef. She's now set up a delectable blog of the cakes she's done called, Sweet as Hany (yes, you pronounce Hany like Honey).

on the menu

Every 7 weeks I get a new wire for my braces to shift my teeth some more. Each time they put in a larger grade (ie thicker, springier) wire. It's no wonder people with braces lose weight, every 7 weeks you're back on a liquid diet as your teeth are sore from the shifting. You know it's bad when McDonald's is too "hard".

Thus on the tonight's menu is breakfast for dinner:
blueberry pancakes (first time I made them from scratch and not from bisquick)
scrambled eggs

The pancakes turned out really well and surprisingly easy to make from scratch. Why did I ever need bisquick? I mean how much time does it really save me? In reality, not much considering I can use the same ingredients to cook more than just pancakes and biscuits. D'uh!

Scrambled eggs, I didn't quite get the proper technique of pushing and lifting in the pan and they became slightly overcooked. I'm striving for that nice creamy but not chewy scrambled eggs, but perhaps I need half and half according to one cookbook.

I've been quite inspired from the successful strawberry cheesecake from a few weeks ago and now that the seal has been broken on the mixer, I feel like I should bring it out more often. Nice part is that decent baking pans don't cost an arm and a leg like decent pots and pans. My only issue is counter space.

Next up, I'd like to try my hand at making bread without the breadmaker appliance. Seems ambitious, but we'll see.

santa semana

Only managed to go to the Reine Sophia museum that houses Picasso´s Guernica and other modern work. They had a wonderful exhibit of Chuck Close´s work. Amazing control of contrast and color. His large format paintings of portraits that looked like photographs were exquisite. A brain aneurisym in 1986 made him a paraplegic and he relearned to paint. He continued with his portraits first the form of dots and later recreating his large portraits but from a series of concentric painted circles that gave the pieces this kind of abstract realism. His ability to note color and shading had not changed, only the mechanisms in which a master painter conveyed his work.

The new modern wing of the museum contained temporary exhibits, while the standard collection held Picasso´s cubist work as well as Dali. Dali´s Madonna is just haunting the way the face slowly emerges from the grey cloud. The Guernica is a lovely exhibit as it first starts with photographs of Picasso´s spain 1938 after the bombings during World War I. These would be the images that would possess Picasso to build Guernica. They also show his various sketches, photographs of Guernica´s evolution, and trial sketches as he mapped out the piece. Not only do you get to see a pivotal work from a great master, you get to get a glimpse of his possible thought processes.

While I enjoyed seeing the Venus de Milo and could appreciate the uniqueness of her styling, I have not quite figured out the facination of the Mona Lisa. But perhaps it´s because there are so many crowds you just don´t have time to sit and appreciate the work. One piece from the Art Paris exposition which I enjoyed was a large portrait of Marilyn Monroe, but without the blown out effects that always give her the perfect porcelin skin. This was a 5" photo of Marilyn with the small facial lines, the blood vessels criss crossing her cheeks, the crow lines that came from her eyes. This picture showed the face of a woman whose life was an up and down fame and fortune roller coaster. I hadn´t realized she was 36 when she died because all the iconic pictures of her showed her with the perfect complexion.

Another exhibit at the Reine Sophia covered motion and all the pieces either moved or created a sense of movement. There was a wonderful interactive piece which was a forrest of thin clear tubing hung like those room separators hung in doorways, but 20ft by 20ft. So much so, you could get lost in it. It was delightful! There was one parent that lost their 2 year old daughter in it a few times, she just kept running back in. hehe

Outside was another exhibit understanding contrasts in light color which people could run through and watch people run through. We took a few pictures of ourselves in this one.

As it was cold and a bit gloomy (5 degree C) we decided to opt out of going to the Prado. Goya will have to wait for another trip. We decided to come back to the hotel to rest before dinner at 10p. We picked up some treats from the Pasteleria, yummy, and some orange juice and drinks from the local Chino, what they call all of those local mini grocery stores regardless of who runs them, though the one we went to was indeed run by a Chinese guy.

Tonight it´s paella night. Yummy! Tomorrow procession for Good Friday in Toledo. Saturday a trip to Segovia to see the Roman Aqueduct. Sunday Madrid´s flea market. Monday home.

The trip is coming to and end yet it feels like there is so much time before then.

Oh yeah, and I´m completely hooked on Curling from watching it on the Eurosport channel.

nueva entrada

new day. new country. new language. The French response to questions are still coming out of my mouth while my 3 years of high school Spanish slowly kick in. Don´t have to worry as much as we have relatives here.

The train was a couple of hours late, but was a delightful ride once we got used to the rhythm and swaying.

In the evening we went to my cousin´s place just off the main area but on a nice quiet street, so we could do some laundry. Madrid is very walkable. Things are much closer than even all the monuments in Paris. Their rail system is better too: cleaner, and more robust. We´re the first family members to visit them here, not counting his family as he is a French national.

You learn very quickly what the Filipinos and much of the previous Spanish empire culturally received from the Spanish: our sense of time, our sense of dark humor, some of the pronounciation of letters. It´s really funny that at one point the Spanish called the Filipinos slow and lazy, as Spain is not the hustle and bustle city either. Perhaps they were simply reflecting themselves in their comments. lol!

We hope to visit a few of the smaller towns around Madrid. Going to see the museums today: Prado, Thyssen, Reine.

Alot of things are cheaper here than in England or France: food, drink, shopping. A tapas dinner for 6 was 40 euro. Spanish service is like French attitude: aloof and nonchalant, but they don´t skimp on the portions for food nor drink. A shot of alcohol was like 3 in the US. Dinner here is not until 10p.

The ham here comes in many varieties and is very good. It´s only just now making its way to SF Bay Area specialty stores. I´d say it´s better than Italian hams. We hope to bring some of the packaged ones home. It´s so worth it!

I´m fighting a bit of a cold with all the weather fluctuation, smoking, and the like. Public smoking laws are slowly spreading across the EU. 2008 it hits France.

We discussed French economy and politics with my cousin´s husband. Many working age French leave for lack of opportunity.

There are numerous US expats here teaching English to the Spanish which is what my cousin does here. American English is popular. They watch many of the American shows here. The funny part is that going to Ireland and Scotland to learn English is popular for the Spanish to do. Which makes you go, "huh?", after listening to the Scottish brogue, but those areas are cheaper than London, plus Guiness has a campaign that has been creating alot of Irish pubs in Madrid.

We met a couple of our cousins friends: a guy from Basque and his girlfriend from Mexico. We would love to visit Basque some day. He said that if we go to San Sebastian, to let him know and his people will take care of us. We gave him the English translation to that statement,"my peeps will hook you up!" lol!

They were into the show Heroes which is only translated up to Episode 11. Their friend loved Frasier. Though many of the websites for the shows are blocked when coming from Europe since they don´t want people to watch the shows until they actually get distributed in Europe. But they get as much black market film stuff here as the rest of the world.

Adios!

on the menu

On the menu tonight:

Lamb Tangine and Cous cous - a dish i got from The Dinner Source