Food Fun

It must be a girl thing to love birthdays … at least, birthdays up to a certain point.  Somewhat luckily, I am still pretty thrilled with celebrating the anniversary of the day of my birth.  In addition to fully indulging in a day off work, I absolutely love stuffing myself full of good food and spending the day with wonderful people.

On Friday, I slept in until 11:30 - after languidly pulling myself out of bed I met up with some friends for lunch at Boulettes Larder in the Ferry Building where I had pasta with rabbit.  For dessert I met up with a friend for an affogato at Blue Bottle.

After the first round of eating, I meandered over to the public library and got my very own card.  I selected a book and headed over to Fort Mason to relax.  After thoroughly freezing, I met up with more friends for the highlight of the day: OFF THE GRID!

Unfortunately, the street food was nowhere as cheap as Taiwan…but the food was still delicious.

Lumpia from Adobo Hobo

Buns from Chairman Bao - baked Lion’s Head bun

Creme Brulee Cart - Dulce de Leche and Mexican chocolate

Amazing! Definitely needs a second or fifth visit.

On the day of my birthday, I had brunch at Olea with the BF and then drinks at the Top of the Mark. It was nice playing tourist for a day…and the views were amazing.

And then a fantastic birthday dinner at Foreign Cinema. If you’re interested in my thoughts on the place, you can read my Yelp review.

And….the most AMAZING cake of my life…ever. Red velvet ice cream cake (yes, ice cream) with rainbow sprinkles. It’s like my favorite things mixed with my other favorite thing crammed into…my third favorite thing.

Thank you to all of the wonderful people that wished me a happy birthday and came out to celebrate with me! If it weren’t for all of you, my birthday would not have been nearly as wonderful.

It seemed like a lot of people really liked the last post about oxtail soup (thanks!) so I felt inspired to continue to document some of my simplistic adventures in the kitchen. Before that though, this past weekend the BF and I tried out a new restaurant - Firefly.

If anybody is looking for a really quaint date place with good food, this would definitely be the place. If you’re curious about my thoughts, you can read them here on Yelp.

It’s been awhile since I’ve learned of any new sort of food, but recently I’ve discovered that a lot of places have been using olallieberry. Call me ignorant, but I have never heard of it before. In addition to olallieberry pie, Firefly had a really interesting lemon and olallieberry float with lemon sugar cookies.

Quite possibly one of my favorite desserts in the city.

At any rate, a few weeks ago I went to Ruth’s Chris steakhouse and I had one of their salads. It was really simple and refreshing, and I thought it was easy enough to replicate:

Tomatoes, red onion, a bit of pepper, blue cheese and - just to mix it up (not a part of the Ruth’s Chris salad) some cilantro.

Pretty decent…next time though, I’d definitely put in fewer red onions. Makes the stomach less unhappy.

It’s been awhile since I’ve put together a post, let alone a food post. In an effort to be more healthy and a tad more frugal, the BF and I decided to go to the gym and go grocery shopping in order to start cooking more at home. One of the things we decided to do was oxtail soup.

Oxtail (or ox tail, of course) is a rather gelatinous meat that boils into a really nice broth.

First, you fill a pot with ox tail and boil it for about an hour.

Afterwards, you drain the meat.

I think traditional recipes call for daikon, but the BF’s mom’s recipe called for potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, onions and two slices of ginger (that uh, we kind of forgot to put in).

After washing and boiling longer, we first threw in the tomatoes and onions to let the flavor seep out. Then we added the carrots and potatoes, and boiled it for…even longer.

Throughout the whole process we added salt and pepper. Although the flavor is light, the conglomeration of meat and veggies (with rice!) is always a comforting sight.

Although time consuming, definitely a worthwhile endeavor.

Yum!

As an update to my prior post, the holiday weekend was pretty laid back. On Sunday I ended up waking up late, eating, napping, then eating and going out. And on Monday the BF and I ran some errands and then I met some friends for lunch. Afterwards I hung out a bit more at home and spent most of the evening watching the top episodes of the first season of Mad Men.

Because of my overly indulgent and lazy weekend, that means the inevitable guilt-ridden feeling when the work day rolled around and I tried to put on …. work pants.

It’s been awhile since I updated on any food adventures or attempts at cooking. Truthfully, other than being extremely lazy this weekend, I just haven’t found the motivation to check out a recipe, go to the store, prep the ingredients and then make myself a meal that can hopefully be eaten over the course of a few days.

Regardless, I recently decided to try my hand at making the super food quinoa:

It doesn’t look too tasty, but so far it’s been a fairly decent replacement for my normal bowl and a half of white rice. Although it does taste a little tiny bit odd, I’ve been able to pair it with some of my favorite Asian staples like rou song (dried beef) and vegetables. If you really have a tolerance for odd, try it with a bit of kimchi as well.

Not much else to report lately … other than the fact that I’m still eagerly awaiting the arrival of Illustrator so I can finally get some use out of my Wacom pen and tablet. In the meantime, I leave you with this photo of the cat:

I love my Canon S90! Pretty amazing shots for automatic - though I really do need to start weaning myself off and start getting used to the manual settings.

I’ve been informed that it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I sat down a few minutes earlier to hammer out a post evaluating the goals that I set for myself, but then I decided that it was too boring. I thought about commenting on the ridiculous events happening around the world like the oil spill, the manhandling from a North Carolina senator, USA’s tied “victory” with England, or even Microsoft’s new Kinect…but then I realized, why not just write about whatever I want?

This past weekend was both lazy and busy at the same time. Ended up spending a good portion of Saturday cleaning and cooking, and later at night got together with friends for some food, chatting and of course a bar crawl in the neighborhood. Sunday was squandered away with a nice long session of sleeping in (I’m quite a pro at that) and then an escape to suburbia where the BF and I spent the afternoon in Barnes & Noble in Emeryville.

Call me simple and nerdy - but something about stacks and stacks of books upon shelves in a florescent lit room really makes me feel comfortable. I guess I always associated the fake lighting with school and libraries.

Anyway, it’s also been awhile since a food update. Not much to report, except that I did start to discover the joy of cooking….vegetables. And ok, it’s not really even cooking. As my friend Vivian used to say: it’s adding heat to things.

I always loved that wilted spinach that Asian restaurants served. So, finally, after visiting the local Asian market with some friends, they encouraged me to buy a bundle of spinach.

I thought that amount was ridiculous…

Anyway, I thoroughly washed it and heated up a pan.

Then, drizzling a little bit of vinegar and throwing in some minced garlic, I stirred around the leafy greens until they took on the familiar wilted look in restaurants.

Not too shabby! Though next time I would definitely add a little bit more vinegar and garlic, but overall it was a really nice pairing with some rice and salmon.

Another recent favorite is chopping up cucumbers and then marinating in vinegar, soy sauce and sugar. Also pairs very nicely with white rice (and, yes, I know I know…white rice isn’t good for you….but I can’t help it, I grew up with it for 20+ years! Old habits die hard, and so do acquired tastes over two decades).

Next dish up - maybe a stir fry. Oooo. We’re getting all fancy up in here.

On a random side note, I just have to say that I have a love/hate relationship with purchasing things on the Internet. Love because they usually come cheaper, hate because I don’t get instant gratification, love again because having things arrive at my door is like a random day of Christmas, and hate again because it just makes me want to spend more money. My latest purchase (which I have sadly yet to use) is my new Wacom pen and tablet:

Squeee! I couldn’t wait to get it open to start doodling my little heart away to add some pizzazz to this blog…but unfortunately, I am still trying to get Adobe Illustrator. Sigh.

Hopefully it won’t be much longer….!

Okay, random thought here — I still find it pretty amazing when I think about the changes that occur in a mere four years. Four years is the difference between high school and college. It’s the difference between a new college graduate and somebody who has been working for a solid amount of time. In fact, it’s the amount of time (I would say) between the phase where friends are getting married and the phase where they begin having babies. Luckily, I feel as though I’m still at the beginning of the flurry of weddings.

Anyway!

I promised myself that I would have a productive weekend, and in a sense I did. On Saturday the BF took me shopping (along with two willing friends) and he helped me make some pretty awesome additions to my scant wardrobe. On Sunday, I went to a pole dancing class (yes, you read that correctly…and yes, it was ONLY FOR WORKING OUT PURPOSES ONLY) and went grocery shopping. Unfortunately, my productivity should have been more focused on cleaning instead of eating.

As for the eating part - I finally had Shabu Shabu for the FIRST TIME and it was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that the same friends who went with me on Saturday night wanted to go again the next night. Who am I to say no to a pot of boiling miso soup chalk full of kobe beef and vegetables??

Deeeelicious. Of course, the first evening was slightly ruined due to the obscenely loud and raucous table of 30 people behind us (at one point two shirts went flying — luckily they missed our table and didn’t end up in my pot of food, otherwise there would have been hell to pay *shakes fist menacingly*). Despite the cacophony, it was still a fabulous meal.

I also promised myself that I would start cooking more. I was quite pleased with the meal I made tonight (soft tofu with thousand year egg, topped with a tiny sprinkle of soy sauce and fish furikake, a present from Gogo) along with wilted spinach cooked with vinegar and minced garlic. Oh, and marinated chicken and some rice. Sounds boring, but definitely did the trick.

Yum, yum!

A few weeks ago, I made one of my first attempts at cooking. This was all inspired after I was thoroughly traumatized by Food, Inc - and I swore to myself that I would cook wholesome food that was in season. At the time, artichoke was in season. Hooray! I thought it would pair nicely with a walnut chicken salad.

So, with newfound determination to buy the best ingredients possible, I headed to Whole Foods and assembled my arsenal of organic food.

I ended up cutting off the bottom part of the artichokes and boiling them, since I didn’t have a steamer.

The salad was a spring mix topped with some anchovies, feta cheese and a little sprinkling of balsamic vinegar.

After salting and peppering the chicken, I cut it into cubes for the food.

Unfortunately, I have this problem where I like to do a little bit of…improvising. It’s something that BF absolutely hates, since he’s one of those people that follow the Alton Brown school of thought (i.e. meticulous measuring and no deviation from the recipe). I love chicken salad, and I like beets - on a whim I decided to throw some beets in the chicken salad. I mean…c’mon. I like beets in REGULAR salad.

The end result turned out to be a funky pinkish chicken salad and a limp looking dark green artichoke. BF called it alien food. Sigh.

At least it was edible.

And yes, I do find it ironic that most budding chefs post pictures of their masterpieces, and I’ve been posting pictures of my simplistic endeavors and…let’s be honest…failures. Ha.

My poor future children will be building plenty of character when it comes to food, I can assure you of that.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already Wednesday, and I’ve been back in the Bay Area for two days after my excursion home. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m getting older (and thus days are a smaller percentage of my whole life) or what, but it really felt like this past weekend FLEW by.

As always, it was fantastic seeing family and friends…and the trip back home was even more special because there is a new member of the family coming shortly. It’s funny and a bit sad when I think about it…the last time I saw my cousin she wasn’t pregnant at all, this time I saw her with the baby bump, and the next time I see her there will be a little wiggling human who is related to me.

It’s times like these when I really miss being around family and being able to see them whenever I wanted. Thank goodness for Skype and webcams….the baby will probably think that I am a 2D person for a good portion of his early life. At least he (hopefully) won’t freak out when he sees that I am three dimensional.

Anyway, Friday was mostly work and getting prepped for the surprise baby shower. It was the first baby shower that I have ever participated in, let alone throw, so I wasn’t sure what the proper etiquette was. Regardless, it turned out to be a great time - and I LOOOOVE throwing surprises!

In addition to the presents, the cake, the food … we played the obligatory “smell the diaper” game. For those of you who have NEVER heard of this game, you basically melt different chocolate bars into…diapers. And then you make your guests guess what they are.

I don’t know about you, but it did turn out pretty realistically….grody…

Sunday was mostly spent hanging out with family and friends and then jam packing in even MORE family and friends time on Monday, before my flight.

The only small downside to Memorial Day in Texas is getting used to the 90+ degree Texas heat after being away for 7 months. I’m starting to feel as though I’m losing my Texan-ness (if that exists) since I whined to my mom multiple times that it was just sooooooo hot.

And then she told me the weather in Texas was actually cooler than it had been. Yikes.

My friend also mentioned that I seem paler than I have ever been before. I guess that’s what happens after 2 years living in a fog - and not just a mental one. Har.

Anyway, family and friends aside….the other highlight was the FOOD.

Chick-Fil-A, Rudy’s Barbeque, and Popeye’s Southern Style Fried Chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes and corn. Oh, and not picture of course is Fat Straws and home cooking.

I do love Texas.

Hooray, I finally found my Canon S90! After uploading a lot of my photos, I realized that I haven’t taken off any of my photos for months. Crazy how time flies by.

At any rate, I promised myself that I would start documenting more facets of my life as well as my first attempts at cooking. Luckily, a lot of my friends have been more than happy to offer me some easy recipes. Coming soon is pecan crusted Salmon … but today, one of the easiest meals EVAR is … soba.

I almost feel like I’m cheating here, since the the steps for soba are almost fewer than making instant ramen. Basically it’s boiling water, cooking the noodles, draining the noodles, then dipping them in the special soba sauce.

My friend suggested getting these brands:

One of the best things I’ve found about soba is how simple it is to feed yourself. You can also be as simple or as simple or fancy as you want. Add in cucumbers, for example (obviously after you finish boiling the noodles) or if you want to get SUPER fancy maybe whip up some tempura.

Yummy noodles!

I know a lot of people probably wouldn’t eat it this way, but I LOOOOOVE Furikake.

Sprinkle a little on and hooray! One of my first dinners that expanded beyond opening a can and warming up food.

Baby steps are at least still steps forward, right?

Verdict: SUPER ridiculously simple, light, and fairly salty. Definitely makes me feel good after I eat it, especially since I don’t feel like I gained 5 lbs overnight.

I’ve been inspired lately to start cooking more on my own, beyond just heating up water and boiling ramen noodles. I figured I’d start incorporating real food like … vegetables! Apologies again for the soddy photos off my phone — I’ve been taking some photos on my Canon S90 but after some heavy duty cleaning, I’ve misplaced my battery charger. GRRR.

Anyway, I was inspired by the corn salad from last weekend’s dinner at Armadillo Willy’s. It seemed simple enough. Since I wasn’t feeling too hot the past week, I figured a simple corn salad would be light enough and the perfect side to some soup (not homemade, I’m not that fancy yet).

Voila! Corn salad:

I boiled two ears of corn for about two minutes. After that I cut off the kernels and mixed it with half a chopped red onion and a healthy helping of cilantro. Squeezed a bit of lime and then seasoned it off with some pepper and salt.

The verdict? While it wasn’t a gourmet salad by any means, it was definitely simple and edible (two very important things to a new “chef,” I must say). It’s still missing a little something - I think next time I’ll add in some tomatoes to see if it balances out the onion a bit more…and maybe a bit of jalapeno for a kick.

Now I just gotta figure out what else I’ll be doing for this week. I have so much more respect for my mom now that I’m starting to forage for my own food beyond the TV dinners and instant noodles!

I was sitting at my computer hammering out a blog post when I realized that I was just rambling about nothing. I thought about writing a long blog about my weekend and how much fun I had, but it ended up boring me. And it’s a bad sign when you bore yourself, don’t you think?

Anyway, I apologize for the shoddy pictures - I haven’t had the chance to upload my crisp clean images from the past few weeks of adventures in food fun. More updates to come. But for now, here are some pictures from my iPhone over this past weekend that make me happy.

My friend Melody’s Pineapple Upside Down cake….SO ridiculously good….

Topped off with homemade whipped cream. I had no idea that whipped cream could be made at home so easily with just whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla. This discovery is going to be very bad for my health…

Rediscovered crayons at Armadillo Willy’s during dinner….

…and my inner five-year-old. Rainbow Monstaaaarrrr raaar!