delicious one

will fly for food.

2008-08-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

At the end of July, Mr. Cupcake and I decided to throw caution to the wind and take a trip to Chicago for an indulgent meal at Alinea. It really wasn't as carefree as it sounds. You see, we had these reservations since May, but were on the fence as to whether or not we should go. With airline prices so high and a looming trip to Australia, we were planning to cancel. However, I found a pair of fairly reasonable tickets last minute, so we decided to say to hell with it, let's go.

You may be wondering what kind of restaurant would cause anyone to jump on a plane just for a meal. Alinea is a relatively young restaurant (opened in 2005), but is well known for its usage of molecular gastronomy. It was named the number one restaurant in America (2006) by Gourmet Magazine, ranked one of the top 50 restaurants in the world by the S.Pelligrino people, and earlier this year, Grant Achatz (owner and head chef) won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef. I've been hearing about this place off and on for the last couple years, and while all the accolades are great, what's even more amazing is how Achatz overcame mouth cancer while at the height of his career.

OK, so enough back story. Now to the food. There are two options when ordering at Alinea: the 12 course tasting and the 24 course tour. We tried to get the tour, but it was booked and they put us on the waiting list. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, and we had to settle for the tasting. Since this meal was almost a month ago, my memory is a bit hazy, so please bear with me.

King Crab - sudachi, avocado, bay branch

It's really hard to mess up anything that is deep fried. Seriously. It's the perfect way to start off a tasting menu because who is going to say, man, that deep fried crab sure tastes terrible. Not going to happen. This deep fried ball was attached to a bay branch that functioned more as a utensil. The batter was light, and it was filled with crab, avocado, and sudachi. The first thing Mr. Cupcake noted was the strong citrus flavor mixed in with the crab. Sure enough, sudachi is a Japanese citrus fruit.

The butter

I really love butter presentations. The shapes reminded me of scoops of sorbet or ice cream, similar to what I've had at other fancy pants restaurants. The butter on the left was a cows milk butter with black Hawaiian salt. The butter on the right was a very mild goat's milk butter. I definitely preferred the cow's milk.

After most courses, a guy would come around and serve us bread. Each serving of bread was different. Being the carb lover that I am, I looked forward to seeing what would be served next.

Tomato - basil, mozzarella, olive oil

This was a modified caprese salad. The large white log in the background was a foamy buffalo mozzarella dipped in liquid nitrogen (I think). There was also dehydrated tomatoes, basil sorbet, a cube of jellified concentrated vinegar of some sort (sherry perhaps? I don't remember), and two spheres of tomato water. It was definitely an experience because the familiar flavors were there but presented in a unique way. Being that I love tomatoes, my favorite part was the concentrated, powdery tomato. I also adore buffalo mozzarella, but this was foreign to me. My taste buds recognized the flavor, but my brain was telling me that this doesn't add up. This course was a perfect example of what molecular gastronomy is for those who are curious.

Bigeye Tuna - artichoke, garlic, bottarga

The most memorable components of this course were the freshness of the tuna and the crispy strands of garlic. I especially liked the garlic strands. They were lightly fried tendrils infused with garlic. The truth of the matter is, I like anything that is crispy. I'm sort of like my cat. He likes crispy things too... tortilla chips, plastic, etc. The crispy just adds that extra layer of texture that makes everything in the world OK.

Wagyu Beef (Part 1)

The server came out Wagyu beef dipped in liquid nitrogen held together by chopsticks. We were instructed to not touch the beef as it was frozen solid and could shatter. We were to appreciate it as a center piece for the time being. Now, this is where Mr. Cupcake decided that this was gimmicky. I on the other hand decided that there had to be reason for dipping the beef in liquid nitrogen. Perhaps it made the beef slightly more tender. Something, right? We continued to ponder why they would do this. To be continued...

Lobster - peas, spring onion, mint vapor

Up next was a lobster foam soup that contained several large pieces of lobster. I don't always love lobster, but something about the warm foamy soup made it work for me . My favorite part was the green mass in the middle. Inside the thin, delicate casing was liquefied English peas. When I plopped the mass into my mouth, it burst open and was all kinds of delicious. It reminded me of a non fried version of the pea croquette at Manresa.

Short Rib - Guinness, peanut, fried broccoli

This course was Mr. Cupcake's favorite course up until the very end. There were a lot of things going on in this dish, but unfortunately, I can't remember most them. I do remember that the short ribs were incredibly tender and overall it was incredibly delicious. The other notable aspect about this dish was the Guinness. Guinness you ask? Well, you see the light brown film that covers the dish? That's Guinness, you know the beer. It provided a sweetness that I wouldn't have expected. This is pretty much the only time I can recall where I enjoyed the flavor of Guinness.

Wagyu Beef (part 2)

Curious what happened to our Wagyu beef center piece? Well, basically we watched it melt into limp slices of beef over a few courses. It was soft, and ready for the next course.

Wagyu Beef (part 3) - maitake, smoked date, Blis Elixir

Our server came out with plates of maitake mushrooms and a smoked date. He then took the beef and laid it on top. Another guy came around and drizzled the plate with Blis Elixir. Blis Elixir is a special sherry vinegar from Spain (?). This dish was as tasty as they get. The beef just melted in the mouth while the mushrooms and date complimented the entire dish. It was lovely.

Mr. Cupcake asked our server if the liquid nitrogen served any real purpose, and he told us it was so we could watch the evolution of frozen beef to not. It turned out that Mr. Cupcake was correct.

I had Mr. Cupcake take a picture of his plate just to show the difference in presentation since they did it in front of us. His picture is a little clearer too.

Hot Potato - cold potato, black truffle, butter

This was a soup playing with temperatures. The suspending stick contained a truffle, a potato, and small block of Parmesan cheese. I'm not sure what the second white block was. It might have been butter, but I don't remember. We then pulled the stick down so all the contents fell into the soup, and gulped it down. The potato on the stick and the potato soup were different temperatures (one hot, one cold), but I can't remember which was which. In any case, it was delicious, and I loved it. Mr. Cupcake on the other hand felt the chunks were too big and thus the textures took away from the experience.

As they took away the dish, our server asked us if we liked the Campbell's soup. Cute. :)

Duck - chocolate, blueberry, Thai pepper

OK, so they told me this was chocolate. That's really all I heard before I scarfed it down. I had cleared the plate before I realized I didn't take a picture.

It was basically a soft bar of chocolate that encased pieces of duck. The strange thing about this dish was it didn't taste very good with just those two components. However, there were other layers of flavor including white and green purees that represented the parts of a green onion. There was also blueberry and a hazelnut puree. Mixed together, the flavors completely changed the course and made it surprisingly good.

It wasn't just this dish either, as this held true in a lot of the courses. It's genius how the dynamic changes and the flavors suddenly worked well together.

Rhubarb, Watermelon, Bacon

This course was presented as a trio and all are described below.

Rhubarb - ginger, basil

This sphere was full of rhubarb juice. Our server told us a story about how this dish evolved, and told us that it was important that we keep our mouths closed when we eat it. Apparently, someone once bit down into it and the liquid shot across the room and landed on the person's date. Since then, they warn people to keep their mouths shut when eating. He wasn't kidding. The liquid literally explodes once the sphere is punctured, and I nearly dribbled all down the front of my dress. Fortunately, I managed to save myself and keep it in.

Bacon - butterscotch, apple, thyme

This was a play on the whole salty, sweet, while savory. It was a piece of bacon with a drizzle of butterscotch, pieces of apple, and thyme. I have read raves about this particular course, and when they presented it to the lady sitting next to us, I was pretty sure she was going to wet herself from excitement. I agree bacon makes pretty much everything taste better, and this was definitely tasty, but I just felt some of our other dishes thus far were more memorable.

Watermelon - fresh coriander, tamari, bonito

Of all the dishes we had that night, this is the only one that did not work for me. It basically tasted like watermelon and fish. I'm open to being enlightened, but this mouthful was anything but.

Sorrel - honey, fennel, poppy seeds

I honestly don't remember much about this dish other than the honey was fabulous when mixed with all the other components. I do remember trying to poke a piece of the plate because in the dim light it looked like part of the food. Imagine my surprise when my fork went clunk because I was trying to eat the plate.

Whole Wheat - almond, apricot, chervil

The whole wheat dish was easily the best dish of the entire night. There really wasn't anything too fancy about it. It was a wheat cake that looked like and had the consistency of a fluffy piece of wheat bread. Surrounding it was a scoop of almond ice cream, sliced almonds, caramel sauce, and an apricot sauce. There was apparently some chervil. The server presented the dish and then proceeded to pour something on it which I believe was a warm foamy milk. The whole dish was dreamy and I could have eaten 10 more. Mr. Cupcake and I were in agreement that this dish was perfection.

Chocolate - blueberry, hazelnut, Thai pepper

Remember the duck and chocolate dish that I failed to show you because I pretty much woofed it down before I remembered I was suppose to take a picture? Well, this is the dessert version of that dish sans duck. It was a shot glass filled with a freeze dried (?) version of the key elements. We were instructed to take it as a shot. The chocolate flavor was rich and we could taste the blueberry and hazelnut, but we didn't really get a good feel for the Thai pepper. It pretty much didn't exist. That's OK, because we had just experienced perfection, and it's really hard to go up against that.

Our total bill including meal, 2 glasses of wine, a glass of sparkling cider, and tip was $454.10. I'm not sure what the breakdown was because I never looked at the bill.

And that concludes our 12 courses at Alinea. It was a beautifully prepared meal... one that I won't forget for a long time. In the end, Mr. Cupcake and I were actually glad we didn't get the tour because over three hours, we were full. We also agreed we liked it more than our experience at the French Laundry. Why? It was the combination of interesting flavors and the fact that the staff was knowledgable while being pretty laid back. One of the things I really didn't like about the French Laundry was I felt like I was being watched the entire time. Don't get me wrong, some courses were like a revelation (and some weren't), but at the same time, I felt that having someone constantly watch me takes away from the experience. Then again, some people really love the attention in that they don't have ever ask for anything. Alinea's staff does a good job of making people feel welcome while still maintaining the flash of a top tier dining establishment.

So what does one do after a meal like that? We changed into our play clothes and headed off the Martini Park to meet up with my fabulous cousin, Julie!

Except, they wouldn't let us in the door. They were like, "we have a dress code". Apparently they didn't appreciate Mr. Cupcake's selection from his fine t-shirt collection (he reads tshirt blogs you know), or perhaps it was my mary jane crocs. Whatever the case, the doorman was a douche bag and I recommend staying away from this über lame establishment.

No worries though. We ended up giving our money to an Irish pub that was next door to Pete Wentz's new hipster bar. Since we ate dinner at 5:15pm, we found ourselves hungry again come 11:30pm, so we did what any normal person would do:

We ordered cheezy tator tots with bacon and jalapenos. Yep, a perfect way to end an already decadent evening.

reunited and it feels so good

2008-06-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing rumblings that I haven't blogged since Sept. 2007. I had to check for myself, and what do you know, the grumblings were indeed accurate. Perhaps, you've been wondering what I've been up to. Well, the past nine months were filled with travels, and enough food that I've managed to soften up. Fortunately, the Wii Fit coupled with my elliptical are here to find what once was. So, now, a summary for those who are curious and for those who aren't, then you may want to stop here...

Mr. Cupcake and I found ourselves back in Kentucky, a place we thought we'd never revisit. Due to good friends and a wedding, we returned.

We were able to visit our favorite restaurant, the Holly Hill Inn. We use to be regulars and missed it dearly once we moved to California.

We also made a few stops at Graeter's. Oh sweet Graeters! Ice cream has never been so perfect. This stuff is that good. So good, that I have it shipped to my house at something around $11 a pint. It's all in the chips and worth every penny.

Shortly, thereafter, we left the wedding to head back east for an unexpected funeral. It was amazing to see the colors of the trees.

Mr. Cupcake and I are emotional eaters. To deal with any lingering sadness, we did what any rational person would do: we stuffed ourselves silly with NY style pizza, banh mi, and a full sample of bagels including those at H&H Bagels. It was the right thing to do.

Seriously, it's impossible to find a bagel this crisp and chewy back on the West Coast. Delicious one indeed.

In November, Mr. Cupcake's friend turned 30. He decided to celebrate with a ginormous beach house in Cabo. We opted to skipped Thanksgiving with the family and spend it on the beach instead.

We checked out the local scene including the Costco. I heart Costco. It's pretty much the same with a few local product choices here and there. I should have gotten a churro.

While Mr. Cupcake was off deep sea fishing, I had the chance to eat street food from a taco stand.

Chorizo and cheese on a tortilla. It was the meal that I remember. So simple, but hit all the right notes.

Christmas rolled in, and one of my favorite gifts was the Baker's Edge pan. My first attempt and yeah, only (I know, I'm pathetic) was a recipe for banana bread. The recipe is interesting because it doesn't contain any sort of fat like a big blob of butter or a half gallon of oil. We actually just finished the last piece up today since it freezes so well.

Some time passed and what do you know, I turned 30. I'm an old bag who still looks like she's in high school. Not as tramatic as I thought it'd be, but it helps when a friend sends some glorious Christopher Elbow Chocolates. He's from Kansas (like me!) and makes a mean salted caramel. Coincidentally, he recently opened up a shop in San Francisco.

Before you know it, it's May and I found myself in Colorado with a good friend and a giant. Okay, she's not really a giant, but she might as well be. She's just shy of 6'3". I'd show you a picture, but she might eat you.

Our mission over the next four days was to eat good food and just relax. Along the way, my friend and I stumbled upon a place called the Sunshine Cafe in Silverthorn, CO. The B.L.A.T. was a great way to start off the trip after an early morning flight from Cali.

After stuffing ourselves silly, we left the giant, and headed back to Denver. Little did we know, the best meals were ahead of us including this banana split from Snooze. The other meal was Frasca in Boulder. It was an Italian meal that I won't soon forget, and if you're in the area, you shouldn't miss it.

Over Memorial Day, we trekked it in Mr. Cupcake's ambulance (don't ask) to Reno! And let me tell you, it's nothing like Vegas. Places like the Bouchon Bakery, the Wynn Buffet, and all the other lovely places are no where to be found. Instead...

I was able to watch Chrisi shave about a year off his life with this breakfast. And then...

I watched Mr. Cupcake shave at least two years off his with an Awful Awful burger from the Golden Nugget. Good food never appeared during our visit to the Biggest Little City.

Finally, we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Apparently, 2008 is the year of the 3's - age 30 and 3rd year anniversaries.

To celebrate, Mr. Cupcake scored us a meal at the famed Chez Panisse in Berkeley. I had finally completed my Norcal trifecta - Chez Panisse, The French Laundry, and Manresa. To top it off, he managed to get a reservation at Alinea, a place that's been on top of my food list. He's a good man, that Mr. Cupcake.

I hope that the next post won't be another nine months, but I'm not promising anything. There are some interesting developments including a half flat of strawberries sitting in my fridge, tomatoes soon to be in season, and a trip to Australia. If your lucky, something might pop up in your RSS reader someday soon.

one hot mess

2007-09-20T12:35:00.001-07:00

One of the stops during our 2007 Euro tour was of course Paris. While it's never been high on Mr. Cupcake's list, it was definitely on mine.

Ah, Paris. Land of things such as this great structural feat. I can't say that the Eiffel Tower brought out all these overwhelming romantic feelings that others might feel when visiting.

However, the sight of all the glorious pastries in all the boulangeries and pâtisseries did warm my heart in ways I've never felt before.

And the people of Paris were really quite lovely. The way they freely roamed the street going about their business was a real pleasure to see.

My only advice for someone planning a trip to France is to plan all food excursions ahead of time. This is of my biggest regrets. I'm usually fanatical about researching where to eat on vacation, but for some reason, I just didn't do it this time around. It turned out to be a huge mistake for many reasons. Mostly, we had a lot of sub par meals because people make reservations months in advance. This isn't to say we suffered completely. One of my highlight meals in fact was lunch at Le Comptoir.

If I remember correctly, we didn't have to have a reservation for lunch. Instead, we just had to show up before they opened. Mr. Cupcake, J9, and I waited outside for about a half an hour and had no problems getting a table for an early lunch.

I ordered the Thon juste rôti à la plancha (bleue). According to Babelfish, this translates to "Tuna just roasted with the plancha (blue)" I'm not sure what plancha is, but about.com tells me that "a la plancha" is Spanish and "grilled on a metal plate". I can buy that.

The textures and flavors of the tuna were so simple, yet, so perfect. The tuna was topped with fresh roasted vegetables, an olive oil and balsamic mixture, and fried garlic. I loved the light crispiness of the garlic with the smoothness of the tuna. I remember sitting there thinking, I could probably make something like this at home.

Many moons later (approximately three and a half to four months), I decided I'd be like last week's episode of "Top Chef" and attempt to remake the fish I had in Paris based on taste. Actually, I did this before I watched this episode, but I thought maybe it'd sound better if I said "Top Chef" actually inspired me.

Mr. Cupcake and I go to the local farmer's market almost on a weekly basis, and buy a random assortment of fruits and vegetables. This dinner wasn't really planned, but I decided I would go ahead and use some of the vegetables we bought last Sunday. This included the garlic, tomatoes, and long beans. I also bought a couple of zucchinis from Safeway (boo) because I decided I needed them for this experiment. I chopped up the long beans, zucchini, and tomatoes and put them on a baking sheet. I then tossed them in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. The oven was set to 435 degrees and the vegetables roasted.

Next up was the garlic. The garlic was pretty simple. I sliced a couple of cloves and threw them into some hot oil. They fried fried up pretty quick.

We then salt and peppered our lovely pieces of ahi tuna from your favorite place and mine: Costco. They were pan seared for about 3 minutes on each side until a nice crust formed.

Finally, came the assembly. Plate the tuna, add the vegetables, fried garlic, basil, a few sundried tomatoes, and a final drizzle of olive oil and balsamic. The final outcome: one hot mess.

Visually, I could have used a few style pointers. Maybe if I had plated it on a fresh white plate, it would have looked like the original. Or not. Taste, well, taste was OK. The tuna was a little over cooked. Searing ahi looks so much easier on TV than it is in real life. Mr. Cupcake thought maybe the tuna wasn't as fresh as it could have been. Also, I have to say that the long beans were a poor vegetable choice for this dish. They were tough and somewhat bitter. I really wanted them to taste like French green beans, but sadly, they didn't. I think next time, I will skip the sun-dried tomatoes, extra olive oil, and balsamic drizzle at the end. The vegetables had enough flavor without that step. The real winner of the dish was the roasted tomatoes. My love for tomatoes in season goes deep. Roast them for 45 minutes in a 430 degree oven, and it's sheer bliss.

With a few of these tweaks, I think this will be a successful dish. Seeing how the tuna was only so-so, I may try this with a different fish or maybe chicken or pork. See, Europe is a glorious place! It brought inspiration to my own kitchen from far, far away. Sadly, with the current dollar to Euro exchange rate, I probably won't be going back anytime soon.

It's me again... and I'm addicted to the Shanghai Flavor Shop

2007-09-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been stuck in Germany for awhile. If you haven't figured it out, I haven't been in Europe for some time now. While I wish I lived there, alas, I don't... at least not yet. Peculiar things happen to me whenever I go to Europe. One would think I'd become completely food obsessed when back home, but that doesn't seem to happen (hence my 3 month plus hiatus). Before I went to Italy a couple of years ago, Italian food was my obsession. I was so sure that there was a mix up and instead of being born in Korea, I should have been born in Italy. Well, I came back from Italy, and completely lost my taste for Italian food. It wasn't because the food was so terrible. In fact, the food far exceeded my expectations in every way. Thus, I just couldn't stomach the Italian food in the States anymore. Granted, at the time, I was living in Kentucky. It's not exactly known for its Italian excellence.

Anyway, that wasn't quite the scenario this time around. While I did experience some remarkable meals, I wasn't blown away each and every time. I'm sure it had a lot to do with hopping around from country to country for short periods of time. By the time we made it back home, I was ready for a break from food. I wanted to eat simple things from my own kitchen again. And I didn't want to blog about any of it.

I'm a moody blogger, and sometimes I lose my voice for food. I'm not sure if I really have it back, but there are things I have been meaning to write about. One in particular is the Shanghai Flavor Shop in Sunnyvale.

Mr. Cupcake and I first visited this little restaurant shortly after coming back from Europe. It's tucked back in a shady strip mall along Wolf Rd. and Old San Francisco Rd. It's become one of my favorite go to restaurants in recent months for several reasons: 1. It's crazy cheap 2. It's crazy good. 3. Pan Fried Soup Dumplings. Need I say more?

Ok, I will say more. What's a pan fried soup dumpling you ask? Well, it's a doughy little gem that encases a soft pork ball and delicious soup. The dumpling is pan fried on the bottom, so it has a nice crispy crust. It's a lovely contrast the rest of the soft, doughy casing.

I've had steamed Shanghai dumplings (XLB) in the past, but I've never had anything like this. It's definitely unique, and from what I've read it's one of the few places in the Bay Area where these are made. My only complaint is that the soup levels can be inconsistent. Most of the dumplings are relatively juicy, but occasionally the soup can be little to nonexistent. It's not enough to keep me away by any means. I should also add that every time I've been, the dumplings have been served fresh.

While the dumplings are the main attraction, there are many other things on the menu. Actually, we have a tendency to order the same dishes over and over again. This includes a whole lot of dumplings and the Shredded Pork and Noodle with Green Onion Sauce.

The pork is sparse, but once mixed together, there's an abundant amount of flavor. Thus, I can forgive the limited amount of pork. Soo adores the veggie and pork wonton soup. She says it reminds her of her grandmother's dumplings. I'm pretty sure that someone sits there in the back, and puts together these dumplings by hand. On a couple of occasions, I've seen a little old lady walk up to the front with a tray full of the little dumplings.

Shanghai Flavor Shop is a total hole in the wall, but well worth the venture. If you're looking to blow your latest paycheck, it will be hard to do here since the most expensive item on the menu appears to be the $10.95 prawns. Most items on the menu are less than $6. Definitely stop by if you're in the area and try the pan fried soup dumplings; you won't be sorry. And if you are sorry, well, take one for the team and eat them anyway.

Shanghai Flavor Shop
888 Old San Francisco Rd.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 738-3003
Lunch: 11am - 3pm
Dinner: 5pm - 9pm
Closed Monday

final meal in Germany

2007-05-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

The German Bank holiday has wrecked havoc on our holiday in Germany. Today, Mr. Cupcake wanted to go to the Porsche Museum for a tour of the factory. Much to our dismay, they weren't giving tours since the factory was closed due to the bank holiday. Boooooooooooooooooo.

The museum itself was pretty lame. Unless you're an absolute Porsche enthusiast who lives and dies by all things Porsche, this place is a miss. That is unless you can get in on one of the tours anyway. This left us with four hours before we had to catch the train to Paris. We decided to give the Gasthaus zur Linde another try after our failed attempt last night.

The Gasthaus zur Linde is on the South side of Stuttgart, so it's a bit of a trek from the city centre. J9 read about the restaurant on the Internet a few days prior in Nürburg. The restaurant has received many accolades for remaining true to its regional Swabian roots. We had been itching to try some regional cuisine since there wasn't much available in the remote mountains where we were. This was a perfect solution to cure to our disappointment from this morning.

When we arrived, we found that the restaurant was a classy joint, and we felt way under dressed. Silly Americans! Fortunately, they were willing to take us since we were the first to arrive for lunch. We entered a room where there was a wall of fame. The chef/owner (not sure which) was plastered all over a long wall with various notable figures such as the Prime Minister of Japan, Lionel Richie, and Bai Ling. Well, those were the only ones I can remember off the top of my head. Seriously, if Lionel Richie has been there, we knew had come to the right place!

I ordered the maultaschen which is described as homemade Swabian Ravioli with creamy sauerkraut. According to Internet factology, maultaschen roughly translates into "little ones who cheat the Lord". Odd yes, but the back story is Catholics can't eat meat on Fridays during lent, and the Swabians still wanted to meat. To accomplish this task, they wrapped the meat in ravioli dough in order to fool God.

I was still trying to block out the horror of last night's dinner, so I was pleased to see a much more sane presentation of my meal. The raviolis were filled with small amounts of pork and some light seasonings like parsley and maybe some eggs. The raviolis laid on a bed of creamy sauerkraut and the plate had a few streaks of reduced balsamic vinegar. The sauerkraut was still sour, but not as pungent as the stuff I'm used to in the US. It was the German meal I'd been dreaming of, without even knowing it.

My meal also came with a salad and potato salad. The salad was just lettuce with an oily dressing. It wasn't anything inspired. However, the potato salad was actually more sour than the sauerkraut in my meal. It was surprising, but also very enjoyable.

J9 ordered a meal fit for a queen! It was basically a sampler plate that included a sirloin steak with fried onions and ravioli.

Mr. Cupcake ordered the oxtail which was in a ragout of oxtail in a "Lemberger" red wine sauce.

Both of their dishes came with a side of spatzle, and ab unidentifiable brown paste.

We managed to clear off most of plates and decided we had enough time to grab some dessert before dropping off our rental car. This was sort of a mistake - not because the dessert wasn't good, but because we almost missed our train. Service isn't the speediest, but that's pretty typical all over Europe. It's the whole meal is an event thing that is far more uncommon in the US.

We ordered some apple fritters in a vanilla sauce and ice cream. This was the best dessert of the two we ordered. It was basically just slices of apples battered and then fried. It's something that'd be hard to mess up, but I was especially fond of the ice cream. It complimented the fritter nicely.

With our second dessert, we decided to be more adventurous and ordered the sweet ravioli stuff with cottage cheese and stewed berries. This dessert didn't really work for me. It wasn't the same large curds of cottage cheese that we're use to in the States. Instead the cottage cheese was creamier. With the ravioli, it was more of the textural experience that I wasn't too fond of. However, one lackluster dish out of five is hardly anything to complain about.

Our fancy lunch cost us about 95 euros which included tax, tip, and alcohol. I'd highly recommend this restaurant if you're in the Stuttgart area. It was an excellent way to close out our trip Germany. It was the first time we'd been able to experience some of the regional cuisine albeit being on the fancy side.

Mr. Cupcake was also a fan of their kitty cat sugar packets.

We're on a six hour train ride to Paris right now. I'm actually a little sad to leave Germany. I never really had any desire to go, but now that I've been, I've found it's a charming place full of distinct local culture and meat. I'm sure I'll be back sometime in the future because I doubt Mr. Cupcake will be satisfied with only one visit to the Nurbergring.

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If you couldn't tell, this is a little old. We're actually on our last day in Paris, and heading to Avignon in a few hours via the TGV. I will write more about Paris later.

Oh the horror!

2007-05-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a most interesting dinner on our first and only night in Stuttgart. Our dinner destination to Gasthaus zur Linde was closed (much to our dismay) due to the German holiday. Unfortunately, we could only find two restaurants that were open for business. The restaurant that won was only because it was the closest. I'm not going to name names, but I will show you the colorful presentation of what was called 'dinner'...

I'm pretty sure the once diminishing zit on the side of my cheek has found new life thanks to this meal.

street food

2007-05-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake accomplished his Nürburgring laps and we were off to Stuttgart! Up until recently, I had been dying to try the following things in Germany in no particular order:

- a pretzel
- a bratwurst
- sauerkraut!
- any regional cuisines

On this day, I was able to mark one of these things off my list. The drive from Nürburg to Stuttgart is a long one. It's about two hours. We had a late start, so we ended up grabbing lunch in a town which I think was Boppard (will have to double check) that happened to be situated on the Rhine River. This was random stop, but our Nuvi GPS managed take down to another picturesque town.

Unfortunately for us, this was also German holiday, so many of the local businesses were closed. We walked along the river walk and only found hotels restaurants open. One place was only willing to serve ham OR cheese sandwiches even though they advertised more. Mr. Cupcake wanted to go to another museum along the way to Stuttgart (which we never made), so we decided to do a quick lunch at a little stand called the Konigsbacher.

It was a one man show. There was a guy behind the counter who took orders, and fortunately for us, he spoke a little bit of English. We struggled a little bit but he was very friendly and happy that we were customers. Mr. Cupcake ordered the currywurst because he had heard it was good.

The currywurst was sliced up and drenched in a curry/bbq like sauce. It was pretty tasty, but I was glad I went for the bratwurst. After all, I've been dying to have one in Germany.

It was quite different than what I was expecting. For one thing, it's noticeably longer and skinnier which is very much unlike the American versions. I'm not sure if this is how all bratwursts in Germany are, but I will say I like it! It wasn't as greasy or heavy as the bratwurst I'm use to. It also has a similar texture to a hotdog. It wasn't overly seasoned and it came with spicy mustard. Another bonus was that he fried it on his griddle. This made the skin crispy and extra delicious.

We also ordered a batch of pomme frites (French fries). Out of the three countries we've been to thus far, Germany wins for its deep frying execution. I'm just not a fan of soggy fries, chips, or what have you. I much prefer the crispity, crunchity fries like the ones served at this little stand.

Our total bill including J9's pork sandwhich, potato salad, and liter of Coke light was about 10 euros. I'm pretty sure it wins as the cheapest meal in Europe thus far. It was a satisfying lunch because I heart a good bratwurst.

A detour into Luxembourg

2007-05-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

We're in Nürburg, Germany right now, so that Mr. Cupcake can drive the famed Nürburgring race track.

It's been a very drizzly, and very rainy day. Actually, our entire trip thus far has been all rain and clouds. I'm hoping France will finally give us some sun. Though I must say, I'm happy being in rainy Germany compared to our previous destinations. The mountains and little villages are very picturesque and very quaint.

Since Mr. Cupcake was driving today, and it wasn't nice out, J9 and I decided to take a little detour and go to Luxembourg. It wasn't a planned route, but we were talking to the one of the owners at the Ringhaus where we're staying and he suggested the drive. It's only an hour from where we're staying.

Why Luxembourg you ask? Well, it has the highest concentration of Michelin starred restaurants per capita in the world. We decided to pick one and have a leisurely lunch. We settled on the two star La Tables des Guilloux. It was described as 'country' on a random Internet page. We decided that would be a more unique experience than the other two star Italian restaurant nearby.

We headed off to Luxembourg with our Garmin 370 GPS (which is awesome in Europe btw except for Ireland) to guide us.

The restaurant is located in a little village outside of Luxembourg City. It's actually hard to distinguish the restaurant from the other houses along the little lane.

One inside, I was pleased to find they had a bunch of peonies - my favorite flower. For me, this was the sign that it was going to be a good meal.

It Luxembourg, they speak French. Fortunately, J9 was able to invoke her high school French vocabulary from years past. If one cannot speak French like moi, fear not, the servers are friendly and some of them speak English.

We started off with an aperitif. J9 was able to try a white wine from the South of France. She then decided she was going to like France (our next stop).

We were also given a piece of crostini with foie gras and mackerel with a light mustard sauce. I'm not a big fan of mackerel due to the fishiness, and this was no exception. However, I did really enjoy the mustard sauce. I also find the more I eat foie gras, the more I adore it. It's the creaminess and smoothness along with the slightly salty flavor. It's dreamy. In recent history, the foie gras I've eaten has been prepared very airy and light, but this was more dense. I think I prefer it this way.

The entire menu is in French, so I had a difficult time trying to decide what to order. J9 went with the special which was an asparagus ravioli.

It had chopped pieces of asparagus and artichokes covered in a thin blanket of homemade pasta. The unique part of the pasta was that it wasn't crimped like the ravioli we all tend to know. If it hadn't been for the butter sauce, it would have been a waist friendly meal.

Since I didn't want to decipher the menu in detail, I decided to go with a fish. I ended up with a lovely piece of slightly seared St. Peter's white fish in a creamy tomato and basil sauce. The fish was light and had many fine serrated pieces. Like the mustard sauce in the first dish, the sauce on my fish was very well prepared. In fact, I couldn't get enough it. It also went very well the crusty bread that was on the table.

With such a lovely, leisurely meal and a crappy, rainy day, we couldn't pass up dessert. I wasn't sure what was on most of the menu, so I asked one of our servers what his favorite dish was. Without hesitation, he responded with the chocolate cake. I wasn't going to argue with the man, so I ordered one! J9 on the other hand went with the cheese plate.

This chocolate cake was very similar to the molten chocolate cake that have become ever so popular in many restaurants these days. Don't get me wrong, it was still lovely, but what saved the dish was again the sauce. It was a beautiful vanilla sauce with chopped up hazelnuts. It married very well with the chocolate cake and I was pleased with the direction our server had steered me.

J9 topped the meal off with a cup of coffee. Our server then brought out a complimentary dish of dark chocolate chunks.

And a plate of cookies and caramels. This was a nice ending to a very pleasant meal.

Our meal was about 106 euros including alcohol, tax, and gratuity. It was well worth the venture into the Luxembourg especially with all the rain we've been experiencing. It's been almost two weeks now and there hasn't been any sunshine. I'm hoping France will change this rainy pattern for the better.

Oh the nekkidness

2007-05-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

I was planning on writing more about Dublin and London, but to tell you truth, I wasn't overly impressed with either. We didn't go out into the countryside very much; I'm sure that would have been a different story. I may write more about both trips later. However, I wanted to share this tidbit that isn't related to food at all. The highlight of London (my first time) was being about 10 feet away from Daniel Radcliffe aka Harry Potter.

At least initially. I'm not even a Harry Potter the movie fan (yes, I've read all the books). I generally find the acting difficult to watch at least among the child actors. Though, I do adore Alfonso Cuarón. My only interest in going was because of what I've read about the play in the media and sheer curiosity. Perhaps it's because I read to much ohnotheydidn't.

Anyway, somehow, we managed to snag front row tickets to Equus, and yes, that means we were about 10 feet away from all of his glory. I won't go into details (if you really want to know, you can email me). But seriously, him being naked wasn't the highlight. It was (to my surprise) a play that was well done. Based on what I had read on the Internet, I was expecting him to do some strange and twisted routines with the horses as I haven't read the book. He didn't, and really, the thing that surprised me the most was that there was a naked woman in the play. I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to the promos. Besides, I'm sure promoting a naked Daniel Radcliffe was part of a marketing ploy to get people to see it. I'm not going to lie, it worked on me and all the others in the nearly full theater.

Anyway, to sum things up, the play was entertaining and well acted in particular the psychologist and the two parents. I'm also happy to report that Daniel Radcliffe isn't as tragic as I once thought. He was believable in this role and did a nice job. Though, the juvenile part of me wants to tell everyone that I've seen Harry Potter nekkid.

In Dublin... Leaving Dublin

2007-05-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd be better about posting in Dublin, but to tell you the truth, the jet lag and general time adjustment has been killer. We've been here for almost a week, and it's been interesting to say the least. We're heading to London in the morning, and I plan on posting more about our Dublin food adventures on the plane. If you asked me at the beginning of the week how the food was, I'd say omg, it's terrible! However, given time, we've managed to experience some gems. I also have to say that the clothes are very cute here! My pocketbook might be in for a hurting by June...

During the week, we took a tour of the Guinness factory. The line was incredible long, yet they usher people through pretty fast.

For 14 euros, one can tour the 5+ floor factory on a self guided tour. It was interesting, but I particularly liked the marketing aspect. Did you know the Guinness Book of World Records is related to Guinness the beer?

Or that the guy who created the famous Guinness character illustrations was once wooed by Walt Disney? He turned Disney down though.

We also had lunch at the cafe in the factory, but I won't go into that. Mr. Cupcake and J9 did enjoy Guinness Import Extra Stout which is only available in Europe, Japan, and maybe a few other countries. They can comment on the beer if they want since I didn't have any.

At the end of the tour, everyone is treated to a pint of Guinness. It should make it worth the 14 euros.

They fill the Guinness glasses up most of the way, and then let it settle. Once settled, they fill it up to the top. Genius. There's also a lovely view of Dublin from high up if you can push you way past gazillions of people.

Okay, that's all I really have from Dublin tonight. I have to go to bed so I can pack for London in the morning. Aye!

Oh, p.s. I had a big error on the 5 things to try before you die. I said the Spalding Bakery cooks their doughnuts in lard. This was a lie, lie, lie!!! I had no idea, but they were kind enough to post on my blog and correct me. They actually use soybean oil. I think what happened was a crazy person (who shall remain nameless) at my old job in KY told me it was lard and I believed them. My apologies for the misinformation, but now you know.

A Slice of New York

2007-05-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake and I are sitting on a turbulent flight to Chicago from San Francisco. It's our layover on the way to Dublin, which means we have some time to kill. So, I'm going to give my little blog some love.

We've been in California for about a year and a half now, and let me just say, life is great. The weather is usually sunny and happy, we've made friends who we run around with, there's lots of good things to eat, and places to see. Yet, there's still a hole in Mr. Cupcake's heart, and that hole is NY style pizza. I realize many East Coast transplants experience this same sense of loss, and like many others, we haven't found a replacement. In order to make due, we either make pizza at home or eat pizza at Costco . Yes, I know, I said Costco. It's been our staple for the last year and a half. We've tried other places, yet none of them fill that void in Mr. Cupcake's heart.

I often peruse various sites including Chowhound, Yelp, blogs, etc., and keep an eye out for new pizza joints. I read about A Slice of New York Pizza sometime late last year (I think). It's been on my radar for awhile, but San Jose can be a trip for us. What now seems like many moons ago, Mr. Cupcake and I were having the what should we have for dinner debate. I finally offered up a Slice of New York. In typical fashion, Mr. Cupcake was skeptical, and wasn't sure he wanted to drive down to San Jose to be disappointed. We realized we weren't getting anywhere, and decided to bite the bullet. Mr. Cupcake called and ordered a large pizza for carry out and the conversation went something like this:

Mr. Cupcake: "Hi, I'd like to order a large pizza, half pepperoni, half tomato and onion."

ASoNY: "Sorry Sir, we don't have tomatoes or any of those fancy ingredients like artichokes, etc."

Mr. Cupcake to me: "No tomatoes."

Me: "WwwwwwwHHHHHhhhhhhAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttttttttttttt?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

No tomatoes, seriously? Fancy ingredients?? Argh. I panicked. Tomato and onion are my pizza topping staples. I've been eating tomato and onion pizzas for as long as I can remember. Well, as far back as my days at Lehigh, when we'd order a large pizza from Alpha Pizza Pie. The guy who ran the shop would use crushed tomatoes in place of sauce and we'd add onions. Alas, I had to pick some new toppings on the fly. All I could come up with was Canadian bacon and green pepper. Yeah, I know, weak.

A Slice of New York is in a small strip along Steven's Creek Blvd., and if you're not paying attention, it's easy to miss. There isn't much parking and even fewer seats inside. Don't expect to throw your kid's next birthday party here because there's limited space. I believe most people probably do carry out at this place. When we arrived, our pizza was ready. We paid $22 and went on our way.

I took a peak in the car and found the pizza to be a respectable size and coved in ample toppings. I could maybe forgive as long as the crust was chewy and delicious.

When we came home, Mr. Cupcake tested the pizza's bend-ability factor. It passed reasonably well.

The verdict? This pizza is the best NY style pizza we've had out here on the West Coast. The crust was chewy and had a slight crispness to it even after the drive home. It also didn't have that overwhelming yeasty flavor that a lot of NY style pizzas have out here. Mr. Cupcake was pleased. I was mostly pleased. The Canadian bacon/green onion combo was more satisfying than I was anticipating.

The owners have definitely tapped into a lacking market in the Bay Area. The other thing they have going for them is that they're open late into the night. Now, if only they carried tomatoes and opened a few new branches closer to the Peninsula. Maybe next time I'll be the psycho/weirdo customer who brings in her own sliced tomato in Gladware and begs them to add it her pizza order. I'm okay with being psycho/weirdo. So, yeah, maybe.

back in the saddle

2007-04-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm back! Well, at least I think I'm back. I've been in a funk for the past few months that I'm just now starting to shake. I think I'm actually ready to start blogging again. Well, I'm going to give it a try anyway, with good reason of course. In two weeks, Mr. Cupcake, his sister, and I are heading to Europe for a month. We'll be visiting five countries, and my plan is to blog from there. I'm a bit rusty, though, so no better time than the present.

For the past month, I've been sort of obsessed with ice cream. I've never been a huge ice cream fan. It's something that I have to be in the mood for mostly due to how rich and creamy it is. I much prefer gelato, but there are occasions where I just want some ice cream. To meet my needs, I started off with Dreyer's slow churn mint chocolate chip.

Dreyer's claims 50% less fat but all the taste. Surprisingly, the claim isn't as lofty as one might think. I served it to a few friends and they were none the wiser until I told them there was half the fat. Still, it wasn't quite right...

Okay, it wasn't quite wrong either because we ended up eating most of it. However, I continued on with my search. We've been to a couple of ice cream shops around the South Bay, but none of them make me want to leave my couch in the middle of an episode of Entourage (let's hug it out, bitch). I haven't given up hope completely, and found myself perusing Chowhound for inspiration. This is how I heard about Dr. Bob's Ice Cream. Shortly, thereafter, I found myself at Andronico's to meet this alleged Dr. Bob.

Dr. Bob's Ice Cream is made in SoCal, contains a high butterfat content, and uses Scharffenberger chocolate. Sounds promising right?

For starters, this ice cream gets high marks for not dying their mint chocolate chip green. I like eating mint chocolate chip that isn't green because it just feels cleaner. Yes, I know it's all in my head. However, I was disappointed to find that the chocolate pieces were very fine. It gave the ice cream a gritty texture. The mint flavor was nice though. It wasn't too heavy, but it didn't make me giddy either. At $7 a pint, it's not something I'll be dreaming about.

Where did that leave me? Unsure of where to go next. Neither were bad, but neither were great. I wanted to be wowed! I wanted to feel tears of joy stream down my cheeks because the ice cream was that good. So, I found myself piddling around online about a week ago reading about local ice creams again. I came across another Chowhound post on Graeter's. Oh sweet Graeter's! There are few things I miss about Kentucky. Those things include the Holly Hill Inn in Midway, KY, Poker/DDR/Sno Cone night at Karl's, and the local Graeter's. Mr. Cupcake and I would visit Graeter's regularly after dinner. Jeez, it's been a long time.

On a whim, I ordered 6 pints online. I figured I'd surprise Mr. Cupcake because they had one of his favorite flavors in season - Strawberry Chip. Oh my.

On Tuesday, I made Soo wait around until the UPS guy showed up with my ice cream before running errands. I think Soo thought I was crazy for ordering ice cream online. You know, me, I'm wild and crazy girl like that. Anyway, when the UPS guy did show, I started to panic.

There was a huge gash in my styrofoam container! I was worried that the ice cream had melted and my day was ruined!

Fortunately, the ice cream was still rock solid. Oh, sweet Graeter's! You made it to California in your dry ice filled cooler! There is an ice cream god!

I ordered six pints of ice cream - 2 mint chocolate chip, 2 double chocolate chip, 1 strawberry chip, and 1 black raspberry chip. They messed up my ordered and gave me 3 mint chocolate chip instead of 2 double chocolate chip. I wasn't too upset though because I have Graeter's again!

Soo and I tore into the mint chocolate chip, and it was just as dreamy as I remembered. Actually, I'd even say more so. Even Soo became a believer in all that is Graeter's. The thing about this ice cream is while the ice cream is rock solid, the chocolate chips still manage to stay soft. I'm not sure how they do it, but it's amazing. The ice cream is also denser than any other ice cream I've had. Seriously, you haven't had ice cream until you've had Graeter's.

So there you have it. Graeter's is tops. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying my ice cream online from now on. It's steep at $70 for 6 pints or $110 for 12, but it's sooooooo worth it. My expanding bubble butt will thank me later.

I did something else on Tuesday besides get ice cream. I'm now one of those Asians with half curly hair.

Digital perm meets magic straight. Oh my!

Come back Sanjaya. :(

The French Laundry

2007-03-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

I turned 29 earlier this week. Normally, I'd say I feel old, but the day before, I ended up getting carded when I bought a lottery ticket (yes, I occasionally pay the stupid tax). So, now I'm not sure how I feel about turning a year older. Apparently, my appearance is going backwards as my age continues to rise. Since I'm in my last year of my 20s, I figured I had finally reached that point where maybe I look like I am in my 20s, but apparently, I don't even look 18.

Aside from that, I had a very nice birthday. I have been anticipating my birthday because back in January, Mr. Cupcake managed to get reservations for the French Laundry in Yountville, CA. It's been a must visit place for me since we moved out here, and I was ecstatic that Mr. Cupcake made it happen.

Now, if you're not familiar with the French Laundry, it's one of the most widely praised restaurants in the world. It's also a challenge to get a reservation. They take reservations 2 months in advance, however, it's still not easy to do. In fact, there are a number of websites dedicated to the art of getting a reservation.

Anyway, our reservation was set for last Wednesday at 6pm. When we walked in, we were greeted by three people. It was a little overwhelming, but they were courteous, and one of hostesses led us up to our table. We sat in a little room that only had three tables. We were there by ourselves initially which was a little awkward just because we were surrounded by various servers, but we eventually relaxed.

We were then given the the wine list and menu. There were two options for dinner, the chef's tasting menu or a vegetarian tasting menu. Both menus offered 9 courses. Mr. Cupcake and I both went for the chef's menu, but selected different options so we could try everything.

We started off with the first amuse bouche which was a puff pastry with Gruyère cheese. It was warm and nice.

Next up was an ice cream cone. However, the 'ice cream' was actually salmon, and the cone was filled with creme fraiche. I liked the cone, but Mr. Cupcake was not particularly taken with it.

I can't remember if this was the start of course 1 or another amuse, so bear with me. This is their signature oysters and pearls dish. It was two oysters, some type of sturgeon caviar, in a tapioca custard. I'm not really a fan of oysters, and perhaps, I haven't had them properly prepared, but man, these were lovely. I really liked it paired with the tapioca pearls.

This is the first course where Mr. Cupcake and I diverged. I went with the sunchoke salad. It came with a citrus, marcona almonds, and some kind of leaf. Mr. Cupcake took the $30 upgrade for the foie gras, which turned out to be totally worth it. The foie gras was amazing. Now don't get me wrong, I like sunchokes and I thought the salad was good, but the foie gras was perfectly executed. They gave him warm slices of brioche and three types of salts to add to the foie gras. I was definitely jealous and had wished I had ordered the same.

I'm going to say this is course two, though it could be course three, but whatever. I ordered the durant (sp?) fish and Mr. Cupcake had the mackerel. This was another course where he won the battle of the dishes. My fish was good, but the mackerel was so much better. I ordered the durant because the server said it was less fishy. This maybe true, but the mackerel also had ham that definitely offset the fishiness. This fish dish was probably my least favorite of the night.

Course three was lobster with a beet sauce, some kind of leek mash, and a potato disc. This was one of my favorite dishes of the night for a couple of reasons. One, the beet sauce was so subtle. Normally, beets have a very strong flavor, but this was so subtle and it paired well with lobster. Second, the potato disc was deep fried in duck fat. Oh.My.God. This was spectacular. Now, things normally taste good deep fried, but when you add luscious duck fat, it's that much better.

Course four was a rabbit sirloin (I think) with an artichoke and some other stuff. Mr. Cupcake decided to be brave and try the tripe. This was the only battle where my dish won. Tripe is definitely an acquired taste that neither of us have acquired. I mean, it was okay, and really, if you didn't know it was tripe, you'd probably think it was a rubbery pasta. Well, that's what it looked/tasted like. My rabbit was juicy, tender, and lightly fried. I have reservations about eating bunny, but I'd take it over tripe any day. Anyway, the highlight for me was the artichoke fo sho.

Course five, our final savory dish, was lamb with a red pepper sauce. This dish was fantastic in so many ways. The meat was extremely tender and went amazingly well with the red pepper sauce. I think the sauce made the dish for me. I'm not really big on eating lamb either, but this dish was truly a winner.

Speaking of lamb, you should watch this trailer for the movie Black Sheep. It's about genetically modified sheep that eat people. It made me lol a million times over.

Moving on, here we have the cheese course. I don't really remember anything about this dish other than it was not my favorite. Again, I'm not really a fan of cheese.

Course seven was an apple sorbet with a ginger cake. I loved the combination of ginger with the apple. Mr. Cupcake couldn't decide if he liked the ginger cake, but I'm telling you, it was a winner.

Course eight was a pistachio cake with green tea mousse (or maybe the other way around) and a dark chocolate cake with a passion fruit gelee. I loved both cakes. The chocolate was nice and dark and neither were overly sweet. I also liked the passion fruit sauce that was smeared on the plate. Mr. Cupcake isn't a fan of passion fruit, but he's missing out.

Course 9 was a traditional creme brulee for me while Mr. Cupcake had a small cup filled with a Meyer Lemon custard. The creme brulee was lovely. I loved the crunchiness of the shell, but then again, who doesn't? However, Mr. Cupcake's custard was amazing. I am generally so-so about custards, but flavor was light and the texture was rich and creamy. He was nice and let me pick at it even though he preferred it to the creme brulee. Ah, the joys of being the birthday girl.

During our last course, we also received these orange sugar rolls and a bowl of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. The rolls were crispy, but we were so full that between the two of us we only ate one. Mr. Cupcake declared that the chocolate covered macadamia nuts were like eating homemade macadamia M&M's.

And yes, there was more after our last course. They served us homemade chocolates. I only took two which included one with banana cream and another one filled with hazelnut cream. The hazelnut was dreamy while the banana was blah. It didn't even really taste like banana. Actually, I was kinda upset because I thought I had picked caramel when in fact I picked banana. I lamented to Mr. Cupcake how it didn't taste like caramel and he laughed and said that's because it wasn't. It makes sense now. Oh well.

I wish I could have packed in more, but I was done. One of our many servers offered up the bill which was on a laundry ticket. Cute. So how much does a 9 course dinner run at the French Laundry you ask? For us, two chef's tasting menus, two beers, and a $30 supplement for the foie gras was just under $600. I don't really drink (those days are long gone) and Mr. Cupcake decided to forgo wine since he wasn't feeling 100% that night. However, if one does intend to drink, expect the bill to be quite a bit more. One couple sitting next to us brought a bottle wine expecting to pay the $50 corkage fee, but it turned out that since the wine was listed on their 90 page wine list, the restaurant wouldn't serve it. The bottle of wine was listed at $450, so the couple opted to get something else.

Now for the big question: was it worth it? Yes, I believe so. I enjoyed the experience quite a bit, and I'd do it again, though not for a little while. Though it's an excellent excuse to stay the night near Napa. Though, if you're in Yountville, I'd avoid the Maison Fleurie if you want to have a good night's sleep. It was seriously one of the most uncomfortable beds ever.

Oh yeah, and as a parting gift, they gave each of us a packet of cookies for the trip home.

I've finished one bag off already and I'm working on the other. Mr. Cupcake swears he doesn't want them, so I feel it's my duty to finish them off.

Anyway, that was my birthday. Sorry the pictures are crappy, but I didn't want to disturb those around us including the couple that was arguing because the wife was writing checks when there wasn't money in the bank account.

Indian pizza anyone?

2007-01-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago, Mr. Cupcake, Soo, and Chrisi went to Crazy Frank's Desi Pizza in Sunnyvale. Mr. Cupcake heard about it on an email food thread at work. Pizza is definitely one of the things Mr. Cupcake misses the most about the East Coast. I don't know what it is about the West Coast the mediocre pizza, but I'll tell you, the mediocrity is abundant.

Crazy Frank's Desi Pizza is located in Sunnyvale. It was tricky to find because there isn't much of a sign. However, if you're driving along, you can see a red lighted sign that says "Desi" in the window.

Now, this place is unlike any pizza place I've been to in my life. It's a buffet of sorts, but not one where you go up to the buffet line and take your slices of pizza. It's more like dim sum meets pizza. More on that later.

When you order, it's just ordering the buffet. Since they say they offer so many different combinations of pizzas, they don't allow you to order an individual pizza. Instead, you're at the mercy of what's being served that day. However, they do give you the option of vegetarian or meat. The buffet also comes with the salad bar. Now, the salad bar is a bit odd. It has chai, soup, kheer (Indian rice pudding), pasta salad, a big bowl of mixed greens, some bottled salad dressing, and a few toppings. You definitely don't come here for the salad.

The pasta was pretty good. It was a bit spicy, but try not to fill up on it. The salad wasn't anything particularly special.

Mr. Cupcake tried the broccoli soup, but it wasn't anything too exciting either.

We sat there and munched on our food. The next thing we know, a lady rolls up with a cart and offers us a slice of paneer pizza.

We happily accepted, and much to our delight, the pizza was quite good. The sauce was on the sweet side, more like a sweet Asian chili sauce. The pizza was topped with chunks of paneer (Indian cheese), cheese, and peas. The crust was thin and crispy and tasted like it came out of a brick oven of sorts. Chrisi described it as eating naan with Indian food on top. I could agree with that assessment, but also add that the bottom was crispier than naan. Overall, the pizza was very inventive, and also very good. Since the pizza comes around on carts, they have to serve other people in the restaurant, so we had to wait for another pizza to come. It's too bad because we wanted more paneer.

Next up was the chicken pizza. It was chicken, chick peas, peas, and cheese. We had this odd exchange with this guy who was dressed in plain clothes. At first I thought he was a customer that had an extra pizza and was giving it to us. I mean, it wouldn't have been that weird since the pizza comes around on carts. So, I told him I'd take a slice, and he tried to give the whole pizza to me. Eventually we figured out that he wasn't a customer, but in fact Crazy Frank. He ended up setting the pizza on our table. I guess since it had meat, it wasn't as popular. The pizza was okay, but not near as good as the paneer. At first, no one was really into. I liked the sauce since it was the same as the first pizza, so I ended up scraping off most of the toppings and eating it that way. The pizza lingered on our table for quite some time before Mr. Cupcake and Chrisi decided it was much better cold. We eventually finished off the whole thing.

A few other pizzas went by, and they were pretty good, but we were still in awe of the paneer, so we asked if they could make more. Fortunately for us, they did.

The buffet is $10.99/person which isn't a bad deal at all. While Crazy Frank's is a little odd as far as setup goes, it's definitely unique and also very good pizza. During the meal, I decided it had many of Mr. Cupcake's favorite elements rolled into one - pizza, Indian food, and kheer. The only thing it's really missing is beer. We will definitely be back in the near future and you should too.

I have been pretty busy recently - go figure. I'm backlogged like you wouldn't believe on places I want to blog about, but I hope to catch up on some of it soon. I also went to Seattle this past weekend and was able to visit with some friends I hadn't seen in awhile. All in all, it was an excellent visit for my first time to Seattle. I will have a post on it in the next few days.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to my friends who have given birth to babies in the past week. So greetings to little Madeline and Camilla! It seems there's a the baby boom going on among my friends, but fortunately for me, I have no part in it other than I can say hello from my little blog. :)

a date with a 15 pound turkey and 4 gallons of peanut oil...

2007-01-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've had visions of deep frying a turkey for some time now. It was when we moved to our current residence, I realized this dream could be a reality with our barren wasteland backyard. Soo and I discussed the possibilities for months, but never taking any action. Finally, we decided to make it so. We set the date a week before Christmas, ordered the Bayou Classic Fryer Kit, and invited a boatload of people to come and indulge in our deep fried goodness.

The night before the event, Mr. Cupcake prepared the turkey by injecting it with butter, orange juice, and cranberry lambic beer. He created this special concoction after doing some research online.

We had a lot of time before the actual event, so we passed time playing some Wii.

We also watched video of Alton Brown showing the perils of deep frying a turkey on youtube. At which point, I started to have second thoughts. The last thing I need is to watch all of our stuff blow up into flames because I had this burning desire to deep fry a turkey. We were rattled, but Mr. Cupcake and I decided we had nothing to lose - we rent.

And, there she is. Baring all before heading into a warm bath of the $25 Costco peanut oil.

Mr. Cupcake took Alton Brown's advice, and dunked our bird into the oil when it reached 250 degrees. It seemed like a reasonable approach. The idea was that the temperature of the oil would rise to 350 degrees shortly thereafter, and all would be swell. However, the temperature never rose, but at least the oil looked hot! Mr. Cupcake and his army of helpers left it to cook, but anxiety was building. What if it was left in there too long? What if it blew up? Caution overcame the bird frying crew, and they determined after 45+ minutes at 250 degrees, it was time for the bird to come out.

It's the rising of the bird! Ooooohhh!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Finally, a deep fried turkey for the ages! It sure looked pretty perched on its silicon Silpat.

The bird then rested for half an hour to let all the juices settle. And then it was time! Mr. Cupcake carved the turkey and we feasted! Well, sort of. It turned out the turkey wasn't fully cooked, so part of a breast headed back into the oil. When it came out this time, the skin was crispier and much more delightful. The meat itself was very juicy, probably more so than any other turkey I've eaten. It was also oily in places. The marinade turned out to be a little too strong for some of our guests. Many commented they could taste the beer.

While Mr. Cupcake carved the turkey, Tristan took over the fryer. He managed to juggle both his beer and the deep mac and cheese.

As you can see, this was most of our spread. We made deep fried shu mai, jalapeño poppers, egg rolls, deep fried mac n cheese, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and more. We had a bit too much food in fact.

After everyone ate to their hearts content, Chrisi revealed the first deep fried twinkie. I know it looks incredibly scary, but Tristan was brave enough to forge ahead. We even drizzled it in raspberry sauce for him, and he claimed it was good. I've had deep fried twinkies before and the center is like eating molten lava.

I think the best dessert was the Nutella-banana spring rolls. We slathered on some Nutella on a spring roll wrapper, mashed up some bananas, wrapped them, and deep fried them. It was gooey and delicious. Definitely one of the more successful desserts.

By the end of the night, everyone had had their fill. Our guests were bloated and some were liquored up, so what better way to end the night than with some Donkey Konga. Hey the Wii plays GameCube games!

I'd say our turkey fry was mostly successful. There were a few questionable moments i.e. fryer not hot enough, turkey, not cooked enough, strong beer marinade. I think next time we'll throw caution to the wind and really fry that turkey. Yes, I said again. We still have a deep fryer, so we might as well use it.

first post of the new year!

2007-01-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. To tell you the truth, I'm happy it's over. The holidays tend to be exhausting. In the past month I managed to finish up my job, deep fried a turkey (will post later), and did all the things Christmas... well as much as possible anyway.

Anywho, to embrace the new year, I've embraced the new Blogger and gave my blog a face lift. It's only partially done. Hopefully, my laziness won't overcome my efforts in actually customizing the thing. Only time will tell.

Speaking of laziness, it turns out I didn't do a very good job of posting in December. I could say I'll do an awesome job in January, but after two months of lackluster posting, I think I'll refrain.

I ended up getting quite a few gifts for Christmas this year including seven cookbooks!

I wasn't expecting to receive so many, but it's been a real pleasure. I felt very uninspired with my previous collection of cookbooks, which is why I asked for some new ones. I found a few of the titles from various blogs. I've even put some of these books to use, and I hope to continue to do so.

I also received a Villaware Panini Press. It's given me much happiness in the past few days. Mr. Cupcake thinks it's another appliance that will find a home in our appliance graveyard, but I'm out to prove him wrong!

One of my favorite gifts this year came from Mr. Cupcake's sister. Apparently, J9 reads my blog and took it upon herself to explore my new found love for the quince. She bought some quince at her local Wegman's and whipped up a batch of spiced quince.

The gift also came with a jar of quince jelly and an actual quince. Perhaps some quince paste is in my future? Actually, I saw a recipe for a pear tart that calls for quince jelly, so I'm pretty sure that means a pear tart is in my future.

So, that was my Christmas. I'm looking forward to a new year of new opportunities both professional and personal as well as an abundance of new food experiences. I already have many things to blog about (including the Great Turkey Fry!) and hope to find enough time for it all.

okay, I lied.

2006-12-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

So, I said I would post last week, and obviously that didn't happen. I have a good excuse though! I've been coughing up a lung the past week, and I'm just now getting over my hack and general misery. I'm ready to blog once again. I will really be ready to blog when I leave my crappy job in 2.5 days. Wheeeeeeeeeee!

Okay, anyway, about a week and a half ago, we went to Ad Hoc in Yountville, CA. Ad Hoc is the latest (and temporary (for now)) addition to Thomas Keller's growing collection of restaurants.

Our friend Tanya, made the reservation for eleven, and we were on our way. There's something very inviting about the atmosphere at Ad Hoc. It's sort of like having dinner at a friend's house. Make that a rich friend's house.

Ad Hoc's menu is set, so there's no ordering to do other than drinks. However, they will ask if anyone has any food allergies. The menu changes on a daily basis and the focus is on comfort foods. I've read in that they have served things like fried chicken in the past. All dishes are served family style.

Our first course was a sweet potato and lentil soup. I have to say this soup was amazing. It was hearty, slightly sweet, but not overwhelming at all. The soup also had sausage and cilantro, and as we all know, sausage makes everything taste better. This soup was a crowd favorite.

Next up was duck. Our server informed us that they braised the duck at 82 degrees Celsius for 10 hours and then seared it right before serving. I wish they had only cooked my duck at 82 degrees Celsius for 9.5 hours instead of 10. I'm pretty sure the duck would have been perfect then. While the skin was amazingly light and crispy, the meat was dry in some areas. Even though it was dry, I'm still going to say it's the best piece of duck I've ever had. I don't like it when duck has that big fatty layer between the skin and the flesh (yes, I know that's the good part blah blah blah). This duck however, did not that extra layer of fat and the meat (though dry) still fell off the bone. I think my end of the table just had a "bad" batch because our table had several dishes of duck. Mr. Cupcake sat at the other end of the table, and later told me that his duck was phenomenal. If only I had known! He said he'd go back just for the duck if he could.

One of the good things about Ad Hoc is that the portions are big, so you can have more than one serving. Soo, Lars, and I skinned one of the extra legs for the crispy, fatty, goodness just because we could.

I can't say I get excited for cheese courses mostly because I don't particularly care for cheese. Our cheese for the night was some Ig Vella Dry Jack Special Reserve. It's a form of Jack cheese, which was only so-so for me. It was somewhat dry, and also had that pasty cheese texture that I really dislike. I will tell you that the orange stuff you see on the upper right was fantastic. It's quince paste. I'd never heard of a quince until that night, and now I'm forever a fan. Our server described it as a mix between an apple and pear that is made into a paste. Soo being the cheese lover that she is, liked the quince smeared on the cheese.

Finally, for dessert, we had a chocolate brownie with caramel sauce and marshmallow ice cream. I was super excited for marshmallow ice cream. I wasn't sure how they'd go about making the ice cream, but all I could think about was how homemade marshmallows are amazing. I mean really, were they going to take the Jet Puffed Marshmallows that you get in the store and make it into ice cream?! Well, that's sort of what it tasted like. The ice cream was overly sweet, in fact, a little hard to eat. The brownie was okay. It was a bit fluffy for my taste, but they used a really nice dark chocolate that gave it a rich flavor. I liked the few bites where I actually tasted bits of chocolate. I wish there had been more of those.

Our total cost for four courses not including alcohol, tax, and tip was $495. For eleven people at $45/person, it's not a bad deal at all. Though, I do have one gripe about our visit. After we finished dessert, we were chatting it up, but then our server asked to leave because another group had arrived and they needed our table. It wasn't a huge deal, but really, I can't remember the last time I've been asked to leave a restaurant. I guess they try to turn the tables a few times in a night, so don't expect to linger if you go.

Even with my one gripe, I do hope they keep the Ad Hoc doors open. Our server hopes so too because he doesn't want to lose his job. So if you go, and love it, he says write in and tell them that you love it.

a month?!

2006-11-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm one day shy of not posting for a month. A month?! I can hardly believe it myself. I apologize to those who read my blog. It's that thing called life and it's been getting in the way of blogging. I have been working a lot, and that will soon slow down. Not to say life won't still be busy; I'm in the process of working on a new venture. Whether or not it will be successful, I'm not sure, but there's no way to tell unless I try. Perhaps I will expound upon that on a later date.

Anywho, so let me tell you about my last month. I worked a lot. I went down to Monterey for work. I have to say that the town doesn't have much in the way of food. It's tourist trap after tourist trap. I did manage to eat one meal in Monterey that I'd recommend to others. It's called Sea Harvest Fish Market and Restaurant.

It's half fish market, half restaurant. I did a little bit of research before our business trip, and found this place. My colleague and I ended up going there for lunch, and found the fish and chips to be surprisingly good. The batter was light and crispy, and the fish was the local catch of the day. I'd have to say the best part was that I didn't end up with heart burn, which automatically makes it a winner in my book. I did go to another restaurant in Monterey that was fancier and on Cannery Row, and I must say, Fish Harvest blew it out of the water.

This was my first trip to Monterey, and I'm not sure I'll make an effort to go back. However, I will definitely go back to Carmel. Now, I've been there before, and it's been okay. It feels a bit stuffy, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that. Fortunately, thanks to my friend Clive, I had an amazing meal at Le Coq D'or. He has been visiting this place for years, and let me in on his secret.

It's a small place that is run by an elderly woman who is not quite as mobile as she may have once been. It's an extremely charming little restaurant that only sits about 35 people. The menu is split between French and German offerings. I had the spaetzle and my friends had the beef bourguignonne, onion tart, and escargot. We were all amazed by the sheer quality of the meal. I plan on taking Mr. Cupcake there and I will do a full report in the near future. Until then, I urge you to stop by if you're in the area.

Lastly, Thanksgiving. I had a weird Thanksgiving. My family decided that they wanted to go out to dinner for Thanksgiving to avoid the hassles of eating at home. However, this did not stop my mother from making a full turkey dinner for "leftovers". Yeah, that was my reaction too.

We ended up going to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Mr. Cupcake let me know that it was the first time he's had pasta for Thanksgiving. I'm not too upset about it because my great turkey deep fry is on like Donkey Kong. I sent out an invite and so it means I actually have to do it. I'm dreaming of a deep fried turkey with sides like deep fried twinkies and deep fried mac n cheese. Oh the possibilities!

Also on the agenda is Ad Hoc in Yountville, CA. It's Thomas Keller's 6 month pet project that seems to be doing well. I will have a full report sometime next week.

So, that's what I've been up to. I promise to make December a more interesting blogging month.

halloween eve ramen

2006-10-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

I have been avoiding my blog. This thing called life has been getting in the way. I've thought a lot about my blog recently, but really, I haven't had anything interesting to write about. The food excursions in the last few weeks have been lackluster, and I haven't had time to make anything at home. I did have all of my cash and one of my credit cards stolen at a restaurant in San Francisco while on my two week no blogging hiatus. I thought about writing about that experience, but decided it was too bizarre. Maybe another day. So, folks, the point it is I'm back. At least for now.

Anyway, today I was at work, and Mr. Cupcake sends me this email about pumpkin ramen at Ramen Halu in San Jose. Pumpkin ramen. Who knew there's such a thing? Well, apparently the people at Ramen Halu are on it.

I normally eat my ramen at Ryowa in Mountain View. It's tasty ramen that's close by. So tasty, that I haven't bothered venturing out to other ramen houses. However, this piqued my curiosity because I've never had pumpkin ramen. It's a special that Ramen Halu puts on around Halloween. They serve 20 bowls per lunch and dinner and that's it.

With those kinds of limitations, I knew we had to go and fast - or wait another year. Me being the impatient type, knew that wasn't going to happen. I persuaded Mr. Cupcake to ditch work and have an early ramen dinner with me.

We arrived just before their 6pm opening. And we weren't the only ones, there were four other people hanging out when we arrived.

The restaurant is definitely a hole in the wall. The walls are white, and seating is limited. The left side had maybe four tables, each partitioned off by screens. The right side had a row of tables sans screens. We were seated at one of the screened tables. Secretly, I was pleased because I knew I could take my pictures on peace.

It didn't take long for me to decide what to order. In fact, as soon I read the description I knew what I was going to get. Mr. Cupcake. on the other hand, had trouble deciding. Should we both have pumpkin ramen? Decisions, decisions. Another ramen won out.

I loved the presentation of the pumpkin ramen. The bat shaped nori was a nice touch. The bowl was filled with thick, pumpkin infused ramen noodles. They were thicker and more al dente compared to the noodles at Ryowa. There was also corn, Parmesan cheese, crispy pumpkin slices, pork, and onions in the broth. I was hoping for an intense pumpkin flavor, and unfortunately, it was anything but. The broth was actually somewhat bland as were the noodles. The only flavor additions on the table were hot pepper sauce and crushed garlic. I wasn't feeling the garlic and pumpkin combination, so I just went for the hot sauce which didn't turn out to be very hot. I also felt the Parmesan cheese was an interesting choice for the soup. Though, I will say the texture of the noodles were chewy and quite lovely.

Mr. Cupcake ended up ordering the Halu ramen. This turned out to be the better choice of the two. He found it to be sufficiently salty and the broth was thicker than he was use to. He was a fan of the chewy noodle as well. The only downside for him was that it was light on the pork.

Our total bill for the two bowls of ramen was just under $20. Ryowa is still my ramen of choice in the South Bay. I love eating the kimchee while waiting for my buttered corn ramen. Though, I'm not disappointed that we ventured out to Ramen Halu. Now I can say I've had pumpkin ramen. And you can too if you'd like. Tomorrow is the last they're serving the it, but go when they open for either lunch or dinner, or you'll probably miss out.

back to business

2006-10-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a challenge to find good Korean food in the South Bay. I've been to several Korean restaurants in the area, and for the most part, I haven't had the desire to go back to any of them. When I first moved here, I met this Korean guy who has lived here his entire life. So I presented him with this burning question: where are all the good Korean restaurants? His response: Si Jol Gip.

Sol Gol Jip translates to 'country house'. It's a little hole in the wall in Santa Clara with zero atmosphere and a big flat screen tv. However, it is bustling with a healthy size Korean clientele. If you can't read Korean, then you'll have to locate it based on the street number.

On this particular night, it was Mr. Cupcake, Soo, Chrisi, and myself. We went with our normal protocol and ordered family style. Unfortunately, that protocol also means ordering too much food.

Our server presented us with four rice pods. I've never seen these before, and they looked a bit intimidating with their slimy exterior appearance. Soo assured us that they were fine.

I bit into one and it was filled with a semi-sweet sesame paste. The outside felt a bit stale and was very chewy. Had the rice coating been on the softer side, I could have eaten 10 of these.

We had our normal spread of side dishes. Though, I'm missing the picture of the coleslaw side.

Soo ordered the Kim chee stew with pork and tofu. The kim chee stew is just that: a stew that tastes like kim chee. It contained big chunks of pork with the skin on. It was spicy and rich in flavor. Soo was particular fond of it.

The beef short ribs was one of the top dishes of the night. The beef was on the sweet side which is what I like. The only thing I didn't like about it was that some pieces were a bit too fatty and not as tender as I was hoping for. I was the only with this problem though, so my guess is I picked the few loser pieces. Overall, it was quite good and something I'd consider ordering again.

Ever since we went to Brother's Restaurant in the city, Soo has been dreaming about the deep fried fish. She ordered it here hoping for the same result. The fish was pan fried, and I can't remember what kind of fish it other than it was white. The skin wasn't super crispy like it was at Brother's. I'd rate this fish as just okay. Soo just wants someone to throw a whole fish into a deep fryer for her. Maybe next time Soo.

The pork bul go gi is a staple whenever we go out for Korean food. Si Jol Gip doesn't have the built in grills in the table, so they cook the meat for you. It was about what I expected. It was fairly spicy and the meat had a faint sweetness to it. Though, the flavor was lacking in depth.

Chrisi has been dying for a seafood pancake. The last time we ordered one was at Brother's in the city and it was a disaster. However, this version was quite good. The pancake was light crispy on the outside and was stuffed with green onion and various chunks of seafood. The only downside was that the inside was soggy. However, I'd say it's still definitely worth ordering.

Our total bill including tax and tip was $75.60. This was very reasonable for the amount of food that we ordered and couldn't finish. Typical. While the food didn't blow me away, it was still good and I'd go back. In fact, Mr. Cupcake and I went back three days later with Angie, Scott and her grandparents. Mr. Cupcake ordered the pork bul go gi which was much better this time around. I ordered the tofu soup which wasn't spicy as I was hoping for. The flavor was watered down and definitely not the best version I've had. It was okay though because I helped Mr. Cupcake plow through his pork.

Now that we've visited a number of Korean restaurants in the area, Soo and I have decided to try our hand at actually making Korean food. I'll do a report if it ever comes to pass.

off the strip

2006-10-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

By our third day in Vegas, I was getting tired of the meals on the strip. They were expensive and luckluster. I did a bit of research on chowhound while I was there and found that Vegas offers very good Chinese and Thai food; one just has to go off the strip. I was ready, but I wasn't sure how my companions felt. Fortunately, everyone was game, and we were off to Lotus of Siam.

Lotus of Siam generates a lot of buzz on places such as Chowhound. It's alledgedly one of the best Thai restaurants in the US. Those are some lofty claims, but we didn't have anything to lose. When we walked in, there were awards and articles plastered all over the wall. I never know if this is a good sign or not because a lot of restaurants can't live up to the hype. I was still hopeful. The restaurant definitely lacks in the area of ambiance and the location is shady. However, often times, I prefer places such as this.

We opted to order family style. I asked the server for some recommendations for appetizers and he suggested the crispy rice and sour sausage (nam kao tod).

This was one of the highlight dishes for me. It was a very unusual dish which was also the reason why I went with the server's recommendation. I can't say I've ever had anything like it before. The sausage was indeed sour, but it mixed very well with the crispy rice and cilantro. I'm guessing the crispy rice was fried, but I really loved the texture. Soo thought the dish was too sour, but Mr. Cupcake liked it a lot because of the sourness. I'd recommend it if you can find it.

The papaya salad was lifeless. This is one of the few dishes I could have done without.

The fried wontons were about what I expected. The wontons were stuffed with ground chicken and came with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. I can't say I'm ever disappointed with fried food unless it's overly greasy. This version was just fine.

Chrisi ordered the Tom Kah Kai soup. It had chicken, coconut milk, straw mushrooms, lemon grass, galangal, and lime. The soup was fairly spicy and the coconut flavor wasn't as strong as I was hoping for. It's not something I'd order again, and I recall most of our group deeming it as one of the loser dishes.

We ordered two noodle dishes. One was awesome, and the other not so much. This is the latter. The lad na (I think) noodles came in a gravy that was lacking in the flavor department. The noodles themselves had a nice texture, but that's about all it had going for it.

Delia ordered the pad sw-ew, and it was among the winners. I can't exactly tell you why; I just remember the dish was probably the best version of pad sw-ew I've ever had. This is why I need write reviews sooner rather than later because I forget all the details. I'll never make it as a food writer due to my need for procrastination.

I decided we needed a curry. This was Thai food afterall. I liked the panang quite a bit. It was spicy and rich in coconut flavor. This was a less popular dish among the crowd because it was one of the few dishes with leftovers.

Here we have the nua sao renu which is described as sliced charbroiled beef served on a bed of cabbage, topped with tamarind sauce and fried dried chili. This dish wasn't popular with the group either. I honestly don't remember the details about this dish other than it was only so-so.

Finally, for dessert, we ordered a sampler. The platter included mango with sticky rice, coconut ice cream and fried bananas. I liked everything on this plate, especially, the mangos. The mangos were slightly under ripe, but our server told us that was intentional. It wasn't overly sweet, but it complimented the sticky rice perfectly. I'd also like to mention that the sticky rice was excellent. It had perfect texture and a wonderful coconut flavor. The coconut ice cream was similar to ice milk. It wasn't extremely rich or creamy, but I prefer ice cream this way. It's far less overwhelming. The bananas were wrapped in a wonton wrapper and deep fried. Some pieces were better than others because some were cooked more. It made for a gooey center. Some pieces were like eating a raw banana. There was a bit of variance there, but overall, dessert was my favorite.

Dinner including 6 beers, 2 teas, soda, tax and tip was $138. I should also include the $40+ worth of cab fare for two cabs to and from the hotel. Vegas only allows 5 people in a cab and we had 6 people. However, it was still probably cheaper than all of us eating on the strip somewhere.

The meal had its ups and downs, and I wouldn't call it the best Thai food in the US, but it was still a lovely evening. We watched Chrisi make it past level 10 on Delia's cell phone which was intense. And it was great to be away from all the craziness of the strip. Looking back, I'd probably say this was my favorite meal in Vegas. It didn't have the glamour of a celebrity chef's name, but the food was good as was the company.

This wraps up my Vegas report. We visited other places, but since it's taken me this long to write three reviews, I've decided to nix them. The other restaurants we went to weren't all that great and I prefer to avoid trashing them in this blog.

buffet - that's boo-fey to you

2006-10-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

My Vegas trip report seems to be dragging. I only have 2 more after this and then it's back to business as usual.

On our second day in Vegas, we had plans. There was a bit of gambling, and 'O', but, first, we had meals to attend to. Chrisi, Tristan, and I woke up early, so we picked up some goods at the Bouchon Bakery and sat poolside. We tried to keep it light because we knew the motherload was coming. That's right folks, the Wynn Buffet.

In case you've been living in a hole, the Wynn is the new fancy schmancy hotel that opened earlier this year. I remember watching Matt Laurer live at the Wynn on the Today Show the day it opened. I guess it was that big of a deal.

Anywho, it's just down the street from the Venetian, so the six of us hoofed it over.

It was Sunday morning around noon, and we had about a 30-45 minute wait. We were hungry, but decided it was worth waiting for.

This picture is the entrance to the dining area. I took this picture as Mr. Cupcake paid for our meal. Two adults for Sunday brunch sans the bloody mary/champagne add on was $62.39 including tax.

Everything about the Wynn is grand. It's one of those things where I can't decide if it's nice or bordering gawdy. I will say that the buffet is ginormous. There was Italian, Chinese, Japanese, seafood, salads, omelet station, breakfast, endless desserts, etc.

It seemed to go on and on, and I somehow had to pick something to eat. Normally, I would just eat off Mr. Cupcake's plate as well as mine so I get double the pleasure. However, we didn't sit next to each other. Soo and I sat together in a two seater while everyone sat at another table. They told us we couldn't put the tables together because it was a fire hazard. I was forced to fly solo.

For my first trip, I decided I wanted breakfast. I went with a tomato, ham, green pepper, and mushroom omelet, eggs benedict, a waffle, and some bacon. I really tried to ignore the bacon, but the bacon won. I figured I'd make up for it in my second trip. The quality of the food was pretty good. I can't say I was blown away, but hey, it's a buffet. My only complaint was that I asked for egg whites, and the lady gave me the full egg. It wasn't the end of the world, so I ate the filling rather than the eggs.

I made up for the bacon by getting some yogurt and fresh berries. The berries were tasty and sweet. This was surprising because I don't normally expect good fruit at a buffet.

On round two, I decided to go a bit lighter. Looking back at the picture makes me think maybe I was drunk based on my selections. I picked up an egg roll with sweet and sour sauce, a biscuit, ceasar salad, strawberries and cream, and white peaches. The only reason why I picked up the biscuit was because I thought they had biscuits and gravy. Oh how I love biscuits and gravy. It turns out it was a seafood gravy, which I wasn't in the mood for. I did enjoy the strawberries quite a bit. Soo and I found the egg roll to be lacking in filling, but at least it was crispy.

Soo and I were going to get a dessert assortment. In theory, this was a great idea, however, we were both so full that we were uncomfortable just sitting. She had stuffed herself with various ceviches, and soup. I had bacon and ceasar salad among other things. Damn you bacon!

In the end, I decided I needed to have dessert. We were on vacation so it was my duty to indulge and engage in sweet, sweet glutony. With the vast selection, it was incredibly hard to choose. There was ice cream with a wide assortment of toppings, tarts, cakes, cookies and more. I ended up a candied apple, and a piece of strawberry cake. The candied apple was pretty good. I only ate a piece, but it was about what I expected; a sugary, hard candy shell wrapped around an apple. The strawberry cake was blah. Earlier, I tried Delia's floating islands, which was probably the best dessert out of all them. I only know about floating islands because I saw the Barefoot Contessa make them once for a rehearsal dinner. Now that I think about it, maybe I should try and make them myself. I heart you Ina!

The only word that come to mind when I think of the Wynn Buffet is overwhelming. By the end, most of us were in serious pain. And to think, we were trying to figure out where to go for an early dinner before the show. Yeah, that didn't happen.

happy birthday mr. cupcake!

2006-10-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Everyone, today is Mr. Cupcake's birthday. If you see him, wish him happy birthday! Yay Mr. Cupcake!

my hero

2006-10-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

Not Martha is my hero. I'm sitting here eating lunch at work, and I see that she deep fried mac n cheese, twinkies (take note Chrisi), and a Snickers bar. I have hearburn just looking at the pictures, yet, I so want to be her friend.

paninis, pastries, tarts, oh my!

2006-10-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

While Bouchon for dinner was somewhat lacklaster for a lot of us, Bouchon the bakery made up for it.

In the Venetian, there's a Bouchon Bakery stand in front of the casino, near the Phantom of the Opera gift shop. We found the bakery on the first day before dinner. Soo, Delia, and I picked up a few tarts and a creme caramel and had a snack. I had a fig tart. I'm obsessed with fresh figs these days. I had a fresh fig for the first time a few weeks ago and I've been in love ever since. If you haven't had a fresh fig before, I suggest you run to the store and find one. Anyway, to get back to my point, the desserts were tasty, and we were very happy. So happy that we went back every morning and ate pastries from the bakery. It was our pre-breakfast warm up.

This was our assortment on our last day in Vegas. I have to say my favorite item from the bakery was the ham and cheese panini. I only had a bite because Delia ordered it, but seriously, it brought tears to my eyes. Okay, I didn't really cry, but I should have. The bread was crusty, the ham was salty, and the cheese was creamy. It was the perfect combination.

The bakery isn't exactly a bargain, but then again, I can't say I was expecting to find any bargains in the Venetian. The panini was $8.50 and pastries were about $5 each, as were the tarts. It was was worth it though. It's hard to find a bakery that can make things that taste as good as they look, and Bouchon definitely succeeds in that aspect.

dinner #1 in vegas

2006-10-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

When we were planning our trip to Vegas, I was excited to learn that Bouchon is located in the Venetian. There's a Bouchon in Yountville, CA up near Napa, but Mr. Cupcake and I have yet to make the trip up to that area. Bouchon is owned by the famed Thomas Keller who also owns the French Laundry. We will eventually make the trip for French Laundry. I'm thinking birthday '07 (do you hear that Mr. Cupcake?!).

I used OpenTable to make a reservation for six about a week prior. Our party included Tristan, Delia, Soo, Chrisi, Mr. Cupcake, and me. We were all a bit delirious from traveling that day, so this was our "Welcome to Vegas" meal. We needed something special after our food court lunch where we dined on specialties from Panda Express.

I managed to snag a Bouchon menu, but unfortunately, I think I left it in the room at the hotel. So, I'll try to my best to recall our meal from memory.

The meal started off with bread. I was convinced this was a good sign of the things to come because the bread was nice and crusty on the outside. It wasn't quite as dense as I like, but it didn't keep me from stuffing my face with the carby goodness. The group also liked pulling apart the nubby pieces of bread.

Mr. Cupcake and Chrisi ordered the French onion soup. Mr. Cupcake is a French onion soup lover, but he and Chrisi weren't impressed by this soup. The main issue was that the soup tasted like beef broth instead of salty onions. It was lackluster for both of them, but it at least made Chrisi's sore throat feel better.

I debated whether or not to get the French onion soup, but our waiter convinced me to get the corn soup. It tasted like sweet creamed corn and after tasting the French onion soup, I was very happy with my selection. The soup was very smooth and creamy. There was also a small piece of sweet corn bread in the middle. I wish it had been bigger because it was tasty. This soup will please any corn lover.

Soo and Delia ordered what they thought was a watercress salad. When it came out, everyone oooh'ed and ahhh'ed. Unfortunately, it didn't taste as impressive as it looked. They were both disappointed that there was very little watercress. Instead, the salad was mostly endive. They felt the menu was misleading.

Chrisi ordered the steak and fries. While the overall quality of the meat was good, Chrisi wasn't a fan of the sauce on top. I can't remember what it was. Maybe he'll chime in and tell us. In the mean time, we can sit here and eagerly anticipate his response.

Tristan ordered the roast chicken. It had a honey (I think) mustard sauce to it. He was afraid that the sauce was going to be too overwhelming, but it wasn't. Instead the flavor was light, the skin was crispy, and the meat was tender and juicy. Later in the trip, he declared this was his favorite meal of the trip.

Delia and Mr. Cupcake ordered the pork roast special. It came with a pear and potato side. Neither of them were particularly fond of the potato, but Delia felt the pork was the best meal of the weekend. Mr. Cupcake liked the pork, but wasn't blown away. I tried the pork and was surprised how tender it was. It nearly melted in my mouth. I didn't really feel the pear complimented the pork that well. It seemed out of place.

When we were ordering, Delia couldn't decide over the steak or the pork. The waiter told us the French fries were a signature item, which made the decision even harder. Delia went with the pork, and we ordered a side of fries. The order was huge, and we didn't come anywhere close to finishing them. However, the fries were very good. Bouchon cooks the fries in peanut oil, and it gives them a really nice flavor. It also gave me a really nice night of heartburn. I hate getting old.

I ordered the gnocchi. I usually love gnocchi, but this version was not my favorite. It was mixed with mushrooms and tomatoes. I ate all the tomatoes and the mushrooms, but the gnocchi itself was too overwhelming. The potato dumplings seemed to be pan fried, but there was a greasiness to them. The gnocchi really needed a sauce because it left a very dry feeling in my mouth. After I ate all the vegetables, I looked for something else to eat, but all I could reach for were the french fries and the bread on the table. The end result was carb overload. This dish has a lot of potential; it just needs a sauce.

Soo had the fish special. I can't remember what it was, but Mr. Cupcake thinks maybe it was grouper. There were beets in the sauce, which she wasn't sure about, but she took the plunge anyway. I know she wasn't super impressed with the fish. Again, I can't remember why. Tell us why Soo!

We passed on dessert because we were all stuffed. This became a common theme in our trip. Even breathing was challenging at times because we ate too much, but more on that another day.

Our total bill including drinks, a bottle of wine, tax and an automatic 20% tip was $340.44. While most of us weren't blown away Bouchon, it was still a good night. I mean come on, we were in Vegas! I'm pretty sure Chrisi and Tristan were having a good time considering they drank half a bottle of rum in them before we even made it to dinner. I'm not opposed to giving Bouchon another chance; it just won't be in Vegas. After our trip, I got the distinct feeling that a lot of these restaurants don't need to provide outstanding food; people will pay anyway.

vegas baby!

2006-09-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake and I returned from Vegas last night. It was an extended weekend with a group of friends at the Venetian. We didn't have any real plans other than eat a lot and see 'O'. Actually, let me say that again. The majority of us didn't have any real plans other than eat a lot and see 'O'. Mr. Cupcake, on the other hand, had a poker agenda to attend to.

This was my first trip to Vegas. I always imagined it to be a place of endless food. And yeah, it pretty much was. Every other restaurant seemed to be owned by some celebrity chef, and if that wasn't good enough, there was always the Outback. Our only pre-planned food excursion was Bouchon since it's located in the Venetian and I'm too lazy to drive a couple hours north to Yountville. Everything else was chosen while we were there. I'll write about all of our experiences over the weekend. I've been trying to write this post for the past two hours, but my fatigue is impeding these efforts. Well, that and Project Runway.

Before I call it a night, I do have one tip for anyone visiting the Venetian. I really wanted a piece of chocolate my first day there, and I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw all the lovely confections at G.G. Santi.

I ordered a milk chocolate caramel (boo, no dark) expecting it to satisfy my chocolate craving.

Well, my friends, I couldn't finish it. I think this might be the only piece of chocolate I've ever thrown away. The chocolate was waxy and tasteless, and the caramel was way too runny. I have to say, I'd rather eat Nestle or even plain Cadbury chocolate. It made me very sad. My only hope was that this wasn't a foreshadow of what was yet to come. You'll have to come back this weekend to find out if it was or not. I'm going to bed.

nutella + waffle = divine

2006-09-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

I was going to blog about this earlier, but I forgot. After we ate shabu-shabu at Shabuway with Mikey and Alice, Mr. Cupcake and I found we were still hungry. The shabu-shabu didn't fill us up. Mikey and Alice had to take off and go see Dave Matthews. Mr. Cupcake and I, however, had nothing else to do, so we headed to Milpitas.

Milpitas has this huge shopping center that has a Ranch 99 and tons of Asian restaurants. I heard about this place that serves pretty good late night waffles. One of my few complaints about where I live, is nothing is open late. Everything closes by 9 or 10. It's pretty lame. In Kentucky, at least Wal-mart (yes, I know I'm going to hell for shopping at Wal-mart) was open late. Anyway, we went to Bubble Ac t, which is located in the shopping center. It's sort of a trendy, happy bubble tea place that also serves waffles until 3am on the weekends. What more can one ask for?

Bubble Act's menu is extensive, but we tried to maintain focus and order what we came for. They have a special where a bubble tea and a waffle costs about $3.50. It's amazingly cheap. I went ahead and ordered the special. Mr. Cupcake decided he was going to share with me.

Here is my Thai iced tea. It was okay for bubble tea. If you don't know what bubble tea is, it's a tea drink that comes with a cluster of chewy black tapioca pearls. It also comes with a big, fat straw which makes for easy pearl suckage. It's calorie dense, but oh so good.

Next came my waffle. It was the whole reason we came. The waffle was warm and crispy on the outside while the inside was smoothered in Nutella. Ah Nutella. Wonderful Nutella! It definitely hit the spot. Mr. Cupcake declared it was just a waffle, and he could make it at home. However, I know for a fact we can't make this at home because we don't have a waffle maker. I think this means we need another appliance (hint, hint).

If you're craving some late night sweets in the South Bay, Bubble Act in Milpitas is a good bet. If you need more sustenance, there's a lot of options in this particular shopping center. I can't tell you if any of them are good, but at least there are late night options. Though, it's not like I party the night away anymore, so you probably won't see me hanging out there at 2am. But if I was the partying type, at least I know where to go afterwards.

fancy vietnamese

2006-09-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, Soo and I found ourselves without our significant others. So what did we do? We went to the Stanford mall of course! Mr. Cupcake thinks we're mallrats. I can live with being called a mallrat. Though, he should be thanking Soo for going to the mall because if she wasn't there, it'd be him there along side me looking at the rows and rows of shoes.

After we had our fix, we headed to Tamarine in Palo Alto for dinner. Tamarine serves "contemporary Vietnamese". Even though I'd heard lots of wonderful things about the place, I still wasn't sure what to expect; I was just hoping for some good food. Soo, on the other hand, had been spending the nights prior eating frozen pizza since Chris was off living his new jet setter lifestyle. Good food was now a must!

It was Wednesday night, and the restaurant was busy. We didn't have a reservation, but fortunately we were still able to get a table. This place definitely requires a reservation on any other night.

We started off with the papaya salad. I took a bite and was very pleased with this dish. It was very fresh tasting and the basil really complimented the green papaya. The only down side to this dish was the dried sesame beef. While the flavor was good, the texture was not. Some of the pieces were too tough to eat, so I scooted most of it to the side. Soo thought the beef tasted like beef jerky.

We also ordered some shrimp spring rolls as our other appetizer. The spring rolls were okay. There was pork on the inside that was a bit dry. I could have done without the pork.

As part of our main course, we ordered the Lunar Duck. I'd heard raves about the duck here, so I figured I'd go ahead and order it. I'm not a big duck fan, but hey, you only live once. The duck came with brussel sprouts which were really good. I've always been a fan of brussel sprouts ever since I was kid. The duck on the other hand was odd. It was topped with a pomegranate-citrus sauce that tasted like cranberry ketchup. It really wasn't a good thing, so this was the only dish we didn't finish.

Our other main dish was the Lemongrass Bass which came with a cold mango noodle salad. This was Soo's favorite dish. It was crispy and salty on the outside, which is how she likes fish. I thought it was pretty good, though a bit too salty for my taste. I've always been sensitive to salt. I think it was those years watching my sister eat salt from her hand. It always made my skin crawl. I'm still waiting to have fish prepared like I had at Manresa. Seriously, the best fish ever.

We ordered two dishes of rice to go with our meal. I went with the coconut rice and Soo had the red rice which was infused with tomato, garlic, and butter. The coconut rice was very fragrant and fluffy. The red rice had a distinct tomato flavor.

Mr. Cupcake and Soo are both banana obsessed. They love bananas, though Soo only likes cooked bananas. So, when we saw the deep fried bananas on the dessert menu, I knew were were staying. I was okay with bananas because it came with coconut ice cream. I heart anything coconut. The fritters were about what I expected. It had a thick, crispy batter on the outside with a gooey banana center. I'll eat anything deep fried, but I have to say the coconut ice cream was really nice.

Our total bill before tax and tip was about $75. I wanted to like Tamarine more than I did. I didn't hate it or anything, but it was just lacking the wow factor for me. Soo liked it and said she'd go back. I still want to go down to San Jose and try some of the hole in the wall Vietnamese places there. I hear they're worth the trip. Even though I wasn't blown away, the night was still fun since I was in good company. I think next time, Soo and I will have to try one of the hole in the wall places. But we'll have to hit the mall first if we're going to maintain our mallrat status.

shabu-shabu

2006-09-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mikey's friend, Alice, came into town. He asked if we wanted to go to Shabuway for dinner with them. We didn't have anything going on that day other than the local arts and crap festival. Besides, I've been wanting to try shabu-shabu.

Shabu-shabu is a Japanese dish where thin slices of meat, vegetables, tofu, etc., are swished around in hot broth or water. Wikipedia tells me that shabu-shabu roughly translates to "swish-swish".

Since this was our first foray into shabu-shabu, I wanted to order a bit of variety. Mr. Cupcake ordered the beef, and I went with the shrimp potstickers. I figured I could steal some of Mr. Cupcake's beef.

My order came with 10 potstickers.

Mr. Cupcake and Mikey both ordered the regular size Kobe style beef (picture). Alice being the shabu-shabu enthusiast she is, ordered the large.

Everyone received a dish filled with cabbage, mushrooms, tofu, udon noodles, carrots, and a few leaves of spinach.

In front of each of us, there was a pot full of boiling water. The server also brought out two sauces; one ponzu and the other was a seasame sauce.

So now what you ask? Well, you cook everything in the water! This was somewhat challenging. I didn't know how long to cook the potstickers because the skin was fairly thick. I just started dunking the potstickers. I have to say they were pretty bland. I was not impressed. I had to roll them a few times in the sauces to get some flavor. Though, I doubt most people go to a shabu-shabu place to get potstickers.

So what about the beef? Well, the beef was a lot tastier than the potstickers, but I'm still going to say it was a bit bland. The beef was very thin, and when it went into the boiling water, it was pretty much finished cooking. Mr. Cupcake also felt the meat was bland, so he helped it along by adding a red pepper condiment.

As far as the rest of the stuff, it was okay. I really like udon noodles. The only problem was that I kept forgetting about them, and then they became too soft. Same with the carrots.

This is what happens to the water after swishing beef and vegetables. Makes you want to drink it right? Well, don't get your hopes up; there's actually a ladle that's used to skim off the residual beef grossness.

Our total bill including drinks, tax and all that good stuff was about $65. Mikey was a nice guy and covered the bill. I told him I'd buy him a Sparks. I think part of the reason Mr. Cupcake and I weren't crazy for shabu-shabu was because it was a lot of effort. Call us lazy, but we prefer to have someone else to prepare our food when we go out. However, it was still a good good experience; we just won't be itching to have it on a regular basis. I'd still like to try shabu-shabu somewhere that uses a broth vs plain water. I've read some places use broth, and I think that'd aid in some of the blandness.

Even though we weren't huge fans, Mikey and Alice still enjoyed their shabu-shabu experience. In fact, Alice was tempted to order another side of beef.

Here is Mikey enjoying the fruits of his labor. What's that? You like what you see? Well, ladies, you're in luck because he's single!

squash blossoms

2006-09-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

Last week, Mr. Cupcake and I hit up the local farmer's market. We picked up the usual suspects of peaches, tomatoes, and grapes. For the past few weeks, there's been one vendor with squash blossoms. I don't know anything about them, yet I'm drawn to them. I figured what the hey, and bought a box.

I researched a bunch of recipes for the squash blossoms. Most recipes stuff the squash blossoms and then deep fry them. While I'm sure that's great, I have an aversion to frying food at home. I'm a total addict when it comes to deep fried foods, and if I did at home, I'm pretty sure I'd turn into a big fatass. Not to mention the heartburn. So frying was out. Then I came across a recipe on epicurious. It was called Farmer's Market Fettuccine. It seemed relatively healthy, and I had all the ingredients. What more can a girl ask for?

Later that night, Soo and Chris came over for dinner. It was the same night as the It's It challenge. Soo brought a few salmon fillets and I worked on the pasta.

I laid out the blossoms. They had since wilted a fair amount since earlier that morning. I had no idea I was suppose to care for them. It was too late to do anything at that point, so I channeled Tim Gunn, and carried on. (Michael for the win!)

Our selection of tomatoes out here is really phenomenal. The produce in California puts all the other places I've lived to shame. The lighter colored tomatoes are called pineapple tomatoes. They've very sweet in flavor. I highly recommend them if you can find them. We also had some red tomatoes - I want to say they're local girls but I'm not sure - and mixed them up.

The recipe also called for zucchini, basil, and other miscellaneous ingredients. Soo baked the salmon in garlic and butter and dinner was on like donkey kong!

The pasta was interesting. I think if we had used a bit less pasta, it would have been better; it was too overwhelming. That's my fault though because I used a whole pound instead of the 12 oz. cited by the recipe. I'm not really sure how to describe the squash blossoms. They had a distinct flavor. I could cop out and say the flavor was very floral, but I hate when people say that. I mean, what does a floral flavor really mean? I'll just say it was different. The tomatoes were good as expected. They dissolved quite a bit, but the flavor was there, and it was sweet and potent.

I won't be itching to try squash blossoms again for awhile. At least I don't think. Maybe I just need to try them by someone who knows what they're doing. Though, I bet I could deep fry them and they'd taste good. Maybe I'll try it when I deep fry a turkey later this year. That's right, I said I'm going to deep fry a turkey! If you can make a good side, I might be willing to invite you. :P

Oh, and I took some leftover pasta for lunch the next day and it was better. It had that whole flavor melding thing going on.

FARMERS' MARKET FETTUCCINE
Epicurious
To round out the meal: 4 oz red wine or juice spritzer; 1/8 honeydew and 2 butter cookies; 8 oz low-fat milk
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp ground fennel seed
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 1/2 lb fresh ripe tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped (or one 28-oz can plum tomatoes)
12 oz fresh fettuccine (or dry pasta)
3 small zucchini, julienned
12 fresh squash blossoms, trimmed well at the base (or 2 cups fresh green beans, trimmed)
1 1/2 cups packed baby spinach, cleaned and torn into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh basil

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Warm oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook 1 minute or until translucent and fragrant. Add fennel and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in vinegar, increase heat to medium-high and cook until very little liquid is left. Stir in tomatoes with their juices. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer about 10 minutes (if using canned tomatoes, simmer uncovered, breaking them up with a wooden spoon). While sauce is simmering, add pasta to boiling water and cook according to package directions. Season sauce with salt and pepper, add zucchini and cook 5 minutes. Add squash blossoms and spinach and cook until just wilted, about 3 minutes; remove from heat and stir in basil. Drain pasta, add to sauce in skillet and mix well.

To serve: Divide among 4 bowls. Serve hot.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 453 calories, 9 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 78 g carbohydrates, 15 g protein
Makes 4 servings.
SELF
June 2002

the it's it blind taste test

2006-09-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

It's It Ice Cream is a local San Francisco brand that specializes in various ice cream treats. Their signature product is an It's It, which is a scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two oatmeal cookies, then dipped in chocolate. The first time I had one of these concoction was when I had lunch at Google. No, I don't work there, but I happen to know some people who do. To tell you the truth, I didn't really care for the It's It. The ice cream was too fluffy, and I wasn't a fan of the oatmeal cookie. I was then told that the people at It's It created a special formula to make it a little healthier for the worker bees at Google. Interesting.

With the It's It still fresh in my mind, I had to know what a real It's It was like. I'm not originally from California, so I feel it's my duty to find these things out for my own personal enrichment. Anyway, Mr. Cupcake and I went to Safeway and bought a three pack of It's It. I actually found that I liked the real It's It better than the Google version. It seemed like it was denser. I wasn't sure though. It was time to do a side by side comparison. A blind taste test at that!

I managed to get ahold of another Google It's It, and then bought another three pack of It's It from Safeway (my other pack was long gone thanks to Mr. Cupcake).

The It's Its sat in my freezer for a few days. The thought of eating two at once was too overwhelming. At 340 calories a piece, it was too much. So, the other night, Soo and Chris came over for dinner (more about that another day) and I decided it was time.

Mr. Cupcake split the It's It in quarters and handed them out. I took a picture before the tastings commenced. There was an immediate visual difference: the one on the right looked like it had a creamier texture compared to the one on the left. We had our nibbles and Soo declared the one on the left was the real It's It because it was creamier in taste. Chris and I declared it was the other way around. Mr. Cupcake informed us that Soo was indeed correct. This confused me. I was sure I was right. The It's It on my right was by far creamier than the one on the left. I protested Mr. Cupcake's ruling and referred back to my picture that I had just taken. Apparently, before I took the picture, Mr Cupcake noticed I turned the plate 180 degrees, thus changing my result. In the end, I was actually right as well. So folks, if you're doing a blind taste test, make sure you make your samples are somehow marked to avoid any confusion. Anyway, we all came to the same conclusion that the standard It's It ice cream was creamier, denser, and tastier overall.

So, do you want to know the difference between the two It's Its is? Sure you do! According to the package, the ice cream in the Google's It's It is made with sugar while the "real" It's It is made with high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, and sugar. It's surprising how much creamier the ice cream was due to the high fructose corn syrup, and regular corn syrup. I'm guessing that's why the It's It people use it because it certainly makes for tastier ice cream.

I know there's all this hub bub about high fructose corn syrup being equivalent to liquid death, but the problem is it's in so many things. While the idealist in me tells me I need to permanently rid myself of toxins such as high fructose corn syrup, I just don't think it's going to happen. My quest for complete and total gluttony keeps getting in the way.

five foods to try before you die

2006-08-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

I keep seeing this meme going around all the food blogs I read. I'm not cool enough to have anyone tag me, but I'm going to do it anyway. The gist of the story is that the Traveler's Lunchbox started this meme that asks bloggers to list five things to eat before you die. It can be simple or detailed as the writer chooses. So, here's my list:

1. Chocolate. It's the most divine substance on earth.

2. Homemade Pierogies. Mr. Cupcake introduced me to the pierogi. At first it was Mrs. T's, which really isn't anything all that special. But then, I had the opportunity to try a homemade pierogi. Every year, Mr. Cupcake's mom and sisters crank out tons of these potato dumplings for Christmas eve dinner. Seriously, starch on starch, what could be better? Well, chocolate is better, but that's why it's number one.

3. Nocciola Gelato. The real stuff from Italy. Niccola is Italian for hazelnut. Take that hazelnut and turn it into gelato and it becomes my personal form of crack. During our two weeks in Italy, Mr. Cupcake and I had at least a gelato a day, though usually more. And everyday, I'd order the nicciola.

4. Green Tomato Pie. Listed as a dessert, it sounds miscategorized. We had the opportunity to try it at the Holly Hill Inn in Midway, KY. Mr. Cupcake asked our server for a dessert recommendation, and he swore by the pie, though he said most of his customers were too afraid to try it. Mr. Cupcake ordered it, and it was fantastic. It was a pie made with green tomatoes, but sweet like a dessert should be. Sadly, their menu changes every month, so we never saw it again. I was so taken by this pie, that I researched a few recipes online. I'm going to give it a whirl (if I can ever find green tomatoes out here) and blog about it.

5. A Spalding Bakery Doughnut. I am not a doughnut eater. I don't really like doughnuts. However, I've never had a doughnut like the ones at the Spalding Bakery in Lexington, KY. Even better are the ones that came straight out of the fryer. Warm and crispy on the outside, doughy in the center. It's amazing. Even more amazing is that I hear they fry them in lard. I'm pretty sure that's the source of their deliciousness. Krispy Kreme you say? I scoff at the mere suggestion!

I surprised myself. Two of my top five items came from Kentucky. I guess that's what happens when you live there for almost five years. I need more time in California because five years from now, I'm sure my list will reshape. Well, except for the chocolate part.

Now, the question is: What are your five must try foods?

fun with ricky

2006-08-27T21:48:00.001-07:00

Rick came into town to visit Chris, Soo and I because his airlines benefits at his new job kicked in. He was here for less than 48 hours, so we crammed in as many activites as we could. We had two must visits while Rick was here: Koi Palace and The Golden Gate Bakery. We ate dim sum at Koi Palace though this was the first time we had to wait for a table. Not a big deal; we were happy to be there. Our next destination, however, was not as sunny. We went to the Golden Gate Bakery, and sadly found this sign:

They were closed for vacation! Words cannot express our disappointment. No egg tarts. No coconut tarts. No curry. We tried hard to fight back the tears. What made matters worse was that there was someone inside. The lights were on. It was like somone was trying to play a cruel joke. So cruel.

We decided the only way to make up for it was by having dinner. We're emotional eaters. When times are tough, we seek out that bloated yet always comforting feeling.

The last time I saw my sister-in-law she told me the best place in San Francisco for Korean food is Brother's Restaurant. It's located on Geary Street. The restaurant is tiny, but it's also very popular. Unfortunately popular means having to wait. It was chaotic trying to get a number in line. There was one lady who was handing out numbers written on post it notes, but she kept disappearing. Eventually Soo caught her and we waited about half an hour before being seated.

We ordered a bunch of dishes and chose not to cook tableside. Instead, we let the restaurant prepare the BBQ for us. Though, if you prefer to cook your meat, they use the charcoal briquets.

We were offered up a pretty good mix of side dishes. My favorite was the daikon radish threads mixed with carrots (lower right). It had a nice sweet flavor.

The bul go gi (beef) was good. That's about all I can say about it because I don't really like beef. Besides, the flavor wasn't as intense as the pork. Oh the pork!

Notice how the pork bul go gi is served in a cow. This was my favorite dish of the night. The flavor was intense and also spicy. Out of the four Korean restaurants I've been to since moving to the Bay area, this version of pork bul go gi takes the cake.

Soo was particularly fond of the flounder. It was fried, but not greasy. This made for a crispy crust that complimented the white fish. The bones were still in so we had to work around them. Rick passed on the eyeball when Soo tried to give it to him.

I'm usually not a fan of the slimy noodle dish, but this was pretty good. If you like chap chae, you'll probably like this version.

This was the soup that kept us from ordering the family meal. The family meal comes with mandu (dumpling) soup. We might have been better off with the mandu soup. The tofu soup was a bit bland compared to some of the other versions I've tried.

Our last dish was the Combination Jun Platter. It was a mix of seafood and vegetables. I don't know what was in the batter, but the mushroom I had was a little too soft and greasy for my taste. Besides, by the time this dish came out, I was already full. We have a tendency to order way too much when we go out. Our new rule of thumb is to order as many dishes as there are people and no more. It's great in theory, but I'm not sure if it'll really work for us.

Our total came to about $82 before tax and tip. Everyone was pleased with the meal. I took the leftovers to Mr. Cupcake who was stuck on call. He loves Korean food, but everytime we go, it seems he's on call. I told him I'd take him because this is definitely the best Korean food I've had in the Bay area thus far. Oh, and one tip: we heard that you can call in ahead and get a number. It might make the wait bearable in those peak times.

Come back again soon Rick!

sunshine

2006-08-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake and I just saw "Little Miss Sunshine". It's the funniest movie I've seen in awhile and definitely worth seeing. There's lots of dysfunction and quirky character development. Even Mr. Cupcake liked it. Go see it!

This whole working thing is cramping my blogging style. I should be able to get back on track soon and write about something interesting. Rick is coming on Friday, and all we do is eat when he's here. Soon I say!

caribbean in the bay

2006-08-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Mr. Cupcake and I decided to do dinner and a movie. I wanted to see "Little Miss Sunshine". Since I picked the movie, Mr. Cupcake wanted to pick our dinner destination. I was fine with this except his answer for dinner was In-n-Out Burger. Now, don't get me wrong, I like In-n-Out Burger on occasion. The thing is, that's always his answer for dinner. I vetoed and told him that we were going to Back A Yard Caribbean American Grill in Menlo Park instead.

The restaurant is very tiny, but also seemingly popular. There are only four tables on the inside, so there was a steady line for people doing take out the entire time we were there. We were lucky and managed to grab a table.

I ordered the jerk chicken dinner. It came with a mix of dark and white meat chicken, salad, fried plantains, and rice and beans. The chicken varied. Some pieces were juicy and some seemed a little dry. The jerk was pretty good, but a little salty for my taste. Mr. Cupcake and I both enjoyed the plantains. They were very sweet and the texture was soft. The salad wasn't anything to write home about, and I don't like rice and beans. Mr. Cupcake on the other hand loves rice and beans. He was particularly fond of these and finished them off my plate. He really liked that they had a hint of coconut flavor to them.

I also ordered a pineapple ginger juice. It was pretty terrible and I don't recommend it. The ginger was too overpowering.

Mr. Cupcake ordered the pork ribs. The meat was incredibly tender, practically falling off the bone. Mr. Cupcake declared that these ribs were better than Kansas City BBQ. Now, being that I grew up in Kansas City, I had to inform him that was wrong. He then back tracked and said that they were maybe not as good as Arthur Bryant's. I have to admit that these ribs were quite good. As far as the rest of his meal, the french fries were fresh and the coleslaw was mayonnaisey. If his ribs had come with my plantains and rice and beans, then it would have been a perfect meal for Mr. Cupcake.

Our total bill was $23 even. The menu at Back A Yard is pretty vast. There are things like oxtail and goat. We will be back for sure. Though, we may have to settle for takeout. The place is so tiny, and getting a table is not guaranteed.

We didn't end up seeing the movie. We left Five outside the whole time we were gone, so we had to go back and let him in. He tends to get pissy when we forget about him.

outrageous martha

2006-08-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today was boring. The reason being is that I didn't have to think about finding a job. So what did I do? I sat and watched TV. I watched the end of "The View". They need to bring back that crazy bitch Star Jones. At least then I could love to hate it. Now, I just hate it. Anyway, then came the news followed by "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". Then I found "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and of course had to watch it. During which I started dreaming about chocolate which turned into I need some chocolate. Apparently I didn't need it that badly because after the movie, I watched the end of "Rudy". Together, Five and I laughed and then we cried. I heart that movie. And, no, it didn't end there. I watched two episodes of "Roseanne". I'm sorry, but the old episodes are some of the best TV ever. EVER!

I had turned into a zombie and decided it was time to turn off the TV. But then what? Mr. Cupcake is hosting poker tomorrow night. It was time to bake something. Something chocolate. Mmmmmmm chocolate. Damn that Willy Wonka! I thought about making chocolate chip cookies because then I wouldn't have to leave for ingredients. I mean come on, I spent the first half of the day at home, why not make it a full one? Well, lucky for me, I found an old printed recipe for Outrageous Chocolate Cookies from everyone's favorite jailbird, Martha Stewart. I had most of the ingredients. I was golden.

The recipe calls for chocolate chunks, but I used Trader Joe's chips. I have nothing but love for them, so it was fine. Assembly was a snap. I baked the cookies for 12 minutes, turning halfway through and out came shiney, crackled cookies.

The cookies are incredibly rich and chocolatey. A tall glass of cold milk will compliment these very nicely. Mr. Cupcake gave these cookies an enthusiastic thumbs up. Okay, not really, but he definitely liked them. My little neighbor friend also enjoyed my Martha approved concoction. We'll see if the poker crew approves tomorrow. That is, if my neighbor friend and her friends don't eat them all by then. They like to come by and stare at Five through the screen door. Only, now they know I make cookies.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies
Martha Stewart

Makes 2 dozen; Prep time: 20 minutes; Total time: 45 minutes
Do not bake the cookies to a crisp; they are meant to be soft and chewy. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for two to three days.

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring in between, until almost melted; do not overheat. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.

3. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets 10 minutes; with a thin metal spatula, transfer to racks to cool completely.

Note: Don't worry if the batter seems thin. It should look more like brownie batter than cookie dough.

japanese tapas

2006-08-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

After the picnic on Friday, Soo, Chris, Yeuhi, Mr. Cupcake, and I grabbed some dinner at Yume-Ya in Sunnyvale. We originally intended to go to Saizo, but couldn't get a reservation because no one wanted to answer the phone. We opted to explore new territory and gave Yume-Ya a try.

The restaurant is a little tricky to find. Just look for the Radio Shack. There's also a Trader Joe's nearby.

When we walked in, there were three men sitting at the sushi bar, and that was it. We waited for Yeuhi to arrive, so we looked over the menu for a long time. Our waitress was eager to accommodate us, but we held out.

Chris wanted an order of gyoza. It was pretty typical. I liked that the outside was crispy, but I never get super excited for gyoza.

We ordered the Japanese style spring rolls. For some reason I assumed that the spring rolls would be fried. Keep in mind that the menu is not descriptive, so sometimes it's taking a chance. The spring rolls were different, but also very fresh and light. It was a nice contrast to the fried dishes.

The agedashi tofu was tasty. The outside had a lightly fried crust and was sauce went well. I am beginning to like tofu more and more these days.

The potato croquette may have been my favorite dish of the night. The outside was crispy and inside oozed with a smooth, slighty sweet potato filling. I'd go back just for this dish.

At this point, we ordered our main courses. Soo and I chose to order more tapas to share including another potato croquette.

Our first dish was a cucumber, seaweed, and sesame salad. It had a pickled flavor and was okay. I think I was still dreaming about having another croquette.

I'll give this dish the award for the most interesting of the night. It was deep fried lotus root stuffed with shrimp. I can't say I've had anything like it before, but I liked it in that "this is unique" way. And yes, I mean unique as in good. Not unique as in "special".

The tuna poke was right up there with the potato croquette. The tuna was spicy and garlicky. Soo liked this dish so much that she plans on ordering just a couple of pokes with some rice the next time she comes. Yes, it was that good.

Mr. Cupcake ordered the Miso-katsu dinner, which was a deep fried pork cutlet. It came with salad, miso soup, and rice. He wasn't super excited for the meal because the pork was dry. I thought it paled in comparison with some of the other dishes we ordered.

Chris ordered the Chirashi Sushi which is sushi rice with pieces of fish scattered on top. He was impressed with the quality of the fish as well as the variety.

The only downside from the experience is that we had a few issues with our server. Soo and I ordered two more dishes that never arrived. Sadly, this included that potato croquette. We were crushed that it never came. It turns out it never even made it on the ticket. It didn't end there. Yeuhi ordered oysters and out came octopus. Our server was definitely flustered, but fixed it. My only other nitpick was that we were neglected for awhile. However, part of this is probably our fault. Our server was very attentive in the beginning, but because we weren't ready, we kept sending her away. Honestly, the service has since been a distant memory because I all I can think about is how good the food was.

Our total bill before tax, tip, and alcohol was about $82 for five people. We were all surprised by the bill because the food is extremely affordable and the quality is outstanding. I didn't capture all of our dishes (bad food blogger!), so you're missing out on several more dishes. I actually liked this place better than Saizo just because I thought the variety was more appealing. Mr. Cupcake on the other hand prefers Saizo. I think this means we'll have to give each one another go to declare the ultimate champion in the intergalactic battle of the izakayas.

Oh and during our three hour dinner, the restaurant filled up. However, the three men who were sitting at the counter when we arrived, were still there when we left sharing drinks with the sushi chef.

miscellaneous non food related stuff

2006-08-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm employed now. It didn't work out quite the way I wanted, but it's also not bad. I have a temporary job at a local university that goes through the end of the year. Shortly thereafter, I should have another job that is full time somewhere else. My only concern is that the job that starts later will somehow fall through since it's so far out. Here's hoping it won't. Mr. Cupcake is happy because this means Matilda (his car) gets new coils. Whatever that means.

company picnic

2006-08-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

I have a headache that seems to be eating my brain. Therefore, if you find this is the suckiest post ever, then you can blame the headache.

Yesterday, was Mr. Cupcake's company picnic. The theme was Alice in Wonderland, and as usual, the company went all out. We were greeted by Alice, and a guy with a clock at which point, Mr. Cupcake took off to sign up for the poker tournament, leaving me to my own devices. He eventually found his way back and we did a short loop before he had to go play poker.

As we walked, we picked up some fried mushrooms. There were also waffle fries with an array of toppings including ketchup, cheese, chili, etc.

Next to fries and mushrooms stood the mini hamburgers and veggie burgers.

There were lots of finger foods including fruit tarts (yum!), brownies, and some kind of wraps. For every stand, there were several more nearby with the same stuff.

Mr. Cupcake was not a fan of the egg salad finger sandwiches.

I think these are scones. I'm not sure because I didn't have any.

In the main dining area, there was chicken satay, pulled pork, cole slaw, beans, and some other stuff. At this point Mr. Cupcake took off and I met up with Soo and Chris. I'm becoming their third wheel since Mr. Cupcake has a tendency to disappear.

I went with a fruit cup and some pulled pork. The pork was actually pretty good. They ran out of buns early though so the pork had to be eaten with a fork. We were disappointed by the lack of buns so early, until we found a mound that was completely untouched in the poker area. We of course ate again.

Before we found the buns, we gorged ourselves on some waffle fries. Sorry, no picture. We were too busy watching the white rabbit.

A reggae band was playing near the main food area. There was also another band on the other side of the amphitheatre.

This little guy had the right idea. There was a petting zoo filled with little animals for the kids to play with. While all the cute little bunnies and goats were running away from the kids, this pig played dead. And the kids stayed away.

I was a little bummed that I missed out on the make your own sundae and all the ice cream/popsicle options. Unfortunately, I was too full and I also had to leave early to take Five to the vet. My poor cat has signs of cancer, so he his needs took precedence.

Mr. Cupcake made it to the final poker table and came in 11th. Later, he came home with a book and a dvd signed by Phil Gordan. Apparently he's a professional poker player who was also the announcer. Shows you what I know.

baking light

2006-08-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

For three years, I subscribed to Cooking Light Magazine. It suited me well because it was a way to shake up my normal rotation. Every month, I'd find a new issue in my mailbox filled with new recipes to try. Some recipes are now regulars and others were simply heinous. Towards the end of my subscription, I started to notice that a lot of the recipes sounded the same. It seems that they have a few base recipes that receive minor tweaks on occasion. While it was a great relationship for at least two of the three years, it was time to take a break.

I didn't have a chance to look at my last issue of the magazine until a few days ago. I found a few recipes that seemed worth trying. However, it was the Fresh Lime Chiffon Cake that caught my eye. I have been looking for healthier dessert alternatives recently. Mr. Cupcake and I have been packing on the pounds, and it's time to put an end to it. The only thing is that I'm not a fan of cutting sweets out completely because it doesn't work. I end up gorging myself on anything sweet and fatty if I try to deprive myself.

Anyway, I ended up working on a few job apps this afternoon, and decided to take a break. The fresh lime chiffon cake was calling my name.

I was a little grossed out when I started making the batter, so I took a picture. It consisted of egg yolks, oil, water, and lime zest. The recipe also called for lemon extract, but I didn't have any. I just added a little more lime.

I mixed the wet ingredients with the dry, and then folded in some stiff egg whites. I'm always paranoid that I'm going to deflate the eggs whites because I find I'm never satisfied with my folding job and therefore have a tendency to over fold. I'm sure it's all just in my head.

The filling was actually the first thing I made, but it had to sit in the fridge for three hours to stiffen up. Somehow, my finger managed to find its way into the bowl thus creating an obvious well. I did my best to cover it up the evidence when picture time rolled around.

I baked the three layers in 9" pans instead of the 8" pans that the recipe called for. The tops became very sticky as they cooled. I trimmed them a bit to get rid of the gumminess.

I frosted the cake with my Safeway Cool Whip wannabe. The recipe calls for light whipped topping, but I only had regular. It was leftover from the last time R was in town. Oh, and he's coming back in a few weeks, so I will have more tales of our glorious food binges. Anyway, I was suppose to add more lime and sugar to the frosting. I went as far as making the sugar and lime mixture and then decided to abandon ship. The cake and the filling already had strong lime flavors. I figured lime in the frosting would be overkill. The Cool Whip imposter went solo.

The cake turned out to be a lot of work. In fact, I'm not sure the effort was worth the result. The lime flavor was slightly overwhelming. I'm glad I didn't add the extra flavoring to the frosting. The cake turned out to be a bit denser than say an angel food cake, but was still spongy and light. Mr. Cupcake said he liked it, but I think he was lying. If he still reads my blog he can post his true feelings. The worst thing that can happen is I'll cry. Just kidding.

It's been an hour since I tried a slice of cake. My tongue still has a very acidic feel to it. Perhaps if I had used the lemon extract the outcome would have been better, but I'm not so sure. Besides, I don't think it's worth the number of calories. I just pasted the recipe into this post and saw that this little cake has 16 servings! Scam.

Fresh Lime Chiffon Cake
Cooking Light Magazine

Filling:
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon cake flour
2 cups sifted cake flour (7 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
3 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
2 1/2 cups fat-free whipped topping, thawed
Fresh mint sprigs (optional)
Fresh blueberries (optional)
Lime wedges (optional)

To prepare the lime filling, combine 1 teaspoon lime rind, 1/4 cup lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk in a small bowl, stirring until blended. Cover and chill 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 325Â°.

To prepare cake, coat bottoms of 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pans); line bottoms with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour.

Lightly spoon 2 cups cake flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 cups cake flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until well combined.

Combine oil, 1/3 cup juice, 3 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon rind, lemon extract, and egg yolks in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add oil mixture to flour mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.

Place egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into flour mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture.

Divide cake batter equally among prepared pans, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 325Â° for 20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Remove wax paper from cake layers. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons lime juice in a small glass bowl. Microwave at high for 30 seconds or until sugar dissolves. Cool completely. Fold into whipped topping.

To assemble cake, place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread half of filling over cake layer. Top with second layer, remaining half of filling, and third layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Garnish with mint, blueberries, and lime wedges, if desired. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Slice cake into wedges.

16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 290(29% from fat); FAT 9.3g (sat 2.1g,mono 4.6g,poly 2.1g); PROTEIN 5.3g; CHOLESTEROL 47mg; CALCIUM 122mg; SODIUM 218mg; FIBER 0.3g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.9g

sf part deux

2006-08-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

I attempted to escape the heat in the South Bay by visiting SK and CI in the city, but was disappointed to find out that the heat was also in San Francisco. After a late breakfast/lunch, we walked around Fisherman's Wharf, but had to retreat into the Gap for its air conditioning. Since we could only hang out in the Gap for so long, we eventually headed back to their place.

Later on, SK decided she wanted cold Korean noodle soup. Our only problem was that none of us knew where any Korean restaurants were. Instead of picking somewhere blindly, I gave my sister-in-law a call. She use to live in the Bay area and is Korean. The first place she suggested was Brothers Restaurant, but she wasn't sure if they'd have the cold noodle soup. Then she called her friend who is Korean and lives in the Bay Area. She suggested Wooden Charcoal BBQ. We ended up picking the latter because there was less chance of a wait since it's a bigger space.

Wooden Charcoal BBQ is down in the Inner Richmond district. Because we're all fairly new to the area, we were surprised by the number of Korean businesses near the restaurant. I guess it's some sort of Korea town. Brothers Restaurant was also within the vicinity.

When we arrived, we were immediately seated. The restaurant was pretty big, and there were a fair amount of open tables. The decor was pretty bland, so don't expect anything fancy if you go.

We opted for one the dinner specials. CI had convinced SK to forego the cold noodle soup even though that's what we came for. His reasoning was that we'd end up with too much food, which turned out to be true. Our dinner came with a spicy tofu soup, salad, three grilled meats, chap chae, and the usual sides. I thought the spicy tofu soup was pretty good. It was spicy and warm. The heat outside had tapered off, so the warm soup was nice.

The meat was the main event and consisted of spicy pork, chicken, and beef. We let the restaurant cook it for us. The last time we cooked our own meat, our clothes reeked from the smoke. I didn't eat any of the beef, and found the chicken to be pretty good. It was juicy and flavorful, but the real winner was the pork. The spicy marinade penetrated the meat and it was also very tender. Next time I will just stick with the pork.

The family dinner for four (CI's ex roommate joined us) excluding tip and drinks was about $62. Overall, the food was pretty good. It was higher quality than my last Korean BBQ experience. However, I will probably try some of the other restaurants in the area including Brothers Restaurant before I go back. If only there was great Korean BBQ in the South Bay. Then again, there might be; I just haven't found it yet.

So, that was my day in San Francisco. We battled the heat and ate some good food. By the end of the day, CI was lucky enough to collect a souvenir from our adventures:

Nothing says a good day like a rockin farmer's tan.

sf part une

2006-08-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went into the city and spent the day with SK and CI. This was during that crazy heat wave that took over the Bay Area. We don't have air conditioning in our new place, so it was a great way (or so I thought) to beat the heat. It's usually cooler up north compared to where I am. Mr. Cupcake was on call that day, so he missed out on the fun.

Our first destination was Mama's on Washington Square. It was Saturday morning around 11:30. We had anticipated a wait, and were not disappointed. The line was wrapped around the side of the building. However, we decided it wasn't that bad, and proceeded to wait. Besides, the car was parked and we had 2 hours to kill.

During our 45 minute wait, my friends and I started gawking at the people who were eating through the big windows. We have no shame. Everything looked good, so it was difficult trying to figure out what order. I eventually decided breakfast was where it was at. I was leaning towards the pancakes because of the berries, but at the last minute had a change of heart.

I went with the pain dore. It was described as sour dough bread french toast served with apples. I was a bit leary because I imaged that the french toast was going to be this huge chunk of bread, but they had widdled it down to this thin pancake like shape. I was mightily impressed with my dish. The apple slices were smothered in a rich buttery lemon sauce and topped with powdered sugar. It was heavenly.

SK was hoping to get the Cranberry, Orange, Walnut Bread French Toast served with Mixed Berries and Maple Syrup (I had previously shown her a picture from the Becks & Posh blog), but unfortunately, it wasn't available. Her backup plan was a plate of pancakes with berries. It was three big, thick pancackes topped with raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. The pancakes were a little fluffier than I prefer, but still quite good. It's amazing what ripe fruit does for a dish.

CI ordered an omelet that had Italian sausage. I don't remember which one specifically, but I can tell you it was very tasty. The omelet was filled with big chunks of sausage and vegetables. I would gladly order an omelet here based on my one trial bite.

Our three dishes, 2 iced teas, and iced coffee cost $36 before tip. I can see why this place is so popular, and I do think it's worth the wait. I'm sad that there aren't any places like this in the South Bay. I feel a bit cheated on breakfast down here. Maybe I should open my own breakfast joint. Though that would require me to know how to make multiple breakfast dishes.

One tip: Mama's only takes cash. We didn't see the sign until we got up to the register, so just keep that in mind. It'd be devastating to wait in a line for so long only to be turned away just before the finish line.

My DSL is finally working, but at the expense of my house line. So don't try to call my house number for now. The good news is that I should be able to update my blog regularly again. I have a lot of things to catch up on, so inbetween my job search I'm going to post.

do you do this?

2006-08-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

Our friends from Kentucky left today after a week of video games, poker, and the beach. We ate most meals at home since K's meal of choice is a bowl of Special K. There was one day he didn't eat cereal for lunch and cooked up some steaks. Normal right? Well, then I noticed he then created a large pool of ketchup to go along with his steak. At first I was appalled, but then slowly found myself fascinated. So much so, that I took a picture to share with all.

I guess this is a regional thing. I was telling my friend MC (also from Kentucky) about it, and he confessed that he used to do the same thing. However, he has since switched over to A1 sauce.

Still no DSL. Ho hum.

back... sorta

2006-07-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

It turns out I've been MIA much longer than I had anticipated. Our DSL is up; it just doesn't work in our house. It's pretty annoying, but hopefully it'll be fixed later in the week. I've been very busy lately with visitors, job interviews, and getting settled into our new place. Right now, our friends from Kentucky and Mr. Cupcake are watching Battlestar Galactica. I can't seem to get into it, and our temporary Internet appears to be working, so Blogger it is!

A few weeks ago, Mr. Cupcake and I decided to go to dinner. Our kitchen was packed up, so we couldn't really eat at home. It was the perfect excuse to go to Saizo in Sunnyvale. Saizo has been on my radar for some time. It's one of those izakayas that serves Japanese tapas and sake. I'm not a drinker at all (it does not agree with me), so it was all tapas for me.

Saizo is located in a strip mall next to Albertson's. It's a little tricky to find off of El Camino. We did not pay attention to the "East" in the address and found ourselves at a car dealership. We finally found it and the restaurant was packed at 7:30 on a Thursday evening. Granted, it's not a very large place at all. There's only a handful of tables and a bar. We could have waited for a table, but opted to sit at the bar. I'm actually glad we did because it was interesting to watch the cooks prepare everything.

We started out with the spicy garlic edamame. At first we weren't sure how to eat it. I mean, normally we shell the beans before we eat them, but the spicy sauce threw us off. Fortunately, it was a popular dish (the cook made three batches at once) and we watched someone from a nearby table eat one. He put it in his mouth and then slid the beans out with his teeth. Brilliant. Why didn't we think to do that? Once we figured out the technique, we were very pleased. The beans were spicy and addictive. A great way to start off the meal.

Next up was the gyoza. They're just Japanese potstickers, but Mr. Cupcake is fond of them. The outside was thin and crispy and the inside was filled with pork and a lot of ginger. It was pretty standard stuff.

Saizo offers a lot of skewered grilled and deep fried meats. I always go for deep fried even though my body pleads against it. What can I say? I'm weak. In an attempt to go light on the fried foods, we only ordered 2 skewers. This one was the Kushikatsu which was described as a "pork cutlet and onion". We couldn't tell what it was when we first bit into it. This was due to there being a big pieces of soft onion. I liked this skewer because the pork was very tender and I also like onions. Fried food is good.

The other skewer we ordered was probably my least favorite dish of the night. It was the shiso chicken. It was chicken wrapped in shiso basil. It tasted odd. I'm not really sure how to describe it. The chicken was very tender and soft, but the basil was interesting. Mr. Cupcake did not like it at all. I ended up squeezing some lemon the skewer and the flavor improved. It still wasn't the best thing ever.

Mr. Cupcake wanted to get some soup, so we ordered some udon noodles. Specifically the Nabeyaki Udon which was described as "tempura, vegetable, chicken, and more in a clay pot". The more turned out to be an egg. Our server asked us how we wanted our egg prepared because it's usually served raw. She suggested having it cooked, so we agreed. This dish was my favorite of the night. The texture of the udon noodles was perfect. They were soft, but still had a bite to them. The broth was lovely. The only thing I didn't like was the tempura shrimp because it wilted away in the broth. I would go back just for the soup.

Our final dish was the Yaki-Onigiri described as "grilled rice balls with green onion, miso, and ginger". They started cooking our rice balls the moment we ordered them and it was the last dish to arrive. The outside was crispy but chewy and had a sort of sweet char flavor to it. I was expecting more green onions (perhaps inside the rice?), but there were only a few flakes here and there on the outside. Overall it was pretty good, but I didn't love it. There were also some kind of green pickled vegetable. They looked scarier than they tasted. I couldn't identify them though.

Our bill before tip was just over $33 including Mr. Cupcake's beer. I loved Saizo. It's one of the more memorable meals I've had in awhile. I have been itching to go back, but sadly have not had time. I want to go again soon, but will have to do the group dinner thing so I can sample a bigger variety of items. Though, if you decide to go with more than two people, it's a good idea to make a reservation. Also, they only take credit cards if the bill is above $20.

I have a lot more things to write about. I hope to get it out there soon, but life has been busy. I can't believe that in less than an hour we'll be heading into August. Hopefully our DSL will be working inside in the very near future. I should also have more time on my hands later this week and I have two goals for the rest of my free time: blog a lot and find a job. I am looking forward to one, the other not so much.

tidbits

2006-07-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake and I moved into our new residence over the weekend. It's a little more suburban than I was expecting, but whatever. There are so many kids in this neighborhood; it sort of freaks me out. Mr. Cupcake will have to make an effort not to hit all the little kids that play in the street when he drives home.

Other than that, the move was generally okay. It wasn't great because moving sucks. Plus our Internet connection is a bit wobbly. The real stuff doesn't get turned on until next Tuesday. Sadness. I'll just have to suck it up until then.

How's the new place you ask? Our kitchen has a lot of room but it's lacking counter space. And, our oven is smaller than the standard size. I hope our sheet pans fit. My new red skillet better fit in there too or else I'm going to have to move again. Okay, not really, but I'll still be upset. Hopefully, in the next few weeks I'll be able to make something divine. I haven't really cooked in awhile, but I'd like to start baking again before all the ripe fruit goes away.

Back to food reviewing. Last night, Mr. Cupcake and I had dinner at Hanamaru in Sunnyvale with some of his coworkers. I did a review on this place before, and last time was pretty good. The fish was fresh and it was pretty cheap for sushi. Well, last night it was pretty awful. The fish had a fishy taste to it and I went home with an upset stomach. I really hate going to restaurants that have varying levels of quality especially when it comes to fish. I felt bad taking Mr. Cupcake's coworkers there since I could tell they didn't enjoy it either. I have a feeling I won't be back.

Mr. Cupcake and I went to Saizo last week, and had really good Japanese food, which made going to Hanamaru all the more disappointing. I'll blog about Saizo next week. Hopefully I'll have time to blog about some other stuff too. I told Mr. Cupcake's sister that I'd blog about Greek yogurt once I tried it - which I did finally do, so that's also on my list. We have more friends coming into town next week, but I'll try to squeeze in a little blog love before then.

Anyway, Internet on Tuesday. Blogger on Tuesday. Tivo on Tuesday. Blessed Tivo! How I've missed you so! No more of that Comcast piece of junk DVR. Project Runway season 3 will be mine again! Rejoice!

five, food snob?

2006-07-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

I lied. I said I wasn't going to post again until after the move. I really shouldn't post. I should be packing. We're suppose to move on Sunday and there's a whole lot of stuff that still needs to go into boxes. I can't help myself though. It's just that last night, it came to our attention that our fat cat Five is indeed a food snob. It's so bad he's willing to starve himself.

Here's the story. I use to feed Five Iams. That was all well and good until I started reading about how Iam's uses a lot of fillers and there were better products out there. Well, then I decided to feed him Nutro Natural Choice.

I didn't want him to get sick, so I mixed the Natural Choice in with his Iams to wean him off his old food. It turned out that wasn't really necessary. He loved the Nutro so much that he started eating around the Iams and that's all that was left in his bowl. Fair enough. We were done with Iams.

Fast forward to December of last year when we first moved to California. I had to buy him more cat food. I accidently bought him Nutro Max Cat which is the lower tier in the Nutro line. I fed it to him and he seemed to eat it. Though not as much. I was feeding him 1/2 a cup a day and the vet thought that was weird. In 4 months my 20 lb. cat went to a 17 lb. cat. Five seemed fine, so she let it go.

One day, I got a coupon in the mail for a free 4 lb. bag of Nutro Natural Choice. I redeemed the coupon and fed Five some of this food. He scarfed it down and demanded to be fed more often. Interesting. Well, the 4 lb. bag didn't last very long and we went back to the Max Cat. That's when Five started to starve himself. The cat would not eat the food. It'd been 3 days and he'd maybe eaten half a cup of the Max Cat. I of course flipped out and didn't want him to starve himself to death. He is afterall my companion during the day. Mr. Cupcake and I bought 10 lb. bag of Natural Choice last night. I gave him a half a cup of food last night and this morning it was gone. He of course wanted more when I woke up.

I guess he takes after his owners. Mr. Cupcake says this is my fault. I justify it by reminding him how much shinier and fluffier Five's fur is, and how happy Five is now! I don't think he buys it though.

yum yum for dim sum

2006-07-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

The last time R came into to town, we went to Koi Palace in Daly City and had amazing dim sum. Granted, my dim sum experience is somewhat limited being that I grew up in the Midwest. Chinese food in the Midwest is very much Americanized for the corn fed palate. Now, don't get me wrong, I love things like crab rangoon and the overly sweet dishes like General Tso's Chicken. However, in the six months I've been living in the Bay area, I have to say I love the diverse range of Asian food. The variety is amazing.

Anyway, R and I decided we absolutely had to go to Koi Palace again. I've read a lot of grumblings on the Internet about how there can be as much as a two hour wait on the weekends to get a table. Both visits I've made have been during the weekday right when the restaurant opened, and while we didn't have to wait for a table, the parking lot was full.

We had some newbies to Koi Palace and also to the world of dim sum, so R and I did most of the ordering. We didn't order off the carts and instead ordered off the menu. I'm not a big fan of ordering off the carts because there's no way of telling how long the food has been sitting there. R also tells me that it's cheaper to order off the menu versus taking food off the carts. I had no idea.

The pan fried pork dumplings were my favorite just like they were last time. The bottom was light brown from being pan fried which gave it a nice crispy texture. The rest of the bun was fluffy and soft. I love the fluffy buns. We tried to get the steamed BBQ pork bun, but we couldn't find them on the menu. However, they definitely have them since our server was carrying some when she dropped these off. It's okay. As you'll soon see, we had too much food anyway.

This was one of the cherng fun dishes. I know we ordered at least three of them including beef, shrimp, and vegetable. We might have ordered another one, but I can't remember. I didn't eat any this time just because we ordered too much.

Here we have a green onion pancake. It was definitely different than any other green onion pancake I've tried. The outside was crispy, but a little too hard for my taste.

I think this was a spinach and shrimp dumpling. I can't remember if I ate one of these.

Another shrimp dumpling. I don't think I ate one of these either. I do like shrimp, so I'm not sure why I passed on these two. I'll chalk it up to too much food.

We ordered some egg rolls just because they're a familiar item for those who hadn't been for dim sum before. The egg rolls were about what you'd expect, so nothing to really write home about.

R tells me this dumpling is called chew zhou fun gaow. It has ground pork, veggies, cilantro, and peanuts. I just remember that they fell apart and were messy.

Here we have the steamed rice wrapped in lotus leaf. I probably should have unwrapped it for you, but I didn't. I love this type of steamed rice. It has chicken, chinese sausage and mushrooms. The rice is sticky and and sweet.

The Shanghai dumplings were just about everyone's favorite. The skin is a bit thicker than say those at HC Dumpling House, but they stay together. It's also not quite as juicy, but it's also not pure fat. The dumplings come with a dipping sauce that is very good as well. An order comes with 10 dumplings. We were actually considering getting 2 order of the Shanghai dumplings and 2 orders of the pan fried dumplings which would have meant 40 dumplings. It's good that we didn't, but it's so hard because my eyes are bigger than my stomach.

My last picture is of the custard buns. This is the first time I've had custard buns here. I loved it though. The custard wasn't too sweet and the bun was nice and fluffy. I will definitely be getting these in the future.

We ordered more food including drunken chicken, sesame balls, black seasame balls, more dumplings, and some other stuff I'm probably forgetting. The food kept coming and I wasn't able to keep up.

Our total cost came to $100 before tip. I know it seems like a lot for dim sum, but there were 6 of us and we ordered more food than what was necessary. I highly recommend Koi Palace. However, be prepared to wait if you don't come when they open. Also, they use MSG, so if you're afraid, then you might want to pass.

It's going to be a bit before I post again. We're moving this weekend to a new place. No worries, it's just down the street. Unfortunately, moving is still a pain. We're not really packed and I hear we don't have a truck. Should prove to be interesting.

a live fish no more

2006-07-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

I really shouldn't be blogging. I should be doing productive things like laundry or preparing for my upcoming phone interview. However, I haven't been giving my blog the love and affection that it deserves in recent weeks. I have had friends in town for the past two weeks experiencing all kinds of wonderful culinary delights and yet my poor little blog has heard very little about these adventures. Well, blog, today is your day. Today, I tell you about the wonders of buying a live Tilapia fish at Ranch 99 and the Mango Cake from the bakery next door.

I'd never been to Ranch 99 until last Saturday. I'd heard many curious things about Ranch 99 like when one of the writers on the KQED food blog cooked up the 10 scariest things she could find at Ranch 99. I've also heard it's full of wonderful Asian delicacies. In any event, I was excited to finally visit this ginormous Asian market.

R, W, and I had decided we were going to cook a big Asian dinner that night and then go see The Devil Wears Prada. We walked in and R and W had already decided what they were going to make. I was still unsure about my contribution, so I perused hoping to find some inspiration. I walked over to the meat case and saw this package:

My mind was not able to immediately register what I was seeing. I then realized it was chicken feet. Hmmm. R loves chicken feet at dim sum and Mr. Cupcake has tried it in the past, but I just wasn't feeling it.

We continued to walk. R needed hoisin sauce and very dark soy sauce so we made our way to the sauce aisle.

That's a whole lotta sauce. R found his ingredients and then they decided I should make a steamed fish. I was a little scared and replied, "But I don't know how to make steamed fish."

W nonchalantly responded and said, "It's easy, just use some soy sauce, ginger, and green onions and it'll be fine."

"Okay, if you help me." I conceded and she agreed.

Our next task was to find a fish. Do we buy a prepacked fish? I'm a bit sketched out by prepackaged fish because it's not always fresh. Then W decided to call her mom and ask her about buying a live fish at Ranch 99. While W was on the phone, R and I took a look at the other seafood offerings.

Some kind of squid

More squid

R especially enjoyed playing with the live blue crabs.

W got off the phone with her mom and she informed us that they'd kill, clean, and scale the fish for us. The decision was made, and a Tilapia fish would soon meet its tragic demise so it could be apart of our Asian themed dinner.

The fish monger picking our fish from the tank.

He happily posed with the flopping fish while R rapidly took shots with my camera. At this point I quit watching because I knew what was coming next. I heard a loud thud which was apparently the big mallet coming into contact with the fish. You can see it under the net on the counter.

He then moved it to another counter where he pulled all the guts out and scaled the fish.

Finally, he wrapped it up and handed it over to W in a bag. The fish was dead. Or so we thought. We continued to walk with fish in the cart and suddenly the fish started flopping around in its bag. We shriek and someone said, "I thought it was dead!"

"It has to be, they pulled out its guts!"

"But it moved!"

"I don't know!"

The bag continued to wiggle in our cart and we paid, and left. We were a bit freaked out, but there wasn't much we could do at this point except hope that it'd stop. And eventually it did. It wasn't moving by the time it made it onto the serving platter.

Here's the full spread of our dinner that night including the steamed fish, Chinese sausage with green onions and a rice noodle stir fry with beef:

And the Mango Mousse cake we bought from the Sheng Kee Bakery next to Ranch 99.

The cake was good. Not too sweet and the cake itself was very light. The mango mousse was fluffly. I like Chinese bakeries mostly because the sweets themselves aren't overly sweet.

All in all, I'd deem the dinner to be a success. I'm not sure if I'll ever buy another live fish again. The experience was a little too weird for me.

Oh and the Devil Wears Prada was cute. Definitely a chick flick, but cute nonetheless.

sandwiches, gelato, and gelato again

2006-07-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

I have had this burning desire to go to American Italian Delicatessen in Los Altos for some time now. Awhile back, I read that they offered Tango Gelato in my neck of the woods. Unfortunately, there's not very much on the Internet about them, and I had a hard time figuring out their hours. Speaking of hours, I hate when I go to a website and the vendor does not offer up their hours of operation. It really annoys me because here I am, a consumer trying to buy their product and they don't tell me something so simple as their hours. This deli is exempt from this rant because they don't have a website.

Anywho, moving along. SH and TH, my good friends who came from the heartland to visit Mr. Cupcake and me. On their last day, we had a sleepy day after having a very busy week. I decided it was the perfect time to go to American Italian Delicatessen for lunch.

It's not a very big place. When you walk in, the gelato counter is on the left and the sandwiches are on the right. They also offer various pasta salads towards the back of the building. We wanted lunch, so sandwiches it was.

I was feeling bloated from all the food I'd been eating earlier in the week, so I decided it was time to go light. I opted for the turkey sandwich with everything (lettuce, tomato, onions, banana pepper (I think), and mustard) except mayo on a sourdough roll. The roll was a little tough, but I was quite impressed by the quality of the sandwich. It reminded me of the hoagies I'd had on the East Coast back in college. It's something I really missed when I lived in Kentucky. Next time I'm going for the artery clogging Italian hoagie. Oh yeah!

TH ordered the sweet sausage sandwich. They warned him that it'd take up to 10 minutes to get the sandwich. By the time it arrived, he was glad he waited. He said the sandwich was fantastic. His bun was softer than the sour dough I had, but he said it complimented the sandwich.

SH ordered the avocado veggie sandwich. I didn't take a picture, but she said it was also tasty.

Our total cost for the sandwiches was about $22 including a bag of chips, and two drinks. All in all, we were very happy with the sandwiches. We sat there for awhile and chatted until we were ready for dessert. Ah dessert. The moment I had been waiting for; Tango Gelato was to be mine once again!

We went in and looked over the selection. I already knew what I wanted to order. Hazelnut. The best gelato flavor ever. Sadly, my dreams of hazelnut were crushed and I was denied. They didn't have any. In fact, they were having problems with their freezers and we couldn't order cones because the gelato was too soft. Forgivable. We still ordered.

SH and TH shared a small and the small was huge. The guy at the counter was extremely generous with scoops. They ordered the caramel swirl and another flavor that I can't remember. I tasted the caramel swirl with a big chunk of swirl and it was tasty. The only problem was that the texture was off because the gelato was too soft.

I ordered a junior size chocolate chip and was also given a very generous serving. The chocolate chip was just okay. Because of the soft texture, it didn't really bear resemblance to what I had had at the main shop in San Francisco. I'm going to give them a bye since this was just my first trip and perhaps they were having an off day.

A small and a junior gelato was roughly $6. American Italian Delicatessen is well worth the trip because the sandwiches are fabulous and there's Tango gelato. I asked the guy behind the counter what their hours were since it wasn't apparent on the storefront. During the week and on Saturday they close at 5, but he said, "Don't come at 5." Er, okay. That's 4:30 for all you out there in cyberspace who care! I think he said they closed at 3 on Sundays, so if you want to eat be there by 2:30. One last tip: it's cash only.

R. was also in town working that week, and so later that night we cooked a ginormous dinner. Afterwards, he wanted to go to Tango Gelato... in the city. I said, "sure why not?" since he was willing to drive his company rental car. R, Mr. Cupcake, and I piled into his car and went on our way.

Mr. Cupcake had a trifecta of gelato goodness including chocolate and peanut butter. He had a third flavor but I can't remember what it was. He said while it didn't rival the best gelato in Italy, it was definitely the best gelato he's had stateside.

I ordered the tiramisu and the dulce de leche. Tiramisu was too strong, but the dulce de leche was pretty good. I was again denied the hazelnut because they were out. I guess there was a hazelnut shortage in the Bay area that day. Next time.... believe me, there will be a next time!

$10 for 3 cups of gelato is well worth it if you're near the Pacific Heights area in the city or have a crazy friend who wants to drive 45 minutes each way for gelato. Crazy friends are always a good thing.

oh beautiful 11.75 inch red skillet!

2006-07-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

I know I promised more updates. My Mac is holding all of my pictures hostage right now, so until I get a new power adapter, all of my delicious outings will have to be put on hold. However, it's still your lucky day because I do have a new update even without my old pictures.

Mr. Cupcake and I celebrated our one year anniversary back in May. A surprise came in the mail and we had found that Mr. Cupcake's aunt and uncle had sent us a very lovely card and a belated wedding gift. He tried to find the perfect gift, but has now left us with the task of doing so - preferably something romantic. Romantic? Perhaps crystal? Flowers delivered monthly? A Le Creuset pan? Ding ding ding!! What's romantic about a pan you ask? Everything! It's the even heat distribution (essential when stuck with crappy electric burners). It's the pretty primary colors. And besides, it's French and aren't the French famous for love? Or is that Italy? Whatever. It's not what comes in the pan, it's what comes out of it. Just think of the possibilities! Perfectly seared steaks (says R), frittatas; it's endless!

Anyway, my good friend R was in town for nearly two weeks so we along with W, headed to Gilroy, garlic capital of the world, to do some outlet shopping. My mission was to visit the Le Creuset Outlet. However, I became sidetracked by the offerings at Banana and JCew. We eventually made our way there, and to my delight, they were offering 20% off. It was destiny.

So there you have it. My pretty red 11.75 inch skillet ready for its first use. I'm not sure what we'll make. It'll have to be something delectable. Le sigh.

We still have leftover from Auntie and Uncle Cupcake's gift. I'm trying to sway Mr. Cupcake into buying the matching red Le Creuset Dutch oven (tee hee) er.. French oven. He's not convinced we'll use it and wants to see if we even like this pan (of course we do!). Maybe I will have to pull out my secret weapon and tell him I can make rice pudding with it...

manresa

2006-07-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, Mr. Cupcake, a bunch of friends, and I had dinner at Manresa in Los Gatos. I first learned about this restaurant when I started perusing A Taste of the Suburbs blog. There was a entry about how this restaurant was named one of the top 50 restaurants in the world in 2005 according to Restaurant Magazine. Because the restaurant is in Los Gatos which isn't much of a trek for me, I decided I had to go. My good friends were coming in town and we made reservations for 7.

There are three options when ordering at Manresa. The first is a three course meal, the second is four courses, and the final is the chef's tasting menu. If one opts for the tasting menu then everyone in the party will need to do the same. We all had the intention of ordering the tasting menu so this wasn't a problem.

As each course was presented, a server would then give us a description. I'm going to do my best to describe each course from memory, but don't hate me if it's a little vague.

The first amuse was a walnut cookie and a red pepper jelly. The walnut cookie was good and the jelly was a little surprising. I definitely wasn't expecting red pepper, but it was actually very nice. Some of the people in our group weren't fans though and preferred the walnut cookie.

The next amuse bouche was radishes, sea salt, and a creamy side with stuff in it. Mr. Cupcake says it was creme fraiche, but it kind of reminded me of ranch dressing. I can tell you it wasn't ranch dressing though. Anyway, the salt was very complimenting when dipping the radish in the salt before the cream. I was sharing a plate with Mr. Cupcake and CI. They weren't big fans so I ate most of it.

I honestly don't remember what was in this amuse. I know it was two types of citrus and a milky foam. I do remember liking this course a lot, but preferred one citrus over the other. Yes, vague, but at least I can say it was very good!

Here we have the pea croquette. The outside was nice and crispy and the inside was a liquid pea filling. Our server told us to eat it in one bite. I was a little concerned that it would be too hot, but that wasn't the case at all. The temperature was just right and the liquid pea oozed when I popped it into my mouth. It was fantastic.

The final amuse was the soft boiled egg with maple syrup and creme fraiche. From what I've read on various blogs, this is a signature dish. I can see why because it was lovely. The server advised that we scoop all the way to the bottom before eating. The flavor layering was very nice. I could taste the maple syrup which was very complimenting and not overwhelming. It was different and I enjoyed it very much.

This was the first of seven savory main courses. The main ingredient was foie gras and it was very interesting. The foie gras literally melted in my mouth. Normally, the texture of foie gras reminds me of butter, but this was different. It was light and airy but the soup that went along with it made it very rich. Some people thought it was too rich though.

Strawberry gazpacho with cucumbers and an almond (I think) was up next. It came with grilled strawberries pictured below:

The strawberries also had finely minced cucumbers. I preferred the gazpacho over the grilled strawberries. I found the grilled strawberries to be a little too tart for my taste.

This may have been my favorite course. It was cod with a potato. Everyone thought the potato was a scallop. I guess most of us didn't listen to the server when he described it. I was expecting a scallop when I bit into it and was pleasantly surprised to find it was a potato. The outside had a thin, crispy layer and the inside was soft. The cod was flaky, soft, and buttery. I don't think I've ever had fish cooked this perfectly before.

Here we have blackened sea bass with fresh spring veggies from their garden. There was some disagreement from the group over whether or not this fish was blackened. I think I remember the server say it was blackened so I'm sticking to it. Just like the last course, this fish was very well prepared, but I still liked the cod better. One of the nice things about this fish was the outside was crispy and complimented the fish nicely. It didn't have the rich buttery flavor that the last one had. I guess after watching so much Barefoot Contessa and Paula Deen they've made me into a butter freak.

Up next was veal sweatbreads and an escargot ravioli. Some of the people in our group weren't familiar with sweetbreads, so we didn't tell them what they were until they tried it first. I'm not really a big fan of veal or sweetbreads, but I figured I'd give it a whirl because it's always good to give things a chance. The sweetbreads were incredibly light and extremely tender. Again, a very different experience from previous versions of sweetbreads I've tried. The ravioli was only so-so. The texture of the snails were slightly rubbery which is consistent with other variations I've tried. Can't say I'm a big fan.

Here we have a goat curry with peas and a polenta ring. I have mixed feelings about goat. When I was very young, my family use to have a handful of goats. They were really mean, but I couldn't imagine eating them. Though come to think of it, we did drink goat's milk. Then one of my Indian friends fed me goat curry that his mom made and it was great. However, I couldn't help but think about Gail the goat from my childhood. Anyway, this goat curry was fantastic. It was extremely tender and the sauce was slightly sweet. I loved it and R couldn't get enough so he ate part of SH's. I think I'm going to have to get over Gail the goat and eat more goat in the future.

The last savory dish was the squab. This is the only dish that really did not work for me and the only dish I didn't finish. The squab was undercooked which I think was intentional as everyone else's was served the same way. The texture slightly rubbery and it just didn't do it for me. I guess I'd describe it like eating undercooked chicken. The wing was cooked a little longer and the texture was better, but I was still a little put off.

For the first dessert we were served sorbet cones. The flavors included peach, strawberry, and raspberry. I had a strawberry cone and the sorbet had an intense strawberry flavor. The highlight for me was the cone. It was a very light and sweet wafer. I wish all cones tasted like this.

Up next was sour cherries with a rice pudding ice cream. I was surprised they made rice pudding into an ice cream but it was quite good. Mr. Cupcake being the rice pudding fiend that he is wished that there was more ice cream. I thought the ice cream went so well with the sour cherries. While the cherries were sour, they were also sweet. It was a very nice combination.

Next we had a chocolate souffle with a caramel (I think) ice cream. The black sheet that looks like nori was a piece of dark chocolate. I wanted to like this a whole lot more than I did. The souffle was very light and airy. The chocolate flavor wasn't quite as intense as I normally like it to be. And, the chocolate piece was a little too bitter for me. It wasn't bad by any means, but the cherry dessert was definitely my favorite of the dessert courses.

We ended the meal with what looked like the same thing we started with. However, instead of a red pepper gummy, it was strawberry. I liked the strawberry better than the red pepper. It was a good way to end the meal because I don't think I could have eaten anymore.

So four hours later, we were all stuffed. Then came the bill. How much does something like this cost for 7 people you ask? Well, let me show you the tab:

It looks scarier than it actually was. Each person spent about $155 for the dinner including gratuity, a bottle of water, and a bottle of wine. It was definitely worth the experience and I'm looking forward to going back. However, I will skip the tasting menu and go with a three or four course meal instead. The portions are bigger, and my stomach was in some serious pain afterwards because I was so full. Part of that was my fault because they also served bread. If you go, go easy on the bread. Unfortunately for me, I did not heed our server's warning and ate too much bread anyway. No worries though; it was worth the pain.

smell the fumes

2006-06-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

I know I have been MIA lately. It's because I had friends in town last week and also this week, so things have been hectic. Thus my blog suffers! I just wanted to share what R and I did last night. He came over and we cooked dinner together. We bought lots of stuff like Ahi tuna, corn on the cob, stuff for caprese salad, pate and crackers, portabella mushrooms, and asparagus. Yes, we don't know when to stop. Anyway, I turned on the stove to boil some water for the corn. Well, turns out I turned on the wrong burner by accident and our corn wrapped in plastic and styrofoam was sitting on the hot burner. Fortunately, Mr. Cupcake caught the mishap before I burnt the place down and this was what was left aside from a lot of smoke:

R managed to salvage most of the corn. And I have to say, this was some of the better corn I've had in recent memory. Perhaps it was from the fumes; Mr. Cupcake swears he could smell and taste styrofoam fumes in the corn. R and I couldn't and thought the corn tasted really good. I haven't died yet, so apparently it was fine. :)

I should have some more updates soon. The past few days have been insanely hectic, but with that comes some really great food including the tasting menu at Manresa, dim sum at Koi Palace, and lunch at American Italian Delicatessen. Stay tuned.

popcorn and pho

2006-06-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of the end. As of yesterday, Mr. Cupcake is now on call for work which means long nights or long weekends. To celebrate this non joyous occasion, Mr. Cupcake and I went out on Friday night for dinner and a movie. We saw "Water" which was playing at the Aquarius Theatre in Palo Alto. If you think your life is depressing, go see this movie, and I'm sure you'll suddenly feel like your life is full of sunshine and bunnies compared to what these women go through.

Anyway, we ended up indulging in what I thought was going to be a popcorn dinner. Seriously, a large bucket is just too much for two people, but somehow we managed to eat the whole thing. Not to mention Mr. Cupcake fell prey to their, "just pay a little extra and get more junk!" scam. We also ended up with a big bag of Skittles in addition to the large popcorn and soda. I was stuffed afterwards, but Mr. Cupcake was still in the mood for dinner. So, we made our way to Pho Vi Hoa in Los Altos.

I have had Vietnamese food on my mind lately. A couple of weeks ago, we had dinner at Pho Hoa in Mountain View with SK and CI. It was a last minute thing, so no pictures for you. I know people frown upon the stuff at Pho Hoa because it's a chain and blah blah blah, but I consider myself an equal opportunist. I had the pork vermicelli bowl with a fried egg roll and I thought it was pretty good. It was good enough to make me crave more Vietnamese.

Moving on, the outside of Pho Vi Hoa is decorated in neon so it's easy to spot off of El Camino near San Antonio Rd. It was about 9:30pm and the place was bumping. I was still full from my popcorn dinner, but I forced myself to get ready for round two. I'm good like that.

Mr. Cupcake ordered the pho with meatballs and eye of roundsteak. His order came out first. I tried the broth not really expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised at how flavorful it was. SK says it's all in the broth and she's not kidding. It was really good!

Mr. Cupcake then added the basil, lime, and peppers, and the broth just got better. I mean, I was already happy with the way it tasted when it came out, so the fact it improved is all the more exciting. My exposure to pho has been limited if you couldn't tell. Most of my experiences have been nothing more than meh. However, for the first time, I loved it. Mr. Cupcake had pho at Pho Hoa, and he said the pho was bland in comparison to this stuff.

A few minutes later, our appetizer showed up. The spring rolls were good. They were stuffed with shrimp, pork, and noodles. The serving size was generous, and I ate them in a hurry. I had found my second wind.

We waited patiently for my dish to come out. I'm non original, and ordered the same vermicelli bowl that I had at Pho Hoa. It arrived a little bit after our appetizer. It looked and smelled really good, so I was excited to dig in. I poured the "diluted lime sauce" over it and mixed it up. Unfortunately, I wasn't super impressed. The pork was very salty and the noodles felt oily. The salt was too overpowering, and I ended up just digging for the lettuce and sneaking slurps of Mr. Cupcake's pho.

Our total cost was just over $23 including the tip. Even though my dish was less than stellar, I'm excited to go back to Pho Vi Hoa. Supposedly, this place is just okay in the way of Vietnamese food in the South Bay. Apparently there are even better places in San Jose. I'm going to have to explore. However, it's nice to know there's some really great pho near where I live.

the watermelon that spooged

2006-06-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Mr. Cupcake and I had a few errands to do including picking up some groceries. We made a visit to our friendly neighborhood Costco and ate lunch (Mr. Cupcake loves Costco lunch) before hitting up the free samples. I had a few things on my list including a watermelon. I love watermelon. We usually buy a watermelon at least once a week this time of year. Yay for summer!

On this fine day, we examined the available watermelons at Costco. I started thumping on the watermelons. I don't really know what that does, but the last watermelon I bought, I had a lady pick one for me, and she thumped it. I usually go by weight and a yellow base. All the watermelons sounded hollow, so I wasn't sure what the best strategy was. Well, then I thumped one and it didn't sound hollow. I picked it up, and it was like lifting a bowling ball. I thought to myself, "This one is going to be awesome!". Mr. Cupcake wanted a different one, but he didn't argue. We went on our way and I was pleased as punch to have a watermelon for the week.

Later that day, I was in the kitchen doing the dishes and Mr. Cupcake was preparing dinner. The watermelon was sitting on the counter. Nothing unusual right? Well, I moved something near the watermelon and noticed a white foam that was dripping off the counter and onto the floor. I asked Mr. Cupcake if he knew what it was, but he didn't. We shuffled stuff around and figured out that the foam was coming from the watermelon:

Now, call me crazy, but I don't think this is normal. I cleaned up the foam, but it kept coming. Mr. Cupcake did some investigation and found that it didn't smell but it tasted like watermelon. He cut it open and the flesh was a dull red color, and looked kind of odd. The rind was translucent instead of a solid white color. Mr. Cupcake smelled it and proclaimed it was bad. However, he then proceeded to cut off a sliver and tried to get me to eat it. I was afraid, so I declined, but secretly I was hoping he'd eat it and tell me it was still good. I mean come on, it's basically throwing away $5! Yes, I'm a cheap bastard. Anyway, I persuaded Mr. Cupcake to eat it, and it came out of his mouth faster than it went in. Mr. Cupcake's sense of smell was spot on and the watermelon was bad. Boo.

For a few seconds, I thought about taking it back to Costco to do an exchange. I mean, I feel a little cheated here. They let me buy a rotten watermelon! Costco let me down! Mr. Cupcake thought I was crazy, and that it'd be absurd for me to bring in a rotten watermelon. I thought about it and figured he was right. Alas, it was thrown out, and I'm going to suck up the $5 loss.

So, today's lesson: watermelon thumping is a relevant practice. My friends, make sure when you thump that watermelon it sounds hollow. If want more tips, I found this site that tells you how to pick a watermelon.

Anthony Bourdain

2006-06-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I went into the big city to "see" Anthony Bourdain at A Clean Well Lighted Place Bookstore. I had first heard Mr. Bourdain was going to be in town from ML last weekend. She was planning on going to see him. Then Mr. Cupcake forwarded me information about it because he saw a blip about it in a mailing list. I figured why not and dragged SK along.

For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Bourdain, he use to have a show on the Food Network called A Cook's Tour where he ate anything and everything. Mr. Cupcake and I were big fans of the show because his commentary is hilarious and the fact that he's a total boozer. It makes for great television. I think there's a new show on the Travel Channel since Food Network dropped his show a few years back. He's also written a handful of books including Kitchen Confidential and A Cook's Tour. I read part of Kitchen Confidential, and even though it had huge raves, I just couldn't finish it. Oh well.

On this particular day, he was promoting his new book, The Nasty Bits. SK and I had a quick lunch at Max's Opera Cafe (no comment) that ran a little long. We ended up arriving 10 minutes late and the crowd had already wrapped around the bookstore. Keep in mind, it's a pretty small place in comparison to the monster chains like Borders and Barnes and Noble. So, I didn't actually see him, and instead only heard his God like voice that was projected all throughout the store. I eventually stood up on a stool, and still didn't see him, so I took a picture of the crowd instead. And, yes, I was standing a fairly large stool. Damn I'm short.

Anyway, I can tell you that he's just as interesting to listen to in person as he is on TV. Well, to tell you the truth, they could have been playing a tape, and I wouldn't have known any better since I never saw the guy. We only heard the Q&A, but there were a couple of things that stuck out:

He said that there was good Vietnamese food in Indianapolis. I was initially surprised by this. I lived in Indianapolis for 3 months and Mr. Cupcake lived there for a year. The city is completely dominated by chains and little independent shops are few and far between. Then I thought about it more. I remember Mr. Cupcake and I helped one of his friends move, and the guy's wife showed us her stomach staple scars which was kind of weird. Afterwards, they bought us lunch and it was Vietnamese food. I remember Mr. Cupcake and I were completely blown away by how good it was. It's too bad because we moved shortly thereafter, so we never really got to experience what the Vietnamese community in Indy had to offer. Though, I gotta tell you, I'm not sad we left.
He said great food is created during times of war, poverty, and hardship because things sit out forever. I thought this was interesting, but could also see how it's true. Some of the best meals I've had were comprised of simple ingredients and nothing fussy. Though, I've also had some amazing fussy meals in my life.

Anyway, he finished speaking and then people crowded around to get an autograph. SK and I chatted to ML briefly and then took off. Big crowds can annoy me and besides, my copy of Kitchen Confidential is already signed. The good thing is I didn't have to wait in line for it. The bookstore I bought it from had a surplus, so I bought the signed one versus the not. Anyway, see him if he's in town; he's a funny to listen to though you may not be able to see him unless you're a crazy groupie who comes 2+ hours in advance.

bring on the meat!

2006-06-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

Awhile back, Mr. Cupcake and I went for Korean BBQ with some friends. It was late, and they were staying in Santa Clara at the time. Mr. Cupcake was itching for some BBQ, so we opted to go to Han Sung. Han Sung was recommended to me by a local Korean acquaintance of mine. He likes it because they bring the wooden briquets out to the table.

It was a little tough to find because their sign doesn't actually say Han Sung in English; only in Korean. Fortunately, SK reads/speaks Korean, so she was able to spot it. Like everything else in Santa Clara, it's located in a strip mall, so if you go, you'll have to rely on street numbers.

When we arrived, it didn't appear to be very busy from the outside. This made Mr. Cupcake a little nervous. When we go to places that appear a little shady, we take note of the number of people inside. If it's full, then that usually means it's safe. Fortunately, when we walked in, we saw there was another room that was bustling with customers.

We looked over the menu and opted to order double portions of beef and pork to cook over the grill. We also ordered a bowl of cold soup and a bowl of Mandu (dumpling) soup. SK ordered for us because our server's English was a bit weak.

First came out all the sides. There was the normal stuff like various types of kimchi to the more exotic like the greens with what looked like BBQ sauce. Mr. Cupcake was fixated on the BBQ greens and wanted me to eat it, but I passed. I could already tell that we ordered too much food.

Next came out the marinated meats. I think we had spicy pork which is the redder meat in the picture.

CI was excited to grill the meat, but had to take a back seat because SK took charge. Here you can see her professional chopstick work.

While the meat was cooking, my mandu soup came out. The bowl was huge, and I knew there was no way I could finish. I didn't really care for the soup very much. The dumplings fell apart in the soup and it just didn't have that much flavor. I've definitely had better elsewhere.

Eventually, the grill became very hot, and SK's arm started to BBQ as well. Mr. Cupcake joined in and helped out on our side of the table.

Finally, we had some meat! I took a bite of each. I thought the pork was better than the beef, but I prefer spicier foods. I didn't have much trouble eating either though. SK and CI on the other hand weren't very impressed with the meat. They thought it could have been marinated longer and should have had more flavor. Mr. Cupcake's inner Korean determined he could make this at home. He didn't think it had enough flavor either. It turns out I was the lone soul who liked it.

Our total cost was $50 per couple including the tip. We had a ton of leftover food and I should have definitely gone without the soup. I guess I'll know for next time, well if there is a next time. I want to visit Si-Gol-Jip that is suppose to have more homestyle Korean food. Anyway, if you're itching for Korean BBQ, this place is pretty good. I hear lunch is a good deal at $10/person. I like that they bring out the briquets, though SK almost had permanent grill markings when the server started playing with the grill top. She lost control of her tongs and the grill went flying towards SK. Luckily, it narrowly missed SK.

Oh, one of the downsides of this place is that you definitely stink afterwards. All the smoke absorbed into my hair and clothes. So, if you go, don't wear your Sunday best.

surprisingly good sushi

2006-06-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake spends every Wednesday playing poker with his mostly geeky friends. Because I don't feel like sitting around at home alone, I've spent the past few Wednesdays eating dinner with a new friend. On this particular day, she wanted to take me to her favorite sushi place in the area. I have not had great experiences with sushi since being in the Bay area, so I was skeptical. Our destination was Hanamaru in Sunnyvale.

The menu at Hanamaru is extensive. They have a huge selection of rolls. I was a bit taken aback by the sheer number. The other surprising thing is that most of the sushi is priced at about $3. They also had the typical fare, but we opted to get all sushi and share.

We ordered (from left) yellow tail, tuna, the local girl roll, spicy tuna roll, scallop, and the bluefin toro. I"ll start with my favorites which were the yellowtail, spicy tuna, and the toro.

Toro - The toro was priced (market) a bit high at $9 for two slices, but I'm weak, and must order toro whenever I see it. The toro was pretty good. It was very delicate, soft, and tasted very fresh. I was pleased.

Spicy Tuna - The spicy tuna was also good because it wasn't swimming in mayo. I could actually taste the tuna without being overwhelmed. This is probably one of the best versions of spicy tuna I've had.

Yellowtail - The yellowtail also tasted very fresh. I really liked the texture.

The rest of the sushi was pretty good, but didn't stand out like the others.

Local Girl - The local girl is my friend's favorite roll. If I remember correctly it's prawns with coated with tempura, avocado, and topped with a red hot sauce. She subs the avocado with cucumber because she likes the crunchiness. It was pretty good, but not really my kind of thing.

Scallop - I don't know why I always order scallop when I go out for sushi. I usually like the softness of it, but I just wasn't feeling it that day. I guess I need to venture out more.

Maguro Tuna - This was pretty good. It tasted fresh, but I just wasn't as taken with the texture as I was with some of the others.

When we were done, we ordered two more rolls including another local girl. I forgot to take a picture though, so you'll have to use your imagination while you read my description.

Spider Roll - When I was first discovering sushi, this roll was my absolute favorite. As I've ventured out more, it's becoming one of my least favorites. It's a safe choice because it's deep fried soft shell crab. Every interpretation of the spider roll is different, so it'll never taste the same. I did not like this roll at all, and at $7, it's not exactly a deal.

Our final tally including tip was about $45. If you take out the spider roll and the toro, this place is an absolute steal. The sushi is very fresh, and since it's close to where I live, I'll visit often. I also realized it's time to quit ordering spider rolls because I'm continually disappointed. So, to all you readers out there, I vow to never order another spider roll. We'll see how long it lasts.

**Update**

I went back to this place recently and the experience was less than favorable. I wrote a tidbit about it in this post. Scroll down to the fourth paragraph to read it.

the ultimate ice cream experience... or not

2006-06-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Mr. Cupcake and I went down to Gilroy to do some shopping. On our way back, I was itching for some mint chocolate chip ice cream. I had heard about Sweet Retreat Ice Cream Parlor from somewhere, and I decided it would be a good time go since we'd be passing through San Jose. We went, and I thought I had found the ice cream experience I'd been looking for. The portions are ginormous, the ice cream is tasty, and it's inexpensive for an ice cream parlor that makes their own ice cream. I didn't have my camera that day, so no pictures from that trip, but lucky for you, Mr. Cupcake and I went again.

Sweet Retreat isn't one of those fancy schmancy places. As a matter of fact the interior is fairly dingy, but the ice cream makes up for what ambiance lacks. Besides ice cream, there's also frozen yogurt with mix-ins that one can choose, milk shakes, sundaes, etc. On this fine evening, Mr. Cupcake and I went with a double scoop of oreo mint and mocha almond fudge.

This is why we shared the ice cream; it's huge! There was so much ice cream that we couldn't finish. The ice cream was pretty good this time around except I didn't care for the mocha almond fudge. Next time, I'll just stick to the mint chip. I like that the chips have a bit of crunch to them. The oreos were soft, and oreos should be crunchy; that's part of their appeal. Mr. Cupcake agreed with my assessments. So much for venturing out.

The total out of pocket cost for the ice cream was $3.50. After we left, I was trying to determine whether or not this was the ultimate ice cream parlor around. Then I thought about the best ice cream (not including gelato) I've ever had, and that has to be Graeter's.

Graeter's is a small ice cream chain in Ohio and Kentucky that uses the french pot method to make ice cream. The outcome is ice cream that is so dense, yet so smooth. It sort of reminds me of a richer gelato. It's amazing stuff. Then I decided that this place didn't hold a candle to Graeter's. I'm not sure if any place will. Although, I am dying to go to American Italian Delicatessen in Los Altos. A couple of days ago, I went into SF to do some shopping with some friends and while we were in the Pacific Heights area, we saw Tango Gelato. I had read about this place and all the reviews were true; the gelato was awesome. Apparently American Italian Delicatessen serves Tango Gelato. The only problem is that they aren't open late, so they can't cure my late night ice cream needs.

Anyway, the moral of the story is if you're in the area, Sweet Retreat is definitely worth the stop. The ice cream is really good and the portions are huge. Unfortunately for me, it's 40 miles round trip, so it's not really worth it.

meh

2006-06-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

I have been in a ice cream mood lately. Specifically mint chocolate chip. I don't know why. Maybe it's the baby. Or not. Come on, you didn't really think I was having a baby did you? Besides, Five would get jealous and I can't have that. Anyway, after our taqueria dinner, we went to Rick's Ice Cream in Palo Alto. We went for ice cream a few weeks ago in San Jose, and I've been wanting to find something similar, but closer to my neck of the woods. A few clicks, and I found this place. It has tons of raves on the Internet, and so it was apparent that I must go!

The outside looked promising. Rick's is located in a strip mall near Middlefield and Charleston and there was a healthy line of customers. They make their own ice cream in house and even had a shout out in Gourmet Magazine. Flavors included the usual suspects like chocolate and vanilla to the more unusual like Computer Chip. This is Silicon Valley, so I guess why not?

I went with the usual mint chocolate chip. I like it when places don't dye their mint chocolate chip green. There's something refreshing about having a white ice cream that's minty. Or maybe it's all in my head. Anyway, I really wanted to like this ice cream, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was too rich and there was a definite film that coated my tongue. It started to annoy me too much that I couldn't finish the cone. Sadness.

Mr. Cupcake on the other hand enjoyed his ice cream quite a bit. He went with the chocolate banana flavor. I guess it's a rare combination as far as ice cream goes, but it's two of Mr. Cupcake's favorite flavors. Though, if they had had peanut butter banana, then I'm pretty sure he would have passed out.

Total cost for two single scoops of ice cream was $4. I won't be itching to go back here for sure, but if Mr. Cupcake has a craving for chocolate banana ice cream, we'll know where to go.

my favorite mexican

2006-06-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake and I have been eating a lot of Mexican food lately. There are a ton of taquerias in the area, and so it's a great way to have pretty good food for seemingly cheap. On this particular day, we hit up Los Charros Taqueria in Mountain View. This is probably my favorite place for Mexican food. There's several of reasons for this including it's good, cheap, and fast. Three important elements for a good dining experience on the go. We were in a rush as Mr. Cupcake had to go play poker (again).

Mr. Cupcake and I mulled over the menu for a bit while munching on chips and two types of salsas:

Hot.

And not.

Just so you know, I am a chips and salsa fiend. The main reason I don't like to go out for Mexican food is because I gorge myself on chips and salsa before my meal makes it out. Sometimes I have to get two rounds of chips because one isn't enough. Since chips and salsa are free, I guess I could go in and just order a water, and eat chips and salsa. Then my meal would be free! Though, they probably wouldn't let me back in if I tried that. Besides, in the past year, I've started getting heart burn if I eat too many tortilla chips. It makes me sad, but I still find it worth suffering through the heartburn. Okay, enough about my problems. Mr. Cupcake preferred the latter salsa as did I. I just like fresh tomatoes and cilantro. It makes for a happy combination.

Mr. Cupcake wanted a burrito that fine evening. He still has fond memories of the burrito at Taqueria LaBamba a few weeks ago, so he ordered the carnitas (shredded pork).

Not much of a picture, but he loved it. He particularly liked the shredded pork was slightly crispy. He thought the overall balance of ingredients was very good. Although, if they grilled the outside like Taqueria LaBamba, he said it'd be the ultimate burrito. I'm sure if he asked, they could probably fulfill all his burrito desires.

When I come here, I usually order a taco and a super taco, both with chicken. California tacos are a lot different compared to the tacos I'm use to. Instead of the deep fried taco shell, there are two corn tortillas that are laid flat and topped with shredded chicken, lettuce and salsa. The super taco is the same as the regular taco except it has guacamole, sour cream, a slice of tomato on top. This time, however, I ordered a tamale and a super taco.

I have been wanting some more tamale love ever since the Alameda Farmer's Market, and today was the day. Unfortunately, the tamale was a bit on the lackluster side. The outside was fairly dense, and I definitely prefer fluffy. It wasn't the end of the world, but next time I'll just stick to the tacos.

Here is my super taco and let me tell you my friends, it was super. Well, as super as a taco can be. I don't think I'll ever die from taco euphoria the way I might from chocolate euphoria. In any case, it was good and made me happy.

The total damage for this meal including two waters was just slightly over a whopping $12. That's right, cheap. I don't know how the place stays in business because the rent has to be sky high. In any case, it's good for me and my chip eating needs.

lasagne for all

2006-06-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I hosted dinner for a few of my singleton friends. We have been rotating who hosts dinner, and this time it was my turn. I thought about what I would serve, and of course my first instinct was to make something Italian. I eventually settled upon Lasagne Bolognese. Now, if you've been reading this blog regularly, then you've probably figured out that I'm not a big cheese eater. So, then you're probably thinking this Madame Cupcake lady is crazy for making something so cheesey. Well, my friends, I'm not crazy! This particular lasagne which originates from the Silver Spoon Cookbook doesn't use a ton of cheese like most lasagnes. Instead it's made with a bechamel sauce. And the plot thickens. Dun dun dun!

Now, I've made this lasagne once before with some success. The problem was that I used a 9x13 pan and didn't have enough ingredients. My only nitpick about this cookbook is that the instructions can vague. There was never an indication of what size pan to use. Anyway, the layers were sparse, but it was still good enough that I'd be willing to make it again, which lead me to a couple of days ago. This time I doubled the recipe.

The recipe starts off with some olive oil, chopped onions, and chopped carrots. It cooks for a bit, and then the meat gets added. It calls for beef, but I don't like beef all that much and used ground turkey instead. I substitute ground turkey whenever I can because it's good for my heart. Anyway, I thew in some wine, let it cook off, and then tomatoes, and let it simmer. If you decide to make this, allow yourself plenty of time as the sauce will take awhile.

While my meat sauce was off simmering, I started on the bechamel sauce. I'd never made a bechamel sauce until I made this recipe. It sounds daunting, but it's really not that bad. It's basically a thick, white cream sauce made with milk, butter, flour, and seasonings. I made it with skim milk and it turned out just fine.

Sorry for the crappy picture, but you get the idea. Next up, I took care of the noodles. The recipe called for fresh noodles, but I don't like making fresh pasta. I like the way it tastes, but don't like the mess associated with it. Trader Joe's use to have fresh lasagne noodles, but when I went, they didn't have any. Instead, I bought dried noodles that didn't require cooking and instead cook during baking. This freaked me out because recipe on the box of the noodles required a ton of red sauce and cheese. I was afraid the noodles wouldn't soften up. To prevent this, I cooked the noodles in water for 5 minutes and then proceeded to layer my lasagne.

I threw it in the oven and let it cook. Since I doubled the recipe, it took longer than the 30 minutes the cookbook called for. I cooked it until the bechamel was browned on top and bubbly. My two friends arrived, and we chowed down on lasagne, bread, wine, and salad. How was it you ask? Good enough that between the three of us, we ate half the pan.

I was extremely pleased with how it turned out especially fresh from the oven. The bechamel was oozy and the noodles weren't too soft. The only thing I'd change is I'd add more tomatoes. My guests also thought it was very tasty. All in all, I deemed the night a success!

Mr. Cupcake was off playing poker, so he missed out on dinner. He had some for breakfast the next day and gave me his seal of approval. I tried it reheated, and it didn't compare to fresh out of the oven, but I still managed to finish it off.

Lasagne Bolognese from the Silver Spoon Cookbook
Serves 4
(I doubled this recipe and it fit well into a 9x13 pan)

3 tbl olive oil
1 carrot chopped
1 onion chopped
2.75 cups of ground meat (a pound is close enough)
sant 1/2 cup dry white wine
generous 1 cup bottled strained tomatoes (I used canned chopped tomatoes)
2 tbl butter, plus extra for greasing
1 quantity fresh pasta dough (see below)
1 quantity bechamel sauce (see below)
scant 1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the carrot and onion and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the meat and cook until browned, then pour in the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Season with salt, add the strained tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes, then season with pepper. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Roll out the pasta dough into a sheet. Cut into 4-inch squares and cook, a few at a time, in plenty of lightly salted, boiling water for a few minutes. Drain and place on a damp dish towel. Arrange a layer of lasagne on the base of the prepared dish, spoon some of the meat sauce, then some of the bechamel sauce on top, sprinkle with some of the parmesan and dot with some of the butter. Repeat the alternating layers until all the ingredients have been used, ending with a layer of bechamel sauce. Bake for 30 minutes.

Fresh Pasta Dough
Serves 4

1.75 cups all purpose flour, preferably Italian type 00 plus extra for dusting
2 eggs lightly beaten
salt`

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a mmound on a counter. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Usinger your fingers, gradually incorporate the flour, then knead for about 10 minutes. If the mixture is too soft, add a little extra flour; if it is too firm, add a little water. Shape the dough into a ball and let rest for 15 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface or use a pasta machine to make a thin sheet, and cut out the tagliatelle, lasagne, etc.

Bechamel Sauce
Serves 4

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2.25 cup milk
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Pour in all the milk, whisking constantlyuntil it starts to boil. Season with salt, lower the heat, cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionaly, for at least 20 minutes. Bechamel sauce should not taste floury. Remove the pan from the heat. Taste and add more salt if necessary and season with pepper and/or nutmeg. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk. If too runny, return to the heat and add a pat of butter mixed with an equal quantity of all-purpose flour. Making this delicous sauce, considered a basic sauce because of the numerous variations to which it has given rise, is an essential skill for anyone keen to cook. For a richer bechamel sauce, replace half the milk with teh same amount of heavy creaml for a lighter bechamel sauce, add half milk and half water. For grains, souffles or stuffings.

a little patisserie along the way

2006-06-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend, Mr. Cupcake and I did a 6+ mile hike at the Point Lobos State Reserve just past Carmel. The coastline was amazing, but I thought my legs were going to fall off when we finally made it back to the car.

After our hike, we eventually made our way to lovely little Carmel, CA. It was only 4 in the afternoon, and we were standing outside Patisserie Boissiere Cafe debating whether or not we should do an early dinner. A man saw us staring at the menu, and said "I ate there earlier and it was excellent!". We were sold.

They were still serving the lunch and brunch menus, so there was a variety of breakfast items, salads, soups, and other specials. I debated whether or not to get something nice and fatty or just go with something on the lighter side. Afterall, I did just walk 6+ miles. That usually warrants something deep fried at least twice. I must have been delirious from all the sun because I went with the soup and salad.

I ordered the French Onion soup since it appeared to be a specialty of theirs. I was not disappointed. The soup was rich and flavorful. There were big chunks of bread inside the soup that had absorbed the oniony broth. I don't particularly care for the cheese, so I ate around most of it. I know that's crazy since the cheese is a major component of French Onion soup. I did like the crispy cheese along the rim of the bowl though. Mr. Cupcake also ordered the soup since he is a huge fan of French Onion soup. He enjoys the cheese though especially when it dips into the broth and becomes like molten lava. He gave the soup high marks as well.

For my salad, I went with the crab and avocado. It came with a creamy vinaigrette that I wasn't too keen on. The dressing just didn't have much flavor. I also didn't like the shredded crab. It would be been better if they had used lump crab pieces instead. The salad wasn't mind boggling good, but I didn't leave hungry. I kept stealing bites of Mr. Cupcake's chicken pot pie.

The pot pie was good. At first Mr. Cupcake thought it was a little too rich and creamy, but the texture grew on him. I liked the mashed potatoes on top. I could have eaten just those and been happy. The filling was hearty and delicious. I then wished I had ordered the pot pie instead of my salad. Maybe next time. Mr. Cupcake didn't like his salad. His balsamic vinaigrette was better than my dressing though.

Mr. Cupcake and I debated whether or not we should order dessert. This was a patisserie though, so how could we not?! The restaurant doesn't provide a dessert menu. Instead we had to walk up to the case in front of the restaurant and decide there. There were so many lovely pastries and cakes that it was hard to decide. I let Mr. Cupcake make the decision because we were sharing.

He went with the banana cream pie. The pie was excellent. The filling had great texture and a nice mellow banana flavor. The almonds accented the pie very well. The strawberry was good but only because it was coated in a sugar glaze. Without it, the berry would have been lackluster. Perhaps I should start glazing my strawberries? Anyway, it was definitely a great way to end such a nice day.

Our total bill was about $40 before tip. Over dinner, Mr. Cupcake and I discussed how we've noticed the overall quality of food in restaurants in California is so much better than anywhere else we've lived. I guess it has to do with the amount of competition and the fact there's so much locally grown produce available. It's another reason why we love living out here.

I still have a ton more to share, but I've done enough blogging for the day. Hopefully I can do more catch up this weekend.

a tale of two farmer's market

2006-06-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about living in the Bay area is that there is no shortage of local farmer's markets. The town we live in has a farmer's market every Sunday that we visit on occasion. It's nice compared to others I've been to, but it's also small. So, last weekend, Mr. Cupcake and I decided to venture into the big city, and check out the two big farmer's markets in San Francisco. I spent some time reading about both online before our journey. My research concluded that one is very much a tourist destination and the other is big, but not as well known.

We decided to hit up the Alemany Farmer's Market first. This is lesser known of the two, but it's also been around longer. It was a little tricky to find as Google Maps led us astray. I gave my sister a call, and she guided us there all the way from Kansas! Isn't technology grand? The market was very busy and very large. Our local farmer's market has a lot of white tents. Here, however, the stalls are built in and so tents are not really necessary. Although, there were a few tents here and there.

There were two long rows of stalls like the one in the picture that were filled with local vendors. The vendors had tons of goods like flowers, fruits, veggies, etc. Mr. Cupcake was starving when we arrived, so we picked up a few pastries to satisfy our appetites.

Mr. Cupcake picked up a blueberry mango pastry from a local vendor. It was very tasty and his early morning grumpiness vanished. I debated whether or not to get the raspberry mango pastry which was similar to Mr. Cupcake's pastry or the strawberry tart. Unfortunately for me, the strawberry tart won out.

The strawberries were too tart and weren't sweet in flavor. I chose this pastry because the vendor held such high regard for the strawberry vendor he buys from. My lack of enthusiasm for the pastry left me unable to finish. We did ended up buying strawberries from the baker's favorite vendor, and unfortunately, they weren't very good either. Should have learned from the pastry. I don't know why it's so hard to find good strawberries. There are fields and fields of strawberries growing near us. I guess they focus their sights on mass producing them to look a certain way, but as a result they leave out the flavor. That was the only real bust in our trip the Alemany farmer's market.

We continued to peruse. Along the way, we picked up some deliciously firm, crisp grapes. I haven't had grapes that good in I don't know how long. We also bought some artichokes, garlic, blood oranges, a ginormous amount of basil for $1, and some really amazing navel oranges. Again, I can't remember the last time I had an orange that was so juicy and sweet. I always thought oranges were in season in the winter months, but I guess that may just be the Florida oranges. These oranges rocked my world.

There were a lot items that were very foreign to us. We didn't attempt to buy any this time since we were just there to scope things out. There were definitely a lot of things I'd never seen before. I will be more adventurous next time.

Before we left, we also picked up a tamale from the Allstar Tamale vendor. OMG, the tamale was amazing and it was only $2.50; you can't beat that. The meat was tender and the corn masa was perfectly fluffy.

AllStar Tamales has a huge variety of tamales to try and I highly recommend stopping by. Since this trip, I keep eyeing the tamales at Trader Joe's, but have resisted because I don't want to be disappointed.

The Alemany Farmer's Market was well worth the stop, but we had another market to visit.

Next up, we headed for the Ferry Building off of Embarcadero. The Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building is well known and also a popular tourist destination. There was actually an article in the NY Times a week or two ago about how the tourists are ruining this farmer's market. It's because they sample everything, yet don't buy anything which hurts the local farmers. I don't know, if they really didn't want the throngs of tourist, they'd move it to a less popular destination. The article also made a point about how this is something most tourists can't get a home. Being a self proclaimed foodie, it would definitely be on my list of places to visit if I didn't live nearby. I guess I can see both sides.

Anyway, we arrived around 11:30 and the place was PACKED. There were so many people, and I could tell a good majority weren't from the area. The farmer's market is located behind the Ferry Building and all the local growers had white tents. It reminded us of our local farmer's market; just bigger and busier. I wasn't very taken with this farmer's market for a couple of reasons:

A lot of the vendors that were at the Alemany Farmer's Market were also here except they definitely charged a premium at this location. For example, cherries at the Alemany Farmer's Market were $3.50/lb., but at the Ferry Building they were $6+/lb. The vendor that we bought strawberries from at the first market charged $1 more per pound here as well.
The scene very chaotic because there were hordes of people.

It wasn't all negative though. Mr. Cupcake eyed some green garlic at one of the vendors. We didn't see any green garlic at the other market, so we were highly tempted to buy. We both have a fondness of green garlic for its versatility. It was busy though, so we ended up passing. We probably shouldn't have since green garlic availability tends to be limited.

I was pretty overwhelmed by the number of people, so I'm not sure I really had the full experience. I'm pretty sure if we had arrived much earlier, the experience would have been more pleasurable. I didn't take any pictures of the market itself, so instead, you can enjoy this picture of the water sculpture that sits across from the Ferry Building.

Even though we weren't take by the crowds, we didn't leave empty handed. We went inside the Ferry building and visited the Acme Bread Company. I love Acme bread, and had not been to a retail location yet. They had a nice selection of pastries and they actually make bread at this location. Mr. Cupcake and I picked up an Italian loaf for dinner that night and a chocolate croissant.

The croissant was buttery and flaky. The chocolate was a little dry. It wasn't as good as the pastries in Italy. Though, if they had stuffed it with Nutella, then it'd be da bomb dot com for sure. I should write them and tell them to use Nutella.

My conclusion is that I'm glad we visited both markets. I'm all about experiencing things at least once. However, I definitely preferred the Alemany Farmer's Market because it didn't have that chi-chi vibe or the hordes of tourists. The people who were working in stalls looked like they came straight from the field, so it felt more organic and less commercial. If you go to the Ferry Building, go early as it only gets busier. Mr. Cupcake told me he thought we should go to the Alemany Farmer's Market more often because he felt the quality was better compared to our local market. I'm not opposed. :)

cooking italian style... or so we thought

2006-05-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

Mr. Cupcake's brother was Mr. Cupcake's best man in our wedding last year. Since we went to Italy for our honeymoon, he wanted to give us a cooking class that focused on Italian food as part of our wedding gift. Fast forward nearly a year later and we finally signed up for one. This past year has been insanely hectic, so taking the cooking class right before our 1st anniversary was really nice.

We went with a Viking HomeChef cooking class. It was a three hour class that focused on the "Foods of Italy". The menu consisted of the following:

White Bean Soup with Fried Sage Leaves
Tuscan Roast Pork Loin
Broccoli Rabe Pasta with Spicy Olive Oil Dressing
Profiteroles with Chocolate Sauce
Bellini Cocktail

The class had 7 participants total. We split up into two groups. We were paired with a lady who had taken a lot of these cooking courses already.

When we arrived, the instructor was already preparing the pork roast. We watched her add her premade rub and throw it into the oven. Then we started on the profiteroles. The recipe was easy and we had no problems throwing it together. When both groups were done, our instructor combined the two batters. Well, it turned out that one of the groups added too much water and the batter was thin. This upset our instructor and that's when she turned a bit salty on us. She wanted to know who added the extra water, but of course no one fessed up. I'm pretty sure it was the other group though. Mr. Cupcake measured our water and being the perfectionist that he is, I'd be shocked if it was him. She ended up making her assistant make a new batch of profiteroles.

Next we made the soup. It required chopping some vegetables, and a couple of the participants were struggling. I don't think the people in the class were very familiar with the kitchen in general. Again, each team made their own soup and then the two were merged. Halfway through cooking, the lady on our team told Mr. Cupcake that she thought the other team wasn't following the recipe. Indeed she was correct. The soup called for 1/2 a teaspoon of dried sage to go directly into the soup during cooking and 1/4 of a cup of fresh sage for frying later on. Unfortunately for us, the other team ended up throwing the 1/4 of a cup of fresh sage into their soup. Our instructor wasn't impressed. We were able to compare the soups before the merge and there was quite a difference in flavor. I definitely preferred ours. However, after the merge, the soup was still pretty good and it's something I'd make again.

The last thing we made was the broccoli rabe pasta. Mr. Cupcake and I make this dish on occasion, so we were looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the instructor couldn't find broccoli rabe anywhere so we ended up using spinach. Not quite the same. There wasn't any drama during this course, and overall it was pretty good. However, it was missing the bitterness that broccoli rabe tends to have.

After we made the broccoli rabe pasta, the instructor told us to leave and come back in 10 minutes so she and her assistant could prepare everything. This was one of my least favorite parts of the class. We didn't get to do any of the real assembly of the meal. We came back, and she had put together all the profiteroles, carved the meat, made the gravy, and told us to eat. She also made the bellinis which weren't true bellinis. Mr. Cupcake saw she used peach juice instead of white peach puree. Tisk, tisk.

We were disappointed that there wasn't a real focus on Italy. My real problem with the menu was that Italian cooking is all about using simple, fresh ingredients to create amazing meals. The recipes were more involved and packed with ingredients. This was more of a beginner's lesson on how to cook food. If you don't know your way around the kitchen very well, then this class will probably blow your mind. The other people in our class were highly impressed with the fruits of their labor. It's okay though. Mr. Cupcake and I still had a good time. Plus, we now both have these smashing blue Viking aprons that the instructor gave out
when the class was over.

Anyway, many thanks to Mr. Cupcake's brother. We had a good time and appreciate it! Oh, and if anyone wants a copy of these recipes, post a comment and I'll throw them up for you. I'm too lazy to type them out right now.

everyone say "awwwwww"

2006-05-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted. Sorry for the lack of an update lately. We have been really busy this past week and I'm trying really hard to not fall asleep right now. It's too early for me to go to sleep though. I figured if I started blogging, it'd delay my need to sleep; at least for the moment.

Anyway, over the weekend, we went to San Francisco and visited the two major farmer's markets. I will blog about all details (plus so many other things) another day. I just wanted to show a picture of the peonies we bought from a street vendor near Union Square.

Peonies are near and dear to my heart. We used them in our wedding and I have been fond of them ever since. Tomorrow, Mr. Cupcake and I will have been married for 1 year. It's amazing how fast time flies. Anyway, I was ecstatic to find peonies because they have such a short blooming cycle thus they're hard to find. Mr. Cupcake enjoyed it when a lady saw me carrying my prized flowers and shrieked "oooohh peonies!".

It's been a really great year, and I look forward to many more. And Five told me he is happy he's no longer our bastardly cat.

disaster

2006-05-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about pizza dough that makes it so hard to make. I attempted to make pizza dough again last night. I know, I said again. This is the first time I've written about making dough. The story is that I have been experimenting on and off with various dough recipes. I haven't found a recipe that makes me want to do cartwheels because it's so great. I use to make a dough that utilized my bread machine and it was fairly good, but just not great. I have been on a quest to find that one recipe that blows everything out of the water especially since most places around here serve subpar pizza.

The other day, I caught an old episode of "Good Eats" on the Food Network. It was the pizza episode and I figured why not give it another go as I've never tried Alton Brown's recipe. I checked the recipe out online and saw it had tons of raves. It was simple enough. I threw the ingredients in my KitchenAid and let it spin forever. It sat overnight and grew in size over the next 24 hours. I pulled it out for dinner tonight and started molding it into a ball. I could tell the texture was off. I'm not sure what happened, but it was very tough. However, overall it was still pretty smooth. Mr. Cupcake and I shaped the dough, topped it, and threw it into our 500 degree oven. We use to have these unglazed quarry tiles that were seasoned well and made good pizza. Unfortunately, we threw the tiles out when we moved. I really wished we hadn't. We now have a commercial pizza stone and I guess it's okay. I'm hoping it'll get better as it starts to season more. I searched high and low for decent sized quarry tiles out here to no avail.

Moving on. I topped my pizza with my favorite ingredients: basil, prosciutto, and fresh mozzarella. Mr. Cupcake calls these ingredients my peanut butter and jelly. I just love the flavor combination. I make paninis with these ingredients at least once a week for lunch. I want a panini press so I can make a panini bar at home like they have at Mr. Cupcake's work. Then Five and I could eat paninis all day, everday.

Anyway, I don't normally like cheese on pizza because I think it's gross. However, I used the mozzarella to protect the basil and prosciutto so they wouldn't burn. My other favorite pizza combination is tomato and onion. That's what I normally order when we get take out.

So, how did it turn out? It sucked - a lot. There was way too much dough. The outside was crispy, but the inside puffed up quite a bit and was extremely dense. It was just too overwhelming. This is coming from a person who lives for bread.

Mr. Cupcake topped his pizza with hot Italian sausage and shredded mozzarella cheese. Mr. Cupcake loves pizza. He was excited to have pizza for dinner. He ate it, but I could tell he definitely didn't love it. At least he loved the sausage. He dropped his car off yesterday and while he was waiting, he went to Dittmer's and bought a bunch of sausages. Dittmer's is a local butcher and I think Mr. Cupcake is in love. I'm sure we'll be making more visits there in the near future especially since it's been good grilling weather.

So, yet another pizza failure. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I guess it could be any number of things. I will just have to try again. I'm not sure I'll try this recipe again though. If I ever have a pizza success, my blog will be the first to know.