Katie made dinner recently devising a menu from what was available in the pantry and refrigerator.
Pictured above is a sweet bell pepper stuffed with Katie's special Mexican rice deftly inserted with a piece of cheese for richness. The baked stuffed pepper was cradled on a bed of sauteed spinach, a puddle of tomato coulis and a few stuffed mushrooms on the side. Thanks Katie - beautiful dinner.
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Thai House Express - San Francisco8/31/2011 Moving from one block to the next can make a great change in neighborhoods in San Francisco. In some instances, just crossing the street can make a difference. The south-west corner of Geary and Larkin is just plain nasty! Cross the street to the north and you start leaving the bad parts of the Tenderloin. Not posh mind you, but better.
Thai House Express is located on the north-west corner of Geary and Larkin. It is our favorite Thai restaurant in the City. The staff is friendly and there is an open kitchen. Of all the cuisines, Thai seems to be the spiciest and they ask how spicy you would like the food. Medium seems to be hot enough for me. If you like fried bananas with coconut ice cream, they have it here. Bar Jules - Hayes Street - San Francisco8/29/2011 Roasted Mussels with Bread Crumbs Bar Jules is on the edge of an interesting couple of blocks at 609 Hayes Street in Hayes Valley. Simple in design and presentation, it's a nice spot for lunch and a stroll afterwards for window browsing. What caught my eye was the Bar Jules sign in mixed colors and different typefaces and sizes. Somehow that simple statement explains the sensibilities of the owner of the restaurant. Arancini8/24/2011 My Scrapbook Entry for Dagnino Last year Chris' friend in Rome said Pasticceria Dagnino had the best pastries in all of Rome. Before moving on to Bologna , we thought we'd better check it out. The bakery also had a cafe that served lunch so we sat down and had a bite to eat. Next to us a 3 generation Italian family sat down and immediately ordered these delicious looking fried balls. As soon as the plates were on the table, the entire family dived in and devoured them. Not being able to resist, we asked the waiter to bring some for us as well. Arancini are cheese stuffed balls of risotto that are deep fried. They are delicious and we thought we found a new and unique Italian dish. Lo and behold, when I returned to my normal routine in San Francisco of shopping at Trader Joe's -- what do I SEE! Arancini Bites in the frozen food section! I guess Trader Joe's is on the ball for finding things new and exciting. Summer House Kitchen on College Avenue near Ashby in Berkeley is a new restaurant and bakery with a simple farmhouse look. The pulled pork sandwich reminded me of my hometown of Reedley, California where the annual Fiesta was held every year in October. For a small town it was a big affair with a parade, live music and food. When I was a kid, the old timers would dig a pit in the park and make deep pit BBQ of gigantic hunks of meat wrapped in gunny sacks and cooked in the ground overnight. Moist, smoky, and simply delicious.
Summer House is near the ICI Ice Cream shop and that's where we headed after lunch. Dry Farmed Tomatoes 20118/19/2011 Growing up in the San Joaquin Valley, I never heard of dry farmed tomatoes. With 100+ degree weather for days on end, growing vegetables and other crops was only possible with irrigation. Dry farmed tomatoes wouldn't be possible with this intense heat. The tomatoes my parents grew were sweet, big and flavorful because of the intense heat and proper watering. Too much water and the tomatoes' flavor would be diluted and the tomatoes could also split.
Dry farmed tomatoes are perfect for the Bay Area's cooler marine climate. Dry farming means there is no irrigation after the tomatoes are transplanted and this forces the roots to extend deep into the soil to search for water. Tomatoes farmed with this technique are small but the flavor is intense. 2011 has been a cool year for Northern California and tomato afficionados have been lamenting the effect of this year's weather. I sometimes check the Two Dog Farm's website to see when the tomatoes will be harvested. I just checked and as of August 16, 2011, they still are not ready for market. Usually they will show up near the end of July. The ones at Bi-Rite Market I bought last week were only ok. Anything good is worth waiting for! Reedley Peaches8/12/2011 Bi-Rite Market on 18th Street carries organic peaches from Reedley - my hometown. I don't miss the heat of the San Joaquin Valley summers, but I do miss the tree ripened fruit hanging in our backyard garden, the fresh corn and the vine ripened tomatoes that my parents grew. Every summer my parents would can vine ripened tomatoes and bring them up to San Francisco for us to enjoy. They formed the basis of simple pasta sauces throughout the winter and needed no more than a little olive oil and herbs as they were so sweet and flavorful. The Reedley garden - now gone The garden is gone now, supplanted by a new home, just the memories triggered by visits to the local farmer's market and markets like Bi-Rite linger. I smell the fruit and compare them to my memories of the ones sitting on the trees and vines in the 100 degree heat. In Reedley you can still drive down a country road to an unattended fruit stand, bag your own fruit, and leave money in a slotted box. Impossible to find the same fruit here, but I'll take the best I can find - which is pretty darn good! We're entering the peak of the harvest season for peaches and tomatoes. Enjoy our bounty while you can. Porridge King - Daly City8/11/2011 Porridge King in Daly City is located in the same mall as 99 Ranch Market, a mecca for Asian food on the peninsula. I go there when I don't want to fight the crowds and parking in San Francisco. I find the BBQ items in 99 Ranch a bit sub par so I usually go over to the Porridge King for something better. Seeing a whole roast pig hanging on a hook can be a bit off-putting, but it can also be a thing of beauty depending on your perspective. Photo of Jook - wikipedia Porridge refers to a thick rice soup called "jook" in Cantonese. Chinese eat it for breakfast, a light lunch or snack. Koreans also call this soup "juk", but usually serve it to small children or someone ill. It's easy to eat and easy to digest. You would think that naming your restaurant the Porridge King, would mean the jook was really good -- not necessarily so here. The jook here is somewhat bland saved only by what condiments you add to it. The roast pork at porridge King on the other hand is really good. Sweet succulent meat with crispy skin reminiscent of chicharones. A whole roast pork is a signature dish at many important Chinese events, skillfully carved into serving pieces and re-assembled to maintain it's whole appearance. Look for it at your favorite Chinese deli. On Tuesdays Let them Eat Cake8/9/2011 Tartine's Country Bread San Francisco's Tartine Bakery at 18th and Guerrero is supposed to have some of the best artisan bread around. The daily bread comes out at 4:00 PM and I'm told it sells out quickly. I was there on a Thursday in July arriving after 5:00 PM and there seemed to be a good stock of loaves in the back. This last time I went on a Tuesday at 5:30 PM thinking I would still be able to buy a loaf. No - they were sold out! I'm told on Tuesdays, they bake substantially less bread than on other days. Fresh out of bread so I had a gluten free carrot cake made with kamut flour and a cup of tea. It was good -- dense with carrots present and without the need for the familiar cream cheese frosting. I'll go another day to get my loaf of bread. If you go on Tuesdays for bread, go before 5:00 PM. Poesia Restaurant - Grilled Calamari8/5/2011 Grilled Calamari - Poesia Restaurant, San Francisco Poesia Restaurant in the Castro is located on the second floor of a former house. Although comfortable, the conversion of the house to a restaurant seemed incomplete as it didn't have the charm and cozy feeling of being in someone's home and yet it didn't have the polish of a sophistication restaurant either. The food, however, was the best part of the experience. Dinner here was a gift from Alex. Thanks Alex.
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