Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Dine About Town SF - Trip #2

Since we tried lunch, gotta have dinner too, right?  Dinner was at the french restaurant Cassis in the Fillmore.  A nice quaint restaurant on the corner of Sutter and Steiner.

First course, a choice of -
Wild Mushrooms in a Puff Pastry.  This was my dish - the dish did not come as I had imagined, as I thought that the wild mushrooms were going to be inside the puff pastry.  The wild mushrooms and sauce was delicious enough that I can lick them off the plate, but the puff pastry was cold, and cold food to me is a BIG NO-NO.  This dish was a bit disappointing.
Duck Foie Gras Terrine served with Corn Bread and Blueberry Port Wine Jam.  I'm not a lover of foie gras (I guess I can't get over the weird taste of liver!!), but the cornbread slices and blueberry jam was great! The foie gras lover of the relationship really liked this dish.
Crab Salad served with Cocktail Sauce and Citrus Segments on a Bed of Arugula, Soja Vinaigrette with Sesame Seeds.  This was my second choice and really should have gone with it!  I had a small bite and the fulfilling crab salad (look at that huge mountain of crab!) with the tanginess of the arugula was refreshing. 

Second course, a choice of -
Braised Short Ribs, Shallot Confit with Red Wine, served with Mashed Sweet Potatoes. This massive chunk of meat was DELICIOUS!  Soft, tender, and melted in your mouth.  And mashed sweet potatoes?!  Can't beat that!
Wild Mushroom Stuffed Quail in a Creamy Bacon “au Jus” Sauce, on a Bed of Cabbage with Bacon Bits and served with Fingerling Potatoes.  This was my dish - I've never had quail so really wanted to try this, and thank goodness it didn't disappoint!  The wild mushroom stuffing was good, and I love cabbage with anything, so the bed of cabbage was cooked just right (besides, it had bacon in it!).
Pan-roasted Day Boat Scallops in a Butter Emulsion Curry Sauce, served with Crispy Wild Californian Rice with Chorizo.  Upon receiving this dish, JF took one look and exclaim, "ONLY THREE SCALLOPS?!!"  It truly wasn't enough.  The scallops were seared perfectly, and are probably one of the most tender scallops I've ever had (just last week in Boston I had some really tough scallops.. ick.)  I didn't dig the wild rice much, as it tasted too tough and "healthy" for me... heh.

Third course, a choice of -
Chocolate and Banana Mousse Cake with Coconut Sauce.  This was my dessert, and three words for the three different layers (from top to bottom: chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, banana mousse): YUM YUM YUM.
Homemade Profiteroles with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream, Topped with Caramelized Hazelnuts.  Can anything go wrong with dulce de leche ice cream?!  This was a deeeeelicious dessert.  A+!
Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding with an Orange Crisp and Strawberry sauce.  The hubby ordered this and all of us thought it wasn't good.  It was bland (barely had any vanilla flavor) and the rice was a bit tough.  The hubby didn't finish it because of it... poor guy.

A great Dine About Town experience this year... can't wait until it's back again!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Dine About Town SF - Trip #1

Dine About Town, a two-week event where restaurants participate to provide a special menu featuring "food they're known for" for a set price, is a great way to promote local eateries that we never get to try due to pricing or location or just the fact that we know nothing about the quality of the food!  Restaurants can decide to participate in lunch, dinner, or both.  Lunch is a two-course meal for a small price of $17.95, and dinner is a grand three-course meal for $34.95.  The Dine About Town event in San Francisco is probably the biggest and best one of them all, and for some unknown reason (laziness maybe?), it was not until this year that I'm participating for the first time.

I think a smart way to tackle Dine About Town is to go with a group of friends so that you can try everything offered on the menu.  We did a triple date for brunch on a rainy and cold Sunday afternoon, and went to Butterfly at Pier 33 in the Embarcadero.  Butterfly was my choice as my sister S went here a couple of times and each time her food pictures looked delicious.

On the Brunch menu:

First Course, a choice of -
1. Fire fried calamari, tobasco remoulade, ponzu marinated cucumbers
2. Mushroom cappuccino soup, white truffle oil, porcini powder
3. Kalua pig, butter lettuce cups, bbq hoisin dipping sauce




Second Course, a choice of-

1. Shaking beef cobb salad, apple wood smoked bacon, maytag blue cheese, prosciutto, avocado
2. Shrimp and scrambled eggs tostada with avocado and salsa verde (not pictured)
3. Smoked salmon scramble with texas toast and tobiko crème fraiche (not pictured)
4. Grilled chicken salad club sandwich with french fries



The spiciest drink I've ever had! Thai-spiced caipirinha.

If I were to rate the best dish out of the entire meal, the kalua pig in butter lettuce cups takes the prize.  The kalua pig was tender and flavorful, the hoisin sauce refreshing with the strong flavor of BBQ, and the crunchy freshess of the lettuce were a great combination in my mouth. Overall, I thought the meal was just alright, nothing too amazing but nothing too bad - a good start for my first Dine About Town adventure.  This meal was later topped off with a scoop of Honey Lavender from Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission, which we drove in the rain and stood outside in the cold to eat, but it was a perfect end to this Sunday brunch.

Now on to dinner...

Sunday, January 24, 2010

New Toys For The New Year

Since the holidays and my birthday are usually wrapped into one, I get tons of new things (from myself also, hehe) by the second week of January.  This time around almost everyone got me something kitchen-related, which I was very happy to receive.  I <3 new toys!

KitchenAid Classic 250-Watt 4-1/2-Quart Stand Mixer, beautiful white.  This gift was courtesy of work, because of the many MANY trips I've been on in the last 6 months, I was able to accumulate enough BofA credit card points to get this baby.  Remember, hard work has its rewards. :)

The first time I christened this machine was last night, when I made pizza dough.  It was wonderful!  I barely got my hands dirty or gooey from the dough, and didn't have to pant and sweat from kneading the damn dough.  Amazing!  More products to come from this machine...

Oneida Round Pizza Stone from Bed Bath and Beyond, $14.99 (but 20% cheaper from using their coupon!)

So what's the best thing?  Playing with TWO toys in one night!  I used this pizza stone the first time last night also, baking a Tuna, Onion, and Mushroom pizza and a Margherita pizza.  I have to say this is one of the best things I have bought!  The stone completely changed the texture and taste of the dough, as it evenly cooked the pizza and added a great crunch to the crust.  Amazing amazing.

Panasonic Rice Cooker (carried by my relentless Dad all the way from Taiwan!).  A great Christmas gift from the parents... as they've been over the house many times and laughed at my dinky and old 2-cup rice cooker and shook their heads everytime.  I was content with my small rice cooker, but am now spoiled with this bigger one, so there's no going back.  Surprisingly, I haven't cooked any rice from it yet, but I've steamed many meat buns and dimsum in it.  It made my steaming life so much easier!

Martha Stewart Red Enameled Cast Iron Round Pot.  A Christmas gift from sister L.  I hugged this pot (really, I did) after opening it, so happy to receive something I've been wanting for a long while.  Although I'm not sure if this is a gift for me or for the family, because soon after L stated that she wanted me to make Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon, and wanted it fast, I am happy either way!  I will be happy to make it (and post, I hope) and adding the cast iron pot to my collection.

Garlic Press, a Christmas stocking gift from sister S.  If you hate mincing, get this baby.  No arguments.

Paella pan!  A birthday gift from EH.  I actually gave a friend a paella set (included paella pan, rice, seasoning, and olive oil) from World Market over the holidays and really wanted one myself, and EH read my mind!  I hope to use this sometime soon.

Chinese Food Cookbooks (all in Chinese!), a gift  from Mom's recent Taiwan trip.  You can hope that I will soon actually cook rice in my new rice cooker and making some of the delish dishes from these books!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Happy New Year! (Not Too Late I Hope? It's Still January...)

It's 2010... wow.  And my New Year resolution is - Not To Get Lazy With This Blog And Keep Up With Posting As Much As Possible...!!  Hahha, I have a feeling I will fail at this resolution, by like, next week...

I have ate so much, had much fun, and it had been quite insane for the last two months of 2009.  Most importantly, I made two "important" holiday meals that I am quite happy with the results.  The first is Thanksgiving, which was our very first Thanksgiving together with both sides of the family, so a total of 16 people were together inside our house!  This dinner was also the first time I cooked a big 'ol turkey, and I am glad that it turned out... edible!  Since it was a crazy busy day, I barely got any food pics because my camera ran out of juice just as we started snapping pictures of the turkey.  The menu for the night?  See pictures below (courtesy of L):

The star of the night - 12 lb Turkey stuffed with Chinese Sticky Rice
Cutting the turkey (see the steam??)
Jalepeno Cheddar Biscuits
Sides: Creamy Garlic and Chive Mash Potatoes (pictured), Mushroom & Cilantro Gravy, homemade Cranberry Sauce, Green Peas, Creamed Corn, French Green Beans with Shallots
My sister L's (aka Dessert Master) famous Pudding Cake (SOOOO GOOD!!)

The other important  meal I made was for the "Annual Holiday Dinner" with my friends held on New Years Eve.  I think this tradition started about 4 years ago in 2005 at my husband's old condo, and although back then the menu was quite simple, just spaghetti, veggies, and garlic bread, it was so fun that we kept doing it year after year.  I look forward to this meal every year!

Standing Rib Roast with Thyme and Garlic, wrapped in Bacon
Figs and Shallots (stole picture from EH)
Sides: Green Beans with Shallots (I loved so it much during Thanksgiving, I cooked it again!)
Butternut Squash, Apples, and Cranberry Bake
Pesto Mac and Goat Cheese
LL's Crab Empanadas
Not pictured: Creamy Garlic and Chive Mash Potatoes, Mushroom and Parsley Gravy
The dinner spread!

Last but not least, EH's almond tart with fresh whipped cream (I think it was almond...?  Sorry if I got it wrong, but I was pretty much drunk by then that I just remembered yumminess, and forgot the name of the dessert.  Heh ^_^)

If it wasn't for the evil mango vodka with Sprite and evil Nicaragua rum with Squirt (a total of 6 drinks all together... oops) and combining with red wine, I would have enjoyed (and probably remembered) this night a bit more!  A good way to end the year of 2009, but not so good for my liver... oh boy.

A happy and much luck for this new year!