Breakfast of Champions

A recent breakfast with my pal Evan at the Saturday Ferry Building Farmer's Market:

Lamb merguez sausage with an egg fom 4505 Meats and some delicious Korean fries from Namu. So delicious! Such a Saturday morning treat.

Friday Favorite: Afternoon Snack

The perfect nibble to go along with your cocktail at 4 pm on a Monday you have off of work.

Wishing I could do a repeat of that day today.

Friday Favorite: Spices!

Anyone know where this photo was taken??

One of the BEST spice collections I've ever seen. I love it there. I feel the need to get some of every single herb and spice. I wish those shelves were mine. I wish I had a little bit of each and ever jar. Until then? I guess I'm making lots and lots of return trips!

Friday Favorite: Some Porky Love

Some people just know me oh so well. Kissing pigs. With little magnetic noses drawing them together. So adorable! Thank you Jason!!

Slowing Down...

Dear Readers,

I still love my little blog. I still love you all. And I still love blogging. But why haven't I been doing it you ask? Time. Energy. Other projects. But I'm thinking about you all lots and lots. I promise.

And in the meantime, a few things.

This piece on Yahoo! about the decline of blogging with the younger generation caught my eye. So interesting. I promise I don't completely fall into that category. I DO still love blogging.

You want to hear what's on my mind? Follow my Tweets! I do have to admit, those short, succinct, 140 character bursts are a lot easier to keep up with. Find me there. All the same random thoughts. And many more thoughts about food, friends, life...and did I mention food?

You want to read about some of my recent eating escapades? Here's a review I wrote about Out the Door Bush Street...AND here's a review about the new wine bar, Heart, that's in my neighborhood. Hopefully I'll be channeling the reviewer in me to write a few more reviews online. We'll see.

Ok. So before I leave you. Here's a photo to keep you drooling for more!

From a recent dinner out with my good friends Wendy and Mark. Fried chicken and ramen--can someone say comfort food?

Hang in there readers. I'll be back. I hope you will be too!

The Comfort of Food...and a Sister

It must be the weather. Or the time of year. Or just the mood I'm in. But I've been down. And in some serious need for comfort.

My sister and I have both been busy at work. And now that we don't have the luxury of living blocks from each other, seeing each other can be a bit more difficult. On a recent Sat when neither of us had plans, we decided to get together and to make the trek to the inner Sunset for some noodles and dumplings. It was just what I needed.

It ended up not being a horribly rainy day, but there was still enough of a chill in the air that we were both excited for some noodles, soup, and dumplings. We ended up at San Tung where in addition to all of that, we ate a plate of their famous dried fried chicken. So good!

As we sat there slurping up noodles, piercing the skins of the steamy dumplings and licking our fingers of the sweet sauce from the chicken, we talked and caught up. We talked about our recent work stresses and unhappiness. Upcoming trips we had planned. Our friends. Our dad. For a few hours that day, my sister and I were brought back to the comforting foods of our childhood and it almost felt like time stood still while we caught up.

After lunch, we ended up walking around some of the Chinese shops and grocery stores. And I was reminded that there is NO ONE out there that knows me like my sister. So many things that just come as second nature to us, things that are familiar to just the two of us from our childhoods, things that she knows I like, and things I know she likes.

It was a much needed afternoon outing. The good food was what my stomach needed and the good company what my heart needed.

Friday Favorite: Another Bench

There's something about these benches that I love. On a few of my recent hikes, I've come across random benches perched up on hills. The romantic in me has visions of some day going on all of these hikes with someone special, taking a little rest at these benches and spending some quality time chatting and taking in the views.

Opps. Bench is a teeny bit hard to see, but squint, it's there!

Meal of the Month: January

January was one of those gray and gloomy months. The holidays were over. And back to work. Back to ‘normal’ life. So how did I get through the month? Lots and lots of comfort foods. And some really good friends.

Let’s see. How did it all start? The new year started with a special and fun New Year’s Day brunch at my house. And brunches at Starbelly and Out the Door Bush Street—DELISH!

Then a special dinner (and party!) for my sister’s birthday. Love birthday’s—there’s always so many chances to celebrate.

Then Yosemite happened. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Chef’s Holiday event at the Ahwahnee Hotel. It was an amazing weekend. Filled with lots and lots of good food, good wine, and good people. We kicked off the weekend with some pizza at the hot spot in the park (good luck finding it!) We had a great meal in the beautiful Mountain Room at the Lodge in Yosemite the second night, and ended our weekend trip with the fancy Chefs’ Holiday dinner.

I had a lot of repeats. I was lucky enough to have dinner TWICE at my friend Michael’s house (talk about a sweet grill!) Beretta TWICE! Once with my friend Chip who was in town and once with my pal Defne. A new neighborhood restaurant, Tuba, was so good, I went TWICE! The second time we were even lucky enough to have a secret off the menu Turkish dessert. YUM! And then there was Nopa TWICE—delicious both times. And noodles, dumplings and Chinese comfort foods…THREE times. Twice at San Tung and once at King of Noodles…so good!

I dined at Incanto twice—once right after the Incanto refresh with my pal Wendy. And the second time for the 7x7 Flash Mob Friday (read all about that FUN FUN experience here.)

There was a great night at Nopalito catching up with my friend Joe. And a very special night of pizzas and beers at Pi with some of my favorite peeps- T, Shawn and Mark. There was the meal that pleasantly surprised me at Flour + Water with Sarah, Evan and Josh…oh, and did I mention? Boar six ways.

I had friends over for dinners…and lots of home cooked meals in. And there were drinks. Drinks at Beretta, Lucky 13, Lone Palm, Fish & Farm, Alembic, Heart, and at home. Lots of drinks at home. So if ALL of those meals weren’t my meal of the month. Than what was?

A late night meal at Nopa, at the end of a very long week, and with a special friend. The food was simple and perfect. The cocktails hit the spot. And it was one of those special experiences and special nights. People come into our lives for a reason. Sometimes you just have chemistry with someone and special friendships. This night was proof of that.

Picture Perfect

At a recent dinner, as always, I was trying to capture pictures of everything we ate. I realized as we were scarfing down our desserts, that I hadn't taken a picture yet! So I quickly grabbed my camera to try and at least snap a picture of the empty plates. Something like this...

Simple right? Not so fast. Thanks to the fast fingers of my friend Evan, this picture was much harder than it should have been. It took a few tries to get the perfect picture...

The good news? We had lots and lots of laughs through it all. And in the end? A special and memorable (and delicious!) meal.