Saturday Market Funny

There aren't even words to describe this. It's been at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market the last few times I've been there. It's a pop up 'screen'. And yes, it's a banana. And a monkey. With little holes cut in where a 'face' and 'arms' might be. Weird, right?

Well. That's not all. There's a guy playing the guitar and a guy planning a saxophone that go with this. They stand behind the 'screen', and stick their heads in the 'head' holes. And then there are little 'arm' holes too. So that they can stick their hands through and play their instruments.

It's beyond bizarre. I can't really explain it, but just had to snap this photo and share.

Welcome Home

Feels like it’s been a busy fall. I was gone for most of November, in New York and Australia. Before that? October was a busy month too. Weekends in Cazadero and Davis took me out of San Francisco. All of this time out of San Francisco was fine with me. I loved my time in each of these locations, and always enjoy exploring new places.

But after a little while, I start missing things at home. Among the things about SF I miss most? The Farmer’s Market. My Saturday routine. It's a good time for me to go and see what fruits and vegetables are in season, and also a fun way for me to learn about new ingredients. It seems like no matter how often I go, or how many cookbooks and magazines I read, there is always something new to be discovered at the market!

My sister and I like to go together, and we have our own little routine. I’ve written about the Farmer’s Market lots of times before, here’s a good recap from one of my fall trips to the market from earlier this year.

The first thing we do is stand in line for a cup of Blue Bottle Coffee. The weather this December Saturday was nice—chilly and brisk, but the sun was out. As we walked up to the market, we noticed that it wasn’t nearly as crowded as it usually is. It was kind of nice. The line at Blue Bottle was actually SHORT. We were thrilled. (And given the coldness in the air, we steered away from our standard New Orleans style coffee for a latte this time.)

My pretty coffee

Once we have coffee in hand. Michelle and I always go and pick up some type of breakfast sandwich to share. Sometimes it's a Prather Ranch breakfast sandwich, other times it's a Boccalone one. On this day, we decided to go for a Boccalone breakfast sandwich. Yum yum.

While we were at Boccalone, I got my water bottle refilled too. That's another must-do at the market. I always come with my water bottle in hand, and get my fill of delicious and refreshing sparkling water.

On this particular day, as we were walking towards Boccalone, I looked across the way and saw a familiar face. I stopped in my tracks and let out a gasp under my breathe. “Oh my god.” Michelle looked at me, looked in the direction I was looking at, and said, “What? What’s wrong? What do you see?”

It was Alice Waters. In the flesh.

She was signing books, and my loyal readers and friends will know, I have an obsession about getting books autographed. (Ok, I have a lot of obsessions, this is just one.) It was pretty neat to meet her (not my first time!), and to get a book signed. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a line, and not even a crowd of people around her.

After this pleasant surprise, we had to move on. Other things we love? We typically like to see which chef is doing the demo in the CUESA Kitchen. This Saturday? Staffan Terje from Perbacco restaurant was doing the demo. Perbacco is one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, and it was nice to see Staffan doing the demo. (Another familiar face! Gosh I love this place!)

We saw a lot of familiar chef faces, and stopped by some of my favorite farm stalls as well. I picked up some winter Clementines (yum!), and even a guava (that I wasn’t planning on buying, but because of the strong delicious smell, I couldn’t resist!)

We smelled some great fresh lavender. I had to refrain from buying about a billion of the little sachets—it made me think of one of my favorite people in the world, Miss Chloe Grace. My dear friend adores lavender, and I thought about buying a whole bunch and mailing them to her in New York.

I also made a stop at the tofu stand that I love. Hodo Soy Beanery is probably one of my favorite stalls (a favorite of Daniel Patterson’s too I believe, as we’ve seen him picking up items from this stall frequently.) My favorite item there? The tofu jerky. The fried tofu is marinated in Chinese five spices and I love eating them just plain. They are so delicious and I wish I could buy them every time (but at $7 a pop for a small container, it’s something that’s a splurge for me.)

One of these days, I’m not going to eat them all plain, I’m going to cook with them. I think slicing them up and tossing them into a stir fry or using them in a chow mein type of dish would be really good too. Sigh. Maybe I’ll have to buy two packages, one to eat plain, and one to cook with.

We drooled over the pardon peppers from Happy Quail Farms (and even chatted about the wonders of the pardon with a nice man who also happened to be admiring them.) We eyed some specialty salts. We almost stopped at the salmon stall to get a ‘sample’ of the yummy salmon jerky we love so much. But too crowded. And sadly, I think we’ve tasted more samples than we’ve actually purchased, so again, we had to refrain.

We ducked into Recchiuti so Michelle could purchase some Christmas presents. While this isn’t normally a stop on our stroll, it was a treat. We looked at all of the beautifully wrapped boxes and gift sets. And the “Holiday Motif” boxed chocolates with the beautiful holiday images were so amazingly beautiful. Michelle drooled over the Obsession Box while I nibbled on the yummy chocolate covered apple slice. We didn’t leave with only presents for others. We bought two house made marshmallows and enjoyed them in the corner of the market along with the creamy hot chocolate sample they gave us. Perfect ‘dessert’ to our Farmer’s Market outing.

The familiarity of the market, knowing where the stalls are, knowing I will always see familiar faces and friends, my delicious coffee, seeing what’s in season...it makes for a nice say to kick off my weekend. I don't need to spend a lot of time there. Even in just a few short hours, I always leave with a smile on my face. And every single time I go to the market, I’m reminded of why it’s my happy place and why I'm so lucky to be living here in San Francisco!

Fall Farmer's Market Treats

October is my favorite time in San Francisco. The weather is typically perfect--little to no fog in the morning, warm during the day, and then nice and cool at night. Fall is in the air and it doesn't get much better than this.

The other day, I ducked out of the office at lunch time to pick up a train ticket. That was my excuse. I mean sure, I needed the train ticket, but the real reason I wanted to leave the office? It was Tuesday. Farmer's Market Day at the Ferry Building.

I rarely get to go to the Tuesday market--getting out at lunch is so hard! But what a treat it was! I saw these beautiful cranberry beans:


I had JUST read about these beans from one of my favorite blogs, The Amateur Gourmet. I had a busy week ahead of me, and no time at home and in the kitchen, so I didn't buy any. But hopefully sometime soon.

Another sight I saw? This beautiful pepper plant! The 'flowers' are bright yellow little peppers:

It was GORGEOUS! Wouldn't this make a pretty center piece? Makes me want to throw a dinner party--just so I can go back and get this plant for my table.

Sadly, by the time I did get my train ticket, walked through a few stalls, got a refill in my Boccalone water bottle and chatted with my friend Tatiana, it was basically time to head back. Hopefully I can make a few more trips to the Tuesday market in October...it's so nice to be at the market without the craziness of the Saturday crowds!

One last thing! Check out the pretty flowers I brought back to the office, definitely helping to brighten up my week!

A Big Purchase

The last time I was in the restaurant kitchen, I noticed something. Unlike your home kitchen, there are no knives in this kitchen. There aren't many tools around, just a handful of items that everyone share. I come to think of it, I still don't know where the silverware is actually kept. The reason I bring this up? When I was asked to cut something the other night, I didn't know what to do.

The thing is, everyone brings their own tools. The pastry team gals had their own cutters, spatulas, whisks, etc. On the savory side? From a range of knives, to fish spatulas. Everyone has their own stash of utensils and tools. What's a non-chef, part-time (at best), person like me suppose to do in the kitchen?

This weekend, when I was recaping this to my friend JT (who is a culinary school graduate and much more of a pro than I am), she didn't look surprise at all. In fact, she was actually more surprised that the people in the kitchen lent me their knives to use. It became clear that if I was going to continue working in a restaurant kitchen, I was going to need a knife of my own. The one I'm currently using in my kitchen? Not the best. And I'd be embarrased to bring it in. I was going to need a real chef's knife.

Since we were already at the Ferry Building, we decided to hit Sur La Table. With a 15% off Industry Discount, some of the knives were actually a pretty reasonable deal. We headed to the knife counter where the nicest and most informative guy helped me through the process.

The knives ranged in weight, and the grips were different. And of course there's the question of blade size. Off the bat, I knew the 10 inch felt too big for me. Even if it is what you're suppose to use in a professional kitchen, I didn't care. I felt much more comfortable with the 8 inch. (I've got small hands, what can I say??)

The knife man told us it was definitely best to try all the different varieties. As he put it, your knife is like a magic wand. You don't choose the knife, the knife chooses you.

We tried a whole bunch of knives. From the Wusthofs to the Henkels, to the 'female preferred' Globals (because they're so light, apparently many female chefs prefer these). We even tried the Sur La Table Bob Kramer Shun exclusive. Now that is a knife.

After trying 'em all, I settled on the Shun 8 inch Chef’s Knife. It really is the most amazing knife. I found myself going back to it time and time again after trying each of the different knives. It was just the most comfortable. I'm so excited. And so proud. I've never loved a knife before, until now. My first real Chef's Knife. Now I just can't wait to use it!

Foodie Regret and Foodie Excitement

All week, I’ve been regretting not purchasing those beautiful squash blossoms I saw at the Farmer’s Market last Saturday. And every day, I sat wondering if they were gone from the markets and if I had missed my chance this season. I was nearly in tears when I thought about it. Why didn’t I just spend those few dollars on the squash blossoms?

This last Saturday, I went to the Farmer’s Market with some friends. I met up with my friend Vanessa and her daughter Chloe (Chloe’s first San Francisco Farmer’s Market trip!), as well as my friend Charissa (in town from Washington DC) and her family.

Beautiful Chloe--Yensa was able to capture the best photos of her!

We had a great time…but for the first 15 min or so, I was distracted. I hadn’t seen Charissa in months, but all I could think about were my squash blossoms (sorry dear!) I bee-lined for the farm stand that sold them the week prior (well, as soon as we all had our Blue Bottle Coffee in hand!) I pushed and shoved (well, not shoved too hard, but I was aggressive!), making my way to the back of the market. I could feel my heart starting to race as I realized in mere moments, I could come to realize that my chance had passed until next season. And then from a distance…there it was. The yellow blossom! Success! Thankfully they still had some. Not quite as gorgeous as the week prior, but still squash blossoms nonetheless. Phew.

After I bought the blossoms, I was able to calm down a little bit. And relax. And enjoy the sunny day. I could finally spend time talking to my friends, and pointing to all of the other wonderful things the market had to offer. Charissa’s sister bought some lovely rose sugar. I’ve got to get my hands on that! Next time. I can see the potential already. Perhaps a rose infused ice cream. Or perhaps sprinkled on top of some shortbread cookies (maybe that Michelle Obama shortbread cookie?) Or even more simple? Just over some fresh strawberries! Yum! Next time. For sure.

And oh! Yensa, the budding photographer, was snapping away the entire morning. She’s super talented, and captured some really beautiful shots from the day.

I’m lucky she snapped this one of me below (I don’t even know what her initial target was, but I’m so happy she caught this moment!) I was so excited to have my squash blossoms, I couldn’t even wait until I got home to use them in a salad. Pure foodie excitement. Pure foodie porn.

Happy Saturday!

This was one of my first weekends at home in San Francisco in a long time. I did what I love most—I headed to the Farmer’s Market! My sister Michelle, and I met up with two of my friends, Jason and Eric. We kicked off the morning with my favorite Blue Bottle Coffee. What is my coffee of choice? If y’ll really must know, I am a New Orleans style coffee fan. It’s Blue Bottle iced coffee with roasted French chicory, sugar and milk. All perfectly mixed. Not too sweet, just perfect. Yum yum yum. Seriously. Even this morning, which was a little overcast and a tinny bit cold, I opted for my iced New Orleans coffee.

From there, we began perusing the stalls. Eric was a man on a mission and bee-lined for a few different stalls. Michelle saw some gorgeous strawberries and headed there. Meanwhile, Jason and I kind of hung back and took it all in.

I saw a lot of familiar faces. In fact, ran into my friends Kevin and Alli and their new baby Charley! (Hmmm, wonder if this was Charley’s first Farmer’s Market outing?) We saw some familiar chef faces too. We saw chefs (and other fans) congratulating Chef Daniel Patterson from Coi Restaurant on his recent four star review by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Michael Bauer.

Sadly, this was also the night the famous Rubicon was closing. And we even had a Drew Nieporent sighting along with Chef Stuart Brioza and the Rubicon crew. Made me a little sad just seeing them…to think, I’ve never been to Rubicon! Sigh. Guess I never will. We’ll have to anxiously wait and see where Stuart and Nicole end up!

Here are some of the things we saw…

Some amazing bell peppers...look at all of the colors!

I took this photo just for my friend Bahram...shout out to East Palo Alto!

Squash Blossoms! I almost bought them, but wasn’t exactly sure how to prepare them, and the petals looked so delicate! I also knew I wasn’t eating at home tonight nor tomorrow, so hesitated and ended up not buying them. My friend Josh later told me, “You could have simply eaten them with olive oil, sea salt and mixed greens. They’re like candy!!” Sigh. My biggest regret of the day was not buying them!

Look at these beautiful hydrangeas!

They were huge and colorful and gorgeous!

We also watched Chef Chris Cosentino of Incanto Restaurant and Boccalone fame do a cooking demo, but since we were late comers, we ended up sitting in the back on the ground (as Michelle and I shared a Prather Ranch breakfast sandwich...yum!) Chris demonstrated how to make Sharyln melon with Boccalone Lardo with torn basils, and was great at getting the crowd involved. Super interactive, and we could hear the crowd laughing and getting really into it. The bite sized sample was tasted was really good too. Chris did a great job, but we had more fun gabbing in the back with his wife Tatiana.

All in all, a fun and relaxing Saturday morning. A great reminder of just how great this city is and how lucky I am. Oh yea! And yes! As promised, I came home with some pretty flowers of my own. Not as amazing as those hydrangeas we saw earlier, but still pretty.

Dahlias of my very own to enjoy this week!

Salumi Cycle

Salumi makes me happy. Seriously. What could be better than a little cured meat, wine and cheese? I would never get tired of it and I think I could seriously live off that!

So imagine how happy I was when I learned Chris Cosentino was opening up a store for his Boccalone meats...and at the Ferry Building, a place I'm at all time too! Yummy cured meats, and in my neck of the woods? Perfect. I was ready to join the Salumi Society!

Well. Life just got better. Eater SF broke this story today...can you imagine if they delivered salumi to you at work?? Oh my god. I've died and gone to heaven. Or I've found myself my next dream job. Biking around this gorgeous city and bringing people their cured meats? What could be better?