Bloggers Unite!

4 bloggers hit the town! Leslie, Katherine, me and Sarah

Last week Katherine and Sarah were in town, so I met up with them Thursday night in the city for dinner, along with Leslie and Jamie, and Lauren. It was a mini-Scripps reunion, as 4/6 of us are Scrippsies. It was also a blogger reunion, as 4/6 of us blog. What fun! We had dinner and drinks at The Tipsy Pig in the Marina. Great seeing all you girls (and you too Jamie!)

Sarah, Lauren, Katherine & I...Go Scripps!

Window Smash Pie

We awoke Saturday morning to a smashed window on our 4Runner. The window was broken, and Scott's chef knives were stolen! So we began our weekend with a call to the police. Apparently, car theft is the crime of choice in Walnut Creek, and it sounds like windows gets smashed every week in some part of town. With that said, it still doesn't make us feel any better about it, we feel pretty violated...and now Scott has to buy new knives (fingers crossed that insurance covers his knives...they are not cheap!) So Scott went off to work Saturday feeling down with no knives. That's when I decided to cheer him up with some "Sorry your window got smashed and your knives got stolen chocolate pie"
Window-Smash Chocolate Pie
(adapted from Julie Vetterli's chocolate fudge pie recipe)

2 1/2 cup sugar
7T cocoa powder (the better quality cocoa = better pie)
4 eggs
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 T vanilla
1 stick butter, melted
1 pie shell (store bought, or homemade...uncooked or cooked)

Mix all ingredients (except pie shell) in a blender.
Bake in pie shell at 350 degrees 45-55 minutes.
Remove while center in still shaky.
Serve with whipped cream.
Enjoy when you need to chase some troubles away (or you're craving chocolate!)

Tacos, Ice Cream & Peace

Ahh, all the world needs: tacos, ice cream and peace! Seriously, what else does one need to be happy? With that in mind, we had a mission (in the Mission in SF) to try a fabled taco truck, a gourmet ice cream shop, and then partake in the Power to the Peaceful Festival in Golden Gate Park.
First stop: El Toyonese Taco Truck. Now, I am not normally one to purchase food from a vehicle, but Scott and I had been hearing really good things about this one, and I felt it my duty as a quasi food blogger to check it out. These trucks line Harrison St. in SF. We chose the one parked infront of Best Buy. I'm assuming its your normal taco truck menu, with tacos, burritos, tortas and quesadillas. You pick your food, then your meat, which ranges from grilled chicken, carne asada, tripe, or tongue (umm, no thanks!). I stuck with the grilled chicken torta (a Mexican sandwich), while Scott tried the carne asada burrito. It was a drizzily day, so we ate in the car...delicious! Good cheap food for a Saturday afternoon, if you're in the area, make sure you check it out.

Scott and the taco truck
Mmmmm good torta!

Our next stop was Humphry Slocombe ice cream shop on Harrison and 23rd. This place has been mentioned in just about every food magazine this summer due to their ingenious ice cream flavors (beet hibiscus anyone?). They have a few staple flavors, such as the famous "secret breakfast", composed of cornflakes and bourbon, and then the rest change daily. You seriously want to sample every flavor in the store prior to making a decision. I ended up with the McEvoy olive oil ice cream (smooth and lemony), and Scott opted for a scoop of Vietnamese Blue Bottle Coffee ice cream with a scoop of ancho chocolate (don't think I've ever tried a better chocolate ice cream, it had the essence of chocolate in it!). Other flavors of the day included Jesus Juice (red wine and coca-cola...famous drink in Spain!), salt'n'pepa, and red hot bananas.

gotta love ice cream!
Menu

After we were happily satiated with tacos and ice cream, we headed over to Golden Gate Park to meet up with Nicole for the Power to the Peaceful Festival, a free event celebrating peace with music from Alanis Morissette and Michael Franti with Spearhead. I just love all the free festivals in Golden Gate Park...what better excuse to meet up with friends, lounge on a blanket and sip wine from a water bottle! BTW, if anyone has a sigg water bottle, a whole bottle of wine conveniently fits inside =)

Me and Nicole
This guy was carrying his dog in a doggy baby bjorn!
Triple decker!

What a perfect day, only made better by coming home to soak in our new hot tub!

Wine Tasting

Sorry for the lag between posts, I haven't had much time to blog since Scott took last week off of work...I had to get used to him actually being there when I came home from work! But now I am back to my mid-week husband-less schedule, and have time to blog!
After Amy's wedding we did a little wine tasting in the Healdsburg area with my parents (and Max and Victoria hung out in the vineyards while we tasted). We tasted at Hanna (great sauvignon blanc and noir...Bordeaux blend) and Simi (love their Roseto!). I just had to post this cute picture of Max and Victoria in the vines at Hanna:

So cute!

Check out these tasting notes at Simi...the wine has "gummi bear notes"!
Mmmm, tasting a sweet dessert wine in a dark chocolate cup...heaven!

Healdsburg Wedding

My cousin Amy got married last weekend to Kris, at Madrona Manor in Healdsburg. Healdsburg is a cute quaint town in the Sonoma County wine country. I think appellation-wise it is considered Anderson Valley. The wedding was held at a 126 year old mansion surrounded by beautiful gardens. So pretty.
Scott and I went with my parents, brother Max, and his girlfriend Victoria. The ceremony was lovely in the garden, followed by cocktails on the patio, dinner on the veranda, and then dancing in the parlor of the mansion.

Amy and my Uncle Ray
Madrona Manor
Gardens
Mom and Max
The flowers were in bloom
Check out the chair Victoria found!
Looks like a magazine
Our table (there were cookies from a SF bakery in the boxes)
Kris and Amy
Scott and I
Max and Victoria
My parents towards the end of the night...enough said!

Tomato Martinis and Oyster Shooters

Last weekend I met up with my brother-in-law Jeff and his girlfriend Carolina at the Walnut Creek Yacht Club. Jeff and Carolina were in the area visiting Carolina's sister, Jessica, and her husband, Lennon (who also partook in Saturday night drinks).
We drank heirloom tomato martinis...a wonderful summer treat which Greg, the bartender, was nice enough to share the recipe for. This was the perfect accompaniment to a dozen oysters. Mmmm, I was excited to dine with Carolina since she is one of the few who will slurp oysters with me (I'm getting sick of the fried calamari...I prefer oysters any day of the week!). With 3 lone oysters remaining on our platter, Greg (bartender) suggested we try oyster shooters: place 1 oyster in a shot glass, top with bloody mary mix and either vodka or tequila...shoot it! Yummy!We also shared a bucket of clams and mussels in a fennel/sausage/tomato broth with grilled bread. Everything was delicious, and now I need to re-create that martini at home...here's a rough recipe:

Heirloom Tomato Martini
Take a thick slice of heirloom tomato and cut into quarters
Muddle the tomato at the bottom of a cocktail shaker
Add ice
Add about 1/2-1 oz Cointreau
Add 1-2 oz Hendricks gin
Add about 1/2 oz lime juice
Toss in a few basil leaves
Shake Shake Shake
Pour through a strainer into a chilled martini glass
Garnish with a lemon twist

Heirloom Tomato Panini

Here's a great late summer sandwich, which uses up a bit of the truckloads of tomatoes that seem to be appearing everywhere. All I have to say is, take advantage of the beautiful tomatoes now when you can, because come December, they will be sadly missed! To make this panini, its all about the proper layering order, you don't want vinegar or tomato juice to soak through the bread, so its important to layer each slice of bread with cheese (think of it like a raincoat for the bread!) And no worries if you don't own a panini press...I don't own one either! I use my trusty George Foreman grill, which I bought straight out of college. In fact, paninis are the only purpose my Foreman grill serves now (now that I am all grown up, I have a proper BBQ to grill my meat on). Another panini press option is to throw your sandwich in a skillet and place a foil covered brick on top of the sandwich to weight it down. Or if you own a cast iron skillet, that is also a great weight.

Heirloom Tomato Panini

2 slices bread (any kind will work here, I used Milton's Multigrain sandwich bread...but 2 slices of baguette or ciabatta will also work nicely)
1 heirloom tomato (cut into a few thick slices...you probably won't use the whole tomato)
Mozzarella cheese (a few thin slices is all you need)
3-4 good size basil leaves
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Layer 1 slice of bread with 1/2 the cheese. Next add the tomato slices to cover the bread. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar (not too much!). Add the basil leaves. Layer on the rest of the cheese and top with the second slice of bread. Cook in a panini press or in a skillet with a weight on top until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasty.
Enjoy =)
*This is a super knife for big juicy tomatoes! It is a Kyocera ceramic knife, which Scott got for his birthday from his dad. It is super sharp, and it can cut paper thin lemon slices. Apparently, ceramic knives are supposed to retain their sharp edge longer than traditional knives. So far, I am in love with this new knife!

She & Him

I know this is supposed to be a food blog, and I haven't posted a recipe for quite awhile, and I will get to that soon enough. But I really feel the need to promote a band that I love...no, not Phish...but I discovered this music because Phish played it during there setbreak at Shoreline...

She & Him
click here to here their music!

She & Him is composed of 2 members: Zooey Deschanal and M. Ward. Zooey Deschanal is better known as that girl in Elf, or that girl in 500 Days of Summer, but wow can she sing! This is my new Sunday morning music...you know, music you listen to when you laze around the house drinking coffee and making waffles (for the Vetterli's) or pancakes (for the McCarthy's). Does anyone else have Sunday morning music, or is that just me?