Password please...

My college friend Devon came to town last week on her whirlwind tour of North America (she stopped in Portland, SF, and Oklahoma City). I had the privilege of seeing her 2 nights in a row! So much fun seeing her, I don't think we have seen eachother since my wedding (is that right?).
She flew in on a Wednesday night, and her friend Leslie whisked her from the airport to my house for dinner. I made a kabocha squash, pear, & ginger soup. Delicious. Somehow, I took pictures of the raw products, but none of the completed soup (but dev has those pics..maybe she'll post them?).
We drank a Miner viogner with our soup, and had some yummy apple cake that Leslie made for dessert (although we were stuffed, and I have to say the apple cake was even better the next morning with my coffee!). I can't believe that Devon was in town, and I forgot to show her my wedding album! I guess she needs to schedule another trip out just for that =)

The next day, I met up with Devon and Leslie in SF after work. We found a cute restaurant in the Mission called Bar Tartine, and dined on a wonderful beet and persimmon salad, gnocchi with nettles, and Christopher Lee's sausage (haha, sounds dirty...really though, I wasn't cheating on Scott....Christopher Lee is a chef from the now closed restaurant Eccolo in Berkeley who now makes charcuteries...it was a delicious fennel sausage.) After dinner, Leslie and I surprised Devon with drinks at Bourbon & Branch, a speakeasy. Leslie had a special password emailed to her that we needed to get in. So we knocked on the unmarked door, were asked for the password , and said "stilts". Once that magic word was uttered, the door opened and we were allowed to enter. Bourbon & Branch has a whole list of rules, my favorite being "Don't even think of asking for a Cosmo". We did break the rule of "Please speak easy", and the bar boy straight out of Newsies had to ask to to speak softer (seriously, never been told to quiet down at a bar!).

No pictures allowed inside, so I stole this off the website: Bourbon & Branch

But the place is very cool, it was a real speakeasy during prohibition, complete with secret tunnel exits and all. The actual speakeasy is under the bar of today, and our waitress was very secretive on revealing how and if there is access to it. What a fun place for drinks!

Infront of the bar, totally forgot my camera, so I stole this one from Leslie's Blog. Me, Devon, Leslie & Ali

Hmmm, it appears that Dev's whole SF visit revolved around food and drinks...that must be why we're friends! So great seeing you dev =)

Weekend Frittata

While Scott creates such breakfast feasts as crabcake benedict and coconut french toast, I have taken it upon myself to master the frittata.

Turkey, onion, pepper frittata with fresh chives

My breakfast speciality is not only light years healthier than Scott's, but it is also something you can make with whatever happens to be in your refrigerator. I love making my frittatas to reflect the season; in the summer I fill it with fresh tomatoes and basil, and in the winter I use chard and kale. You can also use meat and cheese, but I often omit those when I am trying to cook healthy. Frittatas are also a great way to get a bunch of veggies into your breakfast, it fills you up and gets you ready for whatever the weekend will bring! This is a very loose recipe, as there really are no rules in making this:

Holly's Frittata

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Chop and saute whatever veggies you have on hand in a frying pan with oil over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Add meat of choice if desired.
3. Beat 1 egg per person in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add fresh chopped herb of choice (if available).
4. Add eggs to veggies in the frying pan. Do not stir. Let mixture cook on the bottom (if you are making a big frittata, this might take awhile, if it is a small one, this only takes a few minutes).
5. Once the bottom and sides are cooked (the top will still be soupy), sprinkle with your cheese of choice and pop in the broiler to finish cooking the top. It is done when the egg mixture is firm (only a few minutes for a small, longer for a large one)
6. Slice like a pizza and serve.
Enjoy =)
Here are some frittata ideas:
Apple sausage, tomato, leek, thyme, gruyere cheese
Fennel, carrot, pepper, basil, goat cheese
Ham, greens, feta cheese
Whatever sounds good...possibilities are endless!

Phish Halloween

Just got home from camping at a 3 day Phish festival in Indio (near Palm Springs). IT was toasty out there, but even with the heat, we managed to catch 8 sets of Phish (I know, lots of music, but lots of fun!).
We met up with 20 or so of our Phish buddies, set up camp, and enjoyed the weekend. Our camp was complete with a couch and chair set, bar, pinata, and even a ceiling, walls, and carpet (we camp in style!). Too bad the bathrooms at the campsite did not match our style...but no worries, we found a better bathroom at the concert grounds (air-conditioning, locking doors, flushable toilets, mirrors, sinks...it was heaven, and so we dubbed it VIP suite).
So here is my long awaited costume: green scarf, spicy, goes with gumbo...

TABASCO

I don't have a full body picture, but I wore a red tunic with the tabasco label on front, and the ingredient label on the back (thanks to Leslie for the lesson on T-shirt transfers!). I also wore the green scarf as the bottle neck, and I made a cute hat that looked like the bottle cap, but it got unglued in the hot Indio heat, so I couldn't wear it.
Scott was gumbo, which also happens to be the name of a Phish song. He had an apron with gumbo ingredients velcro-ed all over (crabs, bell peppers, onions, chili peppers), and wore a bunch of mardi-gras beads.