Grilled pears
Nutmeg caramel
Organic pistachios

View from the kitchen window

View from the living room

The happy couple

saying goodbye to Pt Reyes

Since then, Shanny has surprised me with many presents delivered in unexpected ways, as well as an awesome surprise bday dinner. However, nothing comes close to what he just did for our 5 year anniversary last Sunday.

Rewind a few months to me getting a new job in a building with a jewelry store on the ground floor. I spied a beautiful bracelet in the window that looks like a silver octopus wrapped around the wrist and I fell in love.
We went to our weekly dinner party with our friends & when I brought up the jewelry store, Jim said “Oh, they have the most amazing octopus bracelet in the window!” and I said “yes, that’s what I was going to say!”
Every morning I would say hello to the bracelet on my way up to work and one day I saw it was missing and my heart sunk. I went in to ask about it and asked if they were going to get another. She wasn’t sure but took my name and number. I told her “I just hope that whoever bought it is really excited about it.” She gave me a big grin and said “yes, the woman who got it is very happy about it” and I left thinking I would HAVE to get it right away if they get another.

Okay, back to last Sunday. We decided we wanted to go to the restaurant Gary Danko since we couldn’t pull off a weekend away, like we usually do. We joked that we were saving money this way (it’s known to rack up quite an impressive bill for a restaurant, which is why this is a joke, tho, actually quite true). Dinner was delicious* & we had a wonderful time basking in their excellent service. Just before dessert, a staff member brings out a special covered dish with rose petals under the lid, puts it in front of me & says “here’s a little something special before dessert.” I was stunned (sorry, no photo – I was overwhelmed), shy & excited when I lifted the lid to discover a box wrapped in white paper with a little black 5 on it. I turned it over and there was Shan’s note “i <3 u" I gave him a big hug then, I think, tho, it's all a bit of a blur.
I opened the box to discover the coveted octopus bracelet!

I know I gave him a big hug at this point and then showed our waiter who couldn't tell just what it is.
When I visited the bathroom (where I got to polish my boots!) I took this picture:

I am a very lucky girl. ♥

——-
* For foodies, here’s what we had:
We let them choose the wine to come with each course and I asked about not having a full glass with each of our 4 courses “because I can’t drink that much wine”. The waiter was very flexible and poured me a 1-2oz taste of each pairing and only charged me for two glasses, which was super awesome.

Amuse bouche
delicious lobster bisque w/ bits of fennel & peppers in a shallow bowl w/ an awkward spoon. I love it when the amuse is a soup served in a little cup so it’s easy to eat.
We both had a glass of bubbles, loved our own but didn’t care for each others’ choice. And that’s okay by me!

Appetizers
I had: a salad of dungeness crab, avocado, pink grapefruit, frisee & little bits of red pepper. It was delicious especially when I had a bite with all of the above items together. I LOVED my wine pairing (but forget what they all were – oops)
Shan had: pumpkin soup with dungeness crab and delicious little herbed biscuits. The crab and biscuits came out in the bowl and then the waiter poured the soup over them – deelish. He loved the viognier they served him to go with as it was a perfect fit.

Fish Course
I had: scallops that were almost cooked perfectly. I like them soft in the middle but these were probably seared for 30 seconds to long for that. They tasted great but one of the scallops was a little gritty, which I’ve never experienced before. I loved my wine pairing with this dish as well.
Shan had: lobster in a curry sauce that he thought was delicious. Another win with the wine pairing; he was served a local chardonnay.

Entree
I had: beef filet w/ some kind of marmelade and a flavored butter – it was perfect and I ate the whole thing. The filet was cooked exactly how I like it. I did find it strange that I wasn’t given a steak knife tho – my butter knife worked fine but I did have to make more effort than I wanted to. I wasn’t so into the wine pairing this time – kinda sour & too tannic.
Shan had: guinea hen breast with some amazing sausage & delicious potatoes and cabbage. He enjoyed the pinot noir they paired with this dish.

Dessert
I had: roasted pears with gingerbread and nutmeg ice cream. The pears were good but the gingerbread wasn’t spicy enough and was a little dry. The ice cream had some dry, flavorless coating on it and had minimal flavor itself. The wine pairing was my least favorite and I LOVE dessert wine, so that was a bit of a let down.
Shan had: chocolate torte that he refers to as a “snooze fest” of flavors. The shell was flavorless and the chocolate was rather mild. This time the wine pairing fell flat for both of us as he didn’t care for the “boring” porto they served.
BUT, they did send out a cute little citrus mousse cake for our anniversary, that was light and lovely, not amazing, but it made up for the others.

Rena’s Corn Muffins
Slightly adapted
(I copied and pasted her recipe and directions and edited where I changed it)

Ingredients

* 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
* 1 cup natural cane sugar
* 1 cup coarse cornmeal
* 2 tablespoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 1/4 cup whole milk
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1/2 pound (two sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 3 large eggs

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line 17 (I know, sorry) muffin cups with paper liners (or just grease the tin with some organic sunflower oil).
- Loosely measure the flours into your sifter and sift into a bowl.
- Spoon the sifted flour into your measuring cup and drag the back of a butter knife across the surface to measure (do not shake or this will increase the flour amount and make for denser muffins)
- Put the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt into a largeish mixing bowl, and whisk with a loose whisk (meaning, lots of space between the wires – we’ll need this later) to incorporate.
- In a glass 4 cup measuring cup, measure out the milk.
- Add a dollop of sour cream to get the milk line up to the 1 1/2 mark.
- Whisk together well but don’t worry about the little bits of sour cream.
- In a separate bowl, combine this milk mixture and the cooled melted butter.
- Crack the eggs into a cup or small bowl (I used the glass measuring cup), and whisk until smooth.
- Add the eggs to the wet mixture, and whisk until combined.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry (when I did this all in one pour, it made the cooled PFLOUP sound), and whisk (this is why we needed a loose whisk – it will be thick) until just blended.
- Use a 1/4 cup scoop to measure the batter into the paper liners (one scoop will fill each most of the way to the top).
- Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (I actually pulled them out without testing because they looked SO FREAKING PERFECT at 30 min mark – perfectly curved on top, with little cracks and just golden brown enough)
- Cool slightly and remove from the pan.

The paper liners come off without trying – it’s amazing.
Shannon said, “I can’t help but think of Mr. Crick.”
I said, “Who’s Mr. Crick?”
“That guy in Stranger than Fiction. I feel like he did when he at that cookie.”

These are the best corn muffins ever! Thank you Rena!!
I didn’t have a second muffin pan so I put paper liners in some ramekins and they worked out just fine. You can see here that we got a little distracted before I remembered to take a picture for you!

While I was putting them together, I discovered some unused fresh egg pasta that I got at Lucca Ravioli last week and realized it needed to be cooked asap. I’ve had fresh pasta in a plastic bag in the fridge get mouldy within two weeks. This pasta was only in the paper they wrapped it in when I bought it so it got a little dried out.
To me, fettucini needs to have a cream sauce so I set about to make the following alfredo from scratch without a recipe. It turned out really well.

Addy’s Alfredo
2 T butter
2 T unbleached all purpose flour
1 c Half & Half
1 c stock (whatever kind you use, know that you will taste it a little bit. I used Low Sodium Organic Chicken stock)
1 1/2 c shredded mixed cheeses
I used – 1/4 c fresh parmesean, 1/4 c or 1 oz cream cheese, 1/2 c monterey jack & 1/2 c cheddar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t black pepper (or to taste)
1/8 t nutmeg

- Mix the half & half and stock together and take the chill off them. You can heat them or they can be room temp – I haven’t found it makes much difference as long as they’re not cold. Set aside.
- Make a roux with the butter & flour.
- I do this by melting the butter over medium heat until it’s foaming and, using a whisk and only ever a whisk, sprinkle the flour in slowly & uniformly, until the entire thing is uniform and foamy. It’s okay, and even recommended, to let it brown a touch, but it’s more important to get everything whisked together quickly and without lumps. And, by no means, will you let it burn!
- Still over medium heat, slowly and steadily add the stock mixture in a steady stream until it’s all incorporated. You should go slowly enough that you’re able to make a consistent paste that gets thinner and thinner as you add the stock. You’ll see what I mean as you’re doing it and if you’ve never made a roux before, it might take you a couple of tries before it makes sense. But it’s SO worth it – it’s the base of so many great sauces and is really easy once you know how to do it.
- Stir with the whisk for a few minutes still over medium heat. The sauce should thicken within 3-5 minutes.
- Once it’s got a nice thickness, take it off the heat and stir in the cheese until it’s incorporated. This will thicken the sauce a bit more.
- Mix in the salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Pour onto thick, flat pasta like fettuccini or tagliarini and enjoy!

We had some left over grilled chicken so I chopped that up and added it with 1/2 a bag of frozen peas and it was quite a treat.

however, i had such a great experience at nopa last night, that i decided to pop my proverbial restaurant review cherry here.

for months now i’ve been seeing my friend violet’s tweets about going to nopa, her photos of things like burgers and bacon brittle, and hearing her tell me what a great spot it is.
i even started following her friend richie on twitter because of her post where he, i assume, sent her home with a burger bun she’d requested be held.
he’s got a fun blog with a question of the week, observations/thoughts, quotes from the kitchen (my personal favorite segment) and photos.

to get a little tangential, i must say that following some people’s blogs and twitter streams is like happily running into someone often at parties or “the regular spot” (wherever that may be for you – the library, a bar, the back of the bike repair shop, your local tattoo parlor): you feel like you kind of know them, you have easy things to talk about, and you want to know them more and have more things to talk about.

that said, when i walked into nopa with my man & no reservation and the hostess smiled at me and offered the chef’s counter, i was excited to finally meet richie of linecook fame and get to watch some of that quoted hilarity in action.

this is the finishing counter before the dishes get taken to the tables. I wanted to get a shot of six plates of beautifully seared halibut but I was too slow on the draw, and they’re super fast on the delivery. instead, I caught a burger with a side of greens going out with a burger with a different kind of delicious – fries. I’m sad I didn’t try the greens… I do love greens. I’m jealous.

It was so much fun to watch the plates get finished here – so much olive oil, pepper, and basil aoli getting poured, cracked and dished!

when we walked up to the counter, the team made courteous nods and I said to richie (I recognized him from his blog photos) “we’re twitter friends” and he and Ponder said “all right!” or “oh cool!” or something like that (now I’m following him too…) Ponder pointed someone out to me but it was a little loud and I thought he was telling me the foursquare mayor was there but he was telling me that sean penn was there (which I found out tonight in perusing tweets about nopa from yesterday). i’m really glad I didn’t hear him correctly or I would have been irritatingly star struck and might have missed some of the joy I got from my meal and observations.

Okay, enough jibber jabber. Here’s my list of favorite things:

- i don’t spend much time or money in upscale restaurants, but like to, a lot. i tend to feel a bit like a country bumpkin in there – especially when the amuse bouche arrives. I tend to get overly enthusiastic about surprise bites.
last night was no exception but it was about the salt. the yummy little salad on a crouton was served with a little finger bowl of malden sea salt.
i’ve heard of it, read about it and known of its existence for a while but have never been exposed to it in its raw form like that.
it’s beautiful! little tiny square crystals of salt. we played with those until our drinks came.

- i really liked my white manhattan – white whisky is really sexy – strong like, um, brown (?) whisky, but much fresher. [I'll have to ask our friend Camper over at Alcademics about white vs brown/aged/whatever it's called whisky.]

- we ordered burgers cooked differently – mine medium, his medium rare. and whaddya know, mine was done a touch more than his and had plenty of pink. i guess i don’t order the burger in upscale restaurants very much (that just made me think of that scene in the Nanny Diaries – no linking – if you’ve seen it, you know. if not, carry on and forget I even brought it up) but having the burgers turn out exactly right was unprecedented and made me happy. um. I think my country bumpkin in showing…

- the corn on the cob cooked in and smothered by house made basil aoli was freakin’ delish! cooking corn in a hot oven rather than steaming/boiling is a really wonderful way to make it.
and what a treat to have a little something sent out by the kitchen when I’ve only just met them! thanks guys!

- i love pudding.
and custard.
and panna cotta.
all things egg/milk/sugar/gelatin/cooked.
love them.
but, i usually avoid creme brulee because the few times I’ve had it, the predominant flavor was sterno, which I always attributed to the pastry chef holding the torch too close to the sugar, burning it quickly, rather than using the less hot tho less sterno-y front of the flame for a touch longer.
anyway, possibly flawed theories aside, I couldn’t resist burned honey creme brulee and figured I’d take a chance.
and I’m so glad I did – not a whif of sterno could be smelt and that dessert was out of hand (outta hand!).
burned honey – whoda thunk it?
the marinated strawberry on top was nice – a few more would have been even better!
I could have done without the short bread that accompanied – I’ve never been much of a fan of dry, crumbly sweet things. I save my dry crumbly for aged cheese. however, as far as shortbread goes, it was quite nice – great tooth & flavor, just not my thing.

- shan got the fruit galette with chevre ice cream and both were perfect. the ice cream was just the right amount of goaty, sour and sweet. and the galette was basically that perfect mix of sweet, light, flaky crust and fruit.

- my first sip of their house made earl grey cream liquor was stupendous.
subsequent sips wished for less coffee flavor and more bergamot. I mean, I’m a huge fan of earl grey and was expecting to be given a lot of bergamot and tea flavor. when our waitress told us of the ingredients (I think she said it had rum, tequila, coffee, earl grey and lots of other things) I was suprised by the addition of coffee but figured they knew what was up.
call me traditionalist but I want my tea based things to taste of tea, not it’s uppity younger cousin. (my mouth loves coffee but my stomach does not so I’m a bit bitter – much like the coffee I favor but cannot drink)

Here you see my earl grey cream liquor and three cooks – Ponder (grill master), Linecook (Richie) (sous master) and the oven master whose name I didn’t catch. The oven master had an awesome flatbread dough rolling technique that was fascinating to watch. He cranked out order after order of that flatbread and it was all made exactly the same. I know that’s how it’s done but it’s rare to get to watch it without being a part of the bustling kitchen stuff (I was a food service person for a few years in my youth – a chef once told me to “get out. get out while you still can!” and I took his advice and got into administrative assisting instead. a similar tho less smelly and less delicious profession.)

- the typeography of their menus was super fun but hard to photograph because it was curvy justified. here’s a section of the dessert menu – the digestifs and coffee/tea. Yum!

When we left we were so very satisfied and happy. My experience was everything I’d been hoping for and I’m looking forward to going back as the seasons and thus, the menu offerings, change a bit. We were so full and sleepy that Shan took a lil nap while we waited in the bus stop – you can see the dining room thru the glass so know that it’s an easy spot to get to and from! Lots of public transportation options!

Bonne appetite readers!
Merci nopa!

We were awakened at 10am to get ready for the day. Markus showed us an English blog review (sorry no link right now) of the resaurant in Malaga that we were being surprised with. Hundreds of Spaniards all sit under an awning while watiers walk around shouting out what they’re carrying. We see something we like and wave them to our table. They charge us by the size of the plates on the table.
We played Fire for three or four hours while picking at all different kinds of sea food. It was loud and beautiful and dreamy – totally surrounded by locals at their special Suntag meal we were able to blend right in.
Well, except that one time that Markus got a little excited about winning a round of Fire by yelling “FIRE!” a bit too loud and the few tables around us looked at us alarmedly. We just motioned to them that he was a bit crazy and they nodded in agreement and carried on with their eating.

Now we’re in for the evening and looking forward to more adventures tomorrow – perhaps the Picasso museum in Malaga!

Did I mention the pureed watermelon and vodka? We’re still drinking it – what a delicioso treat!

Today we went to the local market where I got myself a maxi dress (thanks for the suggestion Nicole!) for only €10 because of Shannon’s mad negotiation skills.
“How much for the dress?”
“€15″
“Okay, Gracias.” puts dress back on rack.
The shop keeper asks me “You like it?”
I say “Yes” and he says, “Okay, €10″

It was hot and breezy at the market and many of the goods looked to me like things one finds in most of these markets: cheap t shirts, silver jewelry and lots of clothing and scarves made in India. But, the Spanish-ness that I noticed were leather goods like bags and shoes, pottery including house numbers and placards as well as dishes and fun clothing (like the dress i got).

The market closed for siesta around 3 and we went home to the Marbella Harbor for our first Paella. Due to Shanny’s fierce allergy to shellfish, we got one with only shimp and fish and it was amazing. M & M’s was filled with shellfish, shrimp and fish and they loved it.
We walked around after eating and got to see the ritzy rich in Marbella doing their thing. They looked so fancy in their expensive labels. Markus had to go into the electronics store to see the iPhone 3G that they apparetly had unlocked and for a mere €1400 it could have been his. That’s almost $2000! We didn’t believe that it was ulocked but without a SIM card to test it ourselves, there was no way to prove it. I had mine with me but didn’t want to deal with them using my SIM.

After this we wandered back to the car and headed home for the evening. We had pureed watermelon with vodka while playing cards. Markie and Marie had a suprise for us in the morning and we had to hit the hay early so around 1am we all fell into our beds.

Shortly after that, we went home for siesta, and then back out for an early dinner at 9pm. More pimientos and boquerones came to the table – yums! Also sizzling bowls of shrimp in a garlic butter broth – heaven! I had sole in champagne sauce which was flavorful and lovely, Shannon had the cod in chef’s special sauce while Markie and Marie got thier favorite dishes – grilled fish variety and fried fish variety, respectively. Marie’s was definitely the most interesting looking – pieces and whole fishes fried and piled high on her plate. Shanny’s cod was very salty – at first we thought it was the sauce but it was the fish itself! This is not the cod of my youth time visits to Cape Cod – no no. But when we were used to it, it tasted of the sea and the sauce was spiced just right to counter the salt.

When we returned home, we melted into bed with happy, full bellies, and finally recovered from our hangover a la bienvenu a espana.

It was 4:30 in the afternoon and it felt like morning to me, I was ready for the day! Shannon, however, was very tired as neither of us were able to sleep at all on either of our flights, or during layover. Markus drove us to Marbella in the jeep with the back window open, my hair was flying all over the place and I was smiling ear to ear to finally be in Europe. Fifteen minutes into our drive, Shanny is animated and also grinning wildly. The start of the end of jet lag!
After driving on the costal freeway and looking at the Mediterranean Sea for my first time, we turned up the hill and navigated narrow, twisty, curvy side streets with white houses, palm trees (just like in California), and tall green hedges that provide a lovely genteel property deliniation. We drive all the way to the end of the street and there was the gate of the house. Markus honked and the dog next door barked and then Marie greeted us with champagne and her big beautiful smile. We drank our champagne in the salt water pool as we caught up and continued smiling and laughing.

The afternoon faded slowly and while we settled ourselves into our rooms our wonderful hosts made us a delicious Spanish dinner. There were two kinds of sauteed peppers: pimientos julienned and sauteed are much like our bell peppers and pimientos de padron are typically sauteed whole, a lovely dark green pepper about the size of a jalepeno and slightly bitter rather than spicy. There was also boquerones, a Spanish sardine in olive oil and garlic. I’ve not been exposed to the “little fish” very much and have had an aversion in the past, mostly because of that cartoon can with the key that rolls back the top. These, however, are delicious and delicate and lovely on sliced baguette with tomato. And the piece de resistance was a whole fish baked in salt. Markus put three or four cups of very coarse sea salt in the pan, put the fish on top and then covered it in salt to bake for 30 min or so. Holy yum. I’m excited to get to know this Spanish delicacy very well.
In effort to make sure we weren’t “jet laggers,” Markie and Marie plied us with mucho alcohol. In the jeep coming from the airport, I was practicing saying “Mi gustaria una cupa de sangria” (I would like a glass of sangria) so after the champange was finito, Marcus offered us tinto verano, a quick sangria made with red wine and lemon soda and served over ice that is muy buen. Then there was a delicioso, fruity and floral sauvignon blanc with dinner and finally, when the wine was gone and the table cleared, gin and tonics.
We talked about American politics and television, made plans for the week, Markus and Shannon teased each other while Marie and I laughed, Shannon lost a bet because he was the last into the pool and then we walked to the beach and I swam in the lovely Mediterranean Sea for the first time. We made it without sleeping until 4 or 5am and all awoke just after 11am badly in need of water and advil but ready to start the day – kein jet lag! Mission accomplished!

2. Yesterday I whacked my arm on the counter at work (again) and promptly put arnica cream on it and took some arnica pills. A few hours later, I did the arnica again. Then I went home and ate lots of fresh pineapple.
Arnica and the bromine in pineapple are supposed to keep bruises from discoloring and hurting.
Today, the bruise is half what it was the last time I whacked my arm into the counter and it doesn’t hurt at all. Yay for homeopathy and healing with foods!

3. The fresh pineapple I ate last night was AMAZING! We ate a quarter of it raw and put the rest of it into the braised chicken broth to cook and add it’s flavor. Fresh pineapple cooked with chicken is really tasty – a completely different fruit than the common canned pineapple one finds in chinese food and on Hawaiian pizza. YUM!
The chicken turned out amazingly too!

4. We have two pints of ben and jerry’s in the freezer waiting to be devoured. Call me over 30 but I’m so excited for ice cream and a DVD tonight.

On Sunday, we went to Baker Beach

View Larger Map
and grumbled at the Blue Angels flexing their military muscle all over our supposed-to-be quiet day. Eventually, they landed and we were able to take a nap that left us hungry.
Hungry and near Clement Street


(which might as well be China Town West here in San Francisco) meant that we were on a hunt for noodles. Part of the hunt included trying to find noodles to cook at home.

And boy did we find them! The May Wah Supermarket made our night. We got oodles of noodles, veggies, soy milk, tea, a wok cleaning brush, some nice porcelain soup spoons, lots of different versions of bean paste filled cookies, a small bottle of sake and one small can of basil seed drink.

Below, you’ll see two photos (I have SUCH a hard time deciding!!) of me and the latter two Asian market finds.

Ahh, basil seed drink. I was pretty nervous to try this stuff, hence the drink not quite hitting my mouth.¹

Mmm, nigori sake in a pretty pink bottle. It was a half bottle so my huge hand is actually not huge.

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¹Once he did it…

…I couldn’t back down!

It’s actually filled with these little gelatinously coated black seeds that taste vaguely of basil. The juice that they float inside tastes mildly of banana flavoring and the fun part was chomping down on the strange little seeds – it was easier to do so when only a small mouthful is ingested at a time.

The technique of filling the mouth with a big gulp and then trying to catch the seeds between the teeth…

…didn’t work so well.