What isn’t Apple, audiobooks, or alcohol is probably cats.
Food and drink we’ve made or tried, restaurants we’ve eaten at, and general information about the fuel that makes us all go.
I posted more of our food photos, and Rochelle and I both wrote more commentary (Pancita’s #3 still needs more commentary, working on it). In total, five new restaurant experiences in our San Francisco Food photo series.
I posted more of our food photos, and Rochelle and I both wrote more commentary (Pancita’s #3 still needs more commentary, working on it). In total, five new restaurant experiences in our San Francisco Food photo series.
Recently some friends told us about a dinner they ate, with a famous person, that they didn’t realize was famous. Rochelle and I were deeply envious.
The other night we were eating dinner with some friends we hadn’t seen in a while, including one couple where the husband’s family lives in New York. They told a story about how they had gone to Tabla, a well-regarded NYC restaurant, with a couple they described as a documentary producer Damani had worked with in Germany, and “the producer’s wife.”
Apparently the chef kept sending dishes that weren’t on the menu, and without them being ordered. When Rochelle asked why, Sunita said something about how maybe the wife was kind of an editor for some food magazine.
Rochelle knows most of the food editors, and so she asked who it was. “Um, I think her name was Ruth…?”
“Ruth? Ruth Reichl?” Rochelle asked.
“Yes, I think that was her. Yes, that was her name.”
“You had dinner in New York City with Ruth Reichl?!?!?” I asked, astounded. Rochelle and I could not believe what we were hearing, and yes, they did have dinner with Ruth Reichl.
Who is Ruth Reichl? Only the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, and the former food critic for the New York Times, and the author of two outstanding food biographies.
There are more famous people in food — Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Alton Brown are personal favs — but not many. And there’s probably no one you’d rather go to dinner with in New York City.
Wow.
Sunday was Tommy’s tenth annual Tequilapalooza, an afternoon celebration of tequila, available only to those who have achieved a Master’s rating or better in Tommy’s tasting club. Naturally, Rochelle and I were there.
Sunday was Tommy’s tenth annual Tequilapalooza, an afternoon celebration of tequila, available only to those who have achieved a Master’s rating or better in Tommy’s Blue Agave tasting club.
Naturally, Rochelle and I were there. (And we brought friends.)
The way it works, you buy tickets in advance, and then exchange the event tickets for drink tickets. Every person gets seven drink tickets. Which means seven margaritas, or seven shots, all doubles (because that’s the way they pour at Tommy’s).
Yes, we did take a cab from the event.
Tommy’s is internationally recognized as one of the premier places on earth to drink tequila, and has been featured in Time Magazine and CNN, among other places, so it’s with great pride that we drank ourselves stupid with the Tequila Masters.
On Saturday we drove up to Copia, and attended their “Tour de France” walk-around wine tasting. There were 39 French wines in one room, and the only ones we didn’t taste were the ones they ran out of before we got there. Cost of the event? $15.
On Saturday we drove up to Copia, and attended their “Tour de France” walk-around wine tasting. There were 39 French wines in one room, and the only ones we didn’t taste were the ones they ran out of before we got there. Most wines had multiple bottles, but a few had just one, including a 1er Cru Burgundy that I am terribly sad to have missed.
36 wines in 3 hours works out to 12 tastes per hour…if you’re pacing yourself. I think many people didn’t have the stamina to go the whole distance, the room was a lot less full at the end, but we managed.
You’d think that 36 tastes would have added up to enough to make us drunk, but we were spitting (some of the time), so it was less booze than it sounds like. Of course, I’m pretty sure we were not tasting the final bottles at the same level as the first few. And we did end up going to a liquor store next door and buying $300 in wine…
All in all, a great day. I highly recommend joining Copia, or just visiting. They have a great range of programs that are definitely worth checking out. We paid $15 each to taste 36 quality imported wines, a huge bargain.
Just in time for Rochelle’s and my vacation in France (a mere few months away!), news that the low-fat, lots of grains diet may not be good for you. An article in the New York Times asks whether Dr. Atkins isn’t right after all, and we should be eating bacon double-cheeseburgers, without the bun.
Just in time for Rochelle’s and my vacation in France (a mere few months away!), news that the low-fat, lots of grains diet may not be good for you. An article in the New York Times asks whether Dr. Atkins isn’t right after all, and we should be eating bacon double-cheeseburgers, without the bun:
Willett is the de facto spokesman of the longest-running, most comprehensive diet and health studies ever performed, which have already cost upward of $100 million and include data on nearly 300,000 individuals. Those data, says Willett, clearly contradict the low-fat-is-good-health message “and the idea that all fat is bad for you; the exclusive focus on adverse effects of fat may have contributed to the obesity epidemic.”
Not that this was going to stop us from being total pigs in France. My personal goal is to eat foie gras every day I am in France. Every day.
So, the best hamburger in San Francisco is available at a place not too far from our house. It’s 1/2 pound of very high-quality beef, hand formed, and grilled to perfection by people who know that pushing down with a spatula on the patty while it’s cooking is a crime.
So, the best hamburger in San Francisco is available at a place not too far from our house. It’s 1/2 pound of very high-quality beef, hand formed, and grilled to perfection by people who know that pushing down with a spatula on the patty while it’s cooking is a crime.
They do 200 burgers one day a week, and when they run out, they’re gone. Too bad, try again next week. Their fame has spread wide and far, and they’re usually out well before we get there.
But tonight was different. I got home just before 8:00pm, and spied two burgers on the grill from across the street. I hustled over to place an order…three minutes too late. The last two burgers were those sizzling away, with claims already staked.
But when I got home a smile upon Rochelle’s face greeted me. She had gotten home a half-hour earlier. In other words, 27 minutes before they ran out. I ate my half burger, medium rare, with cheddar and chili and grilled onions, while typing this up.
And no, I am not going to tell you where this place is or what night they have burgers — you’re already eating my burgers, dammit!
Saw Spider-Man with Rochelle this morning. $14 for the tickets and $16 for the popcorn and drinks. We ate all the popcorn (two large bags). Good movie, recommended. But two full bags of popcorn was too much…
Saw Spider-Man with Rochelle this morning. $14 for the tickets and $16 for the popcorn and drinks. We ate all the popcorn (two large bags). Good movie, recommended. But two full bags of popcorn was too much…
I have said too much already…
I have said too much already…
Rochelle and I just few back from NYC, and boy are our arms tired.
Rochelle and I just returned (on Sunday) from New York City. I went for an Important Company Meeting, and Rochelle came along to torture me and rant at my co-workers. At the end of one evening, on of them said slyly to me, “Note to self: never introduce wife to co-workers…”
The most fun thing we did was go to Les Halles for dinner on Friday night, without a reservation. When we got there it was pretty crowded, but the hostess estimated it would be 35 minutes for a table for two, and suggested we wait in the bar area.
We headed for the bar, where there was one stool available. Rochelle sat down, and then I leaned into her and whispered into her ear, “It’s him.”
“Him” was Anthony Bourdain, the executive chef, and author of Kitchen Confidential, a book Rochelle and I literally fought over while we were reading it, allowing the other to take a turn reading it only with the greatest reluctance. He was sitting on the bar stool to Rochelle’s left.
After a few moments he turned and noticed us, and then offered his seat to me. I protested, not wanting to kick the chef out of his seat, but he insisted: “It’s OK, I work here.”
The best food show on the Food Network is Alton Brown’s “Good Eats”.
After many many months of yearning, begging, and filling out surveys our local cable company finally caved into us, and brought the Food Network to San Francisco. Everyone knows Emerile is the “big star” on that channel, and indeed he has many devoted fans. We’re not among them.
The best show has had quieter success. Not many people who don’t watch 2+ hours of the Food Network a day (fast forwarded) know the name Alton Brown, but if you like good food, you should.
Alton’s show, Good Eats, is part traditional cooking show, part comedy, and part Mr. Science. It’s got great writing, tells you a lot about food chemistry without being in-your-face educational, every show has a different theme, and Alton himself is tremendously engaging.
It’s the best thing since…uh, no, I can’t do it…you figure it out…
We are the Blogs. Journalism will be Assimilated. And journalist John Hiler thinks it’s for the better. (He’s right.)
John Hiler has written a great article about how weblogging is changing the face of journalism. While he uses the Borg metaphor, it’s pretty clear that he thinks the changes will be for the better.
Funnily enough, Rochelle’s had some experience with something like this. Chowhound.com, a food-oriented discussion site where Rochelle frequently participates, seems to spawn a mainstream food story every couple of weeks. For example, there was a vibrant discussion about taco trucks, with many people telling about their favorites. And sure enough, the Chronicle soon ran a story about taco trucks in the Bay Area, an article we read and enjoyed.
The best journalists credit their sources and inspiration, because it means they’ll get more of it. Right now weblogging and online communities of all types are very new, but it’s clear their impact on and integration into mainstream culture is something we’ll be noticing for some time.
We’ve tried a lot of others, and Neuhaus chocolates are the world’s best.
One of the great tragedies of my business trip to Europe was that I was in and out of Brussels so fast that I didn’t have time to buy chocolate. Rochelle and I have tried a lot of really good chocolates, and the best — by far — have been Neuhaus. Brought direct from Belgium.
Our tenant introduced us to them, when he brought them back from visiting his parents over Xmas one year. He picked us up a $5 box of chocolates in the airport as a gift. Sort of like Sees candy in SFO, except way, way better.
We tried buying some here in the US, but you can’t get the fresh cream chocolates that way, only if you buy them in Belgium. So we thought that I’d pick up about a dozen boxes while Euro-hopping, except I never got the chance.
Fortunately for me (Rochelle made me open my suitcases at the airport to see what I’d brought her, and decide whether I got a ride home or not), I managed to pick up a kilo of Neuhaus at Harrod’s in London, right before getting on the plane to come home. But they were 3 times as expensive there, so only one box for us, which is nearly exhausted now.