spicetart

How I got tricked into getting an Oval Grill Pan.

So I asked for a Le Creuset 10" Grill Pan for Christmas and got a lovely Fry Pan which I would have liked as well but, I really wanted the Grill Pan.  So off to Williams Sonoma I go, to return the lovely Fry Pan for a lovely Grill Pan.  Alas, the only non-yellow (it's actually called "Dijon". har.) Grill Pan in the entire store is a display pan with a "cosmetic flaw", basically a small scratch on the inside top edge.  It doesn't look that bad to me or Chris and I get 10% off, so I figure, good enough.  I bought some other stuff so the cashier lady adds it all up, makes mistakes 3 times and does it all over again 3 times, and the final amount seems like more than it ought to be.  It appears that the lady has taken the 10% off the return cost.  So instead of getting 10% off, I pay 10%.  By this point, the lady and I and Chris are all thoroughly confused and I have no desire to stay in there for another minute, I just want my Grill Pan and my fancy salsa and my super heat resistant red spatulas and I want to go home.  So we get home, I'm all ready to grill up some sausage and I take a better look at my beautiful new Grill Pan.  Oops, is that "cosmetic flaw" really a crack all the way through the handle side of the pan?  Argh.

Back to Williams Sonoma we go, only now they don't even have the ugly yellow ("Dijon") Grill Pans, they have NO Grill Pans, I'd have to go to Embarcadero or Palo Alto to get one, because apparently they are discontinuing that line or something, oh, I know, would you like this ugly oval Grill Pan that costs less than the square one (hence, worse, right?) and there's only one left so it must be good, and you even get more money back.  Hmmm...so ok, fine, I want this Grill Pan ordeal over and I want to grill some turkey burglars and oval is fine I think and I should get $20 back.  But I only get $11.00 back because of that 10% "discount" that I already received (paid) and the taxes I paid twice and oh hell, just take a pint of blood and all my love for going to Williams Sonoma and looking at all that STUFF that I NEED and let me take my ugly Grill Pan that was cheaper and was the only one cause no one wanted it.  I really should have just gotten the yellow, excuse me, Dijon, because now, as it turns out, of course, I actually like that color.

And that's how I got tricked into getting an Oval Grill Pan.

The Girl Scouts Are Pissing Me Off

Warning! Somewhat heated rant about Girl Scout Cookies below.

I was reminded this week that Girl Scout cookie season is upon us, and I took a moment to reminisce back to the days when REAL Girl Scouts trudged through the Oakland Hills with dozens of boxes of cookies, knocking on strangers doors in the hopes of winning the special prizes and getting the fancy patch for my sash, uphill both ways in the snow, yada yada yada.

These days, Girl Scouts are soft, using mom and dad and their office connections to sell cookies, using order forms and preordering by email (!). Why in my day...grumble, grumble, grumble, but I digress. I decided to take a look at the Girl Scout’s website and see what else has changed in the 10 (oh fine, 20) years since I was a Scout.

The Girl Scouts apparently use two different cookie manufacturers, ABC/Interbake Foods and Little Brownie Bakers, which make many of the same cookies, just under different names. Three types of cookies are mandatory: Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwich/Do-si-dos and Shortbread/Trefoils, the other five cookies are up to the manufacture to decide. Among the many things that these manufacturers have in common is the evil use of the toxtacular substance lovingly labeled vegetable shortening (contains one or more of the following partially hydrogenated oils: palm kernel, soybean, palm). That’s right food lovers, TRANS FATS IN EVERY BITE! Yum.

Let’s put this down to food pet peeve and general angry irritation #1. The use of this cheap and plentiful ingredient has taken over the snacking world. I’m a crazy, annoying label reader, I read the label of every item of food that has one, I seek out foods without this poison, and I can tell you that they are ever decreasing. Every single cookie sold by the Girl Scouts contains trans fats. Every single one. The worst offenders? Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos and Animal Treasures (yea! for the children!) with 2g of trans fat per 2-3 cookie serving. The less worst offenders? Samoas (aka Caramel DeLites), Tagalongs and Peanut Butter Patties (listed as having 0g trans fat yet partially hydrogenated oil is still listed as an ingredient because if a product has less than .5 grams of trans fats it does not need to be listed as having ANY trans fats EVEN THOUGH the Recommended Daily Allowance of trans fats is, like, ZERO due to it being, well, toxic poison and NO amount of toxic poison is really good for you at all, now is it?)

Bitter? Angry? Me? No. Not at all. Based on the Girl Scout Purpose statement, ("The Purpose of Girl Scouting is to inspire girls with the highest ideals of character, conduct, patriotism, and service that they may become happy and resourceful citizens" - watch Starship Troopers much? [shudder]), one might believe that the health and well being of these and other happy citizens is first and foremost. Apparently, not. Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-Girl Scout, I am just anti poisoning the citizens of this great nation. This year, I’m going to have to just say NO to the little Scouts and their delicious cookies full of evil.

Touch My Monkey - WBW 5: Wacky Named Wine

I had been on the lookout for a wacky label for Wine Blogging Wednesday 5, hosted by chez pim, and since Derek stole (I jest) my original selection, Woop Woop, I decided to write about my new favorite drinkable white, 2004 Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand.

Monkey Bay caught my eye with the fantastic, shining colors, Maori graphics, and the great swinging green monkey! This is a wine that had great promise, I could tell, promise of a fantastic wine find or promise of great, gimmicky suckage.

Fortunately for me, this $10 Sauvignon Blanc, was quite delicious. Zesty and bright, I tasted flavors of lemongrass and green apple.  It is perfect for a everyday drinking white and its a wine "that you can bring to a party, and it it'll make you look good, but you won't be devastated if you don't get any" (WOW)  I really enjoyed it and will buy it again. As it turns out, the only place to find it in California is Whole Foods, so I guess I know where to get the best, and only, price for it. Check it out.

Eat my meat

For Guillermo, who once proclaimed "I am going home to eat my meat."

After an afternoon of wine tasting, it seemed appropriate to eat some steak.  I had gotten a good tip from Chowhound that Coles Chop House was a great place to go and sit at the bar and eat some food. 

We sat at the big, wooden bar because we didn't have reservations (duh).  The bartender was very knowledgeable and professional, and made a great Mai-tini (tasted like a Mai Tai) for my friend, and a fancy glass-o-juice for me.  The menu offered many meat options, mostly a la carte (which I don't get, $39 for a steak and I don't get a potato?) and then many sides.  We were advised that the sides were large enough to share so we ordered two (huge) baked potatoes and some Broccoli with Hollandaise (just ok) to accompany one New York Steak (16oz, $39), one Rib Eye (16 oz, $26) and one Fillet Mignon (10 oz, $31).  Chris and I shared a VERY mediocre Caesar salad, while Gloria enjoyed a very tasty Warm Spinach Salad with Pears and Apple Wood Smoked Bacon Vinaigrette.  We also ordered a bottle of the lovely 2002 Ridge Zinfandel, Lytton Springs, which is one of Chris's favorite. 

I tasted all three steaks and thought the New York Steak the best, and most flavorful, though I am starting to discover that I am getting kind of grossed out by eating a big piece of beef, and I barely touched my Rib Eye, which is usually my favorite cut.  Basically, the less I can actually taste COW the happier I am.  Besides my newest food weirdness, both the New York and Fillet Mignon were excellent and recommended.

This was a nice, traditional place to visit, especially for steak lovers (men).  Do make a reservation, however, and avoid the Caesar salad.  Also take a moment to appreciate the beautiful building itself, which, according to their website, "the Williams building was the first commercial block constructed north of the Napa Creek...In 1897, the Williams Building...was the scene of the last public execution held in California. That day, Billy Roe was hanged for murdering Lucina Greenwood of Napa in 1891." 

Wow!  Meat, wine, history and public executions!  Does it get any better?

Coles Chop House
1122 Main St
Napa, CA 94559
Tel: (707) 224-6328

IMBB 11: Beans, beans the well-you-know

Garbanzo beans are easily my preferred bean, my go-to bean, if you will.  Two of my favorite standby dinners use this bean so I thought it was time to branch out a bit and try something new.  The result: Chick-pea Tomato Stew with Moroccan Flavors.

My brief research on the Garbanzo informed me that they are the most widely consumed legume in the world.  Right on world!  The Latin name for garbanzo beans, Cicer arietinum, means “small ram,” which, if you check out its shape, the garbanzo resembles a ram's head.  Somewhat.  At least, that's what I read.  Garbanzos are a member of the Pea family (Fabaceae) and have a multitude of names, chick pea, ceci (Italy), Egyptian pea, Bengal gram, Kichererbse (Germany), and revithia (Greece).  The English name chickpea comes from the French chiche, which comes from the Latin cicer.  Huh.  All this AND they are yummy!

My stew turned out pretty good, but got way better by the next day, I served it over whole wheat couscous with which it was perfectly paired.  Based on a recipe on Epicurious, I caramelized 3 onions, added a pound of cooked beans, tomatoes, raisins, cinnamon stick, coriander, cumin, chicken stock and preserved lemon (I cheated since I had none and used softened, salted lemon peel - SO not the same), let it cook for about an hour and then added a ton of fresh spinach.  It was good, but only elicited a 6 from Chris, it may have increased to a 7 by the next day however.  It was a great, nutritious meal and I'm freezing the rest and seeing how it fares.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting my first IMBB!

Ode on A Reservation at The French Laundry

Thomas Keller, you’re such a tease,
And as I hear it, the bee’s knees.
A reservation will I secure?
To TFL will you procure
A taste sensation, a real feast,
Veggies, truffles and roast beast?
Favas, foie-gras and tartare,
To have all this, we’ll travel way far.

What is that? What did I hear?
For 6 people, we may appear?
In two-thousand five, one six of March?
The dress comes out and shirts with starch!
Oh Joy, Oh Joy! I am complete!
How did we manage such a feat?!
The countdown starts, 54 to go,
Then look for me to say Hello!

Radishes and Storm Troopers

I read about the release of Google's Picasa 2 and wondered, "why am I not doing this?", so an easy download later and I got every picture on my entire hardrive into folders by date.  What would have taken me days Picasa did in 2 minutes. It also found some old pictures that I had not seen for a while, like Chris as a Storm Trooper and the farmer's market watermelon radishes that I think are one of the prettiest vegetables ever.

Sam at Becks and Posh also wrote about this I see, so I know I'm using a good product. You've really got to love Google and the stuff those folks are doing.

Hot or Not

I finally got around to checking out my January Bon Appetit, and was pleased to see that Food Blogging is HOT according to page 20.  For once, I'm actually doing something while it's hot rather than one or two years after.  Although, this article was likley mentioned in Food Blogs nationwide a month ago when the January issue first came out, but better late than never.

The short article mentions Saute Wednesday, a Bay Area blog I read regularly that is really fantastic and features some great writing about unique topics (something to strive towards), as well as Vinography, another Bay Area blog, this one about wine, that blows me away with all the incredibly detailed information about wine and wine events of all sorts.

I'm usually not a fan of the whole Hot-or-Not, In-or-Out kind of thinking, but in this case since I'm HOT (WOOT! WOOT!), I'm ok with it...

Eat Much?

Today I was planning on working but recovering after a gluttonous weekend was much needed.  But what a wonderful weekend it was.

FRIDAY

We met some friends at Zibibbo (by the same folks at Lulu in SF), a lovely Mediterranean restaurant in Palo Alto that was new to me. The food was pretty good but the wine list! It was awesometastic. 2oz tastes of lots of stuff that could also be purchased by the glass (6oz) or a pichet (9oz). I considered for a moment just saying "Pour me a taste of every wine on this page" since so many were new to me but alas, I settled just one. Do I remember what? No, so don't ask. Apparently, Zibibbo has won the Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator magazine. I concur!

For dinner we had:

Fresh Pulled Bocconcini with Chilies and Basil
Housemade Salumi (hey, that's how they spelled it)
“Israeli Cigars”: Crispy Phyllo filled with Potatoes, Caramelized Onion and Chives
Grilled Chicken Skewers with Feta Cheese and Pickled Red Onion
Charcuterie Plate with House Cured Meats, Cornichon, Mustard and Baguette
Pizza with Piquillo Peppers, Mozzarella Cheese, and Arugula
Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Barley and Sage
Broccoli with Mornay Sauce

The food was pretty good, the Israeli Cigars and Brussels Sprouts were my favorites. The bill came to about $300 including two bottles of wine and cocktails for 4 folks. The restaurant design is gorgeous, the web site describes just one room with phrases such as "beautifully lit" "surrounded by bougainvillea and olive trees" "bubbling fountain" "roaring fireplace" "coziness" "arbor-covered"...you get the picture.

SATURDAY

So Gloria, Chris and I spent a lovely afternoon at Copia for the Taste of Sonoma which featured more than 70 vintners. Holy crap! We did not, however, attempt to taste them all, unlike the last time we went to Copia for the Taste of Santa Cruz Mountains.  Let us just say that the delicious Trout Almondine that was consumed later at Bouchon is somewhat of a blur. But I digress.

Taste of Sonoma is a walk around wine tasting on both levels of Copia and it was packed. We had to stand in line at some tables to taste, I almost would suggest that they limit the number of tickets sold lest I knock someone out...Despite that, we enjoyed ourselves immensely and found a couple of real treats out of the bunch, namely:

Copeland Creek 2001 Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast - made by jack-of-all-trades Don Baumhefner
Lancaster Estate 2001 Red Wine, Alexander Valley - it must be good 'cause Chris grew up practically next door.
Woodenhead 2002 Pinot Noir, Elk Prairie Vineyard, Humboldt County - yummmmalicious AND we scored a couple of bottles of 2002 Braccialini Vineyards Zinfandel, which we have yet to try.
Hanzell 2000 Pinot Noir, Hanzell Vineyards, Sonoma Valley - My favorite of the day, like a cherry danish.

See a theme? I guess me likes me some Pinot Noir. Since I was driving, I had to be selective about what I drank, lest a repeat performance at Bouchon. But I digress.

We also were treated to snacks by the lovely and talented Sheana Davis, who had a beautiful and tasty display of cheeses: Vella Cheese Company Toma (YUM), Achadinha Cheese Company Broncha, and Laura Chenel Chevre with breads and a Winter Cherry and Currant compote. The Toma was to die for and I always love fresh chevre. The chevre had a nice sage honey over it which was at times overpowering and too sweet. But all this was gratis which means, I'm not complaining! We also got treated to some pate and mini cream brulees, which rocked, from The Girl and the Fig. They also brought along tastes of their vinegars and sauces, can you say GRUB? The Fig and Port Vinaigrette was so good, I now have to go buy some. I hear they have it at the Pasta Shop...and maybe I'll have to go check out the restaurant some day soon.

All and all, it was a beautiful day, so we also spent some time outside in the amazing gardens. I love the food sculptures that decorate the outdoors of Copia, so much that I took pictures! See the day here.

BORED YET??

SUNDAY

Short and sweet, a lovely little breakfast at Oliveto with Chris and Mom.  I have to recommend the pizza with an egg and pancetta. All the pastries looked yum as well, as did the prosciutto and toast. I have been to the cafe many times over the years for a pizza and a glass of wine, or for a latte, but had never been for breakfast. It was a treat so go for breakfast! That's it!

Tarte Tatin Twice Upside Down

This is a story of great joy and great tragedy.

I volunteered to make dessert for a dinner at my mother's where she had some relatives that I had never met coming over (yeah, a real tight family we are).  I figured if I couldn't think of anything to make, I can always whip up the old standby, Pumpkin Cheesecake.  But we were having pasta so I thought something lighter, maybe with fruit, would be nice.

I scoured my recent magazines and came upon a recipe for a Tarte Tatin.  Bear in mind, I don't bake.  Breakfast, lunch dinner, ok.  Dessert, bread, cakes? No. But I figured, what's the worse that can happen? It can turn out all wrong and I'll buy some ice cream and I'll be the better for having tried.

I peeled and cut the apples, made the butter and sugar syrup, and put the apples the syrup in a circle (I really squished them all in like the recipe said - amazing how recipes can be right) and away we went. It just got better and better, and despite a brief wrassle to roll out the dough (not being a baker, I don't have a rolling pin, so a bottle of Ravenswood Zin had to do), it was as easy as, well, pie:

Anyhoo, the pictures show the progress:

I was beside myself with joy. I baked something that had a French name and it didn't suck!  As you can see, the bottom (top?) is a little brown so I figure I must have cooked the apples too long in the syrup and it went past amber to slightly burnt.  So when I went to turn it over, it looked beautiful but a little dark. Still, it looked lovely to me and Chris said it smelled great, so I win.

Off to dinner in Oakland we go, off to Mom's to show off my fancy dessert.  I was even prepared to whip up some cream.

Needless to say, my pride and joy never made it to the house. Correction. It made it to the front steps and then it went inside but not after it had picked up a little of the lovely Oakland Hills. Yes. The piece-of-shit (I'm not bitter) cake carrier sort of shifted and somehow out came my tart and, of course, landed perfectly upside down on the steps. Sure it was edible. If you like pieces of pine needle, gravel and plate, that is. Yummmy.

I was a TAD peeved. But then I had to remind myself of how good I have it, I get to see my family tonight, they didn't get taken away by a tsunami, so if this is the worst thing that happens all year, I'm doing pretty damn good.

So I shall try again. But this time, that thing is staying in my hands the whole way to the table.

Posting in 2005

Ok, so a New Years Resolution?  Post in your blog, Molly.  Sheesh.

I have also resolved to not spoil my dining experiences by pulling out my camera, so I will just have to attempt to describe my meals without pics.  The exception was this:

A Chocolate Toffee Cake from heaven that we had for Chris's birthday dinner at Boulevard.  I love that cute little Happy Birthday sign they put in there, very nice and it tastes better than 5 waiters singing to you.

And then we also had:

The ohmygod best ever Carrot Cake with carrot and ginger and vanilla I think ice cream AND with sugary strips of crispy carrot (there on the left). I am a fan of carrot cake in general, but this was the absolute top of all carrot cakes. Ever.

The rest of the meal was fantabulous as can be expected.  Chris's pork chop is the reason to go to Boulevard (does that sound dirty?) and I made an error in judgement and ordered the Jumbo Prawns with White Asparagus Lobster Risotto. It was good, but not really what one should spend their time eating at Boulevard. That place is all about the meat.  And Carrot Cake.

Appetizers were a Dungeness Crab salad for Chris, which was very nice and simple and I had Dayboat Scallops, seared and braised, and with a White Carrot Parsley sauce.  Um, yeah.  That rocked.

Also excellent was the wine selected by the sommelier. We both ordered a glass of the Billecart-Salmon rosé for appetizers and then I ordered a Pouilly Fuisse (yes, I wrote the name down, no, I do not know where I wrote it down) for my prawns and Chris a Zinfandel for his pork, which was totally overpowering I thought, the pork needed a Pinot Noir or something lighter for sure. I enjoyed a dessert wine and Chris a Port.

Overall, a great dinner. If you find a scrap of paper with wine names written on it at Boulevard, please email me.