spicetart

Ivy Marcos

I realized last week when Chris called Ivy "Imelda" that I may have gone overboard on the shoes.  I counted and only 8 pairs were bought by me, most of those cheap Target or Old Navy shoes that really are a waste of money because they wear out so fast (and a couple of pairs of slippers - surely that doesn't count, right?) The best and easily cutest shoes ever are Pedipeds, which were recommended to me by my friend Gina, whose daughter was born on the same day as Ivy.  She had cute little soft, leather-soled pink shoes with red flowers with green leaves.  So cute! But my down fall was the website, and it will be yours too if you click HERE, and if it doesn't melt your heart with sweet kitteny cuteness, well, your heart is black and dead. I rarely even buy shoes for myself and here I am trying to narrow it down to 3.  Help me Imelda!

Holstein Beans - Updated!

  vs.   

Tell me that you don't see the uncanny similarity...If a cow were a bean, this is what they would look like.  I dub thee...Holstein Beans!  Ok, ok, these beans already have a name, and the name is actually a damn good one.  They are called Black Calypso, also known as European Soldier, Soldier and Johnson beans, none of which can even compete with the way better name of Holstein Beans. But Steve Sando at Rancho Gordo is the Bean Man, so what he says goes when it comes to beans.  I got these lovelies at the Ferry Building, of course, but he sells them all over the place if you know where to find him.  He also sells corn masa and tortillas, chile peppers and herbs, grains and greens.  I love this stuff!

Update 5/6/05: Ok so a bit of a correction about the Black Calypso's other names, they are also known as Orca beans and Yin/Yang, but European Soldier is a different bean altogether.  My bad, I must have been cross-eyed when I made that up, I mean, when I read that.  This comes straight from the man himself so I guess I'll believe him.

Also, Steve Sando's advice on how to cook these beauties:

Good heirlooms don't need much! One piece of bacon, onion and garlic and
call it a day. Maybe some sage at the end.

Thanks Steve!

Fresh Cheese in Action

So Tuesday I wrote about my visit to Point Reyes, and Biggles wrote about his heathen adventures in the sand with chicken, but what would a trip to Point Reyes be without a stop at Cowgirl Creamery? Just off of main street in Point Reyes Station, Cowgirl Creamery is in a beautiful, old renovated barn. Part of the Tomales Bay Foods group (a cool history of their beginnings in 1993 is here), Cowgirl Creamery consists of their cheese making facility and cheese counter, and shares the barn space with a natural fabric clothing boutique, an organic produce stand, and a healthy foods deli. The main attraction is easily the windows that overlook the cheese makers doing their thang. We got their just in time to see the process from curds to, um, cheese formed things. Just see the pictures.

My favorite of their cheeses is the Mt. Tam, I could easily put away the whole thing in a sitting.  It's a smooth and buttery triple-cream cheese that just melts in your mouth.  I've also tried the award winning Red Hawk and decided that I am not quite at the advanced cheese tasting level to enjoy this cheese.  It's a washed-rind cheese so it's got that -WOW- that's a kicker of a cheese, yeah!  They call it "fully-flavored" - can't argue with that assessment at all. Red Hawk won Best-In-Show at the American Cheese Society's Annual Conference in 2003.  Impressive.  Go pay 'em a visit.

COWGIRL CREAMERY AT TOMALES BAY FOODS
80 Fourth Street
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
Phone (415) 663-9335

You can also find Cowgirl Creamery cheeses at their store front in the Ferry Building and at Whole Foods, Draegers, the Pasta Shop and probably at Andronicos.

Farmers Storm Montclair Village

You know a town has come into its own when they have a farmer's market there.  Right?  I mean that tells you  people have made this place a home and a destination spot.  I was excited to hear that my hometown, Montclair, which resides in my bigger hometown Oakland, is starting a Farmer's Market May 1 right there in downtown Montclair Village (3 blocks long, 5 blocks wide).  I cried when the evil trio Starbucks, Noahs Bagels and Jamba Juice came to town, and when Icehouse and the original Colonial Donuts closed down, but I'm happy about the arrival of the new Farmer's Market.  Welcome farmers!  Don't let the yuppies scare you away!

Montclair Village Farmer's Market
Sundays from 9 am to 1 pm
On La Salle Ave between Mountain Blvd. and Moraga Ave.
MAP

The sign said "Restaurant Supplies"

Who could resist buying this lovely egg slicer?  Well, I certainly couldn't, but then again, I can't resist a good, junky kitchen store.  If it has cheap figurines and Christmas lights in the windows, I am compelled to go in.  M.V. Trading Co in San Mateo has everything for your gadgetoholic needs and FOR CHEAP!  I only had 10 minutes to shop, but I am so going back this weekend. 

M.V. Trading Co.
251 3rd Street
San Mateo, CA

Best. Bread. Ever.

Do you remember how I went on and on back in December about the bread at Crepe & Brioche?  And how I tracked down the phone number and grilled a poor baker about when they were opening a store front (see update in SF Gate)?  Well I have yet to visit the store BUT their baked breads, cakes, tarts, brioche (der), scones, croissants, muffins, epis baguettes (pictured, best. bread. ever.) and other items of bakery goodness are available at the farmer's market in San Mateo, also at other markets.  It was all I could do to keep myself from jumping over the table and grabbing as much as I could carry and saying "merci" to the French guy that counts in French (show off) and run off maniacally laughing into the hills of the Peninsula to live a happy life on chocolate croissants and walnut bread.  Alas, I bought a baguette and a blueberry scone and left peacefully.  Check it out.

Brioche Bakery
210 Columbus Ave. (near Kearny)
San Francisco
(415) 765- 0412
Open Tuesday-Saturday, hours vary

The vegetables series: No end in sight

Ok, so I lied.  I am just so damned smitten with vegetable right now.  My spring/summer challenge is to cook with vegetables I have either a) never heard of or b) have cooked with before but always cook them the same boring way and so I will cook them differently.  And I will not be afraid.

I went to the San Mateo Farmer's Market on Saturday, and while it is a great little market with all the veggies I cook with weekly, there was nothing different and unusual.  The main reason to go to the Ferry Building is because there is always stuff there that you look at and go "What the hell is that and where did it come from", but in a good way.

Nevertheless, I am going to cook beets and artichokes and spring onions different than I have ever cooked them before.  It's exciting, trust me.

International Food R Us

You know when someone tells you about a fantastic place that is right around the corner from you and you've never even heard of it and you're like, "It can't be all that or else I would have heard of it" and then you go and there's tons of spices and beans and pomegranate molasses and grape leaves and tamarind concentrate and you're all "Woah, it IS all that and more" and you can't believe you hadn't been there once in the past year that you have been working practically next door?

Well, that's what happened when I finally visited the International Food Warehouse a block away from my work.  I had heard on Chowhound that there was a middle-eastern grocery there and so, in search of grape leaves, I went to check it out.  A bag full of sumac, feta, grape leaves, fresh pita, tamarind concentrate and pomegranate molasses later, and I was happy as a clam.  They have tons of dried herbs, breads, cheeses, jarred sauces, canned vegetables and halal meat.  Almost everything is middle eastern inspired, though there are many items that could be found at a fancy grocery.  Check it out. (By the way, they do not sell lunch food, much to my dismay, only groceries).

International Food Warehouse
1684 Gilbreth Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
(650) 692-1450

Spring Has Sprung All Over the Place

The first sign is the blooming of those trees that you never really noticed before, suddenly puffed pink and white blossoms that create a snowy carpet after it rains.  Bunches of fennel and asparagus, nettles and watermelon radish rabe, beets and artichokes - the farmer's market has blown up!  And then there's the flowers - iris, daffodil, narcissus, ranunculus, tulips - bustin' out all over, and the wildflowers carpeting the hills...I don't think there is a better time of the year.

I went way overboard at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market this weekend, and will be making my way through my vegetables this week.  Beets, baby lettuces, nettles, puntarella, watermelon radish rabe, asparagus, leeks - OH MY!  Despite the forecast of a miserable weekend, there was not a drop of rain after 9:00 a.m. Saturday and the day was absolutley perfect.  Go support your farmers!

You know it's love when...

... you get an OXO Mandoline for Valentines Day.  It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.  And I will NOT be tempted to NOT use the guard as the last time I did that, I ended up in the Emergency Room.

Last night I sliced a cucumber. Simple, I know, but what perfection!  Every slice exactly the same as it's sibling slice!  No thin on the top, thick on the bottom slices!  Uniformity, sameness, a harmony of precision!  Ah, the possibilities.  Not that I'm known for needing everything I slice, dice and mince to be the same size.  No. Not at all.  Ahem.  Imagine: identical strips of julienned carrots.  I leave you to ponder that image.

Why You Should Go to the Ferry Building

I am always a tad behind when it comes to experiencing anything new and exciting, usually I get around to trying it a year after it first comes out. Visiting the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco was no different, except that it took me almost two years to get there after its initial opening. On my second visit, Chris and I decided to eat at Hog Island Oyster Company. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, we got a great table by the window where we could enjoy the absolutely most perfect day ever in San Francisco (see picture - fun with Picasa 2 and although I always seem to do this right after Sam has, I swear that she just beats me to it, or how about imitation is the highest form of flattery? either way, she has been an inspiration - sheesh, I'm going to cry over here - sniff, sniff) and our Hog Island Sweetwaters, 6 raw and with a mignonette with cilantro, and 6 Oysters Beurre Blanc, clam chowder piled HIGH with probably 20 or more Manila clams, and fresh bread for the sopping (of the beurre blanc, of course, can’t waste a drop of that scrumptious stuff). We also had some wine but indulged in only a glass as we planned on going to my favorite Ferry Building destination, the Wine Bar.

The Wine Bar is such a great way to spend a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon, though I imagine going during the week wouldn’t be too bad either (damn working). Having tasted nearly everything on the menu the last time we were there, I tasted a couple and then had a glass of my favorite, a Hungarian white, an Oremus Tokaji Furmint, which meant I learned many things that day since I had never heard of that wine and had never tried anything from Hungary. This is why I love the Wine Bar...who else pours stuff like that? Chris had the Ridge flight which tasted 5 of their Zinfandels side by side, in which Chris decided that the Lytton Springs is still his favorite.

What a perfect day!

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.