Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Day: Mijita, Cowgirl, Andante and Scharffenberger

San Francisco was looking quite windblown and lovely yesterday. We toddled down to the Farmers' Market at the Embarcadero (along with about a zillion other people)I love this part of the city life though -- thinking about tons of people cooking with all that good food.

First bit of business was getting to lunch. Yes, I know, we're supposed to be at the market at daybreak and picking out the choicest persimmons before the masses have fingered them all, but we had other missions, not the least of which was a trip to the San Francisco Wine Trading Company on a search for any last remaining bottles of Sean Thackrey's spectacularly fun Pleiades. I'll let Eric talk about that, since he was the one who trekked out there, but I will also just say I dearly hope that Thackrey is able to salvage his wines after the fire in Vallejo a few weeks ago.

Anyhow, we popped into Traci des Jardins' taco stand, Mijita, for a couple of fish tacos, a carnitas taco and some guacamole. Personally I found the tacos tasty, but not as punchy in flavor as I was expecting for the price ($4 for the carnitas and $4.75 for the fish) The guacamole was quite good though. Very buttery and "avocado-ey" which says to me that she doesn't get her avocados from the same place that I do. The guac at Mijita needs no lime or cilantro, and the chips, thick ones that seem to have a hint of smoky adobo and were fried in some very tasty oil, are yummy.

From there we proceeded on mission to say hi to our friends at Cowgirl Creamery, tasting the fresh fromage blanc -- recommended to us for use in cheesecake ... mmmmmmm -- and the fresh ricotta, which is thoroughly unlike any storebought ricotta cheese you've ever tasted.

When we mentioned about the recent dinner at Zuni, they asked if we'd had any of the gnocchi, which unfortunately we hadn't. Apparently Zuni is using the sheep's milk ricotta in the dish. We're, um... going to have to go back to Zuni to, um.... confirm that. Yeah.

So we wound up purchasing a Sir Francis Drake (top left), which is I think, a triple cream, like their Red Hawk, and washed in sweet wine. The currants on top call to mind maybe the Aromes du gene au marc, an autumnal cheese that is traditionally cured in marc (the stuff like skins, stalks, and seeds left over after grape crush time). This is a Tomme affinee au marc de raisin.

We also got a cheese called "Renate," an American cow's milk cheese that was a bit salty though very tasty. It's not in the picture because, well... we ate it. Not just by ourselves. We had it last night at a dinner in honor of our friend of the same name who's moving away in a few weeks.

Center in that picture is, of course, a Saint-Marcellin. Always gotta have one of those around. And then on the right is a Picolo from Andante Dairy. We'll let you know how that turns out...

At the top are a few Warren pears from Frog Hollow which are just coming into season. These were absolutely lusciously creamy and sweet and once we had a sample, we had to get a few. In the bowl but on the right side, there's also a stray Bosc pear that I swiped from the kosher organic salad bar at work, with the intent of poaching in wine or some such. The Warrens though are so perfect on their own I think I won't want to mess with them -- just some slices and some cheese.

And we also paid a call at Scharffen Berger where I picked up one of their T-shirts and we sampled a little piece of tea infused chocolate. The chocolate there is really still top quality -- despite worries that acquisition by the Hershey Corp. would change things for the worse. Still, as Eric is fond of observing about pretty much any chocolate we sample, from any place, "It's no Maison du Chocolat." Sure, but where else except Paris can you expect to find a 1-inch sub-orbital ganache bomb? Tout les plaisirs du chocolat indeed.

Dinner at Zuni Cafe

It was our anniversary yesterday, and to celebrate, we went to our favorite restaurant in the whole city, Zuni Cafe.

Of course we don't ever need an actual, as it were, excuse to visit the Zuni Cafe because goshdarn it, this place is so good, you could go any night, hang out in the bar, order a PILE of shoestring fries or a plate of oysters and let the whole day just roll off your back.

We speak from experience.

But for this little jaunt, Eric actually called ahead -- which, oddly enough, we hardly ever do for any restaurant -- and we got a fabulous little table that overlooked the kitchen and the famous wood burning oven.

As we snuck photos as furtively as is possible with a flash, our server came by.

"It's um... for our food blog..."

Yeah. Anyhow. We started with a margarita apiece and Eric ordered a nice assortment of oysters -- you'll have to check his food blog to see which they were.


All I know is they didn't have little clean and neat shoes.






For my part I thought about ordering the fantastic polenta, which is a favorite of mine, but instead settled on the famous Caesar salad.




The server asked me if I minded if it had anchovies and an egg and ... Stop right there. I mind nothing.





For his main course, Eric had what they called "mock Porchetta," Apparently a real porchetta is a whole stuffed pig. If it tasted as good as this herbed version though, bring it on....


My main was the spaghetti. Of course, it wasn't just any spaghetti, it was whole wheat (and not gritty whole wheat) spaghetti with house-cured bacon, tomatoes and 30-year old balsamic vinegar. Guess which part of that title caught my attention.

For dessert, we had a frangipane something or other with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was already focussed on the cheese course.

Zuni's cheese courses are almost always composed cheese plates and the pairings are almost always delightful. Last night we got the Abbaye de Belloc, a lovely sheep's milk cheese, with a conserve of green figs.

Out of my way, I'm coming through with a fork!

Ginger and Blue -- but which blue?

We've been meticulously rearranging the home office for almost a week -- labelling boxes, sorting stationery, backing up computers, bundling and boxing receipts for each tax year. With all that careful organizing, how is it that we didn't keep the label for this cheese?

Here's how the conversation goes:

" What is this?"
"Blue..."
"But which one?"
"Umm... Valdeon?"
"No, we finished the Valdeon -- but I think it's Spanish."
"Cabrales? Are you sure it's Spanish?"
"Yes, we got it to go with the quince jelly we made."
"Castello?"
"Hmm... mild ..."

We pause to examine the World of Blues on the Cook's Thesaurus.

"Castello. I think."
"But that's not Spanish. That's Danish."

Dang it all.

Well, anyhow -- great in eggs and melts beautifully.

In other news, I'm also astonished by the near overnight sprouting up of a ginger plant. Well, partly astonished -- I mean, I did plant it after all. I'm just amazed that it actually grows in this household where whatever I don't kill, the kitties will munch until it ... um...dies.

I had noticed that our ginger, which we never seem to use up quickly enough, had semi-dried out, but also sprouted a little greenery, so I stuck it in some dirt and to my amazement, the rhizome fattened up and the sprout took off like gangbusters.

Kitty does not know which item to chew first, the ginger, the spider plant or the blue.

Cordon Bleu and some Vacherin -- the Swiss kind

So, although I haven't been posting much the last few days, it doesn't mean we haven't been cooking -- or to be more precise, that my personal chef hasn't been cooking up things for me.

He made one of my favorite comfort foods, Chicken Cordon Bleu, with a white wine sauce and asparagus which is totally satisfyingly yummy. It's a pain in the neck to hammer out the chicken breast and then roll it all back up, but as with so many recipes, you're thinking "Man, I will NEVER do this again!" until you taste it. Then you think, "well, um... yeah, I might make it again."

I'll let you in on the secret to the perfect Cordon Bleu crust -- panko crumbs. Nothing better.

Eric is also master Kir maker. What a lovely way to relax after long complicated bizarrely weird days.

Lurking the background of that picture, you can also see a slice of Vacherin Fribourgeois. The Swiss kind. Yeah, yeah, but it's still stinky and quite delicious -- mmmmmm. And wow, who can refuse a cheese that has its own website. It turns out that it tastes rather yummy with the homemade quince paste I made. I'm a little bummed I didn't make more, now that the fifteen seconds that quinces are generally available seems to have passed.

Of course, our hearts remain in France with a Vacherin that has to be held together by a strip of spruce lest it ooze apart. But when are we going to see something like that around here?

Yeah. Not soon enough.

You can also see a sugar pumpkin skulking behind the cheese. When captured and rounded up, it became moist and snack-ready pumpkin muffins. Without the Brown Butter Icing that the recipe called for, but you know what -- that was probably overkill. Or not.

More later when this cold is finally conquered.

My favorite piece of furniture: the pullout pantry

I love our pullout pantry -- the single most useful piece of furniture in the house.

I mean look at the cabinet space that's available! If not for the pantry we'd have absolutely no room at all for actual, as it were, foodstuffs.

Eric made this for me with his own two hands -- well, and a bunch of tools at a friend's house. He got the hardware from Ikea which sells expensive taller versions of this pantry, which we didn't feel would work in our apartment. Then he bought the wood and made the actual cabinet itself, which is gorgeous in my completely unbiased opinion.

When designing it we thought, well, someday we can build a whole kitchen around it. This one, though is perfect. Six shopping bags worth of food it holds...

More cough remedies from the cranky sick one...

Since I'm up to the part of my cold where there's a painful cough and lung congestion, I thought I'd share my next remedy as well, which is a simple one, but really helps me a lot more than the store bought expectorants. It's gargling warm water mixed with Tabasco sauce.

For about a cup of water, I use 15 drops of Tabasco, which whould turn it sort of the color of light raspberry lemonade. The pepper helps bring blood to the throat, which is useful and also clears congestion. Gargle with that a couple of times every few hours.

Then I make myself a nice cup of chamomile tea with honey, which tends to soothe the soreness.
I have to say, I didn't used to be all homeopathic, but in the last cold season, I discovered that, gosh-darn-it, these things just work better on me!

Kitty is unimpressed, although I do espy some concern on his face...

Or not.

Now. What's on TV at 5 in the morning?

Cranky sick...

Time to bust out the Lemon Thyme tea again. it really works, although you have to keep drinking it while you're having the spasmodic cough attacks. *sniff, sniff, hack...cough, cough*

I seem to be moving on to the eternally running nose and compressed head. I'm going to curl up in a small ball and hide... Although Eric is making me garlic soup...maybe I can stay alive long enough for that.

Food Extravaganza- A fall dinner

So last night was our Fall Food extravaganza -- Dinner for nine up in the warm autumnal summer of Petaluma. It was exactly the kind of thing we love, good food, good company, eating and ranting about politics pretty much all the way from 7 pm to midnight...

The word count on this entry will be low since I'm still sort of beached like a whale -- if I stre-e-etch, I can just reach the keyboard...

Here was the menu:

"Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness"

Gruyere Gougeres
Fig and Pignolia Tapenade Crostinis

Cream of Sweet Potato Soup with Creme Fraiche

Individual Beef Wellingtons with Port Wine Sauce
Celeriac and Shallot Puree
Harvest Succotash of Brussel Sprouts, Corn and Asparagus

Tossed Green Salad with Roasted Sungold, MiniCharm and Grape Tomatoes

Cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery (More on this in a moment)

"Damn Thing" Chocolate Angel Torte

Whenever we do one of these cook-a-thons we always arrive at our friends' house with a pile of food and equipment (You thought we cook in our tiny little kitchen??) Here's a pic of our typical prep before we load it up into coolers and get into the car.

The Wellingtons, slightly adjusted from the recipe we made last weekend, were MUCH better. Gosh, it just makes all the difference to use tawny port in the duxelles...who knew?

Of course, we can cook up a storm, but if it's served on paper plates it just won't deliver that fine dining experience. Half the fun is going up to our friends' house-- we jokingly called her a "Pitbull in Size Five-and-a-Half Shoes" last night -- where the setting is always perfect.

This is her gorgeous Martha Stewart table. The ever elegant Ms. Five-and-a-Half and her husband Mr. Eleven have also added a lovely garden in the front of the house which has an HERB GARDEN! I put that in caps because I've always loved herb gardens and theirs has just the mix of herbs you always seem to need.

In the back are fruit trees, including figs, which we used with the cheese course and a curious tropical fruit called a feijoa or pineapple guava. I had never seen it before, and it has a curious flavor, but here's what the Cook's thesaurus had to say about it.

Anyhow, we invaded the ktichen, and happily got to work on the dinner-- which so occupied us that Eric took this picture of the soup -- and then we didn't take any more photos of the food til the cheese course! Hey -- we were busy eating!

The cheese course though!!! Among the guests were Cowgirls from the Creamery. They brought three of their cheeses --Mt. Tam, Pierce Pt., and my favorite, the Red Hawk -- plus a bonus Van Goat from Harley Farms. HO-ly Smokes the cheese was good. The Tam was earthy and the Red Hawk was just like buttah -- by that I don't mean it tasted like "butter" of course, but that it was like "buttah" in the generally descriptive sense. Nothing like getting it from the source.

To go with the cheeses we had some experimental fruit and nut accompaniments, including hazelnuts with Comice pears poached in Riesling and vanilla for the Mt. Tam, a Medjool date puree for the Red Hawk, and figs with toasted pumpkins seeds just for the heck of it.

By that time, you'd think we were so stuffed we'd be rolling on the floor, and I think we very nearly were, but the Chocolate Angel Torte was irresistable. Light and mousselike, Ms. Five-and-a-Half's secret family recipe was a perfect sweet to close.

Sigh. Okay, time to roll over and join my cat in the sun, while I digest for a few days. Move over, kitty...

[Ed. note: I've been corrected -- The artist formerly known as Mr. Eleven is in point of fact, Mr. Thirteen! My mistake!]

Testing...testing....: Beef Wellington

So next weekend we're planning a big dinner. Big. BIG. We'll be up at a friend's lovely house in her amazingly gorgeous kitchen. Our kitchen looks like this, and pretty much only admits one person --plus one cat -- at any given time.

We've lined it with every kitchen implement we can possibly manage, and we like to think it's a model of spatial efficiency, but the truth is, we live in an apartment built for a time when cooking meant heating up Chinese takeout or tossing a Swanson's in the oven. What's funny is the rest of the place is quite nice and spacious, but then the kitchen is stuffed into a little nook.

You do what you can.

This time it's the Beef Wellington. I think this one is going to work out beautifully if we can just get a better seal on the puff pastry...

CSI-Cheese edition

So what better way to spend a Saturday than to head down to the Embarcadero market and chat with some cheese people? Since we've been studying Scanlan's cheeses, we trotted over to the Andante booth. The helpful young woman guarding the baskets pointed out some mushy, gushy cheeses in the basket -- a disc of Pianoforte, which is the Saint-Marcellin style cheese, and then more Nocturne. Guess what we bought.

Since we were down there, it seemed impolite not to call on the Cowgirl Creamery counter, so we sauntered over and took a number. I had recalled seeing what looked like a fermier Sainte-Nectaire and lo! There it was-- a lovely looking hunk of cheese affined by the famed Jean d'Alos. Next to that was a chunk of gorgeous tawny Mimolette also affined by d'Alos. How could we say no? Just a teeny bit, please.

We take our cheese booty home, but my black puffball is less than impressed, and with good reason. We unwrap the newly purchased Nocturne and it's not just ripe, it's got the distinct odor of ammonia.

Damn. It just goes to show you that no matter what, you should never buy cheese wrapped up without smelling and/or tasting it. This one might as well go on the steel table in the CSI labs. It's apparently been sadly smothered and probably (since we got to the market late in the day) been out in the sun. Not necessarily the best advertisement for Andante Dairy unfortunately.

Still we did venture to taste some of the interior-- though not the rind, which we had previously found so yummy -- and went on to prepare one of our favorite kinds of dinners. The Metronome wasn't as ripe as we had hoped, but felt we couldn't wait on it any longer,and the Pianoforte, though not in the league of Saint-Marcellin, was quite drippily delicious.