Scenes from the Four-Square kitchen

I love those ads in fancy glossy magazines. People dressed in improbable clothes and looking so happy. I'd be happy too if I had a La Cornue stove or a 25 cubic foot French Door refrigerator with custom ice cube dispenser.

"The Side by Side style gives you a panoramic view of all your fresh food while the gallon size bins slide-out shelves and OptiBin drawers give you plenty of organizational options."

A panoramic view, huh?












"This refrigerator looks so good your guests will think your food tastes better!"

I suppose our food WOULD taste better if we didn't have to move the garbage can out of the way in order to open the fridge door.

Happy Anniversary to us...

So it's been three years since Eric and I celebrated our wedding and we finally found a little sliver of an evening, when neither one of us was booked, to have a nice anniversary dinner.

We've been saving a couple of good bottles since we met, of course. One of them was that Thackrey Orion that I blogged back in March. For our anniversary though, we uncorked a Crane Family Merlot that we've been stashing and had a little picnic on the living room carpet.

I love red wine that's stood the test of time. All the things that make me wrinkle my nose -- the tannins, the overpowering punch in the front end -- they all round out and soften with age. Kinda like me.

Along with the Crane Family Merlot, we had a terrific dry-aged, grass-fed NY Strip steak, some mashed yukon golds with garlic and some brussel sprouts. Simple, but perfect on a chilly night.

So perfect that we've attracted the attention of one of our fuzzy friends, who asks us not to forget the neediest. The kitties heartily approved of the jus sauce Eric created.


Actually we've been in a steak kind of mood a lot lately as we attempt to suss out how we're going to make beef for fifty people -- beef that doesn't suck that is...

Kitty has been advising us that skirt steak is flavorful, but becoming a more expensive cut every day.

Yes, kitty, we know.

So it may be a roast beef of some sort. Heston Blumenthal of Bray Village's highly regarded Fat Duck intrigues us with his blow torch beef recipe.

Every time I've mentioned it to anyone, when I say the words "propane blow torch" I get The Look.

"No, no! Now stay with me, just go with it for a sec," I say.

Searing a roast all over with a 3600F torch to seal in the juices and then cooking for 20 hours in a 130F oven -- c'mon! How could you go wrong?? Pink, juicy, lovely with a crispy exterior??

Eric's in -- we went and purchased a TS3000T Bernz-O-Matic (no namby-pamby 2700F creme brulee torches for us) from our local hardware store and we are ready to roll next weekend with a test run of the wedding roast beef.

Yeah -- I might get him some safety goggles before we do this thing...

Laura Chenel sells her company to Rians Group!!!

Wow -- Laura Chenel -- probably our most famous American maker of goat cheeses -- has sold her company to a French corporation. French companies are buying American cheeses? What is this world coming to?

I'm not surprised to hear that Chenel is ready to lay down the burden of running the place, but of course the question is, what does this mean for American artisanal cheesemakers? Is this the end or just the beginning?

Starry World, Lunch at Boulevard with Gratte Paille

So, not that we put much stock in Michelin's stars -- although the rankings in the new Michelin guide to SF have been causing minor temblors in the blogging world. I won't weigh in on the controversy, but I will say that we were faintly amused to realize that we live between two Michelin starred restaurants, Quince and Bushi-tei.

Personally, I fear that some of my fave SF eateries are getting just a little too much notice. Eric lets out a bark of indignation every time someone else adds Swan Oyster Depot to their list of SF must-eats. It's no use -- we've joined the other neighborhoodies who never get to have chowder at the counter, but just swing in to get our salmon or shrimp. I'm just relieved that no mention was made of our favorite sushi place up the street which literally can only seat a dozen people. Naka-san, the chef makes exquisite miso, in addition to everything else, and no, we're not telling you where it is.

We did stroll by Bushi-tei last night to examine the omokase menu. We must have been pointing a little too excitedly, because owner Tak Matsuba came outside to hand us a business card. We chatted for a while about the whole Michelin drama and about his restaurant and were utterly charmed. It's next on our list for a nice date dinner.

Last week though, a few of us went to Boulevard to celebrate the marriage of Eric's sister, Ms. Art Attack. (We'll be catering their wedding reception for 50 people, so expect MUCH more on that in coming weeks.) For reasons that pain Eric too deeply to describe, he was not able to join us for lunch.

Life is so unfair.

M'yeah. So, wouldja pass me the menu?

Boulevard, curiously also rated a star, only one. Don't ask me how those things work -- it's certainly not gonna stop me from eating there. It's too much fun. Where else can you just wander in and find yourself next to ex-SF Mayor Willie Brown, who's schmoozing in the bar?

The menu that day had a lot of terrific stuff, but we were intrigued by the bavette -- a cut of beef I had never heard of. I guess it's also known unromantically, i.e. NOT on a menu, as "flap meat" -- there was an article on it in the Chronicle last year though.

Sliced and served English it was perfect -- a crispy seared exterior and lovely and rare on the inside atop a richly flavored jus. The dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes, a few of which we'd picked up at the Farmer's Market across the way a few weeks ago, were stuffed asiago and thyme and bacon. Holy moley, it was good.

Ms. Art Attack is vegetarian, and interestingly enough there were only limited veggie options outside of salad. But the kitchen was quite happy to make up a plate for her that I, for one, was sniffing over.


The crushed Yukon Golds from the Bavette plate, sauteed Star Route spinach, plus wild rice with chanterelles and butternut squash. Yum.




Boulevard also offers a cheese plate -- but of course.

Guess what we had.







Most of the cheese I knew already -- Taleggio, Lingot de Quercy, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Colston-Bassett Stilton from Neal's Yard -- but I wasn't familiar with Gratte-Paille -- a French cow's milk cheese from Champagne-Ardenne, the little block visible next to the little bowl of almonds. It was enticing, with a strong flavor and silky texture not terribly unlike Pierre Robert, but Jesus, Mary, Joseph -- do you see the exploded, oozing Lingot de Quercy in the middle?

Um...do you mind if I scoop up that with my fingers? Or should I just lick the plate?

Oh sure. YOU get to go to Boulevard. I get Ocean Whitefish in a can.

No, it's fine.

No. Really. Fine.

Piave, Taleggio, Rigoletto and other opera adventures

A couple of weeks ago we went out on another opera adventure, rather different from the Opera in the Park scene. Well, okay, not so different that it didn't include food and wine. Ha!

So here's the thing. I thought the SF Opera's latest brainchild, Opera in the Plaza -- a live simulcast of what's onstage in the Opera House to the Civic Center Plaza and Stanford University -- was the kind of thing to engender the same kind of competitive staking of space that the event in Sharon Meadow does.

So I showed up on Friday afternoon at about 2:00 pm ready to fight off all the crowds and lay my tarp down and ...there was no one there. Nary a soul but the guys putting up the giant screen. Not even the usual homeless people -- just the green, green grass and a bunch of plane trees. And me, carrying a picnic basket, a tarp, a blanket and a pump pot for coffee.

Yeah, I called Eric to come pick me up and he kindly refrained from guffawing out an "I told you so..." A work day. A cold, drippy work day. Opera outdoors on a cold, drippy work day. Who the heck did I think was going to be out there?

Okay, so now we've established that I am the craziest person in San Francisco, and that I will go to any lengths to get my picnics.

ANYhow. We came back at around 4:30 pm and met up with the intrepid Ms. Five-and-a-Half and Mr. Thirteen (whom we love because they will also go to the same lengths for a good picnic!). I had to take a break for class and they held down the fort. When I got back though, the sight was dramatic to say the least.

Clouds were starting to break and the crowd had found its way out to the plaza to watch the pre-show.

Check out that screen -- visible from the other side of the city practically. And the music boomed out over the empty space, echoing off the building in a way that made every aria even more spectacular. And the singers. if I were Opera Guy I'd be in love with Mary Dunleavy. What a powerful, delicate voice. Here's a clip of her singing Traviata at the Liceu in Barcelona. Utterly sublime.

As it was "Rigoletto" Ms. Five-and-a-Half and I went with a vaguely Italian trattoria feel. She brought a lovely soft Taleggio and a tasty Piave, and a tomota tart along with the most seductive and delicious polenta bread from Della Fattoria.


It was perfectly heavenly with the Spicy Beef and Pumpkin stew that we had cooked up. Eric went over to Peet's and filled our pump pot with hot coffee... aww man, San Francisco life is so good.

PS. There's a Cheese School in San Francisco? Where do I sign up??

Good old Brescianella Stagionata

Ah yes, yummy Brescianella Stagionata.

You may recall that we've had a nice Brescianella all'Aquavit, bathed in aquavit and then rolled seductively in rye that's been soaked in brandy, back in this episode. I love the idea of sexy little bricks of cheese, rolling around in rye grains.

This time, we went for a straight up aged Brescianella -- which is still NOT for the faint of heart. Oh, what is that scent.. could it be eau de Old Gym Socks on a Baboon Foot? Why, yes, yes, it could.

But of course, when you're talking cheese, the stinkier the better.

Brescianella is a bit firmer than I expected, though it loosened up slightly at room temperature, and it has this oddly appealing ridged rind that seemed to go so well with the rustic cutting board that Eric's sister brought back for us from Italy.

Here's what Janet Fletcher had to say about the Stagionata version, plus a fresca version, which is not aged and has a bloomy rind. I've also been seeing articles on Brescianella Stravecchio (which to me sounds like the Stagionata but younger, and nicely aired on straw "Stravecchio") -- words like "oozes forth rich nutty flavors" have caught my attention. Ooze me some of that, would ya?