Yummies: Volume 6

This year's Valentines Day may have been my best yet. My boyfriend was skiing in Tahoe all weekend, coming back to San Francisco Sunday evening. This was great, because it relieved all the pressure of spending some ooey gooey Valentines Day afternoon together, and I had the whole day to myself to do whatever I pleased. While some of my friends like to spend their Sunday Fundays going to bottomless mimosa brunches - which I too enjoy, but only on occasion - my ideal Sunday Funday is spent in my neighborhood and home, pretending to be a suburban housewife. Forgetting all together that many people were celebrating some silly Hallmark holiday, and instead taking in the beautiful weather on this Sunday afternoon, I mapped out my version of Sunday Funday: yoga clothes all day (minus the yoga thanks to my recent knee injury), coffee and sunshine on my deck, farmers market and some gourmet grocery store shopping, a walk to the park, cleaning the house, some Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episodes here and there, doing laundry, getting a pedicure, a long shower, and preparing for an elegant meal with my boyfriend. Mind you, the preparation was very minor. This whole meal is easy to make and it takes very little time to execute. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!


Seared Halibut with Green Beans, Tomatoes, White Wine Sauce and Orzo
(from Epicurious, but I've made some very slight adjustments - serves 2)

• 1/2 pound green beans
• Two 7-ounce halibut fillets, skinned and cut into chunks
  
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/3 cup Sauvignon Blanc or other dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  
• less than 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• bunch of scallions, white part only, finely sliced
  
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
• 15-20 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 1/2 cups of orzo pasta, preferably wheat
  

Preparation (try to do all simultaneously so everything finishes at the same time):

• Chop tomatoes and scallions, and place in small bowl with capers. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
• Boil water for orzo. Add a teaspoon of salt. When water is boiling, add orzo and 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil and cook for 8-10 minutes.
  
• Meanwhile, in a another pot of boiling salted water, cook the green beans for 3 to 4 minutes on high heat, until tender. Once done, drain and place them back in the pot. Cover and keep warm on simmer.
• Season the halibut chunks on both sides with salt and pepper. In a large saute pan, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. Cook the fish for about 3 minutes, until lightly browned. Turn, reduce the heat to medium, and cook about 4 minutes longer, until the fish is opaque in the center and browned on both sides.
  
• Once everything is ready, place the orzo on warm platter. Top with green beans and then fish. Cover with aluminum foil, and set aside.
  

For the sauce:

• Add the wine and lemon juice to the pan you were cooking the fish in.
• Raise the heat to high and deglaze the pan by scraping up any browned bits of fish with a wooden spoon.
• Cook for about 2 minutes, then reduce the heat and stir in the butter, a piece at a time, to enrich and flavor the sauce.
• Add the scallions, capers, and tomato. Stir for about 2 minutes.
  
• Pour over the fish on the platter. Serve immediately.

Note: buy a decent bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to use for the recipe (I recommend Husch) and serve the remainder with the meal.


Apple Crisp
(From the Vegetarian Epicure)

• 3 large tart green apples
• 1/4 cup water1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter

Preparation:

• Peel the apples and slice them thinly.
• Layer them evenly in a glass pie dish sprinkle them with the water.
• Put them aside while you prepare the crust.
• Sift together the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until all is well combined. Sprinkle this mixture thickly and evenly over the apples. Don’t mix the two together.
• Cover the casserole and bake at 350 degrees for ½ hour, then uncover and bake another ½ hour. The crust will be crisp on top, and will have partly seeped down through the apples, flavoring them and binding them slightly together.
• Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Note: you can make this a couple hours ahead of time and refrigerate it until an hour before you're ready to eat dessert, then bake as directed.

I'm in it for the Ads

WHO DAT? The New Orleans win their first ever Superbowl and Katrina is officially over. Seriously though, congratulations on a fantastic win! With Mardi Gras just around the corner, I can only imagine what the topless girl-filled streets of the French Quarter looked like last night.

While I'll be the first non-football loving girl to admit that the game was actually quite entertaining this year, I'm usually in it for the ads. This year, however, I was quite disappointed. Not even Budweiser could come up with a funny commercial. The only decent one was the one that features the Clydesdale running along the adorable calf, turned raging bull three years later. What can I say, I have a soft spot for animals. The deserted island Bud Light commerical was okay, but I wonder if non-Lost fans recognized the parody. And way too long car.com and godaddy.com ads were stupid and had nothing to do with the product they were marketing.

I did, however, think that there were many entertaining movie trailers this year, especially and obviously this one. I'm also looking forward to seeing the new Robin Hood, as well as the M. Night Shyamalan flick. Some other winners include the Betty White Snickers ad, the Dorito-covered man in the gym ad, the stuffed animals coming to life KIA ad, and of course the long-awaited Google ad, which happen to be directed by a college friend of mine named Aaron Duffy. Congratulations, Aaron!

What I love about the Parisian Love Google ad is that it's simple, yet effective and heart-warming. It appeals to men for it's straight, dry humor and to women for its romantic side. It illustrates the development of a relationship through quick Google searches. I love the detail of the searches; how it corrects him when he misspells "Louvre" and how he goes off on a Trauffaut search tangent when he is looking up the meaning of truffles. This realistically depicts how someone conducts seemingly meaningless Google searches to come up with their end result, but also proves that these everyday web-surfing searches do have meaning, and in fact are very calculated. The subject of the ad goes from looking into study abroad programs in Paris, to searching for jobs in Paris, to looking up how to build a crib. And we get all of this with simplistic and familiar imagery that is the start to an excellent television campaign for Google.

If only the other many poorly executed commercials could have followed the path of Google and Dorito, then maybe the ad portion of the Superbowl would have been half as entertaining as watching 70+ year old musicians (aka The Who) belt out the lyrics to "Baba O'Reilly" - which many of you (including myself up until yesterday) know as "Teenage Wasteland."

Dine About Town

Every year from January 15th to January 31st, San Francisco's best restaurants put together a prix fixe $35 dinner and $22 lunch menu. A self-proclaimed foodie, I take advantage of these 16 days and visit as many restaurants as I can without going broke.

Last year I went to dinner at Supper Club and Foreign Cinema, and lunch at Absinthe. Supper Club was overrated and kind of freaky, Foreign Cinema was fun and delicious, but Absinthe took the cake with their French inspired menu, and the fact that I got my in with Top Chef's Jamie Lauren.

This year I went to lunch at One Market, and dinner at Cassis, Foreign Cinema and Luna Park. Here's what I thought (ratings are on a Zagat scale):

ONE MARKET
First of all, they have amazing warm crescent rolls - some of the best table bread I have ever had! I ordered a glass of white wine (yay for boozing on lunch breaks), farmers market salad and dock confit. The salad was light and refreshing, a good start but nothing special. The duck confit was delicious! Not too heavy (even with a bowl of risotto), lots of great flavors, interesting texture. My co-worker ordered the Cobb salad. When it arrived we were both a little confused. It appeared to be a couple pieces of lettuce, some avocado slices, bacon and poached quail eggs on top of something that resembled a pita or flat bread. Turns out it was thinly pounded boneless, skinless chicken breast under the salad! Very well seasoned, the chicken alone encompassed all flavors that go into a Cobb salad. It was a very unique presentation on a classic favorite. The only bad thing about the meal was that our server was kind of all over the place, and she took a very long time to bring our entrees. Other than that, she was very nice and polite - probably just a little busy during the lunch hour.
Food: 20
Decor: 20
Service: 16
Cost: $37

CASSIS
I went here with my close friend and we left very pleased with our evening! We split a bottle of the Viognier, which was reasonably priced at $37 and a perfect fit for the meal. My friend ordered off the main menu: chorizo-wrapped scallops to start, and the duck confit for dinner. I ordered off the DAT menu: duck foie gras (suggested by the waitress - who was French and had a very high-pitched bubbly voice - "because it is a FRENCH restaurant after all"), day boat scallops with crispy Californian wild rice and chorizo, and of course the dulce de leche and hazelnut profiteroles for dessert. Both scallop dishes were delicious. I thought the wild rice was a little undercooked, but then again it was supposed to be crispy so maybe that was the point. The fois gras came with cornbread and blueberry port wine jam. The fois gras was so smooth and creamy - it almost tasted like butter (maybe a little too much), but combined with the cornbread and jam it was an explosion of flavor in my mouth! We decided to top off the meal with some Kir Matisse, because why not? When the waitress brought out the dessert, there was a candle on top and she started singing "Happy Birthday." She placed the plate out in front of me and prompted me for my name when it came to that part of the song. She told me to make a wish and blow out the candle, and then scampered off. It wasn't my birthday, or my friends, and the plate said "Happy Birthday Elyse" on it. It was pretty funny, but we told the hostess it was a mistake. She brought it back to the kitchen, wiped off the birthday message and removed the candle. Oops!
Food: 23
Decor: 19
Service: 20
Cost: $80

FOREIGN CINEMA
Always a pleasure, and great for a small group or a couple. I went here on a double date with my boyfriend and two friends of ours. We ordered a bottle of Cotes du Rhone for the table, and we each ordered off the DAT menu. I had a salad with fennel, croutons and Green Goddess dressing, the cioppino and creme brulee (I also tried the chocolate pot de creme). Everything was delicious, flavorful, light and fresh; I will vow to go back to this restaurant for all future DATs. They were also playing Casablanca on the big screen, which was a beautiful backdrop.
Food: 24
Decor: 25
Service: 24
Cost: $60 per person, I think. Thanks, boys :-)

LUNA PARK
I was with a group of 9 for this meal, and we made the reservation a month in advance. We were seated at a round table, which was very nice because we could all talk to each other. Though, the restaurant was so loud that it was hard to converse with anyone who wasn't sitting near you. It took them a while to take our orders; some people ordered off the regular menu, and some ordered off the DAT menu. My boyfriend and I split a Scorpion Bowl, which surprisingly didn't get us that drunk. Everyone was given a carrot soup amuse bouche, but it came the same time as our appetizers which was a little weird. I ordered an poke tuna appetizer, salmon in a tomato-based broth with fava beans, and make-your-own s'mores (that I happily shared with everyone). The tuna was nothing special; it tasted how all poke tastes but I guess that's what you expect. The salmon was good, but not memorable (maybe because of the Scorpion Bowl?), and the s'mores were good but I was a little too full to finish more than one. Overall, it was a fun night (thanks to the company) but I was a little disappointed with the restaurant itself.
Food: 15
Decor: 12
Service: 13
Cost: $58

Overall, I was very pleased with my Dine About Town experiences and I will certainly go back to Cassis again. I'm happy to have tried One Market and Luna Park, but I probably won't be back there. And to Foreign Cinema, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Meatless Balls

I've decided to go red meat-free in February. Originally this started as a wager with my parents (though, the wages were never outlined). Once I tried to stop eating meat for a week (see Veg for a Week), but I failed because I ate fish and turkey bacon. So this time I decided to be a little more specific with no red meat, including pork (I know pork is supposed to be "the other white meat" but common people - does pork look white to you?). I thought February would be a good month because it's only 4 weeks, and it's after the holidays and Dine About Town and all those other opportunities to engorge yummy pieces of steak.

Last Thursday I made my boyfriend and I some delicious skirt steak for dinner. This weekend I enjoyed a pastrami sandwich and beef slider (actually, the beef slider was only so-so and I didn't even finish it - a good start to a meatless month!). I'm looking forward to learning some vegetarian recipes from my roommate, Maddie. I'm not looking forward to a meatless superbowl; though I'm sure I could whip up some veggie-friendly apps, it will not be the same as a big bowl of spicy chili. And I suppose I won't be dining at House of Prime Rib for that icky hallmark holiday on February 14th - but then again I don't think I would dine at House of Prime Rib anyway. I may be tempted to enjoy some pork when I go to Slanted Door with my mom in a couple of weeks, but fortunately they have a menu that vegetarian foodies rave about so I think I'll be ok.

Wish me luck! I'm sure you'll hear all about it on March 1st.

"The show about orange people"

Last week a few of my friends had "GTL" on their Facebook status updates. They indicated that it meant "gym, tanning, laundry" - but I thought it was strange that this new acronym was suddenly so popular. I asked one of my friends about it and she told me it was from the one and only, "Jersey Shore" - MTV's latest reality show about strangers living and working together. Although I had heard many things (good and bad) about this train wreck of a show, I had not taken the chance to view it... until this weekend.

Staying up at Tahoe for the weekend with some friends, I was sidelined from skiing on Sunday after I twisted my knee on my last run on Saturday (my knee has since healed, in case you were curious). After perusing the channels on the house's cable TV set, I decided that now was a better time than any to take advantage of a Jersey Shore marathon. And let me just say, WTF?

Let's start with the fact that my friend previously referred to this television show as "the show about orange people" - rightfully so. These "Italian" Jersey Kings and Queens must spend just as much time working on their tan as they do styling their greasy hair, and it doesn't help any. My other friend picked up my latest issue of People, flipped to the section about the cast of Jersey Shore and proclaimed "ew, these people look disgusting." Yes, they do look disgusting; especially when they're bumping and grinding each other at the hot nightclub on the beach, or in their very own jacuzzi (because what is an MTV reality show without a jacuzzi?).

It goes without saying that cast members have hooked up with each other. One cast member nicknamed J-WOWW cheats on her so-called boyfriend with Pauly D, and then conveniently forgets the details due to over-consumption of alcohol. Don't worry J-WOWW, we got it on tape for you to review. And don't worry about spreading any STDs to your boyfriend once you guys make up, because there is no way Pauly D has contracted anything after hooking up with the dirty Jersey girls that he meets at the clubs every night.

Now would be a great time to mention Pauly D's more than apparent loyalty to his #1 wingman, Mike "The Situation" (he's called "the situation" because whenever he takes his shirt off, there's gonna be a situation in the room. Let it be known that he does have an amazing six-pack, but there is no need to create a situation over it. I've seen Abercrombie & Fitch models that are half his age and sporting even better rock-hard abs). Pauly D regularly acts as the "grenade guard" for his buddy Mike, hooking up with the "busted" girl so that Mike can get with the prettier girl. First of all, these girls are NOT busted - they're just not as tan and skinny as the trashy brunettes that Mike prefers. Secondly, you ain't so hot yourself, Pauly D so I don't know what you're complaining about. I wouldn't touch that shit with a 30 foot pole.

Mike's just being a slut because it's summer at the Jersey Shore and that's what you do! And he's bitter because Sammi "Sweetheart" left him for Ronnie, the roommate with arms that are three times the size of my legs. In one episode he beats up a guy on the boardwalk for starting shit with Sammi. Sammi then cries because Ronnie "pushed" her out of the way before the fight started. Nicole "Snookie" can relate to how Sammi feels because she got punched in the face last week by some douche bag at the bar who was trying to steal her shots. I understand that hitting a girl is messed up, but it's too bad she couldn't get some facial reconstruction or at least a nose job out of the whole thing.

Still, despite the fact that this show makes me want to rip my own eyes and ears out, it has an overwhelming amount of followers. My coworker said it best: "It's disgusting. It makes me sad. It makes my heart hurt. And then I can't stop watching it." I think three episodes is enough for me. I'll save my DVR space for Gossip Girl.

Jeggings: A Love Story

"Jeggings" - or jean leggings - have been the latest fashion phenomenon to rock the rack in the denim section at department stores. When I first heard about these leggings that looked like jeans, I was a bit skeptical. How can non-pants pass as pants, let alone everyday jeans? I did some research and asked around and found out that a number of denim brands are making and selling these jeggings: Joe's Jeans, JBrand, Seven, etc. I figured they couldn't be sold for more than $60, because after all they're made of spandex and cotton, right? Wrong. Unfortunately they end up costing only a little less than a regular pair of designer jeans. After getting some positive reinforcement from some male friends, I decided I would check with my female friends first to see what they thought about this fashion trend. Some responses:

"Ew"
"Never"
"Don't even think about it - you'll thank me years from now"
"Leggings aren't pants"
"Don't call them jeggings"

As you can see, about 90% of the responses were pretty negative. Yet, I still wasn't convinced.

Now, it's my understanding that the perfect pair of jeggings would be as comfortable as a pair of leggings, but tactfully disguised as a pair of slimming skinny jeans; I was determined to seek out a pair like this. And I was pretty sure I knew where to find them: the one and only Bloomingdale's.

On a mission like no other, I shot down to the mall and marched my way through the post-holiday sale shoppers, earphones in (rocking to Lady Gaga, no doubt), eyes on the prize. I made my way to the sparkly department store and escalated right up to the fourth floor. Low and behold, my beloved jeggings were on display, front and center for everyone to see. I immediately rummaged through the piles, picking up different shades, different stretches, any brand. After noticing piles of "denim" in my arms the kind sales woman, Annie, offered to start a room for me. Moments later I found myself in the dressing room, pulling on the various pairs of jeggings that I scooped up. The first pair looked too much like leggings. The second pair looked too much like skinny jeans that I already owned. I immediately nixed three pairs because the fade was too dark or too gray. And right when I was starting to get discouraged, I found them: JBrand electric leggings, my perfect pair. Not only did they look exactly like skinny jeans (with pockets in the front and back, and stitching down the side), but they fit like a glove. I felt like I had just pulled on a pair of my favorite American Apparel leggings. Even though they cost a little more than I intended to spend, I couldn't resist. It was meant to be.

When I got home that Friday, I put them on and didn't take them off until Sunday night. They even kept their stretch the whole weekend long! I wore them with sweaters, boots, blazers, and flats. The best part is my friend - who so adamantly insisted that jeggings were the worse thing since the scrungie - didn't even notice I was wearing them. And when I pointed them out to her, she admitted how cute they looked. I turned her. And I will turn you.

Long live the jeggings!

Twenty Ten

Happy New Year! I know I'm a week late, but I have been diligently working on my resolution... haven't you? With most resolutions, people tend to dream up an ideal (yet unrealistic) self for the new year. This usually works for the first couple of weeks, but then you get so used to the new year that you forget why you proclaimed your resolution in the first place.

This year my resolution is "everything in moderation." This includes alcohol, food, planning, and spending. Originally my resolution was a long list of "exercise every day" and "only eat healthy foods" and "don't drink alcohol during the week" and "stop buying frivolous items on the Internet." Then I went to my favorite Saturday morning Ashtanga yoga class on January 2nd. The theme of the class was resolution (of course), but the instructor encouraged us to sum up our resolutions in an overall emotion or goal. Something broad. Something hopeful. Something you can actually achieve while still enjoying yourself. I encourage you to take another look at your resolution and see if you can boil it down to a general goal; I believe you will be much more successful at accomplishing it.

By the way, please remember to refer to this year as "Twenty Ten" - not "Two Thousand and Ten." I know it's only two more syllables but the former just sounds better, don't you think?

And let's take a moment to reflect on this decade... if you're from my generation (born between 1984 and 1986) this decade covers your years of adolescence. We began the decade entering high school, and ended it a year or two out of college. These are the most essential (and easy) years of our life: our personality takes a stronger shape, we make essential decisions that directly affect our future, we form lasting relationships with people who were once strangers.

Take this metaphor; If our life is comparable to a plane ride, then this decade was the period after you take off, when you're just coasting in low air, excited for your destination and eager about what you will do during your ride. Well that part is over and the rest of the ride might get a little bumpy. But rest assured you will land safely at your final destination.