Michigan Vacation Part 1: Football!!

So I realize I've been missing for a while (almost two weeks!).  And I thought it was about time I updated you on where I've been and what I was up to.  I was in Michigan for 9 days so lets start with the first event, Michigan Football!

We arrived at the Detroit Airport and waited what seemed like forever in the rental car line.  We had a small issue with the rental car, we had reserved a small compact car (since we would be driving a lot, and we love to be efficient) but they couldn't seem to find a small car for us so we ended up with a free upgrade to one of the smallest cars they had, a Ford Flex (not small at all, it seats 7, and is really just a minivan in disguise).  It was also super cold and raining, we were not ready for this weather!

Check that ext temp for September 30th!

We spent the first weekend in Ann Arbor mostly for the football game, but also got to see some old friends and eat at some favorite restaurants.  First I wanted to do this link up with the Belles of Saturday and show off some of my gameday pics (and try and expose their blog to some northern schools!):

I <3 Denard

If you look closely you can see the ball in the air headed for Vincent Smith!

The game was great and Michigan won 58-0, yay! (I realize I've missed two Fridays for Football Friday, but I promise this week will be a good one with the big game we have against little brother!)  There were some fun offensive plays in the game where we used two quarterbacks (Gardner at QB and Denard in the back field) and the awesome trick play where Vincent Smith (usually a RB) threw for a touchdown.  It was also nice to shut them out (even though it took a lot of mistakes on their part to help us with that).

Most important were the people I saw before the game while tailgating.  I got to see most of my closest friends from college and I saw every person I ever shared a room with (which is pretty good considering I live in CA and only make it back there once a year).  Its always so nice to see old friends and catch up with them and their lives.

Roomies 417 Michigan House, "Reunited and it Feels so Gooood" (thanks for the great pic Typh!)

After the game we bar hopped to see the rest of the games of that day/night.  Including Wisconsin destroying Nebraska and little brother (michigan state) beating that school down south (ohio state)!  I did all this with my girl friends since Rob was off getting a tattoo and then going to a "bachelor party".

As for the food we had throughout the day, we started the day with bagels, cream cheese and fragels from Bagel Fragel on North Campus (jalapeno bagel with parmesan artichoke cream cheese, yummy!). Then some great tailgating food and drinks (Apple Cider and Hot Dam!). For dinner we went to Cottage Inn, and I got a quick snack at NYPD!

A great day in Ann Arbor full of football, food, and friends!

More of my Michigan trip to follow...

The table was set, it must've been fancy...

To recap, we spent a week in Tahoe for a short summer vacation.  Some of the highlights were 2 days spent backpacking, and one day painting preschool equipment.  We also cooked my parents a fancy-ish dinner as a birthday present!

Both of their birthdays happened over the summer and since we hadn't seen them until our recent trip to Tahoe we thought it would be a good time to take advantage and do something nice for them.  Luckily, Rob is a very good cook, and I am very good at telling him what to do.  So we I decided we he should cook this really great dinner for the main course, something including buttercream for dessert, and I had my eye on a few different appetizer recipes.  I also thought it would be nice to have a wine to pair with each course.

For the appetizer I decided to use this recipe for a blue cheese and leek bruschetta.  Rob was skeptical because he has a problem with serving something we've never cooked for ourselves.  But I knew my superior cooking skills would come through, and they did!

mmm...bruschetta

We paired this course with a Sonoma cab from Mutt Lynch Winery, Canis Major.  These were an overall hit, and very simple to make.

For the main course Rob cooked this wonderful Julia Child's recipe again.  He poached sole in a dry white wine and then covered it in a parisienne sauce (not really sure what this is, but it tasted good!).  This was served with a side of asparagus and multicolored carrots.

I was so excited to eat that I almost forgot to take a picture

We paired this course with a dry white wine (that was also used to cook the fish in) that was on sale at Whole Foods (although we'd recommend just using two buck chuck, that's what we did last time).

For dessert we made shortbread and buttercream.  Using the buttercream skills he learned we made the most simple one.  It normally uses Cointreau to give it an orangy flavor, but I wanted to try and use Chambord since I love raspberry and chocolate together.  We compromised and did half with Cointreau and half with Chambord.  For the shortbread we used my grandma's secret recipe (Ok not really secret, I just don't know it, but I'm sure Rob could tell you).  We paired the dessert with a red port from Kaz Winery.  We had made waaaay too much dessert (probably enough for 8 people), luckily we had friends coming into town that night and they finished most of it!

I think my parents really enjoyed it, we really tried to make it a nice atmosphere, too.  It's normal for us just to cook them dinner so actually setting the table and using nice place settings and glassware made a difference.  Eating on my parent's back deck with a great view of Lake Tahoe is a perfect backdrop for a nice summer dinner.

Fancy table

nice view



Baked Green Tomatoes

I've recently discovered green tomatoes and the wonderfulness of frying them. The dp (formerly bf, actually he doesn't need to be anonymous since he has his own blog where he calls himself ~RoB, but I think that is kinda stupid, so I'll just call him Rob) fried them the first time I brought them home from the farmer's market.  Then I saw a post over on my friend Mandy's blog about green tomatoes.  She did something a little different though, she baked them! And then she topped them with blue cheese and basil vinaigrette!

So I told Rob the next time I bought green tomatoes that we should try doing it her way, and guess what? He listened to me! You can see the whole recipe over on her blog (and check out some of her other recipes, they are awesome!) but I'm just showing you the finished product here!

Delicious!

They were very tasty and I loved a new idea for the toppings, not sure if the baking part won me over, I think I still like fried better, but if I'm trying to be healthier I guess I could work with it.  As you can see in the picture we paired it with a lovely wine, Bardessono Petite Sirah, that we got at Uncorked in Tahoe City.  Oh, and I started the meal with a little cheese that we happened to have have left over, one of which is my new favorite, Drunken Goat (you can get it at whole foods).

Yummy yummy yummy!

On Thursday I was reading the recent post from the blog poppytalk and they had what they called a simple peach tart.  Now, I'm not the best person in the world when it comes to cook or baking (the dp does most of it, like this amazing dinner) but I'm pretty good a following directions/recipes.  I bought a tart pan a few months ago in hopes of making this strawberry tart, but it looked a little time consuming and took some planning and I just never tried hard enough to make it work.  So, when I saw this peach tart recipe I thought ok, I'll try it!

There is a farmer's market next to my work on Fridays so I knew I could get some fresh peaches (and super cheap, too).  Besides that the recipe called for pretty standard ingredients that I knew we had.  I followed the recipe closely, only adding an extra tablespoon of butter.  The most time consuming part was cutting the peaches (and mine had gotten squished on the bike ride home, so I had to cut off the bad parts).

My dog, Angel, loves peaches more than anything else, he was sad he only got a little piece.

After that mixing the dough was easy, no mixer or food processor needed.  Then just throwing everything in, putting it in the oven and hoping for the best!

The dp was off playing tennis and I was hoping to have this delicious dessert ready when he got home (I've tried to do things like this before but the food usually flops).  Of course the first thing he said when he walked in was that the crust smelled like it was overdone and that I should take it out.  After taking it out it looked a little soupy so we let it sit for a minute.  It was still very soupy when we cut into it. We each got a slice and realized how wonderful it was, I was so proud of myself!

The dp thinks its thed  best thing I've ever cooked and said that I should make it every week until peaches are out of season!  When I went into the kitchen to put it away I noticed half of it was gone, apparently he had been sneaky in the kitchen and finishing off the first half, I guess he liked it!

Where'd the first half go?

Anyway, super good, highly recommend, very easy!  You should go make it before peaches go out of season!

Theater + Oysters = Awesome

Last night the partner (formerly known as the bf) and I went to a fun filled night of food, theater, and oysters.  Our lovely roommate is part of the theater company Pianofight and they had a one night show last night called Roughin' It.  It was held at the Tomales Bay Oyster Company north of the San Francisco Bay.

Our roommate told us it would be cold and to bring a picnic and to be ready to eat oysters.  I've been to a couple of Pianofight's previous shows and found them all very funny and enjoyable so I couldn't wait to see this one!  It sounded a little strange when our roommate described to us that the shows would be moving around us and that at times we would have to move too, but it all made sense when we were there.  There were about two scenes in each location and we were constantly moving from one place to another which was kinda nice for keeping us warm.  All the scenes were great but I think our favs were "So Good" which the partner described as a typical LA party, and "Hansel and Gretel, the Aftermath" which had a humorous take on what happens after Hansel and Gretel escape the witch.

They also had oyster's for $1, which were very, very tasty.  I've never eaten that many oysters (I had 7) but they were so fresh and the sauce they had for them was delicious.  We also made friends with the people at our table and, of course, one of them was from Michigan.  Overall it was a very fun setting for this show (and a great idea for Pianofight) and we will definitely be going back to that oyster company in the near future.

Best dinner in a while...

I just had a really wonderful dinner, thanks to the bf...err...partner (more info on that here).  I always give him a hard time for being the "cook" in the family but never really cooking full and good dinners for me us.  Usually we come home form work and I end up throwing something together because we are both tired and hungry.  Tonight my partner cooked a delicious meal.  Using Julia (said with a Julia Child type of voice) as a guide he cooked white ruffy (I think) in some french creamy buttery winey lemony sauce.  I know he did some fancy stuff, but I wasn't in the kitchen so I really have no clue how it was prepared.  What I do know, it that I was presented with a plate of fish with a delicious sauce, a side of green beans, and some crusty bread.

Ok, it doesn't look like much, but it was REALLY good

I am the biggest critic when its comes to his cooking so this good review is a big deal (or at least I think so).  I also liked his setup in the kitchen, cook book on the dish drainer (yay small kitchens).

yes, I added the flowers

I also have a bunch of leftover sauce that I'm planning to put on some veggies, I just don't know which ones yet, maybe asparagus? other ideas?

Reconnectin'

I just realized I missed another day...darn late night rehearsals (yes ending after 10pm is late)!

So yesterday I decided to reach out to a couple of people I haven't been in contact with in a very long time. One of them was easy enough because I'm friends with her on facebook, I'm just not sure if she remembers who I am (our Moms were best friends back in the day).  She writes an amazing food blog, that I've been following for a while so I thought it was time to actually email her and tell her how much I enjoy her blog.  Still waiting to hear back from her, but I'm sure I will.

The other person I wanted to try in get in touch with was an old friend from a music summer camp I went to 9 years ago, we were very close for the 4 weeks we spent there.  I didn't really have any other information on her except her name and that I knew she was a violin/piano player.  After not finding any info on her,  I realized that she probably got married and has a new last name.  Almost giving up, I finally found something with her old last name and what I guessed could've been her new last name.  Searching with her potential new last name I found out she has a blog and did a quick look around realizing it was her and decided to send her an email.  I knew this was all kinda a long shot, but within a few hours she had written back to me and we are currently trying to catch each other up on our lives over the past 9 years.

I think maybe this will be a new thing for me...trying to reconnect with people who I've lost touch with that were really important to me...I think this is a good way to fulfill one of my goals of being happier!

Mother's Day Fun

Yes, I know everything is very late on my blog, sorry!

Instead of doing the usual go out to brunch, wait a long time, end up paying too much for not great food for mother's day we just hosted our own brunch.  The bf made all the food, although I did find some of the amazing recipes for him (like this french toast recipe from The Kitchn).  I made the mimosas and mock mimosas (with sparkling tangerine juice from Whole Foods).  The food and drinks were a hit! It was a little bit too much food for the average person, but it was all so delicious we ate almost all of it!

I made a gift for my mom, which I haven't done since I was a small child.  I was very proud of myself for being crafty and getting in touch with my creative side.  I got the idea from here (which I saw on here) and was inspired from here.  I didn't go for the exact straight lines or perfect measurements, but went for a more handmade look :)

I got a little overwhelmed when I walked into Michael's with a plan of what I needed to buy to complete my project.  When I saw that the canvases came is two packs I decided that if the first one came out the way I wanted, I would make a second (for myself)!  The other decision I had to make were the colors I wanted to use (I probably should've done this before I went since my default is always maize and blue and I'm trying to branch out).  So I spent quite a bit of time in the paint aisle deciding what kind/size of paint (I went for something cheap) and a good color (I ended up with a blueish periwinkle).  Then I walked to the fancy thick paper/cardstock and tried to decide on a complementary color, I ended up with dark brown.  I also needed Mod Podge (which had too many options so I went with matte) an exacto knife, paint brushes, and a paint holder thing (for all of these I just went with the cheapest option).

With all my supplies in hand I started by making evenly spaced lines on the canvas for the stripes, but of course I couldn't find a ruler so I just ended up using binder paper and made each stripe 3 lines long.  This left an oddly large final stripe so I fudged the lines a bit to make it look more even.  I then painted every other line and let it dry.

Next came the California shape.  I found a random simple outline of California online and printed it out.  Then I taped it to my fancy dark brown cardstock and using my exacto knife, followed the outline.  I then Mod Podged it into place (I had no clue what this meant, nor did I investigate it, I basically used it as glue and then as a finish, maybe I should've checked out this website first).  Lastly I cut out a little red heart and glued it where Lake Tahoe is.  End result: my mom loved it and here it is hanging in her bathroom!

Super blurry pic from my Mom, I think my sister's photography talents must be form the other side of the family

I also received a mother's day present since I am a mother to this adorable pupperz. 

Aww

I got the Memphis CD, and I'm pretty sure he had some help from the bf.  We just went to see the Broadway on screen version of Memphis and both loved it (although I think the bf loved it more, which makes me question the motives for the gift ;) Btw, the music form Memphis is great, and if you're into Broadway shows/music you should definitely check it out!

Killer Fruit Salad

This is probably as close as you will get to a recipe from me, since the bf does most of the cooking. I'm usually just the eater/dishwasher.  There have been a reappearance of berries at the farmer's markets, especially strawberries! I decided I wanted to do something besides just eat them plain (which is also good and I do often).  Here is the impossibly hard recipe for my awesome fruit salad:

1 basket Strawberries
2 Clementines
1/2 basket of blackberries
1/4 cup of chopped (ok who am I kidding, I just shred it with my hands) mint
squirt of lemon juice
dash of sugar

Most important thing is that its all very fresh and in season fruit.  You can basically sub in any kind of fruit you have, but the strawberries really pair well with the mint so I'd keep those in there.

Cut up the fruit into bite size pieces (I like to cut slices of clementines in half so you get some juice, and I left the blackberries whole)
Put into a bowl and top with mint, lemon juice and sugar.
Mix it all together.
Taste to see if it needs more sugar or juice and adjust if necessary.

I've been putting this in a big bowl in the fridge to snack on all week, but it seems to go quickly so I'm not sure how long it will keep.  It is nice to let it sit for at least a few hours before serving so it can soak up all the juices and mint flavor.

In a tupperware, on my desk, half eaten

Enjoy!

Grand Tavern

We ate at the Grand Tavern a few weeks ago, and I'm just getting around to reviewing it, oops!  I had read about this place in a recent Oakland Tribune article and it sounded like a fun place to try.  The restaurant itself is a little strange because it really seems like you are in someone's house (that happens to have a bar in one corner).  You walk in and it's a long hallway with no hostess stand or anything to let you know that you are in the right place.  But once you are inside it is very cozy, some of the tables have big comfy chairs by the fire, some are side benches or window seats, and some are regular looking dinning room tables.  Since we had a group of 6 we sat at one of these bigger tables.  The service we had wasn't great, but I think our waiter might have just been having an off night and it seemed like everyone else's waiters were more attentive. 

On to the important stuff, the food and drinks!  The drink list was expansive and every drink we ordered was great.  I had a gin drink with sparkling wine and a bunch of other stuff that was very refreshing, and everyone else at our table really enjoyed their drinks.  The food was also great, but since this is more of a bar or gastropub a lot of it was small plates so there was lots of sharing.  The bf somehow found the only thing on the menu that wasn't a small plate, a burger with everything and anything on it.

Apparently it was good, and all of our other small plates were delicious.  I shared some of the ravioli and the crab and artichoke brushetta, bother very tasty and the ravioli was actually a good size serving.  Even though this place it probably more about getting together in a fun setting for some drinks and a snack, it was also a fine choice for dinner.  As we were leaving I noticed a patio out front which would be an awesome hangout place when the weather is warmer, I guess I'll have to go back!

Napa Part 3: Day Two Adventure

This is the final post from our Napa trip, I finally got around to writing it!

We woke up Sunday morning without much of a plan for the day, thinking we might go drive to some wineries and then maybe just head home.  But the bf started thinking and got us heading out the door with a crazy itinerary in hand.

We started the day back at the oxbow public market to buy the cheese from the night before and to see if there was anything else we needed/wanted.  We bought the cheese, then came across the chocolate vendor who makes the Ceja chocolate wine sauce.  We had wanted to get something for Trish (the awesome pourer at Mason) and thought a cute little bottle of wine chocolate sauce would be great.  She was so excited to see us again, and loved the gift!

We then said goodbye to downtown Napa and headed north to hit a few wineries, the first was Frank Family.  The bf had some of this wine at the Pasadena wine festival and that was our main reason for visiting.  The place wasn't super friendly or personal, you had to pay as soon as you walk in and then you go to different stations for each type of wine.  We split the reserve tasting since I wanted to try the sparkling wines and he wanted the reserve reds.  The sparkling wines left much to be desired (and were pretty expensive) so we moved onto the reds.  The reds were good, but it was in a very small room with lots of people and only one pourer crammed into the corner.  A weird experience after all the fun downtown rooms we tasted in the previous day.  Off to our next stop, Chateau Montelena!

For those of you who don't know, Chateau Montelena pretty much put Napa on the map in the 1970s.  I highly recommend the movie Bottle Shock for a quick and fun history lesson (if you remember, we also tried the wine from another winery featured in the movie, Gustavo Thrace, the previous day).  We were a little concerned that the tasting would be similar to Frank Family and not very personal, luckily we were wrong!

The grounds and building were gorgeous, see above, and we decided if it looked too crowded inside we could leave.  Pretty soon after we walked in someone motioned us to head to a back room where they had more tasting areas and we had a pourer just for us!  The tasting fee was expensive ($20) but we split it and felt like we got our money's worth since we got to try bottles that sold for $150.  The wine was great but mostly out of our price range although we did walk out of there with a copy of Bottle Shock signed by Bo Barrett!

Now for the real adventure we headed to the next valley over, Sonoma.  The last time we went wine tasting in Sonoma we LOVED it, and we realized it wasn't too far out of the way and we could get back home just as easy as if we had stayed in the Napa valley.  First pit stop was at the Dry Creek General Store for some lunch.  The sandwiches here are wonderful but the wait can be long, in the end it was worth it and we enjoyed our sandwiches.

The next stop was Dry Creek Olive Oil since the bf is a member of their club.  We got to try all the current releases they have and since he gets a 20% discount we bought a bottle of some cara cara orange infused olive oil that wasn't part of the shipment he got.  The person there recommended we drizzle it over goat cheese which we have since done and it was delicious! The bf also wanted to get a new shirt since his was lost in the great flood of 2010/2011 (a pipe burst in his wall).  When they couldn't find a shirt in his size they gave him the size bigger for free!

The last stop was our favorite winery from our last trip, Hook and Ladder.  I was a little worried that we were thinking too highly of it since it was one of our last stops last time.  It lived up to all our expectations, and since we liked it so much we decided to join their wine club (it's the first one we joined so its kind of a big deal).  We bought three bottles, got a cute reusable carrying case (that we were told fits two bottles and two wine glasses) and were on our way home.

That concluded our Napa adventure, glad I finally got it all written (only 4 weeks late :)

Birthday Boy

The bf's birthday was last week and even though we celebrated over the weekend we also went out to a special dinner on his actual birthday.  We ate at a place I've been wanting to try for a while, Pican.  It's in the Uptown area of Oakland surrounded by other really cool new restaurants like Plum, Ozumo, Bakesale Betty, and The Punchdown.

The restaurant was very swanky inside, had a good looking bar area and an open kitchen on one wall.  We brought our own wine ($25 corkage fee) so I don't know how the drinks are, but I do know that they specialize in Bourbon.  We had fried green tomatoes as an appetizer that were dressed up all fancy with feta, radishes, and a buttermilk dressing.  I really enjoyed them but the bf thinks he could make it better and less fancy himself.  For our main courses he had the duck and I had the fried chicken.  The fried chicken was so good and to make it even better it was served with a smoked Gouda mac and cheese, yumzo!  We also got a side of andoullie and scallion hushpuppies with a vinegar sauce, these were also very good.  It was too much food for us so we ended up taking home half of the chicken and some hushpuppies.  I really liked the food and atmosphere here and will definitely try to go back!

Napa Part 1: Downtown Accommodations and Food

We spent the last weekend in Napa for a Valentine's/Birthday for the bf extravaganza!  There is so much to talk about so I'll split it up into a three different sections, accommodations and food, wine, and our adventure on the second day.  We decided to try downtown Napa for a change, I had read a good article in Via magazine about it and heard other good things.  We like the idea that you can walk to a bunch of tasting rooms and not have to worry about driving.

I made the decision to stay at a Bed and Breakfast since it seemed like there were many available and I've always liked the idea.  We stayed at the Old World Inn, which was wonderful.  There are two locations so of course we went to the wrong one first, luckily the correct one was only about a block away.  The Innkeeper gave us a quick tour of the place, there was always coffee out (pre-measured french press!) and they had fresh cookies at 3:30, wine and appetizers at 5:30, and chocolates after 9!  We then were shown to our room which was super cute, although it was probably the smallest room there it was enough room for us and very cozy.  We had a fireplace and a small patio! This card was waiting for us on the bed:

We got ourselves settled in and headed out for a day of wine tasting (more on that later). 

Sometime in the afternoon we realized it was probably a good idea to have something to eat and I wanted to check out Oxbow.  It was very fun inside and we had some great, unique, tacos at Casa.  I had grilled garlic citrus prawns with corn relish, shaved cabbage salad, avocado crema, garlic aioli and cilantro.  The bf had skirt steak with grilled onions, blue cheese, avocado, jalapeños, garlic aioli, cilantro & salsa picante.

I felt like I wanted to spend more time there but we were on a schedule for wine tasting so we headed out.  At one of our final wine stops we decided to get a cheese plate, it was a very good decision.

We loved the middle cheese so much I took a picture of the name on the menu and asked where we could buy it, luckily we could buy it at Oxbow, and planned to do that the next day!

After all the wine we headed back to our b&b for their wine tasting and to get ready for dinner.  We never made it to dinner, I blame the super comfortable bed but the bf blamed all the wine we (or I) had.  Not too big of a deal missing dinner though, because we knew there was a big breakfast in store for us the next morning. 

Breakfast was great, maybe a little too sweet for some but still great.  It started with fresh fruit and orange juice, then the main course was caramel french toast, yummy.

I would've loved something a little more savory to complement it like some nice crunchy bacon, but still enjoyed it quite a bit!  At this point we said goodbye to our awesome b&b and headed out on our Day 2 adventure, more on that later as well!

Restaurant Week

Last week was Oakland Restaurant Week and we had a chance to eat at two of the restaurants participating.  First up was Camino.  I’ve been interested in this restaurant for a while, it’s always mentioned with some of the best in the Oakland/Berkeley area and it is right in my neighborhood.  The inside of Camino is very cool, most of the patrons sit at two very long communal tables, but there were some individual tables in the middle too.  The cocktails were fantastic and inventive.  We started with a very good, fresh tasting fennel salad.  The main course was half a Dungeness crab cooked in the wood fired oven, served over endives, sunchokes, and beets.  Although this was messy it had very good flavor and was a little spicy, which I loved!  Dessert was an orange custard with fruit compote, not too sweet and a great ending to the meal.  I really enjoyed my meal here and will definitely be coming back.  My boyfriend wasn’t as crazy about it as I was, I think the portions were a little too small for him and he felt awkward trying to eat the messy crab in a nicer setting.

Next up was Bocanova.  I didn’t know much about this restaurant, but always like to find new places down at Jack London Square.  For restaurant week Bocanova served everything family style so the whole table had to participate.  I think we had a total of seven(!) different courses/plates. Again, the cocktails were very inventive and very tasty! Starting with an appetizer of Peruvian olives and seasoned mushrooms, I dislike both these things but tried them anyway and actually enjoyed the mushrooms. The next appetizer was a lobster and shrimp cocktail, this was also delicious. The main courses were steak with chimichurri sauce, sea scallops, and mashed winter squash. All three of the were amazing! The only unfortunate part was dessert, the menu listed a chocolate bread pudding (which sounded amazing), but we were served pineapple and kiwi empanadas. These were good, but the bread pudding sounded better. This restaurant totally impressed me, I didn’t expect it to be that good!  Our whole group really enjoyed the meal, and I highly recommend this place as a change of pace from the seafood restaurants at Jack London Square.

Next time I talk about a restaurant I'll try and have better descriptions of the food, hopefully what the menu actually said instead of me making up what I thought it said.