We are heading home to Portland tomorrow for a week-long extended vacation. This is the longest period we have been home since we arrived in San Francisco and I can't WAIT. Notice how I said we were heading "home". Our house is in San Francisco, but home will always be Portland. Or somewhere in the PacNW!
Festivities will include two weddings, a visit with Neil's family with a beach-day outing, lounging in the hammock, grilling steak, eating farm-fresh eggs, lounging down at the lake, possibly some canoeing, hiking, camping at Swift Reservoir, feeling warm grass on my bare feet, bocce ball, horseshoes, a night at the Kennedy School, dinner at Screen Door, Portland favorites (Lucky Lab, Powell's books, 23rd st.), Craft Brewfest, Blue Hour happy hour, visits with friends, hanging with my nephew, and most of all - BASKING IN SUMMERTIME.
It will have to last me for awhile. Or until August, when my niece will finally be here!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tea time!
I got a coupon for 1/2 off High Tea at the Laurel Court in the Fairmont Hotel (big, old, fancy hotel on Nob Hill) so Neil and I ascended the hill to rub elbows with the fancy types on Sunday. Unfortunately, we didn't get the memo that you are supposed to dress for high tea. We both showed up in nice enough shirts, and then jeans. Eveyone else had a dress on (because everyone else there was a woman). Once we sat down, we looked okay, but I'm pretty sure the maître d' thought we were lost when we first wandered in.
I've done the whole tea thing with my mom and sister a few times. There is a little farm out in the middle of nowhere up by my parents house called the Pomeroy House that does a traditional afternoon English tea and I just love it. The little tea sandwiches are adorable (and tasty) and the scones are buttery deliciousness and there are always good selections of teas.
This tea was even more of a treat, because it was in the Laurel Court, which is super-beautiful and fancy and every now and then - shhh, don't tell - I like to pretend that I'm fancy. Fancy without a dress, though, of course. Neil was actually very keen on the idea as well - he likes things like little finger sandwiches and I think - shh, don't tell - that he likes to feel fancy every now and then, too.
We forgot to bring a camera, so I stole some images from the interwebs. Here is the Laurel Court, right off the beautiful lobby of the hotel:
We actually sat at the table right in front of that big mirror.
I chose the Fairmont Blend tea, so I'm not really sure what was in it, or what kind of tea it was, but it ended up being really fabulous, with cream and honey. Neil chose the Earl Gray which neither of us really liked that much - it was very flowery and the floral scent before I took a sip just almost made me a little bit nauseous. Interestingly, every other table around us had really pretty little silver teapots. We got some dumpy old ceramic teapots. Perhaps it was the jeans? I'm sure the tea tastes the same no matter what it is served in. The tea leaves are loose in the pot, and so they had this little silver strainer that sat on top of the teacup, and you pour the tea through it to catch any stray leaves. Then there was a precious little silver cup that the strainer sat in after you were finished with it.
After our server brought our teapots, he brought out our little tray of teatime treats. Isn't it beautiful?
There were five different types of tea sandwiches. Here was the menu:
Smoked Salmon and Chive Cream Cheese Pinwheel on Rye Bread
Five-Spice Beef Tenderloin and Lady Apple Slaw on Black Olive Baguette
Dungeness Crab and Mango Salad on a Corn Muffin
Coconut Curry Chicken on a Mini Herb Roll
Cucumber and Sonoma Goat Cheese with Sun Dried Tomato Tapenade on Black Walnut Bread
My favorite was the Beef Tenderloin and Neil's was the Crab Salad on the corn muffin. But they were all super-delicious. I didn't try one that I didn't like.
On the next tier were our scones, accompanied by pots of Devonshire Cream (like delicious, richer, whipped cream), lemon curd and pear compote. Just heavenly. I'm not usually a huge fan of lemon curd, but this stuff was magnificent. I did a combination of cream and lemon curd on one bit of scone and I will just say, wow...
By this time, we'd drunk about 6 cups of tea a piece, but we forged ahead onto the last tier, the dessert platter with an assortment of pastries. I don't remember exactly what was presented, but there was a madeline, which was okay, a fruit tart (mine had a blackberry on it that was severely underripe, dampening my experience a bit), a cheesecake tart thing that was excellent, a coffee/tiramisu/bar thingy that I could have eaten a boatload of, and finally, we ended with chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup which was so amazing that I almost cried when it was gone. It melted in your mouth to a luscious, rich chocolate heaven that just slid effortlessly down your throat. Mmm, I'm starting to salivate just thinking about it right now.
It ended up really being a lot of food, and a lot of tea, and they practically had to roll us out of the Laurel Court when we were finished. We browsed around the hotel for awhile afterwards - it has amazing views of the rest of San Francisco, because it sits right up on the crest of Nob Hill - and then we headed back down the hill to return to the commoners. Because neither of us had cash for a bus fare for Neil, we walked all the way home. It was an unceremonious, fitting return to our regular life.
But for a couple of hours, we were fancy...
I've done the whole tea thing with my mom and sister a few times. There is a little farm out in the middle of nowhere up by my parents house called the Pomeroy House that does a traditional afternoon English tea and I just love it. The little tea sandwiches are adorable (and tasty) and the scones are buttery deliciousness and there are always good selections of teas.
This tea was even more of a treat, because it was in the Laurel Court, which is super-beautiful and fancy and every now and then - shhh, don't tell - I like to pretend that I'm fancy. Fancy without a dress, though, of course. Neil was actually very keen on the idea as well - he likes things like little finger sandwiches and I think - shh, don't tell - that he likes to feel fancy every now and then, too.
We forgot to bring a camera, so I stole some images from the interwebs. Here is the Laurel Court, right off the beautiful lobby of the hotel:
I chose the Fairmont Blend tea, so I'm not really sure what was in it, or what kind of tea it was, but it ended up being really fabulous, with cream and honey. Neil chose the Earl Gray which neither of us really liked that much - it was very flowery and the floral scent before I took a sip just almost made me a little bit nauseous. Interestingly, every other table around us had really pretty little silver teapots. We got some dumpy old ceramic teapots. Perhaps it was the jeans? I'm sure the tea tastes the same no matter what it is served in. The tea leaves are loose in the pot, and so they had this little silver strainer that sat on top of the teacup, and you pour the tea through it to catch any stray leaves. Then there was a precious little silver cup that the strainer sat in after you were finished with it.
After our server brought our teapots, he brought out our little tray of teatime treats. Isn't it beautiful?
There were five different types of tea sandwiches. Here was the menu:
Smoked Salmon and Chive Cream Cheese Pinwheel on Rye Bread
Five-Spice Beef Tenderloin and Lady Apple Slaw on Black Olive Baguette
Dungeness Crab and Mango Salad on a Corn Muffin
Coconut Curry Chicken on a Mini Herb Roll
Cucumber and Sonoma Goat Cheese with Sun Dried Tomato Tapenade on Black Walnut Bread
My favorite was the Beef Tenderloin and Neil's was the Crab Salad on the corn muffin. But they were all super-delicious. I didn't try one that I didn't like.
On the next tier were our scones, accompanied by pots of Devonshire Cream (like delicious, richer, whipped cream), lemon curd and pear compote. Just heavenly. I'm not usually a huge fan of lemon curd, but this stuff was magnificent. I did a combination of cream and lemon curd on one bit of scone and I will just say, wow...
By this time, we'd drunk about 6 cups of tea a piece, but we forged ahead onto the last tier, the dessert platter with an assortment of pastries. I don't remember exactly what was presented, but there was a madeline, which was okay, a fruit tart (mine had a blackberry on it that was severely underripe, dampening my experience a bit), a cheesecake tart thing that was excellent, a coffee/tiramisu/bar thingy that I could have eaten a boatload of, and finally, we ended with chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup which was so amazing that I almost cried when it was gone. It melted in your mouth to a luscious, rich chocolate heaven that just slid effortlessly down your throat. Mmm, I'm starting to salivate just thinking about it right now.
It ended up really being a lot of food, and a lot of tea, and they practically had to roll us out of the Laurel Court when we were finished. We browsed around the hotel for awhile afterwards - it has amazing views of the rest of San Francisco, because it sits right up on the crest of Nob Hill - and then we headed back down the hill to return to the commoners. Because neither of us had cash for a bus fare for Neil, we walked all the way home. It was an unceremonious, fitting return to our regular life.
But for a couple of hours, we were fancy...
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Just some pics
The delicious chili that Neil whipped up.
Yummy potato chips (but a bit greasy, as you can see)
A wedding ring that I am working on for my friend Katie. All I have to do now is set the diamonds. eeek. Scary.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Beware of flying pigs
Three things this week:
1. Neil made dinner twice this week. If any of you are familiar with Neil, you'll understand the title of this post and it's relation to this phenomenon. If you aren't familiar with Neil, let's just say that, in the past, it has been much more likely that you would catch a glimpse of a flying pig than eat a dinner prepared by Neil. No more! He is taking on two meals a week from here on out and apparently has been hiding his mad cooking skills from me all these year because his food is GOOD! On Monday he made chili and boy was it yummy. I peeked into the kitchen during the prep work and noticed that he has amazing knife skills - he chops like a pro. I asked him how he learned that and he shrugged and mumbled something about the cooking shows that I watch and that it just seems like common sense. ? Who is this man?
Last night he tackled tacos and while he wasn't quite ready to make his own tortillas this time, he did whip up homemade Mexican Rice and made his own taco seasoning. Again, with all the chopping involved in this meal, I was blown away by what a good knife-handler he is. He even figured out, on his own, that the chef's knife doesn't work with tomatoes and you need to whip out the serrated knife to cut them properly. ? Who is this man? Next time, he plans on doing the tortillas as well. And I don't know if it's just because I didn't have to do the cooking, but I swear the food tasted better than when I make it. I also surmised that it could be the fact that I don't measure any more, and he followed the recipe to a T, with measuring spoons and cups in hand. Could be something to this whole "following the recipe" thing.
He's already making plans for next week's meals - pulled pork sandwiches, tortilla soup, orange chicken - the ideas are starting to whirl. I think he's going to find that he really enjoys cooking. He actually thanked me last night for forcing him to do it!
2. I made potato chips last night. Well, actually, the real story here is that I bought a mandoline and I now love it with all of my heart. The potato chips were more of a result of my wanting to slice something, anything, with my new toy. Now that I've sliced, I am dying to julienne so tomorrow we are having french fries. And then maybe some summer rolls, so I can finely julienne some vegetables. Such FUN! But the potato chips were also a lot of fun. I soaked the sliced potatoes for 30-40 minutes, then drained and dried them thoroughly. Then I heated up a tiny pot of oil, about an inch deep because I was running low on oil, and fried like 10 tiny little batches of potatoes. It took forever and after this I would just go to the corner store and buy a huge container of oil because it took SO long. So they turned out super-crispy and nice and tasty, but a little bit oily. I read somewhere that it's better to fry stuff like this in lard, or another fat that is firm at room-temperature, because then when they cool, the fat firms back up. So I'm on the lookout for lard now at the grocery store.
3. Last but not least, I got totally fed up with the bus passing me by every morning, crammed to the brim with people and causing me to be 1/2 hour late to work and bit the bullet and started riding my bike. It's been three days now and I'm feeling pretty good about it. However, there are two downsides to riding a bike in San Francisco - the hills and the wind. The morning commute is a joy because the hills aren't as big in that direction (there's some great downhills) and the wind hasn't started blowing yet. But after work - oh! It's miserable getting home. I ride home on Polk street, and there are 6 blocks with hills between 10-18% grade. Oh that doesn't sound like much, sure... TRUST ME IT'S STEEP. And of course, there's the 18% grade block that my apartment is on so I get all the way to within site of my house and have to make it up one last ridiculously steep hill. And then carry my bike up the stairs to our apartment. Needless to say, I always arrive home wheezing, breathless and sweating like a madman. It's pretty. So the hills are one thing, but it's like God thought we had it too easy, those of us biking in the city, so he added some of the nastiest winds ever to the mix. I'd say that the city averages wind speeds of around 20mph on a daily basis in the afternoons. The windows in our apartment usually rattle from 12:00 on because of the force of the wind. Riding into a headwind going East-West and feeling like you're working so hard only to look down to realize you're in your lowest gear and barely moving is so demoralizing. What's worse is when you sigh with relief as you take a left onto a North-South street and then realize that somehow there is still a headwind!!! Or almost worse, a nasty crosswind that threatens to blow your tires out from under you and pushing you into that car that's driving dangerously close anyways. And of course add to the mix those people lurking in their parked cars and waiting to open their doors into you.
But all whining aside, it's immensly more pleasurable to ride a bike than sit crammed on a hot, humid, smelly bus and I've actually been enjoying myself. Not to mention the fantastic workout I'm getting without having to use any extra time out of my schedule at all. Right now my goal is to ride to work every day but Friday, so we'll see if I can keep it up. Wish me luck and no flat tires!!
1. Neil made dinner twice this week. If any of you are familiar with Neil, you'll understand the title of this post and it's relation to this phenomenon. If you aren't familiar with Neil, let's just say that, in the past, it has been much more likely that you would catch a glimpse of a flying pig than eat a dinner prepared by Neil. No more! He is taking on two meals a week from here on out and apparently has been hiding his mad cooking skills from me all these year because his food is GOOD! On Monday he made chili and boy was it yummy. I peeked into the kitchen during the prep work and noticed that he has amazing knife skills - he chops like a pro. I asked him how he learned that and he shrugged and mumbled something about the cooking shows that I watch and that it just seems like common sense. ? Who is this man?
Last night he tackled tacos and while he wasn't quite ready to make his own tortillas this time, he did whip up homemade Mexican Rice and made his own taco seasoning. Again, with all the chopping involved in this meal, I was blown away by what a good knife-handler he is. He even figured out, on his own, that the chef's knife doesn't work with tomatoes and you need to whip out the serrated knife to cut them properly. ? Who is this man? Next time, he plans on doing the tortillas as well. And I don't know if it's just because I didn't have to do the cooking, but I swear the food tasted better than when I make it. I also surmised that it could be the fact that I don't measure any more, and he followed the recipe to a T, with measuring spoons and cups in hand. Could be something to this whole "following the recipe" thing.
He's already making plans for next week's meals - pulled pork sandwiches, tortilla soup, orange chicken - the ideas are starting to whirl. I think he's going to find that he really enjoys cooking. He actually thanked me last night for forcing him to do it!
2. I made potato chips last night. Well, actually, the real story here is that I bought a mandoline and I now love it with all of my heart. The potato chips were more of a result of my wanting to slice something, anything, with my new toy. Now that I've sliced, I am dying to julienne so tomorrow we are having french fries. And then maybe some summer rolls, so I can finely julienne some vegetables. Such FUN! But the potato chips were also a lot of fun. I soaked the sliced potatoes for 30-40 minutes, then drained and dried them thoroughly. Then I heated up a tiny pot of oil, about an inch deep because I was running low on oil, and fried like 10 tiny little batches of potatoes. It took forever and after this I would just go to the corner store and buy a huge container of oil because it took SO long. So they turned out super-crispy and nice and tasty, but a little bit oily. I read somewhere that it's better to fry stuff like this in lard, or another fat that is firm at room-temperature, because then when they cool, the fat firms back up. So I'm on the lookout for lard now at the grocery store.
3. Last but not least, I got totally fed up with the bus passing me by every morning, crammed to the brim with people and causing me to be 1/2 hour late to work and bit the bullet and started riding my bike. It's been three days now and I'm feeling pretty good about it. However, there are two downsides to riding a bike in San Francisco - the hills and the wind. The morning commute is a joy because the hills aren't as big in that direction (there's some great downhills) and the wind hasn't started blowing yet. But after work - oh! It's miserable getting home. I ride home on Polk street, and there are 6 blocks with hills between 10-18% grade. Oh that doesn't sound like much, sure... TRUST ME IT'S STEEP. And of course, there's the 18% grade block that my apartment is on so I get all the way to within site of my house and have to make it up one last ridiculously steep hill. And then carry my bike up the stairs to our apartment. Needless to say, I always arrive home wheezing, breathless and sweating like a madman. It's pretty. So the hills are one thing, but it's like God thought we had it too easy, those of us biking in the city, so he added some of the nastiest winds ever to the mix. I'd say that the city averages wind speeds of around 20mph on a daily basis in the afternoons. The windows in our apartment usually rattle from 12:00 on because of the force of the wind. Riding into a headwind going East-West and feeling like you're working so hard only to look down to realize you're in your lowest gear and barely moving is so demoralizing. What's worse is when you sigh with relief as you take a left onto a North-South street and then realize that somehow there is still a headwind!!! Or almost worse, a nasty crosswind that threatens to blow your tires out from under you and pushing you into that car that's driving dangerously close anyways. And of course add to the mix those people lurking in their parked cars and waiting to open their doors into you.
But all whining aside, it's immensly more pleasurable to ride a bike than sit crammed on a hot, humid, smelly bus and I've actually been enjoying myself. Not to mention the fantastic workout I'm getting without having to use any extra time out of my schedule at all. Right now my goal is to ride to work every day but Friday, so we'll see if I can keep it up. Wish me luck and no flat tires!!
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