The Most Delicious Foods of December

Not to make you guys hungry or anything, but I just wanted to share about some of the most delicious foods I have enjoyed this month....

These latkes are from Hanukkah last month but I also made more when I got back home in December. I made a big batch and they only lasted like two days, they're that delicious. I'll probably make some more when I get back after Christmas.

Might look a little grody? I don't know? But these chicken tacos from the little market down the street from me are delicious and about as authentic as you can get, taco-wise. Perfect enjoyed with a classic Mexican coke, made with real cane sugar.

Chicken and waffles! I just couldn't get that chicken and waffle dish from LA out of my mind, and I was pleased to find that San Francisco has some of their own chicken and waffle places, like Gussie's Chicken and Waffles. Next time I go I'm going to have to try their Georgia peach skillet cobbler for dessert, if I'm not too full after my chicken and waffles.

Good food is definitely one of the greatest pleasures of my life. It's so fun to be able to write about food every week for my writing job, and share those articles with my friends and family.

Baseball on a Sunday Afternoon

Today was my first baseball game. The San Francisco Giants were playing the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park, and tons of fans came out to watch the game. My housemate and I took the train, and every stop, a bunch of Giants fans were waiting to join us in their orange and white/gray/black fan paraphernalia.

At&T Park is about a block away from the Caltrain station. I grabbed a big deli sandwich and some waters from Safeway and just followed the crowd to get there.

We found our seats... and settled in for a great game.

We had a great view from section B140, row 25, seats 17 and 18. We were seated right in front of a little wall between us and the section above us, so we could lean back if we wanted and stretch a little. We also had the foresight to bring a big soft blanket to sit on, to avoid the hard bleacher seats.

About half way through the game, I wanted to walk around a little bit so I got up and got a hot fudge sundae from the Ghiradelli stand. It was very refreshing on such a hot day.

Even though things looked kind of small from where we were sitting, it was really easy to keep up with the game because they had this huge screen right behind us where they'd show each player's picture/stats as they were up at bat, and the score at the bottom of the screen. They would also replay the especially good hits or catches made by the Giants.

In between the teams switching off after each inning, there would be fun features like sing-alongs, or recaps of some of the best plays the Giants had experienced that week. At the end, the kids in the stands got to go down to the field and run the bases, which must have been so fun for them, a great memory to cherish all their lives.

The Giants ended up winning the game, 5-0, and I'm glad we stayed till the end, even though we knew they would win, because it was just so nice seeing everyone so happy and hugging each other in the stands at the end of the game, as Frank Sinatra played over the speakers.

In that moment, I couldn't help reflecting: this is what it feels like to be part of the Bay Area community-- to go to the ball game and root for your team, to sing along with the songs, to feel like a part of something so much larger than yourself, something with so much history and grandeur, and to just feel so united with those around you through this team of talented men, playing for their fans.

Sports: finally starting to get it. What's next? Hockey, maybe! After all, San Jose is home to the famous Sharks....

Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival

Today was one day of the two-weekend Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco! A friend and I met up to go and check it out.

There were sponsor booths, art/jewelry/things for sale, food booths, and a stage in the main plaza where they had a beauty pageant and some Taiko drum performers.

The American and Japanese flags flying side by side.. I thought this made a pretty picture :)

In Japantown (where the festival was held) they have street signs in English and Japanese!

The Taiko drum performers were amazing-- they had all these different drums that made different sounds, and they were literally dancing while drumming.. and they just looked so happy and into what they were doing, you could tell they really loved it.

We also went and had lunch at a Japanese restaurant in the little mall nearby. I have not had sushi in quite a while, so that was a real treat.

There was also this neat mural at the entrance to the mall.

So, fun weekend :). Can't wait to go back to San Francisco next weekend to see the Giants!

P.S. I changed my blog settings so you don't have to have an account to comment. Didn't realize I could do that but that should make things easier for my commenters :).

Epic Sandwich

Last weekend a friend and I went to Ike's Place, a sandwich place in the Castro district of San Francisco, near the Mission District. I'd heard this place had amazing sandwiches, and if you just check out their menu, you can see why. My friend and I both thought the Heath Ledger or The Joker sounded like the best choice-- the Heath Ledger (which my friend got) has "Beer Battered Zucchini, Ike's red pesto, Ranch, Vegan Meatballs," (and lettuce and tomato) whereas The Joker (which I got, with the addition of banana peppers) has the same ingredients but all beef meatballs. Want to see a picture?

This is pretty much the best sandwich I've ever had... aside from the Croque Monsieur I got from Tartine Cafe a few weeks ago, which was also amazing. 

So, we picked up our sandwiches (and chips and drinks) and went and ate at Dolores Park. It was a pretty nice day out, not too cold or too warm. We sat in a sunny spot but also near trees so we would have access to, as my friend aptly phrased, "theoretical shade." Lots of other people were enjoying the nice weather too so it was neat to people-watch and see all the dogs wandering around. There was even a guy flying a kite! 

So, that was really fun. This weekend I think a friend of mine from back home is visiting and we're going to some malls. Happy almost weekend, friends!

Video!

Hi friends!

I thought this would be a good opportunity to share a video I made for my web design/programming class. It features fun stuff I've done in the bay area so you've probably seen all these pictures before but it's still a nice video and I chose pretty music for it from this jazz soloists cd I like :).



So, enjoy, until next time when I have time to write a review of the book I just finished! :)

Fun times

So, last weekend I went to the Ferry Building Farmer's Market in San Francisco with my cousin, and it was a really nice day. I got pomegranates, red potatoes, kale and some apples... and with some of my ingredients I made this lovely soup.

It's got kale, potatoes, white cannellini beans, carrot, vegetable broth, a little garlic, onion and salt, zuchinni, and a little shredded cheddar ontop. Definitely a keeper!

We also went inside the ferry building where we made a visit to Miette, a cute little pastry shop where I got an amazing chocolate lavendar macaron...

...and also Blue Bottle for some coffee and cookies.

This weekend, I went to the San Jose Flea Market to search for inspiration for my Halloween costume. As I observed all the fun animal hats, I recalled that they sell a lot of those at anime conventions too... so I decided I'd buy one and be an anime convention attendee. I even have my old badge from 2011 with all the buttons I've been collecting ever since I started going to conventions. Next post I will post a picture.

They had a farmer's market at the flea market too, where I got some more pomegranates, tangerines, and avocados.

After the flea market, I visited Japantown and got some pocky to go with my costume.. and no visit to Japantown is complete without a Hawaiian shave ice.

This time I got blue raspberry and green tea. A little boy and his mom shared my table with me, they were from Campbell and super nice. We talked about legos and farmer's markets.

Pretty relaxing day so far, went to get some things at Whole Foods and just relaxing now. Hope everyone else is having a nice weekend too! :)

Dolores Park, Revisited

I am still waiting on some pictures from my East Coast trip, but that just gives me an opportunity to talk about my favorite place-- San Francisco.

Dolores Park was pretty much deserted last time I went there with my friend, but when I went there again last weekend with my cousin and her friends, after a visit to Tartine Cafe for lunch and Ritual Coffee for drinks, I saw a whole new side to the park.

This part of the park is affectionately referred to as Hipster Hill. It is a popular hangout for 20-somethings of the hipster variety-- artistic, musical types. Free spirits. When the weather is nice, it's practically like a social event to just come out here, people-watch, relax in the sunshine, and enjoy some pizza, cotton candy, beer, or other sweet treats that vendors walk around and sell. I got a really great vibe from this place. When you are here, you don't really even care what time it is. You could spend a whole afternoon here and just be happy to be present.

Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to bring some of my other friends here, before the summer's over.

More San Francisco... and... pie

Here are some more pictures from my friend of when we went to San Francisco!

That tower up there is the Coit Tower. This tower was built in 1933 for Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a volunteer firefighter of San Francisco.

This is the Transamerica Pyramid, the tallest skyscraper of the San Francisco skyline, completed in 1972. Its current tenants are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, ThinkEquity, and TSG Consumer Partners.

This is just a nice view up one of San Francisco's many hills. So many hills.

Here's the pie I baked. Next time I want to try to make one of those pretty lattice type crusts.

I used a great crust recipe from one of my coworkers that didn't even require a food processor, just a pastry cutter.. and this berry filling from Joy of Baking, except I used blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries and strawberries. Can't wait to make another pie for my family when I visit next week... we'll see what kind of fruit I use for that one :).

Tomorrow I'm going to the Obon Festival. I'll let you guys know how it goes! Have a great weekend.

San Francisco and other things

Here's a more expanded look of my little San Francisco excursion.

Here are some boats from Pier 39, my friend took this picture. The view of the mountains from Pier 39 is so pretty, and it's so nice to just go and see the water.

Here's a picture from the Pride Festival, which was that weekend. People were dressed so colorfully and really had a lot of fun.

Look at that interesting outfit! People were taking pictures of this guy left and right.

I will post some other San Francisco pictures later. :)

Friend's mom sent me a cookbook from Baton Rouge! This was the highlight of my week. She got it from a restaurant over there that she visited. So thoughtful. :)

It's got recipes for stews, rice dishes, seafood dishes, vegetable dishes, even some dessert dishes. I immediately made the Shrimp Jambalaya.

Due to the interesting method of simmering some onion, garlic, celery, and bell pepper in oil for a while, and then simmering it a while longer (40 minutes!) with some tomato paste and water, the shrimp and rice mixed in (shrimp first to cook for 20 minutes, then the rice at the end) came out this deep, dark color, with some fresh green onion and parsley to give it a pop of brighter color. Somewhat reminiscent of "dirty rice," I would imagine. There are a lot of ways to make jambalaya and this was quite good, with some hot sauce mixed in.

My housemate and I went to this farm today called Emma Prusch Farm Park because he thought it was going to be a farmers market but it was just a farmstand with vegetables. Still kind of fun to go and visit, the park itself is lovely (not pictured) and they have all kinds of birds wandering around.

This is a mama bird of some sort and her little chick. :)

A little peek at the farm. 

A goose! Brings back memories of being chased around by geese at Waller Park back home.

Also lately I have been enjoying crepes. Deb's crepe recipe is easily adaptable to savory crepes with the omission of the honey. The other night I made crepes with roasted asparagus, spinach, and zuchinni from the garden. Tonight I made a simple crepe with turkey lunchmeat, some pieces of fuji apple, and a little monterey jack cheese. Protip: if you ever don't really feel like cooking a big meal but still want something light and satisfying and not frozen or "just-add-water," make some crepes! 

Chocolate & strawberry dessert crepe I made a long time ago. 

So, fun times... now back to studying... so I can try to get ahead before I go and visit Santa Maria in a week and a half. Hope you guys are ready to have a good week!

San Francisco Main Public Library

My main objective in visiting San Francisco last weekend was to look around at the San Francisco Public Library for a class paper. It is an amazing library with six floors and services for people of all abilities and cultures. Books are offered in about 30 different languages, and there are library centers dedicated to the deaf, blind and those with learning differences.

This is the library from the outside. It is located in the Historical Civic Center District. This is a very convenient location, because it's close by to the Financial District and Chinatown. Also, a good friend of mine lives near this area.

This is the inside of the library. I love the skylights that let the sunshine inside. It makes everything seem so bright and cheerful.

There was a gallery exhibit in the African American Center of artistically designed cigar boxes that I thought were really pretty.

This is the outside of one cigar box. You can tell the artist took a lot of time to decorate it. It reminds me of an antique jewelry box.

Here is the inside of a cigar box. This was a really interesting collection, and when I have time, I'd like to look up some more information and history about it.

 Here's a glimpse of the microfiche/microfilm section. Patrons need special permission to access these files. Government information, you know.

 As you can see, the library hosts lots of events. I enjoyed seeing all the brightly colored fliers.

Next post, I'll share some more pictures my friend and I took while walking around San Francisco. :)

Sneak Peek

I have been unbelievably busy these past few weeks keeping up with summer classes and work. I feel like I'm running a race and just barely keeping up with my last breath. Yesterday, though, I allowed myself a whole day of fun, visiting several districts of San Francisco: The Historic Civic Center District, Nob Hill, Tenderloin, Tenderknob, North Beach, The Financial District, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf. That's at least four miles of walking, and my legs are reminding me today, but it was worth it to share these places with a good friend of mine who just moved to San Francisco and had not done a lot of exploring yet.

I am still waiting for all my pictures to transfer over to my email, but in the meantime, here is a sneak peek to show what's to come...

An entry from an old fashioned card catalog at the San Francisco Main Public Library...

Outside of a market in Chinatown....

Washington Park in North Beach....

So, I definitely got my fill of San Francisco for the time being. Stay tuned for more! What did you do this weekend?

Boogie on the Bayou, and more sushi

Well, the festival was okay. It was really hot that day, and there were a lot of people. It was crowded because there was not very much space on the narrow street in which the festival was held, plus a lot of people were at the festival all at once. A lot of the same booths were there as I saw in Mountain View. There were a few New Orleans/Southern food booths....

......and one little Jazz band that made an appearance before wandering off...

.....but it wasn't as exciting as my friend from work had hyped it up to be. He was really disappointed because he lived in New Orleans for years and it is a lot different than this festival. I had an ok time though. I got some really good jambalaya, and there was a gelato place along the street so I got some gelato. I got to choose 3 flavors for my size, so I chose: white chocolate raspberry, creme brulee, and tiramisu. As far as I'm concerned, nothing is a bust if there is gelato involved! I could see myself going back to Campbell just to get some more of that delicious gelato.

It has gotten even easier for me to make sushi with practice. This week, I made coconut curry shrimp sushi with cucumber and avocado, topped with a chipotle mayo sauce. Eating that delicious, spicy jambalaya at the festival just made me realize how much I like spicy/really flavorful foods, and I should cook that way more. Using multiple spices together to create unique flavors is really an art, and it's an art I want to learn.

On Saturday, a friend came into town to visit me and we went to San Francisco. We walked to the Mission district and got dinner at Bar Tartine. I heard it was a good restaurant from one of the blogs I read. It's kind of one of those "hidden gems," because on the outside it's just this unmarked, inconspicuous little shop. I knew we were there because the map function on my phone told us we were there, but I had to ask a security guard nearby exactly where it was, and we were right next to it. Their dinner menu is really specialized, it's just one page. My friend and I shared a biscuits and gravy dish with potato and herbs that no longer seems to be on the menu, and the stuffed chicken with stewed smoked sausage, sauerkraut, mushrooms and sour cream. These dishes were just packed with flavor, so even though they were not huge dishes, we were quite full and satisfied by the end. Two servings of bread before our dishes came out helped too, I'm sure.

This weekend is Fanime again! That is the anime convention held here in San Jose that I went to last year. It will be nice to see my friends and all the people in fun costumes. I realized I never shared any pictures of people in their costumes, but next post I will post costume pictures from this time and last time I went.

San Francisco: The Mission District

Last weekend I made my first visit to the Mission District of San Francisco. It's called that because there is a mission there, along with several cafes, some restaurants, and markets.

I was meeting with a friend there, and before the meetup I did some exploring. I came across Duc Loi Supermarket, which is frequented by one of my favorite bloggers over at Brokeass Gourmet.

They had a great selection of produce, and various kinds of Asian noodles, among other things. I can see why she likes shopping there. :)

 This is the pastry display at Tartine Bakery, a very popular cafe. The line was out the door, as you find in the best places in San Francisco.

This is their quiche. I got a piece of it and it was delicious.

 My friend and I got sandwiches from Bi Rite Market. I got a very tasty turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, lemon aioli, and avocado mash.

We had our sandwiches at Dolores Park. It's a lovely park full of grassy hills and trees.

There's even a fun playground for kids.

We got ice cream at the Bi Rite Creamery, too. They had really unique flavors. I got a roasted banana and lavender honey ice cream cone.

So, that was a nice day!

San Francisco Again

So last weekend I had a little day trip to San Francisco.. and it was really nice. I got to hang out with a couple of my friends and a couple more of their friends, and the five of us got dim sum at Imperial Palace Restaurant in Chinatown. We sat down and they brought the dim sum out to us in little bamboo baskets, and we must have had at least ten different kinds. Pork buns, shrimp dumplings, veggie dumplings, little taro squares, sesame balls, something with egg custard inside... it was everything I hoped it would be. I was so hungry I just wanted to try everything, and I didn't take any pictures, but just google "dim sum" images and you'll see what the beautiful world of dim sum is all about.

After lunch, we looked around at some little shops. I got two very pretty, soft scarves at a little shop I spotted before we went to lunch. They're made out of pashmina and silk, and I've been wearing one or the other to work every day. One is blue and gold, and the other is pink and magenta. They come in every color you could imagine, so I might get a couple more next time I go. They're so soft and light, yet keep me quite warm. Perhaps I'll wear one in a picture in one of my future entries.

Anyway, we also paid a visit to the Fortune Cookie Factory, which is inconspicuously hidden down this little alley. There, you can buy bags of fortune cookies, and even watch this lady make the fortune cookies. The cookies are cooked on this sort of rotating belt, and the lady peels them off their little irons and slips a fortune inside, and bends the cookie together before it hardens. There are even chocolate fortune cookies.

Before leaving Chinatown, we got some bubble tea, and hung out at a little park to rest. At the park, there were a whole bunch of people-- old and young, just enjoying the sunny day. Some people were even doing group Tai Chi, and there was this pretty oriental music playing. This is why I love San Francisco, it just breathes with such life and energy.

 Chinatown is so colorful, too. There are always pretty red paper lanterns hanging along the street.

We met up with my sister and her boyfriend at Blue Bottle Coffee Company, and my friends enjoyed some coffee before they left. I got the brew of the day, Giant Steps. They have more than enough to say about it on the website, and I'll just say it wasn't anything less than what I was expecting. Blue Bottle is huge in San Francisco, there is often a line out the door. My sister got a New Orleans style iced coffee, which was also quite good.

The Mint Plaza location, where we went, is unique to some of the others in the city, because it has a bunch of fancy coffee machinery. One thing they're very proud of is their siphon bar. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it's very pretty.

 After coffee, we headed over to the Westin Hotel, which boasts 32 stories and is said to be one of the tallest buildings in San Francisco. Passers-by can go up an elevator and view the city from the very top floor.

Everything just looked so peaceful from up there. It was so quiet, too. My ears were popping a bit because of the elevation. Just imagine what it would be like to stay in that hotel!

Walking around throughout the day, I saw several pretty murals. I guess that's a thing in the bay area, cool murals everywhere. Here are some of them.

After walking around a bit, we went and got some pizza for dinner, went to a record & CD store, and went to H&M, my new favorite clothing store, where I found some cardigans for work. Then we parted ways and I looked back happily upon a great day.