02.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:49 pm by suzie
I have been asked by a coupla friends about making a “Top 10 List” of some of my favorite places to go in The City. This is nearly impossible to do because there are sooooo many! But here is the first installment, not in any particular order. They are just cool-ass and you should to check ‘em out:
1) Martuni’s (corner of Valencia and Market) Anyone who knows me, this comes as no surprise. There are all sorts of “girly” drinks, without being overly sweet, complete with fresh fruit garnishes. If you get there during happy hour, you get snack mix with your martini… that can be considered dinner, right? Beware that the place is dimly lit but good for conversation. The only downfall? The choice of music leaves quite a bit to be desired!
2) Golden Produce (Church Street, between Market and Duboce) This place is great. Good choice of seasonal regular and organic produce. Get your T.P. at Safeway, and your veggies here.
3) King Foot Subs (Divisadero at Haight) Okay, be prepared to wait for your sandwich. It takes a few to fire up that chintzy toaster oven and warm your buns, but it will be worth it! My recommendation: your basic pastrami and Swiss, everything on it. Yum.
4) Flax Art and Design (Market Street between Valencia and some other street) I like setting aside at least an hour or so to check out this place. There is A LOT to look at. Bring your credit card though. That shiz adds up…fast.
5) Sun Fat Seafood (Mission Street, I wanna say somewhere near 23rd?) This is a GOOD place to get crabs. Yes, crabs. Get yer mind outta the gutter! You can also get all kinds of fish, which is really, really fresh. Quite often it is well priced too.
6) Delessio (Next to Flax Art and Design…can you tell what neighborhood I live in, yet???) They have unique mini cupcakes that are super cute and tasty. All their pastries and cakes have been pretty good so far. As far as the salad bar and hot foods bar? Those can be hit or miss, but mostly hit.
7) Lovejoys Antiques and Tearoom (Church Street, can’t remember cross street. Just Google it if you want to know) I suppose it was my many years working at a teahouse in Los Gatos but I effing love this place! Super girly and popular for bridal and baby showers, which means lots of women collectively saying “awwwwwww” about ever 3 minutes. That is the only annoying thing. Oh also, if it is a weekend, you better make a reservation or you aren’t getting in. The Queens tea is more than enough food for lunch with lots of variety.
Lehr’s German Specialties (Church Street, down the way from Lovejoys) Ah German groceries! Reminds me of my first job working in a Deli as a teen. There are some GREAT things here including Landjager (cured, dried sausage), kraut, pickles, chocolate ladybugs, marzipan (if you eat that sort of thing), and a bunch of lederhosen! WTF?
9) Conduit (Valencia and I wanna say 15th?) New restaurant I recently went to that rocks! The pork appetizer is amazing. Crispy pork belly, croutons, and house made pork rillette… OMG! Also the oxtail tortellini in an onion broth with a thin Parmesan cracker, oooooohhh! Ambiance is nice and modern with an exhibition kitchen. I definitely want to come back for many more visits.
10) Nijiya Market (corner of Post and Webster) This is your one-stop shop for fresh, inexpensive sushi, bento boxes, fresh wasabi root, pickled veggies, mochi and other Japanese ingredients. I always find something new here. It’s a place you could literally spend an hour in and still not see everything.
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02.12.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:36 pm by suzie
So my sis and my bro-in-law, hooked me up with a better blogger. Yay!
I will post soon…so stay tuned!
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02.08.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:18 am by suzie
So I went to Beaver Creek last weekend. Its a posh-ish place in the Rockies, known for its skiing and luxurious accommodations. No, I wasn’t there on my own bill, but on Bon Appetit magazines tab. Otherwise, I would have never seen the beauty that IS Colorado in the winter.
I was a little scared of the cold, fully forgetting the fact that I loved being in cold weather, especially snow. But it had been so long since I had, the hype surrounding it was far worse than the actual temperature was.
So, it got down to about 12 degrees…peh! Its all good when you have a super-warm-knitted-hat-made-just-for-snowboarding on your head…oh and a good scarf helps too.
Anyway, as I said this was a Bon Appetit event in which chefs came to strut their stuff, do some networking and have a little fun. I was lucky enough to be chosen to be the pastry bee-otch and accompany my boss/co-worker/celebrity chef who had been invited.
There were lots of activities planned including dinners, cocktail parties, ski races, Iron Chef battles, wine seminars etc. It was a kind of “convention” if you will.
All these activities lead up to Saturday night where all of the guest chefs set up booths where they prepared small portions of food, to hand out to the paying guests who came specifically for this event. Everything went well. Thank God.
I always have a bit of a problem mixing buisness with pleasure. I suppose it stems from my desire for control over the situation, the fact that I am high strung when it comes to work and my desire to not look like a jack-ass, especially in front of my peers.
The ideal situation would be to stay one day AFTER the work is done, so that it is all behind you and you can chill out for a bit, maybe take in a half day of snow shoeing. Unfortunately, because of a knee injury I was not able to partake in the downhill action, but I did ice skate at the outdoor rink. Although I didn’t last long when the temperatures started going into the 10’s.
I have to say though, that I loved it. I absolutley LOVED being in the snow!! I felt like a kid again and went outside with my arms out in front of me, waiting for a large flake to land on my sleeve. You know, the kind that are big and dry and really look like the kind of snowflakes you cut out of paper! That is the best, really…the detail of a snowflake that you can see with the naked eye…
Also I realized how into snow sports the residents and visitors really are. Some people see the weather as an inconvenience. Its cold, its a bitch to shovel, it destroys your car, your skin, your toes, its dirty, its wet and its cold. It makes you want to move to California.
Others move to Vail BECAUSE it snows so much! The quality of the “powder” is superior to anywhere else in the U.S. People come from all over the world to ski these slopes. People get boring service jobs just to support their snowboarding habit! Its so awesome! To feel so strongly about something that can be so harsh and wild that you cannot bear to be away from it because its conducive to the happiness of your very soul. Wow! What a lifestyle. That is some intense shiz!
It is always nice to see intense passion in someone, whatever their passion is. It makes you feel alive and that anything is possible, really.
Sometimes passions need to be reignited. Sometimes you need a push back into the right direction, when you may have been detoured by something that appeared to be easier, only to leave you wanting more.
Moral of the story: If you have a passion, whatever it is, do what you can to stay focused. Sometimes the things that make us the happiest get pushed aside in the daily grind. Then we wonder why we are so unhappy with life. These things that we love, need to be practiced so that we can have peace of mind. Even if that means skiing in single-digit weather.
Permalink
I have been asked by a coupla friends about making a “Top 10 List” of some of my favorite places to go in The City. This is nearly impossible to do because there are sooooo many! But here is the first installment, not in any particular order. They are just cool-ass and you should to check ‘em out:
