You asked for it

House pictures!  Here you go.

Our living room

The renovated master bath

The vanity of the renovated master bath

The guest bathroom

Our bedroom

The awesomest dining room EVER!

And of course...the kitchen

Meaty!

Dear Scotte:

You are a genius.  Full stop.  This week, the in-laws were in town to help us do the finishing touches on our move.  After a Saturday night dinner at B that was four courses of spectacular, we wanted to eat at home on Sunday.  We had a fairly lazy Sunday, just doing errands – Target, Home Depot, and Jo-Ann fabric.  So dinner would be equally casual but delicious nonetheless.

I decided to do a nice steak salad with individual blueberry-nectarine cobblers.  The only thing I needed to buy was a steak and bread.   Here’s what the salad was composed of:

Sliced steak with a reduction of fig balsamic vinegar

Caramelized onions

Field greens in a balsamic vinaigrette

I was totally inspired by Scotte’s Gucci-treatment steak so I went to Trader Joe’s, got a cheap cut of sirloin and went to town.  I made a salt rub of salt, garlic, green onions, and cilantro.  I followed Scotte’s instructions to the T and the steak was perfect, flavorful all the way through the middle.  The good thing is that the time the steak takes to essentially dry brine, you can put together your dressing, assemble your dessert, reduce the balsamic and set the table.

House pics to come!

Moved!

So Saturday, marked the end of the beginning for our foray into home ownership.  We moved.  It took five hours to move but it was worth it for the first uninterrupted weekend of sleep we’ve gotten in a year.  You see we loved our neighborhood of Old Oakland, all except for the crazy noise where we seemed to live next to all the cars that go boom and the requisite verbal battles that happen in front of the cars that go boom. Now we’ve lived on Capitol Hill near 8^th street so we know noisy but this was BAAAAD.

The biggest psychological change for me is living with color.  Having rented all my life and been extremely lazy, I never wanted to paint the walls of my living space. Why bother if I were going to move in a couple of years.  Now that we’re here to stay, we wanted color.  And we got color!  In anticipation of the move we had the house painted and are in the process of putting in a second bathroom which is supposed to be completed tomorrow (God willing).  In keeping with the arts and craft style of the house, we painted our well wainscoted dining room a chocolate brown (weirdly named banana leaf on the sample).  We painted the living room, hall, and front bedroom a terra cotta color called falling leaf, the bathrooms blue, our bedroom a mustard color, and the kitchen a bright lemony yellow.  At the advice of our contractor, we decided to have all the space above our crown molding and all the wood work a nice ivory color.  Once the chaos of moving gets completed the house will look stunning.

One great aspect of the house is the kick ass plate rail at the top of the wainscoting in the dining room.  Right now, it’s home to our orphan framed photos as well has plates we’ve painted at Made By You.  At this point, almost every box is unpacked but the empty boxes are piling up in our dining room. Thank god for the garage where we are storing random crap.

As it’s an old house, it’s a work in progress.  We’re waiting until we get our fat tax check to do more but here’s what’s on the list:

Buying a dining table (I see farmhouse style with reclaimed wood)

Buying a sectional sofa (oh the ability to seat 9 people at once)

Installing recessed lighting

Redoing the kitchen

And of course there’s the garden.  Here’s my list of plants to put in:

Hydrangea bush

Rosemary (a must for California)

Lavender

Thyme

Oregano

California Poppies

Cosmos

Calla lilies

Jasmine

Any suggestions on what to plant?

We know how to show a gal a good time – Part 2

Prom Date was only in town two days, coming in midday Saturday and leaving midday Monday.  We had to show her the best of the Bay Area. Here’s where I have to admit something slightly shameful for a bay Area resident – I’ve never been to wine country.  There, I said it.  It’s totally embarrassing since I’m not Mormon and I drink alcohol.  But for some reason, I never got around to driving up to Napa or Sonoma County and sampling some of their famous wine.

Luckily, J went last year with June and Muffin and knew where to go – Chateau St. Jean.  (Jean is pronounced in the same was you would say Gene).  Having never gone to wine country, my criteria for a place to do a wine tasting was how closely it resembled the winery on Falcon Crest.  Yes, my cultural point of reference is a Dynasty-style nighttime soap.  J chose well because Chateau St. Jean is a picture postcard of a winery with beautiful views of the vineyard and the surrounding mountains.  The grounds are gardens were out of some travel guide and we could have just gone there for the scenery.

Scenery schmenery, we were there for some wine.  We decided to spend $15 for the reserve tasting, mainly because we would get to taste their Cinq Cépages wine.  Cinq Cepage is their signature wine, a reserve wine price at $75/bottle.   Not being wine people J and I were skeptical about how that would be worth it but boy was it worth it.  Before coming to California and visiting Chateau St. Jean there were two things about us:

We weren’t red wine people.

We hated Chardonnays

For #1, as we’ve had some wine enthusiasts in our circle of friends, we’ve been introduced to red wines we adore (oooh Bink’s Syrah!).  Cinq Cepage is definitely one of those.  Full fruity but not oaky.  And oaky is what we absolutely hate about chardonnays.  There’s usually so much oak flavor that the crisp fruit flavors get lost.  But the Chateau St. Jean reserve was amazing because the oak took a back seat to a wonderful caramel flavor.  It really lingered and gave the chardonnay a great complexity and depth.  We all bought bottles to enjoy for later and they weren’t cheap.

After a leisurely wine tasting, we hooked up with West Coast Rebecca and Bellisima to taste some authentic Italian-style pizza at Diavola in Geyserville.  This is literally a one street town but oh what a street that is – wine bars and tasting rooms and a photo gallery.  And the best pizza in the bay area.  Yum!  We shared three different pizzas, their sausage, their meatball, and their pizza Margherita along with an asparagus salad with fried egg and a smoked trout salad.  As I can’t really chow down on the pizza I ordered myself their meatballs on crostini with tomato sauce.  The pizza lived up to the hype. The crust was hearty and substantial without being too bready.  On top of that (literally!), the toppings have so much flavor!  I was particularly enamored with the sausage.  Sampling the sausage and having the meatballs, Diavola really does meat well. Their sausage and meatballs have a strong meat flavor which some might call gaminess but I call delicious.  Their tomato sauce has a nice savory flavor and tastes less like canned tomatoes and more like a sauce that’s been simmered for hours.  On top of that, we got a sausage stuffed pork belly with sautéed fennel.  Yes, this place does meat well.  After rolling ourselves out of Diavola, we could barely think much less think about food.  Therefore, we got Chinese take-out for dinner.

That’s Prom Date for visiting us. It was a great excuse to eat a lot!

Yes we know how to show a gal a good time – Part 1

This past weekend, friend from Texas and prom date came to visit us.  Prom Date is probably one of the most drama free and delightful people you will ever meet.  Spending time with her is a joy because she’s up for anything and happy to stay in.  As she was only in town for a brief two days, we wanted to give her the best of the Bay Area.

So as soon as we picked her up at the airport, we whisked her into San Francisco for a long leisurely lunch as Bar Bambino.  Ok, I’ll have to admit we were showing off a bit because we knew the staff there.  We called West Coast Rebecca to see if she would join us and found out that Bellisima would be coming in soon.  It was great to feel like such an insider, being greeted by the Chef Christian (who gives great restaurant recs) and spending some quality time with the cheese person and his delightful girlfriend.  Yes, our version of Cheers is an Italian gastropub.  We are SOOO NorCal.  And the food?  Well it was spectacular.  We got the cheese and salumi platter, the fried squash blossom (seriously ricotta filled goodness!!!!!), poplette di melazane (eggplant balls – DIRRRTY), and their bread plate.  On top of that we all had glasses of sparkling rose wine.  It was a two and a half hours of great food and great company.

Afterwards we went to a home décor store on Fillmore to buy a Marimekko shower curtain.  You see, I have this thing for Marimekko.  My grandmother had a Marimekko comforter that I loved (and my cousin has possession of).  While normally I like soft earth tones, I have a particular affection for Marimekko’s bold colors and huge graphic statement.  J gave me some Marimekko fabric for my birthday and we decided to get a Marimekko shower curtain.  It was great to go to that part of SF because it was a neighborhood with great funky stores, many of which carried art from Prom Date’s favorite artist (an SF native).  Following the excursion to Fillmore street, we went to the Presidio where I ran the Presidio 10K and had an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Driving the scenic 49 mile highway gave us awesome views of the rocky California coast.  We then went into Oakland to show Prom Date our new house and commissioned her to do a painting for our fireplace mantle in the dining room.  We made a deal that I would make a quilt for her to get a piece of art.

Ok.  Dinner was beyond spectacular.  We took Prom Date to B where we knew we would be taken care of and really shown care and love.  It was great talking to all of the staff.  We knew we wanted to get a print from Valerie, our waitress who is also a photographer, and we did another trade where I would finish a quilt that her grandmother started for her in exchange for a print.  Score!  While we ordered a large amount of food, we did get the “friend of the chef treatment” Saturday night.  We started by sharing the pulled pork, cherry and goat cheese pizza with balsamic reduction. Seriously, it’s a classic, yet inventive combination of sweet, salty, and sour all on a great crust.  And then we got an intermezzo from Chef Caleb (with some encouragement from Valerie) of a crab and leek tartlet.  For entrees, I had the pork belly with pea puree ravioli and sautéed dandelion greens while both J and Prom Date had the chicken roulade.  Because B’s menu is seasonal, you need to get the chicken roulade NOW.  It’s SO good. The chicken is moist and tender and full of flavor.  We ended the evening with J and Prom date sharing the flourless chocolate cake which is really some REALLY good fudge.  Delish!

It was a great day and one where we realize we have this great community of food people.  I will say that for dinner we already ordered a generous amount of food and then Chef Caleb added another course.  Damn you chef Caleb and your awesome cooking!  We were so full!  We did have to apologize for the state of our apartment as we are a week away from moving.   Woo!

New Find – Omnivore Books

So during fava bean fest, J and I were following west Coast rebecca to her house and went through Noe Valley (a particularly picturesque and residential part of SF).  Along the way, we saw a sign for Omnivore Books. I had to physically stifle the urge to stop the car and pull over.  A bookstore for cookbooks!

A few weeks later our friend L came for a visit from DC and as we were planning our day, L said she wanted to go somewhere to find an obscure cookbook.  That was enough reason to head into SF and find Omnivore Books.  And what a find it was!  There were all manner of food books, new and used.  There were cookbooks, memoirs, cheese guides, and guides to butchering.  The only thing you won’t find – Food Network books (except for Barefoot Contessa).

I’m glad this place is in SF because I would be there all the time.  The owner is crazy nice and really helpful.   She took us around and talked to us about the history of the space – it was a former butcher shop (complete with huge scale).

On top of that, this place is what I want my kitchen to look like – warm, sunny and filled wiht light.  Check it. That is EXACTLY the color I want our kitchen to be.

Dear Glee Showrunners

Your show is very appropriately named and I love it almost unabashedly. Even though I was never in showchoir, I am a total showchoir/a capella junkie. You captured showchoir as a competitive sport to a t. The acting and direction seems spot on. One major quibble though – why set up a showchoir that is so fricking diverse only to spend a grand total of four minutes on the folks who aren’t white and straight? Seriously, you set up some very interesting characters and I totally believe in your ability to turn them into real characters. So why don’t you give them more than one line each?

Ok Parkway Manor Boyz – It’s ON!

Because the boys in Oakland just bought a house!  Yesterday, J and I went to the title company and signed all the papers.   Tomorrow, our real estate agent will be handing over the keys and the hosue will be ours!  Yes this is the same house we were agonizing over earlier.   On top of being the classic California craftsman style house, the house has a a garden with a Camelia bush, roses, calla lilies and a Meyer lemon tree.  I can’t wait to start planting an herb garden and bulbs.  Hmm..I wonder how well peonies will do on the West Coast?  In any case, my goal is to have has many flowers in our yard as the boys at Parkway Manor.

By the way, I am so loving Glee on Fox.  if you don’t unabashedly love that show, you are dead to me.

Enough talk, here’s some pictures of the house.

Here’sthe kitchen

Here’s the garden

Birthday Dinner Lesson Learned

Always trust West Coast Rebecca’s restaurant picks.  So May 11 was my birthday but J was really sick that night and I was tired from work so we just stayed in a vegged out.  But Friday was the more formal celebration with West Coast Rebecca.  I asked that my present from her be that she choose the restaurant.  Since Bellisima works in the food industry, WCR would have an awesome pick.  We initially chose Garabaldi’s in Rockridge but the chef where Bellisima works recommended Lalime in North Berkeley.  Lalime it was because this was inside information.

The food at Lalime’s is a Latin twist on California cuisine.  Fresh, local ingredients with things like jicima, poblanos and lime.  At 7:30, we all headed to Lalime, located on a cute and resident stretch of Berkeley.  I already had high hopes for Lalime looking at the menu and seeing the crowd.  This location wasn’t a busy street like Shattuck or College.  A successful restaurant in this part of Berkeley had to earn it’s customers.  As the night went on, Lalime delivered.  And delivered. And delivered.

It all started when we arrived and were seated.  There was a festive sprinkling of birthday glitter on the table.  WCR was stressed about choosing a wine but chose a winner with a nice Italian white that went perfectly with the food. We all decided to go with the tasting menu and get two orders of the Hawaiian tuna involtino.  Basically it’s like a sushi of raw tuna that surrounds jicama, cucumber, avocado, and arbol chile.  Perfect!  For some freshness, we chose their green goddess salad to go along with the rest of the menu.  While the salad was great, the involtino was spectacular.  The ingredients really shined and they were really bursting with flavor.  This was indicative of Lalime’s minimalist style.  They backed off and let the ingredients speak for themselves.

The tasting menu went as follows:

Salad of prawns, avocado and grapefruit

Grilled sardines, guindilla vinaigrette, olive toast

Baked poblano chile with summer squash, mushroom, chèvre

Selection of artisan cheeses: Brillat Savarin, Robiola and Bleu de Bocage

The standout on this was a tie between the poblano chile and the prawn, avocado and grapefruit salad.  The poblano chile had a lovely tomatillo sauce tempered with crème fraiche.  The dish was surprisingly subdued in a good way.  The chevre and the sweetness of the chile was really at the forefront as opposed to having spicy or acidic flavors.  The salad was just perfection. Everything was perfectly ripe and perfectly cooked.

J and WCR ended the evening splitting the warm chocolate fondant cake with Frangelico Anglaise, chocolate-hazelnut ice cream.  It’s like a molten chocolate cake but done right.  REALLLY right.

It was a great evening with thoughtful service, a nice atmosphere and excellent food.  Will definitely go back and try an entrée.

Fava Bean Fest

So last year, when J and I were visiting San Francisco to determine whether we would move cross country, West Coast Rebecca made a great meal of orichette with anchovy and fava beans. I’ve been loath to eat fava beans because they resemble my much-hated lima beans. I ate them last year and realized I love them. I’m a big fan of peas and fava beans have that springtime freshness of a good pea with a little starchiness. They taste great and ever since having a great pea puree, I have been itching to make a fava bean puree.

Here’s the rub – fava beans are a pain in the ass to prepare. They are not a weeknight supper deal unless you buy them pre-shelled. You see you have to take them out of their pods and THEN blanche them and take their translucent jackets off of them. This cries for a fun day dedicated to fava beans. That’s what J, West Coast Rebecca and I did Saturday. We went to the Allemany Farmer’s Market where we picked up ten pounds of fava beans (which ends of translating into three pounds by the time you’ve shelled them). Along with the fava beans, we got salad greens, sorrel, green garlic and mint.

The menu for the fava bean fest was as follows:

Fava bean puree with sorrel and mint on crostini

Pancetta salad with fava beans and aged balsamic

Ricotta gnocchi with fava beans and green garlic

This was spring time in a plate. Better yet, I am inspired to paint the guest bedroom in our soon to be purchased house fava bean green with chocolate brown accent pillows. The sight of shelled fava beans in a dark brown bowl was stunning. You do have to set up a fava bean meal as a fun, social activity because otherwise, it’s pure drudgery. Between shelling the beans from the pod and then removing their jackets it’s two hours of work. Admittedly, we shelled ten pounds of pods. We could have gotten away with half that amount but if you are going to shell fava beans, you might as well shell a lot of them. I’m still fiddling with the fava bean puree recipe. It had a nice savory flavor but I need to up the herb content to get that springtime freshness (oh god that sounds like a feminine hygiene commercial!).

In the meantime here’s the ricotta gnocchi recipe, happily adapted from epicurious:

Gnocchi:

• 1 pound (about 2 1/4 cups) fresh ricotta cheese

• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1 large egg

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1/2 teaspoon salt • Pinch of ground black pepper

• Pinch of nutmeg

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 4 stalks of green garlic or green onions; white and pale green parts finely chopped, dark green parts thinly sliced

• ½ cup of fava beans

1/4 cup dry white wine

• Shavings of some nice sharp pecorino

• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh sorrel and mint (any combination)

For gnocchi: Here’s the thing, People are crazy afraid of making the gnocchi heavy but because you are using ricotta instead of potato, you can add a lot more flour. I added two more tablespoons than the recipe called for. This was also because it was a rainy day and the gnocchi really needed the flour. Place ricotta in strainer set over medium bowl. Chill until ricotta has texture of wet clay, at least 1 hour but overnight is awesome. The idea is that you poke the ricotta with your finger and the dimple stays in place. Mix ricotta, 1/2 cup flour, egg, and next 5 ingredients in medium bowl, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls until dough is slightly sticky (the recipe says to not add more than 4 tablespoons full but I added two more and it turned out fine). Cover and chill 30 minutes or up to a day ahead)

Sprinkle rimmed baking sheet generously with flour. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Cut into 4 equal pieces. Using hands, roll 1 piece on floured surface into 3/4-inch-wide log. Cut log crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Place gnocchi on prepared baking sheet, spacing apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover gnocchi with plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Even better, stick the tray in the freezer and let freeze. It works out fine and it will keep forever.

For sauce: Heat olive oil in large skillet over high heat. Add green garlic; sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add chopped fava beans. Sauté 1 minute. Add wine; stir until almost all liquid is absorbed, about 30 seconds. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Working in 2 batches, add gnocchi to large pot of boiling salted water, stirring to prevent sticking. The key is to get the pot on a low boil as opposed to a vigorous boil. Just bring the water up to a vigorous boil and then turn down to medium. Boil until gnocchi rise to surface of water, then continue boiling until cooked through, 1 minute longer. Using slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi to skillet with the sauce. Add the sorrel and mint. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to plates and sprinkle with additional cheese.