New makeup calls for new clothes…right?

Here is my partial Forever 21 haul:

Here I am with MAC Morange lips and Sephora OPI Hi Def nails.  In all the previous pictures, I’m wearing MAC Vegas Volt lipstick.

It’s actually rare that I dress like this.  I don’t consider myself a fashionable person, but I try to learn.  Lookbooks and fashion blogs, I have subscribed to them all.  Hours upon hours of studying the combination of clothing items.  But as soon as I wake up, I throw on a pair skinny jeans and a woot shirt with a bare face.  The only time I’d make an effort to look decent is when I go out or when I want to have a self portrait shoot.  It’s much easier to throw on any ol’ t-shirt and a pair of jeans.  That and whenever I dress up I always feel the need to wear nice shoes, which aren’t comfy.  (X___X)”

Strawberries were really cheap so I also make candy melt covered strawberries disguised as chubby carrots.  I was very pleased with the way they turn out, but the candy melts are too sweet for my taste.  White chocolate colored with oil-based food colors or food coloring powder to color might have been better.

I brought these over to my friend “SS’s” place for her dinner party and she was quite amused.  Her talented photographer hubby took pictures of the cake pops for his 365 day photo project.  Check out his gallery!

http://www.alexmtran.com/365/e1b8671ae

The cobbler came out sweet, but not too sweet.  The topping was my favorite part, like an uber butter biscuit.  I’m sure Paula Deen would approve .

Recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/strawberry-cobbler-i/ (follow the comments and halve the amount of water)

Went to the Hillcrest Farmers Market this morning.  The usual tradition would be to leave with stuffed bellies full of samples, oysters, uni, and various other foods that they offer.  But this time the BF and I also left with full bags of fresh produce for the week.  When we got home, I went on the internet and researched about different terms, such as “free range”, “organic”, “cage free”, “natural”.  In the midst of my research, I stumbled upon a blog that mentioned CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes.  For an affordable price, people pledge to support local farms and receive a box full of organic, in-season produce every week (or bi-weekly).  In addition to supporting sustainable agriculture, it sounds like a great way to get more veggies in my diet and to challenge my cooking skills.  Kind of like a weekly Chopped challenge .  Challenge accepted!

For breakfast today, I made pancakes from scratch.  It was the first time for me and I was quite impressed with how they turn out.  Fluffy, buttery, delicious!  I realized recently that there are so many things that I can and should make from scratch.  I should know what goes into the food I eat.  Most of the ingredients are available at home anyway.

Recipe used:  http://www.food.com/recipe/petes-scratch-pancakes-5170

In other news, my hair has gone back to the dark side.  It’s funny that some people actually tell me they miss my blond hair even though I’m asian.  I’m sure I’ll eventually get bored of my dark hair considering I have hair ADD.

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Coming back to San Diego with chunks of pancetta and lonza in hand, we (Honey and I) decided to throw a dinner party for our friends.  There were so many things we wanted to make so I decided to call it a tapas night.  This was the first time I’ve ever organized a dinner party where I actually prepared food for guests myself.  It’s most definitely not the last time .

Caprese salad made by me

Cured meats from Boccalone and cheese from Venissimo.

Thomas Keller's Salmon Tartare Cornets made by me. And yes, that is a Victoria's Secret box.

The setup. And you gotta have sangria when you have tapas.

Braised tripe made by Honey.

Clams in White Wine made by Honey.

Thomas Keller's Gazpacho "shots" (well more like double or triple shot) made by me.

Caramelized banana crepe made by me.

Obligatory Golden Gate Picture

Before we left for our trip, Babe made a list of potential restaurants we could visit.  My strategy to figuring out which I want to visit:  Yelp > Most Reviewed > Stars > Images.  San Tung Restaurant was pretty high up there on the rating system.  Visiting their image gallery, I noticed that of the 400 some pictures that were posted, at least 75% were of their Original Dry Fried Chicken Wings.  SOLD!

On their menu, there’s an “Original Dry Fried Chicken Wing (Dry)” and a “Dry Fried Chicken Wing (Wet)”.  Get the former.  Don’t be confused when it comes out sauce.  I have yet to figure out what the “Wet” one is like and I don’t really plan to because the Dry Wings were SO GOOD!  Though slathered with a sweet, spicy, sticky sauce (quadrupal S) the wings remain crispy as you sink your teeth into it.  Aaaah, memories… *drool*.

Dericiousness

After checking in to our hotel, we headed down to the SF Museum of Modern Art.  The occasional stroll through museums is quite nice even though there are some things that I will never understand about art.  They had a Picasso exhibit showing the progression of his art throughout his life and I learned that he used to make traditional art.  His decision to evolve his work into the abstract work that we are familiar with today had actually severed his friendship with another artist.  Darn crazy art people.  Walking through that exhibit and reading all the descriptions was like watching a Korean drama.

Uhm...I think it was a mirror clock?

One of those art pieces I'll never understand. This is what I think of your art! *Pee pee*

This was actually pretty cool.

I heart the photographer.

Immersed in art.

For our fancy schmancy dinner, I chose The House.  It’s a very small asian fusion restaurant.  Our waitress came over to tell us the day’s specials.  Everything sounded like a blurb until I heard KOBE and TRUFFLE in the same sentence.  SOLD again!

First up was the complimentary pickled cucumbers

Mmmmm oysters.

Fried Salmon Rolls

Kobe Beef Steak with Truffle sauce

Seared Ahi Tuna

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Tea

The next day, we walked over to the Ferry Building.  I will never get bored of this place.  One of my favorite stores, lies within these walls…Boccalone.  The salted pig parts haven.  The last time I was here, I had lonza and was hooked.  It was so good, that we had to bring a chunk back to San Diego.  This time I tried lardo and pancetta.  They totally knocked lonza out of the #1 spot.  I’ve been so inspired by the taste of these cured meats, that I bought the book Charcuterie in order to learn about the art.  I just need to make a meat chamber…  I’m an engineer, I can do it right?…  Meh, I’ll just have Babes make it for me .

Salumi Platter from Boccalone

We probably went to 4 different bakeries that carried macarons.  Miete had the best ones.

Macarons from Miete

The week before our trip, I watched an episode of Iron Chef America that had Charles Phan competing against Cat Cora in an almond battle.  Charles Phan is the owner and executive chef of The Slanted Door in the Ferry Building.  It’s in the Michelin Guide for the Bib Gourmand rating (in Babe’s terms best “taste to price ratio”).  I was not impressed by his dishes on Iron Chef and so I had no desire to go to The Slanted Door.  Waiting in line at the Hog Island Oyster bar, we thought well, since we’re here anyways, we might as well go to The Slanted Door and have oysters there just to say we went there.  What was supposed to be a light snack of oysters turned into a full blown lunch.

Babe ordered the Duck Confit Salad and I had the Hanoi Halibut.  The Duck Confit Salad was, I admit, really good.  The duck was crispy and the light dressing had a really nice flavor.  I Hanoi Halibut, unfortunately, wasn’t that good.  I chose that dish because my favorite dish in Vietnam was Cha Ca.  The fish was overcooked and there wasn’t that much flavor.  We also got the spring rolls because I could not imagine how a $10 spring roll could be that much better than the $2 ones you get at the pho shop.  To their credit, the ingredients were organic and tasted really fresh.  I wouldn’t get it again though.  At least not the normal spring rolls (there were others).

The Slanted Door

More oysters.

Duck Confit Frisee Salad

Hanoi Halibut

Slanted Door Spring Rolls

Weak Vietnamese Iced Coffee

On the way back to San Jose, we stopped by Pamplemousse cafe so I could try out their macarons.  I really should have read the reviews on this place because their macarons were the most horrible macarons EVAR!  They were not mediocre, they were not just ok, they were not ugly but taste good, they were just plain bad.  Bad enough to not finish them and throw away.  Even my first attempt at making macarons were better than these and I am by no means a professional baker.  Skirted feet, hollow shell, the bad kind of chewy, they had no attribute that defined a good macaron.  Well, they were smooth in appearance, I will give them that…

The most horrible macaron I've ever had.

We also went to Pizza My Heart with a friend.  Yummy pizza!

Pizza my <3

And not shown is the falafel sammich that we got at Falafel Drive-In before going to the airport.  It’s definitely a must have if ever in the area.  I’ve never really liked Falafels until I had it at this place.  The flavor, the texture, the sauce, everything about it is good.

This was another successful trip to Norcal.  There is always something different and fun to do, but revisiting places we’ve been to before doesn’t get old either.  Can’t wait for the next trip!

Our first course was actually from the Bouchon book, French onion soup.  The beef broth recipe was included in the recipe, but since I was already spending so much time on other dishes, I decided to use canned beef broth.  I also used a mixture of gruyere and parmesan cheese instead of the emmentaler cheese the recipe called for.  The sweetness of the onions really enhanced the flavor of the broth.  We were both impressed and wondered how much better it could be if we had made our own beef broth.

French Onion Soup

For our main course I made Keller’s interpretation of Peas and Carrots, otherwise known as Maine Lobster Pancakes with Pea Shoot Salad and Ginger-Carrot Emulsion.  Eating this dish, I don’t think it was obvious that I used a crapload of butter for it.  The ginger-carrot emulsion was divine.  It has inspired me to try making other flavored emulsions.

Maine Lobster Pancakes with Pea Shoot Salad and Ginger-Carrot Emulsion

As our ending note, I made the Lemon Sabayon-Pine Nut Tart.  Lemon zest was added to the recipe which probably made this a tad too lemony.  It was delicious regardless.

Lemon Sabayon-Pine Nut Tart

It was my turn to be pampered after having slaved in the kitchen for hours on end.  Babes took me to Julian for a day getaway.  The day could not be more beautiful.  The sun was shining, the breeze was cool, we wined, we dined, and I fed a llama .

My chauffeur

A trip to Julian is not complete without a visit to Dudley's Bakery.

Kiss the Bear!

Llama!

Somebody looks surprised!

Yummy food from Romano's. I had a slice of pepperoni and he had the pesto past with meatball.

We went to 5 wine tasting places. I got drunk after the 4th so I skipped out on the last one (-__-)"

The vineyards behind me