Leggo My Ego

Vancouver is my new BFF!

I read recently that through travel, we are able to either get to know ourselves better, or escape from ourselves completely. Vancouver is the perfect place to do either one.

My first impression driving in from the airport was a sense of familiarity, but one that had been collaged together from different trips. The suburban houses reminded me of England. The high rises reminded me of many Asian cities. The waterfront surroundings and bridges reminded me of San Francisco. And those mountains...oh, those mountains! Perhaps the Swiss Alps.


The hospitality that we experienced is unique unto this city. I can't remember the last time I was around more genuinely nice and helpful people.

It definitely has a West Coast Vibe. Dress style is casual-chic, and everyone has a pretty rugged set of performance-wear clothing that they break out during the foul-weather days. No matter what, they are out in it - on the streets, on the water, at the market. Life goes on, and you sometimes get a little wet.

New construction is everywhere, and huge billboards promise one luxury modern high rise after the next. Buildings soar to heights way above what we are used to in San Francisco, but on the ground, there is an amazing amount of green spaces for the public to enjoy. People use them, too - walking, biking, or wheeling their progeny around in plastic-insulated strollers. Everywhere that we went was clean, clean, clean.


There is a definite food culture here, and it is going strong - ranging from inexpensive ethnic restaurants, to local chefs making their mark at high-end establishments. I was really impressed by the quality and inventiveness of all of the restaurants we went to. The organic and 100-mile radius movements are well-represented, almost to the point of becoming the norm for a lot of places. Wine production has a ways to go, and even though some are fiercely proud of the local offerings, imports from Europe and California still dominate on menus.


There are real treasures here - three of which are Stanley Park, Granville Island Public Market, and the UBC Museum of Anthropology. Each one is beautiful, well-maintained, and worthy of repeat visits. Just like Vancouver itself.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Not satisfied with my strawberry creamcheese cookies, I tried to make another type of sandwich cookies. Why sandwich cookies? Something about creamy frosting between two cookies felt like a good idea - luxurious - indulgent. And they looked extremely pretty.

For the cookies, I followed this recipe from marthastewart.com. I didn't put malted milk powder because I didn't have any and substituted Greek strained yogurt for creme fraiche.



I cookies came out extremely pretty (again - like all other Martha Stewart's recipes) but they are a little chewier than I would like. Maybe I underbaked them. Or maybe because of all my substitutions.

But I redeemed myself with the frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Filling

• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1/2 cup confectioner sugar


• 1/2 cup cocoa powder - I used organic one from Wholefoods


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Sift cocoa powder into butter. Add vanilla extract. Beat a couple of minutes more until well combined.

The sandwich cookies came out delicious. The filling was silky, intensely chocolatey - and complimented the cookies very nicely. They are just extremely dangerous. Eating one is like finishing up 3 cookies (2 cookies + the frosting) calorie-wise. But who's counting? Right? Right?

That's it. I'm going on a diet. Starting Monday.

Fresh Strawberry Creamcheese Sandwich Cookies

I bookmarked this recipe from marthastewart.com for the days that I have creamcheese frosting left over from cupcakes. That day never came. I usually just either piled all the frosting on cupcakes or licked the bowl clean.

This past weekend for a friend's party, however, I decided not to make cupcakes but these instead.



The cookies came out very pretty but I thought they were way too sweet and bland. I guess that's how simple sugar cookies taste like. For the filling, I didn't want anything too sweet so decided to use creamcheese with minimal sugar. And since strawberries are really cheap now, I would use them instead of raspberries according to the original recipe.

Fresh Strawberry Creamcheese

• Half a cup of fresh strawberries - hulled and pureed in a food processor


• 1 package creamcheese


• 1/2 cup of confectioner sugar


• With an electric mixer, beat creamcheese and sugar together until fluffy. Add pureed strawberries. Continue beating until well combined.

The creamcheese came out so delicious I could not stop licking my fingers. The combination just came out a bit watery to hold itself between cookies. I think it will be better as cupcake frosting than cookie filling.

Not in my kitchen...

.... in Portugal

Heading North

So it's off to Vancouver with my friend Jude for a long weekend. Now that I am no longer traveling for work every few weeks, I look forward to getting on a plane and seeing something new. It will be a first for both of us to visit this city - and I have to admit that even though I have been to Montreal and Toronto, Canada remains somewhat of an enigma for me. I think that I keep wanting it to be one thing, when in fact, it is many things. Perhaps Vancouver is the San Francisco of Canada. What I am hoping to find, as I always do, is the character of the city, its people, and its culture.

What have I heard so far? Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Great restaurants, especially Asian food. A long suspension bridge. A huge park. A gaslight district like in Amsterdam, with legalized prostitution and "coffee shops".

Other than that? Not much. I think that both of us are excited, but not quite sure what to expect. We're staying in a great hotel, called the Opus Hotel, which will be a luxury. The forecast calls for a mix of clouds and rain, so we may be spending a lot of time there. A great hotel is a vacation in itself for me, so no complaints here.

I think it's kind of cool that we need our passports for a place that is only 2 1/2 hours away by plane. It's like going to Europe on hyper-speed.

Up, up and away we go!

Cooking with Eric

Last week we had the much-anticipated private cooking class with Eric Gower, local chef & author of The Breakaway Cook, among other books. He has a unique style of cooking that incorporates techniques that he learned while living in Japan for 15 years, combined with a sort of California-style cuisine, and his own never-ending ingenuity. He is big on world flavors, and giving simple recipes a lift from "flavor blasts" to make the ordinary extraordinary.

What a great event! We decided to have it at Susan & Warren's house, since they have more than ample space, and a great kitchen. It was perfect for the 6 of us, plus Eric, to have room to move around and participate in the process.

We decided to do a wine pairing with each course, which of course was a great add and mood-enhancer, starting with Belgian beer and ending with some remarkably well-priced reds from K & L.

All of the food was fantastic, and seemed easy to make (after all of that wine, I kind of lost track a little...). Here is the menu from that evening, and the dishes that we made:


Japanese Cucumber with Miso and Pomegranate Molasses:


Soft Tofu with Ume Vinegar and Maccha Salt:


Toro Crostini with Avocado and Yuzu:


Fava Salad with Pickled Ginger and Roasted Almonds:


Plating dinner:


Roasted Hamachi with Miso and Apricot:


Roasted Hamachi with Winter Greens Ohitashi-Style, Beet "Tartare", Unplain Rice


Strawberries with Lavender, Lemon, and Greek Yogurt:


The best part was the easy camaraderie between all of us and Eric, from enjoying the food and telling stories at the table. And that is the point of all of this wonderful cooking anyway, to get it on the table with a minimum of effort, so that you can spend your time enjoying it and the company of your friends, both old and new.

Butter Me Up

Last month, Saveur magazine featured one of my favorite things on earth, butter. It was like getting a Playboy magazine with the most voluptuous woman you have ever seen on the front cover. I started salivating immediately - and couldn't wait to see the pictures, read the articles and try the recipes that lay in store. Would there be a centerfold???


Sunday night, I decided to make a comforting supper featuring two of the recipes from the magazine, Risotto alla Milanese and Pound Cake.

Of course, part of the adventure is seeking out the ingredients - a treasure hunt that I always enjoy. Being that the risotto recipe called for 9 tsp. of unsalted butter as one of the main ingredients, I needed to find one that would give the right amount of creaminess and a strong flavor. Lo and behold, there it was in my local (*cough* overpriced *cough*) grocery store, Mollie Stone's: Delitia Parmigiano Reggiano "Il Burro". It uses the same cow's milk that is used to make the famous cheese, and has a sharp, nutty flavor.

The risotto was different than ones that I have made before, in that it uses saffron instead of wine to give the dish the traditional taste. But the method was the same - stirring, stirring, stirring. Risotto requires patience, but it is worth it. It turned out well - creamy and hearty and full of glutenous goodness. I served it with grilled asparagus wrapped in proscuitto for a touch of Italian-inspired spring.

The pound cake turned out very well - fool-proof, in fact. With just a little bit of technique, and the right sized pan (a 10-inch tube pan is suggested - my 9.25-inch Bundt pan was slightly too small, but still worked), anyone could make this. Keys to success: don't overmix, don't overcook. As a topping, I cut up fresh strawberries and bathed them in a lavender syrup/yogurt sauce which I learned to make from Eric Gower, the Breakaway chef - more on his recipes later.

These recipes are as simple and basic as they come - so variations (i.e. mushroom risotto, lemon glaze for the pound cake) are easy to imagine.

Risotto alla Milanese
(serves 4)

- 6 C. chicken stock
- 1/8 tsp. saffron threads
- 9 tbsp unsalted butter, preferably "Il Burro"
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 C. vialone or arborio rice
- 1 C. grated grana padano

• Bring stock to a bare simmer in a saucepan over med. heat. Put saffron and 1/2 C. stock into a small bowl; cover and let set aside to let soften. Cover stock, keep hot.
  
• Heat 5 tbsp butter in a med. pot over med. heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, until softened, 2-3 min. Add rice and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until opaque, about 4 min.
• Add 1/2 C. stock. Cook, stirring often, until stock is mostly absorbed, 2-3 min. Add another 1/2 C. stock and repeat process until all of the stock is used, about 25 min.
• Continue cooking rice until just al dente, 3 min.
• Strain saffon from stock over a bowl; set saffron aside. Pour saffron-infused stock into rice and cook, stirring constantly, about 2 min. Gently stir in saffron threads.
• Remove from heat. Stir in remaining butter and half the grated cheese. Serve with remaining cheese on the side.

Pound Cake
(serves 10-12)

- 12 oz. butter plus more for the pan, at room temperature (note: I used unsalted butter for the cake, and salted butter for the pan - this gave the cake a slight salty flavor on the outside, which was really nice)
- 2 tbsp. plus 3 C. flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. fine salt
- 1 C. milk, at room temp
- 1 tsp pure almond extract
- 1 tsp. pure lemon extract
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 3 C. sugar
- 6 large eggs, at room temp

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease a 10" tube pan with butter. Add 2 tbsp flour, turn the pan to coat it evenly with flour, tap out any excess and set aside.
• Using a sieve set over a bowl, sift together the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt. Repeat 2 more times. In a measuring vessel with a pourable spout, combine the milk and the extracts.
  
• In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter at med-low speed until light and fluffy, about 2 min.
• Gradually add sugar, 1/4 C. at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Beat until satiny smooth, about 3 min.
• Add 1 egg at a time to the butter mixture, beating for 15 seconds before adding another, and scraping down the bowl after each addition.
  
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternately add the flour and the milk mixtures in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down sides of the bowl, beat until the batter is smooth and silky but no more.
• Scrape batter into the prepared pan and firmly tap on counter to allow it to settle evenly. Bake until light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out moist and clean, about 1 hour 15 min.
• Let cool in cake pan on rack about 30 min. Invert cake onto rack - let cool completely before serving.

Homicidal Tendencies

Ahhh, Sunday morning. Sleeping in, having a late breakfast, and enjoying one of the "Stuff White People Like" cliches, reading the New York Times.

Idyllic, right?

Only, for the past several Sundays, some bastard has been stealing our paper! Actually, it's worse, this ballsy motherfucker has been stealing parts of the paper, and then throwing the unwanted sections, along with the bag it comes in, into our trash! AAAAAAAARRRRRGH! Do you know what the smell of stale garbage is like first thing in the morning? Barf-a-licious, that's what.


Every week, I call Customer Service, and tell them that the carrier has to put in inside the gate. Not next to, not near, not touching, but inside the gate, where greedy, theiving hands can't reach it. They always apologize profusely, credit me for the paper (which of course, does not equal the cost and effort to buy a replacement paper) and promise to contact the dispatcher immediately and have it taken care of.

This morning, my blood boiled as I saw that the garbage can lid was standing straight up. The asshole had not even bothered to shut it - mocking me, taunting me. It was like the mark of a serial killer - this person wants to be noticed.

I swear to God, I am going to camp out next time and wait to see who this person is, and when I catch them, I am either going to blow their brains out a la Denzel Washington in "American Gangster", or give them a piece of my mind (the more harsh of the two punishments).

THIS IS WAR!!

Go Sean Go

Lavender Fields Forever

This weekend was absolutely spectacular - and we were lucky enough to be invited to an event that celebrated the bounty of the season. Friends of ours were married over the weekend in Duncans Mills, a town on the Russian River, about 3 hours North of San Francisco. They rented a couple of houses and we were able to enjoy great music, food, and the company of good people.


I wanted to bring something that commemorated the event - so I decided to make Lavender Honey Cupcakes, from my new book "500 Cupcakes". I felt that it worked for a few reasons: local ingredients (I had ordered the Lavender Honey and culinary lavender flowers from Lavender Bee Farm in Sonoma), color (the light blue frosting and fragrance were perfect for a spring wedding), and culture (using lavender paid homage to the bride and her family, who are French).



The vanilla cupcake base was not my favorite - a little too dense, a little too dry. I'm still searching for the perfect recipe - next time I am going to use Nigella Lawson's one for Fairy Cakes. The frosting was divine, though! And they were so pretty. I'll definitely make these again, or, as Jude suggested, use the frosting to ice a rich, moist pound cake.

Lavender Honey Frosting
1 8 oz. pkg. Cream Cheese, softened
1 1/2 C. confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/3 C. lavender honey (or regular honey)
Blue food coloring
2 tbsp. dried lavender flowers

- Beat the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with an electric mixer, until light and creamy.
- Beat in the honey and a few drops of the food coloring.
- Stir in half of the lavender flowers.
- Spread the frosting on the cupcakes and sprinkle with the reserved lavender flowers.

Happy, beautiful Spring, everyone! Feliciations a nos amis! Bissous!

Me & My Shadow

My Shadow
by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow--
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

Blue Plate Special

50 Ways To Leave Your Yoga Mat

Sometimes your yoga mat gets a little too funky to use any more (or in the case of one of mine, I was drying it on the back balcony, and it fell off - never to be heard from again...). But it feels bad to just throw it out - after all, you went to all that trouble to find eco-friendly rubber, now it's just going to sit in a landfill?

I came across this helpful list from Gaiam, one of my favorite sites for yoga supplies and products (very nice organic cotton pants and tops).

Some of my favorites are:

#2. Dog & cat dishes stay put. Cut to size required. – A. O., Trumbull, CT

#5. While taking my dog to the vet or groomer or just for a ride with the top down, her feet would scratch the leather going around curves. So I decided to take an old yoga mat and roll it out over the back seat of my car. Viola! She is comfy and can do her own version of Downward Dog without scratching my seats! – L. S., Powell, OH

#24. Place it under your sleeping bag for extra padding when enjoying the outdoors. It reduces pack load for those who like to do yoga on camping trips. – S. F., Brooklyn, NY

#37. Plug up drafty places and save energy — windows, doors, under window air conditioners. – R. N., Minneapolis, MN

I love that all of the ideas came from customers - it just goes to show you that when we put our minds to it, we can all be creative when it comes to recycling. Your own trash may be your treasure in diguise! And when all else fails - donate it (to an animal shelter, for example) - there are down dogs out there just waiting to snuggle up to your old mat.

Laying Low

Ugh. Nothing is worse than a Spring cold. The days outside are crisp and sunny, beckoning for you to come out and play, but I can barely drag myself from the bedroom to the living room. I have spent the day inside, with my hair pulled back and stains on my sweatshirt. I'm carrying around a box of kleenex like a purse. I imagine that I look as disgusting as I feel.

This day had not been without upsides, however.

1/ Having Nyquil-induced dreams
2/ Coming to the realization that reality shows are popular not because we love to watch people win, but because we love to watch them get humiliated
3/ Reading in bed without guilt
4/ Taking long, hot showers without guilt (I may have wasted water, but think of all of the gas that I saved!)
5/ Letting the man of the house order dinner without guilt
6/ Vicks Vapo-Rub. I love it today as much as I did when I was a kid. And it works.
7/ Taking naps with my cats and dog in bed with me
8/ Finding a forgotten bag of chocolate-covered almonds and eating them in bed (shhh, don't tell!)
9/ Giving myself a facial mask and falling asleep with it on - my pores are extra tight!

Apple Spiced Granola

It's time to try a new granola recipe. I need to come up with more granola recipes if I want to open my seaside breakfast/book exchange place of my dream. Consider this a research....



Starting with my based recipe, I skipped coconut flakes, added more oat meal and about 1/2 cup of apple sauce. I used very little oil and a bout a teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and ginger. I'm still not very happy with the result.

It come out a little wet and not very crunchy. Maybe I'll need to use honey as a binder the next time.

Need more research.

A Perfect SF Day

Today was one of those picture-perfect San Francisco days, a day when it's hard to imagine living anywhere else. Despite a horrible, misery-inducing cold that has crept up on me, I managed to get out and enjoy my fair city.

Kirsten was in town visiting from Chicago, so we met for lunch at one of my favorite new restaurants, Serpentine. To start, we had their scrumptious Savory Bread Pudding, made with Nettles and roasted onions and topped with swiss cheese. The roasted carrots and salad were especially good today. I had only been there for dinner, and at lunch time the sunlight really emphasizes the airy/industrial space.


Then we did a little shopping in Hayes Valley, where we spotted this sign on the front window of new restaurant Domo. Precious.


I found, to my surprise, a new pair of Mauro Giuli boots at Bulo, and at 50% off! I have spent an entire season looking for the perfect pair of flat black boots, and they just looked up and said hi to me. I wore them the rest of the day, and I am still wearing them now!


A stop at Flight 001 yielded a purchase of some inexpensive and adorable Envirosax, the lightweight and ergonomic extra bag that folds up to practically nothing and can be slipped in your purse. We each got one for ourselves, and I bought one for my friend Jude for our upcoming trip to Vancouver. I also found a just-right slim black umbrella there, which has also been my list of travel necessities for a long time.



Miette Confiserie was looking especially cute and charming today, so we stopped in for a look-see and a chat, and of course a couple of sea-salt caramels to take with us. We learned from the owner Kaitlin that the kids from the French-American School are very much into Jawbreakers these days, especially the giant ones, and they have different methodologies on how to eat them. They will stop at nothing, even bleeding tongues - I don't know, after seeing the movie Jawbreaker oh, about 100 times, I don't think I could handle one.

We ended our Hayes Valley excursion at Christopher Elbow, where we shared a decadent cup of Venezualan drinking chocolate in their lounge (see below), then headed off to West Portal to the Bookshop and then to the spa for a little treatment.


Now it is off to dinner at Blue Plate - we are taking Jerome, the manager and one of the owners of Garcon, to this iconic restaurant. Charles is bringing a bottle of Joseph Phelps cab - a real treat, making this a far cry from a regular Monday night outing.

Tomorrow is going to have a hard time living up to today!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Pink Buttercream and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

More chocolate cupcakes! These are for the fabulous mom to be - Chadie - and her baby shower. I normally don't color my cupcake frosting but this is for a special occasion. It's going to be a girl - at least some of the cupcakes need to be pink.

The fantastic cupcake recipe was from cupcakeblog.com. This will be the one chocolate cupcake recipe of my choice from now on.



Pink Buttercream Frosting

• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 1/2 cups confectioner sugar


• 1/4 cup heavy cream


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• A few drops of red food coloring


• With an electric mixer, beat the butter until light. Add sugar. Continue beating. Add vanilla extract. Slowly pour in heavy cream while beating. Add a few drops of red color. Add more sugar or heavy cream to get the right consistency.

Peanut Butter Frosting

• 1 stick butter - room temperature


• 1 cup creamy peanut butter


• 1 cup confectioner sugar


• 1/4 cup heavy cream


• Beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer. Add sugar. Add heavy cream. Beat until fluffy - about 3 minutes.

The pink buttercream was a hit. I thought people would prefer peanut butter over a simple buttercream but I was wrong. It's probably the pink - something about pink and women. I personally thought the chocolate - peanut butter combo turned out super awesome. I ate 3 of them over the span of 2 days -- sugar overload.

New World/Old World Truffles

I was successful at finding organic, decent-grade Maccha at Nijiya Market, so I spent an afternoon trying my hand at truffles, and they were a great success! I brought them to Susan's party, and complete strangers were introducing themselves to me after finding out that I had made them from scratch. One very generous woman told me that they were the best truffles that she had ever had - she even took one home to her husband!

Once I got the hang of rolling them, they were not difficult to make. Messy, but in a fun way, like making mud pies. One adjustment to the recipe that I made was to roll them in cocoa powder after forming them, but I have since talked to Eric and that was the correct thing to do - it will be corrected in future editions of the Breakaway Cook. I also dusted them with Maccha and then finished them with kosher salt.

Maccha Truffles
1 C. heavy cream
1/4 C. maple syrup
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. maccha
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Pinch of Maccha salt or kosher salt

- bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over gentle heat, add the maple syrup and brown sugar, and stir until dissolved, about 2 min.
- add 1 T. of maccha, stir until dissolved, set aside.
- place the chocolate in a large mixing bowl and pour in the cream mixture
- mix thoroughly and and pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, smooth it out with a rubber spatula
- cool in the refrigerator for about an hour
- scoop out a heaping teaspoonful and make a ball using your palms (* then roll in cocoa powder to coat - *my addition). Place on a tray or plate and dust with the remaining tablespoon of maccha. Use all of the chocolate, which will yield about 40-50 truffles.
- top with a light sprinkling of kosher salt