curbside chat, zaza, grits

YUM! ... @brownsugarkitch, @eco_smiley and shirlnutkin (aka banshee) had a great sunday breakfast at oakland's brown sugar kitchen (on web, yelp, facebook, twitter, youtube). worth the wait with a curbside chat, caffeine, oatmeal currant cookie, and comfy zazas!

(i know, i know ... 

but i had to sneak in 

my fluevog mini | zaza fun!)

side bar ... of course, while waiting to hear "banshee" yelled, posting a pic or two on facebook (right?) is kind of a must. loved this comment - 

"careful someone might drop some coins in the cup
thinking you are begging to support your shoe habit!"

(BRAVO, pipes man!!!)

back to food stuff ... i likes make love covet me my grits (as shared in last year's post, for which there are other restaurants i'll need to add to the grits offering in the bay area). this morning was no different, and piragua also had her share of grits.

organic cheddar cheese grits w/poached egg,
bacon-cheddar-scallion biscuit,
veggie quiche (incl. portabello mushroom),
chicken apple sausage, more grits,

and one word: 

BUTTER

f|break: tuesday morn

bacon me ... who doesn't like bacon?! (it's rhetorical.)

enjoy a food fiber break with bacon (over here)
for ~ 47 seconds with think geek

i'm bacon!

f|break: wed morn #icecream

LOVES me mr. and mrs. miscellaneous organic, flavorful, and tasty ice cream (on facebook) - and so do many others (on yelp)!

where to go ... i shared a while back (over here) that it's a great place on a warm day - located in the san francisco dogpatch area - 699 22nd at 3rd street (closes at 6:00 pm & closed on mondays). it's a great place any day (except for monday, i guess).

the routine-ish ... on weekdays, if i've driven into work, mr. and mrs. miscellaneous - which is about 2.5 miles on surface streets from work - is ALWAYS a possible after-work ice cream treat, as long as i leave the parking area by -

• 5:20 (or much sooner) if traffic near my work is congested, or
  
• 5:35 if traffic is near non-existent, or
  
• 5:40 if traffic is near non-existent and there is little to no talking in the car (shiny penny andy and pho queen les lie know what that means)

upon arrival ... if we've looked on facebook prior to driving over to see if/what the flavors are posted, we do a combo of the following -

• lament that there may be a "sold out" sign on a fave flavor,
  
• cheer because the flavor we want to try is still available,
• sample flavors that we may normally not try or no nothing about
  
• negotiate amongst ourselves which flavors to enjoy, and
• pray to the goddess asphalta that there is parking nearby enough, AND IF NOT, i push out the car while it's moving make whomever is/are my passenger(s) get in the door comfortably before closing at 6 pm,
• scoop ice cream and making orgasmic noises while doing so,
• chat with ann or ian
  

flavors? ... ever-changing. annabelle and ian shared on march 28th the following 136 flavor creations

video by a fan ... shared on mr. and mrs. miscellaneous facebook page by fan lucy laliberte - whom i don't know but liking her nifty other videos and shares (on tumblr, on vimeo) - here is lucy's ice cream field trip -

enjoy a morning fiber break from lucy laliberte (over here)
for ~ a minute of vicariously visiting mr. and mrs. miscellaneous

Project Miscellany from Lucy Laliberte on Vimeo.

the directive ... as the current foursquare mayor (since march 30, for which i understand from ian that the former mayor, ryan g, will likely be giving me a run for my mayorship), so says shirlnutkin while scooping coffee + doughnuts and fudge ripple ...

GO!
SAMPLE!
SCOOP!

spur of the moment serpentine ...

(our #healthmonth celebratory dinner moment, pics)

serpentine ... an american-themed restaurant in san francisco (at the northeast corner of 3rd & 22nd in the dogpatch area), last night pho queen and shirlnutkin had a spur of the moment dinner date at serpentine (over yelp, on their site, and on open table), with their tag line of

"honest food
classic cocktails"

dinner is our ice cream dessert ... we had a pre-dinner ice cream date. this means - dinner came after ice cream at mr. and mrs. miscellaneous. we were walking back to my car, which was unknowingly parked in front of serpentine. frankly, we've been in that area fairly frequently and have never noticed the restaurant. (shame on us!) side note: they serve brunch, so we will add this to our breakfast buds - especially because they serve something called red flannel hash (for gadget man).

red meat for dinner ... yes, pho queen and shirlnutkin had our health month rules in mind. and we both decided to celebrate our january victories and our february fun with a savory dinner. our selections, with some sourdough bread and water (yes, no wine this time around) -

spice braised lamb shank
roasted parsnips - yellow carrots - fregola sarda - cashews - cilantro mint chutney

grilled storm hill ranch hanger steak
roasted rainbow carrots - creamed nettles - sunchokes - crumbled feta - fried shallots - sage jus

our meals were fabulous! ... and oops - that was a shallot, not a garlic clove. and that was a sunchoke. yes - a return for a fun cocktail, a sweet dessert, and a breakfast buds brunch is in our future.

celebrating health month ... we finished with a great january - even with a few bumps in the road here and there (winter colds, cubeopolis work, socializing) - and are excited about mixing up our rules (and keeping some mainstays) for february.

allowing limited red meat ... we each have the rule limiting our red meat intake and therefore checked "yes" for our daily true-up. pho queen allows it twice a week and therefore has one more meat allowance until next tuesday, 02/08, while shirlnutkin used up her one allowance for the week - and her day 2 health month morning looks something like this ...
... with the remainder of her week looking like this - presuming i do not go over the quota i set for myself (and i will not go over my quota)few fun lessons learned? ... here are a few for me -

• be mindful of our surroundings because we can discover new restaurants.
  
• take the easier parking space that does not involve parallel parking.
  
• eat dessert before dinner to eliminate having to eat dessert after dinner.
  
• promote health month to the server because he commented on our "red meat" allowance jibber-jabber.
  
• celebrate our on-going self-awareness of our health-minded choices.
  
• breakfast buds must try brunch at serpentine (soon!).
  

and create moments of
and
enjoy spur of the moment girlfriend dates

buddies' food-bites at bossa nova

bossa nova ... a brazilian-themed restaurant in san francisco (139 8th street, at minna), bossa nova is pretty nifty. bossa nova (on their page and on yelp) is a 2-BART-stations-walk from cubeopolis (aka not quite around the corner from cubeopolis) and good walk with friends. (it's a quick walk to the civic center BART station.) as stated on their page -

"Bossa Nova Flavor.
Created with the look and feel of the Favela, Bossa Nova brings the flavor of Rio's Streets to San Francisco. The Favela (Rio's vibrant ghetto culture) is the birthplace of Samba and Bossa Nova. Music and dancing bursts out of dancehalls and clubs into the Streets. The air is fragrant with lime, sizzling churraquinho and fresh seafood. Cachaca flows as freely as conversation. The Favela is the place of the people."

side note: of the 8 cubesters signed up for a health challenge (fatbet.net), 3 cubesters dined at bossa nova this past wednesday night as a mid-stream reward. weight goals were set in mid-september, and the final check-in for progress toward one's goal is 15 february.

food-bites ... with rules that some of us have for limiting our weekly alcohol intake, we did not try any of their specialty drinks. (we are saving our alcohol allowance for this friday's happy hour.) we did, however, each try a couple of small plates. among us we tried -

• tuna tartar with ginger, radishes, avocado, amarillo
• fried yucca (for which we had 2 servings)
  
• ceviche "peixe com limao" with red onion, pickled jalapeno
• sashimi "hamachi tiradito" with rocoto chili & yuzu dressing
• fried plantain chips with lime, salt (... lesson-learned - if the chips are over-cooked, they may look okay but will not be tasty)
  

dessert bites ... we shared 2 desserts - molten chocolate cake with fresh whipped cream, and powdered sugar ... and coconut flan (with toasted coconut flakes).

we'll return (with the lesson-learned about the fried chips) to sample other foods, check out their live music, and perhaps dance-sweat a bit with our not-so-professional samba moves.

dessert during the day

cafe madeleine ... delicious lunch items and pastries are about two blocks from cubeopolis at cafe madeleine (on yelp over here and their web site). for helping out a fellow cubester last week, i was gifted a very fabulous dessert this afternoon. it was my pleasure. what a lovely (and tasty) surprise!

any time is dessert time ...
thank you, carol, for the tasty dessert!

ella's for new year's brunch

chicken hash, potato scramble, crab omelette, sticky bun, coffee (runneth over), and refilled waters ... yum-yum in my tum-tum at ella's (on ella's site, on yelp, and on a table for two - its list of the best of brunch) in laurel heights (in SF), on the corner of california and presidio, diagonal from the jewish community center (jcc).

new year's brunch ... breakfast buds gadgetman, piragua, and i spent our new year's brunch at ella's counter-seating over-looking the kitchen (as we played our napkin frivolity). wonderful service, friendly people, no elbow-room-smack-downs at the counter, and no rushing. and although no grits (given my hankering for grits), there was the requisite hash for gadgetman, vegan healthy for piragua, and conversation over food for me. (i could eat peanuts dipped in those pre-packaged, non-compostable jelly containers and be happy if the chatter is afoot.) with the menu to the right - let's be clearer about our dishes ...

• chicken hash ~ served with eggs and toast + wheat bread (doesn't quite do this dish justice given the nom nom nom noises from gadgetman who sat between piragua and me)
• open faced omelette with dungeness crab, meyer lemon ricotta, grilled asparagus, toasted onion and tarragon + wheat bread
  
• potato scramble with curried cauliflower, shitakes, grilled red onion, cilantro and gouda (no photo. tear.)
• and ... fresh baked sticky bun shared between gadgetman and me because it was the size of a baby's head
  

to sticky bun or not? ... after one of the servers heard gadgetman and me debating over getting a sticky bun, he said, "... let's turn this talk into action. and new year's resolutions do not start until the business day." SOLD. actually, i'm thinking we eventually would have gotten the sticky bun because piragua might have gotten tired of hearing us debate the matter.

hash him, veggie her, sticky me ...
take us to ella's again!

magic 8-ball feeds us

cesar (or césar españa) ... part of shattuck's gourmet ghetto, this tapas-serving restaurant was gadgetman's magic 8-ball's selection of "all signs point to yes."

(bocadillo - manchego + greens)

more about césar (and here on yelp) and as stated on césar site -

"césar combines freshly made tapas (spanish small plates) with a large and thoughtful selection of fine wines, beers and spirits."

this past monday night's dinner at césar was a bon viaje for my friend's upcoming departure for a quick trip to spain.

safe travels gadgetman!
(don't forget my spanish comic book!)

got grits?

i'm there(!) ... and that means i will drive up to the berkeley/oakland area and meet-up with buds for breakfast for classic catch-up and laugh-uproariously memories. (and we laugh and story tell over some crazy, random, stream-of-consciousness-connect-the-dots kind of chatter like over here!) the following places are three go-to breakfast places for grits and breakfast buddy chatter. in addition to grits, all three places have tasty offerings for breakfast and brunch!

rudy's can't fail cafe ... located in emeryville on the corner of hollis and park, it serves up grits as a side order or a breakfast entree (on weekends only - hot grits, cheese, green onions, and bacon). (more about rudy's can't fail cafe, on yelp, and on urbanspoon), and it is the breakfast buds choice place for laughing uproariously.

900 grayson ... located in berkeley on the corner of 7th and grayson, it serves up carolina cheese grits as a hearty side order. (closed on sundays, more about 900 grayson and more on yelp)
today was a mild collection of chuckles with gadgetman, his chicken & waffles, my grits, and me. and breakfast food pic fun included new little toys (thanks gadgetman!) - little cell phone gummy-stick-on camera filters for the starburst and wide angle effects (from photojojo over here).

lois the pie queen ... located in oakland, it's on the corner of 60th and genoa and just kind of kitty corner to adeline street. (more about lois the pie queen on yelp). lois the pie queen serves up grits as a side and biscuits that we affectionately call "crack biscuits" - VERY tasty and addictive!

nibble me happy in pleasant hill

nibblers eatery & wine bar ... ~25 miles from cubeopolis & ~41-miles from my home means ~66 miles for a worthwhile drive. the baked egg en cazuela (above image) dish is what every dish looks like at a nibblers experience - fabulously served up and figuratively licked cleanly (or scooped or sopped up or ...). i've had many more hits than misses. appealing via texture, smell, visuals, and (of course) flavor. and as stated on their web site over here -

"sustainable small plates - international small plates & eclectic wines using fair-trade, local and organic ingredients to provide you a unique dining experience in a casual neighborhood atmosphere."

7-days a week ... dinner daily from 5:00-9:30 pm, there also is a sit-at-bar-or-on-the-patio sunset bar menu until 6:00 pm weekdays. and if others' reviews matter - here are links to reviews on open table, yelp, and delemental's review. or again, check out their website ...

side note: my recent experience ... and my most recent visit on friday (thanks to a friend's belated birthday wishes) yielded two items from the sunset bar menu and a glass of sangria ... and dinner seated in the main dining area with the 4-course prix fixe and the monticello albariño.

sunset bar sampling ... heirloom tomatoes with pesto and artisan cheese (with little friends ... guava, ginger snaps, apricot)

dinner yum-yums ... heirloom organic gardens spinach salad, baked egg en cazuela, handmade potato gnocchi, and warm brioche bread pudding.

go on, have your own experience,
and get your nibblers on!

cioppino in fremont (?!)

ristorante il porcino ... yes, there is tasty italian food in the east (southeast?) bay area. il porcino is sandwiched in a strip mall area, surrounded by other restaurants - japanese, indian, etc. (quite the standard variety a la strip malls often found in the tri-city area).

during the heat wave this late summer, i checked out yelp for italian back in july '10 - my first time. their web site is over here. italian during warm weather was a go-to for me when i lived in san diego. when i lived in san diego, there were several fave italian restaurants from which to choose - quite nearby was jack & guilio's in old town san diego , and dense with several restaurant options (desserts and pastries, as well) was the little italy area.

nevertheless ... my second time here? my 47th birthday (two days ago) hanging with my mom. we both loved it. and we loved the birthday (generous-portion!) tiramisu with the trick candle. nice, fun touch.

sure i'll work late! then i can dine at ...

... aperto, a potrero hill neighborhood italian restaurant before driving back home. thursday night's dinner (my third time at aperto, and my second time this past week!) included a glass of the barbera d'alba val del prete serra de gatti (piemonte, 2008), the house-made roasted eggplant-goat cheese ravioli with fresh summer tomato sauce and micro basil, and sharing the chocolate soufflé over great conversation with leslie. yum!

(and if i leave work by 5:30, before dinner, i can have a little dessert at mr. and mrs. miscellaneous.)

got work next week? yes, lots! i'm sure i'll be dining at aperto again some time this coming week! (note to self: dine at sunflower one evening, so said a random guy who walked into sunflower as we passed by. okay random guy - will do!)

f|back (oct '06): on this day 4 years ago ...

... i was taking advantage of social-meal-fests with friends. four years ago around this time, i had a whirlwind social calendar - out and about with friends - lunch, dinner, happy hours, brunch, snack - any drink and chow opportunity! i had sent the movers ahead of me so that i could meet my belongings in the bay area. meanwhile, i was staging the last of my belongings to squeeze stuff into my car. on this date, oct 20, four years ago, yummy lunch at a fave lunch restaurant vagabond kitchen with several fave friends ... ah, the memories.

(repost 10/20/2006)

thank you, see ya, and will miss ya!

yet again, another lunch at the fabu vagabond!
long time friends since being in SD

Cool Slideshows

• dash (known since 1992) - wearing the r|wear (right on!) ... and having the Vagabond Black Ink Linguini Shrimp ... Four Large Shrimp Tossed in Black ink Linguini with Onions, Garlic, Chorizo and Green Chiles. Topped with Manchego Cheese, Roasted Peanuts and a drizzle of Chili Oil.
  
• david (known since 1993) - wearing ... well, wearing a pink polo ... and having the Caribbean Chicken Salad ... A filet of Chicken Breast Grilled with Herbs and Caribbean Spices, cut in Medaillons and served over Mixed Greens with Cucumbers, Tostones, Plantanos Maduros and Lime. Sweet Caribbean dressing.
  
• shannon (known since 2000) - wearing salmon ... and having the Caribbean Filet Mignon Sandwich with Avocado ... Thinly Sliced Filet Mignon Marinated in a Caribbean Dressing of Olive Oil, Garlic, Honey, Ginger, Herbs and Spices. Served Grilled with Spread Avocado and Spicy jack Cheese on Toasted Telera Roll.
• moi (the one moving) - wearing a smile and having the Red Curry ... Onions, Garlic, Coconut Milk, Red Curry, Lemon Grass, Ginger, Palm Sugar and a touch of Chili Pepper. Served on a Bowl over Jasmine Rice and garnished with Fried Shallots, Shredded Kaffir Lime leaves and Scallions.

never disappointed with friends chatting over a tasty meal. heard at the table ... girlfriend, dating, new truck, clearance, friend pregnant, walter claudio, intern, qualcomm stadium, daybed, santa barbara, tennessee, new jersey, oakland, season tickets ...

thanks all for being great friends!
and thanks, dash, for lunch!

ahi poke fix in SJ japantown

a worthwhile 22-mile drive from home to get my ahi poke fix at the san jose hukilau.

for lunch today ... had da hukilau poke dinner - ahi poke, one scoop rice, one scoop mac salad, and two Spam musubi. one thing i have learned about the hukilau SJ and SF locations is that they do not have the exact same menu ('though there is overlap, for the most part), do not necessarily serve up the food the same way, and do have different daily specials.

thumbs up for SJ hukilau's ahi poke dinner
(and a refreshing fat tire amber ale)

psycho donuts! yum - a fave donut place

on those weekends when i drive my a** more than 25 miles take my merry jaunt to stroll the campbell's farmers market for tasty produce and flowers, i'll drop by yum-yum-fun psycho donuts - FUN & TASTY donuts at corner of 2006 winchester at e. campbell ave. (and check out their blog, also) and another location at camera 3 - corner of s. 2nd street and east san carlos in san jose).

warm weather means yummy ice cream

just a little shout-out ... for annabelle's and ian's place - mr. and mrs. miscellaneous over in the SF dogpatch area - 699 22nd at 3rd street (closes at 6:00 pm & closed on mondays) - flavorful, homemade, organic ice cream and little treats. yum(!) for the coconut marshmallow. yelp reviews here.

f|back (sept '08): friday's fish & chips

as if it were yesterday ... i remember the yippity-yap over sweet potato fries with co-workers. we'd head over to zebulon (to be relocated) for an excuse for the fries. yum! i recently reminisced about this with a friend affectionately known as friday fish & chips (ff&c) gal. i can't believe this was nearly 2 years ago - my how time flies! (pass the malt vinegar, please.)

(repost 09/05/08)

friday's
fish & chips (?!)
(aka ff&c)

several weeks ago ... here's how we rolled in san francisco on ff&c.

when it comes to chips, it's about the sweet potato fries. (apologies to the english pubs). unfortunately, even with almost traditional f&c, shoestring fries were offered up. perhaps we would have sought the traditional f&c, but we were hungry, and this place is close to work. (and actually, we just weren't quite sure where to get good ol' traditional fish & chips nearby work. NOTE TO SELF: yelp.)

as for our ff&c sistah peeps over in phoenix, az ... they roll with the real stuff!!!

dessert in the BA?

food. it's something i have quite posted about on this blog. so for the kick-start ... what was on my mind 4 years ago? (from a previous blog)

(repost from feb 7, '06 - with some teeny updates)

It's like I can't stop talking about food on this ReLo blog ... and I have come to realize - I'm not quite sure how often I actually cook a meal at home. (So maybe I don't have to worry too much about whether I have an electric or gas stove in my BA kitchen digs.)

Regardless ... DESSERT!!! SD has an absolutely fabulous and amazing place called Extraordinary Desserts. OK, so I'll miss this place, also. (If you have checked out the web site, make sure to look at the dessert page, because you'll get to see a couple different desserts.)

This is Rennie (Hi Rennie!) ... with a dessert (chocolate involved, of course!) ... that i am pretty sure he shared ... but i can't be 100% sure ... because i may have been scarfing and hogging my own dessert at the time.

So - dessert, anyone, in the BA? and what bridge(s) am I going to have to cross!?

i own a parka ...

... because back in the day when i first moved back to the BA (well, 2 years ago) and wasn't in cubeopolis, i was traveling to north dakota during winter.

(repost from feb 8, '07)
mmmmmmm ... warm this morn!
in my new - and very useful - down comforter jacket north face arctic parka.
with a new travel mug holding the tasty liquid o' ...
... rocky road mocha from/at boneshaker coffee company

whilst outside weather, it is approx. 4 deg F.

interesting thing (and shared with my colleague, also) ... since the past 2+ days, 5 deg F kinda is now o.k.; it's the evening minus 10 deg F that's a b****, esp. with the wind.

lunch at Windy's Pizza and Bar in Bowman.

back to BA tomorrow morn. am actually looking forward to next trip to BIS. (two more drinks, and i get a free coffee at boneshaker and get to wear my parka again.)

next week, SD.

[notes to self - no need bring parka.

be on the lookout for belt-loop-boy.

get dessert fix.]