Tag archives for San Francisco

An Unusual Dining Experience: Museum & Aquarium Edition

By | Published October 30, 2012

4th grade field trip meets glutton’s heaven!

That’s the 2012 Foodbuzz Blogger Festival Saturday Dinner Gala in seven words. San Franciscans, if you’ve never dropped by The California Academy of Science Nightlife then you should. Saying hi to Claude the albino crocodile or watching star fish cuddle each other can become pretty exciting stuff with a glass of wine in hand. Dinner at the museum is unfortunately only available for private events. For more info on what I call cultured and educational drinking on Thursday nights, check out the museum + aquarium’s website here.

This year’s Foodbuzz “Treat Yo Self” Blogger Festival kicked off at the Starlight Room on Friday, followed by dinner at a restaurant in San Francisco of our own choice (we were each given a $50 stipend for dinner). Our group of fab bloggers landed at Jardiniere, a French restaurant located in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. I highly recommend the diver scallops, risotto and pasta dishes there. The service there is also excellent. I loved our waiters! Sadly, the fish and meat dishes they served were overcooked and left much to be desired.

Saturday was a blur of continuous eating, starting off with a factory tour at the Tcho Chocolate Factory in the morning. After consuming copious amounts of chocolate and feeling a bit intoxicated breathing in cocoa fumes for two hours, I pushed on at the Taste Pavilion where samples of food ranging from Three Brothers Ice Cream to Alaskan crab cakes were given out. After each gaining 20 pounds over the course of two days, we closed out the eating spree with the dinner gala at the California Academy of Science.

Oh, and the price for all of this? Grand whopping total of $30! Thanks DailybuzzFood.com!

Starlight Room: Roasted Beet Salad with Red Beet Paint, Roasted Piquillo Pepper, Marinated Cucumbers, Oranges, Carrot Ribbons, Micro Cilantro, Lemon Oil, Chopped Chives, and Sea Salt.

Starlight Room: Braised Wagyu Short Rib Stuffed Mushroom with Pickled Red Onion, and Ricotta Salata.

Jardiniere: Local White Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Shelling Bean Stew

Jardiniere: Braised Short Rib with Marrow Gremolata, and Consomme

Jardiniere: Duck Breast and Duck Confit with Turnips and Smoked Apple Puree

Click here to read the entire post and see more pictures from the weekend!

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Easy DIY Tutorial: Make Your Own Custom Fortune Cookie Gift Box & Check Out the Cool Photos I took at a Fortune Cookie Factory!

By | Published October 18, 2012

I REALLY like surprises.

But apparently USPS doesn’t.

The International Customs Declaration form that USPS makes you fill out renders mailing any kind of surprise package abroad difficult. Not only are you forced to declare what’s inside the package, the form is also taped to the top of your box, revealing whatever mischievous contents you so neatly wrapped up to your mailman and to the rest of the world. I was pretty determined not to let the evil customs form ruin all the fun though. Instead of “fortune cookies,” I labeled my package as “a box of crackers.” Yeah, I really patted myself on the back for that one. To my delight, my slight distortion of the truth not only tricked USPS and customs, I had managed to trick my friend as well. According to him, his first reaction after seeing the package with the attached customs form was,”Why the hell did Cat mail me a box of crackers?” Teeheehee, oh I am a wily one!

If you don’t live in San Francisco, you can order custom fortune cookies on the following websites. Warning: I have not purchased anything from any of these websites, so please order at your own risk.

  1. http://www.kcfortunecookiefactory.com/shop-now/custom/custom-fortune-cookies-easy-online-ordering – Personalize up to 15 messages at $0.07-$0.39 each depending on the quantity of the order (minimum order of 50 cookies).
  2. http://www.fancyfortunecookies.com/Personalized_Vanilla_Fortune_Cookies_p/van1020.htm – Personalize each message for $0.55 per cookie (minimum order of 50 cookies).
  3. http://www.orientaltrading.com/create-your-own-fortune-cookies-kit-a2-_K2142-12-1.fltr?Ntt=custom+fortune+cookie – A fortune cookie kit so you can make your own cookies from scratch in the comfort of your own home.

If you live in the super awesome city of San Francisco and want to explore and order “hand-made” fortune cookies in person at what I consider one of the city’s most fascinating hidden gems, the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, then follow these instructions!

  1. Click here to download the fortune cookie message template.
  2. Fill out the Word document template with your personalized messages. Need some inspiration? I filled mine with inside jokes, hilarious quotes from movies that I watched with my friend, and ridiculous online conversations that we’ve had in the past.
  3. Cut the messages into individual slips along the dotted lines.
  4. Bring your slips to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory at 56 Ross Alley. It’s in a hidden alley in China Town.
  5. Watch the lady make your custom fortune cookies on the spot in front of you! 52 cookies took about 30 minutes and cost $17. I asked for my fortune cookies to be individually wrapped, which was an extra $2. I didn’t mind standing there watching the lady work the machine at all and was offered freshly made cookies to nibble on while I waited. Note that if you want to take pictures during your visit, you’ll need to pay them another 50 cents.
  6. Buy a cute cake box for your fortune cookies. My box was approximately 12x12x6 inches and fit all 52 cookies snugly. You should be able to buy one online for less than $3 here or in person at your local Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store.
  7. Buy twine to secure the gift box. You should be able to buy a spool online for less than $4 here or in person at your local Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store.

And you’re done!

Check out some of the cool photos that I took during my little adventure to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory!Passing through the famous China Town Dragon Gate on Grant Avenue at Bush Street.

 Entering Ross Alley.

The unassuming store front of the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.

A long and narrow space. I felt like I was in a steam punk fanatic’s dream with all these vintage looking machines!

I am pretty much fascinated by the whole process. The machine pumps out warm and flat cookies. The lady then quickly shapes the cookie with her hands and the assistance of a metal rod before it cools down and hardens.

I am given quite a few flat fortune cookies to taste while I wait for my cookies to be made.

My cookies are collected from the pan and cooled on a tray.

They are then individually wrapped by hand!

I’m definitely adding this to the SF tour I give my friends when they come in town to visit! It’s so fun!

Posted in Do It Yourself! | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Only the Best Ice Cream in the World!

By | Published October 3, 2012

No, not Bi-Rite. I know that we all just love standing in line for over an hour at Bi-Rite Creamery on a Sunday afternoon. Yeah, so there’s been a few Mark Zuckerberg sightings in that line. Big deal. OK, I’ll admit that I squealed like a little pig when I spotted him walking down Dolores Street for the first time. Anyhow, I know the routine. I’m not denying the fact that sitting in Dolores Park with scoops of salted caramel, honey lavender, and balsamic strawberry ice cream from Bi-Rite just puts a cherry on top of your pretty little weekend, but you really need to get your butt over to Humphry Slocombe and try their Secret Breakfast (one scoop for $3.50 and two scoops for $4.25, or if you’re extra greedy 3 scoops for $5).  It’s only the most addictive ice cream flavor in the world!

Bourbon and corn flakes are the two ingredients that go into this delicious blend. My only bone to pick is that they should definitely add more cornflakes to the mix. The crunchier the better! I’m not usually a proponent of mixing dairy with alcohol, especially for those afflicted with a mild case of lactose intolerance and Asian glow like me. Their red wine ice cream called Jesus Juice sounds as questionable as rapture believers, but one lick of Secret Breakfast and you will shed all your doubts. Now…where’s the sangria ice cream?

“But it’s so farrrrrr awayyyyy!” you cry.

Do I need to call the wah-bulance? Use your legs! Walk! Get on that pastel yellow cruiser you bought at Public Bikes that you named Holly and pedal your tush over there! Muni! Or god-forbid, drive and practice your parallel parking skills in the Mission! Enjoy the balmy 80 degree weather while it lasts because I’ll give the weather gods another 2 weeks before they start telling the fog to roll into SF again. It’s that good and totally worth the trek! OK, promise I’m done yelling.

Oh, and while you’re at it, ask the guys behind the counter to give you a sample of the prosciutto ice cream. I’m not quite sure what my friend Jen expected me to say when she asked me, “So what does it taste like?” I mean it literally tastes like ham. The anti-climatic nature of my answer and the pure silliness of it all made me giggle a little bit. I heard they sometimes sell bacon ice cream over there too. Do it.

Posted in Get in My Belly! | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Me + Your Wallet = Moon Cakes In My Belly – W4M

By | Published September 28, 2012

You: Asian. Glasses. 5’8. Stood in line behind me at Golden Gate Bakery in San Francisco for over an hour. You mentioned Tekka Sushi, which I just absolutely adore, to the gal who was with you so I chimed in to pass time. She might have wanted to claw my eyes out for talking to you. I may or may not have continued the conversation just to push her buttons.

Me: Asian. 5’2. And apparently an idiot. After waiting in line for over an hour and finally entering the cash-only bakery, I realized that I only had $12 in my wallet. One moon cake at this ridiculous place was $8. I was on the verge of a meltdown when you gallantly came to my rescue with a $20 bill.

P.S. I had no makeup on that day. I swear I’m a different person with eyeliner on. Not to toot my own horn, but if you take off your glasses and squint a little I look exactly like Jessica Alba.

No really, Ray (that is your name right?), we may not be serendipitous soul mates, but if you’re out there somewhere, respond to the e-mail I sent you, so I can pay you back!

Honestly, I don’t even know why I stood in that dreadful line at the bakery because I absolutely hated moon cakes as a child and have stayed away from them ever since. The line was only exacerbated by the fact that Mid-Autumn Festival was coming up this weekend, and China Town was overflowing with festivities. For those not privy to Chinese holidays, Mid-Autumn Festival is a big deal. Back home in Taiwan, my parents, my little sister, and our whole extended family are probably BBQing, eating moon cakes, peeling pomelos, and moon gazing together. Gifting beautifully designed boxes of moon cakes to friends and family was common, stealthily re-gifting these boxes was also not uncommon.

Out of nostalgia, I decided to give moon cakes another try. The fact that I just happened to be a few blocks away from the ever-so-popular Golden Gate Bakery that day gave me another reason to swing by. Little did I know I would trigger a whole string of events that resembled a Craigslist missed connections ad.

I tried the taro, the white lotus seed, and the coconut mixed nuts moon cakes, the last being my favorite flavor out of all three. Let’s just say that the moon cakes from Golden Gate Bakery were good for what they were (I still don’t have a taste for moon cakes in general), but definitely not worth standing in line for over an hour or the embarrassment of borrowing $20 from a complete stranger. Let’s just stick to the egg tarts shall we?

More about Golden Gate Bakery here.
More about Mid-Autumn Festival here.

Posted in Get in My Belly! | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bastille Day: Bonjour Sausalito!

By | Published July 17, 2012

Oui, oui, oui! It was Bastille Day this past weekend! With the fog rolling relentlessly into the city, my friend Daphne and I decided to escape to Sausalito to catch some rays and eat a “French” brunch at Le Garage. Although the slices of roast duck on top of my eggs benedict tasted more like an accident than a deliberate combination, Le Garage at least got le egg yolks right. Poking a runny egg with a fork and watching the juices ooze out feels just as good as how the phrase “je ne sais pas” rolls across my tongue.

I usually don’t give a rat’s butt about cars, but these were just screaming “Instagram me!” I especially adored the older gentlemen who owns the red Jaguar. He showed that pretty little thing off like none other. We saw it parked at multiple locations in town over the course of an hour. Daphne and I would walk a couple of steps, stop in a store, come back out and the car would magically appear on curb again as if it were stalking us. We saw him discreetly watching people admire his baby from the sidelines a few times. I don’t blame him, I’d do the same thing if I had a sweet ride.One of the best parts of the day was stumbling upon the Sausalito Farmer’s Market. Some of of my favorite foods that I sampled were:

  1. Organic Purple Cherokee Tomatoes – These taste great chopped up with a dash of salt, olive oil and fresh basil leaves.
  2. Yellow nectarines – Sweet and at $2/lb, they were not overpriced like the ones you find at farmer’s markets in the city.
  3. Baklava – Positively delightful. The filo dough was crispy and the chopped nuts inside were chewy and not overly sweet. There was also a strong hint of cinnamon that I don’t think I’ve usually detected in baklavas.
  4. Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Foods – The pumpkin naan is excellent. I also enjoyed the fire roasted eggplant spread and the cilantro chutney immensely.
  5. California Herbie Curd from Achadinha Cheese Company – The tie-die sticker on the lid seemed suspicious but this cheese definitely blew the other ones away at the table. A close second was the Broncha (a blend of pasteurized cultured goat and cow milk, salt, and enzymes).

Good-bye Sausalito and your tandem bikers, San Franciscan tourists, and smiling dog-walkers! I’ll be back another foggy San Franciscan day, perhaps on a bike!

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