san francisco!

i headed down to san francisco for an extended weekend to visit a few friends of mine. i was obviously very excited to go because of all the food that i could eat (and not to mention i could see my friends too...hehe)!! i flew in on thursday and met up with my friend beth who i've known since elementary school! she lives over near haight-asbury so we went to the food carts for dinner! i had my fill there of korean tacos, filipino tacos and a red velvet cupcake for desert.

i must say that the food carts that up here are much better than the variety i sampled down there. the korean beef taco was way chewy so it was tough to take bites out of. they also just put it on some lettuce, threw a lime on it and called it good. maybe threw on a little bit of hot sauce too...but not impressed.



next on the agenda was the filipino taco. i decided to try out tofu and it wasn't bad! i would rate it above my korean one. the tofu was seasoned alright, and they added fresh chopped jalepenos on top which really scared me to look at, but wasn't so bad when i ate it. i definitely thought my mouth was done for.

after that i had a red velvet cupcake which was, again, no cupcake royale or trophy but sufficed for a street fair. it was moist and the cream cheese frosting was solid.

the next morning i was on my own since people still had to go to work so i found this cute little place called the reverie cafe. i got a breakfast bagel (cheese, eggs and sausage) and then a cafe au lait. the bagel was a little on the crispy side, but you could tell that everything was placed on the bagel with care. the cafe au lait hit the spot with the perfect amount of foam!



for lunch i met up with thespina (one of my old coworkers from razorfish). she works for pointroll now and has actually been working with me on my gaming campaign. when she came to answer her door, she was actually on the phone with my team figuring out things...haha oops. we went to this sushi place that was down the street from her. we got salmon and tuna sashimi which was alright, and then a hamachi and rainbow roll. the sashimi was good--though i don't think it was the freshest. the salmon was much better than the tuna. on the otherhand, the hamachi roll was really good with a little bit of scallions mixed in. the rainbow roll looked pretty, but wasn't really anything to write home about.

then for dinner, alisa took me to 'sushi raw' in the outer mission for...yep...even MORE sushi! haha. good thing i love it so much. here we had albacore tuna sashimi, a spicy salmon roll, and then some devil mountain CRAZY roll. the sashimi here was SO tasty. kicked my lunch sashimi's butt. the spicy salmon was also really good with a lot of heat. i would say the devil mountain roll was my least favorite. it was fried with a lot of hot sauce so it was tough to taste the ingredients that were actually in the roll.

the next morning, alisa and i hit up 'la fonda' (can you say napoleon dynamite?) near golden gate park for brunch. it was a quicker food type place but they make one hell of a huevos rancheros! everything was cooked well and they had the most amazing spicy green salsa that seemed like it had a little guacamole in it. the only thing i didn't like about la fonda was how cheap they were with everything. my water cup was essentially a shot glass and the salsa cups were the tiniest i've ever seen. i broke out a sweat walking from the table to the salsa bar and the water dispenser multiple times throughout the meal.



later for lunch, we headed over to CHINATOWN!! i was so excited!! we were a little late for dim sum so we found a legit place by peering in the windows to see what kind of clientele they had haha. we ended up finding this place that had several menus--one that had specials all written in chinese. fml. so i asked the waitress in cantonese if she had anything in english and she laughed and told me to look at the other menu with pictures...boo. then i think she felt bad so she told me what was on the menu. alisa ordered wonton noodle soup and i got some beef fried rice. it was really tasty---especially after i smothered it with hot sauce! they added a little lettuce and bean sprouts to it which is something i've never added to my fried rice before---but definitely worth adding in next time i make it :) the best part about the lunch special was that we could add drinks for a dollar so i got some yummy milk tea too!

later that evening after the ducks beat asu (wahoo!) and after i'd consumed my fair share in beers, it was time to eat some food! we went to this place called 'golden boy' which had a long line out the door and reminded me of elementary school pizza since it is square shaped. well, the cold wait was not worth it and neither was its squared-ness. the pizza tasted bland despite all of the toppings i had on it. the crust was crispy which was nice, but other than that, i was highly disappointed :(



sunday, i had the pleasure of going to sonoma because beth rented a zip car! we tasted lots of amazing wine and then picked up some sandwiches from the sonoma cheese factory before picnicking at a winery. for some reason pastrami jumped out at me on the menu and i'm so glad i went with my gut instinct. it was SO SO SO good although the sourdough roll was a little tough to bite into. i also picked the hot pepper cheese they make at the factory which complemented it nicely.

finally to end the trip, i tried south indian food for the first time ever! for reference, chicken tikka masala (and mostly what you're used to eating around here) is northern indian. southern indian food incorporates a lot more vegetables and less creamier sauces which was a nice change. i always felt my chicken tikka lacked veggies, haha. the pizza looking thing is an 'uppatham' which is pretty much the indian version of pizza. it was ok...not crispy like pizza, more spongy and a little strange with the cheese. it tasted better if you had some raita on it.

then we tried a 'dosa' which is sort of like a crepe stuffed with a variety of items. we had potatoes, spicy chutney and spinach. this was really yummy and came with okra soup--i think. we got our food to-go and there were many unlabled containers all thrown together.

finally we got a spicy vegetable curry to round things out--definitely more food than we needed. the curry was WAY spicy but it was really good and not very creamy. i'll definitely have to try to find a south indian place in seattle :)

(dosa and veggie curry)


(okra soup)

i am a little sad that i wasn't able to have clam chowder in a breadbowl...one can only eat so much in a day---even me! besides, it gives me another reason to head back soon :)

loco moco

last wednesday, aj invited a few of us over for some dinner and he made...LOCO MOCO! i have never had loco moco before so this was my first experience. if you didn't know, it's a hawaiian dish with rice, a hamburger patty, and a fried egg smothered with gravy. sounds both disgusting and delicious at the same time, right?!

i would say that aj's time spent slaving away at the stove paid off! the rice was cooked creatively--a little sticky and pan fried. to be figure friendly, he substituted the hamburger patty for small ground turkey sliders which were good--but just a little dry. damn that ground turkey and the lack of fat :p the egg was done very well, nice and gooey yolk with gravy on top. now, being my savory self, i think the gravy could've been a little more flavorful, but beggars can't be choosers. my hats off to the chef!!

MORE risotto...

so it's been a while since i've blogged but i have good reasons why.
1. i don't feel like i've had much 'blogworthy' content
2. i've been extremely busy--both work and personal life!

this is actually from last thursday, but i came home and it was so rainy and ugly outside that i just wanted to watch a movie and snuggle up on the couch--so that's what i did. and since i am to the last bit of my arborio rice, i figured i'd make risotto cause it's comfort food!

i know...risotto...again...but like i said, i'm done with my rice so it'll be a while until it makes another appearance! i got some spicy chicken andouille sausage then threw in some peas and carrots to attempt to make it a balanced meal. well, it turned out pretty decent and had a nice kick to it! it also made for yummy leftovers :)

boka

one of my publishers invited me to boka on tuesday for lunch. it was a last minute thing but i actually had time in the midst of this gaming campaign madness so i decided it was necessary to capitalize. we chose boka because it's right by my office and can be quick if necessary. boka has amazing truffle fries and pretty solid food, but i wouldn't say it's my first choice for a sit down lunch.

we split truffle fries for our appetizer then i ordered the pasta dish of the day which had spiced carrots, spinach, rabbit confit and shaved parmesan in turmeric sauce. it was awesome. i was having a tough time making up my mind and kristen was starving so when it was time to order, i panicked and just said pasta. fail. i know. i was a little worried because i've only ever ordered some sandwich type thing from boka, and because pasta dishes are usually heavy. however, the sauce was light and paired fabulously with everything else. it was so good i ate every single bite--then headed back to my cube with a food baby. i've been trying to work on portion control (yea--laugh it up) but i have not been very successful as you can see...

chowda!

i love, love eating thick soups so with fall coming around, and it being sunday, it seemed like the perfect thing to do before heading back to work tomorrow. i looked up a corn chowder recipe on allrecipes (my go-to always) and gave it a shot.

it's a lot like making chili--throwing everything in and letting it cook for a while. all there really is to it is boiling potatoes in chicken broth, adding in celery and onion that was cooked with some butter for a bit, then tossing in cans of corn, a milk/gravy mix (don't ask), some bell pepper i needed to use up, a can of green chilis, and then adding in shredded sharp cheddar cheese towards the end. the concoction was not as thick as i had hoped it would be (you know, with my love of thick soups and all), so i tried to salvage with corn starch. the corn starch helped and so did the cheese, but ultimately still not perfect in my opinion. i didn't drain my cans of corn so i think that might've affected things. it still tastes really good so i'm not too disappointed. i will definitely try again until i figure out how to make it perfectly. i read on some sites that people add in instant potato flakes to help thicken--seems a little odd but perhaps worth a shot. i'm still convinced i can find a different way to do it.

this recipe i used also said it only made 7 servings...perhaps for GIANTS because i swear to you i have enough leftovers to feed a small army. ok, perhaps a slight exaggeration but as you can see, i have a lot to spare. good thing i heart leftovers!!

spitfire + duck game = WINNER!

saturday was the uo vs. tennessee game so cat and i thought it would be fun to head over to spitfire (the only supposed duck bar in seattle). after our win against new mexico last week, i was a little worried about the team's ego and tennessee especially because they're sec. it wasn't looking good for the first half (the lightening delay didn't help) but in the end, we rallied and kicked ass beating them 48-13. sorry got off track...back to food.

i needed a nibble to eat so i ordered some fish tacos and it was probably one of the smarter choices i made that day! the fish was cooked perfectly--crisp (not soggy) on the outside and flasky on the inside, but not starchy tasting like fish tacos can sometimes be. the spicy sauce they put on it had a nice kick to it and paired well with their slaw. for only $7.25, i would definitely order it again. they also had tofu tacos that sounded interesting, so maybe next duck game!

the breakfast club

on saturday morning, the breakfast club (mcvick, brooke and i) decided our brunch spot for the week would be at coastal kitchen. the breakfast club had to take a break for a while because i was on vacation, and then matt was on vacation but now everyone's in the same place again :)

coastal kitchen is fun because they always have a new theme that they specialize several dishes around. this time it was the greek isles, but nothing that they were offering sounded spectacular. as matt would say, i didn't know several words in that description so it's not happening.

i ended up ordering the goat cheese 'rumble' (aka scramble) which included caramlized onions, spinach, and goat cheese. being the meat lover i am, i was a little concerned there was no protein so i asked the waiter, 'can i add to meat to that thing?' and so i got some chicken sausage added to the equation!

the food was fantastic! i don't eat goat cheese very often and i don't know why because it is damn delicious. the caramelized onions were a nice touch...and i got iron from the spinach. winner winner chicken dinner. the hashbrowns were also spicy which was a nice thought, but i think it was a bit much for everything else i had going on. just the good traditional ones cooked perfectly would've sufficed. regardless, it was a fun saturday am with great company :)

chinese congee

i managed to get myself sick over labor day weekend which was great planning. i mean, as if i had better things to do with my 4 days off than sit at home and watch movies...right. i don't know what it was. must've been a combination of traveling, work being crazy, and the seasons changing. anywho, whenever i was sick as a kid, my mom would make congee for me and it always made me feel better. i decided it was probably time for me to learn how to make it myself seeing as mama bee lives five hours south. congee is also known as rice porridge so essentially a thick soup made with rice that is often combined with other ingredients.

after talking to my mom about four times within a span of half an hour, i got the main gist of it. cook a LOT of water with a little rice. right. so it's what i did, but i got a little creative. i sliced up fresh ginger and added it in the pot as the rice was simmering to make it extra tasty. meanwhile, i dug up a chicken breast and tilapia and marinated it with some sesame oil, soy sauce, hoisin sauce (just a teeeeny bit since i didn't have oyster sauce), salt and pepper. to get congee the perfect consistency for me, i had to cook it for about 50 minutes on the stove on medium before i added in the meat. the meat only needed a few minutes to cook since i diced it up into small pieces. then i chopped up some green onion to garnish the congee with. it was delicious! not gonna lie, i'm fairly proud of myself--i even called my mom to let her know how it turned out :)

breakfast happy hour!!

now that my company is owned by the frenchies (aka publicis groupe), we get a lot more days off--especially surrounding holidays like labor day. i had friday off which was fantastic because it meant i could finally make it to toulouse petit's breakfast happy hour!!! from 9-11 mon-fri, almost all of their dishes are only $6! i headed over with casey and ordered the dungeness crab eggs benedict. this was one of those exceptions that was $9 during HH, but it was worth it. the potatoes were deliciously cajun seasoned and the eggs were poached perfectly. the only beef i had was that the crab was a bit on the salty side. other than that i can't wait until i get to go back again for the happy hour. i was going to go this morning (since it's labor day)...but i got sick over the weekend :(

nortlake pizza tavern

i joined a drinks on the links team this summer with two of my co-workers (steph and michelle). in case you were wondering, drinks on the links = drunk mini golfing! so since the league had ended, the 'silly puttys' decided it would be best to have a pizza party at northlake pizza tavern located north of eastlake. eric and aj also said i better make a post about the pizza so here you go boys :)

northlake is known for their thick slices of pizza. i thought it was tasty but i think i expected a mountain of pizza on my plate and that didn't happen so much. with that said, it was still very tasty and i would definitely go back for more. one odd thing they do is they chop up their olives to put on pizza which is more than fine by me...but sucks for those who usually pick them off (aka my roomie). and on wednesdays, they have PITCHERS of pbr for $3.50. let me just say pbr on tap will change your world!

the maui pizza


see the chopped olives?

anchovies and olives

on tuesday night, emily and i headed over to anchovies and olives with a publisher for dinner. i know, who names a restaurant 'anchovies and olives'? well, ethan stowell does. he also names restaurants 'how to cook a wolf' if you're over in upper queen anne. :)

at ethan stowell restaurants, you order multiple smaller type dishes that you share family style. sneaky sneaky way of getting people to order a lot haha. it was amazing food though! emily's not so into the crudo bits, which meant more for jeannine and i!

for our appetizers we had kumamoto oysters (small and tasty) which were absolutely delicious and then had some hamachi, a tomato heirloom salad and GEODUCK!! being my azn self, geoduck is no stranger to my palette but jeannine had never had it, nor seen it, so it was quite amusing to see her reaction when i googled a pic for her. if you have no clue, google it and see for yourself.

for our entrees, we split amazing scallop risotto, gnocchi and halibut. the gnocchi was interesting since the sauce wasn't creamy, and it had swiss chard and bacon with it, which was real tasty. the halibut was also cooked perfectly and soooooo good. sadly, we didn't have room for desert. oh well, not too big of a loss for this savory girl!

on a side note, what is with all these restaurants and the mood lighting!? it is making it VERY difficult for my picture taking.

the oysters

hamachi

geoduck

heirloom tomato salad

gnocchi

scallop risotto

halibut

la cuisine de carnival

i'm baaaaack!! i haven't weighed myself so i don't know how much damage was done. although, i didn't weigh myself before i left so i suppose it is a moot point. i figure if i spend a few more minutes at the gym, i should be good to go! ;)

the cruise was a lot of fun--i actually got to the point where i couldn't eat anymore. halfway through dinner my stomach just said NO MAS! we had 24 hour room service (though i never used it), 24 hour pizza and ice cream/frozen yogurt, all you can eat buffets for lunch, and then a sit down three course dinner every night.

i would say that the food is okay. i think it is just impressive all the options they had. you could go to the grill and get rotisserie chicken, get sushi, indian food and there was also a deli if you didn't feel like eating at the buffet. i would say it's maybe a step above old country buffet. most of the pictures that i took were from dinner along with some yummy treats once we were docked on land.

without further ado...

cocktail shrimp appetizer---it was alright


tilapia was a little dry, though the litlte cup of mac and cheese was amazing!


yummy desert


spaghetti carbonara for an appetizer...that's right.


LOBSTER TAIL!! it was ok, i liked the shrimp more. and you can never go wrong with mashed potatoes

a delicious apple pastry desert with a cup of caramel sauce

sushi sampler--the mussel was especially tasty

jamaican jerked chicken..not one of my smartest choices

not so yummy cheesecake! big disappointment :( at least it looked pretty

ok, literally the worst 'eggs benedict' i've had in my life

so i don't really feel like i had authentic mexican food while i was there...oh well, next time. the tacos were alright. really the beer was tastiest!

the other mexican meal i had was much tastier though not very pretty looking

coconut juice!!! (it was warm...but it was fun to drink out of one)

i loved loved the way they cut the limes there. always got plenty of juice. the us should adopt this method.

yummy yummy mangoes with chili and lime juice

guava popscicle

seafood in lobster sauce with saffron rice....ehh it was ok. kind of wish i went for the lamb my brother had that night.

chateaubriand beef...whatever that means. it was ok. again, i think i enjoyed the mashed potatoes more hehe

grilled portobello mushroom salad was amazing! usually i'm not a fan of the shrooms but there were very tasty

the last night's meal. beef of some sort. wasn't too bad! i think i only ate about 1/4 of it because my stomach had had enough at that point