Chinese Banquet with the 2016 San Francisco Writers Conference

Once again, SFWC Board Member Harvey Pawl treated the speakers and volunteers to a banquet dinner at Great Eastern on Jackson Street in San Francisco's Chinatown. Great Eastern is one of Tea Time's lunch favorites, but whichever meal you choose there will be outstanding.

We began with a barbecue pork appetizer, which was quickly followed by egg drop soup.

No. 80.
Honey Glazed Barbecued Pork

No. 43. Mixed Vegetables and Bean Curd
with Egg Drop Soup.

There was a large bowl of fluffy rice to accompany our meal.

 A plate of fried sweet potato

 preceded the Peking Duck.

No. 109. Peking Duck with steamed bun

Spring onions and sweet bean sauce to
go with the Peking Duck  

 There  was beef with pea pods and mushrooms.

Sauteed filets of beef, snap peas, mixed mushrooms with barbecue sauce

Followed by Honey Walnuts with Shrimp.

Honey glazed walnut and sautéed prawns with mayonnaise

And just in time for the non-carnivores in our group, vegetarian chow fun. 

No. 203 is chow mein with mixed vegetables, but
it's easy enough to switch the noodles.

 There were spare ribs.

No. 118. Peking Spareribs.

 And sesame chicken.

No. 115. Sesame Chicken.

 The final dish was fish with asparagus.

Sauteed filet of flounder with lily bulbs & asparagus.

 Accompanied by pea sprouts with whole sautéed garlic cloves.

Sautéed snow pea sprouts with garlic sauce.

 And, of course, fortune cookies and orange slices.

  

This was, as usual, an amazing meal. The conference itself is a great opportunity for aspiring writers, but the banquet alone is worth the effort of volunteering.

Bob's Red Mill

Bob Moore was at the Fancy Food Show again this year, posing for photos and chatting with attendees while signing his new, Breakfasts cookbook. Tea Time really enjoys Bob's products! There is such a huge variety and they're all top quality.

Angela got to see the Big Red Mill while visiting a friend in Oregon over Christmas. She saw their entire line of products as well as a few stone mills used for grinding. Of course she picked up some breakfast cereal for J.K. while getting a few hard to find grains (kamut?) and crockpot meal builders like their Whole Grains and Beans Soup Mix (she made the mistake of overcooking the beans, they were so fresh-no need to soak).

Bob's is your place to grab gluten-free mixes and pantry staples. We tried the brownies and they were delicious. If you can't find Bob's in a store near you, or they aren't selling the product you need, just check out the online store. You'll find it there!

The Fancy Food Show is great place to spot new trends or simply enjoy the news from old favorites. Everyone walking past the Bob's booth would stop and say, "Is that Bob? Oh! Let's get in line!" The line grew quite long while we waited the short time for J.K. to get her photo and recipe book. Bob is a popular guy.

Tu Lan and Raise The Macallan With Beth

The Macallan, one of our favorite scotch whiskys,  invited us to a tasting of several of their vintages at Bespoke in the Westfield Centre. We wanted to be able to appreciate the whisky without getting too much of a buzz, so we stopped at Tu Lan on 6th Street for dinner before the tasting event.

Tu Lan seems more "American" than Chinatown Vietnamese restaurants. The beef in the Lemon Beef Salad was cooked, not raw, although the menu warns that the dish contains raw beef. Maybe it just had to do with who was in the kitchen that night. We were a bit disappointed but the salad was tasty and we finished it with no complaints.

 To balance our meal, we had Sauteed Mixed Vegetables with Mushroom.

All entrees are served with a generous bowl of steamed rice.

Thus fortified, we headed off to the Macallan event. There was a long line, but we were entertained by images flashing on the outside screens.

When there isn't an event at Bespoke, the screens are different.

 If you move around in the circles in front of the screens, as this young man is doing, the image changes along with the movement.

The restrooms are very interesting. This is the entrance, with the Ladies' on the right and the Gents' on the left, after you get inside.

There was a very intriguing presentation by Kieron Elliott, who is quite entertaining and has a charming Scottish accent. The tastings are all small, and well spaced, so it was easy to concentrate on  each one. The vintages we tasted were all excellent, but the highlight of the evening was the final pour, a taste of their Rare Cask, which has a definite chocolate flavor. The only thing preventing me from buying a bottle is the $300 price tag!

Corn, Barley and Wheat

There was a large video display as well,
to underscore the presentation

Sláinte!