Food Swap/Street Food

It's time to swap again! Plus this month I am actually going to record what I make from Susan Feniger's Street Food before the dog days of the month. I chose to make the Heirloom Tomato Salad for the potluck, plus I adapted the Ginger Dust recipe . (I also made Lavender Sugar and Rosemary Salt, but no recipe is really needed for these flavored items.)

I was vacillating about what to make for the potluck until I looked through this month's cook the book selection. In fact, I was still torn, Beet salad v. Tomato salad, but Tomato salad won for several reasons. I just saw my first heirlooms of the season this past week, plus this recipe is super simple with only a few ingredients. Additionally it has the twist of Black Garlic (just found this website!) which is new to me. I'm still on the hunt for the Black Garlic, since the three Asian food stores I visited didn't have it for sale. Instead I did as she suggested in the recipe and blended the cooked garlic with the balsamic vinegar. This is a nice summer recipe, light and fresh. If you tossed in some mozzarella, you'd have a version of Insalata Caprese. I made it the day before and the juice from the tomatoes watered down the dressing, so next time I would take them separately and then toss it together before serving.

Up close and personal salad.

Sideways Salad.

 I chose to make the Ginger Dust as a swap item because I thought it would pair nicely with my homemade sugar and salt. The recipe for Ginger Dust is also very simple, and it seems that I could replace the ginger with a different herb or spice to create a similar "dust." Which is what I ended up doing, since I didn't have any ground ginger in the house. Oops. Instead of ginger, I used Earl Grey Tea. People at the swap asked me what I would suggest to use it on, and they gave me ideas! Truthfully, I use the flavored sugars for baking or stirring into drinks, but they would also be a great meat or tofu dry rub. Of course you can also add them to any dish you're cooking instead of a plain salt/sugar. This Dust has sugar and salt with lime zest, so you can't let it sit on the shelf, and you should use it within a week. J.K. just gave me a bottle of ground ginger, so I'll make the original recipe and post the results. Stay tuned.

Earl Grey Dust. Next time I would pair this with orange zest instead of lime.

Lavender Sugar, Rosemary Salt, Earl Grey Dust

J.K.'s madelines, chocolate dipped, of course!

I took home a treasure trove of goodies again from this swap, and scored lots of desserts from the potluck table as well. I'm already thinking about what to make for the August Swap! Maybe I'll finally make beer bread. Or I was also thinking about chocolates, or maybe soup–a chilled soup. Lots of time to ponder, so if you're a swapper and have a request, let me know!

Dessert, Pretty Please

Dessert, Pretty Please! The Pretty Please Bakeshop is in the Food Bermuda Triangle near my house over by Clement Street. I call it the FBT because it's such a seductive area with a resto or cafe (or ice cream, or desserts!) in every other storefront that you can get lost (and fat) there for hours. I braved the unknown and stopped in to this bakeshop to pick up a box of goodies for a friend's birthday. We were meeting at a bar and I thought these little bits of celebration would be perfect, plus give me an excuse to check out a new bakery a bit closer to home. (Schuberts always sucks me in).

I bought four kinds of twinkies and a carrot cupcake (for the birthday girl). Red Velvet, Spice cake, Banana Choco and plain Choco. They were all glazed, though the two twinks with Choco had a chocolate spread over the top as well. Our favorites were between the spice cake and chocolate banana. The carrot cupcake was moist with a nice frosting on top, not too sweet.

Pretty Please Bakeshop brings an imaginative eye to all their desserts!

Traditional chocolate Twinkie, filled on the inside!

Sundays are Happy Hour at the bakeshop from 4-5, which means you can BOGO your desserts. Who can resist that?! The Pretty Please Bakeshop has a lot more than twinks to offer because they are into seasonal personal pies, lots of cupcake flavors plus any Bay Area sports team event serves as inspiration. Not to mention macaroons, frosted cookies, pudding cups, cake parfaits and probably anything you can request! They also make intriguing, inspired and well-executed cakes here. I stole some pictures off their facebook page of ones I like the best. I am trying to think of a theme event that I could order a shaped cake for...if I get one, I'll for sure update this page!

 

 

 Yes, those are all CAKE! Pretty awesome cakes from Pretty Please Bakeshop. I remember my Mom made me some shaped Birthday cakes when I was a kid. I think there was a clown? Maybe a bunny? What shape would you get for a special cake?

*remember I stole the cake photos from the PPB facebook page! Check them out.

Lunch at Bocadillos

Beth and I aren't really regulars at any of the FiDi lunch spots, because there's a lot of restaurant turnover and we like to try all the new spots, but Gerald Hirigoyen's Bocadillos is one of the places we keep returning to. Bocadillos are small sandwiches, so you get a choice of two, along with a small salad. There is a varied menu, but the sandwiches are so good that we've never felt the need to try anything else.

This time we both chose the pulled bbq pork with spicy slaw, with Beth opting for the lamb-burger, while I chose the roast beef, marmalade and goat cheese sando for my second bocadillo.

J.K.'s roast beef and pulled pork

Beth's lamb burger and pulled pork

And on the way back, you can walk through the Transamerica Redwood Park, next to the Pyramid. Years ago, when Beth and I were office temps, Alice Medrich's Cocolat was across Montgomery from the Pyramid and whenever we had lunch in the area we would stop there on the way back for a truffle. We still miss those dessert truffles!

Live redwood trees form an urban oasis

Fountain with lilly pads and frogs

Melt-ing for Chocolate in North Beach

Several years ago, Angela made Melt a SF Bay Area Chocolate Meetup destination. We had a good group turn out, about 8 people, I think? Which was perfect for sharing cheese fondue and then still having room for dessert. Which was their classic chocolate fondue, of course. (This was also the Meetup where co-blogger Mel and I met for the first time!) Melt is in North Beach, just past Washington Square Park. They are easy to find, right on the corner and you may even hear live music flowing out the main door to welcome you.

Happy Hour/live music.

Al fresco people watching.

Welcome to Melt!

J.K. and I have ventured back again and again to fulfill our Chocolate Fondue Craving. Melt has very reasonable prices and great portion sizes. We debated for a while on the lunch part of our meal, and ended up trying something different. Normally we get a cheese fondue, but Angela really wanted to try their French Onion Soup (perhaps Cook the Book was on her mind-Around the French Table?) and so we paired the soup with the cheese plate plus pate. Actually you can customize their cheese plate several ways, by your choice of how many/what kinds of cheese, plus adding a meat protein (or not). This plate also comes with fruit (grapes and sliced strawberries this time) plus delish toasted bread.

Brie wedges, Goat Cheese coin and Pate chunk. Served with fruit and crispy hot bread.

French Onion Soup with extra bread and butter on the side. Carb heaven.

Our chocolate fondue came with a plate of goodies to dip in the melted goodness. Strawberries, bananas, mini (frozen) creampuffs, salty pretzel sticks, mini cookies, cheesecake, and crunchy wafer cookies. Their menu says this dessert serves 2-4 Chocoholics. We've shared it with others before, out of politeness and friendship, but there are no holds barred when it's just the two of us. So anyone who looks in the window of Melt and then walks up to our table thinking they can get a dip in our fondue pot may just get a fork in the hand instead! The chocolate fondue is thick, rich and very dark, a perfect complement to the fruit and sweets brought out with the small pot. Fondue note: Don't let it burn! If your cheese or chocolate starts to get too hot, just blow out your tea light. Then continue to eat until your bowl is empty.

Natures sweets vs. bakers sweets. Both delish when dipped in chocolate.

The virgin fondue.

Get your fork in there!

This would be a perfect preshow happy hour snack, as both Cobb's Comedy and Bimbo's 365 Club are near.

Melt Cafe has a calm cool cafe vibe, although when the jazz  combo (or other musicians) start jammin' it gets more lively. They also have a lot of opportunities for community engagement such as board games, open mic night, fondue and film night plus free wifi for customers (so come get your work on some afternoon). The staff is personable and ready to make a recommendation if you're not sure about a beverage or meal.

This cafe has an open kitchen.

Small tables easy to push together for a crowd!

Everything is fun with beer and board games.

A window with a view at Melt.

Just next door from Melt Cafe is a truffle shop. Angela always forgets it's hidden there, but it's worth a quick stop. We didn't get the coffee with free truffle from XOXtruffles. Instead, we chose a box to go. Two of each kind, we split them later (of course J.K. always has an emergency ziplock in her purse). J.K. was intrigued by the article in window from Chocolatier Magazine and quizzed the worker about their connection. These one bite truffles were flavorful, almost too easy to eat for a late evening snack. Going, going, gone.

Get your chocolate fix to go.

Many flavors of truffles made in the Rustic style from XOX truffles.

Do you stumble across a cafe or restaurant and think, "How could I not know about this place?" Or maybe, "Haven't I been here before, but we must have forgotten about it?" For Tea Time, there are food places we can't stop thinking about such as Nojo's or Lovejoy's or Absinthe. They are sometimes places we've been again and again or sometimes places that we want to try. However, there are the cafes and restaurants we have eaten at that had good food but in a city like SF where there are so many amazing places to eat they get forgotten. Now we can't forget about XOXtruffles again. We'll remember, oh yes, it's right by North Beach Fondue. Next to Melt!