throwback thursday

more zucchini paninis, this time on Acme's "herb slab" variety and served with C.Huang's rosé. (one day i will know a thing or two about wine.) kebabs on the side- finally, a start using the griddle my mom sent with me to my apartment! it made such a smoky masterpiece of the apricot/chipotle/garlic/olive oil marinade on the shrimp... i see a bright future in everything griddle-made. toasts! steaks! veggies! spaghetti! ...could get interesting.

happy thursday, friends :]

xoRC

Food/Friends-athon

Friends (who came from afar), Free Food, and Some Not-So-Free Food

Buttered-Corn Ramen @ Katana-ya
430 Geary Street (across from ACT)

Red Velvet Cupcake @ Cako
211 O’Farrell Street (at Powell)

Affogato @ Four Barrel (w/ Beer Ice Cream!!!)
375 Valencia Street (b/w 14th and 15th)

• The free food was actually free Slocombe for an art opening at Four Barrel. Picture of the icy goods not included because it was a little less epic than the Affogato.
  

Sausage, Sauerkraut, and Potato Salad @ Schmidt's
2400 Folsom Street San Francisco (@ 20th)

too much ice crams

so, this afternoon four of us went to the San Francisco Creamery Co in Walnut Creek...

...& accidentally ordered egregious amounts of ice cream.  from top right running clockwise: E.Tao's Cookies&Cream, S.Sakata's classic RootBeerFloat, and a (later) cup of Ghiradelli/Raspberry Freddo.  the most sinful part of this trip, though, was the trough of triple-scoop, softball-sized, cool as cool as cool ice cream belonging to N.Saiidnia and yours truly:

this monstrosity is made of (from left to right) CoffeeCaramelCrunch, CakeMix, and Snickerdoodle. you wouldn't believe the size of those scoops! we struggled to finish a scoop and a half between us. it was the best ice cream disaster i've been involved in thus far.  more on the perps:

Tao (my food-photograph mentor!). Sakata. Saiidnia.

Tao vs. ice cream, Tao vs. MARLEY! (cutest dog i have ever met, planning on stealing her)
could not have been a more beautiful day to sit outside, have frozen treats, and belly laugh.

love, and ice cream, xo.RC

Break-Fast/Fast-Break: Members Style

RC + RP head to Philz for a quick breakfast. And believe me, we have mastered the art of quick coffee meets.

Purple (Blueberry?) Organic Vegan Donut from Pepples
Members Coffee (1/2 Silken Splendor and 1/2 Philtered Soul)

zucchini day! (part ii)

C O U R G E T T E   M A T H S
(did you know that "courgette" is a synonym for "zucchini"?  in French, "courge" means "squash", so "courgette" is the diminuitive.  in Italian, it's "zucca", diminuitive "zucchina", plural "zucchine". out with repetitiveness, in with gratuitous vocabulary!)

ciabatta personal loaf + mozzarella --> oven
walnuts + vegetable oil --> pan
garlic cloves + kalamata olives + toasted walnuts --> food processor (SUCH A MIRACLE)
garlic/kalamata/walnut mulch + ricotta = spread
zucchini + basil + vegetable oil --> pan

and now the best part... zucchini + spread + bread = sammich

(plays great with raspberry lemonade:)

xo, RC

zucchini day!

i bet you all forgot that yesterday and today are two of the most special days out of the whole year... that's right! zucchini day!
we celebrate this year with a vegetable that looks like this:

that, fellas, is an honest-to-goodness size 8 shoe, into which the above squash could not possibly fit. after spending some time trying to decide whether to slice it or bludgeon someone (it was RC, in the living room, with the vegetable club!), i settled on celebrating this year's zucchini day with a loaf of zucchini bread.  i thought the recipe, calling for 2 cups of zucchini, would use a good portion of the vegetable.  foolishly, it turns out. it used ONE THIRD.

and without further ado, the Loaf!:

plays great with margerine and honeydrizzle

H A P P Y   Z U C C H I N I   D A Y !

xo, RC

Coffee Rant #2

So, I realized that a countdown to the nom-est coffee would have been more exciting, but I got way too-excited and too ambitious (I was originally going to do it all in one post). Also, I realized numbering them off is a bit silly, since the numbers don't necessarily reflect how I rank each coffee. My preferences tend to fluctuate between 1-4 depending on mood and location. Nonetheless, here is the continuation of the Coffee Rants:

3) Sightglass Coffee: Somewhere between Blue Bottle and Ritual, Sightglass offers some pretty legit coffee. Apparently, the dudes who started it used to work at Four Barrel and before that Blue Bottle. Also, I believe that the peeps at Four Barrel were originally from Ritual, and the Ritual peeps actually came from Blue Bottle. So, basically every local roaster has worked or can be linked to every other local roaster...and it all goes back to Blue Bottle. Ha! Anyways, back to Sightglass. Every now and then I like to say that it's almost on par with Blue Bottle, but there are a couple of factors that keep me from this:

• I've only had "real" Sightglass once: But that once was definitely an amazing experience. I was lucky enough to head over there when they just started roasting their own beans. Try a Costa Rican. It's freaking awesome. However, I tend to blame the location for my lack of appearance there. SOMA: the bane of my existence. There is NOTHING there except for a few good restaurants. I'm sure it will blossom and boom in the next few years, but for now, walking down an empty street on a Sunday afternoon is a bit too eerie for me.

• I had a bad experience with Sightglass at Hapa Ramen: So, I don't want to blame Hapa Ramen, but the iced Sightglass coffee was kind of...really unsatisfying. The fact that it was served from a tub-type thing should have tipped me off. Don't get me wrong, serving agua fresca from aforementioned containers is totally cool, but maybe not so much with coffee. Trying to put this lightly, but basically it tasted like a bastardized version of Blue Bottle's New Orleans Style Iced Coffee. Conclusion: If you're at the Ferry Building, go to Blue Bottle.

4) Philz: This place has such a soft spot in my heart. A little less pretentious than the others, Philz is the place where you'll want to get your daily coffee, and the baristas will actually remember your face. They'll also help you choose a blend if you're having trouble! Another reason that makes them special: they offer various blends (>20?), that are mostly not single origin. So, we're talking 2-7 different beans per blend. Not conventional, but you kind of take Philz as it is. Like I said before, I go for what tastes good, and this stuff is definitely noms. People either love Philz or hate it. I'll leave that decision to you, but try it at least once.

P.S. I've actually seen Phil at the Berk location pretty often. He seems to hang around his coffee shops a lot. Or maybe it's because that location just opened about two months ago. Try to spot him! He's always wearing a fedora.

Sightglass Coffee Bar and Roastery
270 Seventh Street @ Folsom
San Francisco, CA

Philz Coffee
1600 Shattuck Ave. @ Cedar
Berkeley, CA
In the Mission? Go to the one on 24th. It's near Slocombe. Hella other locations around the Bay. Check for the others on the website.

pismo & back

my family is unaccustomed to the moment of food portraiture- still, they were patient enough to give me that precious grace minute before meals to snap some things. so, a logical Z-cascade from the top right: grilled veggie road sammiches, Splash cafe clam chowder & breadbowl, China buffet overkill dessert pile, espresso shot at Linnea's, TK noodle haus. family vacations are for this kind of thing, i just know it.


xo, rc

first taste of NYC

Moroccan couscous with sundried tomato, artichoke hearts, potatoes, baked pine nuts, white raisins, and topped with a generous hummus mound and mint leaves. immuna eatchoo.

(join me, you two...)
meemz

(OR FOUR?! it seems that there are new additions to teenytinytakeout. hi, i'm meemz!)

Lamb with charmoula and asparagus

Hello world!

Epicurious has re-hosted this delicious recipe from Bon Appetit. There's a huge variety of lamb available at Andronico's, but I decided to opt for lamb chateaubriand, a large and delicious cut that was a step up over stew meat and some others. It was $11.99 a pound, and two cuts (though apparently one is usually sufficient for two) - enough for an early dinner and a nice lamb sandwich later in the evening.

Though the recipe calls for a food processor, a good knife and a few minutes is all it takes to get a nice handmade consistency. The flavors are still there, and still big, but you won't have the consistency of restaurant curry. But hey, who says that's necessarily any better?

The ingredients for the charmoula... (doing this by hand at a somewhat slow pace took the entirety of Beethoven's Fifth, it was pretty epic.)

Charmoula

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves

1/2 cup (lightly packed) fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup (lightly packed) fresh cilantro leaves

2 large garlic cloves

1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika (pimentón dulce)* or sweet Hungarian paprika

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Can be somewhat expensive, but if you buy the spices you'll have plenty left after completing the recipe, so to make it a second time you'll only need the fresh herbs and lemon.

Heat small skillet over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and toast until aromatic and slightly darker, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Transfer to processor. Add parsley leaves and next 6 ingredients to processor. Using on/off turns, process until coarse paste forms. With machine running, gradually add 4 tablespoons oil. Transfer 2 tablespoons charmoula to small bowl; whisk in lemon juice and remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Cover and chill to serve with lamb.

Toasting the cumin seeds - necessary. So aromatic!

I've found that with this specific cut of lamb, far more than 13 minutes is necessary, unless you like your lamb tartare. 30 minutes got me a good medium the last time I used this recipe. Attempted with 25 minutes this time and it was pretty medium.

For lamb:

Transfer remaining charmoula to large resealable plastic bag. Add lamb chops; seal bag and turn to coat well. Chill at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

Let lamb and charmoula sauce in bowl stand at room temperature 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 500°F. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place rack on prepared baking sheet. Place lamb on rack and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until thermometer inserted into center registers 130°F for medium-rare, about 13 minutes. Transfer lamb to platter. Tent with foil and let rest 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter with 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add asparagus and sauté until tender, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add shallot and lemon peel. Sauté 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place 2 lamb chops on each of 4 plates. Divide asparagus among plates. Drizzle lamb and asparagus with charmoula sauce, passing remaining sauce alongside.

I didn't marinate these for as long as the recipe calls for, unfortunately, but it was nonetheless delicious.

arrivederci, fellas

RC --> hiatus.  leaving MeowMix in the capable hands of RP and TY.  dazzle me, pals... au revoir!

RC presents: TY

lots of fond welcome to an old friend and newest member,

MEET TOMMY!

Nom-ing on Namu Street Food

Today, I practiced something I like to call "speed lunching."

Setting: The Ferry Building.
Mission: Namu Street Food.
Here's the story: Ferry Plaza Farmers Market occurs every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Buttttt, there are only certain Street Food stands on Thursdays and Saturdays that serve what the Ferry Building's website likes to call "artisan street food" as well as "hot, delicious meals" from local restaurants. Jaja, I know that everyone is rolling their eyes by now, but stick with me here! For me Thursday is the golden day because both Hapa Ramen and Namu are there (I couldn't find Namu on Saturday). So, I ventured to the lovely tourist/yuppie ridden market during my lunch break on the quest for Namu. I call it "speed lunching" because I only had 2.5 hours to get there, order, eat, and get back to work (in Berk, mind you)! Definitely worth the trip though! I would suggest ordering the Real Korean Tacos. Seasoned rice, kalbi short ribs, daikon and kimchee salsa, kimchee remoulade, house-made teriyaki folded into Japanese and Korean toasted seaweeds! SUPER NOMS. I also ordered the Kimchee Fried Rice, which was good, but also pretty standard. (I did not try it with a free range egg, but maybe it tastes better that way.)

Ferry Building Marketplace
One Ferry Building

cookiemonster/teabear

g o o d    m o r n i n g !