Sometimes You Just Need BBQ and Coffee

Pulled Pork + Coffee = Such a Perfect Day
(Well taken separately...not together)

Ironwood BBQ opened recently in downtown Berk, which is btw turning into quite a foodie heaven and haven. Recently, the Oxford/Center locale has seen a lot of action as Saturn Cafe, Ippuku, Cinnaholic, and of course Ironwood have popped up on the scene. But, it's about time there's a BBQ closer to campus. This place definitely satisfies my pulled pork cravings. Get the sandwich "Memphis Style" because it tastes oh-so-good with the coleslaw. Don't eat meat? Don't fret friend! There's also a veggie option with hickory smoked tofu!

So after a K-friend and I gobbled down these sandwiches, we headed to Philz for "dessert," i.e. coffee, cupcakes, and donuts. We be healthy. But to be fair, we did take a long walk/skate around Berk beforehand. Pictured is the lovely mug that I keep at Philz. If you see anyone else drinking out of it, please do inform them of their wrongdoing. I nearly cried the other day when I thought it was missing...but no worries, all is good and settled now!

Ironwood BBQ
At 2130 Oxford St., Berkeley
(At Oxford and Center)

Philz
1600 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar, Berkeley

for RP

courtesy of ETao's phenomenal vision & lens

derp-tard

my new friends from the Academy made us a crazy fancy, absolutely delicious dinner in their beautiful apartment yesterday.  they don't know me well enough yet, so they still treat me like royalty - hence my sitting with my camera, without helping.  of course, they'll soon learn and relegate me to chopping/stirring/working, but for now i'll ride this Hapless Documenter role as far as possible.  SjB and SMcA invited JWilliams and me to share a dinner of pasta (turtle-ini noodles, sundried tomatoes, cream & parmesean, roasted chicken, and red bell peppers - naturally, i failed to take a picture of the finished product. but below is a picture of the boiling turtle-ini! just use your imagination to insert the potential) and salad (basil, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, &c) and tecate.  although it seems that Her Williamscy is standing around and focusing on her cell phone... well... she is. but, she helped scads more compared to me.  i just did what i do best: eat! (and provide my side of sass)

the fridge behind SjB and JWilliams is furnished with the magnetic alphabet. after several confusing changes, it ended up reading: "Use Moar Deadarent" and "Ficus Licker", and JWilliams' classy addition of "Woopie".  i woke up this morning and my abs were sore from laughing so much. 
couldn't have had a better time.

also, i'm in love! meet Koji Alistar Bernhisel-Williams! oh, c'est amour!

xo xoRC

RAMEN CRAZE

Is it just me or is there an intense ramen craze sweeping across San Francisco?! Hapa Ramen received hella hype earlier in the summer. Namu started serving ramen as a special on certain days at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market. And now Ken Ken Ramen is appearing in the Mission!!!! Holy mother of ramen. I love love love those springy Japanese noodles, but might we be doing too much of a good thing? Anyways, here's a couple rants on the ramen I've recently reviewed:

Hapa Ramen: The "Big Daddy Bowl" is pretty noms. Fried-Chicken + braised pork are amazing. Noodles were okay, but I'm admittedly quite picky.

• Pictured Upper Left
  @ the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on Thursdays
  (+ Coffee Bar on Saturday Nights: 1890 Bryant St, San Francisco)

Namu: Once again, braised pork shoulder and broth freaking amazing. Noodles were also pretty good...but again with the picky-snobbery.

• Pictured Upper Right
  @ the Ferry Building Farmer's Market
  (The bowl I bought was a Saturday Special, so I'm not sure how often they'll have it.)

Halu: My fave ramen place outside of Japan so far. Noodles were amazing, and the Kara Age was quite impressive. Only setback is that it's kind of in a random spot in the city. (Well at least for me.) But if you find yourself in the inner Richmond, GO THERE.

• Pictured Lower Left
  312 8th Ave, San Francisco

Ippuku: I freaking flipped out when this place opened. I LOVE IZAKAYAS, and this place reminds me a lot of Japan. The noodles and broth are delicious, but expect to get a tiny portion. Everything is served tapas-style and admittedly a bit expensive. You might not want to go there when you're super hungry.

• Pictured Lower Right
  2130 Center St, Berkeley

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