Geoff and I at the beach in Del Mar, CA
Jilian's Tiramisu Gift we received upon our return from San Diego!
Very beautifully presented and made!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Some photos of recent date
2 years have gone by....
And I am turning 30! Wow, isn't that pretty crazy!?
I shall report on the happenings of my birthday... There are some key players this year and I'm curious as to how it will unravel!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Trying out Flock
A browser that brings all your social networking thingymadjigs together. I am a bit tired of having to click through each thing one by one so I wanted to see if this would solve some of my annoyances.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Smelt Avocado Pain Grillé
"Pain Grillé" in French means "Toast", but literally means "Grilled Bread" and that is exactly what we did!
This was a creation by Chris and I after having tasted something similar at Bar Jules a lovely restaurant in Hayes Valley. We were so enthralled by it during our dinner there that we decided we had to try to re-create it for his birthday party this June 4th. At Bar Jules they were made with fresh anchovies, but since we could not find fresh anchovies anywhere in town, we settled for something very similar, Smelt.
Smelt is usually fried and eaten whole but this dish required something more refined and dainty. I personally filleted 22 smelts for this dish, a task I had little to no experience with yet took on with great confidence.
All photos below depicting the process were taken by Chris' cousin Sherman and Chris' friend Ninh.
The second little fishie to suffer his fate.
Almost done, that's a lot of heads... The process is very meticulous and intricate.
These are very small fishes.
All done! They look so sweet and fresh!
How many are there? 22? Actually they short-changed me.... there are only 21.
I'm quite proud of myself.
Grilling the bread. We used Pain au Levain, which is perfect for this dish.
Chris lightly pan frying the fishies. They only took about a minute or less
to cook as they just melt like butter! Before frying we seasoned the smelt
lightly with salt and pepper.
The grilled bread got rubbed with fresh garlic cloves and then sliced avocado
seasoned with lemon and salt and pepper. Then topped with the freshly fried
smelt. Everyone contributed to the stacking process. It was like an assembly line!
The final moment, before disappearing into thin air! They were as good if not
tastier than they look, which says a lot, since they looked quite lovely. We
were all very proud of ourselves, as everyone contributed to making this such a success.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Funk Divine at Mezzanine
Funk Divine attends Chillin Productions 10 year anniversary at Mezzanine on Saturday May 10th, 2008.
A happy customer, wearing her new cream-colored bird shirt and Crystal Sylver of Funk Divine.
Hard to see in this photo, but this is the FD Scarab all-over print! It looked awesome. I want one.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Birthday Bro!
May 4th is my brother's birthday. This year we spent a most lovely day together and celebrated to the fullest. We rented a car in the morning and drove out to Half Moon Bay. As the birthday bro gets to do things his way for the day, he requested we take Theo (cat) with us on the trip and also requested to do the driving!
We spent the day in the small beach town, first checking out the beach itself with Theo on the leash (he was hating it) and us dragging him around (we were loving it). Then we went into town, leaving Theo in the parked car, and strolled through the main street in search for the b-day dinner meal. We opted for the ever delicious Pasta Moon, a famous local Italian restaurant. It was rather amazing actually. The food was so good, and the service was impeccable, if not generous. We tasted several wines before opting for a unique wine from the Mount Vesuvius volcanic region. The wine, which I forget the name (good for me!) really captured the terroir since it had striking elements of ash and earth, in addition to smoky elements such as tobacco. It was a very full bodied wine and very soft and smooth.
After dinner, we drove back home where I had a little surprise for him. A rich strawberry/raspberry birthday tart dotted with gold leaf, and a little assortment of prezzies.
Here are some photos from the eve:
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
How fast can you type?
Test yourself and see where you score! My score was pretty lame, but its certainly an improvement over my high-school days when I was stuck in typing class unable to type without looking at where my fingers were going...
Here is my score:
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Little Biscuits!
Made them this morning on a whim as I ran out of bread at home and could not accept skipping breakfast.
They are made of 1 cup of Trader Joe's Multigrain Pancake Mix, 1/2 cup of soy milk, and 1 1/2 tbsps of olive oil.
Anyhoo I mixed it all up, kneaded it several times, patted it into a square 1/2 inch thick and then took a sharp knife and cut down the middle from top to bottom and then across, to form 4 little squares. Put the 4 squares on a lightly floured baking paper and baked it for 9 minutes at 425 Fahrenheit.
This is how they turned out:
They were really good straight out of the oven and dabbed with butter and a little fig jam. Mmmmm!
Funk Divine at 111 Minna
Hey, one of my clients, Funk Divine, attended Chillin Productions at 111 Minna on April 5th.
We had loads of fun, bumped into some old faces and in general saw some interesting things being done by the locals...
Here are some photos from the night.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Favorite Foods of Santa Fe, NM
Bert's Burger Bowl's Green Chile and Cheese Veggie Burger
Counter Culture Pictured here is the Grilled Salmon Sandwich with Shoestring Fries, a delicious Soy Mocha and below is their prized Salmon Thai Coconut Soup and a tasty Arnold Palmer.
Chow's Old Lady Tofu
Counter Culture, Again... Here is their Smothered Breakfast Burrito. New Mexico is the official birth place of the breakfast burrito. They entail 2 scrambled eggs, potatoes, lots of cheddar and jack cheese, and the most important ingredient, green chile.
San Francisco Bar & Grill is always a delicious place to go. My and my sister's favorite is the Grilled Cheese Pesto Sandwich on black bread.
Ecco Gelato Pictured is their hazel nut and chocolate gelatos in a small cup.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Terroir Natural Wine Merchant
Photo Source
Terroir opened in San Francisco about 8 or so weeks ago and is located in the ever developing SOMA district. They claim to be the first natural wine merchant in the US. It's a big claim but, considering how hard it is to fine natural wines in the US, I am ready to believe them.
Two friends and I decided to visit this place for the first time on a Sunday night. We arrived around 9:30pm and found ourselves in a very warm yet minimalist space. It was an interesting combination of clean modern earthquake retrofitted loft with a more rustic and cave like aspect to it. There was a lot of wood everywhere and scruffed up surfaces. Nice old blackboards with the wine list upon it, and also some helpful tips...
We sat down at the small bar and felt a little lost. After all, all of the offerings were Italian or French. None of it seemed familiar. The bar man, Luke, sensed that and made us feel at ease.
First he asked some questions, what do we like in general, red? white? fruity? full bodied? Then he brought 3 glasses, and a bottle. "Try this" he said. Hmm, it's good but... no... "ok, lets try this" Mmm, nice but... maybe too fruity for our taste. "Ok, what about this?" He brought out a bottle from Château Gaillard, a bio-dynamic wine from the Loire region. It was I believe a '97 vintage? but I am not sure. Anyhoo right away from the aroma, I knew this was it. I smelled cheese rind, earth and minerals. Those are my kinda smells..... :-) so I decided to split a carafe with a friend and my other friend decided to go with an organic Port. We were all very happy with our selections.
Luke (who is French) was super friendly and knew a lot about his industry. I asked if they carried any Californian wine, and before I knew it, he said "Yes, Coturri". I was like, what? no way! I was just going to say, you should carry Coturri! Needless to say, I was delighted, being that I have been known to be very fond of Coturri...
Anyhoo, to make a wonderful and enjoyable story short and to the point, Terroir is a truly wonderful addition to SF, and I, or anyone who visits, will be sure to discover new and delightful wines, or enjoy a well loved glass of Coturri....
I will certainly be back!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Project Management Tools
There are too many of them, yet none seem to quite do what I want. Everyone works differently and to make a software that is perfect is a challenge but so far, none come close, for me.
One of my biggest problems has to do with the fact that I detest iCal. As much as I want to like it, it is a completely dysfunctional piece of software that doesn't work in a natural way. Maybe I am just so used to Google calendars that iCal seems so backwards, but if I can't even see the time on an event without looking at the dumb drawer, then what is the point. Ok. I will stop the iCal bashing.... If only it was a good software tho, maybe my suffering would end.
Most project management softwares out there strive to integrate all the Mac apps... by doing this, it means Mac mail, address book and iCal serve as the content to which the project management software works, assuming we all love them.
Ok but the search still goes on for a project management tool or combination of tools that actually solve all the headaches and problems of managing project.
Here is a list of recent softwares I have run into. I will give a more concise review of those I try in the future:
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
iBoughtAMac!
No, I didn't buy my MacBook Pro yet (but I will soon!!!).
Straight from their site, this is what they're about:
"iBoughtAMac aims to deliver a well rounded collection of information for the Mac user. You've got questions, iBoughtAMac hopes to have the answers."So far, looks like a pretty neat resource for all your Mac needs.
Quicksilver....
...maybe it's time I learn how to use it.
It's an app launcher that drastically saves you time, but it is also does file actions, such as locate your file, and do this and that to it. It is an intelligent software, meaning that it learns your habits and what you access most often. It is so versatile, probably the reason why I have stayed away from it for so long.
If you are curious about it, I found this really in-depth guide to using Quicksilver. It's compiled for very beginners to advanced users.
I shall be looking into this during the week and see if it finally sticks this time....
Update 06/19/07: It didn't stick... Ughh, it's not really working for me I guess...
Thursday, May 10, 2007
MAGIC!
(photo courtesy of magiconline.com)
Yay! If everything works out as planned, I shall be heading to MAGIC 2007 held in Las Vegas, from August 27-30. I shall be joining my team at Fairtex showcasing our collection. My collection!! Wooo!
A little about Magic (taken from here)...
Formerly known as the Men’s Apparel Guild in California, MAGIC was founded in 1933 as an association of Los Angeles area menswear manufacturers. In 1942, the association, known then as the Men’s Wear Manufacturers of Los Angeles, produced its first show, the Roundup, in Palm Springs. CA. In that same year, the association also began producing Market weeks in Los Angeles. Boyswear was officially added to the shows in 1946.
In 1948, the “Men’s Wear Manufacturers of Los Angeles” voted to change the name of the association and form a corporation. Since the membership had grown to include manufacturers outside Los Angeles, the name was changed to Men’s Apparel Guild in California, hence MAGIC.
The growth of MAGIC mirrored that of the California apparel market and in 1979, MAGIC opened its doors to manufacturers worldwide. Due to enormous growth, the show relocated from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in 1989.
In 1995, MAGIC expanded to include women’s apparel with the introduction of WWDMAGIC, a joint venture with Women’s Wear Daily.
In 1997, MAGIC purchased Children’s Trade Expo and launched MAGIC kids. Soon after in 1998 MAGIC International was acquired by Advanstar Communications and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Advanstar Communications, Inc. (www.advanstar.com)
Today, MAGIC occupies over 1 million square feet of exhibit space each show and attracts over 100,000 attendees from around the world. Buyers and sellers of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories converge twice a year in Las Vegas for one of the most influential business events in the fashion industry.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Coppeneur — Lavendel & Cranberries
Brief: Dark chocolate (min. 72% cacao) filled with lavender cranberry ganache.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma before break: Sherry liqueur, port, grape juice concentrate, red wine, cranberry juice, raspberry, ganache, green bell pepper, arugula leaves, chalk, walnut, powdered sugar, levain bread, raspberry seed, green pepper-corn, salt, caramelized red peppers, tomato sauce.
Aroma at break: Salted pretzels, cherry, marmalade, cranberry, lemonade, polished oak wood, Grand Marnier, blintz, blood orange.
Taste #1: Tart cranberry, warm brown bread, rice starch, green apple, dried cherries, chalk, crushed grapes, after-taste of uncooked pasta, flour.
Taste #2: Blood orange, cranberry, oregano, grape leaves, raspberry seeds, green melon, finish of watermelon rind, potato starch, lavender, thyme, green strawberry, green bell pepper, after-taste of grape skin/seed, vine, pickled cabbage?, sour dough bread.
Overall: At first a very tangy yet creamy bar. Rich and juicy. Like eating fresh tart fruit. Then, deep chocolate surfaces with the breaddy qualities which then develop into a more dry and starchy mouth-feel and flavor towards the finish and after-taste. Lavender only hints into the after-taste for me, upon the second tasting. Perhaps this bar was not at its prime freshness. Lots of green bell pepper for some reason. Enjoyed the alcohol-like qualities of sherry and port.
Rating: B+
Ingredients: sugar, cacao mass, cacao butter, concentrated cranberry fruit juice (10.3%), whole milk powder, glucose syrup, cream, butter, humectant: sorbit, natural cranberry flavor (0.7%), lavender (0.3%), emulsifier: soy-lecithin, natural vanilla.
Company info:
www.coppeneur.de
Confiserie Coppeneur et Compagnon
53604 Bad Honnef
Germany
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Bernard Dufoux — Orangette
Brief: Candied orange rinds enrobed with dark chocolate (min. 80% cacao).
Rating: A+
Company info:
www.chocolatsdufoux.com
Les Chocolats Bernard Dufoux
15, Rue Archers, 69002 Lyon
France
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