Cinco De Michael

The party is in full swing and Michael is preparing ingredients for the lovely quesadillias. The truly unique element will be the Butternut Squash.


He's loving it! Anticipation is in the air, we gather around to smell the yumminess and to help out.




The ingredients are almost ready. In the meantime, the Salmon Ceviche is served! This delightfully tangy appetizer was quite a special treat. It was quickly devoured with nothing to spare!


Ingredients for the quesadillias are finally ready.


The tortillas waiting for the assembly to begin.


Grated cheese and the roasted butternut squash is first up.


The grilled chicken and cilantro are next.


Squished, cooked and sliced, Michael stands proud with the first of the batch. We gobbled it up to make sure it was in fact as tasty as it looked. We were delighted to find that it was more delicious than expected.


Many more were made, in the midst of the goofing off.




The huge pineapples, waiting to be transformed into powerful concoctions!




The tasty food didn't stop us from dancing the night away! With great music to match the food, what could one expect!












Sweet Louise inspecting the cooking. She was quite interested in doing some taste-testing as well!






Filling ready to be used in the Spicy Seared Tuna Tacos.


The big flank of sushi-grade tuna, the key ingredient in the Spicy Seared Tuna Tacos. This flank was succulent. It was lucky we were on tuna slicing duty, since we got to nibble on many pieces and marvel at the freshness of this fish.


Isn't fish the most beautiful thing in the world? We had a hard time resisting from eating the chunks right then and there!!!




This is the spicing step. We covered every chunk with this mixture of spices, making them ready for the searing process.




The Spice covered Tuna, ready for searing.

B44

After hanging out at the Apple Store on Stockton St. on Friday, learning about the new Tiger OS, Ellie and I decided to check out Belden St. for some dinner. After waltzing through the street checking out all the menus, we settled on B44, a restaurant offering Catalan Cuisine. Our pictures tonight are quite strongly on the red side. This is in fact due to the fact that 90% of the lighting in B44 is red.


We first enjoyed the yummy bread and tapenade they offered us. It was quite excellent. I figured I would snap a picture since, I thought the bread looked neatly presented.


Our first appetizer was fabulous, something you don't see commonly served in restaurants — Sardines. These were grilled and were served with an onion and radish salad. Very simple yet extremely tasty.


Our second appetizer was an unusual salad composed of cured tuna slices, with hazelnuts and light greens. The combination of tuna and hazelnuts was quite special. This showed that much thought had gone into the planning of these dishes. None of it could (and should) have stood alone. The combination of greens, hazelnuts and cured tuna produced a mouthful of flavors that were quite delightful to experience.


Ellie and I decided to share a Paella as our entree. As we are not the biggest fans of shellfish (Ellie) or meat (me) we opted with the vegetarian Paella. What a choice this was. It was soft, hearty and homey. This was fabulous comfort food. Warm, with accents of nutty and raisin flavors it was nicely complex and very satisfying.


After hard debate deciding on a dessert, we succumbed to the Milk Chocolate Flan with Spiced Pumpkin Parfait. The best part was the Pumpkin Ice Cream. Sooo, lovely it was.

Next two pix are of Ellie and I, posing with the towering dessert!

Kasu Black Cod

Mmmm, I bought this cod pre-marinated at Whole Foods, as I didn't want to do the elaborate preparations myself. Anyhoo, I had tasted a little sample at Whole Foods, a version that was steamed for 15 minutes, and it tasted scrumptious! So, I bought two uncooked flanks to prepare at home!


The ingredients for the marinade is as such: Sake Lees, Salt, Sugar. If you have no clue what Sake Lees is (like me) here is a good description from www.uwajimaya.com. I decided to steam one flank and to grill the other, just to see how they would turn out, and just to make things more fun.


This one was steamed in the oven while wrapped in foil for about 15-20 minutes. The juices infused into a light snappy flavor. It was tart and buttery with a strong yet not overpowering sake quality.


It almost had a little vinegary aspect to it, and somewhat lemony, although none was added.


The grilled version here was grilled for about 15 minutes exactly. I took it out just in time, with just the right amount of goldenness to it. The texture was great and the same flavors came through although this version seemed heavier. It was more buttery within the center and while the steamed one was sitting in liquid, this one absorbed it all. It was very rich therefore. Quite tasty indeed!


I can't say which one was my favorite. I ate them both at the same time, and had nothing left over as it was so good. I enjoyed the steamed version for it's lightness and fresh unaltered texture of the flesh, and I enjoyed the grilled one for it's pleasant crispiness and richness.

If you are in the mood for something on the light refreshing side, I recommend steaming. I can see the steamed one paired with a nice salad of fresh daikon sprouts and lemon juice dressing, something fresh and japanese.

If you are in the mood for a hearty comfort meal, I would go with the grilled version. This would go wonderfully with maybe a cooked daikon root, or even something potato-ish. It would probably go well with a mixed green salad as well.

This meal gets 5 stars (out of 5).

Dinner at Enrico's

This was a great Chilean red. It was perfect with Ellie's Lamb Stew, and my fish since it was deliciously mild with a tinge of spice. It never overwhelmed the food. We had a little left when we had dessert and found that it was awful with our German Chocolate Cake.... Then again, probably most wines would be...


This is one of the best appetizers ever tasted. Ellie agrees. It is a lightly toasted thick slice of italian bread with slices of smoked salmon topped with soft goat cheese and, the best part, cucumber jam! It was FABULOUS!


I couldn't really eat this one, since it had bacon on it, but hey, I'm not complaining, it was a complimentary dish, as we had waited quite a long time for the arrival of our appetizers. Ellie scarfed this one down, claiming it was so delicious. Well, it did have some good ingredients: Spinach leaves, pine nuts and a breaded goat cheese on top. The dressing seemed tasty too.


This is Ellie's Lamb Stew (forgot the real name). She said that it was very homey and comforting. She also said it was very rich and filling and said her leftovers would make a great lunch for the next day.


This is my fish entree, served on top of couscous, so they say. I honestly can't remember what fish this was. Possibly halibut. But it was really good. I have had better, though. The one thing that bothered me a little was the couscous, which is something I have eaten a lot of as a child. This couscous was quite different from what I am used to and tasted more like Orzo (rice-shaped pasta) than couscous. The little grains were way larger than I have ever tasted and maybe it is indeed a form of couscous, but it certainly didn't really taste like it. Nevertheless, it did taste good (just wasn't couscous in my mind).


The yummy German Chocolate Cake served with a Coconut Chocolate Sauce.