A FINAL MEAL IN MANHATTAN

We had one final meal left in Manhattan before heading to visit Tom's brother and family in upstate NY. We decided to make it a quick meal since we still had to check out of our hotel and catch a train, and made our last trip over to Bouchon in the hopes of grabbing some breakfast. Unfortunately, we learned that though the Bakery was open, the cafe part of it wasn't, and there weren't many seats open in the bakery area, so we decided to check out Landmarc, just down the hall from Bouchon.

I knew that the Landmarc served 3 meals a day, and after checking out the breakfast menu, I decided that it looked fairly reasonable (by NY standards at any rate). We headed over and after finally getting the attention of the hostesses who were chatting amongst each other, we were seated at a table for 2. The Landmarc is a huge, sprawling restaurant, with a totally industrial look featuring lots of metal and brick. The ceiling is decorated with metal rods, and it has great views of the city. Here's a view of the semi circular bar located behind Tom.

Once we were seated, we were given menus and then were left to wait.

During the time we were waiting to order, I noticed that this huge sprawling restaurant, though pretty empty, was full of beautiful looking staff - basically all aspiring actors and models who chatted amongst themselves and generally ignored any of the diners. When we were finally able to order, we both got a simple breakfast.

Here's my plate of eggs with toast and potatoes.

And it was fine. The eggs were well cooked, the potatoes were crispy and drenched in butter. Tom just got a toasted baguette with butter and jam. Overall, our meal was fine. Though the service kinda sucked (a trend for this entire trip) at least the runner was nice to us. In retrospect, we probably would've enjoyed a simple breakfast at Bouchon more, but luckily, we can just drive up to the original one whenever we feel like it.

A LIGHT BREAK

Well, if you haven't been able to tell by the sheer amount of blogging that I've been doing in the last two days, I'm on vacation. Actually, it's my last day off - I'm back to work tomorrow, but I'm celebrating the New Year by watching TV and staying in my pajamas all day. Tom's actually changed, but really, why bother? I'm not going out today.

So after our trip to the Carnegie Deli in the morning, we spent the early afternoon shopping in Soho. Well really, it was just window shopping, but one of the things I like the most about NY is that there's always something interesting to look at. Oh btw, for a great cappuccino, visit the snack bar in the Alessi store on Hudson. But even after the walking and shopping, we weren't hungry, until around dinner time, though Tom wasn't hungry, I decided we'd go out for a light dinner. Once again we headed over to the Time Warner Center, but this time, it was a trip to the basement, where Whole Foods is located.

So for those of you who have been to the Time Warner location of WF, you'll know that it's really a big cafeteria, which happens to feature some groceries. They even have their own sushi bar (with seating) and a Jamba juice. Since I was craving something light and "healthy" I hit the salad bar, while Tom picked up some sushi.

It's just your basic Whole Foods salad bar (maybe a little bigger than other locations):

After picking up drinks and paying, we headed over to the expansive seating area. This is a favorite place for locals and tourists, since it is a relatively inexpensive and quick place to eat, but this also means that the seating area is often busy and full. (though rather attractive with its stone tables and benches, and light wall)

Ok, here's my salad. (Yes, I did grab some chicken wings, but only 2 of them, the rest really is veg). It was a very light, refreshing break from the rest of the meals that we'd had up to this point.

And for dessert, we headed up to the 3rd floor to once again visit Bouchon Bakery where we picked up a caramel macaroon and a chocolate tart that we enjoyed back at the hotel - a perfect way to finish off our meal.

THE CARNEGIE DELI

Our hotel in midtown was located across the street from Carnegie Hall, and half a block from the famous Carnegie Deli. We had walked by it, and it was packed with tourists, but neither of us had been there before, so we decided to check it out for breakfast when we figured there'd be far less people. And at 10:30 in the morning, though there were people inside, it was totally packed and we were seated right away.

There are certain things that Tom craves when we go to NY. He misses pizza from Brooklyn and hot dogs from street vendors. The other thing he misses is the pastrami, and so that's what he ordered for breakfast. (He wasn't the only one, lots of people around us had ordered sandwiches for breakfast). Meanwhile, I attempted to order a breakfast sandwich, which apparently wasn't possible. On the menu, they listed all different type of egg sandwiches....eggs with bacon, ham, bologna, etc etc., but when I tried to order one with turkey, the waitress was super confused. Did I want a turkey sandwich with an egg on it? I finally gave up and just ordered a turkey sandwich.

As you can see, it's piled high with turkey, which is what the Carnegie Deli is famous for, these super huge sandwiches. But it wasn't that good. Though it's stuffed with meat, it still served on slice toast, so it's basically impossible to eat. The turkey wasn't all that moist or flavorful, and I had to deconstruct the thing just to eat it. It tasted better when I put some Russian dressing from it. Meanwhile, Tom had a much better time with his Reuben.

As you can see, it's enormous and covered in cheese. He really enjoyed it (though he felt it could've used less cheese) and was so proud of the fact that he finished it, he made me take a photo of it.

Though I didn't have the greatest meal there, I think I could do some better ordering the next time we visit a NY deli. Tom definitely liked his food, but also a warning, it's not cheap eating at places like this. Tom's sandwich cost over $20, and breakfast for 2 with tip came out close to $50. Ahhh NY, it's so easy to spend money there.

DINNER AT LUPA

After an afternoon of shopping (warning: never go to Saks when they're having massive after Xmas sales), we headed down to the West Village for dinner at Lupa. Ok, if you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of Batali restaurants - we go to at least one every time we're in NY. Lupa was one I had wanted to go to for some time, but never made it (it is hard to get in there) but after making a reservation a month in advance, we had a 7pm reservation for 2.

When we approached the restaurant, it was very unassuming from the outside. Tom actually walked passed it and when we entered, we found this warm, inviting room, full of wood and lots of diners. Unfortunately, when I gave my name, they initially told me that they couldn't find it. I told them I'd just called 2 days earlier to confirm, and before freaking out and taking out my cell phone where I had saved the voicemail (note to self, always save confirmation voicemails from now on), they found the reservation. Apparently it'd been "hiding" (or so claimed the hostess).

We were seated a a cozy table for two. And not cozy in the bad sense. This place was far roomier and friendly than Casa Mono, which was so tiny the table had to be moved so I could get to my seat. The other surprising thing was that this was the first Batali restaurant I'd been to that seemed truly family friendly. And there were more kinds here than I'd seen at any of his other places.

Unfortunately, this warm, inviting atmosphere was not met by warm, inviting service. Our server was efficient, but not nice in any way. Imagine being served by M played by Judi Dench in the most recent Bond films. That's basically what our server looked like, and how she acted - efficient, cold, and not pleasant.

But onto the food. Tom I started off with two antipasti. (I apologize for the dark pictures, but I don't like the flash going off in these type of restaurants.). On the right was a very good dish of brussel sprouts with Pecorino. Though I was surprised that the brussel sprouts had been shredded and served raw (almost like a coleslaw) they were covered with cheese and quite tasty. On the right, Tom ordered Octopus with Ceci & Sorrel. He liked it quite a lot, saying the octopus was cooked until it was super tender.

Next up, salad. I have learned from Batali restaurants that I'm a big fan of his antipasti and pasta, but not so much of the secondis (entrees), and so for my next course, I ordered an arugula salad. Nothing too exciting here, but after my lunch, I truly needed something green. Meanwhile, Tom had a Spaghetti alla Carbonara, a classic Roman dish. It was actually the first time he'd had it, and a good place to have it, too, since Batali does excellent pastas. Filled with little chunks of pancetta and perfectly cooked spaghetti, he enjoyed it a lot.

And then onto my main course. I ordered their special pasta of the day - with handmade pasta, chicken and tomatoes. I do love getting pasta at Batali restaurants, you always know that they'll come out perfect. This one was quite tasty, and though not as amazing as the simple spaghetti agli olio that I'd had at Enoteca, I still enjoyed it.

Tom had a saltimbocca for his main course. The veal was pounded super thin, and the he did enjoy it, he just couldn't finish the whole thing off - it was too rich.

Finally dessert. I normally order gelato at Batali restaurants, they do a great job with them, but the two flavors they were offering - pistachio or lemon, just didn't interest me. We got a tartufi instead, and though it wasn't anything super special, it did finish the meal on a nice sweet note.

The food portion of our dinner was really great. The service was surprisingly poor. I've been to quite a few of his restaurants in this is the only time I've ever had unpleasant service. And to be honest, the prices aren't so bad here. I don't know if I'd be back, though. If I lived in the area, there'd be no doubt that I'd frequent this place, but since we visit NY only once or twice I year, I'm more likely to go back to Enoteca, where I know the food will just as excellent, along with the service.

IT'S NEW YEAR'S EVE

If you've noticed that time stamp on my posts you'll realize that today is New Year's eve. Tom and I are celebrating by doing nothing at home. We've just gotten back from a whirlwind trip in NY, and are recouping. Tom's spent the entire day playing video games while I've cooked and surfed the internet. But of course, this finally gives me the opportunity to catch up on my blog, especially for all you complainers - and you know who you are.

And speaking of NY, you should all know that I take our trips to NY as an opportunity to stuff myself silly. I make reservations months in advance and basically end up planning our trip around what meals we'll be eating. After spending Xmas with Tom's family, we spent two days in Manhattan just shopping and eating. Rather than staying with friends like we normally do, we found it easier just to book a hotel. I got a really good deal via Priceline, and though the hotel wasn't anything spectacular, it was truly worth it for it's location - smack in the middle of midtown and blocks from major shopping and the Time Warner Center.

When I figured out how close we'd be staying to the Time Warner Center, I knew we'd be spending lots of quality time there, and sure enough, after checking into our hotel, it was the first place we headed for lunch. Now though the original Bouchon Bakery is an hour's drive from us, and we go everytime we're in Napa, I still wanted to visit the one in the Time Warner Center. A lot of people had said it's a little hard to find, due to the massive, kinda mislead "Samsung" sign that heads right over it. But knowing that was what I'd be looking for, I looked straight up and headed to the third floor where we found the cafe. Here's a shot of it....

So in Napa, you can't sit a a full service restaurant like the location in NY. You can get take out sandwiches, but there's no seating area. In contrast, the NY location has a cafe, along with a mini bar and off to the side, you can get take out if you want (serving many of the same items that are on the cafe menu). Though it was almost 2pm, the place was packed, but Tom and I decided to wait it out and were seated in about 20 minutes.

Now as you can see form the photo, the location is kinda weird. It's basically a space carved from the middle of the mall. It's pretty tight and not a great place for a large party. When we were seated, we were handed menus, which was filled with sandwiches and salads.

After ordering, we were served the typical Bouchon epi baguette. And though it was good, it was kinda chewy and not as crusty as a really great baguette. And not as great as the ones we get in Napa.

I ended up ordering a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup - a perfect lunch on a cold day (and lots of people around agreed with me - I saw them ordering the same thing). The grilled cheese was perfectly grilled- look how that got it all brown and crunchy all over, and it was filled with gruyere - may favorite cheese. The tomato soup was also really great. Lots of tomato soups tend to be kinda watery and salty, but this one was perfectly balance and yummy.

Meanwhile Tom got a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Though he did enjoy it, he would've preferred it not toasted. I also picked at his salad, since the one thing I was lacking from my meal was a bit of green.

Overall, the food was really great, which is what we've come to expect from Thomas Keller restaurants. The setting is a bit noisy and hectic (it is in a mall after all), and the service was efficient, though not pleasant. That was the one weird thing, since service at Keller places tends to be quite good, but really, I felt for the servers there. They were dealing with a tremendous numbers of people, many of them tourists. And though this place wasn't cheap, it wasn't really expensive, either. So they had to continually turn tables to really earn tips. I can see why they wouldn't want to keep people lingering over their meals. I also liked the fact that this Bouchon Bakery had a seating area - something I think the Napa location could certainly use.

WHY I'VE GAINED 10 POUNDS IN THE LAST YEAR

Yes, I really have gained 10 pounds since I've moved to the Bay Area. People don't believe me, but jeans don't lie. I can no longer fit into any of the jeans (except a single pair) that I brought with me from Boston. (Hence the trip to Steve and Barry's - I bought 4 larger pairs of jeans). I guess it's also due to my slowing metabolism. I do turn 29 in a week. Damn metabolism.

But it's also the food here in the Bay Area. My sister just spent the last few days here, staying at our house and eating at some of our favorite places. She deemed the food really good, but what she calls "vacation eating" is what we call everyday eating. So much good food surrounds us, it's really hard not to partake.

And speaking of which, my workplace is no help. I'm surrounded by foodies who love to eat and cook, and there's always yummy food around. Just take for example, Christmas Eve. Though this is more of an extreme case, one of my co-workers made fresh cinnamon buns with homemade cream cheese frosting. They were still warm. And delicious.

And right next to that were the two boxes of Noah's Bagles. Along with all the toppings.

I failed to photograph the fried chicken sandwiches and enormous chocolate cake from Bake Sale Betty's that we had just the day before for a co-worker's goodbye party.

With so much temptation around, I'm sure I'll gain another 10 pounds by next year. I must go to kickboxing more often.

BREAKFAST AT A TOURIST TRAP

It's not often that Tom and I will head into the touristy parts of the city. However, Steve and Barry's was having a liquidation sale, and the closest location is located at The Cannery near Fisherman's Wharf, so early on a Sunday morning, we headed into the city for some breakfast and shopping.

The times we've been down at Fisherman's Wharf we've often walked by Boudin, a place famous for its soudough bread and always packed with tourists. We decided to have breakfast at their cafe since I figured it'd be less busy with far less tourists.

When you enter the place, it's clear that it's a show place designed to handle masses of tourists.

Though there were plenty of people there, it wasn't packed, so Tom and I were able to order at the counter. It was funny because as we drove to the city, we discussed uses for the breadbowl (not just for soups). I had commented that it'd be possible to serve eggs in a breadbowl and sure enough when we got there, it was one of the options on the menu.

Though I really would've been happy with a clam chowder bread bowl, it wasn't listed on the breakfast menu and I figured they didn't serve it this early in the morning (I later saw someone else with it). And Tom greatly encourage me to order the egg breadbowl, so I did. Here it is below:

And yeah, it was kinda as appalling as it looks. It was basically a veggie scramble with cheese in a sourdough bread bowl. The eggs were waaaaayyyyy overcooked, but to their credit, that sourdough bread bowl was really quite tasty. (Though Tom didn't think it was sour enough). I think I would've been happy with just some toasted sourghdough and butter.

Meanwhile, Tom ordered the breakfast pizza:

He describes it as "passable" and "it wasn't great". They had cooked the eggs prior to putting it on the pizza rather than cooking the eggs on the pizza, so the eggs ended up quite dry.

My advice in the future - stick to the sourdough and maybe the clam chowder. Avoid everything else.

BUI, SOLANO AVE

Though Tom and I have our favorite places to eat in our area, we do like to try new places. And so on one evening we ventured out to Bui, a local Vietnamese restaurant on Solano Ave, since we couldn't decide on where else we wanted to eat. Now, we had avoided this place for a little while, mainly because the sign outside indicated that it was a "Contemporary Vietnamese" restaurant and I prefer hole in the wall, authentic (and cheap) Vietnamese food.

When we entered the restaurant, it was about a third full, and I noticed that there wasn't a lot of staff on the floor. We were seated right away and presented with menus. As I suspected, (along with the white table cloths on the tables) this place specializes in more French influenced Vietnamese cuisine. So though I was just craving a bowl of noodles, that wasn't really what the offered here.

Tom and I ended up ordering a few appetizers to share. Here's my summer spring roll below. You can tell from the photo that it's a little dry looking (clearly made a while in advance), but it was pretty good.

I also ordered these garlic basil chicken wings. They reminded me a lot of the ones we always get at Sabuy Sabuy, and though they weren't bad, the ones at Sabuy Sabuy are better.

As our meal progressed, the dining room started getting fuller and fuller - to the point that nearly every seat was taken. It was clear that the restaurant had not expected this as they had a single server and a single runner for the ENTIRE restaurant. Now, I can fully understand that for restaurants in this economy, it's prudent not to have too much waitstaff, especially on a Thursday night when you don't expect to be busy (and haven't been in the past). But I think it's also important to have people on call, just in this type of situation.

After our entrees were cleared, we were mistakenly handed our check by the waiter. We notified the runner, but it took another 10 minutes to flag down the waiter to convey the mistake. Meanwhile, the table to our left were regulars, who were surprised at how busy the restaurant was, and the table to the right were newcomers who were rightfully annoyed that it took 20 minutes just to get their drinks.

We were eventually given our entrees. (by this point I had forgotten to take pictures). Tom got a seafood stew, that I found was way too salty, but the thought it was pretty good. And I did get wish for a bowl of noodles with shrimp. It was pretty nice, but I could've gotten the same thing for half the price elsewhere (though not on Solano Ave.)

Our overall dining experience wasn't totally negative. The waitstaff was just way too busy and I felt sorry for them. I was truly more annoyed at the owners who were clearly ill prepared. I don't think we'll be going back to Bui, though. The food was fine, but I truly do enjoy less fancy Vietnamese food at the much lower prices.

THE DRIVE HOME

Well, we had gotten the mini van from my parents and it was time to drive home to the Bay Area. Unfortunately the weather spoiled our plans. We had planned on driving up the 5 back up, but snow closed down parts of the highway, and so we took the 101 North all the way back to the Bay Area. Though it was a much longer route, it was also far more scenic.

I haven't driven up the 101 North in years, so when we started approaching San Luis Obispo, I started noticing things that we had visited on a family trip years before. The thing that caught my eye was a giant billboard for Apple Farm. I remember visiting the place with my family years before, and since it was near lunch time, I made Tom get off the highway so we could find out. Unfortunately when we followed the directions that the billboard had given us, we found a satellite location for the Apple Farm which had closed. A little sad, we headed back to the 101, but at then I spied the original Apple Farm and we stopped for lunch.

You know, memories are a powerful thing. I don't actually remember eating at Apple Farm with my family, I just distinctly remember going there. But given that we had to wait 20 minutes for a table, I thought it'd probably be a decent place to eat. As we walked to the seats, I noticed that the clientele there is filled with locals, elderly people and tourists, probably not the best crowd to be dining with. And when we were given the menus, I noticed that the prices were actually kinda on the high side of standard American fare.

So we wanted to get back on the road, we ordered quickly. I got a turkey pot pie.

The crust that you see on top was actually the best part of the whole thing. I was very buttery and crusty. What was underneath wasn't as tasty, but it was fine. Meanwhile, Tom ordered a burger...

which came out pretty overcooked and anemic looking. At least the fries were ok.

Overally, it really wasn't worth stopping here for a bite. It did delay us an additional hour, and I have a feeling we would've been happier at In N Out, but it was good to experience this place again and learn that memories of food don't always translate to the present.

PALM SPRINGS/LA DAY 2

Our second meal in Palm Springs took place the next morning for breakfast. After surfing Opentable, I had learned that there was a Norma's located inside the Parker Meridien in Palm Springs. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Norma's is famous for it's breakfast. Though I never visited the location in NY, they became widely known recently due to it's offering of a $1,000 omelet (it's got a lot of Beluga caviar on it). Though the prices are sky high, I figured it'd be fun to try it out, so I made the reservation.

When we arrived at the Parker in Palm Springs, we found a hotel that could be best described as retro chic. It was clearly an old hotel, that they had repainted and filled with all sorts of retro furniture and details. Not exactly the right fit for my parents, but it was different. We tried to find the restaurant, but there was no sign, just a open door that lead to an area with tables. I figured it was Norma's, since it was the only dining area in sight.

It turned out to be the right place, and we were seated quickly (by a gentleman wearing far more make up than needed). Here are our table settings - you can see how the retro chic look continues throughout.

Ok, here's a link to the menu, so you can check out the offerings and prices. Given that the prices begin at $15 and go up from there, you'd kinda expect this to be the most amazing breakfast that you were ever going to have. Tom and I did like the fact that they served as French press coffee, which was pretty good. For my breakfast, I ordered "flat as a pancake" crabcakes. Here they are below.

I'd say they were pretty good. Certainly not the best crab cakes that'd I'd ever had, but I liked the fact that my side dip was served in a hollowed out fried onion. We also decided to get an order of fresh donuts to share.

Unfortunately they weren't that great. The frying temperature had been far too low, allowing the batter to absorb a lot of oil, so they had that oil tasty and weren't as light and crunchy. Additionally, they had coated it with way too much sugar and cinnamon.

The good thing was that parents seemed to enjoy their breakfast. Tom and I agreed that though it was pretty good, it certainly wasn't worth the high price tag, and our favorite thing overall was the coffee.

After breakfast, it was time to visit one of the may spas in the area, and then it was back to LA for dinner with friends. When I found out I'd be going back to LA, I asked Katie to pick a restaurant and make a reservation so we could all go out to dinner. And though she rarely makes reservations so far in advance, she made an exception for me and made reservations at Akasha, near hear home in Culver City.

When we entered the restaurant, we found a sprawling space with high ceilings and a dark, industrial/modern interior. The entrance is a tad strange because the front part acts as take out cafe during the day, and you actually have to walk around to the side of that to reach the sprawling dining room. We were seated right away and given menus. Now, I don't know why I thought this (perhaps due to its name, or because I looked at the menu online too quickly), but initially, I thought the restaurant was more like a modern Indian place. However, I was wrong, and I would agree with Katie's assessment that it's "organic." Ok, I realize that doesn't actually describe a type of food, but the menu is kinda wide ranging, though does feature a lot of organic, vegetarian or vegan options.

I started off with a grilled artichoke.

I'm such a sucker for artichokes, they're truly one of my favorite foods. And though I don't think they're really in season right now, if I can get someone else to prepare them, I'll happily order it. This one was quite good. I liked the fact that it was grilled and not overcooked.

But it did kinda fill me up, so I wasn't super hungry when my entree arrived - a pizza with chicken sausage and red peppers.

I did enjoy the pizza, though I let Tom finish it off. Overall, I found the dining experience at Akasha pretty enjoyable. The prices are reasonable and though I wouldn't count it as a place I'd go for a casual bite, it's certainly somewhere to take friends who are in the area. Mostly, I liked hanging out with my friends from LA, and only wish I could see them more often.

ANOTHER TRIP TO LA LA LAND...WITH A STOP IN PALM SPRINGS

Last week was my mom's birthday, so we decided to celebrate with a trip down to LA. Ok, actually, I needed to swap cars with my sister, but we figured since we needed to get that done anyway, we'd go on my mom's bday. Since my parents own a time share in Palm Springs, they decided that they wanted to celebrate there, so after a 7.5 hour drive, that where we ended up.

Now, I haven't been to Palm Springs in quite a while, but I don't remember stellar dining options there. But my sister had asked me to look up a place for dinner (and breakfast the following day). After some Googling, I was happy to find that Open Table had a list of restaurants in the area, and after some more research, I had settled on Zin American Bistro. (It was one of the recommended restaurant for "foodies").

After getting a bit lost finding the place, we finally arrived at the restaurant. It wasn't packed when we arrived, but it had totally filled up by the time we left, so it was clearly a local favorite. However, for me, if this is what the "foodies" in Palm Springs are eating, then I feel a bit of pity for them.

Below, you'll see the salad I had ordered. It was apparently a salad featuring their famous dressing (garlic/anchovy aka their version of Caesar). I don't know if you can tell from the pic, but it was more correctly dressing served with some lettuce. They had completely drowned it in their famous dressing. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't that good.

But not everyone had the same experience as me. My mom enjoyed her lobster bisque, and was quite happy that there was actually a large chunk of lobster in it. My father liked his crab salad, though I really can't call this a "foodie" place when they would serve slices of tomato in December which were tasteless and didn't enhance the crab salad in any way. Oh, and Tom thought his sweetbreads were decent.

For my entree I ordered the fried chicken. As you must know from reading this blog, I have a small obsession with fried chicken. Unfortunately, this one wasn't so great. First, they actually managed to make the meat dry. (Isn't that the opposite of the purpose of frying?) and the coating on the outside wasn't so great. And the sides they chose to serve with it were kinda ridiculous in how heavy they were - heavily buttered mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and the chicken sat atop a pool of country gravy. It was all just too much for me, and I really didn't get very far. (My dad helped me out).

But again, not everyone had the same experience as me. My mom liked her mussels. Tom thought his rabbit stew was ok. My dad didn't like his porkchop because he felt the sauce was too sweet. What kinda annoyed me is that when he mentioned it to the server, the server didn't respond to it at all. There was no, oh, how can we make it better? Can it take it back? Would you prefer something else? There was just a nod.

We were seated next to the host stand and throughout dinner, that's where the chef spent a lot of his time, meeting and greeting diners. Personally, I thought he should've been in the kitchen overseeing every dish that was coming out. The good thing was, dinner wasn't super expensive, especially since I footed the bill. Would I go back? No. But I think the rest of my family had a far better experience than myself, and the important thing was that they enjoyed their time there.

SUSHI BOATS!

Ok, you know I don't upload videos very often, but this one is so worth it. And, they've made posting videos much easier now, so I think I'll be doing it far more often. Just click below...

We were visiting my cousin at the hospital in SF, which is located right next to Japantown. And rather than facing rush hour traffic, we headed over to grab dinner before going home. We had known about the conveyor belt sushi place, Isobune, but hadn't tried it yet, and so this was a good opportunity to check it out.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is how conveyor belt sushi works. Basically you have dishes of food going by you. Each dish costs a different amount of money, which is dictated by the color plate that it's on. As you eat, you collect plates and in order to calculate your bill, the staff with tally how many plates you have of each color. It's pretty easy.

However, this place was truly awesome. If you actually watched the video, you 'll see that it's not just a conveyor belt. The plates of sushi are actually riding atop sushi boats that are chained together and floating along a little body of water. How much more entertaining could it be?

Ok, as for the sushi, that's a different matter. The sushi at a conveyor belt sushi place is never stellar, because it's not made to order. The thing doesn't get eaten until someone picks it up. So sometimes, the same plate is just riding around, as the food dries out and doesn't look so hot. Ideally, you want to go to a busy place so the food is turning. We went to dinner a bit early. So there was a mix of fresh stuff and not so fresh stuff. I gotta say overall, the food wasn't too bad. I had some pretty decent sushi, and it truly wasn't that expensive (and certainly cheaper than Kirala here in the East Bay).

Tom accumulated far more plates than I did, and he enjoyed the octopus the most. He didn't feel it was the freshest and best fish ever, but he also liked the variety and the experience of going. I wouldn't say that we'd rush back to this place, but if we're in the area in the mood for sushi, it's certainly a good place to grab a quick bite, without blowing a ton of money on sushi.

TURKEY DAY 2008

And finally, I will blog about Turkey Day, though you may find this posting rather disappointing since I forgot to photograph the results, but more about that later. This year we celebrated Turkey Day at home, with just a small party of 4. Tom persuaded me not to go overboard, which I have a tendency to do, so I stuck to a bit more of a simple set up. We didn't get a whole turkey - just a turkey breast, and that was mainly for Tom. I was more interested in the duck breasts I got.

But here I am starting to prep my turkey breast.

You know, you never realize how big a four pound turkey breast really is until you're given one by the butcher. I had specially ordered this one from a butcher in SF - it was an organic Diestel turkey breast. As for preparation, I had pondered for a while what I wanted to do. At first I considered frying it, but upon watching an episode of Tyler's Ultimate on the Food Network, I decided to do his Turkey Breast with Cornbread Stuffing Recipe. I ended up choosing this recipe because the ingredients were fairly simple, and it would cook up pretty quickly. In the photo above, I'm slicing the turkey breast in half in preparation for stuffing it.

Here I am stuffing the breast with the corn bread stuffing. I had made the cornbread earlier in the week with my favorite Marie Calendar's cornbreak mix. Sure, it cost 4.5 times more than the other cornbread mix, but it's well worth it. After stuffing the breast, I had to tie it all together with butcher string.

Ok, here's the finished thing, with the stuffing kinda spluging out.

Now the next step was to brown this in a pan, but the other thing you don't realize is how heavy and unwiedly a 4 pound turkey breast stuffed with corn bread really is. This thing just wasn't easy to handle. However, all the work ultimately paid off - sort of. The turkey itself came out really nicely cooked and tasty. The stuffing was another matter. It ended being far more mealy than expected. I actually wished I had stuffed it with a more traditional stuffing, or maybe even wild rice. But the good thing was that Tom enjoyed it, and he finished all the leftovers off within 2 days of Thanksgiving.

As for the rest of the meal, well, by the time I finished the turkey and started putting everything out, I had completely forgotten about taking photos. But I did make a lovely tarte tatin, even though I didn't get to pick the apples myself, like I would have done in Boston. And overall, it ended up being a very peaceful, quiet evening. Just what I needed after all the work and chaos of the holiday season.

MY FIRST DRIVE THRU

Yes, I know I haven't posted since Thanksgiving, but I'm busy. And I'm totally backlogged on posts, including my Thanksgiving dinner post. But I wanted to put up a quick mention about my first drive thru experience. No, it wasn't the first time I'd ever been through a drive thru, but it was the first time I was doing the driving and ordering.

We were heading down to LA this past weekend, and before we departed, we stopped off at a BK drive thru, and I realized that this was the first time I'd ever driven through one on my own. Normally I just find it faster to park and go in - you have at least two or three people waiting on you, rather than just one. And you know what? It's kinda fun - like a ride at Disneyland. There are brightly colored signs and pictures. They tell you where to go and this person talks to you through a monitor. It's all so strange if you think about it and yet, man, Americans really do come up with crazy things. I mean, really? Who was the genius that came up with the drive thru? And what will we come up with next?

LUNCH AT POULET

For some time I've wanted to visit Poulet, a little deli in Berkeley that serves, what else? - chicken. So on a Monday, Tom and I headed over there to grab a quick lunch. Apparently we showed up right before the lunch rush arrived, because there weren't any people waiting when we arrived, and there was a line as soon as we had placed our orders.

The place is kinda tiny, but very cute and decorate in sort of a rustic French way. The front is dominated by a really big case, where they keep a bunch of cold salads and various other side dishes. You can tell this must be a popular place to get some quick take out for lunch or dinner. Tom and I perused the menu for a little bit, before finally settling on what we wanted to order.

I ended up getting a chicken plate. I had a choice of three different flavors of chicken, and ended up going with teriyaki and a side of coleslaw. The food was well cooked and flavored, but I thought the portion was kinda skimpy for the amount of money. But maybe that's not such a bad thing. I really should stop eating so much food and start cutting back on my portion sizes- you know, more of that European thing - really good food, but in smaller quanities.

Meanwhile, Tom got a panini which ended up being kinda boring. The panini wasn't grilled long enough for the cheese to actually melt, and all it was was chicken and cheese on bread - there weren't any additional veggies or additions.

In retrospect, we may not have had the most wonderful food at Poulet, but it certainly was decent enough. And to be honest, if it were open right now, I'd probably run over then to pick up a quick, simple, realtively healthy lunch. It really does have it's place, and though we may not be visiting it often, I'm sure we'll go back at some point.

DINING AT THE FERRY BUILDINGg

A couple weeks ago we visited the Ferry Building so I could order my Thanksgiving meats at the Golden Gate Meat Company (I ordered 4 duck breasts and one turkey breast from Diestel farms). Since we were already there, and kinda hungry, we decided to grab a quick lunch. Unfortunately it was Sunday, meaning the tourists were out in full force, and the line at Hog Island Oysters was just too long, so we decided to check out a place we hadn't eaten at before - Delica rf-1.

For the longest time I had thought Delica was an Italian deli, but turns out it is really a sleek Japanese Deli, specializing in serving bento boxes to go. They had a lot of things to choose from - cold bento boxes or warm bento boxes that you could choose to assemble yourself. I decided to go with one of the cold bento boxes with 9 different selections - mostly mini salads, a couple pieces of sushi and a chicken meat ball.

I thought the bento box was Ok. Certainly healthy, but I really do enjoy hot food, and I don't think there was enough food for the high price tag (around $11). I definitely like the bento boxes that we can get in Japantown more.

Meanwhile, Tom got one of the pick your own bento boxes with 3 dishes. You can see there are chicken meatballs towards the top, a sort of eggplant dish on the right, white rice at the bottom and seaweed salad on the left.

Tom also thought his bento box was ok. It might not have been his favorite thing in the world, but the place is conveneient and allows you to get a quick bite at the Ferry Building. The organization of the place is a little strange and it's hard to figure out where to pay or how to order, but once you get it down, it's not too bad (and he's already been back there once since our first visit.)

DINNER ON HALLOWEEN

On Halloween night we had dinner with Huong in Rockridge. It was only our second trip to Rockridge, but luckily, she had picked a restaurant a little bit farther from the main drag, so we were able to find parking pretty quickly. Tom picked me up after work and we went directly to the restaurant, Soi 4 Hong Kong Eatery, and I was starving when we arrived. Even though we were a little late for our reservation, the restaurant wasn't packed, and we were seated right away. The restaurant is a sort of fancy Thai place - with big windows that looked out onto the street, a lot of metal and a big bar. It was kinda fun looking out onto the street, with costumed people walking by.

Since Huong and her friend were running late, I insisted upon order a few appetizers right away, so I could get some food in my tummy. We ended up getting an order of fish cakes and and crispy veggie rolls.

Both were good, and they really hit the spot. But I certainly don't think they were worth the $6-$7 /plate that they charged.

When Huong and her friend arrived, we ordered a bunch of dishes to share. Below you can see a duck curry and a crispy sliced chicken & string beans wok-tossed with sweet kaffir pik-khing chili.

The dishes were all quite good. And I really did enjoy the crispy chicken, but Tom and I agree that we could have easily had a meal just as good at half the price if we had visited Sabuy Sabuy (just as long as the owner's there). As with certain types of food, I just don't feel that I need fancy Thai food, I would much rather be eating at a little restaurant or hole in the wall, where I'll have food that's just as good, and the price will be much lower. Also, I don't think the service was that great at Soi 4. They really seemed to want to turn our table (even though there wasn't anyone waiting to be seated) and served our dishes way too quickly. It was fun to hang out and eat with Huong, but I think next time, we'll pick the restaurant.

ITALIAN IN LA

We were down in LA to attend Katie and Dustin's wedding a few weeks ago, and that also allowed us to spend a couple days hanging out with my family. I wanted to try out some of the new restaurants in LA, but my mom made reservations at an Italian restaurant that she had visited previously called La Botte. Hidden on a corner in Santa Monica, it's full of dark woods, and dark leather. When we entered, the restaurant was almost empty (we had an early reservations so my little sis and her boyfriend could drive back down in SD later that evening.)

The servers were really friendly, though, and unlike many places where servers will pretend like they can speak Italian, many of the servers actually were Italian. So were ordered a bunch of small plates to share, and my favorite one is below - a duck prosciutto.

It was pretty light and not too salty, so I like it quite a bit. Most people at dinner ordered just one course (a pasta course) for dinner, but I was hungry, so I ordered two courses. (God, is it any wonder that I've gained so much weight since leaving Boston?) At any rate, here's my crab and squid ink linguini. I found this dish to be allright - it was pretty basic and as I often say, I could have made it very easily at home.

Meanwhile, I also ordered a dish or roasted duck, which I liked a much more. The duck was well cooked and had very crispy skin.

I think our meal was actually pretty good. I think it's hard for me to judge restaurants when I don't pay for the meal, because that whole value thing goes out the window. But the bottom line is that my family had a good time eating there, the service was very friendly and I wouldn't mind going back.

FRIED CHICKEN AT AD HOC

Yes, I know it's been more than a month since I've blogged. But as Tom can probably tell you, I've been exceedingly busy and stressed out at work. But finally I have a day off where I can sit around and not do a whole lot (Ok, I lie, I'll probably be doing a little work later today and I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner). But while sitting on my couch with Top Chef playing in the background and my kitty curled up in a ball next to me, I decided to catch up on my blog. Actually, I'm pretty surprised that I haven't even blogged about our trip to Ad Hoc, so that just shows show long over due I am for blogging.

Ok, so a while ago Tom and I went for dinner at Ad Hoc in Yountville. But it wasn't just a regular dinner - it was the fried chicken dinner at Ad Hoc. For those of you who aren't familiar, Ad Hoc is a Thomas Keller restaurant with a bit of a twist - they only serve one prix fixe menu every night. It's 4 courses for $48, and you can't choose what you get, and they don't repeat the exact same menu. The good thing is that at least once a week, on alternating Wednesdays and Mondays, they always do a fried chicken night. So it's pretty easy to predict which day fried chicken night happens.

So before we even headed over to Ad Hoc, we dropped by the Oxbow Market for some snacks and provisions. The reason we were up in Napa was not just to have dinner at Ad Hoc, I also wanted to see some grapes on the vines during harvest.

At Oxbow we visited the Fatted Calf Charcuterie where Tom picked up a ton of stuff including some thinly sliced lardo, duck rillettes and smoked turkey.

After our snack, we drove over to Chandon in the hopes of seeing some grapes on the vines, but it turned out we were too late - most of them had already been harvested. A bit disappointed, we headed over to Yountville for dinner. Since we were still early for dinner, we walked around the town, and finally spotted some actual grapes on the vine.

And so I was finally ready for dinner at Ad Hoc.

The dining room at Ad Hoc isn't very big, but it is very Californian, with this casual, modern look, and lots of brown leather. We were having an early dinner (the only reservation I could get was at 5:30), so the dining room wasn't full when we arrived.

After ordering some drinks, we were served our first course - a salad of haricot vert.

Oh, I forgot to mention that no only does Ad Hoc serve only one menu, but they also serve everything family style. Man, looking at the photo of this salad just makes me hungry. It was really perfectly done. They were so generous with the the green beans, but what made it really awesome were the pickled red onions. The only thing we didn't like were the black olives served on top of the salad, which were way overpowering.

Next up was the main course - the fried chicken. It was also served with two sides- brussel spouts and roasted potatoes cooked with bacon.
Tom's favorite dish of the entire night ended up being the potatoes cooked with bacon. The chicken was served in a really generous portion (we actually ended up taking some of it home) and what I liked about it was the little hint of rosemary. The batter was much lighter than the fried chicken that I make, and what can I say, how can you really beat freshly fried, prefectly cooked chicken?

Our third course was the cheese course - the Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery.
Now, I'm not normally into soft cheeses, but this was really awesome. It was served with warm, butter toast and a side of fig jam. So when you spread the cheese on the toast, it just melted and adding the fig jam on top added this lovely sweet note. Surprisingly enough, I really enjoyed it.

And the last coure was dessert - for me my least favorite course for dinner. Acutally I don't find any of the Ad Hoc desserts really inspiring (I get the email menu every day). They really go for simple desserts that can be easily assembled. In this case we had red wine poached pears with whipped cream and shortbread cookies on the side. But it was decent enough and I certainly ate my share.

Overall, we had a really lovely meal at Ad Hoc. And sitting there at dinner, looking out at this beautiful sunny day as the sunset over the valley, it was really hard not to think that we were truly lucky to be living and eating in the Bay Area.