Bye Bye Miss American Pie

Reunited and it Feels so Good

Last weekend I finally moved into my new flat in San Francisco. That meant that I was finally reunited with my clothes which have been seen sitting in a shipping container somewhere and my things that have been in storage since I moved to London.

The item that I was most excited to see again was my Kitchenaid stand mixer. Some people think it's a waste of space to keep in on the counter but I actually do enough baking to make carrying this mammoth appliance around a real hassle. Tonight I was very happy to finally dust it off, plug it in, and watch it whirl. It was a slow start but after a few minutes it was like the good 'ole times again.

My first baking project was a peach frangipane. I've never made one before but I was at the Ferry Building farmers market yesterday and found some amazing peaches from Frog Hollow Farm. I've really missed fresh California fruits and vegetables. I'm proud to say that I made my own flaky pastry crust and frangipane filling courtesy of my Tartine recipe book. It's sitting on the counter cooling so I won't know the end result until tomorrow morning. That just gives me more time to think of what I'll make next. Well there are a bunch of dry farmed early girl tomatoes from Dirty Girl on my counter. Looks like tomatoe sauce is up next.

Doing by Discovering

In the spirit of doing for this year I have been trying to do a bit of discovering. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm a west London girl but I've been exploring more of the sites in east London each time daring to go a bit further past Liverpool Street Station. To me, the east side of London is like the Mission District of San Francisco. It is an up and coming area that is still rough around the edges but slowly becoming gentrified with cafes, organic food stores, and vintage clothing shops. You will typically find artists, designers, musicians and young upwardly mobile yuppies living in these neighborhoods. My favorite term for them, borrowed from Alice Waters, is ambitiously hip.

I have discovered some great finds by venturing out this way though. Authentic banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) at Broadway Market, THE burger at Hawksmoor Restaurant which I had to reserve ahead of time in case they ran out again, and a £30 dress from The Laden Showroom which features young and independent designers. Perhaps next time I will find myself discovering new finds "south of the river".

A Weekend in Food

A couple weekends ago it seemed that I traveled far and wide, for (you guessed it) food. My journey began on Friday night when I traveled all the way to the east side of London. My friends have decided that the demarcation line in my head between east and west London is Liverpool Street Station and I am definitely a west London girl. What got me to the other side of town was Galvin La Chapelle. This is the third restaurant by famed London chefs/restauranteurs the Galvin brothers and it is beautifully set in the chapel of an old Victorian school. I was amazed how Galvin La Chapelle had the closest resemblance in terms of size, space, décor, and atmosphere to a San Francisco restaurant. I really felt like I could be walking into RN74, Boulevard, or Range. The food did not disappoint either offering daring twists on French classics.

My next stop took me to Oxford where a classmate/good friend lives.

Spring has Sprung!

Why the excitement over spring? Well it has been an atrociously painful winter. I don't think that I saw the sun these last five months except when I was out of the country. Also, April and May tend to be the nicest months of the year with 'guaranteed' sun while June, July, and August are a total gamble as to whether it rains, sleets, floods or is sunny.

Last weekend we made the most of the glorious change in weather by having a picnic in Primrose Hill. Primrose Hill is a park just north of Regent's Park and is also the name of the surrounding neighborhood. It was the setting for the mock 'Sound of Music' sequence in the opening scene of Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason. It is also a chic neighborhood with many celebrity residents such as Kate Moss, Jude Law, and one of my entrepreneurship professors (perhaps London Business School professors are overpaid). More importantly though, Primrose Hill offers one of the best views of the London skyline and is a serene out of the way park.

Are You a Mexican or Mexican't?

Before I start getting angry emails, my title is a line from the movie "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". A couple weeks ago I decided that I had had enough of the cold dreary London weather so I packed my bags and headed to Guanajuato, Mexico. Where is Guanajuato and why Guanajuato you ask? The state of Guanajuato is basically the center of Mexico and the city is about 400 KM north of Mexico City. I chose the city because it was warm, it offered me a chance to fill up on sorely missed Mexican food, but most of all because my good friend Dan is currently staying there.

Dan is a good friend from San Jose/Munich. We met in San Jose, however, didn't really become friends until he moved to Munich and I moved to London. Dan is learning Spanish and decided that the best way was to move to a Spanish speaking town for a few months and fully immerse himself. Lucky for me he chose the quaint city of Guanajuato and found a great host family to stay with.

Getting to the meat of things

Vegetarian is not a word in my vocabulary. I am a meat eater, always have been, always will be although I do try to be considerate of the meat I buy in terms of where and how it is sourced. To the shock and horror of many vegetarians, I brought a friend back from the dark side after nearly ten years by feeding her a piece of wasabi-crusted filet mignon.

Unfortunately this is one of the sore points of living in the UK. I miss meat, I miss my aged USDA prime corn-fed beef. One of the major differences between beef in the US and the UK is that US cows are grain fed while UK cows are forage fed and you can seriously taste the difference. I'm not arguing that one is better than the other but it's what I know and love. To add insult to injury you can barely get the same cuts of beef in the UK. Say goodbye to flank steak, skirt steak, and tri-tip. Even short ribs and oxtail need to be special ordered. How am I supposed to make my galbi, osso bucco, and pho?

No offense to Ginger Pig or any of my other lovely small London butchers, but I'm a bit over Aberdeen Angus.

*Note: I know those are pork ribs in the photo but this post was prompted by my inability to get some pork baby back ribs.

Celebrating

I think that everyday that you're still standing is a day worth celebrating but this past Sunday there were extra reasons to celebrate. In eastern cultures Sunday marked the beginning of the year of the Tiger and in western cultures it was St. Valentine's Day. To commemorate new beginnings, love, and the meeting of cultures I put together a special dinner and invited some friends over to help me celebrate. This was also a good opportunity to flex a bit of culinary muscle and try out some interesting dishes.

The menu included:

- grueyere cheese souffle with a lambs lettuce salad (unfortunately not pictured)

- pan fried red snapper seasoned with five spice powder and served with chanterelle mushrooms and a port wine reduction

In the Spirit of Doing

As I mentioned in my previous post, 2010 is going to be the year of doing. Instead of worrying, over-thinking, or being too afraid I am just going to do. In that spirit I did two things in January that I am very proud of. The cake pictured in this post was my first attempt at Tartine's lemon meringue cake. Tartine is my favorite bakery in San Francisco and this is my favorite cake hands down. I was given their recipe book awhile ago as a birthday present but was always too intimidated to attempt this cake. First of all it is a complicated cake (it took me 3 days to complete everything) and secondly I know exactly how it should look and taste. My lemon meringue cake wasn't perfect but I think it was a worthy first attempt.

My second act of doing was in Vail, CO last week. I went across for a snowboarding trip to celebrate my friend Magg's birthday. I hadn't been anywhere near the slopes since I tore my left ACL skiing two years ago (I'd previously torn my right ACL skiing 10+ years ago). Before this accident I was an avid snowboarder for 10+ years and crossed over to skiing because my skill level was plateauing. I was very anxious about this trip and nearly backed out of the snowboarding part altogether. But I got back up that mountain and to my amazement it really was like "riding a bike" again. By the second run I was back into my groove and cruising down the slopes. 

Now I'm looking forward to see what I'll be doing next.

Back to Baking

I'm ashamed to admit it but it's been a little while since I've cooked. However, I was checking up on the Chocolate and Zucchini blog the other day and saw a simple recipe for a chocolate and vanilla marble cake.Well here is my try at the recipe. It's a very pretty cake but mine turned out a bit dry. I think my pan was sitting too low in the oven but I'll definitely give this another try.

It's a nice cake to have with tea so thank goodness they drink lots of tea in this country.

One Good Thing Leads to Another

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've become very interested in underground / pop-up restaurants that is a new and growing trend in the gastronomic world. An underground restaurant is hosted by a cook, typically not a professional, in a non-traditional space such as their home for a small group of people. Think of it as a really nice dinner party where you pay a suggested donation. Word gets around through emails, discussion boards, and blogs. It's a nice way to experience a good meal and meet new people. A pop-up restaurant is more of a formal event where an unusual space will be used to host a temporary or pop-up restaurant with a professional chef and waitstaff.

Going back to my experience at Rachel Khoo's underground restaurant event, not only did I meet blogger Cassie but quite a few other people with culinary interests / backgrounds. Among my fellow diners was the Belgian Francoise (there was also a French Francoise) who is a fine tableware consultant. She mentioned that the Weston family (the owners of Selfridges) had hired Chef Pierre Koffman to open a pop-up restaurant on the roof at Selfridges (high-end department store similar to Neiman Marcus). Francoise had one space available at her table and invited me to join. This was a very special invitiation since the pop-up restaurant is closing October 31st and all tables are fully booked.