See you later

I am outtie. Headed over to Singapore for another work trip...this time though, I will be there for a week so I actually have the opportunity to alleviate my jet lag prior to getting some more jet lag.

Dinner at Bar Crudo

Perched on Bush and Stockton Streets next door to the Tunnel Top bar is a too cute, tiny little place called Bar Crudo. The menu is short and to the point...they have seafood. For those who like raw goods, they had wonderful bivalves (oysters, clams, mussels) and a "crudo sampler" which featured scallops on hummus, artic char with wasabi tobiko and some other yummy goodness. Forrest ordered a full cooked crab and it was possibly one of the meatier ones that I have ever seen.

One thing that is missing from this place...starch.
This place is not recommended as a post workout stop...it is less filling than sushi as this place doesn't come with rice. The food was wonderful, I was just too hungry to be eating there. We kept joking about the pit stop we were going to need to make on the way home for a hamburger and fries.

This spot would be PERFECT as a post shopping snack, in between meals.

Movie Revier: In Bruges

Went to see In Bruges on Friday night after work and a quick stop at Williams Sonoma. Can I reiterate how much I flipping LOVE that place? It is like Christmas every time I walk into a Williams Sonoma. Forrest has said "anything you want for the kitchen is no problem with me." meaning I have completely authority to buy one of everything at Willy S with no complaint from the hubby....he is creating a monster - LOL.

Back to the movie...eh.
We need to start watching some comedies because I am starting to get depressed and lose my faith in humanity with the string of movies we have seen lately. This one is about two hitmen who hide out in the Belgian city of Bruges after a royal fuck up at their last job. Things happen, there are midgets, hookers, fights with Canadians and lots of cocaine. It starts getting a little messy towards the end and leaves on a bit of an unresolved note.... It was entertaining but very dark.

Dinner at Farmer Brown

I have this love of soul food...primarily things that are fried and with loads of flavor. Particularly, I am an absolute fool for fried chicken...in our search for soul food in the city, Forrest and I found Hard Knox Cage off the 3rd St rail in Dogpatch. It's a great place for post hangover food but can oftentimes be a gut bomb.

This past date night, we finally went to Farmer Brown. It's located on the corner of Mason and Turk about a block from the Nordstrom downtown. Super cool place...very hip - I of course felt totally out of place in my post work clothes....somehow checkered slacks and a trench coat are not so cool in place like this. This place had a very speakeasy vibe.

But let's get to the food...holy shit, the food - was fucking amazing.
Farmer Brown's schtick is that they are "farm fresh soul food" meaning that they shop at the farmers market and all their stuff is made from organic, sustainable ingredients. One could argue that chi-chi farmers market is in direct contradiction to what down home soul food cooking represents...but I disagree. With it's roots in African farming and American plantations, it has much more to do with what farming historically was than the mono culture abomination that it is today. It was about making the best food with what the land provided to share with family and friends.

Back to the food. I had the fried chicken with greens and mac and cheese - holy moly, it was a damned near spiritual experience. Forrest had the short ribs with sweet potatoes and onion rings. Everything was wonderfully seasoned and fresh tasting....definitely going back.

Movie Review: There Will Be Blood

Went out to check out the movie "There Will Be Blood" on a date night one week after the Oscars. We both really appreciated "No Country For Old Men" and given that movie won a ton of awards except for best actor, we thought it appropriate to watch Daniel Day Lewis in his latest installment.

My first exposure to DDL was in "My Left Foot" and I was surprised to learn that he really wasn't mentally retarded in real life because his presence in the movie was literally profound. That said, I was curious to see how his latest interpretation was going to be.

3 words = He Deserves It.
He absolutely deserves the title of Best Actor. His ability to completely become the character with now reservation from the audience to picture him as any previous character from a previous movie makes him that powerful of an actor. The subject matter of the movie is not one that I particularly cared for and the score was quite taxing but his acting, the character that he played carried the entire movie. He makes you hate and feel sorry for him by the end of movie.

Chez Papa

I have been diligently trying to convince Forrest of moving to the Potrero Hill neighborhood in San Francisco. Sandwiched between 280, 3rd Street and just before 20th Street is what I perceive to be one of the cutest neighborhoods in the city with some AMAZING views of downtown. Primarily a neighborhood of single family homes in the classic city styles, there is always ample parking while still being a few minutes away from Noe Valley, The Mission and Downtown. And with the arrival of the latest San Francisco Whole Foods, this neighborhood is quickly crowding.

So lately we've been heading out there for date night dinners...all part of my master plan.

This week we hit up Chez Papa..a yummy little southern french place where the servers all have heavy accents and sometimes don't get your jokes but the food is hearty and good.

Chez Mama is just down the street and literally the size of a hallway and serves bistro food...one of the best croque madames I have had in the city. Better than Cafe de la Presse in my opinion.

Forrest just learned that an outpost of Chez Papa will be opening in downtown near the Westfield mall.... We'll be there.

Book Review: Early Bird

Just finished this book the other day. A quick enteratining read... If you ever wondered what it would be like to retire early...and I mean WAY early - like in your late 20's? Then this is the book for you.

Rodney is a TV show writer who leaves LA and moves to a retirement community in Florida. And thus the madness ensues. If you want to read it, I have a copy.

Susan & Julie's Baby Shower

The guests of honor digging into their bounty. I cannot believe that they have each only gained 13 pounds. Julie is due in mere weeks!!! I gained 13 pounds just talking about the possibility of having children one day.

Finally after MUCH anticipation, I am able to post the pictures of the diaper cakes! I made one for Susan and one for Julie. The best part was each they are having a girl and boy, respectively so I was able to use all of the appropriate colors.

Our big bellies. That's me on the left and Forrest on the right. I was trying to think of ways to have games at a co-ed baby shower that would be funny for both boys and girls. So the first game was a contest to see who had the best fake pregnancy belly. Chester won by a landslide with his enormous pillow baby that was literally creeping out of his sides.

Baby bottle drinking race. Greg won by a sip! Craig was a little deficient in his inability to drink from a bottle...he not only choked, he tried to play off his loss by saying the bottle was "defective."

Big belly contestants. The winners holding their bounty.

Movie Review: Spirit of the Marathon

This was a special one night engagement awhile back and I had missed it then...so when they had an encore performance in Feb, I jumped at the chance to go watch it. Having also recruited Hollis, Sal and some of their friends, we met up downtown at the mall to watch The Spirit of the Marathon.

This movie follows a number of different people who are all training for the Chicago marathon. There are 2 elite runners: an Olympic medalist, Dena Castor and Kenyan (living in Japan) Daniel Njenga. There are 2 competitive runners a husband and wife team who are trying to qualify for the Boston marathon, 2 marathon newbies and a retiree who just keeps on chugging away at marathons.

As the movie progresses, you get to watch and listen to how training for the marathon has changed their lives and the lives of those around them... It was a great movie and it ALMOST made me want to go out and run a marathon, mostly it made me want to move to Chicago.

If you get the chance = this is a great movie. And anyone who has ever run something that was "the furtherest ever in their entire life" can find something to relate to and be inspired by in this movie.

Movie Review: 27 Dresses

Totally forgot to post about this movie...but a few weeks ago Hiroko, Vy and I had a girl date down in the south bay and went to watch "27 Dresses" featuring Katherine Heigl.

So let me start by saying the movie was totally predictable from beginning to end...BUT...was totally entertaining. Maybe it was the hottness of Ed Burns or James Marsden's enthusiastic character. Needless to say, totally worth the $10 bucks to watch it (especially if you're a chick).

I remember Craig mentioning that Katherine Heigl said something to the effect of "Knocked Up was a sexist movie" and that surprised me because if this movie isn't a totally predictable stereotype, I don't know what is...

Home Sweet Home

Holy fucking christ...we're not moving.
After all those months of looking on the internet and all those weekends spent shuffling around the city looking at places to live - we're not moving.

Our landlord has decided he's no longer selling as the market is kinda nutty for real estate right now. So we may spend another year in our sardine can. Oh well, at least there's a gym.

Dude, it's a dell

I bought a new computer today. It is currently in the process of being "born" at Dell. As much as I love my ASUS W5, it has been about 3 years since I purchased it and I have all but filled the 40G hard drive to it's gills. And since I have a laptop from work, I figured...why not go and commit to a desktop. Pictured above is the 530s ("s" for slim) model Inspiron from Dell...apparently my hatred of fat extends to my computers as well.

I cannot believe how huge this thing is...the advances in the components are frightening. For example, my hard drive is the standard option...but that 320G. Really?? How the hell am I going to fill that?

A view from the hill

In the distance, you can see One Rincon...

Diaper cakes

There you see the supplies and the beginnings of the first layer of a diaper cake. I am hosting a baby shower for Susan and Julie in a couple of weeks and have been super interested in diaper cakes as not only as our gift but also as a great decoration/centerpiece.

Being the control freak that I am, I decided that I wanted to make them myself instead. I TOTALLY want to post the pictures here, but I am not sure is Susan or Julie read my site...so I will wait another week....heeheehee

With this ring...I thee wed

Who's lovely hand is that????
The anticipation is killing me! Hurry up and open the damned door so I can give you flowers, a hug and again squeal with delight.

The happy couple, day 2 of their engagement. Molly called us late Sunday night to share the story of how Mike proposed to her while on a hike in Muir Woods. This morning, Forrest and I drove up to Napa so we could see the happy couple and give them our congratulations in person.

I am SOOOOOO excited about their engagement. Having known Mike for almost as long as I have known Molly this is such a wonderful time in our "family."

The Next Iron Chef Sighting...

It wasn't Michael Symon, but it was local boy, Chris Cosentino of Incanto...pushing his darling little boy around on a cart while perusing the fare at The Ferry Building.....
It took every ounce of self restraint I had to not ask him for a picture or autograph...

A whole new world

Our lease is up. Our landlord is selling the 1 bedroom condo that we currently live in so he can pay for his condo in the One Rincon monstrosity. So we're looking, and I've accepted the fact that I will have to drive to commute to work.

With that said, our search has broadened to many wonderful neighborhoods in the city. Particularly in the Laurel Heights and USF/Panhandle area. To be near Golden Gate Park would be awesome! I know it's foggier over there, but I am really excited about living in more of a neighborhood....instead of the outskirts of a financial district.

Happy Valentines Day

Because of Forrest's proclaimed aversion to celebrating what are called "Hallmark Holidays," I suggested this year that we should hit up a dive bar. Not that I mind all that much because I'm not really a chocolate, flowers and grand public gestures kind of girl anyways.

Chester, Ariane, Laura and Coady were planning on being in the city for the Annual Pillow Fight so we combined forces, met up at Justin Herman Plaza then head over to Hi Dive for dinner/drinks. Granted Hi Dive is not really a "dive bar" but it's probably as divey as I want to get these days.

As always, More pics on Chesternet.

Happy Birthday Forrest

For Forrest's 33rd birthday, I was able to share with him one of the most defining experiences of my life...a meal at The French Laundry. We had lunch there on Friday for four hours. It was wonderful, everything more than I remember!

I forgot to take a picture of the Cheese Gougeres..almost forgetting that I had a camera.

The now famous, Salmon canape. The cone is filled with creme fraiche.

Cauliflower panna cotta with caviar, please note the VERY generous heaping spoonful of caviar.

Truffled egg custard - not on the menu :) I have seen this in the cookbook and have only wondered about it. I believe Mike poured a wonderful '78 Madeira for this.

Forrest's Beet Salad with pickled onions and cucumber ball salad.

My gluttonous serving of foie gras au torchon. I don't care how much more that costs...I will always want it.

Selection of sea salts to go with the foie gras and the rest of our meal. Clockwise from the top: Hawaiian black salt from molokini, french fleur de sel, japanese salt in the wooden box, grey fleur de sel, hawaiin red clay salt from kauai and finally, jurassic salt from montana.

My fish course = Sea of Japan Bigfin Squid. This flippin calamari tasted like honey.

Forrest's fish course = Fillet of Pacific Kahala (a Hawaiian fish similar to Hamachi)

There is a lobster course in here and I forgot to take a picture of it because I inhaled it before I knew what was happening. But is was "Butter poached Maine Lobster"

Forrest's meat course = Liberty Farm Peking Duck

My meat course = Wagyu beef tartare with a crazy orange egg yolk = crazy delicious

I forgot to take a picture of the lamb course as well - ARG - that was also crazy delicious.

I also forgot to take a picture of the flippin cheese course.

Sorbet course to cleanse the palette before dessert. Comice pear sorbet - Super light and refreshing.

The famed "Coffee and Donuts" made its way to our table. It is no longer on the regular menu, but it is something that I have read about time and again. This is a quintessential TFL dish, much like th salmon canape, that captures the essence of the restaurant. Perfectly refined food that conjures up much savored memories that are playful, making the dining experience more than just about eating.

I also forgot to take a picture of our dessert course which was lovely and of all the other yummy treats they brought out to us once we were done with dessert. At this point, there is no blood left in the rest of my body because it has all concentrated onto my abdomen trying to digest my lunch.

The rest of the weekend was equally as gluttonous and joined by wonderful company of Molly, Mike and Forrest's parents. We had a crazy wine nerd kinda time.

Movie Review: Cloverfield

I have no words to describe this movie. It didn't suck, but I left the movie completely pissed off. I dislike the "Blair Witch Movie" style of filmography, that stupid from the first person's camcorder perspective. After a steak dinner, I was on the verge of vomiting for the first 30 minutes of the movie. Nevermind the fact that the young adult characters in the movie were all retarded and support the theory that the current generation of working young adults are all self absorbed idiots with no awareness of the world around them.

ARG