Sunday, August 15, 2010

Dinner Tonight - Sausage Portabella Pizzas


Tonight we had Sausage Portabella Pizza with Fresh Mozzerella Salad.  Recipe for the "pizza" courtesy of Rachael Ray.  I used fresh Italian chicken sausage from Fresh Market, added chopped jarred roasted red bell peppers to the toppings, and used sliced Havarti cheese on top.  We got the fresh mozzerella at Fresh Market.  It was very easy to make and turned out great.  As Rachael would say, Yum-o!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Sushi Ran - Sausilito, CA May 7, 2010

The last night of our trip we went to Sushi Ran, across the bay from San Francisco in Sausilito, CA. First, the town of Sausilito was so cute. It was on the bay and had great views of SF, Alcatraz, and areas beyond. I honestly cannot remember exactly everything we got at Sushi Ran. I should have kept a menu and circled what we ate, it all runs together now. All in all though it was visually stunning and super tasty! For our main courses I got the sushi tasting and Zac got the sashimi tasting.  We also got a beet salad appetizer, two maki rolls, and assortment of other sushi and sashimi dishes.  Best sushi we've ever had!!



Sashimi sampler platter


Sushi sampler platter


Beet Salad


Maki on top - shrimp tempura roll with shrimp tempura, romaine lettuce, tobiko, asparagus, avocado
Maki on bottom - futo-maki, consisting of  shrimp, eel, kanpyo, shiitake, tobiko, japanese cucumber, gobo, egg omelet

Assortment of sushi and sashimi.  Orange piece is tobiko - cured flying fish roe.


Me, very full and happy after dinner!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Washington DC - July 2010

I recently went to Washington DC for work, but was able to spend some time the weekend before site-seeing with my mom and dad.  Friday night my mom and I went to Charlie Palmer Steak, across Constitution Avenue from the Capitol.  We shared the crab bisque, served cold with lump crab in the middle. The bisque was super creamy and so good!  For our entrees I got the Roasted Diver Sea Scallops (couldn't pass up scallops!) with braised smoked pork belly, anson mills polenta, and carmalized shallot.  My mom got the Line Caught Alaskan Halibut with sweet corn and fava bean succotash with crisp red onion.  The meal finished with a two each of three different truffles.  Mmm Mmm!


Me and my mom at Charlie Palmer Steak

Saturday for lunch we ate at Good Stuff Eatery, behind the Library of Congress and the Capitol.  My husband and I became aware of Spike Mendelsohn on the 4th season of Top Chef (one of our favorite shows).  So had to try his restaurant since in DC!  I got the Good Stuff Melt (so much cheese!) and my mom got the Colletti's Smokehouse (cheese, onion rings, and BBQ sauce, wish I could have eaten both!). We both washed our burgers down with hand made milkshakes.  Off to more site-seeing!

Another exceptionally good meal was lunch at Oyamel near Penn Quarter. The three of us shared the guacamole, made table side.  I got the "Ceviche de hiramasa", consisting of Australian yellowtail served with fresh hearts of palm and baby cucumber salad, passion fruit, vanilla and rose.  This was the most amazing ceviche I've ever had! I wish I had taken a picture.  It was a beautiful dish.  I had tastes of both my parents dishes too, all were super delicious! Must go back!

In Georgetown, we stumbled upon a little Italian restaurant Ristorante Piccolo.  All I need to say is that I can't wait to go back!!  Also glad we made the walk down to Georgetown Cupcake.  So rich and sweet but so good!!  The line was out the door and around the corner by the time we left; the cupcakes are that good!

Overall a great trip to DC, one of those towns where it's hard to get a bad meal, and have plenty of great places to go eat!  And of course the site-seeing was fun too!

Fleur de Lys - Chef Hubert Keller, May 6, 2010

On Thursday (May 6th) of our vacation, we drove down from Napa Valley to spend 2 days in San Francisco.  On the way we stopped by Muir Woods National Monument and Muir Beach, photo below.  It was so beautiful!


Very glad we had the time for the brief diversion from our main mission - get to San Francisco in time for our reservation at Fleur de Lys!  Fleur de Lys is a 1-star Michelin restaurant, the flagship of Chef Hubert Keller (other restaurants are Burger Bar and Sleek).

We both opted for the 5 course menu which includes an Appetizer, Seafood dish, Meat course, Cheese plate, and Dessert.  It was so good!

For our appetizers, I got the "Symphony" dish.  I can't remember everything on the dish but know it was amazing!  The foie gras "burger" was a treat, smoked duck sausage was amazing, watermelon/cucumber/cavier dish was refreshing, and the whole thing together was a visual masterpiece.


Zac got the Veal Sweetbread "Meuniere" with morel mushrooms, poached egg "purse", toasted brioche, and veal jus.



For our seafood dishes, I got the Maine scallops, with toasted pinenuts, sliced potato marbles, sundried tomatoes, olive sauce, and Banyuls reduction (first photo below).  Zac got the Wild Jumbo Prawn with brioche crust, sweet and sour radicchio, cannelilini bean emulsion, and crispy pork belly (second picture below).



Zac's meat course was the slow-braised Snake River Farm Waygu Beef Cheeks with pretzel curst, on spatzle, choucroute gratin, and scented with a beer sauce.


I got the Roasted Quail stuffed with Ris de Veau, presented with parsnips, young leeks & foie gras, lightly smoke apple flavored veal jus, and pine nuts.


Next was our cheese course, an assortment of artisanal French Cheeses.  I LOVE cheese, and had never had a cheese I didn't like, until I got to the stinky cheese!  Zac couldn't eat it either, couldn't get past the stink! The blue cheese was amazing, I ate mine and Zac's!


Finally time for Desserts!! We knew what we were getting before we even saw the menu.  Zac got the Fleur Burger and I got a chocolate souffle. Zac's dish came with the chocolate burger. The "cheese" was actually passionfruit! The dish came with fennel ice cream "fries" and a milkshake.




Enjoying our desserts!!

Dinner wrapped up with a chef's selection of truffles and petit fours.


An amazing dinner that we'll never forget!! Thanks Hubert!