Everyone knows that San Francisco is a food town. Almost every restaurant has some sort of signature dish or drink. Well this little coffee shop, tucked away in a little garage by a furniture shop, has the absolute best coffee I’ve ever tasted. Maybe it’s the water, maybe the coffee bean, maybe both. When you taste that first sip of the latte, the flavor of the coffee with the smoothness of the milk steamed to perfection making the whole latte rich, light, creamy and sweet. MAN! That’s some good sh*t!

The Blue Bottle Coffee Co. has lots of daily regulars. People bring their own mugs, and with no words but a simple nod of “yes I’d like my regular”, the owner knows exactly what to make!

Everytime I visit San Francisco I would make it a point to stop by and get a soy latte. Unlike the immeasurable amount of choice at a Starbucks, Blue Bottle Coffee has a simple menu of a few choices. There also isn’t any non-sense like an extra 50 cents for soy instead of regular milk. Three Dollars. That’s how much every cup is no matter how you like it. On occasions, when the line isn’t so long, he’ll even take time to make a little leaf shape out of the milk foam on the top of the cups. Now that’s some real coffee!

Welcome to Iron Chef! Today’s theme is………….. FISH!!

Last Sunday I decided to make steamed fish. I got to the seafood section of my little Asian market and I looked at all the different fish I can pick from. Not knowing which one is best for steaming, I asked the fish man. He looked around and pointed at the fish tank behind him, a live one? I don’t really like to buy live fish since the killing process, I find, is a bit brutal. He insisted. So, I thought alright. After he scaled, gutted and packaged it nicely in the plastic bag, the fish was still twitching. I couldn’t really look at it when I put it in my basket.

I went home, rubbed it with some salt and let it sit in the frig for a few hours. Right before dinner, I chopped up some ginger, scallions and poured some rice wine and soysauce on top. In to the steamer it goes. I have to admit, the fish was very fresh and tender. But when you watch something gets kills just so you could eat it, it really makes me think… should I be a vegetarian?….. hum.. NAH~

So! I finally made something chocolate. I was pretty lazy about this one since the last time I tried melting chocolate I ended up burning the whole thing and it just wasn’t pretty. Then I bought heavy cream 2x and they spoiled before I got around to trying making the truffles. So, there it was, a huge chunk of chocolate sitting in my frig, about 1.5lbs pure coco, I gotta do something with it! I tried doing the truffles but just looking at the recipe made me tired. Plus I had to buy the melon ball scooper, an ice cream scooper, a thermometer, parchment paper… really starting to look expensive. Finally I found a flourless chocolate cake recipe I thought would be perfect! Prep time only 40 Min. Stick and half of butter, chocolate, sugar, eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla and I’m set! Easy enough!~

Step 1: chop chocolate in fine pieces for melting. So I’m looking at this brick of chocolate, how the hell am I supposed to chop it up into pieces? And it states here prep time was only 40 minutes, it would take me hours chiseling at this thing! All the sudden, DING! I put the brick of chocolate in a zip lock bag and walked outside with a hammer! Perfect! Finely chopped pieces it is! Still on schedule with the 40 min prep time!

Step 2: Melt chocolate with butter. Okay this was the part I had trouble with last time, but I did pretty well this time since my chocolate was in fine pieces, thanks to my genius idea, it melted quite easily.

Step 3: Mix chocolate with eggs beat on high for 5 minutes. Easy enough, especially with my SUPER DUPER Kitchen Aid Mixer!

Step 4: Fold in 2 table spoon of sugar and flour. DONE!

Step 5: Pour it in a pan, bake for 15 minutes. DING! Oven’s ready!

Total Time: 60 minutes.

I gotta say, that was pretty easy! My favorite part was probably hammering the crap out of that brick of chocolate.

I have to admit, the flourless chocolate cake didn’t come out looking too pretty and it tasted so so. Knowing that there is a stick and a half of butter in it really turned me off from eating it. It’s usually like that when I bake so, solution? Co-workers! Brought it to work, it was gone by noon! Love it! Next project!

Lately I’ve had the biggest thing for Chocolates! Got a new recipe I’ll be trying out this weekend. I’ll be making Chocolate Truffles! After seeing Alton Brown’s “Art of Darkness III” episode I couldm’t stop thinking about making my own chocolate truffles!

I have a brick of 100% pure coco i got from my sister in France. I figure what better way to use that up than Truffles right? The recipe looks easy enough. Anyone got any pointers before I try this out this weekend?

Here is the Chocolate Truffle Recipe if anyone is interested.

The past few days, I’ve been watching Good Eats on Food TV. The show just happens to be on when I got home the past few weeks. I have to admit, at first I thought Alton Brown was a bit lame and the whole show was totally cheesy. I don’t know what happened but one day, it clicked, and I love the show now. I like the little tips he has about the food, though I still thinks most of the show is cheesy, he really has some great tips!

I’ll be posting lots of things from his show going forward. His recipes are great!

I had an eventful weekend in San Francisco.  Weather was great and the food was excellent.

Weekend Events Included:

• Vau De Vire at the Supper Club
• Day trip to Sausalito by ferry
• Shopped at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market
• China Town Grocery Shopping on Stockton
• A nice picnic in the park
• Great Dim Sum
• Tapas at First Crush

I particularly loved going to farmer’s markets. No matter if it is the sunday market by the Que in Lyon or the small street market down the street from my house, there is just something about the open market that I can’t get enough of.

You wonder why SF’s food is so good? When you visit their market you’ll see why. Everything is so fresh and beautiful, no wonder the food is so great! I walked around the market taking pictures. The fruits and vegetables were so wonderful, I figure it would be great to capture them for some stock photos.

At Sausalito I had Oysters and wine at the Horizon. The restaurant sits right on the water over looking the bay. Definately worth going for the view but the food didn’t come across as very unique in anway.

So I watch about 2 to 3 cooking shows a day. Keep in mind I am a very easily influenced person. On every show there was a Kitchen Aid Mixer! Of course they use it like you couldn’t cook without it. Then a few weeks ago I went to the mall and walked into Williams-Sonoma (one of my favorite stores) there they were… at the front of the store, lined up in multiple colors, sitting at a slight angle with the ceiling lights beaming on them reflecting an angle like shine. It was like a car dealership… it said “BUY ME!”.

Of course such professional culinary machinery does not come with a cheap price. I had to wait to get my own. Since then, I’ve been devising plans to try to get this mixer for free. Should I put it on my wedding registry?… no that’ll take too long! Should I start saving up for one? nope that takes too long too! I had to have one NOW and I don’t want to pay for it! DING! there it was, an idea!

With a hopeful heart I browsed through my credit card’s reward program catalogue and there it was! THE KitchenAid Professional 5-plus Stand Mixer right in front of me. Thanks to my obsessive shopping habits the past 3 years, I had enough points for it! It is now in the mail. I’ve already started a list of things i’ll be making with this mixer and all the mixer accessories I could get. Got any ideas or suggestions? Let me know!

I’m really into electronic gadgets so I have to know everything about what I’m getting so here are the specifications.

KITCHENAID “5-Quart Stand Mixer” has a professional-level motor. The Professional 5 Plus Series mixer can effectively mix up to 12 cups of all-purpose flour per recipe. Bowl-lift design raises the mixing bowl into place for professional stability. Durable direct drive transmission, all-steel gears, and rugged , all-metal construction combine for the ultimate in craftsmanship. Enhanced electronic sensor maintains precise speed. 10-Speed control and Soft Start mixing feature. Hinged hub cover for attachments. Includes flat beater, PowerKnead spiral dough hook, and stainless steel professional wire whip. 450W. Dimensions: 11.3″W x 16.5″H x 14.6″D.Color: Chrome.

Wow… finally! After all this talk about blogs and pretty much everyone having one, I finally started my own! Food is a big part of my life. I love to cook, eat, and watch food. Yes watch. The Food Network is my favorite channel and well, the Japanese Iron Chef is just the holy grail of Food on television. I’ll get into that later on. But in this blog you’ll find my experiences with restaurants, cooking, wine, cookware, food TV, spices, anything food related! Enjoy!

Thanks to Dana N. who helped me set this up.