The fog rolled in so quickly, I barely got a chance to capture Golden Gate Bridge...
Theme Music: Otis Redding's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay"
I've been so busy I haven't had enough time to update my blog in weeks, but alas, sometimes this is the way the cookie crumbles...
But here's a little piece of what I've been experiencing these last few weeks:
From August 18-23, I was on a whirlwind tour of San Francisco as I prepared to cook for an intimate party that my friend, Dave, was hosting for me.
Monday, August 18,2008
I arrive at the San Francisco airport at 8:30PM, eat some sushi (with lemon juice, not soy sauce)as I wait for Dave's plane to arrive from Colorado.
After we unpacked a bit and got settled, we met at the Clift Hotel in the Redwood Bar and got caught up over a bottle of champagne and some major people watching.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
My first day there, we popped into Cafe Gratitude, which is a well known a gluten-free, vegan restaurant in the Bay area, where I discovered that I was succulent (grapefruit, apple, celery and mint freshly squeezed juice) and passionate (gluten-free marinara pizza).
Everything on the menu is named after a positive self-affirmation, and as we dined in the back room, flooded with sunlight and the low hum of meditative music, we planned our path through the Presidio and what would become of the rest of the week.
Everything was delicious, although I was disappointed with my pizza crust as I was anticipating something akin to the 'real thing,' but was instead presented with what looked like a flax-seed cardboard insert. Thank goodness everything on top was incredible; the marinara was surprisingly bright and fresh with a healthy dose of garlic and a touch of lemon that made the mind keep asking for another bite. Furthermore, the greens looked as though they had been picked that morning they were so fresh and their hummus is some of the best that I've ever had. Period.
What with the ambiance and the wave after tattooed wave of wait-persons delivering, smiling and taking away our plates, I felt an ebb of humanity well up inside me, grateful that I'd gotten the chance to experience a restaurant where everyone and everything in there had been chosen with meticulous care, with each and every smile that lept across our table a genuine representation of shared ideas and passion for living in a very specific, healthy way.
As we paid the bill and gathered our things, I too found myself grinning from ear to ear as I was so very happy to be back in San Francisco after an 11 year absence.
After lunch, we took a driving tour that included stops at Baker's Beach, the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Lombard Street, and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Diego Rivera's famous mural, "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City, 1931." 
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
As is always my custom, I always enjoy a nice brisk walk through the city that I'm staying in so I can get a genuine feel for the place. Plus I needed to go by Williams Sonoma to purchase two tart pans, two pie pans, pastry scrappers, sanding sugar, a rolling pin, and almond extract, so I slid on my flats and slipped out the door, headed for Union Square which was only about six blocks away...
Upon my return, I ran into the famous San Francisco twins, Vivian A. Brown and Marian B. Brown who were headed to Knob Hill Restaurant for lunch and who have lived in San Francisco their entire lives...it doesn't get much more genuine than that!
Wednesday was was all about product research. We searched high and low for gluten free products that I would need for the party on Thursday (tomorrow) evening and it proved to be far more daunting than we thought.
Our first stop was at Wah Sing Supermarket, where I found my new favorite ingredient, glutenous white rice flour, along with tapioca and cornstarch. Then we hit up Andronico's Market in search of almond meal and guar gum, and came up with a whole lot of nothing. Surprised, we then zipped over to and Real Food Co. and it too proved to be a bust...
I couldn't believe it! What the heck was going on? We didn't have time to dash over to Whole Foods, but the reality had made itself known: one cannot ever assume that you will be able to find the gluten free products you absolutely need while baking in an unexplored city. Shocked, I settled for Xantham Gum to make my ends meet, no pun intended...and Dave was a power trooper. He absolutely would not give up the search until we completely ran out of time, which, as always, impresses me to no end.
Plus, we still had another day to procure our list of ingredients, so we calmed down and got ready for the evening's events: which turned out to be catching the Fabulous Thunderbirds while eating sushi and for dessert? We headed over to the famous Filmore to see the new German glam-rock band, Tokio Hotel. Never mind we were probably the oldest people in attendance with the exception of a few grown-up chaperons; there was nothing adolescent about their performance. With the lead singer at the tender age of 18, he made it quite evident that he was the real McCoy, not a lip-sync hing creation.
And for those of you who have never been to the Fillmore, one of the coolest things about the place are the concert posters. They have a poster for every single concert that has been held there, so I too was like a child, staring with my mouth ever-so slightly agape at the vastness of the posters. Every inch of wall space was covered and as we descended the stairs to leave, there is an employee that hands out posters for all the concert-goers...
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Today was all about final food purchases, which included going by Dave's friend's house, Jeffe, to gather fresh nectarines for the cobbler and swinging by Swan's Oyster Depot to pick up the smoked salmon and the crab meat, then driving out to his friend Jon's house for the baking/cooking to commence...
Just look at that spread! It was even more beautiful in person!!!!
Our drive over the golden gate bridge was actually one of my favorite moments of the trip, because as your car is flying past those massive cables, and the fog is hanging in the air, for a split second, it feels like you are floating through the air; seconds later, the fog dissolved and we were back on the road...
Our last stop was The Woodland Market to pick up the grass-fed beef for the grill and the bacon for the alsacian tart (caramelized bacon tart) that I was planning on making.
The moment we walked in the door, we immediately set to baking and cooking. There were crab quesadillas, fresh lump crab meat with lemon juice and cocktail sauce, smoked salmon with creme fraische and red onion, succulent steaks, a garden fresh gigantic salad with a shallot dressing and then the baked goods. For the main course, my contribution was the alsacian tart and for dessert, I made a nectarine cobbler served with organic vanilla ice cream.
However, a large group of the attendees were going on a road trip together and asked if I could make something for them to take with them, so I made them a care package that included two apple pies, a batch of almond biscotti, both ways, and a batch of the almond kisses.
Everyone was gracious, warm and above all shocked that everything that I prepared for them was gluten free because they like everything so much! It made me feel so fantastic, I'm pretty sure I blushed a time or two...
Friday, August 22, 2008
Today, our focus was relaxing and resting up in preparation for the Out Lands Festival that Dave somehow managed to get VIP Passes to!!!!
It was freezing cold, but we got to see Howling Rain, Manu Chow and Radiohead. It was my first big festival in I don't know how long and it was incredible!!! Beck also played, but on a stage that was too hard to access, so we didn't make it, but we were there to see Radiohead and see them we did...
As I stood out there, in the green of the grass, although it was dark lest for the electric neon pinks and blues that blared between flashes of white like the birth of an idea, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
