I smell Chinese food. No, not like the dead people thing. Like I am currently smelling Chinese food, and it’s driving me insane. One, because Chris is sitting across from me wolfing down white corn tortilla chips, which in no way can or should smell like Chinese food. And two, because I’m fairly certain I’ll begin gnawing on the Pottery Barn catalog if a platter of black bean chow fun does not find its way into my face in the next 60 seconds. Perhaps I’m being just a touch dramatic. And now I’m hardly sure where to go from here. … Read More
Gorgonzola Grilled Plums with Maple Syrup & Chilies

Sometimes there are those evenings when all you want to do is rip open a bag of chips, pour them into a bowl and grab a spoon. Sometimes the spoon is totally optional. (Duh, who eats chips with a spoon?) Sometimes you find yourself with crumbies all up in the micro-knit of the corporate polo you’re wearing. Always you fear what will happen if hubby learns just how many of those crumbies ended up on the couch. Maybe you got down real close and carefully removed each little piece of evidence with the tip of your tongue. Maybe you didn’t. No … Read More
Minted Spring Pea Paté on Crostini (also, #HeatWave2013)

Today has been kind of ridiculous. To start, it’s almost triple-digits here in the Bay Area. Which means, oh, I dunno, it’s almost intolerably hot. I say almost, of course, because it’s actually quite lovely when you take into account the perfect excuse it makes for a beach day. Think tanning, picnic, young adult novels galore and ice cream. Marianne’s Ice Cream, just to be clear. Studded with toffee-coffee goodness and stacked doubly tall in not one but two crannied waffle cones. (The gang’s all here.) Just try and tell me how wonderful a Saturday that does not make. Go ahead. … Read More
Crispy Carnitas-Style Pork Belly & Spanish Rice

It’s no secret I like pork. It’s perhaps even more common knowledge that I like pork belly. But did you know that in the world o’ pig I’ve also got a soft spot for carnitas? Something about the juxtaposition of tender and juicy against crisp, nutty, brown. It’s pork simmered in pork fried in pork. That’s like a Hello Kitty pen-pencil wrapped in a Lisa Frank folder wrapped in a Trapper Keeper, ya dig? It just doesn’t get better. But wait. Maybe it does get better. Maybe the Trapper Keeper is actually a Caboodle. Full of scrunchies and adjustable neon … Read More
Dilled Salmon & White Bean Pot Pies

Ya’ll ready for this? You guys are going to be totally jay. My bestie Kev and I are hitting the SF resto scene pretty hard this weekend as a belated celebration of our dirty 30’s — and it’s been deefreekinglicious. We’ve made friends with things like ramp kimchi foam and barely cooked farm eggs and maitake mushrooms swimming in browned butter and housemade pork sausages with caramelized bacon greens. Caramelized. Bacon. Greens. Yes, they’re a thing, and now we’re totally buddies. Also, you better believe I just got to spend the afternoon hanging with that pretty lady Gina and her … Read More

