Monthly Archives: December 2008

New Year’s Eve

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We had a nice low key New Year’s Eve celebration at Kat & Jon’s place in Russian Hill. Kat whipped up a yummy meal of seafood fettuccine and tomato baby greens salad. We had cocktails, wine, and champagne to enjoy while waiting for midnight.

I made a dessert which turned out pretty good that I think I’m going to try again to improve on it. The base recipe comes from Big, Soft, Chewy Cookies by Jill Van Cleave. It’s the recipe for raspberry bars but I didn’t have raspberries so used applesauce and this Korean tea made with fruits, on wikipedia, it is referred to as mogwa cha.

So here’s the recipe to try:

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar plus 1 tbsp for garnish
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind (substitute 1/4 tsp lemon juice)
1/4 tsp ginger
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds (I used pecans)
1/4 cup quick-cook oats
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup raspberry fruit or preserves (I used 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup mogwa cha, the Korean tea is syrupy sticky so the applesauce was to thin it out a bit)

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Cream 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter and confectioners’ sugar
3. Add lemon rind, ginger, and 1 cup flour. Mix to form a smooth dough. Spread into an ungreased 8-inch square baking pan and press to pack evenly in the bottom
4. Bake until crust is set but not brown, about 15 minutes.
5. While crust is baking, combine remaining 1/2 cup flour with almonds, brown sugar, quick-cook oats, and baking powder in a bowl and mix together. Add the remaining 1/4 (1/2 stick) butter and stir until mixture is crumbly (using a fork helps)
6. When crust is done baking, place pan on rack and spread fruit spread onto hot crust and spread evenly
7. Sprinkle almond-oats-brown sugar topping (step 5) over fruit filling and press down lightly. Return to oven and bake until topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes.
8. Place pan on a rack and let cool; sift 1 tbsp confectioners’ sugar evenly over the top and cut into bars
9. Store cookies in the baking pan at room temp for up to 5 days

Sorry no pics, I forgot again to take some before they got gobbled up.

We watched the ball drop on TV in NY at 9pm and again at midnight and watched the SF fireworks from their living room window…

They have a beautiful view from their apt, I didn’t bring my dad’s digital SLR but I’m sure there will be time again when I can take more pics.

Happy New Year!

Tony’s Cable Car Restaurant

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http://www.tonyscablecar.com/Welcome.html

I had a craving for burgers tonight. Ron says because I’m low in iron so my body is sending me signals to eat red meat.

Anyways, we decided to try Tony’s Cable Car Restaurant which is a few blocks from where we live. The burgers were fresh and hot and the onion rings crispy and oily… yum… (and ick at the same time).

I had the sauteed mushroom burger. It was so thick I could hardly fit it in my mouth to get everything in one bite. By the end it felt apart and I had to eat it in pieces.

The onion rings were freshly fried and a bit oily but yummy.

Ron had the rib eye sandwich. The meat was a bit tough but a good sized sandwich.

We shared a banana shake. Hit the spot at the end of the greasy meal.

This place is much better than McD, BK, Jack, etc. The burgers were freshly prepared and still had a good amount of fresh vegetables inside, makes you feel sort of healthy still 😛

Tony’s Cable Car Restaurant
2500 Geary Blvd

@ Spot Lounge once again

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http://www.myspace.com/sfspotlounge

We seem to be frequenting this place quite a lot… I guess we just have to finish introducing our friends to the yummy soju cocktails then we’ll stop going there as often… although the yogurt mix wasn’t very good this time around. Very sweet and a bit too thick.

We ordered something new this time around, a sort of stew with beef, tofu, ramen, rice cakes, and spicy broth. If you want it really spicy you have to ask for it or else it comes out kind of bland.

We also tried the seafood pancake but it wasn’t as good as the one we had down the street at Shin Toe Bul Yi.

The stew is something pretty easy to make at home as long as you have some sort of crock pot, electric wok, hot pot, etc. The broth can be bought and you can buy spices and all the ingredients you want.

Christmas in San Ramon

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We had Christmas dinner at my parents’ house in San Ramon. I baked this orange buttermilk pudding cake (thanks Susan & Ken for the Tartine cookbook!). It was pretty cool because it separated as it was baked. It was one homogeneous mixture when I put it into the dish and as it baked, it naturally separated. Unfortunately, when we reheated it for dessert, it “melted” so I think this dessert is best eaten fresh. It still had a nice flavor, just bad texture.

To entertain myself while waiting for dinner, I played dress up with my parents’ dog Happy. They had bought all these outfits for her but she doesn’t really like to wear them. I was surprised when she let me dress her up without too much of a struggle.

Here are her Halloween outfits:

Here is her “Happy Meter” outfit, she wags her tail like crazy usually but she was a bit pre-occupied since she wanted to get near my dad who was in the other room.

We bought this bunny outfit while in Bali, Indonesia and saw this cute store selling these dog outfits. Unfortunately, it is a bit small because her neck is a bit long so the bunny ears don’t really sit on her head. But look at the cute puff ball tail!

I bought Happy a Santa hat with matching scarf for Christmas.

This is the outfit my parents brought her home in, a bit small now so she looks like a “muscle dog”. She’s filled in quite a bit for winter too.

Here’s a random photo Ron took, my parents have a five bulb light fixture and this is the light shining through a glass of port. Neat-o.

Happy is a really sweet dog. Only thing is that she gets overly excited when someone new comes into the house and her bladder lets loose.

Taiwan Restaurant

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http://www.yelp.com/biz/t…t-san-francisco

Blast from the past… Ron and I used to go to Taiwan Restaurant in Berkeley on weekends for Taiwanese breakfast. We were driving on Clement the other day and noticed Taiwan Restaurant… Ron got excited since the way the name was displayed seemed almost exactly like the place in Berkeley. So we decided to check it out this morning.

We were disappointed the restaurant still treated Friday after Christmas as a weekday so they didn’t have all the weekend specialties. Oh well, just means we’ll have to visit again on a weekend! Also, it looks exactly the same as the Taiwan Restaurant in Berkeley so we think it’s the same owner, the decorations are the same, the menu is the same… yay!

We ordered soy milk, hot and sweet. It actually wasn’t very hot so when you add your own sugar, it doesn’t quite dissolve.

I can’t remember what this dish is called, I know it as bamboo rice with meat in a can. Ron says when he was a little kid in Taiwan, they would eat these as a late night snack. It was kept in a tin can and heated until ready to eat.

Fried turnip cake.

The youtiao was a bit more dense than we usually like it but it does soak up the soy milk well.

This is my favorite Taiwanese snack, called ba-wan. Outside is a glutinous rice “shell” and inside usually is pork with bamboo shoots and mushrooms. The “shell” can be yummy when its the right amount of stickness but can also be quite tough if overcooked or reheated too many times. In Taiwan, they are kept warm in a large vat of heated oil, sounds disgusting but it does keep it at a very nice temperature. It’s served with two sauces, sweet and savory.

Our breakfast came out to be $13, plus $2 tip.

Afterwards we went to check out Marley & Me. I cried. I don’t want a golden retriever and I love my cats, but I still really want a dog.

Taiwan Restaurant
445 Clement Street