A San Francisco Breakfast Adventure

A tamale is a traditional Mexican dish made of masa – a soft, tasty dough made from cornmeal.  It’s filled with something yummy – usually some combination of meats, cheese, and chilies and then steamed in a cornhusk.  There are sweet versions too but for the purpose of this educational post we will focus on the savory version.  Tamales are generally considered comfort food and they are quite labor intensive to make – so I hear.

Now, let me tell you about tamales from a purely gringo point of view.  If you are a really lucky white-girl gringoette who hasn’t had twenty years of tamale training you might know someone who knows someone and you can buy a dozen or so yummy tamales from the back of a truck and keep them frozen.   When convenient you can pop them in the microwave and enjoy some warm, steamy masa loving.   Unfortunately, like any pusher these people cannot always be relied upon to provide a fix whenever you feel like it.

What is reliable is the absolutely, mind-blowing delicious tamales that Primavera sells at the farmers’ market at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal on Saturday mornings.  Nestled in the middle of an epicurean playground of gourmet coffee, organic produce, salumi vendors and more is the yummiest tamale you will find unless you have a Mexican grandma connection somewhere.   (Not familiar with the term salumi?  Check out these guys.)

This first picture is the breakfast L and I enjoyed on Saturday. 

This is the gorgeous view of San Francisco bay we enjoyed while devouring them. 

Tamales are eaten at both breakfast and dinner.  We chose the single tamale option because – well look at it!  Two of these yummy chicken stuffed treats smothered in that damn fine mole sauce might have induced a food coma and we needed to be alert for the farmers’ market exploration. 

And once I had entered my partial food coma, this gorgeous Blue Bottle latte helped keep me alert.  

All in this delightful breakfast experience set me back $7.95. FYI, these are all iPhone photos - hastily snapped.   And that dear readers, was my Saturday morning.  

Thai Yum Yum

I went to Osha Thai on 2nd Street in San Francisco last night for a quick bite with some colleagues before heading to a cocktail party.  The food was so pretty I wanted to grab a few snaps with my iPhone before we devoured our feast.  We had lots of other items but we were all so hungry I didn't want to keep my friends waiting.  Here were a few of the prettiest dishes:

These little beauties were actually called "Sexy Salmon" and I think salmon has now officially replaced tuna as my favorite raw fish.

These were some Thai style springrolls.  I love these fresh springrolls with the crunchy veggie centers and shrimp.  The spicy peanut sauce is super yummy too!

 

The Rain Came Early

It’s been raining like crazy here. We go seven or eight months without a speck of rain and then we get a deluge. Last week we had a huge storm and I did not have power for almost four days. Yesterday it rained so hard the water was bursting up like geysers through the sewer grates and manhole covers in San Francisco.

Last week, before the rains began, I put my old $20 Montreal garage sale rocking chair on the patio. A wooden rocking chair from Eaton’s that someone had for twenty years before me and I have had for the last eleven. The rain caused the maple seat to split into three pieces. The poor chair was not even as old as me and now it’s firewood.

Despite my rocker’s untimely demise I still love the rain. I love that cool wetness. I love to curl up under my old lady quilt and listen to it rat-a-tat-tat on the skylight. It’s sad and sweet all at once.

Humor and Furniture Envy

I went to see Kathy Griffin in San Francisco with some friends. It was great. Damn, the lady is funny! I could go on about how entertaining she is but you probably already know that.

One thing I will say is this sitting in that San Francisco audience made me glad that I am “liberal, left and occasionally I read a paper,” as she put it. To the right wing - I feel sorry for you. That is all I will say on the matter.

But I did feel the need to make a short post on her and I found this cool publicity shot. Can’t you totally see me in a picture just like this one? Maybe someday I can do a photo shoot where I am clutching PR Week’s Golden Quill Award. Okay, that is just a joke - we all know I am far too lazy to go through the application process and I don't really believe in that type of award. But, I totally want that piece of furniture!

A Cuppy Meets a Cuppy

Two of my favorite things have now joined in gastronomic bliss. I talked about Blue Bottle Coffee before – San Francisco’s cult favorite source of caffeination. (Yes, I just made that word up.) Now you can get Blue Bottle Coffee at Kara’s Cupcakes. What sweet-toothed adult doesn’t love a dark chocolate cuppy with a cuppy of the best coffee you can find in the bay? (Yes, I also just coined cuppy.)

MMMMMMM. Taste bud happiness! I love both these businesses and not just because of their yummy product offerings. Both are San Francisco based small businesses and I am a big believer in supporting local business whenever possible.



Kara’s has five locations in the bay area and they are devoted to using locally sourced ingredients – which we all know helps minimize the carbon footprint. They will also donate or subsidize fundraising efforts for great causes. Recently, I helped my girlfriend M come up with a mini marketing campaign for her recent breast cancer fundraiser. Kara’s provided her with deeply discounted cupcakes which they topped with tiny pink frosting ribbons. Maria was able to raise several hundreds of dollars by giving the cupcakes to donors as incentives.



You know I have praised Blue Bottle Coffee before. They use organically grown, single origin beans from artisanal producers who sustainably grow and harvest their crops. Again, for me local, + organic = good. They sell beans within 48 hours of roasting and the cafés are hip without being pretentious.

Try them out together. I guarantee you will love them. I can’t wait to introduce these two favorites to W when he gets here in October!

San Francisco Saturday

Today (Saturday) should be a great day. I am heading into San Francisco to spend the day with L. We are going to spend some girl time shopping, blue bottle coffee maybe, followed by a nice dinner and then we go see Putting it Together, a revue showcasing the songs of Stephen Sondheim. The show tells the parallel stories of two couples, one older pair on the skids and one younger pair of new lovebirds. It’s supposed to include songs from Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, and other Sondheim hits.

For shopping we are going to hit up Nordstrom and Tory Burch. I have run out of perfume and Loren has her eye on some Tory Burch shoes. A few weeks ago I tried on the most awesome Tory Burch ballet flats. I am going to keep my eye on the sales to see if I can get them a bit cheaper. Sometimes, when I tell my boss I am going out to lunch he looks at my toes and says “I see you are going somewhere that does not require socks.” So, ballet flats might just fit the bill.