The problem with hearing overly descriptive sex kwento from people is that if it’s the actual “star of the story” telling, or I know the person being spoken about, I can’t help but imagine.
Sometimes it’s just bleurgggghhhhh.
Monthly Archive for October, 2005
After church on Sundays we usually pass by Bay Bread on Pine Street for some breakfast treats.
Once we had one of their delicious salmon quiches, and I’ve had some of their prepared ham and butter baguettes. Their montecristo looks like a lot of ham and cheese in toasted buttery bread, I’ll probably try that one of these days too heehe.
J always gets a couple of their macarons which are crisp-chewy nut meringue cookies with a butter cream filling. He’s pretty picky about them, and when we were in Manila I couldn’t understand why he would grimace when he took a bite of the macarons from Bizu. Now I get it. These macarons are much much better. You get a slight crunch when your teeth goes through the outer portion, then your teeth goes through the nutty airy middle and then sink into the chewy center where the cream mixes with the moister slightly gooey macaron middle. Yummacious.
I love the canneles, which are airy little caramel butter treats that go great with strong coffee.
Here’s a closeup of that little goodie. It’s an airy chewy little butter cake with a very thin caramel outer skin. Can you imagine sinking your choppers into one of these?
It was my first birthday spent with my husband, and my first birthday in San Francisco, and my first birthday with me being wala na sa kalendaryo — so yes, you could say it was really something to celebrate.
J, who knows my affection for all food, decided to book a dinner at Aqua, which is supposed to be one of SF’s best fine-dining restaurants. I have to say I was really chuffed when he told me, as in Manila I had always been frustrated by my lack of money and thus my inability to eat (and pig out on foie gras) at Lolo Dads.
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Side kwento: I had originally thought that jeans with a nice sweater and heels would be ok for eating at Aqua, as the reviews said the dress code was business casual, but a call to the restaurant about an hour before we were to leave left me in a bit of a tizzy because the person J spoke with said jeans were not allowed. WTF??? Luckily I had some church clothes I felt were acceptable enough to wear (I wasn’t too happy about I was going to wear, but what if I was denied entrance because of my clothes 
)
When we got there, some people at the bar were in jeans…but what the hey I was too dazzled by the selection of dishes I found on their website to care. But yes, if you do pop in in jeans, they will allow you to enter heeh.
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J decided to order the 7-course tasting menu for our dinner. It really was quite the production, with our plates and cutlery getting changed with every new course. The portions were teeny, but in the end everything turned out just right because nothing was too large to stuff us before we ended the feast.
The waiters were very attentive, constantly checking if we were ok…if we wanted more wine, more sourdough or olive rolls, water, anything. And it was interesting how they would serve some of the food unmixed and then perform the final touches like ladling the sauce or mixing the ingredients while explaining what was in the dish and how it was prepared (I was almost expecting to hear the pedigree of the vegetables and the fish hahah).
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You know the drill. Here is my rundown.
Sourdough or Olive rolls with butter
I like sourdough, but J got the olive rolls and they really were better. Doesn’t matter, they kept refilling the bread anyway so I got a taste of both. Nice and crusty, and just the thing to keep you busy while they prepare your food.
complimentary appetizer of
Pumpkin Soup and a Taro chip with some dip on top
(sorry I know this doesn’t sound like a very good description, but I cannot figure out what was on the solitary chip other than that it had some cream and lemon on it heh)
Smoked Sturgeon Cannoli
American Caviar, Chives, Lemon Condiment
This was a small lumpia like appetizer. The crisp wrapper was filled with a cream cheesy lemony sturgeon filling and was drizzled with caviar that popped of the sea when you bit it.
Tartare of Ahi Tuna
Moroccan Spices, Lemon Confit, Fresh Herbs
I really really liked this. The recipe on Aqua’s site gives you a better idea of what was in it. The fish was firm and fresh and I got an Indian / Mideastern vibe from the flavor (must be the cumin). They served the ingredients separately on a plate and the waiter mixed the dish after running through a list of the ingredients. If I had a lot of money I would have this at least once a week.
Parmesan-Black Pepper Soufflé
Dungeness Crab, Sea Urchin, Chive Butter
Good, but not my favorite dish. I found the souffle a tad too salty, although spooning the sea urchin-chive butter mixture into the souffle tempered the saltiness a bit. The dungeness crab came lying on a tiny teaspoon and I swear I didn’t gobble the entire serving in a single bite.
Artisan Foie Gras
Almonds, Muscat Grapes, Smoked Duck, Shallot Sherry Sauce
Now, this is my favorite. It was a large chunk of foie gras quivering on a bed on grapes, nuts and sauce. The foie gras was seared perfectly and melted in my mouth (aaaaaahhh the memory), and the sidings kept the dish from getting ma-umay. If I ever eat in Aqua again I will get a full order.
White Sturgeon en Papillotte
Speck Ham, Swiss Chard, Cranberry Bean Mushroom Jus
The white fish and a sliver of ham were wrapped in the chard. Very delicate. The sauce gave it a nice interesting bite. I now know via google research that this was steamed in a paper pouch, hence en Papilotte.
New York Sirloin
Early Girl Tomatoes, Creamed Spinach, Bordelaise
3 slices of nice rare steak with a creamy sauce. I ignored the tomatoes and only had a bite of the spinach because I was getting a bit filled up. The spinach had cream and leeks in it. This is Aqua’s only meat dish on the dinner menu.
palate cleanser
Peppermint Sorbet
Juicy Fruit on ice
dessert course
Pear Soufflé with Lemon Verbena Infused Fall Fruits
Delicious and fluffy. In the fruit and syrup here was an unidentifiable (to me) red seed that popped with tart berriness when you bit it. Could this be pomegranate?
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I’m not a wine person (too much cheap alcohol in my college years must have killed my taste buds, but hey, we’re a short drive away from Sonoma so there could be hope for me yet) so all I know is that we had a Riesling to go with the first four courses, and a pinot noir to go with the last three. I of course ended everything with a cup of hot coffee to help brace me for the cold outside.
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Can you believe we started at 8:00pm and ended at 10:30pm?? Now wasn’t that the works??
Tagged by my fellow temporary homemaker Pia 
- I have a very low tolerance for too cold and too hot temperatures
- I get unnaturally attached to the person who cuts my hair
- I would starve myself just so I could buy something I want (usually clothes or shoes)
- I am fascinated by gory, violent, and dark films
- I memorize the refrain to the song Xta Si - Xta No (it goes like this. chikitam chikitam chikititamtamtam ketumpapa ketumpa kete kete ketumpapa ketumpa kete X ta SI X ta NO repeat as required)
- I write in red ink
- I like animals more than most people
- I get kilig by the thought of food
- The main reason I exercise is so I can eat a lot
- I wear a pink tweed hat with a flower on it
- To date I have only done laundry myself 3 times in my life
- I can survive an entire day foodless — with only coffee. For longer periods I would need coffee and cigarettes
- I warm my hands in the husbands armpits
- I have 4 plants — a mother fern, a holiday cactus, a kalanchoe, and a monster shell plant; and I want a mini lavender pot, or a gardenia or grape bonsai to complete my family
- I love heels but hate walking in them
- I can only drive stick. I keep switching gears on automatic.
- When the husband does an overnighter at work I sleep with all the lights on because I am still afraid of night monsters
- I chat or speak with family in Manila everyday
- I have driven a car since I was 14 and now that I am in SF I realize I don’t understand the meaning of most road and street signs (driving in Manila is baaad training)
- I’m nervous about interviewing for jobs because for the longest time I was the one doing the interviewing.
Your turn
The week I got to SF we had dinner with Evelyn, J’s sister, who was in town on vacation. We ended up at The House in Grant Street.
I would say that the food was Asian / Fusion as I cannot classify their food into a specific country cuisine. Doesn’t matter though, the food was GREAT. You must try this restaurant when you are in SF.
It’s a pity that J didn’t have a camera with him because the food looked as good as it tasted. I have noticed recently that I usually start gobbling before thinking to take pictures so maybe even if the equipment was present it wouldn’t really make a difference haha.
Here’s what we had.
Foie gras on Shiitake mushrooms, with a sweet sauce I really don’t know what was in this sauce but it was delicious delicious delicious, at par with the foie gras of Aqua.
Deep-fried salmon roll with chinese hot mustard Oh this was terrific. The salmon was wrapped in a crisp thin wonton wrapper and partially seared. After the initial crisp crunch, the fish just melted in my mouth. And the hot mustard clears your nasal passages just like wasabi.
Seared tuna on a bed of greens with a ginger sesame sauce Delicious, but was overshadowed by the foie gras and salmon roll
Warm wasabi house noodles with angus flatiron steak Pretty good, the wasabi noodles were mildly biting…but I have to say House’s strength is in their small plates (appetizers)
Dark chocolate truffle cake with pecans a la mode (bitter macadamia ice cream) with some heavenly syrup I cannot remember what it is called (my brain cells must have short-circuited from all the yumminess) I could have finished this all by myself, but shared with Evelyn and J…still, even a third was good enough
I went home with a happy tummy
I consider haircuts therapy, and even have this superstition that if things are not going well in my life, a haircut would bring about changes in my situation.
For the longest time I would get my hair cut (and colored — when I needed that extra boost) by Alex at Propaganda, and I trust him so much that I don’t even give him instructions. I just say “bahala ka”, sit back, and leave happy with my new hair. He’s almost like family, and he and my mom (whos hair he used to cut as well) get along like 2 thieves on a job. He did my wedding makeup as well, without a trial session, and because he knows what I like he was able to give me that “I am not sweet and will never be, but hey I can still look good and bridey, right?” look I wanted.
So it was with much worries that I left Manila without getting a last cut from him. I just didn’t have the time — I was working at the office until 3AM of the day I left for SF and even then I feel I wasn’t done with my work. Heeh.
Although I did see the value of having long hair once I got to SF (you gotta cover your ears and nape when it’s cold and windy or you’ll be sorry), I just felt that my current hair was so BLAH. Maid-hair, my chatmate Autumn calls it. A sorry mess that is best tied back to keep everything away from your face.
But TADAH! I have found a new hair guy (salawahan ako so sue me). His name is John and he made me feel welcome and relaxed as soon as I walked into the salon. He asked me what I wanted (something more stylish than this broom I call hair, shorter, maybe nape-length? with some bangs, and oh– I hate fixing my hair so it’s gotta be low maintenance), gave me a shampoo with this great minty stuff, and snipetty snipped away while we chatted about interior design, haircuts in general, loafing, cooking, etc.
So I’m now the proud owner of a nice layered bob with sideswept bangs, and the hair’s passed the next day test (you know that test — when you wash and try to fix your hair the next day you see whether the look was the result of a good blow-out and expensive haircreams, or whether you’ve got the real mccoy good cut). John’s a keeper.
Happy Happy thats me.
So I finally got to San Francisco after much to-ing and fro-ing due to marriage certificate issues, visa issues, and mom’s being sick.
It’s a beautiful place, and although I went through a lot of shivering in the first few days, I’ve actually adjusted enough to go out with only a short sleeved shirt. (J says it’s been unusually warm for October though, so it looks like further adjustment on the temperature front is needed).
We live in the Richmond District, which is a short walk to Clement Street — where you find a lot of asian groceries and a cool bookstore of new and used books called the Green Apple, and Haight Street - home of the hippies in the 60s. So far I’ve been to a couple vineyards at Alexander Valley (J bought wine, I bought pickles), some great restaurants, and once J and I even ventured downtown Union Square.
I’m also enjoying my (temporary) hiatus from fulltime work. And surprisingly, homekeeping is not as distasteful / terrifying to me as I imagined. Between you and me, I think J was a bit worried I would cook nothing but SPAM and toasted bread…but I’ve actually been quite the cook (thanks to the internet and a book I found at Green Apple called “The Spur of the Moment Cook”). Can you believe I have a “Potato and Parsnip Gratin” waiting in the fridge? I do. Really.
To my joy I still get to be involved with our Manila office. Mostly checking documentation and admin, with the occassional cad work and planning. It was really serendipitious that on the week I was leaving I got a call from Liza, one of my best friends, asking me if I knew of any job openings that were not on a night shift (she was at a callcenter for 2 years and was still recovering from the messed up hours). I spoke with Aer my partner about her, and we offered her a job as our Office Manager — job description was manage the office, do some marketing work, and play with our cats hehe. She started immediately and it has been wonderful. She is smart, efficient, cheerful (something our office really needs as we are a bunch of workaholic asshole grumps), and she loves pets And she gets along with Aer, whom we call “the DIVA” as he is bitchier and more demanding than I am sometimes.
And finally being with J? Well, what can I say…I waited 14 years for this and I am so not disappointed.
Yikes. So much kwento and I haven’t started yet.
I arrived in San Francisco last Saturday, and have been enjoying time with J. We’ve been around a bit already, and have gone to quite a number of nice restaurants (more posts on these later).
And…..I actually cooked It wasn’t too bad either heehe.
More to follow
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