Let's start with Saturday. Ate lunch at Absinthe with the Wood family - always an incredibly delicious gastronomic experience. Absinthe is a upscale French bistro, featuring one of the best French Onion soups I've ever had. And I don't know if this picture does the croque monsieur any justice, but it was truly awesome.
Then we headed over to the Ferry Building for the farmer's market, only to find that the farmer's market closed at 2 (it was 3). We decided to wander around Sur La Table for a while - Tim needed to pick up some odds and ends for his apartment - and I became entranced by the knife demonstration table, where I fell madly in love with a Shun Santoku 7-inch knife. To give a little context, I've been working with dull steak knives for the past few weeks, and it's made life very difficult. This Shun knife cuts everything like butter (even my fingernail - the polish didn't even chip!), and I'll have free blade sharpenings for life.
After getting Mom's seal of approval, I decided to splurge on the knife, and as we were walking out of the store, Tim's parents surprised me with an impromptu gift: a Mini-Cuisinart!!! I was totally floored. I think they like me? With the cuisinart and the knife, my culinary abilities have increased exponentially (we didn't even have a blender). I can't wait to make a nice pesto, or salsa, or dough, or anything, really.
Saturday night, we put my knife to good use making Tim's parents a 25th anniversary dinner. Tim, Lauren, and I made heirloom tomato pasta salad, fennel-rubbed pork tenderloin with roasted fennel, curry hangar steak with melon-cucumber salsa, and a chocolate raspberry clafoutis. We didn't eat until about 10, and after 9 hours of no food and 3 glasses of wine, I had to put myself to bed (discreetly) at 11. Oops?
Sunday - went to the gym, reorganized the kitchen, and headed down to Palo Alto to have dinner with Pattie. We hung out at Kepler's for a while - I got all sorts of great recommendations for books to put on my library queue! - then went to Darbar, for a stunningly delicious meal. Pattie even gave me the leftovers, so I was able to reexperience it again today for lunch :)
Today was an absolutely stunning day, weather-wise. I went for a run through Pac Heights which is where "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" might have been filmed, and I made mental notes of where I want to live when I grow up to be rich and famous. Then I went grocery shopping, and cooked all afternoon - branching out from 101 Cookbooks, I made Barley Risotto with Eggplant and Tomatoes (super tasty, but a lot of work!!!), and a sweet potato, beet salad with roast beef to take for lunch.
Anna Karenina is building steam. Anna is being hysterical (I actually think she's clinically depressed), but Levin finally got his act together and got engaged. 450 pages down, 350 to go - and then I'm moving on to "The Worst Hard Times", which Pattie gave me yesterday with rave reviews. Can't wait!
A Ginzu knife must be just as good! Dad
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