1. Hazelnut macaron from Miette
I explored SF while David was in meetings all day on Friday and I discovered my favorite place in the city: the Ferry Building. There is so much good food! I was literally walking and drooling the whole time. I had to keep telling myself, no Helen you are not hungry enough, do not get that cupcake or that ice cream. But then I saw the macarons at Miette and I had to give in. The jar of Hazelnut macarons were running out, so I knew that it must be the most popular flavor. I purchased and savored a single one (see how much self control I have? tee hee) and it was perfect: amazing texture, strong hazelnut flavor, and double the size of your average macaron. Win.
2. Company dinner at Town Hall
David's company treated us out to dinner on Friday night. There was a cocktail hour with unlimited apps (veal meatballs! fried chicken! cheese puffs!), drinks, and a seafood bar. I had a ball at the seafood bar in particular because unlimited mussels, clams, and lobster tail is a dream come true for me. Dinner consisted of four courses and was also quite delicious. I was too self conscious to take pictures of everything I ate, but I did sneak in a photo of my main: alaskan halibut with salt roasted fingerling potatoes, cippolini onion confit, chanterelles, and sweet vermouth. Mmm.
I dragged David to the Ferry Building with me again on Saturday because I just had to go again. This time we waited in line for Blue Bottle Coffee, and I was beyond excited because I am a coffee fiend. This was spectacular and totally worth the 20 minute wait.
Soy decaf mocha with a leaf
Delicious belgian waffle to complement my coffee. This was perfectly sweetened, although missing the signature caramelized pearl sugar.
4. Cooking class at Cookhouse, no pictures :(
The company held a cooking class event, in which teams cooked dishes and competed for who made the best one. We won with our angus sliders with pickled onions and chipotle aoili, and they were fantastic. $15 each iTunes gift card prize was not too bad either.
5. Bread pudding from Tartine
Our second long line of the trip. I like waiting in long lines for food because all these people reinforce that the wait must be worthwhile. I dragged us out of bed relatively early and we headed over, unshowered and still in pajamas essentially, and stood in the cold for about 20 minutes before we ordered our bread pudding to share and some pastries to go (David may resent me for this). And it was...okay. Like good, but not waking up on a Sunday to stand in the cold good. It was a tad too sweet and eggy, and the seasonal fruit topping could be more interesting. I had one of their morning buns for lunch the next day on my flight, and that was just okay as well.
Everything looked enticing
Sadly, Tartine's bread pudding was not as good as M. Henry's
6. Dim sum with Obama (not really)
After our bread pudding at Tartine, we headed to Great Eastern for Dim Sum, and miraculously ran into my high school friend, Shauna. Jk, it was planned.
I didn't take any pictures of the food itself, but here's me with their storefront window photo of Obama eating there, so it must be good. I'm sure Romney would've gone to Yank Sing instead had he wanted dim sum.
7. Trying a new cuisine (Austrian food!) at Naschmarkt
Following lunch, we frolicked a little on David's aunt's farm with her baby goats and ducklings, then headed out for dinner. I've always wondered what spaetzle and wienerschnitzel are, and today I learned: spaetzel is a type of pasta, winerschnitzel is breaded veal cutlet. We can appreciate good food and this was delicious, but also not something I would eat frequently because it doesn't really suit my palette.
Quark spätzle with smoked chicken, yellow corn, tarragon and mushrooms
Double cooked pork belly with sautéed green cabbage, truffle oil, fingerling potatoes and baby carrots
8. Hot taro milk tea from Fantasia, no pictures :(
So good! Seriously, try taro bubble tea hot, it will change your life. They steam it like they would a regular latte, and you eat the boba and tea with a spoon.
9. Karrot cupcake from Kara's Cupcake, no pictures :(
Lastly, I grabbed a cupcake from Napa Farms Market in the SFO airport. This shop was so cute. I'm a big softie for organic, locally grown, sustainable, Californian-style food. There were so many dining options here and I was drooling all over the place (this happened a lot during this trip I guess), but I wasn't hungry enough to go wild. I ended up just picking Kara's Cupcakes' famous karrot cupcakes and snacked on it during the plane ride, complemented with a cup of airplane coffee. So yum and definitely the best carrot cupcake that I've ever had.
In conclusion, now I'm back to the grindstone.
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