The Gas Grill and the Bar

Within a week, the gas grill and the bar arrived. Both objects are excellent additions to my home. And not ironically, but interestingly, fit within the spirit of this blog perfectly ,Aei musings on food and wine.

First grilled meal: hamburgers. With all of the fixings, of course. Lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, avocados, cheddar and because I like them, saut/(c)ed onions.

First drink from the bar: a cosmo. The bar is stocked, with room for more bottles and glasses.

I'm really excited about having the grill. BBQ just says, well, deliciousness. So many possibilities of what I can make, so many recipes that I'm excited to try. It's been assembled and functional for about a week, and already, I've used it four times. And, it prompted a new purchase: a popcorn popper for the bbq!

I'm also excited about the bar. Not only because it appeals to my inner alcoholic, but it's just so damn cool. It fits into the spirit of the Vertigo, seeming to capture that trendiness and cool of the early 60s era. The bar will be put to good use for the soon-to-be housewarming.

Here is Pete with the grill. He assembled it for me, I think because he knew that in turn, I'd grill him something delicious.



Burgers, the first meal.


The bar. The angle is bad, and since, I've rearranged the furniture. Note the wall decal behind.



The night before flying to Copenhangen for holiday, Aaron came over for dinner. While Pete was assembling the bbq, Aaron artfully arranged the vinyl decals on my wall. I'm still trying to finish it up, namely, the decals aren't sticking to the wall as well as they should. The songbirds (not chickens, Pete) are super cute, nestled in the green branches.

An Incredible Feast

I,Aeove always been impressed by Phinney Ridge. Not only does the neighborhood have El Chupacabra with its fabulous burritos and tasty margaritas AND Red Mill Burgers, it has a strong neighborhood association which produces fabulous events. Last summer, I went to a micro-brew tasting in the Phinney Community Center, an old school house. I was really impressed; the event was clearly for the neighborhood and real beer lovers, rather than the usual former frat boy element of beer festivals. And the selection was an amazing group of high quality micro-brews, plus some tasty treats.

Phinney outdid itself with ,AeuAn Incredible Feast,Ae?. A partnership with Seattle chefs and the Phinney Farmer,Aeos Market, chefs worked with local growers to create dishes, with excellent results. For what I quickly realized was a small fee, we were able to walk around and taste as much as we could eat, selecting from at least 25 different foods (if not more). The chef and farmers were there, to serve the food, talk about the food and overall, promote local farmers. All in all, it was delicious. And, the best part ,Aei the organizers compiled a cookbook, which was included in the price of admission. Yeah!

My Incredible Feast highlights, in no particular order:

Summer Squash Crostini with Smoked Salmon Mousse: The crostini was made with squash, giving it an interesting texture that I didn,Aeot quite expect. It paired well with the smoked salmon mousse,AePbecause after all, what can be better than smoked salmon than to mousse it? It came from Growing Things Farm and Restaurant Eva.

Kasu Jiro Soup with Seared Salmon: From Loki Fish Company and Chiso, the soup was a rich broth of seafood goodness. Reading the recipe, I was surprised that the broth wasn,Aeot made by simmering fish bones and vegetables for several hours, rather, it using dashi as a base, followed by simmering time with a few Japanese vegetables. The flavors were perfectly accented with a piece of seared salmon.

Goat Cheese and Sweet Onion Tartlets: Little tartlets in phyllo cups. Nothing much more needs to be said, except for the fact that I needed to have seconds. The recipe came from Nell,Aeos, the goat cheese from Port Madison Farm.
Zabaglione Semifreddo: Frozen deliciousness, topped with a syrupy raspberry wine. From Rockridge Farms and La Medusa.

Roasted Lamb Salad with Haricots Verts, Cipollini Onions and Citrus Dressing. The name of this dish makes it seem much more complicated than reality. Really, it was a straightforward dish, with perfectly seared rare lamb and a few vegetables, all tangy with the citrus dressing. The lamb came from Sea Breeze Farm, the recipe from Restaurant Zoe. I,Aeom not surprised by this recipe, considering how much much Zoe impressed me.

Chilled Fava Bean Soup with Dungeness Crab and Truffle Oil: I love fava beans, crab and truffle oil, so it,Aeos not really surprising that I loved the combination. The soup was mild and earthy, the crab and truffle oil were an excellent addition of sweet and garlicky earthiness. This was created by Stoney Plains Organic and Oliver,Aeos Twist. I really need to go to Oliver,Aeos Twist.

Steamed Musells and Fennel with Iranian Saffron: I think this was one of my favorite dishes, and am sad that I found the mussell at the end, mainly because I couldn,Aeot really eat more than one. The broth was rich and flavorful, and judging by the recipe, one of those dishes that takes a while to make. This came from Rover,Aeos and Taylor Shellfish.

Roasted Organic Suckling Pig: The roasted pig sat on a giant cutting board, reminding us all that the delicious pulled pork came from a baby pig. It was moist and rich, bursting with spicy pork flavors. Wow. The pig came from Whistling Train Farm; the cooking was supplied by Brasa.

Kara's Cupcakes

If you've been reading my blog more than a few days, you've probably picked up on the theme that I love cupcakes. The perfect dessert - a little cake, a dollop of frosting, what more could you desire?

My newest cupcakery discovery: San Francisco's Kara's Cupcakes.

A few years ago, Jen told me about her friend Kara, who at the time had just launched a special order cupcake business. Appropriately, we were eating cupcakes at Citizen Cupcake at the time. "Kara's are better than these" she promised. Within less than two years, Kara had branched out from a side business and opened two of her own cupcakeries. Since July, I've had a chance to visit Kara's three times, each time just as delicious as the last. I've done the take-out route, bringing cupcakes home with me to Seattle.

For my first visit to Kara's, I enjoyed cupcakes with Rachel, then picked up a dozen for Carrie's birthday surprise; my second visit was between business meetings; the third, I purchased two to carry home with me on the plane, both of which survived the journey quite nicely. I should also point out that the first and second were on the same trip, where over the course of five days in the Bay Area, I had four cupcakes (three from Kara's, one from Citizen Cupcake. I tried for the fifth during dessert at Citizen Cake, but the siren call of a chocolate and beet concoction swayed me. And I don't regret my choice).

My favorite cupcake, not surprising, is the sweet vanilla, a plain cake with a dollop of vanilla buttercream. I also like the lemon, a light lemon cake filled with lemon curd and topped with a lightly flavored lemon frosting. It doesn't matter: every flavor is great. And every cupcake is decorated with a marzipan flower, something to pick off, admire, then bite into for an extra dose of sugariness.

I've had a difficult time deciding if Kara's cupcakes are better than Trophy. Luckily for me, Trophy is in Seattle and Kara's is in San Francisco, so I'll never really HAVE to make a decision.

BTW, my missing box never appeared. Either it was left behind at the Park Rose Terrace in the pile of stuff that I donated to the cleaning people (highly unlikely since I double checked everything in that place) OR someone nabbed the box off of the back of the truck (more likely). Sunday, at Crate and Barrel, after ordering the bar (set to arrive in two weeks!), I did a quick run through the kitchen section, picking up a few necessary items, including a new 12-cup muffin tin and pizza baking stone. I'm still ticked that my apron, baking dish, pot holders, some very nice clothe napkins and half my kitchen towels disappeared. I suppose that it could have been worse: at least the box with my grandma's cast iron dutch oven, which has tremendous sentimental value, didn't disappear. Or the one containing the alcohol. And, importantly, I'm now able to once again bake cupcakes.

A dozen of Kara's cupcakes:



Kara's car, which is absolutely adorable:



And because I know I piqued your curiosity with the description of the Citizen Cake dessert that I chose over the cupcake, I thought that I'd share a picture with you:

"We Are One of Those People"

In my opinion, one of the coolest things about my condo is the murphy bed. It's given me some flexibility - mainly that I don't need a true second bedroom and still have a real guest bed. Also, the idea of a murphy bed is really cool: the bed folds up into the wall. Really, is there anything better than that?

The builders supplied the enclosure; I had to purchase a mattress. And in a hurry - I had been out of town, Rachel was coming in a few days, so time was not on my side.

First stop: Sleep Country, which was closed for "Employee Appreciation Day". The purchase was put off for a day.

Second stop: Costco. While prices were great, I only needed the mattress, not the box springs, and in typical costco format, I would have been forced to over buy.

Third stop: Sleep Country. This time, I met up with a the quintessential sales guy: "hey, I'm going to sell you and while doing so, completely BS you 'cause that's my MO." One question yielded a five minute answer, of which four of those minutes were spent repeating what he'd said in the first minute. I learned that Sleep Country isn't too flexible with the delivery schedule, but they also haul away the old (and stained) mattress to donate to children's charities. "We donate the highest number of mattresses to [insert name of favorite children's charity]". Right. Somehow, he mistook me for caring about the children. I couldn't deal with him, plus Pete convinced me that first, this was a guest bed, so not used a lot, and second, I would most likely sell the mattress with the unit in 3-5 years, so why spend a lot of money?

Pete can be cheap at times, by the way.

Fourth stop: IKEA, despite my better judgement. But, I did find a mattress that I deemed to be good guest quality (i.e., I would sleep on it) and that wasn't too expensive. I asked about delivery, and when we discovered that it would be $50, Pete convinced me that I could save myself the money and "we can tie it to the top of my car." The oh-so helpful sales guy chimed in, "Yes, and we have guys with twine that will tie it to your car. Our service to you." I guess he wasn't paid on commission.

We wrestled the mattress onto the cart, paid for it, stopped for soft ice cream (delicious and btw, IKEA does have good food. I'm especially a big fan of their meatballs and from their food store, pickled herring and mashed fish paste in a tube) and then wheeled the mattress to the loading area, where the youngish twine guy set to work tying the mattress to Pete's car.

It turns out that the twine guy didn't really know what he was doing.

About a mile down the freeway, the mattress started to dance in the wind, supplied by mother nature, the semi trucks and natural drag on the car. We opened the sun roof, trying to hold on to the mattress with the twine, completely useless. Finally, Pete pulled over, we opened the windows, grabbed onto the handles on the side of the mattress, used the GPS to find a route home that didn't require freeways and drove 12 long, very long, miles back to my house.

It must have been quite a site: two people, driving a low-end luxury car, with the windows open, grasping tightly to a mattress haphazardly tied to the top of the car.

I couldn't stop laughing the entire way. About 2 miles in, I turned to Pete, giggling: "we are now one of those people".

Pete's car sporting the matttress: