And now, Bottega in pretty pictures

My dear friend Danielle, whom you may recall from the origins of this very blog, flew all the way from Vermont to visit me last week. We had such an epic adventure, I don't even know where to begin. We started with touristy San Francisco stuff, and finished with an absolutely amazing weekend in Napa. I'm sure I'll be back with all the details and play-by-play, but for now, here are some pretty pictures of dinner at Bottega. Enjoy!

Pasta Fritta -- basically a deconstructed salad of figs wrapped in prosciutto (the undisputed king of meats), Parmesan puffs, and wine foam.

Ricotta gnocchi

Duck! And roasted grapes...

A finale of olive oil cake with macerated raspberries and fig gelato.

Gobble gobble recap

So, the Big Day is behind us and all can return to normal (ish) until Christmas. Now seems like a good time to recap my dad's visit to California, Turkey Day itself, and maybe name off a few things I'm thankful for this year.
Dad was in town for about ten days total -- the first few due to a talk that he was giving at the Science and Society conference at UC Berkeley, and then he stuck around for Thanksgiving, too. We had a swell time -- a lot of eating and shopping (two of my very favorite things, as you all well know). We ate at Liasion on my recommendation, and it was just as good the second time around. I had to-die-for French onion soup followed by roast chicken, plus we had some oysters to share. I capped it out with tart tatin. Yum. Throughout the week we also hit up Scoma's, ordered some good California Chinese food (very hard to come by in Texas), visited a brew pub and an old school diner in Berkeley, and dad cooked three nights -- beef stroganoff, chicken almond, and mac and cheese -- all favorite dishes of mine from childhood. Oh boy, did we eat well.

What's going on (cue Motown music)

I know, I know. How long has it been since my last post? And I was doing so good for a while there…In all seriousness, October has sped by me and I can’t believe we’ve only got a week to go until November. A big part of that is because I recently spent ten days in Massachusetts – an unexpected trip, to be sure, and not for a fun reason. I know that when they lose someone special to them, a lot of other bloggers write some kind of tribute post, often zeroing in on how that person’s influence relates to the blog’s topic. And then tons of strangers out there in the universe write in with their condolences and special stories of their own, and perhaps the whole thing makes the blogger feel better, comforted, less alone. Well, maybe someday I’ll write a post about my grandmother’s food eccentricities, her penchant for baking, the cookbook collection she made me for my sixteenth birthday, the applesauce she and my grandfather made every fall, her unwavering encouragement of me and my aspirations…but I’m not there yet.

So in the meantime, let me do a little round-up of what’s been going in food-wise in my life. I made significant progress on the cookbook challenge before taking a break, but I’m getting back on track this week with four recipes lined up – eggplant gratin, radishes with compound butter, elephant ears, and cheese puffs (gougeres in French).

I made pumpkin mac and cheese the other day, a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It was eh, okay. I think in actuality it tasted just fine, but what I really wanted was ooey gooey cheesy mac and cheese, and this was not that. So I was disappointed and probably won’t make the recipe again. Tonight I’m going to try a recipe, also from BHG, for pumpkin rice pudding, which I think will be much more successful. Have I ever talked about my mom’s rice pudding? The recipe is from a Sun-Maid golden raisins box many years ago and it’s just the best. I wish she could make me some right now.

The brother and I had a nice fall day last Saturday – we did a corn maze, visited a pumpkin patch, and then carved those pumpkins (later dubbed Dennis and Amelia). I roasted up the pumpkin seeds with some olive oil, salt, black pepper, and a touch of cayenne – they came out pretty good! I also made an apple pie (the only one I've made so far the season -- ridiculous!). I used to like apple pie best when it was warm from the oven, but I think I like it better now nice and cold. Is that weird? The apples at the farmers' market are just fascinating -- and the cider is yummy too (although not as good as the New England stuff).

I drank sooo much Dunkin Donuts coffee and ate at least five Boston Creme doughnuts. True story. Although now I haven't had Starbucks in like, two weeks. That's a tragedy in my book.

Finally, I’d like to make an observation – Applebee’s food really sucks these days (except for the boneless Buffalo wings, which are always delish). I guess maybe it always sucked and I just wasn’t picky enough to notice. Well, I am now, and its ruined for me. Maybe for the best?

Oh, and let me say – I returned to the west coast with a stack of Thanksgiving related magazines about a foot tall. I’m still making my way through them – so fun! Have I mentioned lately how much I love the holidays?

Falling for fall

Right. So, fall in California – official as of last Saturday, but there were signs beforehand. As we all know, I love autumn. As in, I luuuuurve autumn. This is definitely my favorite time of year – I love the cooler weather, the beautiful trees, the clothes, the sense of coziness, apples and pumpkins and winter squash (which, of course, means apple pie and apple sauce and apple cider and apple cider doughnuts and…okay, I’ll stop now. I think you get the point). Plus, to top everything off, we are officially at the beginning of the holiday season! YES! Before you know it, Halloween will have come and gone and it’ll be time to prep for THE BIG ONE (Thanksgiving, which there is already a feature about on foodnetwork.com) and then Christmas. I am already so excited that I can barely contain myself. I just realized that the next round of magazines to arrive will all be Thanksgiving ones! Wyatt says, “Did someone say…turkey?”

But back to the matter at hand. I apologize, I know I tend to get distracted by holidays…and turkey…and cooking…and Starbucks…(wow, I’m in kind of a goofy mood today, huh?). I was concerned that moving out here would mean no fall. After all, I was coming from New England, the kingdom of autumn. And while fall might not be quite as in your face here, it definitely makes its presence known. The weather hasn’t changed dramatically, although it is cooler in the mornings and evenings. But that was kind of to be expected – the weather is fairly steady year round here, and it is always pretty ideal, so no complaints. The leaves on certain trees are changing colors – mostly to a brilliant red, which is very pretty. It seems like the further north one goes, the more color there is – there is even a difference from Oakland up to Berkeley. There are several drives recommended for leaf peepers, pretty much all somewhat north of me, and I really hope to take one with Wyatt and the brother. Perhaps most exciting of all, fall produce has made its way to the farmers’ market – apples, pears, some squash and pumpkins, sunflowers – I’m in heaven! A number of the apples are old heirloom varieties that you don’t see much anymore (including Jonathon, a long-time fave of my dad’s although he never get his hands on any). There is actually a whole section of the region called “apple hill” that features apple orchards, cider makers, and apparently the best apple cider doughnuts ever (we’ll see about that). Anyway, I hope to take a drive that way in a couple weeks, once the season peaks – check out this link for more info: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/84940. So far, autumn in northern California has been quite satisfying.

Last weekend was the Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square in Oakland. Because I live pretty close, the roommate and I went twice – Friday evening and Saturday morning. And boy, did we eat – lobster roll bites (good, but not as good as at the Clam Shack in MA), nutella-strawberry crème brulee, frozen custard, spring rolls, garlic mac and cheese, cupcakes (twice), and a caramel apple topped with bacon. True story. Everything was delicious, and it was a lot of fun to wander and see what everybody was eating. A whole weekend festival dedicated to food!

Cooked four more recipes from Barefoot in Paris over the weekend, too!

Finally, here’s a funny pic of Alex, hanging his head in shame and admitting defeat to the pancakes – hence the white flag.

Fall in the Berkshires!

I love fall! I love the crisp, cool morning, the fresh apples at farm stands and markets (and consequently the smell of apple pie baking), the leaves turning colors – which they already are here in Western Mass. – the clothes, the promise of holidays to come…I love fall! (I also feel like I’ve been on this rant before, probably, oh, about a year ago…)


This morning when I woke up and took the dog out, my breath left little puffs of mist in the air. The Weather Channel informed me that it is going to frost tonight and I better bring my plants in. My apartment is decked out in pumpkins and gourds. And on the way to work I swung by Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and a pumpkin muffin. Life is good.

Now, last weekend I drove all the way out to Starbucks for a pumpkin cream cheese muffin. As I am sure I have rambled on about in the past, I LOVE these muffins and look forward to them all year. And I have to say, this was really a disappointment. Starbucks is not exactly next door – it’s about a 20-25 minute drive, usually including a bit of traffic. Since I moved a few months ago, I have gone through serious Starbucks withdrawal – like, I need an IV in the crook of my arm. So anyway, actually driving up and going to Starbucks is a much bigger deal than it used to be. This Starbucks is pretty small, kind of out of the way, and overall pretty lame. But I am ecstatic that pumpkin cream cheese muffins were out on the shelves, and I promptly ordered one. My coffee was good; the muffin, not so much. It seemed like it wasn’t quite baked through, and was sorely lacking in the candied pumpkin seed department. I ate the top (always the best part anyway, right?) and offered the rest to the dog. No takers – this from a dog that licks his own butt. Seriously. So from now on its Dunkin Donuts pumpkin muffins. Not quite the same, and no cream cheese, but good nonetheless, and much less expensive and out of the way.

Also last weekend, I had the opportunity to judge an apple pie baking contest that was sponsored by King Arthur flour! Ah, the hidden perks of being a journalist. It was really fun, even though judging meant I didn’t get to enter. And really, I should have – not to sound cocky or anything, but my pie would’ve blown them away. There were a lot of yummy pies, but many of them were so heavy on the spices (esp. the nutmeg) that one could barely taste the apples. And I believe that a pie should really showcase the apples – esp. considering the area we live in.

Oh, and finally, the last bit of news – my dad is coming to visit in a couple weeks! I have big plans for us – a visit to Viva for tapas, Chez Nous for a French dinner, a glorified min-Thanksgiving Sunday night, hiking, shopping. Its gonna be legen – wait for it – dary!

Apples, pumpkins, and fall foliage, oh my!

It is autumn! Okay, maybe not technically for a few more weeks (Sept. 23, to be exact), but can’t you smell it in the air? We can here in Vermont – mums are starting to grace the front porch steps, gourds and pumpkins are making their way into the supermarkets, and the apple orchards are in full swing. And of course, the leaves are already starting to get a tinge of vibrant color. Fall has always been my favorite season, as it marks the beginning of the phenomenal eating of months to come.
This past weekend, I had my first Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffin of the season – something I look forward to for the whole month of August. I don’t know what it is about these muffins, but they are so good – moist, with candied pumpkin on top and a cream cheese filling. I could die with happiness from eating one. Also over the weekend, I made my first apple pie of the season. No pictures, but no worries – there will be many more to come. I take a lot of pride in my apple pies. They are simple yet undeniably delicious, topped with fresh whipped cream…and no, I see no reason for modesty here. I am going apple picking this weekend, and am already wracking my brain for ways to use all the fresh local fruit. Another pie, to be sure – my co-workers requested that I bring one in, and I’m happy to oblige. Lumpy applesauce is also a must. What else? Maybe a tart? Or perhaps a savory application for chicken or pork? I’m sure I’ll find many yummy ways to use them up.
As you might guess, fall is also the gateway to my two favorite holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas – both of which just happen to be jam packed with lots of delicious goodies. Is there anything better that Thanksgiving dinner, with turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and cranberry sauce and orange Jell-O and pumpkin pie and….I guess I am getting a little carried away. Seriously, though. It is fantastic. I do tend to get carried away with the holidays (my home is already decorated with leaves and gourds and candles), but I think it is part of what makes me so endearingJ.