dolphins

the past 24 hours have been pretty full of delfina for me. not that i went to eat there (or could afford to), but a sassy friend did and wrote about it, so i got all jealous of it and decided to make bigne' with espresso gelato and chocolate myself at work today. and i've gotta say, they were pretty great. i used bittersweet chocolate for the sauce, and about 35 shots of espresso for the gelato. after my pate a choux disaster last week, with some crappy recipe from a lame book, i toted my three dollar french chef cookbook to work with me this morning, and i've gotta say, you just can't go wrong with julia.

i've been working on my gelato churning technique, and i think i am getting a hang of it, finally. basically, i think that less is more when it comes to making ice cream--churn it as little as possible to make it as dense and rich as possible. yum. i kinda hate making ice cream, because there is so much involved in it, but i LOVE eating it.

anyway, i came home this afternoon, and DR untangled all of my yarns for me, i think as a hint to start knitting things for her baby. and we shuffled through some photos, and found one of us with delfina herself, as cute as could be, the sun shining brightly above, and the de medici hunting lodge in the background.

the bus. and other stuff.

riding the bus to work (even though i'm never on it for long, and there often aren't many people on there) is a high point of my day. the contrast between the type of people on the bus and the type of people at my destination is stark, and not rarely do i feel guilty or weird about it.

on my way to the bus stop, i walk by the alcoholics anonymous meeting place. there's usually a group getting out right when i pass by. it makes me happy, and sad, all at once.

however, i do feel like i am in a cocoon at work, a little bubble of foodiness. it's wonderful, and it's completely detached from reality, in a good way and a bad way. i still have thoughts to develop about this.

i'm still tired, and i feel like i always will be tired. when i used to have to get up at 5 am to be at work at 6, when i was on the bottom of the ladder at cp, i figured the tiredness would stop when i got normal working hours. but here i am, working as close to 9-5 as a cooking job can get, and i am always lagging and sluggish. the thing is, i love work so much that i never really feel so tired there. only when i get home do i want to collapse and never leave.

i need some extracurricular projects. and that is why i've started to knit again. first, i'm making a hat for my friend dr's baby-to-be. then, we'll see. i have to buy some butter, and then i'll start baking. the only thing about baking is that there isn't anyone here to eat anything i might make, and i almost never feel like eating anything when i get home anyway, so it would just all sit there and get stale. but not for long, since my roommate gets here next week.

i doubt i'll be spending much time with her, since she'll be busy doing genius stuff and i'll be busy grilling stuff, but just the idea of having someone around when i get back home, someone to cook for, someone to tell about the ridiculous customers who come in and ask to sit where there is carpet (what?!), makes me happy. i don't really want or need a best friend, but it'll be nice to have her around.

mini-updates

the wedding was lovely. the banana cake from rosebud was the cutest cake i've ever seen. tj's dress was perfect. everything, quite honestly, was perfect (apart from the tactless confrontation by someone i don't particularly care for immediately after the ceremony). the food was good. all registry wishes came true. life was lovely.

my friend DR's baby shower on sunday was equally lovely. and then, i rushed home to pack up, and my mom and bro (P) are bringing up my stuff tomorrow. i was thinking i should take them to dinner at the restaurant on thursday, but now i am wondering if they shouldn't come have lunch while i am working instead. i don't think that anyone in my family actually believes that i can cook. of course, i'll be doing desserts on thursday, so it might be that nothing about their views will actually change.

other than my bed, the things i am most looking forward to being reunited with are my kitchen goods. oh, how i miss my baking supplies. i went to the bowl yesterday and got a million spices and dry goods and i am ready to bake. i also can't wait for my cookbooks to get here...

basically, i've just been running around too much to get anything very interesting down here. i barely have time to think. i apologize for the drabness of all of this, but i promise that once i get settled, things will get more interesting.

i have been working on something nice, though: the slow guide to the bay area. a friend is the editor, so i've been trying to run around in my spare time and eat at appropriate places and write them up for the guide. it's kinda harrowing, actually. but now that i have a few under my belt, i am feeling a lot better about it all.

kudos to gordito, for taking the CA bar last week. you're my hero, bro. almost hb, la sassy. congrats ismat, on nirali.
and of course, tj and fa, i wish you nothing but happiness. thanks everyone, for everything.

so-cal bliss

i'm in the midst of a rare moment of calm (mostly because i am practically the only one at home right now).  i was way behind on some writing stuff coming down on weds, so i tried to get it all done on the plane.  but of course that didn't happen, so i've spent the past couple of days trying to find lovely ways of writing about bbq ribs and berbere sauce.  last night i was struggling on my blurb about ethiopian food while everyone else was working on the seating chart for the wedding and tying pretty ribbons and bows. 

i did manage to send everything off in time to help tj open all of her wedding presents.  they are  wonderful.  it's really amazing how you can just sign up for all of this stuff on a registry and then a month later it's all in your den.  kitchenaids, ice cream makers, fancy wine glasses, and all clad cookware is all i can think of at the moment.  but since she let me take care of the kitchen registry, it's all stuff that i would love to have for myself, and now i've gotta admit that i'm a tiny bit jealous.  though i have to say, i love all of my kitchen stuff.  i've been putting it all together for a while now, and i've got some things i'd never trade for anything. 

i guess i should stop typing; i'm freshly mani and pedicured, and if i mess this up, i am dead meat.  the manicurist just looked at me like i belong at the dog groomer's, considering the state my hands were in.  they're better now, but i'm no hand model.  yet.

new apartment post

my first post from my new place.  yay!

my downstairs neighbors were cool enough to hook me up with their wireless internet, so i don't have to wait months or weeks or whatever to get dsl or cable, which is great.  i love this little apartment, and so does everyone who comes by to see it.  it's so sweet, so clean, so lovely.  i kinda like it empty, the way it is.  i feel like i don't want to litter it with any of my stuff.

anyhow, work is great.  i got pounded today--brisket and potato hash with poached eggs, veal chop with shellbean and chanterelle mushroom gratin, and grilled salmon with roasted eggplant and peppers and tomato confit.  all of the little old fourth street ladies on sunday morning pretty much beat my booty.  i'd never even poached an egg before this, let alone grill a veal chop.  tomorrow and the next day, i do sweets, before going down to TJY's wedding.  maybe i can get a new pair of flip-flops while i'm down there.  the hole in my left one is getting bigger and bigger each day.

what else?  i'm reading dry now, and i really like it.  it's not as gruesome as james frey's book (not that i didn't like that, either).  something about these memoirs keeps turning me on to them, over and over, one after the other.  it's like i am gathering information for my own stuff.  i've also been reading (if you can call it that) a bunch of italian cookbooks, for we've decided to go completely italian at work (i.e., today was the last time you'll be seeing hash on the menu.  and no more blts or fried green tomatoes).  it's going to be difficult, but i like the challenge of it, and when we pull it off, i think that we'll have something really wonderful to be proud of. 

i have some writing to do, and until i do it, i am going to feel guilty about posting.  i'll also be gone and then moving in for a while, so please forgive me if i don't write so often, or if what i do write is boring or repetitive.  i'll get better, more throughtful, and more creative soon.  i promise.

 

 

timballi for two

woah, blogger's changed again.  i'm sure it'll take me a few weeks to figure this all out.
 
the other day, MMC called to tell me that she'd made the blueberry muffins out of baking illustrated and messed them up.  the same night, i checked my email, and AK had written to tell me how much she loved the same exact recipe.  i love it!
 
i just went to the A's game, and saw some amazing fireworks afterward (but oh, there were no chocolate malts to be had!).  it was lovely to see a sweet friend i've missed over the past year.  and the awful patriotic crap they were feeding the audience during the fireworks was pretty over the top.  yuck.
 
what else?  i made my first savory bread pudding today--with corn and fine herbs (it's all about the chervil and tarragon) and little pockets of taleggio.  i also got to cook fish, which was a lot less scary than i thought it might be.  for our lunch, i made fried chicken sandwiches and cut up a melon.  i think the cooks might shoot me if i make sandwiches once more for lunch.  we had tuna on wednesday and yesterday i made BLTs.  but honestly, i think that sandwiches are one of my favorite foods IN THE UNIVERSE.  i think we're making timballi for two on sunday night.  i can't wait!
 
tomorrow, i think i get the keys to my apartment!  and thanks to some friends, and their friends, i think i am going to move my couch in, too. 
 
my lovely friend jennifer kicks off her farmer's market this weekend. so anyone out there, within a hundred miles of new haven, get out to her market and support the local farmers!

i'm pooped. i got to work the grill today, which was a thrill. i've realized that i tend to panic right before service starts. it seems like every cook has his or her panic point--some people panic when they make their lists and realize how much they have to do. i, like most everything else in my life, tend to procrastinate with my panic and freak out right before i have to be done, and still have a million things left to do with about three minutes before the customers arrive.

i love making salads, and that might always be my favorite thing to do, but right now i'm on a honeymoon with the grill. i want to do it a million times in a row, until i get really good at it. today, i had tuna confit sandwiches with tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions and basil, and chicken grilled under a brick with green polenta. it was simple, but enough to make me want to die for about 15 minutes around noon. i think the first thing i need to figure out, though--the thing that's going to make things a lot easier for me--is how to control my fire better. my lovely coals kept on bursting into flames at the most inappropriate times, and i was nearly drawn to tears. then, another cook walked in with a pair of blublockers, and once i put them on, i felt much better (not to mention how cool i must have looked with the combination of my dishwasher's shirt and aviator glasses).

i can't believe it's july 14th! where did the summer go?

it's pretty much official: i've found an apartment! and an awesome deal on a great couch. i think i might leave temescal for my new hood next week. we'll see....

i've been

-eating. i went to dopo, finally. I LOVE IT! i went to plearn last week, too. best chicken satay i've had. and i am eating a delicious lamington as i write...

-working. i burned myself last night. there are blisters and scars. yuk.

-trying to finally fix my traffic ticket fiasco from 2 years ago.

-finding the cutest apartment in the universe!

-thinking about being crafty. i helped get DR started with knitting, and that made me want to pick up my needles. going to the exciting knitting shop downstairs had a hand in that feeling, too. i went to urban ore today, but i didn't find anything just right. mostly, i just want to get all of the stuff that i own together in one place before i start buying anything else. and i really don't want to accumulate anymore kitchen stuff (well, i say that now, but i don't really mean it.) i did get a cute little pair of leather ballet slippers that had this obnoxious jelly strap going across each shoe, and i just hacked the strap off with a razor. does that count as being crafty?

-almost going to bob's farm in sonoma. oh yes. a much more memorable experience, i think, than actually going to bob's farm.

and that's pretty much it.

a coupla things

bakesale betty updated her website! it's super cute, and now the great jingle by dan carr finally works! check it out--it's my favorite song.

also, AC has a blog. finally, someone i actually know has started one!

i had brunch at thai temple this morning. yuuuuuumy--i love mango with sticky rice. then, another nap to try to catch up on my sleep. i think i am nearly back to normal. well, as normal as i can be. this week, my goal is to perfect the schiacciata recipe for the restaurant--hopefully soon we can have grissini at the table for the customers when they are seated.

still reading nickel and dimed. dreaming of urban ore, which, by the way, did use to be on 6th and gilman! ha ha, JE and AC! ha ha! it just recently moved to ashby. i'm not nuts! well, not about this anyway. also, i can't wait to go to the next alameda flea market.

eccomi

here i am! i've been working, and sleeping mostly, but i got a chance to catch my breath, and i realized that i never said a word about the articles i did this week over at the food section. go check them out--there are even some nice pictures i took at the market.

in other news, i've been seeing some really nice apartments these days. i hope i get one of them.

good stuff i've eaten recently: tofu soup (finally!), delicious apricot-almond torte, cocoa sorbetto, and some salt cod fritters. yum!

cookin'

oh, i am so tired. tired. tired. tired.

i had forgotten, my body had forgotten, what it means to stand for 10 hours, to lift and chop and stir and wash and season and butcher.

but now i know again.

i love my job. i love the people i work with. i love the restaurant. it's beautiful, and it's young, and we are only going to get better from here. i am so happy. and our food is so good. two nights ago i had escarole caesar salad and mozzarella and cherry tomato salad and lettuces with balsamic vinaigrette and chicken liver toast. i was so happy. i think today i get to make panzanella. next week i want to make melon gelato with mint granita'.

yum. yum. yum.

sandal shaped pupusas

today, in highland hills, i had a lovely lunch with AK and our friend L, of these mexican sandal shaped pupusas, whose name i can't seem to recall. huarachas? hurachas? what could it be?

anyway, i'm counting down the days until i start working on thursday night. i'm still a little shocked that the first shift they'd give me would be a dinner, but i guess it just means that someone believes in me.

a recent dinner menu included:

antipasti and first courses
house-made soppressata with french beans and beets 9.
antipasto of fresh anchovies on toast, summer squash with mint, mushrooms sott’olio, and pickled vegetables 10.
salt cod fritters with frisée, endive, chive oil 10.
cranberry bean and romaine soup with parmesan and olive oil 8.

pasta
pasta al pesto: trofie with basil, parmesan, and pinenuts 15.

main courses
pan-fried sanddabs with artichoke chips, lemon, and parsley 22.
spit-roasted liberty duck with juniper and bay 24.

sides
lacinato kale alla parmigiana 6.
polenta verde with sicilian olive oil 7.

desserts
plum and mulberry gelati with lemon verbena granità 7.
lemon anise biscotti 4.

little treats
a plate of black pig serrano ham with olives 11.
red cow parmesan with 25-year-old balsamic vinegar 15.


my mini-trip north was nice--first, to the beach with ET and NAL, then to santa monica and environs with TJ and M, and today with AK to pasadena and beyond (thanks for making me practically miss the train, by the way). the best thing was just seeing my friends. i don't ever much care about what it is we do, as long as we're together.

and, i bought a great baking book, baking illustrated, which i am really excited about. i am tired, and bleh, and that's why this is so boring.

knives, knives, knives

i'm a little slow these days, partly because i am sick (i tried to outsmart it, the usual "i just moved across the world and i can finally relax" cold, but it didn't work), partly because there is a bit of jet lag still bugging me, and partly because i am just in a daze.

i've been in and out of america enough to know that this, not everywhere else, is the unique place. only here does the norm include scarily humongous cars and eerily friendly customer service. it seems that it's only here that personal space, and lots of it, is taken for granted. here there are shops that color code their aisles, and things such as coupons and rebates exist. and so, though i grow more and more immune to the reverse culture shock i face each time i return, i still get thrown off when i least expect it. plus, southern california is a weird place, no matter how you put it.

i've been writing some stuff about italy, and getting my albums in order. a bit of serindipity brought many of my out-of-town friends here over the weekend, and before i leave for berk, i'll see the rest of my southern californians. i've been trying to organize my italian-iranian-pakistani mess of stuff.

i found my knife roll, or should i say, my complete knife roll, as i've been living with just three knives for the past year and a half, for the sake of traveling lightly. i am SHOCKED to think that i actually needed and used all of these different knives and thingamabobs at one point. though i must say, the reunion with my steel has been pure sweetness. over the past four years, i've collected:

1 steel
1 microplane grater
1 german 8" chef's knife (my first knife, my workhorse)
1 italian 10" chef's knife (a gift from my mentor. i leave it at home mostly.)
1 swiss 8" bread knife
1 japanese 6" vegetable slicer (my favorite knife)
1 swiss 6" boning knife (my second favorite)
1 4" mac knife (perfect for dicing shallots)
1 cute french 4" tomato knife (took that from the lost and found. it's not really good for anything, but it's really cute.)
lotsa paring knives
more vegetable peelers
and a ton of corkscrews

i am SO EXCITED to start working in the kitchen again. i am thrilled that so many of my friends from my old job are at my new job. i can't wait to be making salads and grilling things and making gelati and baking schiacciata.

BSB offered me her and the breadman's extra bedroom, so now i don't have to pay for a sublet till august. and i am pretty optimistic about finding a nice place to live. i just don't want to be stuck in a rundown hovel with a bad landlord, like all of my friends and i were when we were in school. i think the key is to get a little farther away from campus (but not too far).

anyway, i'm back to regular life (though, my life isn't really ever so regular), so i guess i'll have to think of a new description for the blog. we'll see.

underwhelmed

i am back, and surprised at how undramatic it was. i think i am just used to moving around by now.

some nice things:

i managed to get my apothecary jars home without breaking them, as well as the amazing 19th century copper pot that D gave me. lovely.

slowla (because she has the same has as lola in Run Lola Run, but is quite slow and doensn't really every run for anything, ever), otherwise known as R, my old roommate from berk, showed up on monday and i got to spend my last days with her, which was nice.

T and S and i pretty much spent the last week laughing at each other and poking fun: "shake your soul and change your ticket," "right here, right now", the apes, S's sounds, the matrix, samin the misanthrope, my dirty feet. oh S, how i will miss arguing with you. i hope you're well.

over my last week, we had a couple of really nice dinners. once i made delicious fried squash blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and sheepsmilk ricotta and anchovies. and another time i made a perfect (if i do say so myself) penne alla norma. at my last lunch at zibibbo, i ate a HUGE pile of arancini. what a nice way to go out.

on sunday, i went to chianti to say goodbye to D. i wanted to get there by noon so i could take the 2pm bus out, because the next one wouldn't be till 6. so i got to the bus station, bought my ticket, saw that i had a few minutes left to spare, and went around the corner to get a coffee. when i got back 90 seconds later, the bus had already come and gone. so i ended up getting there at 1, and then sticking around to help D at a fundraiser in pistoia. it was kind of a perfect way to say goodbye.

florentia

sometimes, when we
are out on the terrace

or sneaking through
the bipolar streets, eerily
deserted at night
after days of gagging
with tourists,

we steal a peek
at the duomo.

tonight, though,
we knew
that such a
magnificent thing,

can not be real

can not exist for
us

or worse,
for the students
who pollute
this town

this town
who belonged to
such people as whose
greatness we cannot
even comprehend

it cannot also
belong to us

in this house

in this house,
five languages are spoken
on a regular basis

in this house,
the hours pass and
suddenly i
feel dawn

here, on this street
the sun turns to clouds
and then
rain
as soon as we
want to go out

we never agree
on what we want to
do, eat, see, or
what we think

people are always
cominggoingcominggoing

there is no
television
but books scale the
walls, and two ladders
help us chase them

the phone
neverstopsringing

the kitchen has a
funny shape and
a funnier smell

the dustbunnies
are amazing

we are oddly happy
and i can't imagine

not being here

samin fish

i've been getting a few people who do a search for "samin + fish" referred to this blog. and i keep trying to figure out why--what do i have to do with fish? i like fish, really i do. as much as the next person. i eat it, i see little garibaldi everywhere when i go swimming at the cove, and i try to choose my fish sustainably.
but come on, why so many searches for me and the fish???

it hit me a little while after i started thinking about it. these people are looking for salmon fish! salmon, not samin!

ha!

the other day

the other day, i went to nerbone to take a picture of the boiled beef sandwich which has been my major source of sustenance throughout my time here, both because it is relatively nutritious and very delicious, and also because it makes for a very, very cheap lunch.

the guys at nerbone are totally used to me and my strange requests, but i thought i'd ask the paninaio himself if it was okay if i came back and took some pictures. he was happy to oblige, and when i returned the next day with my camera and had trouble positioning myself appropriately so that i'd be able to get a shot of him handing the sandwich over to the customer, i asked him to do it a little more slowly next time so i'd have a better chance to get the picture. a man of little words (i once asked him if he was vegetarian, and he just looked at me and smiled. heck, i'd be vegetarian if i sliced beef ribs and tripe 6 days a week), he surprised me by telling me to hold on, then pointing me to the back door. he let me in BEHIND the counter, and i got some great photos (at least i hope they turn out great). it was wonderful.

right after my photo extravaganza, i ran into J, faith's assistant. she was leading a food tour or course or something, and had a young american couple with her. i talked to J for a while, and then she told the couple with her that i was also from california. turns out they were from berk, and they'd eaten at zibibbo the night before. they asked me how i came to be here, and i told them about my story. when they asked what i was doing when i was going back, i started to say that this chef had left cp and blah blah blah, and they blurted out, eccolo! we walk by there all of the time (considering the neighborhood where eccolo is, i think you'd have to be a very certain kind of person to walk by it all of the time, but that's a story for another day)! they hadn't eaten there yet, but they knew all about it, so i told them to come visit me when i get back, and they said they would.

the world is so small. the food world is much smaller. especially when the bay area and/or florence are involved.