POTD: Photo of the Day

beer sampler

BJ's Brewhouse

Cupertino, CA

(04.25.2009)

Cooking in the Kitchen: Chocolate

Monday night is "Gatherings @ the Azure Tower" night and most of the cooking is usually done before the actual gathering - for most of us, we actually don't cook the day of...or if we do, it's a bit rushed due to the work day...so I spend part of my weekend doing my contribution for this week's theme of "Cocoa/Chocolate"

I actually started on Saturday, since I'm doing a layered dessert for my "showcase" and things needed to be cooled/chilled...

melted dark chocolate for the base
very, very messy chocolate piping for garnish

the base layer

melted semi-sweet chocolate

sugar & water for caramelization

starting to boil

nice caramel color

caramel + semi-sweet chocolate mixture

a very temperamental dark chocolate ganache

it was an extremely hot weekend

chocolate was very difficult to work with

my 4 layered "cocoa/chocolate" themed dessert setting

Ok, so I feel guilty for posting pictures of very messy work...but I can't share the final results until after Cocoa/Chocolate night :)

4 layer caramel chocolate mousse with mocha chocolate ice cream :)

Brand New Kitchen Toy: Marble Slab

I've recently procured a industrial grade marble slab for cooking :) let's just say it was very heavy and a pain to carry up three flights of stairs...unfornunately, due to the extreme heat of this weekend - my experiments with chocolate did not turn out well :( but I'm definitely excited and looking fowards to using my marble slab

it's very heavy

Desserts at Emporio Rulli Gran Caffe, San Francisco, CA

Saturday

06.27.2009

CJ and I headed over to the Marina on Chestnut Street to get some dessert after out outing to the beach...we were trying to decide where to go for dessert and ended up at Emporio Rulli Gran Caffe. I was thouroughly disappointed.

The service was utterly horrible: the waiter was extremely rude and did not want to tell me what the various cake slices of the day were why I asked him to clarify the menu. We did not have napkins and had to ask the hostess to get napkins becuase the waiter never came by. We started eating out desserts and were half-way finished before we even got napkins.

The tiramisu was underwhelming - I took a bite of Christina's. I had a very dry and bland cake of the day. It was chocolate cake with whipped cream and berries. It was so very disappointing.I was genuinely very unhappy with the experience.

Needless to say, the ambience was nice but the desserts were underwhleming as well as the service - but at least the company was good.

the main dining room

the dessert menu
cj's steamed milk

unimpressive tiramisu

a very dry and bland cake of the day

chocolate with whipped cream and berries

so very disappointing

Trip to Park Chalet, San Francisco, CA

Saturday
06.27.2009

The weather has been quite hot this past weekend so I ended up in San Francisco in the afternoon and met up with my good from CJ to catch up and to beat the heat. We decided to head to Park Chalet, which is right across from Pacific Beach and on the Edge of Golden Gate Park...it's a usual hang out spot for us - it's a good place for bar food :)

the menu

the bar

the restaurant

my cosmopolitan - it's the best cosmo i've had in a long time

fries - mediocre

beer battered pollack - very good, but disappointed that they don't come with fries anymore :(

pizza di parma

Prosciutto, Caramelized Onions, Arugula & Thyme

(the proscuitto was unfortunately too salty and overpowered the pizza, i'll have to stick to the wild & tamed mushroom with Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese, Truffle Oil & Thyme next time)

view from China Beach

It was a beautiful day and we were able to enjoy the beach afterwards, although we did drop by both Pacific Beach and China Beach

Visit to Christpoer Elbow Artisanal Chocolates, San Francisco, CA

Saturday
06.27.2009

I dropped by DarkGarden Unique Corsetry in Hayes Valley to take advantage of a weekend promotion and ordered a new Alexandra corset in a Victoria era, period correct pink silk brocade :) and ended up splurging on a box of chocolates at Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates located around the corner from Dark Garden. I had a difficult time in picking out which pieces I wanted to have again and which new ones to try, so I decided on the both of 16 chocolates :)

the pre-packaaged chocolates wall
which box to choose from?

caramel with rosemary...

caramel with lavendar ;)

caramel with fleur de sel

The post on my actual box will be later, when I actually dig into the box :) I really enjoyed the key lim sample as well as the caramel with lavendar as well as the passion fruit from my previous visit.

POTD: Photo of the Day

my organic veggie haul from Two Small Farms

red beets, romaine lettuce, cilantro, mint, radishes, dandelion greens, fennel, green garlic, baby carrots, stawberries

(04.01.2009)