Chinese Valentine's Day

Photo credit:Vanessa Karlsson 

Do you know about Chinese Valentine's Day?  It is August 2, and Fang Restaurant in San Francisco is celebrating with a special one night only dish for romantics. Chef Kathy Fang is cooking up Heart-Warming Spicy Beef Noodle Soup for Two ($15).  The noodle dish features a rich, flavorful broth made from beef bones, short rib, aromatics, and peppercorns, and is served with rice noodles and succulent pork wontons. Couples who order the special dish to share will also receive two sets of beautiful, satin-wrapped chopsticks which symbolize romantic love and are often gifted to newlyweds in the Chinese culture to encourage fertility. 

The background to this day is a love story between the Weaver girl (symbolizing Vega) and the Cowherd (symbolizing Altair).  They were in love but because their love was not allowed, they were banished to opposite sides of the Silver River (Milky Way), but once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, a flock of magpies form a bridge to reunite the lovers for one day. Thus a pair of magpies came to symbolize marital happiness and faithfulness. Currently in urban China people take the opportunity to buy flowers, especially blue roses symbolizing hopeful love as well as chocolates to gift their sweethearts.

Chef Kathy Fang is the daughter of Peter Fang, chef/owner of the famed House of Nanking. Growing up in House of Nanking's kitchen, Kathy found her passion for cooking and received her formal training at  Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School.  Blending her schooling, Cantonese heritage and cooking style with her own native San Franciscan perspective, as well as her global travels she has created a menu with equal parts tradition and inspiration.

Fang Restaurant

660 Howard St.

San Francisco, CA 94105

(415) 777-8580

www.fangrestaurant.com

https://www.facebook.com/FangRestaurant

Supper Club - Holiday Party 2009

I joined up with the Supper Club again for its annual Holiday Party - although this posting is after the holidays, these dishes are great any time of year.

First thing up was an amazing, and I do mean amazing, Poached Pear and Truffled Pate Mousse. Glenn made this masterpiece, and the fois gras with truffles and spiced poached pears topped with pistachios was one of the most delicious dishes I've ever tasted.

The Pecan Amaretto Baked Brie, although looking over-caramelized was totally delicious as well. Janice and her daughter Victoria teamed up on this, being Victoria's recipe and made by Janice.

I believe that Janice brought and made on behalf of her husband, Bill, the tasty Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms. Glen recommended eating these hot, risking top of mouth burn. They are tastiest piping hot!

Our fearless leader, Tom H succumbed to food poisoning from a tea party the day before and left our party early, but leaving good instructions on how to finish of this smooth and savory Fennel Soup he brought.

Next up were the delicious main dishes, and their sides:

Dungeness Crab, Tom M. - peak of season perfection.

Gingersnap Style Sauerbrauten, Connie. Very good rendition and it used two different cuts of meat one leaner than the other for a taste comparison. Both were great!

Well, the plainness of my Whole Foods purchased Mashed Potatoes paired well with the Sauerbraten, but it wasn't the intended dish. The Scalloped Potatoes that I prepared, fell out of my hands in its crock, just steps from the party door and broke in pieces, yellow cheese sauce and potatoes streaming down the sidewalk in the rain! A clean up and a quick trip to Whole Foods yielded these... In fact when we went around the table discussing our dishes we found that many of us overcame kitchen disasters this time before coming out with our final dish.

Janice brought some wonderful corn pudding too.

Karla and Wayne brought a wonderful caramelized and pecan-sprinkled Brussels sprouts dish -

as well as taking the mystery out of bringing out the sweetness of both Brussels sprouts and cauliflower with careful roasting.

The meal was topped off by two lovely desserts - Karen's lovely Citrus Bundt cake and Stephanie's equally dazzling Chestnut Torte.

We have such fun at these events! I would recommend anyone loving to cook and enjoy good company create a opportunity for yourself and friends to showcase and experiment with delicious foods this year!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had some fun ringing in the New Year!

I've been attending to things apart from the virtual world which we all need to do from time to time. I have plenty of things to write about, so will be back as all goes back to normal in the new year.

I had a fun celebration with friends at my place to ring in 2010, with the features cuisine being Korean. One of my friends brought over a Korean feast! And I didn't think to photograph until all there was left was the remains of the fun.

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Dinner for 10 turned out fabulously! We had an Alaskan King Crab feast which we ate, talked and laughed through. This was the ending, a 'traditional' Japanese Christmas cake, a lightly sweet and creamy end to a marvelous occasion!

I hope everyone celebrating Christmas had a joyous day! And everyone else too!

It's almost time...

for a Merry Christmas! and happy holidays whichever ones you celebrate.

I've not succumbed to any strange and new disease... just caught up in the general holiday busy-ness... and since I'm hosting 10 for dinner tomorrow, I'm especially working on making my house be in tune with the season. I'm making Alaskan King Crab with garlic sesame soba noodles with some lovely side dishes coming with friends, and a beautiful white Christmas cake from Japantown!

I'll be back with more reviews when I can catch my breath again.

The day after

We had such a lovely Thanksgiving with friends, and I was so busy assembling and making biscuits from scratch on the spot that although I took my camera, I took no Thanksgiving festivities photos. However, before I left home, I did snap a shot of the fruit salad I made, which had pineapple, Capay Farms pears, banana, blackberries and mint freshly picked from my deck, with a whole lemon squeezed over top. It was good and there was not a bit left to bring home, including the bowl that slipped off near the sink after dinner and flew into many pieces!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving has a spectacular meal and much to be grateful for. I made a Tofurky feast with the tofu-turkey roasted with fresh root vegetables from the CSA box a couple nights ago, paired with a green bean casserole. I didn't mention that it was not meat, and Dad didn't notice the difference.

I am grateful for many things, not the least of which is a busy business season, which has made my blogging a little irregular lately. Never fear, I am here and will continue as I can without crazy-making.

Dad and I are having Thanksgiving dinner with Jo-Ann & Jonathon and their extended family and friends. And I will eat some actual turkey today, and will be making my mother's special oyster stuffing....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

The Halloween Trick-or-Treating brigade! Toran (King Neptune) & Aurelia (Laura Ingalls Wilder) with their Uncle Glen and Jessica. Dad and I passed out the treats to the tots coming by while this group and Toran & Aurelia's parents, Jonathon & Jo-Ann went on the neighborhood trick or treat trail. What fun!

Happy 4th of July!

photo credit: iStockphoto

Dad and I were invited to our friend Linda's in Glen Ellen for a BBQ. It was a beautiful day and we had a relaxing time enjoying good friends, food and watching the children swim!

It's not Easter until Aurelia Climbs the Tree

We have a tradition going. Three years running we've had an Easter picnic at Bootjack on Mt. Tamalpias, and Aurelia has climbed the tree in our favorite spot on the picnic grounds each time. One of my offerings was the chirashi with langostino tails (pictured), along with Italian themed antipasto plates of grilled artichokes, grilled eggplant and lots of black olives. Others brought the most delicious wild salmon for salmon burgers, awesome potato salad and an assortment of snackie things.

Aurelia, Jonathon & Toran got the fire going to grill the salmon.

And Aurelia started climbing the tree as we speculated how many years longer she would be interested in doing so.

She sat in her perch, observing all until she tired of it and came down to blow some bubbles with her brother. What a fun Easter we all had yesterday!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

This photo is from another Christmas... I've been enjoying rather than photographing much so far. The terrible storm has been keeping me awake tonight. I had a lovely Christmas Eve lunch with Jo-Ann at Cinecitta and cooked a nice Christmas Eve dinner for my Dad & Daniel. Of course I enjoyed it too. Turkey Breast Roast stuffed with garlic, dressing with water chestnuts, gingered Nantes carrots, a little caprese salad, some aged 3 years Gouda with rosemary Tuscan crackers and roasted vegetables in the pan with the turkey (sweet potato, pearl onions and Russian fingerling potatoes). Oh, and a fresh cucumber salad. We topped it off with a fresh mix of raspberries and blueberries with whipped cream for dessert. Today Dad & I are zipping off to Jo-Ann's then Linda's for more holiday cheer.

Ingredients for a perfect party

First of all you need a gaggle of friends and family, and be sure there are some children involved! Then a great space, like the Cabo Wabo Room at Saylor's, with its great staff and consistently good food.

Add a couple elves, especially The Bubble Lady's alter ego Christmas elves with balloons. Stir it up vigorously, and put the finishing touch of a Japonese tiered cake by Debbie Does Dessert at the end. The flowers were sculpted in chocolate, and the inside had chocolate and raspberry flavors!

Caregivers throw a party

Dad and I were invited to Homewatch Caregivers Holiday Party in Novato yesterday. Considering all the things they do for their clients, it's the clients who should be throwing an appreciation party for them.

As it was, they had a wonderful spread of food and nibbles and a constant stream of the cared for and the caregivers came through the office. Peter, who started the office serving the North Bay gave recognition awards to caregivers who exemplified particular positive qualities, such as recognition for a caregiver who stuck through 9 months of 7 day a week care for a client. It was a pleasure to add clapping hands for the staff who work tirelessly to help others.

The team that organizes the care, left to right are Susan, Peter and Rochelle. It's amazing what they accomplish -- matching reliable and well trained caregivers to clients with a very wide variety of needs and temperaments. And dealing with all the exceptions! If you are looking for someone to assist with coordinating a loved ones care, don't miss talking to this group.

Fondue!

I was able to stop by the old Magnolia Thai in SanRafael and snap this photo the other day. There were workers inside the building working busily to make the new Fondue! a reality. Stay tuned for future developments!

Yesterday evening I had good friends over for a post-Thanksgiving no-poultry dinner. We enjoyed some wild coho salmon marinated and baked in a raspberry roasted chipolte pepper sauce. It was accompanied by lentil pilaf and some sauteed wild porcini mushrooms, and a mixed green salad with glazed walnuts, fresh blueberries and feijoa. Of the dressings offered, champagne seemed to be the hit. I was not in photo-taking mode, concentrating on good flavors so you'll have to use your imagination on this one.

Day after

Thanksgiving Day Report: Dad & I enjoyed a lovely holiday. After assembling our dish and ingredients for a green salad, Dad & I were on our way to the first stop: Jonathon & Jo-Ann's. Everything was perky, even the new dog, Bobby. We caught them just at the right time when the table was set, things were in the oven and we could enjoy a chat. The kids were all dressed up and cute. It was nice to have a some Thanksgiving time with them!

Then we went on to Glen Ellen to spend the rest of the day with Linda, Yalda, Olivia & friends Joan & Greg. Linda made the beautiful turkey above, and went with her perfect instincts on when the turkey was done, despite the erroneous thermometer reading. Olivia wanted traditional holiday yams with melted marshmallows on top, which I brought. It was a lovely Thanksgiving for all, and great conversation.

Sweet Rum Yams

1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 cup mini-marshmallows
2 large organic Jewel yams
Pam
~2 tablespoons water

Spray a large baking pan with Pam. Cut yams into sections to the size of the baking pan, leaving room at the top for topping. Put about 2 tablespoons of water in the dish, cover with lid or aluminum foil and bake at 350F for about an hour.

Prepare the sauce -- put remaining ingredients except marshmallows in a saucepan and melt together, over medium to low heat, stirring gently. Set aside until yams are done.

When the yams are cooked tender, pour off excess liquid, then pour the melted sauce over the yams. You can pause them here, warm and do the marshmallow step later if you like (I did). If you pause, you'll want to rebaste the yams in the sauce. When you are about 20-30 minutes from serving, sprinkle the marshmallows over the top, recover and cook at 350-375F until the yams are warm and marshmallows melted. Serves 6 or more.

Happy Easter

As I write this, I've just finished an evenings prep for an Easter picnic on Sunday. I've prepared organic veggies for grilling - asparagus spears, green beans, mini sweet peppers of bright colors all marinating in an e.v.o.o. and fresh lemon mixture. I've also prepared fresh cremini mushroom caps and 'scored' them - those will be the 'hot cross buns' stand in. I'll be making kinpira gobo (braised burdock and carrots), and bringing some sakura mochi (fresh an {red bean} filled mochi wrapped in a fresh edible cherry tree leaf), mini cream puffs and Calpis (a sweet fermented soda drink). I made up some Easter bags full of fun Japanese chocolate and cookie treats for the kids, and some matcha (bitter green tea) chocolate for the adults. Jo-Ann and Jonathon, their kids Toran and Aurelia and their grandfather Hal will be meeting Dad and I up at the same place we had an Easter picnic last year on Mt. Tamalpais. So conveniently, I have some photos from last year. It will be another 70F sunny day, so I'm sure it will be much the same. Jonathon informed me that they'll be bringing some wild salmon to grill, hummus, and some other goodies and Hal is bringing some rosemary bread. Sounds like a feast.

It's Easter, not Thanksgiving, but still I am very thankful for living in such an abundant place where you have natural beauty, high quality food and water (not to mention wine) all around. Despite all the bad news in the press, business couldn't be better and life is good! I hope life is good in your part of the world as well.

Children make the day. What are the holidays without the cheer and unbridled awe of children in your life? Dad & I visited friends young and otherwise on Christmas Day and celebrated friendship. Linda set the most beautiful table for Christmas dinner above.

On the way to Linda's in Glen Ellen, we stopped at Jo-Ann & Jonathon's for tea, and yes, the cake pictured yesterday was a surprise! It was also light and fluffy and had fresh strawberries inside as well. We were lucky enough to catch Jo-Ann's younger brother Glen there, and shot this photo of him with Toran & Aurelia, being a big tease!

On to Glen Ellen, Miss Olivia posed in front of the Christmas tree in a pretty dress that matched the mood of her grandmother's table.

Linda made some luscious honey baked ham, perfectly cooked green beans, and some amazing sweet potato fries. Yalda made an amazing mandarin orange jello mold. And the two of them put together an amazing spread of appetizers that we started out the evening with (as well as some champagne). I'll tell you how to make my contributions to the meal following.

Twice Baked Potatoes. Yalda loves these, so I found a recipe on the web and made these up. The variation I made to the recipe was to microwave them rather than bake them again at Linda's since the oven didn't have room. They look a bit messy, but the flavor was intact!

The recipe:

Yields: 8 servings

"Potatoes are baked and then hollowed out. The flesh is combined with sour cream, milk, butter, green onions and Cheddar cheese, then topped with more cheese, green onions and bacon."

INGREDIENTS:
4 large baking potatoes
8 slices bacon
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar
cheese, divided
8 green onions, sliced, divided

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bake potatoes in preheated oven for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
4. When potatoes are done allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl; save skins. To the potato flesh add sour cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup cheese and 1/2 the green onions. Mix with a hand mixer until well blended and creamy. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Top each with remaining cheese, green onions and bacon.
5. Bake for another 15 minutes.

You can make ahead and wait for the second baking and then it takes 30-40 minutes in the oven, or just a few minutes (5ish) in the microwave to finish off the dish.

I also brought a variation of the salad I made for Christmas Eve at my home last year, the Pomegranate Spinach Salad. It looks so festive! My variation was to use glazed walnuts instead of almonds, and I used a bottled balsamic vinaigrette.

Wonderful times, wonderful memories, and I hope all your celebrations were the same.

Christmas Report. Dad & I had a wonderful Christmas with friends. First, we enjoyed dinner and holiday cheer with Linda, Yalda, Olivia and Yalda's friend Tanya. We had a feast with ham as the centerpiece and more side dishes than could be managed in the oven. Of course, it was all topped off with a homemade pumpkin pie - creamy and luscious.

On the way back, we stopped in at Jo-Ann & Jonathon's and enjoyed some time with them. Jonathon & Aurelia had made an awesome less-sweet pumpkin pie where the flavors of the spices and pumpkin popped out and were recognizable rather than the usual too-sweet flavor clouding the taste. Another Christmas has whizzed past, but we enjoyed it from end to end.

Christmas Eve Revelry. Daniel, Kit, and Kit's Mom Lynn joined Dad & I for Christmas Eve dinner. I took some early photos, but we were having too much fun for me to interrupt the meal with photo ops of the food. Everyone enjoyed the above holiday colored salad.

Pomegranate Spinach Salad

1 bag organic baby spinach
1 cup pomegranate Seeds
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds
2 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin Olive Oil

Wash and spin the spinach, arrange in a flatish bowl. Sprinkle on almonds, followed by feta cheese and finally the pomegranate seeds. Serve with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil table side so guests individually pour it as they like on their portion.

The Minted Pineapple Banana Salad was a hit as well.

Minted Pineapple Banana Salad

2 cups fresh chunks of ripe pineapple
2 large bananas, sliced in rounds
1 lemon, juiced
3 springs of fresh mint, cut into pieces

1. Put pineapple chunks in bowl.
2. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the pineapple
3. Add the mint, reserving one piece for garnish
4. Add sliced bananas and mix, making sure all banana pieces are coated in juices to prevent browning.
5. Add decorative sprig of mint and serve.

The remaining menu was dilled wild salmon baked with a creamy mushroom sauce, Swedish rolls, parsnips, mashed potatoes, roasted yellow peppers marinated in vinegar and olive oil, and black olives. Kit and Lynn brought a fabulous Apple Brown Betty for dessert.

So we ate and talked. And ate and talked some more, then opened gifts.

Kit and Daniel enjoy a moment.

Kit and Daniel dance Celtic dances for nearly two hours, Daniel teaching Kit some complicated steps to the Celtic CD Daniel presented Anna for Christmas.

They still look energetic after finishing up!

Merry Christmas everyone!