Group Blog. Yes, sometimes one's friends get so enthused about the blogging adventure, that the camera is passed and angles assessed and out comes a lot of photos of an amazing meal. And this was a special celebration -- a dear colleague had accumulated 10 years with my former employer, and another friend celebrated a twenty year friendship with her. And it was a kind of reunion of colleagues who live in geographically distant places and don't have the opportunity to sit and break bread together very often.

So Friday night, we went to Yabbies Coastal Kitchen on Polk Street in San Francisco. What a fabulous choice Sachiko made for the group. They were friendly and had a nice ambiance. And the food was delicious. We started with the Signature Seafood Platter to share. It consisted of Cracked Maine Lobster,Cracked Dungeness Crab, Ceviche of the Day, Oysters on the Half Shell, Jumbo Prawns, Steamed Mussels and Littleneck Clams on the Half Shell.

We also had their fresh and delicious Steamed Mussels in a roasted garlic and cream sauce. The sauce was SO good that we passed the bowl around and people took spoonfuls in turn.

We celebrated with Champagne, and some delicious Flowers chardonnay. (....and reordered it when it ran out!)

Then the next round of food came. Sachiko had ordered the Wedge of Iceberg Lettuce with Blue Cheese Dressing, Bacon, and Avocado. She generously shared some with me, it was really quite good!

Yoshi had the Butternut Squash Soup, and reported that it was good. Sachiko, in the spirit of an enthused blogger, snatched the soup away as his spoon was descending -- reminding him to take a photo before sampling!

Then the entrees started arriving, beginning with mine, the special Sand Dabs over Mushroom Risotto. It was awesome, with tender fish over mushroom and greens laden risotto.

Taeko was sitting to my left, which is the direction the camera went, and she snapped this great photo of her Diver Scallops over soft polenta with bacon and greens. We traded bits, and hers was cooked to perfection! Slightly caramelized on the outside, moist and juicy inside.

Next up was Yoshi, who ordered a delicious salmon over rice. (There were more creative names here, but I can't remember them all correctly). Good report on taste here too. The staff kindly offered to take a group photo, not noticing that it was the FOOD we were after at this point... Sachiko pointed out it was the food we were after as there was a blogger in the midst (there went the anonymity...)

Larry, who had a sixth sense about the amount of food that was being ordered, sensibly ordered a Caesar Salad as his entree. Sachiko artfully took the photo by standing in back of him with her arms around his shoulders and neck, with the camera slightly below his face. Quite the blogging team! It was also hard to get the photos as the light was extra dim, and you really couldn't see the food properly until you were actually pressing the button to take the photo.

Sachiko, who sat on the other side of me ordered the Dungeness Crab cakes, which she said were great. She often comes to this restaurant, and the staff knew her and chatted familiarly throughout the evening. I don't blame her as the seafood dishes were really good, well executed and fresh.

By that time, we had enough champagne and Flowers chardonnay in us to loose all inhibitions about ordering dessert. So we chose a couple for the table, this one a delicious Pear Crisp.

Next was a smooth Classic Creme Brulee with a crackly caramelized sugar crust.

And the staff gave us a surprise, a Hot Fudge Sundae that was to die for! The hot fudge on this was amazing.

And since it was Taeko's 10th Anniversary, she tried something unusual for her, an after dinner dessert wine for a sweet finish to a lovely celebration. If you enjoy great seafood, you can't go wrong choosing Yabbies.

Afternoon and Evening in Berkeley. Yesterday I met up with my friend Daniel in Berkeley where the talk was tech and we both came away learning new things and with a possible new business venture. We wandered over to Jupiter for some more talk and dinner. I could see why Daniel likes this place so much, casual yet warm, with inventive fresh salads and pizza, and a few small plates.

Wanting to watch the carbs, I chose a couple appetizers, the first was Asian Chicken Skewers. These were lime and ginger marinated with a spicy peanut sauce. The meat was moist and perfectly cooked, and the sauce was interesting.

I also had the Portobello Mushrooms, which were filled with asparagus, caramelized onion, and fontina cheese. The menu didn't mention that the mushrooms were relatively small and that there was a salad attached, but they were delicious.

Daniel dived into the Spinach and Albacore Tuna salad. It had baby spinach (although it really didn't look all that 'baby'), albacore tuna, white beans, cucumbers and sweet peppers in it, and I heard from Daniel that it was really great, and that their Salmon Salad is also worth a repeat visit.

I'm still working away on the hair mats for the bay... and my Dad scared me a few minutes ago by such uncontrollable shaking and shortness of breath out of nowhere that I called 911 and nearly instantly had the Mill Valley emergency medical team here, four or so, who were nothing but competent and wonderful. Luckily, he didn't need to be taken to the ER, suspicions are that he's having a reaction to the flu shot he got a couple days ago. I'm learning that the elderly often don't have symptoms (or report them) until things are suddenly severe, and it's hard to tell when you should get assistance. It'll be a light night of sleep for me for sure.

Dinner at home. A little grilled wild salmon with a side of sprouted whole wheat pasta, broccoli, porcini, garlic and pine nuts! Glad the weather is favorable for grilling again.

My spare minutes have continued to be used in support of the effort to clean up the oil spill in the bay using hair mats and oyster mushrooms. The latest news on this can be found at Matter of Trust. If anyone has a good connection with Governor Schwarzenegger's office, leave me a comment as the effort could use a little of his offices good graces.

New Chinese on the block. P.F. Chang's (yes, a chain) opened a new location in Corte Madera on Monday. Having enjoyed their food when in other parts of the country, I decided to stop in and see how this location measures up.

We started with their steamed shrimp dumplings. These were served quickly, and piping hot and we would definitely order these tasty morsels again.

The next two came out in quick succession. First the grilled prawns with garlic noodles arrived. The prawns were extra large and succulent!

Next came the Tofu and Vegetable with Peanuts in a Coconut Curry sauce. Again, a winner for its fresh and cooked crisp vegetables and smooth pairing with the sauce. Dad particularly liked this one. Although only two days open at the time we went, the service was friendly and flawless and the food was great.

Mushrooming. Mushrooms have surely entered my life this week in a most unexpected way! I awoke this morning to an e-mail from a trusted friend about a novel way to clean up the oil spill in the bay! Yes, using mushrooms! Oyster mushrooms to be precise. Matter of Trust has the details. Lori Schwilling has been the voice and connector of the efforts to get this amazing solution before the decision makers and into reality. An except from the original e-mail I received this morning in Lori's words:

"Yesterday I had the good fortune of listening to Paul Stamets speak at the Green Fest downtown. He's the leading guru in the world of mycelium aka. mushrooms and he has direct experience with bioremediation of oil.

This paragraph is an excerpt from an article found at http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=597

"After several years, and redundant experiments to prove to naysayers that our data were valid, we have made some astonishing discoveries. The first significant study showed that a strain of Oyster mushrooms could break down heavy oil. A trial project at a vehicle storage center controlled by the Washington State Department of Transportation enlisted the techniques from several competing bioremediation groups. The soil was blackened with oil and reeked of aromatic hydrocarbons. We inoculated one berm of soil approximately 8 feet by 30 feet by 3 feet high with mushroom spawn, while others employed a variety of methods, ranging from bacteria to chemical agents. After four weeks, the tarps were pulled back from each test pile. The first piles employing the other techniques were unremarkable. Then the tarp was pulled from our pile, and gasps of astonishment and laughter welled up from the observers. The hydro-carbon-laden pile was bursting with mushrooms! Oyster mushrooms up to 12 inches in diameter had formed across the pile. Analyses showed that more than 95 percent of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) were destroyed, reduced to non-toxic components. The mushrooms were also free of any petroleum products.

After eight weeks, the mushrooms had rotted away, and then came another startling revelation. As the mushrooms rotted, flies were attracted, feeding on the mushroom spores. The flies became a magnet for other insects, which in turn brought in birds. Apparently the birds brought in seeds. Soon our pile was an oasis, the only pile teeming with life."

Additional information can be found by googling Paul Stamets, oil remediation.
...

In the meantime I'd like to find out if its possible to put this bioremediation solution into action."

Having been inspired by Lori's actions, and subsequent research, I've spent a good part of my day working on this issue. If you have a way to forward action on this, please feel free to e-mail me at anna at annalou dot com, and I'll put you in touch with Lori.

Porcini Heaven. There are friends, and then friends who bear gifts of mushrooms. Not the common white kind but GOLDEN mushrooms, such as porcini. And in this case it seems he brought me literal pocket gold, as I noticed the price of $39.99 per pound for these at the local grocery.

A few years ago, he was kind enough to take me mushrooming a couple times, and recommended the above books. I loved the experience of tromping around the forest in the early morning light, smelling the fresh earthy smell and carrying a cute wicker basket. I noticed that mushroomers are rather protective of their special secret territories, and will hop up at the drop of a hat when there has been a rain conducive to mushroom growth.

So he dropped off quite a weighty bunch of porcini, and advised me that I must cook them no later than the next day, and that the best way to keep them would be in a colander, with a damp towel draping over the top.

So how does one prepare these? Well, the first thing I found out, was that unlike buying them in the grocery store where this is pre-done, when you harvest them from the wild, you need to remove their the spongy part that is attached to the 'green gills'. You can see in the above photo, I've loosened the gills from the cap, and then I tore it off cleanly. Honestly, this task made ME turn green under the gills and wonder who ever had the bright idea of ever eating these in the first place???

As my friend suggested, I reserved the green gills aside, as they can be put in a cheesecloth and simmered in water to make a delicious porcini broth.

So now I had some beautiful, cleaned porcini (I used my mushroom brush to clean the remainder of the mushrooms).

Now on to the chopping - which can be done to your preference, it doesn't matter if its lengthwise or crosswise. I chose crosswise.

I got a large bowl of pieces from the three gigantic porcini, and it was ready to saute.

My friend advised to use olive oil to smooth out and reduce the amount of butter, but to also use butter liberally, along with pressed garlic cloves (5) . So I used about a quarter cup of organic extra virgin olive oil, and half a stick of organic unsalted butter... then part way through I though, why should I skimp on the butter with rare ingredients like these! So I threw in the other half stick of butter! OK, maybe a whole stick was rather excessive since it started looking a bit like butter soup flavored with mushrooms, but it STILL tasted delightful.

But why care when a most delicious slice of toasted, very fresh multi-grain bread was the base to soak in the saucy excess? I had to serve it with a sharp steak knife as I thought this meaty-mushroom and crisp weighty bread deserved no less. So delicious!

And this post just begged to be part of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Vanessa at What Geeks Eat.

Wikipedia has a nice write up of Porcini. Many myths have been spread about mushrooms. One of the most inaccurate is that mushrooms have no nutritional value. To properly consider them for their nutritional benefits, they must be viewed from a dried weight perspective. And mushrooms give you maximum nutritional benefit only upon cooking. Mushrooms are relatively high in protein, averaging about 20% of their dried mass. Further they contribute a wide range of essential amino acids. Low in fat (between .3 and 2%) and high in fiber, mushrooms also provide several groups of vitamins, particularly thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, ascorbic acid and Vitamin D. For more information on the nutritional properties of mushrooms, Paul Stamets, founder of Fungi Perfecti, published an extensive study of 24 major nutrients in 16 mushroom species and varieties. See: Stamets, P., 2005. “Notes on Nutritional Properties of Culinary-Medicinal Mushrooms”, International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, vol. 7: 103–110.

Cool find of a gadget. I've been trying out a cute little white and green-trimmed gadget in my kitchen for a month or so, the Frisper. It works as well as advertised, keeping my foods fresher by squeezing the air out. It's also small, and regretfully - noisy. It sounds about like a hair blow-dryer, but the noise is brief, just while it takes out the air. I suppose anything that 'vacuums' has to make some sound. The reusable bags are nifty too and come in two sizes. I have noticed a positive difference in the shelf life of food in my fridge. I've been frisping my cold cereals too to preserve their crunch. At the time I bought it, The Sharper Image had the best deal.

Last night I didn't take photos, but I made a really good meal if you like beef... organic, grass-fed beef rib eye steaks cooked on the grill outside (now that the rain has stopped). The health benefits as well as the environmental benefits have me sold on this type of meat. And after dinner was done, a good friend dropped by unexpectedly who had spent all day mushrooming and had more porcini's than he could use, so I have an awesome gift...

Great Thai place in my backyard. I've been here so many times, and thought I'd blogged somewhere about it, but it looks like this may be the first official post! Thep Lela is in Mill Valley's Strawberry Village, tucked into a peaceful back corner.

Pretty salad which is as fresh and delicious as it looks.

I ordered one of my favorite lunch specials there, Bamee chicken. Served with very nicely flavored BBQ chicken breasts, pounded into thin scallops atop lightly flavored egg noodles with a sweet and chili infused dipping sauce. Thep Lela is good any time of day.

When in San Francisco.. find an excuse to go to Japantown. Any excuse will do. So after my teeth got their clean bill of health from the dentist I still go to near the Embarcadero Center near where I used to work, the needing brown rice excuse worked to stop on the way home. And it was lunchtime. Parking was tight, so I ended up parking close to the Miyako building where the former Miyako Hotel has morphed into Hotel Kabuki.

Luckily that is also the side of one of the best Japanese restaurants in Japantown, Takara, which is a play on words for 'treasure'. I tried a combo set here, which started with a nice hot and flavorful miso soup, with tsukemono (pickles) on the side. I liked that they mixed my favorite takuwan with the cabbage in the tsukemono.

Instead of bringing the food out all at once, on a tray, as in the photo on the menu, it came out course by course. First appearing was the Zaru Soba. The dipping sauce was under the lid. This cold soba with salty and mustardy dipping sauce was a great appetizer.

The Tanin Donburi came out last, which consisted of thinly sliced beef sauteed with onion, egg and seasonings. This rendition was great! The wait staff is quite friendly and authentically Japanese, with character. This could be the setting for a Japanese mini-drama with the cheerful and suave host who seemed to be monitoring everything happening around, yet had time to greet guests in Japanese. 90% of the clientèle seemed to be Japanese (they were all speaking it). Then there was the beautiful and gentle lady who talked while waving her hands gently. Last but not least was the ever efficacious obasan-type, who whisked about swiftly nodding her head in agreement with those around. This place is quite authentic, and the dishes have a very homestyle quality. I have been here before, and will definitely come here again!

Daughter's Night Out. Every Thursday evening a companion comes to watch after my father and I have a carefree night out. I thought about going further afield last night, but traffic on 101N was particularly noxious, even later in the evening. So I decided to try a place in my backyard that I've been wanting to visit for awhile, Ora. It was the perfect choice.

As an aside, you can tell that it is indeed heading towards winter fast as the darkness is palpable suddenly significantly earlier. So again it will be the season for rather dark outside photos when I cover a dinner, an example being the one above.

I was immediately greeted with a very genuine welcome that made me feel warm as I entered the door. I noticed the warm decor and intimate feeling. I barely sat when a cone of fresh, just out of the fryer bread was popped onto my table. It didn't look like it would photograph well in the cone in the romantically dim light so I moved a couple of the hot and fragrant morsels onto the pretty green glass plate for this photo op. These were reminiscent of beignets, without the sugar coating.

Although my friendly server recommended the Green Papaya and Apple Salad as his personal favorite, I decided to stick with my first impulse, the Jicama and Red Grapefruit Slaw. Especially since I ordered a main course on the heavier side. It was simply delightful. It had tofu and bits of cilantro and red cabbage as well. It had a light dressing and had that characteristic jicama crunch.

For the main dish, I tried the Shaking Beef, caramelized onions, watercress salad, and sake soy vinaigrette. It also had a salt and spices on the side with a squeeze of lime for dipping. That added an interesting dimension which took the dish to a new level of complexity. The beef itself was tender with a definite taste of quality.

The menu had a choice of white rice, brown rice or black rice as an accompaniment. Well if brown rice is good, wouldn't black rice be even better? Well as far as taste goes, it has my vote! I was afraid that this may be some version of a wild rice where the grains would be hard. Not so at all. It was soft, and flavored with oyster sauce and other well-melded ingredients. It came covered in a leaf, and steaming hot.

I really wasn't planning on desert, but when I saw that there was rose water in the panna cotta, and I've had a weakness for things made with rose water lately, I had to order the Striped Red Raspberry and Rose Water Panna Cotta. It consisted of raspberry & rose water gelee, sugar coated lime zest, and wild berry salad. Wonderful.

Using some Amazon terminology, if you like E&O Trading, then you will also enjoy Ora. Ora in comparison is more intimate, romantic and has a warm ambiance. There are also silent movies playing on the wall that have been chosen in a way to be Asian artful (at least while I was there.). A good date night place!