Barbari bread

Hatam's, a Persian grocery and cafe on 'B' Street in San Rafael, is an amazing trove of 'cool finds'. One is the Barbari bread.

Oblong and slightly raised yeastbread, it has a rustic ridged look, and the ridges hold up delicious toppings!

One such topping can be made by mixing some "French" feta cheese (available in cut-to-order freshly made blocks in the deli section) with Greek Sour Cherry Preserves.



Unlike Balkan varieties made with a mixture of milks, French feta is made exclusively with sheep's milk, and has a creamier taste and finer texture. A wonderful pairing with some tea, or as a light lunch if you top some of the Barbari bread with hummus.

mugi-cha

Since this is supposed to be about "cool finds" and not just a restaurant review site, I'll post some things I think are "cool"! One is mugi-cha. Mugi-cha has been called 'barley' tea or 'wheat' tea by those translators in the know. My first taste of mugi-cha was as a student in the summer heat of Hiroshima. My Japanese host grandmother made it the old fashioned way -- by boiling and simmering for an hour or so, the roasted whole grains that came in a long thin cellophane tube. It had such a refreshing taste, and had no need of sugar.

(ew! can't imagine sweetened mugi-cha)

Later I discovered there are 'instant' mugi-cha bags for making quart-sized pitchers at a time. Somehow the smooth viscosity is lacking in the instant, but it still is tasty and refreshing. It is said to be healthy for the liver and gallbladder (scientific reference unknown). It is also caffeine-free.

I've been trying new restaurants as usual! Here are my latest reviews!

Tabla Cafe (Larkspur): Found this on a blog site, and was as good as described. Light airy dosai (and I've been a dosa fan for years), mostly organic, light flavorful soups and salads. Don't miss the Scharffenberger brownies -- rich enough to share! The ice cream is made fresh too. The last one I had was mint chocolate chip -- and the mint was fresh! Also offered is a daily changing take out item, they reheat well. I'm an addicted return customer. The latest scoop is that a big New York outfit has challenged their use of the name Tabla, so look for same place, different name, but tastes the same.

Cafe Trieste (Sausalito): Nice Bridgeway Scramble and richly flavored mocha coffee, but the service was poor and tables dirty past the usual rush... Did I hit an off day or are they sliding?

Small Shed Flatbreads (Mill Valley): Sometimes you have to wait to try something new until a parking space magically shows up.... the other night my father and I were hungry for je ne sais quoi, but when we saw the small parking space on the hillside just above the restaurant, I knew the time was right! This place is full of character, very casual, but lively! Flatbreads were great, and the fact that most ingredients are locally sustainably farmed and organic was a major plus. The flatbread is crispy as desired and nicely balanced with the fresh ingredients. We tried a clam and garlic infused one, as well as a "Mad River" that had organic nitrate and hormone-free ground pork sausage, very finely ground over a fresh tomato base.

Bridgeway Cafe (Sausalito): Not only was the perfect breakfast served by a very petite sweet blonde student, but the day was perfect for a gorgeous view. Seems a local woman has bought a historic tall sail ship, and anchored it in the bay, framed beautifully in the foreground while the SF skyline floats in the background from the sunny seat behind the window. She's selling working passages to the Caribbean for $900 a person! When it's complete and seaworthy of course. Oh to have the time...

Cafe Maritime (San Francisco): This is a fresh find on Lombard... one would think that there are abundant good seafood restaurants in a city by the bay, but I've found San Francisco to be pretty lacking, numerically speaking, in really excellent, innovative seafood restaurants. I was pleased to find this one that's been around for about 14 months. The proprietor, Mark, is as pleasant as can be, and it really is Mark's Mom who lent the recipe for "Mark's Mom's Coconut Cream Pie" - yum! She has been there (she hails from Chicago) and has put her stamp of approval on this rendition of her recipe. The New England Seafood Chowder is very inventive and delish also.

Wow! It's been a long time since I've blogged! Last year became very hectic with work travel, and I had to suspend my flying lessons. I did fly once more after getting my student pilot's licence on my trip to Africa! I was fortunate to be able to co-pilot a charter plane from the Serengeti to Arusha with my good friends on board who were traveling with me from Global Partners for Development.

The photo above is of Mt. Meru near Arusha taken while waiting to enter Arusha National Park. February 2005

This was my second trip to Africa, and just as amazing. In fact much more 'wild' than my previous visit in 2000.

Passed the final at Ground School - still flying the Grob. Enjoyed a great flight on Saturday, followed by meeting Daniel in Berkeley and enjoying dinner at Cafe Tibet (great place! - everything is made fresh!) Enjoyed the foreign film "Goodbye Lenin" afterwards, definitely recommendable.

I was supposed to do my first unassisted take off on Monday, as well as practice stalls, but the winds were too strong to fly. So, it's postponed till Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday I tried a Paradise Vegetarian Restaurant on 4th Street in San Rafael. Very reasonable prices, simple decor, and GREAT vegetarian dishes.

Flew the German-designed Grob on Saturday, WOW, what a plane! You can see it by going to Attitude Aviation's site and scrolling down to the Grob Barvarian. I'm now going to be continuing my lessons there. It is a sleek, sporty plane with a joystick and hairtrigger controls.

This week is finals at Ground School at Gnoss Field... we'll see how it goes!

Yesterday I tried a new Japanese restaurant in San Rafael - Tenkyu. Something to be missed. The actual food presentation did not match the one-page photos of their food, and it was quite greasy, and the sushi was heavy on the rice, light on the sashimi.

Had a really fun weekend with my Dad. We had a cute movie made of us flying on a magic carpet all around San Francisco. There is a company called Studio 39 that does this using a 'blue screen' technique. We finished off the Sunday activities with a Blue & Gold Fleet hour cruise around the bay. It was a nice sunny day to do it. We also went swimming and dipping in my hot tub as the pool opened for the season on May 1st. Nice relaxing weekend.

I did my first take-off from a busy (air tower controlled) airport on Saturday morning with my CFI, Dan. We took a little round trip to Santa Rosa airport from Gnoss Field to check out Katana airplanes that he thought I might enjoy learning to fly.

Well I've been totally absorbed in all things flying. I've long progressed since my first flight on 3/20. I'm half-way through ground school and working on 'ground maneuvers' - essentially, I'm flying the plane! Cessna 172 is the one. Will make some notes about it from time to time. I do love the beautiful scenery -- I am mostly flying over Sonoma/Napa valleys.

Last night I enjoyed an amazing evening dining on the top floor of the Transamerica Building. What an amazing view, and intimate dining space. One of the security staff told me that there were floors above it (48th), 10-15 stories of a narrow, spiral staircase, and only the engineers and mechanics were allowed access. Rats! Well, I wasn't dressed for it anyway. The Bank of America hosted the evening for clients/potential clients while the Mid-sized Pension conference is in town.

Saturday is my flying lesson! My friends have either changed dates, or cancelled, so I'm going alone on this adventure. It's going to be fun.

I've been making progress on planning Colin & Collette's individual 'weeks' with Auntie Anna. I've gotten reservations at Camp Curry in the tents for Colin and I, and fly fishing lessons set up. We may also go gold-panning if Mariposa isn't too far away from Yosemite. I'm arranging for a trip to Monterey for Collette, complete with a B&B experience in tents on a wildlife park, where an elephant will bring breakfast to us carrying it on his trunk... and we'll have an elephant ride as well. I've also looked into rock climbing lessons for Collette who seems to be able to scale anything verticle quite naturally. Hmmm... does she take after her auntie who never saw a tree she didn't want to climb to the top when she was Collette's age?

Wow. What a weekend with the twins. We did have a good time. The kids loved the Disney "Princess on Ice" show at the Cow palace, which was the highlight of the weekend for them. After they left, I saw a GREAT film "Wheel of Time" a documentary of a Tibetan Buddhist initiation and mandala making, at the Castro Theatre, which is itself impressive. The "Wheel of Time" is part of the International Asian American Film festival which just opened up before the weekend. I had a nice lunch at Nirvana's on Castro, just before. Nirvana's serves Burmese cuisine which seems to be a fusion of Indian and Chinese food. Quite good. After the film, I couldn't resist something called 'rose petal' fudge at the Faerie Queene just up the street from the theater. I noticed a sign that said Faerie Queene is closing April 1st, hoping that didn't mean for good, but I have a feeling... anyway the rose petal fudge is absolutely amazing. I waited until coming home to sample it.

Gearing up for Erika's visit with the twins this weekend. We're going to Disney's Princess on Ice show at the Cow Palace in SF on Saturday morning. In the evening we're attending an event with my marathon runner friends who are into a new phase for their organization, World Runners. I'm also looking forward to attending a documentary at the International Asian-American Film Festival on Sunday... still looking for a friend to use my other ticket. I enjoyed dinner at Robata Grill this evening. It can be rather uneven, the yakisoba was drenched with too much sauce this evening. But it's close and many of the small dishes are executed well.

Well, it's post V-Day, P-Day weekend. Had a great time with Erika & the twins in Long Beach after plans in San Diego didn't work out. On Sunday, Pia brought us some leftovers from Maggiano's Little Italy, their portions are really unbelievable. My little 2004 Salsa Red Prius was a dream driving there and back. Great gas mileage, mid-40's even with sustained periods of high speed (80-85 mpg).


Tried some new fun places recently in the bay area. Check out Ace Wasabi's in the Marina. I particularly enjoyed the tofu-asparagus salad with a light miso/sesame dressing. Also Cafe Pescatore in between North Beach and Fisherman's wharf has great Italian food... with Dungeness Crab in season, the crab ravioli were fabulous. Last night I enjoyed some wonderful salmon and great merlot at Caprice in Tiberon. The Caprice is build on/over the water and there is a jewel-like view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge lit up at night. It had quite a romantic atmosphere with red roses in roughly cut stone vases on each table with crisp white tablecloths. It was a good place to catch up with my friend Paul (C).

Can't help but invite my friends to share the adventure! Linda & Kay are going to take flight lessons w/me on March 20th, and Cliff (my pilot friend) will come to cheer us on! Nothing like a little adventure to make one feel completely chirpy!

I'm enjoying a good book, "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari", which my friend Paul recommended. The book mentioned Ben Franklin's autobiography and his practice of evaluating his life against virtures each day. I thought that quite a coincidence since my friend Daniel and I have been creating a practice derived from this that we are using each day.

The trip to Gnoss field was great. I met a potential instructor and a pilot friend was really great in explaining various features of the airport. I'm signing up for flight lessons, with my first time in the air on March 20th!

Today was the first day back at work for me on a full-time basis after conquering (again) a lung infection. It was started out nicely by attending a board meeting in Cupertino. It was a great drive down from San Francisco, the air was fresh and the sky was blue!

My blogging has taken a long pause, but it's time to start up again. On the schedule this morning is a trip to Gnoss Field in Novato, to check out pilot training schools. Airward is the first stop as I was drawn into looking into this from its ad in the local movie theatres advertising a first lesson for $75. Will blog the results of my investigation later...

I've been going on about all the lovely places, I should also note a few to avoid. One is Taqueria Mi Familia, San Anselmo. Run-down, greasy. Lots of good choices, no need to bother with the bad ones. Another would be Dario's Pizza Restaurant in Sausalito. Very limp pasta with uninspired sauces. Sam's Cafe in Tiberon is mediocre and pricey. You're paying for the view, which is fabulous. Just skip the food, and have a drink!

Today I attended a Board Meeting which was held at a fabulous restaurant, Le Papillion, located in San Jose. The chef went over the top for us. He kept sending in little bites in between our ordered courses. First, he sent out some terrine bites, followed by a delicate toast bite topped with a crab piece. Yet another pre-tizer came out, this time a gorgeous, tiny squash blossom filled with lobster truffle and topped with black caviar. Wow. I then had my first ordered course, the Baby Lettuce Salad, Pears, Toasted Pecans, Feta Cheese and Chambord Vinaigrette. It was so fresh and the pears were just perfectly ripe. It was also surrounded by wonderful slices of melon to frame it. We were then treated to another surprise bite, a tender bite of pork belly topping black chanterelles which had been reduced into a lovely rich mound of flavor. My entree, Herb Crusted Halibut on Saffron Basmati Rice with Dill and Cherry Tomatoes, then arrived and it was perfect as well. The design of oil and herbs around the rim framed this work of art perfectly. The portion was generous. One of the two wines we enjoyed happened to be one of my two personal favorite chardonnays, KISTLER, Dutton Ranch (2000) [the other being the Ridge Monte Bello Chardonnay]. We were again treated to a bite of white cheese, with a bit of marche, plum, and drop of pistacio oil surrounded by a bit of black pepper. Yum. I had no ability to order dessert! But had a little bite of my neighbor's plum covered pudding-like confection. While enjoying a cappuccino, a lovely tray of chocolates and tiny sweets came. Luscious! Lunch from 12:30-3:15 ---- slow European style. No dinner necessary for this girl!

My father's condo in Seattle FINALLY closed and all is settled. To celebrate, he came down last weekend and we shopped until we dropped. Dad will be quite dapper once the alterations are complete! Besides the breakfast place mentioned in the last post, we had a day out in San Francisco and made some finds! Dad requested a walk around Chinatown, so after lunch at the Holding Company with his bankers, we took off up the hill! Dad and I found some fun things at The Wok Shop, a tea chest, loose tea brewer and some sharp flower scissors for $1.50! We stopped for a drink at Enrico's in North Beach, then had dinner just a block down the road at a wonderful Afgani restaurant called Helmand's.

Certainly Paul and I enjoy finding the breakfast spots. Recently, we visited two recommendable places in Mill Valley, The Dipsea Cafe and Cafe Oggi. I also slipped away with my father recently, and found a great breakfast place tucked away in Strawberry Village, the Raintree Cafe.

Have I missed posting some great times since the last post! My niece Erika came with her sister Yurika and the twins for the Labor Day Weekend. I organized an inpromptu party at Papa's Taverna in Petaluma along the river. 16 friends and family showed up and we enjoyed Greek dishes from moussaka to flaming Greek cheese! The kids and adults danced with abandon, and the kids were fascinated by the belly-dancer. Little 2 year old Olivia showed everyone how to dance, while our most senior member, Frank at 91, did some heavy looking on. (His secret is garlic and olive oil - doesn't look a day over 70!) We also found quite a kid-friendly place at the Yankee Pier in Larkspur. They have a small sandbox and picnic tables under a wisteria covered patio.