Served in a sourdough bread bowl with oyster crackers.
Barbara’s Fishtrap, Half Moon Bay CA
Danielle P.
Potluck: Clam chowder
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Caffeine for blogging – Cafe Sophie
Latte with pretty foam art. $3.75
Cafe Sophie, San Francisco CA
Iced coffee. $3
I like that their ice cubes are also made out of coffee so the iced coffee doesn’t becomed watered down.
It’s nice to blog from coffee shops every once in a while!
Paleo recipe: Bacon chocolate chip cookies
Version with bacon, roughly chopped fruit/nut/chocolate mix, and topped with a dollop of hazelnut chocolate spread.
Mmm, I love these cookies! The original recipe is from Make it Paleo by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason. I’ve made the recipe several times and really love the cookie dough batter. I’ve subsequently played with the add-ins and have decided that the cookie pictured above is my favorite so far!
Original Recipe:
Ingredients
5 slices nitrate-free bacon
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 cups blanched almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut oil, unrefined
1.5 cups 72% dark chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to bake at 350’F.
2. In a medium size mixing bowl, toss bacon in 1/4 cup maple syrup.
3. Lay bacon on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.
5. Remove bacon from oven, and allow to cool.
6. Crumble candied bacon for cookie batter.
7. Heat oven to 375’F.
8. In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
9. In small mixing bowl beat eggs, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
10. Pour wet ingredients into dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
11. Add melted coconut oil into batter, and continue to blend until combined.
12. Stir in chocolate chips and candied bacon.
13. Drop balls of dough on parchment-lined baking sheet, about a tablespoon in size.
14. Bake cookies for 15 minutes at 375’F.
15. Let cool and serve.
My Notes: I’ve never done Steps 2-6. I think that candied bacon is too much for these cookies especially since there’s already maple syrup in the batter. If I do include bacon, I just chop up a few strips and fry them until most of the fat has been rendered out. I love these cookies, but it’s good to reduce the fat content where you can!
Baking these cookies for only 15 minutes keeps the cookies soft and moist. I’ve also baked them longer and they turned out crispier and flakier (if that floats your boat). I think the ingredient that I keep adding every time are chopped dried plums (prunes). They really make the cookie!
Crispier version with bacon, chocolate chips, chopped dried plums, and almond slivers.
Frida Kahlo sidewalk stencil, The Mission.
Allagash White ale – Bar Tartine
Ugh, this was from one of the more awkward and unpleasant dinners have experienced. We were squeezed into a 2-top near the window and the adjacent couple was pretty much on top of us. It didn’t help that they were fighting about something either. OK, tables at say Frances are really close together too but Bar Tartine should really just have a communal table – it would feel less awkward. And the restaurant was lit like a frickin’ cave! I couldn’t even see my food let alone the great ingredients used to make them. Sorry, but I haven’t been back since and nothing is really compelling me too either.
Bar Tartine, San Francisco CA
White Cymbidium flowers (Orchidaceae), Buena Vista.
Dungeness crab – Craw Station
With extra spicy house cajun seasoning. $37
Craw Station, San Francisco CA
OMG, this crab was spicy! I can handle pretty spicy food, but the waitress wasn’t kidding when she warned me that this was “dynamite” spicy. I kinda loved it but my mouth was burning at the end. I actually tried to spoon as much of the sauce as possible onto each bite of crab because I really enjoyed the heat and the seasoning was very flavorful. Every once in a while I would have to switch to the lemon pepper crab to cool down a bit, lol!
With mild lemon pepper seasoning. $37
Cupid’s Span, 2002, Claes Odlenburg, Coosje van Bruggen. Bow and arrow public sculpture on the Embarcadero.
Rosemary grilled California leg of lamb – Fable
Crushed yukon potato cake, vegetable medley, Castronovo green olive relish. $20
Fable, San Francisco CA
This lamb was beautifully cooked and tasted delicious. The potato cake was a great starchy accompaniment and I loved the green olive relish, noms!
Ithuriel’s spear flowers (Triteleia laxa, Asparagaceae), Potrero Hill.
Braised beef poutine – The Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant
Onion gravy, mozzarella curds, crispy roasted potato, confit garlic. $9
The Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant, San Francisco CA
I haven’t had A LOT of poutine in my life, but I’ve had enough to know that this versions was GROSS! Even with all the rich ingredients, this dish was the blandest thing I’ve tasted in a while! Even the confit garlic was flavorless. The meat was dry and tough and the onion gravy was really just onion-flavored oil! And there was A LOT of digusting oil pooled at the bottom of this dish just seeping into the potatoes and everything else. Ugh, it just makes me sick to think about this dish again.
Colorful jeans in The Mission. I think the butt mannequins they use in The Mission are hilarious! And maybe I subconsciously chose this pic for this post because that poutine tasted like ASS. LOL!
Maker’s Manhattan – Trax
Maker’s Mark bourbon, sweet vermouth, bitters. $7.50
Trax, San Francisco CA
I’ve often heard my New York friends refer to San Francisco as a drinking town, and I think they’re probably right. Our bars are generally more crowded at any time of day than anywhere else I’ve visited. And people are actually drinking and not just hanging out. Don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I’d rather walk into a occupied bar than an empty one.
Speckled pink konjac petioles (Amorphophallus konjac, Araceae), Castro.
Mesquite chicken wings – Costco
This is a LOT of wings for less than ten bucks – perfect for a party! The wings were still pretty tender and juicy for coming in bulk. Gotta love Costco, hehe! $9.86
Costco, South San Francisco CA
Fried calamari – Craw Station
Breaded and fried squid served with cocktail sauce. $8.99
Craw Station, San Francisco CA
I loved the flavor of the batter and seasoning on this calamari and they were tender, but unfortunately they were on the oily side. The pieces were also VERY small so it became annoying to eat them after a while.
Random tour bus with kangaroo, Fishermen’s Wharf.
Dijon crusted braised pork cheeks – Fable
Lacinato kale, apple, crispy shallots, cider vinaigrette. $13
Fable, San Francisco CA
This isn’t what I expected, but I really loved this dish! When I read “braised pork cheeks” on the menu, I assumed it was going to be wet and saucy. These cheeks were probably braised first, them coated in mustard and bread crumbs and sauteed. They were delicious and the accompanying kale salad was the perfect match. Noms!
Sparkling wine, Grande Cuvee Brut, Torley, NV (Hungary), chardonnary, pinot noir, riesling. Glass $9
Clean and crisp, with a subtle almond and green apple flavor.
Spotted pink Pelargonium flowers (Geraniaceae), Castro.
Chalet spicy bloody mary – The Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant
House made tomato mix with all the fixings and jalapeno vodka. $11
The Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant, San Francisco CA
These drinks were really cute! A bit cheesy, but cute. I don’t think I’ve ever had my bloody mary garnishes made into a face before, hehe. The drink itself was pretty tasty, but for some reason neither of us could finish it. It wasn’t very spicy (we can handle spicy!), but it seemed very filling for some reason.
Sutro Baths site, Point Lobos Avenue.
Vittle Monster 