In comparison to 2008, 2009 was awful! The one thing I can think of that 2009 had over 2008 was that I read more than double the books I read in 2008. I’m anticipating the fresh feel of a new year that is 2010. In the meantime, here’s a review of how my year has gone with heavier emphasis on my blessings verses my misfortunes.

Note: All links open in a new window.

January 2009

• Celebrated New Years with Alan and his friends.
• I worked a lot. Logged a lot of hours.
• Saw one of my favorite movies of the year, Slumdog Millionaire.
• Kim sent me Tiff’s Treats at work to cheer me up about something.

Celebrating New Year’s with the boyfriend

February 2009

• Alan took me to my third Killer’s concert as a Christmas gift.
• Tried out Joe Dimaggio’s for the first of three times this year. Went as a Valentine’s date with Alan.
• Got flowers from Alan at work.
• Alan, his roommate, and I all played Bingo for the first time.
• I worked a lot. Logged a lot of hours.

Alan and I at the Killer’s Concert

March 2009

• I worked a lot. Logged a lot of hours.
• Went to my first rodeo with some work friends and Brandi.
• Ate at Mighty Fine for the first time, now my favorite burger joint of the year.
• Celebrated Brandi’s birthday at Pete’s Dueling Pianos.

Rodeo, Austin, TX

April 2009

• Went to Houston for my daddy’s birthday.
• I worked a lot. Logged a lot of hours.
• Was supposed to be Jamie’s date for a wedding. We got lost in West Austin and ended up exploring Salado, Texas instead.
• Celebrated Selina’s birthday at her house on same day Jamie and I almost went to that wedding.

Selina’s Birthday

May

• Worked a lot; logged a lot of hours.
• Visited San Francisco for the first time and went with Alan. It was our first vacation together and we ate very very well.
• Put in notice at my Clincial Research Job and thus ending that career path (for now at least?)
• I finished out May working at that job and I stopped logging too many hours.
• Celebrated Sae’s graduation from Law School.
• Kim visited from Houston for Memorial Day Weekend.
• Katambra introduced me to a snowcone stand that I frequented often in the summer.
• Saw Star Trek in IMAX, was surprised to love it.

Celebrating Sae’s law school graduation

June 2009

• Ate at a lot of happy hours with old coworkers, with Alan, Sae, and his girlfriend with new free time.
• I took a certification class to become a teacher
• I went to Houston for Father’s Day
• Kim and I tried out Feast, voted best new restaurant in Houston by a handful of magazines.
• I saw Thomas in Houston and we ate at Fufu’s.
• Went on a lot of double dates with Sae and Young. (Here’s our first time at North)

Cindy and me at Grand Lux Cafe in Houston

July

• Celebrated Fourth of July with Brandi and her boyfriend at Zilker Park..
• Went on a lot of double dates with Sae and Young.
• Went to Houston for my mom’s birthday.
• Saw Cindy in Houston and we ate at Classic Kitchen.
• Kim and I discovered Hugo’s, hands down my favorite restaurant in 2009.
• Moved in with my current roommate, and long time friend, Brandi.
• Celebrated my birthday with tons of great people at Trailer Park Eatery.
• At one point, had 4 bouquets of flowers delivered at our apartment and they were all to me from different people. Felt very loved.
• I took and passed my state certification test to become a middle school teacher for science.

Brandi and me on Fourth of July

August

• The first two weeks of August, I tried to squeeze in as much time as I can with Alan because he was about to leave for Korea for up to 4.5 months.
• Starting, August 16, I started counting days Alan was gone.
• Kim came to visit the weekend of the 22nd and we saw Wicked.
• I saw 500 Days of Summer three times this month, in theatre, of course. This is the first movie I’ve done that.
• Jon visited from NYC.
• I got a part-time, part-time (yes you read that right) job, thanks to Brittany dropping a good word for me.

Alan’s last night out with friends before going to Korea.

September

• Hosted the first Alphabet pot luck. We started with the letter P.
• Wrote a blog entry about my journals, surprisingly my favorite blog entry of the year.
• Friends and I got dressed up for Deesh’s brother’s wedding reception.
• Visited Mary Ellen for a long weekend in Boston. First time I’ve gone to see her since 2005. Had best breakfast ever at Mike and Patty’s and most interesting hot pot.
• Alan surprised me by coming home from Korea early.
• Went out for Selina’s Bachelorette Party.

October

• Celebrated Alan’s birthday at Joe Dimaggio’s. Was very happy to have him back in Texas and to be able to celebrate his birthday with him and take him as a date to weddings. He had good timing :)
• Stood in Selina & Ryan’s Wedding and witnessed strong love.
• Realised I don’t really want to be a teacher.
• Threw 2nd Alphabet Potluck.
• Dressed up as a cow girl for Halloween.

November

• Went to Wurst Fest with friends.
• Went to Cathedral of Junk for the first time with Brandi.
• Texas Renaissance with Jessica and Brandi
• Had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Houston where I reunited with people I don’t normally see! (Willis, Thomas, Kim, Shane, Kelvin, Chris, Aishah, Kym, Hillary, Alex)
• Had my second progressive meal this year.

Having hot chocolate at Ren Fest.

December

• I started my new full time job and kept my part time night job.
• I struggled with what it means to be someone’s family.
• I struggled with what it means to be someone’s friend.
• I made truffles for the first time!
• Saw Avatar in IMAX opening night. Awesome.
• Attended and witnessed proudly, Bing graduate from college
• Attended annual Christmas Party for Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America with my little and her family.
• Jennifer from Philly is in town and I introduced her to Teucsher.
• I went home to Houston for Christmas break and was able to see Mary Ellen, Aishah, Pinky, Cindy, and Kim of course my lovely family.
• Had hot pot on Christmas day twice. Lunch with Mary Ellen and her mom and dinner with my own family. Hot potted out! (Blog entry to come.)
• Released balloons 4 days early as part of a New Year’s Tradition with Kim. (Blog entry to come.)
• Tonight, most likely will be going downtown for New Year’s and spending it with Alan.

After party in the car.

I’m a blessed girl. Instinctively, I’d tell you my 2009 was pretty awful but when I write it all out like this and focused on the good rather than the bad, I can see now I’m still quite lucky. Farewell, 2009.

Tell me how your year went. Or better yet, if you have a year in review entry, I’d love to read yours.

409 W 2nd St
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 236-1657
www.teuscheraustin.com

As I mentioned in my entry about my first visit to Teuscher, I’ve been meaning to go back to Teuscher to try their speciality that is champagne truffles. Angus, the owner stumbled on my blog entry not too long ago and reminded me I needed to go back and try these truffles (they didn’t have them the first time I went). So during today’s hustle and bustle of trying to get all the Christmas shopping done before my night time job, I thought I could squeeze in an hour with Ms. Jen from Philly. She’s in town for 2 weeks and I had a little stocking to give her. I dragged her along to my second trip to Teuscher.

It was a little humid so I opted for a iced mocha. The espresso had me flying and jittery (I skipped breakfast and lunch because of errands and traffic.) Jennifer ordered a hot chocolate because it was a little chilly inside.

I suspect Tom gave Jennifer’s hot chocolate a heart but we’ll never know. She sipped before noticing.

Inside: 2 dark champagne truffles, 1 almond truffle, and 1 Bailey’s truffle.

The truffles were delectable. I’d reorder all three kinds again. Jennifer liked that the champagne truffle wasn’t too liquidy. I think I found a place in Austin to frequent when I want to indulge in chocolates.

I love Jennifer. She’s one of my dearest friends and is never here in Texas long enough! Here she is showing off her cute, festive, Threadless shirt.

Well, I’ll be driving to Houston today (I haven’t gone to bed yet!). I won’t have a steady Internet connection in Houston but plan on scheduling a few entries while I’m gone.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I’ve been meaning to make these Oreo truffles after reading about them on a few baking blogs. I kept forgetting about them until Jordan Reid blogged the easiest recipe for Oreo truffles I’ve seen. I made a day out of it on Saturday. No joke, it took me 4 hours to make them and about an hour to clean up. It’s easy but just time consuming. I made a batch of Oreo truffles and used the same recipe to make Nutter Butter truffles.

Here’s the recipe taken off of Jordan Reid’s blog.

OREO TRUFFLES

What you need:

1 package Oreo cookies, finely crushed

1 8 oz package cream cheese (no reduced fat stuff, please…we’re talking truffles here)

2 packages (8 squares each) semi-sweet chocolate, melted (in the microwave is easiest)

What you do:

1. Mix 3 cups of the cookie crumbs with the cream cheese until well-blended.

2. Shape cookie/cream cheese mixture into 42 1” balls.

3. Dip balls in melted chocolate (use two forks and sort of roll them around until evenly coated; allow excess to drip off) and place on wax paper.

4. Sprinkle over remaining cookie crumbs and refrigerate at least one hour before serving. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.

My Oreo truffles

I may make these for Valentine’s Day!

These are the Nutter Butter truffles. I ran out of chocolate so those sad looking balls in the back didn’t get dipped.

I made a few boxes to give to friends. That bucket belongs to Selina but I haven’t had a chance to get them to her.

Here’s the inside of a Oreo one.

The inside of a Nutter Butter one.

These make great holiday gifts and taste luxurious, just how truffles should taste!

I’m a little disconnected and fragmented today.

The last two days I’ve hardly been online online mainly due to starting a new job and then going to an night job right after. I wake up at 6:30am (after going to bed at 3am last night) to go to work at my new job and I get off at 5pm after which I sit in traffic for 1.5 hours or 2 hours to go to my night job. By the time I make it home it’s 10:30 pm, I’m hungry and a little exhausted. I just had an eleven o’clock pork chop dinner with Alan. Brandi baked chocolate chip cookies. Though I’m pooped, it’s a good day. Alan cut up my pork chop into bite size pieces. Haha. Spoiled.

My Google Reader is backed up. I currently have 87 unread entries. I did manage to read Selina’s new blog post. She hardly updates anymore and I promised her a plug. ;) I always try to comment when friends start blogs as to encourage them to keep entertaining me/updating.

Another blog entry I read is Mary Ellen’s blog entry about word abuse. It echos a lot of my recent annoyances.

The good thing about just coming back from a packed weekend is that I have photos to blog without really haven’t to use my spent brain.

Today, I bring you photos from a high school reunion I had last weekend in Houston. I saw Hillary and Alex for the first time in a while. We’re lucky to see each other on holidays. I found some pictures of us that are duplicates of us from high school so I gifted them to the girls over Chocolate Bar’s hot chocolate. The BEST chocolate of my life STILL. I love that Chocolate Bar is purply. When I went over to pick up Hillary, she was wearing a purple shirt as well and her two sisters were in purple! Amused, her dad took a picture of us, all graduates of the same Catholic high school.

We forgot to take a picture of our hot chocolate before it turned ugly.

We asked a stranger to take a photo of us. It was kind of awkward. Note the folded hands and the nervous smiles.

So we took a self portrait. I wonder if that offended our photographer stranger.

Interestingly enough, December 2, 2007, exactly TWO years ago I blogged about my first time at Chocolate Bar.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, my second favorite holiday, here are ten things I’m at this very moment thankful for.

1. Online conversations. I’ve been having more lately as I’m on the computer more often this week so I’m catching more people online. Kim kept me company a few times as I watched girly movies or shows on TV. Deesh and I chatted about college memories and we tried to piece together the tapestry of our shared college courses for a while late last night. I cannot remember the last time we had a conversation online. Apparently I dropped McCord’s chemistry twice (two different courses). Kym and I are bumping into each other more often too. I know I used to be a letter writing kind of girl but I’m thankful for the ease of Gchat.
2. Chocolate . I got a box of truffles from my old coworkers for my birthday. I finally remembered where I hid them and broke into them. Nom. Truffles.
3. Random dinner invites last two nights. Deesh grilled up some chicken 2 nights ago and last night Jesse made us burgers with spinach and Alfredo sauce. Thanks for feeding my scavenger self!
4. Lunch date with Alan. I enjoy dates with that boy. Who doesn’t like dates? There’s a different light that shines on us when we’re outside our respective apartments. I’m a mush. Alan treated me to North yesterday. Ever since I tried Young’s order of Strozzapreti the first time we went there, I don’t get anything else. Though, we have only been to North three times. Did you know they have happy hour?
   

5. I finally got a call for a job interview. Wish me luck tomorrow. I absolutely hate living off of my savings.
6. Brittany! I don’t know if she’ll read this. Brittany is Deesh’s girlfriend. She has been doing some great looking out for me and it has humbled me with gratitude. I find her pretty enchanting too! I have a creepy-girl-platonic-straight-crush on her. Haha. Now I hope she doesn’t read this.
7. Roomie bonding. I have a part time evening job that kept me from seeing Brandi for a bit. This week since I’m not working, we’ve managed some time together. Cooking, baking, eating. Today we plan on finally checking out the Cathedral of Junk!
8. Checking out a new eatery. Yesterday after dinner, a group of us tried a new yogurt place. I haven’t checked out a new eatery in a while so it was nice! I’ll tell you about the yogurt venue next time.
9. The thought of Houston. I miss my parents dearly. Mom reminded me that I hadn’t seen her since July. I cannot wait to go home for Thanksgiving. I get to see them, eat momma food, see Thomas, see Kim! Maybe eat at a few new places too (I haven’t forgotten about you, Jess). Such anticipation!
10. My bed and delicious sleep. I have had friends tell me they never want to leave my bed when they lie in it. Trust me, it’s awesome. I’m about to go have some sleep. It’s currently 3:30 AM on Nov 11. This is due to post at 10am. I’ll be setting my alarm for 8:30am. I have some business to take care of!

Your turn! What are you thankful for these days?

]]> http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/11/10-things-im-currently-thankful-for/feed/ 6 http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/10/ten-food-facts-about-me-an-awesome-cookie-recipe/ http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/10/ten-food-facts-about-me-an-awesome-cookie-recipe/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:20:39 +0000 Linda http://linda.curious-notions.net/?p=2666




Ten Random Food Facts about Me

1. As a baby, my mom used to feed me and coax me to eat by cooing, “mum mum mum,” probably while doing the airplane spoon thing. My first word ended up being “mum” usually said over and over again and translating to “FEED ME, MOM. FEED ME, MOM!!”

2. Growing up, everytime my dad made me ramen (which wasn’t often at all, by the way) he also paired it with a glass of milk. Til this day, I love my ramen with a glass of milk. I find the cold milk with the piping hot noodle soup a very comforting pairing. I even remember the green glasses we had back then which gave my milk a green glowy tint that delighted me. If I ever find green tinted drinking glasses, you can bet your bottom dollar I’m buying.

3. I do not like raw onions. Most squid textures bother me but I do love calamari. I didn’t like escargot but I’m willing to try again.


4. I once ate 25 slices of pizza competing with an exboyfriend who ate 21 slices of pizza. I also ate 8 plates of Chinese buffet food competing with Chris. Chris ended up throwing up. I did lose at an icecream eating contest. I’ve since retired from food eating contests because after graduating college, my metabolism has slowed.

5. My ideal comfort food is warm gooey chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite kinds of cookies. I don’t do that many kinds of cookies. Sugar cookies are yucky but fun to decorate. I used to settle for McDonalds chicken nuggets for comfort food but Alan has shamed me so often the last couple of years that I think McDonalds comes with a side of guilt now.


Escargot

6. I have major wanderlust and insatiable appetite for life and life experiences. I think this is why I love books, movies, and food so much. It’s a very affordable and convenient way of seeing and experiencing the world. Some of the crazier things I’ve consumed: silkworms, escargot, pig’s blood, haggis (Mary Ellen and I both did this in Scotland), chicken and duck feet.


Durian Icecream

7. My favorite flavors: chocolate chocolate chocolate, avocado, pistachio, coconut, lychee. I never ever get vanilla icecream, I think that’s incredibly boring. However, I love vanilla flavoring in other things. Like chocolate chip cookies. Did I mention I love chocolate chip cookies?

8. The very first time I made cookies when I was still in middle school, I left the cookies in the oven to ‘cool.’ That is just the beginning of a slew of baking mistakes I’ve since made through the years. I hate baking. I’m not a very good baker. Sometimes I forget an ingredient when cooking and I can just either subsitute with something else or just dash it in right then and there. Baking, you can’t do that. Once things are mixed and in the oven, they’re mixed and in the oven! Ovens also add another element of difficulty for me. I often undercook or overcook. I just made Cindy’s chocolate chip cookies for a potluck last week. See below for the recipe. They’re not as orgasmic as when Cindy made them. I guess all this just means I need to bake more.

9. I like things SPICY. Not only do I like things with a lot of heat, I like it to fit into context. I like jalapenos in my burgers and some Asian saucy dishes. I like hot salsa in my burritos. Tabasco in some American and Mexican cuisine. Sriracha and jalapenos in my pho and Sambal sauce in my Thai food. Red Pepper flakes in my Italian. Point is, I would never put Sriracha in my Alfredo and Tobasco in my pho. What made me think of this was I noticed Alan’s Tobasco use is more universal than me.

10. I notice food with my loved ones and try to commit their quirks into memory so I can consider them when I cook for them or when I invite them out. I know Jessica does not like ANYTHING “exotic” and only like Thousand Island as a salad dressing. I know Brandi can’t handle any mild spice what so ever. My brother is not a big fan of tofu. Mary Ellen loves hot pot fanatically. I know Alan always gets a jalapeno when he gets Rudy’s; I know what he likes in his Chipotle. Nino is basically a Vietnamese/Thai boy when it comes to his palate. Kim and Cindy love adventure. No wonder they make GREAT food buddies. (case in point a, case in point b). So as you can see, food is one of my love languages in that it is how I communicate love.




Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Passed on to me through Cindy who got it from AllRecipes.com. She made these cookies twice for me. Once near when we first met and I invited her to go gun shooting with me and Kim. And then once more last year when she stayed with me for a couple of months. They are mouthwatering when she makes them. They weren’t as orgasmic when I made them recently but I haven’t given up on this recipe yet.



Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups butter, softened 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

What about you? What are some of your food quirks?

]]> http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/10/ten-food-facts-about-me-an-awesome-cookie-recipe/feed/ 8 http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/10/teuscher-chocolates-of-switzerland-coffee/ http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/10/teuscher-chocolates-of-switzerland-coffee/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:14:22 +0000 Linda http://linda.curious-notions.net/?p=2533

409 W 2nd St
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 236-1657
www.teuscheraustin.com


Teuscher only has seating for 2. That’s my umbrella on the floor.

Lily told me about this place ages ago but I had forgotten about it. Nisreen was having a rough day a week ago and I thought what better way to comfort a girl but have some chocolate? It was a rainy chilly day a week ago so I thought hot chocolate would be perfect. We had pho first for lunch at Pho Danh and then for dessert went downtown to try out Teuscher for some truffles and hot chocolate. Mmm.

Upon walking in the super super PINK store, we were greeted by the enthusiastic owner, Angus. He proudly informed us that every piece of chocolate he has was imported from Switzerland (as are all Teuscher chocolates). He was really disappointed to have this be our first trip and him being out of his most popular champagne truffles. Apparently the champagne truffle made Oprah’s Favorite Things one year. Which means I definitely have to go back and try. We each ordered a cup of hot chocolate, hers with soy milk mine with skim. After perusing his chocolates, we both picked the dark chocolate truffle. The truffle was to die for.


Our hot chocolates. Perfect for a chilly rainy day.

That’s Angus getting our truffles for us.

The hot chocolate was good and comforting but nothing has come remotely close to the hot chocolate at Chocolate Bar in Houston.

I urged Angus to try to make peanut butter hot chocolate. He pondered out loud over how for a few minutes. Let’s see if he actually carries through. Either way I will be back to try his champagne truffle.

Also, there’s Teuscher stores all over the US and world. Google and see if your city has one! Mary Ellen, there’s one in Boston.




The ceiling. Very flowery and pink. It’s like you step into a whole different world from downtown, Austin. I can’t wait to visit again!

Other Hot Chocolate Mentions on my Blog:

- September 21, 2009 – La Burdick Chocolates (Boston, MA)
- August 28, 2009 – Quack’s 43 Street Bakery (Austin, TX)
- July 13, 2009: Hugo’s fantastic Mexican hot chocolate (Houston)
- April 10, 2008: Dylan’s Candy Bar (NYC, NY)
- February 28, 2008: Clementine (Austin, TX)
- December 2, 2007: Hands down, the best hot chocolate of my life at Chocolate Bar (Houston, TX)

]]> http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/10/teuscher-chocolates-of-switzerland-coffee/feed/ 7 http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/09/burdicks/ http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/09/burdicks/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:23:23 +0000 Linda http://linda.curious-notions.net/?p=2385

L.A. Burdick Chocolate Cafe
Harvard Square Cafe
52-D Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-491-4340
www.burdickchocolate.com

Saturday morning, we started off our day at Burdick Chocolate Cafe. A day can’t go wrong if you start it off with chocolate. Mary Ellen and I each picked something to eat and split later. I chose a hazelnut orange cake and she chose the yogurt parfait. I really enjoyed the yogurt parfait which surprises me. I’m not usually the yogurt parfait kind of girl but the honey was a perfect match to the yogurt and the crunch of the granola was the perfect amount of crunch. It wasn’t too cold or tart which are the two most common complaints I have about yogurt parfaits. The hot dark chocolate was.. alright. Good but it doesn’t come even near how good Chocolate Bar’s (Houston, TX) hot chocolate is. The hazelnut orange cake was my favorite. Soooo good. If you’re ever in Boston, this is definitely a must stop if you’re a chocolate fan.

Now for the photos!





Have I told you lately that penguins are my favorite animal? I like to drop that in conversation at least thrice a year.

I got a demi cup of the hot dark chocolate.

I made my own shoddy version of latte art. Do you like my heart?

We each picked one thing and split it. I gleefully chose the hazelnut orange cake.

Our breakfast. Makes me wish I could go back in time.
]]> http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/09/burdicks/feed/ 3 http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/05/day-2-in-san-fran/ http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/05/day-2-in-san-fran/#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 03:58:54 +0000 Linda http://linda.curious-notions.net/?p=991

This blog entry is part of a series. Here are the other entries:

- San Francisco Fire Engine Tour
- I stalked a stalker and videotaped him.
- First Day in San Fran
- The Last of our San Fran Trip

Second day there, I picked up breakfast from a cafe called Honey Honey Cafe & Crepery about a 10 to 15 minute walk away my hotel (corner of Taylor and Post). I found this place poking around for breakfast places and the website and reviews won me over. Check it out, you’d be won over too! I ordered crab cake florentine which came with home fries and a strawberry and nutella crepe (my 2nd crepe of the trip) which came with either whipped cream or ice cream. Seeing as I had to walk, I went with the whipped cream and made sure to walk quickly. As I waited for my order, I had some water they had in fountains chilled with strawberries and oranges. I wished more restaurants did that. Pretty clever and refreshing. It was naturally flavored chilled water. I read in reviews sometimes they had chilled cucumbers in the water. I’m curious what that would taste like.





After breakfast, I walked around on my own waiting for Mr. Alan to wake up. Found Ghiradelhi Square.



And Sea lions…




For lunch, Alan joined me for sourdough bread bowls at Boudin Bakery. They do not serve boudin, by the way.Boudin was the baker’s family name. Alan was almost positive they’d have boudin. Inside, there’s a cafe, a museum and a restaurant in the bakery. They supply the bread to many restaurants in SF. Alan and I relaxed in the restaurant. I had the crab and corn chowder and Alan had the traditional clam chowder. So good. We quickly learned the reason why sourdough bread is so delicious in San Francisco is because the fog and the ocean air locks in flavour.



We had dinner in the Italian neighborhood, dubbed North Beach. Alan found Sotto Mare online and was so taken by their reviews and photos he was adamant we’d go even though we were missing out on some basketball games aaanndd it took it us a handful of wrong turns to finally find Sotto Mare. I was so sure he’d give up and just randomly pick one of many restaurants in the neighborhood. I’m so happy he was steadfast. As soon as we walked in, we were pretty enamoured. The owner (the bald man on the website) was loud, pushy, and possibly Italian. He gave us half glasses of wine on the house as we waited. Seating was very limited, reminded me of restaurants in NYC. Maybe 7 tables were available and there was a bar counter (where we sat.) He let 2 more parties wait with us and loudly shooed the third party away.

“We don’t have room for you. Lots of restaurants in North Beach, you won’t go hungry!!”

That made me feel lucky. Hee.


Sipping some wine while we anxiously wait.

I saw oyster shooters with soju on the menu and remembered a blog entry Cindy wrote once about her first experience. We ordered a couple. Pretty weak, hardly any soju. But I’m happy I can cross that off my mental to do list.



Had West Coast oysters for appetizers and ordered our Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Pasta with Chef’s choice of Seafood.




Mussels, Clams, Red Snapper, Shrimp, Squid

Mouth is watering! I still think about the pasta entrees. Mmmm. The red snapper in the second dish was perfect.

]]> http://linda.curious-notions.net/2009/05/day-2-in-san-fran/feed/ 4 http://linda.curious-notions.net/2007/12/i-went-to-the-grocery-store-today/ http://linda.curious-notions.net/2007/12/i-went-to-the-grocery-store-today/#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:04:47 +0000 Linda http://linda.curious-notions.net/?p=149



Roomie: “Are you replacing something with chocolate?”

Maybe….

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