A Happy Mother's Day

  Home-grown broccoli!     For the carnivores     Being silly after a relaxing Mother's Day weekend. I love this lady!

Soup

This delicious soup is from a Martha Stewart recipe. It was pretty simple and tasted amazing. I also think it would make a good starting point for modifications - spicier, more vegetables, a creamy base, etc...
Ingredients
3 scallions
1 large white onion, quartered lengthwise, root end kept intact
2 large fresh poblano chiles (8 ounces)
1 1/2 pounds frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained (about 3 1/3 cups), divided
1 tablespoon coarse salt
4 cups plus 3 tablespoons water, divided
2 tablespoons fine cornmeal or masa harina
Queso fresco cheese, crumbled, for sprinkling (I skipped this step and it was still delicious)

Directions
1. Cut dark-green tops off scallions, and finely chop. Preheat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Place scallions, onion, and chiles in skillet, and cook, undisturbed, until charred on bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn vegetables with tongs, and cook, undisturbed, until charred on other side, about 5 minutes. (Vegetables can also be broiled on a baking sheet.)

2. Transfer scallions to a blender. Continue turning and charring chiles and onion until charred on all sides, 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove skillet from heat. Transfer onion to blender.

3. Transfer chiles to a bowl, cover immediately with plastic wrap, and let steam 15 minutes. Peel and discard charred skin from chiles, and remove stems and seeds. Halve chiles lengthwise, and slice crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips.   4. Add 2 1/2 cups corn, the salt, and 2 cups water to blender. Puree until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer puree to skillet. Stir in remaining corn and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 8 minutes.

5. Whisk together cornmeal and remaining 3 tablespoons water. Stir into soup along with chiles, and simmer until it has the consistency of porridge, about 2 minutes.

6. Divide soup among 6 bowls; garnish with chopped scallion greens, and sprinkle with cheese. Soup can be refrigerated 2 days; let cool completely before refrigerating. Gently reheat in a covered pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy!

Dipped

Warning: these are highly addictive.

All you need to do to make these is melt some milk chocolate chocolate chips and dip the pretzels into the soft chocolate. Eh voila! A beautiful and perfectly delicious little gift.

Mission: Mission Beach Cafe

It's been way too long since I've posted, and I blame a lot of that on all of the food I've been eating. October has been such a crazy month, much of it spent eating delicious food and drinking delicious drinks with out-of-town guests. Just in case you don't believe me, here are a few snapshots from one of SF's famous brunch spots (a place I'd never been to before a few weekends ago). As you'll see, it's so popular people are forced into the sidewalk to wait for plates of greasy eggs and potatoes.

Off the Grid, Presidio Style

As you've seen in previous posts, I'm a big fan of Off the Grid. You can imagine my delighted surprise when I read about the venture's month-long run in the Presidio. Here are some snapshots of our shenanigans ;-) You've gotta love October in San Francisco! S'up...

"Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers"

Pickles are YUM! I followed this recipe (but doubled the red pepper flakes) from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. Pickled veggies are delicious year-round, but I find them a particularly tasty edition to summertime picnic food. Be careful, though: vinegar is very potent haha (oops)

Wine Me + Dine Me

Here are is the first post in a series of photos I took over the weekend in wine country, aka the-place-to-go-for-summer-weather-when-you-call-San-Francisco-home. Hot sun, cold drinks

"And that's how you remove the plug with the flick of your wrist." Although, sometimes it slips and rolls into the gravel...but that's for another time.

Summer Psych-Out

As I mentioned on Friday, the weather took a turn for the amazing, and for 72 glorious hours, I believed it was summer. I picnicked at Lafayette Park, laid in the sun with a good book and a cold drink, dug into a juicy watermelon, and grilled artichokes on the BBQ. I even attempted mini golf, but found the weather too hot to chase a ball around the astroturf.

But alas, like every weekend reminds us, all good things must come to an end. And so I emerged from my apartment this morning, hot drink in hand and with a scarf around my neck, to find that it was only a dream. So please enjoy the scant photographic evidence I managed to capture of our early summer mirage. With any luck, maybe I’ll drift back into the same dream next weekend…

Don't Be Crabby