hannah's Profile
Chicken fried steak with white gravy, fried okra, and buttermilk biscuits around the Bay Area?
If you're in the city I think the the hard knox version of CFS is pretty tasty and you can ask for white gravy on the potatoes.
In search of pizza dough on a Monday in San Francisco. Ideas?
They have a limit of 3 balls and they're $4 each.
In search of pizza dough on a Monday in San Francisco. Ideas?
I've gotten pizza dough from pizzeria delfina in the past.
Odd request- Help with Solo Birthday Dinner in San Fran
+ For Absinthe and NOPA. Down the street from Absinthe is Suppenkuche.
Slanted Door has a fairly lively bar and a beautiful view if you're from out of town.
Canteen is an option.
More upscale but with beautiful bars are Spruce and Quince
Best burgers in the Bay Area 2011
I just had a very tasty Turkey burger at Patty Shack in Redwood City. Also liked the regular burger.
Disappointing and overrated brunch Baker & Banker [San Francisco]
I will preface this review by saying that I have eaten at this
restaurant now three times; once for dinner and once for brunch. I
enjoyed my previous experiences and decided to choose this restaurant
for a birthday brunch with my two sisters. Overall for a restaurant
charging the prices that they do in a city with such fierce
competition our meal and service were mediocre at best. First, I'll
start with the food. My older sister (the birthday girl) ordered her
eggs benedict with the eggs poached on the medium side. When they
arrived they were super runny and not at all how she wanted them. She
tried her eggs with the meyer lemon hollandaise and said the
hollandaise was lacking in flavor and tasted mostly of butter. I
ordered the avocado and citrus salad and my younger sister had the
house smoked trout and latke. Our food had arrived and by the time we
got the waitress' attention she had decided she'd rather not wait
another order of mediocre eggs benedict. When the manager came over to
see if he could get her something else, his explanation was that
that's how the chef likes to cook the eggs. While that may be the case
it should be noted on the menu that requests for medium poached eggs
will not be honored but that's laughable in that last time I had
brunch there my eggs were cooked medium as I had specified. Now on to
my $13 joke of a salad. I frequent the farmer's markets in the city
and throughout the bay and can throw down in the kitchen; serving me 6
crunchy chickpeas, a few nicely sliced orange segments, a quarter of
an avocado and half a dozen bibb lettuce leaves at that price point is
insulting, when I can make the same salad at a fraction of the price
with the same ingredients and at that price even add fresh crab! My
sister's latke and trout was fine but by that time we were just awe
struck at how expensive arrogance on a plate runs. I made the
reservation using Open Table and even noted in the reservation that it
was a birthday. Nothing was mentioned about the birthday and neither
the server nor manager did anything to acknowledge the celebratory
nature of the brunch. Overall, just a bad experience in a city
swimming with stellar choices there is no reason for me to return.
Best Romantic Seafood Restaurant for a first time visit to SF
Farrallon is right in union square and still solid as far I know.
What is the best vineyard tour in sonoma & napa counties?
Of note in Napa county I would suggest Schramsberg (sparkling wine). Really a wonderful experience. I also like the Vine Cliff tour.
What are you baking these days? December, 2011 [OLD]
it's says 1 cup of butter in the caramel...it should read one 1 stick. Not a good typo
What winery in Napa/Sonoma has the best..........
If you choose Russian River and head past Healdsburg there's a beautiful winery with nice wines called Bella. They do their wine tasting in the wine cave and it's beautifully decorated.
What are you baking these days? December, 2011 [OLD]
Salted Caramel Apple Pie
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Double Pie Crust
3 cups flour
1 cup (2 sticks cold unsalted butter)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
½ cup to ¾ cup ice cold water
Combine the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor or with pastry tool until it looks like coarse small ball (don’t use your hands will take away from having a flaky crust). Gently fold in water until just holds together. You can cut the dough in half and form into disks in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Salted Caramel
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
1 cup unsalted butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean slit and add seeds to cream
1/2 tsp good vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp salt (sea salt or grey salt a light flaky salt)
Combine the sugar and water and heat on a temperature until sugar is dissolved. Once dissolved add the butter and let bubble on low. Make sure you’re watching it…if it burns you’ll have to start over. The caramel should bubble on a lower setting until it is a beautiful rich brown color. Remove from heat and pour in the cream making sure you get all the vanilla seeds. If you don’t have or feel like paying for a vanilla bean just use a good vanilla extract (approx 1 tsp). Continue to stir the caramel until it is smooth and stir in the salt. Set aside until ready to use (there should be leftover caramel sauce to have your way with).
Apple Pie Filling
8-9 mixed apples such as granny smiths, honeycrisp, macintosh, fuji (any good baking apple will do)
¼ cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
3 ½ Tbsp flour
½ tsp plus a little extra good cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove
1/16 tsp maybe more if you like it ground cardamom
Peel, core and slice apples thin and immerse in the lemon juice to prevent apples from turning brown. Add the remaining ingredients and combine. Taste apples and adjust spices to your liking.
To assemble
Roll out one pie crust for a deep dish pie dish. Place a 1/3 of the apple mixture in the pie crust. Pour some of the caramel sauce in a layer over the apples. Repeat this process two more times. Fold out second pie crust (can be whole or done in a lattice, whichever is your preference). Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle raw sugar and tiny amount of salt on the top of the crust. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes in the lower half of the oven. Turn over down to 350 and bake for another 30-50 minutes (will depend on your oven). Apples should be bubbly and crust golden and cooked through.
Restaurant near Kezar stadium
Zazie in cole valley can be nice on weekends.
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Zazie
941 Cole St, San Francisco, CA 94117
Business dinner for 6-8 in San Jose off of Steven's Creek
Hello, I'm hoping to get some help on where to hold a business dinner in the San Jose area. I'm thinking somehwere maybe in Santana Row but honestly out of my comfort zone picking a spot as the Peninsula and SF are more my comfort zone. Thanks in advance for you help.
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Santana Row
355 Santana Row, San Jose, CA 95128
What are you baking these days? July 2011, Part 2 [old]
Here's a picture. Enjoy! I made this up so some of the measurements may need tinkering.
What are you baking these days? July 2011, Part 2 [old]
Hannah's Almond Blueberry Cheesecake recipe
Preheat oven to 325
Crust
1 cup almonds
1.5 to 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup of melted butter (maybe a little more...depends on how much oil the almonds release)
1/2 tsp almond extract
small pinch of salt
Cheesecake
3 8oz contains of reduced fat cream cheese (neufatchel sp) room temperature
1 pint 2 % greek yogurt
4 large eggs room temperature
1 1/4 cup fine sugar
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Blueberry topping
3 cups fresh or frozen organic blueberries
2 Tbsp spiced strawberry topping (my sisters and canned some homemade sauce)
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (depends on sweetness of blueberries)
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
pinch of salt
1-2 turns of cracked pepper
1/4 cup agave syrup
For Crust
place nuts in the food processor and blend until finely ground. Add graham cracker crumbs and blend until combined. Place graham mixture in a bowl. Add almond extract and salt. Pour melted butter in graham mixture and combine. Place mixture into 9" spring form pan. Using a cup evenly spread mixture getting crust a 1/2 to 1 inch up the sides pan. Bake crust in oven for 5 minutes. Remove and place in freezer until cream cheese mixture is ready.
Cheesecake
Cream together the sugar and cream cheese and until smooth. Add the eggs one at time making sure each is incorporated. Add the yogurt, vanilla, almond extract and lemon until combined and smooth. Make sure the filling is mixed well but do not over mix. Pour cream cheese mixture into spring form. Wrap the bottom of the pan in tin foil tightly. Place pan in roasting pan and fill half way up the pan with warm water. Bake for 1 hours to 1 hour and 15 minutes (mixture should be set on top and still jiggly towards the center. Turn the oven off and leaving the door ajar keep the cheesecake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes. Remove cheesecake from the water bath and allow to cool completely before chilling in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Blueberry topping
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Allow mixture to boil and stir occasionally to make sure it's not burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. Sauce should become syrupy. It should coat the back of a spoon. Turn off transfer to container and allow to cool before refrigerating.
When ready to serve pour blueberry mixture over cheesecake
What are you baking these days? July 2011, Part 2 [old]
I made a yummy Blueberry Almond Cheesecake. Almonds, graham cracker crust and instead of sour cream I used 2 % greek yogurt.
Your favorite food movie?
Movies with great food scenes/background
Fried Green Tomatoes
Under the Tuscan Sun
Letters to Juliette (OK minor food but made we want to go to Italy and eat nonetheless)
Waitress (wanted any kind of pie after)
Chocolat
Tortilla Soup
Woman on Top
War of the roses
Popcorn
+3 for nutritional yeast. I drizzle a little soy sauce over the popcorn, add garlic powder, grate some parmesean cheese (or hard cheese i have on hand)...my go to comfort snack (reminds me of my hippy mother).
Master Chef 6/20, spoilers
It's hard for me to swallow the excessive displays of hubris on the show; from the arrogant and insecure 18-year old to the pompous Joe B. The show feels like food that wasn't fried at the right temperature....saturated in fat and unpalatable.
NFNS 6/19/11 spoilers
Whitney was a former engineering consultant. I got the impression she is quite intelligent.
Where to buy pizza dough in the Bay Area
I bought it from the Mission location and just called it's $3.50 for a pizza ball and makes a 12 inch pie
Where to buy pizza dough in the Bay Area
I've bought pizza dough from Pizzeria Delfina in the past and it was fantastic. They even asked when I would be baking the pizza!
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Pizzeria Delfina
2406 California St, San Francisco, CA 94115
Best sit down brunch/lunch near Ferry building for tomorrow
Prospect on Spear does Brunch. Good walk or short trolly ride down the embarcadero and they take reservations. www.prospectsf.com
Rec for San Mateo/Burlingame Dinner for 12
You may want to check out Trapeze in Burlingame http://www.trapezerestaurant.com/. Decent food and safe for the type of dinner you're looking for.
Best ice cream 2011
One of my new favorites is Rick's ice cream in Palo Alto (can also be found at Preston's in Burlingame) The Kalfi (sp) rose ice cream, with pistachios, cardemon and saffron i believe and their salted caramel is FANTASTIC.
Anniversary dinner in SF: Jacket required atmosphere preffered *AND* a great bar/great cocktails?
I would suggest Spruce (also has a lovely bar area) and would second the recommendation for Quince.
Looking for good cheap eats on the peninsula.
Refuge in San Carlos for pastrami sandwhiches
Sancho's Taqueria in Redwood City--big fan of their fish tacos
Crouching tiger in Redwood City--good spicy chinese...I crave their dry cooked prawns and the dan dan noodles are yummy.
Woodside Deli Redwood City--good sandwhiches
