Cowgirl Creamery Sidekick tomato soup recipe?

I might be on the wrong board, but does anyone have a good guess as to the recipe for Cowgirl Creamery Sidekick's tomato soup (or your favorite recipe)? I'd love to make it at home.

morabbiton in San Francisco Bay Area

Recommendation for quiet date restaurant in SF for 2 w/ total bill $60 that has gift certificates?

Thanks again! Would it help if the total bill excluded alcohol? I don't think my roommate and her fiancee are big drinkers.

morabbiton in San Francisco Bay Area

Recommendation for quiet date restaurant in SF for 2 w/ total bill $60 that has gift certificates?

Thanks for all the responses! I will look into them!

morabbiton in San Francisco Bay Area

Recommendation for quiet date restaurant in SF for 2 w/ total bill $60 that has gift certificates?

I want to buy my engaged roommate a gift certificate to a nice restaurant for dinner as a thank you for taking me to the ER at 1 AM.

I've been looking on yelp but I can't seem to find a place that fits the bill. I'm hoping not to spend more than $60, but can go up to $75.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

morabbiton in San Francisco Bay Area

Restaurant Recommendations for club banquet?

I was wondering if anyone had any restaurant recommendations for a UCLA club banquet to be held in West L.A.? We have a group of about 20 people, and the most I think we'd want to pay individually is $30. Any kind of cuisine is fine. Thank you!

morabbiton in Los Angeles Area

DineLA - Gordon Ramsay

My friend and I went out to Gordon Ramsey last Friday. We didn't have any of the service problems that people seem to have had, but we also didn't order wine. I really enjoyed my time at the restaurant though. I felt like they really took care of us even though we weren't ordering a la carte. Also, the extra dishes were a nice touch.

I liked the chawanmushi, but some of the shiitakes tasted old, just a quibble, it really was delicious.
My friend got the rabbit ballotine; I got the mushroom veloute which had a short rib in it. I couldn't really taste the short rib, though I found it after a bit of searching. I really really liked this soup. It is rich for sure, but the flavors are so strong and well-defined. I tasted the ballotine and it was ... interesting? I didn't really eat enough to have any kind of impression.
My friend got the trout (it is tasmanian). I thought it was odd that the skin was crunchy but didn't break easily. It tasted good though. I dunno why. I got the ox cheek. I actually found the ox cheek to be rather tasteless. Texture was right, but I felt like the meat was accompanying the potatoes? (I forget what that puree was).
Pre-dessert was tasty. I suppose you could call it a cara-cara orange parfait. Too sweet to be a palate cleanser but it was a nice break in terms of textures and temperatures.
Dessert was tasty. He got the banana thingy; I got the quince pannacotta. What was odd about this dish was that (I think) it was quince jam covered by a layer of pannacotta. The pannacotta wasn't infused with quince or anything (as far as I could tell). It also came with a financier that I don't think the description mentioned. Banana is banana. I'm not a huge fan in any case though it came with a mini donut that I wanted to taste but didn't.
Also, slight disclaimer: I was kind of sick when I ate here. I could smell, but my tastebuds were still a little off.
Portion wise: things weren't particularly tiny or huge. I thought the portions were all right. I was kind of dying while eating the ox cheek (large portion and tasteless) and was fairly full, but my friend was definitely still hungry after the meal. yeah, ok I went home and ate something too after the dinner. but both of us have pretty healthy appetites. comes with the genes.

(It seemed like the font of my post was ginormous. sorry. i don't know why)

morabbiton in Los Angeles Area

open table appetite stimalus tasting menu

I don't know if anyone's interested but here is Breadbar's menu for the promotion. just thought I'd share.

LUNCH

- MONDAY -
Soup of the Day
Penne Arrabiata, Grilled Calamari, Shrimp, Pecorino
Bread Pudding

- TUESDAY -
Soup of the Day
Halibut, Bok Choi, Vaudouvan Curry Ginger Sauce
Wall Streets

- WEDNESDAY -
Soup of the Day
Flank Steak, Potato Gratin, Green Peppercorn Sauce
Bread Pudding

- THURSDAY -
Soup of the Day
Roasted Duck Breast, Arugula Salad, Cocoa Sauce
Hot Cocoa

- FRIDAY -
Soup of the Day
Venison Tenderloin, Mushroom Risotto, Chestnut-Juniper Berry Jus
Bread Pudding

Lunch, Three Courses, $24

DINNER

- MONDAY -
Amuse-Bouche
Soup of the Day or Cream of Cauliflower
Penne Arrabiata, Grilled Calamari, Shrimp, Pecorino
Dessert Trio

- TUESDAY -
Amuse-Bouche
Soup of the Day or Cream of Cauliflower
Halibut, Bok Choi, Vaudouvan Curry Ginger Sauce
Dessert Trio

- WEDNESDAY -
Amuse-Bouche
Soup of the Day or Cream of Cauliflower
Flank Steak, Potato Gratin, Green Peppercorn Sauce
Dessert Trio

- THURSDAY -
Amuse-Bouche
Soup of the Day or Cream of Cauliflower
Roasted Duck Breast, Arugula Salad, Cocoa Sauce
Dessert Trio

- FRIDAY -
Amuse-Bouche
Soup of the Day or Cream of Cauliflower
Venison Tenderloin, Mushroom Risotto, Chestnut-Juniper Jus
Dessert Trio

Dinner, Four Courses, $35

morabbiton in Los Angeles Area

open table appetite stimalus tasting menu

Thanks! I figured there must be some way to scroll down but for some reason was not showing up on my browser.

morabbiton in Los Angeles Area

open table appetite stimalus tasting menu

can anyone see the full grace stimulus menu? for some reason I can only see the first course. The whole menu can't consist of smoked salmon can it!?!

Also, citrus at social has a downloadable menu, but it's basically:

first: PUMPKIN SOUP lardon, “winter spices”
Bex Riesling, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany, 2005

third: 72 HOUR SHORT RIB roasted salsify
Kunin Wines, Syrah, “Alisos Vineyard”, Santa Barbara, 2003

dessert: CHOCOLATE PEAR TART noisette sauce, chocolate tuile
Banyuls, La Tour Vieille, Langeudoc-Roussillon, France, 2005

uhmm. oddly enough they don't list a second. so that's not a typo on my part ::shrug:: also. I don't know why the font is so large.

morabbiton in Los Angeles Area

Recommended digital scale (baking) <$30

whoa. thanks for the enormous discussion. I'm used to using the scales chemists use, which are very accurate, but obviously can't afford that for my personal use. I'll try looking at postal scales etc. as per advice.

morabbiton in Cookware

Recommended digital scale (baking) <$30

Can anyone recommend a good brand of digital scale that's less than or equal to $30?
I want to use it for baking, but even though all the writers keep saying you can buy one for less than $25, I can't seem to find one that will go to the requiste 1/100 of a digit etc. Thanks!

morabbiton in Cookware

"fancy" Westside dinner suggestions for group of 20?

thank you! nook is a definite no. we would not fit at all. anything where the group would be separated I don't really prefer. but I'll definitely check out the shamshiri grill, caffe angeli, and the other recommendations.

morabbiton in Los Angeles Area

"fancy" Westside dinner suggestions for group of 20?

Hi
I'm looking for a "kind of nice" restaurant that the UCLA wushu club (guys with big appetites) can go to for a "kind of nice" senior appreciation dinner. I say "kind of nice" because we're college kids and I think the price max is about $30 per person, but I'd like it to be formal enough of a restaurant where we could dress up nicely and not look awkward or come out smelling like beef (no KBBQ). Since we're from UCLA, a place in West LA would be best, but I'm looking to avoid a place like CPK. halp plz? muchas gracias!

morabbiton in Los Angeles Area

Palo Alto Recs for 10+ group of College kids

for dinner we actually ended up at the promoted banquet at the Grand Buffet in cupertino(?) - AYCE sushi, chinese food, bbq, buffet etc. pretty typical. I don't know if this is the normal price but we paid 17.50 each which was kind of a rip off but we showed up late (9:30PM) too.

we did eat lunch at this good chinese restaurant. Hu-Chiang Dumpling House. 10877 N. Wolfe Road, Cupertino, CA. It serves xiao long bao or soup dumplings. they aren't listed as xiao long bao on the menu but as tang bao. I don't know why but that's what they are. pretty quality shanghainese food. I don't recommend their ventures into N. style chinese food, such as the green onion pancake which was just floury.

we got pork tang bao, beef tang bao, shrimp w/ tofu, vegetable buns, curry chicken, hot and sour soup. the skin on the soup dumplings was nicely done. soup dumplings had pretty good soup, pork over beef. vegetable buns had really nice texture to the skin. hot and sour soup was too salty.

so from what we ate and from what we saw people eating, i'd go with orders of the pork soup dumplings, milk fried buns, dong po rou, and a soup of some kind.

morabbiton in San Francisco Bay Area

Palo Alto Recs for 10+ group of College kids

ahhhh. thanks you guys! we might be unadventurous and end up at KBBQ. though about the counter, I liked the one in Santa Monica thought it was also incredibly tiny and packed.

morabbiton in San Francisco Bay Area