batchoy's Profile
Food in Fiction [moved from Not About Food board]
There are wonderful food passages also in GREAT EXPECTATIONS.
Food in Fiction [moved from Not About Food board]
OK, I would just love to throw in (fellow Jorge Amado lover here), that his book GABRIELA: OF CLOVES AND CINNAMON, takes place in the sugar-growing region of Brazil (I forget the specific province) and is all about food, seduction, what-have-you. A classic.
One city in the US for food, and one city in the entire world for food
Redwood City, CA! (20 miles south of San Francisco), for the best Mexican, Turkish, Indian, Thai, German, and Filipino food (So, ethnic cuisine is tops here, obviously)
Best city internationally: Hong Kong
What can you not live without from Costco?
Dave Sedaris launched his latest book tour (earlier this year?) in a North Carolina Costco. So, both of my favorite things combined!
Everyone has mentioned toilet paper and paper towels and the $4.99 rotisserie chicken.
I also heart:
boneless chicken thighs
chicken thighs
towards Christmas or Thanksgiving, they come out with the prime rib! (tastier than Safeway)
the tempura shrimp in the freezer section (You just bake it in the oven and it's ready to go!)
The one thing I've gotten from Costco that I will not get again is their pesto sauce. It had a sort of metallic tang, I don't know why!
What's your favorite bakery or pastry shop in the South Bay?
Draeger's in Menlo Park (They have really good carrot cake, but most everything I have tried is good).
Whatever you do, DO NOT go to Whole Foods (at least, not the one in Redwood City). I've tried at least 10 different "gluten-free" bakery items, all awful. The latest was a pineapple upside down cake that was decorated with sliced kiwi fruit (talk about schizophrenic cake design) and raspberries and looked so appetizing, but it was hard and dry. I could have tossed it across the room like a football, except I couldn't detach it from my fork.
Barefoot Contessa: Goat Cheese Scrambled Eggs
As far as I can tell, from the desc on your post, this concoction sounds divine. I almost jumped up and tried to make it, immediately.
Trader Joe's culture
" . . . those oranges sounded like hope to me." Sheer poetry.
Thank you for responding to my post, it makes me feel very good to know that I am not alone (in my TJ's experience)
Trader Joe's culture
There IS a TJ culture, I'm so glad you posted this. I never go when I'm stressed, I have to be in "Zen" mode. My nearest TJ is full of yuppies (very self-congratulatory yuppies, I must say -- chatting very leisurely with the kiddies: "What sausage should we get now, Kayla? You think this one? Or this one?" Never looking to see that anyone else may be behind, wanting to get AT said sausages ...)
Aptos/ Capitola dinner suggestions?
My husband and I are spending a weekend in the Aptos/ Capitola area. We haven't been there in almost ten years. The only restaurant we know is Shadowbrook (they had the yummiest orange buns! We used to order extra to bring home!). Any suggestions for a good place for dinner?
I love this board. Every single restaurant suggestion has been GREAT.
Am Eating in Crouching Tiger in Redwood City TONIGHT. What dishes can you recommend?
THANK YOU for the quick reply! Am off to try some of these dishes and will report back . . .
Am Eating in Crouching Tiger in Redwood City TONIGHT. What dishes can you recommend?
I have been curious about Crouching Tiger ever since reading a few posts highly touting it on this board, and a few others.
I have just spent half an hour looking for posts about Crouching Tigher that will tell me specifically WHAT dishes were so great. But after reading 200-plus posts, and reading page after page after page where people start talking about Sichuan Food but then veer off into all sorts of tangents, like what's so great about Redwood City food IN GENERAL, I am very very frustrated.
Does anyone have a recommendation for specific dishes from Crouching Tiger that were so great?
keeping garlic- refrigerate or not
I'm Filipina, I use tons of garlic. But I refrigerate :-)
If it has to be a chain, it has to be...
I know I'm probably the only one in the world who feels this way, but -- I do love Kentucky Fried Chicken -- all dark, extra crispy.
Need help in selecting high quality frozen appetizers
The boxes of tempura shrimp at Costco (I think they're 20 to a box) are very good. And they're good finger food.
What can you not live without from Costco?
tri-tip steaks -- I marinate them and then cut up for fondue
chicken thighs
ground beef chuck -- the 1-lb. chubs
the five-packs of bacon
Around the holidays, their prime rib roasts are the best
Filipino food - best around the bay?
You've sold me on Ihaw-Ihaw! Eat often at Kuya's, next time we'll try Ihaw Ihaw instead!
Also, ate at Max's a few days ago, and their fried chicken and Bikol Express were very good (very large portions, too!)
Visiting San Francisco
I'd suggest Hayes Street Grill -- just ate there two nights ago, and the flat iron steak was so good, as were the accompanying fries. I had a meringue dessert topped with home-made fro-yo and mixed berries and it was better than anything I've had at Citizen Cake (been to Citizen Cake four times).
If you want to walk around, the area around City Lights Bookstore has some nice, funky restaurants (there's Cafe Vesuvio right next to City Lights) and something owned by Coppola a little farther down (forget the name, darn, but it's close to Jackson).
Also, it's nice to walk around the Ferry Building, wouldn't recommend the over-crowded Slanted Door, but you can eat at any of the delis in the Ferry Building and take the food to the pier to watch the sunset ...
Another road trip question-LA to SF along 101.
We used to stop at Harris Ranch in Coalinga (Wait, I think that's actually closer to Hwy 5). They have GREAT steaks, you can smell the ranch as you approach (Sorry, hope that's not a turn-off), but once you get there, strangely the smell disappears -- !!
Lunch near Stanford Univ.
Best Burger Place: The Counter, California Ave., Palo Alto (crowded, be prepared to wait. But their sweet potato fries and their milkshakes are to die for)
In Town & Country Village, just outside Stanford (Embarcadero and El Camino Real), many good Japanese places. That's where the Mayfield Cafe is (which, IMHO, is too "chi-chi" -- if all you want to see are yuppies, then feel free!). Kirk's in Town & Country iis a staple of "old Palo Alto" -- very good steakburgers
NY hound in SF for 1 night only - HELP
La Mer (Peruvian), Pier 1 (next to Ferry Building). Try their ceviche sampler and, for dessert, the creme brulee sampler! Also, great selection of beer!
Best Food Blogs?
I love this site, it is so very focused on its parameters: everything must be out of a jar or be about to be put into a jar: It's called, of course, FOOD IN JARS:
www.foodinjars.com/
A Year of Food Books (not cookbooks)
Jacques Pepin's MY LIFE AS AN APPRENTICE is a very, very good book.
Food Essay Recs Please!
I really like Anthony Bourdain, and his book KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL has been excerpted in The New Yorker, so you might try reading that book.
I don't like food writing that is too loaded with adjectives. I used to like M.F. K. Fisher, but once you get over the thrill of discovering her, her writing starts sounding very "airy" ...
Jeffrey Steingarten's THE MAN WHO ATE EVERYTHING is very, very, very funny. If you want to choose a humorous essay for your students, try his book.
And Jacques Pepin is a surprisingly good writer! I liked his MY LIFE AS AN APPRENTICE.
Hope this helps. I'm a writing teacher, too, and I like using food essays because there is no denying the subliminal power of "hunger" ...
Where to take Mum for dinner in Burlingame?
She just arrived (yesterday) from the Philippines and does not want to eat "Asian," as she can get that any time back home.
Any suggstions would be appreciated!
Kid friendly foodie restuarants in Menlo Park area
We raised our son in Menlo Park. All his friends loved to meet at Dutch Goose, a local favorite (NOT fancy, peanut shells on the floor, sit on benches, that kind of thing. But you'll see a lot of Little League teams there, a lot of soccer teams, it's that well known locally).
Crepes Cafe and Cafe Borrone are good choices.
Juban on Santa Cruz Ave. is fun because you can cook your own food on a hot plate, and they ARE kid-friendly. My son and his friends loved to eat there.
Manhattan Resident Looking for Lunch & Dinner Rec for San Fran
Anywhere in the Ferry Building, because it is so much fun to just walk around there, and because of the great views . . .
In Pier 1 (next to the Ferry Building), there is a great Peruvian restaurant, La Mer... (Have to reserve in advance, it gets crowded). Try the ceviche sampler, and also the creme brulee sampler . . .
Best weekday lunch SFO ==> Redwood City
On Broadway Ave. in downtown Redwood City, you have many choices: Pho Dong (Vietnamese), Erawan (Thai) -- I've eaten in both places, several times -- a Turkish take-out kabob place, a Mexican taqueria. If you head a little further, closer to Theatre Way, you'll encounter New Kapadokia, a really GREAT Turkish restaurant. I've taken out-of-towners there, several have been to Turkey and they say new Kapadokia is closest to the food they ate in Turkey.
SPAM
I'm Filipina. Filipinos love SPAM. We chop it up and have it with macaroni and cheese. I love it fried with rice and egg.
I went to Hawaii two years ago and there was always a Spam dish as a breakfast choice. (I was housed as a guest of the Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, and the cafeteria had Spam on the menu, every day) I fell in love with Hawaii as a result.
What food find still haunts you - that you had once and haven't found since?
Mashed avocados mixed with condensed milk and frozen in ice cube trays - I used to have it all the time, growing up in the Philippines. Hot pan de sal with condensed milk. Also, hot pan de sal with spicy sardines - all foods I used to eat when I was growing up. I haven't found a place in the SF Bay area that sells good hot pan de sal.
Best food finds at Costco? [old]
3-pack of Chinese sausage, $8.88 at Mountain View, California Costco (Also, if you are anywhere near the vicinity of Mountain View Costvo, that particular shopping center has Goldilocks Filipino Bakery, where you can get mango cheesecake! And also In'n Out Burger)
