Maybe I will... I brought some visiting friends with me, and we rapturously enjoyed our burnt caramel, blackberry, and blueberry flavors. I plan to keep going to Ici until I hit on a day when they serve the Earl Grey flavor. Until then, I can only dream.
This lovely looking falafel pita came from the Holy Land, a cute Israeli joint right in my neighborhood! How convenient is that? The best part of the meal, however, was the frozen lemonade with pureed mint.
 | After aggressively trimming four large chicken thighs, I was left with a pile of skin and fat. Since I started with 1.3 lbs of chicken, I estimate there's maybe 0.3 lbs of fat and skin here. This looks disgusting. |
 | Into a pot it goes, along with 1/4 cup of water, some onion powder, and some wing tips I'd been saving for stock but would repurpose here for its fat and skin content. The water will all boil off by the time it's done, but early on it helps distribute the heat while the fat melts. Ideally, you'd use real onion, but I didn't have any on hand (the one half onion in the fridge had gotten dried out). |
 | Once the wing tips gave off everything they could, they went into the trash. Now what's left is just the melted fat and the skin bits. |
 | Any water, as well as any moisture in the skin and fat, has boiled off, and the gribenes (more on this later) are getting nice and brown. All done. It took nearly an hour to get to this point, which is longer than I expected. |
 | On the right is the cup of schmaltz, having passed through a coarse-ish strainer. If I had cheesecloth, I'd have used it, but I think it turned out okay anyway. And on the left is the gribenes, the fried bits of chicken skin. |
At the newer location in Oakland, there is so much more seating! No 3 hour lines here. The food was just as good, and they have so many options that can be made vegan. Some vegan/vegetarian friends were in town and so Burma Superstar was an optimal choice. We had the yellow bean fried tofu, which you see here, tea leaf salad (minus shrimp), rainbow salad, yummy coconut rice, and vegetarian noodles. I do really miss the Bay Area for a few reasons, and Burma Superstar is one of them!
because it is within walking distance to my apartment, oh no, oh yes! This is a chicory chocolate chip scoop in a hand-rolled cone filled with chocolate. The 3/4 mile walk there burns off all the calories, right?
I am feeling a little house bound and need some new places to study. Today I am trying out The Beanery in Elmwood, and am really enjoying the ambiance! Classical music in the background, comfy seating, and a lot of sunlight make this very pleasant. I have heard the coffee isn't the best, but my veggie sandwich is super cute, isn't it?
 | We have this Rubbermaid cooler that we take to the beach sometimes. It's good enough for holding lunch and snacks for two cool for a whole beach day. The eggs can go right in; the shell means they don't need a plastic seal. Since there's no vacuum, it's not really sous vide, but that's a technicality. |
 | This pot is 3.5 quarts. I used the candy thermometer to know precisely when the water is at 145 degrees. I let it go a hair's width over 145. |
 | Ok the water's poured in and the timer's set for 45 minutes. How do I pass the time? |
 | I pass the time by some turkey bacon! As a side note, turkey bacon doesn't have that much fat. So unlike regular bacon, it benefits from a quick spray of oil before cooking. This way it gets darker and firmer. |
 | 45 minutes has gone by. I scooped the eggs into this small pot of boiling water and left them for exactly 60 seconds, before depositing them in a lukewarm water bath. The idea is that 60 seconds in boiling water would further solidify the whites, but not affect the 145-degree yolks. I think of this the same way I think about giving sous vide steaks a quick sear on a very hot grill. During that 60 seconds, I checked the temperature of the water remaining in the cooler. 125 degrees. That's not good. Which was unexpected, because every few minutes I checked and the cooler never felt hot. The red sides and bottom remained room temperature to the touch, and the white lid felt only a little warm. So I was surprised it lost so much heat. |
 | This is the result of egg #1. It isn't the perfect sous vide egg. It's what the professionals call "raw." Bummer. |
 | My toast and bacon are awfully lonely. The careful observer will notice there are three slices of bacon on this plate, but four in the pan pictured above. The observer who knows me will realize I can't sit by cooked bacon for 45 minutes without eating it. |
 | Perhaps things are salvageable. Using the small pot, I started with new water and heated it to 150 degrees. Egg #2 is retained, and egg #3, still raw, is pressed into service. As with the grill with the ribs, a gas stove is remarkably good at maintaining a consistent temperature. After heating the water to 150, I cut the heat to as low as possible. Every ten minutes or so, the temp reached 153 or so. I stirred in a little cold tap water to bring the temp back down to 150. For good measure, I left them in the 150 degree bath for an hour. |
 | These are the results. Egg #2 looks a little better than egg #3, but both actually look pretty good (#3 had some speckles, #2 did not, so I could tell them apart). The whites are partially solid, a bit runny, and defninitely slippery. The yolks are still soft and moist and not at all crumbly. A little salt and paprika, and these eggs were not bad. This isn't my favorite mode of preparation; I would ideally prefer a more solid white and more runny yolk, something more like a perfect poached egg (which I have consistently failed to do at home). But it's pretty similar to the "perfect sous vide egg" described before, and it wasn't even done sous vide. I just wish I had some toast to eat them with. I ate the toast and bacon while waiting for eggs #2 and #3 to cook, and that was my last roll. |
But why is it served in a soup bowl??? I am here at Guerilla Cafe in the Gourmet Ghetto, and while they get points for creativity, I do not like the choice of serving vessel. It's made with Blue Bottle beans, and it's good. However, I have to say, Gimme on State Street in Ithaca has an even better latte. To be completely fair to Blue Bottle though, I really must go to their actual store... however, so far Gimme is winning.
At the urging of my friend who said the best food comes out of the tiniest kitchen, I have decided to actually cook my dinner. This won't be fancy but I will saute these cuties with some soy sauce and a bit of onion.
I am in Noe Valley visiting some friends and their new baby today (yay) and Casa Mexicana lured me in for a quick lunch. As my one vegetarian taco was assembled my eyes grew wider and wider as it got bigger and bigger. Then I realized I had been here before 4 years ago w. S when apartment hunting. We accidentally ordered 2 burritos, one each. The body builder at the table next to us wisely cut his burrito in half and wrapped the rest to take home... then we knew we were in trouble! Delicious, delicious trouble.
Despite the unfortunate name, Manpuku is a cute Korean owned Japanese place that serves ramen, sushi, and other delightful bites. Obviously it's no Santouka but its a great place to grab a solo dinner in the Elmwood district, which is within walking distance of my apt. My ramen was good, with a cloudy broth and nice pork belly. The noodles had a good texture. However, they sliced up small bits of raw ginger, which made for some unpleasant and surprising bites. A solid B bowl that I would have again. It was a nice way to return to my eating quest, as my hectic schedule this week had me eating yogurt and string cheese for dinner.
