Spring is coming! Spring is coming!

Spring means the good produce comes back to the stores- and this asparagus was perfect.

From Drop Box

Day three

Well, I thought I would be taking many pictures today. As it turned out, my camera had other ideas. It thought dying would be the best option for a Friday. So no pics. Damn.

I have found my one complaint about this sexy little Nikon...it doesn't tell you the status of the battery until it's about to die. Eh.

Today we went down to Pier 39 and braved the gaggle of tourists (as if we weren't two of them) for some crab and beer. Mmmm....crab. And fresh clam chowder. Good stuff.

After lunch, we visited the Musee de Mecanique, which- if you've never seen it, is a pretty neat little collection of kitschy old coin operated machines. One of the machines was the "Mystic Pen" that supposedly gives you a personality reading. Both mine and Tim's readings were eerily accurate.

Mine says: One of the promintent features in your make up is self-reliance and confidence in your ability to accomplish what you undertake; your courage is strong; you do not hesitate to lead.

Tim's says: You are inclined to be melancholy and brooding, cultured, refined and a natural student, creative mind and magnetic personality.

Yep. That about sums it up.

After Pier 39, we went to the Buena Vista for a few Irish Coffees. No one else makes them like the Buena Vista, and the three I had dulled the pain in my feet for awhile. (yes, I am a wuss. Shut up.) So good. But so small, and so expensive.

This evening saw a journey over to little Italy for world famous chocolate truffles, perusing through a basement stuffed to the gills with crates of records, and a very tasty dinner at a 100+ year old restaurant with fantastic gnocchi.

I love this city. On our way back to the hotel, we witnessed the anti-Prop 8 protest. Only here would you see that. No one gives a shit about gay marriage in Phoenix- at least, not enough to organize something. It's nice to see motivated people who do something other than bitch.

Baking adventures

For Emmalee's first birthday, I agreed to make the cake, as the last cake my sister made turned out...well, just wrong. Of course, I can't just make a normal cake, noooo, that would be too easy. I wanted to make giant cupcakes.

First came the mountain of frosting. There is enough butter, sugar and egg whites in this bowl to supply the entire population of Luxemborg for approximately five years.

From Emmalee's first birthday

Half of that ended up in my freezer. For, ya know, the next time I decide to make a cake.

It took an entire day to get the giant cupcakes made, as they take forever and I thought for sure the mixer was going to die from exhaustion. But here they are...





And of course, we had to have one for the birthday girl...



It was fun, and man- that pan was an investment. Giant cupcakes for everyone's birthday for the next ten years!

Adventures in gastronomy

Ok, so there hasn't been much going on worth blogging about- I mean, I could tell you about homework assignments, or the embarrassing tally of hours spent watching Lost, but really- it would be about as exciting as poking your eyeball out with a spoon.

My dad lost a bet- what the bet was is unimportant- and had to join me for lunch at my favorite sushi joint for a little raw fish action. He was almost off the hook when the server informed us that they really didn't have much in the way of sushi, due to a failure of their refrigeration case. Whoops. They still had the makings for the sushi bento box, so he was a trooper and ordered the stuff anyway, even though I had given him an out.

Taking my dad out for meals is always an adventure. You never know what he's going to say, or how he's going to react to what is served. Some notable incidents include the "there's fish in my chicken sandwich" episode at The Paisley Violin, and the "wow, this is really disgusting- but I finished all of my food and some of yours" evening at the Vietnamese place in downtown Glendale. You just never can tell how it's going to be, so I was a little nervous about taking him to one of our favorite restaurants, and even more nervous about him eating something that we love so much, that he'd never had.

The verdict? The sashimi was "tasteless"- all three kinds- but good with ginger, and the California roll was spoiled by a less than ripe avocado. The tempura veggies were a hit- he even ate the prawns- and the assortment of pickled Asian veggies were pretty tasty.

He said he liked it. I about fell over from shock.

**

I got a wild hair up my ass last night and wanted to make pizza. It's too hot to turn on the oven though, so it had to be grilled. Tim thought I was nuts, because "Everything burns" on the grill, according to him.

A careful eye on the meal and about 15 minutes later, we had pizza.


It isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it was damn good. Much better than anything that comes out of our oven!