strawberry bread pudding

berries are in season and i was looking for something easy to bake this weekend since i didn't feel so well... - strawberry bread pudding it is. i made up the recipe, i used brioche instead of bread...



4 rolls of brioche (dinner roll size)
1 pack of strawberry (1lb or 450gr)
30 sugar (or more if prefer sweeter)
60 gr butter at room temp.
2 eggs
225gr of heavy cream
30 gr turbinado sugar - optional
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat oven at 350F

slice brioche about 1/2" thick. spread 3/4 of the butter on brioche slices, sprinkle with turbinado sugar. toast in oven until golden, about 10-15 mins.


clean strawberries and cut in half.


whisk eggs, sugar, cream and vanilla to mix well.


butter ramekin (6" diameter x 3" high) with the remaining butter, sprinkle ramekin with about 1/2 tablespoon of sugar. line bottom of ramekin with 1 layer of toast.


next layer, alternating slices of toast and strawberries...


and continues onto the next layer, fill small spaces with bits of toast and smaller strawberry pieces. pour in the egg/cream mixture, let it sit for at least 1 hr for the toast to soak up the cream.


bake for about 35- 40 minutes.

the ferry building

it was memorial day weekend and the ferry building was packed. i shopped the farmers market outside...


...and went inside to get my tea at the imperial tea court. the jasmin pearls and the lychee blossoms, they smell heavenly.

Mangosteen

i went to Mangosteen for some vietnamese food before heading to the market at the ferry building. i saw someone had the crab soup at mangosteen last time and i wanted to try...
Mangosteen is a very small family restaurant in the tenderloin - not the most savoring neighborhood. the service was prompt, there's only one server and i think it's her family restaurant.


i had the vietnamese ice coffee, it was good...


then the crab soup. it was pretty decent but none of the vietnamese restaurants here gets it right. i guessed because it's a bit labor intensive to make this dish... and i don't know if the tiny fresh water rock crabs can be found here...


i was happy with my food!

Mangosteen
604 Larkin, san francisco 94109
415.776.3999

2223

happy trails dinner to one of our friend from work, we had a big group - 14 total - and we got the private room at 2223 in the Castro. the decor is nice and clean, nothing special here. the crowd was (on this wednesday night) and has been mostly Castro residents, the staff was knowledgeable, friendly and the service was prompt...

cocktails were good, mine was the raspberry lemon drop which is a regular lemon drop with chambord, yum...


the 2 sitting next to me and i shared the 3 starters, the onion rings, tasty! i remember they used to serve shoestring onion rings - those were good!!! - but not on the menu anymore...


the grilled asparagus wrapped in procciuto, very good!...


and the fried calamari salad, yum!


for entree we shared the short ribs, must be slow roasted because the meat just fell off the bones... tasty and a lot of it. i remember the portion here used to be smaller...


here're what others had, the porkchop


roasted shellfish


and for desserts, we shared the sorbet since dinner was a bit on the heavy side... we got 3 flavors - lemon, mango and guava - nice and light and refreshing...


here're what others were having, the sour cherry bread pudding. it was delish, i had a bite.


the chocolate panacotta, smooth... i had half a spoon.


lemon torte, looked good but i didn't try any.


back then, 2223 used to have more of california fussion dishes and the portion was smaller, may be half of the portion they have today, the food was more refreshing to me. the majority of the dishes on the menu now, i feel, is leaning toward american comfort food/slow cook... and the portion is twice the size... i think i prefer the old 2223.

http://www.2223restaurant.com/

Maya again....

we were talking about going here (Maya) a couple weeks back when we were in Cabo... and here we are...

i had the magarita float with grand marnier, the 2 friends had sangria and pineapple margarita. mine was really good, reminded of mr. margarita bar in Todos Santos..


guacamole for starter


i had the grilled chicken mole poblano with cilantro rice and fried plantains, excellent as always...

both of my friends has the butterflied filet mignon with potato gratin and mole enchilada, i had a bite it was good!


guava sorbet for dessert, pic of the last bite...
http://www.mayasf.com/

Ramblas

sunday evening, dinning out with a couple friends from work. quite a few choices in the mission... we finally settled at Ramblas.
i like the interior - mission artsy, not pretentious, it's actually relaxed and inviting. the crowd was mixed, casual on this sunday night. the staff was friendly and the service was prompt...

we ordered a pitcher of hibiscus margarita, tasty, highly recommended...

next on our menu are the tapas, i love tapas and hadn't had them for a long while... first, the dipping for the bread was tasty - olive oil with garlic, chili pepper, and vinegar??? the meat balls were good! grilled asparagus was excellent with some kind of sauce (hollandaise or fresh mayonaise???), topped with fried onion and toasted almond... yum! shrimps in garlic sauce was delish, i love dipping the bread in the sauce...

the cheese empanadas were good with 2 or 3 different kinds of cheese...

and the Ramblas paella was yummy (i think it's the Valencia type of paella) with saffron rice, shrimps (whole with heads and all), clams, mussels, chicken and sausage... add a few squirts of fresh lemon juice... delish. we were stuffed!!!

http://www.ramblastapas.com/

new sculpture at The Legion of Honor Museum

my friend called me up for a walk yesterday, we decided to walk around the legion of honor museum. i haven't been there for a while... there's a new Dale Chihully's glass sculpture in the museum court yard next to Rodin's the thinker... i wonder if it's permanent???

Peonies

i got some good priced peonies at whole foods today. they are just gorgeous and the buds were exploding into giant blooms within a couple hours...

Lavender macarons

back to baking! i used the same recipe as before for the macarons. i added a teaspoon of lavender extract to the batter and mixed some powder color in the dry ingredients.

for the filling, i made mock buttercream, here's the recipe:

150 gr unsalted butter at room temp.
30 gr powder sugar (or more if prefer sweeter)
1 teaspoon lavender extract
color (optional)

blend everything together with hand blender until smooth. pipe or spread and sandwich macarons.

Bourgainvillia in Cabo

All the flowers here in Cabo had more of dusty colors now, i wondered whether the desert sun has something to do with that. i love these color shades, my favorite is the new shade of corally pink/orange bourgainvillia - made me want to mix colors and paint something...

Bohai

our last dinner in Cabo, we'd passed this restaurant everyday and decided to go here finally. it's brand new as we were told, there was only 1 couple in the restaurant when we got there but we were there late in the evening (9:30 and the all restaurants in Cabo close at 10, we were told). Bohai serves asian fusion cuisines.

Bohai's interior


cocktail with fresh lychee juice, delish!


the cambodian spring rolls, very good.


banana blossom salad, not right but still very tasty


ha noi fish, not right neither but tasty...


thai noodles with tofu, sugary sweet, not right but i liked it.


california roll, it has cream cheese inside, not right, not liked. infact cream cheese is in every single roll on the menu, why???

glass bottom boat

we took the last boat to the famous arch...

the finger rock, or the shape of baja upside down...


lover's beach on the sea of cortez side, on the pacific side is the divorce beach...


finger rock at different angle...


window to the pacific from the sea of cortez


the famous arch


the seals, they smelled like dead squids!


a cave


more cave on the pacific side


a lone cruise ship in the pacific