kelly & aida are up to no good

So I apologize – I haven’t written a post for a good two weeks. I will also admit that the next few posts are more a recollection of what has gone down this summer, and a blatant excuse for me to upload photos of my life. So deal with it.

Kelly and Aida’s To Do List:

1. Grab fresh Tartine Bread, delicious cheese, wine, and chill out at Dolores Park (and also discover that the safest people to buy edibles from appear to be black transexuals. Yes, people do walk around the park openly selling “treats”)

We got olive bread which had other spices like rosemary in it, and a country bread. Both were perfectly crisp on the outside and light, chewy, but also fluffy on the inside. We indulged in an interesting red wine called Zweigelt 2008 – a very fruity Austrian red wine with the most adorable bottle (image below for your pleasure) that had a bottle cap top. Who knew we would find ourselves asking people for a beer bottle opener for a wine bottle? Enjoyed the creamiest goat cheese (almost butter-like) and beet-infused cheddar cheese on the side. The beet cheddar would first hit your palette with a wave of beet, and then slowly subside into a creamy chedder taste. Seriously fun.

2. Eat Ethiopian Food

…just because.

The real reason is I just haven’t had it before, so there you go. Nothing much to it, other than delicious, delicious, messy hands, delicious. We ate at Axum Cafe.

We had the vegetarian platter with a center of Tibsie Lamb: tender lamb slices tossed with jalapeno peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and Ethiopian spices.

3. Make no-butter lemon scones as offerings to the gods

No explanation needed (I will admit we’re in a slight debt to Mother Nature, so yes to slightly guilty feelings). They were lush and tasted even better with fresh boysenberry jam.

4. Walk in the Dyke March

Forget the gay parade. This is where it’s at.

Of course, must be performed with your friend in a Sriracha Chili outfit and your own boss dressed as a chocolate bar.

Chocolate Bar got jealous of Sriracha getting all the attention, so she ran around screaming: “YOU ONLY LIKE ME WHEN YOU’RE ON YOUR PERIOD!” The result: a giant hug from a sympathetic supporter.

5. Go to a Farmer’s Market…and consume an entirely inappropriate (but awesome) food item

…in the form of a fresh coconut. AMAZING coconut meat, AMAZING coconut juice. Canned coconut drinks? Hells no.

Castro farmer’s market.

The sick mushroom guy who had bought a few coconuts for himself. We caught him in the act and asked him if we could buy a coconut from him. He acquiesced. #tropicswin

6. Go to a Graffiti Arts Festival

A collection of free spray cans, boards, and aspiring artists. We let our emotional rage out onto a piece of board – by writing our names in girly font. Have no fear: the Ivy League was represented well.Kite making & graffiti.

7. Represent the foodie population at Critical Mass

Originally founded in San Francisco in 1992, Critical Mass is held on the last Friday of each month. Bikers gather together at a single location and then take over the streets of the city, aiming to block cars and spread the biking + environmental love. We would either take over at least one side of theroad, sometimes the entire thing. We biked for almost two hours and Most Memorable Moment goes to biking through two tunnels.

Key phrases in addition to general whooping and hollering:

“BIKES. BIKES. BIKES.”

“GET A BIKE.”

“TEN FOOT RULE, TEN FOOT RULE.”

“WE LOVE BIKES.”

“GO VEGAN.”

“DOWNSHIFT.” (only for those who have single gear bikes. NOT us.)

“EAT CEREAL FOR BREAKFAST.”

“CARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRS.”

“#*$)(@#*%&!!!(*@)#($*@)*#$&~!!” (when a car or a pedestrian stupidly tries to break through the bike mass)

“GET NAKED AND GET A BIKE.”

Susan warned me.

Posing with bagels and bikes.

Naked bikers. Curiously only men. Had a pleasant conversation with one about my pink tights and green hat ensemble. Only one question remains unanswered: Does it hurt? 

The route that no one followed.Epic.

Groups would go into the middle of a large, busy intersection and then began swarming in circles, a la Animal Behavior 101.

8. Get up ridiculously early to celebrate/mourn the bittersweet ending of a phenomena

You know where it’s at.

Whistling the HP theme song while biking to the theater is true commitment.

Finito.

genie switched up wishes for questions

A dash of yogi wisdom to start: In the classical Vedanta (the school of Indian spiritual philosophy that views everything – you, God, the Universe – as one manifestation of the same consciousness), three basic questions arise:

1. Who am I emotionally, mentally, physically at this moment? [being in tune with yourself]
2. Where am I right now? [relates to paying attention to your environment, as well as acknowledging the goods and bads of your situation]
3. What am I supposed to do right now? [being the present, being proactive]

More on this here. Thought that was cute and simple. So here are my three questions for you based off of my Monday [update on Pride coming later…for good reason]:

一。 1. What are you passionate about?

Ok, new phase (#5? #6?). Thanks to Aida’s suggestion (who’s working at Food & Water Watch this summer), I watched Food Inc. Got about 10 minutes into it before the first flood of tears said hello. It took another 15 before the next one came along. I seriously considered going vegetarian after the first segment but realized I love the taste of meat too much. Plus, it’s California. You can be pretty sure that when you go to a wholesome market/restaurant that the food will be organic or something along those lines.

Yes, I know. Where have you been? Why haven’t you seen anything like this? I’m sorry! I grew up in Hong Kong where really, the only concept of organic is eating a salad for lunch (what?). I lie, there are some stores opening up like ThreeSixty that are organic. I lie again: I actually had never heard of it until I googled, so I guess that proves how clueless I was until now about the world’s food.

So the new phase: douse myself with the food world – politics and all that juiciness included.

二。What can you make amends with?

Meet AJ. He’s the guy who asked me to join his Adult Fitness Swimming in the morning. And yes, I have been officially dragged back into the swim world after having just “retired”. I’ve been going every morning, since my sprained ankle doesn’t really leave me with any other options (my road bike has been moping in the corner next to the laundry).

This guy loves swimming. He can’t stop talking to me about technique, famous swimmers, and what not. I try to drop my line of expertise and he grabs it and runs off with it. It’s chill, and actually refreshing to hear his passion for the sport. He used to be one of those typical “destined for the Medical World” students, amassing amazing recommendations, perfect grades, working with top notch surgeons, getting the thumbs up from admission officers of different med schools…he never even considered the possibility he wouldn’t get in. And then he got rejected from 14 med schools. He didn’t try again.

Instead, he coaches swimming. Also met his wife through it, and lives for the satisfaction he gets when one of his kids makes a qualification cut. I get that. When I coached as a side job, there’s something so juicily satisfying when a kid figures out how to keep their arms at opposite ends on backstroke, or when they understand my crazy analogies like “scooping ice cream”.

So he gives me a few things to do in the morning. They’re pretty standard, not very creative, but it’s a nice hour to have. The best part is that I’m only swimming for fitness, which really let’s me just be in the moment. I’ve forgotten the numbers already – intervals, cuts, records, all of it. I just care about feeling how my hand embraces the water, my body rotates, my hips balance, and how my ankle suspends in zero gravity.

So it’s been good, surprisingly. I’m finally making amends with the water.

三。How many Harvard students does it take to shuck an oyster?

One as long as you don’t confuse it with “sucking”.

It was Jessica’s birthday, so we celebrated by going to the Tomales Bay Oyster Company.

Had a beautiful drive down (the weather is so much nicer inland compared to the bay) and a delicious lunch with raw oysters, cooked mussels and manila clams.

Jessica whipped up a simple sauce with basil, red onions, and rice vinegar, which complemented the salty seafood perfectly.

On the side we enjoyed some Mindoro Danish style blue cheese, Hooks 5 yr aged cheddar (both from Wisconsin), and a Vendeen Bichonne tomme. The last tomme I tried I enjoyed, but this one was too salty and milky for my liking. Was supposedly aged for 3 years in a deserted railroad tunnel. I am appreciating these creative locations for cheese aging. My thoughts on future possibilities:

• abandoned strip club
• in place of a battery for a clock
• in China
• incognito
• Harvard Flyby
• Emma Watson’s car trunk (HP 7 countdown commences!)
• a hot air balloon
• Obama’s suit pocket

Daily Nutritional Report for Tuesday

–       Lunch: a delicious beef stroganoff with mushrooms and garlic fettuccini made by Susan the master chef herself

–       I dropped off a chocolate pod at the Tcho factory and treated myself to a hot chocolate “for the sake of the film” : I needed a shot of a heart shape foam design. Delicious, rich chocolate, although a little too milky for me.

–       On my way home, I stopped by the Ferry Building and got myself a pork bun and a sticky rice from Vietnamese chef Charles Phan’s stylish take out bar: Out the Door. Both were hella fresh and surprisingly authentic. He has seven other restaurants of various cuisines and has made a name by using amazing local products while still maintaining the traditional flavors of each cuisine (mainly Vietnamese and Chinese). On my to-do list fosho.

–       Aida and I made sweet potato gnocchi with white truffle olive oil, parmesan cheese, thyme, and caramelized mushrooms + onions.

Gnocchi is a simple recipe, but getting the dough (sweet potato, flour, salt, egg) to the right consistency was really hard! Also, the sweet potato we had was a light yellow color, so its flavor was not as intense. Our final result was yummy, but not mind blowing. The white truffle and parmesan nailed it, but I wish the gnocchi had a deeper sweet potato essence. Nonetheless a success.

Lesson of the Day

How to shuck an oyster: stick. wiggle. [pout] restick. stab. twist. open. Smile! You have now just killed an animal.

fishy firemen

25 June 2011

I did something off my bucket list yesterday: set off a fire alarm and get a cute smile from a fireman.

It’s only day three of my culinary escapades, and I’ve already created enough smoke to impress Beijing’s airport smog a la 2005. Okay, a little bit of an exaggeration.

I tried cooking salmon by stovetop, but it turns out the pan had either too much oil or was just too hot (or both), so it cooked way too quickly and smoked up a storm. I called the company to try and disarm the fire department, but I was too late.

So round two I tried poaching my salmon in a mixture of red wine, rosemary, water, asparagus, garlic, and onions. It turned out tasting okay, but Aida really wasn’t kidding when she said it’s tricky cooking meat. I had to put the salmon back three times. Work in progress.

This week was all about film production for the upcoming telenovela for our Sriracha Flying Rooster truffle flavor. It’s top secret, but I will reveal that the chocolate bar costume is heavily involved. My main role with the whole production is filming and editing. Unfortunately, my acting skills didn’t let me make the cut. I guess my unsuccessful British accent in my 10^th grade play might have played a part (my drama teacher came up to me a week before and told me that it was so bad I had to stick with my own accent while everyone else stayed British).

On Thursday I got to give out whole sample pieces of our Burnt Baby Burnt, Give It to Me Guava, and Vietnamese Coffee at a Bloomingdale’s bridal event. It’s intriguing to me to see different types of events and figure out what’s worth attending. Conclusion? Not really worth it.

With a signup of only 50 couples, we should have known that we would mainly be giving out pieces to the B-staff. Huge cost, not that big of a benefit. There were some people who were interested in potentially making a large purchase of truffles with custom logos for wedding goodies. Other than that, not much really went down.

I did a lap around the event and saw a wide range of products: wine, hotel vacation spots, photographers, wedding cakes, bedding, beauty products, etc. Most notable was the chocolate fountain company. I was intrigued because I always see those beautiful things calling my name at buffets, but I never really think about who’s behind the mechanics. Turns out the company even has competitors (based on creativity of the fruit set up). Weirdest thing to dip in the chocolate but still tastes delicious? Shrimp. I need to get on that.

Also got to try the sister of our Burnt Caramel with Hawaiin Sea Salt truffle: the Caramel and Hawaiin Sea Salt yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Equally delicious. One product that I also enjoyed was the San Franola granola – they use roasting techniques which keeps the granola constantly moving, instead of the usual baking technique. This lets them use less sugar and fatty products, making a healthier granola. Tasted delicious and nutty.

I failed to update you guys on a different event I attended last week with Socola Chocolatier: a pearl event promoting Mikimoto‘s Japanese pearls. We weren’t advertising our product, only making connections. Susan was really smart because she made an effort to talk to people behind the scenes – the people working at the counter, the cashiers, and the event organizer. She asked for advice on how to sell a high end product as well.

Susan holding down the fort.

It was weird being with such a fabulous crowd. Chatting with people at this event vs. people at a farmer’s market is incomparable. Everyone was dressed up in expensive dresses and suits while fawning over the products.

His pearls were fake, but he definitely felt fabulous.

Me trying on a $32,000 pearl necklace. Felt like I was wearing the horcrux from HP7 (#nerdreference).

Beautiful!!

Wendy looking like a star with the necklace.

I personally don’t like to attach myself to jewelry, because I wouldn’t want to waste part of my energy on worrying about damaging it (obviously a different story when it’s meaningful). I guess you could say my attitude is quasi-Buddhist in that I don’t like investing energy in lots of material possessions since change can always happen.

BUT THE FOOD = delicious. It was all small snacks (and of course, free alcohol as well): split pea pearl soup, pearl cheesecake lollipops, beggar’s sacks filled with caviar, and salmon cones. Obviously I am not doing any of these things justice with my poor descriptions. I do hope in the future to work with a catering company for a while, just to see behind the scenes.

The cheesecake lollipops.

“Salmon cones”

My foodie mind assumed this was a huge wrapped up chocolate bar. I was proven wrong – it was a book about Mikimoto pearls instead. Duh.

Afterwards I met up with Joss, Aida, and Hena (my other roomie for the summer) to eat Dine About Town (a discount set meal) at a downtown restaurant called Credo. The atmosphere was lively and the walls were covered with tons of quotes. We were caught a few times staring at the walls with fish mouths. Super cute.

Aida opted to order her own dish: Sedanini alla Credo. A rigatoni pasta with a tomato based sauce cooked in bowl covered with oven-baked pizza dough. The pasta wasn’t notable itself, but the pizza dough had me (us) very excited.

 The rest of us opted for the set three course meal:

Panzanella: cucumber, tomatoes, & Chianti vinaigrette – good but nothing special

Burrata Crostini – burrata is a type of Italian mozz cheese that has insane amounts of cream in the inside of the ball. Paired with black kale (“cavolo nero”), caramelized onions, and of course, a little toast (“crositni”). The kale and onions were heavenly, but there was definitely an overload of burrata (although it did have great texture).

Joss and Hena both got fish with pineapple. The fish was perfectly cooked but very light on the taste buds, so the grilled pineapple really made the dish.

THIS was amazing. The pork was juicy, tender enough, and flavorful. The apple and melted brie were wonderful with it.

Nothing too memorable about the desserts other than the killer cinnamon cream in the fruit tart. The molten dark chocolate cake was excellent, but seriously rich – I could only take a couple small bites.

I must say, it was pretty decent meal, but I don’t really have much of an incentive to come back and try their other dishes. Although there is a dish with chocolate pasta, I think Aida and I are going to tackle that one since we’ve already made chocolate pizza. High quality Italian food, great atmosphere, but nothing too creative.

Lesson of the Day: The SF fire department is a pretty reliable creature.

a week in review

I realize I’m seriously behind on these posts, and it’s starting to bother me. I would liken the feeling to when you have 20 tabs open in your internet browser, and you have every intention of perusing the websites or reading the articles later, but instead they just build up. It’s constipation for your computer (too much?).

Anyways, the way this is going to work is I’m going to give you a brief recap of my week. Clean and simple. Photos included for free.

第七天： Tuesday

Susan first tested my spatial awareness (that’s in your temporal lobe/top of your head, FYI) by making me reorganize her office. I also got to be Susan’s secretary for the day and looked up multiple flights for her volunteering trip using Hipmunk. We later checked out some farmer markets. Susan was checking out the scene for a couple places to see what the footspeed, crowd, prices, and atmosphere was like, so she could gauge whether or not Sôcôla would do well.

The first one was in Novato:

Susan got me some Roli Roti Chicken and potatoes which were absolutely delicious. And I thought I had sworn off chicken thanks to Harvard’s delicacy: Chicken breasts in a water bucket. 

The chicken was seasoned with rosemary, thyme, dill, oregano, and a little bit of salt & pepper. Simple and amazing. The constant rotisserie cooking kept it fresh and the skin was perfectly crisp.

Why hello there.

Susan eating gracefully.

Me > Susan, obviously.

I should be that boy right now.

Conclusions: Situated in a small town, the market was full of children and created a cute, playful atmosphere BUT not a what we wanted. Produce sales do well, but more expensive, “fancy” things like gourmet cheeses or chocolates don’t do so well. There was a guy who fries pickles and anything he can get his hands on (i.e.: cupcakes, brocoli). Personally not a fan of the super fried. Apparently he does great.

Tam Valley Market #2:

Modern age art.

If you want a ton of free, fresh fruit and not feel guilty about it (the latter part is more important), wait until the end of a farmer’s market to stuff your face.

PLUOTS = plums & apricots. Not to be confused with APRIUMS (guess what that is).

Conclusion: smaller, more intimate, but sales for a chocolate vendor appear to do better here. The crowd is more willing to spend some cha-ching on products, catering to us. Even Roli claimed to do better here. Game on.

Also moved to my new place up in Lower Haight (pronounced hate, not height if you want to sound legit. I may or may not have been made fun of several times).

第八天：Wednesday

Started the day off with Iyengar Yoga, something I’ve never done before. This class has no “flow” to it like Vinyasa, but I feel like it’s something good to go to once a week for yoga enthusiasts. It’s all about feeling the proper adjustments in the body and making sure the basic positions like downward dog are done properly as to not injure the joints. We did stances like shoulder stands with chairs (very Moulin Rouge-esque). The crowd was very different too – there were a lot more elderly people and the room was packed. It was fascinating how by simply pushing different parts of your pinky finger against a surface, you could access and subtly relax different parts of your shoulder blades. Yoga is all about heightened awareness of your own body and muscles, which this class definitely helped with. Downward dog for 45 minutes? Yes, please. Also, something to try next time you drive: “Relax your inner ear”. It’s not as easy as it sounds, trust me.

Besides that, nothing too notable. Did some chocolatier twitter stalking, and finished the day with an hour of meditation at the Spiritual Center with Susan.

Also, have you tried goat milk yoghurt? Interesting stuff. Not my fave:

第九天： Thursday

You know those days where you go through about six hours without remembering what you did? And you weren’t intoxicated or inebriated in any way? It was one of those days. Anyways, around 4pm I pulled myself together and checked out Nopalito, a “sustainable organic Meixcan kitchen” a couple blocks away from my new crib. I ordered two dishes: Taco de Pescado al Pastor & Quesadilla Roja con Chicharron. Both were incredible, but I was a slightly disappointed by the quesadilla, just because it was featured on SF Weeky’s Top 10 Spicy Dishes, and it really wasn’t spicy at all. Then again, I’m Korean.

Seared fish with Ancho Chili Adobo sauce, oranges, onion, cilantro, and salsa. Exquisitely light, delicate, tangy with a hint of lime. My first fish taco in my life was this creature. The best part was definitely the orange slices in the taco, which were a tangy, sweet surprise that blended in really well the spice filled sauce.

Mulato chili-corn tortilla, crispy pork belly, salsa guajillo, jack cheese, queso fresco, onions and cilantro. A great contrast to the light fish taco – heavy, deep, and rich in flavor. The pork was a little tough, but the sauce, cheese, and especially the tortilla were awesome.

A Mexican wedding cookie: a polvorón. Light, crumbly, hints of almond, and barely sweetened with a touch of powdered sugar. A perfect way to end a meal.

Okay now THIS was the bomb (and I don’t say that ever, so this is serious). A Mexican cinnamon popsicle with a dark chocolate coating. Last post I talked about a Neurogasm. Well, this is it. Think a delicious Mexican hot chocolate, on crack, and on a stick. Icy on the inside, smooth and creamy on the outside = a perfect balance of sweetness.

After my delicious meal (I love eating at a table meant for six people by myself), I headed over to the BART station to be picked up by Wendy, Susan’s sister. We headed over to the kitchen and I learned how to make the ganache (the filling of the truffle). They have to be made the night before the truffle making in order to set.

The Jasmine Tea leaves.

Steeping the Jasmine Tea in Straus Cream.

Perfect for swimming.

Wendy pouring the guava purée.

Melted Burnt Caramel waiting to be loved.

Stirring the melted chocolate and ingredients was surprisingly challenging. First, you need some serious upper arm strength (unless you want Carpal Tunnel Syndrome…in 2 years). As you stir, you need to create a “core” in the middle, so the ganache emulsifies properly. You want a thick consistency, but if there is no strong “core”, the chocolate doesn’t develop and becomes grainy.

第十天：Friday

Susan and I met up and headed back to the kitchen to finish up the sample bars. I got to dip the ganache for the first time! Possibly made the list of most exciting moments of my life -right under being born and discovering that I actually like sashimi.

It was tricky balancing the ganache on the forks, and there were definitely more than a few belly flops into the melted chocolate, but I think I was pretty successful. I also learned how to temper chocolate, which is a simple, but extremely important process. I had to bring the melted chocolate down to 84 degrees F (I know it’s not celsius. Don’t worry I haven’t gone to the dark side yet), then reheat it to 88 degrees. If this isn’t done properly, the chocolate becomes streaky when it hardens and it doesn’t have the right ‘snap’ to it. Not pretty.

We also had some Notorious H.O.G. ganache today! (Bacon bits in chocolate) I may or may not have overdosed, resulting in a very sick Kelly Robinson. The sweet and salty was way too addictive.

After making the bars,  we headed to a pre-wedding gathering for Susan’s college friend. It was Korean BBQ themed, so I was obviously beyond ecstatic. Jessica also joined us, so we were all partners in crime (a.k.a.: don’t know anyone so stick together in order to avoid awkwardness. What up.) One of the groom’s high school friends (and the only one there), Dani, joined our little group. She was from Oregon and teaches writing to high schoolers. She’s big into creative writing since she thinks it’s one of the most therapeutic ways to express oneself (agreed), and has a sick tattoo across her right shoulder of instructions on how to fold a paper cranes. She says it represents the way she sees creative writing: taking a blank piece of paper, going through some complicated emotions and ideas, and finishing with a beautiful product. Simple and original. I like.

Korean food, four glasses of wine, and a painfully full stomach later, we returned home. Unfortunately missed Art Murmur, but I’ll just save that for next month.

Extremely appropriate cards for the groom and bride. Susan trying to send unconscious infidelity messages? Not sure if that’s okay, but she’s my boss.

#koreanfoodwinYes boys, my digits are on my About Me page. They are also tattooed on your left arm.

Finito. I apologize – I probably won’t do this info overload again. It still was a great week, and I am pretty sure Susan has already started to confuse me and her dog Nikita. The summer has just begun.