ess eff oh...back to the bay

right before christmas, we had the pleasure of traveling to san francisco.  yes, you can read that as slightly sarcastic.  traveling at the holidays is stressful.  no matter how smoothly it goes, and our flights went very smoothly,  there is always a rushed atmosphere and a sense that no matter how many hours in the day, it will never be enough to get it all done.  even when you travel to a place in which you lived at one time, there is always a bit of confusion that comes from this not being home.  despite growing up in the big city (the new york city area for the husband and me) and having lived in san francisco, we have been in nashville now for nearly 18 years.  assimilating to the pace and the volume of traffic in san francisco served only to make it a little more stressful.  but then, we knew it would be.

so, why would we go?  why would we do that knowing that it wouldn't be the vacation of a lifetime?  it wasn't about us, it was all about the diva, our younger one.  it was her big day-she graduated from school and holiday or not, we were going to be there to watch her walk across the stage.  so, we landed in sfo, took the airport train (a rather boring monorail that promises nothing more than a ride around the airport-a rather large and impressive piece of real estate at that) to the rental car pick up center, found our ride and drove up to marin to our new temporary digs on the side of highway 101 in san rafael.

on our first morning, we went out in search of coffee.  luckily for us, san rafael does not have a shortage of coffee houses open at 8am on a sunday morning.  we parked on the street and walked to royal ground coffee on 4th street.

it was a nice start to a cold and wet morning.  it was actually colder and wetter in the bay area than it was in nashville.  we were not completely prepared for this since it is generally the reverse.  nothing like a cup of west coast dark roast and a sugary gingersnap to start the morning.

my husband-caught him by surprise.  

a quick call to the girls, they needed breakfast, had us moving again.  we went and picked them up at their grandparent's house and took them to breakfast.  my plans for the day included taking the ferry to san francisco to have brunch with a friend so we went to the ferry landing in larkspur.  in a nearby business center, there is a great little bakery, the rustic bakery.  we hung out here while the girls ate and i waited to board the ferry to san francisco.

the diva, the graduation girl.  even at 9am on a sunday morning, she still looks like she walked out of a photo shoot.  me, i was hoping for a nap and a miracle.

my girls and their dad.  cut them some slack, it was just 9am on a sunday morning and suddenly, mom was all camera happy...

it was just after i took this picture that they threatened me.  i stopped taking photos of them and began taking photos of their ham and cheese croissants.

i love the technique.  pull it apart into a million little shards...the black fingernails really sell the shot

but honestly, look at all of the layers.  that my friends is bakery porn!  croissant dough done right!!!

can you see the layers?  it had me longing for the chance to make a batch of dough and fold in the butter block and make the turns on the dough...then the coffee kicked in, dream over.

so flaky and perfect.

one last unsuspecting shot-luckily, they were unarmed.

it was at that moment that i realized behind the display, if one looked carefully, they could see into the kitchen.

if you look closely, you can see the baker in the black shirt making turns on the dough.  they are lucky to have a dough sheeter to do the work but that doesn't mean they don't have skill.  trust me, nothing destroys dough faster than someone who doesn't know how to work dough with a dough sheeter.  been there, done that, cleaned it up many times...it was nice to see that they use homemade dough, made me realize just how different things are here in nashville as compared to the bay area.  out there, artisanal is old hat, the way most things are made, here, it is still a bit of a novelty.  i truly hope that novelty doesn't fade.  

dogs and donuts; atlanta's finest

we may have donuts here in nashville, we even have the coveted krispy cremes(and no, i am not a fan-at all).  shipley do-nuts, fox's donut den-both fixtures in nashville and sadly still, none of our shops have ever been voted the best bakery in america.  big deal, right?  sublime doughnuts of atlanta was.  yes, a donut shop was voted best bakery in america by bake magazine, a trade magazine devoted to the professional bakery trade.  of course i had to stop in and see for myself.

first of all, it is in a little strip mall on 10th street in northwest atlanta.  it doesn't look like much, just your typical strip mall shop.  there is one showcase, it is behind the counter.  the employees are pleasant but you can see that even they aren't sure what the fuss is about-no ego's, no snobbiness, just a bunch of pleasant people selling doughnuts, really good doughnuts, completely made from scratch, rolled out and cut by hand everyday, doughnuts...

 that display case may not look like much but judging by the amount of people that came and went with boxes and bags, my guess is that the case doesn't stay full for long.  worth the trip in, even for this "not a big donut fan".

but a couple of girls cannot live on donuts alone, we could try but somehow, i am guessing that the sugar in them and the coffee consumed with them would be hazardous to anyone close by.  it was time for lunch; we headed straight for yeah! burger.  bon appetit magazine calls them one of the best burger spots in america.

we had the brats; they were the special of the month (okay, so this is a little late in posting-sorry!).  they were damn good brats-what's not to love about sauerkraut, brown mustard and a brat on a bun?  next time, i'm having the burger so i can see for myself just how good they are.

nobody living there calls it hotlanta

in 2011, my daughter packed up and moved to atlanta.  i am pretty sure the ink wasn't even dry on her college diploma.  there was no stopping her-not even the offer to live at home for a few months, rent free, to build a little nest egg.  nope, she was gone just as quickly as the party trash was hauled to the curb.  a year and a half later, she is still there, living the dream...the good part, i now have a place to stay when i want to go shopping at ikea.  

better still, atlanta has an incredible ethnic diversity that nashville doesn't.  now before you think i am wrong, keep in mind, i live off of nolensville road-it doesn't get much more ethnic in nashville than it does around here.  we have almost as many kurdish neighbors as we do american neighbors.  there are more middle eastern and latino grocery stores here than traditional american ones.  but even so, we do not have the selection that i find in atlanta.  a drive along the buford highway will make nolensville road seem as exciting as a loaf of sandwich bread.  

every trip i make to atlanta, i head straight for the buford highway and all of the korean supermarkets.  a favorite stop is h-mart.  this last time, we didn't shop for much but we did have lunch at one of the restaurants in the front of the store.  it was almost fast food like in appearance but then we had to wait for our lunch to cook.  

my bulgogi lunch plate came with soup, two kinds of kimchi and a ton of fried rice.  it was almost as good as a traditional barbecue restaurant-the only thing missing was the grill in the middle of the table.

the kid had a bowl of soup.  it came to the table at a full boil!

another place i must visit every time, white windmill bakery.  whether it is the full bakery cafe on buford highway or a trip over to megagarket to the in store bakery, i simply cannot come home without stopping there.  they sell the most amazing pastries and cakes and believe it or not, the breads are out of this world.  i love the large, fluffy loaves of cream bread and multi grain bread.  when sliced, only half will fit in a toaster; you have to cut the slices in half to toast them.  

 such beautiful cakes!

next trip, i am having nothing but cake-a slice out of as many as i can from that showcase!!!

next big thing

you gotta love working at home when it means chocolate cookies, chocolate whipped cream, whipped cream and raspberries.  all part of the next big thing on my plate.  my only regret, no fresh raspberries to decorate the plate.

happy new year

how i rang in the new year, working on the next big thing.  what that is, keep watching...in the meantime, enjoy some photos from my kitchen.  have a safe and happy new year!

leftover night; homemade pho with duck

gotta love leftover night.  all those containers of stuff-do you even know what that is, or was?  after being out of town for a week, my husband roasted a duck out on the grill for our first dinner together after his return.  the smallest one i could find weighed 5 pounds so there was quite a bit left over.  he saved the bones for who knows what but i had ideas of my own.

while searching on the internet, i came across this great pho recipe for leftover turkey. a quick substitution of duck and a trip to the garden for some fresh greens, an hour later-dinner was born!  give it a try, it was worth every slurp...

gingerbread baby bundt cake; twd

when did they turn on the holiday season?  i could swear that it was summer yesterday and now, it is december.  wow...well, since it is tuesday, it must be time to bake with julia.  this week, our hostess, karen of karen's kitchen stories is proud to bring us gingerbread baby cakes.  luckily, it is a simple recipe that did not require much work.  since i have so much going on this month-pr event, a daughter graduating, a trip to san francisco for said graduation and oh yeah, the guy in the red suit comes this month too, doesn't he?  anyway, no time to spare and i will most likely be absent for the next roundup.  did i mention that i am trying to put together not 1 but 2 books???

so here it goes.  let's start with the obvious.  baby cakes are small cakes; these are supposed to be 4" rounds.  the husband is out of town for the week and i did not need a group of 4" cakes for just me.  i made half the recipe and baked it in a fluted pan.  the recipe calls for dark brown sugar, i only had light.  the recipe also called for espresso powder.  i only use whole beans to make espresso, i opted to add more cocoa powder and keep moving.  then i realized that i was out of molasses.  what the hell kind of baker is out of molasses in december????  apparently, this one right here.  i used beet sugar syrup.

okay, it is interesting in a strange, chocolatey, fruity kind of way.  and moving right along, visit karen's blog page for the recipe and all that.  visit the tuesdays with dorie page to see the hijinks of all the other bakers-most of whom probably had the proper ingredients and what not.  me, i'm pouring another glass of wine and plopping down on the couch with the cat.  i've had enough baking for today...

 (actually, it looks so chocolatey because i cut the recipe in half on everything but the cocoa powder-rrrrgggg!!!  but i think it works well)