Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Non-Dairy Milk ~ Part the Fourth

"Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' the milk of human kindness." 
~ Wild Bill Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5





I am just following up here with another quick 'blog-entry (see last post from May 29th, 2014) on non-dairy milk products. Just to reiterate, I am neither lactose-intolerant, nor Vegan (nor Vegan-intolerant, even); however, as always, I am still a little skeptical of those stupid Vegans and their secret handshakes (which we all know are made from almondmilk[1] or soymilk and never with any honey added). Since my last taste-testing, I have tried three more varietals for substitutes of dairy milk: cashewmilk, hazelnutmilk, and hempmilk.

(You may be wondering why I use the terms "almondmilk", “soymilk", "etceteramilk" as one word. This is mainly because the companies selling these products do so. If you have a problem with this, I suggest that you take it up with the Marketing Departments of Blue Diamond® or Silk®.)

Cashewmilk

I didn't see any half-gallon containers of this product in the refrigerated dairy section of the grocery store; I just bought a quart-size carton of the shelf-stable stuff (usually found in either the Coffee & Tea aisle or the Asian Foods aisle of most grocery stores). 

This was a pretty good substitute. As to be expected, it was strong with a cashewy flavour. I found that this wasn't such a great drink to have with a snack of cookies in a tall glass (that would be the cashewmilk in a tall glass, not the cookies; cookies should always be eaten in a demitasse), but it was okay when used in most cereals for breakfast. I didn't try any in my Coffee ("real" Coffee should always be taken black and without any sugar), but if you are one of "those types of people" that like to add cream/milk and sugar to your Coffee, it may add a nice extra flavour to it and sweeten it a bit, too. 

Hazelnutmilk

Once again, I could only locate this product in the quart-size cartons of the self-stable variety. 

I liked this one much better than the cashewmilk. It also had a strong hazelnutish flavour quality to it, but I found that it went decently with either cookies or cereal in the morning (and, by that, of course I meant either cookies in the morning or cereal in the morning). I can only assume that this would go very well in your Coffee if you like to add any cream/milk and/or sugar to it; this is a more natural combination than Coffee and cashews. Plus, hazelnut flavour always pairs very well with many Chocolate products; I can see heating this up and substituting it in place of regular dairy milk in a Hot Chocolate drink.

Hempmilk

I have seen half-gallon containers of this product in the refrigerated dairy section, but I actually found a half-gallon shelf-stable carton in the Coffee & Tea aisle of a local grocery store. It was on sale for cheaper than the cost of most of the normal quart containers, so I figured this would be a good time to try it. As best as I can figure, hempmilk is usually made mainly from hemp seeds and water, and with a few other ingredients thrown in.

This one had an absolutely horrid flavour. It kinda tasted like the liquid in the bottom of a can of tuna fish (for anyone that has ever made a tuna fish smoothie, you will know exactly what I mean). I tried it both in a tall glass with cookies (Uggh!) and in a bowl of cereal for breakfast (not quite as ugghly, but still pretty 'orrible). I really can not recommend anyone ever adding this to any Coffee drinks either.

I don't know if it was just this one brand of hempmilk, Living Harvest® tempt®, that tastes this bad or not. But after forcing my way to the bottom of the carton, I really have no desire to ever try any other brands of it, anyway. I had purchased just the "Original" (sweetened) version of this; however, I am not tempt®-ed in the least to try their "Vanilla" or "Chocolate" flavoured ones either.

http://livingharvest.com/products-2/hempmilk/

So, in conclusion, it is my opinion (and, as always, as it is my 'blog, it is only my 'opinions that truly count here) that hempmilk is to be avoided at all costs (even when that cost is on sale for half-price). And with no extra-added THC, what is really the point of a product made from hemp?


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Cashewmilk ~ 6.8; Hazelnutmilk ~ 6.9; Hempmilk ~ 5.0 (and that is being very lenient)

(Whereas: Almondmilk ~ 7.2; Coconutmilk ~ 7.0; Flaxmilk ~ 6.7; Ricemilk ~ 6.5; Soymilk ~ 5.8; and real organic Cow milk ~ 8.0)


1. Just to let you know that almondmilk is actually not such a new fad perpetrated by the likes of crazy Vegans and Whole Foods® Market in the 21st Century:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_milk

Maybe Israel was really "the land of almonds and honey", Moe.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Cafe Golo ~ Boutique Cafe

(Saturday, October 25th, 2014)


"Always have the confidence to speak your mind and the courage to stand behind your words." ~ A.N. Onymous




(No official web-site.)


Place: Cafe GoLo ~ Boutique Cafe
Location: 1602 Lombard Street (at Gough Street);
phonicular contact: (415) 673-4656
Hours:  open at 8:00am every day of the week
Meal: Spinach Scramble Omelet ~ eggs, spinach (nacherly), mushrooms, grilled onions, sausage, and cheese ~ served with toast and choice of potatoes or fruit; and a Pear-Apple Tart to start off the meal




(I really couldn't find a decent "Lo[w]" song to also use with today's EweToobular juxtaselections, so this one song will have to make do. I thought about using "The Lo[w] Spark of High Heeled Boys", but it weighs in ~ well, times in, whatever ~ at 12:10 and that is more than twice as long as it takes to read this stupid li'l 'blog-thing. We won't even speak of ever linking "Lo[w]down" by that idiot Boz Scaggs[1].)


Unlike last weekend, I didn't have any problem finding a parking spot yesterday just around the corner from Cafe GoLo ~ Boutique Cafe (see last 'blog-entry from July 4th, 2014). Almost all of the tables were full this morning (which isn't really saying much, as I think the entire front dining area only holds twenty-four or twenty-five people total) while I was there.

I have had just about all of their vegetarian-specific dishes thus far, but I think I have a few left yet to try: Breakfast Burrito (egg with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla; I would probably go with the "Add potatoes" option, too) and Breakfast  Quesadilla (melted cheese with avocado, black bean and corn salsa, in a flour tortilla). Additionally, I am looking forward to trying the first dish that I ever had there again ~ Veggie Taters (country potatoes topped with sautéed onions, peppers, the vile weed, artichokes, mushrooms, zucchini, and cheese; I would, of course, order it without the vile weed).




The tasty, warmed-up Pear-Apple Tart came out first, but faster than you could say "pisan zapra[2]", Frank, the rest of the food arrived, too.

This was a very good scramble-omelette (whatever that is supposed to mean ~ I really was expecting some kind of Einstein-Rosen Bridge to open when eating it). Of course, I ordered it without the sausage junk. And, true to its name, it had lots of spinach in it. I think that it had lots of Parmesan cheese in it, too, as it had a creamy texture and taste to it. My toasty choice was sourdough bread. However, they didn't offer me a choice of either potatoes or fruit and just brought it to me with a side of pre-chosen potatoes (there really is no choice with me, I would always choose potatoes, anyway). Their homefries are always very good with both sweet potatoes and standard (non-sweet) potatoes in them.

I also got a Sweet Potato Tart and a Blueberry-Mango Tart to take home with me and enjoy later (that may just end up being my lunch and dinner today).

Cafe GoLo offers for condimentary supplementation Crystal® Louisiana's Pure Hot Sauce and a few other hot sauces. I used some of my own Florida Gold Premium Habanero Hot Sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on the potatoes and just for the heck of it (because I had it with me, anyway) I poured just a small amount of Dave's Gourmet® Ginger Peach Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cabin Jim!) on a piece of my Pear-Apple Tart. I didn't think that anyone had noticed, but I was totally busted by the guy at the next table who asked me if I had just actually poured some hot sauce on a pastry. I sheepishly explained to him that it was a ginger and peach hot sauce and the flavours would probably work well with the pear-apple (which they did, thank you very much). The strangest thing was that he agreed with me 100% and said it was probably a nice sweet-and-savoury combination, like Thai food, etc. Of course, when I offered him a piece to try it on his own, he wisely declined.

Before leaving, I made sure to ask Jay when they were planning on opening their new restaurant, Grits, in the Tenderloin, and he said they are now planning on a March 2015 opening. That is almost a year later than they first expected. But I suppose that is the way it goes in the Big City.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach Scramble Omelet ~ 6.5; Pear-Apple Tart ~ 7.3


1. Why all my hatred for the moronic Patron Saint of the "Lido Shuffle"? 

One time back in the late 80's (this was just a little while before the idiot William Scaggs had opened Slim's down the block), a bunch of us got together for our normal Thursday Night out at Paradise Lounge to enjoy "A Walk on the Mild Side" while listening to the musical meanderings of the Dinos. We had arrived at the nightclub about an hour before the music began to be assured of scoring a decent table from which to watch and listen. There were about eight of us there and we were expecting two more friends (Hey, Bobby & Marie!) a little later on and wanted to make sure they had a spot to sit, too. We scoped out the primo table/booth in the corner of the main bar-stage area and crammed ourselves in as best we could. (Technically, this probably could seat six adults comfortably, but we just wanted a spot to use as a base of operations for the night, anyway.)

Well, some idiot happened to see that there was an open "space" at the end of the booth (not really, it was barely enough for a cheek) and asked if he could sit down at our table. We told him that we were actually saving the seat for two more friends of ours that would be coming by later. He said that he'd get up when they arrived. So we begrudgingly said "Okay". And then the idiot had the nerve to call another one of his buddies over to try and cram into the spot, too. The idiot then did the scootching-over thing and pissed off everyone else at the table. 

Luckily, someone at our table recognized the idiot as a "minor San Francisco celebrity" and we decided not to cause any sort of a fracas. Not only did he crowd us in, he was pretty loud and obnoxious while he sat there, too. The least the cheap fargin' bastage could have done was bought a round of drinks for the table. 

I still hate Boz Scaggs to this day and refuse to listen to any of his crappy music now. 

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Pisan zapra" is Malay for "the time needed to eat a banana". Now, I don't know if that means from the time you start peeling it until it has finished being eaten, but, either way, I am sure it is not meant to be a very lengthy period of time.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

grindz

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." ~ Hank Davey Thoreau

(I want the epitaph on my headstone to read: 
"Here lies a desperately quiet man."
Well, after I am dead, of course.)



http://www.grindzrestaurant.com/


Place: grindz
Location: 832 Clement Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues)
Hours:  open for "Brunch" Friday, Saturday, & Sunday (luckily) at 9:00am
Meal: Veggie Scramble ~ mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, Plantation Potatoes, chili oil (veggies may vary); and a cuppa (with 2-3 refillas) Bicycle Coffee co

http://www.bicyclecoffeeco.com/





(Today's EweToobular juxtaselections are because they usually are playing Reggae Music all day long on the house stereo.

The first song is a classic Bob Marley song that was actually playing this morning. Perhaps buffalo meat is the secret ingredient in SPAM®. [See below for an explanation of that stupid little quip.]

The second song is just a reference to all the Coffee that I drank this morning; it really has no relationship whatsoever to either Bob Marley or Reggae Music, though.)


Today's Breakfastary Rotation visit was a trip back to grindz (see last 'blog-entry from July 19th, 2014). 

This turned out to be my back-up plan this morning. I was originally planning on eating at Cafe GoLo ~ Boutique Cafe. But after driving all the way over to the Marina and trying to locate a nearby parking space for about thirty minutes (I am not exaggerating there; if anything, it may have been longer) ~ Thanks a lot, Nike Women's Half-Marathon! ~ I bagged it and just decided to head back over to the Richmond and go to grindz (it was due up next week, anyway). Parking in the Marina is normally bad enough, but this morning it was worse than trying to murr-ma[1]. It all would not have been so bad this morning if it were just the Marina neighborhood that was messed up to traffic due to this event, but even the Richmond had a fifteen to twenty minute delay along Geary Boulevard (at both the 26th Avenue and 27th Avenue intersections). However, I had actually planned for that delay this morning by parking my car on the eastern side of 25th Avenue last night; even with the 10-block walk to my car, I still beat all the cars that were stuck on Geary by about ten minutes or so.

grindz has a very limited menu for stupid "veggie"-eaters, but some of the other options for me were: Kalua Benedict (toasted Hawai'ian bread, Kalua pig, taro leaves, 2 poached eggs, tarragon Hollandaise, Plantation Potatoes; which I usually get without the dead, decaying porky stuff ~ Kalua or not); French Toast (grindz famous bread pudding, pina-berry compote, vanilla whipped cream); and Apple Banana Pancakes (surprisingly enough, this is made with both apples and bananas, coconut crème anglaise, crushed macadamia nuts; which I just had the last time there). 

Don't worry, for any of you "meaty"-eaters, they offer a pretty decent selection of "meaty" dishes, too. This includes several dishes which include the Hawai'ian Patron Saint of Meats, SPAM®. I overheard the couple at the next table asking the waiter-server dude what did SPAM® actually stand for. The waiter-server dude was stumped, so I butted-in with my 2¢-worth and said it probably was from "SPiced hAM" (after getting home, I confirmed this via WikipediA, and saw that it may also have been from "Shoulder of Pork and hAM"). The guy at the table said that he heard it jokingly said to mean: "Specially Processed American Meat". 



(Yeah, I know. This is a pretty crummy photo of the meal. Just pretend it was all supposed to be in a bit of bokeh.)


Other than the unfortunately named "Veggie" Scramble (sorry, this is just one of my pet peeves ~ or "vegetable peeves" even), this was a pretty decent meal. It was actually served as more of an open-faced omelette, with all the "veggies" on top of the eggs, than a standard scramble with all of the "veggies" mixed into the mess. Today's varied "veggies" were: mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, red bell peppers, celery, (white) onions, and green onions. This was basically all of the same "veggies" that are also in their tasty Plantation Potatoes ~ red bell peppers, celery, and (white) onions ~ plus a few more. And because Brussels sprouts happen to be one of my favourite "veggies" (I am sure that there will be a lot of very dissatisfied customers when they see that this was an included "veggies" this weekend ~ much like I would if one of the varied "veggies" turned out to be the vile weed), I am adding an extra .1 or .2 points to the GBS Rating. I actually like that the "veggies" may vary, as this means I can get this same dish a few times a year and it may be different each time.

For some reason, no bread/toast side comes with this meal, though.

The cuppa Bicycle Coffee co was very good as always.

grindz has as condimentary supplements just Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red) for commercially-bottled hot sauces, but they do have on all tables both their homemade chilli oil and Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup. From past visits, I knew that the Hawai'ian Spicy Ketchup went very nicely with the Plantation Potatoes, so I made sure to use some of that on the potatoes; and just because it was also on the table, I used some of the chilli oil on the potatoes, too. I went with some of my own Born to Hula presents Devon Allman's All Natural Hot Sauce Chipotle Blues (Thanks, Kerry!) on top of the scramble mess.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: "Veggie" Scramble ~ 6.5 (with the Plantation Potatoes factored in)


1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:

"Murr-ma" is a Wagiman* verb meaning "to search for something in the water with only your feet".

*(You may ask yourself, "But just what the heck is 'Wagiman', anyway?". Let's steal… er, borrow that information from the friendly people at WikipediA again:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagiman_language 


You may also be asking yourself, "Why the heck did Brian include a stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day about a dying Australian aboriginal language when he had breakfast at a Hawai'ian joint?" Well, this makes about as much sense as Reggae Music playing all day long at a Hawai'ian joint, bra'.


And stop asking so many damned, nosy questions, Mr. Byrne!)


Saturday, October 18, 2014

Ella’s ~ Neo Classical American Cooking


"The one with the orange-yogurt pancakes with gingered pear compote (and a side of potatoes)."



http://www.ellassanfrancisco.com/


Place: Ella's ~ Neo Classical American Cooking
Location: 500 Presidio Avenue (on the corner of California Street)
Hours:  open for breakfast Monday - Friday at 7:00am; open for "Brunch" Saturday and Sunday at 8:30am
Meal: orange-yogurt pancakes with gingered[1] pear compote ~ with Coombs Family Farms pure maple syrup, Vermont; and a side of (roasted) potatoes





(There really is no juxtaselections as to why I am using these songs of Lady Ella's this morning; I just happen to like them is all. 

I also like Louis Prima's take on the second song: "I got it good and that ain't bad…")


Continuing with the Fall ("Neo" or not, Mr. Reeves) Classic (¡Vamos Gigantes!) workout of my Breakfastary Rotation, I went back to Ella's ~ Neo Classical American Cooking (see last 'blog-entry from July 5th, 2014). I got to sit at an actual table (as opposed to my normally sitting at the counter seats overlooking the kitchen or bakery) for a change as they were not very busy at all when they had first opened up this fine autumnal morning.

As can be seen from the above photo of their weekend "Brunch" menu (and I am pretty sure that should read "October 18-19"), there really aren't that many items from which to choose (and less so for stupid vegetarian types). Some of the other items that looked like they might be something good: house made sausage scramble (with spinach, roasted red bell peppers, Kalamata olives, and Feta cheese; which I would have ordered without the dead, decaying grounded-up porky offal, of course); open faced omelette with smoked salmon (lemon dill cream cheese, grilled asparagus, and toasted onion; which I would have ordered without the dead, decaying piscine thing, too); or potato scramble (with grilled fennel, roasted beets, roasted carrots, and Havarti; however, I just had a very similar combination of this on my last visit there).




These were three HUGE and thick pancakes, and with the potatoes it really was an awful lot of food. As it was, I only finished about 2-½ pancakes and most of the potatoes. I probably mighta shoulda asked if they did half-orders (or 2/3-orders, at least). I would have liked a little bit more of the gingered pear compote stuff as it was pretty tasty; however, it was all used up with the top pancake. (Those damn top pancakes think they are soooo special and that it's always all about them!) Luckily, the pancakes were also very good on their own, though. The maple syrup was put to good use with the bottom two (well, bottom 1-½) pancakes. And just because I can and it was there on the table already, I made the last bite that I ate topped with some of their homemade strawberry jam.

For condimentary supplementation Ella's has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (two types: the standard red and green jalapeño). I simply used some of my own Fairhope Favorites Aged-n-Charred Moonshine Hot Sauce XXX (Thanks again, Phyll!) on the potatoes.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: orange-yogurt pancakes with gingered pear compote  ~ 6.8


1. I was a little surprised to find out that the word "ginger" can also be used as a verb (and that the Spell-check Nazis at Microsoft have absolutely no problem with it).  As can be seen in the phrases: "He gingered up his oration with a few ribald jokes…" or "Man, she really gingered up her hair with that new henna rinse!"

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Dottie’s True blue café


"A dream you dream alone is only a dream.
A dream you dream together is a reality."  
~ John Winston Lennon

(And "A doughnut with no hole is a Danish." 
~ Ty Webb)



http://dotties.biz/


Place: Dottie's True blue café
Location: 28th Sixth Street (on the corner of Stevenson Street; halfway between Market and Mission Streets) 
Hours: open for breakfast Thursday through Monday at 7:30am
Meal: Three Egg Omelet with Roasted Garlic, Fresh Basil, and Jack Cheese ~ all egg dishes come with homefries and your choice of English muffin, house-made buttermilk dill or whole wheat toast; and a cuppa (and a few refillas) Coffee





(I am just continuing the juxtaselection theme from yesterday with more Playing For Change
EweToobular songs.

Please ignore that unidentified singer that pops in at 3:04 of the first video, I am sure he won't ever amount to much. The same goes for the homeless-looking guy singing at 2:27 of the second video; he really looks like he could use a good shampoo and haircut, too.)

http://playingforchange.com/


No workout of my Breakfastary Rotation would be complete without going back to Dottie's True blue café (see last 'blog-entry from July 6th, 2014). I arrived there this morning about 7:20am and was still about the tenth person in line. Don't any of these touristas have anything better to do than get up for breakfast (and in a pretty sketchy neighborhood at that) so early on a Sunday morning?!

As always, there were several more very good ideas off the Weekend Specials chalkboard: Zucchini Cakes (topped with poached eggs & spicy Marinara sauce, with fruit & potatoes ~ this is probably my favourite of their specials, but I had that dish earlier this year on another visit and wanted to try something different); Sweet Potato, Caramelized Red Onion & Gruyere Tart (with eggs any style & fruit); Spinach-Provolone Strata (served with Italian sausage, roasted tomatoes, & fruit ~ I would have 86-ed the dead, decaying, ground-up porky offal, though); or Brie & Apricot Preserve Stuffed French Toast (with pure maple syrup ~ if I hadn't just had the World’s Best Pain Perdu yesterday for "Brunch", I probably would have gone with that one). I also thought about going with a much more simple meal of just an egg (or two) over medium with a side of homefries and one of their awesome fresh-baked pastries.




This omelette had lots of tasty roasted garlic in it; it would not be for the faint of garlic. It also had a lot of fresh chiffonade basil in it, too; however, the garlic really overpowered everything else. (Who chose these stupid ingredients?) I probably should have gone with a different flavour combination (there are about twenty-five different ingredients from which to choose): Kalamata olive, roasted garlic, and Feta would have worked nicely, I bet. Corn, spinach, and Bleu cheese may have been interesting, too. It's all good, though, as I love a lot of garlic, and roasting the garlic always makes them a lot more tender and sweeter. And the extra good news is that all that garlic really must have worked, as I haven't been bothered by a single Vampire all morning long, Mr. Blaskó.

For my toast/bread choice, I went with the optional option of Grilled Chili-Cheddar Cornbread. Home-made cornbread beats toast (or Mr. Thomas' baked goods) any day.

I like that Dottie's has a pretty decent selection of condimentary supplements: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (three types: the standard red, green jalapeño, or Chipotle); Frank's® RedHot Original; and Tapatío®. This way I don't have to schlep any of my own bottles of hot sauce with me for a change. I used some of the Tabasco® Chipotle all over the potatoes.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

On the drive back home, I heard a lot of the noisy little two-toned birds somewhere along Turk Street, between Laguna and Webster Streets. However, as I was driving, I really didn't get a chance to stop and look for any of them. I can only assume there is a small company of parrots in the trees around that neighborhood now, too.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Three Egg Omelet with Roasted Garlic, Fresh Basil, and Jack Cheese  ~ 6.7; Home-made Grilled Chili-Cheddar Cornbread ~ 7.1

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Baker Street Bistro

"Find where your main roots lie and do not hanker for other worlds."  
~ Hank Davey Thoreau 



http://www.bakerstreetbistro.com/


Place: Baker Street Bistro
Location: 2953 Baker Street (at Lombard Street) 
Hours:  open at 9:00am for "Brunch" on Saturday & Sunday
Meal: Pain Perdu (A brunch favorite!) ~ French Toast, fresh fruit, strawberry coulis & crème fraîche; and a side of homefries





(There really is no juxtaselection between today's EweToobular songs and "Baker", "Street", "Bistro", or "Pain Perdu" even.  I just happen to like the whole idea of Playing For ChangeAnd as nice as the music sounds, you really have to watch the entire videos to get the whole effect of "Connecting the World Through Music".

If you enjoyed these songs, I really suggest checking out more of their videos and their official web-site.)

http://playingforchange.com/


Continuing on with the Fall Classic workout of my Breakfastary Rotation, je suis retourné à Baker Street Bistro (see last 'blog-entry from July 12th, 2014). There is a new outdoor gas heater on the sidewalk patio-café area that looks a bit la Tour Eiffel-ish; this really didn't come into factor with me today as I ate inside for a change.

Unlike my last visit there, I forgot to do a coin-flip to decide between Oeufs Florentine (Spinach, poached eggs, English muffin, Hollandaise sauce ~ served with homefries & mixed greens), Oeufs Baker Street Bistro (Dave's favorite ~ whoever he is ~ Ratatouille, poached eggs, English muffin, tomato sauce ~ also served with homefries & mixed greens), or my actual choice of Pain Perdu. Besides, I left my three-sided coin at home. It really didn't matter, I suppose, as this will probably be my last breakfastary visit to Baker Street Bistro for 2014 and I wanted to finish it with some of San Francisco's (and the World's) Best Pain Perdu, anyway.




What more venerable acclamation can I possibly say about this splendiferous[1] dish? It truly produces a culinary vertiginous sensation. (I liked it a lot.)

Today's selection of fresh fruit[2] included: apples, oranges, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, honeydew melon, and watermelon. I did something different with the mint[3] leaves garnish this morning. Seeing as I didn't order any Coffee this morning to drop them into (like I normally would), I decided to chiffonade them a bit and just add them to all of the fruit. This turned out to be another nice tasty idea.

For condimentary supplementation, Baker Street Bistro only has Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red). I used some of my own Fat Cat® Surprisingly Mild Guajillo Ghost (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the potatoes. (Of course, I would never mess with the perfection of the Pain Perdu by adding any hot sauce to it like I would with normal French toast.)

the Wild Parrots[4] of San Francisco Interlude

After breakfast, I walked over to the little dog park in the Presidio (at the Lombard Street gate) to see if there were any of the squawking pandemonium around. Unfortunately, there were none to be seen, nor heard this morning. (I didn't see any slobbering canine friends there this morning either.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Pain Perdu ~ 8.2


1. See, Durk? Even der Führer-Gates and his troupe of brown-shirted Spell-check Nazis at Microsoft acknowledge this as a valid word. (Of course, they have absolutely no clue what either "coulis" or "fraîche" are.)

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer(s) of the day, ersten Teil:

In German:

Fruit ~ "Frucht"
Apple ~ "Apfel"
Orange ~ "Orange" (but actually pronounced as "Apfelseen")
Pineapple ~ "Ananas"
Strawberry ~ "Erdbeere"
Grape ~ "Traube"
Honeydew melon ~ "Honigmelone
Watermelon ~ "Wassermelone"

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, Teil zwei:

In German:

Mint ~ "Minze"

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, dritten Teil:

In German:

Parrot ~ "Papagei"

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Eats


"The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth. It is obvious that man is himself a traveler; that the purpose of this world is not 'to have and to hold', but 'to give and serve'. There can be no other meaning."  
~ Sir Wilfred Grenfell



(No official web-site.)


Place: Eats
Location: 50 Clement Street (on the corner of 2nd Avenue); phonicular contact: (415) 751-8000
Hours:  open every day of the week at 8:00am
Meal: Spinach Tomato Feta[1] Scramble ~ (v) garlic and fresh basil[2] (comes w/ toast ~ multi-grain, sourdough, or rye ~ with a choice of Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes or Mixed Greens); and a large glass of Power "C" (a mixture of fresh-squeezed grapefruit, orange, and pineapple[3] juices)






(The first EweToobular juxtaselection is to commemorate the coming Celtic New Year, also known as Samhain[4]

The last two songs/videos are in honour of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass No. Fourteen. These two performers were just two of the many acts/musicians that I saw over the weekend. And I am so very sorry, but as hard as I tried to locate that latest, greatest hit of Ryan Adams, "Three F*ckin' Balloons (In The Back Of The Park)", I could not find a version of it up on EweToob yet.[5] I am pretty sure that Mr. Adams will include a copy of this ultra-extraordinary song on his very next album.

I am fully aware that there are some readers from Clinton, MA [who shall remain named Mrs. Morin], that felt it was very lame of me [by the way, I much prefer "ambulatorily impaired" or "peregrinationally challenged" over "lame"] that I didn't go out to eat breakfast yesterday morning and write one of these stupid li'l blog-entries, but I was kinda busy all day long yesterday enjoying all of the Free Music and Free Sunshine.)

http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2014/


Seeing as both the Fall Baseball Season and the Celtic New Year are among us, it is time for a workout of my Breakfastary Rotation again. I went back to Eats this morning for breakfast (see last 'blog-entry from July 14th, 2014). I actually sat outside for a change at one of the six sidewalk tables for two. It wasn't quite as warm (or hot) as the past few mornings, and it was actually so foggy this morning on the way over there that I really couldn't see more than a block away at a time. (See, Kathleen/Kathy, I was only off on my prediction by about twelve hours. So, I am claiming a delayed 1-for-3 for the day.) It made for a very comfortable dining experience as long as I kept my sweatshirt on.

Having eaten at Eats many times now over the past few years, I have eaten almost every decent breakfast dish they have available for stupid vegetarians. There are just two more left (as long as they don't change the menu, that is, before my next visit) that I need to try one of these days: Vegetarian Egg Sandwich (arugula, Cheddar, tomatoes, spicy aioli, over easy egg, avocado, cornmeal ciabatta, potatoes or salad; for some reason they don't have the designator 
"(v)" like they do for other vegetarian-specific dishes on their menu, I guess it must just be assumed) and Two Tofu Tacos ((v) zucchini, bell peppers, Hungarian peppers, corn, pico de gallo, cabbage slaw, avocado, beans, grilled tortillas, potatoes or salad; they don't mention anything about any tofu being in this dish, but I just guess it is assumed again). I also thought about getting the Caprese Scramble (cherry tomatoes, pesto, fresh Mozzarella, Parmesan) once again; it's pretty good and it seemed like that kind of morning.




I wasn't quite sure what this scramble was going to include in it as the description on the menu really wasn't very descriptive (I also asked the waiter-server guy exactly what was in this scramble, but he was really of no help). To my great surprise, this actually was chock-fulla spinach, tomatoes, and Feta cheese! And there was a decent amount of both sautéed fresh spinach and Feta (which were my deciding factors in getting this this morning, anyway). 

I went with sourdough bread for my toasty choice. 

And of course I went with the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes for my side choice (once again, even I can "cook" a side salad of mixed greens). There were only two cloves of roasted garlic in with them this morning (but the GBS Rating is never based upon quantity; now, if they had not given me any garlic at all, I may have had to given them a minus rating).

There was a single slice of watermelon[6] as a garnish-thing. While I was grinding some fresh-cracked pepper on the scramble mess and Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes, I decided to also use some of the fresh pepper on the watermelon again. I had done this before by accident and knew it was actually a pretty interesting flavour combination. (Hey! Don't knock it until you have tried it… then knock it.)

For condimentary supplementation, Eats offers the San Francisco Triumvirate of Hot Sauces: Tabasco® Brand Pepper Sauce (the standard red stuff); Tapatío®; and Cholula® Hot Sauce. I had come prepared with a few of my own hot sauces and used some Fat Cat® Strawberry Serrano Hot Sauce (Thanks, Cindy & Greg!) on the Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes and some Nando's® Extra Hot Peri-Peri sauce (Thanks, Kerry!) on the scramble mess.



(This is a photo of the Usual Suspects rounded up.)


After breakfast, I strolled through the small (just two blocks long) Sunday Farmers Market along Clement Street. It's nice to have all these fresh produce and junk for sale, but wouldn't it be nice if they had some stalls that kids and pets could enjoy, too? Some comic books, candy bar, or doggie treats booths wouldn't kill ya, would they?!




Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Spinach Tomato Feta Scramble ~ 6.5; Excellent! Roasted Home Potatoes ~ 7.5


1. Just because there was none yesterday, here are the Irish stupid, useless cunning linguist pointers of the day for these ingredients:

Spinach ~ "spionáiste"
Tomato ~ "trátaí"
Feta cheese ~ "cáis Feta" (I can only assume that "Feta" is the word for cheese in Irish)

Sorry, I have no idea how to pronounce any of these words. I am pretty sure that 80% of the Irish people don't know either.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, part the second:

Garlic ~ "gairleog"
Basil ~ "basal" (don't let the spelling fool you, I am pretty sure that is pronounced as "Fawlty" in Irish)

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, thirdly:

Grapefruit ~ "seadóg"
Orange ~ "oráiste"
Pineapple ~ "anann"

4. For any of you non-Pagan believers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

5. Okay, I was just kidding. Here is that most awesomest, impromptued paean to helium-filled toys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB8K62jA7MI

For some reason I could not get the video to imbed here like the ones above, but, trust me, it is well worth listening to this link.

It is very easy to see that Ryan Adams would fall into the "Hardly Strictly" category of Bluegrass Music. You just know that this set must have driven the censors crazy during the live streaming webcast.

6. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, lastly:

Watermelon ~ "mealbhacán uisce"