SF happenings
Dec. 23rd, 2008 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleYeah, that was a pretty busy trip. Aside from some "various escapades" there were a whole bunch of interesting things.
At the Eagle,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dhpbear took a few shots of me, which I have very few of these days, and kindly sent them along. Hard to pick just one, but I have a particular fondness for this one:
Also, there was a guy there who amused us with his countless photos of himself naked in front of various landmarks. He took a bunch of photos of us, too, and said he had a flickr account with the handle "adarkandstormynight" but I'm unable to find it. Anyone know who he is or where his photos are located?
Monday morning was power shopping time. This is not one of my strong points, but for once I got a whole lot done.
After a quick bite of breakfast withlow_fat_muffin, the first stop was Le Sanctuaire, which I'd heard about but never been to myself. They have a small, tasteful showroom that is hard to find and wildly unaffordable. You actually have to check in at a desk, and there are no prices, but the helpful young man there is happy to answer any questions you might have. If you have to ask... There was one bowl I particularly liked, which was available in sets of twelve for fifty bucks each. Ouch! I also set my eyes on a real actual PacoJet for the first time, and mused (as all aspiring chefs must at some point) over the possibilities of a precision vacuum still.
I hadn't really appreciated it before, but when you go out for a fancy dinner in SF, you might well be using hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of tableware before your night is through. No wonder it costs so freaking much. As a caterer, amortizing this stuff is pretty hard, but in time, if things go that way, I can see including bowls of that quality with my service.
Next, I scoured Chinatown for a set of steamers and round food pans, and found exactly what I was looking for:
I was amazed, because when I get an idea in my head it can take years to find the right equipment to make it happen. But there they were, at the "Wok Shop" on Grant Ave. It meshes perfectly with the round chafing dishes, which makes it possible to arrange food in the pans, steam it, and up-end it into the chafing dish so nothing gets messed up. After a few more tests I'll be ready to roll with the buffet service.
A quick dish of chow fun at a noodle-and-BBQ joint and I was very ready to get out of there.
Then, I stocked up on some things for the holidays at Polarica. Surprisingly, I was able to buy a foie gras without ordering in advance - must be the economy. Anyway, I haven't had that in years, and my mother loves it, so I decided to splurge - she prefers wining and dining to gifts anyway. A little boar tenderloin, a rack of lamb, and two packs of duck legs for confit, which is one of my "stock" ingredients that I need to get going on. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, Bill also ordered a prime rib from our butcher, so we are awash in expensive meat and I'm not sure what to do with it all. At least the lamb and boar are cryovacced so there isn't any rush to use them.
After more hanging at the Eagle, I dropped Gypsy off at the Lucky 13 and went inside a while. Nice place, it would make a great gay bar! Then to the airport, which wasn't so bad, except I somehow made a wrong turn in the airport parking lot and was forced to exit without parking. Then, someone was blocking the turnaround, so I had to go all the way to Millbrae before I could get pointed in the right direction again! Wow, what a pain. But it probably saved me a few bucks in parking since it took a while for my mother to disembark.
The trip back was amazingly quick - right up 19th street with no delay, and no traffic along 101 either. If only it were like that all the time!
SF is an amazing city but it's way too intense. I find I like it better coming at it from a greater distance; less of a commute and more of an adventure. A difficult one, though. It's hard for me to imagine a more remote and inhospitable place to get to than downtown - the far reaches of the wilderness seem closer at hand. I could never live there. But once a month, it's a blast.
At the Eagle,
dhpbear took a few shots of me, which I have very few of these days, and kindly sent them along. Hard to pick just one, but I have a particular fondness for this one:Also, there was a guy there who amused us with his countless photos of himself naked in front of various landmarks. He took a bunch of photos of us, too, and said he had a flickr account with the handle "adarkandstormynight" but I'm unable to find it. Anyone know who he is or where his photos are located?
Monday morning was power shopping time. This is not one of my strong points, but for once I got a whole lot done.
After a quick bite of breakfast with
low_fat_muffin, the first stop was Le Sanctuaire, which I'd heard about but never been to myself. They have a small, tasteful showroom that is hard to find and wildly unaffordable. You actually have to check in at a desk, and there are no prices, but the helpful young man there is happy to answer any questions you might have. If you have to ask... There was one bowl I particularly liked, which was available in sets of twelve for fifty bucks each. Ouch! I also set my eyes on a real actual PacoJet for the first time, and mused (as all aspiring chefs must at some point) over the possibilities of a precision vacuum still. I hadn't really appreciated it before, but when you go out for a fancy dinner in SF, you might well be using hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of tableware before your night is through. No wonder it costs so freaking much. As a caterer, amortizing this stuff is pretty hard, but in time, if things go that way, I can see including bowls of that quality with my service.
Next, I scoured Chinatown for a set of steamers and round food pans, and found exactly what I was looking for:
I was amazed, because when I get an idea in my head it can take years to find the right equipment to make it happen. But there they were, at the "Wok Shop" on Grant Ave. It meshes perfectly with the round chafing dishes, which makes it possible to arrange food in the pans, steam it, and up-end it into the chafing dish so nothing gets messed up. After a few more tests I'll be ready to roll with the buffet service.
A quick dish of chow fun at a noodle-and-BBQ joint and I was very ready to get out of there.
Then, I stocked up on some things for the holidays at Polarica. Surprisingly, I was able to buy a foie gras without ordering in advance - must be the economy. Anyway, I haven't had that in years, and my mother loves it, so I decided to splurge - she prefers wining and dining to gifts anyway. A little boar tenderloin, a rack of lamb, and two packs of duck legs for confit, which is one of my "stock" ingredients that I need to get going on. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, Bill also ordered a prime rib from our butcher, so we are awash in expensive meat and I'm not sure what to do with it all. At least the lamb and boar are cryovacced so there isn't any rush to use them.
After more hanging at the Eagle, I dropped Gypsy off at the Lucky 13 and went inside a while. Nice place, it would make a great gay bar! Then to the airport, which wasn't so bad, except I somehow made a wrong turn in the airport parking lot and was forced to exit without parking. Then, someone was blocking the turnaround, so I had to go all the way to Millbrae before I could get pointed in the right direction again! Wow, what a pain. But it probably saved me a few bucks in parking since it took a while for my mother to disembark.
The trip back was amazingly quick - right up 19th street with no delay, and no traffic along 101 either. If only it were like that all the time!
SF is an amazing city but it's way too intense. I find I like it better coming at it from a greater distance; less of a commute and more of an adventure. A difficult one, though. It's hard for me to imagine a more remote and inhospitable place to get to than downtown - the far reaches of the wilderness seem closer at hand. I could never live there. But once a month, it's a blast.
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Date: 2008-12-24 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-12-24 05:41 am (UTC)How are we gonna get out of this recession with you buying things you actually NEED?!
Mind you, the meat purchases seem quite impressive and yummy.
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Date: 2008-12-24 06:38 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-12-24 07:52 pm (UTC)