musings.schelley.org

I'm trying to end the nightmares that resulted from this year's E3. Too many people, too many missed meetings due to the difficulties of trying to weave my way through people who were in no mood to go anywhere except to check out the nearest booth babe or game video, too many parties. Actually, the last one wasn't so bad, come to think about it.

Really, only one meal of note - Wednesday night with Virve at Patina, a 5-star establishment in the Disney Music Hall in downtown LA. The meal was incredible - we both had tasting menus (I, the ocean, she, the chef's) and enjoyed every bite. They seem to like using foam - and no, not the birth control type for all of you who may not be familiar with the process of blending certain foods until foamy and then serving as a complement to the dish.

We chose to take a cheese tasting between the last meal course and dessert. The site of the "matre fromager" wheeling a giant cart covered with at least 80 different kinds of cheese nearly brought me to tears. After a brief discussion, he proceeded to cut us five succulent, amazing and complex wedges: epoisses de bourgogne, fougerus (favorite #2), mahon, monte enebro (favorite #1), and valdeon. Wow...I need to save my $$ and take a serious cheese trip to the local whole foods.

Only bad item of note: when ordering wine, the sommelier kept trying to steer us to separate glasses as I had the fish themed tasting and Virve the meat themed. We had to gently remind him three times that we wanted a bottle and I (the fish person) was more than happy to drink a red with my meal. The sacrilege!

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 7:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The city of San Francisco hosts an annual bacchinalian festival called the Bay to Breakers mid-May. Not quite a marathon, it is long enough and still holds a position of respect to attract serious racers - most of whom manage to secure a spot in the front of the race. It's probably a good thing.

Within a half an hour, racers have morphed from serious runners barely breaking a sweat to a representative sample of the mass of humanity. From my vantage point, a few miles in, at the bottom of the Hayes Street hill, it looked as if thousands were fleeing en masse. And, wearing varying degrees of costumes - with a few choosing to wear a costume of no clothing - and heading into the heart of the city, Golden Gate Park. Some actually wheeled floats with bars. If a plague hit San Francisco, I'd like to think that people would be fleeing in a similar state, full of life and party and dressed in costumes, even some choosing to meet their fate in the same state that they entered this world, that is, sans clothing.

I spent maybe 35-40 minutes watching. Someone around me fretted about the nudity, which made me wonder why would they choose to live in a free thinking city like San Francisco, considering they could move to someplace else that is cheaper and more conservative? I think I totaled around 50 without clothing. After around 25, though, it gets hard to keep track. Mostly male, and the phrase, "grower, not a shower" came to mind more than once. Men, doesn't physical exercise without support cause issues?

Fairly close to the beginning, a serious runner with barely a gleam of sweat was happily moving with a budweiser in hand. Exercise and alcohol - dedication and skill, all together. About 5 people wore cardboard Mini cut-outs, so that their bodies stuck out of the top of the cars. The site made me feel warm and happy, as I reflected on the fact that Lolita is working her way through the Mini birth canal in the well-organized factory somewhere in the U.K.

I made Cooks Illustrated excellent sticky buns with pecan topping. Mimosas and bloody marys provided liquid sustenance throughout the morning. No one complained, which I take to be a good thing in the grand scheme of things.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gabe enjoys good food, and as such, is a fount of knowledge about cuisines and fine dining in San Francisco and other cities.

We recently dined at Laurels, a quite tasty Cuban restaurant in my neighborhood. Very nice yucca appetizer and breaded red snapper main course. The sangria was also quite tasty.

Last week, Gabe organized a little dinner party at Oola, a hot spot in SoMa, which conveniently, is open until the early hours of the morning. Good to know. The dinner party was comprised of game industry fellows, all tied together by Gabe and most of us not knowing each other. While it's best not to discuss the details of the dinner conversation, the food is worth noting.

The kitchen brought us starters of foie gras and ahi tuna. Shaped into a piece of fruit, the foie gras was served with figs and vanilla sauce and toast points. The tuna was served with a vineagrette. I'm still a bit upset that the other side of the table ate most of the tuna, but I guess I'll eventually get over it.

I began with seared scallops in a slightly salty and soupy mixture of fava beans. Have I mentioned how excellent and tasty I find fava beans? Some type of white fish (whose name escapes me but involves several syllables, bracato maybe?) served as the mainc course. It required that the very kind French waiter slice off the head and tail and extract the bones.

Sadly, dessert fell flat and isn't really worth mentioning.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 7:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Common wisdom holds that British food is, well, not good. While the British excel at several things - a monarchy, beer, public scandal among elected officials, pubs and the paparazzi - they are not known for food. Luckily for all of us, the British once practically ruled the world, and as a result, cuisine in (at least) London is fairly multi-cultural and delicious.

Two highlights of cuisine to note.

**Pret a Manger: Pre-made sandwiches, which having worked two summers in a deli in college and thus learned to avoid pre-made sandwiches, that have actually made me reconsider my anti-pre-made sandwich mandate. These are good, and happily, I discovered that pret has also moved into "breadless sandwiches" (also known as salads to most of the rest of the western world) and sushi.

**Indian. Maybe it was because I was hanging out with friends of Indian descent, maybe it was because we were in the UK where chicken tikka masala is supposed to be the most popular national dish. Regardless, the Indian food in London is quite good. Exceptionally good. Even mediocre Indian food tends to be better than some of the better Indian food in the states. Tiffenbites and Masala Chai were favorite places to dine, specializing in chaat, small dishes similar to tapas, or also known as Indian street food. I am now fond of aloo tikki chaat and bitter melon. Who would have guessed?

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 6:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)