musings.schelley.org

Before leaving for adventures abroad, Tony and I met for our annual holiday dinner, choosing Zuni Cafe over cooking an extravagant meal. He just started a new job, I was stressing about finishing reports and packing, so simplicity won out.

Zuni is in an odd shaped space - a number of rooms clustered around large kitchens. While following the hostess to our table, I pointed out the raw counter, with ocean delectables displayed on ice for patrons to admire. In the right seat, we could have seen the chef shuck oysters, open clams and prepare the rest of the fruits de mer that we eventually dined on. Rather, we were able to watch one chef pull freshly roasted chickens from the brick oven, efficiently cut into pieces we recognize and plate with salad. And, a youngish chef made salads.

Tony wanted champagne, and paused to ask if it was all right with me. I laughed, "When have we had a Christmas dinner without champagne?" He ordered an excellent bottle of Schramsberg Brut Rose, pink and very drinkable.

After oysters, clams, cockles and shrimps, I had a very rich ricotta gnocchi with toasted and chopped hazelnuts. We shared a delicious coconut cake for dessert: light-as-air sponge cake encased in a fluffy layer of whipped cream frosting and fresh shaved coconut. One of my favorite desserts in a while.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A number of new restaurants have, and will be opening in my neighborhood, Hayes Valley (in San Francisco): Paxti's, a Chicago-style pizza place; Zoya, California cuisine; and soon to be opened sushi, North African/Moroccan (Yeah!), Phlugers, of unknown pedigree; and a tea house serving meals (ok, I do question the last one, but we'll wait and see, although it is opening in a location that seems to be doomed to failure).

Needing to get out, and curious, I hit Zoya for lunch the other day. It's in the space formerly inhabited by Midori Mushi, and considering the space constraints (9-sided, two-story closet attached to the Days Inn), the new owners have done an amazing job making it look at big as possible.

Zoya focuses on California cuisine, with an emphasis on organic foods. They also have a great beer and decent wine selection, not quite organic, but when it comes to alcohol, certain things can be forgiven.

I had a portobello mushroom and goat cheese sandwich. Not too bad, although I felt that the juices from the mushroom and melted cheese got a little difficult to manage between the sliced baguette. Alas, I survived with minimal damage to my shirt. A very tasty side salad of spinach and pear accompanied the sandwich.

I'm planning to go back - it's nice to support the neighborhood restaurants.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I caught Jai caressing the beets in Whole Foods. This was after he had carefully studied the produce stacked up as he approached the beets, about halfway down the long counter stocked full of refrigerated vegetables, fruits and herbs. He also made several exclamatory noises along the way, during the beet caress incident and while proceeding to the next unsuspecting, and previously innocent piece of produce. All of this, and before seeing the Whole Foods deli section, which having been recently renovated, is now even more impressive than before.

The next day, before the Big Game, we stopped by Fry's in Palo Alto, favored home of the Bay Area's geeks. I usually avoid - the pasty skin of the employees and shoppers and unorganized nature of the electronics scattered throughout make me nervous. Jai loved it, so much that we went back again the following evening. It may be worth pointing out that Jai loves electronics (he even picked out a new wireless PCI card and installed it on my PC). I believe that during his time in the store, he repeated his Whole Foods performance, although since I was enjoying a mediocre chai and listening to the chatter of bored employees, missed seeing his reactions.

Obviously, Jai doesn't live in the U.S., and I have to admit, seeing the reaction of someone who had never experienced what I take as a normal, every day shopping experience (for Whole Foods, not for Fry's) made me realize just how lucky I am. Practically anything I'd need to create multiple meals and concoctions is available, all in high quality produce, and all, as Jai pointed out, "labeled". There are some good things about our society, after all.

Posted by Schelley Olhava at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)