And Of Course, Food

My favorite holiday cookie, pfeffernusse (homemade, of course), a traditional German cookie, and a cup of tea in Elwood, my new unicorn mug

What series of blog updates would be complete without a photographic summary of good food eaten? While I am known to be a somewhat picky eater with a few dietary restrictions, I honestly do love a good plate of food and good drink to wash it down. Having a full time job in food service means that I also spend a lot of time surrounded by food so who could help but take a few (or a lot) of pictures. 

I have a lot of food images to share in this post so I've kept the image size smaller to keep the post from being overwhelmingly long. 

 Just a few of the gelato choices at Holy Gelato

I love making drinks! Lemonade is a great standby, excellent on it's own, mixed with tea, or as a mixer in cocktails. This one was made with Meyer lemons and honey simple syrup. 

Gingerbread from scratch with vanilla rum whipped cream.

A delicious chocolate beer pudding from Magnolia Pub. 

Fried treats and Two Rivers cider from 21st Amendment Brewery .

Two of the most amazing things I've eaten recently: cookie ice cream sandwiches from Batter Bakery.  

An autumn veggie lasagna from Park Chow that just about made me lick my plate. (Yes, the images are in reverse order).

Pretty floral cocktails and a cute table set up in the upper dining area at Park Chow.

 

I love hitting up Homeroom for tasty (and photogenic) mac & cheese and cider.

Fig tart in the bakery case at Whole Foods. Just oh so pretty. 

More treats on display at Whole Foods. 

The pizza at any location is great but the Little Star on Divisadero also has champagne cocktails. This one here is the Rock Star.

Foam on one of many chai lattes consumed at La Boulange du Dome. 

Sometimes we get a chance to experiment with food in the kitchen at work. Here are some deep fried Oreos topped with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce that a co-worker made.

Passion fruit tart from a La Boulange.

Pickled veggies and herb marinated olives from Magnolia Pub.

 Working in food service and teaching, it can be rare to have a Saturday off. When I do, I try to head to the farmer's market to score some veggies like tomatoes and zucchini (which I love frying up with marinara sauce and mozzarella).

Veggie taco salad made for me by a co-worker.

A quick breakfast of a chai latte and blueberry muffin from Starbucks before a day of letterpress printing.

Curried quinoa with a mint-cucumber yogurt sauce made by yours truly.

Giant bowl of homemade hummus by a colleague at the San Francisco Center for the Book.

Homemade Lemonade

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how much I loved being a server and bartender and how nice and stress free it would be to just make people drinks all day. But before I get serious about a career as an amateur mixologist, I figured I should try my hand at a really simple homemade summer classic- lemonade.

This first batch was sweetened with cane sugar simple syrup. I attempted to infuse the simple syrup with lavender to imitate my favorite drink (yup, you guessed it, lavender lemonade) from The Grove in San Francisco but there's not an inch of lavender flavor in my version. I'll have try a different tactic on the next go-round. I didn't use any special lemons this time either, just cheap store bought ones because I just wanted to conquer the basics first. And, if I do say so myself, this lemonade is not too shabby.

Photos from a Busy Week

Between work, work events, apartment hunting, visiting friends, and studying for a French final, this past week has been very busy for me. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much time for blogging but here are some photos from last week.

I love lavender and lemonade and the folks at The Grove have combined the two for the perfect drink. I'm never disappointed when I'm to busy to eat a meal at home and eat here instead.

After a late work day Wednesday, I needed to relax so Charlie and I headed to the Sundance Kabuki to catch Dark Shadows--with plenty of time to stop at the theatre's bar for some drinks first, of course.

Saturday brought me to the Maker Faire for work where I helped man the San Francisco Center for the Book's letterpress printing and simple bookbinding booth (we won the Maker Faire Editor's Choice blue ribbon for our awesome demos!).

Sunday evening, on a much needed study break, my friend hooked me up with tickets to see Endgame and Play at the A.C.T. Theatre. Intense English dialogue was just what I needed after a day of studying French.