Saturday: Lutrell’s birthday gift to me was a weekend in San Francisco where I wouldn’t have to cook for two whole days. We were at the Embarcadero Hyatt, and there wasn’t a kitchen in sight, hallelujah! Our stay started with the most delicious grilled, blue cheese burgers and garlic fries from Gott’s Roadside (used to be Taylor’s Automatic Refresher) at the Ferry Building. We spent the day walking up to Union Square and doing some shopping. That night we had tickets to see Peter Pan. It was performed in a gigantic tent, and when Peter, Tinkerbell, Wendy, and her brothers took off in flight, the canvas ceiling functioned as a movie screen, and the kids soared across landscape in IMAX cinema style. The effect was so powerful and uplifting that tears came to my eyes. At the end of the day, my pedometer said we had walked about six miles that day.
Sunday: Breakfast on the waterfront at The Plant – organic café and restaurant, tasty without being too earthy. We had another full day of walking, this time up to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to see The Fisher Collection (bequeathed by billionaire founder of The Gap clothing stores, Donald Fisher and his wife Doris.) Over a forty-year period of time, the Fishers amassed a collection of modern art that totaled well over a thousand pieces. After a couple of hours of walking around the museum, I was a zombie. Much of the art was big, bold, and very intense. I want to say I loved it, but…not so much. Nevertheless, I respect its cultural significance. The last meal we had on Sunday evening was at an award-winning restaurant named Boulevard. I can’t even explain the culinary wizardry that made Lutrell’s fillet mignon and my lamb out of this world, moist, seared to perfection, full of flavor. But it was the frangipane, cream and berry dessert that stole the show. Frangipane, in case you don’t know, as I didn’t, is a short, chewy, buttery cake with a hint of almond flavor. If the textures and flavors of this creation could sing, it would sound like Billy Holiday, rich and smooth with a little fruity zing. Although our hotel room was reserved through to Monday, we came home after the Boulevard dinner. I loved my time down there, but I had reached my sensory limit, and all I wanted then was my nice, quiet home in Sonoma.
Monday: The Left Coast Writers group met at Book Passage in Corte Madera. The guest speaker this month was Michael Krasny. I’m surprised when people don’t know who he is, but I’ve mentioned his name to a couple of people, and they weren’t sure. He hosts an NPR/KQED radio program called Forum and is genius at drawing out the best in the people he interviews. He told us that the bulk of his day is spent reading, and it shows. He seems to generate conversation on any subject effortlessly. His ability to retain facts and details and then spin those tidbits into entertaining stories is beyond enviable. He’s truly in a league of his own, thoroughly knowledgeable, scrupulously balanced, funny, warm and engaging. I sent him a Facebook friend request with a personalized message, and he accepted!
Wednesday: My writing pal, Julia Allenby had a party to celebrate the release of her debut novel, Taste Everything. It’s about a widowed business executive who turns to culinary school to help cope with her grief. Her joy in the kitchen however is tempered by her father’s advancing dementia. Julia’s party was packed with friends, one of whom I had a lengthy conversation. Julia is managing a high-rise building in Jack London Square that will soon become Oakland’s culinary center. The place will be filled with independent stalls for fine food purveyors: cheese, meats, pasta, produce, pastry and baked bread, fish, flowers, sweets, and wine, you name it, it should be there. My lengthy conversation was with a woman named Lynne Devereux; she’s a cheese expert. Google: www.buttercommications.com. I told her about my memorable introduction to artesian cheeses several years ago when I attended an evening at our local cooking school, Ramekins. Tasting the cheeses was coupled with a slide show of the small farms around the globe where it had come from: Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and even Northern California. Lynne travels all around the country educating folks about the joys of small farm cheeses. When I asked her about the people she encounters who have less adventurous palettes, the Jack and Cheddar group, she replied that it gave her “job security.” Isn’t that great? It’s job security because she is actually encountering people who are willing to learn, change, and expand their stinky-cheese horizons.
It’s been a full and wonderful week. I’ll post again next Friday. Got any cheese stories? Click the blue “Comment” link to share them.
An insider’s escort in Italy, sounds divine.
P.S. I’m loving my Kathy Kallick bluegrass CD, Warmer Kind of Blue. Thank you Amy!
P.S. I’m crazy for Krasny!
A few years ago, our “Kathy Kallick Band” performed in Torino, Italy. After the concert, our promoter took us to dinner; it was midnight! We had an amazing meal with wine and several yummy cheeses. He then proudly proclaimed that we had just tasted “6 of the 7 best cheeses in Italia”! Ciao! See you next week! xoxa