Justin and I went out to a huge bday dinner last night at 5 star Gary Danko. It was the most extravagant meal I've ever had.. foie gras, oysters, frog legs, lobster, crab cakes, squash soup, cheese plate, duck breast, filet mignon, apple break pudding and a chocolate souffle. Oh and a bottle of wine, coffee and tea. I was hallucinating at the end of night.
As our taxi pulled up to our block, we noticed that the front of our apt was blocked by a fire truck and a cop car. A fireman was busy hosing down the side walk and the side of the apartment that sat directly across from ours. We assumed that a little fire had started and didn't think much more, until this morning when our neighbor filled us in on the gory details...
Here is Karl's recap of the events that occurred last night while we were out...
"Mark and I were having beers in north beach—we came up the hill as a bunch of cop cars showed up on the scene---we walked over to look, and someone had been stabbed---the person was still there—on the ground—couldn’t see him really, but I don’t think he was in good shape, though he may have been alive
We thought initially he had been shot, because there were 4 or 5 different blood splatters on the wall—basically, the guy got stabbed and fell against the wall—and I guess as he fell he kept turning over and leaving different blood splotches—and a huge pool of blood on the sidewalk where he eventually fell
Anyway—it was quite brutal—very freaky
As for what happened-----one of the residents of the building next to us apparently heard someone scream and looked out---the stabee was hitting the wall and a tall, well-dressed (?) guy was running down Washington towards North Beach—this person called the cops and gave a statement, but….from what I gathered, it seemed like an argument began the whole thing (which would make it a targeted attack and not random)—in any case, the stab wound alone suggested it was something very intentional---the guy had been cut really badly—I would generally think a simple mugger would not really be hoping to kill someone and the stab wound looked lethal
i don’t know much more than that—people were just milling about, talking about it—cops were asking anyone if they had seen it but none had
one of the weirdest things was that they kept letting the cable cars through—so cars full of 40 or so tourists just kept going past this blood-stained wall—I don’t think I would want my kid to see that
I’ve not seen anything on the news—I don’t know if the one who was stabbed was a nearby resident or just in the area---mark and I watched the cops doing their thing from the rooftop, which was kind of interesting, and kind of scary as we realized that they had almost no chance of catching the person if it was random violence"
The dress — made of 1,500 cream puffs and weighing 20 pounds — took the 28-year-old baker two months to make, and by the end of the wedding reception, bride Viktoriya said she didn't want to take it off.
I think it's very appropriate for a pastry chef and his bride :). Rest of the story is here. Thanks to the weddingbee for blogging it.
On a similar note, I tried the Beard Papa's that just recently opened with the upscale Westfield Mall food court. I had tried the one at the Olympic Mall on Wang Fu Jin in Beijing this past summer and it was ever so yummy. Our own version definitely did not disappoint. My favorite is the vanilla bean cream puff.
Yes it's that time of year again.. my 29th bday. This year, instead of throwing a wild raging party (since i am such the rager), I'm opting for a 'me' day. Most of my weekends have been spent training for marathons and wedding planning, so I'm taking my bday off from everything, including TV. Instead, I will be treating myself to a much needed facial at Studio C Skincare, a spa in the Marina that has been getting top notch yelp reviews. Hopefully my experience will be as good as fellow reviewers.. I'm looking forward to it.
It will be followed up by dinner, Justin's treat at Cafe Chez Panisse (We decided on the cafe because the restaurant has a set menu and if that set menu happened to have any nuts, then I'd be missing out and miserable). Drool!
A few more things to spoil myself. A BCBG dress (image above and to the left) for the birthday date and possibly for Amy and Owen's up coming wedding. Of course since I am on a budget of some sort, I won it on ebay. I am also waiting on the auction results of this fantastic Juicy Couture Large Hobo (pic on the left). What can I say? I'm an Ebay fanatic.
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As for the wedding - our Save the Dates will be making an appearance in your mailbox in the next two weeks. We sent out the first batch last weekend, and I'm still getting a few more stragglers out. We used the Premium Postcard service provided by USPS. Basically you upload images intended for the front and the back, put in all the addresses of the guests, and the postcards will be printed and sent out. It even supports international addresses. At 80 cents a pop for postcards with US Addresses, it's a steal.
A chocolate chip cookie is just another chocolate chip cookie.. but add some fancy wrapping and all of a sudden, it's not just a cookie anymore. Shop for them here.
Happy Friday!
Can't decide whether Bobby Flay is an a$$ or not.. most of the time he seems pretty into himself. I have to admit that the guy does know his grill and has somehow inspired a bunch of my male friends (including j) to cook and I'm so delighted. This morning I woke up at 9:30 after a 9 hour long lamb coma. This is what we had:
Rotisserie Lamb Tacos with Apricot-Chipotle Baste
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 boneless leg of lamb, about 7 pounds
Apricot-Chipotle Baste, recipe follows
1 pound goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 pound shredded romaine lettuce
Salsa Cruda, recipe follows
16 (6-inch) flour tortillas
Preheat grill to medium-high. Brush the leg of lamb with oil, season with salt and pepper and place directly on the grill to brown on all sides, about 5 minutes each side. Remove leg and attach to rotisserie rod. Let the lamb cook on the rotisserie for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until just cooked to medium-rare doneness. During the last 20 minutes of grilling, begin basting with the glaze. Remove the lamb from the grill and baste again with the glaze and let rest for 20 minutes.
Slice the lamb across the grain into 1/4-inch thick slices. Serve folded in warm tortillas with shredded romaine, goat's cheese, charred corn guacamole and tomato salsa.
Apricot-Chipotle Baste:
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 cups red wine vinegar
3 cups sugar
1/2 pound dried apricots, soaked for 1/2 hour in warm water and chopped
2 tablespoons chipotle pepper puree
Preheat grill or use side-burners of grill. In a saucepan combine oil, onion, garlic, vinegar and sugar. Cook until the sugar is dissolved and the vinegar is reduced by half. Add chopped apricots and cook for 10 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a food processor and add chipotles. Puree until smooth. Return to pot. Use to baste rotisserie leg of lamb.
Salsa Cruda:
6 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 large red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno, diced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped (recommended: Mexican oregano)
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 lime, juiced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
This, mind you, makes 10-12 servings. We stuffed ourselves and still had leftovers. I'm still drooling now.
