Marfa vittles

This weekend I went with a group of 5 friends to Marfa, Texas.  I'd never been so I has no idea what to expect.  Marfa is super-rural and I didn't have very high expectations for fine cuisine.  We ended up eating a really nice dinner on Friday night at Maiya's.  Pretty fancy, fo sho.  Great food and wine, super small and intimate, a little pricey though.  I had a tomato mozzerella caprese salad and a ribeye with gorgonzola butter.  So damn good.  I basically completely threw out my food restrictions out the window this weekend.  So worth it.  That ribeye, omg.  Thinking about that heavenly slab of meat has just inspired me to write a haiku:

Ribeye steak, butter.
Bread and wine and steak, hell yes.
Eating pants are on!

http://maiyasrestaurant.com/menu.html

The rest of the time, we took turns cooking meals.  This system worked out really well. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and eggs hatched from my friends' chickens.  See pics below.

I cooked dinner, tra la la

During this marathon training, me and two very good friends of mine are taking turns cooking healthy dinners.  I've noticed that a lot of this marathon training is very much mental for me.  Yes, the actual running is difficult but I'm noticing that what is even more difficult are the voices in my head that constantly try to tell me "You are too slow, 26.2 miles is ridick, everyone is faster than you, have I mentioned that you are too f'ing slow, it's really hot right now, slow slow slow, blah blah and blah."

These dinners are really important to me personally because (1) It encourages me to eat healthy/whole/organic/local foods, (2) It encourages structure and accountability and (3) I just enjoy being around like-minded people who understand how f'ing hard this whole process is.  It makes me feel like I'm not doing this crazy endeavor alone. I look forward to the dinners for many reasons.

But I digress.

So, last night was my responsibility to cook dinner.  I did some research on recipes and found one via the Whole Foods website.  The name of the recipe:

Roasted Salmon and Broccoli with Lemony Whole Wheat Linguine

Here is a link to the recipe:  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2406   

I made a few slight modifications to the recipe.  Instead of just broccoli, I added zuccini and celery.  I added parsley.  I eliminated the asiago cheese and instead seasoned with a little extra sesame ginger marinade, lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Also, I used gluten-free pasta.  At first, I was skeptical about the gluten-free pasta.  It ended up tasting really good.  The taste was very spot on and the texture was really good.  From now on, I plan to only cook myself gluten-free pasta. 

The result: it was straight up awesome.  Seriously.  Frankly, I would totally have ordered that shiz at a restaurant, I'm just saying. I definitely will cook this meal again.

I paired it with a loaf of rosemary bread and a fruit salad of strawberries, cantaloupe and blueberries.  Delish!  See pics below.

Maybe after this ridick marathon training is over, I'll take some cooking classes.  That is all.  :)

paggi house

Oh dear sweet baby jesus h.  Paggi House.  I'm in love, I really am. Uchiko has always been my one and my only but now I'm questioning everything.   

We ate on the outdoor patio.  The glimmering lights were a really nice touch.  Trees galore, beautiful people left and right.  The ambiance was really romantic.  The service was impeccable, outstanding.  The music was awesome.  And, the food.  OMFG, the food...We ordered a salad, the scallops, the beef tenderloin and halibut.  That salad was by far the best salad I've had in my entire life.  There was a warm poached egg atop various microgreens and candied pecans.  So damn good.  The scallops were beyond scrumptious.  The tenderloin was melt-in-your-mouth amazing. And all local ingredients!

The only thing that sucked was the valet parking was full and it was a nightmare getting parking.  Also, it was really expensive.  So this is definitely a place to go for a date but that's about it.  I want to try their happy hour, maybe it's a little more reasonably priced.

Also, House Wine is literally across the street.  It's the perfect place to go afterwards to get your wine on.  Just saying.

Two thumbs up!

I'm f'ing starving.

It's been so long since I've updated this blog.  Things have been ridick busy as of late.

Quick recap of wtf's been going on in my world as of late:

* I had half marathon training

*I ran two half marathon within 3 weeks of each other.

*I got strep throat and was sick for a week.

* I ran a crazy 12 person 200-mile group relay from Gonzalez Tx to Houston Tx.

*Immediately after that group relay, I flew to AZ for a business trip.

 *SXSW week which was awesome and crazy exhausting.

*I had two friends from out of town staying with me right after each other.

*Also, I've been working 6 day workweeks for the last 4 weeks in a row.

Add to that training for a full marathon and...I'm spent, physically and emotionally.  I'm exhausted, I'm hungry all the time, and I feel like I am on an emotional roller-coaster as of late.  It's probably because I'M STARVING.  All I eat as of late are fruits, vegetables, balance bars, turkey, and more fruit and vegetables.  I miss cheese.  I miss butter.  I miss Torchy's Tacos.  I really miss iced turbos from Jo's.  I do get one cheat day a week so yay for that.  I'll be going to Paggi House this weekend and I plan to eat some damn delicious vittles.  Mmmmhmm.

Before I started this marathon training program, here are some delicious vittles I ate.  Oh, the memories....

seriously?

Let me preface this post by saying I really, REALLY need a new camera.  Fo' serious.

OK, now that we have that out of the way...

So, last night I took my good friends Rheo and Nickalas to Uchi.  They watched Mister for a week while I was in California last month and I wanted to thank them with a really nice dinner on my dime.  Uchi is the best restaurant in Austin (well, besides its sister restaurant Uchiko which I actually like more).  Anyway, this ain't no TGI Friday's ok?  If there was a table of contents for "Restaurants in the Austin metroplex that are the f'ing cat's pajamas" Uchi would be II (Uchiko would be I but I didn't want to drive north).  It truly is *that* amazing.


But I digress.


Well, after all was said and done and we ordered everything off the happy hour menu and a ton of other stuff, Rheo was not blown away!  He gave it a "7."  A 7?!?!  Are you f'ing kidding me?  I mean, really?  We could have just went to Pei Wei and I'd save like $140 and he would have been happier, I think.  I just couldn't believe it.  How can one not LOVE  Uchi?  Did we just eat at the same restaurant?  I just didn't get it at all, I still don't.  Sigh. 


Well, this simply does not compute.  DOES NOT COMPUTE!  Uchi is still the shit, as far as I'm concerned, pardon my french.  I still will pick Uchi for birthday celebrations, dates (dare to dream), and just a general go-to place for amazing and innovative cuisine in Austin.  I refuse to succumb to his crazy-talk of Uchi being a 7.  No f'ing way, NO!  Beyond the fact that the food is outstanding and gorgeous, the ambiance of this restaurant is beautiful.  It ain't no gd 7!  It's a 10!  Actually, it's a 13.5!

OK, so back to the food since this is a food blog.

Hamachi nabe - This was by far, my favorite dish.  OMG.  It will knock you out, LL Cool J style.  It has chunks of tender baby yellow­tail sashimi with crispy koshi hikari rice, a raw ringger farm egg and sweet soy broth.  They cook the dish in front of you.  The flavors and textures of this dish, whoa.  I seriously could have eaten two more bowls of this by myself, that's how good it was.  What sets Uchi apart from the rest are all the magnificent flavor combinations.  My picture didn't come out but I found one online, see above.

Delicious white fish - I don't remember the name of this dish and can't find it on the Uchi menu.  So, let's just go with Delicious White Fish.  :)   The dish was a very flavorful and large delicious white fish with chunks of cucumbers and a pungent broth.  I wish I could remember what it was called because it was so stinking good.  Loved it!  Seriously, amazing dish.

Pitchfork roll - Sushi roll with wagyu beef and fresh avocado with tonburi land caviar and leek crisps.  It was ok but not my favorite thing that we ate, by far.  I've had this before and there were other things I like more.

Tempura shiki - seasonal assorted vegetable selec­tion with ten-tsuyu broth.  If you love vegetables and tempura, you will love this.  I love both so I was in heaven.  De-lish.

Brie ringo tempura fried brie - with apple chutney and crisps.  I really didn't like this dish.  I think I didn't care of it because I'm just not a fan of brie.  And I love me some cheese but brie, not so much.  A shame because I do love me some cheese and tempura and apples.  Oh well.  The picture I took turned out way too dark too.  Told ya I need a new camera.

We also ordered one other sushi roll but at this point but it also wasn't my favorite so we will just move on...

Jizake crème caramel - with brown butter sorbet & ginger consommé.  WOW.  Omg omg OMG.  It's a crime to go to Uchi and not get a dessert.  They continue to knock it out of the park with their desserts.  These desserts are a work of art, complete masterpieces.  So many creative and flawless elements to them.  The creme caramel is reminiscent of flan, texture-wise.  A little thicker though.  The brown butter sorbet, omfg.  O-M-F-G.  For serious, they are not playing around with that brown butter sorbet.  And they pour some ginger concoction over it which just heightens the flavors.  Soooo good.


So, that's it.  I really wish Rheo would have liked it more.  I love going to Uchi with people who love it as much as I do because it truly is an experience unlike no other. 


Well, that's all folks.  Toodle-loo.

get in my belly.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on here lately.  Things have been a wee bit hectic in my world as of late.  First, I came back from San Francisco and immediately got strep throat.  It was god awful.  For the first 4 days, I was too sick to even get out of bed to go to the doctor.  Day 4 I finally managed to drive myself to an urgent care after hours facility.  Day 5 I was able to eat a little applesauce.  By Day 7 I was on the slow road to recovery.  I missed a week of work which is unheard of for me. 

So, after dealing with that hott mess, my neighbor hit my car.  So I was dealing with him and body shops and car-rental quotes for a week.  No bueno.  It all ended up working out in my favor, so yay for that.

But I digress.

Unfortunately, because of all of this crazyness, I haven't eaten many tender vittles as of late.

In fact, I've been dramatically changing my food intake because I am training for a half-marathon.  For the most part, I've been eating greens in all their splendid forms.  Less than thrilling but it makes me feel my personal best.  ;)  I've basically been vegetarian, for the most part.  I do fall off the wagon on that once in awhile (after all, I do live in Texas) but for the most part, GREENS!  Oh, and fish.  I refuse to cut out seafood and sushi.  I'd rather die.

That was my lunch yesterday. 

You know, since I've been eating mainly whole foods and avoiding processed foods, I feel 10 times better.  Go figure.  I'm also loosing weight but that could be all the running.  Either way, it's f'ing delightful.

Now that I think about it, I did have some mad tender vittles during Thanksgiving.  I went with one of my best friends to eat with her family in Dallas.  Now those crazy vietnamese can throw down in the kitchen.  For serious.  Check these vittles out...

They had the traditional turkey and spring rolls and crab asparagus soup (which was amazing, AMAZING) and much more.  That soup...I'd take a bath in  that damn soup.  It was by far my favorite thing I ate.  I mean crab and asparagus!  I didn't take a picture of it because I was too busy eating it...and eating...and eating.

Hopefully, I will consume some exciting tender vittles in the near future!

Til then, toodle-loo.

San Francisco, the cat's pajamas times 100.

Last week I visited a good friend of mine who lives in San Francisco.  James and I have been friends since we were 18.  I'm 33 now so you do the math.  Many, many years!  He has been trying to get me to come visit for Coachella the last few years.  Finally, I worked it out and stayed with him for 5 days last week. We got tickets to Florence and the Machine, who we both love. While I was there, I also saw Travis, another old friend of mine from my Club One days.  It was very good to see him!  I also met a ton of James's friends.  He seems to know everyone in San Francisco, seriously.

Let me first start off with saying: I must live here.   I REALLY am going to make this happen.  My plan is when my lease is up the end of 2011 to make a move.  This city is foodie heaven.  Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING I ate was so f'ing delicious.  I still have a 5 pound food baby inside me that I need to abort, pronto...but I digress.  So, if anyone has any leads on sales/marketing/advertising positions or potential roommates, let me know.

Ok, back to the topic at hand, which is food.  Stars and garters, it was all so outrageous.  Where do I even begin.  I guess we will just go day-by-day, meal-by-meal.

I got there late Wednesday afternoon so we had an early dinner at Franchino.  This is a very intimate mom-and pop Italian joint.  You can maybe squeeze 20 people in there.  The husband flirts with the customers and sings to everyone while the mother and daughter attentively wait on you hand and foot.  He actually instructed everyone to leave the restaurant and he sung everyone a song in Italian to celebrate the Giants win the World Series (which was the day before). 

Oops, sorry the picture is flipped!  I'm still working on learning how to use this new camera.

For starters, we had the bruchetta.  This was, by far, the best bruchetta I've had in my life.  Super authentic.  And I would know as I have been to Italy and had bruchetta there.  Super robust flavors, bread soaking in olive-oil, it was fantastic.

James had a seafood risotto dish with a tomato cream sauce that I also tried.  Loved it!  Huge chunks of calamari, huge clams, and the risotto was divine.

I had their house carbonara.  Goodnight Irene, this dish was amazing!

Thursday, James had to work so I took the Muni to downtown and explored some of the city.  I went to Bristol Farms which is like Whole Foods on crack.  They had the best salad bar I've ever experienced.  Basically, it's $9.99 a pound and you fill it up with whatever you want and it's all so damn good.  I'm talking fresh mozzerella, chinese food, pasta, fresh organic vegetables, turkey, so much to choose from so I went to town with that shit!

Next door they had gelato.  The Andie's candy mint gelato, mmmmm!

One thing I've noticed is there is hardly any fast food in San Francisco which is great.  Instead of Mcdonalds and Jack in the Box, there are tons of farmers markets and food trailers and amazing restaurants EVERYWHERE.  I saw this on the street and thought it was cool.

Thursday night we went to Warakubune to get sushi in the Castro.  First, let me say, I have eaten my share of sushi.  As in every week.  If I could, I would eat sushi every day.  I have *never* had such delicious sushi at such a cheap price. 

At this point, everything started blurring together.  I felt like a food zombie.  I completely lost control of myself and my self-control I ate everything, all the time.  I don't even recall what I ate and when I ate it, so at this point, I'm just going to try to recount what I can remember as best that I can through the pictures that I took.

James took me to The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen.  Now, need I even say more?  For real.  I got the Mousetrap: Tillamook sharp cheddar, creamy havarti, monterey jack, on artisan sourdough...aka just kill me now. James got the same and butternut squash soup which was deeeelish.

I wanted to do some touristy stuff so James took me to the Fisherman's Wharf.  I was pleased as punch as I love seafood and you could get a ton of good seafood for cheap.

Now THAT'S a salad, my friends...

I just want to eat EVERYTHING!

Crab sandwich on sourdough, mmmmm this was sooo good.

We also went to Boudin and I got a bread bowl because I am not right in the head.  I really had no self-control whatsoever.

Clam chowder bread bowl.  I could have taken a bath in it though I suppose that coulda kinda been nast...

Where the magic went down...

James took me to get some mini-donuts.  Sugared holes, tra la la.

James looking dashing while eating mini-donuts.

Me after my sugar high from eating the mini-donuts...

As if eating sugared mini-donuts wasn't enough, I had to get a crepe from Crepes A Go Go.  I have a sickness, I really do.  Well, the crepe DID have strawberries so I had my fruit for the day ;)

The next day we had brunch at the Pork Store Cafe.  I had crab benedict which was, as James says, "amazeballs."  My pic of this decadant dish didn't turn out very well but the pic of James's lox benedict came out great:

So, the Pork Store Cafe was in the Haight-Ashbury area where I would LOVE to live.  So many super cute little places to eat and get coffee, all walking distance!

Before I left, James took me to get Ramen.  We hit up Genki Ramen.  It was here that I had this amazing baked scallop dish sizzling in a pool of butter.  Words cannot express how damn good the baked scallop dish was. 

We also got ramen and shrimp tempura and edamame and potato deliciousness and omfg someone help meeeeee...

potato goodness:

so much to choose from, so little time...

There's really so much so more but frankly, I'm tired of uploading all of the pictures ;)  So, friend request me on facebook (Jaime Safianow) to see them all!

Thanks again to James for an amazing time.  I plan to move there the end of next year, hopefully!