I could tell you about my experience eating at The French Laundry last month,, but so many people on the internetz have done that already.  I mean what new information or insights about the food and service do I really have to add to the conversation? Meh, not that much. What I do have to add is this: a picture I took of the guestbook in the front entrance when I first arrived.

I couldn’t believe my eyes! The balls on this guy. French Laundry Rickroll FTW!!!

Bike-powered microphones for this band that was playing at the Alemany Farmers Market. Only in SF!

My friend Eliza gave me these awesome little containers. They are about an inch and a half high and super frickin’ adorable.

Their sole purpose is to allow you to bring a little bit of soy sauce with you wherever you go, just in case. They come with a little tiny eye-dropper so you can fill them up with soy sauce. So far they have never leaked and they always make me smile when I pull them out at lunchtime! Something about those vacant, beady eyes and perky ears- they are really endearing little pals to have around.

Eliza got these for a couple bucks at one of my very favorite stores in the world, Daiso Japan. Daiso is kind of like a super cool Japanese Dollar Store, except most things cost two dollars instead of one. Daiso has a crazy cross-section of stuff, from garden supplies to kids’ toys to dishes to cards (many in hilarious Engrish) to fake flowers to, er, individual soy sauce holders. With ten bucks in hand, you can have a GREAT time in there.

There are 3 stores in the Seattle area and 6 in the Bay Area- here’s a list of all U.S. locations.

This weekend I went with Ross to Aquatic Park so he could go swimming in the bay with his friend Pablo. Swimming in the bay, not for the faint of heart. But there were an astounding number of people doing it! I am always dead impressed when Ross and friends suit up and jump in.

I am constantly reminded of, and delighted by, the great many picturesque and unique things and places one can find in San Francisco and today was no different. We so often stay in our own little microcosms and neighborhoods, and forget to get up and out into the world and enjoy the variety of wonders our fair city holds!

For my birthday last year, I asked my friends and family to get tickets for a Demolition Derby in Dixon, CA, which is a small town about 75 miles east of San Francisco.

I will admit that after making this plan I realized that I actually didn’t even know what a Demolition Derby was- I mean, I guess I could have figured it out if I thought about, but I didn’t. I think that’s because I couldn’t have imagined how utterly fun and awesome it is to watch cars crash into each other. So now I know: more or less, a bunch of cars drive around in dirt crashing into each other, until only 1 car is able to move. Pretty straightforward.

Some things we learned:
1. You’re not allowed to hit the driver’s side door on purpose. Anywhere else is OK.
2. Drivers wear helmets and they only carry a small amount of gasoline to prevent fires.
3. If you’re driving in dirt, you don’t actually need tires or wheels- you can do pretty well even when you’re down to the axle.
4. Ideal demographic for DD is Y chromosome, age 3-10. Not to say the adults and females didn’t enjoy it, since everyone did LOVE it. But nothing matched the unbridled, nay, unhinged, enthusiasm of the little boys who were in our group.
5. If someone invites YOU to this type of event, you should definitely try to make it, because it’s pretty much insanely fun and awesome and different.

(These photos are about half mine, and half from my friend Carolyn Laub, who was kind enough to share.)

The DD was a special attraction of the Dixon May Fair. Previous night’s entertainment: ZZ Top.

The cars and trucks line up on the dirt to show themselves off before the crashtastic action starts.

The dollar bill car was an early favorite, until he was decommissioned by a busted radiator.

Try as he might, 68’s driver can’t resuscitate this victim.

Dead cars pile up on the berm while the remaining vehicles continue to smash around.

At the end, since only 1 car is still able to drive, heavy machinery carts the remaining carcasses off the dirt in preparation for the next round.

Mmm… delicious dancing corn dogs.

The pickup truck round about to begin. The announcer is so excited and keeps saying “in my 30 years of doing this, I have NEVER seen a pickup derby, so folks, this is really something special!” So special!

A truck smokes after a front hit and his radiator blows.

When a winner is declared, the drivers take off their helmets and climb out of their trashed trucks.

After 2 rounds, this incredibly tough car finally died- but not before driving around on 1 perpendicular tire, 1 diagonal tire, and 1 bare axle.

Exhaust combined with fire extinguisher blowback flooded the open-air arena with choking smoke.

The event came to an abrupt and unceremonius end when the smoke became so overwhelming and obscuring that patrons ran from the arena coughing and covering their faces.

What is TotMac, you ask? Why it’s homemade Mac N Cheese topped with Tater Tots, of course. Behold: TotMac!

I cannot tell a lie: I did not come up with this concept. There’s a great little neighborhood restaurant here in SF called Q and they are known for topping their Mac with Tots. HOWEVER. While I have enjoyed Q’s Mac on several occasions, I have always felt that the Mac execution could be improved upon. Ergo, I Totted my own Mac, with diabolically delicious results.

So, here’s how it goes down: make some hella good homemade Mac N Cheese. You can really make it however you like it, as long as you PROMISE to make it hella good. Cook frozen tater tots according to their packaging. Cook your Mac N Cheese for 10 minutes less than you normally would. Cover top of hot Mac with hot Tots and cook for about 10 minutes. If you’re CRAZY LIKE ME which is to say LIKE A FOX  you can put crumbled crispy prosciutto or bacon on top of the Mac, but under the Tots.

So Tot your Mac today: it’s highly recommended for those who fancy the idea of double carbing your carbs while white trashing up your fancy Mac N Cheese!

I bought this rice called Tiny Rice, because it’s tiny and adorable, and also because I like saying “Tiny Rice” all together like it’s one word. Tinyrice. Tinyrice. Tinyrice!

So what is Tiny Rice and why is it so tiny? It’s a small (some might say tiny) grain basmati rice imported from Bangladesh. It’s also called Kalijira rice (which incidentally is ALSO fun to say) or sometimes baby basmati. It says on the package it’s the Prince of Rice. (And here I was, not even realizing that rice could be royalty.) It’s cute, it’s delicious, and it’s way more fun than those big awkward rice grains you’re used to, as you can see in the photo below.

Tiny rice only takes about 10 minutes to cook, so that’s pretty cool. It has a great texture because it’s so small- sort of between a rice grain and a couscous grain. When you serve it to people they say things like “what kind of rice is this? I’ve never SEEN such tiny grains of rice!”

I bought it at BiRite Market, but if you need an online source I found it for sale online at at the Lotus Foods website. They Lotus link also has recipes using Kalijira, including a couple of rice pudding recipes which look super tasty. They sell tiny brown rice too, but I’ll be honest, the tiny brown rice grains look a little bigger than tiny. I haven’t tried it yet but that’s next on the list.

Tinyrice tinyrice tinyrice!

When I was but a youthful lass of 22, I worked at the fabulous Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego for about a year. If you’re ever in San Diego, I highly recommend stopping there for one of their scones (the best I’ve ever tasted, to be sure) or to dazzle your friends with one of their heart-stoppingly gorgeous cakes. I learned a lot there, but probably the most important thing I learned was that the way to a good bread pudding is simple: make creme brulee mixture and don’t use regular bread. This opens up a realm of delicious and easily adaptable flavor possibilities and combinations that are blissfully simple to make, as well as very forgiving.

For this occasion, I bought a soft loaf of Semifreddi’s cinnamon twist bread and made an orange zest-infused vanilla brulee mix, then dotted it all with dark chocolate chunks. It took about 5 minutes to put together and tasted like a million bucks. With a scoop of Bi-Rite Creamery’s salted caramel ice cream, it was almost transcendent.

Orange-Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Chocolate Chunks

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• zest from 1/2 orange
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 T sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 loaf cinnamon bread (1-2 days stale is better than fresh but it will work either way)
• large handful semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks (can use chocolate chips)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 250.
• Heat cream in saucepan until hot but not bubbling. Turn off heat and add zest. Set aside.
• If bread is a few days old and a bit stale and hard, just use it as is. If it’s fresh soft bread, toast in a 350 degree oven or toaster to dry out a bit before using. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes.
• Whisk yolks, sugar, and vanilla into cream until fully incorporated.
• In a loaf pan or half-size casserole pan, arrange half the bread in the bottom and pour half the cream mixture over. Sprinkle with half the chocolate. Repeat with remaining bread, cream, and chocolate. Press mixture down with the back of a large spoon or your hands, so it’s tightly packed in and all bread is moistened.
• Bake at 250 for about 20-30 minutes, until custard is set but wobbly. Serve warm with ice cream.

It occurred to me that I always take lots of photos of food and shops and streets and signs when I travel to faraway lands, but I rarely do so in my own town. San Francisco, after all, is a major tourist destination, and there are LOTS of interesting things to photo right here in my own backyard. The area around Bryant and 24th Streets, for example, is a slowly and funkily gentrifying old-school Mexican neighborhood that’s colorful in more ways than one, and it’s a prime spot for a mini photo journal.

The one, the only, the original- the garish Roosevelt Tamale Parlor sign is a long-standing beacon of this ‘hood. Cute and quaint, with great… wait for it… tamales.
Roosevelt Tamale Parlor: 2817 24th St. between Bryant and York.

Is there possibly a better name for anything than “Discolandia?” Hmm. I think NO. Love the color scheme and stark, slightly askew, sans-serif all caps action as well. No idea what it’s like inside, as woefully I’ve never actually BEEN inside.
Discolandia: 2964 24th St. between Florida and Alabama.

I have always loved the Taqueria Vallarta sign, for many reasons. For one thing, I find it so mysterious that they didn’t make one more segment on the sign so the bottom one didn’t have to share 2 letters. Also, the vertical orientation makes it completely unintuitive and tricky to read what it says. And need I mention it’s cool Mexican flag colors? Still, this case of branding gone majorly wrong hasn’t prevented them from sticking around for years and years. Probably because the tacos are good and they’re open for gorging even after the bars close. But that’s just a hunch.
Taqueria Vallarta: 3033 24th St. between Balmy and Treat.

A positive piece of gentrification- some young hipster folks saved and resurrected this decades-old icon. They brought back all the best bits (like glass jars of candy on the counter and thick homemade shakes) and updated the worst bits (like greasy blah diner food) so you can get all the nostalgia PLUS all of the tastiness. The cheddar, scallion, bacon pancakes are my favorite!
St. Francis Fountain: 2801 24th St. between Bryant and York.

This is a closeup of a taco shop sign. It totally creeps me out. Check out how the big pig is happy to be being roasted, while the little pig on the right appears to be roasting and possibly spearing his own child pig in another pot. What kinda sicko painted this thing and how did they think it would inspire me to eat carnitas?
Crazy pig painting: I don’t remember where exactly this sign is, but I think it’s roughly opposite Discolandia.

“Burbujas” (boor-BOO-huss) is inherently a funny word (meaning “bubbles) but I’ve always thought it was made additionally funny by the addition of “Mr.” Not Señor Burbujas, not Mr. Bubbles… Mr. Burbujas. The bra and underwear jauntily painted on the window and the Florida Street murals in the background add to the scene.
Mr. Burbujas: SE corner of 24th and Florida.

Soda-themed skateboard decks in the window of Mission Skateboards, a new gritty-cool skate shop.
Mission Skateboards: 3045 24th St. between Balmy and Treat. (The sign is just a circle with an M on it.)

I don’t know if it’s the trash cans, the tagging, the metal cage, the stark stenciled letters, or what… but I think “Fountain of Life Church” is stretching it just a tad…
Iglesia Fuente de Vida: next to Discolandia

I love the word “Mexica-tessen” and the funky Brady Bunch font on the lit up sign. Somehow the font plus the palm tree always make it seem like it should be in LA. You can get killer tamales, fresh masa and homemade tortillas.
La Palma: 2884 24th St. between Florida and Bryant.

Newcomer Sugarlump is a sweet cafe with a lovely back patio and a sexy 70s fireplace. You might think Tina Fey glasses and shiny Mac laptops are required for entry, but they’ll sell you an organic fair trade cup of coffee even if you’re sans specs or carrying a (gasp!) Dell.
Sugarlump: 2862 24th St. between Bryant and Florida.

I like that you can buy a bra AND send a fax in the same place.
Manuel’s Store: Incongruously right next to Sugarlump.

If you want fancier underpants hit up Candy Kitchen which sells absolutely no candy, just fancy, pretty, pricey lingerie.
Candy Kitchen: 2807 24th St. between Bryant and York.