TrelayneNYC

B and I prefer non-alcoholic drinks whenever possible, although there are times when I'll drink wine. This was ok - turmeric grapefruit soda with cardamom. Interesting on paper and nothing to write home about. On the other hand, it wasn't very sweet which I did appreciate. Toast points, warn goat cheese with raspberries and plums Way too much toast and it shows a stunning lack of imagination for $16. Baked butter beans, feta, oregano pesto and breadcrumbs Seared duck breast, fried wing, shelling beans, arugula, shishito peppers Rotisserie chicken, smashed cucumbers, figs and croutons Very good. The red sauce is romesco which provided just enough piquancy without being overbearing. I would not have thought of the combination of fruit and croutons, which worked to my surprise. Grilled broccoli with anchovy, breadcrumbs and lemon On the other hand, the vegetable side ($10) was not as successful. These spears were basically raw minimally cooked and I don't know about you but I am over "tender crisp". Would not order again. Peach cobbler, candied pecans, corn ice cream The dessert was probably the best thing we ate and forgave the sin of being enveloped in a cocoon of sound.

We ate here on Saturday night, and I'll upload the pix when I get home later tonight. Great food and service but the room is a cocoon of sound and as much as I loved the experience, I'm not keen on returning. I don't like straining just to be able to hear my tablemate. In the interim, here are some reviews you can read: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nopa-san-francisco https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/Nopa-at-10-The-restaurant-that-built-a-6892082.php https://www.timeout.com/san-francisco/restaurants/nopa Nopa 560 Divisadero Street (Hayes Street)

Probably a week, maybe two. I'd be interested to know for sure since canning isn't one thing I'm familiar with and I'd like to branch out into that territory.

We had dim sum in Chinatown on Saturday, then stuff from a Chinese bakery along Grant Street. Besides the usual siu mai, potstickers and noodles, there were also these: Beef tripe with ginger, chile and scallion Fried taro balls, stuffed with shrimp and pork Shrimp and chive dumplings Roast duck, soybeans Black sesame paste rolls

Caesar's salad Cioppino Hot fudge sundae (there were other things not shown here, and the first two were at Anchor Oyster Bar and the last at The Castro Fountain, both on Castro Street between 18th and 19th Streets in SF)

Pan-seared shishito peppers, Maldon sea salt Braised French breakfast radishes, slow-roasted cherry tomato confit Cranberry beans with garlic, herbs and prosciutto di San Daniele

2 kg lamb shanks marinated in a mixture of olive oil, salt, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and turmeric for 36 hours Thursday dinner for four: Moroccan braised lamb shanks with saffron, preserved Meyer lemons and potatoes Mixed greens (scarola, bietola e spinaci) with anchovy and garlic Apricot, plum and pluot galette

Tomato salad sandwich 1/2 kg heirloom tomatoes, sliced 3 garlic cloves, minced 15 ml red wine vinegar 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil 5 imported Italian anchovies 20 g capers pinch of red pepper flakes salt black pepper Italian parsley sprigs basil leaves French bread

Spaghetti alle capesante 60 ml olive oil 3 garlic cloves, minced pinch of red chile pepper flakes 30 g minced Italian parsley 1/2 kg sea scallops (or you can sub bay scallops instead) salt black pepper

We went to Nari on Saturday. It's Pim Techamuanvivit's new restaurant. Pluots with pork, shrimp, peanuts, garlic, coriander roots and coconut sugar Watermelon with sweet and salty crispy trout and shallots Haricots verts, torn chicken, peanuts and sesame, coconut-tamarind dressing Spicy squid, sticky pork jowl, spicy chili-lime vinaigrette and peanuts Ribeye, prickly ash relish, grilled scallions, grilled sticky rice, served with herbs and vegetables Massaman curry - lamb shank, grilled onions and nectarines Rice dumplings, raspberries, coconut milk syrup, pandan oil, rice tuile Makrut lime curd, strawberries, sweet crisp rice Total bill was $330 for two people with tax and a 20% tip. There were some wines, a cocktail, tea and coffee. We'll be back, of that you can be sure. Nari 1625 Post Street (Laguna Street) Japantown Highly recommended.

Pot roast 1 1/2 kg boneless chuck 2 onions, quartered 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 4 celery stalks, sliced 2 parsnips, peeled and sliced 2 large turnips, peeled and cut into wedges 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges 1 head of garlic, top sliced off to expose most of the cloves underneath 50 g unsalted butter 15 ml sunflower or canola oil salt black pepper 50 g tomato paste 1 rosemary sprig 2 bay leaves 350 ml pinot noir or merlot 900 ml beef stock

Don't be this guy: "Almost Everyone Sucks in this Tale of a Man who Tipped 74 Cents on a $119 Meal" by Jenny G. Zhang on eater.com

CF has historically been one of the worst restaurants to work for. It earned a spot on a list of establishments with zero ratings in 2012 according to ROC United. https://rocunited.org/2012/06/yahoo-news-the-worst-restaurants-to-work-for/ So the next time you go to a place like CF, consider that the $ you spend impacts a great deal more than just the restaurant's bottom line. --- I have a cousin who lives in the middle of *gag* Kansas who thinks The Cheesecake Factory is manna from heaven. (We're no longer on speaking terms, for reasons I probably can't get into due to board rules.) There's no accounting for taste, is there?

I'm sure my driver was glad for the chance to make some real money instead of the usual $8-$20 fare that's typical of most Uber rides in SF (based on personal experience with the service).

I don't drive nor do I have a driver's license so this tip isn't terribly helpful to me, plus it doesn't get me to my residence directly I prefer Uber as much as I loathe them. I would take a yellow cab from the SV office if I could but I don't think those are nearly as convenient.

I'm sure you can use the usual Uber/Lyft I once took an Uber from my firm's office in Silicon Valley back to our apartment in SF. It cost about $50 and took roughly a little over an hour. Shouldn't be too difficult to get to/from Napa.

- 78% of US workers live paycheck to paycheck - 48% of older Americans have no retirement savings - 42% of Americans make less than $15/hr - 40% of Americans hold a second job - 45 million Americans hold $1.65 trillion in student debt and I personally have doubts as to whether we'll exist as a country in the next decade or so so while I think a meat tax would do wonders for the well being of the planet, there are other considerations in the queue I copied those stats from the Twitter feed of https://www.citizen.org/ - so it's a good bet they're not made up.

1/2 kg cranberry beans, shelled 2 crushed garlic cloves Italian parsley sprigs water salt black pepper olive oil Beans were simmered for 40 minutes, then combined with 30 g diced prosciutto di San Daniele and seasoned with more olive oil.

For breakfast on Sunday, I made a batch of caponata: 3 eggplants, cubed olive oil 4 celery stalks, diced 1 red onion, sliced into wedges 20 g capers 5-6 tomatoes, diced 4 garlic cloves, minced 100 ml red wine vinegar 30 g sugar salt black pepper This was a hit with hubby and we served it with toasted pita and some soft-boiled eggs. I think I'll make it again next weekend...and double the recipe. Adapted from Polpo, page 246.

We had meatballs on Saturday. This time there was no bread or milk in the meatball mix - which consisted of 150 g ground pork and 75 g ground chuck along with the usual herbs (parsley/mint), cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Sunday was minestrone (sorry, no pic) which had no tomatoes and featured the following ingredient list: onion carrot celery Italian parsley olive oil zucchini butternut squash green beans Swiss chard escarole cranberry beans prosciutto water salt black pepper elbow macaroni This was garnished with generous spoonfuls of garlic-herb breadcrumbs (250 g stale bread, diced, combined with olive oil, salt and black pepper, then baked to a crisp and whizzed in a food processor along with some minced garlic and a few sprigs of Italian parsley).

Privacy depends on people keeping things off limits - if you never say X about Y, how is Z going to know? As of today, 99% of my content on Facebook is gone. Disappeared, eliminated, obliterated, etc. They really make it hard for you to leave but I managed and it's been extremely liberating.

Had dinner here on Sunday, celebrating my partner's birthday (which technically occurred in June): Octopus with lemon-oregano vinaigrette Fried smelts with garlic-potato skordalia Bacon chop with pork chicarron, potatoes and lemon Grilled lamb chops, lemon-oregano vinaigrette, roasted potatoes Bread pudding with berries and whipped cream Greek yogurt with nuts and honey We concluded that the things to eat at Kokkari are lamb and fish which makes sense since those are the dishes that Greek restaurants usually do well. The chop was not as successful as the server had made it sound (too rich, not flavorful enough). With a couple of glasses of rose wine, coffee and tea, this dinner came out to $255 with 20% tip.

Crostini di prosciutto e fichi, served with melon 4 slices toasted bread 1 garlic clove, crushed 60 g ricotta cheese 100 g prosciutto di San Daniele 200 g figs extra-virgin olive oil salt black pepper

Insalata di zucchine 200 g stale bread olive oil 1 garlic clove, minced pinch of peperoncino flakes salt black pepper 3 zucchini, sliced into ribbons 150 g mesclun Meyer lemon juice

This was dinner last weekend - Green beans braised in tomato sauce Braised chicken with wine, olives and tomato My partner had to spend most of July moving his parents from their assisted living spaces in Texas to a new assisted living space/nursing home in New Jersey, then he had to go back to Texas along with his sister to help sell the house. While he was away, I basically spent the intervening time living on takeout since I lost all motivation to cook. Not sure how I survived when I was single...