Eggs with artichoke and havarti

Yup, more eggs.

I made soft boiled eggs, and put them over artichoke bottoms, on which I had melted a piece of havarti cheese over a slice of Canadian bacon. It was delicious. The artichoke bottoms were from the refrigerator, however. They were too cold. it would have been better if I grilled them a bit first before I melted the cheese over them.

This is similar to a design it myself Benedict I order at one of my favorite restaurants: Croissants du France on Doral St. in Key West. They serve eggs in brioche, and used to have an artichoke Benedict. As is my curse, it is off the menu, but they still make it to order when I come. I get it with black forest ham and Hollandaise. This was similar enough.

Food tour of San Francisco

I just went to San Francisco for the ACOG convention. I managed to get in a fair amount of munching and food shopping. I even took a few pictures. Here is a wrap up.

It started in the airport. I forgot to bring ginger, which really helps me with motion sickness. I was happy to find a sushi kiosk where they let me take unlimited packets of pickled ginger. My traveling mates and I were a little alarmed by the suggestions that we put the chopsticks in our ears and nose.

I had grass fed steak tartare at A Girl and A Fig in Sonoma. It was delicious and tender, but a wee bit heavy on the Dijon for my taste.

Their other dishes looked delicious. My friend got a cheese sampler that was excellent.

We went to the Mayo Family Winery in Glen Ellen. The wine tasting was wonderful. I especially liked the Meritage and the Cab, which were really drinkable. The Pinot Noir was smoky and interesting, too.

The next morning I got a fresh mojito while overlooking the Bay to Breakers run. That may be one of the coolest events I have ever been able to witness, and I have been to Mardi Gras and Fantasy Fest.



We waited for more than an hour to eat at Mama's for brunch on Sunday. It was worth it. I had a shrimp benedict. My friends had a crab omelet and the cranberry french toast. They were all delicious, generous, and well made.

We went to Trader Joe's and to the Rainbow Co-op, where my old friend works in the produce department. My buddies and I had fun in the bulk department at the co-op. I secured my crystallized ginger for the flight back. One of my roommates got 2 buck chuck - a two dollar bottle of wine from Trader Joe's. It was surprisingly not toxic.

I had good Tom Kha Guy from the Thai restaurant in the hotel. The cafe across the street had delicious breakfast burritos that they made fresh with avocado. Even the welcome reception at the convention had good food, with some delicious pasta with black truffle oil. Anchor Steam, one of my favorite beers, was plentiful every where I went.

I didn't manage to get the best meal on camera. I got invited to a sponsored meal with Academic Ob/Gyn (thanks Sage!) at the XYZ restaurant at the W Hotel. It was fabulous. I had a picked beet salad, and an English pea and marscapone ravioli, with this scruptious light fresh green sauce. So delicious. Tiny, tiny servings, and everything was so good you felt compelled to share. I think they tried to mention that it was supposed to be tapas style, but the menu was grouped into courses, which made that difficult.



We went to Fisherman's Wharf. I got sourdough with havarti cheese melted on it. Umm, yummm. The place we got the bread (I forget what it was called) had a great little gourmet shop where I munched my cheesy toast and drank my Anchor Steam. If my bags weren't already overstuffed I would have bought out the place, with its cute utensils, books on cooking with artichokes and fig spreads.

Substitution nightmare

I decided to make Moo Shu pork for some reason tonight. I had a weird assortment of pantry and fridge items, and figured I could pull it off. I sort of followed this recipe for Moo Shu Pork, and was going to follow this recipe for a gluten free hoisin sauce, which was already pushing it.

Well, we just started rolling out the pancakes when I figured out I didn't have any soy sauce.

None. Not a packet, even. I am almost ashamed to admit this: I used Worcestershire sauce. I swear. I am hanging my head in shame. I went through the trouble of making Moo Shu from scratch with pancakes from scratch, fresh scallions from my yard, and I didn't have any soy sauce.

Actually, it wasn't half bad. Z had a whole one, S had a whole one (he had already eaten pizza), Picky ate FOUR, I had three. Picky has never had Moo Shu, and he loved it. I hate to think what he'll say when he eats some made with real hoisin sauce and real soy suace.