meals third wheels

My fellow lover of tiny things discovered Minneapolis is more her speed, but I'm glad she had to share my sleeper couch for a week to determine that. But the visit did remind me of how sweet Minny was seven months ago. The next time I go back will hopefully be for a wedding, but until then...
One stop at Empire was enough to satisfy the coffee shop/bakery craving.

Versus the three stops at Tartine that were apparently necessary for J&J.

Tartine assortment

Currently nursing uninspired and unchallenged with nostalgia.

Every time I have to refill my flour bucket from my 25lb reservoir (which is frequent since Tina was born, by the way), I think about our elevator history show at the flour museum. I think about flour dust in the air causing explosions and forming little dough balls in my lungs. I think about my fear of heights from the top of the mill.

The last time I had a papaya salad, I was unenthused. It was kind of flavorless and not very cohesive.
But the time before that, I had an eye-tearing, ear-sweating, mouth-burning one from a modest stand at the Hmong market at Jared's recommendation, where you can customize your spice level as someone nonchalantly makes it right in front of you. 

My favorite thing about SF (which is also probably everyone's favorite thing about SF) is the greenery right next to the asphalt and concrete. There are mountains all around and bodies of water everywhere else, and I relish feeling like I'm getting away from it all without having to drive too far at all. I like my food with a view. Or a feeling. Just the atmosphere. Like the time we got seafoods by the park with a waterfall at Sea Salt Eatery.

And I deliberated during the entire line before landing on fried fish tacos to eat with the rest of my papaya salad.

Speaking of fried foods, we came up with some pretty agonizing would-you-rather scenarios on the way to tapas at La Marcha. Would you rather give up grilled things? Or fried things? This is not a decision I can comfortably make despite it being hypothetical. In the end I said I'd give up fried things...
And then we proceeded to order patatas bravas with spicy calabrian ñora sauce, croqueta trio (champiñones, bacalao, pollo), and calamares fritos with cumin salt and squid ink aioli. Hmmm, and we're back to agonizing over a life without things dunked in liquid fat or a life without things thrown over a bed of charcoal.

Which kind of brings us to the question that started it all: would you give up rice or potatoes? My head literally hurt just thinking about it. Because on the one hand, I am clinically dependent on fries. But on the other hand, I'm Asian. And my RBC's work hard to carry little grains of rice throughout my body to keep me alive. There were days I'd "snack" on a bowl of plain white rice with some random condiment after school. So in the end, I had to choose to give up potatoes. So it only seemed appropriate that our main meal was paella mixta with shrimp, chorizo, and chicken. Definitely missed the crispy bottom, but you really can't go wrong with rice stewed with pork and shellfish.

It's not hard to tag along with J&J. Their priorities are my priorities. And our priorities are foods. Fancy foods. Sweet foods. Unique foods. Fast foods. No discrimination. Nothing off the table or out of the question. Jules kept getting distracted from her Neapolitan shake (and second In n Out burger) because Jared was excited about the fact that CA has a Hawaiian fast food chain. With a super elaborate and confusing menu, by the way.  Something quick and dirty at Ono after a rough day and a half of glamping was just what we needed before showers all around and a long nap for Amelia. Ended up with Kalua pork, fried white fish, and Island fire chicken because the cashier misheard my order.

A meat heavy meal like this felt like it needed a giant glass of beer. Something that could double as a dessert like a peanut butter porter from Dangerous Man. Oh man, I miss this beer.

By the way, if you ever find yourself with a fridge overflowing with leftovers after a week and a half of visitors... throw it all in a fried rice. Call is garbage rice. And eat it all for breakfast.
Leftover fried rice from work lunch.
Pork and tofu stir fry from Sichuan Style with 'rents.
Mushroom and leek from short rib dish.
Pickled veg and sauce/dressing and cilantro from grill out.
And eggs from the tray of 5 dozen eggs I bought at Costco on a whim.