It's getting all Chrismukkah-y around the apartment.
There's peppermint ice cream in the works and latke recipes being perfected. There are menorah candles being unpacked and egg nog to make...
There are dreidels about and dragons lording over the tree... It's officially Chrismukkah season people! Time to mix, bake, light, fry, roast, freeze, fry, fry & fry.
Here's to the mulit-culti whirlwind of a San Francisco Holiday Season!
Erin
Over the weekend I treated myself (and Designated Eater Mimi)to
a Wok Wiz Tour. Wok Wiz is a fantastic culinary walking tour of San Francisco’s
Chinatown founded by Shirley Fong-Torres.
It was difficult to get up early on a Sunday morning but it was worth it. We met in the lobby of the Chinatown Hilton where our very friendly tour guides greeted us, split us into two groups and hustled us out the door. Our guide Gimmy was really great.
Gimmy
She made the tour personal by sharing images of her family and interweaving her family’s personal history with the historical notes and facts she gave. It really helped to connect the history with a living, breathing human.
Gimmy shuffled us through Portsmouth Square, which is the heart of Chinatown. It’s here that even native San Franciscan’s feel like they’ve been transported to China. Little no English is spoken and sound of the men playing gambling games is pretty intense…especially on a Sunday morning. From there we visited paper-making shops, Buddhist temples, herbalists, bakeries, delis and other points of interest.
Each cookie...by hand!
I have to say that among my favorite stops was the fortune cookie factory where you are given a warm cookie to munch on while you watch the (somewhat gruff) ladies fold each cookie by hand. I also liked the Chinese hospital, which truthfully, I never knew existed. Gimmy made this stop more than just a spot of architectural interest by letting us see copies of the bill her mother received when our guide was born there.
I really enjoyed stopping off at Red Blossom Tea Importers as well. Peter, the son in this family run business was funny, charming and captivating as he explained the tea trade and brewed us a sample. The tour concludes with your group having lunch at a Chinese restaurant where you munch on dim sum (Heart’s Delight) and a few staple, “non-exotic” (read “not scary for Midwesterners”) dishes.
I do wish I had opted for the more culinary intensive (more expensive) “I Ate My Way Through Chinatown Tour” but I enjoyed myself. The tourists in my group had a grand time and I really would recommend taking out-of-town visitors here or if you come for a visit… taking the tour yourself.
The cost of the basic Wok Wiz Tour is 40$ (includes lunch).
More information can be found at:
www.wokwiz.com
1-800-979-3370
Enjoy!
Erin
So we had just a teensy-tiny Channukah party on Saturday. Ok so 25 people in 600 sq feet may not be super teensy but we had a really great time. The reason the party was such a success? Bubbe’s latkes!! If you don’t know Bubbe you can check out an interview with her on Chowhound here or check out her videos here. Bubbe is just a Jewish grandma making yummy food for her grandson Avrom. For Bubbe food is love.
Bubbe offers up two latke recipes. She has one recipe on the site for the shredded, chunky kind and one on the video for the smooth kind. Mimi asked that I make the smooth ones because those are the kind her grandma made. It’s very simple- just watch the video and you can get the recipe nice and easy. I had to add a little more flour than she recommends because my potatoes were watery but it worked out just fine.
I cooked these up in a few batches and kept them warm in the oven at 200*. When these hit the table (with sides of sour cream and applesauce of course) it was like wild hyenas! Ms. Mimi even declared “These taste just like the ones I had as a kid” I can’t ask for more than that can I? One guest thought the little golden disks of goodness were so good that he was even um… pretending to …. um make sweet love to the platter of latkes.
The reason for the blurry photo? The wild animals attacking the platter who pushed me aside!!!
The funny thing? These almost didn’t get made! I was in the process of finishing my Masters thesis this week and the timing of this party was the Worst. Timing. Ever. I was actually contemplating using tater-tots!!! I’m not kidding. I figured I could pull it off as kitsch. Yeah … no. Mimi would have been crushed. I’m so glad that I sucked it up, out the books away and made these. They were so good that it’s been decided that these will be on every brunch menu from now until … ever.
I HIGHLY recommend you check out Bubbe and give these a whirl!
ENJOY!
Erin
I live in the Mission District, a neighborhood long associated with the Mexican community (Don't even get me started on which taqueria is best-- it's too personal and highly subjective). Now everyone who lives within a 5 city radius of San Francisco knows that we consider Halloween a national holiday (we-go-BIG), but not many people realize that there is also a sizable Dia des los Muertos celebration!
I love walking around my neighborhood and seeing all the marigolds, candles, paper streamers and alters. I also adore the sugar skulls that an old college roommate taught me how to make. 
I decided this year that I wanted to take part in the big celebration put on in my neighborhood. This is not related to Halloween, it is very much it's own thing: a celebration to honor the dead. Food, music, color, candy! The parade takes place on Nov. 2nd and at the end of it everyone brings flowers and candles to place at the big community alter. Another item that people put out is Pan de Muerto or Bread of the Dead. I decided I'd give this a shot. I found this recipe on Chow. It just didn't seem right though. Heat the oven then let the bread sit for an hour? Two packets of yeast? I decided in the end to go with this recipe:
Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead)
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup very warm water
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 teaspoon anise seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons sugar
Instructions:
Bring milk to boil and remove from heat. Stir in margarine or butter, 1/4 cup sugar and salt.
In large bowl, mix yeast with warm water until dissolved and let stand 5 minutes. Add the milk mixture.
Separate the yolk and white of one egg. Add the yolk to the yeast mixture, but save the white for later. Now add flour to the yeast and egg. Blend well until dough ball is formed.
Flour a pastry board or work surface
very well and place the dough in center. Knead until smooth. Return to
large bowl and cover with dish towel. Let rise in warm place for 90
minutes.
Meanwhile, grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Knead dough again on floured surface. Now divide the dough into fourths and set one fourth aside. Roll the remaining 3 pieces into "ropes."
On greased baking sheet, pinch 3 rope ends together and braid. Finish by pinching ends together on opposite side. Divide the remaining dough in half and form 2 "bones." Cross and lay them atop braided loaf.
(I just couldn't get these to look right so I made skeleton heads instead!)
Cover bread with dish towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix anise seed, cinnamon and 2 teaspoons sugar together. In another bowl, beat egg white lightly.
When 30 minutes are up, brush top of bread with egg white and sprinkle with sugar mixture, except on cross bones. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.
I also decided that mine needed a little oomph. I wanted mine to look a little more like the sugar skulls so I added frosting and decorations. 
These came out sweet, yeasty and I have to
admit... heavy. I love the licorice flavor of the anise and the sweet crunch of the sugar crust, but I think these are best left as an offering. They are certainly sturdy enough to be able to stand up on the alter for a few days!!
I had a great time learning about the history of these little treats and I loved thinking about what they meant while baking them.
During my lunch hour I popped over to the Thursday afternoon Farmers
Market in the middle of the Financial District and scored some fantastic long
eggplants and a few, true to the name, purple and white ones that look like
well…. eggs. I also managed to nab some of the sweetest, seedless Princess
grapes on the planet, a handful of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and a monster
zucchini!
While I waited for the non-veg items to make it home from the market I got right to work on this:
Yaprakes de Berenjena (Eggplant Rolls with Tomato Sauce)
Pg. 62 from Joyce Golstein’s Sephardic Flavors
Now, I’m one of those cooks that rarely sticks to the recipe on the page. I am all about substitutions. I think this was born out of being a poverty-stricken grad student for so many years. One just can’t always afford all of the required ingredients or the time to get them, now can one? So I will give you the recipe as written – with my changes noted. Sound good? Ok.
For the eggplant:
2 Longish globe eggplants
Olive oil for frying
2 Eggs
Salt
Peel the eggplants vertically in a striped pattern. Cut in half lengthwise and then cut each half crosswise into slices about 1/3 inch thick.
Pour olive oil to a depth of ½ inch into 1 or 2 large sauté pans and heat over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl until blended. In batches, slip them into the hot oil. Fry, turning once, until golden on both sides and cooked through, about 8 minutes, adding more oil to the pan as needed. Using tongs or a slotted spatula, transfer to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle lightly with salt and let cool.
(Right here I’d love to show you a photo of my mile high stack of golden-fried eggplants, but alas, my camera’s battery died right after I shot the veggies! I put it on the charger and got just enough juice to shoot the results)
For the tomato sauce:
8 Ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (here I used one large can of San Marzano tomatoes- the ones from the market were mealy)
2 tsp sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
Pinch of cinnamon (I used pumpkin pie spice- because I love nutmeg too)
1 Ripe tomato, sliced
Combine the tomatoes, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and form a sauce, about 15 minutes. Stir in the olive oil and cinnamon. You will want 2 ½ to 3 cups of tomato sauce.
While the sauce boils away and the eggplant is cooling, make the meatballs.
For the meatballs:
½ pound ground beef, not too lean
¼ cup fresh bread crumbs (I used about
1/8 cup Matzo meal crumbs – we had it, I’m not gonna waste it)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 small onion
Combine the meat, bread crumbs, onion, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and form into walnut-sized balls, making them slightly oval.
Take 1 meatball at the bottom of each slice of eggplant and roll up. Place the eggplant rolls, seam side down, in a wide sauté pan. Cover with the tomato sauce and then with the tomato slices. Place over very low heat, cover and simmer until the filling is cooked, 20-30 minutes.
Here is my steaming sauté pan of Sephardic goodness!
Top with 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts and serve hot.
TA DAH! Nice huh?
This was declared to be a, and I quote “BIG HIT” from the resident Jew… although she claimed that it needed cheese (umm so not Kosher). The “serve hot” bit of the recipe… I say hold off for a few minutes actually. I burnt the living daylights out of my mouth! There is no skin left on the roof of my mouth ……yummy. While I am skinless, it was very much worth it! This dish was surprisingly easy, and so so tasty. I think this might just be that new 'company’s coming let me ‘whip something up’ dish' in my arsenal. I highly recommend the pumpkin pie spice—it is just fan-tab-ulous.
Enjoy!
