San Francisco

We had an awesome time yesterday visiting San Francisco with Haley and Tyler. Somehow, in more than 10 years of friendship, this is the first time Haley and I had ever been to "The City" together. Needless to say, it was glorious (or glonous). We went to the deYoung in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor by the Presidio. We saw some great art and ate great food.





We started with some mediterranean at Yumma's on Irving and 9th.

Then we went to the deYoung museaum at Golden Gate Park for a little culture.

After driving through the maze of one way streets, we made our way through Laurel Heights and toward the Presidio for the Legion of Honor. It was incredible. The building, the art, everything was spectacular.

By unanimous decision, we decided on some Italian in Little Italy. We were not disappointed.

Haley got squid ink linguini with mussels, calamari and clams.

Tyler got pasta with duck sauce.

Jeff got taglionlini with Italian sausage, porcini mushrooms and cream sauce.

I got the Tre Paste. Chicken ravioli with cream sauce, penne with pink sauce and gnocci with red sauce. I was in heaven.

Afterwards, we got ice cream at Ghiradelli. And some canoli and a giant palmiere for today. But one of the best parts? Hanging out all day with this lady.

It was a much needed getaway with some great company.

Shoes!

I bought new shoes! There are these:





And these:








But these are my favorite:


So I'm a little shoe obsessed! I have no problem with it.

Ben Folds!

Ben Folds was AWESOME! I loved it! He even had a great opening act. We even bought her CD. But the star was definitely Ben. It was just him and a piano. He has so many songs that it would have been too hard to play them all or even all of my favorites, but he played a great mix of so many greats. He even covered a few that were a surprise. Some of my favorites:

The Last Polka - One of my all-time favorite songs of his.

Not the Same - This was one of his encore songs. He got the crowd involved by having them sing the "ah" chord. It actually sounded really beautiful. Good job to us!

Such Great Heights - The second of his encore. I knew he's covered this Postal Service hit before adn seen it on YouTube, but it was even better live.

Purple Haze - Yup, he did Purple Haze on the piano.

Landed - Such a beautiful song

Oh, and both songs where he brought out the drums. So it was actually him, a piano and drums. He had stagehands that brought out pieces of a drum set one by one as he played them. He's actually a pretty incredible drummer. I was very impressed with the whole show. I can't wait til he comes to California again, because I'm definitely going.

Conan!

Yup, we got tickets and it was AWESOME! It was everything we could have dreamed it to be. He even brought the "Walker, Texas Ranger Lever"...oops! I mean the "Chuck Norris Rural Police Officer Hand Pull." For a guy that has never done standup before, he really nailed the whole experience. The only minor glitch was that the guy next to me weighted about 400 lbs, so I really only got half a seat. But the laughter more than made up for it. Sorry the picture sucks. That's what happens when you take pictures with your phone. I'll post some of the good ones when I download them from the camera.

Potato-Bacon Torte

I made this potato-bacon torte for dinner last night. It was quite delicious. I got it from the Food Network website. I forget whose recipe it is. The picture is also not mine, but I forgot to take a picture of it for the blog. Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

2/3 cup heavy cream

3 springs of fresh thyme

3 medium russet potatoes, peeled an sliced into rounds

1/4 gruyere cheese, grated

salt and pepper

2 pie crusts

1 egg for eggwash

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Put cream and thyme springs into a small saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Keep at a simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let steep while you prepare the torte.

Place a pie crust in a pie dish. Arrange some of the potatoes in a single layer and sprinkle with salt, pepper and 1/4 of the bacon. Repeat until you have 4 layers. Top with the cheese.

Remove the thyme sprigs from the cream and discard. Pour cream over pie making sure it seeps down between the potatoes. Place other crust on top. Crimp edges together. Beat egg and brush over top of pie. Cut a few slits in the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden brown and potatoes are tender. Let cool 15 minutes and serve.

Lysol's Terrible Marketing

I saw a commercial today for the Lysol No-Touch Soap Dispenser. Their selling point: it stops the spread of the bacteria that collects on hand pumps. Um, unless your soap doesn't work, the bacteria shouldn't spread becuase you wash your hands AFTER you touch the hand pump. So, really, it holds no water. Come on, Lysol, think about things before you launch a marketing campaign.

Perfection

I finally did it. I finally made the perfect pie. I rolled the dough into perfect circles, It fit the plate perfectly, in a word: perfect.

That was until a dog got to it. I come downstairs and half the top crust is missing. The rest of the pie was intact. No filling gone, just half of the top crust. But I just hold onto the fact that for a few hours, I had a perfect pie cooling on the counter.