Everyone knows what a microwave is but what’s a microroaster?  Bluebottle Coffee Co. is an artisanal microroaster founded by a freelance musician from Oakland, CA.and it is quite the “mircrorage”.  Finally a backlash to the mass produced, bulk roasted and somewhat burnt coffee beans that have furthered our addiction to the centuries old stimulant.  The name itself comes from the first coffee shop in vienna in the 17th century. 

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I love the font, bodoni, that they used for the huge address numbers on this building facade. The font ,bauer bodoni was originally designed by the Italian, Giambattista Bodoni, who was a typesetter for the Vatican back in the 18th century.

The bloated poster version used here was widely popular in the late 60’s and 70’s in graphic design. The original version of bodoni is very fashiony. You can find more information on this site, eyemagazine. I’m no typography buff, but i do know i like it and can appreciate anyone who can write two pages about the history of a font face. I like it so much i used it for wallflour.

SF trip itinerary

sat march 08:

1:30PM arrival

eat lunch somewhere quick

bi rite ice cream-  olive oil ice cream place?

heath ceramics store- seconds store!

6-8pm kevin taylor studio visit

chez panisse 8:30pm-  res made 

sunday:

brunch- mom / dad / godparents in los altos - noon

bar tartine dinner 8:30 pm - res made

monday:

swan oyster depot

spice place in mission-  SF herb co

nopa or make dinner?

tuesday:

slanted door 1pm -  res made

ferry building tour:

miette

boulettes- cute french pantry stocking place

de young museum - closed mondays

must go tuesday or sunday afternoon.-  jen make this ressie!

9pm flight home

******* 

In the past, my trips to the bay area usually get overshadowed by visiting all kinds of family.  I seem to miss out on all the culinary delights.  It’s like going to paris and not getting to shop at all or see the eiffel tower.  This time i made a point in getting all the places i wanted to go to in, including some very well known places like Chez Panisse and Slanted Door.

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I cannot say enough great things about San Francisco Herb Company.  It was not a fluke that my friend, jen and i went there.  Earlier in the week, before leaving Los Angeles, her husband, David, had asked me if i had heard of it.  I had not and of course was told ‘no, it’s not at the Ferry building, it’s cheaper and fresher’.  Done.  Sold.  Two of my favorite words in one sentence.  Ironically enough we were on our way to the Ferry Building to make our 1pm reservation at the Slanted Door.

It was a nice walk to the Mission area from where we were staying in Hayes Valley.  We were so caught up in walking and enjoying the nice weather that we almost missed the small, non-descript shop had they not had a red sign out on the sidewalk.  

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Famished from not having eaten anything but Mcdonald’s french fries at LAX 7 hours prior (yes, i have no shame-  airports and roadtrips are great excuses for fast food,) we didn’t want to spoil our appetites for our much anticipated meal at chez panisse in a couple hours.  

What a perfect time to have some ice cream.  I have been hearing about bi-rite creamery’s amazing sea salt caramel flavored ice cream.  This may be the best ice cream shop i have ever eaten at.  No exaggeration.  i’ve had ice cream around the world, italian gelatos in rome, italian ice in france, gelato in paris, ice cream at scoops in LA, gelato from pazzo gelato, etc etc.  None compare to bi-rite creamery. 

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Where do i begin?  i just received my shipment of “seconds” from the Heath Ceramics factory store in Sausalito, CA.  Yes, they ship and they are the nicest retail outlet ever-  they even gave my hungover and low blood sugar brother a cookie from miette, when he was sick of waiting for me to sift through the piles and piles of factory rejects.  I first learned of the factory store from my savvy, younger cousin, joyce mao.  she seems to know just about everything when it comes to shopping and style.  I like to think of her as a younger version of myself, but i think that is just complete self-flattery.  Anyways, she mentioned one dollar plates. This i had to see.  You can’t even get one dolla plates at ikea!

We bee lined it directly from the airport. We had missed our intended flight so arrived an hour later.  Feeling flustered and in my typical shopping frenzy upon arrival of sensing bargains to be had, i was even more stressed out by losing an entire hour of shopping time and had also skipped lunch. 

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I was just up in San Francisco a couple weekends ago and had a whirlwind food tour of the foggy city as a last farewell romp with my brother, Bruce, berfore his happy relocation to new york city.  I’m trying to get all my postings up, but in the meantime, i wanted to whet your appetite with a feast for the eyes that one can encounter in a unique urban landscape such as SF.

After walking to SF herb company, my travel buddy, jen, and myself headed towards the Mission street BART station.  Before leaving the house in hayes valley, we had mapped out our route to hop on BART and take it to the embarcadero exit to visit the Ferry Building.  This was a great idea considering we were loaded down with enough herbs to spice rub down an army of pigs.  

Much to our surprise, the BART station turned out to be quite a visual treat.  The entire entrance was covered in monumental concrete wall relief sculptures.  The sculptures took on an air of wall tapestries from that 70’s era.  After taking several photos of a fashion editorial worthy location, we got on our train.  The impression of this station has not left me.

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Lawson Fenning is one of my favorite furniture outposts in los angeles.  They have two locations, silverlake and beverly blvd in hollywood.  I haven’t been to the one on Beverly, but the one in Silverlake is so great and even has a art/design/rare books area in back called ivanhoe books. 

This was one of those store fronts that i would always drive by and never ventured into, something very common when you live in the neighborhood.  What i love about the silverlake location, is once you walk in, you really get a sense of a beautifully designed space and how the pieces could potentially look in your home.    It’s not souless and cold which can sometimes be a complaint of mine about uber modern furniture.  They carry a tasteful and understated line of their namesake designed pieces as well as unique antique and vintage pieces and home accessories from SF favorites like Roost.

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I used to hate french toast.  i still do - unless it’s made from brioche; stale, fresh, or previously frozen.  It all works, as long as you cut it about 1″ thick.  Brioche is an eggy somewhat sweet bread, yellow in color and oh so rich.

The most affordable brioche loaf i have found is at Trader Joe’s.  You can get about 10 slices out of it for 4 bucks.  Unless it’s for a party, what i usually do is get a couple loaves and freeze it right away.  With a sharp knife u can slice it when it’s frozen.  No need to defrost the loaf so just cut what you need and toss it back in an an airtight bag for the next time you have a hankering. It lasts about 2 months (possibly longer) in the freezer.

A local bakery in Atwater Village, LA Bread and Bakery, makes a great brioche loaf but it’s $18 and has to be pre-ordered.  It might as well be a brick of gold considering it’s about 4x the cost of a loaf at TJ’s.

The recipe that follow is for about 8 slices, give or take.  Serves 4-6.

Cut it in half if you are just making it for 2 people.

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Bacon lovers unite!   Last summer, while i was still giving birth to wallflour, some friends threw together a bacon brunch based solely on the fact that a few months worth of a gift subscription to the Grateful Palate’s, bacon-of-the-month club had been piling up in their freezer.  For shame!

Back by popular demand, i decided to host it at my place this time.  I don’t need a lot of convincing to have or participate in a food-related party, but to make the star of the party bacon? It was a dream come true!  There are entire websites and cookbooks dedicated to bacon.  Some even release a new bacon recipe everyday!

I once tried being on the Atkins diet. The best part of this diet was getting to eat eggs and bacon.

You either love bacon and think ‘this is the grandest idea ever’ or you think i am nuts and a complete glutton. My boyfriend is not a bacon fanatic. He likes it enough, but i don’t think he would order it by the slab, uncut, like i do. He wouldn’t go out and buy a bacon wallet or anything, or a bacon plush, like some people i know…

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