Belize, if you please

This is just a teaser. I have something much bigger for you, but I want to do it right and I need some tech-y instruction first. Belize Be patient..., um,... Please Be patient, I mean. There were many "first-time" experiences and you really should go and visit the former Britsh Honduras, but Belize keep it, (shoot, I mean "Please") somewhat secret, too many visitors will spoil the spell (shoot again, my wicked witch is showing her colors-green). We're just back and everything is almost too fresh, but stay tuned Belize....

Feast at Farina

This picture, taken with my iPhone, having repositioned two water glasses and a half-full water carafe in front of our table's little tea-light candle to refract/direct as much light onto the plate as I could, (as discreetly as I could), still turned out lacking-- it does the presentation of this dish NO justice. Here, the famous Mandilli di Seta al Pesto--the renowned Handkerchief Pasta with Pesto, a real honest-to-god invention of Genoa, Italy finally sits before me. I cut into it and almost took a bite before I remembered that I was going to write this blog post specifically about this dish. See the cut in the lower corner? Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself here. There's definitely a lead-up to this moment and it turned out...well...

Full Disclosure: This meal was a gift from the Dining Room Manager of Farina Restaurant--his name is Gabriele Originario. We got a gift certificate for two to his restaurant so that my husband-"D", a Concierge at a SF hotel, would recommend, naturally, Farina to enquiring guests. I heard the whole story at dinner that night. Gabby the Original was, apparently, quite "dreamy". This marketing effort on Gabriele's part coincided with the same-day distribution of the magazine San Francisco Dining: an advertising vehicle for San Francisco's hottest/"it" restaurants. On the cover?--a plate of Mandilli di Seta al Pesto from Farina, San Francisco.

"OK" I said, scowling, "You have to take me. I'll forgive you your mooning over Gaby O if I'm the one you take to Farina" --knowing full well that I would be the one.

Well it happened on my birthday and it was better than I had dared to hope.

Farina: met at the door by none other than Gabriele Originario. Yep, he was very handsome. I couldn't blame D. We were treated like kings and everything put before us was a surprise and a delight.

First: Scallops --two fresh half-dollar sized East Coast scallops seared with salt, no pepper upon a dollop of sautéed and then puréed radicchio paired with a dry Prosecco--off to a great start.

Next: (pictured above) the long awaited and anticipated Mandilli di Seta.** We could see from our table, behind a stunning marble counter that ran along the whole kitchen, fresh pasta being prepared for various dishes--pizza, tagliatelle, and best of all, the handkerchief pasta of which we were about to partake. It was absolutely delicious and, dare I say it, better than I remembered our experience in Genoa to be (see the backstory ** below). Paired with a tart Chardonnay.

Followed by: Tagliatelle with a Chanterelle mushroom wine reduction sauce. Awesome. Paired with a heavy and robust Red.

And then the Main Event: Marinated, crusted and seared tuna-belly with an eggplant and red/yellow pepper compote (D had to tell me to slow down and savor this--I was practically inhaling it). Paired with a Rosé that was a shocking reddish-pink color (best wine of the night).

And finally, a Sangria-like effervescent wine served first and then the dessert Panna Cotta with berries.

I'm going back again. And if you find yourself in SF, you should, too.

**Handkerchief Pasta al Pesto: I had this a few years ago in Genoa, the birthplace of Pesto. D had researched the best pesto restaurant in Genoa which turned out to be Da Rina, a family-owned restaurant where Rina, the matriarch, made a daily appearance. The pasta that the pesto was served with was the strangest and most intriguing I had ever encountered--like big sheets of pasta, lasagna-like, coated with pesto and extremely tender and deceptively filling. I have looked for this type of pasta ever since and until Farina, I have always been disappointed. Now I can get it whenever I can get in at Farina. If Gaby O reads this post, that may be often.

Mazatlan: My Favorite Things...

Please meet Lety. She is the matriarch and namesake of our favorite spot in Mazatlan. Actually, Lety's isn't in Mazatlan proper, but rather a quick, cheap boatride across a narrow shipping and cruise-ship canal to Stone Island. Which, again, isn't actually an island, but a long, gorgeous, unspoiled-by-development, coconut grove peninsula upon which several families have built restaurant concessions for visitors like us. We originally discovered Lety's by recommendation from the realty people from whom we bought our little casita in Mazatlan. Stone Island seemed to be mostly a secret among the locals. Lety once told us a story where an English speaking friend of hers feared she wouldn't get a lot of business except for the locals. Hilariously, while Lety's English is quite fluent, she understood her friend to say that her only clientele would be the "locos". You can imagine her indignation until the misunderstanding was ironed out. The whole story played out like the famous "Who's on first" joke.

Lety welcomes her guests as if they are family to her. Indeed, her family surrounds her; cooking, serving, making their guests feel comfortable and welcome. And that's just the service part. The food is incredible. It is fresh, made the way you want it, and served with a sense of pride. This was our fish platter--no tomato sauce and just a sprinkle of salt.

I just love the orange slices with the lime halves making up the fish's eyes. The Fish-for-Two was grilled to perfection and served with several different salsas, including our new favorite--a dark vinegar and garlic and jalapeño sauce I wanted to drink right out of the bowl. Add to that a fabulous margarita (secret ingredient: a splash of Sprite added as a finish) and fresh, warm tortillas wrapped in a cloth napkin. I wanted them to adopt me.

Lety's does very little marketing of her fabulous restaurant on Stone Island. I know some cruise-lines recommend Stone Island and charge their captive audience a lot more than is necessary to get there. On your own, it's only $2 roundtrip for the boat to the "Island" and Lety's (about mid-beach--keep going till you see her sign) is nothing if not a great value where you will have a fantastic afternoon and become part of her family.

Oh, and the beach is out of this world. Indeed, Lety lives in paradise and I envy her and love her, too.

A wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving

I would imagine that most people have a general idea where their Thanksgiving holiday of the year will take place. Maybe not. I suppose there are many who don't really celebrate this holiday. Or maybe they get invited to someone's home as Thanksgiving approaches, but had no prior plans. I don't remember any unhappy Thanksgivings, even during the very lean years when I first moved to expensive San Francisco and held temp jobs (where the agency took 50% of my earning power--yet, they did give me a job when I needed one desperately).

This year we hosted Thanksgiving on Surrey Street for the first time since 1996. I'll admit I was a bit nervous because, frankly, I was out of practice,Thanksgiving-wise-- having enjoyed other people's cooking, or chefs' offerings in restaurants (American and Mexican) for the past 13 years.

Now we're doing Thanksgiving at our own house. Naturally, I wasn't going to pull this off alone. My husband had it all planned out-- listed, timed, organized. This, above all, was the reason that, on THE day, it all came together with the least amount of stress we've ever had planning a get-together. Here's the recipe we followed for a great Thanksgiving that we shall not soon forget:

1) Don't stress the "we have to clean the house from top to bottom" instinct. We figure everyone loves us and won't care that we didn't repaint, retile, replace everything we should or would or could. "We'll bedazzle their other senses" someone once said.

2) Buy the turkey at least five, if not six days before Thanksgiving. Thaw it in the refrigerator for three or four days, brine it in a large plastic (garbage) bag for one day. Chill-air dry one day in the refrigerator, uncovered. Put it in the oven early, (8 am latest). Roast at 350 degrees for four (4) hours. When the thigh temperature reaches 170 degrees, remove, tent with foil, rest for at least an hour. Carve and plate.* (*it can't possibly be done *it IS *are you sure?, i'm not! *the recipe said 'it is done' OK?)

3) Commit to only a fixed amount of side dishes, and once decided, do not cave into the "we don't have enough food, we have to add ......." syndrome. This was the hard part. As we planned, we both had to remind each other of this rule. At the end of the day, we were right to hold fast to this tenet. Just go with the traditions, right?--Stuffing/Dressing, Potatoes (we had scalloped potato this year), cranberry sauce, green beans, yams or sweet potatoes, beets (not for everyone, I know, some like Brussel sprouts, eh?), and of course Turkey and Gravy. We made a pumpkin pie to which Iva gave her imprimatur and everyone enjoyed a one of a kind pumpkin pie-see above.

4) Tell everyone else they can bring us dessert. And if they bring anything comparable to my sister's RUM BUNDT --the only solid food you can get drunk on--

they go to the head of the class.

If you get yours, I get mine and so do my children and so on and so on...

I haven't updated my blog for a long time and certainly not during the month of November which is National Blog Posting Month, or something.

I feel guilty. I'm not measuring up.

I was apathetic.

Something Has Changed Within Me--

Something Is Not The Same.......

Except, my dog knows the difference, and I trust him...

The Witch's Forbidding Castle surrounded by a moat, Take one...

Another actress who doesn't know her lines. Well, the shoes fit...let's go to Take Two.

Ding Dong the Witch is...

fed..........up with everyone condoning the outrageous theft of her rightful inheritance. Those Ruby Slippers are mine, um, hers. Really, Dorothy had no right to them and most certainly provoked the Witch of the West (that's what Glinda called her, not the Wicked Witch of the West) by resolutely keeping tight inside them. It is entirely possible that, if Glinda hadn't so blithely thrown Dorothy under the bus by publicly stealing the Witch of the East's Ruby Slippers and slipping them on Dorothy (there they are and there they'll stay) the Witch of the West might have believed Dorothy's story and believed in her innocence in the accidental death of her sister, from whom she would had just inherited a very powerful pair of magical objects. If Glinda hadn't decided Dorothy's fate for her in that moment, who knows what might have happened. Maybe the Witch of the West, by virtue of her power and magic should have been the ruler in Oz. Instead, she was assassinated for simply wanting what was rightfully hers.