Popular... I know about 'Popular'

No this isn't going to be about Dique's glory days at SI, nor mine at HMBHS. This post is slightly more, well, WICKED than that.




On May 9th Dique and I took his mom to see the Broadway show Wicked, and we loved it. I, true to my musical-theater-geek-self immediately went home and downloaded the soundtrack on my iPod. I'm listening to it now, in fact, for my daily does of showtunes. Mmmmm. Showtunes. They always go down smooth.


Dique, MamaB and I have all read the book. We all enjoyed the book. The musical is not really like the book very much at all. It's been Broadway-ized: happy endings, punchy tunes, fabulous costumes and lots of dry ice. The musical originally showed in San Francisco on it's pre-Broadway run, and this is it's first time back in the Bay Area since then. There's been months and months of advertising - Dique and I have both been shocked out of sleep when the clock radio turns on mid-way through a long high note about defying gravity. We had planned seeing the musical since Christmas, but the wedding threw a wrench in the plans so May would have to suffice.


The theater was sold-out and everyone was really excited; we had great seats and full tummies after a yummy dinner at the nearby Soluna. The set looked magical and the lights went down as the orchestra lit up. The music is great in the show - great and very loud. So loud that it sometimes overshadowed the lyrics - I feel like I've enjoyed the show more now that I own the soundtrack and have listened to the words. But, again, I'm a huge musical-theater geek.


The gist of the show, whether you hear every word or not, is simple: the green witch is misunderstood and very deep, the blonde cheery witch is happy-go-lucky and popular. Polar opposites, they surprise themselves and others when they form a strong friendship. It's a sweet story set in a fantastical world, and anyone who is as geeky as I am would love it. I will probably want to see it again at some point, because I know I missed certain elements due to the sheer overstimulation of the production.

Just, maybe, next time I'll bring some ear plugs.

Supper Club: Enchanting April at Incanto

Last week Dique and I attended April's Supper Club gathering at a little Italian place in Noe Valley. The woman who coordinated the dinner really wanted us to go to Contigo which sounded delicious, but unfortunately the restaurant had "an emergency" and weren't able to take us. We hoped it wasn't a kitchen fire or something and joked that someone called in a private party request that was bigger than the seven of us. Fingers crossed it was the latter.

Sidenote: that's the thing about Supper Club, depending on the day we could have as few as five people, or as many as fifteen. Usually we end up right around 8-10 people, which is just enough to feel like a party, but keep the volume level and the bill relatively low.

Dique and I had heard about Incanto not more than two weeks prior when we spoke to some friends about neighborhood delights. These friends consistently find good restaurants - often by the time the Chronicle's Top 100 comes out, they've already dined at 75% of them (and that's only because the other 25% aren't in San Francisco Proper, but are in the North, East or South Bay Area). Raving about the food, the decor, the service - they said we'd love it, that it was authentically Italian.

Well. We must have caught it on an off night, because it felt pretentious, stuffy and stiff -- three traits that I don't classify as Italian - non per niente! Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed what we ordered, but the service was overbearing and the food, while good, was too gussied up. It was like they were trying to put a French spin on otherwise simple Italian food which rendered a meal of tasty fussiness.

That's the short story. Here's the long one:

It was a blustery evening in Noe Valley and we were all eager to get in, get seated and get a glass of wine. It was Monday, at eight o'clock, the restaurant was a quarter full and our table was ready - naturally I was confused when my friends said we couldn't be seated until our whole party had arrived. Really? Because I see a whole bunch of empty seats. Normally I'm perfectly content to wait at the bar, have a drink and relax while the stragglers arrive. But that's because the place is packed, not because it's policy.

Eventually we convinced them that we'd ALL BE HERE, PROMISE and they sat us. We eagerly accepted the menus and the one dish we'd all heard about: the sweetbreads. Sweetbreads are a house specialty and always mixed into the menu somehow. Here's their most recent sample menu, pulled from their website:

Sample Dinner Menu

Starters
House-marinated olives $4

Artichoke soup, mint & croutons $6

Spring lettuces, soft herbs, croutons & Zinfandel $7.5

Little gem lettuce, cherries, cherry-balsamic & Blu del Moncenisio $8.5

Shaved porcini, nepitella, lemon & Parmigiano $14

Grilled apricots, rucola & pistachios $9

Marinated local sardines, celery, citrus & radish $10.5

Surry ham, Brooks cherries & pickled peaches $11

Grilled beef heart & warm marinated mushrooms $12

"Pea brain": calf's brain, peas & tarragon $13

Antipasto platter (for two) of Boccalone artisan salumi, roasted garlic& marinated vegetables $20

Pastas
Handkerchief pasta with rustic pork ragù $16Mint malfatti with beef brasato $16/$10

Spaghettini, Sardinian cured tuna heart, egg yolk & parsley $16/$10

Trofie with ramp pesto, morels & potatoes $16/$10

Baccalà ravioli, garlic, lemon & parsley $17/$11

Entrees
Sweet pea, mascarpone & lemon risotto $17

Boccalone sausage, smoked escolar, ruby crescent potato& horseradish crème fraîche $20

Whole sanddabs, asparagus & oyster-sorrel cream $20

Local lingcod, nduja, clams & chickpeas $21

Braised pork shoulder, radishes, fava beans & grilled red onion $23

Pastramied Cornish game hen, braised little gems, pickled ramps & rye $22

Veal breast, sweetbreads, multi-grain polenta & pickled green walnut salsa $25

"Leg of Beast": Beef shank, with sides, served family-style for 6-8 persons (one week's notice please)

Sides
Summer squash, garlic & basil $5

Charred shitakes & scallions $5

Plate of Frantoio Olivestri DOP Umbria extra-virgin olive oil $3

Desserts & Cheeses
Bay leaf panna cotta, berries, saba & amaretti $8

Flourless chocolate cake, malted vanilla-strawberry ice cream $8

Cream soda float & double-chocolate chip cookies $8

Preserved plum granita with rhubarb compote $7.5

Raspberry sorbetto $7.5

Selection of Italian cheeses served with accompaniments:
$7 each or plate of three for $15

So... the leg of beast sounds interesting, too bad we didn't call a week ago and order it. Dique and I have decided that we will go back with friends, for the beast's leg because that just sounds too barbaric not to try. Otherwise, we ordered the olives, and man, they give you a LOT of olives. If you're one of those people constantly craving salt, go here, eat olives and be in bliss. I will say that the portions at Incanto are Italian-esque, slightly more than enough while still being half the size of anything at the Olive Garden.

I had a pork chop with fava beans, carrots and a chutney - it was definitely tasty, though the chutney was a bit over-powering so by the end of the dish it's all I could taste. I will say that now I want to cook with favas because I've seen them in multiple menus and am intrigued. Dique ordered pasta, mint "malfatti" which translates to "poorly made". Basically it's a simple pasta dough that's been cut at odd shapes/sizes. Lots of mint had been blended into the dough and the flavor was good and strong. The pasta was accompanied with a lamb ragu. Lamb + Mint + Pasta = English/Italian food? Dunno, Dique liked it, so that's what counts. Our friend Charles ordered the sweetbreads, which Dique tried and said were tasty, if you can get your head around what you're eating.

For dessert, Dique delighted in the float and cookies, which seems to be a regular and is a perfect dessert in my book. Nostalgia AND Yumminess? Yes Please. I couldn't resist beet ice cream (mmmmm beets) and flourless chocolate cake. Beet ice cream is one I'll be trying soon at home, it's sweet and such a beautiful deep pink color. Even Dique, who has yet to appreciate the beet as much as I do, thought it was a good kind of interesting.

As for the overbearing service, it was just a little awkward: we were a group of nine people at table against a wall next to another table for two. This means there was a lot of "reach across" in order to serve the other side of the table. We suggested they just leave the pitchers of (sparkling AND still, at no additional charge) water on the table, but they weren't keen on that idea, so I felt like we were constantly talking above or below arms. I'm normally not that picky about service, as long as the person is pleasant and doesn't call me fat, I'm cool. But I tend to appreciate servers who wait to be summoned instead of hovering, but I guess that's the faux-Italian in me. I love how you don't get the check until you've asked for it in Italy, but that's because I love lingering.

In the end, it was a really good night. The food could have been dressed-down a bit whilst maintaining ample style, the servers could have simmered, but all in all - we ate, drank and were merry. And that's what Supper Club is all about, anyway.

Supper Club: Some Background

One of my favorite things about Dique is his community of friends. Having lived here most his life, many of his friends date back to junior high school, if not elementary. One of the lovely ladies from his schoolboy days is our friend red-haired Molly, or Molly L., who started a Supper Club a few years ago. She is also a native San Franciscan so her social circle and city knowledge are to be envied -- which means more friends and good foodie finds for us!

Follow these simple steps and you, too, will have a monthly supper club in your area!
1. Make list of people you love, and people you know who love food.
2. Email all of them saying:
-Let's start a monthly supper club - I'll be in charge this month.
-[Enter name of restaurant you want to go to] is where we'll be headed this month.
-These are the dates on the table for dinner [enter dates that work for your calendar -- we try to avoid Saturdays and Sundays because people are busy with other plans]
-Send link or as much information about the restaurant as you can so people can get excited about the venue, food, etc.
3. Wait for responses, and book a reservation accordingly.
4. Go to dinner and have a grand time.
4a. Make sure someone has a calculator for dividing the check.
5. Ask for a volunteer for the next month's gathering.
6. Rinse and repeat.

Bada Bing. Bada Boom. Instant good times.

When Dique and I started dating, he'd have these "supper club night with Molly and her friends" that we would schedule our time together around. Eventually I was inducted into the Supper Club Hall o' Fame, but it took a while for the invite. If I'm being honest, I was a tad jealous of the Supper Club gang. He's hanging out with women? And he's going out to THAT restaurant that I've been dying to try? WTF?

You see, Dique and I spent many (many many) nights and days of courtship in the kitchen. Sure, we occasionally went out to dinner, but we love cooking and cooking together. It's one of the things that drew us closer - we realized very early on that we could cook a meal we'd want to eat in a restaurant and we could ensure the music was just right. Another benefit is that there was no corkage fee for the wine we brought. That said, we love going out to restaurants. And frankly, it's a combination of my very favorite things: reading menus, talking about food, eating food and having food brought to me. A little bit o' heaven.

The problem is that in this city there are so many places to eat and limited dollars to spend on them. Yes, there are cheap eats (and you can bet your proverbial bottom dollar I will blog about them) but for the most part, dinner for two at a notable eatery is $50-$75 after drinks, shared appetizers/desserts, tax and tip. A couple of times a month won't break the bank, but some of us have a mortgage to pay... and if you think restaurants here are expenses, try real estate.

I digress.

Supper Club is a great way for us to have an enforced "night out" where we can try new places or visit old favorites, have good conversation and not empty our wallets completely. We mostly try to pick places that are two dollar signs -- reasonable, doable and generally delicious. Sometimes we find a spot that's an economical gem, and other times we leave feeling we paid Neiman Marcus prices for a Macy's brand. However, we never regret the dinner. Ever. When we've laughed and eaten and we're headed home, we always are happy to be part of the club.

She Bangs

Me again, with your afternoon dose of vanity.

Did I mention I got bangs this weekend??





My mom and I were trying to figure out the last time I had bangs. We decided it was at least 20+ years ago, when I was still wearing pink bunny slippers and jammies that matched.

I think I always liked bangs, because I'm really excited in the picture below and yet I was never into being a Brownie. Heaven knows I'm saying HOORAY about something, and I doubt that something is my fancy sash.

Sidenote: The 1980s were so, so cruel fashion-wise. And this picture is proof that I was always and will forever be a huge dork.

And now for something completely different...

Remember when I told you about our honeymoon and our adventures in Mexico (in-between the endless dessert buffets)?

Well, we got our pictures back from the first excursion, the "Outdoor Challenge" in Puerto Vallarta. This day included riding on mules, zip lining over jungle canyons and repelling into streams. We were indeed very outdoorsy, even if Dique's helmet was too small and my harness gave me awkward bulges.

Being unattractive has never been so exhilarating! We hope to zip line again, and definitely recommend it to our pals who want to do something literally off the beaten path.

Here are a bunch of the photos of the day - enjoy!

One Man's Trash

On Saturday, April 18th, Dique and I had our first garage sale, or as we liked to call it, our "Moving On Sale". Merging two adult lives makes for a lot of stuff - hers, his, ours, our parents'... our garage has been packed for months and we desperately wanted to clear it out. Making some extra cash was a bonus, the real goal was getting things GONE.

We had hundreds of CDs (that we've burned onto computers and ipods), DVDs, books and kitchen items that have been upgraded thanks to the wedding registry system. Dique put out hundreds of comic books - but fear not, he only put out duplicates or issues he didn't really want (there are thousands more where those came from and they will always remain happily in the house). I put out loads of shoes, clothing that lived in storage for the last seven months and wasn't missed. All in all, we had A LOT of STUFF.

Dique was the lead on Operation Good Riddance. He posted and updated an ad on craigslist.com the week prior to the sale. He even managed to sell some bigger items the night before the sale so we could start with $44 in our pockets! I have to hand it to him, for a novice garage sale-r, he worked the crowd, and made the most money for us... all while enjoying a lovely mocha in his monkey mug.

I, on the other hand, hung up posters in the neighborhood to advertise our sale. We said the sale would be from 10am - 2pm, which of course meant we had people out front going through boxes as we were setting up at 8:30am. I am generally a pushover (you want three pairs of decent brand name jeans for a nickel? sure!) but I did hold my ground against a woman who was determined to buy the farm for $0.50, and decided to keep both the hula hoop and the old perfectly fine typewriter, because both things are cool.

When I wasn't selling my old clothes for a quarter a piece, or drinking champagne whilst hula-hooping in the street, I was taking pictures of my haircut.

I got bangs. I dig them, and Dique loves them, so I'm keeping them for a while.

At the end of the day we made $300 and got rid of at least half of our stuff. The rest we'll donate and finally we'll be able to use our garage to store stuff we want to keep. Now if only we can stick to that "one thing in, one thing out rule"... otherwise we'll be having an Annual Operation Good Riddance Extravaganza!

"When my sugar walks down the street...

...all the little birdies go 'tweet tweet tweet.'
And in the ev'ning when the sun goes down, it's never dark when he's around."

I love Ella Fitzgerald. She sings the kind of songs I want to sing lazily in the kitchen while stirring risotto as the sun sets. I put her music on when I want to really enjoy whatever it is I'm working on: making a meal, wrapping presents, planning a party, covering a lampshade. She makes me calm, centered and focused. And she makes me wish I could really sing, especially a song as sweet as When My Sugar Walks Down The Street.

I hadn't heard that song until a couple weeks before our wedding, and happened upon it accidentally. We wanted to make, and had always planned on making, a wedding CD as one of the favors for our guests. Music is such a big part of our story and lives, we wanted to reflect that and create a Soundtrack of Us, if you will.

Most of the songs had been selected long before our wedding day - heck, we met at a Journey revival concert where we couldn't escape Don't Stop Believin! Our first dance together was at a birthday party where a quartet plated Ain't That A Kick In The Head - the Barenaked Ladies song Easy would pop on the radio far too often when we first started dating. It seemed the music was choosing us, and not the other way around. And when it didn't, we were happy to dig through piles and files of tunes to find the perfect little ditty.

When it came time to burn the mix, I couldn't find my CD containing Ella singing Sunny Side Of The Street. A minor hiccup, I searched for a replacement. We needed a song that represented our time spent walking - we needed a song that represented our love of walking.

You see - Dique and I are professional pedestrians.

Yes, we're homebodies. Yes, we're totally happy watching three movies back-to-back-to-back on the couch. Yes, we'll eat whenever food is available. But we like going outside, getting some ocean-infused air and checking out the city on foot.

In the early stages of dating, we would make pancakes on a Saturday morning, and then set out on a long meandering walk. One of my favorite memories is walking down through Golden Gate Park, along the Pacific, through the Presidio and then? Having a fatty feast of carbohydrates and cheese (Monte Cristo sandwich and a Shirley Temple, yes please!) at Liverpool Lil's. It was heaven. We walked up the staircase on Lyon Street and back home through Alamo Square, the Panhandle and eventually wound up on the couch in front of three movies, which we happily watched back-to-back-to-back.

The thing is, to us, walking is not only a mode of transportation or a good way to get some exercise and Vitamin D. It's how and when we talk the most. Tough discussions about mortgages, budgets and credit scores are a lot easier when you're holding hands. Maybe the magic that San Francisco shares on a sunny day also helps grease tricky wheels. Whatever it is, walking = talking and it works for us.

These days Dique and I walk to work together two days a week, normally Wednesdays and Thursdays. He often will walk to and from work independently of me - these are the days that I have a morning run, or an evening workout planned. When we walk together we have to leave the house around 6:45am, so that we can both be at work on time. The route is more or less the same: walk up to 19th Avenue, enter the park, cross in-front of or behind the de Young Museum, pass the rose garden and into the Richmond District. Sometime we go up California, sometimes we go up Lake. We've stopped going up Clement Street after a pigeon episode that rendered my pink fleece jacket dirty and smelly (lots of telephone poles = lots of birds on wires = Tuni yelling "I've been shat on! I've been shat on!" at 7:15am on a Thursday morning).

(Did I just digress into a tale of poop? I did. I apologize.)

We drop each other off on Broadway and Webster around 8:00am, Dique goes down the hill to his office, and I go up and over the Broadway Tunnel, through Chinatown to mine.

We get to see the city in the rising sun and lifting fog. We try to remind ourselves of how lucky we are. And then we settle in at our respective desks and enjoy a nice big breakfast that's NOT a Monte Cristo sandwich. Because they're bad for you (but very, very delicious).