travelogue part 2

The roots...

Who was it, do you think, that first pulled a root out of the ground and said "I bet I could eat that"? They must have been ravenous.

There are some fruits and vegetables that are naturally appealing. Imagine the symmetrical pleasing shape and smooth texture of soybeans, for example. If you can't eat them, then I just might wear them for earrings. Berries, freshly picked, or even a tomato, bursting at the seams with summery moisture and acidic flavor - these seem to be natural sources of food. However, when you take something ugly and alien, and make it delicious, you have gone in another direction entirely.

There are plenty of seemingly odd foods in the grocery store now. But the practice of boiling, baking, or frying a potato is no longer pushing the envelope. Besides a double-dog dare, I don't know if there are many times where I have eaten something I wasn't quite sure about, before my trip. Before the pilgrimage, everything I have eaten resembled food. (Let's not talk about those chicken nuggets.)

As we all know, the first part of food that you experience is how it looks on the plate. That is why I prefaced my next anecdote with this nod to good looks. All the plates at Ubuntu were more than pleasing to the eye. They were artfully presented. They were also thoughtfully planned and masterfully executed. What may have looked like unfamiliar territory quickly flowed into a naturally progressing and complete meal.

The menu (with wines in italics)

amuse bouche
SHISO ice, regina olive oil, maldon salt
carta da musica, ROOTS, burrata

blackened MELON with BASIL & avocado
HOT PEPPER vinegar, sinskey’s kieffer lime, agua fresca
chateau lascaux rose, languedoc ,france, 2007

chickpeas a la catalan
red pepper tears, MINT, romesco, TOMATO toast
zaca mesa viognier, santa ynez valley, 2006

potato gnocchi with CIPPOLINI crème fraiche
GREY SHALLOTS roasted in their skin, LADY APPLE
havens albarino, carneros, 2007

SUMMER SQUASH scented with our vadouvan spice
FICOIDE GLACIALE, beer-battered BLOSSOMS
robert stemmler pinot noir, carneros, 2005

poached domaine de la chance egg with morels
porcini financier, NEW ZEALAND SPINACH, smoked corn
long meadow ranch cabernet sauvignon, napa, 2003

“o’ henry” peach poached with LEMON VERBENA
champagne sabayon, nectarine, wild fennel almonds
pope valley , late harvest chenin blanc, napa,2006

vegan carrot cupcakes with tiny candied CARROTS

baby lady apples with BAY LEAF caramel and our granola

I have never tasted shiso before, or baby lady apples. I have never thought to sample a leaf from the focoide glaciale plant, although that one I hadn't seen before. But it is really not about about what I didn't have before I got there, it is about what I carried away when I left. I tasted the hillsides in Napa through the innovative chefs at Ubuntu. The local farms that provide the ingredients also provided me with an unforgettable experience. I don't want to be shocked by my food, but I relish the rare experience of the new and different in an unforced environment. Naturally.

More dirt: Honorable mentions from the plant kingdom

1. The truly sumptuous truffle oil fries at Fog City Diner

2. The meatiness of the squash blossoms on the flatbread and balanced and crispy fried green beans at Coco 500 pleasantly surprised me

3. "I'm sorry this took so long, we had to pick some more mint from the garden" Southern Belle at Julia's Kitchen (vodka, lemonade, cucumber and MINT).

4. The briny and delicious olives from Oakville Grocery

5. The cucumber gimlet at Cortez

oh, travelogue - my culinary pilgrimage

Where do I even begin?

What was my latest journey, you ask?

Well, perhaps I have been distracted by the journey through the move. The journey into the boxes, and into the new house. The journey into fresh paint and sticky packing tape. The journey into a new kitchen... but that is another story. I am afraid to tell you... there has been little cooking in the new house. Just cooking up ideas and reading up on another journey.

San Fran. Frisco. What better place to begin a new chapter of the ravenous Texan? Arguably the culinary capital of the United States, San Fran is home to some of the best meals I have had all week (and all year!), so this is where I will begin this new portion of the blog. The part where I will tell you what I think of food that I did not cook.

Highlights from a culinary pilgrimage in descending order:

Hog Island Oyster Bar

Bouchon in Yountville

Ubuntu in Napa

Coco 500 in Soma

Delica in the Ferry Building

Fog City Diner

Rye

Julia's Kitchen at COPIA

The Ambassador

The Cortez Bar at the Adagio Hotel

Market Bar

The Clift Hotel (if I am cool enough)

the Sangria at Cha Cha Cha (skip the food)

How should I dissect this list? Shall I separate it into drink and food? They are both culinary journeys of course. Should I go through each meal in detail, recounting every taste and smell? Nah. I will tell you the parts that I savored.

The parts that made me close my eyes and say "remember this."

Those parts are here, and if you want more of them, you can look at them on this page where I have begun posting pictures.

Part 1

The icy cold and slippery saltiness of the oysters consumed on my trip may cause me to start looking for more coastal employment. What is brine anyway? Did you know that most oysters actually call more brackish water their home? Why do some grow to be so large and fatty, and some stay so neat and tidy in their shell? These are not the things I think about when I think about an oyster. I think about being a mermaid.

In another lifetime, if you believe in all that, I was a mermaid. I was not one of those animated mermaids that made friends with all the fish. I was a mermaid who went looking through all the oyster beds for every last one. No pearls, tabasco, cocktail sauce, or crackers, thanks. Just Kumamotos, Sweetwaters, maybe some Malpeques. Just make sure its cold and that there is a slice of lemon lying around somewhere. I have not always been a purist. I have also not always written about the food I eat. You learn when you dissect.

Plenty of peeps that came before me have given their shout out to the oyster:

I don't know if he was an aficionado, but Lewis Carroll made an impression on me as a young oyster pursuer. Perhaps it was the anthropomorphic oysters that pleaded for their life with no success against such foes as the walrus and the carpenter. What a sad and happy tale all at the same time.

"An oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life..." - MFK Fisher

"Secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." - Charles Dickens (from A Christmas Carol)

"He was a bold man that first eat an oyster." - Johnathan Swift (coming from him!)

So, I will not be so bold as to say that I am one of the founders of the Oyster Fan Club. I know there are many who have come before. I am just standing in line, waiting for my membership card.

Perhaps it is all the sea that we cannot drink that is filtered through this perfect specimen of

muscle. Perhaps it is the noble life it leads to get us there, pumping and pumping...filtering and syphoning to get us to that sweet and salty kiss, so creamy and crisp all at the same time. Maybe that is why I adore them so.