What a surprise! The SO made red velvet cake for me us on VDay as a real treat. This lovely homemade version is from my grandmother's recipe, one she purloined from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York back in the late 40's or early 50's (details are a little sketchy). This is old school red velvet, not that new fangled version with cream cheese icing. This one is chocolate cake made from scratch with food coloring to get the brilliant red velvety color. The icing is a cooked one made with flour, milk, sugar and that most special of ingredients--Crisco. Yeah, I can see all you folks out there blanching, but believe me when I tell you the combination works, creating an icing that is smooth, creamy and not too sweet. A great counter balance to the sweetness of the cake itself. This was always a special occasion cake in our family and both my grandmother and mother made this in quite spectacular tasting versions. Since neither is around anymore, the SO has made it his mission to re-create the best version possible and with each iteration, comes closer and closer to the best. Of course, as we all know, no one ever makes things as good as our parents, but the fact they try, makes it very special. Each time I have a bite it will always bring up fond memories from childhood of birthdays and holidays with the family. It's an extremely difficult cake recipe to make as you have to be quite exact and when cooking the icing--it burns and curdles easily. Needless to say, I appreciate every time he whips one out and relish every bite for the both the effort and the memories.
- That bastion of kitsch and crap food Sinbad's may finally be on it's way out after cluttering up the waterfront with tourist trap food and prices for like forever.
- Willie Brown likes Mourad. I'd probably like a free meal there too.
- Spring, Summer and whatever is returning to SF and thus returns Off The Grid to both Fort Mason and The Presidio.
- Ugh, bone broth, stock, soup without stuff in it. Call it what you want, but this fad makes even me hate foodies. Here's my rant all about it.
- It's family style dining in San Francisco, if you can afford to actually have a family here.
- The Alembic is bringing back their Girl Scout Cookie cocktails because, why not.
- Hahahahahahaha.....hopefully they make better pizza than signage.
- 10 most Instagrammed restaurants in San Francisco--visit at your own risk.
- Mr. Holmes Bakeshop suffers recipe theft--guess he better call Dr. Watson and get on the case!
- An inside look at Bar Tartine's pantry, because you know you wanna see.
