Introducing Auntie Em's

I apologize for my lack of blogging. One of my BFF's asked why I haven't posted any recent foodventures and quite honestly, it's due to time and laziness:/ I know, they're poor excuses but it's the truth.

I'm going to rewind back in time to 2 weekends ago. I spent the weekend in South San Francisco hanging out with my cousins doing what we do best: shopping, eating, and partying. I love South San Francisco mainly because of it's plethora of Filipino restaurants. Drive down El Camino and you'll discover more than a handful of restaurants to choose from. Hmmm..maybe I should start a Filipino food crawl..

One of the best parts of the weekend was the discovery of Auntie Em's, a tiny Filipino-American infusion bakery. Auntie Em's display and packaging of Ube ensaymada (sweet bread with purple yam), mango squares (similar to lemon bars), cupcakes (ube, buko pandan, and red velvet flavors), and kopi roti bun (sweet bread from Malaysia with a coffee flavored crust) will keep you wondering what to buy because everything looks deeeellicious:) Auntie Em also sells the traditional Filipino desserts like Ube halaya, sapin sapin, maja blanca, and puto bumbong.

You'll most likely be greeted by Auntie Em when you walk into her bakery. My cousin and I loved this place so much that we went back the next day to buy more goodies to take home. "You girls are back!" was one of the first things Auntie Em said when we walked in. We're officially nieces of Auntie Em and hopefully she remembers our faces when we return. The drawback is there's no seating area due to the small space. Add a few tables and coffee menu and this would be the perfect place to catch up and gossip with your girlfriends.

Next door to Auntie Em's is my favorite Filipino restaurant thus far: Karilagan (Tagalog for splendor). It's my favorite because of the cute server, it's next to the bakery, and their dishes are reasonably priced and well portioned. My favorite dish is the crispy binagoongan. You're probably thinking, "WTF is that?!" I was wondering the same thing. It's crispy pork sauteed with bagoong (shrimp paste), tomatoes, and onions served with fried eggplant. Another dish I recommend trying is the sizzling bangus (fried fish topped with onions and their specialty sauce served on a hot plate). If you have high cholesteral, I don't recommend eating either of these dishes;)

I can't wait for my friends to visit. I hope they'll enjoy Karilagan and Auntie Em's as much as I do:)

Dolce Vita

Santana Row was a popular spot for me to hang out during Labor Day weekend. With its plethora of fine restaurants and upscale shops, Santana Row is where you'll find the socialites of Silicon Valley. It's family-friendly during the day, and bustling at night with men and women on the prowl. After a late dinner/drinks/cousin bonding with Shastyn we both wanted coffee from Cocola - a French bakery filled with pastries galore! Their cakes and tarts look like pieces of art that you'll contemplate what you want because everything looks WAY too good to eat. Cocola always has a line and there's rarely available seating. With its outdoor seating this would be the perfect place to sit outside, people watch, or read a book and pretend you're in France or Italy with your glamorous shades sipping on a latte and enjoying a tart or mousse. Now ain't that the sweet life?! Santana Row will take your senses to Europe with its scenic landscaping, water fountains, and outdoor dining. Oh yea, I can't forget to mention they have Kara's Cupcakes and Pinkberry:)

Rage of the Ramen

The past 2 weekends in the Bay Area have been rainy and cloudy-it puts you in the "climb into bed and read a book" mood. When living with my Aunt it's, "let's go out and eat soup" kind of day. One of my recommendations for soup is trying out Maru Ichi, a ramen noodle house in Milpitas and Mountain View. I've been here twice and have ordered the same thing: Combo B with Shoyu (vegetable or beef based broth mixed with soy sauce). The fixings include bamboo shoots, hard-boiled egg, beef, nori (seaweed), and green onions. All the combo meals come with 1 or 2 sides (california roll, unagi served with rice, or potstickers) depending which one you order. Their Shoyu soup is fabulous-it's light, not too salty, and the half hard-boiled egg adds a little creaminess to the Shoyu. I prefer this over Vietnamese pho soup simply because they don't use MSG. Oh yeah, their fried chicken is unlike any other chicken i've had. It's super crispy, thinly cut, and if I would've known earlier about their chicken I might've brought a little container of vinegar and garlic as the dipping sauce! There are a handful of ramen places in the Bay Area that it will eventually catch up to the number of yogurt places i've seen thus far. I like the Milpitas location because it's nestled in a strip mall filled with other restaurants, stores, and sweet shops filled with moon pies and fresh pastries that make your mouth salivate.

After dinner my 9 year old cousin always asks, "What's for dessert?!" What can I say-i'm proud of my little cousin:) Anyway, we decided to try a chain cafe next door to Maru Ichi called Quickly. Yea, their name is a little odd but their waffle with nutella is to die for! I thought of buying Eggo waffles and nutella but it definitely won't taste the same. My little cousin loves egg puffs. I can't explain what egg puffs are so I found their website (http://www.quicklyusa.com/quicprod.html). All I can say is try it because you will like it! And if you don't like it then you can at least say you've tried it!

My colleagues and I finally had a luncheon today.We decided to stay close to work and try Banana House a block away. The best part of the luncheon was: 1. Food was free (paid by work) 2. The company. It's a Thai restaurant and their food was eh-okay. I ordered #53: Pad Nuer Nam Man Hoi. Not sure what it stands for but it was sliced beef, onions, carrots, and mushrooms in oyster sauce served with rice and a side salad with a curry dressing. I'm not a fan of curry, but I still tried the salad and it was okay. We also ordered calamari and their pieces were huge! The consensus at the table was their food was good but oily, and their service wasn't the greatest. First, it took about 10-15 minutes for our waitress to greet and take our orders. Second, my food came last and I had to ask a different waitress where my food was because the other one was MIA. Third, I ordered a Thai ice tea to go and I had to wait an extra 10 minutes. I cracked up when my colleague Erik said, "It's thai ice tea, not rocket science." I guess you just had to be their to think it was funny:) Haha! Banana House is fairly small-there's a few tables for outdoor seating with upper/lower level indoor dining, but probably less than 20 tables altogether. We ended up on the lower level because there was 6 of us. They had a flat screen TV that played "Mr. Bean"-I thought that was strange. Maybe CNN or ESPN-but not Mr. Bean! Next time i'll order take out.

I'm craving something sweet

For those of you who don't know, I moved back to the Bay Area after 17 years of living in Minnesota. I was able to find a job in San Francisco with the same company i've been working for since 2004. It's sort of a long story and I don't feel like going into detail but to sum it up-it was truly a dream come true for me. Don't get me wrong- I miss my family and friends a lot, but I needed a lifestyle change. I'm sure I could've made the change in Minnesota but I needed to veer away from my comfort zone and moving has always been a goal of mine. I have always wanted to work in a big city (ok-San Francisco is only 7 miles by 7 miles) but I still think it's big! The city is scenic (when it's not foggy or cloudy), I feel like there's always something to do, and most importantly I love all the eateries and shopping! I work in the Financial district of SF-which is near Chinatown and walking distance to Union Sqaure. I can see the Coit tower and Transamerica building from my work-I LOVE it-especially when the weather is gorgeous.

Anyway, my coworker and I have been exploring places to eat during lunch. And like today, we'll sometimes do a little shopping after work. I wanted to check out a clothing store on Sutter Street called NE Q&J Boutique. They have cute coats and clothing but nothing worth buying. On our way out I noticed there was a candy store next door called Fiona's Sweetshoppe (http://www.fionassweetshoppe.com/). Fiona's is tiny but ADORABLE. You walk in and there are jars and jars of candy. Everything from the setup to their packaging is appealing to the eye. They also sell chocolates from England. I bought myself a Cadbury Flake, a Kinder Happy Hippo biscuit (made with milk and hazelnut) and some football shaped candy filled with fizz. I first tried a Cadbury Flake from my good friend Karen. She brought some home as a pasalubong when she went to Australia, or maybe it was Singapore. Anyway, Cadbury Flakes are TO DIE FOR! It's basically thin layers of milk chcocolate shaped into a candy bar. I haven't tried the Kinder biscuit yet-sounds like a doggie treat but when I saw there was hazelnut I had to buy it! I had the football shaped candy on my way home from work and they are pretty good! This is one place i'd like to take my friends when they visit.

I am sure I will have more to share. Until next time:)

The best of...

The best of San Francisco. I don't know what it is about this city, but I love love love it! One of the reasons is their food. From the local eateries to the commercialized restaurants, you have it all. Not to say you can't find either in other major cities, but finding a place to eat is easily accessible and affordable in San Francisco. I recently took a trip to California and had the opportunity to venture the city on my own. One of my favorite places I went to was Tart to Tart located in the Inner Sunset neighborhood on Irving Ave. The weather that day was gorgeous so I decided to sit outside and catch up on Facebook while I was waiting for my cousin to get off work. I ordered a iced vanilla latte and pear almond tart. It was more of a cake consistency than a tart, but I didn't complain because I do love cake! And the glazed pear that topped my generous slice made it even better. Tart to Tart is affordable and their menu is eclectic ranging from muffins, danishes, tarts, cheesecake, cakes, and cookies to name a few. Tart to Tart was featured as one of the many 'Places to Seek' when visiting San Francisco on a website I stumbled upon: www.dreamworld.org/sfguide.

Switching from talking about sweet eateries to more sweet eateries, I was anxiously awaiting to try Genki Crepes. A few months ago my cousin posted a picture of a Genki Crepe on Facebook. It looked TO DIE FOR that I immediately messaged her that she is taking me to Genki when I visit. So after our dinner at In N' Out burger on a Thursday evening, we head to the Richmond neighborhood where Genki is located (Clement Street). Genki is not only a place for crepes, it's a little Korean grocery store filled with so much goodies! The only aisle I was at was the one filled with candy. But back to their crepes, you can order an ice cream, dessert, or savory crepe. I ended up ordering the mixed fruit crepe filled with nutella and whip cream. Once the crepe is filled, it's folded into a cone so you technically don't need utensils, unless you have ice cream. I thought it was the best part of the whole experience because you can walk around and enjoy your dessert! Finding a place to sit can be difficult, especially when it's busy because 1) Genki is little and 2) Not a lot of chairs! If I lived in this area I would probably be at Genki everyday.

Cupcake Craze

I try my best to resist sweets/dessert after a meal, but I can’t help myself! My ultimate favorites are chocolate, cake, and cupcakes. I’m not afraid to try new flavors, so I can’t say I have a specific favorite at this time. Cupcakes are truly the perfect dessert because it’s the PERFECT size to satisfy the palette for something sweet and is suitable for any occasion.

Those who know me know that I love the city of San Francisco and the Bay Area itself. I was born and raised in San Jose until the age of 9, so I have a lot of memories and it’s where my Dad’s side of the family resides. I always make it a point to visit my family every year and have been doing so since I was in the eighth grade. I love it when my family takes me to a new or favorite eatery, or when we discover a new place to try during shopping trips.

Last summer a friend and I took a trip to San Francisco since she has never been there. One of our many visits included Ghiradelli Square. It’s a major tourist attraction filled with boutiques and the famous Ghiradelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop, walking distance from the Cable Car and Fisherman’s Wharf. My friend and I noticed a cupcake shop called Kara’s Cupcakes. Most of their ingredients are organic and locally grown. We were hesitant to try anything because we satisfied our sweet tooths earlier in the day with blueberry filled chocolate and chocolate pretzels. But all their cupcakes looked so beautiful and delicious that I ended up ordering the Rasberry Dazzle (my profile picture is from Kara’s Cupcake). The frosting wasn’t overly sweet and the cake was moist enough that it didn’t break into crumbs when you cut into it. If you don’t want to wait in line to order dessert at Ghiradelli, walk over to Kara’s Cupcakes (www.karascupcakes.com).

I love the Bay Area so much that some of my blogs will be about my favorite eateries in the area.