bakesale betty

A few weeks ago, Heather and I went to a local bakery called BAKESALE BETTY! (http://www.bakesalebetty.com/)
It was all the way across the bridge in Oakland, but we were set on two things: a fried chicken sandwich and cookies...and Bakesale Betty is pretty pro when it comes to those two things.

freshly baked COOKIES!

As expected, the line was stretching down the block. The longest line I've seen so far, actually, in front of any restaurant. We quickly hopped in line, and before we knew it, there was a man going down the line with a clip board, asking everyone what they were ordering. He was counting how many of these people were ordering their famous fried chicken sandwich because they were about to run out. They were stopping at 60, and we were lucky numbers 57 and 58. It was a miracle, really.


ANYWAYSSSS, back to the real food! The chicken sandwiches were AMAZIN. It's a glorious combination of fried chicken and their house made cole slaw on a french roll which makes it taste sooo unique. I don't even like cole slaw, but this version is just heaven. it's got the perfect amount of spicy kick to it--theres some cabbage, onions, parsley and jalepenos all drizzled in their dijon-based vinaigrette.

After scarfing down the sandwiches, we were already extremely full. BUT we had purchased an oatmeal raisin cookie and a ginger molasses cookie along with the sandwiches, so our stomach's physical state didn't matter! Dessert is dessert and it is eaten no matter what. We split both the cookies and had half of each to try both....and they were both amazing, in their own ways of course! you cannot compare the two..

...but the ginger molasses cookie had us hooked. So much so, that after about 5 minutes of semi-digesting the mass amounts of food we had just eaten, we went back for more. Yes, that's right. We each bought ourselves a second ginger molasses cookie and ate it right there on site.

back for more! (both cookies already half eaten!)

It was a very satisfying lunch. So satisfying, that Heather and I have decided that this would indeed be our last meal. Like, if we were gonna DIE tomorrow, this is what we would eat right now. Our last memories of life would be left in the hands of Miss Bakesale Betty herself. 

mission beach cafe

Last night we had a little GNO with Heather's mom! (my mom would've gone too, but she was out seeing a Prince concert...ha!) The three of us decided that we were in the mood for a gourmet burger, and Heather's mom suggested a restaurant in the Mission district called Mission Beach Cafe (http://www.missionbeachcafesf.com/). The restaurant was cute and welcoming, and we got a table right next to the desserts! 
After drooling over the large dessert selection and debating on what we were going to get, we were handed the dinner menus. It was a jam-packed menu! And by that, I mean that each dish was obviously very well thought out. From the appetizers, to the sides, to the entrees, we knew that between the three of us, we had to try as much food as possible. 
Appetizers:
First, we ordered a flavorful salad and their soup of the day. We were deciding between either the soup or the brussels sprouts, and then decided to just order it all. The salad's ingredients worked AMAZINGLY together. The super vinaigrette-y dressing on the lettuce was super good when eaten with the super sweet radishes/parsnips/...?, and the crunchy things on top. It was the combination of bitter, sweet, salty, cruncy, tangy that made it all work together. The best part was that we couldn't really identify what these colorful, sweet, radish-type things were and we actually ended up asking the waiter. But I don't really remember what it ended up being! Must be the food coma I went into a few hours later. The soup was "jerusalem artichoke", and tasted JUST like artichoke hearts! I believe there was truffle oil to add a little kick too. 
 The brussels sprouts were brussels sprouts, and they always will be. But Mission Beach managed to incorporate ingredients such as garlic and lemon to make at least the outsides taste amazing! Heather's mom graciously offered to eat the centers, while our taste buds are still a little to immature to appreciate the bitter taste of a brussel sprout.
Entrees:
Oh man. Since we were in a burger mood, me and Heather both had to order the burger. It came complete with garlic aioli, sauteed mushrooms and aged gouda cheese. The wait between the brussels sprouts and the burger coming to our table was a little long...and since we were hungry, it felt UNBEARABLY long. But once it came, it was a delicious, juicy, salty burger. IT WAS SO FLAVORFUL. I can't get over  how much heaven my taste buds were in. 

look at how well that bun soaked up the burger juices!

Instead of the default kennebec fries, we ordered the burgers with their parmesan TRUFFLE FRIES! This was my first time having truffle fries, and this was an excellent place to start. Just as the burger, these fries had MASSIVE FLAVOR. THEY WERE DELICIOUS, and really, really salty. Maybe a little too salty to order with the burger, though (which is probably why the burger is normally served with the kennebec fries). Sadly enough, I couldn't even finish the burger OR the fries because 1) I was really, really full, and 2) I had to save room for dessert. If this place didn't have dessert, I would've definitely finished the burger because it was too good to stop eating. 

Dessert:

YAY time for the best part of all meals! dessert! This is where deciding what to order got really stressful. We knew we had to order the chocolate cake because it was sitting there, staring at us throughout our dinner. They are known for their pies, so we decided we had to order a pie as well. And they had cream pies! But there was also an angel food cake covered in chocolate! We decided that the best way to do this between the three of us was to order a cake, a fruity pie, and a cream pie. But the angel food cake was calling our name as well. The final decision was that we would order the angel food cake afterwards if there was still room--let's just say that we're gonna have to go back to try the angel food cake another time.

we got the brooklyn blackout cake (of course), the cherry pie, and the chocolate cream pie (which, compared to the chocolate cake, tasted like chocolate milk! the chocolate flavor wasn't super overbearing. in a good way). Each was served with a dollop of whipped cream, and let me tell you--THESE DESSERTS WERE SO GOOD. but even us sweet-toothed monsters WEREN'T ABLE TO FINISH. by this time our food babies were forming, and you have no idea how badly i wanted to finish the chocolate cake. 

This was man versus food, and today folks, food won.

empanada making 101

So what's pretty awesome is that we live in San Francisco. This means Heather and I have the opportunity to experience some pretty magical food. But ALSO, we have friends with lots of cultural backgrounds! So this weekend, we went to an 
empanada making party! Our friend Adriana is Colombian, so her mom knows WHATS UP when it comes to making empanadas. She doesn't use any specific recipe, and learned how to make these from watching her mom make them growing up. 


She taught us how to make them from scratch. We got to make our own filling, roll out the dough, flatten the dough, stuff the dough with the filling, and then fry them! 
The filling started off with sauteing onions and tomatoes with cumin, salt and pepper. Simple, yes? yes!
We had a few chicken breasts that we cut into small cube-like pieces, and threw those in after. No extra secret sauces, spices or marinades. "The KEY to these empanadas, is that it's all about the cumin!", says Adriana's mom. 
We were simultaneously boiling potatoes, and then mashed them and added the rest of our saute to them. Then, we got to add salt, pepper and cumin (yes, that is all) to the filling until it tasted good TO US. This is the freedom that comes with using no recipes! 

The empanada dough was made out of a sort of maiz (kind of like corn-starch), and the only thing that needed to be added was hot water. Instantly, it turned into this very sticky dough!


We made them into little balls, and then flattened them into the shape of disks. Then, we filled them with our perfectly seasoned filling and closed them up. They were pockets of joy!


The process was actually a lot harder than it sounds, though. It took a lot of concentration to close up the empanadas without having holes pop up everywhere, which is why we had some lukewarm water on hand to "mend" the empanadas! 

raw empanadas ready for frying!

aaaand in they go

...SUCESS!! They were.. yes, you guessed it: crunchy on the outside and soft, warm, creamy, steamy, flavorful---and any other adjective describing the insides of empanadas---on the inside! best part is that they were 100% homemade!! 


And as Adriana's mother told us: the NUMBER ONE RULE of cooking in the kitchen is that you must always have music playing!