The Ferry Market Place, San Francisco

Thank you to Sonia, Reanaclaire, Nazarina A, Tangled Noodle, Cheryl, Kelly, Nicole M., and amrita hapuarachchi for following my blog!

I also would like to thank Rebecca, Abby Quijano, Heather, Jhonny Walker, and Abby for some lovely awards that they have passed onto me. I will cover them in my next post.

Today, I am honoured to be presenting a guest post by my friend, Esme! I love her blog, Chocolate & Croissants. Like me, she is a lawyer, though we practice some thousands of miles apart. But, as if to prove that it's a small world after all, we both articled at the same firm, although some 15 years apart! How freaky is that??

Esme recently visited San Francisco and here is her post about the Ferry Market Place.

Hello I am Esme from Chocolate & Croissants. I am honoured to have been invited by Palidor to write a guest post. I am originally from Canada and now live in Southern California-yes it is sunny and about 70 degrees today. One of my favorite places to visit is San Francisco. Each time I go, I venture over to the Ferry Market Building. Today I will share my finds with you. I hope you enjoy the visit.

For anyone that loves food, or just eating the Ferry Market Place is must visit spot in San Francisco. The building is home to a potpourri of restaurants, markets, bookstore, kitchen gadgets and little boutiques specializing in mushrooms, cheeses, cavier, breads and more.

Saturday mornings are my favorite time to visit when the market is bustling with farmers selling their produce. It really does not make a difference what time of the year you visit. The produce sold is always in season. Who can resist the colors of these vegetables?

All the vendors are happy to let you sample their produce. You could easily plan your meal based on the colors of the produce. These fruit remind me of fall leaves changing colors as the days cool off.

You could easily plan an entire meal focusing on one ingredient. Think of all the different possibilities for the recipes you could create with these mushrooms.

Of course, you want to have a centerpiece for your table. One could easily use the pumpkin or some colored corn for an autumn theme.

If you are more traditional and like flowers, there are plenty of fresh flowers to be found.

Should you want to sit down and enjoy a prepared meal, your possibilities are endless. You can visit the Chinese tea shop and snack on dumplings, soup and other delicacies. You will be amazed by the wide assortment of teas. Their beautiful collection of pots make a wonderful gift.

Of course you will want to enjoy some dessert after all this wandering around. What should you choose-some cannoli from the Italian shop?

Or maybe some chocolate.

Should you find yourself with a beautifully sunny day. Take your food like we did and find a bench outside. This sandwich was incredible. Whatever you choose, you have made a good choice. Each week the produce is varied according to the season. It would take me weeks before I could taste everything the Ferry Market Building has to offer.

Thank you so much, Esme! I really wish I could visit the Market, but until then I'll live vicariously through your pictures.

Chinese Curry Beef

Thank you to my newest followers Velva, Pete, and Petite Nyonya!

Catherine at the The Unconfidential Cook asked me an interesting question, which is whether I've lost any weight since going gluten-free. Happily, no. Yes, I said happily because I neither need nor want to lose weight. It's already hard to find clothes as often times even the smallest sizes are too big. ... ... I'm not engendering any sympathy, am I?

Joking aside, I did drop a few pounds over the summer, and I think consuming wheat may have contributed to that. Meaning, I think wheat prevented my body from absorbing enough nutrients and calories from food. But don't anybody with a food allergy even think of consuming the allergen as a means of weight loss!! It's not only stupid, but potentially fatal.

Earlier in the week, I made this wonderful beef curry. I tried to create the flavors of a Chinese curry powder which my mom brought back from Hong Kong. It's not quite like that curry powder, but it does taste very similar to a canned version of Singapore curry that I used to buy.

I added a couple of yams to the curry. Normally curries have potatoes, but potatoes just aren't my thing. This is the first time that I've curried yams, and I was quite pleased. The slight sweetness matched the spicy curry well.

This dish represents both sides of my heritage, as the flavor of the curry is Chinese, but the cooking method is Indian.

Chinese Curry Beef

Marinade

• 1.5 pounds beef, cut into 1-inch cubes (I used blade roast)
• 1/3 cup Balkan style yogurt
• 1 teaspoon garam masala

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients so the beef is evenly coated with the yogurt and garam masala. Cover and refrigerate 6-8 hours.

Spice powder

• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 star anise
• 6 whole cloves
• about 20 black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a spice grinder, grind the first 5 spices to a fine powder. Combine with the turmeric and cinnamon and set aside.

• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 2-inch piece of ginger
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 red hot cubanelle pepper, diced
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 yams, peeled and cut into chunks
• salt to taste
• 1 can (400mL) thin coconut milk
• 1 cup of water
  

In a food processor, blend the onion, ginger, garlic, and hot pepper to a smooth paste.

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion paste and fry, stirring frequently, until it turns a rich brown color, about 15 minutes. You may need to turn the heat down to prevent the paste from burning.

Add the beef and all the yogurt marinade. Fry the beef, stirring frequently, until about 1/3 of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the yams to the pot, and continue to fry, stirring frequently, until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt.

Pour in the coconut milk and enough water to cover the beef and yams (I used about 1 cup). Cover and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer until the beef and potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes. Remember to stir the curry every few minutes.

I am also thrilled to be the recipient of some awards! First, I would like to thank my friend, Nat at Girls are Made of, for this lovely friendship award.

I would like to pass this friendship award to my two friends:

1. Wandering Coyote
2. Esme
   

A big thank you to Sireesha at Mom's Recipies, for passing on the following awards to me:

I'm passing this award to:

1. Angel in the Kitchen
2. Talita
   
3. Tangled Noodle
   

This award I would like to present to:

1. Jo
2. Nat
3. Pari

I'm presenting this presentation award to:

1. Nithya
2. SE(Denufood)
3. Kim
   

I'd like to give this award to:

1. Abhi
2. Helene
3. Rebecca

I'm passing this award to:

1. PigPig
2. Natashya
3. Vrinda

This award also comes with a meme, but since this post is already too long, I am skipping it. If you would like to do the meme, please visit Sireesha's post.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Thank you to Karen, Blair, Ciararad, SE(Denufood), Erica, monicajane, and a_breen87 for following my blog!

It's been more than 6 weeks since I've gone gluten-free. In that time, I've done very little baking. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would. The only time it feels challenging is when I look at all your food blogs and see the wonderful baked goods that you make. Which is actually everyday. So maybe it's not been so easy after all. :-P

Then I found Chaya's blog. She does a lot of gluten-free baking, using a gluten-free substitute for flour which she shared with me. It consists of rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch.

I tried this coffee cake recipe, minus the blueberries and streusel topping. I halved the recipe, with the exception of the egg. I opted to use the entire egg to compensate for the lack of gluten. The batter looks dark because I added extra cinnamon. I did a little subbing of my own on the flour alternative. I forgot to pick up potato starch yesterday, so I subbed in cornstarch.

After the ingredients were mixed together, I gave the batter a taste. It tasted pretty good, although the texture was a bit grainy. So far so good! It baked up nice and smelled wonderful coming out of the oven, and you can see that it has a very nice crumb. But the big question is: how does it taste?

Pretty freaking good. Actually, I'm amazed at how good it tastes. The texture is nice, but still a little grainy, and I wonder if it might be from the cornstarch. So, next time - because there will be a next time - I'll make sure to use potato starch.

Please show your support

A fellow food blogger and friend, Joanne at Eats Well With Others will be running a marathon tomorrow in San Francisco. For those are unfamiliar with the marathon, it is a 26.2 mile road race. Yup, that's right. 26.2 miles of pounding on city streets.

What so impressive about entering a marathon is all the training that the individual has do in the months leading up to it. In between medical school, food blogging, and life in general, Joanne has found the time to do some serious training. She's routinely blogged about 20+ mile runs that make my legs hurt just thinking about it!

So, I'm asking everyone who visits me to please visit her blog, Eats Well With Others, and show her lots of love and support as she takes to the streets of San Francisco tomorrow! Good luck, Joanne!! We will all be cheering for you. :-)

Fried Rice

Thank you to my newest followers Captain Karen, Arabic Bites, Aysha Dileen, Shelly W, kimt, and htmnc!

Fried rice is my absolute favorite dish. If I were stranded on a deserted island, this is the dish that I would want with me. The great thing about fried rice is that you can put just about anything in it. It's a perfect way to clean out your fridge!

I didn't measure anything, so I don't have a recipe to provide. But you can see here what I put in it:

• 2 large eggs, fried and cut into pieces
• 3 slices cooked bacon, chopped
• 1/2 hot cubanelle pepper, diced
  
• 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 6 black tiger shrimp, cut into pieces
• leftover stir-fried cauliflower
• day-old Japanese rice (probably about 2 cups?)
  

This is the first time I've made fried rice with Japanese rice. I was a bit worried because it is stickier than Jasmine or Basmati rice. But it turned out great - no sticking or clumping. For seasoning, I used tamari soy sauce and seasoned rice vinegar.

Another great thing about fried rice - it's cooked in a matter of minutes. I began by sauteing the garlic until just they began to brown. Then I added the shrimp and peppers, and cooked until the shrimp began to turn pink. Next went in the egg, bacon, and cauliflower. Add a little rice vinegar and tamari. Toss everything together. By now, the shrimp should be almost cooked.

At this point, I had to work quickly so no time to take pictures until the end. Add the rice and more tamari. Mix carefully as you don't want to mush the rice. Once the shrimp are cooked and the rice is evenly coated with soy sauce, turn off the heat, and fold in some chopped green onions.

Mmmm, I could eat this every day and not get sick of it!

Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake

Thank you to L.A. Brown for joining my blog!

I found half a brick (125g) of cream cheese in my fridge. I had completely forgotten about it. It was leftover from when I made cream cheese frosted brownies for my sister's husband. I tasted it and it was still good. But what to do with it? I don't actually like cheesecake much, except for Japanese cottonsoft cheesecake, which I can no longer eat because it has flour. :-(

Then I remembered this post for a chocolate ricotta dessert that I saw on Justin's blog, and I thought hey, why not combine the cream cheese with ricotta and chocolate to make cheesecake?

Now, I've never made ricotta cheesecake before. In fact, I've never eaten any sort of ricotta dessert - only savory dishes. So, I kind of winged it. I decided to use the same method for Japanese cheesecake, which is separating the eggs, whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks, and incorporating that into the cheese batter.

Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake
(fills approximately 32 medium-size muffin cups)

• 125 grams cream cheese, softened
• 454 grams (1 pound) ricotta cheese
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, 4 egg yolks, and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth.

Mix in the melted chocolate, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt, beating again until smooth. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites on low speed until they start to foam. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat on low speed until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the 1/4 cup granulated sugar a tablespoon at a time. Once all the sugar is added, increase the speed to medium and beat until stiff peaks form.

Using a large spatula, gently stir in 1/4 of the egg whites to the cheese mixture to lighten it. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites in 3 stages.

Spoon into muffin cups lined with paper liner and bake until set, approximately 20 minutes.

I'm quite pleased with the result! These are not super sweet and they have the flavor of cream cheese, yet are light (texture-wise, not calorie-wise!) and slightly spongy... very much like the Japanese cheesecake I adore so much! :-)