A Little Marketing

Gentle Friends, this weekend was Gay Pride here by the Bay and Rico and I played "Gay Hide" instead...which involved us circumventing all of the craziness in the Civic Center downtown area and the Castro .... after Mass on Sunday we headed away from the City and hit one of our favorite Famers Markets out in the "Burbs"...

 ... it's high Summer here in California and the temps are a'risin' all around the Bay area and the San Joaquin Valley...

 ... we ran into Cecilia's Gardens Farm Stand from Mill Valley, a small town just across the Golden Gate Bridge.... and we picked up some scrumptious Bread and Butter pickles...

... and then stopped for some local honey from Marshall's...

... we also picked up some fruit....

... and I couldn't pass on some Collard greens.... which we had Sunday evening, delicious!!

... and as we left the Market we picked up flowers for the house... it's a great FM and we really like going here - and we'll be back!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Summer

Gentle Freinds, after mass we headed out o breakfast and then on to one of our favorite Farmers markets here in the City....  here are some snaps...

... it was great to pick up some fresh fruit and flowers for the house...

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

The Birthday and a Fall Treat

Gentle Friends, since my Birthday fell on a Sunday, we started off with our usual going to the 8:30am Mass then on to a little breakfast......  after that we headed for the Farmers Market, we've not been going as much as we did in the past but with so many wonderful Fall things coming in that's going to change.  I actually went looking for some Italian/French Plums or Prune Plums - I was up for making some plum butter..... but there were none to be found.... we did find other things.....

... some beautiful onions and potatoes....

.... some really vibrant peppers....

.... a ton of gorgeous root vegetables....

......  I just couldn't pass up these cauliflower.... one of which we're having tonight steamed and covered in Hollandaise ........

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The rest of the day we sort of hung around the house and then in the evening we headed out to dinner....  we had read some very positive reviews of M.Y. China in the Westfeild Shopping Centre downtown on Market Street, and I thought it would be a fun place to have Birthday Dinner.  We made one stop on the way, at Lupicia, a favorite tea shop of mine here in SF.  They were all decked out for Fall, and of course my question was, "When are the Christmas Teas coming in.... and are they bringing back 'White Christmas?' "  To my surprise I got an actual date, November 2nd , and yes, White Christmas will be coming back....  they the gal asked me...  "We have two tins left over from last year, would you like those, they're 1/2 price."   

... I immediately said "SOLD" so now I've got a good supply of this lovely tea to start an early Christmas!!!!  BTW "White Christmas Tea" is a black tea with apricot and white chocolate flavour and is super delicious!!

After the rush of getting a bargain (their tea can be a bit on the expensive side) we headed to dinner.......

M.Y. China is located on the 4th Floor under the big dome so it was easy to find....

I forgot to take some interior shots so I lifted these from the Internet..

..  it's a really large restaurant with a large open kitchen........

.... we started off with  - Mu Shu Pork Tacos 野豬木须肉  wild boar, cabbage, egg  

 I had a nice Chinese beer and Rico got a coke.......

..........then for the main course I had - Wild Boar Scissor Cut Noodles 野豬刀剪面 bean sprouts, scallions, wood ear mushrooms - there was so much on this dish I took the leftovers and had them for lunch on Monday and Tuesday...

..... and Rico got what he always gets - M.Y. Sweet & Sour Pork 古老肉 - he does love S & S pork!!

The tables are really close together and we had the best time with the couple at the next table, Jenny and Steve, from Dallas.  They were visiting here with a conference and were just the most fun.  She had been a Stewardess for Braniff and he owns an Electrical Company and they were going on a giant Wine Tasting Tour Monday then back to Dallas Tuesday.  It really was a delicious and totally fun evening!!!!

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Now, you know I'm all for baking and making it homemade, and I do love Cheesecake, so when we saw this at Trader Joe's, I was a bit skeptical, but thought to myself, what the heck, why not!!  It turned out to be the perfect Birthday cake!!

.... the only thing I can say is - this is really a delicious cheesecake, I would have kicked up the spice a bit, but other than that, for store bought and no mess no clean up you just can not beat this pastry!!

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It was a lovely Birthday, very laid back and no stress - just the way I like'em!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks again for stopping by dos top again!!

Take care,

edgar

Fun Weekend Things

Gentle Friends...running around Saturday I wanted to stop in Japan Town for some things and found that we had landed in the middle of an event......  the annual "Children's Day Festival."  You can click HERE to read up on the traditional festival.  We parked and walked around some - set up there were dozens of tables and events for kids - and there were herds of them running all over the place - everyone seemed to be having a great time!!!!

In the Peace Plaza these were "KOINOBORI" - carp kites - blowing in the lovely breeze.

The stage had continuous demonstrations going on ....

.... we stayed and watched some KENDO using shinai......

... as you can see from the little girl behind the noise level was quit high 

when the bamboo swords hit......

.....  it was very interesting and was just by happenstance we stumbled on such a great festival.....

 These types of events and festivals happen all over the City all the time, especially during the Spring and Summer months there are so many it's hard to keep up with them.

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On Sunday we made a trip out to our favorite Farmers Market, knowing that the Summer 

fruits where coming into season......

....  the beautiful cherries have started to come in and are quite tasty this year!!

.... there were some great apples....

... and some super bakers had set up, so we got some bread.....

... this was a new to me type of vegetable..... 

 and only a couple of older vendors had it - any thoughts out there about "Chinese Cauliflower?"

...we picked up some Brussels Sprouts and I roasted them for dinner Sunday night with a steak....

... and we couldn't leave without some of the lovely flowers that were being sold....  over all a lovely day and I did enjoy getting back into the swing of a visiting the Farmers Market as I like to buy local and in season!!

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There you go sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by and remember to leave a comment on Monday's Post to be entered in my 8th Blogaverary Gift-a-Way.

Take care,

edgar

Market Snaps and Pepper jelly

Gentle friends, we stopped by the Farmers Market again on Sunday and here's some snaps.....

... it was an overcast cool day, with temps in the upper 50's, a typical Summer day here by the Bay..... loving the cool weather!!

... this is the "corn guy" we got more corn from him and have been enjoying it the last couple of days.

... we also picked up some mushrooms from Mushroom Adventures from Marysville......

... a nice bright spot on a grey day...... 

 I also wanted to pick up some peppers, I saw lots of different kinds the week before and really got a hankering to make some of my Dad's Pepper Jelly.  He used to make dozens of jars of the stuff yearly to give away around Christmas.  It was some good stuff!! 

 I've tried many different brands of Pepper Jelly over the years and none really compares to the sweet/hot stuff my dad made.  I think one of the reasons is that he used quite a few more peppers than most recipes call for and that really makes all the difference - with his recipe in hand, I set out to make some myself......

... gathered up the fixins' and wham bam, about an hour later I was pulling these from their water bath.....

... there was actually a ladle or so left after filling the jars that I poured into one of the extra jars and put in the fridge, so we could get a taste.  I had forgotten that my dad's recipe made a stiffer jelly than I like, so the batch I make tonight I'll cut back some on the pectin and see how that goes - you know I can never leave a recipe alone and always tweak things as I go along........

... it tasted perfect and was great on this onion bagel last night!!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!!

Take care,

edgar