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