Eating at "Old Jeruselum"

Gentle Friends...  here on a local PBS Station, KQED, we have a show called "Check Please."  It's a show that's is hosted by the ever delightful Leslie Sbrocco where each week three guests eat at each others favorite restaurants and then come on the show and critique them.  We never miss the show and watch the reruns all the time when the come on.  Last week we caught a show from last year that included a restaurant called "Old Jerusalem."  The crazy thing about this place is I pass it every day going and coming from work.  It's in the heart of the Mission on Mission street at 26th Street.  After seeing the show I was determined that we would eat there over the weekend........  so Saturday night we headed there  - it's like 5 minutes from home so easy peasy getting there, parking was kind of tight but we found a spot pretty quickly.......

.... it's a really skinny restaurant squeezed between a hair extension place and something closed down.....

... you can see how narrow it is (that's Rico's elbow)...  when we got there we got sat right away.   I had read on Yelp that this place was hopping on weekend nights....  so we went early about 5:15pm.  By the time we had finished it had crowded up and there was a line waiting to get in.

...  the menu is great in that each thing has a picture, so if you have no idea what to get you can sort of figure it out from the snaps.....

.....with in about 2 minutes of sitting down they brought us these starter treats to munch on....  warm house made pita bread with a green spread - very herby and yogurt based lightly spicy and a red spread - roasted peppers and on the spicy side, nice olives and a pickled vegetable....

... Rico got a wrap chicken shawerma sandwich that was very good......

...I remembered from the show and from reading revues on line, so I knew that they made very good hummus and I wanted some of that - I got #13 - and yes, the hummus was probably the best I ever had, and I've had lots.  I also knew I wanted a Stuffed Falafel, the #18 .......

... I had never heard of a stuffed falafel, and this was simply delicious!!!!  It's stuffed with roasted onion, roasted pine nuts and sumac - really, this falafel makes regular felafel's pale in comparison!!!

..... one thing we both wanted to try was a dessert thing... and we never get dessert when we go out...it's called Kanafeh, a special Levantine goat cheese pastry soaked in sweet syrup.  Old Jerusalem is the only place in SF that makes this specialty and let me tell you - it was to die for.  

It's served warm and was just so damn good!!!!

.... we both thoroughly enjoyed this place, the servers were super nice, the pacing of the dishes was way off, but with the food being so good who cares.  We WILL be back!!

______________________

That about wraps it up for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Baking

Gentle Friends... you may remember that I acquired a Bundt pan a while ago and was less than happy with it.... in my travel through Consignment shops and Estate sales I have kept a look out for a replacement pan since I certainly I wasn't going to pay upwards of $50.....  this past Saturday I found a really nice Nordic Ware "Bavarian" 10 cup pan that looked to have never been used.....

.... you know if I got a new pan I was going to make a cake.....

... I made my Great Aunt Sue's "Apricot Nectar Cake."   It's a really easy recipe......

Apricot Nectar Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup apricot nectar

4 eggs

Glaze

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan or Bundt pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. Combine cake mix with sugar, cooking oil, and apricot nectar. Beat for two minutes with mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Pour batter into pan.

3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a plate.

4. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice with confectioners' sugar until you reach desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over sides of warm cake.

_________________

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Bit of Fall

Gentle Friends..... now that the weather has gotten back on track from the heat waves we been having to the upper 50's low 60's we are used to..... it was time to pull together some Fall decorations.  

Rico crawled around under the stairs where we store the decorating stuff and I pulled together my stitching Exchange pieces et voila a Fall tableau in the living room.... 

the only "new" piece is the skull candy box...

..... you knew I would fill it with some candy corn - I love the stuff!!!  and isn't the china skull too cool - I snatched that sucker off the shelf the minute I saw it at the store. 

.... Rico decorated the hall in front of the door.... for some reason we seem to be the only people that ever decorate for anything - oh well, we enjoy it......

____________________________

.... I also knew it was Fall since the treats are starting to appear....  starting off with these ever delicious pumpkin donuts from Entenmann's....

....  I found this, an unusual "twist" on the season at Target this weekend - and yes, the green twist part does taste like sour apple and the filling like caramel....and usually I am not a fan the Twizzler, but I really liked these things!!

....  and as always the "candy corn" flavoured things are quite interesting......

.......   that's my little bit of Fall for now - with the lovely fog covering the city and it being so nice and cool I can enjoy the rest of my favorite time of year!!!

_____________________________

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Song

Gentle Friends, this is a lovely cover of a really beautiful song......

..... sung by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'Ole  - I thought it would be a nice way for the week to end.  Have a super weekend, see you next week!!

Take care,

edgar

Buttermilk a Southern Kitchen

Gentle Friends... I am a creature of habit, and I take the same way to work and back home every day.   Through the Mission and along Bryant Street.  On the corner of Bryant and 23rd I passed this space that was dark and shuttered for quite a few months....... then a sign appeared in a window.....and eventually some red awnings went up... with "Buttermilk Southern Kitchen" printed just over the door.  Well, I got all excited, a new place to eat!!    Since I am from the South and totally identify with things Southern - I thought to myself....  "I'll be the judge about the food".  So many times out here in the west I have run up against food purported to be "southern" or "deep south style" or what ever verbiage used to tempt one into believing that the food may pass as something remotely southern inspired... I have been sorely let down more than once!!........  

However... last Friday I picked the Rico-nator up from work and off to Buttermilk for lunch we went....  I found parking quickly.......

.... it was a little on the busy side but we got sat right away.....

.....  I had done my home work before going and already knew what I was going to order... 

......fried chicken.....

......the guy standing in the baseball cap is one of the owners......

.....Rico as usual got a hamburger - here called the "House Burger"....

.... with the fried chicken I could choose a side dish, and of course I picked the collard greens, I do love me some greens,  these were nice, well seasoned, but a bit on the stemmy side.  When I cook greens I pull the leaf from the stems, a very minor mis-step....  the main event of fried chicken was totally delicious!!  I also got an extra side - cheesy grits - which were to die for, I do love me some grits!!  They advertise that the grits come from Anson Mills in South Carolina, a place I had never heard of but the results were well worth trouble of importing the grits!!  I usually get my grits sent to me from friends who still live in the South who just walk into Winn Dixie and buy them right off the shelf....... now I can order directly from Anson Mills.

... the little vegetable pickles are made in house and a nice touch.  The corn bread was on the dry side and a bit sweet, but I didn't come here for corn bread.

Over all a wonderful experience and we will certainly be back!!

________________________

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

Take care,

edgar

A Little Baking

Gentle Friends, I read the 123 Message board daily and there was a thread about a 2 ingredient cake.....  well, you know me I gotta try just about everything out there, and with only 2 ingredients - I figured if it was terrible then what would I be out........  so we picked up the Angel Food cake mix and a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple.......

.....  here's all you do.... mix together the mix and fruit (without draining) pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan (there seemed to be a debate about whether to grease or not - I chose to grease that sucker up) pop into a 350 degree oven for about 30 minuets - or until deep golden brown et voila......

.... it was a really tasty cake and so very easy!!!   

__________________

Short and sweet today, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Taking a little Break....

Gentle Friends, I'll be away from the Blog for a few days.  Taking some time off from work and just having a "stacation."  I'll be back next week, if not sooner.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!!!

Take care,

edgar