sigh... random ramblings...

i'm in the middle of roasting a 4 pound chicken using tarragon, dill and butter. i'm excited to try and get that perfectly roasted, crispy skin while succulently moist inside result. all the same, i'm sure it'll taste just fine and satisfy my roast chicken craving.

i would love to share pictures of this meal (which will include sauteed brussels sprouts and pancetta), but alas, i no longer have a camera to take food porn shots with. i lost my camera last weekend while taking a tumble or two on the slopes of the sierra resort at tahoe. grrr... it was zipped up in my front pocket too. so if anyone happened to find a canon sd600 with a 1 gb sd memory card in it buried under a few inches of white powder last weekend, it's mine. thanks.

this past weekend i joined edmund, vicky, garrick and kendrick for a friday nite dinner at fog city diner on the embarcadero. http://www.fogcitydiner.com/index.html great little place. we sat in a cozy (read cramped foot space) booth by the kitchen and started off with their truffle fries. they're perfectly fried, meaning crisp on the outside, moist and potato-y on the inside. i'd venture to say they were tossed in truffle oil, then heavily dusted with parmesean. i'll have to try that one day at home when i have my in-counter deep fryer. =)

for starters, i had their red curry mussel stew, a giant black iron pot of black mussels sitting in a creamy curry broth that was lightly spiced and not overly ethnic. i probably shouldn't have kept spooning that broth into my mouth (calories galore) but it was damn good. especially if you dipped the truffle fries into it. yum.

my entree was seared scallops with a gut-stuffing portion of polenta. it was garnished with some sweet sauteed micro greens and i think a sun-dried tomato sauce lining the edges. the scallops were perfectly seared to medium inside, something i couldn't achieve with my last attempt at scallops. the poletna was very hearty, with caramelized onions and bell peppers i think. all in all, a good entree, but just very heavy. everyone else seemed to enjoy their food which ranged from hangar steak with a lentil mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes to a homey macaroni and cheese and fried calamari with a sweet and spicy asian dipping sauce.

dessert was all about sharing the apple cobbler and ghiradelli chocolate peanut butter cups. sharing was key, because there's no way anyone would've been able to finish one. think reese's peanut butter cups, but with 10 times the sugar content and creamier, gooey-er, and just way more "whoa, that's hella sweet." yeah.

ok, that's all for now...