More Maui Favorites

I think it's fair to say that three of my favorite things in Maui were also some of the simplest:

Smoothies - Check out this fruitstand and deli in Lahaina called Take Home Maui. We enjoyed their smoothies on several occasions. The fruit is so fresh that they tasted nothing like what we can find back home. You can also order farm fresh produce delivered straight from Maui to your doorstep.


Ice cream - Our guidebook recommended the locally produced Rosalani's Ice Cream, so we were thrilled when they served it at the Plantation House Restaurant. Although the town of Lahaina where we stayed seemed to have an ice cream shop on very corner, I can honestly say that Rosalani's was some of the best I've ever tasted. Their website has a convenient list of the restaurants and stores where you can find this local treat. The passion fruit sorbet at the Plantation House Restaurant wasn't bad either!



Cocktails - From the freshest fruit juices to the perfect flower adornments, Hawaii knows how to do cocktails. One of our favorite stops for cocktails was the Happy Hour at Mala Ocean Tavern in Lahaina. We had top-notch Mai Tais and a full meal, including the best macaroni and cheese we've ever tasted. Plus, the staff won us over by giving our daughter a crab toy to play with.

Surprise, Surprise!

Don't you love surprises? I do. And our trip to Maui was full of wonderful surprises. We enjoyed every place we visited, and we were amazed by the variety of things to do there. A perfect example is the Surfing Goat Dairy Farm. Talk about a place not to be missed! This Local Great offers something for everyone.

We headed to the farm after a full morning of sightseeing. We had sort of skipped lunch, but we wanted to visit the goats before we ventured out for food. Boy were we glad we showed up hungry!

This was not your ordinary farm. In addition to its location on the side of a volcano and its breathtaking panoramic views, this turned out to be a haven for gourmet munching at its best. Before we got to munching, we toured the farm.

We fed hay to the goats, which of course my daughter loved since she adores animals of all kinds.


This little guy's name is Elvis ~ because of his hair-do of course!


We saw the goats lined up for milking, and we saw where the milk is pasteurized and made into cheese within mere hours of leaving the goat. No wonder it tastes so fresh! After the tour we ended up here:


This may look like a surf shop, but it's actually the farm's cheese stand. For us it was the source of the most luxurious meal we had enjoyed up to that point in the trip. To start we had lemonade, iced tea, and smoothies. We sampled fresh goat milk cheese, then realized we needed to hang out for a while. We ordered a goat cheese caprese salad and a flight of the lightest, creamiest, best flavored goat cheeses I've ever tasted. That's right, a FLIGHT of goat cheese! Who knew there was such a thing?

If you are ever, EVER in Maui you should visit this place. They also sell their cheeses online, including a cheese that was served at the Obama Inauguration festivities.

If you're curious what my favorites were, they were the"Rolling Green" made with fresh garlic chives (not so surprising that I would like this, plus it won the 2nd Place National Award in 2005) and the exotic "Mandalay" made with apples, bananas, and curry (a very surprising combination in my opinion, and the winner of the 1st Place National Award in 2004).

Yum, yum, yum. These cheeses just might show up in my life again...maybe for my birthday!

The Happy Place

Do you have a "happy place" in your life? You know ~ the kind of place you can go where nobody knows your name, but that doesn't matter because everybody there is so happy and friendly anyway? My hubby and I have recently discovered what may become our "Happy Place."

A few weeks back, on a Monday of all things, my hubby and I dropped our daughter at preschool and headed to Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa is a sleepy town about an hour away. We were seeking some really great beer and a fun outing, and boy did we get it. We headed to the Russian River Brewing Company, home to the famous beers Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger. My hubby loves the stuff. In fact, recently he's been loving LOTS of beers. I guess it's his new hobby ~ reading about, shopping for, writing reviews, and doing cross-country exchanges of . . . well, really great beer. Beer has become a way of life around here and you'll probably be hearing more about it.


On this particular Monday, we had no idea that great things were underway in Santa Rosa. Lance Armstrong and the Amgen Tour of California were expected to roll through town later that afternoon. So we hit traffic. LOTS of traffic. And when we finally entered the Russian River Brewery there were no empty tables. But that didn't matter because we were in The Happy Place. Before we knew what had happened, somebody directed us to some empty seats at an already occupied table and we were sharing beers and stories with a room full of people. At Russian River everyone is an instant friend. There was pizza. There was beer. And there were many, many laughs.



As it turned out, at the very next table was one of my hubby's "instant friends" that he had made the last time he was at Russian River Brewing for the Pliny the Younger release party back in February. This friend is the cousin of one of my friends, so the connections ran deep. As luck would have it, this friend had two VIP passes for the race. Within an hour we were munching on mini-cupcakes, ringing cowbells, and hoping to spot Lance Armstrong from the swanky VIP tent. What fun!



Unfortunately, this adventure also included hours of traffic, a rain storm, and a broken umbrella. But we didn't care. Afterall, we had just left The Happy Place. Soon to return, I hope!

Disney World or Beach Town?

When we visited Carmel recently I couldn't help but wonder whether we had accidentally ended up in Disney World by mistake. Don't get me wrong ~ I love the Disney parks. But there's no question that when I'm there I feel like I'm in another time and another place.


As an example of my Carmel experience, I fell in love with this little place called the Tuck Box. It's an English tearoom that serves breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea.


They serve everything from scones to sandwiches to Shepherd's Pie.



It looks like a little house straight out of Beatrix Potter or Snow White, don't you think?

Window Shopping

On our trip last week we spent some time in Carmel. There's a lot to say about Carmel, but one of my favorite things to do there was window shop. And perhaps the window I stared at the longest was at the Carmel Bakery. This little establishment has been in business since the early 1900's and they're still baking in style. Their window showcased their cute side:


It showcased their ability to "wow" customers:


And there was a little humor thrown in there, too:


After staring a bit, we finally realized that the gingerbread men were not actually being "wowed." They were really frightened by their neighbors:


Don't you love witty confections? And the ice cream, coffee, and *brownies* at this place aren't bad either!

Pure Indulgence

This past week I ate at so many great places, including several local spots that I've been intending to visit for a while. Perhaps my favorite discovery was my trip to Paris via Le Petit Boutique and Cafe in Sacramento. I had such a fun time pretending I was actually in Paris enjoying three of France's greatest offerings ~ shopping, coffee, and pastry. Not to mention the Parisian-style people-watching I did with my friend Une Femme Curieuse. Ooh-la-la, what fun!

This little place is so cute, with its oh-so-French ornate wallpaper, antique furniture, and even handwritten signs for the menu. I had cafe au lait in an oversized coffee cup, which was artfully served much like this:

{image from here}

And I had a splendid little hazelnut mousse confection. It was molded much like the mousse in this picture, plus it had alternating layers of chocolate and nuggat:

{image from here}

This advice may come as a surprise, but for your next trip to Paris you might just consider heading to Sacramento!

Countdown to St. Patrick's Day

I love foodplay, so I hope to get into the spirit of St. Patrick's Day in the next few days. Round 1 is done!

I made these with an apple cinnamon pancake mix from my favorite pancake house. Coincidentally, it is also my favorite place to get southwestern treats like queso dip.



During college, Kerbey Lane Cafe was a go-to spot for my hubby and I whether it was night or day. I was thrilled to discover that they now sell some of their specialties as products. Back then we frequently had breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast, but our favorite thing to do was mix the two. Strawberry pancakes with a side of chips and queso dip? It was not un-heard of at our table.

Ah, to be in college again. And to be in Austin again, for that matter!

If you ever have a reason to visit Austin, you should definitely check this place out. Day or night, breakfast or dinner, they've got something for everyone.

Tea Time

I love tea. But I really love tea parties.


A few weeks ago I discovered that Davis has its very own Tea Room. Tea List opened last fall. Much like a café for coffee, this tea room offers an enormous range of teas of from around the world. They also offer various accoutrement, including pastries and even lunch-sized sandwiches.


A friend and I are planning a tea party to celebrate our dear friend's wedding. We looked into several options, but we settled on Tea List as the perfect setting. The owner is a lovely hostess, and we were immediately taken with the serenity and tasteful decor of her tea room. She will serve us tea sandwiches, scones, berries with Devonshire cream, and pastries. Our edibles will be accompanied by colorful flower centerpieces and pots of tea, of course. Incidentally, they also offer a children's tea party, including peanut butter and jelly tea sandwiches and lemonade.

I'm thrilled to have all of these details taken care of by an obviously skilled hostess, but I'm also unsure how I will put my own mark on the occasion. I was thinking of selecting a tea pot that we could use at the party and then the bride could take home as a gift.

What do you think of this strawberry one?

{image from here}

Or this preening teapot?

{image from here}

OK, so maybe I better not be too hasty. I'll keep looking, I promise! But there certainly are a lot of quirky tea things out there.

In the meantime, I can't wait to get back to Tea List for lunch.

The Disappointed Foodie

I vowed to myself that I would not use my "Local Greats" series to blast the Internet with more negativity. There's already plenty of it out there. I conceived of the "Local Greats" portion of the blog with the proverb "If you don't have something nice to say, say nothing at all" firmly in mind.

But...

I've had a few too many bad experiences recently to be completely silent. I have two principle complaints:

Gripe #1: I'm tired of choosing between good food and good service. Davis is small, so there are very few restaurants to choose from. The nicer establishments seem to cater to an older crowd. If you look even the slightest bit youthful, they don't give you the time of day. Result = snooty service. Or, if it's one of the less nice establishments, the food is generally good and the customers are fairly non-discriminating. Result = bad service because nobody cares anyway. Where, oh where, are the restaurants that boast BOTH great food AND great service?

Gripe #2: Vegetarians always seem to get the short end of the stick. For Valentine's Day my hubby and I went out for a fancy dinner. I checked online several times and never found a special Valentine's menu posted, so I scoped out the vegetarian options on the restaurant's regular menu. (Normally, there are many.) When we showed up for dinner, they presented us with a pricey, meat-laden, multi-course prix fixe menu. I inquired on whether they would be able to accommodate vegetarians for all of the courses since their limited menu wasn't posted in advance. They acted pretty put out, but they presented us with the handful of vegetarian options they were already offering. So we ate. And we enjoyed it (except for the cold soup!).

Then during the meal it became clear that everybody else was served additional courses for their prix fixe meal. So not only did we have no choice in what we ate, not only did we have to pay the price of a meat-laden multi-course meal (which costs the restaurant far more to make than a vegetarian meal), but the restaurant apparently had no problem eliminating an entire course from our menu after I specifically asked whether we would get all of the courses. Classy, right? But we didn't make a scene. We moved on.

Then when my husband received an email asking that he review the restaurant, he did. He was honest about what happened, but very fair. A few days later the restaurant owner emailed him saying that he should apologize for his review. Did you get that? The restaurant asked him to apologize for being honest about their service.

All I can is, WOW! These people really don't get what service is about, do they? And why are vegetarians second-class citizens at nicer restaurants? This is a college town in California where vegetarians are absolutely rampant! Do they really want to eliminate us from their clientele?

In the end, these gripes really disappoint me. I'm starting to feel like from now on I'm going to have to cook every nice meal that I eat. So, very, sad.

Lunching

When was the last time you "lunched?" While I admit that I rarely do what I would call "lunching," I always find it to be so refreshing. Last week I lunched with a dear friend at a Davis eatery.

Just to be clear, we didn't dine. We didn't grab some grub. We lunched in the most ladylike manner possible. We gossiped and people-watched. We complimented each other's accessories. We even whispered a few "did you hear?" remarks under our breath. And I'm almost sure that our pinkies shot out as we delicately raised our glasses to our mouths.

Perhaps most importantly, we lingered over our food. We savored every bite, partly because it was delicious but also so we could squeeze in a few more tidbits about wedding dresses, our families, and our aspirations.

Are you wondering what we lunched on as we lingered, complimented, and sipped last week? Salads, of course!

Only in San Francisco

I'm sure many people would agree that San Francisco is a foodie's paradise. I know this, but I continue to be surprised. Only in San Francisco would you find fine dining inside a museum. At the Academy of Sciences even the commoner's cafeteria-style dining is an experience.

We visited yesterday, and when we got hungry for lunch we headed to the Academy Cafe. The cafeteria is set up with many different stations, serving gourmet options from around the world. While it doesn't look like much in the pictures, one glance at the menu tells you that this is quick food at its best. And one look at all the eager chefs standing ready to prepare your lunch of choice tells you that you are in San Francisco.





My hubby and toddler scoped the place out for their meal of choice, and then I was charged with collecting our museum feast. I sheepishly stood in line at the noodle station. When the expectant chef finally looked my way to take my order, what did I ask for? "Plain spaghetti with butter and cheese, please." That's right. I bypassed the rigatoni with wild mushroom cream and nutmeg. I didn't care about the duck sausage either. All I was after was my toddler's favorite. Afterall, I was a paying customer like everyone else. There's nothing wrong with simplicity, right?

I quickly moved aside so that the people behind me could place their orders, which would surely be far worthier of the gourmet chef preparation being offered to us. It turns out the person behind me wasn't so unlike me after all. She wanted "plain spaghetti with butter and no cheese." And the person behind her? "Pasta with butter and cheese." Two more after that were the same, too. By the time I left with my plate of perfectly prepared pasta with freshly grated parmesan the tables had turned. It was now the chef that looked rather sheepish. And really darn frustrated.

Weekend Recap

A few of the things I did this weekend:

1. Enjoyed an icy cold Anchor Steam beer at a Davis burger joint. (Anchor Steam is my favorite local microbrew - check it out if you haven't had one!)
2. Took my toddler to her first tea party.
3. Donated two large bags of canned goods to my local food bank.
4. Ate a super-tasty home-cooked meal made by my wonderful hubby. (The recipe just might appear on here soon!)
5. And spent hours and hours studying for my last round of finals, my least favorite tradition this time of year. Ick!

What a treat!

An unexpected thing happened this week. I had the opportunity to visit my absolute favorite pizza restaurant! Patxi's Pizza in San Francisco (also with a location in Palo Alto) is out of this world. My mouth is watering as I type this! I had planned to add Patxi's as one of my Local Greats eventually, so I was thrilled to get to re-sample it first and provide a picture to entice everyone.

If you haven't been to Patxi's, you should definitely go. Their forte is authentic deep-dish, stuffed crust, Chicago-style pizza. Although they also make thin pizzas, it's the Chicago-style crust that makes them so unique, particularly in Northern California. In you aren't familiar with this type of pizza, it has a thick crust on the bottom, most of the toppings are in the middle, there's a very thin layer of crust above that, and then it's topped off with sauce and a final sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. My favorite type is the Californian - buttery wheat crust, spinach, onions, and lots of sauce.

They take about 30 minutes to bake, so plan ahead!

St. Helena

Today I'm adding my first non-Davis Local Great to the list. Last summer my hubby and I spent a weekend in Napa Valley. We discovered lots of new favorite places, but we were particularly taken with the town of St. Helena. It felt old and somewhat rustic (for Napa, that is!) and it was full of cute restaurants and boutique shopping. In our case, it was most definitely window shopping much more than buying, but it was still lots of fun.

My favorite place was a merchant called St. Helena Olive Oil Co. They make olive oil, vinegars, and bath products of their own, but they also sell a huge variety of sauces and other fine edibles. Although they sell online and ship all over the country, the best way to enjoy St. Helena Olive Oil Co is definitely to go there. Why? Because they offer samples of everything they sell. I tried pasta sauces, barbecue sauces, unusual flavored olive oils and vinegars, and lotions galore. But what I actually brought home for myself was a really good (and strong!) French mustard with basil. Yum!

Better than soup?

I absolutely adore soup. I eat it year-round, but I'm really craving it now as the weather cools off and my life is looking increasingly hectic. And almost nothing could be more comforting than a bowl of hot soup.

Actually I can think of one thing that's more comforting than a plain ol' bowl of soup . . . a bowl of soup that somebody prepared from scratch and delivered to your door! Even better than that would be soup that somebody prepared from scratch using farm-fresh, mostly organic ingredients, and then delivered to your door.

Can you believe this actually exists? It does in Davis at least. This is precisely the reason that I love the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe, featured as one of my Local Greats in the list to the right. They offer a weekly menu full of vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, and gluten-free fare. You can pre-order and pre-pay, then either pick up the food or have it delivered.

For THIS week's menu, I happen to know that the broccoli soup and pumpkin pie are excellent. Let me know if you give it a try. Mine will be delivered tomorrow!

Local Greats

My interest in "buying local" started a few years ago when I ordered a box of farm-fresh produce to be delivered every two weeks. It was a lot of fun because I let them choose what to put in my produce box. I was exposed to new varieties of fruits and vegetables and felt good about supporting local farmers.

Although I'm not a "buy local" fanatic by any means, I do appreciate the value of purchasing things that are locally produced. I also find myself looking for unique local businesses when I travel to new places. So my latest addition to this blog is a list of "Local Greats" in the panel to the right, including noteworthy businesses here in Davis and those that I discovery when I visit other places. Hopefully this will introduce local readers to some unfamiliar gems in Davis. It may even encourage non-local readers to visit Davis more often. And maybe, just maybe, it will inspire somebody to look for worthwhile local businesses in their own communities. A lofty idea, I know!

Davis has great supermarkets, and the best by far is Nugget Market. Nuggest first opened in 1926 in a town just up the road from Davis. Since then it has expanded to nine locations, but it has remained a local, family-run business. My favorite thing about Nugget is their bakery. I go there to buy dessert, but I also go there to "window shop." Their desserts are absolutely beautiful, and they change daily. My toddler's favorite are the cupcakes. Here's a sample of one of their adorable creations:


My hubby and I have long adored their strawberries 'n' cream cake, but last night we discovered our new favorite. Nugget's tiramisu, pictured at the top of this post, is absolutely sublime.

Keep your eyes out for more Local Greats in the panel to the right.