I've been a little behind on the 365 project posts as of late (and I was on such a roll for a few weeks there!), but here they are! I'll begin with Labor Day, during which I kicked off a lovely weekend in the city (we have not had a blissful few days at home in quite some time!) with a fogged in happy hour with one of my favorite ladies... I worked from home Friday, so I was able to head on up to our blossoming garden in the morning to weed and water. Our thriving plot in the Presidio's community garden can be entirely attributed to SK's green thumb (and commitment to watering, an attribute that I have apparently lost) and I couldn't be more thrilled! We have an abundance of chard (three types!), carrots, leeks, beets, zucchini, cucumber, tarragon, marjoram, celery, lavender and a few bushels of wild flowers. Up next? I'm going to build a trellis for sweet peas!
I had already harvested our chard when I took this photo but it was a foot and a half high, and ohhh so delicious! I've chopped it up and frozen it in small bags for soup makings, so bring it on winter, I'm ready for you! Unfortunately, I think we waited a bit too long to uproot some of the herbs that were left over from an earlier planting, so we won't be able to grow any butternut squash or pumpkins this season, and we are in for *a lot* of leafy greens.
SK and I ran a bunch of errands in the afternoon (after tackling our inboxes), before setting out to A.Q. for date night, which turned out to be probably the most incredible meal I have ever had in San Francisco. It. Was. That. Good. And that's saying something. Before I launch into another love letter to my dinner, let me just say a few words about this place... A.Q. as you've probably seen on classic restaurant menus means "as quoted" and is used to describe (usually the market price of) fresh, seasonal or specialty items. Well A.Q. takes it a step further to not only reflect this in their incredible season menu, but also in the interior decor of the establishment! (I mean it's a bit of a joke because we don't really have seasons in San Francisco, but I like the idea nonetheless.)
If you're looking to make your mouth water, read on! If you're starving, skip to the next section, this will make your tummy rumble. I could reminisce about the himachi starter, or the heavenly cloud-like gnocchi, but I really want to tell you the star of the show... dinner... or was it desert? I can't decide. I chose the BBQ pork which came two ways, a compressed piece of (fatty, juicy) pork belly and a perfect slice of pork shoulder, which lay over a bed of salty shelling beans and tuscan kale, with a dusting of ground mustard ash and dollop of cornbread. A dollop of cornbread? Yep, you read that right. The baked cornbread was blended with cream and dolloped on the plate as an incredible surprise to your palate. Honestly, I don't think I shared a bite of this meal with SK, it was that good (ok, maybe one...). Then desert came. A play on a Girl Scout Samoa cookie, a thick slice of chocolate mousse was perched atop a smear of caramel and freckled with coconut brittle. Right? I know. I thought I died and went to heaven. (Needless to say that between festivals, vacations, visits with family and wedding buffets August has not been kind to our waste lines... Maybe our garden is trying to tell us something.)
Thank you for an incredible date night, love.
We proceeded to spend the weekend celebrating a friend's birthday in Golden Gate Park with bocce, BBQ and beer (lovin those three B's) and being lazy around the house. Though I would have loved to see the sun and head down the beach, it was foggy and freezing, and the perfect excuse to stay at home.
Monday met us with the most extraordinary sunset I have ever seen in San Francisco, and if you were in the right part of the city you were also graced with a double rainbow! (Check out the Chronicle for a few snapshots) As we passed over the Bay Bridge we caught the tail end of the show...
All in all, a pretty fantastic weekend at home in our city by the bay.
