We have a new Farmers Market in town. We paid it a visit and I bought some preserved lemons. To be honest I have never had any experience using preserved lemons and bought this on a whim. I took it home and sampled the lemons. It is salty, soft and "surprise"; lemony. What can I do with these. I did the usual searches and asked for a couple of suggestions from friends. This is what I came up with. Fresh fava beans are at the market too. They are only around for a little while and I love to take advantage. To quote my father; It is a lot of work for what you get. I peeled and blanched the ..read more

  Welcome to Paul’s Fruitcake Corner. Here at the corner we will try fruitcake so you do not have to. Fruitcake is not just limited to the Holiday season. Today I would like to share a very, very special cake. It is an Orange/Kumquat fruitcake inspired by my mother. My mother handed this recipe down to me and I believe it originally came from the “Sunset” magazine. I have used it as a guideline and put in my own twists. When my mother made fruitcakes it was quite the event. It took time to gather the ingredients. She would use quality fruits and nuts. My mother was a teetotaler but she ..read more

 I have many bbq's and smokers. From the Big Green Egg to my trusty Weber kettle and they all get used during the year. I have to admit my Weber kettle gets most of the use because we love to grill. The kettle can also be used to bake when you use an indirect fire. To build this indirect fire, charcoals are banked in two metal baskets. The stock Weber metal baskets are made of a thin steel that works perfectly fine. The problem is after several years they burn out and need to be replaced. I wanted to get something a little more sturdy. I found a company called the Burn Shop out of Texas ..read more

Ms. Goofy had a birthday that we recently celebrated. We braved the rainy elements and traveled to San Francisco to Osso Steakhouse. This steakhouse is located on top of Nob Hill. You climb the cable car steep streets to area of fancy hotels like the Mark Hopkins, Fairmont and Ritz Carleton. The weather was dismal but that may have been a blessing. We did not experience the usual traffic nightmare and had smooth crossing both way. We also parked in the parking lot of the Masonic Auditorium which is right next door. Tonight we will have a no price disclaimer. The parking and dinner was very e ..read more

Elena's Mexican Restaurant is newest latest trending new restaurant in San Francisco. It is owned by the Originial Joe's restaurant group. We had to go check it out. This restaurant is located in the West Portal neighborhood. It is far away from the downtown madness and closer to the ocean. It was quiet the drive to get to this location and parking Karma had left me. There are only coveted metered spots that one will be lucky to find. I parked several blocks away in a residental neighborhood and walked in the pouring rain. We arrived at 12:30 p.m. and had a 45 minute wait. I understand w ..read more

Ms. Goofy knows what I like. She bought me a 25ounce bone-in New York strip Snake River Farms American Wagyu steak. The marbeling in this beef is fantastic. I actually was a little afraid to cook this very expensive hunk of beef. It was a little thin to use the reverse sear method. I just cooked it the way I know best. I built a two level fire. Charocals on one side for a direct sear and no charcoal on the other for indirect finishing on my trusty Weber grill. The grates are cast iron. I cranked up the heat to smokin hot fire. The steak was branded on both sides. Flames were jumping resultin ..read more

  The Women's Auxillary of the Galileo Italian Club sponsored a Sunday brunch this Saint Patricks Day. These events are a great way to eat a whole lot of food. This particular picture shows the omelete station to the right and in the center is a combination of home made and store bought pastries. I partook of both stations. There was an early visit from the Easter Bunny today. It was kind of fun to see young children getting excited to see an oversized bunny hopping around the club. This was a fun and tasty event ..read more

Dinner and a show was on the menu tonight. We love going to our local playhouse and seeing plays. This weekend was one of my all time favorites; The Music Man. I was standing by as an understudy just in case one of the performers needed a break. I do know this musical word for word and song for song. We had a nice dinner beforehand. The picture is a little sub-par because the lighting was pretty dim. This stuffed pork chop was perfect. They never called me up on stage but it still was a very enjoyable night.   ..read more

 I got married on my birthday. It is convenient and I am guaranteed not to forget the date. We returned to Originial Joe's 'North Beach' in San Francisco to celebrate this occasion. My parking karma was in full swing evident by the metered parking spot right in front. Pork chops & raviolis for me and short ribs for my bride that I married 31 years ago. Originial Joe's is not the most fancy restaurant in San Francisco but what they do, they do in style. Everything was delicous. Ms. Goofy ordered her favorite ooey gooey butter cake and I; gelato spumoni. We had a blast. Thi ..read more

It is that time of year again. For those of you that know; know. It is that time of year that Costco sells Snake River Farms corned beef. These are American Wagyu beef rounds that have been corned. (not corned brisket). They are so very special. We always buy a couple and put some in the freezer. Yummy!!!!   ..read more