Review on the Fly: Tamarindo's Crispy Shrimp Tacos

 Tamarindo has a shiny silver ceiling and a bright, open space leaves you feeling you are hanging out with the family. An air of femininity adds an extra bit of charm to the decor.

Drawn in by the crispy prawn taco on the menu, I got a seat in the sunlit dining room.  It may seem odd that at that exact moment one might be struck with the urge to have a taco, however, these aren't any ordinary tacos. 

Prawns, creamy avocado, chopped lettuce & sprinkling of cheese make for a more elegant eat. This is not a taco to be wolfed down in haste. Washed down with a pineapple aqua fresca on a less than beautiful day served to brighten it.

This would be a perfect spot to lunch or happy hour with friends and I look forward to doing so.

+ great food, lovely atmospshere
- service friendly but distant

Wordless Wednesday: Curry Favor

When Biggie said she needed to cook for people, Heather and I gladly volunteered to be those people.....

fish cakes w green beans & green onion

cucumber & red onion salad w peanuts. sooooooo good!

the best, best, best curry EVER!!!!

Coconut Milk cake w Mango IC and Pandan whip

Tacos Mi Tierra

The best meal we had while visiting family was on Friday in Medford. After we got off the bus we saw a library, so of course we had to go in. The library was closed but the store was open. lucky me, I got two books and scored a bunch of magazines for the whopping total of $1.50. 

href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/218/1574583/restaurant/Tacos-Mi-Tierra-Medford"><img alt="Tacos Mi Tierra on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1574583/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" />


Then we walked across the street to Tacos Mi Tierra which smelled so good upon first entering we knew we had made the right choice. We decided to share the chicken nachos, which were enhanced the excellent tomatillo sauce we poured over them. We also got chicken tacos to go that we scarfed later. We ate another Mexican place Saturday but to our dismay, it didn't even come close to being as good. Tacos Mi Tierra is already in our list for places we plan to eat on our next visit to Medford.

The chips were wonderfully crunchy and the meat was fresh & hot off the grill. The prices are great too, we fed two people for $10, which was well within our budget. The couple behind us had burritos which looked and smelled amazing. My brother said that is what are trying next time we go....

what to eat, what to eat

I love the look of this, like an old fashioned kitchen

Meat is cooked fresh for every order and it tastes like it

Lunch at Phnom Penh House

When we first moved to Oakland, we had some pretty bad food luck. As much as we have grown to love Oakland over the years, the food booming happening now still can't quite touch the amount of bad food that the Town has settled for.

Lucky for us, we discovered Phnom Penh House early on and we love the consistently good food as well as the wonderful family that runs it.

I actually didn't realize the flash was on....

Acme makes a pretty good beer

I know, I know, eggrolls? But majority rules

The snapper had a gorgeous sauce. The mushrooms were lovely.

They just added this to then menu. Its been a hidden extra for years! Chicken soup with pineapple and thinly sliced baby coconut. Its so incredibly good.

Hands down, the best fried bananas I have ever had. Anywhere.

Chez Papa's for late lunch

It's raining. I've been coughing and cooped up all week, which has been super annoying. The remedy as it turns out was Chez Papa. It was quiet, meaning I hit at the right time. The music was lovely, my server was welcoming and the host was singing in a baritone to the French songs playing. It was, just what I needed.

I'd love to have some black chandeliers. Much cooler than the ones at my grandmother's when I was growing up.

The bread was still warm when my lovely server brought it me. Butter on warm, crusty bread? Heaven.

caramelized onion soup with cheese was perfect for the weather and perfectly seasoned

When I asked if she would choose the nicoise or the chicken, there was no hesitation. The chicken and polenta were homey and worth savoring. So I did.

This plate belies the combination.it looks so innocent yet it was sublime. The rich creamy chocolate followed by the green tea ice cream was quite an experience for the mouth.

 I thanked my server when I left, and I spoke to her about the food as I was trying each course. I put myself in her hands and I am so glad I did, because her choices were dead on. 

I also hugged the host and told him he should sing with every song. This is one of those times when I didn't want to use a lot of words, yet wanted to share such a wonderful dining moment with you.

I will most certainly be visiting again!

Mobile Bottling at Stomping Girl Winery

I left early and a good thing too as I got lost. I wandered in the wrong direction until Google maps said "uh hullo? Turn around."

Walking down Fourth Street in Berkeley, away from all the shops and bustle, I discovered quite a few things I didn't know where there. Go past the Sake tasting room, leather handbag shops, you'll find treasures like Wine.com and June Taylor Jams.

My destination was a local winery by the name of Stomping Girl. When the call went out from the newsletter for bottling volunteers, I immediately responded. Though having worked at a winery I never got to be a part of the bottling process, so I thought it would be interesting to see the process.


Stomping Girl is owned by Uzi and Katherine Cohen, two delightful people. I actually talk to Uzi on Twitter, which is how I discovered them. You have to love people who provide a delicious lunch for their volunteers and take the time to make sure there is both meat and vegetarian options. And cookies!

It is also great to meet someone who I've been chatting with on Twitter.

The mobile bottling unit is just what it sounds like: a bottling unit in a truck. On the left is the bottles and argon. You put argon in the bottles and then you put them onto the filler. The bottle moves to Kaleb who tops off the bottle and corks it.

The truck open & ready to rock

The bottle is then passed off to get a foil cap, pushed back into a machine to seal the foil, labeled and placed in a box. Sound easy? Well it takes most of a day. We worked in a morning and afternoon shift and though it is fun to meet new people, if you had to do it all day you'd find the repetitiveness tedious.

 

Ooh, look at those shiny green babies filling with wine!

It's really a wonder though, being the nosy character that I am, so I found the whole process very interesting. The wine was pumped in from a tube linked to a vat in the warehouse. As you can see above, the bottles get filled on the machine in the truck.

Kaleb puts corks into the corker.

This is one of the most fascinating times I have ever had. Having no idea that mobile bottling trucks even existed, I asked a million questions about the who what when why and how. Kaleb is really patient and was happy to share information with me. And he has agreed to a blog interview, so if you want to know more, send your questions.

Getting ready for labels

We haven't tried the '09 Pinot that we bottled yet. That will lay down for a few months and then we'll get to taste it. All I know is it smelled pretty amazing!

BBC: British Bankers Club

From the outset, the BBC looks like a pub style retaurant. With Chef Tim and Chef Paul at the helm, though the BBC is a shining star in the making.

Take nine women, a couple digital and 1 video camera, add a commercial kitchen and two chefs and you get...a Starry Eyed Foodi adventure.

Spoons and a box of love made for a delightful start to a feast! We started with cheesecake from the fabulous Anti Cupcake Co, my personal fave being the coconut. I could easily picture it with a passionfruit or pineapple coulis for a bit of color...mmmm...! Thanks, girl!

Chef Paul created a seared tuna sashimi salad with daikon and an onion soy vinagrette. The tuna is perfect, melting in the mouth, the vinagrette a beautiful melange of flavor. If one could only eat tuna everyday for the rest of their lives, it would be best like this. No really. I could definitely eat this everyday!

Chef Tim rubs black pepper, salt and coridander on steak and after letting them rest, sears them to serve on a bed of wild arugula.The steak is perfectly cooked and made even more gorgeous with the addition of thin, crispy fennel and shaved truffle.

Then the piece de resitance: bread pudding with whiskey suace. You gotta love a meal that begins and ends with dessert!

This was the first of many such events, and with chefs and company like these, its not to be missed! It is amazing to be a part of such a diverse and amazing group of women who, share and support each other!

Want to see more pics? Go here: Foodie Fempire

Big thanks to the BBC, Foodie Fempire Crew and to @ladyleet, who let me steal her fabulous pictures!