Aunt Bee's Baked Artisan Goat Cheese

During the San Francisco trip, Raw and I headed down to the wharf. We had coupons for free appetizers at the Bistro Boudin, so we decided to lunch there.

We chose the Baked Artisan Goat Cheese for our free appetizer. When the server brought the dish, we almost laughed at the four tiny slivers of bread. Didn't he know how hungry we were?

Fortunately, the second dish he laid before us was a generous portion of a tasty warm tomato-ey sauce with a slice of goat cheese nestled in the middle. The goat cheese was nicely broiled and topped with a drizzle of pesto.

Raw and I were so delighted that we decided to try to recreate the magic at the dinner we all cooked on our last night there.

It turned out pretty delicious so when Jacque, Jill and I had a "Tapas Night" today, I made it again. Still delicious!

I like to kind of cheat when it comes to recipes. Totally homemade just takes too long! So this is how I mimic Bistro Boudin's tasty treat:

Aunt Bee's Baked Artisan Goat Cheese

One small hunk of goat cheese--The little packages all rolled in herbs works great!
One jar of tomato bruschetta in a variety of your choice

Dump the jar of bruschetta in a pie plate. Slice up the goat cheese and place the pieces evenly over the bruschetta.

Stick the pie plate in the oven and broil until the goat cheese is bubbly and nicely browned.

I serve this with sourdough, but any good bread would taste great.

And now that I think about it, this would probably be really good if you heated the bruschetta for awhile before putting the goat cheese on top. I'll try that next time and let you know how it works!

The best f*&%in' sh*t you can put in your mouth

There's a quaint little restaurant in Portland, Oregon, called Jam. It's on Hawthorne in Southeast. And it's great: nice waitpeople, a great brunch, good mimosas, a good crowd.

It's also home to the best f(*&in' sh&t you'll ever put in your mouth. It's called Ty's Big Breakfast.

I started making not infrequent trips up to the City of Roses in 2006 when my old buddy Emily moved up there. I had moved out to San Francisco and Portland is a just short* jaunt up I-5. So I started making trips back and forth. About the third time I was up there (sometime in the fall of 2006 or so) Emily and Josh took me to Jam.

It was great.

We started making it a tradition: Each time I was in town, we'd brunch at least once at Jam. The place is only about three blocks from Emily and Josh's house, so it was easy to roll our hungover selves out of bed and head down to Jam. It got even easier in the spring of 2007 when we discovered Ty's Big Breakfast.

I was especially hungover and especially hungry after a long night of partying and (badly) singing karaoke. So we went to Jam and on the menu I saw English muffins topped with eggs and veggie sausage patties, all covered in veggie gravy, with a side of hashbrowns. I hadn't really eaten many good veggie biscuit-and-gravy-type dishes in my day, but I seriously needed the grease and the heaviness in my stomach to keep the Greyhounds from the previous evening inside. So I thought I'd give it a try.

BEST. FOOD. ADVENTURE. EVER.

After one bite I was hooked. I sprang to life and almost started crying I was so happy. Ty's Big Breakfast was sooooo good! I ate the whole thing in about five minutes, my co-brunchers laughing at me all the while. And when I finished I tried to get the waitress's attention to let her know of the oral orgasm my mouth had just experienced.

"How was everything?" she asked.

"It was good."

"Great, thanks!"

And then, as she was about to walk away, I chimed in: "Holy sh%t! That was the best f#&^n' sh*t I've ever put in my mouth!"

And I meant it.

Laughter, of course, ensued among our party, along with many nods of agreement. I don't make it up to Portland as often anymore, but rest assured that when I'm there you'll definitely find me at Jam at least once. And yes, I'll be eating Ty's Big Breakfast.

*This is a lie. It's ostensibly a nine-hour drive, but it's always a bit longer than you expect.

Best. Pie. Crust. Ever.

So, as any culinary artist will tell you, THE most important part of any pie is the crust. Most busy folks nowadays go the easy route and buy a crust at the local market, but there are still a few of us diehard, make-it-yourself-every-time pie crust chefs out there. So here’s my recipe. It really is the best one if you like incredibly flaky, buttery, sweet crusts.

This recipe makes one single crust. Simply double the ingredients for a double-crust pie.

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter (must be cold!)
1/4 cup shortening (must be cold!)
1 large egg
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ice water

Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Cut the shortening and butter into the flour until the flour-fat mixture is in crumbly, pea-sized chunks. NOTE: Because of the cold, solid nature of the butter and shortening this may be difficult. Power through! Do it as quickly as possible to avoid heating up the fats. Or better yet: use a food processor to cut the fat into the flour.

In a separate bowl, beat together egg, vinegar, and water. Add the liquids SLOWLY to the flour-fat mixture until it just forms a ball. NOTE: You should not use all of the liquids. If you use too much of the liquid mixture, add a bit more flour to dry out the dough.

Pat the crust into a one-inch-thick disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator for at least an hour. NOTE: DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Working with cold ingredients is key to a flaky crust!

After an hour or more, lightly dust a countertop, the dough, and a rolling pin with flour. Roll out the crust, working from the center of the disc and rolling outward. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH. This will also take away from its flakiness.

Once it’s rolled out, transfer the crust to a pie pan. Do this without stretching the dough. Depending on what kind of pie you’re making, you may want to prick the crust with a fork and bake it for 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Most pies don’t require a pre-baked crust, however, so feel free to skip this step.

If you’re making a top crust for a sweet pie, once the crust is in place lightly brush it with the remaining egg-water-vinegar mixture and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, or whatever the pie recipe calls for.

If you're coming to San Francisco...

You should probably 1) call me for a place to stay and 2) eat at Lime. It's not the best place to eat--that would be A16 or Quince or Chez Panisse--but it is the best place to start a Saturday. Or continue a Friday...

Picture a place that's blaring dance music at 10:30 a.m. Picture a bunch of hipsters and queers who've been dancing all night and haven't quite yet, um, come down. Picture mod seats and rose tinted windows. That's Lime.

What's more, Lime serves $6 all-you-can-drink mimosas all day, every Saturday. On Sunday, it's $7. And, if you're like me, you can drink a lot of mimosas. A lot. So it's well worth it.

The food's decent enough, but you probably won't care after a half-dozen orange juice and champagne cocktails. I like the vegetarian Eggs Benedict, but some of their omelets are pretty good, too. The fruit's generally pretty fresh if you're into lighter fare.

But who are we kidding? I don't go there for the food. I go there for the booze. And the drinks really are bottomless (unlike some of the sweet boys in there--zing!). They may kick you out of a booth and over to the bar, but they won't quit serving you. Believe me: I've been there from 11 a.m. until nearly 4 p.m. before.

Which is just how I like to start off my weekend...

Reba's

Reba's is awesome!

It really does seem a bit out of place when compared to the other restaurants I've been to in Newton. But doesn't every town need a semi-fancy place to hang out?

I've enjoyed all the food I've had at Reba's. I think the spinach salad with the citrus vinaigrette is awesome! I like my dressings to have some pow! so I guess I could understand why others might enjoy a more subtle taste.

We always enjoy the hummus. The secret is that it's not actually chick peas. I'll leave the rest of the secret to the chef.

The music is always good. Where else do you get to listen to Beck and Elliott Smith and maybe even some Cake if you're lucky?

Honestly, though, we rarely make it in time for dinner. We usually go to hang out with Joel and Nick. They're great bartenders. They have some creative drinks up their sleeves, but are quite comfortable with the standards. They're very friendly and might even come hang out with you after close!

Reba's is definitely worth the trip to Newton!