Here we are, now in week three of the renovations.  Have I mentioned how impatient I am?  The beginning of the process went so quickly that I was irritated when everything came to a grinding halt with the counters.  Counters went in yesterday and backsplash today!

So what’s a cook to do when she can’t cook?  Well, I finally DID get to cook.  In San Francisco.  At my Sister in Laws’ house.  Bonnie and Gretchen hosted us for a getaway weekend and I made breakfast.  Nothing fancy, just a little veggie frittata.  I feel remarkably better with just creating that one simple dish.  Gretchen and I LOVE to cook together and the brother and sister duo (John and Bonnie) reap the benefits of our work.  This trip we ate out for almost every meal and we drank some fab beer during the final days of San Francisco Beer Week.

If I am going to be perfectly honest, and I always try to be, when John booked the trip, we didn’t know it was going to be Valentine’s Day weekend.  We didn’t know it was going to be Beer Week in SF.  All we knew is that we needed to get away from here and the hot mess that is our home right now.  In fact, when I called to make dinner reservations at RN74 for Friday night, the hostess said, “You mean Valentine’s Day?!”  With a slightly panicked sound akin to Jessica Rabbit when she realized there was “Dip” in her future.

I will say the room is lovely and the staff very pleasant at RN74 and I did have THE most perfectly cooked duck I have ever had in my life.  The weekend’s tastings, however, were stolen by Mama Ji’s in the Castro.  HOLY MOLY!  Everything we had was exceptional.  Even the tofu was absolutely phenomenal, as far as tofu goes.  We ordered everything on the appetizer menu, plus a few other things and if you go, and I hope you do, you should order the Spicy Cold Noodles.  The noodles were ice cold, but the toppings and oil on top were not only temperature hot, but spicy hot too.  Ridiculously delicious and the best thing I ate all weekend long.

The most perfectly cooked duck I have ever eaten. RN74

Cold Spicy Noodles at Mama J 

I am back home, without appliances and waiting anxiously for tomorrow when my stove is reconnected.  My counters and my backsplash are amazing! The same awesome crew that did the floors came back at my request to do the backsplash.  I am in the homestretch!  If everything goes according to plan, we are skipping sushi date night tomorrow and I am cooking at home.

More soon, and if we are all lucky, I will post more recipes as I get creative in my new kitchen!