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| Sign in a place we stayed |
Well, I've just come back from a trip to Canada and the USA which was fantastic. It was a long awaited and well needed break - a revival of my 'good life' spirit after being far too focused on work for the last few months. We ate so much good food in the two week period that I feel I can relate to those poor ducks who are force fed for fois gras, except in my case, it was self induced!
The purpose of the trip was my mom's 70th birthday. As ever its great to catch up with family, which I really don't get to do often enough, but we also managed to get out to Calgary to visit some besties, Deb and Dave, and on the way home we managed to squeeze in a stop in the San Francisco area, including a few days in Sonoma and Russian River. Because it was spring, we even managed to get the last of the snow falls in Calgary. I don't think Allister will be rushing to experience Canadian winters any time soon!
New Zealand and Australia have some fabulous cuisine, but I was so impressed with the food in North America on this trip - there seems to be somewhat of a revival of local, well produced, non chain-food fare. It all got off to a pretty good start with the home cooking in Kelowna including my mom's famous German Roladen and my dad's signature waffles. Then came the homebaked torten from the German ladies which you cannot resist with the best of intentions. We had a great birthday celebration and got my mom off to a good start for her next decade!
All the German's living in the Okanagan Valley meant a great deal of pork knuckles and sauerkraut was also consumed by Allister. Add some great Canadian wines from Mission Hill winery, literally up the road from where my parents live, and it's a recipe for indulgence.
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| Lobster Mac and Cheese |
Next stop, Calgary, where my foodie friend Debbie just returned from Rome with her smuggled stash of Italian salami and cheese (I love it!). By dinner on the third night in Calgary, at a very cool Italian restaurant named Vero with tasting platters from the kitchen, homegrown Alberta lamb, and the ultimate Canadian delicacy, Lobster Mac and Cheese, I almost felt like my liver and intestine were going to malfunction! I had progressively eaten so much over the course of a few weeks, one more 'after dinner mint' (my new/old favourite monty python quote) would have really blown the keg!
Deb and Dave run a bakery at the Calgary Farmer's market (called Yum bakery - if you're ever there you MUST go for a visit). The market was really an excellent experience, where lots of local, fresh, well produced products were on offer all under one very big roof. We don't really have any markets on that scale here and I wish I could transplant something like that to Auckland. (Calgary's population is actually slightly smaller than Auckland, so nothing stopping us) Yum bakery is very cool. They make everything themselves from scratch, including sourdough bread made from their starter named 'Eduardo' (they wanted something that sounded like a sexy Italian who will go forth and multiply! Apparently all good sourdough starters have names and can run into 100's of years of age). My pick - the fig and fennel sourdough which goes remarkably well with smuggled fresh Italian gorgonzola cheese as it turns out. (Yum bakery was rated one of the top bakeries in Calgary recently, which they really deserve). 
San Francisco always inspires me as a food destination and this time was no exception. I think the whole wine region North of San Fran is a natural foodie zone, but the 'locavore' movement just goes off there. We went to 'The Girl and The Fig' in Sonoma the first night, which was heaving. Apparently Lady Gaga had been there recently in a quest to buy a winery, but I think this place is always busy. I had the duck confit (of course) and Al had the 'plat du jour', the house specialty - a revolving 3 course, seasonally inspired meal. It was so good I bought a cookbook there.
Here's an example of their menu of the day or 'plat du jour' which they change regularly and costs $34 USD for 3 courses plus and extra $10 for 3 local wines to match.
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| Duck Confit Basteeya at Aziza |
There were many other places, including ZaZu in Santa Rosa which cures all of its own pork products, but the highlight was back in San Fran at 'Aziza', a Morrocan Michelin starred restaurant which is probably one of THE foodie experiences of the year so far. The restaurant is in a non descript building in a non descript part of SFO, but once you enter through the doors it feels like you've been transported to another place entirely. Anyone who knows me knows that Duck is always my first menu choice (hmmmm... maybe there's a reason I feel fois gras'ed so much!) and at Aziza, there was no exception. Allister and I had the Duck Confit Basteeya with raisin and almond as a shared starter - if I could even marginally recreate this dish, I would be a very happy person. Confit Duck and an almond paste are wrapped and backed in filo and dusted with icing sugar. The sweet, savoury, nutty combination and the overall textural experience were just wow. (Yes, Allister bought me a cookbook from here also! I will have to do my best to recreate what we experienced)
Well, its back to work now in earnest and if I can manage to keep some work life balance during this next crazy phase I will be doing well. In the way that winter follows summer and night follows day, my duck confit splurge will now need to be followed by a slightly leaner, less fois gras'ing cuisine!
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| Gallery next to SFMOMA |
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| Diego, the cellar door dog at Porter's Creek winery in Russian River |
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| My Award for Best Billboard! |
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