Sushi on boats = People on pots

This weekend was brutal.

After an afternoon of shopping downtown for wedding attire for the upcoming Brett + Erin extravaganza in Hawaii (I can’t wait!!!), we were tired, hungry and increasingly indecisive. Then we happily stumbled across Sushi Boat, a little sushi joint downtown where they’ve swapped out the usual conveyor belt for little wooden boats floating on a moat that circles the sushi chefs. Fast forward a few hours later, we kick off our shoes on the front step of the house and find ourselves racing each other to the bathroom.

Please note: we highly UN-Recommend Sushi Boat. Please do not eat there. We realize those cute little wooden boats and carefully crafted sushi rolls are so enticing and after a long day of shopping the whole idea of watching your food float right to your plate is so tempting, but DO NOT be lured.

In the spirit of optimism, we had our very first sickness together, so cute! And what a bonding experience it was. We’ll leave the story at how this weekend we had absolutely no need for those cute little Japanese toilet seat warmers you can get at Uwajimaya, our seat was H-O-T-T, hot!
And, just like any Saturday night, cooking was in order. We proudly present, the BRAT diet date night:

You don’t even need a recipe for this delightful mix of Bananas-Rice-Applesauce-and-Toast. Please feel free to combine this simple, four ingredient diet as you wish.

Sadly, we are both still enjoying steaming bowls of rice for lunch as I write this. Five days and counting.

Italian Week

As you may have heard on Facebook, I can’t get the car out of the garage. It’s super tight, barely enough room for the two cars and you have to get in and out of ours on the passenger side! The actual door to the garage barely fits the car so you must be precise as you back up around the randomly-place pole (can’t we take it out??! It’s only ONE of the main support beams), the three garbage cans (in San Francisco you have to recycle, use your food compost bin, and then you get a teeny tiny garbage can), a sink hole with a drain in the bottom of it right in the middle of the garage where you don’t want to accelerate because then you hit the wall and of course the neighbor’s car.

Well, my first backing-the-car-out of the garage was orchestrated by my lovely boyfriend telling me which way to turn the wheel, and watched by a full audience as the neighbors gasped in horror half-wishing I would hurry up so they could get their car out and go to work and half-wishing I would just get out of the car. The pressure was on! I didn’t hit the other car, but I also didn’t get the car out. I couldn’t get it straightened out enough to fit through the little garage door! UGH. (fingers are crossed that our car is magically replaced with a Mini!)

Bottom line: I’m carless, as in without car, no wheels.

It turns out being carless is just fine in this city by the bay. About a week ago, as I was walking home from pilates, and I discovered a local Italian deli. I mean, the real deal. Homemade meatballs, triangles of aged parmesan, fresh Italian breads and pastas, and in-house cured meats! YUM! So, if I could get the car out of the garage I may not have found this delicious little gem of amazing Italian treats! Needless to say, I may have made Italian for dinner one night too many for the boyfriend. But, overly engorged on Italian delights aside, I think the boyfriend is liking having  a fantastic dinner (almost) every night (if I do say so myself).

The first recipe is mostly provided by Lucca Ravioli, my new favorite Italian deli, but maybe you can find a local deli of your own?

Taglioni and Meatballs
1 pound fresh pasta (our fave is angel hair, so I got fresh taglioni – thin, long, egg pasta)
2 packages of homemade meatballs from Lucca (8 meatballs)
1 large can Trader Joe’s Marinara
Basil (I used the frozen cubes from TJ’s, so convenient)
2 cloves garlic
½ of a large yellow onion

I sautéed the onion in olive oil then added the garlic and basil and poured the can of marinara from Tj’s and the meatballs into the pot and let it all simmer together for about an hour. Then, when we got back from Ikea famished (and never wanting to see another piece of moderately priced furniture for small spaces) I boiled some water, cooked the pasta to al dente and served with a green salad and crispy basil, garlic and parmesan toast on fresh Italian loaf. So good!

The second recipe was sooo delicious and fun to make:

Prosciutto, basil and caramelized onion pizza

So I cheated a little and bought most of these ingredients from Trader Joe’s, but the essence of Italian-ness was inspired by Lucca’s (it’s kinda pricey in there). I had to have Dan back out the car for me, the TJ's is not within walking distance!

1 package dough from TJ’s
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
½ yellow onion, caramelized
1 package thinly sliced prosciutto
1 package fresh basil leaves
1 package shredded mozzarella
1 bag of arugula

Follow the directions closely on the package of the dough and make sure you let it rest for 20 minutes as you prep the rest of the ingredients. I made the pizza on a floured cutting board and then haphazardly transferred it to a flaming hot pizza stone heated in the oven. I don’t recommend this process, but you have to heat the stone before using it and I don’t have one of those giant wood spatula things they have for brick pizza ovens! (let me know if you have a better idea).
To caramelize the onions, just warm olive oil in a pan and sauté the sliced onion pieces on low for about 15 minutes…the key is low and slow!

After the dough is rolled out/stretched and on a floured surface, paint it with a mixture of olive oil and smashed garlic. Then top the pizza as you see fit. We started with basil, then onions, then mozzarella and prosciutto on top. When the pizza comes out of the oven, sprinkle on the fresh arugula and serve with a side salad. It’s a little salty because of the prosciutto, but sooo tasty!

(I realize this second pic is not very clear or bright, but I just wanted you to note the angle of the knife block in the background...He hasn't changed it back in a couple of days! I'm winning!)

P.S. The boyfriend just waited in line at the crazy, but entertaining, transportation office to get us a parking pass so we can keep the car on the street and avoid the garage all together. He's the sweetest!!

The table arrived…and hundreds of other boxes too!

Just a mere 83 days ago, the move to San Francisco was but a sparkle in our eyes and here we are unpacking boxes, hanging art, and cleaning floors, all to make a San Francisco walk-up into a home…together.

You know how you walk through an empty apartment thinking, I’ll put my mirror there, oh and my gigantic toaster-for-two would be perfect on that end of the counter. Well, let the negotiating begin because moving in together is a much more complicated ball of wax full of you-can-put-that-there-if-I-get-to-keep-this bargaining.

Our pile of much-missed items arrived on Friday in a full-day fiasco of begging people not to park in front of our house. The moving truck was hours late after one of the movers conveniently sprained his ankle just in time for the 4th of July holiday weekend, we wish him a rapid 3-day weekend recovery. The next three days were spent tearing into boxes, finding our long lost treasures, not finding others (like the elusive piece of glass for the bar top), and creating a dining-room-sized pile of paper and packing products – we’re accepting a $5 admission to play in it (all proceeds will go toward getting rid of it!).

Together we spent countless hours arranging furniture, measuring twice and hammering in nails once (Dan’s #1 rule), organizing the kitchen and attempting to fit our 12 appliances into cabinets (that’s right, we can make toast for six all while baking bread, blending a margarita, stewing meat in the Crockpot, mixing a cake, grinding coffee AND brewing it three ways!), and we’ve only come up with two points of contention: the angle of the knife block on the kitchen counter (which mysteriously keeps changing throughout the day), and the “girl” sheets on the bed must go. That’s all we’ve got. And, really, we’ve come to a consensus on the second one, so, one, one point of contention. WE WIN!

Second order of business, after unpacking, is always eating, so for our first meal in our apartment we made quesadillas, and our second meal was a famous Dan egg scramble, but the third meal in our very own jointly moved- into-together apartment was Sesame Shrimp and Couscous Salad from Cooking Light online.

It was fun having my sous chef back, and fun cooking in our kitchen. Not his kitchen or my kitchen, but our kitchen. A couple notes: the salad was a little dry, so we mixed up a little extra olive oil, sesame oil and, rice vinegar and poured it over the top. We substituted a couple items, in parentheses below.

Sesame Shrimp-and-Couscous Salad

YIELD: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups water, divided
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup uncooked couscous (we used whole wheat)
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil (we used olive oil)
1 1/2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed (we used edamame)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Preparation:
Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add shrimp; cook 3 minutes or until done. Drain and rinse with cold water; cut shrimp in half. Bring 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in saucepan; gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork; cool.

Combine vinegar, vegetable oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add shrimp, couscous, lettuce, bell pepper, peas, and cilantro; toss well. Sprinkle with peanuts.