To Grocery Shop in SF & No Soy Sauce Involved

The Mr. offered to cook last night so I ran to Faletti's Market to get the (we avoid the offending term here) pork and beef. Faletti's has one of the only full service butchers in SF and maybe the best too. Be a Bryan's fan all you want (before Faletti's moved into my neighborhood I was) but in addition to the butchers they have THE BEST WINE BUYER ever. This guy Allen buys the best and most interesting wines under $10 a bottle in the city. He is almost always there, will come on out to help you if you ask for him anytime, and has never once steered me wrong. If he has put a sign up over just about any bottle saying it's a "good value" you ought to buy a couple extras because it is going to be great. To top it off the guy is nice. In fact, all the employees are really efficient and kind and seem to like being there, which makes it nice to shop there, so I do for certain things. Although you can find pretty much everything, the produce isn't near as good as at Fresh Organics (formerly Real Foods) on Stanyan. Faletti's carries a zillion flavors of Marianne's Ice Cream (our family loves the "1020" and green tea), and an assortment of very amusing British canned goods (such as a raisin studded sponge cake called "Spotted Dick") which always provide my son and I a good snicker while waiting in the check out line.

Of course I also shop at Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's has implanted all of our brains with TJ's brand brain magnets. TJ's magnets block independent thought then draw us inside whenever we are within a half mile of a store. Once inside, the TJ magnets effect the ocular nerve in just such a way so as to make fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic look good. They also make us temporarily forget that in each plastic wrapped package of 4 items we know at least one is never going to ripen or has a big spot on the side you can't see. The teeth whitened, Aloha shirt wearing, "Cheeseburger in Paradise" Humming cyborgs that work there have devices planted in their brain too. These are the ones that make you feel really good and smart when they compliment your selection or ask " how do you prepare that?". They do carry a nice assortment of reasonable priced cheese (Parrano, Manchego, aged Cabbot cheddar, and a Stilton we like), and their organic olive oil is a house staple. By the time I get home the effect has worn off and I no longer feel elated, rather surprised by how many bags I have and by the overwhelming desire to wash my hands really really well.

The Mr. has a very developed pallet, is an adventurous diner, and can be effected (either in a good or bad way) by the presentation and serving size before him. He will always wait for the candles to be lit and the music playing and prefers to be seated in the dining room even for take out pizza. So even after all these years I still find it very confusing how much the man likes white bread, orange American Cheese, Dorito's and Coke a Cola products. That is to say he becomes rather grumpy if these are not on hand on a regular basis so once every 10 days or so I go to either Lucky's on Fulton and/or the Marina Safeway for their "Friday Family for Five" deals. Lucky's is closer and carries Asian and Mexican products priced pretty well, but on a Friday $5 can buy a lot at Safeway. Either place is good for a pork shoulder on sale if you want to try the pulled pork recipe my brother loves.

For Easter, Epiphany, or any time we need some Polish Soul Food we stop at New World Market on Geary. This is one of those places that a big smile and a nice outfit might help you navigate, and do not be put off by the jostling grannies and all that hollering in Russian going on. They make the best Kielbasa I have found here (buy the "garlic smokee sausage" and at least 2 other varieties) and sell excellent frozen pierogi and pelmeni (the Siberian ones are the best). You do really need to check expiration dates on the imported items, but that is the way any self respecting Russian grocer would weed out the suckers. If you go just before school gets out around 2:30 or so you cab usually get warm syrniki's fresh out of the bakery. Even if you do not see the pile of these lovely little patties of fried sweet cheese on the counter (like the inside of a cheese danish only firmer and golden brown) you can ask for them. "Seeyer-nee- kee". Say it, "see-yer-nee-kee". The faster you speak it the better they understand you. Push to the front if there is a line (that is just how it is done) then make a nuisance of yourself by asking for some mushroom salad from the deli, buy the Ukranian Vodka or ANY of the vodka's the check out girl suggests. Just don't get any of the kaleidoscope colored Milady Liquers , no matter how cute the little hats are - don't be enticed - this is not tasty hooch.

Even if you have never cooked an Asian dish in your life you just have to visit the New May Wah market on Clement. I'll give you a dollar if you aren't flat out floored by the gargantuan sized citrus fruit they sell if nothing else. I once went to get a can of salted "spring cabbage" for a soup the Mr. was making for me from Helen Chen's cookbook (not the long lost pickles and pork but we thought it might be similar). There were possibly 20 different varieties to choose from, at least 50 soy sauces, five types of fresh basil, hundreds of packages o fresh noodles and many many items that are completely mysterious. Which reminds me to tell you about last night's feast and the very unusual fact that there was no soy sauce involved at all.

Yes, the Mr. cooks Chinese. How could there be no Soy Sauce involved then?

Last night the Mr. worked out in the attic - and after a few extra push ups, a good flexing and stretching followed by a brisk shower, he threw all culinary caution to the wind and went all Thai and Vietnamese on me.

While the Former Pastry Chef, my daughter and I worked on making silk flower hair ornaments which we hope to sell at the Cole Valley Festival, the boys took over the kitchen. The Mr. had brought me a lovely bottle of Lynmar Estate Russian River Chardonnay, la Sereinite from the tasting room he visited earlier in the week and we savored it during the preparation hour. My son helped cook, even making a dipping sauce entirely on his own, and we gals did nothing but craft and sip away. In what seemed like no time at all we were being served crunchy, golden brown Thai Pork Balls with Chile Dipping Sauce (tart and spicy vinegar based it was a perfect foil for the pork balls) and Vietnamese Shaking Beef which was so good, and had a wonderful, long lasting and slow kind of heat that I am hoping to finish off the tiny left over portion before any one else remembers to ask for it! Not a drop of Soy Sauce in either dish and it wasn't missed.

The best is yet to come, Mr. finished washing the final dishes for me this morning so I could blog, isn't that just the best?