serene’s posterous

2 cafes side-by-side, offering similar breakfast and brunch items.   Now, that we are living so close to both cafes, they are the default brunch spot when we have a hankering for brunch.  I have eaten at Cafe Brioche 3 times but only once at Joanie's Cafe, mainly because the wait for a table is just shorter over at Cafe Brioche.  The food's tasty at both places.  But I think the eggs are better at Joanie's Cafe, and it has really tasty hash browns too.  I do love the oatmeal french toast and the lovely large mugs of coffee at at Cafe Brioche, so I think they are about equal in terms of food.  I have to say a meal at either of these places is huge! Today, after eating brunch at Cafe Brioche at about 10.30am, I didn't have anything to eat again until about 7pm.

We rarely head all the way to Cupertino these days, even though we used to go about twice a month a couple of years back.  But we had gone there twice in 2 weeks, and unsurprisingly Eu-Jin and I ate the exact same things both times.  I had Shui Kau noodles, while Eu-Jin had the fish congee at Joy Luck Place bistro (Food's good, but service is unattentive).  And I got green milk tea with pearls from Fantasia for dessert.  Yum!

We had the tastiest thosai (also known as dosa) in a while at the morning reception (after the wedding dinner the night before) of our friends' wedding in LA.  The groom's parents had hired caterer to make thosai for the guests on request, in addition to other tasty Indian food (mostly south Indian food I think).  The spiced potato filling (does that mean it is a masala thosai?) was particularly flavorful. 

I haven't had thosai in a while, but I sometimes purchase it for breakfast in the weekends when I am in Singapore.  It was great to get a taste of home!  Now it is time to look for a place that sells tasty thosais in the Bay Area...it would be several more months before I get to go back to Singapore for a visit.

And congrats to Aarthi and Vijay!

We went there for lunch this week since it was less than 2 blocks away from our apartment and it always looks crowded.  We had the lunch special which was red snapper ceviche on tostada, shared salsa and chips, and agua fresca jamaica.  Overall I liked the food, but my tostada was burnt tasting, and the salad that came with the lunch special came only after we had finished eating the rest of the food.

I have heard about this restaurant from various people.  About how it is a hole in the wall and it serves excellent brown rice sushi.  The restaurant is about 2 blocks away, down the street from our new apartment.  We had a craving for sushi, so we just called the restaurant to order a combo, a nigiri deluxe, hamachi and sake hosomaki, and went there a bit later to pick up the food.  It was all very tasty.  This is the first time I have had brown rice sushi, but the nutty flavor of the rice does bring an interesting dimension to the sushi.  The fish was very fresh too.  We would definitely be indulging in sushi more frequently now.

Before moving, I decided to reduce some of the pantry items we had lying around by doing some baking.  It was my first attempt at banana bread.  I used a recipe that was oil based rather than butter based because I didn't have any butter left at home.  I didn't add the lemon rind, reduced the sugar to slightly over 1/2 cup and used a mixture of chocolate chips and walnuts.  It didn't turn out perfect because I think I overmixed the batter causing the bread to be a little heavy.  I tried the same recipe again in the new apartment, but I guess the loaf browned too quickly in the smaller oven, and I ended up with not so great banana bread again.

I think I am going to try a butter based banana bread next.  Perhaps this recipe that came from Molly Wizenberg's book.

We haven't been to Bangkok Cuisine in years.  It is entirely possible that the last time we went, we were still undergraduates.  We sat out back in the patio and it was nice and cool despite the steamy hot weather.  We even saw a hummingbird flying around us as we waited for our friends.  The food was good.  We had Thai iced tea, and between the four of us, shared fresh spring rolls, som tam, panang curry, sweet basil chicken, a fried noodle dish and a rock cod dish.  I liked the spring rolls, but the sauce is a bit too weak.  The iced tea was a little too sweet too.  But overall we had fun chatting with friends and enjoying the good food in a pleasant environment.

I guess it is a little weird to like canned sardines.  My mom used to make sardine sandwiches for me with canned sardines in tomato sauce, plus onions and a dash of freshly squeezed lime. 

I usually just fry up some onions with the sardines and add some chopped thai chilies, and marinara sauce (mixed with a bit of Sriracha).  And I would squeeze some lime juice over everything to cut out any fishy taste.  This time, I stir fried some broccoli and added cherry tomatoes as well to make it a balanced meal.

Via the Stanford Daily

Last day of operations is 7 Aug 09.  It is unclear if or when the Thai Cafe will reopen.  I had lunch there Thursday and Friday this week, and made plans to eat there with another friend on Monday next week.  Got to get my fill of the peanut salads, chicken sautes and curries before it is too late.  I had a great peanut salad on Thursday - far better than my last experience in November and the tasty chicken saute (with green beans and mushrooms) on Friday, washed down with a can of Thai iced tea. 

The lady at the counter seemed strangely nice and friendly too...not yelling at my friend for not being ready to order at the front of the line, and not paying immediately.  I will miss this Stanford institution.

I baked these last minute for a friend's bake sale, so I had to make do with whatever ingredients I had at home.  I tried to make the cookies vegetarian (butter OK, but no eggs), so I roughly used this recipe, with some changes.  I used 1/2 cup of butter, doubled all the spices and fresh ginger, used 3/4 cup brown sugar, replaced the molasses with honey, skipped the raisins, and instead of rolling the dough balls in sugar, I just sprinkled some turbinado cane sugar over the flattened dough balls before baking.