Fish Food

Week 20 & Week 21 (May 19 & May 26 made up on June 5) 

I know, I am behind. The end of May was very busy for us, so we kept postponing our cooking nights and then suddenly we were two behind, going on three.

SO...

I decided that since I tried out two new recipes for Geoffrey's birthday party at Hog Island, those kinda count. Right? Why yes, yes they do! I know this is cheating, but whatever, my blog, my rules:)

Recipe #1: Hog Island Hog Wash
This recipe called for two types of rice vinegar, a seasoned rice vinegar and a natural rice vinegar. What's the difference you ask? Natural rice vinegar is made by fermenting rice grain. It is all natural, contains no sodium or sugar, no calories and is gluten and fat free. Seasoned rice vinegar is made by adding sake, salt and sugar. It is still gluten/fat free but does contain calories and sodium. Seasoned rice vinegar is often used to make sushi rice. The recipe was easy to make and very flavorful. As with the pickling of the veggies for the Banh Mi, the vinegar smell was overwhelming at first but the taste was refreshing and light. This was a nice accoutrement and made having my first oyster that I can remember easier to swallow (haha, get it?)! Our rating for this recipe: a solid 9 (Mayra: 9, Geoffrey: 9)

(L-R: Sarah, Geoffrey, Hog Wash in snowman mason jar, Liars Dice and Rob)

Recipe #2: Mussels and Clams Ala Mayra
While I was in line waiting to buy more oysters for the group, I noticed that Hog Island also sold clams and mussels. Since these are two of Geoffrey's favorite things, I decided to try to cook some over the grill. If you know me, and if you are reading this blog you do, I am not a fan of the shellfish (or anything fishy, for that matter), so I am not the most experienced with cooking these things. BUT, I have watched enough cooking shows to know that all you really need for shellfish is some butter, garlic, wine, salt and pepper. Luckily, I had most of the above ingredients and due to my quickfire experience on Pine street, was able to improvise with the items I didn't have. With help from my sous chef Kat, we were able to whip up a couple of batches of clams and mussels in a white wine sauce.

 Below is my recipe (approximately).

2 lbs of clams
1 lb of mussels
4-5 tbsp unsalted butter
2-3 cups dry white wine
3-4 garlic cloves, minced (or 2 large shallots)
fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley, whatever floats your boat)
1-2 lemons
salt and pepper
(Note: I used leftover Hog Wash and Mignonette in place of garlic, herbs, lemon)

Combine all items and cover over medium heat, mixing occasionally until the shellfish open. Serve immediately with crusty bread for soaking up the sauce.

Geoffrey rated this recipe a 7 (meanie!), but it was a HIT with everyone else. At least I think it was:)

You Geoffrey'd me up!

Last Friday was Geoffrey's birthday! He turned the BIG 31. This blog post is dedicated to him.

Highlights of Geoffrey's birthday weekend include:

• We both took the day off and slept in (well, Geo did and I starting writing this blog but didn't get very far). 
• We had birthday breakfast at Mama's in North Beach Nini's in San Mateo with the rest of the Gonzalez family. 
• We had a delicious birthday dinner with Jeremy and Lindsay at RN74 and listened to some New Orleans music by Dr. John at Yoshi's.
• We had an amazing day at Hog Island Oyster Farm with family and friends.

• We shucked oysters, bbq'd, enjoyed clams, mussels, cupcakes, sparkling wine, Hawaiian beer and many other goodies.

•  I shucked oysters like a pro and even ate one!

• Had pizza and game night (and a lovely brunch the next morning) with some of our fantastic friends from L.A. Ting was the winner of Balderdash with such convincing definitions like "zoutch: rhymes with 'ouch'".

• Also of note, the girls won the fastest game of Cranium ever, even though we couldn't correctly spell adrenaline backwards (ahem, due to someone having a little too much sparkly;)!

• We went to see Get Him to The Greek since Geoffrey loves Jonah Hill (his body double, he says). The movie was surprisingly funny! Interesting fact: We saw this movie being filmed last year when we were in Vegas for my 30th birthday and the release date was on Geoffrey's 31st birthday! Plus one of the jokes throughout the movie is about smoking a "Jeffrey" (hence my blog title) AND we actually know people who have smoked something like a "Jeffrey" and had a similar experience (haha, you know who you are!). "When the world slips you a Jeffrey, stroke the furry wall." <--That must have some sort of double meaning.

• Lastly, the 31st birthday celebration ended with a Bone Thugs-N- Harmony concert at the Independent. Apparently, a dream come true for Geoffrey. He (and his side kick Jason) were acting like giddy little school girls! It was a good concert and a great way to top off Geoffrey's 31st birthday celebration. (I had a video to upload here, but can't figure out how to do it. Stay tuned.)

Happy Birthday Geoffrey!!!!