Tartine Brioche bread pudding

This weekend we set out to make our own bread pudding à la San Francisco's Tartine.
The brioche came from a bakery to save time (... if you live in Munich you can find it at the French stand in the Schrannenhalle or at Brot- und Feinbäckerei Neulinger, but you might have to order it in advance).

We made use of the blueberries that are everywhere right now; I'm assuming because it's summer in the Southern hemisphere.

This recipe would be great with any in season stone fruit or berries though.

The Tartine cookbook is nothing short of incredible and the recipes truly taste like the ones from the original bakery. They aren't incredibly fussy or difficult, but the results are something special.

[Here is Tartine's Savory bread pudding recipe and also their famed Morning Buns recipe, which I think we might try next.]

San Francisco

We opted to avoid the holiday travel chaos, which meant a delayed trip to the US.

This was the best option after having several airline mishaps in the years past - driving from Washington DC to Ohio on Christmas Eve three years ago, and nearly getting stranded in El Paso two years ago.

Thankfully this year the weather decided to also cooperate with us.

Before our biannual Ohio visit, we stopped in San Francisco for 5 days to visit our dear friends, Emily & Jeremy, and their new pup - Banjo.

Having visited San Francisco twice before, it was so nice to see the city from our friends' view points and to simply catch up more on life after Germany. We sure miss them.

San Francisco is a great city;  fog swept rolling hills, inventive restaurants, creative people, and a lot of high tech industries. The only downsides are the amount of homeless people and dog poo littered sidewalks.

There are also many public parks speckled around and warm weather year round to make it incredibly livable.

Oh, how we missed the variety of American food. The portions may be larger than in many places, but it's the best way to enjoy a meal - by sharing great company and delicious foods. We did a lot of eating and this is certainly the city for that.

A few of the restaurants we visited included:

Tartine ... this is the legendary pastry shop with long lines that are worth the wait.
Nopa ... for a great New Year's eve dinner
Umami Burger ... waygu burgers
Tacolicious ... I will dream about these tacos and margaritas for a long long time. They are perfection. The tuna tostadas were my favorite, but I don't think you can go wrong.
Mosto... the tequila bar right next to tacolicious, making waiting time that much better.
Beach Chalet ... as close to a California beachside biergarten as it gets - with a veggie hops burger.
Tornado Pub ... an endless array of beers from around the world.
Mission Chinese ... this pop up restaurant has caused quite a stir and is now here to stay - don't miss it! The food is crazy good and the rap music is a hilarious blast from the past. The salt cod fried rice and the thrice cooked bacon were probably my favorites.

Bi-Rite Creamery ... delicious ice cream, which is extra sweet to enjoy in Delores Park with great weather in the middle of Winter. They also have an ice cream cook book coming out later this year! 

Chantal Guillon macarons... a touch of France in California. 

Ici ... (Berkeley) I'm not sure what the deal is, but sadly it was better the last time we went

Saigon Sandwiches .... Banh Mi, Vietnamese sandwiches

If you are planning a trip check out the following:
Jamie Oliver's San Francisco tips... We visited many of his recommendations, although the magazine came out a month after our trip.
7x7 Big Eat List of 2012... plenty more restaurants to try
7x7 Big To-Do List... 100 quintessential San Francisco experiences

Not all of our time was spent eating... we also did a lot of walking. I always seem to forget - or mentally block out - how impossibly slow and archaic the public transport is even in the biggest US cities.

With the California sun shining brightly and only needing to wear a jacket I wasn't sure if I was in some sort of alternate reality. A heavy dose of sunshine in the middle of the Winter is really is amazing and was the perfect way to start the new year. Those year-round beaches are such a luxury, too.

Fort Funston ... this beach is so unique. Dogs and their owners stroll along, splash in the waves, and find little treasures washed ashore. I'd go to take it all in even if I didn't have a dog, but I really can't wait to get one.

Tilden Park... for incredible Bay area views and a nice nature stroll.

Street art... lots of self expression around town 

St. Mary's Cathedral... home of the "two o'clock titty", at two o'clock the sun's channels its own Mary Katherine Gallagher to give the church it's own perky bust. 

What a great place to start the new year. Even the fog couldn't hold those fireworks back this year. 

Tartine

While I actually prefer savory foods, I do have a weak spot for really well made pastries.

They tend to be time intensive to make and slightly difficult to pare down, which can be troublesome if I'm baking for just the two of us. Those factors never usually stop me.

A few months ago Emily and Jeremy sent us the kind of care package that makes your heart skip a beat. It was filled with many treats from home, handmade items, and the Tartine cookbook.

The morning after our arrival in San Francisco we stopped at the actual location to sample Tartine's legendary array of foods. Despite having ample time to decide due to a line that wrapped around the building, I felt overwhelmed deciding exactly what to get. Since there were 5 of us it helped in being able to sample and share, so we ordered a lot of food.

[Here's the Tartine Menu if you want to plan in advance!]

As we waited we saw the pastry chefs working their magic through the window. Sometimes I think it would be so much fun to be a pastry chef, while other times I have to remind myself the job doesn't only entail eating all day and baker's hours aren't great for someone who loves sleeping.

Not one thing we had was just mediocre. I loved all of it.

I'm really looking forward to putting that book to work until we make it back to San Francisco again. Hopefully I can achieve similar results! 

Here's a video about the dedication and passion that goes into it all from the shop's owner. 

Past Travels + such...

I'm just about finished with editing all of our trip photos from our around the world trip. I never thought this day would come.

These are the places I've yet to finish writing about: Beijing, Japan, New Zealand, The Cook Islands, Hawaii, California + the Southwest US, New York City, Savannah + Charleston.

We have a few more trips already booked for the coming months and we're trying to decide what to do for our 5 year anniversary, which is going to be here before we know it.

I dug up these photos from my antique photo collection as to where we are heading next... Dubrovnik, Croatia!

pretty maps

Seeing this website just made me happy...

Aaron Straup Cope created a really neat website aptly called Pretty Maps. He has one for sale on 20x200 of lovely San Francisco.

You can also make maps on the site... here is one of Munich.

Another artist that is taking to the maps is Eric Fischer. His maps designate areas of the city that are visited by tourists vs. locals by using geodata from photo sites. People taking photos of the same city over a period > than a month = locals (blue), tourists (red), and uncertain (yellow).

Here is his from New York City. The Munich map isn't as exciting. Perhaps that's due to people like me that don't have photos on flickr.

(photos courtesy of : Aaron Straup Cope + Eric Fischer)

Jeni's

A long while back I read a list of the 10 best ice cream shops in the US. I've since visited 2 of them... Ici (in Berkeley, CA) and Jeni's (here in Columbus, Ohio). They are both incredible.

I have to be honest- I'm kind of envious of both places. How cool would it be to have an ice cream shop? Sometimes I jot down lists of potential flavors that would be a lot of fun to make.

Ici is owned by the former pastry chef of Alice Water's Chez Panisse and Jeni's is in the charming Short North area of Columbus, which has great murals featuring Grand Wood's American Gothic and the ubiquitous Mona Lisa. I bet you didn't realize Ohio is so cool!

Whenever I'm home I love to make a stop at Jeni's for her unique flavors and adorable shops. There is a lot of seasonal variety and many locally sourced products, too. Last night I went for a short visit with my friends Cat + Beth.

I ordered the 'study', which is 4 small scoops. My chosen flavors were: Pistachio + Honey, Wildberry Lavender, Goat Cheese with Cherries, and Meyer Lemon Blueberry. Believe me, it's not easy to decide.

My parents are savvy to my love of ice cream, so they surprised me with a Zoku ice pop maker. I'm looking forward to testing it out once we get back to Germany.

Happy Mother's Day!

We spent Mother's Day at the biergarten once again. I guess it's becoming a bit of tradition even, since we've been every year that I've lived here.

The weather even cooperated, too! That was nice after a drizzly week. A little sunshine for the mamas - and those that are remembering theirs.

I'll get to celebrate my Mom for a full 2 weeks when I get to see her next month. I'm already looking forward to her hugs, fantastic foods, and simply spending time together. See you soon, Mom!

In other 'mom' related things, I'm really anxious to see the new documentary 'Babies'.

I'm probably one of few people that's not baby crazed (I think toddlers are more fun), but this movie looks so fascinating.

They follow 4 babies through their first year in various places around the world (Tokyo, San Francisco, Mongolia, and Namibia). Seeing the different ways of rearing children has to be interesting!

Check out the trailer - I promise you won't regret it!

Moms are amazing! Hope you had a great time remembering yours.

(Babies poster courtesy of Focus Films)

The Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy

I read about the Secret Society at the San Francisco Chronicle and it just made me so happy.

It's great to hear about people doing good things, just because.

A few days ago I met with some friends and we were discussing how in Germany it's not typical to say excuse me, I'm sorry, or to hold the door for others.

If you do, it's typically met with a 'nichts (or in Bavaria nix) passiert' - "nothing happened". One person mentioned she thought this summed up the German culture, while someone else went as far as to tell me once I lost my manners I would be integrated into the German way of life.

3.5 years and counting and I refuse to let that happen, even if it gives me away as a foreigner.

It's really interesting how hesitant people become when you offer to do something nice. They instantly think there must be a catch.

German readers - don't forget today is the last day to enter for the Amazon.com 50€ gift certificate! Just leave a comment on this post about your favorite ways to save when you travel!