Compost

San Francisco is a city committed to zero waste. It's the first major city to offer composting pick up at homes and business and to actually institute a mandatory recycling and composting ordinance. All apartment dwellers, home owners and business owners are supposed to use the green bin for all food related waste. My building does not have a compost bin but, I refuse to be waylaid by this. Instead I store my compostables in my freezer until pick up day. Then I either throw my bags on the curb or in some neighbors' green bin...

Sunday Streets Mission

Checked out Sunday Streets in the Mission and took a stroll down Balmy Alley for some Mission flavored mural art.

Very Small Kitchen

With this GAPS diet, I do a lot more cooking than I used to do. Making meat broths, coconut and almond flour baked goods, whole meals with delicious cooked meat and seasonal vegetables. And, I do it all here...

Here's a sampling of some homemade chicken soup and coconut flour bread that I made, tonight.

Hottest Day of the Summer

It broke 85 degrees today and instead of heading out to lay (or slip and slide) in the grass at Dolores, Duboce or Golden Gate Park, I headed downtown in my CityCarshare to buy some organizational fixtures for my desk area from the Container Store. Instead of riding my bike along the Embarcadero or Ocean Beach, I put together green boxes and a rolling file and drawer organizer.

And, look how pretty they look!

Dinner and the Theatre

Tuesday night, I went on a friend date to a newish organic restaurant and the traveling production of In the Heights. Both fall onto my list of recommendations for things to do in San Francisco, this weekend.

Roots is an organic restaurant in the Orchard Garden Hotel right next to the gate to Chinatown. The chef is pretty awesome and whipped up a special item "off the menu" for my friend based on our waitstaff's recommendation. It was salmon with a jalapeno jus, if I remember correctly. We shared a fennel and baby greens salad and I had an outstanding Grilled Hanger Steak with grilled Delta asparagus in truffle oil... Anything with truffle oil makes me happy but, this dish was excellent. The only down/upside was that the menu said it came with caramelized onions which were actually deep fried red onions and likely had gluten all over them. But, damn they tasted delicious!

In the Heights got rave reviews from the SFgate critic and me! It is a new musical with latin flair. I enjoyed it from beginning to end and found myself smiling stupidly and shaking my hips in my chair on more than one occasion. And, one of the things I appreciated the most was the diversity of the audience. It's not often you go to a musical and have more than just old white people. My friend and I got seats in the mezzanine through Goldstar, which made the experience even better because we could see the stage in its entirety but, not from 3,000 feet in the air.

The male lead, Usnavi, was quite amazing and I swear, he just graduated from college and is living the dream (see him at the end of the video below). He rapped and riffed and danced from his soul. And, the Abuela Claudia character had the most amazing voice I've heard in awhile. Everyone did but, she could really belt it out and she had some truly heart felt numbers. This is one that I'll go see again next time it's in town.



Check out the Youtube video of rehearsals for the traveling cast.

Coconut Flour Summer Fruit Tartlet

Tonight I made a super yummy coconut flour, black berry and peach tartlet. This was the basis for the crust (scroll down to see the Coconut Flour Biscuit recipe) with some vanilla and honey. Then I cooked a peach on the stove until it got nice and soft and stirable, added a bit o' honey to it, then smeared it over the cooked biscuit crust. Then topped it off with whole blackberries and cooked it a little bit more. Oh my!

Walk in the Presidio

A dear friend met me at work so we could take a walk in the park that I work in. We headed out from the Main Parade Grounds, now mostly a parking lot, and walked into the woods climbing up the wooded hills to reach Inspiration Point lookout.


On the way we saw some beautiful bright native wild flowers and some rattle snake grass that I've never really taken the time to look at before. It's amazing!
We meandered through the trees, talking and sharing all the news of the moment, celebrating a splendid June evening with skies that stayed light nice and late.

Outerlands

There is a restaurant in the outer avenues of the Sunset neighborhood, just a few blocks from Ocean Beach, called Outerlands. One of my co-workers told me about it and another co-worker wanted it to be the location for her last supper with our team before she went on to brighter lands. So, I've tried it twice now.

The first time, I dragged a friend there on a Saturday expecting a magnificent brunch with crusty french toast made with the bread they are famous for. Instead, we found they only do brunch on Sundays so we were left with some unsatisfying sandwiches. Not that the bread wasn't aMAZing but, when you're expecting french toast and you get dry bread with meat, it's just not the same.

The second time was also not quite what I'd hoped for although it was a great place for my co-workers and I to enjoy our last supper all together. This time the food was less than perfect because of my GAPS diet regiment. When you're not eating any bread and you go someplace where that is their specialty, and they have a small menu, it's bound to be a bit difficult. But, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the spiced apple cider and the amazing asparagus dish with prosciutto and a cooked egg over the top of it. This was before I thought to bring my own dressing to restaurants, so my dressing-less salad was plain even with the delightful spark of fennel and citrus. And, there weren't any other items on the menu I could eat so the small plates felt really small. But, my colleagues noshed on olives, had bread pudding, and what looked like an amazingly decadent chocolate dessert. Check out these pics of the deliciousness!



Overall it is a restaurant with a neighborhood feel and a low-key beachy feeling about it. But, it's not the place for gluten-free dining. I will be back after my diet ends, though. I must have the brunch!