Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

It's strawberry season! Nothing smells better than fresh ripe sweet strawberries. I was surprise when I heard strawberry tastes good with balsamic vinegar. But after testing some, it's quite true (but of course, only with sweet ripe strawberries). The sweetness and tanginess taste good together! If you like tangy food like me, feel free to add more balsamic vinegar or strawberries!

Ingredients:

2 cups strawberries (halves)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
3 egg yolks

Instruction:
1. Mix the strawberries in balsamic vinegar and sugar and let sit for 15 minutes.
2. Cook the mixture in a sauce pan until balsamic started to caramelize.
3. Place the strawberries and the caramelized strawberries into a bowl and chill in the fridge.
4. Heat the milk and sugar in a sauce pan until it almost boils.
5. Reduce the heat to low. Add a little bit of the milk mixture to the eggs to temper them.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce pan. Cook at low heat until it coats at the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil.
7. Strain the mixture and put it in the fridge to chill.
8. Mix the milk mixture, cream and strawberry mixture together.
9. Freeze the mixture according to the instructions for your ice cream machine.

For strawberry bowl:

1. Slice some strawberries up.

2. Line a glass bowl with saran wrap, then line the sliced strawberries on it.

3. Let it freeze in the freezer for two hours or so.

4. Remove saran wrap when ready.

5. Let it chill a bit before eating.

Rick & Ann's Catering

2922 Domingo Ave, Berkeley, CA

(510) 649-0869

http://www.anns-catering.com/

My friends, Tim and Agnes, planned a surprise engagement party for my other friends, Kirk and Ei-lun awhile ago, and lucky me, I got to attend. The night was filled with interesting conversations, fun game, great friends and food! The food Tim and Agnes ordered were from Rick & Ann's. The food looked amazing and many of the dishes tasted amazing as well!

They have many choices on their catering menu, and a lot of them are very pretty and classy in their presentation.

Duo Satay Platter: Chicken & Flank Steak - With two dips: spicy peanut and cilantro-jalapeno

I really like the chicken satay because it was very tender. The beef was a bit rough probably since it was oven roasted. I also really like the dips--both had some kicks to them.

Puff Pastry with Wild Mushroom and Gruyere

I love mushroom, but this dish was okay. The mushroom flavor didn't really stand out. I think what would make it better is if the mushroom could be a bit more saucey. The puff pastry was also not very flaky.

Stuffed Potato Platters with Sour Cream and Bacon Crumbles

I am not a fan of potato but this dish was finger-licking good! The little red potatoes roasted in olive oil, garlic, and rosemary, then stuffed with stuffing of choice, which in this case sour cream and bacon. I really like it because the potato wasn't too grainy or soft, so the sour cream and bacon gave it that contrast of creaminess and crunch. It definitely reminded me of baked potato but served cold.

Crostini with Rosemary-Fig Compote with Prosciutto and Shaved Manchego

Yummy! This is another one of my favorite. The rosemary-fig compote made this dish very interesting. Its sweetness toned down the saltiness of prosciutto and the cheese, so the flavor was just perfect. The crostini was toasted but it lost a bit of its toastiness.  

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables Salad - Orzo pasta with roasted eggplant, red and yellow peppers, caramelized red onion, fresh basil, pine nuts, and feta cheese in a fresh lemon vinaigrette.

I never really like bell peppers but for some reasons, they tasted so good with the cheese and orzo. I also like how refreshing this dish is. Everything is in bits and pieces so it was very interesting when chewing them together. You can taste all the ingredients distinctively.

Orecchiette with Prosciutto & Asparagus Salad - Little ear pasta salad with crispy prosciutto, asparagus, and ricotta salata in a lemony dressing

Okay, I love this salad. I like how the pasta was cooked perfectly. I like the crunch of the prosciutto, and I love the lemony dressing. This salad was a little spicy, so that was an extra plus for me! Despite the prosciutto and cheese, this salad was light and refreshing also.

Finger Biscuit Platter with Chicken Salad with Apples and Walnuts and Deviled Egg Salad with Red Bell Pepper

The finger bisuits were really cute, but they tasted just okay. The biscuit was pretty dry and breaky. The deviled egg salad was pretty tasteless. For some reasons, I couldn't taste the bell pepper at all. The chicken salad on the other hand was tastier, but the whole buttery biscuit flavor was just too strong to taste the chicken.

Thanks Tim and Agnes again for such great time and great food. It was super duper fun! Ask for Rick & Ann's, it is pretty nice because they have tons of items and choices to choose from, and a lot of the food are very tasty and unique!

Quick Salad - Avocado Tuna Salad

Tuna is a hard fish to work with. There are only four recipes I can think of when it comes to using raw tuna...tuna sashimi, seared tuna, tuna tartare and ahi poke. Cooked or canned tuna is another story. It is much harder because cooked tuna is very dry and fishy. I can only think of covering cooked tuna with lemon juice or mayo or other thick dressing to hide the fishy taste.

Anyhow, I had some left over raw tuna and decided to make a salad out of it since I want to try something new. I know tuna tartare always taste great with avocado, so in this salad, I added avocado. Tuna tastes great with sesame oil in ahi poke. Raw tuna also taste pretty okay with lettuce like spicy tuna handroll made in some restaurant. Iceburg lettuce is the best since the crisps of the leaves add contrasts to the mushy texture of raw fish. And of course, raw tuna tastes good when it's spicy like spicy tuna maki or like sashimi with wasabi; so for the salad dressing, I decided to use chipotle mustard and olive oil...wasabi should work well too! 

Quick Avocado Tuna Salad

Ingredients: (Add Amount to Your Liking)

Raw Tuna

Iceburg Lettuce

Avocado

Chipotle Mustard
Olive Oil
Sesame Oil

Sesame seeds

Instruction:

1. Clean and dry some chopped iceburg lettuce and place them on a plate. 

2. Dice up the raw tuna and mix it with a tiny bit of sesame oil. Then put it on top of the bed of lettuce.

3. Dice up some avocado and put it on top of the tuna and lettuce.
4. Mix together 2 portions of chiptole mustard to 1 portion of olive oil to make a dressing (for thinner dressing, add more olive oil)

5. Drizzle dressing on top of the salad.

6. Lastly, sprinkle sesame seeds.

Rotunda High Tea

150 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA

(415) 249-2720

Rotunda is located on top floor of Neiman Marcus in Downtown San Francisco. The restaurant is very bright in the afternoon since there is a pane glass skylight. After getting seated, the waiter brought us the menu and a small cup of chicken consomme, which is a clear chicken broth. The chicken broth is delicious! It tastes very fresh and rich and doesn't taste like MSG at all. It totally start your appetite. Wish they will serve this broth under the soup section.

Popover with Strawberry Butter

The popover is served as a complimentary if you order anything from the main menu, this excludes the high tea menu. I ordered this on the side for $2.50. The popover is listed on the 7x7.com Big Eat SF List, but it was nothing to "wow" about. It was quite dried and hollow.

High Tea Platter with Sweet and Savory Finger Food

The high tea platter was very, very cute, especially with the variety. But it was quite pricey for the amount of tea and food you get. The above portion is for one person, and if you want to share, there is a surcharge. The sweet and savory finger food was also very simple. The breads from the ones that are savory were very dried. The cakes were super sweet, but I guess they suppose to make the tea sweet.

Sauce Dish with Lemon, Cream Cheese, Citrus Aioli, Jam and Honey

To make it fancy, they give you a bunch of sauces with the platter, which I rarely used at all since everything was either covered with cream cheese, sour cream or frosting already. I felt like it was there just to make everything looks fancy.

I did not enjoy the high tea and service at Rotunda at all. The waiter was rude since my friend and I just wanted to share everything since we went awhile after lunch and were still full. The waiter immediately said there is a surcharge and the tea is not enough to share. When I asked for the popover, he immediately said there is a charge for it. It's not like I won't pay for it, I just asked for an order of it. So to me, everything is just about money and not enjoyment...not cool.

I don't think I want to go back to this place, especially after the rude service and mediocore food.

5A5 Steak Lounge

244 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA

(415) 989-2539

http://www.5a5stk.com/

I really like the atmosphere at 5A5. It is very classy and modern. The colorful ceiling was beautiful. I couldn't stop staring at it as I dine. The seats were very spacious and comfortable. The restaurant as a whole was very spacious also. It also turns into a lounge on Saturday night, and diners gets in for free. The service was okay. Our server was quite busy, so it took awhile for my friends and I to get our drinks. Also, the steaks took awhile to cook, so we waited quite long for them.

Tuna Tartare, Niçoise Flavors, Paddlefish Caviar

The tuna tartare was okay. I didn't understand why there are so much on top of the tuna. The escargo and tomato couldn't mix in with the tuna. The caviar and the quail egg white didn't really enhance the tuna, because the tuna was overpowering. It was just okay.

Truffle Fries with Sriracha Aioli, Truffle Oil

This is by far the best truffle fries I had so far because they were very generous with the truffle oil. I could taste it well--the amount was perfect. The sriracha aioli was very good. It wasn't spicy to me at all though.

6oz Filet Mignon with Savory Shiitake Mushroom Sauce

I asked my filet mignon to be cooked medium rare, and indeed it was medium rare. It was very tender and juicy. The shiitake sauce complimented it very well. I think the size was perfect after the appetizers.

Mmaitake, Golden Enokitake, Eryngii, Honshimeji, Sherry wine, and Garlic

Hmm hmm, MUSHROOMS! I like how it has a combination of mushroom in this dish. It is not oily and tasty. Love it!

I really want to go back for their filet mignon and mushroom. For the quality and taste, they aren't expensive at all, totally worth it!