Giants and the Freda B

Coworkers and I were lucky enough to watch a Giants game from McCovey Cove aboard the Freda B recently! I've attended so many games at AT&T park, but this was my first time in the cove! We bundled up, enjoyed some brews and waved at the ESPN cameras all evening! 

 

 

SF Cocktail Week Food Truck Event

Night two of SF Cocktail Week was held at the SoMa StrEAT Food Park. The event boasted half a dozen food trucks and four specialty cocktails. The booze ran dry about an hour earlier than expected, but Anchor Brewing Company saved the day with plenty of Anchor Steam to go around!

Favorite food truck of the night: Voodoo Van
Favorite cocktail of the night: Canned cocktails by 15 Romolo canned onsite with The Can Van
Favorite memory of the night: Bumping into Jenna, one of our favorite event organizers, while she was opening an Anchor Steam for Andrew, one of our favorites at Pixar!

SF Cocktail Week Kickoff Party

Anchor Brewers and Distillers hosted a kickoff party for SF Cocktail Week last night!

The highlight of the event for me was tasting the winning cocktail from the Beantown vs Barbary Coast at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans earlier this summer... and from the mixologist herself!

 

The Tallest Man on Earth

Last night a friend and I went to the Fox Theatre in Oakland to see The Tallest Man on Earth. As if he isn't already brilliant on his album, oh my, you should hear this man live! As it turns out, he's actually a very small man, an unassuming hipster type with knees so knobby when he dances behind his guitar he appears almost childlike. His voice is hauntingly beautiful and his musical talent extends beyond the guitar, as he performed several songs on the piano as well.

We started out our evening with dinner at Betelnut. We've both been before, but I never tire of the interesting menu and open air bar seating. There was a seasonal tomato and curry chicken dish available, that turned out to be an excellent choice. It paired well with a South African Chenin Blanc.

 

Considering that shows nearly always start late, we were surprised when a long haired man and an unassuming drummer walked out on stage at 8 on the dot. They didn't introduce themselves, they just started right into a song. Half way through the set, the singer/ guitarist said between songs, "We should get to know each other better," which I assumed meant he'd introduce the name of his band, but he didn't, he just called out his drummer and then proceeded into the next song. I was so glad when The Tallest Man on Earth took stage and thanked his opener as Strand of Oaks, because the music was so interesting I was dying to know who to search on iTunes after the show.

 

 

Gluten Free Cupcakes

I just realized I never posted about these gluten free cupcakes I made for my coworker's birthday! 

Okay, well, let me just say before you get too proud of me, that I didn't make them from scratch. I had tossed the idea around but wound up deciding that since gluten free baking requires entirely different ingredients from traditional baking, none of which were previously in my kitchen, and because I only had one evening with which to throw these together, there simply wasn't time to buy all the necessary goodies and risk the first batch not turning out. There is a wonderful little gluten free grocery store near my work where I managed to find a cake mix. I got the yellow cake mix and added some almond extract for flavor, tossed out the frosting mix that came with it and made a basic sugar frosting mix with vanilla extract. I topped off the cupcakes with fresh blueberries and refrigerated them overnight. 

To make the "Happy Birthday" banner I used a toothpick, scrapbooking paper and a gold paint pen. I used one level of a cupcake tower and paper shreds for presentation.

I'm definitely inspired to do a bit of ingredient shopping next time I can get over to that shop so I can start practicing gluten free baking from scratch.