Because I'm a Cock Tease

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

Jet Lag Livin'

I'm home, and if you can believe this, I actually *lost* weight on the trip. Too much sightseeing, not enough food if you ask me.

Still, I hit just about every food joint I wanted to (except in Barcelona where nothing is fucking open on Sundays) and have lots of stories to come once I've figured out what freakin' time zone I'm in. We ultimately hit 4.5 countries (I only count Monaco as .5), including a jaunt to Italy for lunch. Seriously.

Missed you all, my lovelies. I'll get back here with some reports as soon as I can get my hands on a burrito. There's no place like home.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

World Wide Whorin'

OK, kiddies, I'm FINALLY heading off to Europe today. I leave you with love and kisses and a shitload of great restaurants here at home.

I hope you will be here when I return in two weeks. If you are not, well, then, I never liked you anyway, so there.

I hope to post some snippets while I'm there -- I'm sure my post El Bulli excitement will be hardly containable. Come to think of it, I doubt I'll be able to keep it in my pants after L'Astrance, too. I'll do my best to share the gasm-ing.

I promise to eat a lot, drink a lot and then eat some more. I hope you'll do the same while I'm gone.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

King of the Dumplings (Shanghai Dumpling King -- San Francisco, CA)

Jon and I had meant to go to Shanghai Dumpling King for a number of years. The problem, however, is that we are lazy bitches and could not bring ourselves to drive to the outer Richmond. It's far. And it's cold there. Now how fucked up is that logic? Quite fucked up when you consider I flew to Chicago for 36 hours for a meal, and have planned a trip to Europe around a dinner reservation. In any case, we finally dragged our asses out to SDK, and now you can't keep us away.

The first thing that struck me about SDK is how incredibly friendly the staff is. Seriously, these people are some fierce kind of nice. I quickly forgot about them when I got my dumplings.

Luscious, luscious dumplings. Beautiful little dumpling packages (that actually kind of look like boobies, albeit wrinkly boobies). I wrapped my lips around one and it's delicious broth squirted in my mouth (and also in Jon's eye). Bliss.

How much for ten of these perfectly seasoned pork love packages? $5. You heard me right 5 fucking dollars ($4.95, actually).

Lest you think that dumplings are the only allure (and there are all manner of them -- crab and pork, spicy pork, porky pork), there are other treats to lure you in to the dumpling lair. Spicy green beans. And Shanghai style noodles with crispy pork bits that give any noodle dish out there a run for it's money. And green onion pancakes!

And there are doughnuts. A word about Chinese doughnuts: they are eggy. Jon and I give the finger to the eggy. But SDK's doughnuts had just the right ratio of eggy to air. We actually liked them! Being coated in sugar only adds to the yummerificness of it all.

After my first visit, I found myself fantasizing for days about those hot, wet dumplings. I started making plans to go back with everyone I knew. And I did. Let's just say it was a dumpling orgy.

Now you should go, too.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

Fixin' Up the Boat

Jon and I have this joke that in all '80's movies, there is a "fixin' up the boat" montage set to cheesy music. Now it's not always a boat. Sometimes it's a frat house. Or a van. Or a crack house. But it's always something being fixed up.

We use the "fixin' up the boat phrase" to refer to any clean up effort we take part in whether it be cleaning our home, our car, or your mama's coochie parts.

Sadly, our government has not been fixin' up the boat. Because New Orleans and many other Gulf areas are still complete and total shitsville an entire year after Hurricane Katrina.

Jon and I attended a dinner at Coco500 last week where 50% of the proceeds went to Katrina relief. Now, honestly, life isn't so bad when I can sip gorgeous organic hurricanes made by Scott. On top of that, there was a New Orleans inspired menu that included so much deliciousness (duck and andouille sausage gumbo, hush puppies, roast quail with dirty cajun rice) that I just about melted on my bar stool.

I came home and donated some more money to the relief effort. If you have a few extra bucks, those folks sure could use it.

xoxo,
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

Bomb Diggity Quote of the Day

"It tastes better when you share." -- said by a little boy to his mother and sister about the treat they were all sharing.

For my part, I am back from a three-day camping trip where I was sharing a cabin with eleven thirteen year olds. Add to that the other 70 adolescents on our beginning-of-the-school-year-retreat and you get one exhausted and really fucking crabby Restaurant Whore. Good thing Chuck Siegel is a parent at my school and sent along some of his fabulous chocolates for the staff to enjoy once the kiddies had gone to sleep.

As soon as I got home, I showered and headed straight for Delfina and a bellini. A girl's got to have priorities.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucald