For lunch, Tina and I ate leftovers. I pan fried a few cakes that I made from left over mashed potatoes.

I also ate two fish tacos that Tina had ordered at Acapulco the other day and didn't eat.

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What I Ate: March 15, 2009 (Colonel Lee's Mongolian BBQ)

Since I'll be leaving the Bay Area exactly one month from today, I thought I should post another picture of San Francisco. Here's Coit Tower as seen from a rooftop in the south part of the North Beach neighborhood.

Handheld, 1/1000 sec at f/2.8 on ISO 200, 85mm f/1.8 lens

Tina and I ate at Acapulco near our house for a relatively quick lunch. Tina ordered her favorite: Tortilla Soup.

I ordered the Shrimp Enchiladas.

For dinner, we continued our tour of fine dining in the Bay Area with a trip up to San Francisco where we dined at Coi (pronounced "kwa"). The dinner we had at Coi is quite likely the best fine dining Tina and I have ever had. (The only other contender would be Uchi in Austin, Texas). We had the Full Menu (the normal tasting menu is 11 courses, but we requested all 15). Here's a list of what we ate (and a sampling of the photographs). Again, a full article will eventually appear on Cooking For Engineers. (I had a lot of difficulty photographing many of the dishes because they were served in bowls which requires my camera to clear the lip of the bowl and still have enough distance to focus. Many of these had to be handheld which meant that the colors would not be as vivid since I had to crank up the sensitivity of the sensor. I'm going to have to figure out a way to get the camera into a suitable position and angle for food served in bowls. Also, the first few courses arrived while the sun was still up. The mixed lighting made the colors hard to correct for in the incandescent restaurant lighting.)

The bread and butter are made in-house. The butter was churned from Straus cream.

Our meal started with what they called milk & honey. A ball (I think it was milk skin) filled with a liquid that tasted like milk and honey). What a way to start the meal!

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What I Ate: March 14, 2009 (Acapulco, Coi)

The Daves took me to San Tung Chinese Restaurant (1031 Irving St, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 242-0828) in the Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco. Dave Lu had been telling me about their fried chicken wings for a while, so we made a special trip out to make sure I had a chance to taste it. Dave ordered a bunch of food and we ate them as they arrived. Everything we had was prepared very well - definitely well above average and worth eating.

The first dish was Mu Shu Pork, which is something I haven't had in quite some time.

Next, the pork dumplings arrived. The dumplings were good, but not exceptional. I think it's the only dish I wouldn't order again (instead, I would try the Shrimp and Leek Dumplings which Papa recommended).

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What I Ate: March 13, 2009 (San Tung Chinese Restaurant)

Harold and I decided to try a place that I had heard about that was supposed to have excellent fried chicken wings - Lee's Kitchen (2527 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA‎ - (408) 247-8662). It's a tiny shack on the side of the road (we missed it several times while driving past) and we wouldn't have spotted it if it wasn't for Harold wanting to see if Wienerschnitzel still had their Polish Sausages.

I thought there wouldn't be any seats, but there are three small tables in the "restaurant". We ordered the Fried Chicken Wings (because that's why we went there).

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What I Ate: March 12, 2009 (Lee's Kitchen, Won Ton House)

I cooked up a quick breakfast/lunch - two fried eggs set over some pasta (with a little pasta water as sauce).

For dinner, I got myself a Double Double from In-N-Out Burger (which I won't be able to get once I move to Austin next month).

This shot was taken at a quarter past 10pm. I exposed the image for 30 seconds which was much too long for a Nikon D100. Sensor noise more or less dominates the image.

Tripod, 30 sec at f/4.0 on ISO 800, 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

Dave Lu and I grabbed some food over at South Beach Cafe (800 Embarcadero St, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 974-1115‎) today. He got a pizza, but I thought I'd try something I hadn't had before. I picked up a tasty Pollo Sandwich which has chicken breast, tomatoes, and melted brie (you can get Gorgonzola cheese instead).

For dinner, I heated up the leftovers we had from Amber India. (Tina had some more pasta with meat sauce.)

Papa and I walked over to Chaat Cafe (320 3rd St, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 979-9946‎) where we got Chicken Wraps (chicken and cucumbers wrapped in naan). Because we took a few minutes to walk back from Chaat Cafe, the wraps cooled a little and the naan was a little chewy. The chicken was well salted, but not as flavorful as I had hoped.

For dinner, Tina heated up some Trader Joe's Joe's O's which we shared.

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What I Ate: March 9, 2009 (Chaat Cafe)

So, while we were exiting Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Cupertino Square (formerly Vallco Mall), we passed a car with a bird sitting on top. We stopped to look at it when Dave Menestrina pointed out that the crumpled piece of paper that was also on the roof looked like a paper crane from his position. I walked over and indeed it was bird shaped! I had to take a picture.

When we walked away, the bird still hadn't moved, so I suggested that the bird might be a fake. Dave Weldon then quipped, "Yeah, the owner put it there to attract paper birds."