Lunch: I stopped at the Erik's DeliCafe in Mountain View for a Pilgrim's Progress sandwich. The Pilgrim's Progress may be the best turkey-avocado sandwich ever made. I had a cup of clam chowder with the sandwich.

Dinner: I went to dinner with Harold and Darcy at Chelokababi (1236 South Wolfe Road, Sunnyvale, CA‎ - (408) 737-1222‎). I had the Kabab Bareh (A skewer of tender marinated filet of lamb) and Joojeh Kabab (Our specialty: Tender pieces of chicken filet, marinated, and garnished with saffron.). Both were very tender but the Joojeh Kabab was quite a bit more complex in flavor than the Kabab Bareh.

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What I Ate: January 7, 2010 (Erik's DeliCafe, Chelokababi)

Lunch: Fanpop ate out as a group at One Market (1 Market Street, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 777-5577‎) for our 2009 holiday lunch. The food was excellent and the prices great for the quality. The Market Lunch is a special they run that lets you get any starter and any entree for $28. Cliff got a couple of vegetarian entrees while Dave, Papa, and I each got the Market Lunch with a different appetizer which we split.

Grilled Octopus - tender and strongly flavored - worked wonderfully with the grainy edamame puree

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What I Ate: January 6, 2010 (One Market, Plearn Thai Palace)

Day One of a four day trip to the San Francisco Bay Area for work.

Lunch: Dave, Papa, and I ate at Il Cane Rosso (Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 391-7599).

Marin Sun Farms Spit-roasted Porchetta with pickled Cabbage, house made dijon mustard & peppercress $9.

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What I Ate: January 5, 2010 (Il Cane Rosso, In-N-Out Burger)

Lunch: I ate the rest of the tuna noodle casserole for lunch (1 and a third pieces).

Dinner: We ate leftover Chinese food from Asia Cafe.

We ate a big early dinner at Asia Cafe (8650 Spicewood Springs Rd, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 331-5788). We had mustard greens with pork noodle soup, won ton soup, yang zhou fried rice, stir-fried rapa (rapeseed plant), and braise pork belly with preserved vegetables.

Lunch: Busy, busy day - ran a lot of errands (Ikea, Eddie Bauer, Calendar Club, Costco, Relax The Back Store, Crate & Barrel, Restaurant Depot, and Eco-Wise for biodiesel) and ate a quick lunch at Costco around noon. Polish sausage.

Dinner: While (slowly) preparing a meat lasagna (to be baked tomorrow), I made a corn soup, toasted a scallion pancake (cong you bing), and microwaved a beef & potato tamale for dinner.

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What I Ate: January 2, 2010 (Costco)

Lunch: We heated up a couple slices of the leftover Tuna Noodle Casserole before heading off to the Long Center for a Texas Christmas Carol (a holiday variety performance).

Dinner: I grilled chanterelle mushrooms over indirect heat and served it with ostrich meat bacon cheeseburgers.

Happy New Year!

Lunch: Torchy's Tacos in South Austin (4301 William Cannon Dr, Austin, TX 78749 (512)514-0767) where we tried several different tacos.
Green Chili Pork (roasted pork carnitas with green chilis, queso fresco, cilantro, onions, lime and green sauce) - our favorite last time and still my favorite. It's excellent with just a little of the salsa it's served with.

Naughty Santa (grilled shrimp & chorizo, cilantro, avocado, pickled onions & jalapenos, jack cheese, with roblano ranch sauce) - the December special taco - Tina's favorite from this visit. Excellent without any sauce - the flavors compliment each other very well. With sauce, we felt like the sauce was intruding on the main flavors.

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What I Ate: December 31, 2009 (Torchy's Tacos, Me So Hungry Food Truck)

Our second to last What I Ate post of 2009…
Lunch: Tina cooked some Nong Shim Seafood Ramyun with the extra meat balls and fish balls that we didn't use for hot pot the previous day.

Dinner: Tina followed my recipe for Tuna Noodle Casserole (more or less) for a lovely dinner with plenty of leftovers.

Lunch: Tired of cleaning the grooves in our hot pot (our hot pot has a non-stick finish, but the interior is ridged like a grill pan so thorough cleaning requires going into each groove), Tina decided to try to put together her own (superior) hot pot with a stainless steel clad pot set on a portable induction cooktop. This worked like a charm, providing her a pot that was easy to clean as well as digital temperature controls.

Dinner: I grilled up bacon cheeseburgers made from ground ostrich meat, three year aged sharp cheddar cheese, and hickory smoked uncured bacon. I also grilled up zucchini. These were excellent, but the ostrich meat was a bit lean for my taste. Tina spread some chopped avocado on and took the burger to the next level. As a meat, ostrich has the texture of lean beef but with less flavor. Overall, it's a fairly mild tasting protein.