Dec 06 2011

SactoMofo 3

We set out this past Saturday to attend SactoMofo 3 – another SactoMofo sponsored food truck event in Sacramento.  The December 3rd event was a winter food drive for the Sacramento Food Bank and toy drive for the U.S.M.C. Reserve’s Toys for Tots.

Besides local trucks, San Francisco’s An The Go, Bacon Bacon, Chairman Bao, El Porteño, Hapa SF, JapaCurry and Seoul on Wheels food trucks joined in the event. The event was held from 11-6 at the downtown Sac weekend farmer’s market location at 8th & W Streets, under the freeway. The weather was crisp, but the sun was out and so were the crowds. This event was much better than the first SactoMofo – the lines were more manageable and trucks put limits on how much people could purchase at one time.

Our first stop after cruising through the two areas was Hapa SF. Some Sisig tacos and the Lumpia “Shanghai”  needed to get in mah belly. Hapa SF had a welcome sign that said, “Hello Sacramento! Welcome to Hapa SF!! We serve local, sustainable and organic street food so you can feel good about what you eat!! Enjoy! … and that we did.

Dan and Aaron holding strong in line while I wandered around taking pictures.

We’re up next…

Lumpia “Shanghai” – Beeler Ranch ground pork, water chestnut, carrot and sweet and sour sauce.

Sisig Tacos – Lime and soy sauce braised pork, avocado salsa verde, radishes, cabbage salad and corn tortillas.  These tacos were incredible. Definitely my favorite “eat” of the day. I must try to recreate them at home.

While I was wandering around taking photos, I ran into Kristen – who had just come from VolksWaffle.

Is the VolksWaffle truck not the coolest thing ever? Their sign says… Authentic Belgian Waffles – it’s not a pretzel, it’s not a cookie… it’s better than both! I would have to agree.

Kristen saved some bites for our crew. She went with simple… cinnamon and powdered sugar – some regulars in line suggested not masking the flavor of the waffle with loads of toppings. Perfect suggestion, they were phenomenal. I wish I had a VolksWaffle parked in my driveway at all times. Waffles rock!

Next up was waiting in line at El Porteño. They got a late start due to a break down on the way into Sacramento from San Francisco and they were down two guys. The Seoul on Wheels Korean BBQ truck was towed into the event while we waited in line. They also broke down on the way to the event. Bummer – but very cool that they still rocked it out.

Hey… I know that person. It’s Kimberly from Poor Girl Eats Well. She pitched in to help the El Porteño guys get ready for the health inspector and with service.

I left Kristen in line to say a quick hello to Kimberly.

Kimberly was setting out the Alfajores de Dulce de Leche – Argentine cookies joined together with dulce de leche.

The other dessert was Banana y Dulce de Leche – homemade dulce de leche with bananas… they looked amazing.

The cookie/dulce de leche combination just melted in my mouth. Thanks for the bite Kristen. Having friends to share food with was a great plan!

I ordered a Champiñones Empanada (fresh seasoned local organic mushrooms by Far West Fungi, shallots, Parmesan cheese and crème fraiche) and a Carne Empanada (Prather Ranch organic dry-aged grass fed beef, pimiento stuffed olives and raisins) – both were worth the 45 minute wait, but Aaron and I both liked the mushroom one the best – we split both of them.

While I was waiting in line for the empanadas, Dan and Aaron made their way to the JapaCurry Truck.

This is how much my friends love me and my blogging hobby – they wait to eat their food until I get a photograph 🙂 – thanks Aaron. “Tori-Kara” – Japanese fried chicken… tasty!

Veggie Croquettes – One was potato, the other was curry. The curry croquette was my second favorite item of the day. At first I took a small bite… then I went in for a giant bite. Super glad Aaron ordered them.

Kristen picked up a piece of corn cake from It’s Corn Cake.

She took it home and reported on Monday that it was great. She made a Cajun fish dish with dirty rice and said it was the perfect side. I need to get Kristen to do a guest post – she is quite the foodie and has mad skills in the kitchen.

We stopped at Smoothie Patrol so Aaron could get an Orange Twister smoothie.  Orange, peaches, pineapple and vanilla. It pretty much tasted like an orange creamsicle in a cup. He was happy with his purchase.

I wanted to try An the Go’s family garlic noodles – but the line was really long and I was running out of room in my stomach.

Mini Burger Truck had a huge line the entire time we were there. They are still Dan’s favorite.

Bacon Bacon did a booming business…

They were out of most of their menu items by the time we cruised by.

Heavenly Dog of Elk Grove unveiled their newly wrapped truck and lots of people supported them.

I wanted to try Cajun Wagon’s jambalaya, but never made it into their line.

Chairman Bao was the longest line – I got to taste their food at the 1st SactoMofo, so I skipped them this go-around.

Our local Wicked Wich had long lines too. It was so nice to see that all of the local trucks were just as crowded as the out of town truck lines. The Sacramento Bee reported that Mini Burger Truck set a sales record at the event – cranking  out more than 500 orders.

Beast Brew Coffee – Best name ever!

Big Joe’s BBQ – authentic wood smoked, slow cooked barbecue food.

Dan has heard good things about Chando’s tacos… has anyone local tried them?

Just started following them on twitter so we can give them a try.

Kaboom! These signs made me giggle.

Another successful SactoMofo event. Like I mentioned in the beginning of this post. The venue was perfect – the trucks were spread out, the lines weren’t crazy – the sun wasn’t beating down… everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Good food and friends, bring it!

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Nov 28 2011

Block Party 2011

We moved on to our street almost 10 years ago. It was a new development in the middle of an already established neighborhood. All of us moved in to our new houses within a few weeks of each other and fast became friends. We were all in the 25-45 age range, which made for some crazy street parties, poker games and backyard BBQs and celebrations. A lot changes in 10 years and 4 divorces later, some new neighbors and general Desperate Housewives drama… things fizzled out and people went about their busy lives with an occasional “hi” with random mailbox chatter sprinkled in. There were no parties or gatherings and the street became fairly quiet… until this past Saturday. We got an invite early in the week reinstating the street’s post Thanksgiving/tree lighting block party. Sweet! We haven’t put lights on the house for a couple of years – it was time to buy some new ones. Dan and I went to Lowe’s and picked up some old school energy sucking lights. C9 ceramic multicolored lights – yeah baby! My grandparents had them on their tree – houses had them in the 70’s and 80’s – they remind me of my childhood – it was a done deal!

Strings of lights, clips for the roof and wire for the giant wreath… I’m so thankful that I have a handy husband.

No arguments, no cussing, no problems… he installed row after row with ease. He even bought brown extension cords so you can’t see the connections on the brown roof. Details my friends… it’s all in the details.

The  neighbors were out on their own ladders installing lights. Icicle lights, LED lights, blow up Santa Claus riding motorcycles…

I hung the door wreath, polished the coach lights, swept the porch and then started getting the food ready for the party.

I went to our local butcher for some tri-tip (2.5 lbs.) and he hooked me up with some that had been marinating overnight. He also gave me a free sample of the sauce he used for the marinade. Bansankan Black Pepper Sauce – it was screamin’ good. I grilled the tri-tip steaks on medium/high heat for 3 minutes a side and let them rest for a good 20 minutes. I heated up the remaining sauce and sliced small french rolls for the sandwiches.

I cut the meat into thin strips, sauced the bread and drizzled more on the meat.  I then wrapped them in foil and placed them into the oven at 250 degrees F. for a 1/2 hour before the party started. They were delicious and all 24 went quickly. There was lots of grilling going on – carne asada, chicken, artichoke and asiago cheese sausage and a few other things I’m sure I missed. We had side dishes of homemade mac-n-cheese, enchilada casserole, chips, dips and hot out of the oven apple crisp.

One of the neighbors brought out his fire pit and we had several propane heaters and it was still freezing for this CA girl.

Good times were had by all. We even decided that later in the month we will go Christmas caroling as a block.  One neighbor broke out with a song book and started picking songs for us to sing. The Christmas Song was #1 on the list… Chestnuts roasting on an open fire… looking forward to that – they are also building in a “get wasted” time period before we start knocking on doors :).

I’ve also started decorating the inside of the house. I used to wait until Dec. 1 to decorate, but my life and scheduling is crazy for the next month, so I wanted to take my time.

It was back to work this morning and I couldn’t help but smile as I pulled into the driveway tonight – our lights and house look so friendly. It’s nice that the block festivities are back in full force and the street reflects that.

How about you?

  1. Do you put lights on your house or apt. balconies?
  2. Real tree or fake tree?
  3. Multicolored, single color or white lights?

Inquiring minds want to know…

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=6559

Nov 27 2011

Thanksgiving Break

My week off was just what I needed. The weekend prior to my vacation was filled with my niece’s soccer tournament games and my weekdays were spent catching up on TV shows and movies, cooking, working out, shopping, decorating – all things I really enjoy doing. The best part was that Dan also had some of the week off – so we actually got to spend a lot of time together, woohoo!

My Mom and Dad hosted Thanksgiving at their house and I decided that I was going to make homemade dinner rolls and a corn dish.

I was so excited to finally use my grandmother’s mixer to make my rolls. I followed a Rachael Ray recipe. “Dinner Rolls for a Crowd”

I even used a towel with hearts to show the dough some love during the first rise.

I broke out the scale and got mega precise with my measurements to make sure my rolls would be uniform in size… then everything went downhill. I covered my baking sheets of dough balls for the second dough rise and the puffed up like magic. Then I made the “very bad” decision to transport them to my parent’s house instead of just baking them at home. I didn’t take into account the cold car and I ended up with dough that looked like baked sugar cookies…. total bummer. Thankfully I got some back up rolls in the event of a disaster…  it all worked out in the end.

The Gulliver’s Creamed Corn dish on the other hand – was phenomenal! Thanks Melissa for posting the recipe on your blog. I did use more cheese (an extra 1/3 of a cup) and I used white and yellow frozen corn, but other than that – I kept things the same. Everyone loved it!

My Aunt Diane (who recently passed away) created a family tradition back when I was a little girl. She would bring candy from a Carmel, CA candy store to every Thanksgiving. Gigantic bags of gummy fruit and bears, chocolate turkeys, etc. I have so many fond memories of her holiday goodie bags and boxes that in her honor I wanted to make sure that everyone had candy treats this year. I went to See’s and picked up some chocolate and toffee bars and butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate and café latté gourmet lollypops. It was the perfect way to carry on the tradition and I’m now slightly obsessed with the butterscotch pops.

My Mom set a beautiful table… fall colored dishes and napkins…

and the cutest little pilgrim birds I’ve ever seen… not that I’ve seen a lot of pilgrim birds… ha!

Deede and Josh brought one of Deede’s masterpiece pies – Pear and Butterscotch – one of Josh’s favorites. The crust was super flaky – Deede is my pie baking hero. She loves the precise measuring, the math, etc. and it really shows in the finished product. Incredible!

My bro and Aim brought an amazing pumpkin soup as a starter.

Served with an apple/cranberry relish as a soup topper…

and fresh bread… I asked for the soup recipe and will share when I get it. The soup had the perfect blend of spices – loved the little kick at the end.

My Dad brined the turkey in an apple and sage brine. He then BBQ’d it… and Oh man, was it good! So juicy and tender, loved it!

Deede also whipped up the second veggie dish of the meal – green bean bacon bundles. The sauce was made with onion, bacon drippings, white wine vinegar, sugar and salt – delicious!

We had quite the table spread. We finished the evening watching the National Dog Show – the back and forth commentary was hilarious. We had a wonderful time with our family and friends. We packed Higgin’s into the car and headed home along the fog filled back roads.

In dieting news… Foodwise I felt great. I tasted everything, but didn’t overeat or go for seconds. I didn’t post about my 17 day diet – cycle 3 (round 2) results – but I was down another 1.5 lbs. I’ve maintained the entire week off and I’ve been eating treats here and there throughout. Not too shabby. So there will be no master detox… no plans to “get back on the wagon” – because my wagon never crashed… I went into the holiday and my week off with a plan and I stuck to it.

I’ve now got some Christmas decorating on the agenda…

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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