Folsom Street Fair

 Folsom Street Fair is unlike any other street fair in San Francisco or any other city. It's always such an amazing experience as a person that is fascinated by culture and also in love with this city that tries to create a space for everyone. I read about human behavior more than anything else. This event lends itself to photos unique to this event and each year is different as it is a direct reflection of those that attend. I was happy to see the lederhosen fellas back again. Here's another part of San Francisco that makes it a special place to say the least.

Atelier Dion ceramics

After catching up with friends at the Eat Real Festival I headed over to the Atelier Dion Kickstarter kickoff party/sample sale. I picked up the tin can set that I've wanted for a year or two. I love their colored clay cups and the dice above are pretty sweet too. You can help support their kickstarter here. 

thanks Oakland

I started the busy weekend off with the Eat Real Festival on Saturday morning with cheese grits topped with bacon and greens Sugarfoot Grits. Finally got to try a horchata latte and then cooled down with an avocado and kefir lime pop from Fat Face. I kept coming across this THX Oakland stencil, kudos to whoever is behind it. 

classy street musicians

There was a small "microhood" or neighborhood festival tonight with discounts or giveaways at local stores. The winner of the evening was Tommaso's since they generously gave out a slice of lasagna with a glass of wine and just around the corner from them on Broadway near Columbus was this fella playing the piano as the world passed by. 

autmnal light

word on the street

rush hour in SF

Shakespeare at the park and date shakes

 which means even more time outside with long walks across the city with a stop at Loving Cup this time to fill my jar up with coconut rice pudding. I was thrilled to see the Flying Disc Ranch  date farmers at the farmers market after being away for two months while the new season of dates came in. Their dates are amazing and they ship. Walking around the date farm being seeing the cholla blossoms at Joshua Tree followed with the best BBQ dinner and live music at Pioneer Town made for such an amazing day. I'm planning on a date shake for breakfast this week.

miny sutro

Sutro Tower is tall enough to peak through the top of the fog high above the city

magic

this gem of a friend was visiting from Portland and brought all the love and magic 

g

coffee and fancy toast with house made nutella at The Mill

walking San Francisco

Italian almond cookies

I think I'll have one (or two) with my coffee this week. As I mentioned in the previous pavlova post I had (still have) an abundance of egg whites in the freezer. I had just enough almond flour on hand to make one batch of these tasty cookies and then 5 egg whites left for the pavlova. North Beach is known for loads of Italian restaurants and of course we have a few sweet shops with cannoli, tiramisu, and my current craving is the almond cookies with a crisp outside and dense chewy center. They're often dotted with whole pine nuts or rolled in powdered sugar. As I always do I used less sugar and more real flavor. Going off the same list of recipes to use up extra egg whites from David Lebovitz I went with this recipe for Italian Almond Cookies with a few tweaks. I still want to try Nigella Lawson's ricarelli recipe, but I have a feeling I'll make a few more batches of these in the weeks to come. I'm excited to put all the meyer lemon marmalade to use too. 

• Italian Almond Cookies makes about 30 cookies 
• 3 cups blanched almond flour (see note at the bottom)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• a pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons lemon marmalade (can use orange marmalade or apricot jam and lower the sugar by 1/4cup)
• a few drops of pure almond extract (* I added 8)

1. In a large bowl, mix together the almond powder and sugar. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they start to mound and form soft, peaks. They should not be stiff, but the consistency of softly whipped cream.

2. Fold the beaten whites into the almond mixture (they’ll lose volume, which is fine), then fold in the lemon or orange marmalade and add the drops of almond extract. Mix the dough until it comes together in the smooth ball. You may need to get into it with your clean hands to help knead it together.

3. Preheat the oven to 325ºF (160ºC.) Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

4. Pinch off pieces of dough about 1 1/4-inch (4cm) in diameter and roll each into a ball. I used a mini ice cream scoop. Roll them into round balls and put them on a baking sheet, evenly spaced apart. 

5. Bake the cookies for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the baking sheets in the oven, turning them around so the cookies bake evenly, until the cookies light golden brown. Let cool before serving.

Storage: Once cool, the cookies can be stored in a container at room temperature for up to one week. I would not recommend freezing them as it will change their toothsome texture.

Notes

- Almond powder also goes by the name almond meal, almond powder, or almond flour. It’s simply ground up almonds. If in doubt, check the ingredients; the only one should be almonds. If you can’t find it, you can pulverize the equivalent amount of sliced, blanched almond (by weight) in a food processor with the sugar called for in the recipe.