#13 Visit New York

For my 30th birthday I decided that enough was enough and it was time for me to see the East Coast. Yup, up until the ripe old age of 30 (whaaa??!??), I had never been to the East Coast of the US until last month. Crazy town. I was trying to hit up as many places as possible in a week and the first one was New York. As soon as she heard the words 'New York' my mom was in! My aunt lives on the East Coast and was willing to be our tour guide as she does work in NY all the time. It was awesome! I loved NY- way more than I thought I would and now I totally want to go back since we just got a small taste of it. We stuck mainly to Manhattan and tried to fit in as much as humanly possible- in addition to cabs and the subway, I made my mom and aunt walk 26 miles all around the city. Basically if I ever start a walking tour group company, I can only accept marathoners. They kept up like champs, even my aunt who had recently fractured her hip- ouch!

#2 Learn how to BBQ

My favorite food? Hands down answer is BBQ. I love it all: the meat, the sides, the sauce...bring it! I especially love how it always feels like summer when you're eating a delicious BBQ meal. Anyways as part of my American list I decided I needed to learn how to BBQ and my friend Kelda (aka K-sista) makes a mean BBQ chicken. What makes her BBQ chicken the most American? That would be the Bud Light beer can up its butt...'Merica!

#42 Celebrate the 4th of July

It took awhile but I finally crossed another item off the list! Yup I got all dolled up in my 'Merican finest and celebrated Independence day at my parent's house. Please note the use of my USA beer mitt- best purchase ever! I love my parent's house and affectionately refer to it as my 'summer home'- anytime its foggy in SF its usually super hot and sunny where they're at so its worth the trip over every time (plus seeing my parents is cool too). It was over 100 degrees so I spent most of the day in the pool- mainly lounging with a beer...relaxation at its best.

Austin in 36 Hours

I love living in SF but so far the hands down winner for favorite city to visit is Austin- friends, food and music...what more could you ask for?!? I've done a pretty good job keeping track of all my trips to my favorite southern city here on this blog but this time was a little different- I was only in Austin for 36 hours so I had to make it count! I flew in to oversee a job for work so I had to spend time at the jobsite but luckily my friend's apartment was 5 minutes away so I got to spend lots of time with her. During my lunch break, I met my co-worker over at Z Tejas in the Austin Arboretum which was a super cool spot and AMAZING, TO DIE FOR cornbread...for serious.

Keeping busy...

Its been an usually hot SF summer (so far) so I've spent less time on my computer and more time outside- which is never a bad thing but means I've been way behind on posting. I haven't been overly American lately (although I technically did jury duty- even got paid my whopping $15). Instead fun things like a visit from Dog have been happening- just check out his adorable face! He even let me put slippers on him before a bedtime cuddle sesh (he may or may not look unhappy about the situation).

Hi Lo BBQ

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE me some BBQ...like legit obsessed with BBQ. I talked about it for weeks leading up to my last trip to Austin and was not disappointed...actually I was disappointed that I physically could not eat more of the deliciousness that is Black's BBQ. So when I read a Serious Eats article (totes thought I had read it in Sunset magazine and spent a good 20 mins trying to find it before realizing it was SE) about Hi Lo BBQ opening up in SF, I was all over it! As a post- exploring the Dogpatch dinner we headed over there Sunday night and I was literally struggling to contain my excitement. All my pics are blurry because I was moving so quickly just trying to get to the counter to order- per usual I had already looked up the menu and decided what I wanted to order.

January Recap

I'm seriously enjoying this SF winter we're having- can't beat blue skies and warm-ish weather! Despite the awesome weather, this month has been insane- so so busy! Started off great in Whistler (will post about that awesomeness soon), then work got nuts (everyone was kicking of the year with new projects I guess), I got sick (ugh of course) but the month ended on a good note with a big surprise party for my Dad's birthday! Family and friends flew in to celebrate with us and we had a lot of fun deceiving (I'm a good liar) and decorating for the big day- he was totally surprised. I can't wait to see the photos *ahem Elisabeth aka party photographer*

Cook the books Challenge: Smitten Kitchen

Rebecca decided to take on a Cook the Books challenge for 2013 and I'm joining in this month! This really is an awesome idea especially considering in the last week alone I bought three- yes three!!- cookbooks (Amazon Prime I love you). The three cookbooks? Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi (vegetarian), Canal House Cooks Every Day by Hamilton & Hirsheimer (seasonal cooking- its divided up by Month) and True Food by Andrew Weil MS (as the cover says 'seasonal, sustainable, simple, pure'). Cookbooks become addicting fast- the pictures just look so good! I've found that I really have to make an effort to crack them open and pick something rather than obsessively reading food blogs but once I do I'm usually happy with the result.

Thanksgiving 2012

Turns out that there is a limit on how many pictures you can post for free on Blogger- good to know. Now that the blog is all fixed up: happy belated-Thanksgiving! Since my parents were in Australia this Thanksgiving (no I was not invited, yes I was super jealous) and Christine's kitchen is in major renovation mode, I 'hosted' Thanksgiving at my parents house. What do I mean by 'hosted'? Well basically I did the appetizers, one roasted veggie dish and set up the decorations...and Christine did EVERYTHING else. It was awesome! It was a sunny day and warm enough to hang out around the pool so we put the apps outside on the bar. 

Eating my way through Austin

Last year I was all about taking pictures of the cows we saw in Austin but since they're not there anymore (boo), I decided to try and take pictures of everything I ate. I would like to say that these are just the highlights but in reality for the meals not included, I either: 1) quickly forgot this photo-taking goal when food was placed in front of me or 2) was so desperate to eat what was in front of me (hello strawberry cheesecake ice cream from Big Top) that the picture was blurry and unusable. Oh well, you get the idea.

Wild Saturday Night

Sugar, butter, chocolate, egg, nasty looking frozen bananas and other baking stuff = makings of a good Saturday night. What, you don't stay in and bake on a Saturday? Weird. Anyways pre-baking, Lindsey and I bundled up (jackets, boots, scarves...yay SF summers!), and headed out for roomie movie night to see The Campaign. So funny! And despite eating an entire box of Sour Patch Kids, I couldn't stop thinking about eating my mom's delish Banana Chocolate Chip muffins....so I busted out my apron and made 'em.

S'more Party

I missed my roomie's bday recently since I was in Hawaii so we celebrated a little late...but that didn't matter since we celebrated with s'mores!! Mmmmmmm. I was all over these growing up in Canada and I totally made some delish s'mores at Girl Guide camp...no big deal but I'm basically a marshmallow toasting pro. Since this is an American blog, I'll side with the Smithsonian (whoa legit right?!?), which says s'mores are more American than apple pie <--fightin' words right there. American treat or Canadian treat- who cares!?! These are awesome!

Cooking like an American

Work has kept me crazy busy lately (working on weekends sucks! Especially when you're fielding calls from clients...I mean really! Don't they want to enjoy their Easter too?!?) so I've got some catching up to do with the blog. I haven't been able to cross anything off the list in awhile but I have some activities in process: #26 Join a kickball team (done and will fill in details soon), #20 Go to Vegas (hotel is booked, just got to get a good deal on a flight) and #27 Join the army (yikes stay tuned on that one). 

So in catching up, I thought I would start with a cooking class I did a couple of weeks ago with some friends at Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley. We signed up for the Art of the Wok class and since we made 'American' Chinese food, I figured I could talk about it here :-). It was sooo much fun and the food was delish! Seriously, I'm like a wok pro at this point. 

#41 Host a Super Bowl party

I updated the list to include some more American things to do...one of which was host a Super Bowl party! I hate Comcast so in an act of definance, the cable was cancelled a few years ago...because you know loosing my business is really going to make an impact on them. FYI life without cable TV has been pretty awesome(thanks to Hulu and Netflix). So to solve the lack of cable problem,  we ended up borrowing an antenna from Rebecca so that we could actually watch the game/commercials.

TV!! In our apartment!! Good start to any Super Bowl party

American napkins obvi

Americanadian Birthday

Happy 1st (American) birthday Dad! Hope you have a great day. 

Ps. Pic is from our dinner at Anchor and Hope and in front of my Dad would be the maple gingerbread icebox cake with caramel sauce and candied kumquats...are you drooling yet? Because yes, it was freaking fantastic...obvi I helped him finish it. 

#15 Make an apple pie

So I had to be reminded that today was election day and I wasn't in SF to vote...major American fail. But I am about to write about apple pie (if I can tear myself away from watching Sister Wives- so ridiculously addicting for some reason) and apple pie is totally American so it evens out?? Well it's my blog so yes, I vote that it's an American wash...I'm not more American but I haven't lost any of my American cred.

Now to talk about pie. Delish apple pie. To be honest I don't really like pie and I especially don't like apple pie but I figured it was super American so I had to make it.

All of the ingredients...mmm ice cream

#3 Go to a rodeo

Lindsey and I got all decked out in our cowboy gear and headed to the Cow Palace tonight for the Grand National Rodeo. So. Much. Fun!! Although I've learned that next year we will need to add some flair to our wardrobe- turns out western women love their bling. Bedazzled shirts, belts, hats, jeans, boots, saddles, bridles, coffee mugs etc... a good note for future outfits. 

American advice needed...

Confession time...I haven't been very American lately. Instead, I've been keeping really busy at work (and gearing up for what is sure to be an awesome trip to Austin) so I thought I would get some help on #15 from my list 'Make an apple pie'...any tips? awesome recipe? apple suggestions? let me have 'em...if I'm going to go to the trouble of making a pie it better be the best pie ever. On a related note, apparently there is such a thing as Apple Pie gum!! Who knew?!? A friend left it in my purse by accident and I can't bring myself to try a piece but hey, if the real pie doesn't work out I can always use this as a back up.

Ps. I got my first piece of voting related mail today-woo hoo!! Super American :-)

#16 Work on a farm

Ok so maybe 'work on a farm' is not exactly accurate but I did pick food in the fields for a few hours, it was super hot out AND I was dressed like a farmer sooo I'm gonna count it :-)

Looking legit in the field 

Classic American Eats: Denny's

The first time I went to Denny's I was 16 and was pretty excited...mainly due to the promise of mint chocolate chip milkshakes and knowing that the alternative involved my dad 'cooking'...the weather wasn't right for warming up the BBQ (where he excels). After taking a look at the menu, I decided I wanted to step outside my comfort zone and order something other than chicken caesar salad or chicken strips. It was a tough choice, everything was covered in delicious looking cheese and/or bacon (wasn't too worried about clogging my arteries at the time) and I kept getting distracted  by the pictures of milkshakes.

After much deliberation, I decided to stick with what I know and get the chicken strips (no need to get crazy when the strips were bound to be the best ever and noted as an American Dinner Classic). I was however, able to talk my brother into going with the special of the month: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and some kind of vegetable- I was hoping I could steal some of his mashed potatoes and gravy. The meal was fine (I've had better strips), but the best part was that my brother's cranberry sauce on the side was still in can form...ridges and all just cut in half and stuck in a bowl for presentation. My dad wisely decided that should be our first and last trip to Denny's.

Since that was so long ago, I figured probably go there again as it is "America's diner" and obviously as a new American I should check it out....and then I saw this article: Adventures in Gluttony. Denny's has come out with new dishes as part of their Lets Get Cheesy menu- including the star of the article: Mac 'n Cheese Big Daddy Patty Melt. The creation involves a beef patty, topped with creamy mac 'n cheese, melted cheddar cheese (can't get enough cheese I guess) and a zesty Frisco sauce on grilled potato bread...side of fries included.  Now you can get all of this for only .............1690 calories!!! Ummm what?!?!? Now granted I love all things mac 'n cheese but this is a bit much even for me...I'll probably just eat half. Or if I'm feeling like watching my calories, I could just go for the Winner Winner Cheesy dinner for only 1520 calories or the Grand Slamwich with hash browns also for just 1520. I mean why bother with spreading out your calories in three meals throughout the day when you can get most of them in one meal! Great time saver Dennys...way to be ahead of the game. Despite their forward thinking in terms of time management, I think I'll pass- I've decided that IHOP is more my style.