Category: travels
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Friday, September 17
Menlo Park Week: Coconuts & Back-A-Yard
Today I’m cheating a little. The restaurant I’m going to write about is actually in Palo Alto. But the owners have a second, more casual location in Menlo Park and it’s the same chef. So, it counts.
Okay, so I love Back A Yard in East Menlo Park. I think it might be my favorite take-out spot in town. Nate and I can split one jerk chicken dinner and be left with full bellies and tingly, happy taste buds. Their jerk sauce is perfection. Perfect texture, flavor, heat…I can’t get enough. Back A Yard has been serving Menlo Park for about 6 years. Two years ago they opened a second restaurant called Coconuts in Palo Alto, with the same wonderful Caribbean vibe and eats.
I knew I had to write about Back A Yard for Menlo Park week. When I emailed the chef, he offered to serve us dinner at Coconuts, which of course we took him up on! I already knew the chef’s wife Annetta from my frequent visits to Back A Yard, and it was a delight to finally meet Chef Robert. We also met the other Coconuts chef Emmanuel, who took very good care of us throughout the evening.
First off, we had a Jamaican soda called Ting. It rocked. My pictures of it did not rock. So, please just close your eyes and imagine what a Jamaican grapefruit soda in a pretty glass looks and tastes like. Pretty good, right?
On to the food.
Corn Festivals. They’re kind of like donuts. But maybe better. Not so sweet, but sweet enough. I can pop ‘em like candy. Seriously. It’s a good thing I only eat them every once in a while. You can also get the festivals at Back A Yard.
Curried Garbanzo Avocado Guacamole, with Crispy Plantain Tostones. Coconuts makes their tasty guacamole with smashed up garbanzo beans (kind of similar to the dip recipe from last week…interesting, eh?). And those tostones? LOVE them.
Pork bites. I love these tender little pork bites. Maybe because you get that bowl of jerk sauce. And we all know how I feel about the jerk sauce.
Curried shrimp. This was my dinner. It might be my favorite thing on the menu. Tons of perfectly cooked veggies. Delicious shrimp. The curry sauce is wonderful. Oh, and the little cup of mango salsa complements the entire dish so nicely.
Jerk Chicken and Curried Goat. This was Nate’s dinner. There’s that yummy jerk chicken I told you about. And the curried goat is quite good – very tender with, once again, a great sauce. These people know their sauces. You can’t see it, but this dish comes with rice and beans, which you can get at both restaurants. I love me some rice and beans, and these are no exception.
Tender Braised Oxtail. That’s right, OXtail. This meat is wicked tender. It’s also quite fatty, but seriously tasty. This is very traditional and we had to give it a try – glad we did.
By this point in the meal we were STUFFED and we had enough leftovers for a whole other dinner the next night! But we had to try at least one dessert. In the name of the blog, right? Ah, the sacrifices I make.
The chef recommended we go with the Sweet Potato Pudding. I told you Chef Emmanuel took care of us that night. I can’t tell you how happy I was we tried this pudding. I’m terrible at describing food…let’s see, it was warm, the sauce was yummy…see, terrible. Please just know this was good stuff.
Can you see why we love these restaurants? And I should mention that I credit Back A Yard with my new found ability to eat super spicy food. Before Back A Yard, I was a wimp. But that jerk is too good to pass up. And now, my heat tolerance is high. Bring it on.
Thank you to the owners and chefs for a fabulous meal!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:32 am 14 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Menlo Park Week, travels
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Wednesday, September 15
Menlo Park Week: Kepler’s Books
Another Menlo Park (and, really, national) treasure is Kepler’s Books. You should click here to read the history of the bookstore. It’s fascinating and inspiring. Here are the highlights…Roy Kepler, peace activitist, opened the store in 1955. It attracted loyal customers from the start, oh, and The Grateful Dead and Joan Baez appeared/performed there regularly. There is a PBS documentary about Kepler’s and in 1990 Kepler’s was named “Bookseller of the Year” by Publisher’s Weekly. “Thanks” to the Internet, they had to close their doors in August of 2005…but after much support and investment from the community, they re-opened their doors two months later. Cool, right?
I love this place. I could spend hours browsing through the stacks and stacks of books.
They have events all the time with all kinds of amazing authors. I mean amazing. Like former-presidents-of-the-United-States amazing.
And the children’s section of the store is a little piece of heaven on earth.
We’re pretty lucky.
This might be my favorite part of the store. The Knuffle Bunnies fighting over who loves Kepler’s more.
So, there’s our bookstore. Are you in love with Menlo Park yet?
Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:49 am 5 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Menlo Park Week, travels
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Menlo Park Week: Cafe Borrone
Hands down one of my favorite places in Menlo Park is Cafe Borrone. Every time I eat there I love it even more. I love the food. I love the atmosphere. I love the umbrellas. I love the chalkboard menus. I love the pretty dishes.
Last week Cafe Borrone treated us to dinner so I could write up this post. Our dinner was HEAVEN. Every last bite was scrumptious. Marina Borrone kept telling us we should call friends to come share the food with us because they were planning on bringing so much out…and, uh, yeah…Nate and I ate it all (with only a little help from the girls). So much for sharing!
Cafe Borrone has been around since 1971, first in Redwood City and now Menlo Park. The restaurant is family-owned and run by Marina, Josh (her husband who is also the chef) and Marina’s parents, who originally started the business. In fact, Josh started working here when he got out of high school, serving tables and whatnot, and is now chef!
Cafe Borrone uses almost all local ingredients (with the exception of around 5 items, such as bananas) and as much organic food as possible. Their menu changes day to day, based on what is fresh and in season. It’s a natural for lunchtime, but their breakfast food is wonderful. And dinner? Oh, dinner is too good.
Let’s take a gander at the food, shall we?
Corn fritters. I can’t begin to describe how good these are.
Beet Salad. The beets were soooooo yummy. Sweet, perfect texture. And the goat cheese on top of the greens? I didn’t know goat cheese could be so darn creamy.
Burrata. Have you ever had burrata? It’s basically fresh mozzarella stuffed with cream and curd. And it rocks. Especially topped on crostini with roasted peaches and tomatoes. Marina said they ate burrata in Italy and had to bring it to their restaurant…and now she’s seeing it in other places. That’s right, you saw it at Borrone’s first!
That was just the appetizers. How about some dinner?
Grouper BLT. Fresh line caught grouper with all kinds of bacony-tomatoey goodness surrounding it.
Steak Crostini. This was Nate’s favorite. I think mine too. But whenever I decide it’s my fave, I think about something else I ate and can’t go with a final decision. The Niman Ranch filet mignon on this crostini was cooked perfectly and tasted, well, amazing.
You have room for dessert, right? We all know I always do…
Nectarine and Blackberry Crisp.
Coconut Cream Tart.
This dog was totally judging me.
What, dog, what? You think I ate too much?
I think every single one of you reading this post needs to come visit me in Menlo Park, just so we can go to lunch at Cafe Barrone. Deal? Great! (Bonus for your trip: you get to see me pig out and get judged by snooty dogs.)
Click more to read Josh’s description of each dish. As if the pictures wouldn’t make you hungry enough.
Thank you, Cafe Borrone, for an amazing dinner…and, more importantly, for being around for everyone to enjoy!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:12 am 11 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Menlo Park Week, travels
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Monday, September 13
Menlo Park Week!
I love my town. Nate and I are so grateful that when we moved to the Bay Area, we ended up in Menlo Park. The schools are awesome, the neighborhoods are beautiful, the people are nice, and our main street is the best, with tons of local businesses and restaurants, very few chain stores and oodles of charm. There’s just a really fantastic sense of community that we are lucky to be a part of!
I want to share some of my town with you, so it’s Menlo Park Week here on This Week for Dinner. I’m excited to support a few local businesses, share a part of my daily life with you, and offer up some great giveaways (don’t worry, you don’t have to be from Menlo Park to partake!). Plus, I hope the week inspires you to go out into your own community to support and/or find your own local gems!
Without further ado, let be the first to welcome you to Menlo Park, California! I hope you enjoy your visit!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 1:38 pm 6 Comments
Categories: Menlo Park Week, travels
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Thursday, August 19
The Avery SocialLuxe Lounge and an amazing weekend in NYC!
I’m finally sitting down to write about the 2010 Avery SocialLuxe Lounge. Ah, SocialLuxe. Even now, two weeks later, I don’t know where to begin! The party was a-maaaaaay-zing. Our sponsors were wonderful, the location was off the HOOK, and throwing the party with Allison Czarnecki and Marie LeBaron was by far and away the best part of it all. I simply feel grateful for the chance to be a part of it.
Allison, Me, Marie – The Dream TeamWarning: this is a long post. But it’s FUN and represents a year of my life, so I just gotta make it a big ole monster post of SocialLuxe fabulousness. (If, after all of this, you are still dying to see and read more about SocialLuxe, we have a pretty sweet Flickr page here, and we’re collecting posts about the party here.)
Pre-party preparationsThe Avery SocialLuxe Lounge took place on August 5 in New York City at Arena, near Bryant Park. We had 350 wonderful bloggers in attendance, including this unbelievable list of VIPs. UNBELIEVABLE, right?
The Bloggess (Funniest BlogLuxe Award Winner, 2009 VIP), Megan Jordan (Velveteen Mind), Christine Koh (Boston Mamas)This year Avery was our title sponsor for the event. They were wonderful. Their conference survival kits for each guest were adorable and totally useful to boot. We absolutely adored working with Avery.
In addition to Avery, we had a whole slew of amazing sponsors. Frito-Lay, International Delight, Stride Rite and Ghirardelli were all at the party, providing their own unique and fun twists. Celebrity designer Heather Thomson was also there helping women to feel yummy with her Yummie Tummie line. (These waiters were also wearing Yummie Tummie products…which they admitted to loving.)
This year we featured a very special non-profit organization, Drop In and Decorate. They were at the party to meet bloggers, educate them about what the organization does, and gave guests the chance to design cookies to benefit the Center Against Domestic Violence of New York. Drop In and Decorate is definitely worth checking out, so click on over to their site!
SocialLuxe is all about the pampering. Hair, makeup, henna, manicures by OPI and the most fantabulous aromatherapy massages by Aveda really rounded out the evening. I could have sat in that massage chair for hours.
The swag was sweet, too. It was SO fun giving each guest a giant bag full of wonderful goodies. From totally delicious smelling Scentsy products to totally classy gifts from Cambria Cove to totally awesome face cream from StriVectin to totally rockin’ headphones from Skullcandy…and so much more. It was nuts!
This is what stuffing 350 bags looks likeShabby Apple provided the three hostesses (including myself) dresses for the weekend. I can’t even tell you how many compliments I got on my Frida K dress. I sure was glad I was wearing it that night…made me feel all confident and stuff. And, confession time, I wore it again two nights later.
SocialLuxe was a TON of work, but it was worth it, for so many reasons. Oh, and I won the Tastiest BlogLuxe award with dear sweet Ree, The Pioneer Woman! Yippee! (Don’t miss the list of all the winners here.)
The weekend didn’t stop there. The BlogHer conference was just as overwhelming as ever, with over 2000 bloggers in attendance. The highlights of the weekend for me were two more parties.
Ree (The Pioneer Woman), Jaden (Steamy Kitchen) and Elise (Simply Recipes) held a cocktail party on Friday night, where I finally met Matt Armendariz from Matt Bites and got to hang out with the David Lebovitz. And I’m officially in love with both of them.
Some of my closest and favorite blogging friends, at Ree’s party…Kristen, Me, Allison, Rachael, Marie and Kami (Photo from Justin Hackworth)And on Saturday night I had the chance to attend another cocktail party hosted by NATE BERKUS. He was super sweet and I love him now even more than I did before. I honestly can’t wait to see his new show in a few weeks.
Oh, and then I danced the night away at Sparklecorn, one of the official BlogHer parties. I haven’t danced like that since college. It was a BLAST. (And I make a brief appearance in this video, thankfully hidden behind some crazier girls than I…)
I’ve gotta say, New York City treated me well.
Oh! I almost forgot. Not only did I get wined and dined in NYC, but I also became an official minivan mom. That’s right, I had me a Swagger Wagon for my East Coast trip this summer. Toyota provided me with a Sienna to use the whole two weeks I was out East. It was fabulous having it on our family vacation on Cape Cod and, surprisingly, it was even more fabulous to have it in New York City for SocialLuxe. It hauled people and boxes of stuff equally as well and I don’t know what we would have done without it. And, once ‘Jersey Jane’ kicked in, I could handle driving that van in the city as well as any cab driver.
Cate and Anna loved having the van…they sat in the way back the whole time we had it and Cate was enamored with the sliding doors. And, because they look too cute (and hardcore!) in Skullcandy headphones, we of course had to do a rap album cover photo shoot.
After all, this is a swagger wagon…and my girls know how to swagger. No diggity, no doubt.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:55 am 31 Comments
Categories: fab faves, SocialLuxe Lounge, the goods, travels
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Tuesday, August 17
Jelly Belly Factory Fun!
Today the girls and I trekked north 1 1/2 hours to visit the Jelly Belly factory and go on their free tour. If you live in or visit Northern California, this is definitely a fun thing to do with the kids! And, come to think of it, it’s fun for all ages! My favorite part of the tour was watching the children peer through the windows down at the factory floor. I’m certain they could have sat their quietly for hours on end. (Sadly, no photography inside the factory itself…which was KILLING me. If only, if only…)
Want to know the trick to a successful Jelly Belly Factory Tour visit? Get there right when it opens! We didn’t wait at all….and when we finished our tour an hour or so after we arrived, the line was INSANE. Don’t go late! Don’t do it! No sleeping in! And definitely go on a weekday, when the factory is going strong! It’s just too fun watching all those jelly beans jumping around on the conveyor belts.
When I asked Cate a few hours after we got home what she thinks of the factory, she simply replied, “I love it!” She and I decided that the Jelly Belly factory is one of the happiest places on earth. The factory workers on the floor would look up and wave and smile at the kids over and over. I think making pretty colored candy all day must put you in a good mood.
Look. Even the french fries are happy.
Maybe it’s the hats.
Or the jelly bean art.
Honestly, I think the source of all the happiness is the kids, longingly observing the wonder that is millions of jelly beans all in one place.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:06 pm 14 Comments
Categories: fab faves, travels
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Thursday, August 12
Padma and the Turkey Boursin Baguette Incident
This sandwich looks good, right? I mean, downright delicious? Tell that to Padma Lakshmi. This post is about redemption, folks. Defending my culinary honor!
While I was at BlogHer last weekend, I had the opportunity to compete in a sandwich competition held by Hillshire Farms and Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef. We had 2 minutes to make a sandwich that was then judged by 3 children judges and Padma. I received the invitation to participate a few days before the event, when I was completely buried in SocialLuxe preparations. So, let’s just say I didn’t think super hard about my recipes…AND I didn’t want to win since the final round was during my nephew’s 1st birthday party (although, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t trying…I WAS). Yes, this is all going somewhere…stick with me…
Pre-competition, blissfully unaware of my upcoming downfall
The esteemed panel of judgesSo, I decided to do one of my most favorite sandwiches for Round 1. I thought it would be simple enough. Yeah, not so much. My sandwich required cutting a baguette, which may not have been a problem in and of itself, except that they gave me utility gloves that made it nearly impossible to get a handle on the bread. And the lettuce was shredded. And I couldn’t toast the bread. And I thought we were going to have 4 minutes, but we only had 2. Yes, I’m making excuses….okay, the stage has been set. Here’s how the competition went down.
“On your mark, get set, go!”
Jane, contestant #4, furiously trying to make a 4-inch piece of baguette into 4 lovely little sandwiches. Wearing utility gloves 10 times too large for her fingers. Don’t forget the utility gloves. Damn those utility gloves!
I look surprisingly calm in this photo. I assure you, I was not.“Times up!”
Padma starts with contestant #1 and looks at each sandwich, asking what it is. After nicely checking out the first 3 sandwiches, Padma approaches Jane’s station, looks at the plate and says…
“And we can just throw this one in the trash.”
Oh, no she didn’t!
Oh, yes she did!
Everyone laughs. Including Jane. It was pretty funny….after all, the plate looked like a pile of tiny pieces of torn up baguette tossed with some shredded lettuce and decimated turkey. Then Padma says…
“So, what was it supposed to be?”
Jane then describes the recipe, assuring Padma {and the world} that normally it is quite delicious. Simultaneously, any faith anyone had in her cooking abilities is thrown out the window and run over by a NYC taxi cab.
Judging commences. Padma gets the results, announces that I am not in last place (albeit, not in first either) and says…
“Does that make you feel better?”
It did. Third place is definitely better than last. You can’t tell from the show. Padma is funny. And pretty darn sarcastic. Who knew?
So, yeah, that’s how my first quickfire food competition went down. In a ball of flames. Like I said, I kind of wanted to lose in Round 1 or 2 anyway. And if you’re going to lose, you may as well do it while Padma makes fun of you the whole time.
This recipe’s for you, Padma. I swear it’s good.
Turkey Boursin Baguette
– Baguette
- Sliced pepper turkey
- Romaine lettuce
- Boursin cheese, softened at room temperature for about 30 minutesToast baguette. Spread Boursin on both sides then top the bottom bread with turkey and a leaf of romain lettuce.
That’s it. Easy peasy and delicious. Unless you have only two minutes to make the sandwich and Padma Lakshmi is watching (and laughing at) you.
Thanks to the lovely Marie LeBaron for taking pictures during the competition for me! And to my Eat.Blog.Run ‘family’ for cheering me on!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:57 am 10 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, main dishes, travels
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Saturday, August 7
The site is SAFE. And a quick hello!
Hello everyone!
First order of business: This website is SAFE and now Google knows it and you shouldn’t get that awful scary screen telling you This Week for Dinner might be harmful to your computer. Rest assured, it’s all good. The only damage you’ll get from this site will be a hit to the hips from my addiction to dessert.
Second order of business: I’m sorry I haven’t been writing any posts. Between the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge and BlogHer, I’ve been like a whirling dervish spinning around New York City. SocialLuxe Lounge was BEAUTIFUL and FUN and WONDERFUL, and the BlogHer conference has been fabulous. I can’t WAIT to share all the pictures and fun things that have been going on, but it will have to wait a few days. But you better believe we’ll have a menu going up here tomorrow, so get planning!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:34 am 4 Comments
Categories: travels
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Friday, July 30
Ice Cream and the Cape
Cape Cod and ice cream go hand in hand. I think every town on the Cape has an ice cream shop, most often selling homemade ice cream and with a loyal following claiming that that particular ice cream shop is the best on the Cape.
Our family visits Ice Cream Sandwich in Sandwich, MA every year. Usually we plan an ice cream night and go just once. This year? Um, yeah, we’ve been eating a lot of ice cream. Let’s not count the visits. No, really. No counting allowed.
By the way, I have created the perfect ice cream cone. Homemade waffle cone with homemade black raspberry ice cream topped with chocolate jimmies.* Heaven, people. Heaven.
*When I’m not in the northeast, I call sprinkles ‘sprinkles.’ When I’m here, I do as the Romans do and sprinkles suddenly become ‘jimmies.’ I think that’s because if I say ‘sprinkles,’ suddenly everyone within a 5-mile radius is looking at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears. Locally caught lobster, of course.
In case you were wondering about the rumor that the phrase jimmies is racist in origin, it’s not true. No guilt necessary when ordering your ice cream!
As I was researching all of this very important information, I discovered sprinkles/jimmies are also called “hundreds and thousands.” Romans or not, THAT is a mouthful. I am decidedly too lazy to ever use that particular phrase!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 8:23 am 17 Comments
Categories: fab faves, the goods, travels
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Wednesday, July 28
This is what I call a VACATION
Even though SocialLuxe Lounge is next week and causing a few grey hairs to sprout on my head each day, this week has been unbelievably wonderful and relaxing. We’ve hardly done a thing. Just the way I like it.
I lost my camera cord. Actually, more accurately, my sister-in-law lost my mom’s camera cord, because I forgot to bring mine in the first place. Which means I can’t download any pictures from my camera. Thankfully we are living a true vacation life this week and I have been a total food blogger slacker and don’t have any photos to share with you anyway. Don’t worry, I still love you. Just wanted to drop a quick hello!
Everyone send positive camera-cord-finding vibes our way!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 7:50 am 4 Comments
Categories: travels
Hello! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and then count on you to share your own! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
