pickled

About a year ago I gathered a number of recipes for bread and butter pickles. I never made them and they sat unused in my recipe book. I have never been a big fan of the bread and butter pickle but my wife loves them. Last week at Cavallo Point they were on the plate as an tasty accessory to my sandwich. They appeared to be house made and had a complex sweet and sour taste. While checking out Cooking Light Magazine I came across a recipe and took it as a sign that it was time to make pickles.

The resulting product was incredible! Nothing like the pickles off the supermarket shelf. The actual hands on time is short but it is hard to resist taking nibbles before the pickles have fully cured. Patience,my friend, they are worth the wait.

Cavallo Point

We went someplace far away today that was very close to to home. It is less than half an hour's drive away but it is a place we have never been to. Fort Baker has been guarding the Golden Gate Bridge for many moons. It is still home to the U.S. Coast Guard. It must be hard duty for the troops guarding such a beautiful spot. As we walked past the station the smell of barbecue wafted in the air. Good food and and a view, you have to love that.

In keeping with that thought Cavallo Point has opened across the parade ground from the Coast Guard station. They have taken old military buildings and turned them into a luxury hotel and restaurant. After a lovely hike around the area we were just going to take a peek inside the Murray Circle restaurant thinking it had to be very expensive. We were greeted warmly at the host station and I spied the Farley Bar. We scored two seats at the bar which made for excellent people watching. Comfortable elegance is the term that comes to mind. It is very apparent that great care has been taken not only in the decor but in choosing the staff. If you don't have a good time here it's your fault.

Murray Circle

We started with a Bloody Mary and of course that leads to food, with us anyhow. The brunch menu has lots of options and is reasonably priced. Neither of us was that hungry so we decided to split a soup and sandwich. April chose a sweet pea "gazpacho" which didn't sound good to me but turned out to be star. I picked the shrimp BLT with Hobb's apple wood smoked bacon which was killer. The bar has a big wide screen TV tuned to the Olympics but the sight of north tower of the bridge peeking out of the fog is what drew my attention.

Bloody Mary

Soup and sandwich

One of these days if we can bang a few nickles together it would be lovely to stay here. A nap after a hike and brunch would be in order.

Staycation Picnic

The first impulse I had today was to pop out of bed and do something fantastic. This is the first day in a while when my schedule wasn't filled with a big to do list. My brain resisted and decided to take advantage of recently coined word "staycation."

We hung out at home until we got hungry, then sprinted down to the local grocery store. I threw together a antipasto salad and added some fresh Italian bread for picnic on the deck. I would have photographed the bread but somehow about a third of it fell off between the store and home. I hate when that happens!