Archive for ‘Culinary Outings’

January 9th, 2013

The Marine Room {preview of San Diego Restaurant Week}

by Chrissy

San Diego Restaurant Week is hitting the scene again from January 13-18 and you locals won’t want to miss it! Check out the site to see the participating restaurants and make your reservations.

We had the pleasure to preview The Marine Room, and here is the recap of our exquisite dinning experience.

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At the end of the day, sometimes it’s hard to find true relaxation; even when we step out of the kitchen and go eat elsewhere, worries and responsibilities seem to come along for the ride.  I’ll admit that this happens more times than not, with a busy schedule and a lengthy to-do list. When we are always on the go, it’s hard to slow down even when we are in the perfect setting to do so.

 

The Marine Room provides just the atmosphere for guests to truly enjoy their time away from routine, while sharing good conversation over an impeccable meal.

 

These dishes are so creatively built. Before digging in we couldn’t help but admire the beauty of what was placed before us. As we began to work through the food, we would uncover various components, which had been neatly tucked behind the main attraction or carefully nestled underneath a delicate garnish. It was like uncovering gold, only better because you could eat it.

 

Due to Lauren’s current situation, my friend, Brittany, joined me for dinner. We both melted over the following dishes…

To start, we had the Mushroom Torte and the Humboldt Fog brûlée.

Trumpet Mushroom Torte {white asparagus, artichoke, truffle, royal ambrosante sherry}

The torte was a completely unique way of enjoying mushrooms and was richly blanketed in a sherry sauce that was to-die for.

Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog Brulee {butter lettuce, squaw crisp, Angelino plum coulis, chestnut agridolc dressing}

This is probably the only kind of brûlée that I will ever eat, from now on. Very few words were spoken at the table once I cracked through the sugary brûléed top. Simply amazing.

 

We moved onto the entrees, of which we both chose Chef’s Specials. Fancy that!

Sesame Togarashi Crusted Ruby Ahi Tuna {avocado fritter, black thai rice, harvest corn, honshimeji, white port pomegranate reduction}

Ever so lightly seared, this rare hunk of ahi melted in my mouth. The black thai sticky rice was subtly sweet and paired perfectly with the pomegranate sauce and sesame ahi. Fried avocado? Yes, please!

Neptune’s Trilogy {Maine lobster tail, diver scallops, wild prawns, mochi rice, persimmons, la quercia prosciutto, elysium black muscat essence}

The plate was fit for King Triton a king. A perfect seafood trio, you couldn’t possibly want anything else in life. The mochi rice was packed with flavor and the surrounding moat of sauce was lovely with the buttery lobster.

Luckily, we saved an inch of room for dessert and, naturally, we asked our server to point us in a chocolaty direction.

Feuillentine Gianduja Crunch Pyramid {Rose Pomegranate Consommé, Griottine, Pistachio Tuile}

I’ll tell you, this was a one chocolate champion of a dessert. A pyramid of dense chocolate with a hazelnut crunch and fruit accents to round it all out, wrapped up our night of sheer food coma bliss.

After a couple hours of relaxing, eating, and truly enjoying what each dish had to offer, we agreed that Marine Room is the place that you can sit and linger at — without asking promptly for the check. On the contrary, with the best seat in the house, watching the ebb and flow of the night tide from inside the cozy candle-lit dining room, we were quite content.

From the Little Yellow Kitchen,

Chrissy

December 7th, 2012

2nd Blogiversary & Taste ‘N’ Tinis Tickets {Giveaway}

by Chrissy

Guess what? It’s the LITTLE YELLOW KITCHEN’s 2nd Blogiversary!

If you recall, last year we were gifted 2 lovely yellow aprons for our 1st Blogiversary, which made quite an appearance on live television earlier this week. It is truly amazing to see how much we have grown and improved as individuals, as friends, as a team, and as a food bloggers.

Thank goodness we haven’t grown in size as well, which many would think after seeing the mass quantities of food that we make.

So, by a raise of hands, who wouldn’t want to go shopping with a nifty little martini ready and waiting as soon as you walk in that door to peruse the goods. Oh….right, your wallet might not be so happy.

Once you accept the fact that you might dish out a few dollars (and perhaps finish up your Christmas shopping for loved ones), you’ll love the idea of Hillcrest’s Taste ‘n’ Tinis!

On December 13, Hillcrest restaurants will offer their most delicious tastings of food to help fend off growling bellies and fatigue, while retail shops in the area offer specials and provide the liquid courage to keep calm and shop on.

This might literally be the definition of shop ‘til you drop.

Since it is our 2nd Blogiversary, we would like to giveaway 2 pairs of tickets to this fun event, to honor our local readers and San Diego supporters. We are so grateful for you all.

If you are not a SD local, we have another giveaway for you coming up this weekend, so hang tight!

 

Come join us on December 13 from 5-9 p.m. as we eat, drink and shop our way through Hillcrest. All you have to do to WIN TWO tickets to this event is:

1. Leave us a comment and tell us what is your favorite holiday beverage (type of cocktail, hot chocolate, cider, latte, tea…etc).

For additional entries you can leave a separate comment telling us you:

2. Like us on Facebook

3. Follow us on Twitter

4. Follow us on Pinterest.

5. Tweet about the giveaway and leave us a comment telling us you have done so. “I want to win a pair of tickets to @FabHillcrest Taste ‘n’ Tinis from the @LilYellowKitchn #giveaway

We’ll pick two (2) winners at random on Monday, December 10 at 5 p.m.!

Winner will be notified by email and must respond within 24 hours. This giveaway was sponsored by McFarlane Promotions, but trust us, you don’t want to miss out! You can also purchase tickets at www.fabuloushillcrest.com for $20 advance and $25 day of.

 

Good luck!

 

From the Little Yellow Kitchen

Chrissy & Lauren

 

 

October 23rd, 2012

San Francisco {foodbuzz fest + more}

by Lauren

If you follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram you may have noticed that Chrissy and I had a weekend full of food and fun in San Francisco for the Foodbuzz Festival. We also visited with a few friends and were able to get out of the city for some site seeing!

Friday kicked off in the Starlight Room with a gorgeous view and of course wonderful food.

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On the menu for the evening…

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I’m not usually a fan of duck breast but I had to give this a try. It was great!

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The next day we headed to the the Ferry Building Farmers Market with our pal Darci where we ate the best thing ever we ever ate.

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No exaggeration, Chrissy and I were speechless for at least 15 minutes after biting into this Maple Bacon Sausage Breakfast Sandwich.

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The weather was perfect and the produce was gorgeous. All the while we were still dreaming of maple bacon sausage and Blue Bottle Coffee.

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Next up on the schedule was the Taste Pavillion where we ate far too much and didn’t regret it one bit.

I  need to get Bison beer. You can find it at Bev Mo…and you should because its darn good!

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Alaskan Seafood had the best tasting of the day in my opinion.

Fresh halibut in a coconut curry sauce that was to die for. I should probably should have asked them for the recipe…

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AND snow crab crab cakes. My eyes nearly popped out of my head with excitement when I ate this. I’m also pretty sure Kristy captured my embarrassing expression on film.

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Numi Tea had some awesome tea bricks they were showing off, along with new flavors like Chocolate Pu-erh! Don’t get the bricks confused with chocolate squares though. Yikes.

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There was chocolate galore. By the end of the day, we had at least 4 pounds of it between the three of us.
Bad for the buns, good for the soul. Chrissy got caught in the act.

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Saturday night was the gala at the California Academy of Sciences which just might be my favorite museum. Wine, jelly fish, cheese, lion fish, and four buffets for dinner!

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Sunday we headed out of town to Tiburon.

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We had breakfast at Sam’s Anchor Café where spicy bloody mary’s with extra celery were a must.

The Smoked Salmon Hash and Fried Oyster, Bacon and Parmesan Omelet also really hit the spot for us.

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From the Little Yellow Kitchen,

Lauren

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