Hedonia

Mardi Gras stacks up

Happy Mardi Gras! While most people associate this day with beads, costumes, debauchery and copious amounts of booze, it does have one further association: Pancakes. It seems that, as fat and eggs traditionally were not allowed during lent, people would cobble together their forbidden goods and consume them in pancake form on the last day before forebearing it.

I like me the pancakes, and unfortunately missed IHOP's annual free short stack offer this year. But that's OK, because there's just no replacement for homemade pancakes from scratch. Top them off with some warm Vermont maple syrup. I come from maple syrup country, after all, so this ranks high in my list of comfort foods.

The recipe I swear by comes from my fave TV chef, Alton Brown. Recipe after the jump.

Eating Is Fundamental [WoW]
Laissez les pancakes roulez [SFGate Culture Blog!]

Currying no favor

Hm, I've been a little lax in posting, in part because I haven't had a lot to report. Last weekend was one of those where you go into it thinking you know the whole agenda and somehow Monday morning dawns and you did nothing originally planned. Saturday DPaul and I bagged on the big annual Mardi Gras event -- for the first time in 13 years (14 for DPaul) -- for a variety of reasons, not least because we were wiped out. I spent all week giving notice at my job, and that was plenty exhausting, if rewarding.

The other monkey-wrenched plan was Sunday's Oakland taco truck crawl with a group of Mouthfullers. Despite a fair amount of enthusiasm leading up to it, moods ran tepid as soon as it became clear that horizontal rain was headed our way. I had to agree: Eating tacos while standing out in the elements in industrial Oakland didn't exactly sound like my idea of paradise. So instead we stayed home, watched, oh, 8 episodes of Lost (first season -- gotta catch up!) and ordered Indian food. That's when it all went wrong.

The rant continues after the jump.

Ame: Chic eats

We had the great pleasure of joining a couple of friends for dinner at Ame last night. The San Francisco debut of husband-and-wife owners of Napa Valley's acclaimed Terra has generated scads of buzz since its opening, and I've been very curious.

First off, it's pronounced AH-may, not AHM, as I had thought. Evidently Japanese instead of French, though they don't offer a translation. (I think it's rain?) Like the rest of the lobby of the chic, new St. Regis hotel and residences, Ame is clad in clean, modern lines and understated tones of mahogany and cream. While the dining room is not enormous, the tables are well spaced and set at angles, so you never feel like you're in your neighbor's lap -- a major pet peeve of mine.

We started off with cocktails -- a couple of negronis and cosmos -- which were perfectly fine, if a little steep at $12-14 per. Our waiter struck us immediately as a bit green, prattling off the specials rapidly and nervously, then delivering the cocktails to the wrong people. We exchanged glances and let it roll off our backs.

Good thing: Martha gives us her John Hancock

Deliciously evil bitch goddess Martha Stewart descends on her broom for a book signing at the flagship Williams-Sonoma store on Union Square tomorrow. (Did I mention I'm a fan?) The event begins at noon, but prospective attendees are being encouraged to show up very early.

In other news, I predict PlanetOut, Gap and Schwab headquarters will face office closures due to an unusually high number of gay employees calling in sick.

Williams-Sonoma
340 Post St, between Powell and Stockton

Necktie nests Nano nook

I know I said I heart my Shuffle ... but then I got a Nano. (Thanks, honey!) Not only is it the cutest, tiniest, coolest thing I've ever owned, it also opens the door for all kinds of great accessorization. And as with the now-defunct iPod Mini, it was only a matter of time before the high-falootin' retailers of the world stepped up to the plate to dress up this year's must-have toy.

Enter Thomas Pink, who has just released a limited-edition "Commuter Tie" with a Nano-sized pouch on the underbelly and a handy loop to keep the cord from hanging out all over. Mind you, contrary to the image to the left, you'll have to put your Nano in upside-down, as the cord juts out from the base (something of a design flaw, in my book), but it will in theory make it easier for you to read and navigate that way anyhow.

Sadly, a Pink tie might look a tad silly with my Gama-Go tee-shirts, so I'll keep shopping.

Thomas PInk iPod tie keeps your nano on your neck [Engadget] (thanks, Matt)
Commuter Tie [Thomas pink] (Warning: missing images!)

Top-secret chocolate chip cookies

Martha, Oprah and BillyKnowsBest loves them, and so do I -- but not necessarily for the same reasons. You see, oats are the "secret" ingredient in the famous Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie recipe. Of course, that is by now the worst-kept secret in culinaria. But the true secret that separates the good from the great are these chewy, steel-cut oats. And you can buy them at Trader Joe's.

My dear friend Jim churns these cookies out by the thousands, and they are a major crowd-pleaser. He offers an additional secret: About two minutes before finishing, slam the pan down to collapse the cookies and make a denser, chewier texture. Recipe after the jump.