Mar
01
2010

March 1, 2010

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement .” - poet, Mary Oliver

A taste of Hawaii from Roy Yamaguchi at "The Islands of Hawaii" (see "Happenings")

Back from Los Angeles and enjoying the alternating balmy, sunny days and rainy storms of February.

Highland Park's truly awesome 1968 vintage (see "Imbiber")

Top Tastes in food include some spectacular cheeses, cheap eats in Middle Eastern food and a new chef at Urban Tavern, while Imbiber showcases a once-in-a-lifetime Highland Park tasting, cocktail competitions, wine events and more. Happenings give us a taste of Hawaii with three of its greatest chefs. Wandering Traveler begins to recap my recent LA explorations.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site and please tell your friends and have them sign up for the newsletter! As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (check out “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot!

Virginia

- Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

- Here’s my weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian online column, Appetite

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

Written by Virginia in: Intro Letter |
Feb
15
2010

February 15, 2010

“Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

Whole Hog Dinners at Oliveto - an awesome Valhrona Chocolate-Caramel Tart layered with strips of candied bacon

I’m in the Silver Lake neighborhood of LA as I write, adventuring and tasting with family and friends… to  share with you at a later date.

Meanwhile, February feasting continues with Top Tastes in food (from Oliveto to Nombe), and for drink, Imbiber, including SF Beer Week favorites. Wandering Traveler journeys once again to Chicago, from Alinea to the Drawing Room.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site and please tell your friends and have them sign up for the newsletter! As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (check out “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot!

Virginia

- Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

- Here’s my weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian online column, Appetite, (subscribe by RSS feed on the Arts & Culture blog – type “appetite” in Search field- or bookmark the Food & Dining page).

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

Written by Virginia in: Intro Letter |
Feb
01
2010

February 1, 2010

“I just want to drink the day’s loveliness in… I feel as if she were holding it out to my lips like a cup of airy wine and I’ll take a sip at every step.” - L.M. Montgomery, “Anne of Avonlea”

At Science of Cocktails: an SFPC (SF Pousse-Cafe), layered St. George Absinthe, coffee liqueur, maraschino liqueur, grenadine, salt - Tim Zohn, Alembic

At Science of Cocktails: an SFPC (SF Pousse-Cafe), layered St. George Absinthe, coffee and maraschino liqueurs, grenadine, salt - created by Tim Zohn, Alembic

February… how did you arrive so swiftly? It has already been a rich start to the year and decade.

Doug cocktail alchemy at Science of Cocktails

Doug Williams' cocktail alchemy at Science of Cocktails

There’s a range of beauties in Top Tastes, and more (including some exciting events) in Imbiber. Happenings covers a lot of additional finds from the massive Fancy Food Show.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site and please tell your friends and have them sign up for the newsletter! As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (check out “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot!

Virginia

- Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

- Here’s my weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian online column, Appetite, (subscribe by RSS feed on the Arts & Culture blog – type “appetite” in Search field- or bookmark the Food & Dining page).

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

Written by Virginia in: Intro Letter |
Jan
15
2010

January 15, 2010

“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.” - Albert Camus

Dollie Marie's gorgeous cottage

Dollie Marie's gorgeous cottage

Well into January, I’m looking ahead to travels and adventures for the new year – what will yours be? I love to dream and plan – it’s almost as sweet as the doing.

Sweet Potato & Apple Cobbler at Dollie Marie's

Sweet Potato & Apple Cobbler at Dollie Marie's

Here’s my Top Tastes for January, and an exciting new addition to the Bay Area that transports me to Charleston and New Orleans: Dollie Marie’s in The Latest. In Wandering Traveler I return to Chicago for more neighborhood recommends.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site and please tell your friends and have them sign up for the newsletter! As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (check out “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot!

Virginia

- Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

- Here’s my weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian online column, Appetite, (subscribe by RSS feed on the Arts & Culture blog – type “appetite” in Search field- or bookmark the Food & Dining page).

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

Written by Virginia in: Intro Letter |
Jan
01
2010

January 1, 2010

“… sashimi is velvet dust, verging on silk, or a bit of both, and the extraordinary alchemy of its gossamer essence allows it to preserve a milky density unknown even by clouds.” - Muriel Barbery, “Gourmet Rhapsody”

Kabocha Squash Cake at Daniel Patterson's Coi

Kabocha Squash Cake at Daniel Patterson's amazing Coi

Happy New Year, my friends. I wish you a beautiful new year (and decade!) full of growth, promise and a blossoming. I feel the words of one of my lifelong favorite poets, T.S. Eliot (from “Little Gidding”), appropriate: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language/ And next year’s words await another voice./ And to make an end is to make a beginning.”

Here’s to a new year of taste adventures as well, while I recap Top Tastes at the end of 2009, and visit Yosemite in Wandering Traveler for their Bracebridge Dinner.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site and please tell your friends and have them sign up for the newsletter! As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (check out “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot!

Virginia

- Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

- Here’s my weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian online column, Appetite, (subscribe by RSS feed on the Arts & Culture blog – type “appetite” in Search field- or bookmark the Food & Dining page).

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

Written by Virginia in: Intro Letter |
Older Posts »

Site Admin | Log out | Theme: Aeros 2.0 by TheBuckmaker.com