The recipe I used couldn’t be simpler: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, grease a mini-muffin tin (we only had a muffin tin; this works too, though your cheesebreads will come out “larger and in charger”). Then in a blender, blend the following until very smooth:

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup olive oil (not too strong tasting, but use your own taste!)
• 2/3 cup milk (I used skim and everything was fine)
• a scant 1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used as the recipe recommends, a Mexican queso fresco, but I imagine other things are good too)
• 1 tsp salt
• other herbs/spices you might want in your cheesebread such as thyme, oregano, or red chili flakes!

Pour the resulting batter into your muffin tins about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up, then pop them in the oven. They will get EXTREMELY POOFY. You should take them out after they look nice and golden brown (this took me somewhere between 18-25 minutes?). Cool them on racks and eat them once they’re cool enough to touch… or immediately—steam burns be damned! The texture is just what you remember from Chima: toothsome on the outside, almost mochi-like on the inside.

N.B. If you’re the type of guy or gal who tastes batter even if there’s raw egg in it (such as myself), you may think the batter is somewhat salty. Do not be alarmed: the salt is much less concentrated in the final product.

Served it up with flank steak rubbed with salt, pepper, minced garlic, and olive oil, then broiled on each side until there was no pink on the surface of the meat. The meat rested while I baked the cheesebreads, and it came out somewhere between medium and medium-rare. Juicy and delicious! :3 Michael took a picture of our “Brazilian Steakhouse Night” plates but I do not have it.

Chicken lettuce wraps are one of those dishes which I can never remember the origin of – are they really anywhere close to “authentic” asian food, or is PF Chang’s overpriced asian fusion menu responsible for them? A quick Google search yielded no concrete answers, though searching my memory did dredge up something – I think I had these in Taiwan once.  Well, regardless of whether or not this is an American invention, this dish is damn tasty and makes for a good meal that’s not altogether that bad for you.  Extra bonus: it’s low carb!

The one negative to this dish is that it takes a lot of mincing.  However, it’s worth it in the end! Just put your favorite show on the TV or convince someone to be your kitchen grunt, and get chopping.

As usual, measurements are just guidelines that I basically made up – in actuality I just mixed up whatever seemed right. I hope the measurements give you an idea of proportion, however. This recipe was sorta cobbled together from the first three recipes I found through Google. I’ll include a list of sample recipes at the end so you can get an idea of what other variations there are.

Ingredients (Yields about 6 servings):

• 2 lbs ground chicken (you can also use turkey for a similar taste/texture)
• 1 head of lettuce (I used iceberg, but other popular choices are butter lettuce and romaine)
• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 3 scallions, chopped finely
• 1 can water chesnuts, chopped finely
• 2 cups fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped roughly
• dry sherry
• sesame oil
• oyster sauce
• hoisin sauce
• soy sauce
• black pepper and salt

Start by marinating the ground chicken in about 1/2 cup of dry sherry and 1/4 cup soy sauce.  Salt and pepper as well – I was very liberal with the pepper, not as much with the salt.

Begin chopping up everything while the meat marinates. After you’re done, put a little veggie or canola oil in a skillet or wok, and start cooking the meat while breaking it up into little pieces.  This actually requires a good deal of effort… my arms were getting tired after a few minutes! When the chicken is cooked thoroughly, remove it from the heat and put it in a bowl for later.

In a small bowl, mix about 1/2 cup hoisin sauce, 1/3 cup oyster sauce, 1/4 cup sesame oil, and a little sherry and soy sauce.

Saute all the chopped things together, then add in the chicken when things are mostly all cooked. Pour the mixture in the small bowl in, and stir until well incorporated.

You’re done! Serve with leaves of the lettuce.   It makes a decent meal by itself, or with a side of veggies since the lettuce doesn’t provide as much nutritional value.

Some common additions to this dish are hot pepper flakes, fresh peppers, red pepper, and orange zest. Here are some links to alternative recipes:

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps (from Stretch Mark Mama)

Chicken Lettuce Wraps Two Ways (from YumSugar)

Thai Glazed Chicken Lettuce Wraps (from Rachael Ray)

Anyway, we really wanted to go to Uva, my favorite place in SF ever—it’s an Italian small plates/wine place (an “enoteca”) in Upper Haight. Cav was much closer to Davies Symphony Hall, so we ended up eating there instead (after deciding Bistro Clovis was not “for us”). I had never been or had any reason to believe Cav would be any good, but it was amazing. The waitress had lots of opinions and advice to offer, and she was SASSY as all get out. (Also I’m pretty sure she was flirting with Chris! the hussy!) We took her advice and had a selection of the appetizers, followed by the cheese and charcuterie plates. No pictures of the appetizers, unfort (*sniffle*) but they were:

• Braised baby octopus with roasted garbanzo beans and cherry tomatoes. Delicious! The garbanzo beans were still somewhat green; this gives your teeth just enough resistance and keeps its flavor “nutty.” The other stuff on the plate was really good too.
• Beer-batter tempura squash blossoms with mahi mahi ceviche and tempura zucchini. Good, but honestly was somewhat over-fancy. Maybe I’m just not easily impressed with $12 plates of “deep fried stuff,” but it was definitely the best of this time-honored appetizer genre I have tasted. Also, I’m not a huge fan of ceviche, mostly because I can never tell if it’s too citrusy.
• Crispy pig trotters with poached quail eggs, frisée, pickled vegetables, and mustard vinaigrette. Om nom nom. I was scared they were going to bring us a whole pig foot, but no, it was three circular disks of deep fried pork… and it was oh so good. The quail egg went perfectly with the pork (though I was sad there were only two of them), and the vegetables also matched quite well. The vinaigrette might have been a tad more sour than I would like in an ideal world, but in our imperfect world this was a formidable appetizer.

The cheese plate! (A choice of three from the list.)

(Picture was on Chris’ phone, which was not made by Steve Jobs… for shame.) There’s lots more than cheese on the plate, obviously. The cheeses were (from left to right)

• Queso Azul de Cabrales. (The cheese of my people!*) A Spanish blue made from a mix of sheep and goat milk! Ours was this interesting deep brown color, and true to both its blue cheese and Spanish cheese roots, it was very very strong. Chris figured out that you have to close your mouth and just let it sit a while, because the pungency sort of tingles your tongue and stimulates different taste buds as it melts… some sort of interesting, unfolding evolution of flavor. The wikipedia entry reports that some cheese tasters report a “numbing sensation” to the tip of the tongue after eating it, and I totally believe this. A++, would buy again.
• Brillat Savarin. A triple cream brie from Normandy named after a French political figure and gastronome (thanks WP!). The texture was amazingly rich and velvety, and it tasted like heaven. It reportedly pairs perfectly with champagne, and I’m going to have to try that sometime if I can hunt some of this cheese down. :9 Maybe the Cheeseboard stocks it? Preparing it en croûte (baked in a pastry shell) would make it even better I imagine… it would come out all nice and oozy. (Oh god.)
• Québec Seven Year Vintage Cheddar. The name says it all… this was our waitress’ choice, and she did not disappoint us. Certainly you all know the difference between the cheez-its white cheddar and the much tastier stuff you can get in blocks at Whole Foods—this cheese was light years away from all that. It was set seven years ago and this is definitely reflected in the taste.

The charcuterie plate!

I have less to say about the plate of meats, though it was also quite good. Cheese is just so interesting and fun to describe (despite the difficulty of conveying gustation and olfaction through clumsy ol’ words). Anyway! Counter-clockwise from the center bottom: (1) Prosciutto, (2) Coppa, (3) Leonese chorizo (The sausage of my people!), (4) Duck prosciutto (I think), (5) Salami, (6) Pancetta, (7) Duck liver pâté, (8) Pork liver terrine, (9) Roast beef tongue with horseradish, (10) Another liver pâté (?), (11) Head cheese, (12) Pheasant gallantine. If it’s not clear, (1-3,5,6) are pork and (11) is beef. In the center of the plate are a bunch of garnishes, including pickled pearl onions, shallots, gherkins, fig jam, and olives, and three mustards: A smooth dijon, a whole grain with crème fraîche, and a whole grain with apple cider.

Steve (the one on the left in the first picture) is from England, so he got to eat most of the stuff I wouldn’t touch (Chris is braver than I), including (11), which sounds pretty gross already (if you don’t know what it is, I do not suggest looking it up). I also shied away from (9), only because I don’t really like the texture of tongue. Everything else was very good though! Number (12) was probably my favorite (first time eating pheasant!), and (4) definitely wins the “decadent sounding food product” prize. I also discovered while in Germany that I really like mustard now. My favorite on this plate was the apple cider one. :v

Unfortunately I had to run out the door before we got to dessert (Chris and Steve only got port, though). But I will definitely be back to see what’s on that menu. =D Also, the wine list looked fantastic, even if none of us were in the mood.

Oh, brunch was tasty, too. (And much cheaper.) We went to Sugar Café where I had the “Tex Mex Scramble,” which I ordered because it involves fresh avocado. (Om nom nom.)

* Well, a bit further north from my people… but close enough. I do have cousins who raise pigs and turn them into chorizo and jamón serrano, though. Apprenticing to one of them is Escape From Grad School Plan #344.Lower