Author: La Vie Partagée

Weekend Unexplored: Day Trip to Sonoma and Napa

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There is nothing more rewarding than hosting family and friends and seeing them experience California’s Wine Country for the first time. When one thinks of California’s Wine Country, they are likely referring to Napa Valley and Sonoma Wine Country. They lie parallel to each other, tucked away about an hour’s drive by car from San Francisco proper. 9:00 AM PST: With my tea in hand and a pastry from La Boulange, I’m ready to head off to wine country with some out of town friends. We’ve rented a driver for the day (Million Services Limousine) and like clockwork, they show up on time. I’ve been with Reese and his team of awesome drivers for 5 years now. No matter the group size, their service and hospitality are always grade A.  I like to typically start off in Sonoma and work my way to Napa. I find the flow of that route, especially for first timers, works out beautifully. We take the Golden Gate Bridge and are automatically rewarded with breathtaking views of the city behind …

Ca Kho To (Fish Braised with Caramel Sauce in a Clay Pot)

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My all time favorite meal in the countryside of Vietnam, especially around the Mekong Delta, is the braised catfish in a sweet, salty and slightly sticky sauce cooked in a clay pot.  Whenever I think of my favorite home cooking in Vietnam, I dream of ca kho to (catfish braised in a clay pot) and canh chua (sweet and sour soup).  They are traditionally paired together as most family would buy one fish for dinner. They would use the filets for the ca kho to and the head and tail parts for the canh chua.  The sweet and sour soup complement the salty and sweet catfish nicely. In this recipe, we will make the traditional ca kho to in a clay pot with cat fish. If you don’t have a claypot, any heavy pot will work fine.  You can also use any fresh water fish instead of catfish and many restaurants also use salmon filet.  If your local grocery store does not have catfish, you can substitute with catfish nuggets.  For me, nothing beats the …

Road Trip: Pacific Coast Highway 1 (Part Two)

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“But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you’re alive to see?” ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road Part Two of our family road trip picks up where we left off last week, heading south of Big Sur and concluding in Santa Barbara. “The longer you stayed at Hearst Castle, the further you’d sit from William Hearst during a meal,” said our guide as we walked into the dining hall. He was most definitely a Hearst fan and was beginning to tell us yet another story about the newspaper/media mogul and his distinguished guests.  We had just arrived for the 3 pm tour of the Castle’s main rooms and garden grounds.  After parking in front of the visitor’s center, we joined the line of tourists waiting to catch the bus that would drive us up to “La Cuesta Encantada,” the Enchanted Hill. Located atop the hill overlooking San Simeon, the estate’s grandeur and architectural details …

Picture Perfect

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A big empty wall in your space and you have no clue what to do with it. You only have 2 art pieces and they are not enough to fill in the space properly.  Sounds familiar? Well, there is an art behind hanging art. There are sites that sell prints and originals of many styles that are very useful to fill in gaps or to be statement pieces: minted.com, etsy.com, etc. Other ideas for cheaper options are to go to flea markets and find old posters in good shape such as maps, landscape pictures, or anything you find interesting. You can pretty much hang anything. One interesting, fun idea was to get this “grandma” style gold leaf frames with landscape art but have half of them painted in a solid color (including the frame). Check first to be sure it is not a valuable piece! Mirrors are another useful item to add to your collection. They help multiply light and space. They can also become fun pieces. One fun and retro trend is to add hand woven …

Sauce Series: Caramel for Braising Food

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One popular way to cook Vietnamese food is to braise meat and fish in a caramel sauce.  You get that sweet, slightly bitter, and salty mixture with the protein of your choice. My all time favorite meal in the countryside of Vietnam, especially around the Mekong Delta, is catfish braised with the caramel sauce in a claypot.  It does take some time to master this caramel sauce but it will last in your fridge for a while. Getting this caramel sauce right takes a few tries.  There is a crucial period when the melted sugar foams and turns into a dark coffee color. The caramelization process stops when water is added.  I had a few incidents where I waited for just a few seconds too long and was left with either burnt caramel or caramel splattering all over the stove.  Be cautious when you are attempting to make this sauce for the first time.  Once you master this sauce, the possibilities are endless. This recipe makes about 8 oz of caramel and has a medium …

Road trip: Pacific Coast Highway 1 (Part One)

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“What about a family road trip?” my dad asked.  He and my mom talked about driving down the Pacific Coast Highway after hearing some friends rave about their experience.  Both of them expected my sister and me to come along by starting in San Francisco where we picked them up from the airport.  Of course, we agreed.  With our parents living on the East Coast, their visits were already infrequent. We hoped that by showing them the beauty of California, we might convince them to move here. I also knew full well that once we assented, we would take over the planning of the itinerary and the scheduled stops along the way.  We had three days to cover the distance between San Francisco and Santa Barbara.  Part 1 of this road trip series will cover our favorite discoveries from Monterey to Big Sur. First stop was in Butterfly Town, Pacific Grove, for lunch at Red Cafe.  The red house in which the restaurant opened was built in the 1890’s and sits as a local landmark on …

Design Knockoff: Weekend House Small Bedroom

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One can only dream of a weekend house like the one from the Pearson Design Group shown above. After being inspired by Kimberley Seldon’s weekend retreat that I highlighted in last week’s design post, I tried my hand at putting together a bedroom for an average person’s weekend retreat in this new series.  The goal of this series was to do three bedrooms (1 twin, 2 queens) for under $5,000 with furniture.  For this post, I will tackle a small bedroom that will only fit a twin bed. Most people who have weekend houses are unlikely to spend a lot of money on good furniture as most are rented out or only use them sparingly. However, that does not mean you can not create something cozy and inviting to make it more desirable for people to visit.  My inspiration for the bedrooms was something very soothing with an uncluttered approach to design.  This approach is bare bones where people can customize with their own accessories and layer with personal knick knacks. I’m not a big DIY …

Sauce Series: Peanut Dipping Sauce

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For those who have tried the famous summer rolls (rice paper wrapped with boiled shrimp, rice noodles, and herbs), you may have dipped them into a peanut sauce.  Many people assumed that the peanut sauce is just hoisin sauce mixed with peanut butter. That’s the short cut way of making a decent dipping sauce but it really lacks the depth that you would get from a restaurant’s peanut sauce. With Henry (Eat collaborator), we made the home version of the restaurant’s peanut sauce. This does take some time to make but will last in your fridge for 2-3 weeks.  You can use it as a sauce for an easy dinner of spring rolls or toss it with noodles and vegetables for a quick noodle salad bowl.  You can even have a summer rolls party where guests can assemble their own version to their taste. Ingredients: 2 tbs split mung bean (you may need to find this at an Asian grocer) 2 tbs sweet rice (this is glutenous rice and very different from plain jasmine rice) …