I mean, we're in San Francisco, surrounded by a bay and the big blue ocean - there HAS to be a good seafood joint.  We didn't want just any seafood joint, we wanted something offering a fresh catch, had some character, and we, once again, wanted to find a gem. 

Enter Yelp and Sotto Mare.

We were in Chinatown, enjoying appetizers, when we searched on Yelp for a seafood joint nearby.  It sent us to Little Italy/North Beach, just next door, and a place called Sotto Mare. 

It is a long and narrow restaurant with the kitchen filling one half and the seating the other.  There was a huge party taking up the back half of the seating when we first entered.  We were the only ones there who were not invited.  No worries, they were serving others, they just love hosting parties/gatherings every. single. day.  We happily sat at the bar where we were given a background story to Gigi, the owner.  We also were told the party taking up space today was being hosted by Gigi & friends, as they were planning a trip to Italy together.  (They took one last year to Greece.)

On Yelp, most of the comments were raving about the "cioppino."  Cioppino is a seafood dish native to the Bay Area, not Italy.  Never having had it or heard the story of it before, our waiter/host/great guy proceeded to tell us (one of) the tale(s) of how the original Italian fishermen who settled in the Bay Area had huge families and at the end of the day would go from boat to boat shouting, "Chip in!"  Each boat caught different fish and shellfish and they would contribute their leftovers into a huge vat that they would then use to serve all their families.  Hearing the story and after ordering some West Coast Oysters, we happily ordered the Cioppino.

While waiting for our food, the party people had brought out a map of Italy and laid it on a table.  They each took turns looking at it with a magnifying glass, pointing, laughing, planning.  At one point, Josh and I went over to the map, me showing him where I had lived and traveled while there.  Then we were joined by one of the party hosts and he filled us in on their exciting adventure they were planning.

Then our food came.  Seriously... It. Was. Amazing.  Filled with mussels, clams, crab, squid, maybe octopus and scallops, random fish, etc.  The sauce that it was cooked in was the most amazing sauce I have ever had.  It wasn't heavy or thick and it held each individual flavor perfectly, from the tomatoes to spices to a mild seafood stock.  If we could have just ordered bowls of the sauce on the side, or to go, we would have.  Wow.

Before leaving we were offered more food, sides of meat, cheese & bread, even though Gigi himself scolded us for eating too much and not bussing our own table.  But we didn't mind.  Eating out for us is as much about the experience as it is the food. 

Sotto Mare had it all!

One of our favorite pastimes as a couple is finding gem, hole-in-the-wall places, off the beaten track.  This is especially true when we are on vacation. And this is something I was really hoping for when we were driving along the California coast, (though at the same time figuring how heavily traveled the drive, it would be near impossible).

Enter the town that didn't want to be found.

Late afternoon we realized we had yet to eat lunch.  The towns located directly on the highway were busy and hopping with tourists.  I was using our handy-dandy iPhone map to locate other towns along our drive when I spied this little town buried on the end of a peninsula.  It was a little out of our way but figured we could give it a shot.  We didn't see any signs for it but thanks to the beeping blue dot and a quick, "Turn here!" we were going down a little road next to a nasty lagoon.  We came to a random assortment of handwritten signs, one of which telling us we were entering a "socially acknowledged, nature-loving" town.

Perfect!

The town itself was as wonderful as the handwritten sign.  The people were just living life as usual.  There were only 2 restaurants in town, an organic/locavore restaurant that was closed and the saloon, which was open.  The saloon was hopping with locals getting ready to watch the Superbowl.  They only served frozen then microwaved food, so we opted for some High-Life and french fries and settled in to watch the kick off of the game.  Within moments a guy walked in carrying a vat of stew and set it down on the table we were sitting at, "You should have waited to order those french fries," he says as he leaves to get his second round.  Within moments, everyone was coming up to get the stew and rice, of which we were invited to partake.  (It was delicious!)

Before leaving the town, and of course after watching an open exchange of doubie on the main street, we headed to the beach to touch the Pacific Ocean.  The beach entrance was covered in more handwritten signs, in essence, reminding people to be nice and to tell you that the toilets were by the tennis courts.  The beach was filled with determined wetsuit clad surfers enjoying high tide and the watchers buried in blankets on the shore.

The entire town was simply wonderful.  Outside of the 2 of us, there were only 2 other people in the whole town that were definitely not from those parts.  When we got home we researched the town, which was hard as well, and they definitely are the town that doesn't want to be found.  Within 24 hours of a new highway sign pointing to their town, the residents have it cut down.

However, if someone does happen to find their town, I don't think they mind the outsiders as long as they respect the environment, the atmosphere and aren't a jerk.*

*"Jerk" actually does refer to the one guy who was a jerk in their town and ended up in a reportedly bad situation.

Mom, "What's the red on the alligator's mouth?"

5yr old Daughter, "Blood... No, lipstick... No, blood. It just took a ginormous bite out of this elephant's side (places large red wound on elephant)... 'Ahhh! Help! I'm being eaten by an alligator!' That's what she said."

*Tho I am not technically adding words to the photo, I simply wanted to say that I feel like I am on a good run with my blog this week, so I wanted to keep it going by reposting the image I put up on FB this morning.  Happy Whiskey Wednesday!

Over the last year and a half our family has been slowly purging our diet.  It started with an experiment in getting our kids to eat more kinds of foods and me to be more financially frugal and from there it morphed into getting out major negative, artificial culprits in food and from there it morphed into food/mood/behavior/allergy studies and from there it morphed into its current state of making wise and healthy yet fiscally responsible decisions for the food our family of 5 eats.

Now, I am not a model for healthy eating or for made-from-scratch-mama or for strict-diet-due-to-necessity-mama or for total-localvore-organic-mama BUT we have implemented baby steps over the last year and a half that I believe have been better for us and what we eat (if you want a break down, I can tell you) and we are continuing to do more baby steps along the way. 

BUT the one thing I had not switched was all organic meats.  WHY?  Because of the price.  Seriously, $8/lb for chicken breast... ouch.  THEN we watched Food Inc. and I was finally stirred.  Walking home from the theatre, Josh and I decided to baby step once again and financially swing organic meat (the hopes of baby step to more, etc.). 

I bought my first $8 lb of organic, free range chicken breast from the Coop to use in making a meal for our house church.  However, neither the label or the guy at the counter, could guarantee me that it was gluten free.  Worried for our GF friends at church, I went over to another grocery store and picked up my regular package of $2.50 lb of all natural, gluten free chicken breast, just so I could make two separate batches of my main dish.  I wasn't initially planning on comparing the two chicken breasts but...

Wow!  Even upon sight, what a difference!

The organic was very light, white-ish pink and the all-natural was brighter pink.  The organic was soft and light and the all-natural was dense.  The organic sliced like softened butter and the all-natural was tough.  The organic had no fat to trim off and the all-natural had a 1/4 cup of yuck.  And the taste?  I cooked up both the exact same way and the flavors were unmatched.  The organic was absolutely delicious!

Wow!  What a difference!

Will I buy organic meats for all my meals now?  Um, no, but I'm working up to it.  Seriously, $8/lb for chicken breast... ouch.  But, I definitely see great value in the theory that if the collective we buy it, even once a week, the collective they will change their ways. 

Now, if only IC would pass the chicken coops in backyard bill...