groupon.com

Check out www.groupon.com/
It's a great free website that sends you an email with their daily deals.
It is usually for restaurants and food vendors in the city but it does cover hotels,spa treatments ,yoga classes etc.
Unlike other similar companies you don't have to pay for the coupons and they usually don't have to be used straight away. Most deals are discounted 50% or more. The terms and conditions are in black and white and very straight forward.

It's well worth signing up. I'm saving my coupons for when I'm short on cash but want to treat myself to dinner out. Also it's a great way to try out restaurants you might never have known existed.

Recently Groupon.com sold a coupon for afternoon tea for two in the Fairmont hotel for $36, a steal (ttp://www.fairmont.com/sanfrancisco/). Unfortunately I missed out but I will not make the same mistake again. They sold out at over 3000 coupons early in the day.

So keep your eyes peeled and your credit card to hand.

The Mission is a funny place.
I've discovered that the best place for me is on the outskirts of the Mission where it is bright and pretty and the cafes and restaurants around are likewse. I'm not brave enough to venture into the depths of it to find my next meal as I'm not sure what I might find. I am up for recommendations of places by friends but going by past experience of getting a burrito at 3am in a random place is a big no bueno.

Tartine on Guerrero street is a beautiful little bakery/cafe in the Mission district and when the mood strikes for a warm pressed sandwich this is the place to go.
Their country levain bread is so far some of the best bread I've had in the city. For me this bread with similar characteristics of a ciabatta and the slight flavour of a sourdough makes for a great pressed sandwich.

I'm a fan of the spicy sopressata, fontina and broccoli rabe pesto. The oil from the pesto oozes through the bread during toasting and makes it all the better, and whomever came up with a broccoli pesto, genius!!

As a baker and a foodie Tartine for me is a great place to lunch when you have time to sit and relax and watch the world go by.

So I get cravings for certain random things like nobody's business. Like fried mushrooms,a baked potato and Heinz beans, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, baked banana's etc. I have even gone as far as reconstructing dinners I had in boarding school (mashed potato, sausage rolls and tinned spaghetti) but I left the lumps out of the mash.

Anyway recently I have craved roast chicken. Where better to go in the city and get roast chicken then Zuni cafe on Market. Done in their wood fired brick oven their roast chicken for two is their signature dish. It takes an hour to cook so be prepared for the wait.

Being the smart girls that we are instead on filling up on bread in this time myself and my friend Amanda decided it best to save our appetite and get liqueured up right nice on their hose Cab Sauv instead. Thus saving our calories and wetting our appetite for our chicken.

When the wait was finally over our chicken arrives portioned on top of a bread salad with pine nuts and currants surrounded by frisee lettuce (don't get me started on frisee lettuce).

The bread salad had great texture and flavour but the currants and pine nuts were few and far between.As for the chicken, it was just that, a chicken. The skin wasn't crispy and it didn't have exceptional flavour that I would have hoped for.

For $48 I expected the chicken to do a dance on the table. However Zuni is a great restaurant. The ambiance, decor and staff make it a lovely dining experience so I will be going back, just not for the chicken.

FYI -The menu on line is a sample menu in case you go thinking you are having creme brulee for dessert only for the waiter to tell you its not on this present menu. I was devastated but I didn't want the waiter to see me cry so I held it together and had rhubarb crumble instead.

Growing up in Ireland and in a household where my Mum always had a home cooked meals for us was something I was very fortunate to have growing up.
It taught me that food didn't have to be complicated nor did you have to spend your whole night cooking to produce a good meal.
The greatest gift my Mum gave to me and my siblings was that she showed us how to cook from a young age,An invaluable life lesson that can be passed on not only through generations but to the people close to you too.

My career and my travels have brought me to many different countries to experience different cultures and cuisines.
Since finishing my studies in Professional cookery in Ireland I have traveled to Oz where I work in the snowy mountains, Tuscany where I worked as a Personal chef, and Tahoe, California where I worked as a baker. Now I find myself in one of thee best cities in the world for food, San Francisco.
This city and the great quality and diversity of cuisines has reignited my passion for food, and was the inspiration behind this blog.
This blog is for everyone who loves food, so we can share recipes, food stories, tips on where to get the best burrito, great spots for mid week dining, which farmers market to check out, review restaurants, the list goes on....

Commonly said in the Emerald Isle a pig is a Pretty Irish girl, most commonly said by kids under 10 but how and ever. And I think a pigs association with food needs no explanation.

Buon Appetito!!!