San Francisco Street Vendor Food Fest

This past weekend was the must anticipated Street Vendor Food Festival held in the heart of the Mission (Folsom Street between 24th & 26th and surrounding areas) where various vendors, restaurants, trucks, carts, and the like provided small bites, larger bites and complimenting beverages exposing the public to innovative fusions and creative experimental signature dishes. I don't know if I would necessarily qualify myself as a big'ol foodie, however I do love to eat, and when I try something new (and often) I tend to form a strong opinion about what I just tasted right off the bat, thus I spent much of my Saturday here stuffing my face.

The place was super packed with lines crowding the streets, local performers, beer gardens, and a plethora of local hipsters adorning roof tops, sidewalks, and front porches licking their fingers, whipping their mouths, and boozing it up. Here are the highs and lows of what we tried, what we loved, and what didn't blow us away.

Our first order was the best by far. We got a small Tamale bite to start, then a "Metallica" and "Whiplash" from Brass Knuckle: A "Metallica" is basically a roasted pork and ham sandwich with melted Swiss cheese and herbs between two rosemary belgium waffles (not buns)!! It was really yummy. They served it with a watermelon mint cooler, or "Whiplash" as they call it, which is basically watermelon juice with jalapeno and basil. That too was really delicious. Brass Knuckle is a traveling vendor, so unfortunately the best booth by far was one that we can't dine at here in the City, what a big tease!

Our next stop was pretty mediocre, we tried the flank skirt steak kabob, a fire stick (pepper) and lime-cooler. (Not so great, chewy, bleh.) I believe this was from Water and Flour. However the stand next to it was serving $2 pulled porksandwiches that rocked. Over on Treat Street we tried a lemon-cookie ice cream from Three Twins Ice Cream in Lower Haight which was to DIE FOR!!! It was so good we had to pick up a pint the following day on our way home. Three Twins serves organic gourmet stuff all over the city, and some of their flavors included peanut butter chocolate and seasonal peach, Thank you Jesus!

Lastly, we craved something salty towards the end and tried some fried chicken and grilled corn on the cob (since the asian tacos and gourmet smores' were all sold out) which was pretty juicy and the spices very tasty. But then again, how wrong can you go with fried chicken? Am I right?

Other items that we didn't get to but might have had better luck with and looked great this year included a meatball sandwich, those asian tacos and gourmet smores' I mentioned, a honey cola, bbq'd ribs, and funnel cake...

Well there you have it, my first experience attending the Street Vendor Food Festival

in San Francisco, a City known for its innovative and delicious cuisine, organic, and culturally dynamic plates. I ain't no food critic despite depositing my two cents over on yelp. But thought I'd document the experience if only to savor the memories of tasting, smelling, and romancing the memories of the yummy and diverse food we had enjoyed.

For more information and future times and dates for this particular event, A listing of all sponsors and participating vendors or items, I would visit www.sfstreetfoodfest.com.

Peach Pie in a Jar

Peach Pie in a Jar! YU-UM!
There is this really great arts n’ crafts joint called the workshop, just one block from where I live in the NOPA area of San Francisco. There you can learn how to sew, create art, and perform all things trendy and crafty. They even have a Metal jazzercise class where you do muscle curls with cans of Pap’s blue ribbon as your weights! Fun! So I’m walking around the corner and take a quick peek at the up and coming class schedule and notice that there is one on how to make pie in a jar. “Pie in a jar” Really? That same week I came across actual pies in jars for sale at the local Mission Indie Mart. They were so adorable and looked so yummy I decided to try and recreate them on my own. Last year I made canned jams and jellies for Christmas gifts, so I was feeling pretty brave in the baking and canning department.

Here is how I did it, using ½ pint jars to make 10 individual pies.

The Crust: I made generic pie dough (like you would for any recipe asking for crust) using:
2 ½ C of Flour
1 Tsp salt

2/3 C butter flavored Crisco

1/4 C cold water 

In a med size bowl I mixed all of the dry ingredients and added the shortening in chunks (small spoon-full’s at a time). After blending a bit, I added the cold water little by little and used my hands to start molding and mixing everything together. You may need more H20 if the dough seems a bit dry, but don’t let it get too wet or else you will need more dry ingredients.I wrapped the dough in plastic and put to the side until I was ready for it (you can also place in the fridge for later use).

The Filling:

5 1/2 C organic peaches from the local farmer’s market) peeled, seeded, and chopped.

2/3 C white sugar (you can use more or less depending on the sweetness of the fruit).
3 Tsp Flour (once again use more or less depending on fruit (something dry like apples may not need much or it may call for a squeeze of lemon to wet things up a bit).

3 Tsp cinnamon (maybe more, I love the smell of this stuff while it’s baking!)

In the same sized bowl I mixed all of these ingredients until the peaches were caramelized and shiny and delicious.

I then rolled out the dough with some flour and used the jar lids (using ½ pint jars) as cutters for the bottom layer crust. I then took strips of dough and pressed then into the inner walls of the jars. (I will have to admit, this part (and peeling fruit) was the most tedious). Get your boyfriend involved if he’s hanging around to help out, that’s what I did, put his ass to work!

Fill up the jars with the fruit and top off with a crumb topping. In a small bowl mix these ingredients: 

Topping:

½ C brown sugar
½ C flour2 Tsp. oats
½ Tsp. cinnamon
Dot the top of each pie with a few tsp. of butter.

Bake um! Place the mini pies on a baking sheet and pop in the oven. But DO take off the lids. Bake for about 45 min to an hour in a 375 deg oven. The filling should be bubbling and the tops nice and brown, and your apt should smell sweet. 

The nice thing about this recipe is that if you wanted to freeze the pie jars for another time (before baking them) you can, and when you have the craving for something sweet, just pop in the oven! Also I have found that after I bake’um, I can place the lid back on (careful they are hot) and transport them to a party, picnic, the office or wherever. The heat concealed in the glass jars keeps them warm for about 45 min, so by the time you and your friends are ready to eat you won’t need a microwave or oven near by. Awesome right?

As for me and my little helper (aka boyfriend), we had to have ours right away. I topped off mine with cool whip, his with honey flavored Greek yogurt, and they were perfect.
Perfect gifts, great idea, and you can also create cute packaging for a bake sale or just to impress the hell out of your friends and family, because I find that life is really fun when you focus on the aesthetics and presentation. It just makes eating pie that much more special. Enjoy.