Review of Super Duper Burger

There's a new joint in town called Super Duper Burger, and it's fantastic.

I mean really, unless you're a vegetarian, there's nothing like a big, fat, juicy burger and fries. And they make a really, really good burger.

We've been there for lunch two weekends in a row. Lucky for me they have salads, too. Because Don is in love with this place and I will never lose weight if I eat burgers and fries every weekend.

The burgers go on the grill looking like a big meatball, then they're smashed into perfection.

Home made pickles in jars line the wall. You can help yourself to some pickles while you're waiting for your burger. The fries are super crispy and seasoned just right. The lemonade is sweetened with brown sugar. You can even get a cold beer on tap, or a glass of wine.

Don says it's "messy and extremely good." And trust me. He knows a thing or two about burgers.

We kind of love this place.

Restaurateur and owner Adriano Paganini says "our burgers are highly addictive." We couldn't agree more. He knows a thing or two about food and flavors that are addictive. He's the owner of Pasta Pomodoro!

Elli

Elli loves it and so do all her friends.

Olivia

 
We'll see you there next weekend.

Super Duper Burger
430 Miller Ave
Mill Valley, CA

Recent article/review: Mill Valley Patch

Sunset over Mill Valley

This is the view from our house.

You can see a sliver of moon!

Pretty spectacular, huh?

Mt. Tamalpais at Sunset

I caught a glimpse of the sunset last Saturday night when I was standing in the kitchen. I grabbed my camera and pointed it towards the sliding glass doors. Thank goodness I'm married to someone smarter than me. Because Don immediately recognized that I needed guidance. "You're not going to take it in here are you?" he asked. "Oh. No. I'm going outside."I said.  And out I ran. In my socks. Sheesh.  (I was just going to try to snag a shot from in the kitchen. I'm eye rolling myself.) What was I thinking? I would have ended up with this.....

Instead of this.

So pretty.

Mill Valley rocks.

Congrats Tyler Florence! Wine Enthusiast Restaurateur of the year.

I think I need to start setting my sights higher.  Check out what Tyler Florence has done since moving to Mill Valley. Holy cow. He's making me feel like a slacker. I better get to it!


Wine Enthusiast Magazine - Restaurateur of the Year Chef Tyler Florence from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

He's on TV, he has cookbooks, kitchen shops, a signature wine label, an iPhone app and opened THREE restaurants in six months. Really!!!

Clearly I need to get over my sad, sorry self and kick it into gear. His money people need to speak to my money people. 'Cuz he's got some serious financial backing coming from someone. And our little Napa business wants in on the fun.

sigh......

I must confess. After I typed in the first sentence, and linked the video, I went back to read what I wrote and totally cracked myself up. I typed in "I think I need to set my sites hire." You gotta love subliminal messages your brain sends to you.

I was having a separate conversation in my head as I was typing this up. It went something like "Man, I'd like to work for Tyler Florence and his company. I'm going to have to google him when I'm done." Ok. Now that I read that I may freak him out. And his wife too. "I must google him?"

I better start making something out of my TF cookbook or bad mojo will come my way. Sounds like a good project for next week when I'll have a lot of time on my hands doing what my dad calls the hardest job on the planet: looking for a job.

I bet you can hardly wait to read all about that!

Cookbook Review: Tyler Florence Family Meal

Elli gave me this cookbook for Christmas.

She went to the book fair at her school right before Christmas and saw two books that she wanted to buy for me and Don.

She got Don the book "Earth" that Jon Stewart wrote. She knows how much he likes Jon Stewart and thought this was the perfect gift for him. She could not wait until Christmas when he could open the book. It was really cute.

She picked out the new Tyler Florence cookbook for me. Tyler lives in Mill Valley and has a shop here. So she thought I would like it. And she's right. It was an incredibly thoughtful gift.

I think she's going to grow up to be a thoughtful gift giver like her daddy.

So over the next few months I'll be trying out some of his recipes. Don will be happy. He's got recipes like chicken fried steak, chicken and dumplings, gravy - real southern favorites that I've never made, that Don will love.

The interesting thing about this cookbook is all the stories he incorporates and recipes from his neighbors, too. He likes to host pot luck dinners with his neighbors. It looks really fun. And they can cook. I wished he lived in my neighborhood. I would love that.

Good thing I don't know where he lives exactly. I remember when I was in 12th grade. My friend Marsha and I took up jogging (for about a week) so we could jog in front of Robert Redford's house in Weston hoping for a peek. We never even saw a car in the driveway so we gave up jogging. Dumb girls.

Back to Tyler. And his book. It has beautiful food photography.  And pretty much has only one recipe per spread. I like books like that. It's easy to see what the food should look like so you can measure how you did.

So looks like I have some cooking to do.

Sorry I bored all of you with gobs of recipes between Christmas and New Years. I was working on a HUGE recipe project and had to get a bunch of stuff posted. It's a top secret project right now. I'll fill you in soon though. And no it's not a cookbook or anything like that. I'm a recipe follower, not a creator, remember?

I read someone's tweet the other day ranting about people calling themselves "Chef" or "Sommelier" when they hadn't worked in a restaurant with that title. I'm not claiming to be a chef. But I was head pizza maker at Mazzio's Pizza in Plano, Texas when I was in 11th grade. Does that count? Kidding. I don't want to be a chef. That is sweaty hard work. No way. I just want to be able to cook (almost) restaurant quality food at home.

The day after (Thanksgiving)

So here we are, the day after Thanksgiving.

I'm still stuffed. Are you?

We started the day yesterday by going on an amazing hike with a ton of people from Elli's school. It was the 7th annual Thanksgiving morning hike. Our first time. It was an amazing way to start the day.  I hope we're in town next year so we can join everyone again.

Everyone gathered at the Tennessee Valley Trail parking lot at 9:15am.

A pic of the moms!

The view from the top. Gorgeous.

Look how tiny everyone is!

I'm standing 2 feet from a drop off that is SCARY! To my left is the bunker below.
"Bunker with a view" is how they sold it to the soldiers!

WWII bunker covered in graffiti.

Can you believe this is where I live? A-mazing.

Time to walk off some of yesterday's dinner so I can eat some more. Ha!

Enjoy your day!!

Remember the Mill Valley Song by Rita Abrams?

Just when we thought we were on the home stretch, sliding into summer we get zinged with one more project. All the third grade students were asked to do a project on something important in Marin County. Elli wasn't wigged out by this at all. She knew that we would make sure it got done. Which of course we did.

The teachers gave the students a list of ideas. There are amazing things and people to write about here. There is a lot of history in this area because of our location. We are just north of the Golden Gate bridge. Our county is surrounded by water (The San Francisco Bay and Pacific ocean) there are all kinds of things related to water and nature to write about. There are all the amazing sea animals, and world renowned research facilities, Mount Tamalpais, the San Francisco Bay, historical events like the 1906 earthquake, the Miwok indians, and some of the original settlers whom many things are named after in our town, John Muir (Muir Woods), etc. There are endless things to research and write about. So what did Elli choose?

She chose to tell the kids about Rita Abrams, the kindergarten teacher who wrote the Mill Valley song back in 1969 which became a top 5 hit on the billboard charts. She was super excited to interview Rita, put together a dvd and write a report about her. It just so happens that Rita is our neighbor - which is how Elli got the idea.

We met Rita last fall by accident. Elli had to raise $160 for her school walkathon. Since that's a lot of dough, I asked Elli go to door-to-door asking for support from our neighbors. One of the doors we knocked on belonged to Rita Abrams. We got to chatting and we've been friendly ever since.

So when Elli got the end of year assignment - she immediately thought of Rita.

A little history about Rita.....

Rita had just moved to Mill Valley and was really impressed with the sense of community that everyone had. She decided to write a song that her kindergarten students could sing. So she sat down at a popular spot in the middle of our little downtown and wrote the song in 15 minutes. Before she knew it the song was produced, on the radio, in Rolling Stone magazine and had become a Top 5 hit across the nation.

Elli interviewed Rita and even got to sit down at her grand piano with her and sing the song. We recorded everything. Don edited the movie and Elli made a fantastic poster with photos, a written report and a copy of the dvd for her project.

Here she is in 1970 in the photo that was taken by Annie Leibovitz for Rolling Stone magazine. It was Annie's first year at Rolling Stone.

a little more history....
The record was produced by Eric Jacobsen. And even more amazing, the video of the kids singing was shot by up and coming director Frances Ford Coppola. He was in San Francisco then because he had just formed a company with George Lucas. Then in 1971 the Godfather was released. It went on to become one of the highest grossing films of all time. He got an Oscar for the screenplay and the film won the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards that year. Crazy, huh?

Take a listen. Were you around in 1970? You might remember the song!

WARNING: This catchy little tune may get stuck in your head. I find myself humming it all the time. 

Some images from marinnostalgia.org/rita.html 

The Hillside House in Mill Valley. One word: Wow.

We got our May issue of California Home & Design magazine a few weeks ago. There was an amazing house on the cover that immediately caught my eye. Then I read that it's in Mill Valley. AND, that the interior designer is Erin Martin, someone I've been dieing to meet and someone I really want Don and Pollin's to work with.

I have to get in this house!

I was seriously willing it to happen. Then what do you know, I got an invitation from my friends at California Home & Design to attend a housewarming party. WOO HOO!  I'm in. I'm so in. I'm moving in.

The party was Wednesday night. You have to park two streets away and walk up a very steep path to get there. I seriously had to stop at one point to catch my breath. I didn't want to walk in panting and have a heart attack in their kitchen. This was not the first impression I was going for. Luckily I wasn't alone. Heather Hebert, with the architectural firm, was walking in with me. She was in much better shape than me, but kindly took the little "catch our breath" break too.

We finally get to the house - - and it's just unbelievable. Something you only see in magazines. I met the homeowners and chatted with a bunch of other really nice people that actually worked on the house. They were all super excited to see their hard work finished. Everyone was in awe of the final result.

My dream is to have a house like this someday. A place that is so amazing that I never want to leave. Ever.

I bet you're dieing to take a peek, right? Here's a slideshow SB Architects put together. This is the same firm that designed Calistoga Ranch Resort. Another place that I want to move in to. (And have blogged about before.)

Here's a different slideshow of the home getting built. Look at this crazy lot. Who would ever see this lot and think, "I want to build a home here!" Only in Mill Valley. You can view the construction gallery here.

I'm slightly obsessed. I need to chill. But I think I'm in love with The Hillside House.

big sigh............