Weekend in San Francisco

I've spent the weekend in San Francisco and very fortunately for me, my hosts packed much foodie fun into my short visit.

I ate amazing and lovely things at Incanto, so I'll have to come up with some manner of review for you.  I didn't take any photos, but they are all still pretty fresh in my mind, so hopefully I can share the descriptions, at least.  Teasers are: fried strips of pig ear, pork belly, pink peppercorn ice cream...  More on that later.

I have been shown how to make a chicken stock that cooks for about 6 hours on very low heat in the oven.  I can't wait to try it.  It smelled amazing.


Oh, and at Kamei Restaurant Supply, I have purchased two new kitchen goodies: a Japanese benriner mandolin and a simple mortar and pestle.  I am flying home tonight and will be trying to think of how best to put them to use when I get home.  Any suggestions would be fabulous.  If you had a shiny new mandolin, what would you make first?