July 22, 2009 - at the Shafran residence

Dinner at Daryl and Mike's house. Mike built a wood burning pizza oven in their back yard inspired by a trip in Italy. I had the wonderful opportunity to be invited every time they "experimented" with their quest for the perfect pizza dough. Well, they accomplished it by the time my birthday came around. We had a couple of pizzas with lots of wonderful veggie toppings and had pizza and salad in their back yard on a warm summer evenning in Los Altos followed by a bocci ball game in the front yard. One of my favorite birthday events!! Thanks Daryl and Mike!

July 7, 2009 - Beretta, Italian

Beretta

1199 Valencia Street(between 22nd St & 23rd St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 695-1199
http://www.berettasf.com/

Another great dinner at Beretta. This restaurant is warm and cozy inside. And, if you have your heart set on going to this restaurant, make reservations - they had a two and a half hour wait the last time we thought we would dine at Beretta. The pizza margherita, $11, is perfect. The crust, cheese and sauce are exactly what they should be. We also had the baccala with grilled polenta, $7. Baccala is a dried fish that is reconstituted and warmed. It was a very tasty meal indeed.