Shoe Done It (29 page)

6. Don’t reveal your life story on the first date. Save something for later. Getting to know someone takes time.

7. Don’t ignore your date. Concentrate on him instead of scoping out the hottie in the corner. Give the guy you’re with the courtesy of all your attention.

8. Don’t drink or eat too much. Everything in moderation.

9. Stay safe. Keep your cell phone charged and handy and tell your friends where you’re going and with whom.

10. Don’t give out your phone number or address on the first date.

11. No sex on a first date. It’s much too soon.

12. Don’t go out with married men. No matter how attractive. You deserve better.

Five Reasons Why Rita Likes San Francisco

(Here’s What, Where, Why, and When)

1. WEATHER—Rita loves the weather in San Francisco because (like her) it’s so unpredictable. But it does make it hard for visitors to plan ahead. Yes, it’s supposed to rain in the winter but there are gorgeous dry warm days all year round. Rita is always prepared because she never knows what weather the day will bring. That’s why it’s so important for a girl to dress in layers. Another fun fact is that the weather changes from neighborhood to neighborhood. The wind sometimes blows cold air and fog in off the ocean while a few miles away there can be warm sun on Telegraph Hill where Rita lives. The only things she knows for sure is that the sunsets over the ocean are spectacular, the fog creeps in “on little cat feet” under the Golden Gate Bridge and it never (almost never) snows except in 1887 when four inches of snow fell in San Francisco according to Meera who says she was there then, and there are (hardly ever) any April showers. Rita’s advice to tourists—Come in the fall for the best weather and wear layers, layers, layers.

2. WATER—San Francisco is a city that’s surrounded on three sides by water. The Pacific Ocean, the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Strait. Rita has a view of the Bay from her flat on Telegraph Hill. The beaches can be a bit chilly for sunbathing and the water downright cold even for the bravest swimmers, which Rita is not.

3. WALKING—San Francisco is a relatively small city, laid out over a grid of 40 hills, which makes it both challenging and exhilarating to walk around. Some of Rita’s favorite walking neighborhoods are Pacific Heights with its stately historic homes and spectacular views. She also takes out-of-town guests on a steep hike up to Coit Tower on Filbert or Greenwich Streets where they can get a peek into the gardens and lifestyles of the people who live on the hill. Rita has yet to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge but she wants to do that, ideally holding hands with one of the men in her life as they gaze at the beautiful city in the distance or the hills of Marin County to the north.

4. FREE STUFF—Rita is always looking for a bargain, whether it’s clothes, shoes, accessories or entertainment. Fortunately there is no entrance fee to the Golden Gate Park which was created in the late 1800s according to our resident wannabe vampire, Meera, who says she remembers when it was just sand dunes out there. The park is even bigger than Central Park in New York. Home to the DeYoung Art Museum, the California Academy of Sciences and the Japanese Tea Garden, the park is a great place for Rollerblading, bicycling or having a picnic. The museums require an entrance fee, so Rita likes taking advantage of the free stuff like the Botanical Garden, the Buffalo Paddock, Stow Lake, and the Shakespeare Garden. There are also occasional free Sunday concerts in the outdoor band shell.

5. FOOD—Rita didn’t come to San Francisco for the food, but like so many others she is eating her way through the city. She’s not much of a cook but she has a healthy appetite and the men she meets like to eat too. Obviously she came to the right place. Since she arrived, she’s been introduced to Romanian food thanks to Nick Petrescu and his aunt, Meera. She’s also eaten sushi, Vietnamese
pho
, cracked Dungeness crab, sourdough bread, clam chowder from a bread bowl, Korean tacos and much much more. It’s a wonder Rita can still fit into her favorite Lucky brand jeans; it must be all that walking up and down the hills that keeps her a perfect size 4.

Recipes

Meera’s Stuffed Cabbage Rolls—
Galumpkis
(With thanks to “Angelinaw”)

Serves 4 Romanians or 6 Americans

Meera learned to make
galumpkis
from her grandmother in the medieval town of Brasov, where her family lived near the historic castle of Bran, a Gothic fairy-tale kind of palace. No wonder Meera has the spirit of the vampires in her blood. (If not the real thing.) Grannie used to fill Meera’s head with tales of Vlad, the fifteenth-century prince who was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s
Dracula
. No surprise that Meera is a selfdescribed vampire. Vampire or not, she’s a great cook!

This
galumpkis
is the perfect dish when the weather gets cold in Romania or wherever friends gather to eat and drink. The tomato sauce is often described as a sweet-sour sauce.

TOMATO SAUCE

1 ½ quarts crushed tomatoes (or you can use 1 can of
tomato juice)
2 tablespoons white vinegar (apple cider vinegar will make
it more tart)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon pesto

CABBAGE ROLLS

1 head cabbage
1 onion, chopped
1 pound meat (traditionally done with ½ lb pork, ½ lb
beef—but I use venison)
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
1 large egg
2 tablespoons parsley,chopped
1 ½ cups white rice, cooked
salt and pepper to taste

Core and boil the cabbage first. You are boiling for about 5 minutes—just to make the cabbage leaves pliable.

While the cabbage is boiling, prepare the tomato sauce.

Sauté the garlic and pesto in a skillet for 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.

Add the vinegar and sugar and simmer until the sauce thickens (this is a good place to taste the sauce—we like ours a little tart).

Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

By now your cabbage should be done.

Take the cabbage out of the water, run under cold water, and gently start taking the leaves off of the head. (If you overboiled your cabbage this will result in the leaves shredding.)

Lay out the leaves flat (like sheets of paper).

Cut out the vein from the backside of the leaf (this will make it really pliable).

The bigger leaves will be used for the bottom of your pot and the top of your pot, so put those really big leaves aside.

MAKE THE FILLING

Sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is soft (if you can caramelize them a little this adds extra flavor to the filling).

Stir in the parsley and a little of the tomato sauce (about ¼ cup).

Combine this mix with your meat in a large bowl.

Add the egg and cooked rice.

Mix well with your hands, seasoning with salt and pepper if desired.

Take the mix in small palm-sized chunks and place one chunk in the middle of a cabbage leaf. Roll the end up so it curls around the meat and then tuck in each side, covering the meat, and then roll the cabbage leaf up completely. (You should not see any meat.)

Continue rolling until all of your meat mix is gone.

Dividing the big leaves in half, place the big leaves in the bottom of your pan.

In Romania they use a big stock pot or dutch oven on top of the stove for cooking. In America Meera uses a Crock-Pot, or she bakes them in the oven in a cast-iron, porcelain-enamel French pot.

Place the cabbage rolls on top of the big leaves.

Pour the sauce over the rolls and add water if needed to cover the rolls completely.

Place the other big leaves on top of the rolls, tucking them in.

Cook for about 3–4 hours on low heat.

POFTA BUNA!

Zama De Pasole Verde

(Meera’s Green String Bean Soup)

Guaranteed to cure the common cold, allergies, sore throat and ease the pain of minor concussions or the agony of unrequited love.

2 pounds string beans, cut in short pieces
3 pounds spring chicken, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons lard, oil or butter
One onion, chopped and sautéed
1 teaspoon red pepper or more to taste
1 garlic clove
Bunch of parsley and dill weed, chopped fine
1 ½ teaspoons flour
3 quarts water

Place lard or substitute butter in a heavy pot and sauté together with the flour until you have a roux, 3 to 5 minutes. Add red pepper, water and chicken and cook until chicken is firm. Cook green beans, garlic and onion in a half cup of water separately for a half hour then add to the chicken pot and cook the whole thing for 45 minutes or more. Add parsley and dill weed at the end.

Turn the page for a preview of
Grace Carroll’s next Accessory Mystery . . .

Died with a Bow

Coming soon from Berkley Prime Crime!

April in San Francisco is all about layers. Not the layers of fog that blanket the ocean beaches, not the layers of cake at bakeries like Miette or Tartine. I mean layers of clothing, from a sleeveless tunic worn over a polo neck to pairs of leggings with ballerina flats or plain pumps. Under no circumstances should you wear a tight shirt or sweater with your leggings. The overall look must be balanced: the top must be roomy and the leggings must be fitted. It’s simple really.

That’s what I’d been telling the customers at Dolce’s, the boutique where I’ve worked for the past year. Because in our city surrounded on three sides by water, chilly fog and a brisk wind can sweep over the town without notice in any month, and you have to be prepared for them. Sometimes it’s a burst of brilliant, warm sunshine followed by damp mist or, in winter, a heavy downpour. If you asked me, and many customers did, I would recommend wearing a narrow fitted top under a classic belted trench coat with dangling earrings and, in this case, knee-high socks over tights.

Today I was wearing all gray, which looks softer next to the skin than black or navy and is not as boring as it sounds. With a boyfriend blazer over a tank top under a thin Alexander Wang sweater I love, I carried a striped canvas tote. Wide-legged pants and strapped loafers made me feel ready to take on the world, or at least Dolce’s regular customers, the rich and well-connected to the city’s social scene.

One thing I was not ready for was to be greeted by a stranger at the door of the Victorian mansion Dolce had converted into an exclusive shop.

“Hello!” The young woman in satin shorts so full I thought they were bloomers, along with tights, a ribbed longsleeved T-shirt and patent leather wedge sling backs invited me inside as if I were a customer and she worked there. It turned out she did work there.

“I’m Vienna Fairchild. Welcome to Dolce’s,” she said with a dazzling smile. So dazzling her teeth must have recently been laser-whitened.

“Hi, Vienna. I’m Rita. I work here.”

“Rita,” she said, looking puzzled for a moment while she scratched her head. “Where have I heard that name before?” Which made me wonder, was she kidding or wasn’t I in the right place? Had I landed in an alternate universe? “Oh, I know. Dolce mentioned you.”

Mentioned
me? Me, her right-hand girl? That’s funny, I thought, because she hasn’t mentioned you to me.

Right away I could tell things were different, and I’d only been gone for two days. I’d taken Saturday off to move into a smaller, more affordable apartment, and Sunday, the shop was closed. While I was gone the accessory section had been moved from the foyer and jewelry had taken its place. Racks of new clothes were pushed against the far wall of the great room, and our mannequins wore bright, bold spring outfits that I’d never seen before, and if I had, I would never have worn them or dressed anyone, even a fiberglass model, in them. I knew the theme was citrus colors, but someone had gone way too far. I mean, who wants to look like a grapefruit?