Ladies Night at Garcon

San Francisco is hosting restaurant week so what better excuse could there be to get together with some amazing women. On Wednesday night some of my favorite ladies from Tagged and I went out to Garcon in the Mission for their pre-fixe menu, signature cocktails, wine and girl talk. I haven't laughed like that in a while and it was refreshing and wonderful. I left with a totally full heart and a satisfied tummy. It was the perfect way to bring in 2015!

Murder Ball, Beer & Babies

I went to San Diego this past weekend for my college roommate's baby shower. Since I was down there I got to tack on some time with my cousins and a friend. It was a nice weekend, not relaxing at all and the weather was too warm for the beginning of November, but it was a great opportunity to catch up and visit with some of my favorite people.

Let me start out by asking: since when do we not have to take our toiletries/liquids out of our bags when going through security at the airport??? I clearly missed this memo; however, I am so glad that I have no figured it out (better late than never, right?) because to have my toiletries easily accessible is quite inconvenient while packing. I do also have to admit that when I went through security to come home on Sunday night....wait for it (you won't even believe this!) I didn't even have to take off my shoes!! It was the easiest thing ever; I felt like I was in the 90s again! How many people get to do that now-a-days??

I actually have another story to share about my flights and that is that I used my phone as my boarding pass for the very first time! Hello, La Tache, and welcome to 2014, what rock have you been hiding under?!

Anyway...on to my weekend.

I happened to be traveling to San Diego the same weekend as a friend of mine from my childhood. He is in a wheelchair rugby league and was playing in a tournament in Balboa Park the entire weekend. Since I was going to be in the area, my cousin and I headed over to the gymnasium and watched on of his games. I know absolutely nothing about rugby, neither did my cousin, and so as we watched we were able to deduce some of the rules and pick up the basics of the game. Part of the way through the match, someone offered us a rule book, so we got a little more in depth information and even a little history. If you are interested to learn more, check out Murder Ball on Netflix!

After the Wheelchair Rugby game, we headed to Hillcrest for brunch at Snooze where we met up with my other cousin. We decided to park at one of my cousin's house and take the trolley into downtown San Diego. We stopped in Little Italy at the Ballast Point Brewery for a flight of beers. We were in luck because it is the SD Beer Week, so Ballast Point, along with other breweries were offering special deals. We got a flight of 3 beers for $5. There were four of us, so we decided to each get a flight and share which allowed us all to try 12 beers! 

After all of our beers, we headed to the Gaslamp district and went to La Puerta for some frozen mojitos, carnita fries and guacamole. OMG. So freaking good! Seriously, the mojitos were deliciously dangerous! I do have to say, though, that the security/bouncer was not very nice to us. I was kind of disappointed by that. We decided to then head to Old Town San Diego to meet up with my friend Chad (the Wheelchair Rugby player) at Harney Sushi. The sushi was really fresh and tasty! 

Sunday morning, we went the house my cousin grew up in for breakfast/brunch before my friend's shower. It was so fun to see my cousin's mom, even though they were both up in the bay only 2 weeks prior! We had a delicious homemade breakfast - I am pretty sure that I am still full - and then my cousin drove me over to Target to get some diapers for my friend's shower. Let me just mention that we had a really difficult time finding the diapers. I thought it was be nice to get cloth diapers, and while looking for them I felt like we were on a wild goose chase! On top of that, no one who worked at Target was helpful - I actually asked a woman (a shopper) for help because she had a young child in her cart, so I figured she would know..ha! And on top of that, once we found the diapers, there were no safety pins. What's up with that?!

Anyway, I went to the shower and was able to put my hands all over that momma's belly. The little slugger even moved around for me! It was so surreal and it is soo crazy that one of my dearest college friends is pregnant and expecting at the end of January. I simply cannot wait to meet the little cutie patootie! 

After the shower, my cousin picked me up (thanks, cousin, for being my weekend chauffeur) and before we headed to the airport we had to make a stop at Blue Water for some fish tacos - according to my cousin, this is a must stop when going to the airport and I have to admit that it was all that it was cracked up to be, and then some! Oh man was that fish fresh! We had to wait in line for about 40 minutes before we even were able to order and I am pretty sure that once we got the tacos we gobbled them up in less than 30 seconds - they were that good!

All in all, I would count this sunny San Diego weekend a success. I may be full for a week from all of the food and beers consumed, but it was definitely all worth it! Now to get my nose to the grindstone and back to the reality of being an adult with a job (it's all just just so overrated!) 

And if you are wondering, no I don't have today off :-( I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and I hope you all have Veteran's Day off! Celebrate for me....pleaseeeee

Sunday FOODday - 27/100 - SF 7x7

Happy Tuesday! 

Last week I made plans to spend Sunday with my college friend and AGD sister, Erin. Since I am on a mission to eat at most, if not all, of the restaurants on The Big Eat SF 7x7 List we decided to check some more off of the list. I BART'd into SF and Erin picked me up from BART and we headed straight to Trouble Coffee for coffee/tea and their famous Cinnamon Toast.

 Restaurant: Trouble Coffee

Dish: Cinnamon Toast

Verdict: Ahhmazing, I could not live without it

Alright, let me just start out by saying that this was the best cinnamon toast I had ever tasted. The bread was like 2inches thick and there must have been at least an entire stick of butter on it and then it was smothered into cinnamon and sugar. It was perfect. Note to all of you, they don't have decaf coffee in the cafe, so if you can't handle your caffeine, like me, stick with one of their many assortments of herbal tea - or drink half of your latte, like me. And then do pullups outside...to burn of 1/8 of the calories you just ingested...

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From Trouble Coffee, we headed to Balompie #3 for some popusas. Well, we first went to La Ciccia for a bowl of their Spaghittusu, but they are only open for dinner...next time! Erin and I ordered 4 popusas to share.

 Restaurant: Balompie #3

Dish: Popusas

Verdict: Delicious

Because the Big Eat list only says to order "popusas" we asked the waitress if she would recommend us a few options. We ordered: Chicharron y Queso, Zyote y Queso, Loroco y Queso and Espinaca y Queso. The Chicharron popusa was both of our favorites. And we could have easily split 2 and been totally full! The others were delicious, but not nearly as good as the pork & cheese.

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After popusas we headed to Plow for some crispy potatoes...

 Restaurant: Plow

Dish: Crispy Potatoes

Verdict: Ehh, I could live without it

We arrived right around 2 o'clock and we were told that the restaurant was closed until dinner. Fortunately enough, and totally not planned, we ran into my little sis (AGD) there and we asked them to make sure to order some crispy potatoes with their meals so we could try them and then check it off of the list. Nowhere on the list does it say how much of something you need to eat... They were alright...I wouldn't go back for them...

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As our afternoon progressed, we decided that it was perfect timing for some dessert. We headed over to the Chocolate Lab for a brownie. 

 Restaurant: Chocolate Lab

Dish: Brownie a la Mode

Verdict: Delicious

 

We ordered the brownie and on Sunday they offered a special Rocky Road Brownie, all with walnuts and marshmallows and more than we needed of hot fudge sauce. This brownie was so rich and delicious! If you ever need a chocolate fix, make sure to stop by The Lab! 

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After our brownie we headed to North Beach to meet up with Melissa for some wine. An hour and a half later, 2 bottles in and lots of catching up, Erin had to head home so Melissa and I decided to keep checking dishes off of my list. 3 more to go! :-)

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As our first appetizer, we headed over to Bix for their Steak Tartare.

 Restaurant: Bix

Dish: Steak Tartare

Verdict: Good

 

 It comes out to you on a plate not fully prepared. The plate has the steak, minced shallots, mustard and a few other ingredients and the waiter mixes it all together making sure to add salt and pepper and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. The steak was a little too salty for my taste buds, but it was amazingly fresh. If you are into steak tartare, check this place out!

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We wanted to stop one more place before we sat down for another meal. We walked over to House of Nanking and because there was a line out the door we ordered to-go and ate this on the fly! 

 Restaurant: House of Nanking

Dish: Fried Onion Cake

Verdict: Delicious

This dish was light and delicious! Definitely worth the $4 (or however much it was!)

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Before making our way to Park Tavern, we wanted to stop by Tosca for their mussel soup. Unfortunately, it is a seasonal dish that they haven't had for a few months...we decided to ditch Tosca and head straight for our main course!

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 Restaurant: Park Tavern

Dish: Poulet Noir

Verdict: Ahhmazing, I could not live without it

Alright. Hands down. This might be my most favorite dish, on this list, to date. We ordered the chicken and they brought it out already split for us. O.M.G. This was seriously ahhhmmmaaaazzzing!! And totally affordable! The entire dish was $28! And then we split it! Definitely make sure to stop in at Park Tavern for a carafe, or two, and this chicken. You will not be disappointed!I may go back there every day for the rest of my life.... we will just have to wait and see....

Buon Appetito

Check out the other restaurants I have been to here

Out the Door: SF 7x7

Hi All! I have checked off another item from the SF Big Eat 7x7 list - actually one from this years list and one from last year! I figured 100 places in 2014 wasn't enough so I thought I'd tack on 2013s list as well..

Since it is so gorgeous outside, we decided to walk down to the SF Ferry Building and grab some lunch and ice cream. 

Anyway... on to the Crispy Imperial Rolls

Restaurant: Out the Door

Dish: Crispy Imperial Roll

Verdict: Delicious

These were delicious and totally hit the spot. The sauce is a perfect balance for the rolls and the rolls were light and crispy! I didn't eat any of the lettuce, just the noodles and the rolls. If you are ever looking for something quick, get these but make sure not to get there at 12:30 in the afternoon...there is nothing quick about 12:30pm at the Ferry Building on a work day :-)

Curry Up Now SF 7x7

Restaurant: Curry Up Now

Dish: Chicken Tikka Masala Burrito

Verdict: Delicious

Alright, to make you all jealous, yet again, about my place of work: we get lunch and dinner catered. There it is, I said it. We get 3 different options for lunch and one option for dinner with 2 fully-stocked kitchens in between. Yesterday for lunch, Curry Up Now catered and since the restaurant is on my SF Big Eat 7x7 list I figured I would check another dish off of my list! 

They have come in the past and I have gotten their veggie options and have been less than impressed. But yesterday I decided to go with the dish on the list and boy, was I not disappointed! I definitely recommend this one!

Buon Appetito

Weekend Randoms

-- This made me laugh out loud..is that wrong?

-- I just love SF and Mad Men, this is really really good!

-- I got to check out the new BART cars that will begin their debut in 2015. Read about it here

-- My team went to 21st Amendment last week for our Q1 event (yes, I know we were a bit late). We played some fun ice breaker games and ate only fried foods and drank lots of beer...oh yeah and we had shots...it was basically a super fun day that started at 11:30 and ended at 5... :-)

-- On our team, I am in charge of the ice breakers and basically all of the fun that our team has :-) We played a game where we had to roll 2 die and if you rolled a double, you had to put on a wig, gloves and sun glasses and eat a hamburger with a fork and knife while the rest of the played continued to roll the die. If someone else rolled the die, you had to then take off the costume and the other person had to put it on. It was hilarious! I am sure everyone in the restaurant thought we were crazy! We were all laughing hysterically! 

-- On Friday I met with my dad for lunch and we checked another dish off of my SF 7x7 list!

Restaurant: Coqueta

Dish: Pluma Iberico de Bellota

Verdict: Okay

Coqueta is one of Michael Chiarello's restaurants located along the Embarcadero. We ordered a few dishes to share - the restaurant is tapas style - and this was probably my least favorite dish. It was kinda boring and the honey in the glaze was really overpowering. We also had the White Gazpacho (delicious, we ate it with a spoon, but you can also eat it like you were drinking a shot), the Sunny-Side Up Egg (recommendation from a friend, the sauce is amazing!), Crispy Shrimp (delicious) and the Pluma (okay) all for about $100...it was a pricey lunch to say the least...and we didn't even get drinks! 

-- On Saturday, I met with some Alpha Gamma Delta (plus 1 Kappa - we don't discriminate :-)) ladies for brunch and then to see Divergent. We read the book in our book club...ie, I didn't read it, but it was the book for our book club, and I wanted to see the movie. We also checked off another dish on the SF 7x7 list...yes, I am plowing right through these! :-)

Restaurant: Zero Zero

Dish: Skillet Fried Chicken Thighs

Verdict: Very good

These are listed on the brunch menu with waffles. I have to say that I was stoked about this because I have not have chicken and waffles before (well I had it at work once and it wasn't very good..so I don't count it...) This dish is huge and could have definitely been shared!

Merry Monday to all! :-)

Polpette at Barbacco - SF 7x7

Restaurant: Barbacco

Dish: Polpette

Verdict: Delicious

On Tuesday, I headed over to Barbacco to meet my sweet friend Melissa from Serving Seconds to cross off yet another SF Big Eat 7x7 dish! We decided to order a few dishes off of the menu and share them. 

We ordered:

Roasted pears/ prosciutto de parma bruschette

Kale salad/ apple/ golden raisins/ almonds/ pecorino salad

brussels sprouts fried in duck fat/ capers/ anchovy/ red wine vinaigrette

Polpette - Sicilian meatballs with raisins and pine nuts/ braised chard/ tomato sugo

Woe, everything was mouth-watering delicious! The polpette has a little kick at the end, nothing that I couldn't handle (any spicier, I would have been crying and drinking milk).

I definitely recommend this restaurant! It is a little more casual than Perbacco (one of my favorites in SF)!

SF 7x7 16/100

For our weekly frate (friend date) we planned to check two dishes off of the list and ended up checking off three...I am flying through this list! We grabbed drinks and the specialty dish at each restaurant and had a fabulous Wednesday night!

 

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Restaurant: The Cavalier
Dish: Lamb Scrumpets
Verdict: Delicious

The Cavalier has a ton of delicious-looking cocktails. We both went with a Pimms Cup. Let me tell you, it was huge, refreshing and so delicious! A perfect addition to the Lamb Scrumpets. The bar is really nice, clean and spacious. We got there around 5pm and didn't have any trouble finding seating. 

 

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Restaurant: Mikkeller Bar
Dish: Salt cod cakes
Verdict: Ehhh, I could have lived without it

 We walked over to Mikkeller Bar from The Cavalier, they are maybe three blocks away so it was an easy walk. The restaurant is very hip and dark. The bar is fancy with tons of beers on tap (they only serve beer & wine) and the tables around the bar are communal, so just grab a seat wherever you see on open. We didn't have too much trouble finding a seat, arriving around 6ish. The beers were good, the specialty dish was okay. It was a little too fishy for my taste (duh, it's fish...but it just wasn't my favorite). They reminded me of really fishy crab cakes. The dipping sauce is a bit spicy, but accents the cakes perfectly.

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Restaurant: Hakkasan
Dish: Crisy Duck Salad
Verdict: Ahhhmazing!

 Saying that this place was busy was an understatement. We maybe waited to sit for about an hour - at the bar! There were tons of tables available, but it seemed like they didn't start to seat people until around 8pm. We ordered some of their fancy-pantsy drinks (the Ruby Empress & the Fernet Julep) while we waited, poached a couple of seats at the bar and ordered the Crispy Duck Salad and their Vegetarian Dim Sum platter. The salad was seriously heaven-in-my-mouth. The flavors were perfect together! I definitely recommend checking out this spot...but either get there before 6 or after 8 if you don't want to wait forever for a spot!

I am loving this list!! It is helping me branch out and try new things with awesome people and I am having a blast in the process!

La Tache at Absinthe

My girlfriend, her boyfriend and I headed over to Absinthe for dinner to check off another one of my SF 7x7 Big Eats dishes - oh and to also hang out... We grabbed some cocktails and ate some soft garlic pretzels.

Restaurant: Absinthe

Dish: Soft garlic pretzels

Verdict: Ahhmazing! Definitely order these and then drink the cheese sauce!

After we enjoyed our snack and cocktails, we decided to move onto wine with dinner. Absinthe has an extensive wine menu...like over a hundred pages of wines by the glass, by the bottle, by the half bottle, by the carafe....basically anything you can think of, they've got it! As I am thumbing through the hundreds of dollar bottle of wine section I stumbled upon Echezeaux, which is a wine that comes from the same place as the La Tache wine. My heart started to beat fast as I scoured the pages to see if they had La Tache. No restaurants ever have La Tache. [next page] I have googled it many times to find it on restaurant wine menus and have only seen it on one menu: Jeanty at Jack's but the place is closed now. [next page] OMG! There it is! On page 61! I'm going to ask the waitress if I can see the bottle! [yes, I am that obnoxious person at a restaurant]

I ask the waitress and without hesitation says of course and, who I assume to be the sommelier, comes out with a 2004 bottle. I squealed, snapped a few photos and then had to give the bottle back - sadly we couldn't afford the $3,900 bottle that she brought out to us... booo!!!

We had an awesome dinner. The food at Absinthe is delicious. And the company was even better!

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Love!

My sweet husband turns 27 today. While I am here at work, he is off at school and we plan to meet up at a brewery later this evening.

Rich doesn't like to make a big fuss about his birthday. Fortunately enough for him, he married someone who loves to make a big fuss about his birthday!! I know he feels the love and I love showering him with birthday love, so it is a win/win for both of us! 

Last weekend, I was thinking to myself and then panicked...Oh my gosh! What should I get Rich for his birthday?! I thought about it for a little while and decided to check the SF Symphony website to see if a show was going on. Fortunately I was in luck, and was able to score some awesome tickets to the SF Symphony! I had never been and Rich has mentioned to me that he has wanted to go on multiple occasions. 

So, I bought the tickets. Then I had to find a restaurant. There are tons of restaurants near Davie's Symphony Hall. There were a few restaurants that I checked and all of their reservations were booked and I finally stumbled upon Espetus Churrascaria a Brazilian Steak house. The restaurant was amazing! Definitely check it out for a special occasion!

After I made all of the reservations and planned the evening out, I decided to add another layer to the entire event - I was going to surprise Rich! I wrote out 4 'clues/hints' and gave him one each day starting on Wednesday.

Rich was able to guess that we were eating at a Brazilian restaurant but couldn't guess that we were also seeing the Symphony. On Saturday morning we woke up, got coffee and Rich studied all day. We headed into SF around 5 for our 6pm dinner reservation and then headed to the Davie's Symphony Hall for the 8pm show. The symphony was seriously amazing. We both found ourselves saying WOW during and after each performance. If you have the chance to check out the SF Symphony, I would totally recommend it!

 

After the show we walked by City Hall which was all lit up. I just love love love San Francisco! 

We are celebrating again on Thursday with friends and again this weekend with my parents! I just love this guy's birthday!

5 on Friday

1. Yes, I know! I am a broken record. I just love these videos!

2. This seriously made my whole day! I love Grease! ..and Marines...duh!

3. Great article and video about asking the right questions and giving awesome answers // Jamie has posted some photos from the Bay Area Blogger Meet Up! Did I mention that I won the big raffle prize?! // I participated in a book club on Monday - my very first - and we discussed Gone Girl. Wine and girlfriends was the best way to spend a Monday night! // I have started going to the gym! Woo! I feel awesome! // I got to see my sweet FRIEND at Tosca for a delicious dinner with yummy cocktails and wine - get the Pig Tails...just do it. (thanks to Melissa at Serving Seconds for the recommendation!) // God, I miss Full House! //I had the most delicious Bloody Mary at Zuni Cafe with the sweet Melissa from Serving Seconds this week! What a treat!  (make sure to get the balsamic bloody mary - just trust me.) And the rest of the food was seriously amazing! // I am finally caught up on blogging - yippee! Now what will I write about?! hummm..

4. Last weekend, Rich and I enjoyed a nice and quiet night with a bottle of wine, roasted garlic, cheese and bread. It was amazing! And on Saturday, Rich and I raged for a friend's birthday party. And by rage, I only mean we stayed out until 2am and then Uber'd home and passed out. It is so much fun to spend time with Rich's classmates, put names to faces, and get to know the people he spends most of his time with. We got all dressed up and hit the town! It was a super fun evening!

5. Another shout out to my sweet and deserving husband. I forgot to pay for parking at BART this week. I texted him to let him know to expect a parking ticket (boo! why can't you pay that s**t online!?) and instead of letting it go, he hopped in the car, drove over to BART and paid the meter for me. How did I get so lucky?!

*5 on Friday Link Up

*5 on Friday Link Up