Wednesday Randoms

I have been welcomed back to the reality of life by this horrible sunburn that I brought home with me from the beach. I am so happy for this short week - I ended up having a 5 day weekend with 2 of the days working remotely from beautiful places. Today I am catching up, Thursday is our Q2 event and who works on Fridays? This was perfect for a week back after a long weekend.

---

This article about traveling is so spot on. It is amazing how "scary" people make the world out to be.

---

I have never seen Amy Poehler be serious, but her message is perfect and spot-on.

---

I loved #27! And the rest of this article!

---

Last week, we had amazingly hot temperatures that cause everyone to lose their minds because it's the few days out of the year that you can comfortably wear a dress.

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...

---

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.

---

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...

---

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! 

---

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! :-)

---

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!

---

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!)

---

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!

---

 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 :-)

Honey Roast Link Up

I saw this today and loved the idea! I hope I can come up with a few!

-- I am a good-parking-finder-gem! If you are trying to find a parking spot in a crowded area, wish you were in the car with me, we'd find one in no time flat, right out front!

-- I am great at efficiently using my time. I will be watching TV while cooking while texting while updating my calendar while writing someone snail mail. I just.can't.focus.on.one.thing.at.a.time.

-- I am notorious for sending thank-you cards.

-- I am great at not spending money. Yes, you read that right!

-- I am really great at planning, managing and coordinating. It's one of my favorite things...

And I will leave you with this hilarious video!

Reno Visit

I drove up to Reno on Thursday to visit my cousin and my grandparents. The original plan was to drive up first thing on Friday morning but because the forecast was snow... say what?! It's the end of April, you say?! Believe you me, that is exactly what I was thinking! Anyway...I decided to drive up on Thursday to make sure to miss the bad weather, and based on what happened on Friday I am sure glad I did.

Friday was spent working remotely and relaxing. My cousin flew in around 7pm and my uncle joined us all for dinner. It was such a great evening catching up on our lives, talking about the family and eating the most delicious vanilla ice cream dipped in caramel and chocolate bars! Um, hello, these are amazing and can (apparently) be found at Costco! 

Saturday, we woke up and went to the movie theater to see a live stream of Cosi Fan Tutte from the NY Met. Did you know that you can go to the movie theater and see the Opera live streamed?! It was pretty awesome! There are subtitles and during the intermission the cast is interviewed backstage. We were offered an amazing vantage point and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

After the Opera we headed to lunch and then back to the house to rest. My cousin and I then headed over to the Great Basin Brewery for a couple of flights and to catch up with some girl talk. Sometimes girl talk and beer is just what the doctor ordered! If you ever find yourself in Reno, I definitely would recommend for you to check out the brewery and enjoy a flight or two. They have some pretty amazing beers! As we were sitting at the bar, we decided to order a plate of their mac n cheese because it just looked oh-so-good and it definitely did not disappoint! 

After drinks, we headed back to the house for dinner and to watch / sing along to Grease. Umm, can you believe that my grandparents had never seen it!? Grease was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I was absolutely shocked that they had never seen it! Of course my cousin and I could not help but belt out all of the words. I would like to say that we did refrain from dancing...alright alright you got me, I danced along with Grease Lightening... ;-)

Reno was a great little weekend getaway and I am so glad that I was able to get out there and see my family. 

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)!