recent happenings

after too many years spent not hanging out with the old carpool crew, we all finally got together! for two years through x-ray school, Jeff, Tony, Adrian and i all hung out in compact cars driving to and from Richmond to KPSAHS. each week one of us took the driving responsibility. for two years every single day at least one of them was late and i will never let them live it down. when it was my week to drive i threatened to leave them if they were late, and one time i actually left Tony behind. i can't remember, but i'll bet he just gave up and didn't go to class that day. sounds about right. ironically, this night that we met up, i (for once) was the one who was late. over time these guys became my older brothers. fairly younger than them, i was like the naive, green girl in the car who didn't know movies, music and presidents that they referred to. when you spend hourrrrrs in cramped quarters with three guys, you really get to know each other. i've also gotten to know their wives who are all awesome! it's too bad that we all don't hang out more often, but it was just like old times with these guys.
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a bunch of us did the Rave Run (more like the Rave Stroll) in San Jose this past weekend. it sounded like a really fun idea but unfortunately it didn't live up to the hype. the ground was really gravelly and dusty and there were so many effing people that all you could do was walk. it turned out to be pretty uneventful but we still had a decent time overall i suppose. 

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you guys! check out Off The Grid Picnic in the Presidio. it's sort of like Off The Grid except half of the vendors on the lawn are that of the farmers market variety and the other half are of local restaurants serving up delicious eats. also there are guys walking around with wagons that bring mimosa kits, beers and wines to you as a "blanket service." it's dog/kid friendly so bring the whole family! it's a great way to spend a day hanging out with people you like, taking your time to just hang out and try a bunch of good food. i personally enjoyed the oxtail over grits from Streatery and the poutine from Fins on the Hoof. favorites like The Creme Brulee Cart and El Porteno are also there. it's waiting there for you every Sunday through October so make sure to check it out at least once! a tip: get there after 1pm when the sun begins to break away the San Francisco clouds. 

Alcatraz Night Tour / National Corn Dog Day

does anybody know why tourist attractions even bother trying to sell these photos anymore? i'm pretty sure most people whip out their cell phones and take a picture of the picture, saving themselves $22. they're really wasting a lot of natural resources with all of the unpurchased photos.

so, the awesome guy you see pictured above leaves me for eight long months to work in Beijing. before doing so, we thought it might be a good idea to make a "Before Beijing Bucketlist" full of fun activities in order to not get bored with each other. just kidding guuuyyss! i couldn't get bored with this character of a person. we crossed off one of those activities last night when we went on the Alcatraz Night Tour. yep! we put our tourist hats on and checked out The Rock. if you haven't been in a while or have never been, this is a good way to go about it. the crowd is less than that of the daytime trips and at night you get to see the span of the Bay Bridge (with it's new LED light show! so awesome!) and the city skyline in it's entirety. seriously, even if you're not interested in seeing Alcatraz itself, it's worth it just to go to see that view and all of the twinkling lights on a clear night. but the partial guided, partial audio tour of Alcatraz is a pretty awesome thing to do at least once anyway. 

leaving the dock around 630pm

Le Rock

i heart SF so hard! 

sunset from Alcatraz

creeeeepy! i don't know what it is about cracked and peeling paint, but it creeps me the f*ck out! this was somewhere in the hospital portion of prison

operating room of the prison

hmmm you can't really tell but this is the x-ray room. as an x-ray tech, it was necessary for me to take a picture in it. 

aaaaahh pictures (especially from a cell phone) do this view no justice.

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today is National Corndog Day. i'm not even kidding. it's a legit thing, folks! so Soma Streat Food Park honored the day with various trucks serving up their normal food as well as corndogs or corndog inspired things. between the two of us we shared a bacon wrapped corndog, hotlink corndog, chicken apple sausage corndog, and some tater tots. it doesn't sound like it would be enough to make you feel like you literally had a brick in your abdomen, but i assure you it does. still, that didn't stop me from heading to Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous for some ice cream to round out an incredibly gluttonous saturday. 

Eat Real Festival / the weekend

by now you all should know that Marjie is one of my favorite foodie friends. so this past friday we went to the Eat Real Festival in Oakland. this was my third year attending, and Marjie's first. if you're unaware of what this is, it's a ton of food trucks/vendors that line Jack London Square to sell food items (everything $5). it's really awesome and a good way to try a bunch of stuff. the best method is to go with a friend or a couple of friends who you don't mind sharing germs with. everybody disperses into different lines to get some grub and then reconvene to share. that way you're not eating a whole burrito by yourself and left with no room in your tummy for the mass amounts of delicious that are offered up.

Gerard's Paella

i'm not typically a fan of paella because it ends up being too fishy more often than not but i enjoy this paella. it's creamy, flavorful and not in the slightest bit fishy.

Homeroom 

Gilroy mac n cheese. various cheeses and a ton of garlic. the noodles are cooked perfectly and the garlic is absolutely evident. would love to visit their brick and morter one day.

The Whole Beast

lamb poutine. holy shit this was good! tender bits of savory lamb with sheeps cheese and lamb gravy over deliciously thick cut fries. i want more!

The Creme Brulee Cart

the Yes, Please. nutella creme brulee with strawberries. the best part of creme brulee is breaking the shell, right? then you get to this thick, creamy, hazelnutty custard with fresh strawberries. so very good!

Sam's ChowderMobile

lobster roll bite. seems like the tiniest bite in the world, but in reality a whole sandwich at Sam's Chowderhouse is approximately three times this sandwich and costs you $22. here you get to sample it for $5. not too shabby for lobster and butter goodness. 

Frozen Kuhsterd

thai ice tea frozen custard with large tapioca balls and condensed milk. the ice cream was really good. it had a strong thai tea flavor.

Frozen Kuhsterd

bacon liege waffle with burnt caramel sauce and cinnamon toast ice cream. the concept to this is fantastic. all elements seem like they'd be perfect together. while the flavor is there, my only qualm with this is that the waffle is sort of too dense and breadlike.

Whole Foods

grilled figs with goat cheese, marcona almonds and balsamic reduction

i've had this three years in a row and it's always good. the combination of ingredients work really well together.

Forage SF

porcini grilled cheese. this sandwich was severely lacking in the cheese department, but the crusty buttery grilled bread and porcini mushrooms made up for the loss of ooey gooeiness.

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saturday after work i stopped by GG Park to partake in a picnic/bbq for the Radiology Dept. sadly half an hour after i got there the clouds decided to converge and the chilliness was unbearable for my pansy self. so i bid my crew adieu and left with a ton of brownies to indulge in at a later time. 

Sally (the coordinator!), Ruby, Steve (lookin all disheveled), myself, Joe, Uyen, Dr. Fisch, Natasha, Tan, Edgar, Joan (Dr. Fisch' wifey), and Clive

Alisa (who was visiting from Texas), Rubes, myself, Natty (ha!), and Nicole

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later on in the night i had dinner with my clearly preggers friend, Steph. she says that if you touch the belly of a pregnant woman, that fertile juju gets passed on to you. good thing i'm not superstitious.

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sunday, i got to briefly visit with Steffi who was here for a wedding. look at her all cute in her glasses.

dudes and food

.....or food and dudes? which one should come first? let's be real....probably food then dudes.

went to Off The Grid because it's awesome. i somehow did not manage to take a picture of the "dude" this night. i was probably too excited about the food.

mochimisu from my new favorite truck, Koja Kitchen. Ize told me that the mochimisu was really good and i was skeptical at first because how could the addition of mochi make something amazing? but she was right. hats off to you, Ize! the mochi almost acted like a marshmallow but slightly more chewy. i could have probably just ate two of these for dinner.

kamikaze fries from Koja. pretty yum.

the Snoop Dog from Brass Knuckle. bacon wrapped hotdog with coleslaw. while it was a solid hotdog, i can't say there was anything special about it.

sisig nachos from Senior Sisig. nearly every time i'm at the Fort Mason OTG i pretty much have to get these.

dumplings from Happy Dumplings. i'm not much of a dumpling person because typically the inside just tastes like mush. and i was right!

while we sat to eat all of that food (yes, i shared!) we started talking to these two guys. one from Vancouver and one from England. the one on the left was clearly drunk and invited me to be his penpal. as in like old school pen and paper. as in using actual stamps and licking the envelope. he also said that if we ever wanted to visit England we could stay with him. hmmm...i'm gonna say that's probably not gonna happen. anyhow, he wanted a picture. on his camera i look normal. on my camera i look like a weird freaked out chipmunk. 

the other day i went to have lunch with Stefan. see, we're a good example of exes who have the ability to be real friends. no harm, no foul. now back to the food. we went to a new thing called the Soma Streat Food Park. and yes, it's spelled strEAT. it's pretty much the same as OTG except it's permanent and there are ten trucks there daily for lunch and dinner.

i look like a bum. awesome.

pork belly with tea eggs from Little Green Cyclo. except it doesn't look like pork belly, right? well that's because right after we ordered it they realized that they'd pretty much run out of pork belly completely. so the guy tells me there's a little pork belly in there and the rest is lemongrass pork. he asks if that's okay and i oblige only because he's cute. yes, it works both ways. girls and guys get away with things when they're good looking. little did i know that "not the full portion" of pork belly meant approximately one bite. either way the dish was mediocre so it didn't matter anyway.

sweet potato tots with mango mint aioli. this was pretty good, as was the strawberry lemonade. both also from Little Green Cyclo.

we also got a pastrami reuben from La Pastrami and a pulled pork sandwich from Brass Knuckle. the pulled pork sandwich was blah so we didn't even really eat it at all.

because none of the food was all that great i got a waffle from Waffle Mania. chocolate, caramel sauce, bananas and whipped cream. aaaahhh redemption. this made up for the not-so-delicious food we'd eaten. 

i haven't seen Andy in years. and he's one of my favorite people in the world. so wtf? it's all my fault really. or it could also be because he's been in Illinois for engineering. it doesn't matter though, it's never awkward catching up with this guy. he's good people. 

we took a trip to San Rafael specifically to go to Sol Food because it's the best Puerto Rican food i've had. and also, i can't go too long without having some of that hot sauce of theirs. that's the good stuff.

i got the combo plate with camarinos criollos. shrimp in a tomato sauce with black beans, rice, fried plantain and sweet plantain. so. damn. good. i urge you all to go to Sol Food. it's worth the trip!

we spent the day out and ended it with ice cream from Mr and Mrs Miscellaneous. they have THE best hot fudge. i got the creme catalona which was a lime ice cream with caramel swirl. damn that's good eats.