Longest bike ride to date!

Exactly how long is a long bike ride?

As a newbie coming from the world of running, it's tough to figure distances out. I know 10 miles of biking is not quite the same as 10 miles of running, but what's a long ride? You know, the equivalent of a weekend long run?

On Sunday Jamie and I set off for what I mapped out to be a 20 mile ride to ice cream. I learned why I took that spill the other weekend (apparently I missed the side of the street without the Muni tracks where I should have been riding) and we zoomed through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park. Aside from a mini mapping fail on my part (I forgot the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon was going on and we ran into a bunch of runners), we made it through the park a lot faster than expected!

We coasted along the Great Highway, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, until we reached our final destination - Lake Merced.

Funny, it's not such a horrible trek when you're on a bike ;)

We parked ourselves on a sunny patch of grass

enjoyed a leisurely lunch, people watched, and I took random pictures.

After awhile, we decided ice cream just wasn't in the cards, so I came up with an impromptu route home...adding a little over a mile to our original route. Ah well. At least we were outside!

Check it out:

Total mileage: 21.1 - not too shabby!

Once we were home and clean, I decided I needed to whip up Ina Garten's Roasted Shrimp & Orzo. A friend made this for book club a couple weeks ago and I thought it was absolutely delicious.

I kinda threw it together without looking at the recipe and as it turns out, I was pretty close! I ended up poaching the shrimp instead of roasting them and I wish I had roasted them. I also subbed in a shallot instead of red onion and fat free feta because they didn't have the reduced fat kind I usually use. Note: full fat feta is totally necessary for this dish.

Dining about town

Apparently we took on a bit more than we could chew the other day when we went on that 15 mile bike ride...

Originally we planned on taking a Sunday morning bike ride to run some errands before an afternoon jog. Enh....not happening. It hurts to sit. Gah! How do people bike every day?? Am I just supposed to get used to this?

We decided to take a 5 mile errand-filled walk instead and stopped for a quick lunch in the Marina. We popped into Marina & Kebab on Chestnut since they had a bunch of delicious looking wraps and platters. I went with the Chicken Gyro Wrap

Jamie got the Lamb & Beef Gyro Platter.

My wrap was pretty good, aside from some dry pieces of chicken, and Jamie's lamb & beef was seasoned well. They had a few other dishes I wanted to try, so I might return next time I pass through.

Our dinner plans brought us to the Mission where we paid a visit to Foreign Cinema for their Dine About Town deal. For $34.95, certain restaurants are offering a 3-course dinner or $17.95 for a 2 course lunch. I was really excited to hear about this since this is pretty similar to DC's Restaurant Week (which I loved). It's a great way to explore new restaurants that might normally be out of your price range!

The walk into Foreign Cinema takes you away from the hustle and bustle of the street and into a movie theatre setting with a long red carpet corridor to the host stand. We lucked out and got seated on the patio where they had plenty of heat lamps to keep us warm.

They play a movie on a big white wall and there are drive-in movie speaker boxes that line the sides so you can actually hear what's going on. This month's movie was Harold & Maude and while we didn't actually watch it, it was good background noise.

We sipped on some drinks as we perused the menu (I just had to get a glass of the Roederer Estate Brut Rose even though it was a splurge glass and Jamie began his Oregonian evening with a Bridgeport IPA) and started with a half dozen oysters. Jamie had an oyster craving so we split a mixed half dozen since we wanted to sample a few different kinds. It was interesting to taste the differences between the three. Unfortunately, I can't remember the names of any of them! I do know that we got 2 from Oregon, 2 from Nova Scotia (Saint Simone maybe?) and 2 from Washington. Ack.

Foreign Cinema's menu changes daily, so writing about our meal is going to be tough since nothing we had is on their website :( Jamie started out with a Sardine and Quinoa appetizer and I had a simple Arugula Salad with shaved cheese and pistachios. For our main courses, Jamie got the Orechiette with Mushrooms (with just a hint of lemon zest) and I got the Seafood Stew (with a spicy papadum on top). Dessert was a fluffy and slightly sweet Gingerbread Cake with Meyer Lemon Creme.

Overall, I liked the experience at Foreign Cinema, but the food was nothing spectacular. I liked my salad for its simplicity, but our entrees were definitely over salted. Our meal wasn't horrible, but looking at the regular prices, I would have expected a better meal.

Beers, Bacon, Bikes and Bao!

To celebrate Jamie's arrival, we met up with a few friends in the Haight to check out Magnolia Pub & Brewery. I came across it on Yelp after searching for beer-heavy places for happy hour. The reviews intrigued me and I was looking forward to sharing a new neighborhood adventure with Jamie. Ta da!

It was a 2-bus trip, but I thought it was worth it. We were dumped off right across from the bar and it looked pretty cozy from the outside. We walked in and it reminded me of an old diner/coffee shop more than a bar. It was standing room only, so we moseyed on over to the bar and waited for friends. I started with the Kalifornia Kolsch and Jamie got the Piper Pale Ale. Mine was kinda wee for some reason and our total came to $9. Enh, maybe no happy hour special??

I really liked my second beer - the Proving Ground IPA. They offered it as draught or cask and I went with draught mostly because I had no idea what cask was. Later on I found out that cask beers are a little warmer and are a little less carbonated. Interesting. Personally, I enjoy a chilly, bubbly beer.

We eventually decided to do dinner so we grabbed a table in the small dining area. To kick things off, we ordered some Devils on Horseback (goat cheese-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon).

DELISH. Perfectly crisp on the outside and the dates were massive. Just a note, they came 2 per order, but they are able to work with odd numbers.

Jamie and I split a 1/2 lb Prather Ranch burger with pepperjack cheese. It was beefy and paired perfectly with the Blue Bell Bitter (my favorite beer of the night...it was like a Boddington's with just a little bit of a bite). We also split the Seafood Boudin Sausage (bay scallop, rock shrimp, nutmeg with dirty rice), which was pretty bland. I wasn't into the texture of it or the lack of flavor in the dirty rice. Meh.

Overall, I really liked Magnolia. Turns out they have a pretty sweet Tuesday happy hour deal...I'd definitely check it out. Totally worth the 2-bus trip!

We were up bright and early this morning and headed off to High Trails Cyclery to pick up Jamie's Christmirthday present. We had such a great experience while buying my bike so it seemed only natural to return for Jamie's.

He was determined to get the guy's version of mine, but after a couple test rides, he went with one just a step up from mine. Fancy.

We immediately headed off on our crosstown adventure that was supposed to take us approximately 6 flat-ish miles to lunch and then another 4 miles to Ocean Beach and along the Great Highway. Sometimes I have mapping fails. We all know this by now!

After biking downtown and through the Castro, we made our way through The Wiggle, a mile long zig-zag that is known for being fairly flat and biker-friendly. Perfect!

(source)

The Wiggle dumped us out at the eastern-most side of the Panhandle and we made our way through the quiet bike path and took a quick pause. Then we had to take a little detour to deal with a flat tire (thankfully we rocked the smart phones and found out The Freewheel Bike Shop was just a couple blocks away). A few minutes later we were back in action and on our way through Golden Gate Park.

Then we hit a random slew of hills as we were mere blocks from our destination - Shanghai Dumpling King. I could just taste the xiao long baos! SO HUNGRY! After huffing and puffing up a large hill, I just wanted to sit and enjoy a piping hot, savory, meaty soup dumpling. It just wasn't in the cards. The wait was much longer than we were willing to deal with so we biked a couple blocks over to Shanghai House. I've been here before and they have delicious xiao long bao, but I just had my heart set on trying SF's 'best shanghai dumplings'. Ah well, maybe next time.

In addition to these little nuggets of soupy goodness

we also ordered the Vegetarian Goose

It's an odd name for mushrooms wrapped in tofu skin, but I LOVE IT. I didn't love this one, though. I'm used to it being served chilled without sauces. This version was warm, fried crisp on the outside and with some sauce drizzled on it. It was good, but just not what I was looking for.

We also got the Green Onion Pancake

Standard order whenever we're at a Chinese restaurant, but not a favorite of mine. These were a little greasier than I'm used to and they just weren't that exciting.

And to close things out, we had some Pork and Vegetable Dumplings

They smelled very cabbage-y and just paled in comparison to the flavors going on in the soup dumplings. I'm pretty sure they were boiled and the skin was super thick. Yeaahh, not going to order these again. Honestly, I would have been content with two orders of soup dumplings. I love them that much. *drool*

Bellies full of food, we began our trek back to my neck of the woods. We basically back tracked with a few little detours (apparently we went down a few one way streets the first time around) and then we encountered some not so friendly hills. Eeeh.

When we got home, I mapped our little adventure and instead of the planned 10 mile ride with a bus ride back, it turns out we rode 15.3 miles. DANG!

That elevation profile is no joke either. Kinda crazy for someone that's only gone on 3 long-ish bike rides as an adult and someone who hasn't ridden in awhile!

I'm proud of our excursion and the fact that I actually rode in heavy traffic - a first for me - and survived! :) Woohoo! Perfect Saturday afternoon (perfect weather too at around 65 degrees!).

La Di Dah.

How was your 4th of July weekend? Not long enough? My thoughts exactly ;p

I woke up Sunday morning well rested and popped on over to the Fort Mason Farmers Market for some produce. I ended up with just a few fruits...grapes, peaches, nectarines and a bag of mixed greens. I guess some of the vendors took the weekend off. *sigh*

I grabbed some sweet potatoes and brownie mix at Safeway and got to work on some delicious picnic treats. Plan was to bust out the mandoline and make some baked sweet potato chips. I googled how to bake sweet potato chips and it seemed easy enough...

See how pretty the potatoes were post-mandoline? Gorgeous!

Popped those puppies into the oven at 400 degrees (most of the recipes said 350-450) and set the timer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I opened the oven door and my taters were black. WTF?! They weren't even black and crispy. They were black and soggy!

Refusing to admit defeat, I tried another batch at 375. Again, FAIL. At this point, I gave up on the sweet potato chips and just packed up my brownie bites for our Stern Grove picnic since I was running out of time. Unfortunately I had a giant bowl of raw sweet potato that I didn't want to waste. In the fridge you go.

By the time we got to Stern Grove, I had forgotten about my kitchen disaster and soaked up the gorgeous weather and scenery. It was a little cloudy as we descended from the parking area to the concert meadow, but I loved how we trekked through this nifty path

It made me forget I was in a city...just for a little bit :)

Then we arrived at the concert meadow:

It was definitely packed when we got there (an hour before showtime!), but we had a sweet picnic table reserved. Hooray for not having to search for grass space!

So Stern Grove (in case you didn't catch it in the pictures) is an outdoor music venue in the middle of the city that offers free concerts in the summer. Our reserved picnic table came with wine, non-alcoholic beverages and some table service. We each brought a selection of goodies to share...cheeses (lots of cheeses), brownies, cookies, bread, chips, dip, you name it. A wonderful afternoon in the sun :) We picnicked to the sounds of the San Francisco Opera for a couple hours and then skipped out to prepare for dinner.

Dinner, a mere 2.5 hours after our massive picnic, was in Cow Hollow (I think?) with phenomenal views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Crissy Field and the Bay. I must admit that I wasn't quite prepared for a San Francisco 4th of July. I brought a hoodie and scarf with me, but apparently that wasn't enough to keep me warm once the sun went down. It got COLD. Cold enough to light a fire and cold enough to light up some heat lamps. Say whaat? SO different from DC.

The chill in the air wasn't the only difference. I had been given a heads up about the fireworks show and the fog. Let's just say it was more of a colorful sky show. No matter, a good time was had by all...also, I'm not a big fireworks fan.

The next morning was pretty rough. I was so tired from staying up past my bedtime (yeah I'm a huge nerd) and from feasting so much the day before. It was one of those days where I actually stopped to buy a coffee while running errands. Woah.

I walked down to Polk Street to grab stuff for a fruit salad and was reminded of this little tidbit I stumbled upon the other week:

You've all seen What Would Brian Boitano Make, right? Well, I never saw the sneak peak video until recently. Um, that's totally my new 'hood...Loving Cup!! and my favorite hardware store! Nerd alert!

I grabbed a kiwi and a champagne mango from the Real Foods in the video and picked up some berries and cereal (can't forget breakfast!) from a favorite of mine that he doesn't visit - Polk Street Produce. I've mentioned this place before and it's become my go-to place for fruits (well, the ones that I don't find at the farmers market) because of its convenience, price and selection. Two thumbs up.

I quickly threw together a fruit salad in a tupperware and headed out to Muir Beach for a hike with friends. We took a super windy drive (so windy, I sorta got a little queasy) to the beach, parked and set off on our hike to Pirate's Cove.

The first 10 minutes or so was quite a steep climb, but the views were totally worth it.

Since we got to our destination faster than planned, we decided to keep walking...hey, it's not like we had to get back to work ;p

On the way back, we climbed up a mini side peak and yep, gorgeous.

The chilly weather and clouds didn't even bother me that much (once we were moving, of course)! I'm sure these views are even better on a sunny day...

The aftermath...

You knew it was coming. There's no denying this weekend was full of not so healthy eats. It happens and I pay for it afterward. Dinner on Saturday consisted of a variety of Trader Joe's Pizzas (my fave was a cornmeal crust one) and a massive salad with miso dressing. All delicious and comforting, but not the healthiest of dinners.

After a Sunday of beverages a plenty and not so healthy snackums (goat gouda, salami, bread, baked cheese snacks, hot dogs), I needed some ruffage. Big time. Today was a little chilly and gloomy so a crisp salad wasn't going to cut it.

For lunch I actually wanted a sammich - pretty rare, so I gave into the craving. Selin had mentioned that a Potbelly-esque place was near my office so I gave it a shot. The Toaster Oven on Spear smelled exactly like Potbelly, but looked a bit fancier. Another slight difference - NO CHICKEN SALAD! Sadness :(

I went with the Tuna Salad on Wheat, no cheese, with L/T/O and hot peppers

Upon first glance, the Toaster Oven sammich looked very similar to the Potbelly sammich...down to the bag. Here's the breakdown of my lunchtime adventure:

1. Hot peppers weren't as oily as the Potbelly ones. Two thumbs up.
2. The onion was cut a little too large for my taste - in fact I think I'm still tasting the onion right now.
3. Something was off with the bread...I can't figure out if there was too much of it or if it wasn't toasted enough.
4. I don't think I like tuna salad unless I make it myself.

Final verdict: It's no Potbelly and that makes me sad. I'd give The Toaster Oven another shot, maybe test out the meatball sammich before totally squashing it.

Dinner was where all the ruffage came into play. Brown Rice Lentil Bowl with Broccolini and Arugula

This is my lazy attempt at a responsible dinner.

Brown Rice Lentil Bowl with Broccolini and Arugula

1 package Trader Joe's Frozen Organic Brown Rice, prepared according to directions

2 slices canadian bacon

1/2 package Trader Joe's Steamed Ready-to-Eat Lentils

1 tbsp olive oil

1 c arugula

1 c broccolini (cut into 1 inch pieces)

1/4 c chicken broth

1 tsp chili garlic paste

Heat olive oil in a small frying pan. Saute canadian bacon over medium high heat until it starts to brown. Add lentils and cook for 5 minutes. Add arugula and allow greens to wilt. Add broccolini, chili garlic paste and chicken broth, stir and cover for 2 - 3 minutes.

Serve immediately over brown rice.

I know it's kinda boring, but it was simple and exactly what I needed. Do you like to return to simple flavored dishes from time to time?

Shh. It's a secret.

This afternoon I took a lunchtime adventure with some of my fellow jurors (jurymates?). I figured, I've seen these people 3 days a week for the past 5 weeks...it's safe to socialize ;p

After flipping a coin, seven of us wandered over to Chinatown to Mehak Indian Cuisine. I had seen this place a million times when we lived in Chinatown, but I don't think I've ever stepped inside. Apparently a couple folks stopped in last week and were raving about the lunch special - Mini Thali (choice of Lamb, chicken, Vegetable or Vegan Curry with Basmati Rice, Raita/Salad, Beans, Jeera aloo, chef's appetizer, papadum and chutneys) for the reasonable price of $9.95!

I wish I had a camera on me (they take away cameras, including phone cameras every morning) because this was a MASSIVE lunch platter. No joke. I did some Googling and found this on the Yelp page, which is close...I think this has more stuff though:

I went with the Chicken Korma platter, though I totally lusted over the Lamb Curry platter most of the table ordered :/ It was a pretty solid lunch, not the most flavorful I've had, but it was good and filling. It definitely wins for best lunch value in that general area (well, until I try the Chinatown Express $5.95 lunch special - saw a sign on the walk back).

It was actually really nice to chat with people outside of the jury room. I even picked up nifty cheap travel tidbits! For cheap European vacation packages, Untours is the way to go. Basically you get set up with a rental car and accommodations for a reasonable price (I guess sort of like condos/furnished apartments) and then you're off and on your own!

Another site that came up in conversation - CouchSurfing.com. I had read about this before and thought it was pretty cool...maybe not for everyone, but a fun idea. The site allows travelers to network and share accommodations. I mean, I'd be a bit hesitant to just open my home to a random traveler from a website, but that's just me.

After jury duty, my crazy long hair and I had a date with Roberto at Bang Salon at the Verizon Center. Is it bad that this is the least amount of time between haircuts for me (November - March)?? Anyway, I got a chunk of hair cut off because I was just not feeling the long long locks.

This is my squinty, I don't really know how to pose face. I'm pretty sure I've had my haircut this way before...or something similar. I'm also beginning to realize that perhaps the new glasses and new haircut combo aren't exactly helping minimize round face. Boo. Or maybe I just shouldn't make that face hahaa.

My hair grows like weeds so we'll see how long this 'do lasts. Not really worried though, Roberto's cuts always grow out fabulously...perfect for lazy me that gets a haircut twice a year. HA.

That's all I've got for now. I'm hoping to get back into the kitchen tomorrow night - I've got some broccolini that needs some attention ;)

Safety first!

So after sitting at my desk for a good 5 minutes staring into space thinking about what I should have for lunch, I finally settled on either sushi and a summer roll from The Daily Market or salad from Organic to Go - yah, I know two TOTALLY different ends of the spectrum. They were located close enough to each other so I could easily make a gametime decision at a crosswalk!

The light changed in Organic to Go's favor, so salad it was! I started getting really excited about dumping a bunch of salad toppings into my to-go box when I looked up to see that IT WAS NO LONGER THERE! Big sad face! The sign was still up but the doors and windows were all blacked out. No salad for me :( Since I was already on that side of the street, I walked on over to Wasabi to pick up some sushi. A few words on Wasabi - not my favorite, but when I'm lazy or already nearby it I'll pick up some 'safe' rolls. Safe rolls for me usually meet this criteria 1) cooked seafood like eel, shrimp or crab 2) California rolls in any shape or form 3) all veggie rolls. Why do I have safe rolls and when do I get them?

Raw fish is not something to mess with. Every now and then I find myself seriously craving sushi, but I'm not into getting sick. What's a girl to do?! Enter, safe rolls. I generally get these at 'grab n go' lunch spots or if I'm at a Whole Foods when the craving hits. I tend to do this more at Wasabi since they have their grab n go stuff wrapped up like this:

Um, I like being able to see/inspect the contents of my roll before purchasing! I mean I want to know I've got a gorgeous, rich green slice of avocado in my roll. I may also want to know that the ratio of eel to cucumber is ok. Call me a control freak, but it's important to me!

Anyway, I walked out with a Spicy California roll and an Eel Avocado Cucumber roll. My spicy california roll only had the spicy sauce on the first piece (no joke, I examined) and the eel roll was just ok. I kinda wish I just crossed the street to Daily Market :(

What I really should have done was bring in tasty leftovers from last night's dinner! Have I mentioned that I have a hard time making small batches of food? I worried that 1 cup of Arborio rice wouldn't be enough to balance out the goodies (aka onions, mushrooms and artichokes) in the risotto so I decided to add a 1/2 cup of rice. Um, huge vat o risotto!

Mushroom & Artichoke Risotto

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 c white mushrooms, chopped

1 can artichoke hearts, quartered

1 1/2 c Arborio rice

4 c chicken stock, heated

1 1/2 tbsp white wine

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

1 tsp fresh thyme

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 c parmesan cheese

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions until they are translucent and add mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add herbs, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Add white wine and cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Stir in rice for a minute before adding 1 cup of stock. Bring to a boil, stir and reduce heat to medium low. Stir constantly and when all the liquid has been absorbed, slowly add the remaining stock, 3/4 cup to 1 cup at a time. About halfway through the cooking, stir in the artichoke hearts and continue cooking and stirring.

Once risotto is cooked, stir in parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

I served it with some sole I picked up at Whole Foods. It looked like a fun new fish to try, so I did some research and found that almost every sole recipe involved a roll of some sort. I like to roll things.

Asparagus Sole Roll

2 sole fillets

1 tbsp lemon zest

6 spears asparagus, trimmed

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

sprinkle garlic powder

handful capers

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp white wine

1 tbsp lemon juice

toothpicks

Rinse fish and pat dry. Sprinkle garlic powder, salt and pepper on each fillet. Place a bunch of 3 asparagus spears crosswise on each fillet and top with some capers and lemon zest. Roll fillet up and secure with two toothpicks.

Heat butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Place rolls in pan and cook for 3 minutes. Add wine, lemon juice and some capers to the pan, flip fish rolls and cover loosely with a small lid or foil. Cook for 2 minutes and serve.