Northbound and Monterey Fun

Immediately after our morning hike, V and I set off on our scenic drive north to Monterey. Normally this trip should only take an hour, but when you put two camera happy ladies in one car, it takes about two.

We didn't really get a chance to snap any fun pictures on the way down since we wanted to get to the campground before it got too dark. This time around we managed to stop at almost every scenic overlook along Highway 1. AMAZING.

Once we hit Monterey, we headed straight to the convention center so V could pick up her race packet. It was a pretty good expo...decent vendors, not too crowded, a separate section of fun gear (they even had wine glasses and mugs engraved w/the half marathon logo). We zoomed out of there pretty quickly since we had lots planned for the evening!

We checked into the Asilomar Conference Grounds and got settled before heading out on a pre-dinner sunset drive/photo shoot. Our hotel was conveniently located in Pacific Grove, just west of downtown Monterey (and the race start) and just east of Pebble Beach.

We really didn't have a gameplan for the evening aside from finding a spot to catch the sunset on the beach (armed with cameras, of course), food and drink. Equipped with a handy dandy map, we set off to find 17-Mile Drive. You have to pay a $9.50 toll to wind through this 9-ish mile road, but it's totally worth it. We stumbled across beach

sunset

golf

the Lone Cypress

Oh, and The Lodge at Pebble Beach

Originally we were just going to sit and enjoy a nice glass of wine while watching the sun set, but we were so hungry (apparently we forgot to eat ALL day...too many beautiful distractions, I guess) that we decided to splurge on dinner there.

We waited a few minutes for a table on the patio at Stillwater Bar & Grill. When we finally sat down, all we wanted was some wine and snacks. Pronto. Service was HORRIBLE. Pretty sure they forgot about us a few times. Ah well, it gave us time to chat up our table neighbors who were visiting from LA. Hey friendly people!

After our large glasses of wine arrived, we settled on an order of Atlantic & Pacific Oysters on the Half Shell

LOVE oysters. MMM.

Next up, since we needed something more substantial, we noshed on some Monterey Bay Crispy Calamari (Haricot Verts, Local Baby Artichokes, Meyer Lemon, Chipotle Aioli).

The veggies were actually a pleasant surprise...clearly we weren't paying attention to the menu details. Ha. These were pretty rich so there was plenty leftover.

Onto the main course! V needed to load up on calories (um, half marathon prep?) so she went with what looked like an AMAZING Cheeseburger w/Bacon

Our nice table neighbors gave us the heads up that the Garlic Fries were a tad greasy, so V got them 'well done'. Perfection.

I was kinda boring and went with the Hearts of Romaine with Organic Salmon (Spanish White Anchovy, Crostini, Nicoise Olives & Stillwater's Classic Caesar Dressing).

What can I say, I was in major ruffage withdrawal from the past couple of weeks. I took EVERY opportunity to chow down on crispy greens. Deliciously light.

Cheers to a fun weekend getaway!

Exploring the California Coast

This past weekend running buddy V was in town for a mini-vacay and to run the Big Sur Half Marathon. I was super excited since I hadn't seen her since the big move and this was going to be my first real break from the city.

I left work a little early on Friday so we could start our 3 hour journey south to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Equipped with camping gear, snackies, beer and tunes, we drove our zippy little rental car down the o so scenic California coast.

The drive down Highway 1 was AMAZING. Water to the right

mountains & greenery on the left

I think our jaws were dropped the whole time.

I love my new state.

The closer we got to Big Sur, we only got AM radio and it was pretty fitting.

It felt like we should have been driving a classic car with the top down wearing big sunglasses and handkerchiefs in our hair. Cell phone reception? Forget it.

We pulled into the campgrounds just as the sun was setting and immediately started setting up camp.

I must admit that I've really only been camping twice in my entire life. I enjoy the outdoors and I enjoy the idea of camping, but I can't 'set up camp' to save my life. V had our tent and fire started pretty quickly while I got to work on what I do best:

That's right, crack open beers and photograph. Oh, and make dinner:

You know, that headlamp comes in really handy when making PB&J in the dark.

We were up bright and early Saturday morning to pack up and start the trip back north to Monterey, but not before squeezing in a quick morning hike

The park ranger mentioned a couple of hike options and we opted for the shorter (1.5 mi round trip) hike to Pfeiffer Falls and Valley View.

The falls weren't huge, but still a great sight.

Valley views were fantastic...I wish I could have captured them better. Instead I will leave you with me. In a tree.

More to come!

Back!

With a belly full of yummy eats, another segway tour to report on and a brand new marathon PR!

It was quite the weekend and I wish it didn't fly by so quickly :( I'm working on a couple of weekend recap posts for y'all, but in the meantime...

Bye Bye Vacation

Hm, where did we leave off? Crazy Asian food fest/lazy day, right? It's vacation, why not continue the leisurely snacking?

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous in San Francisco. Perfect weather, slight breeze, a few clouds. Selin got to work on some crazy good short ribs (at 7am - that's dedication!) and I decided to attempt my first run/walk since the National Half Marathon.

FAAAABULOUS adventure along the Embarcadero! Unfortunately, I had an almost crash with a biker...oops. This is why I don't run w/headphones!

On the afternoon agenda - BBQ at Crissy Field. As we were driving over, I kept thinking everything looked familiar. Apparently, I ran down here for my very first marathon in 2007...ah memories :)

We set up shop next to the amphitheater and had amazing views:

Everyone brought some tasty treats like these addictive Endive Spears with Herb Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon:

Also on the menu: Quinoa Salad (I drooled when I caught a whiff of it!), Tea Sandwiches (I can't remember which one landed on my plate first), Kielbasa Pasta Salad, and Selin's AMAZING Asian Pulled Beef Sliders with Mango Slaw (accidentally deleted a close up shot of the sweet/spicy/savory beef!).

Some yummy Israeli Couscous and Golden Beet Salad jumped into my belly after that picture was taken...and some Curried Shrimp Salad...and maybe some Sangria...who doesn't love a day of outdoor eating and drinking?? :)

Since this little fiesta was to celebrate someone's birthday, cupcakes and singing were definitely in order!

I want more of this cupcake. Now. You are looking at what might be one of my favorite red velvet cupcakes to date. Perfectly moist, nice flavor and excellent cream cheese frosting (we're talking good texture and flavor). AAHHHH heaven!

Such a great way to close out vacation :)

O wait, vacation eating didn't end there haha. After we got back to Selin's some more snacking took place and then dinner two, was some of this:

Tuttimelon! We walked in and to our surprise, it was now self-serve...TROUBLE! I ended up with my standard Chocolate, Chocolate Chips, Strawberry combo and tossed in some Mochi for fun. Yes, I ate froyo for dinner. Whatever. Vacation!

Ok, gotta run to work...posts are going to be super scattered for the rest of the month. Why? There's a hint on my home page. Check it :) :) Don't worry, more details will follow!!

Caipirinhas, Fish Tacos, Martinis...Oh Heeey!

Friday night meant a yummy dinner party followed by a night out bar hopping. I played sous chef as Selin made some yummy fish and shrimp tacos,

her 'crack sauce' (I mentioned my green crack sauce and we realized we used several similar ingredients), cabbage slaw,

salsa, corn and black bean salad and...

Caipirinhas! Between seven of us, we polished off an entire bottle of cachaca before heading out on the town. Many good times were had and the evening was quite a blur.

Needless to say, we weren't exactly functional the next day.

I love vacation.

We had a late start on Saturday morning and went to Yank Sing for some dim sum. Selin had been talking about this place for awhile and said the dim sum was legit and worth the extra cash (we're used to super cheap dim sum places). Oh my god. No joke.

So dim sum is a little too overwhelming for me so I never remember to take pictures - things just happen too fast and honestly, I'm usually more concerned with flagging carts down and eating the tasty treats. (Thanks to some intense Google image searching, I found a couple pictures of our dishes.) We sat right next to the kitchen - money spot! Immediately we grabbed some Pork Shumai,

Shrimp Dumplings,

BBQ Pork Buns, and Shanghai (soup) Dumplings.

Heaven! I was SO excited they had soup dumplings! I haven't had them since our trip to Shanghai a few years ago! These were nice and gingery and had just the right amount of meat and soupy goodness inside.

We HAD to throw some fried goodies in for good measure. Some Fried Prawns and Sesame Bean Balls were welcomed to our table as well as these awesome fried glutinous rice balls filled with a savory (somewhat barbeque flavored) meat filling. I loved the crisp shell paired with the sticky, slightly sweet rice and salty meat!

Selin's friend flagged down the Peking Duck cart and I originally wasn't going to sample any...until the woman opened her basket of buns! So you know how Peking duck is usually served with thin flour pancakes? These were fun little steamed bun pockets!

So much better than the thin, dry wrappers!

Sadly, we ended up passing up the rest of the lovely day for a nap post dim sum. At least the window was open haha. We got a couple of things done before heading out for (surprise!) dinner at Henry's Hunan in Noe Valley. Apparently we HAD to devour some meat pies. I never object to meat in pie form :)

We get to the restaurant, sit down and the five of us order three of Diana's Special Meat Pies. The waiter questions us and says 'Three?! No, maybe two.' Oh no, we were determined to order three. We then proceed to order one entree each so we can dine family style...and for some reason our waiter didn't question that decision. Hm.

The meat pies arrived and oh my they exceed my expectations! Basically seasoned meat, cheese and lettuce are sandwiched between two crispy flour tortillas. Sprinkled with some chili sauce, they were absolutely perfect!

A little note about the chili sauce I've come across on this trip - it's not only the chili flakes in oil. They mix up some fermented black beans in the chili sauce and it makes a nice salty, beany sauce! I want a jar!

For entrees, we barely made a dent in some Chow Mein Noodles with Prawn and Veggies

Bean Curd with Meat Sauce (aka Ma Po Tofu with some peas)

Hunan Spare Ribs

Sauteed Eggplant

Hunan Scallops

Ridic. We all went home with leftovers...not that we needed them! UGH! SOOO much food! Wait til you see what was consumed the following day ;p

Vacation has officially started!

Well the do nothing/no agenda portion :)

After a mighty productive morning (which included blogging!) I ran out to meet with an old coworker in the Mission for drinks. I totally showed public transportation who's boss! I must say, the buses here are AWESOME compared to DC - they actually take you places!

I planned to meet Friend at the Make Out Room not long after hitting 'post' on my blog. Eek! It looked far! Thanks to the genius 511.org, I was able to time and plan my trip (also better and more accurate than WMATA's trip planner) accordingly :)

So the Make Out Room - at first sight I thought 'Whaat? Friend wants to go here?!'

However, when I walked closer and popped my head in, I heard some fun 80s/early 90s music and all was well again. Rail drinks and beers are a mere $3!

We caught up over a couple drinks and then moved onto Medjool around the corner. Medjool was definitely snazzier than the Make Out Room, but not crowded at all.

We settled at a corner loungy table and enjoyed some delicious sangria and a plate of hummus, babagnoush, and tabbouleh. Great snacks to go with the sangria and a caipirinha that somehow ended up in front of me later in the evening (a little reminder of how I love cachaça). It was really great catching up and relaxing over drinks - perfect way to start vacation.

Made my way back to Selin's and vowed to have a sleep-in day today. Um, that doesn't work out too well when you're still a little jet lagged. Ha. I lingered for a bit and then began my day of exploring a couple neighborhoods.

I started off with some Guava Pandas for breakfast:

Yes, not quite the breakfast of champions, but they were yummy. I grabbed this bag yesterday since I needed cash for the bus. They were a little pricey, but I thought they were delicious. Not too sweet, plus I love all things gummy :)

I snacked on the pandas while hoofing up some pretty massive hills and caught some phenomenal views:

Pretty sweet, ya? GORGEOUS weather! Eventually, I came across this:

Stairs built into a hill. Pretty sure that means it's really steep. The views were worth the huffing and puffing:

I wandered into a few shops along the way before hopping on a bus to Saigon Sandwich! I've been looking forward to this for quite some time. Remember my first visit in November? Obsessed!

This time I went with the Special Combination (Roast Pork, Steamed Pork, Pate) and a Chicken Bun for good measure. I walked a bit after leaving so I could grab a bus to explore another area and find a place to eat my glorious Banh Mi. SO proud of myself for mastering the buses :)

I walked along Polk Street and stumbled on a cute store called Cheese Plus. They had a bunch of different cheeses (duh) and some interesting condiments. I walked out with a couple items, including a refreshing bevy:

Have you tried GuS Sodas? If you haven't, I recommend you do. I think they're awesome. The first one I had was Cranberry Lime and it tasted almost exactly like the mix I do at home (lime bubbly water and a splash of cranberry juice)...not too sweet and tons of bubbles! The Valencia Orange one reminded me of a less sweet version of Orangina.

At some point, I got really hungry and decided to bust into my chicken bun from Saigon Sandwich. No picture, because I was walking while eating. That was challenging enough. Plus, it wasn't very good. It was cold and not as flavorful as I wanted it to be. Plus, there were a couple unexpected items in it - a hard boiled egg and a piece of chinese sausage. MEH? I mean, it wasn't an accident. They were strategically placed in the middle of the bun. Not exactly my type of filling. I'm not a chinese sausage fan and the combination of that and the egg pretty much spoiled my snack. Fail.

Eventually I got closer to Selin's and decided to hang out in a nearby park since it was so nice out. I sat and figured it was about time I got comfortable with my banh mi :)

Hello! I love you! That little white bit on the left side is the steamed pork. I wasn't really sure what to expect when I saw steamed pork listed, but I soon realized it's sort of like deli meat. You know how deli turkey or chicken comes in a big ball and is usually pumped up with water? That's what the pork looked like.

The pate was a great little addition to the sandwich - just a slight liver taste...nothing too in your face.

I also now know what was missing from that banh mi I had in Columbia Heights. FLAVOR! ha. Saigon Sandwich's mayo is legit. it has all the flavor in it. The sweet, and savory flavor of the mayo sauce plus the pate. flavorful roast pork, and crisp veggies make it so great.

More to come...caipirinhas and fish tacos for dinner!