San Francisco: Part 3 (Final Edition)

So, I bring you the final edition of the San Francisco trip. I cannot believe it has been one week since we got back!!! Anyways, I left you as I was drinking my way through San Francisco's Haight district.

Around 7 we decided it might be time for a little food. Laura and Matt invited us to join them at Millennium for dinner. Millennium is a vegetarian restaurant that was conveniently located in our hotel. In addition it was highly recommended by Kath. However, not all of us (Evan) were super excited to go to an all vegetable restaurant. All night he kept saying "Really, there is no meat??!!" But he was a good sport and kept an open mind to try a new cuisine.

WOW, I am so glad he did because this was by far my FAVORITE restaurant on the whole trip. Just AMAZING!!!!

The table started with Black Bean Torte and a complimentary Crusted Oyster Mushrooms.

Oh my goodness the torte was simply amazing and heaven in my mouth!!! I am drooling just thinking about it!

For my entree I had seared sweet potato griddle cakes:

So creative and delicious! BEST meal of the trip, enough said!

Friday morning I attempted the hotel gym one last time. I ellipticalled for 40 minutes and then did push ups and sit ups. After breakfast we showered and checked out of the hotel and headed over to the boat for Alcatraz Island.

So cool! I loved this event, especially since I had never visited a jail before:

After Alcatraz, Evan and I walked around Ghirardelli Square and then over to the Marina District. We stopped in a cute little coffee shop and grabbed a tea to warm up. Once we worked up an appetite we headed back to the Ferry building for an early dinner.

We dinned at the infamous Slanted Door restaurant.

We started with the slanted door spring rolls

For our entree we split:

Banana leaf black cod

Baby Bok Choy with mushrooms

Shaking beef (cubed filet mignon)

Everything was good, but  not great at Slanted Door. It was actually pretty expensive for not amazing food. I was kinda disappointed for this meal because I was really looking forward to dinning here. It was not like it was bad, just not incredible for the price.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and then headed to the airport for our red eye flight home. I had an amazing trip in San Francisco and can't wait to go back!

I hope everyone has a great week!!! Happy Weekend!!

San Francisco: Part 1

We left Sonoma Valley and began our drive to San Francisco (about one hour). As we arrived at the Hotel California , I was instantly amazed at how large and diverse the neighborhoods of San Francisco were and how different they all were from Sonoma. I felt like we entered another state (or country as I kept referring to it as to my mom).

We checked in, returned our car and went in search of FOOD!!! We had planned on going to the Tipsy Pig, but the drive, car drop off, and check in took a little longer than we had anticipated and we were STARVING (and a little aggravated). So, a 3 minute walk down the street seemed a lot more appealing than taking a bus ride to an unknown neighborhood.

We dined, per recommendation from our hotel, at Colibri Mexican Bistro.

We started with a round of house margaritas

Then, the best part of the meal, table side guacamole

Mmmmm SO fresh!!! For our entree, Evan and I split the grilled fish tacos and vegetarian chili relleno

This meal was good and a nice change from the gourmet meals we had been indulging in. Afterwards we met up with some of my classmates for a beer!

Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early and decided to check out the hotel gym and get some cardio in. Unfortunately, because of my knees, I don't like to run two days in a row, so I mixed things up with other cardio options (elliptical, spinning, stair climber, etc) or weights. OK, so the gym wasn't exactly a gym, they had one elliptical, one bike (which was broken) and a multiple weight machine, but only had leg machines. What was I to do?? Not go back to bed, but make the best out of the situation. I ellipticalled for 40 minutes, did a few leg machines and did push ups and sit ups. Not too shabby of a work out if you ask me, given the situation.

I quickly showered, ate breakfast and ran over to the Hilton hotel to attend the keynote speaker and poster presentations at my conference. The keynote speaker was not very good and was a little disappointing given that last year's was SO good, but the posters were great.

I met up with Evan around 2 for lunch and a "walking" tour of Fisherman's Wharf

After walking around a little, we ate lunch on the wharf at a cute little restaurant named Alioto's that had great views. Here was our view from our seat.

We started with the infamous clam chowder (I think they did a good job rivaling Boston's).

We then split the dungeness crab with prawns and steamers

and veggies

and of course some sourdough bread!

Yum!

We decided to walk back to our hotel to make room for dinner and see some of the infamous hills of San Francisco. Not sure if we really knew what we were getting ourselves into.....

To be continued......

If I were a Housewife......

If I were a housewife (and had no children) I would wake up everyday at 9, watch Ellen, drink coffee and eat a BIG bowl of oats.

I would spring to the gym in the late morning where I could run (3 miles in 26 minutes) and lift (a bunch of back, abs and leg exercises). I would then come home, shower and get ready for my day.

I could prepare a healthy and delicious lunch that included lots of colors and flavors of the season.

Spinach with grape leaves, Munster cheese, peppers, carrots, cucumber and hummus with a few veggie chips on the side

and Grapes!

After being properly fed, I would do a little writing (started a report for work) and cleaning, so I would feel productive.

Once I tired of that I would engage in a little light reading and satisfying snacking (lots and lots of handfuls of Puffins oatmeal cereal).

When I regained some energy I would start some light cooking, but only something that was not too strenuous to make (Chicken, broccoli and mushroom pesto pasta).

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic
3/4 pound chicken breast
a bunch of broccoli
pint of mushrooms
jar of pesto
whole wheat pasta
veggie or chicken broth
pepper, red pepper flakes, salt
Parmesan cheese

1) Dice garlic and saute in a little pesto sauce
2) Once garlic is heated add diced chicken breast
3) Add a little more pesto
4) Saute chicken in garlic and pesto
5) While chicken is cooking; boil pasta in water
6) Also on the side saute mushrooms and steam broccoli
7) Once all items (Chicken, pasta, broccoli and mushrooms) are done add together and put more pest in (add as much or as little as you like to taste-usually i end up using about half a small jar).
8) Add a little (about 1/2 cup) of chicken (or veggie) broth to the mixture
9) Add pepper, salt, red pepper flakes and some Parmesan cheese into mixture
10) Cover and put on low for 10 minutes

ENJOY!

And finally after a long, hard day, I would watch Glee and eat some dessert!



Mmmmm, black and white cookies!


Oh, what a nice dream; too bad I will have to wake up from it tomorrow (I had the day off from internship due to professional day for the staff). Hope everyone is having a GREAT week!

Touring the World: One bite at a Time!

Hello! I have had quite the tour of the world these last few days.....

Last night Evan, his family and I went to a wonderful French restaurant for their last night in Boston. Gaslight is a quaint little French bistro in the South End of Boston. The restaurant offers delicious food at reasonable prices.

We started with a bottle of Bordeaux.

I sipped on a small glass

This wine was very flavorful and bold. I enjoyed my glass greatly! Next came the WARM bread in a paper bag. I had to hold myself back before I ate the entire bag!!!

For an appetizer Evan and I split the Gaslight Salad.

My portion

For my entree I had the house special: Haddock Grill.

My meal was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!! It was kinda like clam chowder with haddock on top. The sauce on the bottom was creamy, but not too heavy. We then split two desserts: Chocolate Molten Cake and an Apple Tart.

I had one bite of each. Both cakes were incredible and by far the best part of the meal!

 -----------------------------

Today I went to Italy for lunch with leftover lasagna and salad (sorry I forgot to take a picture). I then took a quick pit stop at the gym where I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and then a "Club Strength" class, which was basically an hour weight lighting classes.

My final stop was Mexico where I had some tacos and black beans. YUM!

What a great trip! Hahaha! On a real note, I am currently packing for my trip to DC tomorrow for a reunion with a few high school friends. I am not sure what my running or blogging schedule will be like, but I will try my best to do an update at least once. And maybe there will be a special guest post as well.......

Have a GREAT weekend!!!