Beer, Wine, and Sunshine

Good morning! Today is the last day to enter my Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts giveaway.. are you in on it yet? Also, I’ve announced the winner of my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway. Such excitement to start the week!

We had another fun-filled weekend with Nathan’s mom. Friday we went into San Francisco to shop. We were on a mission to find Nathan a new suit and were especially successful leaving with 2 suits! We also finally had success at Liguria Bakery. Our most favorite pillowy-soft foccacia bread has been on our radar for months and every time we’ve had the chance to get over to Liguria, they’ve been closed or sold out. Friday, however, we picked up a plain square and a rosemary garlic square. It’s just the best!

After a beautiful day in the city, we made our way to Jupiter in Berkeley for a little patio beer, pizza, and salad action. It was too nice a day to let it go to waste so we spent as much time outside as possible.

Saturday was another day of amazing weather and what better way to enjoy it than in Sonoma? We tried a couple new places—Gloria Ferrer for sparkling wine and charcuterie, Viansa Winery, Park 121 Cafe for lunch, and Meadowcroft Wines. While we don’t typically purchase any wine when we go tasting, we couldn’t pass up the cab franc and port. They’re definitely bottles that we’re going to be saving for a more special occasion. Two-buck chuck does just fine on a regular basis 😉

Saturday night, we had a wonderful dinner at Homestead, a farm-to-table style restaurant that changes their menu daily based on the freshest ingredients they can get. Nathan and I had been eyeing this place for practically a year and had read great reviews so we were pretty excited to finally try it out. It definitely lived up to our expectations! I ordered the pan seared black cod, chickpeas, artichokes, grilled treviso, almond pesto; it was seasoned perfectly, the skin on the cod had a nice crisp to it and it was overall a pretty light dish. The housemade sourdough levain with housemade sea salted butter to start out was a real treat too. I probably could have eaten a whole loaf of that bread!

Nathan got the pork loin, spaetzle, grilled onion, sauerkraut, whole grain mustard. He agreed that the flavors in his dish were on point and it was also rather light.

Sunday was pretty much back to normal; we dropped Nathan’s mom off at the airport in the morning and I headed into work. Back to reality, I guess. Ahh, it’s gotta happen sooner or later, right? We’re currently guest-less for 2 1/2 weeks before my friends get here and while we’ve enjoyed having company and are looking forward to more, we’re definitely going to the enjoy the quiet and home-cooked meals!

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday – Leftovers
Monday – Crunchy stuffed buffalo chicken with ranch roasted potatoes and asparagus
Tuesday – Burrito bowl with perfect black beans [<–the best!] and chicken
Wednesday – Leftovers
Thursday – Thai chicken satay noodle salad with coconut peanut dressing
Friday – Out!
Saturday – Leftovers

Food for Thought

Baby Steps

My parents got here yesterday and I honestly could not be happier to have them here! We had a great day walking through San Francisco, taking them to a couple of our favorite places [Liguria, Lai Hong Lounge, Rogue], I cooked up a pretty tasty dinner [if I do say so myself ;)], and we polished off the last of the cheesecake

.

I wanted to preface this post by saying that I actually wrote it last week. Though, I didn’t really want to hit publish on Valentine’s Day so I saved it. My feelings, unfortunately, haven’t budged since then [sorry ma], but I can guarantee you, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this week with my parents. It’s the best.

---

You know that saying “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”?  Somehow I always forget how true it really is. I’ve been doing my best over the last couple months to roll with the punches but damn, change is hard. It’s not that I thought moving to California would make everything easier because trust me, leaving my family and friends was not easy. It still isn’t easy and I certainly have my off days.

Rather than complaining about something, Nathan and I might say “welp.. that was a day” or “ok, that was food” [not that that ever happens in my kitchen ;)] and let’s just say last week was a week. I’ve been turned down from some pretty silly jobs since I’ve moved and while it might get me down one day, I might also laugh at it the next. You’re telling me I’m under-qualified for what?! Yea.. it happens. So I’ll concentrate on what I know best—eating and working out. Except somehow that was working better for me a year ago too.

I know I’ve mentioned feeling like I’ve found my stride in my food and workouts. That I feel like my body is regulating. And then shit hits the fan in another aspect of life and suddenly I’m questioning myself again. I find myself looking at my wedding pictures and thinking I had the willpower to do it then, so why not now? Sure, it might just be a couple pounds since the wedding but when I’m having a crappy day, I feel it and I see it. I thought I figured out my food and my workouts are consistent, as always, so what gives?

The other night I decided to take a look back at a week of food and workouts I tracked on My Fitness Pal. Turns out, I was consistently burning about 4000 calories from workouts per week. Now? We’re looking at about 2500 or so. Oh, so there’s a change in my body? Go freaking figure. I can share posts about throwing out the scale until I’m blue in the face, but it’s really easier said than done.

Remember this little post? Yea. A year ago I was doing a minimum of 45 minutes of cardio everyday. Minimum! And you know what? I still wanted more out of myself. I’ve learned a bit since then and significantly cut back on my cardio but seeing the changes in my body makes sometimes makes me reconsider. And then I remember that I’m still getting my workouts in and I have better things to do than spend that much time on a machine.

I wish so, so hard that I didn’t feel this way. I wish that I could just enjoy my damn self. I wish that I could just say screw willpower and really mean it. My time will come when I truly accept my body for the way it is and what it can do. And we will figure out life in California. And I’ll figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do with my life. One step at a time. They may be baby steps right now, but we’ll get there.

In the meantime, I’m going to [try to] forget my crazy and make the most out of my time with my parents this week. I can guarantee you I wouldn’t have more fun if I had a 6-pack. Almost. Right?

Food for Thought

Do you question yourself?

We’re Road Trippers

As soon as we landed in California, we hit the ground running. We had a weekend to adjust to the 3 hour time change, Nathan started work that first Monday, and I started the apartment hunt. We really haven’t had time to slow down during the week [hello there, lack of blog posts..] and on the weekend we road trip! There’s so much here to explore and it’s our way of relaxing. Not to mention, it’s nice to get out of the hotel for the day.

Nathan had a big trip planned for us on Sunday and tasked me with picking up a few things from the store on Friday; we were picnicking on the beach! We drove south past San Francisco to Pacifica for our first stop where we went for a little hike by the water.

Such beautiful views!

It was so nice to be able to walk out by the water in December and not freeze! Definitely new for us 😉 There were a good amount of people there surfing, but it was certainly not a busy beach!

Looks like some of our honeymoon pics 😉

After Pacifica, we drove about 15 minutes further south to Gray Whale Cove Beach. It was just as beautiful there and even more secluded. There might have been about 10 people on the beach the entire time we were there. Perfect time to break out the wine!

Almost the only people there!

Short sleeves in December!

And then it was lunch time.. Friday’s selections!

Charcuterie, cheese, bread, and wine. What more do you need?

I grabbed some [not so] spicy salami, salami with fennel seed, and turkey pastrami. I knew the meat had to be the base, so after picking that out, I went for the cheese and ended up with a lighter, but flavorful gouda and a super fresh parmesan. We were totally spoiled with parmesan in Italy so we’re especially picky but this was from a wheel that was just cut open and it was fabulous!

The topper of the tower is the best bread ever. We’ve been trying to get a loaf of this foccacia bread from Liguria Bakery about 3 or 4 times but every time we go, they’re closed! This bread is so wonderful that they have a line as soon as they open. We got there on Saturday about an hour after opening and they were already sold out of the mushroom bread! I got a loaf of rosemary garlic and a loaf of onion. It’s honestly the lightest, fluffiest bread I’ve ever had.. nothing compares and I think it might be dangerous to be so close to this place now 😉

And because we can’t go a weekend without trying a new brew, we had to make a pit stop on our way back to Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. It was the perfect way to round out the trip.

Gray Whale Cove Beach. Loved the waves crashing on the rocks.

Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next weekend!

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite way to relax on the weekend?

What is the best bread you’ve ever had?

What I Ate Wednesday #3 – Bar Hopping San Francisco

With an entire week of good eats in California, it’s hard not to feature another day for my WIAW post!

On this particular day, we started with a trek to Liguria Bakery. Featured on Mario Batali’s ‘Ciao America’ for the best focaccia, we knew it was a spot we couldn’t miss! We ordered the pizza focaccia and a rosemary garlic focaccia. We dug in immediately!

Forget anything you ever thought you knew about focaccia. This was the best bread I’ve ever eaten!

Liguria Bakery Focaccia

And because we couldn’t just eat bread for breakfast, we headed on over to The Buena Vista, home of the original Irish Coffee. I ordered a Mexican omelette with fresh made sourdough bread. It was darn good bread, but nothing in comparison to what we had just eating from Liguria!

The Buena Vista Cafe

And then began the bar hopping..

We made the most of our walk to AT&T Park for a Giants’ game by hitting up a few local bars on the way.

Our first stop was Thirsty Bear Brewery, a CCOF certified organic brewery. We got a sampler of all of the beer on tap; it’s really the only way to go!

Thirsty Bear Brewery

Second stop on our bar hopping tour was 21st Amendment Brewery. Again, another sampler of beer because there just isn’t any other way to go!

21st Amendment Brewery

Finally, we made it over near the stadium, but we held out for just one last stop; Pete’s Tavern. I was told this was the place to be before games, so why not do what the locals do?

One (ok, maybe two) more beers and a delicious Big Kahuna teriyaki chicken sandwich with grilled pineapple topped off my bar hopping afternoon.

Pete’s Tavern

We ended the night at AT&T Park with an incredible view! It’s hard to complain about being in the top row of the stadium with a view like that.

AT&T Park

A wonderful ending to another great day in San Francisco!

Speak Up!

Have you ever been to San Francisco? What are some of your favorite places to eat?