Good Girl: Apples and Grown-up Peanut Butter

 

 While I love a good sausage in the morning, sometimes my body is just calling for something good for me.  I brought a little jar of Adam's chunky natural peanut butter to work because I bought the super jumbo container at Grocery Outlet and need to eat as much as I can.  I'm pretty picky with my peanut butter, and the chunkier and more oil-on-the-top natural, the better.  

This stuff needed a little more chunk, so I mixed in some protein-packed pumpkin seeds and drizzled on some sexy honey.  Yummy.  I smeared this all over a juicy slice of Gala apple and any dreams of sausage poofed into thin air. 

I'm Just Here for the Food: My Bro's Wedding

When you're a bridesmaid, the most you get in your mouth all day actually comes at the end of the night- the wedding dinner.  For my brother's wedding, we had a morning full of pampering, so the only thing that touched my lips, besides lipstick, was an onion bagel oozing with cream cheese and a few pieces of obligation fruit.  The minute I got to the reception, I stalked every server passing the hors d' oeuvres for a few meatballs and loaded my plate with crackers and cheese.  

When it was time to get seated for dinner, I had that moment of wedding guest anxiety- when you hope and pray that your entree selection was best choice.  I developed a strategic plan where I ordered one entree and my date, the other.  That way, if my dish was gross, I'd just steal his.

I didn't have to steal his food, because mine hit the spot, but probably because I was starving.  I don't mind a little leg and thigh.  The servings were super small, but I wasn't trying to gorge myself because I was wearing a little wiggle dress that hides nothing.  The plate was licked clean, with nothing left but a measly bone.  Sounds familiar?

Once a bridesmaid...always a bridesmaid.  

XXX Movie: Savages

 I know what you're thinking, an empty theater....what naughty adventure did I get myself into?

This was just an average day after work, and after a request of being wined and dined, we ended up in this empty theater with a large popcorn (extra butter) and a large drink (fruit punch).  I couldn't keep my hands off of the popcorn, digging deeper and deeper into the bucket as I kept my eyes peeled for other movie goers.  I didn't want anyone to see how we were getting down with the popcorn, and the movie didn't even start yet.  

Sure enough, it was just our luck, because more people entered the theater, ruining our isolated moments of buttery bliss.  But as soon as the lights dimmed, we were back at it again.  After 15 minutes into the movie, I had to call it quits.  That's just too much for me to handle.

Never would I allow myself to consume such a sugary sweet drink, and in such a large size, but after each handful, I needed to give my tongue a break from all of the salt and just get a good slurp.  This drink was gone before the popcorn was done!

I know it's naughty to get a large popcorn for only 2 people, but these damn movie combo deals make it just a few cents more to go large.  And going bigger just means you'll be getting bigger, because there's just so much more to put in your mouth.  

On a side note, this movie Savages was also quite naughty.  Reminded me of the show Weeds, but just the season when they messed with Mexico, minus the comedy, with wayyyy more blood and bombs, and equal parts sluttiness.  Plus, seeing Salma Hayek as the big bitch in charge ain't so bad either. 

Morning Quickie: My Favorite Bagels

I don't give a damn, Safeway has the best bagels.  My favorites are the Asiago Cheese and Jalapeno Cheddar bagels.  I could just eat half of a toasted one and I'm fine, and just savor the crispy burnt cheese.  But when I'm feeling all fancy and have a few extra seconds for a quickie, I love adding some thin-sliced cucumbers on top of my whipped chive cream cheese.  Oh, I'm whipped alright.

I wanted to be an extra good girl this morning by drinking a sweet glass of Valencia orange juice, with pulp because without it, it's pretty much fake.  I added a teaspoon of Chia seeds for some extra fiber and protein because a girl has got to start her morning off right.

Eating Out: Mac and Cheese at Stanford's

Mac and Cheese is my weakness.  Blame it on the blue boxes my mom would make me.  Then after I learned that mac and cheese doesn't always come out of a box, I made it my quest in life to find the best bowl ever.

This here is a top contender.  You can find this bowl of a continuous foodgasm at Stanford's in Walnut Creek.  The 3 cheese blend of cheddar, fontina, and swiss go so well with the bacon.  I can imagine that this stuff would taste equally delicious without the bacon, but hey, let me get mines one time!

I like to go during Happy Hour, from 3-6 everyday and ALL DAY SUNDAY, because this bowl costs only $3.95!  WTF!  How could this big bowl of mac please me sensually and not break my bank?  As long as you don't go on a shopping spree in the Broadway Plaza, this dish is a cheap date secret right here....you can thank me later.

I also ordered the Ribs and Ring, which is basically a few fall-of-the-bone BBQ ribs paired with one big-ass onion ring.  So good, but I would never let that steal the shine from my favorite mac and cheese. 

Eating Out: Lunch with Fredo Algebra

You don't have to ask me twice to be in a video about lunch.  Ok, it was a music video, and before you call me a video ho, just look at what I got to eat.  

Eating Out: Mochica

What you are staring at right here is the best freebie any restaurant can give.  Fuck getting bread and butter, because at Mochica in SF, you get this bowl of crispy garbanzo beans tossed with tomatoes and cheese and some of those giant Peruvian corn-nuts.  Any restaurant that just gives you something delicious just for showing up will make me want to come again- and come again- just for that.

I heard about this place because I bought a Groupon for it.  It's in the same family as Piqueo's, another great SF Peruvian joint I discovered with a deal, so I knew it would be a good one.  Piqueo's also gives garbanzo beans, but they must do something different at Mochica- is it the tomatoes?  I forgot. 



 
You can't go to a Peruvian spot and not get the cebiche, and here, you can do the sampler.  Sometimes I don't want to commit to something and just get a little taste of everything, and this is perfect for that.  The green bowl has more of a cilantro flavor, and the orange bowl is on the spicier side.  I can drink that sauce and lick my lips after, I don't give a damn!

I'll be coming again, especially since I bought another Groupon!

Update:  You can now order Mochica straight from your smartphone or computer.  Click here to order now! 

Quickie: Recovery Meal

There's nothing like having a quickie in the grass when you're all hot and sweaty.

Yup, that's how I did it.  I had a quick recovery meal after running 13.1 miles in the US Half Marathon in San Francisco.  As soon as I crossed the finish line, I grabbed my medal, a water bottle, a Zico coconut water, and a peasant pie and hit the grass.  I was starving!

You burn about 100 calories a mile, and since all I ate were a few Blox in the morning and a Korean buffet the night before, I needed to consume more calories.  I sat on the grass and stretched as I stuffed my mouth with an eggs and veggies Peasant Pie.  It's kind of like a pot pie with a scrambled omelet inside.  Even though I wish I had a bottle of tabasco sauce and some Monterey Jack cheese handy, it was still good.  Maybe it's because I was hungry, or maybe because it is pretty tasty and actually a handy meal- that you hold in your hand.  Ha ha ha. 

One of the perks of running in an organized race is all of the after-race freebies.  Zico was giving out coconut water left and right, but I only like the natural flavor.  I did grab a mango flavor but I already have a feeling that I won't like it.  Oh well, it was free!

I also grabbed a bag of Barbeque Pop Chips (not pictured).  By the time I finished my meal and went back for more chips, the booth was empty.  There goes my shot at a free bag of salt and vinegar.  I was really trying to get my money's worth!

Mile High Club: Fresh Baked Cookies

Damn, what am I, a baller or something?  Who the hell gets a fresh baked cookie while flying over the Rockies?  I did, but I was just flying standby sitting in the back of the Frontier flight from Denver to SF. 

Because of a bad storm in SF, the flight to Denver was delayed 4 hours....we departed at 11pm and as soon as I hit the plane, it was snooze time.  Who knows what kind of delights they tried to serve me in my slumber?!  Frozen custard?  Cherry pie?  Foot massage?

Then on the flight back, I'm immersed in my self-help book (can't believe I'm admitting that), and I look up at the stewardess, in an apron and oven mitt, holding a baking tray of cookies.  In an ideal world, she would have been much cuter, but anyways, she asked me if I wanted one, and I must have looked at her crazy.  DUH! Yes I want a fresh baked cookie!   She told me she was getting more,  and came back moments later with a couple hot and ready ones.  Yeah....that's how it is.  I should have told her to get me some milk too, but I was too busy scarfing down my cookie, and taking a picture of it.

It was sure good for being thousands of feet in air.  It could have been a frozen take and bake cookie but I didn't care.  Most likely, it was, because I doubt she stood there and balled up the babies on her own.  

Mile High Club: Perry's at SFO

Ok, this doesn't technically qualify for the Mile High Club but it was at the airport, and I was supposed to be on the plane when I was eating this. 

I arrived at SFO with a hungry stomach and just enough time to grab a quick bite before the flight to Denver.  But just my luck, because of stormy weather, the flight was delayed for FOUR HOURS.  Now I had all the time to eat.

There weren't too many options for food in the terminal aside from a cafe and Perry's, a sit-down restaurant with a bar.  A bar?  Hell yes, I'm going there.

We waited about 10 minutes for a table.  I loved the blue checkered table cloths...it made it feel like a nice cafe instead of some restaurant inside of an airport.  First things first. Order a drink!

I ordered a mojito with a double shot.  Why not?  Something had to keep my brain off of the fact that I would be living an extra four hours of my life inside of an airport.  Damn, it was a good one too, nice and sweet, but also stiff.  I couldn't taste how hard it was, but believe me, after two of them I wasn't an angry bitch complaining nonstop about the delayed nonstop to Denver. 

The food was good too, but on the pricey side.  What can you expect though from an airport?  I ordered the Salmon BLT that came with house chips and tomato bisque.  I can tell my boy had entree envy, so we went halfsies and I acquired half of his pastrami on rye.  The chips were soooo good, and I dipped most of them in the soup.  The BLT sandwich was good too, and I liked how they served it on an onion roll.  I had to order more sauerkraut to go with the pastrami; it was kind of dry and heavy on the meat.  I like meat, but not when it's the only thing in my mouth!

Since we were pretty much on a free flight, we decided to splurge and get dessert.  It was a toss-up between either that or another order of chips, but the dessert eventually won.  We decided on the warm Oreo brownie with homemade marshmallow fluff and vanilla bean gelato.  It was good, because how can a brownie not be good, but not something that I'll dream about at night. 

I left that spot with a happy high from all the food and drinks.  And after all that money and time spent, it was only an hour that passed.  Damn!

Eating Out: Mama's Chicken Noodle

Doesn't the name of Mama's Chicken Noodle restaurant just make you want to get all warm and cozy? The actual location even brings me back to my childhood. That same building used to be a KFC that was around the corner from my grandparent's house, but now it's a whole other place, and instead of me lickin' my fingers good, I'm slurpin' it all up.

There is no way I could go there and not order some soup. I didn't get the chicken noodle; instead I ordered the wonton soup with egg noodles. The wontons were super stuffed, and some even had full shrimp inside.

The eggrolls arrived towards the end of the meal and I liked the rolls, nice and thick, but not really the sauce. I also ordered a Vietnamese coffee, and the waiter damn near forgot to give it to me.  I should have just forgot about it because damn, it was strong!  The crazy hyena woman came out of me on the car ride home....and well into the night. 

Eating Out: La Vic

Mexican food is my weakness, and with all the taco trucks and taquerias around me, I should probably be eating a burrito once a day.

Everybody always talks about the orange sauce from La Vic.  It's creamy, spicy, and orange, and I heard it was some crazy recipe that I don't want to know about. 

I ordered the veggie burrito ($4.95) filled with beans, rice, salsa, guac, cheese, and sour cream. Almost like the super burrito but without the meat, of course. When I was a vegetarian, I realized that I don't need meat in Mexican food. To be a little different, I asked for a spinach tortilla.

This thing was so fat it stood up on it's own.  Burritos should always be like that.  I ate half and wrapped the rest up so I could munch on it later. 

Eating Out: Crab House

Today I played tourist in San Francisco by visiting the Fisherman’s Wharf. I haven’t been to actual Pier 39 in years. We were going whale watching but I was most excited about eating. I usually just get a sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder from the outside stalls, but this time I wanted a sit down spot (and one that validates parking!).

It was a toss-up between Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. and the Crab House, and we ended up at Crab House. I haven’t been to either.

There was a short wait for a table and I requested one right next to the window overlooking the pier, near the sea lions. I loved the crabs that decorated the perimeter of the restaurant, each crab possessing a fun and unique costume...I'm talking taxi crabs, technologicrabs, you get the picture. 

To be different than the normal clam chowder, we ordered crab chowder ($6.95 cup, $9.95 bowl). It had chunks of vegetables but not too much crab in my opinion. The soup was also watery. I used most of my complimentary mini-baguette to soak up the liquids.  I also packed the extra baguette in my purse. 

We also ordered garlic bread with mozzarella ($6.95), garlic noodles ($9.95), and a child’s macaroni and cheese ($6.95). The garlic bread was only 4 pieces of bread (2 slices of baguette cut in half!) with cheese on top. The cheese was rubbery and didn’t taste too much garlic. Plus it was a rip-off. On the other hand, the garlic noodles had tons of flavor. I have a thing for garlic noodles.  Slurppppp.

I also have a thing for macaroni and cheese. What’s interesting is that their mac ‘n cheese doesn’t use macaroni, but fettuccine noodles. Shouldn't you call it fettuccine and cheese?  The sauce was cheesy and thick, but pairing it with those long flat noodles doesn’t feel right to eat it like that.  I have standards.

The best part of my meal was the pineapple mojito ($9.00). Probably one of the best I’ve ever had! I had to get two of them.  I probably would have ordered two even if they were horrible. 

I don’t think I’ll go back to the Crab House again for food. I can cross it off my list. If the crab chowder isn’t to die for then I should be eating my crab somewhere else. But for a mojito…..I might reconsider….

Mile High Club: Virgin Atlantic Airplane Food

For some reason, I love eating out high in the sky...on airplanes. I don't care how terrible people say that airplane food is, I always clean my tray.

I was kind of excited to fly Virgin for the first time.  Yes, a virgin on Virgin.  I've heard all the cool, posh things about the airline, so I hoped that the food was good.  On a flight to London from SFO on Virgin Atlantic, I realized maybe all that hype just applied to domestic flights because there really wasn't anything special except for a few cute stewardesses with even cuter British accents.  But because I like to eat on planes, I pigged out on Cesar salad, and some meat, mashed potatoes, and veggies. Pretty much a TV dinner, but I like TV dinners.  It was a small serving but they kept us full with snacks throughout the flight so it wasn't so bad. My only complaint was the cold dinner roll. Gross. I loved the cutesy purple utensils though.

Eating Out: Horatio's Happy Hour

Aside from the water and proximity to outlet shopping, another highlight of living by the Marina is being near one of my favorite restaurants, Horatio's. The views of the sunset over the water are amazing during Happy Hour, probably the only time I ever really go there. Don't get me wrong, I love the nautical decor and the menu that's quite extensive, but eating there outside of the bar can get a little expensive. 



I'm a little food whore when it comes to eating out at Horatio's.  I'll go twice in the same day, with whoever, I don't care.  Or I'll even stay longer, keeping that food coming.



These pomegranate margaritas are only $4 during happy hour. The best part about them is the sugar rim. This sugar is super fine and just makes the drink so much tastier. I usually end up licking the glass. Classy.



I usually order the usual, but when I walked in today I noticed a gentleman eating this smoked salmon dish ($7.95 during happy hour). Everything looked good, but what got me were the little pickles.



Mmmm, little pickles, where have you been all of my life? I learned that they are called cornichons, but I will just call them delicious. The whole dish went well together: moist salmon mixed with capers and formed into a patty and topped with creme fraiche and caviar. I don't really care for caviar. I ate it with the fresh potato chips and cucumber slices. This will be one of my new happy hour eats.



Of course we had to order something familiar, so we relied on the macadamia crusted brie ($6.95) to fill us up. The honey drizzles and sweet and tart apple slices really make this dish delish. I've copied something like this at home, except I don't deep fry the cheese, I just bake it with macadamia nut crumbles.

One word of advice...don't get the spicy ahi tacos if you are hungry. They are not like taco truck tacos at all, just some fancy concoction where the tuna serves as the tortilla. $15 for 4 pieces? I'm definitely sticking to the happy hour menu. But if some millionaire is buying you dinner, then get it all, girl!  The world is in your mouth.  Let me find myself a millionaire and we'll skip the happy hour for the full entree.   Really though, if you are hungry and expecting a taco because you are from California and you know what a taco is, then don't get the tacos. 

Homegirl Cooking: $5 Lobster

Some twist of fate pulled me to Safeway on a random day...a day when signs everywhere promoted $5 lobster for the next few days. I'm all about the good life on a budget, so I instagrammed the photo to share the love, and planned on going to cop some tail bright and early the next morning.

I picked up 6 tails, the limit, but that couldn't be enough. I made other plans to go back after work but by then, they were sold out.

And sold out the next morning, too. So I called in the morning after that, and yes, lobster was back in stock so I rushed there with another head so I could get 12 more. Gotta get em when it's good!



For the first batch, we just steamed the tail and served it with my favorite lemon butter, along with some teriyaki sirloin and asparagus and a baked potato. So simple yet extravagant.  And hella fancy.  I got that asparagus at the 99 cent store too! 



We didn't finish 6 tails in 1 night, so Jada had some lobster leftovers for her school lunch. Yes, she's a lucky girl and we like to keep it fun, unlike all those boring kids who just eat Lunchables and drink Capri Sun. 

I tried to go back and get even more tails, but they sold out again. Oh well, because I still have to figure out what to do with the rest of mine.

Munchies: Candy from the UK

I should have learned from my last trip. In Hawaii, I had to check in a huge box just to carry the all chocolate I was bringing home.

On this trip to the United Kingdom, the last of my pounds were spent on the pounds of chocolate...which will turn back into pounds (but not money, if you know what I'm sayin'!).  An inside tip from SuperNoodleRach led to a late night rampage at a market in Leeds, and a last minute scavenge at the Heathrow Airport in London.



Damn, was it worth it. Malteasers have always been a favorite, but those are the candies that I rarely come across. So when it's in abundance, I buy by the bundles! And the Twix....for some reason it tasted better in the UK. I've had Twix from Saudi Arabia before, and that stuff was nasty!

But my ultimate favorite was the Aero bars. There's just something about those tiny little air bubbles that just make the chocolate so much better. I especially liked the mint Aeros. That's something that I'm going to have to savor while it's here.



From now on, my suitcases will always be filled with chocolate from where I travel.

Eating Out: UK McDonald's

Rarely do I ever go to McDonald's, not because I'm too good, but because it's kind of against my religion.  But I've decided that whenever I travel to faraway lands, I would try something different on the McDonald's menu.  All the locals must think I'm sort of boring American girl who only eats at McDonald's.  Ha...if only they knew where my tongue has been!

In the United Kingdom, most of the menu is the same, so I went for the Filet-O-Fish, a dish that I often miss but deny myself of back home. The one thing that did differ and stand out to me was the Apple & Blackberry pie. YUMMMMM! This is like the old fried apple pies, but better.

It was a good thing we at at Mickey D's because with all the pounds spent out there, my wallet needed a break, and nothing is cheaper than this.

Eating Out: Toppings Too

What you are looking at is a sizzling plate of BBQ chicken and java rice from Toppings Too in Union City. This is that Filipino stuff that my mama never made.  I have no clue what that creamy gravy sauce drizzled over the chicken but I think I love it. The pickled atchara isn't my favorite, probably because there is no papaya in it, but how I still ate it all. The rest of the plate....well, that was going to be my dinner because there is not way I could finish that.  I like to eat...but not that much!



My baon (leftovers).