San Francisco Bay Bridge

Fall Napa Trip

I woke up this morning, thinking of all the things I am thankful for. Top on my list is living in an area that has so many natural places to explore, like Napa. A short scenic car drive brings the opportunity to explore bountiful vineyards, good wine and great food. What more can one ask for?

A Beautiful Story ♥

Top 5 Signs from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

On Saturday around 200,000 people rallied in Washington D.C. at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. I wish I could have seen it first hand but I did get to enjoy reading some the signs from the event.  Here are my top 5 favorite out of the 100 found on here.

San Francisco Ferry Building

Campanile at U.C Berkeley

The Campanile at U.C Berkeley campus looked magical tonight under the full moon after a savory meal at Bongo Burgers.

Raygun Gothic Rocket Ship Landed on Embarcadero

The Raygun Gothic Rocket Ship is temporarily visiting the Embarcadero between it's stellar trips. The 40-foot rocket ship, according to its official site, is critical kitsch somewhere between the Moons of Mango and Mongo Nouveau. The local artists Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, and David Shulma wanted to in a small way encourage people to to inspire people to create, dream and invent… to help generate a little spark of the imagination and to grease the wheels of ingenuity. 

White Lotus Yoga Retreat

I spent Labor Day weekend at the White Lotus Foundation in the Santa Barbara hills. The four day retreat was filled with a lot of yoga taught by Ganga of Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice and eating amazing vegetarian food made by Beatrix from The Art of Taste : A Gourmet Guide to Vegetarian Cooking. Aside from doing yoga, and eating delicious fresh food, we spent a lot of time exploring the 40 acres of nature and finding spots to relax. 

Namaste White Lotus

I woke up early this morning with a lot of excitement to make it to this beautiful pond at the White Lotus Foundation. I am attending a four day yoga retreat at White Lotus. I signed up when I learned that a friend from work did a two week program there and really enjoyed it. The next four days will be filled with praticing yoga, meditation, hiking, eating healthy and sleeping in a yurt for the first time.

Cucumber martini

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This is one of my favorite summer drinks now! I tried this cucumber martini at Union Restaurant and Lounge in Aria Hotel, Las Vegas. It was very refreshing. It also helped tame my hunger since it came with half a salad inside. 

Local Mission Eatery

Chilled Corn Soup + Crab (mmm..amazing. must try)

Farm & Market Salad (good. fresh ingredients)

Roasted Goat Pibil (didn't love it. very fatty)

Thanks to another Blackboard Eats (BBE) deal, I got to try Local Mission Eatery last weekend. The deal BBE offered was great - a free bottle of wine with dinner! I expected the restaurant to give us their cheapest bottle of wine but the wine choices were very good. The fact that they offered the best wine as the "freebie" also highlighted their superb service.

In regards to the food, I appreciated the locally grown fresh ingredients but have to say that I wasn't in love with most of what we tried. That is except for the chilled corn soup. This tasted like delicious corn flakes soaked in chilled cream to me. I would go back for a bowl of chilled, creamy cornflakes and another good bottle of wine off course.

San Francisco Summer Walks

Summers are for relaxing, exploring, lots of eating, and wishing the San Francisco fog away. One of my favorite summer time activities is going on walks through the city.  A walk, like this one through Napier Lane,  is one way to explore San Francisco. It's also a great way to ignore the summer blues, which is often a symptom of staycations. Looking at Google Insights for Search  staycation searches rise during the summer.  If you are planning to stay in San Francisco a lot this summer, try exploring the the city through the many free walking tours. Happy walking SF!

SPQR

The last couple months I have been tackling my must try San Francisco restaurant list. Starting with Range, then Gitane and I finally went to SPQR. The fresh dishes at this little Italian restaurant was mouthwatering. If you can't tell from the photos, I promise you it is very delicious. However, the portions are a bit small for the price. Thanks to the Black Bird Eat deal the dining experience was not as pricey as it could have been. I am going to wait for another deal to try it again.

YouTube - lifeinaday's Channel

The Life in a Day project launched early this morning! This is a unique global experiment that only takes place today. Kevin MacDonald, the director, is asking people all over the world to become their own directors and capture a moment of their day -July 24, 2010. You have from today until July 31 to submit your captured moment to be considered for the feature film. The most compelling footages will be included and featured in a user-generated film capturing July 24, 2010.  We'll have to wait until January 2011 to see what happened today all over the world. The movie will premier at the Sundance Film Festival and YouTube. You can submit your video here: YouTube - lifeinaday's Channel

SOMA brewed coffee experience

Just tried Sight Glass coffee this morning on my way to work. They've been in SOMA  for about a year but just recently started roasting their coffee on-site.mmm..The smell of roasting coffee in the simple space will draw coffee lovers in. I may be banned from SOMA for saying this but I actually like it better than Blue Bottle because it's not as strong.  The coffee taste and the fact that they are opening a full coffee bar make me want to visit more.

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Pura Vida

Before leaving for Costa Rica, I did a little research for this post and learned that it’s one of the top ranked happy countries. I wondered why? At my arrival, I learned it’s simply because they embrace Pura Vida. This expression is the unofficial motto of Costa Ricans and it simply means “pure life” or “just life.”  Costa Ricans will use it to express how they are and who they are. The expression embodies Costa Ricans’ perseverance, sense of community and the celebration of a easygoing lifestyle.  It’s really the Costa Ricans way of living. They are happy, and proud of their country, and of what they have.  

A Week in the Happy Country

I am taking off tomorrow to Costa Rica a.k.a the happiest country in the world.  Ever since I randomly heard that Costa Rica is the happiest country in the world I became intrigued with it. That and the fact that it’s hugged by two coasts and, as I recently learned, home to the three toed sloth. At first I didn’t really believe the happiest country label, but then I read an op-ed by Nicholas D. Kristof in the NYTs and started to think there might be some truth to this.  He refers to Costa Ricans as the happiest people and highlights indexes that ranked the country high on the happy index.  I wasn’t sure how accurate the indexes were because it seemed like they generally ask people to rate themselves.  For example, the World Data off Happiness, asked people to rate their own happiness on a 10-point scale. In this index Costa Rica averaged at 8.5.  I was still skeptical because I thought not all values and desires transfer culturally. The criterion a Costa Rican may want to be happy may differ from a Croatian. But then maybe some things like education, good health and environment are universal.  The more I learned about Costa Rica, the more I thought to myself “hey they do have things to be happy about!” For example, they invest a lot in education and the environment and not in a military. They also live slightly longer than Americans, and have an ecological footprint that is less than a quarter the size.  Healthy lifestyle, good education, and environment are all important factors for a happy life. I also realized that I’ve never met any Costa Ricans in the U.S or abroad. Could it be that they are so happy in Costa Rica that they never leave? Who knows for sure but I am excited to see the happy country and if the happy rumors are true may be I will end up staying there as well.

Masa's Restaurant is a Food Marathon

The cuisine at Masa's was amazing but I wish I had been more strategic about my approach to the dinner. I should have prepared for the dining experience much like my first half marathon.  

I should have watched what I ate earlier that date, paced myself during the dinner by eating slowly and taking breaks and made sure that I made it to the end with enough energy (room in my belly) for the sweet dessert. The seven course meal was so overwhelming tasty and each dish so unique that I can't even remember every dish. I just remember the whole three hour meal as a collage of different dishes much like the picture above.

Dipsea Trail @ Stinson Beach

Slow summer hike at Stinson Beach. Started at Dipsea Trail. After 7.5 miles surrounded by pine woods, rivers, rolling hills overshadowing the Pacific and breathtaking views we ended up at the Sand Dollar Restaurant to enjoy live music and fresh fish sandwiches. 

Gitane

Gitane has been on the top of my restaurant list for awhile now. After trying it a couple weeks ago... it has moved to the top of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco! Everything about the dining experience was delicious. The ambiance is elective but still comfy, the food is mainly inspired by the Iberian peninsula yet there is a lot of menu variety. I had the steak with bone marrow but I could have gone vegetarian that night and been fully satisfied with the choice. Also, the bartenders are experts of their crafts. We each got a concoction of our liking. I already want to go back!

Vegas May 2010

Let Go of My Milkshake

Pico restaurant in Larkspur has the best chocolate Madeleines
and milkshakes I have ever had. The only problem is that as soon as we sat down the waiter told us about their share policy. They want food to be shared so they set every dish in the middle of the table. This way it can be easily accessed and enjoyed by all. Well, this wasn't a problem with the salads, burger and halibut that we shared but as soon as the waiter set down this dessert - Oh trouble! We all forgot the sharing policy and it was a grab for all throw down.

House of Prime Rib

Dinner at the House of Prime Rib felt like I had dropped in a scene from a Mad Men episode. A couple of men in traditional suits with combed over hair came to our initial drink table by the bar to welcome us. As one of them escorted us through the crowded restaurant to our booth, I wished I had a pencil skirt on and a cocktail as an accessory. It’s a good thing that the smell of cooked beef, made me hungry because this place does not stop feeding you. As you can see from my plate. Before this plate of meat and sides, we go delicious bread, regular roll and corn, with a fresh made salad. After eating all this they offered me an extra complimentary slice. I heard from previous diners that they do this often so expect it. The best part is that everything is offered as a package so it's a good meal deal. 

The Cheeseboard - Best Pizza Ever

One of my life's mission is to find the best pizza ever and I am a little sad to say that I think the journey ended at Cheeseboard because I liked the trial process. Cheeseboard pizza is by far the best pizza I have had. The crust is perfectly crunchy without being too dry and the ingredients all were so fresh and tasty. They only make one type of pizza everyday but you can check out on their site what it is before making a trip to Berkeley to grab a slice.