San FranCelia

This weekend I decided to leave the concrete jungle, step out of my zone, and go to the country.  Yes, the country.  Now when I say the country, it’s more like a vacation since the only real country near the City also happens to be near the wine country, too.  This spot, a rustic paradise to anyone who has been, is like being on vacation, even when just driving through – absolutely gorgeous!  A good friend of mine just moved up to Petaluma (the very start of the wine country from the South, in case you aren’t familiar), and as a housewarming nod, she threw a party.  Her new house is this amazing little cottage across from a small park in the historic district.  What an adorable little section of town.  At the same time as the party, just a few blocks over, this cute little organic farming town was throwing its annual “Butter and Eggs” festival.  A local told me it was because Petaluma was a chicken farming community to start, and so they decided to have a festival for eggs, and

 decided butter was a good addition – sounds like some of the details may be missing, but who cares, butter and eggs are delicious, after all, so what’s the difference.  The parade route was on my friend’s street, and it was really charming.  IPA ALE band float, horses, and fire trucks – very fun and small town-esque.  Sometimes getting out of the City is a real necessity.  It’s good to get away and enjoy not only nature, but also constant sunshine and parking in abundance.  The actual festival is very family-oriented (think pony rides, petting zoos, and even cow chip tossing contests, hmmm… there was a beer garden – not all was lost), so we decided to stay at the house, BBQ, play old fashioned games – yes, sack racing, three-legged races, and of course egg-tossing contests – and enjoy a cocktail or two.  Such a great time!  This community, being larger than most “small towns”, has kept that small town feel.  It was such a great place to spend a lazy Saturday.

 If you want to get away for the day, check out old antique shops before hitting up a yummy organic market, head out to Petaluma for a low-key weekend. 

Peace and love Xo

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Tsunami Sushi Panhandle in the Western Addition/NOPA district leaves you satisfied, and is a real treat.  Went there for my friend Liza’s birthday dinner, and we started by ordering a ton of appetizers, sashimi, and champagne (of course!).  We had these fried sweet potato wedges, with the ‘magic mushroom’ salmon sushi starter, and Cajun Ahi.  All melted in your mouth and left you with a warm feeling inside (you know that feeling you get from either great food or great sex…yeah that one.)  The service was a little bit eager when we began – she kept asking us if we were ready, when we not only had just gotten there, but also were clearly not ready.  I hate pushy service.  If you’re paying a lot or are a big party, I think restaurants should be like the French and let that group own the table for a time without feeling rushed.  She did ease up after a few minutes, however, so it was really fine in the end.  I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir since I can’t generally do too much champagne, and we all started to enjoy the ambiance.  It’s got dim lights and house music playing in the background with a bustling crowd to add to the surroundings.  We sat in the window booth for a large group, and the only complaint was that the shape of the booth and the music speaker location made it kind of difficult for the entire table to chat without getting a little loud. 

Everything that came out after the appetizers was amazing, as well.  Each of us ordered a roll, and then we ordered a couple more for good measure and decided just to family style it.  When it came out, the presentation was flawless and it looked beautiful (well at least as far as food goes – I really like to eat, so I suspect that’s why I see it as beautiful).  Some highlights – the Scorpion Roll, the Volcano Roll, The 5 Sisters Roll, and the Mama San Roll… delicious!  You could taste the freshness in the fish – when you can eat the fish without soy sauce and it’s amazing, you know it’s the good stuff.  I also love Inari when it’s done right, and they do it right.  For dessert we ordered the green tea mochi and cheesecake, and I’ve got to say, my new favorite dessert may be green tea cheesecake.  It was amazing – the perfect amount of cream, tea flavor, and crust… my mouth is watering as I write this… yumm! 

Cool spot overall, and the servers there turned out to be really nice, helpful, and hip – they could have had a little more of an clothing code for the atmosphere they are trying to portray, but it was ok.  Pricing was a little bit much ($30 and under – rolls start around $10), so only worth it on special occasions for the ambiance and scrumptious, fresh rolls.  One of the best things about this city is it’s amazing variety of restaurants that are really rather good.  This is another to be added to the list.  Go with friends and take you’re time when you’re there – it’s a perfect spot to for having a fun group dinner.

Peace and love Xo 

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Sometimes I’m at different events in San Francisco, I sit back, and I realize how lucky I am to live here.  Today was a beautiful day in Dolores Park in the Mission.  This park is such a pivotal part of San Francisco.  It’s in the middle of one of the hottest sections of the city – and while it’s hot in the sense of trend, it’s also warmer than most of the rest of the City.  Today was an eighty degree day, which, for anyone who lives here knows never happens, and if it does, you’re willing to take a PTO day off of work to mess around the City enjoying the rare feeling of bare shoulders.  We started out going to The Phoenix for lunch, and while it looks like a divey little Irish Pub, it actually has really good food.  Hearty and refreshingly different from what pub food can be, it’s a real find.  I had the garden burger and fries, and while that was really good, it wasn’t a super adventurous choice.  I tasted everyone’s food, however, and the veggie hash scramble and the different eggs benedict styles were very delish.  Cool spot that actually turns into a bar after hours (where’s I’ve been to in the past, but didn’t realize it since it’s so different at lunch time – or maybe it was the beer I had when I was there before… hmmm???). 

 Stepped out of The Phoenix, and decided we wanted to just “be” in Dolores Park for awhile – you could seriously get a tan today it was so out of character.  Every type of person comes

to this park.  To our left were a few girls hula-hooping, to our right there was a DJ booth, with a soccer game straight ahead and a few people on stilts walking through all the blankets.  It gets so busy when the weather is nice, and it’s just like eye candy everywhere, especially if you like to people watch.  Sunglasses are practically required, so it’s a good show for sure.  I love how everyone is drinking and playing Frisbee with their dogs and friends alike – so chill.  You can practically feel the happiness caused by the sudden influx of good weather.  Liz and I decided we wanted to dance, so we headed over to the DJ booth.  It turns out it was a fundraiser for AIDS, and they were showcasing a bunch of local rap artists.  So cool – we danced to some old favorites and then got to hear some guys flowing.  They were actually pretty good – a local celebrity, Audio Angel, was among the artists at the booth, so that was amazing.  One girl from this old choir I was in was also dancing – this really is such a small town.  Everyone was in their swimsuits and no one was shy… you get the impression everyone’s really happy when they are hanging out here; it’s always so warm, the vibe kind of rubs off. 

 We then decided to head over to Sushi Bistro on 6^th and Balboa.  This spot just moved from about half a block away, because it’s gotten so popular that it needed to expand.  It went from being a small, tropical looking place, to “very New York” as my friend Michelle said.  It’s true – everything is chocolate brown and warm lighting.  It’s a great date spot, I’ve been there for that at night, but during the day, I’d prefer if there was more light.  The food is amazing, though, so it kind of doesn’t matter.  We got so many rolls it’s hard to remember, but some standouts were the Rock N’ Roll, the Caterpillar Roll, and the Spicy Crunchy Roll.Everything there is extremely fresh and tasty, so you really can’t go wrong.  Definitely a spot you will want to make yourself a regular at.

It was too nice out to just go home, so we headed over to Ocean Beach to check out the

sunset.  There were so many people out – unreal.  Every fire pit was taken and there was no stopping the crowds, even at 7:30pm.  We watched the sun go down, and just hung out in the surf for about an hour.  What a gorgeous spot.  The beach gets a bad reputation since most of the time it’s about four degrees and covered in trash and homeless people, but it’s got a breathtaking view of the Marin Headlands that can’t be beat. 

What a fun day in the City!  The best part is that you can be in so many different neighborhoods throughout the day since it’s so small – this is awesome, because each has a different vibe and feel to experience.  Today, for example, was just an average Sunday, nothing out of the ordinary.  There is always something to do, people to see, cool spots to check out, even when it’s not a festival weekend.  See… I’m so lucky!

Peace and love Xo

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