I REALLY, really needed a weekend.

Last week was rough with 5AM wakeup calls every day for booty-kicking bootcamps and entirely not enough sleep. Next week begins with a 4:30AM wakeup call to head to Utah for most of the week. Labor Day weekend, how I needed you.

Friday night I was pretty exhausted but I had big plans with my girl Talia for jam making. Yes, this is an important activity. I had delusions that I would leave work early but of course there was a nice handful of us in the office at 5:30PM on Labor Day Friday and that was when I threw in the towel and just left. I picked up Tali and her collection of pots and headed to my Haight Street Hobbit Hole. First, however, we needed grub. We headed to Kezar Pub in Cole Valley and split a veggie burger and a prawn quesadilla.

Then it was home for jam making. We used the same Strawberry Jam with Balsamic Vinegar recipe I’ve already posted on the blog and settled in for the long haul. Four hours to make 13 jars? Yeah. That. In the meantime we chatted about everything and even watched half an episode of the Bachelor Pad (barf. Never again!)

Totally worth it though in the end for great jam. A pyramid of it, in fact!

Saturday I was soooooo excited to sleep in after the exhausting week and my nearly-1AM jam-caused bedtime, but of course I woke up at 7AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. Boo. After a big breakfast fail and more successful second attempt, I hopped in the ‘Sub and headed off to Santa Cruz for a day on the beach.

A day on the cold, windy beach with my blanket wrapped around me tightly. Totally worth it though, as I got to catch up with some old friends from Peace Corps in Mozambique. It was great to get out of the city if even only for a day. We had pasta for dinner which brought me right back to Peace Corps big parties. Easiest way to feed a bunch of people when you’re cooking on a tiny charcoal grill!

Sunday I managed to wake up in time for the Cheesy Run! I ran 10 miles, the majority of it with Katie, Alyssa, and Layla, which was great fun. I missed the Cheesy part of the cheesy run to hang out with a friend, but got to check out Café Flore on the corner of Market and Noe streets for the first time and enjoy my own cheesy spinach frittata. And it was a gorgeous day out. Perfect Sunday afternoon.

After a much-needed Sunday afternoon nap, I grabbed a couple jars of jam and jumped on the bus down to the Mission where I was going to meet Cate and Alyssa and their SO’s for dinner at Big Lantern.  got there early so I jumped in this random, crowded bookstore next door and grabbed two guidebooks, one for SF and one for Costa Rica. Can you say “next trip?”

Big Lantern was AWESOME! I really loved orange chicken back when I was an omnivore and their orange meatless chicken was spot-on. Granted, it was breaded, fried and covered in goopy orange sauce so I guess you can’t really lose, but still. Other dishes included the dim sum veggie combo, orange meatless beef, and kung pao tofu (I kept stealing bites off of Cate’s plate, it was so good).

The afterparty was outside of Cate’s car enjoying just a few too many of her vegan chocolate cupcakes that tasted like pure heaven. I don’t really want to even think about how many I ate. SO GOOD.

And this all brings me to today—Labor Day. I didn’t really make plans, which turned into working for at least 3 hours this morning (not ideal) and then absolutely needing to get out of the house as soon as possible. I knew I needed to do some more work online and a friend recommended Java Beach, the café right at the N-Judah turnaround at Ocean Beach. I was so excited until I got all the way out there and there was a long line, no tables, no one looking like they were going to leave anytime soon, and tons of people already poised to pounce. I had waited in the line anyway so I impulsively ordered a hot apple cider and then even more impulsively ordered a cookie at the counter to meet the $5 credit card minimum.

It took me about 20 minutes to get my drink and at this point it was almost 2PM and I was absolutely starving (had breakfast at 8) so I pretty much inhaled the cookie and then headed over to their sister café, Beachside, for half a vegan banh mi to go.

I LOVED banh mis when I was in Vietnam, but they were so good because of the delicious pate and sauce on them. This vegan version had a slab of tofu marinated in something, with onions, parsley, and carrot on it. It was pretty good, but also I ate it in what seemed like three bites as my stomach was on the verge of digesting itself. It’s probably REALLY good with the homemade aioli that I unfortunately eschewed.

Realizing I wasn’t going to get any laptop space down at OB, I hopped back on the N-Judah down to the inner sunset and landed at the Old Jerusalem Café, where I sit blogging and thinking about just how much I still have to do today. 4:30AM will come way too soon, but at least I’ve spend the majority of the weekend having a lot of fun with friends! And eating a bit too much.

Off to finish the blog, then to laundry and exercise! Hope everyone had a GREAT labor day weekend.

Courtney

What were your long weekend highlights?

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