Restaurant | Pancakes and Postcards

Labor Day Eatventures

September 5, 2011 by Courtney 13 Comments

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! Smile

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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Filed Under: Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: chinese, coffee, holiday, jam, restaurant, restaurant review, SF, unhealthy goodness

You Had Me at “Orange Meatless Chicken”

September 1, 2011 by Courtney 14 Comments

Last night was my fourth GrubWithUs dinner and my first where I got to dine with the lovely Jana! These dinners are a great way to meet cool new people and also, equally cool, to get to try a wide variety of dishes from a cool new restaurant all at once. Previous GWU meals have included:

And last night I got a chance to go to Yum Yum Hunan, a Chinese restaurant in lower pacific heights on Divisadero. And we had a vegetarian menu! Double score.

Shockingly enough, TWO (!!) of the eight diners did not show up so for the six of us that were there—more for us!

We started with either hot and sour or eggflower soup, veggie spring rolls, and potstickers. The potstickers were awesome! I tend to think egg rolls don’t taste like much besides the awesome neon sauce, but these were good too!

they brought food out so quick it was super overwhelming! all of a sudden our table was just absolutely overflowing with plates and I didn’t really know what to do with it. Anyways.

We had four different entrees:

Salt and Pepper Tofu (all right)

Bok Choy and Mushrooms (good!)

Kung Pao Tofu (really good!)

Eggplant (photo fail)—was really delicious though, highly recommend

Orange Meatless Chicken (!!!) this was what I was by far the most excited for. I love orange chicken. This was absolutely my favorite dish.

Everything was served with either white or brown rice. Dessert was fried bananas and green tea ice cream.

There was great conversation, there were fortune cookies, and there was checking in on Yelp. (One of our diners is a Yelp staffer, another an aspiring Elite!)

I really hope my fortune is accurate.

I would definitely come back to Yum Yum Hunan for some more potstickers and meatless chicken. Smile

new September goals post coming soon. have a great Thursday everyone!

Do fake meats creep you out? Maybe it’s only because I’ve been a vegetarian for less than a year, but I love them

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Filed Under: Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: chinese, food, foodie, restaurant, restaurant review, San Francisco, SF

Wine Bars and Veggie Delights

August 26, 2011 by Courtney 10 Comments

San Francisco is a great city to live in. It’s an even better city to eat in. Yesterday, I pretty much broke all my rules (guidelines) as I had two big food-and-booze focused events to get through: Company Culture wine tasting and my third GrubWithUs dinner.

Our quarterly company culture event took us to The Wine Club on Harrison between 5th and 6th. This place has a ton of wines and does a lot of cheap tastings. We took the place over with two cases of wine and more food than even I could eat.

As you can imagine, my “I’m not drinking I have to run” turned into a glass of champagne and o taste of red wine, and my “I’m not snacking I am going to a big dinner” turned into… well, let’s just say I can’t remember everything about the afternoon.

I always appreciate company culture events because I get a chance to enjoy the company of my coworkers, who I genuinely like, without suffering from the unfortunate yet inevitably stress of the office.

After I ate and drank more than enough for a dinner it was time to… go to dinner. I’ve written about my first (Italian) and second (hippie vegetarian) GrubWithUs dinners, and last night was dinner #3. (If you’re unfamiliar with the concept: essentially, the company coordinates group meals at restaurants and prepays for the family-style meals, which include appetizers, entrees, and dessert. Then, eight or so strangers sign up to go to dinner with new people! It’s a great way to make new friends and/or network in a no-pressure setting.)

We went to Golden Era Vegetarian Restaurant, which is nestled in the sketchy Tenderloin neighborhood (which much more often than not means the food is delicious) and had great reviews on Yelp so I was excited to check it out.

Our appetizers were spring rolls, potstickers, and papaya salad, all vegetarian of course.

I LOVE a fried spring roll, but wherever I go, fresh spring rolls don’t taste like much to me, I just really like the peanut sauce.

The pot stickers were good! No picture of the papaya salad as I only got exactly two bites of it so you couldn’t get a sense of it on my plate, but it was yummy and spicy.

Then for the entrees:

That would be “super kale” with ginger miso dressing and organic flax crumbles. I am getting a new digital camera in September. I promise. No more horrible iPhone pics!

By far the best dish of the night in my opinion was this lemongrass “chicken.” I’m split on the whole fake-meat thing, but I will say that as a vegetarian who most likely will eat meat again at some point, this was REALLY good.

We also got the House Rice Claypot with tofu, fake soy chicken, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and ginger.

And a spicy (except not) sweet potato curry with tofu and garbanzos in a coconut curry sauce.

And don’t forget the Spicy Jalapeno Tofu, of course.

Dessert was shared—two pieces of cheesecake and two chocolate. The cheesecake kind of tasted like nothing, but the chocolate was good—very moussey.

Overall, this place was okay. I think part of it was that the portions weren’t great for 8 people—the other two GWU dinners I’ve been to have had more than enough food but this one did not. And with the high reviews a lot of the dishes were a little eh—that being said though, they have a HUGE menu and I would totally come back and get the lemongrass faux chicken again and try something else from their menu. And of course, I go to these to meet new people and make new friends—finding new restaurants is just a bonus. Smile

WAY past my bedtime. Happy Friday everyone!

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Filed Under: Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: chinese, Grubwithus, restaurant, restaurant review, SF, vegetarian

Weekend Wrap-Up: GrubWithUs, Harry and AIDS Walk SF

July 17, 2011 by Courtney 20 Comments

What a week(end).

Last week was crazy stressful, mostly because of work. I logged pretty ridiculous hours and then was trying to do other stuff at the same time and it didn’t work out so well. And I did NOT get a chance to relax this weekend. But it’s okay because it was mostly fun things! Friday I got to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: attend a GrubWithUs dinner!

GrubWithUs is a company that organizes group dinners for 8 people, usually. You sign up on grubwithus.com and your meal price (usually between $20-30) includes all the food, tax, and gratituity, so once you get there you only have to pay for booze (separate checks). Then you just show up and meet 7 other interesting people! I’ve been wanting to go for a while and finally got the chance. I was especially excited because it was at one of my favorite restaurants in the city: Firenze by Night in the adorable neighborhood of North Beach (little Italy).

I got there a few minutes early so I wandered into a candy shop across the street (oops). Everyone was SO nice who worked there and you could taste their fudge (delectable) and sample the salt water taffies for free! My kind of place. I bought $3 worth of candy on impulse including a really huge roll of Smarties I’m saving for a special time.

And I got free caramel corn with purchase. Ridiculous. Not the best place to go for my new lose-5-pounds resolution, but hey, it’s free.

Then I headed over to the restaurant for dinner. I had a great time! There were a few guys there who worked in the tech/capital world (that’s what most people are at these things in San Francisco, young tech people—such as myself!), a PhD student from Stanford, an engineer from Chile, and a man who worked at UCSF. I love meeting new people, and it’s really cool to do so in such an environment. And it didn’t help that the food was DELICIOUS.

(UGLY AND BLURRY IPHONE PICTURE… I am aware this does not look yummy at all. Pic below is from the first time I went)

This place has the best gnocchi I have ever had. Literally melts in your mouth. And the fish of the day was ridiculous. I cannot even explain it, it was that good. When people say things like that on blogs I usually roll my eyes, but no, this really was THAT good. And the best part was I got to take home a bunch of leftovers so I’ve enjoyed that fish again on Saturday and now Sunday. Triple win.

All together it was a really fun meal and I hope I can sign up for another GrubWithUs dinner soon! You should definitely check it out if you’re in SF, LA, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Atlanta, or DC.

Also, can I just say that a nice Friday evening dinner out, great food, sparkling conversation, no booze, and home and in bed in jammies by 10:30PM tired with a full belly is the BEST way to spend a Friday?! Maybe I’m old, but man. That wins now, every time.

Saturday came and I planned to run 16 miles. It was my last real run before SFMarathon. Basically, I intended to head out super early which didn’t happen, but I tried my best. I ended up getting stuck in cold and wet for most of the time. That’s really the only way to describe it. The bridge was foggy but once I was on it it was legit raining and then by the time I made it to the other side this was the view of downtown SF.

Beautiful, huh? Brrr. Then, for the THIRD time, I tried to follow the SFM course through the Presidio (because I know that is going to be the hardest part, at least for me) and I got lost! I cannot figure out how to get to Lincoln Boulevard from the pedestrian side of the GG bridge! So my entire plan got foiled and I ended up running a kinda sucky route and only doing 14 miles at a 10:30 something pace so it was a WEAK and not fun run but hey, you’re always going to have days like this and I’d rather get them out of the way now so I can hopefully actually finish SFM!

Saturday I had a meeting for AIDS Walk SF (I was a “key volunteer”) and then got on a bus downtown to the Metreon for… Harry! (source)

I saw it with a friend in IMAX/3D (except I can’t really see the 3D part of it) and it was AMAZING. I had heard all good things and I couldn’t believe how much I loved it. I cried so much it was ridiculous. I actually appreciated having the unwieldy 3D glasses because it hid the downpour of tears running down my face. It was a very emotional movie and I’m already thinking about when I can see it again.

Sunday (today) I was up at 5:30am for the AIDS Walk! One of my friends is on the committee for it so I offered to volunteer. It’s a cause near and dear to my heart; as many of you know I spent the last 2+ years doing AIDS work in Africa. I ended up sitting on a street corner for about six hours and working with a park ranger and other volunteers to frequently stop the walk to let the cars go through (we were on the only open road in GG Park). I took NO pictures of the mass of walkers (they predicted 25,000) because it was a pretty stressful job. Most people were super nice, but others got angry at me when I asked them very nicely to wait for a minute so we could clear out the traffic! People kept grumbling that if they had to stop walking for a minute they wouldn’t be able to go again. I didn’t know how to react to that, but needless to say, the time went by pretty fast. It was cool to be a part of the event and brought me back hardcore to my UCLA days of being an RA (all the chatter on the radio!) and on the steering committee of a huge HIV/AIDS fundraising event called Dance Marathon. It was a good time though, but I was very ready to move on from that corner once it was over Smile

Home and planning out the ridiculousness of the week ahead—work, food, workouts, runs, SLEEP, blog—and trying to get in a little mini-workout before I go out to dinner tonight. I really want to take a nap. Very, very bad. Fun weekends are great, but not when they leave me saying at the end, “man, I need a weekend.” Smile Though next one looks pretty open, so hopefully I can lay low.

Hope everyone had a WONDERFUL weekend!

Courtney

What was the best part of your weekend?

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Filed Under: Musings, Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: AIDS Walk, fun, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Grubwithus, Harry Potter, italian, marathon training, restaurant, running, San Francisco, San Francisco Marathon, SF, unhealthy goodness

Foodie BOOK CLUB and Superfood Giveaway!

May 20, 2011 by Courtney 11 Comments

Dear P&P readers…

Meet Talia.

Talia is a rad, fun-loving San Francisco dweller who enjoys baking, exercising, Disney movies, and hanging out with her awesome cat.

Now meet Julia.

Julia is an adorable East Bay resident who recently traded in the exotic life of PR for a new exotic life of law student come fall. She loves hiking, baking, and wine.

You know me already. I’m old news.

Talia, Julia, and I met at Gracias Madre, a Mexican vegan restaurant in SF’s Mission district, for food, gossip, weak margaritas, and to kick off a new exciting event in our lives.

Book club!

Sure, we all like to read, but what else are book clubs for? Making time for cool people to do cool things, or just to hang out. We all love food and cooking. So we are going to be alternating our monthly (ish) meetings with either 1. Going out to a cool SF (or even east bay… WOAH!) restaurant we haven’t tried yet, or 2. Meeting at one of our places to cook and bake. I think next up is molten chocolate lava cake. Who doesn’t like that?

I want to invite any cool 20-something female bay area residents who love food and meeting cool new women to join our book club! I’m serious. It’s not going to be a huge thing, but it’s going to be a fun thing and maybe there’s someone out there who thinks “hey that sounds fun!” If so, please leave me a comment or email me at pancakesandpostcards @ gmail dot com. Our first book is How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O’Neal. Read about it here.

We are meeting on June 18^th. It’s a quick read. Let me know if you want to join us. : )

I feel like this book club of sorts will be one of many “new beginnings” for me over the next few months. But that’s for my next post!(I’m vowing to try this thing where I post more than 2x a week and the posts aren’t a bajillion pages long each. Let’s see if it works.)

Now for a review and a giveaway!

At the end of February, someone from Sun Chlorella USA emailed me and asked if I would do a review of their projects. I said yes, and then moving to San Francisco at the exact same time, this product along with one other were lost in the mail. But what has lost has been found! I finally got the products in my hands about two weeks ago and am finally posting a review now. (I received these items for free from the company, but everything written here is my own opinion.)

I had never heard of Sun Chlorella before. It’s a whole food supplement derived from Chlorella pyrenoidosa, according to the company, which is a type of algae (!) that is super nutrient dense. It has potassium, B vitamins, amino acids, and chlorophyll. I for one tend to be super skeptical of supplements. I don’t know why, but I just am—I like the idea that you can get everything you need from a healthy, well-balanced diet. But I appreciated having this product to review this week, because it made me do some research.

The company sent me a variety of products to try: tablets, granules to mix in with drink or food, and another product called Sun Eleuthero which they say gives you a boost without caffeine’s negative effects. I also received a few bags of tea and some samples of cream made with chlorophyll.

The verdict?

Interesting! They call it “nature’s perfect superfood,” and it definitely fits that in my mind. For one, it’s made of algae! Upon opening the bag of tablets, the first thought in my mind was “fish food.” The granules that dissolve in water are dark green and unless you love wheatgrass or green juices (notice I didn’t say green MONSTERS) you might be a bit turned off by it. But I’m sure there are smoothies and/or stir-frys or other dishes you could stir it into and be none the wiser.

The tablets are small and easy to take, the only issue I had with those is that they recommend a minimum of 15 a day. To me, that is a bit crazy. 15 to 45 pills a day for a voluntary thing? Perhaps this is why I’ve always stuck with just a multivitamin. The lazy girl’s supplement?

Supplements may not be my cup of tea, necessarily, but I think they are great for people who have trouble getting in the necessary intake of vitamins. Sure, in an IDEAL world we’d get everything we needed from our perfectly organic and unprocessed diets, but that just does not always happen as we know. This kind of supplement could be great for someone trying to beef up the nutrient value in their diet. My verdict: the jury is still out, but it definitely couldn’t hurt. And there’s always the placebo effect of feeling healthier, right? : ) I didn’t necessarily feel more energetic, but there’s probably a lot of external factors playing in as well.

Now you be the jury! I’ve got a pack of granules, a pack of tablets, and a pack of Sun Eleuthero (the energy one), plus some cream samples (The cream is BOMB) to give away. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post by Thursday, 5.26. I’ll send it to you and you can tell me what you think!

And I’ll also throw in some Ghiradelli chocolate from my hometown, because you know, being healthy is about moderation.

Hope everyone had a great night. Comment below to enter the giveaway, and if you’re in the area… join my book club! : )

Have you ever been in a book club? Have you read any foodie books that you would recommend?

Do you take any supplements? Why or why not?

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Filed Under: Musings, Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: baking, book club, friends, giveaway, gracias madre, restaurant, San Francisco, social, supplement, vegan

Why it pays to be a foodie in San Francisco…

April 12, 2011 by Courtney 15 Comments

I have hardcore been neglecting this blog baby of mine. But no more. I am reclaiming my life, my sanity, and my piece of the interwebs.

When I HAVEN’T been blogging, I’ve been out exploring my new home. And man, can I just say that it pays to be a foodie in this city. Want to know why?

Because I can walk to Whole Paycheck Foods every day for lunch and call it “investing in my health.”

Because I can go to a famous sausage shop and know that there will be a vegetarian option. (Or a vegan option… thank you, Rosamunde’s, for opening my eyes to your Vegan Italian sausage…)

Because I can go to a random vegetarian restaurant on a neighborhood corner…

And get the most realistic faux meat you can imagine. (LOOK at these pics on the menu!)

Because I can go on a Friday evening stroll past views like this…

To get to this…

Which is filled with a lot of these…

Some of which charge you ten dollars for a tofu burrito…

But it’s okay because this one…

Sells these! (This would be a salted caramel cupcake by Cupkates, one of many food trucks featured at Off the Grid in SF, a collection of food trucks that gather in specific locations on specific days and generally cause a lot of really delicious havoc.)

Because I can slurp down a $4 mug of the most delicious “Black and Tan” (chocolate and gingerbread) cocoa I’ve ever had in my entire life and call it a good investment.

Because it’s so chilly that Ben and Jerry’s only made me wait approximately 2.5 minutes for a free scoop on Free Cone Day.

Because we can get laughed at walking through North Beach (essentially Little Italy) when asking some locals for the best place for pizza by the slice, when there’s a neon hand pointing right to it.