The Weekender

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Valentine's Weekend! How did it go? TOTALLY FUN! Friday evening I decided to surprise Awsome by taking him to Home, which is located off of Market and Church St. They're known for their wonderful comfort food. I believe I gave them a really good review a couple of years ago. Anyways, I was able to make reservations earlier in the week thru Opentable.com. Note: Although I highly recommend them for dinner, HORRIBLE parking situation. I had picked up Awsome at DC BART and was circlin The Castro for almost 30 minutes. They do have valet parking but it's really TIGHT in their lot. Luckily 10 minutes before our reservation time, I have a spot. As we entered the restaurant, we checked in w/ the host and stood around takin in the place. There's not much ambiance in the front due to the tables being really close together, but as we looked around...OMG there's Bern and Nico! OK HOW WEIRD! A year ago I had taken Awsome to Asia SF and the same couple turns up! WHAT A KAWINKI DINK!!!! Anyways, we finally got seated, about 5 ft from them. Our table was by itself and pretty intimate since we were against a wall on one side. What did we order??? I the porkchops and he the hangar stake and a side of macraoni and cheese!!! Did I tell you comfort food or what!! Portions??? Pretty good. Not overwhelming..just right...I think it allows you to at least have dessert, which was a peanut butter creme brulee` and brown sugar ice cream on the side. YUM!!! You've gotta try it. Just be forwarned that leave at least 45 min. to an hour to find parking just in case, especially if you're goin there for dinner. They do have a Sunday brunch which $11.99 which sounds pretty good, although I have yet to try it.

Valentine's Day! We met up w/ my Boucing Balls & Black Socks and Mermaid for Brunch/Lunch for some dim sum in Oakland Chinatown. We finally tried out Legendary. This place is one of the 3 main high end dim sum places in Oakland. I love goin to have dim sum w/ 4 peeps cause you get to order HELLA! I would recommend tryin this place out. Not too bad. Expensive sorta...we spent about 50 bucks and had maybe 1 entree and 8 choices of dim sum and 4 sodas?? About right??? Maybe??? Afterwards, we have them tapico pearl drinks which is the bomb. There's this one place that serves Caramel Mocha!!!! YUM!!!! Sorry folks I don't know the address, but you'll notice there's usually a long line out the door and it serves all sorts of candy...

Since we had a late lunch we weren't goin to eat dinner for awhile. Awsome received a Whole Foods Gift Card and we decided to use it. Thinkin we were goin to cook dinner for the evening, cause you know we were't goin to be tryin to wait at any restaurant for 2-4 hours to eat some din din, plus we were goin to watch First 50 Dates later on, we picked up a couple of things. OH MAN.... Awsome's goin to cook for me!!!! What a WONDERFUL SURPRISE!!!! He barely ever cooks for himself and he's never cooked for me since we've been together. He didn't let me do anything. I just sat there watching and yappin away. It was kinda weird for me. Why??? Cause I"m the one who's usually prepping stuff for him. So as I sat, I kinda was gettin nervous...why??? cause he hasn't cooked in a really long time... First to have was some breadsticks and onion dip which was really good, not a huge filler. Next was some mixed greens w/ ranch and some bad ass garlic croutons from Whole Foods. A MUST HAVE!!! Finally the main entree, grilled chicken w/ corkscrew pasta in alfredo sauce!!!! Oh man, we had to share a bowl on this one...He made enough for 6 people. Finally the dessert....Cappucino cheesecake w/ sliced up strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate glaze!!!! OH MAN..I wish I could link you the picture of Awsome's creation. It was totally beautiful. Hopefully he'll send me the pix so you guys can see! What a wonderful dinner!!!! I totally appreciated it sooooooooooo much. okay okay..no more mushy stuff...

Later that evening, we meet up w/ Awsome's friend from his past whom he has not seen since 1999? w/ her finacee` and Voodoo and Mango to watch 50 First Dates. What a funny ass movie! If you loved Sandler's Wedding Singer, the duo of Sandler and Barrymore do it again! And like Voodoo said.. the sountrack is a MUST HAVE!!!! All in all ...meetin new friends, meetin old friends..good times!

posted by The Weekender @ 9:19 PM

Monday, February 09, 2004

1 year has passed since Awsome and I got together and what a way to celebrate us finding one another by going to Monterey! We both haven't been there in years and thought it would be a nice little excursion for us two. We left early Saturday morning and arrived in Monterey around 11am, just in time for brunch. One of my girls recommeded for us to hit up The Fishhopper located in Cannery Row. It's at the end of a pier so they had a outdoor seating and a view of the bay. How beautiful it was! And low and behold it was HOT in Monterey! I swear I thought I was goin to tan. This is very surprising for it to be this warm, in February and in Monterey. Although I was apprehensive in sitting in the patio due to BIRD POOP, we sat there enjoying the seaspray and warm sun. We had the Chef Sampler, which included 2 pieces of garlic bread, one crab cake, and calamari, that was hella MEATY!! Last but not least, a bowl of clam chowder! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH MAN...we thought we were goin to get a tiny bowl..oh hell..it was a big ol' bowl that both of us could have shared and get this...it was in a blow in the shape of a clam!!! Very cute!!! I have to recommend this place due to such good service and the food was really good...

Our next stop is the Monterey Bay Aquarium! For those going in the future, they're opening up the Shark Exhibit April 2004. That should be a nice treat! I think my favorite exhibit was the jellyfish. Did you know these creatures really are transparent and only when it's dark and you shine a light on them that they glow???? I think that's how it works??? We spent almost 3 hours at the Aquarium, wathcing mini videos and looking at all the exhibits. As we were exiting, this lady approached us to fill out a 3-4 minute survey, and I was like..."oh what the hell..i'll fill it out" although we were so exhausted and wanted to get a caffine rush over at their local Starbucks. We finally finished the survey and as I returned it to the lady, she handed me a free ticket to the aquarium that's good till March 2005!!! WOO HOO!!!

As we walk down Cannery Row, I swear I heard someone say, "Ate Carolyn". I turn around and it's my childhood friend from years ago when I lived in Daly City. Her parents used to baby sit me, so that tells you how long i've known this chick. I've lost touch w/ her and the last time I saw her was at my dad's wake. Seeing her was a sweet surprise. Of all places..Monterey! hahahhaha

We finally head out to discover the hotel we're staying at, The Casa Munras Garden Hotel. We check in, no fireplace available, oh well, better luck next time. We drive up, and find parking right in front. Literally door to door! It looked like a little cottage from the outside, with a little porch and vines hanging all over the roof and porch. We open the door and WOW...HOW CUTE!!! This room had a huge king bed w/ a huge bathroom. I would recommend staying at this place, that's if you're into the homey cottage look as apposed to your classic hotel w/ elevators and corridors. How did we find this place? Serendipity! Originally we were going to stay at another inn w/ a balcony facing the bay, but we had to change the dates. The previous hotel suggested for me to call Resort 2 Me, which is a service w/ no fees that helps you find places to stay in the area. The lady Gloria helped me out and was so sweet.

It's finally dinner time and we head out to The Sardine Factory. This restaurant is located on Cannery Row and has free valet parking. As we walked thru the door, there were so many men in sport jackets bustling outside and inside. DUH... THE AT&T GOLF TOURNAMENT just finished for the day. I don't know if it's always this packed but as I scurried to the host, I heard that the wait was 60-90 minutes for a table! Thank god we had reservations. As I looked around, this restaurant has Gentleman's Club feel, older men, smoking cigars wearing their sport jackets. Besides all that, it was really great to see a man on a baby grand singing My Funny Valentine, and the walls covered w/ pictures of celebrities, fishes, etc.... To your right, they have a whole bunch of leather mahogany couches and fireplaces w/ people eating oysters on a half shell. That seemed to be very popular, and to your left is the bar filled w/ oysters also. Man..I think we better order oysters for appetizers tonight!! :-P

As we were enjoying the scene and our cocktails, our host came and found us in the crowd and seated us in their back room. This room reminded me of Louie VIII, filled w/ 20 foot mirrors and carpeted. Our host was very friendly and even dropped our napkins in our lap...FINE DINING! woo hoo! We end up having the oysters on a half shell from Tamales Bay, where is that? who knows?? But it was served w/ the normal cocktail sauce but w/ SALSA! OH YUM!!!! Awsome orders the swordfish while I decided to order the filet mignon and lobster tail. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about having the filet! DAMN! WE MADE SOME GOOD ASS CHOICES! To end it, vanilla creme brulee. We will definitley come back to the Sardine Factory, but we will have to sit in the Conservatory. This room is so beautiful, glass shaped dome w/ wonderful lighting and greenery all around. We had such wonderful food, which was not over powering and intimidating. It was just right. And the service was excellent! As we were walking out, our host greeted us again, shook our hands and told us to try their banana split when we're not so hungry, which can feed 2 or more people. Now that's HUGE! FINE DINING AT IT'S BEST!!!

Of course we had to walk off our food and so as we were walking, we saw a HOOKER!!! We were in a cigar shop and as we walked out, there she was, young, fishnet stockings, and 3 inch heels. I whisper over to Awsome, HOOKER!!! And he's like..WHAT...NO WAY!!! hahhahahah..totally amazes me when I see them...So sad...so young...

We ended our adventure in Monterey by eating at Old Monterey Cafe on Alvarado St., which was only 2 blocks from our hotel. Oh man, this was such a cute place. Totally homie. It reminded me of the brunch places we'd go back home such as Lyn and Lu's in Oakland. They serve you PLENTY for such a cheap price. Awsome and I thought we were being good by him gettin the omlette and I the pancakes. We should have just split the omlette. Did I tell you they serve homemade muffins!!!! YUM!!!! GREAT SERVICE! GREAT FOOD! WHAT A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

posted by The Weekender @ 9:14 PM

A report on the trends, the sights and weekend nights in San Francisco, now written from Oakland!

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