Breakfast Club, Biking, Homemade Thai

Remember how we won two free meals at The Taste of Seaside's Breakfast Club booth? Well the morning after the event we decided to check it out. A lot of my friends have tried it before and all have said really great things about it....

The inside was big - lots of tables. When we got there, we waited behind two other groups, but everyone was seated fairly quickly. While we waited I enjoyed a cuppa coffee.

I brought the coffee with me to the table and kept asking for refills! They have the best creamer selection at The Breakfast Club. Coffee-mate? Are you for serious? I lovooovovoeeeee Hazelnut Coffee-mate! Nicole knows. Anyways, free coffee refills + hazelnut creamer = dangerous combo. Check out the other goodies they have - Pepper Plant Hot Sauce AND Cayenne Pepper shaker? SO AWESOME!

psst they also have a special stash of Tapatio and if you ask nicely they'll give it to you.

Kyle and I split the mixed berry + banana waffle. YUMMMM

Second pick: an omelet with biscuit & (spicy) gravy on the side and breakfast potatoes.

Honestly, this all happened so long ago I don't remember what was INSIDE the omelet. I remember it being yummy. I'm guilty of always choosing the waffle/pancake/crepe over any sort of omelet/scramble so I think that justifies why I can't recall (?)

After breakfast we drove from upper Seaside to the McDonalds in lower Seaside to park his car and pull out Murray - my shining tandem bike. 

All aboard!

We rode the coastal trail through Cannery Row area and continued towards Pacific Grove.

Pretty...

The sun started to come out and views across the bay were gorgeous. I love riding the tandem bike! 

On our way back into Monterey, we parked the bike near Cannery Row and walked around.

We popped into a random magic shop and peeked around. Strange stuff in there!

It was the same weekend as the Red Bull U.S. Moto Grand Prix at Laguna Seca so Cannery Row was FULL of crazy cool looking motorcycles and lots of biker dudes. 

I'm pretty sure this was the same day we ducked into Cannery Row Brewing Co up the street and tried one of their house brews. They have over 70 beers on tap so I knew I wanted to do a return trip soon (plus their menu looked awesome).

PS I went back with Katie (read her recap here) and plan on writing up about that too!

For dinner we decided to try our own take on a Thai dish. We chopped up lots of veggies.

That looks like a potato, but I don't remember (nor can I figure it out from the picture haha)

The sauce we relied on to bring it all together.... it wasn't all that good to be honest. The red curry flavors just fell flat.

Add some chicken....

With Trader Joe's brown rice....

And a cupcake to finish it off a la Hugo from LOST. Bottom goes on the top to make a sandwich. These red velvet cupcakes were SOOOO good. 

Buckshot, how I love thee.

On the subject of weekend nights spent in San Francisco, I would like to recap Saturday, June 19th.

First and foremost, I spent the day with my sister, Dad, Lauretta, and Katie at Great America. We went on Top Gun, Drop Zone, and got a $6 coffee smaller that a tall from Starbucks! It was really nice getting time to hangout with my dad the day before Father's Day. He told me about Monty Python's silly walks and my dad and I started doing these kinds of walks around the amusement park.... Nicole wasn't happy.

After a late picnic lunch in the Great America parking lot, I dropped Nicole off at our mom's and then drove up to Palo Alto.



Kyle, Jeremy, Kim and I carpooled to San Francisco and found parking a few streets from Union Square. We took an elevator up the giant Macy's building to the 6th floor to join Jessica's birthday party at Burger Bar (251 Geary Street, San Francisco).

I ordered Burger Bar's turkey burger - "freshly ground free range Shelton turkey."

FYI: because I like to google things - Shelton's Turkey Ranch started in 1924 with one hen and one tom...

WHO KNEW that male turkey's are called TOMS? I always thought they were called Jan Hagels. Hmm.

Shelton's evolved into a champion breeding facility that received many awards for body conformation and feather color. As an offshoot of the trophy breeding business, the Shelton family began growing holiday turkeys for the folks in the Pomona Valley of Southern California...

Kyle ordered cupcakes for Jessica's 25th birthday! How thoughtful of him, huh? He chose a devil's food cake with oreo chunks folded in, topped with cookies and cream ice cream and a half oreo.

After we ate our burgers and cupcakes we drove down Geary to Buckshot. As soon as we walked in I fell in love with the place. It was still early, so we were basically the first people there. The bartender was chewing on a red vine. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Is that a red vine?
Him: Yup, do you want one?
Me: Yes please!
Him: They are a little old...
Me: Even better! That's how I like em!

(they are better when old - harder and chewier!)

Buckshot (3848 Geary Blvd, San Francisco). Just go to their website. Seriously. Right click that link and open it up in a new tab. Read their intro page and then return to this blog post.

Do do doo..... okay, so now that you've read that, do you see why this place is so amazing?? I will recap in case you did not read it (I am using more polite language) SKEE BALL, SHUFFLEBOARD, POOL TABLE, PHOTO BOOTH, DARTS, PICNIC TABLES, $2 PBR, the list goes on!


What really made the night one to remember was a game introduced to us by Ed a few weekends back in SLO. Don't let the name scare you - it's called Kill Your Friends. For every drink you buy for your friend, you get to tell them how they must "die." Then they act it out. Look below for an example...

Somebody bought Kevin a PBR. They told him to pretend the edge of the picnic table was a plank (like on a pirate ship) and he had to jump off of it. Problem was that the bouncers were NOT playing and did not appreciate somebody standing on the table, jumping off, and lying motionless on the ground.

Er... oh well! Another good one that got us all was when Kyle bought a round. He chose death by the following: I got to shoot at the other guys with the pretend gun attached to the video game BIG BUCK HUNTER, Call of the Wild. They were scattered all over the bar and started dropping like flies. Then I turned the pretend gun on myself. Seconds later we all stood up! Fun FUN Fun FUNnNNNnnNn

I also loved the decor! Reminds me of a bar I'd find in Illinois or a better version of Bull's in SLO. Before we left, when the clock struck midnight, the DJ played a song honoring Jess and we danced around her, bowing.

Happy Birthday Jess!!

Happy Birthday Gramps

Today is Kyle's birthday; he's a grandpa. Silver hairs have sprouted from his scalp. His lack of upper body mobility has resulted in an atrophied left bicep.

...But at least we get to celebrate!

Tonight we went to Mantra (632 Emerson St, Palo Alto) for dinner. It's a nice Indian restaurant in downtown Palo Alto a few streets off Castro. We ordered the hummus and naan to start - the naan was delicious, fresh, and warm. For our main plates we shared a scallop & shrimp risotto and a slow roasted lamb dish that had noodles, tomatoes, cucumbers, and artichokes.

The food was yummy and so was the birthday dessert they brought out. It was ... I forget. I'll try and remember/fact check soon. As we walked back to Kyle's house, we stopped at Patxi's and said hi to Jeremy. After finishing two Hoegaardens, we continued our walk and got ready to go to his indoor soccer game.




Before the game we went to a sports bar, met up with Kit, and watched some FIFA highlights. The game was close but... Kyle's team (green) won!

Happy Birthday Doze!

Monterey Beer Festival

 Lauren goes to the fairgrounds....

Accompanied by fantastic, amazing, wonderful friends....

Let's back it up a little bit....

On Saturday June 5th I went with a group of my comrades to the Monterey Beer Festival, which is held annually at the fairgrounds. 

The website described this event as the "greatest assortment of Beer ever assembled on the Central Coast. Sample varied styles of Ales, Lagers & Ciders from over eighty (80+) breweries with hundreds of beers to taste. On hand will be the best of beer from around the world, including:

America, Belgium, Germany, England, France, Australia, Thailand, Italy, Asia, Ireland, Russia, Mexico, Jamaica & California."

These folks weren't kidding.

The weather was absolutely perfect.

The night before Beerfest, Sarah and I had friends over for a game of battleship. Guys vs. Girls... the girls won, naturally. Before heading to bed I went with Chris and Combo to a liquor store to buy some Smirnoff Ice. Yes, the Icing phenomenon was unleashed this weekend.

We woke up Saturday morning and headed to Tommy's in Marina. Kyle's keys were stashed away next to a Smirnoff Ice. Therefore he had to get on one knee and down it like a chick bro.

Between the seven of us, our bill was only $27 bucks. I ordered the French Toast with a side of hash browns. $3 dollars. Combo ordered 9 pieces of toast, 6 eggs, and 3 chunks of hash browns. $3 dollars. This place is crazy! So back to beerfest.... the line to get in was extremely long. 12:30 came and passed and the doors did not open.

Finallllyyyy we were let in and were able to taste the yummy beers (I just wrote 'bears' ha). My personal favorite was the Russian-made Baltika's wheat ale. I sampled almost all Baltika had to offer but the wheat stood out.











Other favorites include the pear and raspberry ciders from (I believe) Widmer's, and a mix of beer and champagne offered up by First Awakenings, a breakfast/lunch spot on Cannery Row.





As the hours passed, my focus strayed away from the beers and on to food - I vaguely remember pizza. I also strayed into the tent that was showing bits of short films as part of the Short Pour Film Festival. We all spent the last half hour (or was it longer?) listening to some of the bands and apparently there was a chicken fight?

     

We left the fairgrounds, headed back to my place, and a few people took some naps. After what seemed like a while, we decided to go get food. Restaurant of choice? SAFEWAY! People grabbed a variety of food, including ICE CREAM SANDWICHES! MmmmmMMmM...

We took our eats over to Tyler's house and checked to see if anyone wanted to go downtown. Those who were willing - the Safeway crew - drove down to Alvarado Street and went to the Mucky Duck. But first... a sneak Ice attack:

The Mucky Duck is such a fun bar! They have an outdoor dance floor, fire pits, a DJ, an outdoor bar, and $2 jello shots haha.... Oooh and they had a photographer. I informed him that we love getting our picture taken. That might have backfired considering my coworker told me she saw me on Mucky Duck's Facebook page :S



I had such a great time with all my friends and I owe each of them a big huge THANK YOU!!! for driving from all over California to visit me. See you all next year!

P.S. Sarah - I had no idea this happened! HAHA :)