Taste of Seaside

The Taste of Seaside seemed like it happened a loooooong time ago. I took a lot of iPhone pictures because it seems like my real camera has bit the dust :( Time for a new one!

At the entrance they were giving away these cute little sea horse cookies. Kyle said he would grab his on the way out, but he forgot. I ate mine 2 days later and it was a delicious shortbread treat.

This bottle of wine was the door prize. Everyone was given a raffle ticket. I wonder who will win it?

The check-in area. The venue was an empty space in the same shopping center as Me n' Ed's pizzeria (corner of Fremont and Broadway in the "City Center").

Notice - there are no overhead lights. Very warehouse-y.

Tickets in everyone!

First stop, beer!

Second stop, Pho King.... sound it. Yeah.

Third stop, Fishwife (the original!).

One of the many wineries.

The little combo thing from Fishwife was SOOO good. Too bad my other experience with them (and Nicole and my mom) wasn't the best!

Desserts!!

Blurry emcee picture.

Oils and marmalades, I think....

More desserts!

By far the most happening booth. The ladies from The Breakfast Club were riling the crowd!

Phat Burger sliders, mmm!

Lots of sushi options from Harumi sushi. Note to self: go there.

Spin the raffle wheel Doze....

And your prize is......

Free meals at The Breakfast Club and Phat Burger! Jackpot!

"Will we use these?"

Phat Burger bucks, too.

Other prizes, Snickers bars and Salt. Nice salt! Can I have your salt?

It's getting darker... remember, no lights. See?

Oh, hi.

We had a LOT of samples from places all over Seaside. Ventana Vineyard, Scheid Vineyard, Baywood Cellars, Marina's English Ales Brewery, and more were all out pouring tastings. As for restaurants, there was everything from pizza from the next door Me n' Ed's, curried meat from Kahn's Kabob House, cupcakes from like THREE different places... and lots more! Kyle and I had a really good time and we definitely got our $25 worth. He won two free meals from Phat Burger, which I'll write about later. He also won a gift certificate to The Breakfast Club which we used the following morning for breakfast! And don't forget about his salt and snickers bars... oh and remember that door prize? The $40 bottle of wine? Well guess what... I won it! I never win raffles! 

Alright folks, off to work! 

Taste of Seaside

I first heard about The International Flavors of Marina food, wine, and beer tasting event via Special Edible's blog. I got really excited about it and wanted to go, but the two people I invited couldn't go because it is on Thursday (tomorrow) from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. The participating restaurant list looked amazing, there's live music and a silent auction. Boo Radley's Cupcakes is donating 2 dozen custom cupcakes!

Much to my delight, the Special Edible blog just posted something about Taste of Seaside, a similar event happening on Friday! Hopefully I'll be able to go to that with sommmmebodyyyy hint hint.

Highlights from the event page:
- What: Seaside’s culturally diverse community will be reflected in the wide range of foods served, and local wineries will pour outstanding wines from regional vineyards.
- Where: Seaside City Center
- Time: 6-8:30 pm
- How can I go: Pay $25/ticket and order from the Seaside Police Department; contact Tina Rosa (831) 760-0967 – trosa@ci.seaside.ca.us ; or Patty Perez (831) 760-0968 – pperez@ci.seaside.ca.us
- Why: To get a special Taste of Seaside, while benefiting the Seaside Police Activities League (PAL).
- Also: music, raffle, silent auction
- What's PAL: PAL provides athletic, recreational, and educational activities for at-risk youth in order to enrich lives and help prevent juvenile crime. Police officers, volunteers, and police personnel serve as coaches, mentors, instructors, and role models in PAL.
- Participating restaurants/wineries:

• ACME Coffee

• Angelina’s

• Baywood Cellars

• Breakfast Club

• Chef Rachel

• Coeur D’Olives

• Del Monte Cafe

• Fishwife

• Hahn Winery

• Harumi

• Kahn’s Kabob House

• Me-n-Ed’s Pizzeria

• Orient Express

• Phat Burger

• Pho King

• Saigon Noodle

• Scheid Vineyards

• The Chocolate Dipper

• Turtle Bay

• Ventana Vineyards

I'll let you know if I go!

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!!

The Case of the North Beach Hotdog

I just found pictures stashed away on my phone of a place Megan, Paul, Kali and I stopped at for fourth meal this past Friday night. (ps Kali has a blog and posted a fantastic review of her SF weekend! Check it out here! It's nice and sassy :)




Anywho... I vaguely recall getting food that night. Let's work backwards to figure out what happened!

Here's the picture found on my phone:




Saturday morning Megan told me the dog was covered in perhaps marinara and onions - looks about right. She also said it was called the North Beach Hotdog. Time to Yelp search. The only late night hotdog spot in North Beach with Yelp pictures that match the one I snapped on my phone (below) is The Dogfather (532 Green Street, San Francisco). UrbanDaddy describes it as a "low-key sausage joint—or salsicceria, if you're Italian—meant to satisfy your gourmet, quick-bite fix."





Okay mystery 1 is solved! I must have had the The North Beach "Our mild Italian sausage, with peppers, onions, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese" ($6) - Nice memory Megan! Let's continue backwards... Megan also let me know that before the hotdog stop, we went to a place called Savoy. I've got a couple of pictures on my camera of us in a spot with red lighting... This must have been Savoy Tivoli (1434 Grant Street, San Francisco). On Yelp the settings seem to match up! Wahoo!

Mystery 2 solved! Prior to that our group got some drinks, courtesy of Kali, from the upstairs room at a Thai restaurant named King of Thai Noodle. One Yelper perfectly sums up the perks of this place - "The best happy hour everyday till 12:30AM.. $2 beer $6 cocktail drinks and $5 entree.. Unbeatable.. My favorite place to hang out.. They have free popcorns and peanuts and nice wide screen tv.."  YEAH. AWESOME.

Rewind even further to when we all met up. This part is not hazy! Megan, Kali, Paul, Kelley, her friend who knows Lauren Sweeneeeyyyy, Joe, his roommate, and myself met up at Paul's apartment.

We drank a bit, ate some of Megan's homemade cookies, indulged in some of my cupcakes, the usual. It was so-awe-some seeing everyone and getting the opportunity to go out and get a little irresponsible. Plus, I'm sure that hotdog tasted damn good.

LOVE THEM!

Mills-Monterey! Day 2

Deep breaths. I'm scared about how long this post is going to be.

Saturday morning we went to Tommy's. I've blogged about this place before, so I'll just remind you all why I love it so much: everything under $3. Yup.

We are so cool sitting at the bar.

We both ordered the Tommy's special - eggs, pancakes, hash browns, and bacon (or sausage if that's your thing).

After breakfast we drove from Marina to Carmel. The plan was to start as far south as possible and hit up the tourist spots as we headed north. First stop, the Carmel Mission!

The Mission itself isn't that tall looking, but somehow when Kmills stood in front of it and I snapped this picture, it looked so much taller! Optical illusion making is one of Kerry's hidden talents. Inside the choir was practicing. It was nice to see the inside because last time I was here (for Easter mass) we had to stand in the entrance because of how packed it was!

There's something so pretty about the Catholic Missions. Kinda creepy how people are buried right there in the church - reminded us of our trip to Westmister Abbey back in the summer of 2007, where patriots like Oliver Cromwell, scientists like Isaac Newton, poets like Chaucer, etc are buried under your feet!

Throwback pic on right: Okay so this guy's not dead - but it is from our trip to London, and yes, I want everyone to know we met Zac Efron... plus, I didn't take any Westmister Abbey pictures :)

We played around in the strange room, taking fun mirror pictures, then we went outside and painted.

Isn't Kerry's picture coming together beautifully? She's such a talented artist.

There was a small little fair. We rubbed olive oil on our hands to make them smooth....

Then we passed through their gift shop. Kerry begged me to get her BibleOpoly but I refused to spend another dime on buying her versions of Monopoly. I've already given her Birdopoly, Elvis edition Monopoly, The Lord of the Rings edition Monopoly, and Sponge Bob Square Pants edition....





Next stop: Carmel-by-the-sea's Ocean Avenue!

We walked around for a while with one major destination in mind: the Cottage of Sweets! I've blogged about this place a lot too so here's why I love it: SWEETS, sold in a COTTAGE.

Kerry chose white chocolate covered pretzel balls and salted carmel fudge. I went with chocolate covered gummy bears in memory of Natalie, peanut butter chocolate malt balls (my recent favorite), and their peanut butter squares.

We grabbed coffee from a cafe up the street and then walked down to the beautiful beach to enjoy our treats.

  

Continuing on our journey, we drove 17 Mile Drive the back way through Carmel towards Pebble Beach. They still had some of the tents up from the US Open, which was going on the week before.

Look! It's the Lone Cypress ("a salt pruned tree which is the official symbol of Pebble Beach and a frequent fixture of television broadcasts from this area" Wikipedia... and since I know you are curious: "Salt pruning is the process by which saline mists generated by seawater are driven ashore by winds to alter the shape of trees over considerable times throughout the growth cycle of the affected plant... [it] selectively degrades foliage and branches on the windward side of the plant facing the body of saline water. The resultant growth form is an asymmetrical plant form, swept back away from the ocean")

Much to our delight there was a wedding party that arrived via trolley to take pictures. When they abandoned their vehicle to walk down to the Lone Cypress, we hijacked it for our own pictures hah!

The 17 Mile Drive continued on along the coast. We drove through Pacific Grove and then parked on Lighthouse. After a quick stop in the liquor store nearby and then another quick stop at Nob Hill for a light lunch of fruits, we walked to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Get ready for a compilation of Kerry Mills at the Aquarium photos:

Kerry with the jellyfish

Kerry with the crazy looking seahorses

Kerry with this cow statue

Kerry getting ZAPped!

The clam shell! Max if you are reading this: this is my first time actually seeing the clam shell at the Aquarium. Up until recently I didn't think it existed, only in your photoshopping abilities.

We left the aquarium and walked up and down Cannery Row. We stopped in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a second and I saw these chocolate covered potato chips. Weird!!

When we were driving back to my house, I spotted Mrs. Delish's Cupcake Boutique. I was literally like "WTF?? Since WHEN has that been there?" Kerry, I don't know if I said that out loud, but I was definitely thinking it! Since Kerry's visit I've read a review about the place on Special Edible's blog. I really want to go check that place out soon!

P.S. If you are local to Monterey I suggest you start following that blog because the author, Mark Anderson, works for Monterey County Weekly and reviews a lot of awesome local spots!
P.P.S. Also, if you don't yet, pick up a copy of the Weekly or read their stuff online. LOVE the local paper. I hear about neat events and free stuff from it. Oh and they have the Best Of list that I'm trying to tackle.

We decided to get Baan Thai takeout for dinner. We picked the pumpkin curry (no surprise, if you know me) and pad thai. Kerry let me order, so I of course chose extra hot. The combination of EXTREME heat and an ongoing sinus cold made it impossible to taste our high class $2 bottle of wine.

Empty! :)

Victor, Max, Maren, and Tyler came over (except that Tyler now lives here so I can't really phrase it that way anymore haha) and we busted out the deck of cards!

King's cup is always such a fun game to play.... especially when the rule made up is you have to say your appointed nickname before you say ANYTHING. Slippy Slappy Hippy Happy Trippy Trappy. TOUGH STUFF.

Slappy and Hippy make me Happy.

Sarah was there too - her bro showed us his new tattoo. Then Tyler iced her. Despite the fact that she was on her way to bed, she took it like a champ on one knee!

Then we went downtown.... if you take one good look at the picture below you'll realize how much fun we were having at the Mucky Duck.... such a good dance spot ;)

Not pictured: our trip to the Hippodrome "club" that had cages ... annnnddd yes - we did dance in them.