Week of Febraury 21st, 2011: Mamacita's

This post comes courtesy of Miss Elissa - my "work bestie" as she likes to put it. Now all of my other coworkers are going to be jealous...

Anyways, my dear friend Elissa was celebrating another year on this planet and I thought it would be nice to show her a night on the town. There are a few things Elissa is always asking about doing - going to Mamacita's and going out for dancing and girlie drinks in the Marina. She made it really easy for me to figure out what to do for her birthday.

Mamacita's is a high end Mexican restaurant in the Marina district of San Francisco. We decided to start our dinner with some simple chips and guacamole. The guacamole also came with salsa and both were really delicious. I know, it's pretty simple to gush over guac and salsa but you have no idea how often they get messed up. I can't tell you how many times places have tried to pass some liquidy, creamy mess off as guacamole. Real guac has avocados in it and just enough spice to give it some kick but not to mask the green fruit. Yes, it's a fruit. Look it up. Salsa can come in a variety of ways, but I think that when you're bringing some for a table of varying pallets to share, you want one that's not too chunky, not too liquidy, not too spicy, but with some kick. But I digress... (some how this is turning into a food blog and I'm hopped up on caffeine so I'm being a little aggressive...)

To compliment our meal we got a pitcher of mango margaritas and they were definitely tasty as well.For entrees Elissa got chicken tacos and I got shrimp tacos and both were really good as well, but not too memorable. I had forgotten what I'd ordered a few days later when I was trying to take notes for this blog...

For dessert, I made sure to sign language to the waitress that someone at our table was celebrating their birth and that embarrassing singing was going to be needed. No really, there was lip reading, pointing, actions, everything and a lot of Elissa asking me what I was doing.

Thank goodness the waitress understood my gibberish and she brought out a beautiful Molten Chocolate Pudding with Dulce de Leche Gelato. Although the restaurant wasn't nearly embarrassing enough when they brought out the dessert, it was so incredible that it was completely worth it. Seriously, I would go back just for this.The waitress said it was a customer favorite and I can see why.

All in all, the restaurant is really good, but maybe a little overpriced for what they do. I think I've heard that they have happy hour deals. If so, I would go then because nothing tasted bad.

Sorry for how awful the pictures are! When I have some time I'm going to try to fix them.

Week of Febrauary 14th, 2011: Artopia

We're two weeks away from my test - you know what that means, right? Soon I'll have no excuse for not posting! It also means, you'll probably see a few posts this weekend because we all know what happens when you need to buckle down and study - everything else. Procrastination is amazing.

Artopia is an event that I found out about through my SF Weekly deals. If you're in SF, I suggest looking into their Voice Deals of the Day. This isn't a shameless plug (I get nothing from them). While some of their deals are the typical restaurant ones, they also have a lot of events that are usually $10 or so and have open bars. I've been to a few already and it's a good deal. So when I saw a $10 deal for an open bar art event a few blocks away from my apartment, I grabbed my friend, Oleg, and decided to check it out.

Now when most people go to an even that is clearly marketed as an "open bar" event, they tend to go inside and head straight to the bar to capitalize on this. Of course, we followed suit but upon arriving at the bar, I noticed someone paying for their drink. Since Oleg and I each had less than $10 on us and the place didn't take card, we decided to hold off and go check out the exhibits.

We walked around and quickly noticed that the "ARTopia" event, didn't really have a ton of art and we were able to see most of it rather quickly. There was an upstairs area that had a couple large pieces, and a hallway that had an interesting rope piece (which I immediately took pictures of and sent to a climbing friend). There were also some fun, Clue-esque bird pictures that I really liked although the concept seemed lost on a lot of people that were walking by.

Around that time, an announcement was made that the open bar was closing in 30 minutes. That announcement was immediately followed by some intense glaring from my friend. Turns out the "paying" that I had seen were people ordering complicated drinks, but beers and normal beverages were still free. Oops...

At least, we didn't have to pay too much for my mistake as we quickly learned that the bar had no problem giving you a few drinks "for friends." 4 beers apiece later, we were happily standing at a table, appreciating some art and talking about life.

All in all, it's always fun to go to a random event and enjoy a few drinks on a Wednesday with a good friend. This event was a little more crowded and less organized that some that I had been to before, and we didn't stay too long after we finished our drinks.

May 2nd, 2011: Growing Up

This may be the only post that goes out of order, but I like to write them as they come sometimes and I don't want to post this one a few months from now. This post will only be relevant today. This post is about growing up.

Today was my 25th birthday. I always pictured my life at 25 and without going into too much detail - I thought my life would be much different than it is. I've spent so many birthdays trying to make everything perfect - throw the perfect party, have everyone show up, feel popular and be at the "right place" in my life. I don't have any of that at 25 and I've never felt more content with where I am.

I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, I have a job that allows me to live a very comfortable lifestyle, but most importantly I am surrounded by great friends and family. I spent so many birthdays trying to get everyone to come to my birthday parties, to plan something that would make everyone happy, and I was always the one unsatisfied. This year, I am spending my birthday the way I want to. The people that care about me will and have been there for me. If someone can't make it, that doesn't mean they don't care. If someone doesn't care, forget 'em. I will always be inviting and a hostess (its in my nature, you should see the rest of my family), but I'm not going to take things so personally.

My life is far from perfect but it's a really good one. I'm finally in a place where I know that I need to make myself happy before I can expect anyone else to. It took 25 years but in think I'm finally growing up.

Week of February 7th 2011: Bindi Indian Restaurant

Almost everyday on the bus I pass Bindi Indian restaurant. I love Indian food and really wanted to check it out. The only problem was that it was a little far from my office so I knew I would need a special reason to make the trek over there on my lunch break... and that was just about the time that my friend, Anna, was back from her stint in the Peace Corps and had some time to reconnect with her friends. Since our last meal had been Indian food, I thought it was fitting that the first time we saw each other again would also be over an Indian meal.

I could tell you about how good the food was, or that it ended up being a buffet, and I could tell you that the waitress was pretty unresponsive, but that's not really what mattered about this lunch. This lunch was about coming full circle.

Although Anna and I took very different life courses after college, it's kind of surprising how much our lives have mirrored each other.... when she left for Africa, we were both starting a new - leaving behind old relationships and starting new jobs. Now that she's back, I find that once again we are facing similar issues. I won't say more on it in order to respect both of our privacy, but it just shows that whether you spend a few years in an office that's a short drive from your college, or in Africa teaching English - you still have the same touch choices to make, the same concerns. We all make different choices in our lives, but we're not so different really...

Seeing Anna again really meant a lot to me. She is one of the best conversationalists I've ever met, and just a truly unbelievable person. Although I know she was doing a lot of great things in the Peace Corps, I'm really glad to have her back in the Bay Area.

Week of January 31st 2011: Giant's Fan Appreciation Day

I know every third post is about how I need to post more, so I'm just going to give you a two month warning - Between now and the beginning of June I probably won't be posting too much. I know, I'm very behind and I have a lot of posts from the month of March to put up, but I have a New Year's Resolution to keep (one down, one almost done, and so many in progress - hate to just give up on one of them at this point...). So, until mid-June, I won't complain about how much I suck at writing posts and you won't wonder why a blog that has enough material to write a post once a week (or more), doesn't. Writing these are great study breaks though, so maybe we can make a little compromise...

It's funny how winning the World Series brings everyone together... almost 4 months after the fact, when AT&T park held their Giant's Fan Appreciation Day, the park was absolutely packed with fans trying to get an opportunity to get an autograph of a player, take a picture with the trophy, or just walk onto the field of that park that gave them so many good memories the year before.

I arrived at Fan Appreciation Day shortly before it was about to start, only to find the longest lines I had ever seen. Luckily, some of my friends had gotten there early and staked out a good spot in the trophy line. I gladly joined them (thanks again for letting me cut!!!) as we began our long wait to see the trophy.

I try to be pretty positive and put a good spin on things in this blog, but I do have to say, this event was pretty poorly run. We waited in line for two hours (and we weren't terribly far from the front of the line) in the sun because the park couldn't manage the crowds. They kept letting people into the stadium after they got a picture with the trophy so when the stadium reached capacity, they stopped the line. They didn't think to let people get their picture with the trophy and then leave until about 1 hour and 45 minutes into our wait.

All in all though, we got a little reward for our wait when Andres Torres walked by...

And of course we got our picture with the trophy!

Week of January 24th 2011: Movie Set Casting Call

So this adventure has been my little secret. I honestly still am not sure why I did it. My good friends know that I am terrified of video cameras. I am a ham for photos and I obviously love hearing myself speak but I hate being video taped. It's a long story and I'm sure enough googling will give you the answer but yea, I hate being video taped.

Yet - when I saw a posting for an open casting call to be in an upcoming Matt Damon movie, I was intrigued. I figured I would at least go wait in line and see what happened. You never know if you're a wait in line from being a movie star or a waiter in any restaurant in Los Angeles.

The casting call was at Fort Mason and a short drive and a creative interpretation of some parking rules led me right to the site. I walked past several waiting people to the site of the casting call only to find that the location had been moved and the line I had passed was the one I was meant to stand in. Luckily, I had been located in a group of interesting characters. Between the over aged San Francisco punk and the overly eager couple, I heard enough to keep me occupied.

I was also able to share my own experience with show business. No, that's not the experience mentioned above, but I did have a dream of being in pictures once. My parents were very supportive of it and helped me get headshots taken. While I got a role as an extra from those, I wasn't able to follow through with it because of school and I'd always wondered what would have happened if I could have made it.

But cest la vie - the filming of this movie also interfered with my work schedule. I put that on my casting card and then ducked out of the audition early. I never heard from them and that's ok with me. Like I said, I hate being video taped anyways.

Week of January 17th 2011: CSSC - Sage Cafe

Sorry for the dely in posts! I know you must think I got lazy on my vacation but that wasn't quite it. I actually did keep up with a few posts while overseas but mostly I was writing about the thoughts and inspirations I had at the moment. Because many of my posts are delayed a month or two, it can be hard for me to recall some of the thoughts I had at the moment. I figured it would be better to capture some of those as I had them than to keep up with a post that I already had detailed notes on.

But moving rapidly forward - this post is the second installation of my cafe study ratings. The next cafe I went to was one that in my neighborhood of SoMa. I had been wanting to go to Sage for a while because it is so close but they hold some odd hours (closing around 5 and not open Sundays) which didn't fit well with my full time schedule.

Anyway, here it is:

Taste - 2. It wasn't bad but it wasn't anything special either. I needed to put my usual ton of sugar in and Blue Bottle just didn't need that.

Buzz - 3. I stayed alert the rest of the day but it wasn't the same motivating rush that Blue Bottle's caffeine gave me. I did come from Bikram yoga though and that stuff just drains my energy.

Presentation - 1. My coffee came in a paper cup and my pastry was wrapped in plastic. At least the 7x7 guy got a happy face... maybe I should have said I was going to write about it on my blog?

Ambiance - 3. There was comfortable seating, space to sit and other people studying. The staff seemed friendly and recognized regulars but it still didn't feel as warm as I would ideally like to see.

Food - 3. I bought a delicious,  but dry fruit tart. There was a full food menu that seemed pretty popular and several people were having lunch around me.

Selection - 5. There was a full selection of sandwiches, salads, breakfast, pastries, and drinks so there was plenty of choice.

Study - 3. It was a better space but there were a lot of distractions. The space had a bit of an echo so a simple conversation resounded in my ears a bit.

Novelty - 2. Pretty simple coffee shop, but it was well executed.

Overall - 3. There was nothing special in most categories and it wasn't too easy to focus. The bathroom has an awesome sink though... it also looks like bands may play there at times but I am not sure where they would find the space.