California Trip, Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I visited California with Matt and some friends/family. We also visited 1600 miles of I-80 along the way. Holy. Hell. Four of the five people I went out there with are in a show that was touring California, thus the reason for the trip. And thus the reason for driving.

Have I ever mentioned that I get car sick? Because I do. Right around hour 16 I thought I was going to lose my mind. I didn't take friends' advice and get a motion sick arm band thingy before we left. It turned out to be a big mistake. Driving through the mountains was incredible though, despite the head spinning and gut churning. It is so very beautiful. The complete opposite of what I see on a daily basis at home in Nebraska.

Our first stop in California was San Francisco. We did a lot of the usual stuff. We ate at Taqueria La Cumbre, home of the Mission style burrito. I gorged myself on seafood. I drank so much coffee I returned home with my caffeine addiction at Threat Level: Orange.

We visited Haight-Ashbury, which was a less than wise decision. There are some really great stores in that neighborhood. I found an awesome t-shirt boutique, Loyal Army, where I bought several things. I also had my husband buy me a ridiculously overpriced belated Christmas present. Everybody, I'd like to introduce you to my Orla Kiely purse. Orla Kiely purse, this is everybody.



It rained a lot which sort of sucked. Considering it was -27° in Omaha the week before we left, a little rain was tolerable.





We also decided to go out to Alcatraz. So, after two days in a car, then two days of driving around a freakin hilly city in the back of a Tahoe, I got on a boat. I have never in my life put so much effort into not puking. I was looking at some pictures I took from the ferry and just thinking about it again made me nauseous.

But it was pretty once we got there.



And creepy.



I'll continue the post tomorrow... Too much bloggy for one day.

Ambivalent Book Review

I read a book last Saturday on the plane and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The book is God Is Dead by Ron Currie Jr. Usually I know right away whether or not I like a book. But I can't seem to make up my mind about this one.

The book is a fictional look at what would happen to the world if God assumed human form and then died. The world doesn't end, rather it keeps on spinning but in a very bleak and tragic way. Everyone knows that God no longer exists so the questions of morality and sin fall by the wayside and all shit breaks loose. It's more of a collection of stories than a novel. I found the idea intriguing, but overall I can't seem to form a solid opinion about the book as a whole. The concept was great. The premises of the stories in the book were all very bizarre and terrifying, in a good way. But I thought the writing style was a little... off? It was sort of like Larry Doyle was ghost writing for Steven King. It just didn't flow right.

I'll admit that I bought the book for the sheer thrill of shopping at City Lights. It would have been way too obvious if I'd walked up to the counter with some Allen Ginsberg so I grabbed something else that looked mildly hip. Thus, God Is Dead. So, in all I guess I'll always have the book as a souvenir if not a literary favorite. If anyone is interested in buying the book and then letting me know what you think so I can steal your opinions about it, it's available on amazon.com for the crazy low price of $4.99. On HARDBACK even! Like everything else in San Francisco, I definitely overpaid for mine.

Food Inspirations

Over the course of the last two years, I've really been leaning towards a new career as a restaurateur. It's always been my "if I had $1 million and didn't have to work a real job" career. Then, a couple of life changing events happened and I realized that a life spent dreaming and not doing is not a life spent well. I enrolled myself in a culinary program for a bakery/pasty degree and I've been working at it (slowly but surely) for the last year or so.

Last week in San Francisco really solidified that dream. The trip was a recharge for my psyche. Being in a city with so much culture and influence was incredible, and the food we ate was a reflection of it. Everything from intricate seafood dishes to simple omelets tasted incredible. The food on the coast is so fresh. We ate a panzanella one night at Bar Bambino that was remarkable. It was little more than tomatoes, olive oil and bread but the sweet acidity of the tomatoes still makes my mouth water just thinking about it. The bread in most restaurants was also fantastic. Wheat bread, sourdough, garlic rolls. It was all wonderful. Most places in Omaha don't serve bread baked in the restaurant. We have large bakeries here like Rotella that services most restaurants. It's just one of those things that takes a meal to the next level.

Okay, so obviously I'm in love with the fare available on the west coast. I haven't given up on the midwest quite yet though. Yesterday was the first day of fall and it's like someone flipped a switch on my perception of it. I saw it in the trees at work. There is nothing like an autumn in Nebraska. It is an inspiration in and of itself. The way it looks; reds, yellows, oranges, browns. The way it smells; crisp, cool, damp, woody. Then, there's the way it tastes. Pumpkin and apple everything, pot roasts, stews, chili. It's warm and filling. It's strong, hearty, midwest comfort food.

As an homage to my love of Nebraska's seasons, I attempted to make stuffed apples last night. They turned out okay. Not exactly what I was hoping for but they were still tasty. I cored two apples and stuffed them with a mixture of butter, brown sugar and fall spices. Then in lieu of granola (since I didn't have any) I topped them off with crumbled French Toast Crunch cereal. (Not good for breakfast but great for snacks and baking.) Like I said, they were okay but not the flavor I was looking for. I'm going to try again this week and make little apple crisps in some ramekins we got in a set of baking dishes. (CorningWare bake set - Love it, need it, don't know how I ever lived without it.) If it works out as planned, I'll post the recipe.

On the menu for tonight is a can't-go-wrong pot roast. Roast, potatoes, carrots and onion. Throw it in the crock pot with some water and let it do it's thing. Matt adds his twist to it by including a super secret seasoner that's so incredibly obvious it's genius, and then serves it over rice. Cut up some French bread to soak the juice up with and you're set.

The Honeymoon is Over... For Reals.

Well, the honeymoon, as well as two weeks off of work, is over. Back to the daily routine.

We got back from San Francisco on Saturday night. I was happy to be back in our home, but I was definitely sad to see California get left behind. I really like it out there. The trip was a huge inspiration to me. It inspired us to redo our living-room, it inspired new foods for us to create, it inspired me to spend wads of cash on new clothes... Seriously. I spent my yearly allowance on clothes in the span of five days. Totally worth it though. I scored a pile of great stuff.

We're still (not patiently) waiting on the wedding photos to come back. So until then, here's some honeymoon photos... The full album is right here on Flickr.

This is the view from our hotel room. We casually mentioned to the front desk lady that we were on our honeymoon and she hooked us up with a mini suite on the 27th floor.



Here's me all dolled up to go see some drag queens...



We walked to the wharfs where we found lots of food, bay water and sea lions. The sea lions reminded me of Ringo. (When you pull his ears back he looks like a little seal pup.) I really wanted to take that little white guy home with me, but disturbing the sea lions (as well as throwing food and harassing them) is prohibited.



Also, on the wharfs: a great view of Alcatraz. It looks really close but it's actually about 1.5 miles out from the shore. The entire bay is much larger than it looks.



Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park... Makes you completely forget you're in the middle of one of the largest cities in the country.



Matt in Haight-Ashbury. This place had a sign on the door explaining that they do not sell pot, they will not help you score pot, they do not know where you can get pot. Hint though: Everyone in the park will try to sell it to you. And the guy in the parking lot of McDonald's has some methamphetamines if that's more your style.



This is the People's Cafe in Haight-Ashbury. It was one of the best meals we had while we were there. Ya. Exactly. Of all the food in California, we loved the omelets at a corner cafe the best. This was one of my biggest food inspirations while we were there. The avocados in my omelet were unbelievable. They tasted incredible and were the brightest green I've ever seen. It also had tomatoes on top that were sweeter and juicier than any you can find in the midwest. And the oranges. My god the oranges.



And of course we wouldn't have been proper tourists if we hadn't gone to the Golden Gate Bridge.

OMG! Like, Clothes and Stuff!

Stores I must go to in San Francisco because I am desperate for a new wardrobe but lack suitable fiances for such a thing but I still want to go look and drool oh my god its all so great we don't have these places in Omaha and there they will be, in the flesh, oh no Matt please force me to leave my credit card in the hotel room:

01. Anthropologie
02. Betsey Johnson
03. Levi's
04. H&M
05. CB2 (can't wear it but it's still oh so very stylish)

And yes, I'm aware that an Anthropologie is coming to Omaha. Soon I will be able to mentally arm-wrestle myself over whether or not to buy fabulously overpriced coats and cardigans within the limits of my own city.

I'm not really all "OMG clothes and other petty superficial things" in real life. I just enjoy typing about it on my blog because it's fun and silly. Plus, no one in real life wants to hear me blather on about such crap. Except Billy. I have a feeling that Billy would totally support me talking about a coat that I would commit sins for.

What's In San Francisco?

Yesterday, my boss asked me. "What's In San Francisco?" (Referring to our honeymoon. Not mine and my boss's honeymoon, but mine and Matt's honeymoon.) It took every ounce of strength in my body not to say, "Street drugs and copious amounts of gay sex."

Things we're going to do in San Francisco:

01 See great live music
02 Shopping, shopping, shopping
03 Aquariums
04 Go to Alcatraz
05 Cross the Golden Gate
06 Visit the Haight-Ashbury (I'm assuming this is where we will most likely find the acid)
07 Gawk at Lombard Street
08 Buy lots of vinyl
09 The San Francisco Art Exchange (maybe a little NSFW depending on your office)