A Side of Sweet

Make-up Cabinet Spring Cleaning

I was on vacation last week – my first week off since Thailand in January. It was a nice way to ease back into Madison after working 80 hour weeks in San Francisco. I had two big projects to tackle – cleaning our apartment top to bottom and getting ready for our upcoming engagement shoot with Kinsey of Sincerely, Kinsey. As part of my top-to-bottom house cleaning, I tackled my make up shelf in our bathroom closet. This is what it looked like before:

Talk about a disaster zone!

Here is the ‘after’ version:

Much better, right? I used things around the house as containers for organizing and had Pat put up some nails and hooks to put my watches and jewelry on. Here are all my modifications outlined:

Living in San Francisco: Last Night in Town

My last day in San Francisco turned into a “use up all your Groupons” night out with my roomie, Jen. Our first stop was Sudachi Sushi. I had read the lukewarm Yelp reviews beforehand and did not have high expectations for food quality or service. Comments such as “I wish I could rate this a 0.” and “not AWFUL, but it’s really not very good” don’t really get me excited.

The food definitely lived up (down?) to its reputation. The menu had hundreds of items, everything from sushi rolls to burritos to hamburgers. They obviously hadn’t heard the saying, ‘Do one thing and do it well.’

We started the meal with tuna tartare. I can’t really evaluate the dish, as it came so smothered in mayonnaise that I couldn’t taste the tuna at all.

We also decided to be adventurous and get uni shooters. What came was a horrible muddle of vegetables and ponzu with a little bit of too old uni. The quail egg promised in the menu was nowhere to be seen.

I ended up fishing out the uni and ignoring the rest of the shooter:

The sushi rolls were huge. The size was deceiving, as there was a 10:1 rice:fish ratio. Jen and I ended up pushing the fish out of the rolls with our chopsticks and eating just the fish. The small bites of chewy, old tuna was hardly worth the effort. Here are the leftovers:

The only nice thing I can say about Sudachi is that the service was attentive. I would say excellent, except that we kept sending back half-eaten dishes and mounds of sushi rice and the waitress did not once ask how the food was. I have a feeling it is because she didn’t want to know the answer.

Our second stop was Candybar for dessert. Our experience there was wonderful in every way. The menu is exclusively desserts and sweet cocktails. The vibe of the place is awesome, with modern art and good music. If I was a single guy in San Francisco, this would be a great first date place. What girl doesn’t love a decadent dessert and a class cocktail?

I ordered the “Ice Cream Sunday” which had macarons, caramelized bananas, brownie, vanilla anglaise, strawberries, and strawberry ice cream. It was everything I could have hoped for and more.

After that it was off to the airport to catch a flight back to Madison. I was sad to say goodbye to my wonderful roomie but oh so happy to get home to Pat.

Weekend Getaway to Santa Cruz & Monterey, Part II

Saturday night Gina and I hit the road for Monterey. Our couchsurfing host Ben was doing a graduate school program at the Navy Postgraduate School. Talk about a nice gig – getting paid to go to school a few blocks from the ocean! He kindly invited us to a barbecue with some of his classmates and we happily accepted.

We stopped at Ben’s place before the barbecue, not knowing what to expect. The first thing I noticed was a flatscreen plasma TV that was longer than me and a huge overstuffed three piece couch set – the ultimate bachelor pad? In addition, there was a ton of Japanese paraphenalia – everything from art to saki – representing the three years Ben spent in Okinawa, Japan.

The barbecue was wonderful – all of the guys (of course a Navy barbecue was mostly men!) were very welcoming. I felt very comfortable, despite a few hard sells on why I should be a Navy doc!

Due to my disregulated sleep cycle after a week of night shifts at the hospital, I was not tired when the barbecue started to wind down at 9:30. When Ben suggested we go to The Crown and Anchor,I happily agreed. The bar is a navy favorite and every table was full. We were even able to play a fun game of “Navy Postgraduate or Monterey Peninsula Community College?” based on the outfits that each patron was wearing. Needless to say, it was much too late before we finally rested our weary heads on Ben’s comfy man-couch.

Despite being up until the wee hours of the morning, I dragged Ben out of bed for a morning run along the Monterey coast. I knew I was in trouble when he had me huffing and puffing within 5 minutes of starting, but we managed to having an amazing run along the coast. It was fun to run with someone who can push me to our of my lazy daily run comfort zone.

We rewarded our hard work with brunch at the Trailside Cafe and Coffee House. What better way to relax than an avocado and bacon omelette, live guitar music and a seaside view? It was amazing!

We then did some antique browsing at Cannery Row Antique Mall. It was fun to see all of the relics from days past, but the prices raised some eyebrows. Despite my best intentions to have a window-shopping only sort of trip, I ended up buying two beautiful pavé bee pins to wear on my name tag at the hospital. They are the perfect juxtaposition of my dad’s honeybee hobby and my love of sparkly things and I promise to post pics soon. In addition, sparkly things are a great way to distract the kiddos while you are trying to get a good heart and lung exam! I really just do it for the children…

We finished our lazy Sunday with a walk on Carmel Beach.

After that it was back to Menlo Park so I could catch the Caltrain back to reality.

* This post is filled with pictures of Monterey that don’t fit the context of my stay. My camera was locked in the trunk of our car for the majority of our visit! I hope you enjoy them anyway.

Weekend Getaway to Santa Cruz & Monterey, Part I

After working a week of night shifts, I had the luck of having three days in a row off. The first thing I thought of was my friend Gina’s, offer to do a weekend getaway if I could manage the time. When she suggested we head a few hours south to Santa Cruz and Monterey for the weekend I jumped at the chance.

I’ve had past experiences with couchsurfing, both staying on people’s couches and hosting. Thankfully they have been overwhelmingly positive. Couchsurfing is the best way to see a place and perfect for people like me, on a student loan budget!

Finding a couch to surf on in California is almost a contact sport. Last summer on our California roadtrip we contacted dozens of couchsurfers in San Francisco. We received no after no. Responses ranged from “Sorry you didn’t mention the secret key word I had hidden on my profile in your message” to “Sorry, I get 17 requests a day for couches.” Seventeen requests a day! No wonder the California couchsurfers are getting burned out!

Luckily, I had an “in” to the Santa Cruz couchsurfing scene. Pat spent a week surfing – and couchsurfing – last summer. I sent Mitch an email asking if he could spare a spot for Gina and I. Even though he has a steady stream of guests through his place, I got the all clear for Gina and I to share a futon mattress for the night.

Mitch was a fantastic host. He was full of ideas for our day in Santa Cruz and even placed a stuffed animal on each of our pillows. He regaled us with stories of couchsurfers past, including about his time hosting Pat.

He was also playing foster dad to some rescue squirrels. I was happy to stand behind the safety of my camera while Gina let them run wild over her – even in her hair!

He pointed us to the awesome and local Charlie Hong Kong for dinner. The food was affordable and delicious. The place was packed and the crowd was colorful, in the “is there a hostel nearby?” sort of way.

The next morning, Gina and I woke refreshed and headed out to see Santa Cruz. Our first stop was a co-op grocery store to get some fresh coffee and some vegan baked goods. Ever the animal lover, Gina immediately made friends with one of the local patrons:

We took a walk along the ocean and saw everything from sea lions to surfers. Pat also recommended the Surf Museum, which was full of old surfing photos, uniforms and even a shark-bitten surf board.

For lunch we checked out Saturn Cafe. Gina is vegan and Saturn Cafe offers only vegetarian entrees, many of which are vegan. I had a huge salad which was not only filling, but delicious (when combined with the order of fries we shared!).

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering Pacific Ave, the tourist downtown street of Santa Cruz. Then we packed up the car and headed even further south to Monterey.

Living in Stanford: Rodin Sculpture Garden

Pat came to Stanford my last weekend there and I had to take him to one of my favorite spots in Stanford. The Cantor Arts Center is the University art museum that boasts a huge Rodin sculpture garden. They have one of the largest collections of Rodin sculptures in the world, including the fan favorite, The Thinker. Because the sculptures are made from a mold, there can be multiple “original” versions of each sculpture. There are twenty “Thinkers” all over the world including the most famous at the Musée Rodin in Paris.

Fancy Sandwiches – Moroccan Carrot and Turkey with Green Olive Tapenade {Recipe}

Vegetarian Vegan

Moroccan Carrot and Turkey Fancy Sandwiches with Olive Tapenade | Running Blonde

I’m so spoiled to live with a man who loves to cook as much as I do. Pat whipped up these fancy sandwiches for a picnic lunch one of my last weekends in Wisconsin. I never would have imagined that carrots and tapenade would be the perfect marriage for a sandwich. The spices were also a good preview for our honeymoon in Morocco next summer. You may have noticed, picnics are one of our favorite summer activities!