Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes garnished with cinnamon sticks.
Once upon a time, six years ago, when I first moved back up to San Francisco from Los Angeles, I decided to adopt a vegan diet. I thoroughly researched the process of converting my eating habits and found great success with my new way of life….for about six months. Gradually, my veganism morphed into vegetarianism and, finally, back to normal – though I do eat less meat than I used to.
Lights near the front entrance.
When my friend, Vivek, told me they were having a birthday dinner in his honor at Morak Lounge (I think Yelp might have the wrong spelling) in the Mission, I was a bit skeptical and told him I’d meet the party afterwards for drinks. While I do enjoy Middle Eastern cuisine, hookah bars, in general, are kind of a turn off – especially since they’re stuffy, overcrowded, and slightly dingy. Images of nights spent at Kan Zaman in the Haight during my mid-twenties popped into my mind; then, I remembered that my friend does have refined taste and so I put on my dress clothes and joined them.
The SF Muni bus lot resides a few blocks away. Someone took a B&W photo, blew it up, and framed separate sections. It's a great decoration that hangs over the main counter.
As I sit in Sugar Cafe, working another late night and silently cursing myself for not setting up a better Internet connection in my studio, my mind is envisioning my absolute favorite place to co-work in San Francisco.
Magic Kurry Man Brian Kimball
You know those nights where you have a bit too much to drink and stumble out onto the street in search of some sustenance to keep you somewhat coherent? I used to know them all too well. The one thing I especially appreciated during those times were the street food carts strategically set up outside some of my favorite haunts offering a diverse array of tasty and affordable food.
One year ago, a carpenter looking to make some extra money on the side founded the Creme Brulee Cart ushering in a new era of gourmet street eats. At $3 apiece, the desserts were an instant success and now, on any given night, you can find a line of at least 30+ people patiently waiting for their choice of a traditional, smores, or frosted flake-flavored dish of the rich french custard.
Given to me by the lovely Jezika Fernandez. Cako's cupcakes were a delicious end to our meal.
I took a personal day from work for the first time in many years and am thankful I did so. I spent the day working on creative projects at Coffee Bar and then dined at one of my favorite restaurants, Blue Plate, in the Mission right on the border of Bernal Heights. Thanks to LivingSocial, our party got $40 worth of food for $20 – as if we needed another incentive to dine at one of the best American food spots around. The service that night wasn’t top notch but the food, open kitchen, cozy ambiance, and garden out back, not to mention the company, made up for it.
Apron Strings is also home to an elementary school on Guerrero between 25th and 26th streets.
Bless my mother’s heart: She has tried to encourage me to cook more often in order to save money and cut back on my calorie intake. And while I’ve tried to adhere to her advice, it just hasn’t been something I make a habit of enough. You’ll often see me tweeting the line “it’s always more fun with friends.” This concept not only rings true when it comes to exercising more often, but cooking falls under this category as well. When my friend Melanie forwarded an e-mail from Joffer, an online service that offers discounted deals (granted enough people opt-in to said promotion), advertising a cooking class for 50% off the regular price, I thought it was an opportune time to learn some of the basics of preparing a decent meal from start to finish.
A large Americano coupled with a vegan, vanilla bean donut garnished with coconut hit the spot.
I thought I’d kick off this blog, also known as my love letter to San Francisco, with a post on one of my favorite coffee shops in the city. I co-work a lot. Whether it’s on a Friday during the workday or, more often than not, in the evening or on the weekends, Ritual Roasters is one of the places I can be found when I need to GSD.
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