DIY brunch at Caffe Cento, Nob Hill, SF.

This is my corner cafe and I heart it so. It's a very cute spot with a nice mix of people coming and going, and friendly service. The fresh baked pastries are tasty and there is always a nice variety.

I love how you can buy this smoked salmon brunch set and it comes with a bagel of your choice or mini baguette. It's perfect for a quick brunch.

I got my poppyseed onion bagel toasted.

The smoked salmon was incredibly fresh and tasty! Honestly. I've gotten the smoked salmon at Trader Joe's and made these breaky bagels before, but that smoked salmon isn't very good. I didn't even use it all--the smoked salmon package had more than enough for two people, which I'll keep in mind for next time. :)

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Dessert at Gitane, Financial District, SF.

8 Fresa strawberry financier, french butter cookie,

home-made strawberry ice cream, strawberry chips,

fresh strawberry and pedro ximénez sherry sauce

Gitane is my go-to spot in SF and it was perfect for dessert this evening. I love all things strawberry and this dessert was a fabulous mix of flavors and textures. The strawberry chips were particularly noteworthy.

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Thursday nights at Mangarosa, North Beach, SF.

Mangarosa has Samba dancers on Thursday nights so we decided to go check it out. There are about six dancers total in these colorful sequin bikinis and elaborate feather headdresses. The music gets loud and the dancing is on! Haha. It's a fun little performance to go along with drinks or dinner.

An assortment of mini empanada-like filled pastries. I didn't like the beef one so much, but the others were nice and the sauce was fresh and zesty.

Crab artichoke dip. This was alright, but nothing to rave about.

A nice light, fluffy polenta dish. There was a nice mix of flavors, but the dish remained very light.

KM's pork-chop. This was a slightly different take on the pork-chop. I tried a bite of it and it was flavorful and interesting and actually really good.

Simple plating, but very, veeeery tasty chicken.

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Pizza with Trader Joe's ready-to-bake dough.

Half is marinara sauce, cheddar-jack, pineapple and sausage. The other half is marinara sauce, goat cheese, yellow onion, sun-dried tomatoes and sausage. Both on garlic-herb dough.

Both halves were very good. :)

What I like about the dough is that it's super easy--you let the dough sit out for 20 minutes and then top and bake for 10 minutes! Easy-peasy! And it tastes fine with toppings, but the crust was just not not not yummy. And I like crust--so long as it's good crust. And, really, all crust should be good crust.

Jalapeno cheddar-- mini cornbread muffins.

Cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, eggs, milk, butter, veg oil, corn kernels, shredded cheese, jalapenos.

Yeaaa.. I got one of my itches to bake. :)

I heart mini muffin pans. They're so cute.

All baked!

Uhhhh these are even better than I thought they would be. I love cooked jalapenos--so much spicier! Iwant to eat these always.

German food at Suppenkuche, Hayes Valley, SF.

The guys we were seated with got the 5 liter beer, of course. I'm not a beer girl, of course, but I had two sips from this. It was good beer, but on the first sip, I couldn't even hold this up to drink! Haha.. ridiculous.

We started with the Spatzle. It's on the 7x7 list! And it's very good, but I've had better mac 'n cheese.

The beets were okay, but I really didn't care for the carrots or red cabbage. And I loooove my red cabbage! Haha..

The tomato salad wasn't necessary, but the greens were nice, with a light dressing.

Jägerschnitzel in Champignonsoße
mit Spätzle und grünem Salat $18.00
Sauteed Porkloin in Mushroom Sauce
served with Spätzle & Green Salad

This was eh.

Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein
mit Bratkartoffeln und grünem Salat $17.50
Breaded and Sauteed Veal
with Roasted Potatoes & Green Salad

This was better, but also eh. I'd much rather get a Japanese or Korean style donkatsu.

HOWEVER! Thank goodness Suppenkuche has communal seating and the friendly boys we sat with let us steal a bite of their pork-chops. Man, did we order wrong! Those pork-chops were something else! Next time I go, I'm ordering this:

Kassler vom Grill
mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffelbrei $16.00
Grilled Cured Pork Chop with Sauerkraut & Mashed Potatoes

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Macarons at Paulette, Hayes Valley, SF.

We put our names down at Suppenkuche and there was an hour wait so we decided to stroll around Hayes Valley! And, naturally, we had to snack on macarons! I hadn't had a macaron in far too long. :)

Coffee macaron. Amazing.

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Bombay Ice Creamery, The Mission, SF.

Bombay Ice Creamery. I've heard lots of things..

So many interesting flavors! You can only try two though.. :(

Mocha fudge on bottom and lychee on top. This is good, but it's very homemade style, and not great homemade style. By that, I mean it's not that well blended so there are flavorless chunks in there. The lychee parts that had flavor were AWESOME! But the chunks (almost half) that didn't have flavor.. well, it didn't have flavor.

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Yummy berry smoothies with the Magic Bullet.

Creamy strawberry yogurt, orange-pineapple juice and mixed frozen berries.

Yea, I swear by the Magic Bullet. I got one in Korea (it's a lot cuter) before the bullet even came out in the States, but it's still in storage in Spokane. My new roommate brought hers though and I couldn't be happier!!! :) I love it because it's so easy to use and easy to clean!

Well blended. Go go Magic Bullet!

Yummy and healthy!

Italian dinner for P.

Making my first meatballs! Woohoo! I've never made my own burger patties either. This was very exciting. So this was: ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper. So easy! :)

All rolled and ready to bake! I thought doing them stovetop would be a little to messy and fussy so I decided to bake.

Close-up.

YAAAAAY! My first meatballs! :) Big and juicy. :) The parm kinda exploded. Haha. I figured it would. Anyhow, they were yummy and I kept them in the oven to keep warm.

The saaaaauce! :) I LOVE the Trader Joe's marinara sauce. I used that and then added garlic, chopped onions and bell peppers.

Caramelizing the veggies for the bruschetta. Yellow onion; red, orange and yellow peppers; tomatoes; garlic, parsley and olive oil.

Balsamic vin bruschetta. I toasted French bread so it's pretty crunchy. Then I put on a bit of my balsamic vin dressing and then top with caramelized veggies. I don't make this often, but this is something I really like to make. It turned out well this time too--good bread.. more on that later..

Mixed-greens salad with tomatoes, toasted almonds, parm and my balsamic vin dressing.

Garlic bread! I used Safeway French bread, which I've never had before, but it's really VERY good. Soft and a good size. For the spread I simply used butter, garlic and parsley. I used a little less butter and more garlic than normal recipes call for, but that's how I like it. :)

Spaghetti and meatballs! This was really yummy! :)

Altogether a wonderful Italian meal and P was very happy with it, too!