Birthday 4: Crawfish at Magnolia, Haight, SF.

Pat took me out for crawfish for my birthday, but I wanted fish 'n chips, too. ;) They were my favorite part of the meal. Very good tartar sauce.

Magnolia flies in crawfish from Louisiana once a month. The place was slammed last night, but it was a lot of fun!

Pat, gettin' gritty!

Ahhh! I was a little scared and jumpy at first..

But look at all those shells I cracked! ;) The crawfish wasn't that great, but it was a great experience!

Dessert was delicious. We ordered one of everything!

This peanut butter trifle was my favorite. :)

Beer ice cream sundae and strawberry shortcake. Both very, very good.

Thanks so much, Pat! Dinner was so fun and I'm excited to try more crawfish with you! :)

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Gardenburger leftovers.

I used the mushrooms in demi-glace from my Cafe Claude leftovers and the leftover Gardenburger patties from the BBQ last weekend to make a nice little lunch.

A little cream cheese and hummus, lettuce, Gardenburger patty, cheddar and mushrooms. Omg.. that's intense. And v tasty.

Birthday 3: Celebrating at Cafe Claude with Arang, Financial District, SF.

Pâté Campagne 6.
country style pork pate flavored with black pepper
and red wine

Arang and I went to Cafe Claude to celebrate our birthdays together--yay!

Chevre 9.50
cabecou, mesclun salad, nuts, tomatoes,
diced apples

Raviole de Champignon 11.
shiitake and oyster mushrooms, garlic,
red wine and port sauce, puff pastry

Preparing the steak tartare.

Steak Tartare sm 13. / lg 16.
raw flank steak, cornichons, capers, egg yolk, mustard, parsley, croutons, shallots

We were celebrating our birthdays so, of course, we had to share a little chocolate cake. :)

The food--my salad and Arang's steak tartare, in particular--wine and service were all lovely! And I just love the little alleyway restaurants in SF!

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Dessert at Twigs, North side, Spokane, WA.

Caitie is my friend because we're both always in the mood for something sweet. :)

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Happy hour at Ambrosia, Spokane Valley, WA.

Raspberry somethings.. ;)

Baked brie. Deliiiiicious!

Blurry. I'm obsessed with these sweet potato fries! Usually when you get sweet potato fries they are the thin cut that I don't like with sweet potato. These were soft and amazing! With a little warmed goat cheese--mmmmm!

I didn't have my camera so I was waiting on Caitie's photos for this post. Gosh, we had a heckuva time finding this restaurant though! Most bizarre location--but that's typical for Spokane, I suppose. ;)

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Birthday 2: BBQ at Pat's, Van Ness, SF.

P, workin' the grill! We had hot links, burgers, veggie patties and hot dogs.. In addition to Kettle chips, salad, pasta salad, potato salad, chocolate chip cookies, lemon tea cookies, fruit salad, a veggie tray, and driiiiinks! And all after a really fun scavenger hunt through the city! It was awesome. :)

Awww! Audrey made me a beautiful--not to mention delicious--birthday cake!

And cupcakes, of course.

Chipotle, Daly City, CA.

Sometimes a little Chipotle is all you need. This is what I like to call the "naked burrito". It's great because it's massive and you get two meals out of it!

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California Pizza Kitchen, Emeryville, CA.

Thai Crunch Salad

Shredded Napa cabbage, chilled-grilled chicken breast, julienne cucumbers, edamame, crispy wontons, peanuts, cilantro, julienne carrots, red cabbage and green onions tossed with a lime-cilantro dressing. Topped with crispy rice sticks and Thai peanut dressing. Add fresh avocado.

This is one of my favorite salads. I also LOVE the Original BBQ Chicken salad.

Sicilian

NEAPOLITAN PIZZA: A spicy marinara sauce with sweet Italian sausage, spicy Capicola ham, julienne salami, Fontina, Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Topped with fresh oregano and basil.

Amazing!

Santa Fe Chicken

Grilled chicken breast marinated in lime and herbs, caramelized onions, Mozzarella cheese and cilantro. Topped with fresh tomato salsa, sour cream and fresh guacamole.

I couldn't even eat any of this after that salad! I boxed it and it was good, but not my favorite.

Oooooh man, California Pizza Kitchen is my guilty pleasure. I loooove their salads, pizzas and pastas! And it's still like a novelty for me because we don't have one in Spokane, so we would always go when we were on vacation which was really fun. :)

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Brunch at Cafe Marron, Browne's Addition, Spokane, WA.

Luna's new, hip, young sister, Cafe Marron! :) Luna is probably my favorite restaurant in Spokane. :)

OMG, WE LOOOOVE!

They open the doors when it's warm out. Looooove.

I absolutely love the decor.

And the brunch menu isn't bad either! ;)

Swiss cheese, bacon, two poached eggs and avocado on chicbatta with the Luna salad.

Eggs Benedict with Caesar salad.

The food was yummy. The space is amazing. I already LOVED Browne's Addition. Pretty much--new favorite spot in Spokey! :)

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Birthday Dinner #1 at Herbal Essence Cafe, Downtown, Spokane, WA.

Crab cakes. Tiiiiiny! And a bit salty.

Clam chowder. A bit salty.

Caesar salad.

House salad. Beautiful, creative and delicious!

Beef Wellington.

Huckleberry Top Sirloin. This was the best thing we ordered. The sauce was wonderful.

Spinach and Artichoke Halibut.

Brandied Mushroom New York.

Yellow Fin Yakisoba.

The place was.. not what I was expecting. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. You get all of bang for your buck though. The prices are very reasonable AND each entree comes with your choice of either clam chowder, Caesar or house salad.

The food didn't taste awful, but from what I read on the menu, I was expecting presentation a little bit more like the house salad. The menu sounds very creative. The presentation for the entrees though, as you can see, was a little bit more like a Denny's, unfortunately. The place definitely has potential.

I do have to say though, the steaks were all very well cooked! And the potatoes were all very nice as well.

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Petite Chat Bakery, Whitworth District, Spokane, WA.

Fresh, French pastries.

Petite Chat Bakery opened in the old Encore. It's wonderful and seems to be doing really well. Definitely some good news for the north side! :) They did a really lovely job with the space and everyone there is sooo friendly! :)

Fresh loaves.

Caitie and I shared this orange butter roll and...

This crazy layer bar! It had some caramel, pecans, chocolate chips, coconut, oats and something else? I don't even remember, but it was very good! The orange roll was okay. Definitely not my favorite thing. There was some slightly odd taste to it, but I couldn't make out what it was. It was good to try though. Now onto the millions of other pastries they have..! ;)

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Lunch at Moxie, Downtown, Spokane, WA.

Grilled Kobe Beef Burger $10 Truffle Butter, Blue Cheese or Cheddar Cheese, Grilled Portobello Mushroom, Apple Smoked Bacon, Drizzled with Demi-Glace.

It was between this and what I always get at Moxie. I decided to stay safe and go with my favorite meal, but made Caitie get the burger! Jenni got it, too. :) And it was waay good. I always love their fries and aioli.

Wok Seared Stir Fry with Orange Spice Sauce, Served with Coconut Jasmine Rice Choice of Flat Iron Steak $10 Ahi Tuna $10 Chicken $9 Duck $12 Tofu and Eggplant $8 Prawns $12

This is what I always get! I first time I went to Moxie, I was still a vegetarian so I got it with tofu. I loved it so much that I've gotten it with tofu every time since, but now since I'm obsessed with succulent duck, I decided to try the duck! Sadly, it was not so succulent. Still very good, but I should have gone with the burger! ;)

Moxie remains one of my favorite restaurants in Spokane. :)

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Stone pot bibimbap (돌솓 비빔밥), Spokane, WA.

So we didn't use all of the proper ingredients, but instead, the leftovers from the kimbap night. You put some sesame oil in the pot so it will crisp the rice on the bottom. Then you put in your rice and top with veggies and meat. Normally you would crack an egg over and mix, just before serving.

Cover and cook for a few minutes.

Mix with Korean red pepper sauce (고추장) and eat! :)