After doing some shopping along Fillmore (got some great stuff at Marc by Marc Jacobs) KM and I stopped at The Grove for some refreshing smoothies. I can't remember what the one above is called, but it's strawberry based and is always delicious! At The Grove they only have one size--LARGE--but it's $5 with tax, so it's not a bad deal.
The "Green Machine" shake.
And, of course, we had to share one of their ginormous chocolate chip cookies! 
Cooking some red curry with basil, tomatoes, tofu and cilantro. 
Red curry. This was NOT good. The curry was from Trader Joe's and was definitely a miss.
Phad thai with shrimp and crispy tofu. 
KM and I were craving Ike's so we went for some sandwiches and found a great vegan bake sale just outside. I got a slice of walnut pie to eat while waiting for my sandwich. I have to be honest--it wasn't the best, but I have had some very good vegan baked goods in the past.
KM and I went out to the 2nd annual SF Iron Chef Grill Off at the Ferry Building. The Ferry Building is always busy on Saturday mornings with the street fair and the Farmer's Market, but it was particularly crowded this morning! That paired with the fact that this event wasn't very well organized made things a little annoying. I wanted to stay and try some burgers, but it was just impossible to figure anything out and you really couldn't see much either.
The chef on the left is Elizabeth Falkner of Citizen Cake and now Orson. She was recently on Top Chef Masters, where she received the lowest ranking score for her round. I think her restaurants are just okay, but whenever I see her on the Food Network she seems a lot more impressive than I would think from her restaurants. 
P got these for me. :) From the bottom left they are raspberry, hazelnut, pistachio and passionfruit. They were very good, but still, I think I like the ones at Paulette a bit better. 
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. :) 
8 Fresa strawberry financier, french butter cookie,
home-made strawberry ice cream, strawberry chips,
fresh strawberry and pedro ximénez sherry sauce
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. 
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.
Cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, eggs, milk, butter, veg oil, corn kernels, shredded cheese, jalapenos. 
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. 
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
Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein
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. :)
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. 
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! 
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! :) 
