Ghirardelli and Boudin, Fisherman's Wharf, SF.

Ghirardelli Square! Sometimes it's so fun to play tourist in SF. :)

Mmmm.. their famous chocolate fudge sundae with mint chocolate chip and espresso chip ice cream. Way yummy.

Then we grabbed a roll of sourdough bread and this was our lunch! Haha. I love it.

Ghirardelli Website

Boudin Website

Brunch at the Top of the Mark, Nob Hill, SF.

Yaaaaaay! :)

Oh my goodness. Some damage is gonna go down real soon! ;)

They had everything from smoothie shots to dim sum! And some really nice cheese, too.

The smoked salmon was amazing and the whipped cream was the best I've had.

The view from the Top. :)

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Yelp

Amazing Peruvian at La Mar, Embarcadero, SF.

White wine flight. Light, crisp, nice.

Assorted chips and dips. Love. They had these great sweet potato chips and maybe baby eggplant chips?! They were so yummy.

tiradito nikei 16

Ahi Tuna in Nikei sauce with passion fruit and honey leche de tigre

This was beautiful. It was such a nice crudo and was definitely the best thing we ordered.

cebiche chifa 16

Mahi Mahi with peanuts, scallions, ginger, pickled carrots and daikon, habanero pepper, wonton strips, and cilantro in sesame leche de tigre

Not my favorite cebiche, but yummy. I was hoping it would have a bit more of a kick, with the habanero, but it really wasn't spicy at all.

causa tasting 17

Selection of four causas: Limena, Criolla, Nikei, Casera

Causas are whipped potatoes with toppings. The second from the left (Criolla) was by far my favorite. The rest were just okay, but that one was very nice.

una 14

Dungeness crab, shrimp, chicken, peanut and cashew croquette over bok choy with Nikei sauce

anticucho de carne 15

Grilled skirt steak, potatoes, Peruvian corn, spicy rocoto sauce

The una croquettes were fine, but maybe we should have gone for a more traditional empanada. They weren't memorable, but nothing we had was bad!

It was a LOT of food though so I could only have one piece of the skirt steak. It seemed a bit tough at first, which I didn't like so much, but then it definitely grew on me. It was really yummy with a mix of both sauces!

cappuccino de tres leches 8

Sponge cake soaked in chocolate-pisco sauce and coffee creme brulee

I didn't really get the creme brulee, but this dessert was superb. Aside from the cream-heavy top, I just loved it.

I think we ordered a really good selection from the menu and I wouldn't have done it differently. It was yummy and interesting to try. Now that I've had a good sample though, next time maybe I would do a tiradito, and entree and a dessert.

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Yelp

Post US Half Marathon Boogaloos brunch, Mission, SF.

This was my first time sitting inside at Boogaloos! It was awful outside though and after running through hail we waited for a table and sat inside. The side of fruit there is so amazing though.

Biscuit and veggie gravy. Not the best, but yummy and interesting.

Sourdough French toast. Not good!

Bacon and avocado eggs benedict. The bacon is great, but the hollandaise there isn't very flavorful. It was nice to branch out, but I think the lemon cornmeal pancakes are the best thing at Boogaloos.

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Pre US Half Marathon carbo-load dinner.

Romaine, carrots, goat cheese, toasted almonds, honey mustard vinaigrette dressing.

Tomorrow I'm running the US Half Marathon: The Other Half, here in SF! My favorite part about running a marathon is, of course, carbo-loading the day before!!!! Yay! Here was the non-carb loaded part of the meal! :)

When carbo-loading, it's easy to go Italian, so that's what I opted for. I got a baguette, cut two pieces, sliced the pieces in half and then thew them in the toaster oven.

Meanwhile, I whipped together a balsamic vinaigrette, olive oil and herb mix, drizzled some on the baguette.

Topped with some sauteed veggies: zucchini, yellow onion, tomato, mushrooms with some garlic and a little balsamic vinegar. A mild feta to finish it off. These were awesome.

Whenever I do cream sauce, I just wing it! It's hard to go wrong. I used heavy cream, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, feta, garlic, black pepper and a garlic seasoning mix. It was a tad salty, even though I didn't use any salt (the garlic seasoning), but that was okay because veggies still needed to go in..

I just used the same veggies that went into the bruschetta: zucchini, tomatoes, yellow onion, mushrooms. Easy, delicious, not very healthy sauce, that was going over a bed of whole wheat spaghetti.

The whole meal! YUM! I think this was carb-loaded. It was also vegetarian! Everything turned out nicely, but the bruschetta was my favorite part. Mmm! :)

Here's wishing me luck in the race tomorrow! :)

The Butler and the Chef, S. Park, SF.

Tomato ravioli soup. Didn't love it.

Sundried tomato mushroom quiche. Pretty darn good. I loved the sun-dried tomatoes with the egg, and mushrooms on top, but I didn't like their crust! That's usually my favorite part of any pie! ;) Haha. Amazing quiche with perfect crust is definitely on my to-make list though. :)

It's always pretty busy here during lunch, but that doesn't mean the waitresses have to be rude. Let's just say they weren't my favorite people.

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Yelp

My take on Vietnamese imperial roll cold noodle salad.

Soba noodles. Not quite vermicelli, but still, it works! ;)

So not quite imperial rolls either, but i went for some chicken. Haha! Hey--you've gotta improvise. ;) So here are the noodles, carrots, bean sprouts, mint, cilantro and chicken. Oh, and the sauce of course: fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, water, rice vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes.

This was really yummy! :) I'm going to make my own imperial rolls soon though and then remake this dish. Yay.

Super easy peanut butter ice cream with mini peanut butter cups.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe:

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup milk

2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

Directions: Just take a look at the ingredients--this recipe is SO easy! Yay! In a bowl, I slightly melted some peanut butter and then mixed it with the sugar. Then, I added milk (1%), heavy cream and vanilla (I used Bourbon Vanilla). After mixing that all with a whisk, I put it into my pre-chilled ice cream bowl thingy and flipped the switch! :)

While the ice cream's going...get together your mix-ins! The recipe didn't call for any, but you can use anything. I decided to go with these fabulous mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's. They are small enough to just drop in without smashing, but you could do either.

If you want to add chocolate, it's best to go with mini chocolate chips or to take an actual bar and "shave"/chop it with a knife. The regular chips can sometimes get too hard when frozen.

I put the cups in maybe 10 minutes after churning? When the ice cream starts to thicken and get some color, it's probably ready to drop in the mix-ins.

Ready.. steady.. freeze! I didn't really time any of this, but kept an eye on it.. The ice cream will get very full and nearly overflow. When that happens, stop the machine. I scooped everything out with a large silicon spoon and put it in some tupperware to freeze. It'll be runny, but with a few hours or a good overnight freeze, the consistency should be just right!

After one night of freezing, it's perfect! I hardly ever get to say this, but it was actually a bit too rich for me! VERY peanut buttery! I'll definitely use this recipe again because it's super easy and delicious, but next time I'm going to cut a bit of the peanut butter.

Whole Foods sushi mix.

Spicy tuna with avocado roll, crab roll and inari. For the sauce I mixed soy sauce, with a little teriyaki sauce and lots of wasabi, but the Whole Foods wasabi isn't that strong. I like the pre-packaged sushi at Whole Foods though--it's fresh and as good as you would get a lot of low to mid range Japanese restaurants. :)

I need to find good fish to roll my own sushi with! They've done it on Top Chef so it must be available at Whole Foods, right? Hmmm.. I do know how to roll, so I should try this soon..

Jalapeno salmon-salad sandwich with tabouleh carrot salad.

Salad: I mixed a normal parsley bulgur salad with carrots, goat cheese and lots of lemon juice!

Sandwich: I got English muffins for sandwiches, like I said I would! Haha. For the filling I had salmon, jalapenos, mayo, lemon juice, onion, salt and pepper. I kept it simple with a piece of romaine and a little aioli spread on the English muffin.

I recently learned a new method for cooking bulgur wheat from a show on the Food Network. You toast the bulgur for a few minutes it in a fry pan, then add hot water, cover and let steam for a few minutes.

This felt like a brunchy dinner and we know I love brunch. Yum! :)