Vegan “Food”

I was pretty sure that all the foods that Vegan people eat are disgusting. I have no basis for that claim, since I like vegetables, but I figured they must get sick of barely being able to eat anything. Until there was Green Cafe. I’m pretty sure it’s at least a bi-weekly craze now, but we’ve yet to get the same thing twice, and it’s all delicious so far…

 

Mongolian Beef

 

Pho and Garlic Fried Soy Tofu

 

Chicken Wings (these actually have the taste and consistency of chicken…no idea how…)

 

Orange Poppyseed Cake. Yes, please.

What’s New, Koala Face?

Well, since it’s been too long, I will just write about everything that has happened since Halloween. At least all of the cool stuff.

We can start with Thanksgiving. The day before “Thanksgiving Break” was spent walking and motorcycling around San Francisco and the surrounding areas (including delicious fish tacos!). Anyway, the day culminating with a motorcycle ride to some look-out point just north of the city. Here’s what we saw:

After San Francisco came a trip to Florida. I decided to splurge and use my airlines miles to fly first class. The only pictures I have are of Dallas Cowboys Stadium from the air. Pretty amazing! I think you can even see the baseball stadium, too:

Next comes a short weekend trip to Seattle. Didn’t even have to take a day off work! It “snowed”…by this I mean I could see snow falling from the sky. Anyway, they have a bubble gum alley, similar to the one in San Luis Obispo (wikipedia link):

Finally, trip to Austin. Once again, it snowed…in a city that rarely sees snow. Anyway, since I had the Friday off (thanks, snow!), I decided to talk around the city in the snow. No one was out except me and some homeless, but that made it more fun. I walked to the Capitol (yes, that is the proper spelling) of Texas and took pictures of it surrounded in snow:

The snow came in on Thursday night and was supposed to be melted by Friday at noon. Well, my coworker needed to drive to the airport at 10:00AM, which meant I decided to drive in front of her to make sure she arrived safely. We stopped and had Denny’s for breakfast on the way. Anyway, on 71E toward the airport (a 4-lane highway), only ONE lane was partially cleared…the others were covered in ice, fun:

Next, I have to post a little about the food in Austin. We went to Frank, a hot-dog type joint in downtown. Been there before, and had to go again (and will go again next time!). Since we had already eaten appetizers (Whiskey Sour and Artichoke Cheese dip for $8, yum!), I decided to get a veggie dog. It had grilled peppers, fried shallots, and blue cheese on top. It was pretty tasty:

Halloween Pumpkin

I thought it would be perfect–I would watch Monday Night Football (Jets vs Vikings, Jet’s won for the record) and carve my $3 Wal Mart pumpkin that I bought on the way home. I found a cute design online and had even read in Rachel Ray magazine that if you put cinnamon inside of the pumpkin before lighting it then it will smell as delicious as a fresh-baked pumpkin pie. The design worked out perfectly and it was true that cinnamon made the pumpkin smell amazing.

It was my best carved pumpkin ever:

See, it’s adorable. Well, it only lasted for 1.5 days. Whilst checking the mail, I noticed that my pumpkin grew spider webs (or mold…, but I prefer spider webs). I threw him away.

In other news, I absolutely despise the Steelers. Mostly their fans, and mostly the fact that Roethilsberger is a meathead.

65.5 half marathon miles

I finished my 5th half marathon this weekend in the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in SF. It has come to my attention that it’s really only my second half marathon since my first three were completed with un-commendable finishing times…

While not my fastest time, it was still a great race. Got to run with friends and at the finish line I heard the same song on my iPod as my last half marathon! Also, Safeway was a sponsor and they gave out tons of great food and goodies!

I ate like a champ all day: bagel and sandwich, pumpkin pancakes, popeyes chicken (and a bite of biscuit and three bites of slaw), homemade delicious Trader Joe’s veggie pizza with goat cheese, and some fudgy ice cream.

Up next: New Orleans Rock n Roll, Nashville Rock n Roll, and Seattle Rock n Roll!

Here’s some fun pictures:

View of Golden Gate bridge on the course. It was a nice, crisp morning!

Tiffany’s Necklace that all finishers received:

Wearing the necklace:

Austin, the city not the motorcycle

Another trip to Austin, the 4th one to be exact. This one was for interviewing prospective full-time candidates. Met lots of great people who we would be very lucky to hire. Anyway, I sat in this room mostly all day. They set the clock a few minutes slow.

Also, I’ve stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn the last two times that I’ve been. I must not be cool enough looking to get a fancy room, check out my awesome view:

Got to explore even more of the city, though I have mostly seen all it has to offer now. Highlight of the trip was probably walking to the huge Whole Foods!

First Post to My New Blog

There is a reason for this blog: to learn how to blog so I can effectively teach others how to blog!

Yesterday was the fleet week finale in San Francisco. Somehow, we ended up watching the show from Fort Point.  It was pretty cool, and I only have one picture of (sort of…) the fort.

This is my favorite picture from the event–a 747 flying low over the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh yeah, the Blue Angels were cool too, but mostly because they are loud. They also fly too fast for me to take pictures of.

In other news, Trader Joe’s pumpkin bread is amazing. Hot out of the oven or cold the next day, I don’t care.