Food, Glorious Food!
Hawaii is in 29 days and I am nowhere near where I wanted to be weight-wise. But for some reason this really doesn't concern me this year! Yes, I would rather be instantly 10 pounds less but I am not sure if I would trade it for the wonderful food I have been eating! I thought that rather than condemn myself for my eating without abandon I would celebrate it by sharing some of my meals in this blog.
Let's go back to mid-September. I was in the middle of the end of Harvest so still eating my wonderful free pizzas and chili rellenos. The bf and I are huge sushi lovers and we go out for sushi often. Our favorite place to go is SushiHolic in Novato where they have the option of whole grain rice instead of plain white rice. Great place. When we go to sushi we like to get some sake with it. We were reading a bottle's label when we discovered there was a sake brewery right here in the Bay Area. We decided to take a tour. It was fantastic! The Takara Sake company is just off the freeway in Oakland.
The front door
They have a lovely tasting room, a 20 minute video that is quite interesting and informative as well as a free museum. The tasting is $5 and for that you get to try SEVEN different sakes and flavored wines. Since the bf was driving I got a little more than that.
Some of what you can taste
It was so fun and I highly recommend a visit there. We were inspired after to grab some sushi at SushiHolic after. Did I mind gaining a little weight after that? Not at all, besides, sushi is good for you, right?
A few days later my parents threw me a birthday party with an Oktoberfest theme. We had giant pretzels, spaetzel, and three kinds of sausages among other German fare.
Giant pretzel
Sausages and sauerkraut.
And of course, beer, lots and lots of different beers as well as Gewürztraminer and Riesling. My birthday cake was a fabulous homemade Black Forest Cake made using the recipe used by the original creator of the cake whose grandson my parents encountered in Germany and retrieved the recipe from. Did I do a long work out after this wunderbar evening? Nein, unless you consider the Chicken Dance a workout. It can get pretty intense!
Just a couple days following the Oktoberfest party my company treated me to a Masters of Wine Champagne tasting in San Francisco. This is a rare event where you are allowed to taste the top of the line champagnes out there.
One of hundreds of champagnes
I walked around the room with my glass and poured myself sips of the most expensive wines on the market for three hours. Afterwards we were all treated to unlimited oysters, grilled cheeses, wine and chowder at Hog Island Oyster Co. How can anyone pass that up? It was a beautifully balmy San Francisco evening and we ate outside within the view of the Bay Bridge. Do I regret gaining a pound that night. No way, Jose, this stuff was too good!!
Next came my actual birthday and it was a great one. First, because I work with several different departments I got a cake from each one. I ended up having FIVE cakes that day.
One of my five cakes
When I was young there was this Moroccan restaurant near where I lived and I thought it was the greatest place in the world. It looked like you were in a tent when you entered with fabric on the walls. They seated you on cushions on the floor and washed your hands with warm, scented water. You ate with no utensils and shared your food. That place realized how great it was and moved to the city and since gained a Michelin Star.
Mansour Resturant
I recently found a restaurant that was similar to the one from my youth. I made reservations and me and ten of my friends celebrated my birthday there. It was the best! There was a belly dancer who taught my bf to dance, there was a guy who poured mint tea from above his own head and the food was insane good.
Chicken stuffed pastry. Nom.
Lamb with honey and almonds.
I think I gained a good two pounds that day but that must be the cost to relive a childhood memory.
Then it was my dog's birthday and he got a cake too. Carrot cake.
Doggy birthday cake
Next came my family's annual fancy dinner excursion. Every October my father goes on a fishing trip and my brother, mother and I go out to a nice dinner at a restaurant. This year was Acquerello in San Francisco. Sure the bill just for my dinner alone was $200, it was worth every penny. With the amuse bouches we had about 8 courses. I had beef cannelloni, truffled steak tartate, Italian cheeses, Kobe steak, oxtail stuffed squash and two desserts. I also enjoyed three different delectable wines. The dinner and service were well worth the money and the extra ounces I might have gained.
One of the desserts
The very next morning my friends had stayed the night so we went out and got Denny's breakfasts. This one, I am not so sure I don't regret but it was fun at the time! Grits are delicious when they are smothered in cheese.
Denny's
So as you can see...I simply do not have the time to diet!
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The food in those photos looks amazing, I am literally getting hungry right now.
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