cali-forn-i-a, part 1.

i just got back; well not just, i've been home almost a week and i've been busy so i havent had a moment to upload my pictures.  the trip was lovely. it was nice to be in the sun. i met my bf in san francisco for his final show, he's a comedian and very funny.  if you don't know him you should check him out. i'd say he's hilarious. there's really never a dull moment and i giggle all the time, its wonderful. 

thursday: i got to san fran on st. patty's day. a gentleman on the tram to my terminal scolded me for not wearing green...shame on me. five hours is a long time to go with out food. i kept resisting buying something on the airplane. i flew virgin and they let you swipe your card on a little tv basically plugged into your brain directly in front of your face so it was very, very tempting. i resisted. we landed 45 min early and my ride was far off...so i wanted to get food. a girlfriend of my assures me that ANY airport is international waters so McDonald's, etc. is of course fair game. i went looking...jordan, its san francisco, WHY would they have McDs or anything of that nature in the airport?! did i mention how nice and swanky this airport felt? it was like everywhere was 1st class. (only later did i realize that i was at the international terminal....) i was blown away by how nice it was. and since there was no McDs...i got sushi. who knew you could get really yummy (read fancy) sushi at an airport?

we walked around san fran a bit. went to philz coffee. if you live in or near or ever plan on going to san fran EVER...go here. they do one cup at a time and have great coffee. i had, i believe, julie's ultimate. with a name like that, i really couldnt pass it up. it was a bold, dark, smooth cup of coffee. they call it their classiest coffee for their classy coffee drinkers (me, duh!). we also went up to twin peaks and got a pretty amazing view of san fran. its really a beautiful city. id like to spend more time there. we met up with a friend of ours, actually they gentleman who played rory's wingman the night he first asked me out. the three of us, plus another friend went to Toms for pizza. i wish i had taken a picture of it. it was a bed of arugula on top of a pizza covered in Parm shavings. OH MY GOODNESS. it was so good. this may have tied for the best meal on my trip.
friday: we woke up at 7am to get to the airport to rent our car that we were going to drive down highway 1. albeit it was early, but i was still on east coast time, so when that alarm chimed, i easily got out of bed and into the shower. grant, rory's friend that we were staying with, had an orange tree in his front yard. AN ORANGE TREE, PEOPLE. i know, nothing unusual for ca folks, but it was pretty sweet. i picked two. and ate them on the road.

they were not as ripe as i was hoping. the smell was tastier than the bite. oh well. next time, maybe? 
we decided to get the heck outta the san fran area before we pulled off to eat breakfast, smart move on our part. i think we would have sat in rush hour morning traffic or gotten stuck in the daily morning commute someplace. in dc people used to drive 40+ minutes to work - blows my mind. thats a luxury of living in nyc. we can walk and take the train. granted it may take 45 min as well, but still, you can at least lose yourself in people watching, music or a good book. or if you are super skilled, all of the above. but i digress...breakfast! yums. so we stopped at a place in santa cruz called cafe brasil. 

 best decision we made. the food was awesome.

polenta, portabellas, spinach and a poached egg. SO good. i think this was my best meal while in california, so way to go santa cruz.  (side note: i love poached eggs. i cant tell you how often i eat them. have i gone off on this yet? i think its part of the reason i wasnt posting as much. b.c i was busy and my dinners have consisted of poached eggs and spinach and a grain, like every night. so why keep telling you that? but maybe i should. if you have yet to embark on a love affair with poached eggs...i'd be happy to help.) 
then back on the road. the drive was really really nice. there were so many artichoke farms! so many. i tried to take pictures of them but they all came out blurry and not good. they are large bright green bushes with leaves that look like they might have spikes on them and the jutting out from the center of the plant are these huge stalks with artichokes on the ends. every time i saw a big one, i giggled. they made me so happy. these fields and fields of artichokes. i love to eat them. i cant wait until they are in season. i'm not lying though, i sat facing outside with the window down, pointing and giggling. it was awesome.
we stopped in monterey next. on cannery row. stienbeck, anyone? we took these pictures there:

and thats all i have for now, there's more, but times a wastin'!


xo