Walking down Polk Street and Finding cheese sampling. I could never live in a world without cheese, bread, and wine. Too bad it always has to be consumed in moderation, otherwise I would eat it every day
Discovering flowers on a cold winter day in New York City
The best truck ever! Also should I mention it had a Colorado License Plate
Street Art walking in NYC. It reminds me of the mission street back in San Francisco
Brunch, The Best Meal to Eat Out
To be honest I have never been a big fan of Valentines Day. Having spent most of my adult life without a Valentine the day always seemed to be more of a “Single Awareness Day” then it was a day to celebrate the ones you love. Now having had a Valentine for the last few years I can say that even though it is still not my favorite holiday of the year it has started to grow on me and I find more appreciation in the day then I once did.
Typically I am in New York City for work every Valentines Day and for the first year in a long while my trip happens to be the week after. So instead of spending the night in a quaint, dark, brick walled restaurant in New York City with my two closest girlfriends I was able to spend the night with my wonderful boyfriend.
Tonight we spent the evening with two of our closest friend and decided a double date with beer, Little Star Pizza, and Netflix’s Season 2 Premier of House of Cards was better then any romantic date we could do on our own. Dinner was delicious. Little Star’s deep dish corn meal crust pizza is something there is no words for. The crust is thick, buttery, and just melts in your mouth.
To try and make the dinner a little healthier I made a giant salad with a bunch of my leftover veggies to go with it. This way I was able to fill most of my plate with the yummy greens and by doing so was able to get fuller without having to eat half of the pizza. Which after a day of spinning and Barre I was ready to devour it all! To top off the amazing dinner the four of us all split a homemade red velvet cream cheese cupcake my girlfriend had made. To me there is no dessert better then one that is homemade.
One of my favorite things about having lived in my neighborhood for over 6 years is I now have my established neighborhood spots. Now these are those places that are your “Cheers Bar” of sorts. The place you go to often, whether that is daily, weekly, or monthly, and by your frequency you start to develop relationships with the staff, other fellow regulars, and you no longer even have to place your order because the staff just knows. For me there is something very comforting about having a constant. A place where you know you will start your day with a smile and a couple minutes of good humored and friendly banter.
One of these spots for me is Dynamo Donuts. Now if you live in San Francisco there is a good chance you know the place I am talking about. Their donuts are truly amazing, which you can tell by the constant line outside, even in the early morning rain. Not to mention the away of magazine articles this little spot has been written up in. This place has a very endearing quality to it. Maybe it is the fact that you can just walk up to the outside counter and order off of the simple menu or maybe it is the buzz of people always surrounding it. Either way I love starting my day off here.
You might be thinking how Donuts are not what you would call a healthy food and to which I would respond you are 100% right. Donuts are probably not the best way to start off every morning. That is why my daily order is almost always just a cup of coffee. Now that is not to say that when there is something new or amazing on the menu I wont give it a try, I most definitely will. However I try to reserve those splurges for a leisurely Saturday morning where I take my dog on a long walk over to the shop, sit outside with a book, my coffee, and savor every last bite.
This week is Beer Week in San Francisco and as part of the festivities Dynamo Donuts is doing Beer infused donuts. Being from Colorado I am a huge fan of beer so I had to see what these donuts were all about. I picked up one of each of the beer infused donuts this weekend, the Pale Ale and the Cherry Sour. I brought both home and made the boyfriend eat half of each with me. I have to say both were REALLY good. I have never been a big fan of donuts with icing on top as it has always seemed like an added sweetness that covers up the true taste of the amazing dough. With both of the beer donuts I thought the icing actually ended up enhancing the flavor. I assumed I would like the Sour Cherry more since I have an obsession with Sour Beer, but surprisingly the Pale Ale by far was my favorite. Although I think the Carrot Cake Donut is still my number one love from them by far!
If you happen to find yourself by Dynamo this week I suggest you meander over and try one of the beer donuts. You wont be disappointed!
The Kale Diaries 