Week Three for Me…

Saturday, October 15th started off with some peas-nuts and a phlurry of cleaning phrenzy, as my mother was coming to visit along with the owners of my phavorite B&B of all time (I know I’ve mentioned this heavenly spot in Gilroy before… you should all be so lucky as to experience the unsurpassed hospitality…)

Once they all arrives, we walked through the Pharmers Market and around downtown until we phound ourselves at Village Pizza & Grill for lunch.  I had their goat cheese salad and really enjoyed it.

I also snagged a piece of their prosciutto pizza which was as delicious as they last time I had it.

After a phun-philled day of catching up and hanging every single piece of art in my new home (seriously how did I get so lucky to have such helpful and awesome pholks in my life??), The Phella joined us, and we showed our guests the delight which is Taste of Thai.

We tried a new item- the crab phried rice- which I would never order again, but everything else was delicious as per usual.

The next day, I was so busy (doing what you ask… I have no clue) I phorgot to eat until late in the afternoon at my sorority’s Phounder’s Day Luncheon in Old Town Sacramento (which sorority you ask… the very best one, of course!).

Phueled by the phun of meeting a group of sisters I’d never met, I stayed in Old Town after the event.  I met up with a phellow I’d had the pleasure of meeting at Boot’s wedding in April for dinner at Ten22.  Needless to say, I phailed MISERABLY with my phirst shot and my attempt to deal with the super low lighting (we sat outside on a patio).

I wizened up and used my phlash when my phig tart arrived.  So phreaking tasty!

The highlight of the evening, other than the phabulous company, and other than losing my parking ticket and having the attendant give me a gimme, was that I phound $12 on the ground.  Not a bad evening!  When I got home, I enjoyed a sugar-phree phudgesicle as I thumbed through a cookbook I bought as a gift for Paper Bag (it’s ok to admit this, as even though it was intended as a Christmas gift, I got a bit too excited and already gave it to her… not sure if I have even mentioned on the blog how much I LOVE- and pride myself on the ability- to give gifts).

Munday…

Healthy lunch in my cube…

Really not so great “creamed” corn dish I made (I blame Martha Stewart for claiming it would be good… it certainly wasn’t my phault!) while I prepped some eggplant to cook for The Phella.  Moral of the story- trying a recipe that is a healthy version of creamed corn is a phutile endeavor.  Creamed corn is delicious for a reason and attempting to make a skinny version is just not wise.

When I got to The Phella’s house, I had him and this homemade carrot bread waiting for me to sample, courtesy of our new phriend, Phiona.  Yum!

Tooozeday…

Seriously, Nathan’s Phamous Pickles live up to their name.  True story.

I made grilled chicken and lentils for The Phella’s study group.  Sometimes I’m nice like that… sometimes…

If I haven’t mentioned this, my lentils are as phamed and delicious as my Brussels sprouts.  If you beg creatively enough, I might just share the recipe… maybe…

Wedenesday…

Leftovers for breakfast/lunch.

Spaghetti squash & goat cheese for dinner… not very good.

Phollowed up with more lentils… very good.

Therrsday…

Egg carnage.

Leftovers plus some tasterific organic grapes- the kind with the edible seeds in them.  Love.

Homemade tomatoe jam on carmelized onion bread for dinner.  Works for me!

Phriday!

I was so excited that it was Phriday (which meant phriends coming to visit) that I phorgot to eat breakfast and also phorgot to pack a lunch. That meant I didn’t eat until dinner, which was barbecued chicken and assorted accoutrements.  The BBQ marked my phirst official social event held at my new pad (which included Paper Bag, the phellow from Sunday night, The Phella and some additional new phriends who I am sure will pop up in phuture posts…)

“Dessert” consisted of me phorcing everyone to try my tomatoe jam.  Every claimed it was not only edible but delicious… but it was a captive audience.

And then it was Saturday… woohoo!

June Phifteen and Sixteen

June phifteenth…

Lunch with Sparky at Ariana’s Restaurant– Avocado Salad, delicious as always.

The liquor store next door provided me with a healthy afternoon snack of a Big Hunk- don’t you worry, it very clearly says “low phat”!

Alabama and I went to dinner at Baan Thai with Marley’s parents. Have I mentioned lately how much I phreaking love this place?

I introduced our guests to Yum Woo Sen (but pretty sure I hogged the majority of it).

Alabama ordered the Pad Thai and was kind enough to share.

We then went and tried out Post No Bills, the new craft beer house in town.  A phew enjoyable pints led to poor decision-making on the way home that manifested in the phorm of Jack in the Box tacos- whoops!

Let it be noted on the record that I only consumed two…

June sixteenth started with Morningstar Pharm “sausage”.

The staff was pleasantly surprised for lunch by one of our volunteers (who also happens to be one of my most phavorite phoodfotos phollowers) and her child coming in and making us a delicious homemade lunch.

This was my phirst helping…

This was my second helping…

…and this was my cup of homemade soup that went with it.

All was amazingly delicious- quite a talented young chef we’ve got!

Sparky brought me a new spicy treat to try in the afternoon- Tapatio- phlavored Ruffles!  I was supposed to share them but did a pretty poor job of that.

Inspired by our young chef, I made dinner at home that night, which consisted of a phridge stew of sorts.  I roasted a myriad of different things I phound around the kitchen and called it phood.

Not NEARLY as good as everything else I ate that day- I seem to remember picking out the carrots and tossing the majority of the rest.  I am sorely out of shape as a chef.

Something I shall have to remedy now that grad school is done and dusted!

Nostalgia Tour

Guess what, phollowers!  Sexy Mexican showed up with a power cord for my laptop last night!

Who’s back in blogging business?  THIS GIRL!

Soooooo… back to Memorial Day Weekend.  The Original was visiting.  We decided to take a nostalgia tour around town… after a delicious breakfast at Carmel Belle.

The open-phaced avocado with olive oil and sea salt is borderline ridiculous in regard to deliciousness.

The hot polenta loaded with truffled mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, creamy goat cheese and a poached egg ain’t too shabby either!

The nostalgia tour philled up most of the day, so we skipped lunch and headed for drinks and tapas at Esteban in Monterey prior to dinner with Pops.

I had a bad experience when hosting a private party at Esteban a phew years back, so I’ve avoided it as a general rule, but after that evening, I am reinstating it on the dining out options list.  The nibbles were tasty, the cocktails were refreshing and the chef helped to wait on us.  Win. Win. Win.

Great happy hour specials, as well!

We then headed down the street to Siamese Bay for some tasty Thai.

Great day…

Tasty Thai

I started Phriday off with some Subway breakfast (realized I hadn’t had it in a while) and I added some swiss cheese I had in the phridge at work.

For lunch, Hard Hat, Preggers and I polished off the lingering leftovers from the Derby party.  Yep, still delicious…

It may not have looked as pretty as it did originally, but I think the sweet potatoe pie tasted even better after it sat for a phew days.

Alabama and I went out with the coolest couple in the county in the evening.  We started at The Alternative Cafe to check out the latest show and then ventured into Monterey to Siamese Bay Restaurant.  I was the only member of the group who’d never been, and while Alabama hadn’t been there in years, the proprietor, Sam, recognized him right away. Charmingly personal and attentive service alongside wonderfully tasty Thai is a win-win in my book.

The Larb Kai was incredibly enjoyable- I could have been entirely content with just this dish.

I was so enamored with the phabulous company and phun new phood that I phorgot to write down what we ordered.  If I ever phigure it out, I promise to post an update…

Let it be said that nothing was short of great.

Really irritated with myself that I had never tried this place before, especially since I used to work a block away!

The Siamese Spicy Fish was really unique… I was expecting something similar to the Spicy Catfish dish I love ever so much at Baan Thai, but this was an entirely different experience.  I love surprising phood!

My phace will definitely be sighted again soon at Siamese Bay!