In the City by the Bay, Day 5.

So, after my day of walking all over the Haight with Josh, I was pretty sore. I decided I didn’t care, because I was going to spend the day with my girl Hilary and her awesome kiddos! You might remember her former blog, Plate + Simple. It will forever have a place in my heart because Hilary and I became instant friends, and she later interviewed me. I still remember how tickled I was that someone cared enough about my ramblings to want an entire interview. You blew my mind, Hil. Now she blogs at Mod Apron, where I get daily doses of the kid-filled domestic bliss I hope to have someday soon. As soon as I knew Red and I would be in San Francisco, I emailed Hilary to tell her that we’d not only be in the same country (as she hails from that utopia to the North known as Canada), but in the same city! I’m not one to make big distinctions between “Internet friends” and “real-life friends,” because why can’t they be one and the same? Still, I was psyched that we could finally meet in person.

That day was the grayest and rainiest of our week in San Francisco, but it didn’t matter. Hilary made me breakfast (oatmeal and fresh fruit; I couldn’t have asked for anything better on that chilly morning) and welcomed me like I’d been dropping by her house on the regular for years. We walked her daughter Maya to preschool (OMG so much walking that week) and made funny faces at her little boy Henry. (Seriously, hie thee to Mod Apron just to get a load of Henry’s contagious grins.) It was exactly the mellow day I needed. We talked about damn near everything—it was like hanging out with one of my oldest friends, one who shares valuable life advice while brewing fragrant herbal tea. And she bought me this fantastic pretzel bagel, too:

EAT ME.

Red and I had dinner plans (not Millennium, though—that’s coming!), so after Hilary and I picked up Maya, we posed for this drop-dead-gorgeous photo and I managed to find the right bus back to the hotel. Thank you for a wonderful day, daahhhling!

I ♥ Hilary.

I feel like I must have taken a nap when I got back, but maybe I didn’t. Probably I rubbed peppermint lotion into my feet and read a few chapters of the book I’d brought, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. It’s so good, you guys. I’d call it the perfect vacation book, but that makes it sound like dumb chick-lit. It’s a combination of fast-moving, engaging plot and intelligent writing with a lot of historical detail. The sequel comes out next month, the day after my birthday (not that I’ve hinted about it to anyone, of course).

When Red got back, we headed to North Beach and the Beat Museum. I’m sure I’ve mentioned my Beat cred, if you can call it that: Naropa, Anne Waldman, degree from the Kerouac School (Amiri Baraka offered me clam chowder during my first summer), etc. Some say this makes me part of a lineage; I’m not sure how I feel about that, since I’ve barely written a damn thing (blog notwithstanding) in six years, but I do know that Naropa, Kerouac, Ginsberg, and the hungry poetry beast still occasionally pop up in my life. Since Red feels similarly, to the Beat Museum we went.

It is so fun there! I went to a witch museum in Salem once that had the same vibe: totally hand-made and unpolished, but so knowledgeable and sincere that you can’t help but love it. We more than got our money’s worth, as you can see:

Hey there, Jack.

Blew my mind the first time I read it. True story.

Obligatory mention of The Ladies.

We couldn’t respect ourselves if we didn’t drop some major coin at City Lights, which is right across the street. I want to live there, cuddled under piles and piles of books. (Public service announcement: If, like me, you’ve been spoiled by Amazon, books are actually expensive, and selling them is a labor of love. Support the indies! They’re worth it.)

Next stop: dinner. Red’s friend and his wife waved to us from their table at the Stinking Rose, but the menu didn’t have anything for us. Pity, because the gimmick of a garlic restaurant is a good one.

Killer garlic!

Back to the Supreme Master we went. Yes, friends, we succumbed a second time to the temptation of Loving Hut. I don’t remember what we had, but as you can see, it was pretty good.

I think it was raining again by the time we finished. We were both ready to crash, so we headed back to the hotel and did exactly that. We needed to rest up for our last day, and for Millennium!

In the City by the Bay, Day 4.

I was free until dinner, so I headed back to the Haight to meet up with my friend Josh. Despite not having seen each other since grad school (so, 6ish years ago), we fell into an easy conversation as we walked. And walked. Jesus H., how we walked. We walked through Golden Gate Park, all around the Haight, to his house (where we paused to leash up his roommate’s dog), then walked some more. I saw many interesting things, most of which distracted me from my aching legs and ass.

Conservatory of Flowers.

California Academy of Sciences.

You know, how you do.

Twin Peaks! This is major for some of you, I know.

The view from Josh’s place. I swear the Golden Gate Bridge is out there somewhere.

I wish I had a photo of Mini the furry (not wrinkly) Shar Pei, but she was very happy to be out for a walk and not inclined to pose for pictures. She did help me miss Lucy ever-so-slightly less, though.

Views from the park where we took Mini.

Amongst Josh’s other excellent qualities (writer, world traveler, soccer fan), he is vegan and tends bar at Millennium. SCORE. If Yoga on the Labyrinth was my only San Francisco must-do, then Millennium was a close second. Because he is a kind and generous person, Josh suggested that Red and I come in for dinner on our last evening in town, sit at the bar, and he’d take care of us. I didn’t care how far I had to walk—I would have dinner at Millennium.

After we dropped Mini off at home, we had a very long, serious discussion about what to have for lunch. Because Josh knows food (like, really knows food) and I could barely find my way around the city unassisted, I deferred to his suggestions.

We settled on Herbivore. I was feeling like ramen would be a good idea, and Herbivore does a very good ginger ramen. It was warm and spicy and did the trick. I don’t remember what Josh had, probably because I was too busy slurping my ramen and giving up on making any sensible use of chopsticks to notice.


After lunch, Josh walked me to the tiniest little Whole Foods in existence so I could pick up some fruit and snacks. I think Red wanted bananas. Conveniently, it was right next to my bus stop, so we hugged and promised to see each other when Red and I got all dressed up and went to Millennium.


I could have crashed when I got back to the hotel, but it was not to be. Red and I had dinner plans with Giselle, my soul sister. I hadn’t seen Giselle since 2005, when I visited her and her husband at their home in Mexico. She is currently based in Oakland, which is a short BART ride from San Francisco. Y’all have probably heard shady things about Oakland, but I’m from Baltimore, so I have little fear of urban dangers. I think this concerns Red sometimes. Giselle met us at the BART station, and we walked (more walking, dammit) to Souley Vegan. With apologies to Jane Austen: It is a truth universally acknowledged that if any city is in possession of at least one vegan restaurant, it will be a soul-food joint. I find this very comforting.

The food was awesome. Red had barbecue tofu, which he thought would be a sandwich but was really just a pile of tasty tofu on some lettuce leaves. Not a hardship. Giselle had spaghetti with falafel, which is not a combo you’d ordinarily think would work, but it did. And I had this yummy little bowl full of grits, jambalaya, and popcorn-fried tofu. Maryland is not really Southern enough for grits to be A Thing here, but I love them, so this was a special treat. Giselle and I had some sake-spiked lemonade, which was delicious. I don’t really like sake, but I liked this.




Really, I was just so happy to see my friend and for she and Red to finally meet. Giselle and I have seen each other through some fairly shitty times, so for us to finally be together as people with semi-coherent lives and decent measures of grown-up happiness was a joy. I was so sad when we parted company at the BART station, but I can’t wait to do it again.

Love is all you need.

Coming up (in like 10 years, given my blogging pace of late): A day with Hilary!

In the City by the Bay, Day 3.

I spent the first half of our third day wandering around Haight-Ashbury, buying pretty things and taking pictures of weird hippie shit (says the weird hippie), occasionally texting Red when something was especially noteworthy (Tibetan shop, shrine to Jimi Hendrix). It was a lot of walking.

I bought lovely glass ear plugs here. It’s hard to tell, but the front of the shop is made of mirror mosaics!

Then my feet were tired, but Golden Gate Park appeared so I could sit down and eat a Larabar.




After I bid the Haight farewell, I got on the wrong bus for Japantown. This situation happened to me with considerable frequency during the week, because Baltimore has no useful mass transit to speak of and my sense of direction could charitably be described as poor. No thanks to my own navigational skills, I finally made it to this stupid-expensive store that my friend Liz wanted me to say hi to for her. I was nowhere cool enough to be in there, and they didn’t allow photos, so I sort of felt like I’d wasted a trip, but what the hell. It was a new experience.

After I made it back to the hotel, Red and I skipped dinner in favor of healthy snacks because we were headed to Yoga on the Labyrinth! I was more excited about this than about any other part of the trip. If I’d done nothing else that week but stay in our hotel room and read, I would have counted San Francisco a success. I first learned about Yoga on the Labyrinth over the summer, and filed it in the back of my mind as something awesome to do one day. As our trip plans firmed up, I coincidentally found myself reading a book by the instructor, Darren Main—Red’s parents had seen two of his books on my Amazon wish list and given them to me for Christmas. Everything clicked and I realized that I’d be able to take a class with Darren and thank him for his inspiring work! I was a very happy yogini!

Of course Red and I had brought our yoga mats, but his buddy Tony was joining us too and had never done yoga. Luckily, he found a cheap Old Navy mat and grabbed a space next to us. The class was great and very interesting, not least because marble floors are less than supportive, even with a mat! It was so interesting to watch my practice change with the environment and remember that this experience was one I might never have again, so I’d better stay mindful and release my expectations for myself. On top of that, I counted over 100 people stretched out on the floor. 100 people in one class! That’s every yoga teacher’s dream!

Before and after class, we had a chance to look around the cathedral and take pictures. It is gorgeous. I felt so peaceful and centered there, surrounded by all the serenity. I introduced myself to Darren, told him about the serendipity of our trip and my in-laws’ gift of his books, and he was very welcoming and gracious. If I’m ever in San Francisco again, I’ll be sure to take another of his classes.

Lovely Keith Haring triptych in the AIDS Chapel.

AIDS Memorial Quilt. My camera doesn’t do the colors justice.

Thus ended Day 3—on a nice little yoga high and with no concrete plans for Day 4. Whatever could I have found to do?

In the City by the Bay, Day 2.

So, when we last parted, Red and I were sleeping off our jetlag in the beautiful but chilly city of San Francisco. The next morning, I had a muffin for breakfast (maybe coffee too? I managed to keep it to once a day despite the Starbucks in the lobby), kissed Red goodbye as he headed to work, then wandered down the street to the Contemporary Jewish Museum. I have an honorary Jewish grandma who is totally awesome, and she wanted me to go there and send her a postcard. I was happy to find such a cool museum within walking distance. I learned a ton, too. Plus, where else are you going to find an exhibit called Black Sabbath? It was in this amazing room called the Yud Gallery, which is filled with diamond-shaped windows. The light was incredible. Really, the whole place is fascinating from an architectural perspective as well as religious and historical ones. Take a look!

The trees decorated with papers were part of an exhibit.

Lunch, glorious lunch. We had the fortune (good or bad, you decide) to be just down the block from a mall. I am apathetic toward malls on my best day, but this mall had a Loving Hut in the food court. Now, I’ve spent enough time as an Internet-savvy vegan to know that Loving Hut elicits strong opinions (I first read about it in VegNews; if that link doesn’t work, try this),but I wanted to experience the weirdness for myself. Anyway, Red and his coworker met me for lunch. Red had, I think, the Grilled Philly Sandwich and I had a bowl of Loving Hut Noodle Soup. Both were good, especially considering the fate of vegans at most food courts. Well played, Supreme Master.

After lunch, I may have walked around a little more, or I may have just chilled out until Red finished work and we went to the MOMA. Damn, you guys, I love a good MOMA. Not as much as Red does, though. My boy is all about his modern art. Check it, he even found Waldo:

Exploded Views by Jim Campbell in the lobby. The photo absolutely does not do it justice:

Random building photos:

Then we were hungry and didn’t feel like wandering far for food on our first full day in the city. This laziness took us to Samovar, and it was kind of the low point of the trip. Hell, at least we punched that ticket early. It wasn’t bad, for sure, but it wasn’t what we expected, either. It was cramped and noisy and expensive. It’s nice that you can order a “tea service” meal, which is a themed pairing of food and tea. It’s not nice when the tea tastes like feet and you’re afraid to ask for sugar because they obviously frown on that sort of thing, but you damn well drink every drop because you threw down a Jackson for it. If you’re still interested, I had the Chinese Service (to be fair, the food was good) and Red had the veganized Paleolithic Service, which was rather on the bland side.

The teapots were charming, though.

Note: Weird spacing and wonky photo alignment brought to you by Blogger’s new interface. Thanks, Supreme Master Google.

In the City by the Bay, Day 1.

There are many perks of being married to my husband, but one of the most interesting is that I frequently get to tag along when his job takes him to new cities. Some I can’t join in on (I wasn’t sad to miss Middle of Nowhere, Georgia, especially because I got to stuff my face with popcorn and watch Scarface and then Red came home a day early to surprise me on my birthday), but so far I’ve been able to experience Chicago, Orlando, and now San Francisco. The best is when he’s free to wander the city with me, but even on my own, it’s still great.

I was especially psyched for San Francisco because I have friends there. Friends! The best part of any new city! I wouldn’t have to figure it all out for myself! I had ready-made tour guides waiting to feed and entertain me. On top of that, San Francisco is fantastically vegan-friendly, so I didn’t feel pressured to schedule every snack and meal. (All the same, we bought a guidebook and I printed VegNews’ list of top eats in the Mission.) We still packed trail mix and bars and little things like that to sustain us, and for breakfast, I baked up Vegan Brunch’s Cocoa-Raspberry Muffins (with bonus chocolate chips, because you have to) and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. They survived our first flight in fine style but several were smashed in the overhead bin during the second. Damn, muffins. They were still delicious, though.

Travel days are almost always a waste, so there’s not much to talk about there. Our first flight was half-empty, which meant that not only was I able to stretch out and snooze with my head in Red’s lap (he is an excellent pillow, in case you were wondering), I could have had an entire row all. to. myself. I know, right? When was the last time you weren’t jam-packed into an airplane?

On our second flight, I was sandwiched between Red and a gentleman who was headed to Santa Cruz on business, that business being a medical marijuana dispensary. This conversation served basically to prepare us for the hella amount of weed we would run into in San Francisco. As I’ve said before, I don’t care one way or the other, but it was profoundly odd to be walking down the street and get a massive secondhand hit. I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or bothered, so I mostly settled for amiably confused.

By the time we got to our hotel, it was about 2pm California time, which meant our stomachs thought we were just about due for dinner. Red had eaten less than I had during our flights, so he was fading fast. Friends to the rescue! I hit up my girl B, writer, ecofeminist vegan, and recent San Francisco transplant, and she and her man scooped us up in their pimp ride and got us fed at the St. Francis Fountain and Diner. I was super-excited to finally meet them in person. (If I offended anyone with my use of the world “pimp,” you were probably overdue for it if you’ve been reading the blog for any length of time. Plus, that car deserved a mention.)

I didn’t get a picture of him, but while we waited for our table, we had the chance to snorgle an adorable blue pit bull puppy as he and his person tried to go for a walk. I say “tried” because it was clear they couldn’t get more than a few steps before being accosted by loving strangers wanting to nom on his silky baby ears. Red and I missed Lucy already, so it was nice to get a little taste of pibble love on our first day away from her.

We also got in some good hipster-watching. Left Coast, I treasure you.

Then! Food! I chowed down on the Vegan Thing, which is a pile of home fries, Daiya, guacamole, scallions, and salsa. It is assuredly not good for you, but it is very very delicious and it hit the motherloving spot after our long-ass day. I managed to stop at half so I could walk back to the car, but it was tough. Red enjoyed a Devil Burger, which involves grilled onions and seitan (two of his favorite things), so he was pleased.



After that, our awesome friends dropped us off at our hotel so we could pass out and let our body clocks reset. Thanks, awesome friends!

Slinking back into the sunlight….

Um…hi!

How’d that happen?

Truly, I’m not sure how I’ve neglected my poor little blog for over four months. Even worse, I’ve neglected you, darling readers. I would offer amusing pictures of animals talking in all-caps and beg for forgiveness, but I don’t deserve it.

The worst part is…

I kind of didn’t miss blogging.

There. I said it. I got swept up in holiday silliness (and seriousness), enjoyed not having to remember to take pictures of my food, and just plain slacked off. No major crisis precipitated any of this; I just let life get the better of me. I had yoga trainings and work trainings and my blog reader kept filling up and overwhelming me and then my favorite coworker left (that lucky bastard) so I had his work to do too and I just got so tired. So tie-tie, even. I think I spent whole days mindlessly playing Bejeweled.

And then I started feeling like I didn’t really have anything to add to the conversation anymore, since my photos generally blow (and isn’t that what people come to food blogs for?) and the vegan blogosphere has totally expanded to include, like, three unknown galaxies of awesomeness. I mean, I know my awesomeness is its very own inimitable brand, but even the knowledge of my own special-snowflake specialness wasn’t enough to drag me back to the keyboard.

But I’m here now.

I’m not promising to be Super Blogger Girl. I might flake out on you again.

But I am going to honest-to-Goddess try to get myself back on a regular posting schedule.

First up: Red’s and my adventures in San Francisco. It wasn’t warm, it wasn’t sunny, but it was sure as hell delicious.

In the meantime, here’s a picture of me doing yoga. My hair’s not pink at the moment, but don’t worry, it will be again. Or maybe blue or green.

I love you all like whoa.