I love San Francisco. I love the history, the weather, the culture, and the food. I lovveeeeeee the food. Before I start posting about the food we ate, I should clear something up. The person I was staying with asked me how on earth I eat so much without gaining a ton of weight. I wish I could say I’m one of those people who can eat whatever they want and not suffer the consequences, but that’s simply not the case! When I’m home, I follow a low-fat strict vegetarian diet with no dairy. When I go on vacation, I splurge. When we travel I try to stay in places with a kitchen so I don’t go too crazy (because I always feel gross when I verge too far from my routine), but occasionally on vacations or special dinners, I eat.

A lot.

This was one of those trips.

Okay, so back to SF. Big T told me we were going to have to take public transportation to save some taxi $$$. I panicked as I imagined hauling Little T, the car seat, the stroller, and our luggage around. After a good hour of mulling it over, I decided we could pack everything we needed in two backpacks so we’d only be carrying the car seat and the stroller. To tell you the truth, it was kind of a fun challenge!

We’d planned an evening plane ride so Little T would sleep, but he was really excited when we got to the airport and didn’t sleep until the plane was in the air. Once we were in the air, we were both happy to get snuggle time and Little T fell asleep.

On the airport, we utilized our electronic gadgets to get us through the short trip. Oh technology, how I do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

1. Watching an episode of “Modern Family on our iphone.

2. Reading “The Help” on my kindle.

3. Knowing exactly when our bus was coming.

4. Landing and being able to search for coffee.

The next night, Big T and I had a date at Millennium. It’s our favorite vegan restaurant because it serves unapologetic vegan food. By that I mean, there isn’t “fake meat” in sight. It’s pricey, so this was only our second visit and the third probably wont come for a while, but it’s always worth it!

We ordered a White Russian to drink.

For an appetizer we had fried oyster mushrooms with a carrot salad and a lemon dressing.

For my entree, I had this pastry that had a savory flavor and was filled with potatoes:

Big T had a grilled portabella mushroom with risotto, and for dessert I had chocolate lava cake and he had a berry cobbler.

The next day, I managed to convince Big T to travel out to Berkeley. The reason? I wanted Cinnamon Rolls, and I wanted them bad! We went to Cinnaholic, a vegan cinnamon roll shop. This is the way it works over there. First, you get a gourmet cinnamon rolls. Next, you pick a flavor of frosting. They have about 20 different flavors and we were feeling so overwhelmed! After you decide on the frosting, they let you pick a topping. I decided on the plain frosting with cookie dough. Big T had mint with oreos, and the helpful lady at the counter (who was so friendly, we could have stayed and talked with her for an hour), said her favorite was lemon frosting and raspberry. I’m going to have to try that next time.

We took the BART over to Mission. Little T had a great time sitting with us and taking the BART and the bus and shouted gleefully at people entering and exiting. I think he was saying hello and goodbye in baby babble.

Mission is bright and colorful, with amazing murals all over the place. Here was my favorite building:

We went to a Mexican food restaurant that has a lot of vegan options. Amazingly, we found room to eat, even after the cinnamon rolls.

On the way home, we stopped at the Stern Grove Music Festival. The concert was beautiful. We made our way to the side area so Little T could run around without being disruptive. It was a nice end to a fun day.

We were sad when our trip came to an end, but we were also glad to have a few weekends at home. Our yard is getting a bit overgrown and we have animals to snuggle with. I also have a few projects at home that I’m looking forward to getting started on.