Blast from the Past: Hairbows

I found some amazing hairbows this weekend that I'm sticking in my etsy store I just started, named after my kitty. If you would like to partake in this project with me, let me know! And by this project, I mean shopping for jewels like such:






x,

Franny

Frozen Bananas and Kitties

All this rage about frozen bananas plus the 105 degree Texas weather inspired Kathryn and I to make our own fro-nanas.

Dip it in the chocolate...

Sprinkle on the toppings...

Kathryn's frozen banana

My frozen banana. Looks like a pee pee hehe.

Charlie.

x,

Franny

San Francisco in a Nutshell

After having woken up at 4 am on Friday to catch our flight, we treated ourselves to an excellent brunch at Brenda's French Soul Food while we waited to check in at our hotel. I pretty much found all the restaurants we planned to eat at through Yelp, which is based in San Francisco. I think working for Yelp would be an ideal job for me ... hm ... I can see it now.

Anyway, Brenda's is supposed to be famous for their hearty breakfasts, especially their grits. But to be honest, what swept me off my feet was the biscuit! It was so fluffy/flaky/buttery/crumblinginyourfingers/meltinginyourmouth ... perfection of a biscuit. We were very pleased. :)

We decided to be touristy and go to Fisherman's Wharf ... which was actually kind of fun.

Anyone who knows me well knows I have a fascination with pigeons/seagulls/dead birds.

Mmm, fresh calamari.

Sea lions. So strange.

Then we head up to the Marina District ... pass through the Exploratorium and Crissy Park (what is that place?) ... and then hike up to Golden Gate Bridge ... on Kris's request. I was merely his slave. I probably burned more calories that day than I ate ...

Cold water!!

Still so far to go ...

The night ended with dinner at Sushi Zone in the Castro... it supposedly has the best sushi in SF and it's all reasonably priced. $5.50 for most rolls? Yes? And we saw Thao Nguyen there! We waited more than 2 hours but it was worth it. I recommended the Hawaiian Roll. Who knew macadamia nuts could taste so good on sushi?

Chinatown on Saturday after eating a decent lunch at R&G Chinese Restaurant and getting some BBQ Pork buns and Chinese style rice krispies. Yummy.

On the trolley down to Union Square for some shopping.

Dinner at Little Star in the Mission. Supposedly the best thin crust pizza? Seemed like most people were getting deep dish though. I think pizza in Austin is better. Buscemi @ Eastside Pies. Yes. And Conan's. Yes.

On the way to do some thrifting and eat lunch at Taqueria Can-Cun we see Frances Hotel! Yay. Then we head over to do some more shopping in the Haight Ashbury area ... no pictures oops. And then we got some excellent shabu with my cousins at Mr. Shabu ... which was mmm.

Vacation over.

Boo.

x,

Franny

SFSFSFSF

Expect major photo bloggage next week. I just developed a roll from my Holga today and then this weekend will provide even more stuff.

Woo!



x,

Franny

Tamale House: Recession Migas

After reading reviews on this joint via Yelp, I had to go check it out with my friend Kathryn. Someone described them as having the best migas in town ... and I had to go see for myself. Besides that, they have super super super super cheap breakfast tacos. I mean $.85 a taco. And they get them out fast.

So alas, my migas...



I call them Recession Migas because they came with 3 tortillas, and after making 3 migas tacos out of that, my plate still looked like the above pictures. I barely made a dent and I was stuffed. At first they weren't my favorite because they were a little soupy ... and I like my migas drier. I also prefer black beans to refried beans ... but those were still good. And the potatoes were nice and peppery. But after eating them as leftovers, I decided they tasted a lot better than I remembered ... not that they ever tasted bad. Maybe I was just hungrier? Or maybe it was just too hot outside? Or maybe I was just too shocked by the gargantuous amount of migas handed to me the first time around. Anyway, they are recommended. Still not my favorite ... but a great cheap filling brunch for sure.

To make the experience sweeter, this guy came up and gave Kathryn a cupcake ... thanking her for her beauty, hahaha. This wasn't a cupcake he made himself, don't worry. Tamale House sells homemade cupcakes as well, ha.

Where should I go get migas next?!

x,

Franny

Mamboberry: SoCo's foodstand cure for heatstroke

Austin has been swept with froyo... forget TCBY on MLK ... who goes there anymore? That is fake froyo. I'm talking about real froyo like Yogurt Planet and newly opened Swirll on The Drag. But you know what has been around the longest? None other than Mamboberry! I first caught wind of this place from my coworker at Sweet Leaf last semester while I was interning there ... but never got the chance to check the place out. Now that they've permanently planted themselves on South Congress next to the other foodstands such as Hey Cupcake! and The Mighty Cone and it's goddamn hot outside ... I decided to give them a try.

our Mamboberrys ... I got green tea w/ cap'n crunch, blueberries, and chocolate chips. She got tart w/ cap'n crunch and strawberries.

the Mamboberry menu ... they have tamales too?! yep. And if their no egg tofu salad sandwich is the same as Jo's, I can vouch for its goodness.

Do you see that ungodly amount of toppings? Do you want to know why? It's because if you mentioned their twitter, you got unlimited toppings. yes!

Follow them @mamboberry and get amazing deals such as free toppings, $1 off, combo deals

I'm definitely going to be going to this place a ton more now that I work down there almost everyday during the week ... score. I heart you Mamboberry!

x,

Franny

Tacodeli

mmm, good saturday.

but is tacodeli better than torchy's? i'll have to try it again to make a real decision.

x,

franny

Rainbow Arabia = Summer

courtesy of rcrdlbl

I am loving this band and these songs ... it is what summer should sound like.

mp3: Rainbow Arabia - Holiday in Congo
mp3: Rainbow Arabia - I know I see I love I go

---



what a great fire hydrant?

x,

franny

On the road again

I accompanied Charlene on the road to LA this past weekend because she needed someone to drive with her there to move-in before her amazing internship with TOMS (yay!). I snapped a few pictures along the way ... nothing too special. I wish I could have gotten closer to those windmills... and I really wanted a badass picture of a cactus, but every time I saw a good one we drove by it too fast and it was gone. Sigh! I read today in Elle magazine on the plane about families who live in "food deserts" ... and that is exactly what the roadtrip was. Low income families ... such as those who live in these ghost towns along I-10 ... can't afford to buy healthier food ... especially since there really is nothing else there besides KFC and Taco Bell. What is one to do!? Plant your own garden in the desert?

In regard to locally produced food, I got some yummy pesto at the farmers market in LA ... it's called Goober Pesto and it's good and spicy. I made spicy chicken pesto pasta tonight and it was so yum. Much better than KFC. And if anyone knows, I hate Taco Bell. Taco Bueno is more bueno, duh.

Anyway, first day of my internship with the Statesman tomorrow! Wee!

More pictures on the flickr.

x,

Franny