juice & snacks

It all started with the Creme Brulee Cart (@cremebruleecart). Though we still have yet to try it, it was the catalyst for our now growing food cart obsession. So when we heard about the SF Street Food Fest in the Mission last Saturday, we had to check it out.

The festival had a nice mix of established restaurants and food carts (a.k.a. taco trucks) selling a wide variety of foods representing a wide variety of cuisines spreading across the globe. The beautiful weather and the great vibe at the festival made it easy for us to spend several hours eating, people watching and soaking up the sun.

Some of our favorite street foods include: Roli Roti for their porchetta sandwich (we waited for 50 minutes at the festival and it was worth it), Curry Up Now for their deconstructed samosa (Ian recommends ordering online), Hapa SF for their sisig tacos, and Seoul on Wheels for their Korean tacos.

Next festival: this weekend at the Eat Real Fest in Oakland. Hopefully this time we can get to the Creme Brulee Cart before it sells out!

Bay Area, Food, Lifestyle, photography

Call me cynical, but it seems like these days, it’s really hard to find a stranger that will do something nice for you if they’re not getting something out of it. Last week, however, my faith in humanity was restored at least a little bit.

A couple of Friday’s ago I took the train home from work. I was really tired, and the only thing on my mind was getting home to relax. I had my phone in my pocket but somewhere between the time I left my seat and the time I got to the front door of our apartment, my phone was gone. I called Verizon right away and they were able to suspend the service of the phone. (I guess that’s one advantage of not having a SIM card.) I also called Caltrain to report it because we had a friend who had left things on the train before and had gotten them back. I wasn’t overly concerned because it was a free phone, I just hoped it wouldn’t fall in the hands of someone who’d use my contacts for some unsavory business.

That night, my dad got a call from a lady who cleans the Caltrain. She said she found my phone and would keep it for us to pick it up. I have a friend who lives in the area so I asked him to pick it up next week during her working hours. He arranged to meet her mid-week. When they met, my friend tried to give her a reward but she politely refused. When my friend told me this, I was shocked. Again maybe I’m cynical but it was such a nice surprise.

Lifestyle

It’s April and baseball season has finally arrived. What better way to kick it off than with catching a preseason game of the Bay Bridge series. The weather looked iffy but we managed to pull off an impromptu tailgate. Please forgive our friends for their poor choice of teams, we know we did.

Though the game itself wasn’t all that we hoped it would be, we enjoyed the festivities at the Fan Appreciation Tailgate. The lines were too long for us to get any signatures but we did enjoy the Q & A sessions which pumped us up for the season ahead. We know that no matter what the stats say, there is no doubt that the A’s will make this an exciting season!

Bay Area, baseball, photography, sports

When we initially decided to go to Cairns, we wanted to go for the Great Barrier Reef and to hold a koala since Queensland is the only territory in Australia where it is legal to hold a koala. However by the time we got to Cairns, we were exhausted from all the travel and just wanted to relax. Since it was the end of our trip, we decided to take it easy so that we could go back to reality relaxed and refreshed. It was a tough choice, but since we enjoyed Australia so much, we knew we’d be back.

Instead our last few days in Australia were spent enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing in Port Douglas and Cairns. Unfortunately, stingrays also enjoy the warmer weather so we were advised to stay away from the ocean. We were able to enjoy the nice oceanside views, but when it came to swimming that we resorted to the saltwater lagoons at our hotel.

After being on the move for the majority of two weeks, a relaxing time in Port Douglas was just what we needed. Though there weren’t a whole lot of other things to do, we did enjoy walking around the towns of Port Douglas and Cairns. Port Douglas was definitely more of a resort town whereas Cairns was more of a port town since most of the Great Barrier Reef tours go out from there. The one tourist spot that we highly recommend in Port Douglas was the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. Had it not been for a strong recommendation from my brother, we probably would have overlooked it. It’s located just off the main road as you enter Port Douglas and looked like a tourist trap. However, once inside, it was was a great way for us to see some of the native animals of Australia and to experience some of the different habitats. We really got the authentic rain forest experience as it started pouring when we began walking around.

We didn’t spend that much time in Cairns, but it did have a nice restaurant row along the harbor where we enjoyed a nice final dinner at the Waterbar. It came highly recommended from my massage therapist and it did not disappoint.

Overall, Australia was a great experience. One day we definitely hope to return and explore even more. Ian and I really enjoyed our honeymoon, most of all because we really got to spend time with each other. In our day to day lives we see each other all the time, but we are always distracted by one thing or another. It was nice to be able to spend quality time together, to talk, to laugh and to have fun. We realized how important this time out is for our relationship and made a promise to make sure that we make time for it in the future.

Lifestyle

When we were initially looking into our trip to Australia, the travel agent we were consulting who had spent some time in Australia, highly recommended The Great Ocean Road and we’re glad we did. While it’s not something to do if you’re low on time, it is definitely worth it to make some time for it. The round trip journey from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road up to Port Campbell and back again took us about 2 1/2 days. We probably could have made it in less time but it was a good pace where we felt like we got a chance to see everything and didn’t feel rushed. There our tour buses that will take the inland roads to see the major sights but to me it just doesn’t give it justice.

The first day we went from Melbourne up to Apollo Bay. We left pretty early in the morning because we were told that the most picturesque spots were from Lorne to Apollo Bay. It looks like they’ve done some construction recently because the GPS we borrowed from the rental car place was going crazy because it thought we were going off-road. (Thank goodness we got an International plan for Ian’s phone to look up some directions!)

The views were really impressive. We took our time driving and stopped frequently to take a break from the windy roads and to take in the views. The thing that made the views so impressive were the vibrant contrast of the colors of the cliffs, the ocean, and the sky.

Apollo Bay was a nice place to stay however lot of the inns were still closed because it was not yet peak season. We also found that it was kind of difficult to find accommodations online and that selection was much more limited than what was actually available. It is possible to get recommendations at the Visitor’s Center in Geelong but we didn’t want to take a chance by waiting until last minute to book.

Apollo Bay was a small, seaside town, but there were a lot of choices of places to eat and there were some really cute souvenir shops.

The next day we went from Apollo Bay to Port Campbell. Most of the roads on this leg of the journey were inland, but they were still beautiful in their own right. Being from the city, we don’t get to see that much lush, green farmland and forests so it was a pleasant scene. This part of the drive was the shortest leg of the trip.

The highlight of course are the 12 Apostles which are right before Port Campbell. Again the vibrant colors of the rock formations, the greenery and the ocean are really what make this sight amazing. It’s hard to describe what it is about it, but it is quite breathtaking.

Port Campbell is also a really small town but we didn’t find it as charming as Apollo Bay. There wasn’t a whole lot to do so, but the Best Western we stayed at was very quaint though it was the most expensive accommodation on our trip!

For the trip back to Melbourne we took the inland roads. We were quite entertained by all the public service notices along the side of the road. From telling us to drive on the left side of the road to warning us about motorcycle safety it was quite shocking at times but very effective.

Flickr: Honeymooning in Australia

Lifestyle