Apartment hunting, Ghirardelli Square and way too much sugar

So do I.

San Francisco really is quite a city.

Now, I have worked in customer service before and have definitely had my share of rude encounters, but when dealing with people and their coffee...well, it can get really ugly. But the tips I make and the hours I get honestly make up for all of the jerks that come into my store. And if they really piss me off, I can just mess up thier coffee.

Besides school, work and the occasional moment of slumber, my life has been pretty stagnant. Either I'm throwing strange coffee concoctions out to the masses, burning my eyes out over my scripts or trying to get some form of sleep. My social life has gone down the drain, and sadly, my once a week outings have as well. I've been trying to keep up, but lack of sleep does not exactly prompt going out. It usually prompts a nap. A lot of naps. I was supposed to go out for sushi with Ruth a few nights ago, but that didn't work out(I have seriously been trying to get sushi for three weeks now. I'm going through withdrawls.)due to the fact that she had too much homework and my left ankle exploded. Really, it seriously exploded. Also, life has been rough lately, so food hasn't been my first priority. But luckily for you(and me)that has now changed!

Let's start at the beginning: Kim and I are trying to find a place to move into at the end of the semester because the dorms are just not cutting it anymore. And by that I mean: living with a bunch of brainless girls is enough to drive oneself to homocide. Since I had most of the week off and didn't have to be at work till 1pm on Thursday, we decided to hit up some open houses Wednesdy afternoon. The first place we went to check out was in a prime location. It was walking distance to several of our classes, Union Square and a delicious pizzeria. We were pretty excited about seeing the studio, but unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. See, I always thought an "open house" meant that you went to actually view the living space. Apparently I was wrong. We got to the front stoop and spent about 5 minutes pressing various buttons trying to figure out how to get in, only to be turned away by what I think was an elderly foreign woman with a bowl cut. Outraged by the false advertisement, we headed to another possible apartment viewing. After climbing a few vertical hills, we finally made it to the apartment and unlike the previous one, it was actually open. And it was also about the size of a small janitor's closet. It was beyond disappointng, folks. The bathroom was the largest thing in there, the view from both windows was a giant wall and IT DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A KITCHEN! How am I supposed to cook delicious meals when I don't even have a stove? How am I supposed to entertain millions of adoring fans and friends who visit my humble abode every night? No kitchen? I'm sorry people, but I have standards.

We left the "cage"(I refuse to call it an apartment.)and tried to pretend as if we weren't totally bummed out. Though, running at full blast to catch the bus did brighten both of our moods. Once we got home, I could tell neither of us were feeling very excited about apartment hunting. S0, I decided that the only way to make Kim and myself feel better, was to go sit in her room and awkwardly stare at her. Just kidding! Sort of...I did go to her room and we sat in silence for a bit, till I confessed to having a savagely intense cupcake craving. We headed out to Ghirardelli Square to buy a second batch of delicious goodies from Kara's Kupcakes. Sadly, when we arrived, they were closed. We threw ourselves down on the ground, cried out in sorrow and then realized that not even two feet away from us was the Ghirardelli Ice Cream Cafe. In the short walk it took us to get there, we were stopped by an employee who was handing out free samples of "drinking chocolate." The name basically says it all: It's chocolate. You drink it. It wasn't anything too special, just nice warm melted chocolate. The only other type of drinking chocolate I've ever had was something called a "Chantico" from Starbucks almost 4 years ago. The Ghirardelli version was probably better, but I can't really say because I don't remember much of the Chantico, except that it's name was fun to say out loud.

I like'a da chocolat!

After downing the chocolate, we went to the cafe and proceeded to order our desserts. To me, the setup of the ice cream cafe is kind of strange. You order at the front register, pay there, they give you a giant metal rod/clip thingie with a number and then tell you to sit anywhere you want. They do it politely, of course, but it still seems strange to me. Kim knew exactly what she wanted, and since she had been there before, she really didn't even need a menu. She order a classic Ghirardelli Hot Fudge Sundae...well, techincally speaking, it's called The World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae. Why is it world famous? I'm not sure. It's just your basic hot fudge sundae: vanilla ice cream, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, chopped almonds and a cherry on top. But apparently it's world famous because it's made with "indulgent Ghirardelli fudge sauce." I didn't try any of it(I can't have almonds), so maybe it tastes different than the classic and I am really just missing out on a very good thing. We shall never know.

After Kim ordered, I spent about 10 years trying to decide between two very extreme sundaes. Intense Dark sundaes, to be exact. I couldn't decide if I wanted something with espresso(as if I don't surround myself with enough coffee already.)or something with just a plain ol' sky high sugar content. I went for the latter and ordered something called a Toffee Interlude Sundae. My sundae was compiled of: two scoops of vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate hot fudge sauce, toffee bits, whipped cream and supposedly a square of dark toffee chocolate. When my sundae arrived, the chocolate square was nowhere to be seen. It didn't really matter because the sundae was gigantic and the chocolate content was through the roof. It was probably one of the best sundaes I have ever ingested in my 20 years of exsistence. The ice cream was sweet and rich and the chocolate....Oh God, THE CHOCOLATE. The fudge sauce at the top of the sundae was warm and gooey, while the sauce that had settled between the scoops of ice cream was more of a chocolate bar texture. At one point in my sundae eating adventure, I was only getting spoonfuls of chocolate. And you can bet I had no problem with that at all.

The setting of the cafe was pretty nice as well. It leads into their actual chocolate shop, so there were plenty of tourists coming in and out of the place despite it being somewhat late in the evening. Ghirardelli Square is one of the few places where I don't feel like a total wacko when I pull out my camera to take pictures of food and/or people eating. It was actually my first time ever eating at Ghirardelli Square, which is pretty odd, being that you know, I LIVE in San Francisco...But I can whole heartedly assure you folks that this will not be the last time I eat one of their sundaes. I definitely reccomend going to the ice cream cafe whether you're a tourist or not. I know I'm going to be taking my parents there when they come up in two weeks(Oh, what an adventure that will be!).

Sundae Aftermath.

Upon finishing our more than satisfying desserts, me and Kim proceeded to roll our stuffed bellies out of our chairs and wobble to the nearest bus stop. Had we not just ingested copious amounts of sugar, wait for the bus would not have been nearly as fun as it was. Since Ghirardelli Square is right by the warf, the winds are stronger and definitely colder than the part of the city we live in. And of course, when the weather isn't exactly pleasant, the bus is always late. We ended up waiting for probably a good 30 minutes before the number 47 finally showed up. And in that 30 minutes, me and Kim proceeded to shout, sing and make unintelligable noises at each other while laughing like maniacswho were incredibly sleep deprived. As soon as we got home, we both had our sugar crashes and passed out.

I worked the closing shift the next day. I was supposed to leave work at 9:30pm. I actually left 10:30pm. I didn't get home till around 11pm. Needless to say, I was very tired and VERY cranky. But, I had also offered to help Kim bake a cake for our friend Robert's birthday, so I managed to stay up a little later. We didn't actually start preparing the cake until almost midnight, so I didn't stay up as late I wanted to in order to help her. Kim was understanding and told me it was fine if I wanted to go upstairs and get some much needed and deserved sleep. I, being stubborn, told her I was fine and that I would help bake the cake. I got as far as putting the batter into the pan and throwing some chocolate chips into, and then I was done.

Kim ended up staying up baking the cake and I was able to see the final product in the morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to photograph the finished cake because she had to actually give it to Robert. Basically, the cake was a two layered devils food cake with chocolate chps baked into it, covered in chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles and then two candles on top(a 1 and a 9). Robert later texted Kim to confirm that the cake was infact, delicious. He was obviously referring to the layer that I half-assed baked. Obviously.

My goal in this coming week is to eat sushi. Why? Because I have been planning on eating it for the past 3 weeks and it has continued to fall through everytime. Finding the time to go out for sushi will be hard since I have officially sold my soul to Tully's. Maybe I can just talk Tully's into starting their own sushi line....

Maybe...

Tully's Coffee owns my soul.

So, I know it has been quite awhile since I've last written. Life has taken over...well, my life. As you all know, I was working as a stationary slave for Papyrus for an insulring 4 hours a week and absolutely hating it. Well, I have good news my friends: I quit Papyrus and I now work at Tully's Coffee.
It's basically my dream job. I am surrounded by coffee at all times of the day. It's perfect, it's heaven, it's an excuse to further worsen my caffiene problem. I swear people, I'm going to be so cracked out, ALL OF THE TIME. Because if you really think about it, coffee is really just liquid crack cocaine. That's what I do: I sell you liquid crack cocaine.

Besides my now heavily supported coffee addiction, other things have been occurring in my life. Last week, me and Kim decided to get extremely dressed up and treat ourselves to dinner. I like to call it our "Dyke Date." Now, the reason I call it that is not because we're lesbians, nor is it because I think being a lesbian is funny or anything else besides...well, just being a lesbian. I call it that because last semester I was informed that I had a "dyke haircut" and ever since then, I have been the resident "dyke" in the dorm. It's one big immature joke that I find incredibly hilarious. So anyway, me and Kim got ourselves all dolled up(yet somehow I still managed to wear jeans...)and went strolling down Union St in the Marina/Cow Hollow district in search of food. Neither of us were quite sure what we felt like ingesting, so we were pretty much just walking around blind. I was also walking around looking for possible job openings. Finally I decided I wanted Italian food, mainly because I hadn't had it in so long. Also, the fact that nearly every restaurant on Union St is Italian probably factored in. We popped by Ambiance to visit Katherine at work for a few mintues and to grab her opinion on a good place to eat. She gave us the least expensive option and the most expensive option. Of course, me and Kim chose the restaurant that costs you an arm and a leg and the soul of your first born child.

Luisa's could technically be considered a "whole-in-the-wall" type of place because the entrance is so hidden and so far back in the dark side alley, that you'd swear they don't want you to actually come in and eat. Once we finally found out how to get inside, we took a quick peek at the menu and waited to be seated. Luis'as is definitely a high class restaurant. Once seated, me and Kim realized we were the only ones there that were A)Not on some form of real date and B)Under 25. The menu was completely in Italian, so we weren't exactly sure what much of the food actually was. We both settled on the standard Chicken Parmigiana because that was the only thing on the damn menu that looked remotely familiar. We were offered wine, but the sudden lack of I.D. checking threw us off and we both declined. It's probably for the best. I don't think the diner's of Luisa's would have appreciated me and Kim knocking back wine and screaming like banshees in our ghetto fashion. Anyway, the service was pretty good, not as fast as I would have liked, but they were pretty busy. The portions were large, I mean, VERY LARGE. But since the food is more expensive, I guess it kind of evens out. Unfortunately, the restaurant doesn't allow photography, so this was the only shot I was able to get:

Doesn't it look delicious?!??!

Trust, me the food was better than the picture might make you think. It was possibly some of the most tender chicken I had ever had in my life. I didn't even need my knife to cut it. I had only had Chicken Parmigiana once before, but I don't think it really counts because it was a sandwich from Subway that was probably just chicken nuggets with some ketchup shoved between two bread slices. So in reality, this was probably the first time I had actually tried this dish. I have to say, I was very impressed, even though I had nothing else to compare it to. Kim apparently gets this meal no matter what Italian restaurant she goes to and she more than approved of it. I think it's safe to say, the Chicken Parmigiana from Luisa's is a smash hit. It also helped that they served it with pieces of broccoli that were about the size of a small mastiff. While we were eating, a woman who I am assuming was Luisa herself, came over to our table and spoke in broken English about what we were eating. To be honest, the only thing I understood was, "Chicken(jibberish jibberish)ok!? HAHAHHAHAHA!" Being the polite and refined women that we are(not), me and Kim just laughed along with her and smiled as big as we could. Just before leaving our table, she stroked my hair a few times, called it beautiful and then continued to laugh as she hobbled on her geriatric Italian way. So if you want great authentic Italian food and a chance to be molested by the owner, go to Luisa's on Union and Laguna St.

We didn't eat outside, but since photography wasn't allowed in the building itself, I thought I'd take a shot of the tables outside to give you an idea of what the place is like. After dinner, me and Kim skipped home(yes, we did actually skip at one point)and then proceeded to wacth a movie while simultaneously bitching and moaning about life and all the things that come along with it. All in all, it was a great night.

Besides, that, not much has been going. I've been swamped with school, errands and my new job at Tully's. It also doesn't help that the weather has been beyond crappy lately. This past weekend, the wind was so bad it nearly knocked out our room windows. There were reports of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges being closed off as well. Fortunately, the weather is now calmer and the sun has actually come out for a bit. But of course, now that it is beautiful outside, I will be stuck inside all day either in class or at work. At least the Tully's I work at has giant windows for me to stare longingly out of.

This past Saturday I made a trip out to my friend Farrah's place. Well, it really wasn't a trip because she only lives about 6 blocks away from me. But walking in the wind and rain at 10pm makes it feel like a serious trek. The point of the night was to get everyone together since we've all been so busy lately and have't had time to see each other. It had originally been presented to us as giant party filled with the crazy antics of poor and strung out college kids. It ended up being my, Farrah and Brendan sucking down an obscenely large bottle of wine while watching retarded YouTube videos. Basically, it was a great night. The one thing that wasn't great was that I got home close to 1am and had to be at work in 7 hours. Hey, at least I work at a place where I get all the free coffee I want. And work wasn't all that bad...minus the fact that the wind nearly blew me over on the way there, we were swamped despite the crappy weather, I had hot water and espresso grinds spilt on me twice and the cash register is so old school, I might as well be carving their orders into a slab of stone with a giant pick. But yeah, other than that, work was fine.

After work, the sun actually came out, so I asked Kim if she wouldn't mind grabbing some lunch. The original plan was to get sushi, but apparently sushi isn't big on Sundays. We did some walking around and finally decided to just head over to Crepevine since nothing else seemed appealing. Crepevine is a nice place for lunch when you don't feel like getting dressed up, or even looking presentable. It's big and loud and crazy and it's the time where you don't mind being ignored by the servers. The seating is cozy(and by that I mean, you're very close to the strangers eating next to you.)and the vibe is hectic. Normally I don't like chaos around meals, but for some reason, the craziness of Crepevine really settles me down. They have a huge menu and serve a variety of meals throughout the whole day. Unfortunately, I was a bad blogger and had forgotten my camera at home. But basically this is what our table looked like when our food was brought to us:

Kim purchased a serving of buttermilk pancakes and a sweet crepe with strawberries and chocolate(with ice cream on the side)while I stuck with the more conventional grilled eggplant sandwich. All the food was scarfed down in record timing due to the fact that both of us were extremely hungry and Crepevine seriously makes damn good food. Only downside: a waiter nearly spilled milk on me, but since I was already covered in coffee, burns from hot water and random pastry flakes, I honestly don't think I would have cared. After lunch, me and Kim rolled our overstuffed bellies home and both took much needed naps. I ended up dreaming about making coffee at work. I can tell that my coffee addiction is already getting worse.

I love it.

football shaped cake, a tourist moment and some damn good Indian food.

It's been awhile since I've last posted on here. (Un)fortunately, I've been busy as hell running around with school, errands that are essential to life, my new job and apartment hunting. I honestly feel like today is the first day I've actually sat down since I've been back in the city. And of course the only reason I am sitting down is because I'm skipping class. I'm such an AWESOME STUDENT! I know it's only the second week, but you have no right to judge me, Judgey McJudgerson. I'm skipping class for a good reason: I had an interview with Peet's Coffee today. Oh, and Improv for the Actor is lame.

So, I bet you're all wondering how my new job is going. I hate it.

Moving on.

My second day of work just so happened to be last Sunday, which also just so happened to be the Superbowl in which my NY Giants were playing the NE Patriots. I was pretty devastated that I was going to be working during the big game, but fortunately my shift was only from 12-4pm. So ultimately I only missed the first quarter. As soon as I had clocked out, I ran my poor, tiny blistered feet up 4 blocks to my dorm, threw my bag down and planted my butt on the couch infront of the tv. Luckily, my friend Andrea had reserved the room for the game and I was pleased to see that we weren't the only girls in there. But then I soon realized we were the only girls who were actually into football. I think it's safe to say all of the new girls in our house hate me with the fire of 1,000 suns now. I tried to warn them how seriously I take football, but I guess it just didn't get through to their brains(the thought of football was probably blocked out by mind numbing thoughts of textiles and fabrics). The rest of the afternoon was filled my me screaming profanities every 5 seconds at the screen and then nearly having a heart attack when anything happened.

But the real point is: THE GIANTS BEAT THE PATRIOTS AND WILL FOREVER GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE GUYS WHO BEAT THE PATRIOTS! SCREW YOU TOM BRADY! YOU AREN'T AS PRETTY AS YOU THINK! LONG LIVE ELI MANNING AND MICHAEL STRAHAN!

After about 15 minutes of me running around the house screaming at foaming at the mouth due to extreme joy, we decided that the perfect way to celebrate was to buy a giant cake. Katherine, Andrea, Christina and myself trekked down to Cala Foods and purchased a chocolate cake in the shape of a football. Unfortunately the colors weren't right for the NY Giants(It was more of a Philly Eagles cake....ew.), so we also bought some bright sprinkles and blue icing. The cake wasn't as big as we had hoped for, so we decided to just run upstairs to my room and keep the deliciousness away from everybody else. Hey, they were all Patriot fans anyway. As if things hadn't been crazy enough, I was put in charge of decorating the cake with the killer blue icing. The icing was basically sugar dipped in sugar and the dyed blue. Naturally, it tasted AMAZING. Unfortunately, none of us are pastry decoraters or posses the correct tools to even pretend to be one, so we cut off the top of the tube and I molded "NY" with my fingers onto the cake.

Before

After.

Since I was the resident hardcore Giants fan, I got the honor of the first bite, which didn't include any utensils. So, maybe I got a little overzealous about celebrating the game? What of it?There aren't many words to describe what happened next. All I can really say is that I don't think any of us had ever had so much sugar in our lives. For being such a small cake and not actually looking all that appetizing, it was insanely delicious. The cake was basically set up like this: 6 million inches of frosting, three inches of moist dark chocolate cake, 6 million more inches of chocolate cream, a slab of cake batter, then some more diabetes inducing frosting. Everyone kept saying they couldn't possibly handle anymore, but of course we kept eating. I eventually stopped because I knew that if I ate too much, my eating disordered thoughts would flare up even more in the morning, but I have to admit, I was sad that I missed out on more of the chocolatey goodness. When the sugar high was at it it's peak, Katherine came up with the brillian idea of turning the destroyed football cake into a "Vagina Cake." Being that we were fueled by sugar and large amounts of immaturity, we all dug our hands into the once beautiful cake and turned it into a crude looking vagina. I will spare you the pictures. They are all quite disturbing.

We ended up sending the mutilated cake downstairs to the other girls once we had laughed enough at it. The rest of the night was spent in our room acting like 4 year olds and then suddenly crashing into bed as the sugar left our bloodstreams. If there is such as thing as a "sugar hangover" that is definitely what me and Katherine had the following morning. I wonder if what we did could be considered substance abuse? Or possibly cake abuse? Sugar abuse? Maybe that's something to look into...

The following Tuesday, I was out and about running so many different errands that I thought my feet might fall off. Or possibly detach themselves from my body in protest. Either way, I was extremely tired and frustrated. But alas, the day was saved by Kimberly and her mother Brenda. Brenda was in the city for her 50th birthday and since she was leaving later that afternoon, she had decided to take Kim grocery shopping. She also offered to take me and Katherine as well since we rarely have the opportunity to use a car to haul our bags back home. Of course we jumped at the offer and showered Brenda with love and affection. And by that I mean we cried tears of joy and thanked her for helping our broke college asses out. Before we went to Safeway, we stopped at Ghirardelli Square to further our Perfect Cupcake Quest. Normally, I'm not a fan of hitting the tourist spots in San Francisco, but obviously I wasn't in charge of the care, so I didn't have a choice. Cupcakes were involved as well, so I also didn't give a crap.

Look Ma! I'm a tourist!

After we had all been satisfied with our touristy snapshots, we headed into a place called Kara's Kupcakes. The interior was really cute and inviting. Unfortunately, the girl behind the counter wasn't as cute and/or inviting. She didn't pay us much attention, even when we were placing our order. But it didn't matter that much, because behind the glass case, staring right back at me with tiny eyes of adorable deliciousness, were cupcakes that looked as if they were made by God's angels themselves. It was as if God had grouped together His most heart-melting, puppy dog eye-having angels and said, "Get thee to earth and bring forth the mortals your most delicious of delicious cupcakes thou hath ever seen!" Yes, I think God talks like that. Especially about cupcakes.

Unfortunately, my brain was so overstimulated by the confections infront of me, that I don't really remember their flavors. The ones I do remember were: Ghirardelli Chocolate, Java, Raspberry Chocolate, Kara's Karrot, Lemon Vanilla, Vanilla Buttercream, Coconut, Orange something or other and Banana. Kim's mom bought 12, which turned out to be almost every flavor except for banana. I personally can't have banana anything, because I am allergice to those horrid fruits. But I don't think banana flavored cupcakes are big hit anywhere. I was thankful enough when Brenda offered to buy us each one, but when she pulled out the big guns and went ahead and bought a dozen, I nearly fell to my knees and kissed her feet. The only reason I refrained from doing so was because we were in public and also because I didn't think Brenda would like a strange art student kissing her feet. Anyway, after we took some more touristy photos, we went and got our groceries and went on with the rest of our days. Which means we slacked off on homework and watched Sex and the City.

I have yet to sample one of the cupcakes Brenda bought for us. I sadly have not been in the mood for cupcakes this week. I think it is partly the stress of running around with work and school and also that food is somewhat overwhelming at this point. And also, after the football cake incident, anytime I even think about ingesting sugar, my body tenses up and starts to violently convulse. So I'm thinking, laying off the cupcakes for at least a week is probably a good idea.

Thursday night was by far the best night I've had all week. Katherine and Ruth decided that my weekly restaurant outing should be a "catch-up dinner" for the three of us. We were all in need of some down time with good food and good friends. Originally we had planned on going to some cafe, but Katherine was in the mood for something "exotic" as she put it. I suggested Indian food, which Ruth had never had before, and Katherine felt it was "exotic" enough for her standards, so we ended up at a place called Rotee. None of us had been their before, so it felt like an adventure of sorts. But really, any outing with Katherine is an adventure. You never know what that girl is going to do. Anyway, after waiting for the bus for what seemed like 4 hours, we finally made it to our destination. Rotee is hidden along Haight Street and if you're not familiar with the area, you probably won't find it. It's not close to the famouse Haight/Ashbury area, so you actually have to look for it. It's a really cute place. It's definitely not a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but it's not upscale either. I think trendy would be the best word to describe it. The walls are a nice warm orange color and are covered with cheesy Bollywood posters. It's not a very large place, but you don't feel cramped in it either. Also, it isn't fancy, which I think made all three of us feel a bit better.

You get to pick where you sit, we we decided on a spot near the windows facing the street. It wasn't busy, so the service was quick and equally as delightful as the place itself. Before anything was ordered, we both informed Ruth that naan was a must, that you simply can not have Indian food without ingesting an obscene amount of the carbalicious delicacy that is: NAAN. Ruth looked terrified and confused, so I explained that it's basically like the Indian version of tortillas. Except, the dough is injected with heroin, so after eating just one nibble of naan, you can't stop eating it. Ever. Seriously. Sometimes I'll be walking to class or on an errand and I start itchin' for it, like some sort of crack addict. Anyone who has ever eaten naan will understand what I'm talking about. Anyway, Katherine ordered the Curry Grant(chicken in a mild curry sauce that possibly contained cinnamon), Ruth ordered Aloo Gosht(chicken and spicy potatoes in cinnamon curry sauce) and I ordered Chicken Jal"frenzy"(chicken with sauteed onions, bell peppers, tomatoes and a clove curry sauce.). And of course we all got naan. Mmm...Naan...oh naan, why must you be so addicting?

Oh, Katherine also ordered a glass of wine because she is a lush.

The food was served and it was time to dive into the culinary beauty that is Indian cuisine. Of course we dove straight into the naan first and Ruth's glazed over with the familiar look of someone who has just had naan injected into their bloodstream for the first time. I was surpsied she didn't start foaming at the mouth; I'm suprised none of us started foaming at the mouth. Now, usually the best place to go for Indian food are the places that look like you might get stabbed while eating there. But for being a trendy place, this was by far the BEST INDIAN FOOD TO EVER GRACE MY TASTEBUDS AND BE INGESTED BY MY STOMACH AND ALL OF IT'S ACIDS. That's really the only way I can think of to accurately describe the food. The portion sizes were perfect for the price and also for people who don't want thier stomach's to violently explode in the middle of dinning. And unlike most Indian food I've had, it wasn't heavy or overly greasy, which was a huge plus in my opinion. I think the best part of all of our meals(besides the crack cocaine flavored naan)was the way tenderness of the cooked meat. Seriously, the chicken melted in my mouth the second it hit my tongue. It was so soft and warm and tasty and spicy and and and and.....I suddenly have a craving for NAAN FLAVORED ANYTHING! Or just naan itself would suffice. Anyway, dinner was lovely and we all agreed that Rotee was worthy of 5 stars and that would probably become regulars. The best part was that we ate enough with walking away over stuffed or doubled over in pain. Yay for restaurants with reasonable portions!

Katherine enjoys naan.

Poetic Sophistication.

On the way back to the bus stop, we came across a tree...thing...I honestly don't know what it was, but there was definitely a tree part somewhere on it. It had a platform jutting out from one side with something scribbled on it and a bunch of random things sticking out from it's side. Katherine read what was carved on the platform, but I was partly still thinking about naan and trying to figure out what was going on infront of me, so I don't know what any of it said. There was a carving of a buffalo on one side and another carving of a bear on the other side. I tried to get a clear shot of the buffalo, but Katherine thought it would be better if I got a shot of her making a rediculously hilarious face.

I live with this.

Eventually we made it home and attempted to do homework. I think Katherine actually got some done, while I spent most of time looking for apartments. San Francisco makes it really hard to find something affordable. I mean, I'm past trying to find something nice and affordable. I just want a place that doesn't break my bank account within the first two weeks of living there. But places like that don't actually exsist in San Francisco.

I wonder how my parents would feel about having a homeless daughter...

*EDIT*

It is now 10:30pm. At approximately 8:30pm I ingested wo of Kara's Kupcakes; a java one and double chocolate one. They were far better than Citizen Cupcake which I honestly did not think was possible. My stomach and my brain are in a sugar overload right now and at any second I will be sent into a sugar seizure....but in the best way possible. If you live in the bay area, or even if you don't, you MUST buy one of these cupcakes.

That is all.

I have joined the world of the employed.

I have a job. Now, now, kids, don't get too excited. The most I will be working is 8 hours a week.

If I'm lucky.

Yeah. You read that right. It's almost insulting, but the truth is, I need the job and the little bit of cash it offers. I am still in the works of finding another job, but for right now, this will have to do. Hey, money is money, people. Even if it's not the place I really want to work at, it's better than not having a job at all. The place is called Papyrus and it's a somewhat expensive stationary shop. Yeah, I sell paper. The reason I applied there was because it looked cute and quirky...well...it kinda isn't...at all. There's a dress code I have to follow: wear either black, white or grey, no jeans, only professional attire. YIKES. I don't have anything that fits that criteria, so I originally was going to borrow a dress from Katherine. After putting it on, I came to the conclusion that I looked like I was going to a funeral instead of selling birthday cards and journals.

Would you buy paper from me?

After class today, I ended up stopping by Forever 21 to pick up a more appropriate outfit. I purchased a very sophisticated shirt, pencil skirt and heels that definitely do not look like funeral attire. I will be the hottest paper saleswoman this city has ever seen. Between shopping and feeling guilty over spending money no matter how much I actually needed to, I picked up some more job applications in hopes of getting hired somewhere that doesn't require me to look like Morticia Adams. Job hunting is tiresome, people. I was so worn out by the time I got home, I didn't want to lift a finger. But as usual, I ended up doing something anyway. Me and Kim were supposed to go to a house warming party tonight, but since she is leaving for home tomorrow at the crack of dawn and I have my first official day of paper selling, we both decided to not go. Of course, the feedback on our choice was not so pleasing, but we didn't particularly care. After some very frustating texts, we decided that the only thing that would make life better tonight was to purchase some cupcakes. We weren't sure where to go, so originally we decided to walk up and down Polk with no real destination in mind. Then Kim discovered that Citizen Cupcake is on the third floor of the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. Seriously, this was by far the best discovery of my life up to this point. We figured it wasn't too far of a walk(even though it was), bundled up and set off on our journey. I picked up yet another job application on the way and after about 60 years we finally made it to the cafe. We prayed it would be worth it....and oh my God, was it ever worth it. The cupcakes looked small at first, and the selection wasn't very large, but it was also about 8:30pm. Not exactly cucpcake rush hour if you ask me. I decided on a simple chocolate cupcake while Kim got both a chocolate and vanilla bean cake. At this point, we both broke out our cameras and started taking photographs of the lovely creations infront of us. People probably thought we were foreign, but we didn't care much.

And then the moment of truth came upon us: WE CHOWED DOWN ON THOSE SUCKAS!

Ok, seriously though, out of all the cupcakes I've ever tasted in my life, these were definitely among the best. Even despite their small size, they're going to be pretty hard to beat in the taste department. Before I ate my own cupcake, Kim let my sample some of her Vanilla Bean frosting. It was like french vanilla ice cream, but in frosting form. You could even see the flecks of the vanilla bean in it. It was sweet without being overly sweet, so basically it actually tasted like frosting and not just sugar in the form of icing. She let my taste a smidgen of the cake as well...my, my, my....it was glorious. But finally, the time had come for me to consume my own chocolatey piece of heaven infront of me. The icing was so incredibly decadent without being heavy, which I honestly didn't think was possible. Usually chocolate pastries are very rich and heavy on one's stomach, but this was different. It was enough chocolate to satisfy anyone's craving, yet it wasn't too rich, sweet or heavy. It was like semi melted chocolate, in a sense. The cake was INCREDIBLE! I mean, seriously, I thought my head was going to explode due to the overload of amazingness. It was dry without being greasy and crumbley without being messy. I tried to savor it, but ended up scarfing it down, which is fine too. Isn't that how you're supposed to eat a cupcake? My small cup of black coffee also went perfectly with my little dessert.

I was a bit envious of Kim's cupcake duo, so i decided to buy something else. I ended up buying something called a S'Moon Pie. It was kind of an accident. You see, from far away, they looked like cupcakes, so that was my original reason for buying them. But upon reaching the counter, I realized they were something else....what exactly, I'm not quite sure. But being that we were on a culinary adventure, I decided to buy one anyway. I think it was supposed to be the love child of a s'more and a Moonpie, but it really just looked like a pretty version of swirled dog poop.

I ate it anyway.

Despite it's poop-esque look, it was really good. Like the cupcakes, it had enough chocolatey sweet flavor without being too much. It gave me a deeper appreciation for the lightness of marsmallow fluff....or is it puff? I don't know, but either way, it was good and I scarfed it down in about two bites. But the best part was yet to come, my friends. Oh yes, it gets even better. Kim and I were simply minding our own business, sitting quitely in our cupcake comas when the girl behind the counter approached us with what looked like to old school "sack-lunch" brown bags. We must have looked at her like she was some sort of space alien, because she then explained that they throw out the cupcakes at the end of the day unless there's people around to give them to. We happened to be there, so we also happened to get two free cupcakes. I'm honestly surprised me and Kim didn't crap ourselves right then and there with immense joy. I'm glad to say we were able to keep ourselves together and our bowel movements under control. We grabbed our goodies bags and left the scene of our cupcake destruction behind.

We strolled down Market street towards one of our school's buildings to catch a shuttle home. It was definitely too cold to walk all the way home and neither of us felt like spending the money for a MUNI bus ride. As always, the Academy shuttle never showed up, but one of the other drivers was kind enough to go off route and take us back to our dorm. We had a nice conversation with him on the way and I've decided to make him a thank you card to give him next time I see him. He was the most personable shuttle driver I've met at the school, which was a nice surprise. Most of the driver's act as if they just snorted curdled milk and give you nothing but sour attitude.

Before we caught the shuttle, I took some photographs of the city. Enjoy:

YAY! CITY!

Once at home, I told myself I was going to save the cupcakes for another day. Now, I didn't eat them, but I couldn't resist opening the little box they came in just to have a peek at their deliciousness. I was given one vanilla bean cupcake and a chocolate one, but it wasn't the same chocolate one I had earlier in the night. This one didn't have a lump of frosting on it, but instead had what I think is called a chocolate "glaze." There was white "glaze" on top of it that spelled out "Citizen." Both cakes smelled divine, but I showed some restraint and only took photos of the sinful treats. It wasn't easy to just look at them because they smelled soooo good! But alas, I knew eating 4 cupcakes in one night right before bed would not be a good idea for my stomach(which was already in knots due to the fact that I was to start work the next day.), so ultimately I decided to just go to bed.

Before literally climbing into my top bunk, I thought of something funny to do. Last semester, there were some girls, who shall remain nameless, who were very serious about EVERYTHING and very into themselves. One night they put their leftovers in our communial fridge and wrote "EAT THIS AND DIE" on the top of the box. Shortly after that(and some other unfortunate events)they became a big joke and the rest of girls in the dorm ultimately laughed them out of the house. Anyway, I ended up putting an obscene amount of tape on the lid of my box, then even more tape to seal the paper bag and then proceeded to scribble, " Touch these AND DIE" on the outside of the bag. I thought it was funny, and really, that's all that matters to me.

Honestly, I had a better way of ending this blog, but it's so late and I'm incredibly tired. Instead of leaving you with a witty comment, I'll let you make one up on your own. I swear, my next blog will be better.

Well, depending on how much sleep I get.

--Teenie

Rain, food, more rain, more food and even more rain Part 2

(Read my previous post before reading this. Why? BEACAUSE I SAID SO! And you might be confused while reading this one if you haven't read the one before it. Just sayin'...)

After getting about 2 minutes of sleep, it was time to move in my dorm. We checked out of our hotel and braved the early morning city traffic and the hardcore rain that at that point seemed capable of breaking our windshield in two. We actually found a parking space by my dorm, which was extremely odd because in the city you usually have to park 6 blocks away from where you actually need to be. We parked, ran like hell to get inside and finally got hold of the new R.A. and got myself checked in. I was the first of my roommates(Katherine and Donna) to get there, so I was the first human to set foot in that room for over a month. It was kind of depressing. The room was completely empty except for our boxes piled on our beds, well, mine and Donna's boxes. Katherine had just thrown all of her stuff in a pile on her bed(that was still made)and my mom wondered if somehow Katherine had made herself exempt from the "box-your-stuff-up" rule. I simply explained to her that Katherine just doesn't give a crap about the rules and we then wondered what it feels like to just not care. Must feel nice. After staring blankly at my empty room and contemplating where the hell to start with my unpacking, we finally decided to skip unpacking and have lunch instead. But then we felt kind of bad, so we got some of my stuff somewhat settled in and waited for the rain to stop before venturing out in search of food.

I decided to do my weekly restaurant goal when my mother was here because I knew I would be more comfortable and therefore more likely to actually eat. I wanted to take her to Sushi Hana because San Francisco is the only place I'll eat sushi and the restaurant holds a special place in my heart. My dear friend Zach and I used to go there all the time. The servers know us by name and have been nothing but friendly with us. Unfortunately, it was really cold and looked like it was going to start raining again, so the trek to Van Ness and Eddy was out of the question for my mother. I was incredibly bummed at the fact that we would have to eat on Fillmore Street again because EVERYTIME my mother comes up to the city we eat.on.Fillmore. After some bickering, we set off for Fillmore to find a place I was comfortable with and would satify my sandwich craving and after even more bickering we settled on a place called Chouquet's. Apparently it was French food, but that wasn't our reason for going there, we just wanted to stop arguing and eat. I'm really glad we ended up there though, because for my first experience with French cuisine, it was insanely delicious. It's a cute little cafe-like setting, but you still get treated like you're in a restaurant which is really nice. The guy(I'm sure there is an actual title for his job)who was basically running the place was incredibly friendly and helpful by explaining what each thing on the menu was. It also helped that he was semi attractive, but his clearly European accent made him actually attractive. I ended up ordering a croque monsieur(open face sadnwich with ham and cheese)with a small green salad and my mother ordered marinated salmon, green salad and cream cheese toast. I wasn't sure if the place allowed photography, so I didn't get many shots, but damnit I tried. I nearly cried at the beauty on my plate when they brought me my food. It consisted of two of my favorite foods: burnt toast and cheese. Lots of cheese. I'm not a big fan of ham, but it was so good, it didn't even matter. It wasn't too greasy or heavy(I still couldn't finish it, though), it was pretty much perfect for what I had been craving. I had a croque monsieur at La Boulange further down Fillmore Street and it was really heavy and made my stomach cry later, but this one much more caring towards my insides. My mother's salmon looked absolutely gorgeous; almost to the point where she didn't want to eat it. But then she realized that's why they put it infront of her and she dug right in. Her toast was topped with yet another giant slab of beautiful green avocado. I tried a bit of the toast and gave it my approval. It tasted like it had chives in it, which made me happy because I LOVE having terrible smelling breath. Neither of us were able to finish our lunches, but the portions are so huge, I don't think anyone could have. They'd have to have a black hole for a stomach to do so. So in other words, my father would be able to clean his plate. And everyone else's....and still have room for 3 desserts. It wasn't very expensive either, but not to the point where I would go there all the time. It's definitely a place I will eat at when I feel like indulging and splurging a bit.

CROQUE DESTRUCTION!

Deciding that we had been sufficiently satisfied, we paid our bill and prepared to head back to my dorm. Of course at this point, it was pouring rain outside. I felt like me and my mother were swimming to the bus stop instead of walking to it. After nearly escaping a watery death several times, we made it back safely and went grocery shopping. MY FAVORITE!!!!!! I don't know exactly why, but grocery shopping gives me immense joy and anxiety. It's probably due to the fact that I have an eating disorder, but that's besides the point right? Anyway, we bought a few items at the local Safeway, which by the way, sells the most ENORMOUS M&M cookies that have ever graced my retinas. When we were done with Safeway, we headed over to Whole Foods to get more groceries. I know that sounds pretty rediculous, but it makes sense to me. See, the thing is, there are some foods I don't mind buying at regular grocery stores like Safeway, but for the majority of my pantry staple items, I insist on Whole Foods(or really any other organic grocery store)because I know for a fact that it's healthy for me and my brain won't send itself into panic over driver after ingesting it. While at Whole Foods, I suddenly remembered my undying quest for the perfect cupcake. I had never had a cupcake from there before, but I did remember noticing how huge and well crafted they were. We were already in line for check-out, but I begged my mother for a lovely fat injected cupcake. Besides, it would be for the good of my quest. There weren't many to choose from this time around, but it didn't really matter to me. What matter was buying a the cupcake and more importantly, me eating it. They had a few chocolate ones(including a vegan one that I was very wary of trying. Damn you, allergy to soymilk!)but I thought chocolate would be too heavy after my lunch. So I settled on a vanilla cupcake with simple buttercream frosting that just so happened to be in the form of a cute and bright rainbow. We purchased my food and my cupcake that was approximately the size of a small mastiff and went home.

I don't really remember what was done after that. Probably more unpacking, my roommate Katherine showed up and then I think we rolled around on the floor making strange gurgling noises due to lack of sleep. At one point I think we were at a diner, but alas, I didn't order anything and my camera was not present. I do know my mom stayed an extra night because the rain was basically out of control and was even worse the next morning. I had made plans to run some simple errands, but there was a tsunami every 5 seconds, so my mother and her car helped me out for the main part of the afternoon. Even with the car, by the time we had gotten one errand accomplished, we looked as if we had bathed in our clothes. The rain really put a damper on my mood, so saying goodbye to my mother was quite difficult. We made it as short as possible without her simply shoving me out of her speeding vehicle and I finished unpacking for the rest of the day. Eating later that day was not easy, but somehow I made myself do it.

The next day was going to be totally devoted to job hunting and trying to keep my room clean. And it was. Kinda. The job hunting was done(and it was terrible)and as for the room...well...I had only been fully unpacked for about 24 hours and somehow it looked like my suitcase had just vomited my things everywhere. I'd like to think there is some kind of method to my madness, but there probably isn't. I am messy; that's just how it is. Anyway, I walked around all of Van Ness, Polk, and Union street for about 3 hours searching for jobs. It didn't go as well as I had wanted, but walking around the city was quite nice. It definitely reminded me why I love this place so much. I bumped into Kim and Katherine(who were on the same mission as me)and we ended up in Union Square so Kim could turn in some applications. We were all really tired afterwards, so we back to our place to take naps. But before I could let myself sleep midday, I had to attend to some pressing business: THE GIANT WHOLE FOODS RAINBOW CUPCAKE.

Let me start by saying, this thing was incredibly heavy, and I don't mean in my stomach. I mean the weight of it in the box alone was enough to nearly dislocate my arm. I decided to cut in half so when I took a bite, I wouldn't end up looking like I had just slaughterd a clown with my teeth. I probably could have used a fork to eat it, but who the hell uses a fork to eat a cupcake? No one. At least no one I know or think is important. Anyway, I picked a bit of the frosting off first and I thought I was going to die(in a good way). It was so DELICIOUS. So DELICIOUS infact, that if I don't type it in all caps, you just won't get the point. It wasn't too sweet(well, I hardly ever feel anything is too sweet), it was thick enough without being rock solid and it seemed to almost melt into my tongue at first contact. My mind glazed over with pure joy and excitement. With frosting that DELICIOUS, the cake part had to be on equal footing. I pulled the paper wrapping off, said a few Hail Mary's and sunk my teeth in the beautiful baked SARAHA DESERT! I honestly don't think I have ever eaten such dry cake batter in my life. It was beyond horrible. I was so incredibly disappointed, I nearly wept. The cake was sticking to the sides and roof of my mouth, much like a peanut butter sandwich, only less enjoyable. I took a few more bites to try and see if it still tasted as horrible as the first bite, and of course, it did. I felt bad for not being able to finish the cupcake, but I refused to subject my poor tastebuds to that kind of torture and ended up just throwing it away. Aaah, but such is life when you decide to embark on a journey to find cupcake perfection. Some cupcakes please you, while others make you want to throw the tiny confection into a fiery pit of doom.

You disgust me.

Still scarred by the failure that was the Whole Foods cupcake, I passed out in bed for about two hours. Upon waking, Katherine informed me that our dear friend Jordan was back in the city and that they were going out to dinner. Me and Kim decided to meet up with for dessert afterwards. We decided on a place called Tango Gelato on Fillmore street because I had never had gelato before. Everyone met up around 9pm and stared into the glass abyss that held the sweet sweet lovin' of the gelato we were about to consume. I was somewhat overwhelmed by the flavor choices, so I decided to stick with something basic for my first go at gelato. I picked chocolate and peanut butter chip, Jordan had the same thing, Kim purchased mint chip and chocolate chip and Katherine chose chocolate and cafe chip. I honestly wish I had the mental capacity to explain the wonderious, smooth, DELICIOUS, intensity that is gelato....but my brain is at about 1% functioning ability right now. So instead, I will shower you with pictures of gelato goodness:

ALL GONE!

Everyone polished off their gelato, save for me. It's not that I didn't want to(ok, maybe that is part of it...), it's just that my stomach has become really sensitive and I can't always handle certain foods. Gelato being one of them. After consumption, it had started to pour rain again, but we braved it anyway and somehow all made it back to our respective places relatively dry. Then everyone passed out, and by everyone, I mean me.

The past few days have consisted of: rain, first day of classes, rain, mean ladies at Borders, more rain, cute boys in class, even more rain, job hunting, being broke, more job hunting, and the overwhelming feeling of simply wanting to sleep all day and set the weather channel on fire.

--Christine