Date Wars: Margaret's Date

I know our blog has pretty much missed out on the rest of our summer (but hopefully that means we have been having too much fun to blog). Sometimes (usually) this is true, but occasionally (the rest of the time) it's because I'm too lazy to get all my thoughts down (since I spend so much time in front of the computer at work...). Anyways, I think our last blog post talked about our date wars.

Well to remind you of the rules...

1. must be between 6-10pm
2. must spend under $50
3. must include dinner (if you cook dinner, $$ is not deducted from the $50)

Anyways, my date came first. I picked Thursday...because on Thursdays, at the California Academy of Sciences, they host Nightlife. Nightlife lets you into the Academy of Sciences (for only $12/person) to explore, drink, laugh, learn, etc. It's a museum + a fun theme. The week I picked (this was a selling point for me), the theme was Prohibition. We LOVE the Prohibition (because nothing makes you want a drink more than remembering that back then, it was like a game trying to get a cocktail). Plus everything from that era is so fun. They have better drinks (well at least more unique drinks) and everyone got to wear such spectacular clothing. Nothing says A+ date like dressing up :)

Because I was spending money on the tickets (and I wanted to be able to get us each at least one of the specialty drinks), I decided to make dinner. At the academy, they were serving a roasted pork dish (to go with the Prohibition theme) so of course, my first thought was....pulled pork! So on Wednesday overnight, I made my pulled pork in my crockpot (never thought you would hear that word again huh?). I came home in a rush on Thursday and heated up the pulled pork and lathered them onto buns. Then I served dinner with roasted potatoes and apple sauce. What's more prohibition than that? (I know...just about everything else). Anyways, as an added bonus, I decided to get us a little bit dressed up for the theme. We stopped by this great secondhand chain store in our neighborhood called Crossroads. This place has the best stuff. I know it's a little nerdy, but we had so much fun trying on "costumes." Unfortunately, I couldn't include Matt's vest and my dress in the date tab (so maybe I cheated a little bit), but you will not believe these finds. I told him his vest would have been great with a pageboy hat but he didn't believe me. I found this great simple black dress for $7. What a steal.

Anyways, we finally got to the Academy at 7, which was perfect. We snagged some tickets for the planetarium at 8:30 and then headed into the rainforest. If you haven't been to the Academy, I highly recommend it. I loved the rainforest. The best part is that you walk all the way up to the top and then take an elevator all the way down to the bottom to the underground aquarium. I don't know what it is...but I LOVE aquariums. It was so unique. And incredible. There were butterflies and birds and snakes and bugs (ok, that part isn't that cool) and then you see sharks and fish and everything. It's like being in a whole different world. I was in awe.

in the jungle...the mighty jungle...

adapting to our environment

blending in....

making friends with starfish

We grabbed a few drinks (one for each of us) and watched a demonstration of a bartender making a pisco sour. Everyone was so into the prohibition thing. I think any other week would not have been as magical. We walked around and explored the museum a little bit more until it was time for the planetarium show. I've seen a show in there before and it's cool...but there are cooler things at the Academy. Like the living roof. It was freezing outside (and it was dark), but you can just tell that the living roof is INCREDIBLE. I think it's one of the biggest living roofs in the country (correct me if I'm wrong). But it would be spectacular to see during the day. 

hahahhahahah no words.

Honestly, this is one of the best dates I've ever been on (probably because I'm such an excellent planner). But it was just a new experience for us. I picked it because we walked through Golden Gate Park one day and Matt was yapping about how cool it would be to go in there, so I think it was perfect for our date. Definitely one of the best ways to spend our last few weeks in San Francisco.

Hopefully Matt had as much fun as I did :)

date wars

matt has two weeks left in san francisco. so the next two wednesdays, we are having date wars. i am planning our first date on next wednesday and he is planning our second date the wednesday after that. i know we don't have that many followers, but hopefully you guys participate. we are going to post our dates afterwards and we want you guys to vote for the best date idea (which will be MINE!!!). winner pays for a third (and probably final date for a while).

hopefully his date knocks my socks off (because that will be a pretty sweet date). wish us luck!!!!!

beer brewing

Last Wednesday, Margaret and I had Russell and Jaleen over to brew my first batch of beer ever!!  I am very excited to say that in approximately 4 weeks I will be drinking my home made IPA that I have named Evy's Black Cap IPA.  The process took about 3 hours altogether and was extremely nerve wracking only because it was my first time brewing.

The whole night was a lot of fun.  Russell and I were totally involved with the brewing process while Margaret and Jaleen were obsessing over their Kindles.  We kept Jaleen and Russell up pretty late but I can safely say that I wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable brewing if Russell wasn't there.  He's a seasoned veteran when it comes to home made brewing.

Friends!

Straining the wort

I love hoppy beers

Anyway,  the beer is sitting idly in a corner for the next two weeks until it will be ready to be bottled.  I can't wait to see how it is going to turn out!

walk around the neighborhood (testing out the new camera)

I recently purchased a Canon T2i DSLR camera and am really excited about it!  I've been wanting a quality camera for a while and love taking photos with it.  I know that it is going to benefit in more ways than the simple pleasure in taking random photos.  We will definitely be taking more photos before the end of the summer and I am very excited for that!

These photos were on the day after I got the camera.  We had a spontaneous walk out around our street because it was so sunny.  However, the fog rolled in quick so our trip was short lived.  I think I still got some pretty good photos.  Click on the photos and you can get a better picture quality.  Enjoy!

She brings a whole new level to the word: Beautiful.

 

Excited to live here obviously!

We like wine

This cool detail only comes out nice because of the camera

Awesome details!

Happy Birthday Abby!

On Saturday, Matt's younger siblings, Abby and Josh came out to visit us. Abby was turning 17 on Monday, so they came out to SF to visit us and go to the giants game. When they got here (two hours laters than we anticipated), the first thing they told us was that they were starving. So we asked them what they wanted to eat....and we expected a "I don't know" or a "I don't care" but Abby blurted out, what about deep dish pizza? So we tried this Chicago-style pizza chain called Patxi's, the one in Hayes Valley. I think Hayes Valley is known as a trendy mini shopping area. Cute ritzy stores. Good food. Patxi's pizza....is awesome. We were starving, so we ordered a lunch special (pizza slice + salad + soda) and a large pizza. Josh was so hungry, he practically licked his salad plate clean (best salad ever). And the waiter gave us an extra slice of pizza because we had to wait a little longer (since someone else took our slice). Overall, a great experience (plus the giants game was on).

 

After eating, we decided to walk around a little in Haight Ashbury. They had never been there before, so of course, they had to experience the one place where it's practically cool to be homeless. I was on the hunt for a new pair of Toms, and Josh was on the hunt for some new sunglasses. We stopped in pretty much every store that sold sunglasses for 10 bucks. But Josh couldn't find anything!! We did check out some cool shops and met some interesting people. Nothing like a good dose of Haight Ashbury to get you acquainted with San Francisco. We also took them into Amoeba Records, the world's largest independent record store. It's just cool to see all the records/cds/tapes and learning about this place's history. There are also a ton of stores that sell giants apparel. Awesome.

       

Haight Ashbury sign!

After eating and shopping and people watching, we decided we wanted some ice cream!! Abby had looked up this place called Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission. It turns out that Bi-Rite Creamery is also on the Big Eat SF List so of course we had to go. There was a long line and we must have waited at least 20 minutes, but I think it was worth it. Matt got the trifecta ice cream trio, which included the flavor on the Big Eat SF List, salted caramel. For the most part, I think it's a really great flavor and it's yummy, but it wouldn't be my cup of tea all the time. It's definitely worth trying once though. I ordered the balsamic strawberry-vanilla swirl soft serve...and it was the BOMB! I love soft serve ice cream, so I'd probably be just as excited about McDonald's soft serve ice cream. We walked up to Mission Dolores Park and took some pictures of the awesome view of the city. But it was getting dark...which means time to get out of the Dolores Park (pretty sure it's a major hang out for druggies and dealers...uh-oh). For some reason, Matt was craving coffee (weird right?) and so we stopped at Philz Coffee. Yes I am embarrassed about how much eating we did that day. Philz is awesome. They individually brew each cup of glorious coffee. It's definitely a little bit more $$$ but well worth it if you're looking for a coffee treat. Plus they were closing and kind of rushing us out, so they gave us some free donuts because they felt bad. Good customer service...well good save anyway. Afterwards, we were too tired to do much, so we just came back to the house and hung out.

On Sunday, we tried a new place for breakfast called Howard's Cafe. The food was pretty good and decently priced. We picked Howard's because it was the only place with a tv and the giants game was already on at 10 in the morning. We'll probably be back. Looks like it's been around for a long time, so they must be doing something right. Afterwards, we took the N-line to Union Square to the Ferry Building. Abby was super excited because it was her first time riding public transportation!

first time riding the muni!!!

We walked around a little bit in that area because there was a really cool waterfall water structure. Sunday morning was also the day of the SF Marathon, and there were tons of people at the Ferry Building who had just finished up their 26.2 miles. Very busy. We tried to take the cute little bus to Fisherman's Wharf but we ended up going the wrong direction. Worked out for me though because I stopped in forever 21 and bought a pair of sunglasses. We finally took the right bus to Pier 39 and walked around the shops in that area. I think Pier 39 might be one of my favorite places in SF. There were a lot of seals out that day, making their crazy seal sounds. Matt and I totally pretended to be seals and made embarrassingly loud seal sounds. It was awesome. We also saw a magic show because there was a magician performing for "free." I think from now on, whenever I go to Pier 39, I will just put 10 dollars aside to pass out to worthy street performers. We tried on some hats in the hat store, played around in the left-handed store, bought some salt water taffy, and grabbed some coffee. Being a Sunday afternoon, it was super crowded. We walked through Fisherman's Wharf a little bit and saw a group of guys break dancing for a crowd. We also saw some pretty lame silver/gold "robot" men. I've seen some pretty good ones, so these guys were just mediocre. Abby really wanted to see the "bush man" who hides behind a fake bush and pops out at unsuspecting tourists, but apparently he was taking a break. Sad :( We meandered through North Beach, finally making our way to Chinatown, the neighborhood that I think Josh and Abby were most excited for.

seals and alcatraz!!!

magic show. yes he is throwing knives.

trying on hats. best place on pier 39!

i wanted to buy everything!

we love america!!

break dancers!

We walked around and stopped at all the stereotypical Chinatown shops. Josh bought some fake Ray-Bans finally, so at least he was successful in his shopping. We stopped in our favorite Chinese restaurant, Snow Garden, where we had last gone with Amber and David before a Giants game. I think I like this place so much because the food is super cheap and the people are really nice. Plus there were other white folks there (and the inside of the restaurant is orange...and who doesn't love orange walls!!). We got some chow mein, orange chicken, mongolian beef, and some potstickers. Overall, big success! Abby said they were the best potstickers she had ever had! I think the highlight of our trip was Matt's purchase: this man bought a fanny pack. No joke (I wish I were kidding). He also bought an alcatraz shirt in anticipation of our trip to alcatraz in August. He plans on bringing a camera and wearing his fanny pack. Embarrassing I know. 

he's so cultured.

we're not tourists... 

we don't monkey around!!

Nothing quite says tourist-y like Chinatown. After all the neighborhoods we had perused (did you lose count...i did), the kids were tired and we headed home. Quite a crazy weekend. So much that on Monday morning, I was almost late to work after waking up 20 minutes before I had to leave. Too much partying ;) just kidding parents.