Parking

I wish there were a prize for being the Parking Champion of the World.  And if there is a prize, I hope it's a Doughbot donut.  Note: today I noticed that Doughbot has the BEST logo.  Atlas Shrugged but not heartless.

I parked that Ford in the middle.  You probably can't tell, but it's got dual wheels in the back.  If you think that's good, you should see my parallel parking skills.  I had to stop by my apartment once on my way to Fall River Mills, CA for work, and I parallel parked this truck beautifully by the curb, between two cars.  I think I've come a long way from driver's ed with Ms. Crawford (which ended in tears, by the way).

Quadruple Brunch Review

I celebrated the holiday weekend to the fullest extent, by relaxing, spending time with family and friends, and treating myself to an excess delicious food.

Location: The Wine Train in Napa
Drinks Score: 8
Food Score: 7

Food tried at my table: appetizer plate, Pumpkin Crab Bisque, salad, Turkey dinner, Vegetarian plate, cheesecake, pumpkin pie.
Drinks tried: Sparkling water, Domaine Chandon sparkling wine, Red wine (can't remember where from)

We went to the wine train to celebrate my cousin's 21st bday!  It was pretty fun, and luckily it didn't rain too much.  A couple of days before the wine train, I had a dream that I forgot to go.  My Thanksgiving was very eventful, and I was pretty afraid of missing something, but I'm happy to report I celebrated the holiday weekend three times successfully. 

I wish I had saved my menu and map from lunch (brunch for the sake of this blog) or at least taken a picture of something.  I was recovering from a minor knife-meets-fingernail incident, so I was distracted from my usual high attention to detail. 

Location: Broadacre Coffee
Drinks: 10

I've tried: Espresso, French pressed coffee, Lavender latte, Honey latte

Okay, so it's not brunch, but the honey latte was so good!  And I have to talk about the iPad cash register thing.  The iPad is mounted on a little block thing, which is not mounted to the counter, and the iPad has a little tiny card reader attached to it.  It looks pretty funny.  Usually I just drink coffee black, because the milk and/or sugar ruins it, but the honey latte is like a milkshake for cold weather.

Ben and I walked past Occupy Sacramento on the way to Broadacre, and it is still going pretty strong, in case you're wondering.

Location: Kupros
Food: 8
Drinks: 8

We tried: Coffee, Huevos rancheros, Veggie scramble.


Pictures! For once I remembered to bring and use my iPhone to take pictures of my food (Huevos rancheros and coffee, Condiments).

The ketchup seemed homemade, and it tasted a little too much like vinegar, but the potatoes probably couldn't be redeemed with any condiment.  Not even freshly ground pepper from the pepper grinder.  Good thing the Huevos rancheros were really good and had a ton of cheese.

Today was a two-brunch day, because since Halloween, my sweet tooth is never satisfied.  Ben and I stopped at Doughbot Donuts, a gourmet donut place on 10th Street, for a brunch dessert.

Location: Doughbot

Food rating: 10

We tried: The Great Pumpkin, Lemon Lavender donut, Maple donut, The Dude

All the donuts were so good and I wanted to go back and get more, but Ben suggested that it wasn't the best idea.  They weren't too sweet or too greasy, and they featured two donuts with bacon in them, which I did not try, but I will someday soon.  Also they used pink bakery boxes, which are the best!  I'm convinced that if I put all of my food in pink bakery boxes, it will taste better.  I might have to get all my weekend snacks at Doughbot from now on, and reevaluate my eggs-and-bacon-only rule for brunch.  Speaking of which, the blueberry pancakes at the Shady Lady have been calling my name lately.  Who am I?

Freeport Bakery

I had cookies for brunch today.  It happens sometime.  They came from my favorite Sacramento bakery, Freeport Bakery! 

Brunch location: Freeport bakery
Food score: 10!!!!!

We've tried: cheese danish, oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, various cupcakes, shortbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and coffee.  Note only items in bold font were actually consumed today.

I first heard of Freeport when I was at breakfast about a year ago with my mom and my Auntie Maria.  I needed cookies for a potluck holiday party at which I had signed up to bring cookies or a dessert.  I was NOT going to bake anything for the Viticulture & Enology department (because I had given up enough of my own hard work and time to labs, classes, and administrative disasters).  So I asked Auntie Maria if she knew of a good bakery where I could pick up some cookies for the party.  She sent me to Freeport Bakery, where I picked up some chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies and brought them back to my apartment.  After staring at the pink box for a long time (10 minutes), my roommate Rob and I decided we better sample the cookies, which were delicious!  Ultimately we ended up skipping the holiday party and consuming all the cookies over the next 24 hours.

Now whenever Ben takes too long at the flea market/record store/thrift store, I promise to forgive him if he brings me Freeport bakery treats!

I realize that eating cookies for brunch is not healthy, but I'm just getting ready for the crazy food week that's about to happen.  I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving 3 times this week, along with my cousin's birthday on the wine train in Napa.

Capitol Garage

Location: Capitol Garage
Food: 8
Drinks: 7
Service: 7

Food we tried: Brunch burrito, Two egg breakfast
Drinks: Coffee

Ben liked his burrito a lot.  The two egg breakfast was good, but the bacon and eggs weren't quite as delicious as The Shady Lady.  We skipped mimosas, but apparently they have bottomless mimosas for $7.  There was a ladies brunch happening near us, and they seemed to be really enjoying that deal.  One of my favorite things to do during brunch is to observe other people having brunch, especially when they're a large group and drinking bottomless mimosas.  We went to Capitol Garage (in Downtown Sacramento) on Veteran's Day before going on a trip to Santa Cruz, where Ben had a record swap on Saturday.

I get really carsick whenever we go to the Bay Area, which has led to many grocery store stops for ginger ale.  While at a New Leaf Community Market in Santa Cruz, I was looking for the ginger ale aisle and found a pink Lifefactory water bottle:

There were also children's water bottles, which I considered buying because they have smaller openings and would cause me to be less prone to spilling.  But this particular shade of pink matched my apartment decorations and most of my pink accessories a little better, such as the pink cell phone pictured above.  It's going to be perfect for all of the different beverages I drink, and I can finally stop getting the paper coffee cups when I'm at work!  They leak anyways.

Pink things will probably be regularly featured on The Wild Brunch from now on.

Grange

Samantha and Stephen came from the Bay Area to have brunch with Ben and me, and we went to Grange, a restaurant below the Citizen Hotel in Downtown Sacramento.

Location: Grange (pronounced like Grain, not Gran)
Food Rating: 8
Drinks Rating: 9
Ambiance: 9

Food we tried: Eggs Benedict, Dungeness Crab Cake Benedict, Grange Scramble, Huevos Rancheros
Drinks we tried: Mimosas, coffee

We were also served a bread basket of coffee cake slices and mini bran muffins.  My ratings are estimates because I forgot to ask everyone what they thought about their brunch on a numerical scale.  We all went the savory route (i.e. the best only route) and I would definitely eat any of those things again.  Grange is within walking distance of my apartment, even despite the weather turning colder and my walking distance threshold getting shorter.  We passed Occupy Sacramento on the way to brunch, and we walked to coffee and the Capitol afterward. 

Samantha actually beat my beverages count at Grange!  I did not have coffee, because I felt it would not go well with my Crab Cake Benedict.  I did have coffee afterwards though, so does that count?
Next time we plan to order a gamut of cheese.  Or a cheese carnival.

Oh yeah.  Also during brunch I spilled my water while attempting to drink it, resulting in a "[sarcastic scoff], Corey!" from Samantha.  This is not a strange thing.  Since HIGH SCHOOL, I've been spilling my drinks in the car, at the table, everywhere, and immediately alerting Samantha, only to realize she is not surprised at all.  These days I find myself unable to tell Samantha about my drink mishaps, but Ben is usually nearby.  He has also come to expect my regular spills of everything all over the place.  This morning, I spilled my coffee on one of my only clothing items that doesn't already have a coffee stain.  When I was doing laundry last week there was a pool of laundry detergent soaked into the carpet from tipping the bottle over.  I accidentally overturned a cooler of melted ice (i.e. water) in the hallway at work today.  In my days of food service, I used to drop entire cartons of smoothie mix on the counter and floor.  And my clothes.  One of my phone chargers is covered in spilled nail polish.  I really liked that color too.

So, I have dedicated a semi-original poem to my twin sister Samantha, for putting up with my predictable tendencies and for introducing me to William Carlos Williams' "This is just to say."

This is just to say.

I have spilled

the beverage

that was upright

a moment ago

which you

probably expected

forgive me

but what can you expect

after all

these years.



Fun Friday

Fun Friday is a weekly occurrence at work.  My coworker and I almost always take a mid-morning break for a cookie or piece of cake before we start a new activity for the day.  Fun Friday's name is derived from Funfetti Friday, the first Fun Friday which involved Funfetti cake.  Today I had a chocolate chip walnut bar before sitting at the computer to make several calculations and a powerpoint presentation.  Does anyone else hate Microsoft Office 2010?  Why is it so weird?  Why am I no longer allowed to choose the settings on my charts?  Why is Calibri not only the ugliest font, but also the least space-efficient?  My columns are becoming soooooo wide.

Those were some examples of questions I have asked myself in frustration today.  However, I must remind myself that these questions are probably an improvement over these past questions I have asked myself while working:
1.  Where did I leave my cell phone?
2.  Where did I leave my lab keys? car keys?
3.  Why are my arms red and swollen and feeling like they are on fire?
4.  How do I breathe through this dust mask after I sneezed in it?
5.  Why is there a stray cat in the dumpster?
6.  Why is this piece of equipment leaking gasoline and/or oil?
7.  Why am I still at work at 11pm?
8.  Why do geese hate me?
9.  How do I find the pen I just dropped in a densely weeded rice basin?
et cetera.

Also on Fun Fridays I listen to Science Friday on NPR and I always paint my nails.  I'm typing gingerly right now so I don't wreck my fresh manicure.

This nail polish doesn't stand out so well against my pink blog background.