Cinco de Mayo weekend Brunch

I have to say I deserved last weekend.  I have had jury duty for the past two and a half weeks (and counting) and it's safe to say that the plants don't stop growing for court, so I haven't been able to abandon all responsibilities at work.  So I felt like this weekend was worth celebrating.

Samantha had planned to visit for Cinco de Mayo to see a show at Sophia's Thai Kitchen in Davis, and she brought two welcomed guests, i.e. Jessica and Courtney.  The show was really fun, mostly because the music was really good and also because Ben had the foresight to pack me an extra jacket for when I got cold.  But there's one thing about Sophia's that will always lead to a good time: ginger ale.  My education in Viticulture & Enology basically qualifies me to be a beverage expert, so do not doubt that Sophia's has the best ginger ale ever.  Plus sodas are free at bars.

Sunday morning Samantha, Courtney, Jessica, and I snacked on popsicles that I made and had various discussions about various things.  Then we met Ben at The Shady Lady for brunch where we had coffee, mimosas, bloody marys (with pickled green beans!!!!),bacon, eggs, omelets, hash browns, blueberry pancakes, and a breakfast sandwich.  After brunch I sent off my visitors with a banjo and the address for Doughbot,and then Ben and I had a relaxing Sunday afternoon complete with The Avengers and dinner in Old Sacramento.

And because you're all dying to know...

The Hulk is the best Avenger.

Burgers

Samantha and I ate at Counter Burger a few weeks ago, and I'm going to go ahead and call it brunch because 1) it was before 11:00 am and 2) something interesting happened (i.e. horseradish mayo).

Introduction
Location: Counter Burger
Food score: 8
Drink score: We had water and Coke, so..... I don't really know what to say for this one.

Materials and Methods
We ate: Burgers, Onion straws, Fries.
We drank: Water and Coke

Results and Discussion
My burger toppings included a honey wheat bun, swiss cheese, gruyere cheese, pickles, mixed greens, bacon, and horseradish mayonaise, which I'm convinced that out of the ca. 20 spreads that Counter Burger offers, is the best spread.  Note this is a claim my Nana would respectfully disagree with, because she likes honey mustard better.   One piece of advice I might suggest for the Counter Burger patron is to eat the burger as fast as possible, because Samantha and I both noticed that the buns on the second halves of our burgers got too soggy. A solution might be to de-bun the second half of the burger until it's ready to be eaten.

Omg, this brunch review is reading like a lab report (edit: I included headings in small font, because I figured this was an all or nothing writing style).

For fun, a list of my favorite burgers in California:

1. Burgers and Brew Jalapeno Bacon Cheeseburger - the one in Sacramento, not Davis
2. Barney's Bacon Cheeseburger (with curly fries and a Turkish coffee milkshake) in Berkeley, CA
3. Counter Burger - anything with two kinds of cheese
4. Sam's Mediterranean Cafe Cheeseburger with yogurt sauce (with the best fries in Davis!) in Davis, CA
5. Kupros Cheeseburger in Midtown Sacramento


What's your favorite burger?

Bill's Cafe, and San Jose All Day

I spent this weekend in San Jose visiting my sister Samantha and finally going to my second brunch of 2012.  On Saturday we started off with Counter Burger (brunch blog coming soon) and some shopping until our feet hurt so bad we had to sit down every 10 minutes and our eyelids drooped from exhaustion.  Next we napped in The Cloud while watching Law & Order (sounds so luxurious).  We ordered take out from Naglee Park Garage and ate it while watching Law & Order and then saw The Vow.  On Sunday we went to brunch at Bill's Cafe, described below in detail, then took a nap while watching Law & Order.  Samantha's friend Jessica came over and we went to see The Woman in Black, which was the scariest movie ever.  We ate dinner, and I was too scared to drive home, so we spent the night at Samantha's, painting our nails and watching Law & Order until we went to bed.

Without further ado, a brunch review:
Location: Bill's Cafe.
Food score: 10
Drinks score: 9
Service etc. score: 9
We ate: Bacon Grilled Cheese sandwich with fries, Ortega omelet with hash browns, rye toast.
We drank: Cranberry mimosa, coffee, water.

Drinks from Bill's.

My favorite parts about Bill's were: the outdoor seating and free coffee while we waited for a table and discussed the roles of children dining at restaurants, my many beverages, the crunchy hash browns, and the mountain of butter on my rye bread toast.  I'm not planning to keep up my lack of brunching effort for 2012, but Bill's definitely made up for a brunch-less month and a half.

The only thing I didn't really like about Bill's was the presence of strawberries in my mimosa.  (Most of the time) I really don't like strawberries.  When I used to make smoothies for my food service job, the strawberry smoothie mix smelled a little bit like strawberries and a lot like sugar, and for some reason it was the most popular smoothie flavor.  Therefore, it was the most frequent smoothie flavor to end up on my clothes.  I could not hold onto a carton of smoothie mix if my life depended on it.  I hate thinking about how many articles of my clothing were completely ruined by a sticky coat of strawberry Island Oasis mix....  Gross.

I ended the weekend by accidentally leaving behind a sweater and my favorite pair of jeans, i.e. tricking Samantha into returning my stuff visiting soon!

Damn Fine Cup of Coffee

Twin Peaks anyone?  I never actually finished the series because it was way too weird, but the show started out really well for me, with the main character Dale Cooper and his routine black coffee and his order of bacon, cremated.

I mentioned in my last post that I've been skipping brunch lately, but I did not mention that I have also been skipping coffee.  It's kind of miserable.

Today, I had my first cup of coffee in 8 days, but it felt more like 14 days, since last night I had a dream that it was Fun Friday, i.e. today was the longest Tuesday ever.  It would be an understatement to say that I convinced myself to make it out of my front (only) door this morning by promising myself I could have a cup of coffee later.

I made it to 1:00 pm and grabbed a cup of light roast coffee.  Is that the kind of coffee that children drink?  Because it reminded me a little of when my dad used to water down my orange juice back in the day (jk I don't remember that).  Despite the relative tameness of my coffee, it was delicious and well-deserved.  Too bad it made my hands a little too shaky for pollinating Brassica rapa buds the size of period at the end of this sentence.

In spite of today's disappointing start, one good thing that happened to me today was my damn find cup of coffee.

Give me my Firebird quiche!

This past Saturday, Ben and I tried Ink's Eats and Drinks in Midtown Sacramento.

Location: Ink's Eats and Drinks
Food rating: 6
Drinks rating: 8
Ambiance and Service rating: 4

Food we tried: Quiche with basil, tomato, mozzarella, Country burrito
Drinks we tried: Screwdriver, Mimosa

I am now 0 for 2 in my attempt to try a quiche of my choosing at brunch.  First at Fox & Goose and now at Ink's Eats and Drinks.  I ordered a quiche with ham, gruyere cheese, and caramelized onions, and I was served a quiche with tomato, mozzarella, and basil.  It was good, but not what I ordered.  In case you read the title of this post, there's no such thing as a "Firebird quiche."  It's a pun.  Watch the following clip from Say Anything.

Are you the keymaster?

(Runner-up quiche pun: "I just want my [quiche] back!"  from Arrested Development - "I just want my kids back")

The waitress at Ink's Eats and Drinks also took awhile to process our drinks order, and the Halloween decorations were waaaaaay too scary.  I would go here again, but I'll wait and see what kinds of decorations they have for Christmas and proceed with caution.  Ink's has a pretty good looking drink menu, including a bloody mary bar (make your own bloody marys), which I was too intimidated to try.

Speaking of Say Anything, I love 80s movies.  I wonder what popular characters from 80s movies would have for brunch....

Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything): Breakfast burrito i.e. the kickboxing of brunch foods, and a beer.
Heather Chadler (Heathers): Some kind of fancy french toast with a Bellini (and some liquid drainer?)
Duckie Dale (Pretty in Pink): Veggie omelet and coffee, just because
Claire Standish (The Breakfast Club): Eggs Benedict and a mimosa
The Kid (Purple Rain): Steak Salad and Bloody Mary
Lane Meyer (Better Off Dead): bacon, boiled because his mom is crazy
The Thing (The Thing): humans, obviously
Raymond Stantz (Ghostbuster): Stay-Puft marshmallows

Okay now I'm just being ridiculous.  Literature edition of theoretical brunch orders to follow.  Eventually.  After I read some books.

Allergies

I went to an allergy doctor earlier this week for a consult.  He was very helpful and looked and sounded exactly like Steve Guttenberg (Roger Calloway from It Takes Two, not Woody Goodman from Veronica Mars).  Apparently I have ideopathic hives.  Doesn't that sound like I'm faking my hives?  Like I'm a hive-pocondriac?

I have to go back for allergy testing to talk about future allergy shots and extra prescriptions and stuff, but I do already know one thing I am allergic to: the yellow fever vaccine (fun fact - the internet just told me that severe allergic reaction to a component in yellow fever vaccine occurs in about 1 in 55000 people!).  I found out about this allergy the hard way when I was 17.  My mom, Samantha, and I were leaving the clinic when the allergic reaction kicked in, so my mom u-turned at the intersection of Prov. Rd. and 51, headed towards the emergency room as I weakly gasped, "Presbyterian, not CMC" through my pinhole-sized airway.

For more info on allergies, watch My Girl

I survived, don't worry.

The yellow fever vaccine is grown in eggs, so I have been instructed to proceed with caution when getting flu shots, and when eating eggs.  I've been an egg consumer all my life, but I still refuse to get a flu shot.  I don't want to push my luck.  Conclusion: Thank God I'm allergic to yellow fever vaccines and not brunch, i.e. eggs.