Standard Process Cleanse

First the fun part – Halloween in San Francisco.

I woke up and ran through the city – along the Embarcadero and through Chinatown. I didn’t save it on my watch, but it was something like 5.1 miles in 43 mins. Not bad with all the hills!

Then the day was ON. After a few minutes in Urban Outfitters where we purchased sumos, Mallory and I had an awesome brunch at Orson (Elizabeth Falkner from Top Chef’s restaurant).

Sumo Thumb Wrestling

We had some “Apple Juice.”

Waiter... there's a sumo in my drink!

Then some toast.

French toast, maple syrup, pumpkin pie butter, and cinnamon cream

And some eggs.

Eggs benedict on house-made english muffin, canadian bacon, spinach, and cheddar mornay sauce

We opted to pass on dessert.

What better way to spend Halloween than at a famous prison?!

Arriving at Alcatraz

Apparently Native Americans occupied the island for 19 months from 1969-1971. All the history surrounding Alcatraz was really neat.

The Sumos enjoyed the view

Gorgeous day for prison!

: I wore stripes, ironically.

Back in San Fran, we took a looooog walk.

Coit Tower

Somehow we ended up in Chinatown right at snack time.

Pork Sticky Buns

The Sumos felt at home

We finally made it home and spent the next hour rushing around to get ready for Halloween!

It was a lazy costume year

We walked through the Mission to get dinner. Kids there trick-or-treat at businesses (the neighborhood isn’t safe conducive to the pastime).

They aren't as well stocked as Laura would have hoped.

Pit stop for ice cream at Humphry Solcombe before dinner (priorities, people!).

Bacon in ice cream. Brilliant.

Once we devoured finished our dessert, we headed to El Metate for dinner.

El Metate = El Tasty

Tacos with corn tortillas are my favorite. I ordered one veggie and one salsa verde shredded pork. The tortilla chips on the side were freshly baked into a nice, thick chip. The spicy array of treats from the salsa bar were delish too.

Taco heaven

My friends had the veggie burrito and the fried chicken. Do yourself a favor and don’t ever get the fried chicken. It was sinfully good and I’ll be craving it for a looooong time. The guac was also hauntingly good.

Finally, we were off to celebrate All Hallows Eve and oogle other people’s costumes!

The Sumos are party animals!

Now that I’ve posted about all that food… what am I eating on the detox?!

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Our first full day in California was spent in Napa. I could write pages on this place. I could move to this place.

Here’s the impressive part – I woke up and did 30 mins on the hotel elliptical and Whittled My Middle. (Can’t remember the exact numbers to post!)

Before hitting the road, we have to have breakfast!

Best. Coffee. Ever.

Laura took us to a place in her neighborhood called Philz Coffee. The walk there included instructions to “watch out for puke on the sidewalk.” Admittedly, I was skeptical.

A 10 minute walk later and I was drinking the best coffee I have ever had and enjoying an unbelievably amazing VEGAN scone.

Trust the local!

Apple Pecan Vegan Scone

Then we were off to Napa!

First stop: Mumm

Favorite Taste: Sparkling Pinot Noir or Brut Rose

Notes: Great way to begin the day – all sparkling wines, helpful staff (they even gave us extra vintages to compare!), and a stunning view.

Cheers!

Second stop: Groth

Favorite Taste: 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Notes: The wines were very good. I even bought a Chardonnay (I typically don’t care for them). The presentation could have been better, but definitely still worthy of a stop.

Yep – It’s pink.

Pit stop: Brix for lunch

Favorite Taste: Crusty bread and butter sprinkled with pink salt

Notes: Brave the 45 min wait at Mustard’s instead. We actually sent back a $21 burger… and they brought it back in worse shape.

Basic, but good!

Third stop: Cakebread

Favorite Taste: 2007 Syrah

Notes: The wines were decent and the view was great… but not our favorite experience. It is the only one I would have skipped.

The view from Cakebread

Fourth stop: Sullivan

Favorite Taste: 2005 Coeur de Vigne

Notes: By far the best winery in every regard. The tasting was personal (we met the vineyard owner!), the tasting room manager was knowledgeable and so nice. And the wines… perfect.

I want to live HERE.

We even met the owner’s son. He is in charge of the wine making… and gave us a sip of this juice:

Good even before fermentation!

After such a great experience, we decided it was the perfect winery to end on. And we were hungry.

Pit Stop #2: Rutherford Grill

Best Taste: Green Chili Cake Cornbread

Notes: Thanks to Fred, the tasting manager at Sullivan, we ordered the chili cornbread. You should too.

This could have been served as cake. Seriously.

After a hunt for gas (no stations for 10 miles!), we got lucky with dinner. Table for 3 at Redd.

I could talk forever about how the fine gentleman cocktail waiter served our drinks and said – and I quote:

“Allow me to bid you cheers, ladies.”

Or how the pork belly was heaven-sent.

Glazed pork belly, apple puree, burdock, and soy caramel

Or how the sweet and sour glazed butternut squash in the fall salad paired perfectly with the Roquefort cheese and apples.

Fall Salad

Or the dessert. Oh, the dessert. The cherry on top of a meal so incredible that it moved us to tears.

Peanut butter milk chocolate gianduja, peanut honeycomb parfait

But I wouldn’t want to make anyone jealous. 🙂

Back in the real world…

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The 21 day challenge.

Mom and I are doing the Standard Process Cleanse (lord, do I need it after the Cali gluttonous foodie experience).

For the first 10 days, you are only allowed veggies and fruit. More raw than not. Preferably organic.

And shakes with their special protein powder.

At day 11 we can add certain fish and chicken.

Obviously, we needed to raid the DeKalb Farmer’s Market to start off right!

Lots of these

None of these!

So, the blog will focus on clean, vegan eating for the next 10 days. Followed by clean, vegan-except-for-chicken eating for the remaining 11.

First lesson: if you can’t add any sweetener, don’t put cranberries in a shake. *pucker*

Halloween and Squash

My Future Hometown

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