Last Hurrah

Photos of my last meaty meal, beef kra pow. A Thai dish. Good bye, meat! See you in August.

July is VEGETARIAN MONTH

Tomorrow is the beginning of my vegetarian diet. The beginning of a road to better health. The beginning of my detox diet from hell. It's not like I'm doing this because I'm fat and I want to lose so much weight. We all know I'm not fat and losing weight is always an added bonus. I just know for a fact I can be healthier than I am now and all this work-out stuff that I do (going to the gym, step-aerobics, yoga, etc.) and the consumption of caffeine a day to boost my energy just won't cut it.

To keep life interesting, I always like to challenge myself in believing I can do something that I normally wouldn't do for a certain amount of time. And since this is a healthy challenge and not something that is harmful to me or anybody in any way, why not? What's great is that my husband is being really supportive and he's doing a week of being vegetarian with me. No meat for him equals death, so a week is a long time. Dude, did I tell you that I married a winner?

While Leo was in Florida last week, he told me to find at least 10 places where we could eat vegetarian. So tough! But I'm sure there is a lot out there. Even places that serve meat, serve vegetarian dishes so I don't think it will be too difficult. Plus, we are not doing the full fledged VEGAN diet. We can still eat animal products that include butter, milk, egg, and whatnot. Although, that is not a bad idea. I'm saving that challenge for another month. We'll just have to see how vegetarian month goes first.

I give credit to my boss who has really encouraged our office to eat healthier and to eat more green! So I have made an effort after returning from our fatty vacation in San Diego. And for three days, I was successful. I ate a lot of salad, drank a lot of water, and even bought a new bike!



Picture of my new ride. Giant / Cypress DX w. Here's the website listing the specs.

Leo and I test drove it up all the way up to north Sunnyvale. I will post photos of our bike trail adventure from last Saturday once I have it uploaded to my computer. I plan to ride to work on Fridays and then just shower when I get to the office. Kind of hassle having to do those things in the morning, I know. But the work-out is awesome!

Tonight, Leo and I will be cooking up a meaty meal. We are making a Thai dish called kra pow, which you can make with several types of meat. I think we are doing beef tonight as our "last hurrah." It's one of our many favorite Asian dishes that is really simple to make. You can find the recipe online.

Anyhow, next month will be interesting. I will keep a journal on my blog to keep you updated on my progress or failure. You are more than welcome to join me in my challenge. But I think most of you would die. I don't know too many vegetarians or vegans.

Wish me luck.

San Diego to Sacramento in a week

I'm lagging with my photo updates. Here are a few from San Diego and then the following weekend in Sacramento. Pictures of Fresh & Easy (my favorite grocery store in San Diego; we're working on getting these stores up in the bay area soon), Oceanside beach, San Diego County Fair, Father's Day lunch, the Capitol and Capitol Park.

Cut? Color? What?!

So I haven't decided on what I really want to do with my hair this summer. Leo says to change the color. Hmm. I don't know.

What do you think?

I'm thinking you don't give a shit.

All right! Cool.

While my 40 year old co-worker is setting up her MySpace account

"Who is this Tom guy on my MySpace?"

Speak of the devil

So I returned to the restaurant for the second time and the owner recognized me right away. He came up to my table and handed me this letter he received in the mail from the wonderful people of Yelp.

He thanked me for the kind and honest words which was honestly the most adorable thing ever. And it was because the very first time I tried this place out, I instantly fell in love. So I told him I would write a really good review about it and viola! Instant loving from Yelp.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, please stop by at this wonderful slice of heaven in your mouth restaurant. And tell them Mary Anne, a Yelper, sent you.

Google Map's Street View

OMG. You can now see our house on Street View on Google Maps. This is also a fairly new photo because the changes in the front of the house I made is on there. When we moved into our house, it was a gold mailbox. Thought it was kind of ugly, so I installed a new one I bought at Home Depot. And lo and behold, the new mailbox shows up on Street View! Such a trip.

I love Yelp

I love the Bay Area for the variety of good food. My hometown, San Diego, is filled with chain restaurants. Not very mom and pop. The Bay is seriously food heaven. I am love. In fact, I rated this place I ate at called Gulzaar Halaal Restaurant & Bakery very high. I would give it six stars if I could, but they only allow five. We've done a lot of eating lately. But who could really blame us if we happen to be smack dab in the middle of food central? I mean really.





Read more of my reviews @ maryanneizbicki.yelp.com.

Right now

Right now, Leo and I are both laying on the couch watching a movie at my parents house. It's hot, but we still cuddle each other. The AC is apparently on blast and time can't past fast enough. Our flight takes off in a few hours. I think the best moments are the ones like these. The few minutes of our lives that we take for granted every single day. This post is just to acknowledge that this moment did happen and also serves as a reminder that we should always have more of them. We've been together for almost 5 years now and I can't believe how crazy we still are for each other. It's truly a blessing. I consider myself lucky in so many ways.

Feeling the need to get shit done

It's nice being surrounded by family and friends for an entire weekend straight once in awhile. But I think I'm ready to go home. I'm really San Diego-ed out. I checked my work e-mail everyday since I got here. So anxious to get back to the office. I've already created my mental check list of things to-do Tuesday morning. I'm such a freak. I need to stop this now.

Everything we could possibly do that is very San Diego

Friday night, we slept over my father in-laws house because we figured it would be convenient to accomplish the things we want to accomplish in San Diego. Like, swimming near the pier in Oceanside, shopping at my favorite grocery store (Fresh & Easy), eating at a Mexican joint with carne asada fries, going to the San Diego County Fair, and then visiting every possible relative that I have. Haha. Yesterday was so awesome. I will have pictures to post once we return home.

Happy Father's Day!

I don't know if this post is about my weekend or food

So we're back in the San Diego area at my parent's house. I just ate a shit load of home cooked food and now I'm ready for my 4th nap. Today, Leo and I will be visiting our old co-workers and have lunch at an Indian buffet. Great... more food. Then afterwards around 5pm, we have to head over to my sister's high school graduation.

Tomorrow, we will be at the San Diego County Fair eating fried food. Then we will be heading over to my relatives house to celebrate my sis and cousins graduation. And yes... there will be plenty of Filipino food and karaoke. Because nothing says "congratulations grad" better than someone singing a Diana Ross song. And there will be Filipino's trying to dance to a dance they learned on the Filipino channel. There will be lots of kissing and hugging and someone telling me that I'm either getting fat or not eating enough. And then I will be reminded of why I don't live here.

Sunday is Father's Day so I will be spending lots of time with my food Dad. And then afterwards, spending time with my father in-law who will be flying in from Alaska. Leo is planning to barbeque and I will be planning to eat the barbeque.

Monday night, all our friends will be meeting us at El Torito in Mira Mesa for our last supper. We will be flying out the same night.

Tuesday, we will plan out a detox diet to rid the nasty food from our system.

Oh what a great long weekend this will be.

Going home, briefly

Friends,

Leaving to So Cal tomorrow. Will be in San Diego till Monday next week. :)

See you soon.

Ya'll suck

There's a lot of stupid fucking people in the Bay Area. People in San Diego are a lot smarter. Not bias, just an observation. It probably has something to do with what's in the water. The end.

Breakfast

Apples.
Bananas.
Kiwis.
Mangoes.
Pineapple.

Goog Food

The other day, Leo and I went to his work and ate at one of Google's many cafes. Each cafe has a genre. Depends on what you're feeling at the moment. We were feeling American since we almost never do. Best part about my meal was the FREE part. I'm almost convinced that I was Jewish in my past life. And these gas prices aren't helping either.

Apple anounces faster, cheaper, iPhone

So I assume you guys heard the big news.

I am ecstatic. We are definitely upgrading our iPhones on July 11th.


New colors. :)

Sex & the City

Last Friday, Jane and I had a girls night out with a few other friends. We watched Sex & the City at Cinearts Theater on Santana Row. The movie was good, not great. It was like watching an extended episode of SATC. The story was a bit predictable (happy ending) and a lot of nudity scenes. Not really complaining about that one, but it was more nudity than I'm use to when going to the theater. And OMG, I SAW PENIS! The theater was full of women with their girlfriends or even daughters. There were two women in the crowd that brought their husbands along. I really felt bad for them. 1) During the movie, the male actors would give their high maintenance girlfriends something extravagent, like a 60k ring or a penthouse in Manhattan for them to live in. This is so unreal, but I'm pretty sure it really made the guys in the crowd feel like shit or somewhat inadequate. 2) Some parts were really girly and boring. You'd be lucky if you fell asleep. It's a good movie to watch with a bunch of your girls after you had a cosmo or two. Honestly, I would recommend watching it on DVD, on your couch, in your sweats, with a blanket and a bag of Milano cookies, while you are PMSing. Yeah, it's one of those.

Afterwards, we ate at Pasta Pomodoro across the way. I ordered the Gemelli. It's always the safe bet when you're feeling unadventurous. Great chain though.

The trailer. Watch it before seeing it:

New Lamp

So the other day, I was browsing through the internets and I came across this magnificent amber glass lamp that would go well with my retro 60's style home. So I bought it at Scandinavian Designs, which is a store located in Cupertino. Not far from Apple headquarters. I had to special ordered it because it wasn't something they carried in stock. I was fortunate to have it delivered the very next week at the store. It's not as big as it looks and it fits perfect above the new (used) piano we bought last month. Yay. I just love it. I love how it looks and how curvy it is. It really adds character in that corner of the room. Ever since we bought the piano I feel compelled to decorate even more. We're planning to have a summer get together at the house so it would be nice to actually decorate for once. Our house is so plain! No photo frames/paintings/etc.! I don't buy much because I am so particular with what I like. I'm known to be fickle so I always have to rationilize my feelings and ask myself "will I still love it five years from now?" But when I love something this much, I just know I've got to have it.

Scarf from Paris

Or to some, a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress. I thought the whole Rachel Ray Dunkin' Donut advertisement symbolizing terrorist thing was a bit comical.

Anyhow, Mel bought me a scarf from Paris. If anything is killer, it's my damn good looks.