Freeway Yelp-ing and the Long Weekend.

All right, if talking on my cell phone while driving is bad/illegal/unsafe, I guarantee browsing Yelp at 75 miles per hour is a bad idea. However, yesterday afternoon as I was driving to Santa Barbara, I found myself in just that situation. 

I didn't leave home until about 11 am. I can't really explain why I got out so late - I just found myself in bed far later than usual. I guess one of my spring break mornings should be like that right? 

Anyway, it's a little over a 2 hour drive and I didn't eat breakfast because I just wasn't that hungry (this is an extreme rarity - it really was a weird morning), so around noon I was rather starving and too far away to eat in Santa Barbara. I typed vegan food and camarillo into Yelp on my iphone - carefully, and ended up finding a place called Thai and Chinese Food No. 3 right off the freeway in Oxnard. It was kind of divey, and packed, and I loved it. I got the tofu mixed vegetables. I didn't finish all the rice underneath, but I totally devoured the rest, with a side of studying. 

After this quick lunch, I made the rest of the way in great time. I spent some time visiting my undergrad chem department and the professors there and then picked up my lovely friend/college roomie Christina for dinner etc. We went to California Pasta. Unfortunately it's decidedly not very vegan-friendly, as the pasta contains egg. I ordered the greek salad, no cheese, but even the vinaigrette was kind of bland. I was rather underwhelmed.

Post-dinner we went to Jitters for coffee. It has a cozy upstairs and it was pretty cold and rainy out, so hot coffee was just perfect. 

Friday's activities have been pretty mild: walking, driving, a few TV shows. We went to Natural Cafe for lunch, surprise surprise. I got the Good Karma Burger with avocado and veganaise, and boyfriend went with the cup of Vegetarian Chili, which comes with cornbread. So perfectly healthfully satisfying. 

For now I'm pretending this weekend is going to last forever. I'm planning to see lots more friends and if I don't think past Sunday, I can just rest my brain for the madness to come. 

Valentine's Weekend: Part I

I know it's going to take me a few posts to capture all the deliciousness of this past Valentine's Day weekend, which is all right, because this week I'm planning to eat leftovers from the freezer anyway.

Friday
In the morning I woke up early for a 4 mile run and a bowl of strawberry banana oatmeal with agave.
I took a midterm.
I drove to Santa Barbara. I actually felt the impossibility of removing the smile from my face. The feeling of driving to a gorgeous place to be with friends and Boyfriend after a difficult week of tests is like leaving on a much-anticipated vacation.

I went to Vons (Safeway in other parts of the country) and constructed my own sandwich for lunch, then met my friends at the beach.

Avocado, olives, lettuce, pepper, pepperoncinis, tomato, and onion on whole wheat bread.

Everyone loves sandwiches!

With my lovely ex-roommate Christina. 

And Zoe!

Once Boyfriend came home from work, we went out for dinner at The Natural Cafe. I love this restaurant because there's so much vegan goodness to choose from. By this point, my test scores had been posted and I found out I passed everything. This became a celebration dinner!

This dress is from Anthropologie. Boyfriend bought it for me, and I felt pretty all day. It's funny how an article of clothing can do that sometimes. 

Mine: Tostada Salad

His: Turkey Burger

After dinner we packed up and around 9 pm we left (8 of us) to make the drive up the coast to Carmel for the weekend. I promptly fell asleep. 

Saturday

After spending Friday night (or whatever you call it when you get in at 1 am) at a friend's house, Saturday morning saw us at Old Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, after a consultation with Yelp, we ended up at Vive La Crepe! Yelp has 36 reviews for them...and an average of 5 stars! The group had some great crepes, both sweet and savory, but they unfortunately didn't have any vegan options, except a prepackaged energy bar that I wasn't really feeling. 

After walking the wharf and finding a surprising lack of oatmeal or other vegan options, I decided to obtain some fruit. I walked into a lovely little candy store with a wide variety of candied apples and asked if I could just buy an apple. He asked me if I wanted it on a stick. I said, "Not really." He said he'd never just sold somebody an apple before. I'm happy to be the first. 

The apple cinnamon. They even make the cream themselves.

On the left in the shadows is Boyfriend's savory buckwheat crepe with carmelized onions. 

Coffee with soymilk and an apple for me. I also had a banana. Sometimes that's just exactly what you want. 

Then it was time to head out for some adventures.

Coming up in Part II: waterfalls, tapas and our downtown rental