I killed it Gilbert, I killed it!!

What's Eating Gilbert Grape used to be my favorite movie! I love when things come up and make you realize how much you used to love something, and still do. I've watched it countless number of times, such a great movie!!!

I'm in Hollister today, watching Gilbert Grape now but I went to my grandmas on the hill earlier and visited with my mom while she sat with my great aunt Lucy. I haven't been out there in way too long. Everytime I go I miss my cousins, we used to have so much fun!

I had to take Andy back to SJ this morning to go to work, so she could be hungover and eat donuts! It actaully worked out well cause I just kept on driving, I had to come to pick up my cooking stuff in Hollister so I can cook for German and Ashley next weekend! I cannot wait :) for them to visit! A whole 3 day weekend with my best friend in my new city with lots to do and tons of people watching fireworks and even a trip to Santa Cruz for Planet Fresh. I hope this week goes by quickly then slows way down for the weekend. I've been trying to think of where I'll take her and German, I'm not too sure just yet. Last night I went out to a couple different places, I think it was in the Tenderloin but not too sure. It was Andy, Jasmine, me and like 7 of Jasmine's girl friends, oh and Johnny! It was fun and I drank vodka-for the first time in I dunno 6 months! I got drunk, ask Andy! Thats what happens when your taking shots on the street with a bunch of rowdy girls, good thing because we could barely stay in one bar long enough to finish one drink before we moved on to another bar. It was kinda of absurd. But fun...

Thought this pic above was cute, I don't know what everyone is laughing at, maybe the fact that all the girls got to take pics with the shirtless billboard ;) Here is Andy!... haha...

Hottest Bareback Action!!! What street were we on?... and WTF does that even mean? Hmr.

Well I should switch the laundry and I wanna finish watching this movie. I should get back to SF soon to do a trial run of my route to work so I'm not walking around lost at 6:30 tomorrow morning. We'll see, I'm kinda lazy... and I got bad blisters last night :(

It's not goodbye, it's goodnight!

Sad. My last day at No Name Cafe :(
I start in SF Monday morning, not til 7am! I'm really REALLY going to miss this place and my little family of friends I have here. Jen decided not to transfer with me so I'm on my own. I know I'll be fine in a new environment but I'm just going to miss my home that I have here. Today towards the end of work was kind of madness for me, first Leo threw flour at me but I was holding a pitcher of vegan red pepper sour cream and got him with that!!! Then I noticed him filling up a bucket, I knew he was going to try and get me back so I walked over and gave him dirty looks and said something mean, I don't remember now, and he was yelling "Why are you so mean to me?! as he threw the water that he did have in the bucket at me. Good job Leo...
Then me and Nico started messing around and I got him good with a water bottle then Oscar came from behind with probably 8 quarts of water and threw it at me. I screamed and was in shock like Who did that?! Ugh and somehow my jacket got ripped all the way up the side so everyone could see my turquoise bra through my white shirt. I ran to the bathroom and showered without saying goodbye to everyone I wanted to. I'll need to come back soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjGC7HTUoV4
Anyway off to hang out with with Clark and Denise for a night of drunken fun!

On the way to loving it!

First off Clark says Hi to everyone. So HI!


I'm hanging out in the office at work just passing time while my food digests so I can go to the gym. Thought I would blog about how much SF is growing on me. Last night I went with Jerimiah to a show at Cafe Du Nord on Market. I went there a long time ago with all my old friends (awe.) to see the Von Bondies. I like that place and the band we saw last night was so amazing. I don't even remember their name, have to ask him tonight. He could tell I liked them because he was like "Ashley you haven't moved this whole time, it's intense isn't it?" It was intense, a very much lesbian lead singer who also played guitar and a guy with Jesus hair and beard on the drums. It was a good night. I like hanging out with Jerimiah and 2 and a half beers was just enough to make me feel like it wasn't Monday night.


This past weekend was fun. Friday night I got a haircut Oh Yeah... here's a pic!

Kind of inspired by Amelie, which I watched on Thursday night, although it didn't even occur to me until Meagan metioned it. After my haircut I went with Jasmine and her friend Jhonny to Rory's work in the Castro the Midnight Sun-it's a gay bar. FYI don't use the bathroom in gay bars or at least don't be surprised if you hear/see some stuff going on! gross...

*Mr. Impatient (Cory) is buying me a beer in exchange for a ride to the city. Will finish blogging later
Bye*

I'm back, it's now Wednesday afternoon and today was an interesting day. Nico and I drank blackberry sangria's since 11am! (CORY I told u that u aren't allowed to use anything you read here against me, remember!) What a nice way to get through the day. Haha and after yesterday when he accidentally touched my boob so I accidentally touched his (all day!) it was a little flirty and awkward but totally fun ;)

I also found out today that my new job (?!!!?) probably starts Monday. Which only gives me 2 days left here :( I don't know what I'm going to do without my Clarky. He better keep to his word and come hang out with me all the time. One good thing about the move other than it's in SF is that Jen is transfering with me! If I had to choose someone to come with me, other than Clark or Cory, it would be Jen. I'm stoked although I know she's a little nervous, having barely found out about the transfer today, I know she overwhelmed but our bosses are looking out for our best intrest and I told her all we can do is trust their judgement. It will be cool...

Cory gave me a parting gift! It's his kombucha mushroom!! That he was always too scared to drink. I will take good care of it :)

I don't know what the rest of the week holds but I know it will be fun. The only thing I'm not looking foward to is telling Denise-my partner in veg cooking crime- that I won't be working here anymore... it's going to suck for her for a bit because we are already short handed but she's a tough girl and a great cook, she'll be okay.

Well I should get off to the gym and then head home to the city that I'm really sarting to love. I'm thinking I should just stay home tonight and get to be early but that's also what I thought last night :) We'll see, something more important may come up.

Busy week!

It's only Wednesday and I'm exhausted. Monday after work I took the hardest yoga class I've ever taken, then that night I hung out with Jasmine at the house and later went out with Jerimiah and Jasmine (roomates) and had fun getting to know them a little better. They have been so nice to me, totally accepting me into their friendship, it's cute they both told me, seperately, they they are each others best friend :) I thought that was adorable because it seems like the best friend title is new and it's cute. Last night I met up with Nicole, who I haven't seen in like a year. Did a lot of talking about SF, ex boyfriends/ex roomates, drank good beer and ate an amazing vegan sausage with sauerkraut, mustard and ketchup!
To be continued... Andy's here for dinner :)

Okay so now it's Friday afternoon! yay. What a long week but it was a really good week. Got to catch up with Andy on Wednesday night even though I wasn't much company. Then went home and crashed. Got woken up at midnight to one of Jasmines friends screaming on the phone with her boyfriend. That was intense to be woken up to. They broke up... ugh so glad I don't have to worry about that :) Thyen last night I cooked dinner for Jasmine and Meagan (roomates) and we hung out on the porch because it was so nice and hot. Today I'm taking Clark and his friend to the airport, they are going to Vegas!! Clark's first time and I know he's going to LOVE it. He's super excited, it's cute. Then going to get my hair done somewhere in the castro area, not sure what I'm doing but yet but I know it involves scissors and hair dye. Then probably drinks with Elisa or the roomates. Going to a potluck bbq tomorrow at Elisa's and I got tons of goodies from work to prepare for that... chocolate covered blueberries anyone?! Anyway I should get going, I know these boys are ansy to get to Vegas and I don't want to be late to my appointment.

I'm gonna get mugged. and some randomness.

Living in SF has made me a little scared. 2 girls I've talked to have both been mugged... great. My roomates purse got stolen at gunpoint and Elisa was attacked by 2 people with aluminum bats while she was with 2 friends, they had to go to the hospital. So now I'm paranoid, I don't live in the best neighborhood and unfortunatly cabs aren't always available, like at 12pm on Mission after getting off of bart on a Thursday night. I have pepper spray but I need to get a bigger purse so I have space to carry it but I wonder, I am really going to have the guts to use it or have the time to find it? What if I miss my aim and get shot?!

There are a few other gripes I have about the city...

Some streets are filthy with trash and scary/crazy people, the other day I was getting off bart at 16th and Mission and saw some huge scene, a barefooted homeless lady was trying to steal some girls bike, somehow the girl caught her and got it back, I was a little late to see all that happen, but what I did see was the girl tell this crazy lady that she hopes her life gets better. Thats when the lady gets psycho, starts running and pushing her way around all kinds of people, goes to a full trash can picks up the liner and swings it probably 15 ft toward the girl who is now running away with her bike. Some huge guy grabs the crazy lady, I think he knew her, and she starts slapping him in the face. Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out which way I need to go and get the hell out of there....

It's never dress weather. Even when it's hot enough it's always windy, almost too windy for a dress. And anyone who knows me knows I don't wear or even own practical shoes so it's been a challenge dealing with all the walking. Friday I had to stay home so my poor little feet could have time to heal...

But overall I have to say I am starting to love the city life. I've been doing some exploring on my own. My favorite street SO far is Valencia. It has Buffalo Exchange, Herbivore, Whole Foods and Zeitgeist-this awesome bar I met Elisa at. Which by the way, ELISA I had a lot of fun hanging out with you!! My gawd those 7 years flew by, I'm glad we got to catch up and I look foward to hanging out sometime soon :) I'm glad I have a friend in the city. and p.s. I'm now posting more pics on here for you!

I finally met the last roomate yesterday, Rory. I like everyone a lot! I haven't gotten to hang out with them at all yet. Jerimiah and Jasmine asked me to go out Tuesday but I was all ready for bed. And the rest of the week flew by without me seeing much of anybody. Last night they all had a bbq but I unfortunately had promised my sister weeks ago I'd come up to Santa Rosa to her party so I missed all that madness. My roomates seem to be excited by the fact that I cook vegan. I need to just go get all my kitchen stuff from my parents house and make space for it so I have everything I need.

Today I'm still in Santa Rosa hanging out with my sister, we got pedicures! There's my bright yellow toes right now, with her boyfriends kitty Ticky :)

Yesterday on the way up here I passed this boat and couldn't belive someone had taken it out on the water. I had to take a picture because I thought it was awesome.
Also I took a picture of this cause I was surprised to see it in the window of a very mexican liquor store, I think it was when I was walking on Mission yesterday. I listened to the cd on my way to Santa Rosa...

Anyway I just felt like posting some stuff since I have internet connection at the moment. Going to go get some sushi with Rachelle and Scott in a while then head home.

Finally

Finally some internet connection!... cause I'm at Google. I don't have any at my new house!!! Okay well I do but haven't figured it out yet and haven't asked. Last Thursday was my first night in SF and it's been nothing but experiences since then. I got there, unpacked my car made my bed and was like now what?! So I went for a walk, destination Cafe Gratitude. It was nice, the food is okay, nothing I couldn't make myself for cheaper but still, the environment is nice :) The girls are really sweet. They asked me the question of the day... What do you excel at? My quick answer was "Well I made really good bread pudding today!" So we chatted about that for a bit. Actually the bread pudding I made was AMAZING!! With coco de leche, orange extract, vanilla,extract and slight bit of almond extract and tofu, soy creamer and soy milk. The outcome was soooo freaking good!... I made everyone try it and people are still talking about it today :) Anyway enough about bread pudding already.
Friday I went to Hollister after work loaded up my car and headed back up North, stopped in SJ and did some damage and Aritzia, Bare Escentuals and Forever 21. Then headed home to unpack my car and chat with my new roomate Jasmine for a bit before bed.
Saturday I woke up so early to catch BART to Embarcadero where Cory and I volunteered cooking breakfast at the huge Farmers Market! BART was cool except haha I didn't know that they all go either one way or another so was waiting for one that said Embarcadero, which would be my stop. Luckily Cory filled me in on that only after waiting 30 minutes, so I got on the next train and was only half hour late but we both got there around the same time. The breakfast was cool, 300 people in 3 sessions, I made 30 beautiful fruit plates, did some dishes and other random stuff. Afterward Cory and I delivered all the extra donated produce back to the vendors and I got to meet some farmers :) Then went for some beers! Took BART home, this one was a long walk and I had to pee so bad then finally a nap! It was a perfect Saturday morning/afternoon. Follwed by one of the worst Saturday nights :( I still couldn't figure out how to work my shower so I had to take a bath, washing ur hair in the bath is nothing but awkward. Andy was coming to visit. I walked out to my car to get my purse and buy cigarettes and I was like Where the hell is my car?! It was not where I left it so I just kept walking realizing that it totally got towed and letting it sink in. I ran into Andy! And told her what happened so basically after that our mission was to get my car back. Neither of us even knew what to do? FYI you call the police. So we headed to 7th street to get it at a place called Auto Return (how cute). We probably turned around 10 times trying to head the right direction, passed it twice and finally I jumped out and walked into the Auto Return, 5 mintes, $238 plus a $75 parking ticket later I was driving out of the lot. Andy was somewhere else so I gave her quick directions and said Meet you at my house. I get on the phone and talk to an old friend actually our first convo in probably 7 years and proceed to get lost cause I'm not paying attention. Call Andy to see where she is and then make her lost. Basically we both get to my house around 11pm. We decide to walk down to Mission to get food and drinks. Not as easy as it seems when it's dark and you don't know where things are but we landed up eating good pizza then drinks at the Beauty Bar. The night was bleh but okay, it was good to see Andy and to have a partner for all that. Next time will be way better.
Sunday I slept in then got up without showering cause I still didn't know how to work it and went for a walk to get food. Ended up on Valencia at Herbivore, which reminds me of Veggie Grill. Ate a burrito and went around the block to Whole Foods for dinner stuff. I saw this girl riding a bike with a cart and some asked her what she was selling Vegan Sausages on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays!! How cute. She said she bought it online and it was super hard to pedal. As soon as she was gone I realized I should have talked to her, at least introduced myself, maybe bought a sausage and asked if she ever needed help cooking. (I'm trying to make friends). Maybe I'll see her next weekend... Also on Valencia is Buffalo Exchange, so I stopped in there and got 2 dresses, talked to the manager and picked up an application. Then I realized it was wishful thinking. That was my weekend :) Minus 2 really big life changing things that came up but more on all that later. It feels weird to be going home there. I think tonight the 2 guy roomates who I've only see pictures of (!) are coming home from riding their bikes to LA for the AIDS run and Jasmine comes home from Chicago. So it will be interesting to have a full house. Gonna go see what the PM crew has made for dinner tonight.... It's the Pits is the theme (stonefruit). Then a shorter than usual drive to my new home...

It's time to do something for myself and only me

Will I ever get to where I'm going?
Will I ever follow through with what I had planned
I guess it's possible that I have been a bit distracted
And the directions for me are a lot less in demand
Will I ever get to where I'm going?
If I do, will I know when I am there?
If the wind blew me in the right direction
Would I even care?
I would
I take a look around
It's evident the scene has changed
And there are times when I feel improved upon the past
Then there are times when I can't seem to understand at all and yes It seems as though I'm going nowhere... really fucking fast

Mmmm....

So I made bread pudding! I made it yesterday and served it this morning so the flavors would have time to meld together. I was in love with myself this morning as I was eating it. And it was all gone before breakfast was over!
I uhh pretty much changed the recipe and made it my own. Here is what I did:

Ashley's First Ever Vegan Bread Pudding
2 loaves sourdough bread, torn into chunks and let sit out to get stale
1 carton chocolate hemp milk
3 containers silken tofu
4 shots of espresso
Soy creamer, about a cup
Agave, maybe 1/2 cup (I wasn't measuring)
semi sweet chocolate chips, about 1 to 1 1/2 cups
dried cherries, I put a few too many
1/2 tbsp Earth Balance

So easy, just blend wet ingredients in processor and pour over bread to soak. Fold in cherries and chips. Grease the pan with Earth Balance and pour all ingredients in. Bake uncovered for about 40 minutes at 350. I also made a little pecan maple syrup sauce for over the top. Just toast the pecans and heat the syrup, combine. Let pudding cool and enjoy :)



Little bit of a visual but it sure tasted better than it looks. Mmmm can't wait for to find some extra vegan bread so I can make it again, but different next time. I want to try vanilla with maybe banana?... or apricots are in season. Yum.

That is not tofu

I walk into my kitchen after getting home from the gym, make a salad eat it on the couch and then put my dish away, thats when I noticed the bread pudding. I LOVE pudding! It's a childhood love affair started by my grandma. This pudding looks sort of different, almost like tofu, I had to tell myself "that is not tofu", twice actually. It just looked so good. Anyway I walked away more than a little disappointed but grabbed my laptop to look up my friend Google and find this:
Vegan Bread Pudding!
1 loaf of Italian bread or other soft white bread
1/2 c. Silk creamer or soy milk
4 oz. silken tofu (about 1/2 c. or 1/3 of a 12 oz. package)
2 c. soy milk
1/2 c. + 1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
3/4 c. raisins
Mix creamer and tofu in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. Pour into a large bowl and add soy milk, 1/2 c. sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Tear the whole loaf of bread into small pieces and mix it all into the wet ingredients as you go. You should end up with a stiff but wet batter. Fold in the raisins then spread the mixture in a greased 8" x 12" baking dish. Sprinkle the top with the remaining sugar and bake at 350° for 1 hour. After it cools, slice it into squares to serve.

Those Googlers are getting Bread Pudding for breakfast tomorrow and so am I :)