Carlie and Tiffany Try Mr. Holmes Bakehouse

The Great San Francisco Food Tour 2017 continues. 

New York has their cronut, and San Francisco has their cruffin.

Croissant+Muffin=Cruffin, sold at Mr. Holmes Bakehouse. It is probably the most iconic Instagram food item in all of SF. 

Case and point.

Tiffany and I have been wanting to try the cruffin for a while, but Mr. Holmes is trickier than most bakery's. The cruffins sell out early in the morning, and because we are working women, we can only go on Saturdays. They also change the flavor everyday, so you have to make sure you go on a day when it is something you would like. We have been on flavor watch since we got here, and finally, there was a Saturday with a flavor that we wanted to try. Raspberry pistachio. 

We got their at 8am (when the bakery opened) and there was already a line down the street. I felt a camaraderie with all of our fellow line mates. It takes a certain person to wake up at 7am on a Saturday to go stand in line, in the rain, for an hour to try a pastry.  

The cruffins don't start selling untill 9am, but the line started moving because people were going in to buy the other baked goods. Eventually we made it to the front of the line, but as we were waiting for the cruffin, we didn't go in because it wasn't 9am yet. So there we were, officially at the front of the cruffn line.  Every once in a while, someone in line behind us would realize that they didn't have to be waiting if they didn't want a cruffin. That was always a fun moment to witness. The rest of us stayed put. 

Front of the line. 

While we were waiting for 9am to roll around, we decided to try one of the doughnuts and a chocolate chip cookie. The doughnut was filled with caramel fudge and it was delicious. The cookie was also very very good.

As the front of the line, we became the gate keepers of Mr. Holmes Bakehouse. People would walk up and ask us if they could go into the shop, or what we were doing, or what the flavor of the day was, or how long we had been there. We had all the answers. We gave suggestions, tips, and answered all of the questions flawlessly. The bakery should have been paying us. 

oh California...

If you don't take a picture in front of the sign, did you even go?

We finally got to try the cruffin. And honestly, the filling tasted like a raspberry Gogurt, and it wasn't all that amazing or worth the $4.50. Maybe if we had gone on a chocolate peanut butter day, we would have different feelings towards it.  But the doughnut and the cookie get two thumbs up. 

In the end, we regretted nothing. 

So if you are keeping tabs, at this point our breakfast had now consisted of a doughnut, cookie, and a cruffin. We had probably reached our calorie count for the day and it was only nine in the morning. Then we had costco samples for lunch...so a solid day for food.

Mini Spring Break

Somewhere along the way of life, I forgot to appreciate that spring break, fall break, summer break, winter break, all the breaks, were a thing. Because guess what, 6 holiday days a year is my new thing. 

Anyway, as my sisters are still enjoying the bliss of public education, they get a spring break. This year my family came to me. I would like to think that I am the main reason they ended up here in California, but our friends beach house right on the beach is a close contender. 

The beach house is about an hour away from my house, and near Santa Cruz. Tiffany and I decided to go to Santa Cruz a few hours before my family arrived to check out the local scene. When I say "check out the local scene",  I really mean , "The Great Santa Cruz Food Tour of 2017". Just kidding, but you can bet we researched where we were going to eat dinner and dessert and made it priority #1.

Santa Cruz by night

No joke. This was the best burrito I have ever had. Los Pericos, you have changed my life. 

After dinner and walking around the boardwalk and the pier, we got cookies. Were we hungry?? No. Did we need to try it because it was there? Yes.

Then we made it to the beach house, where my family eventually showed up. With my family, came a real camera. I actually quite like taking photos (which should be no surprise to close friends) therefore, the rest of the photos from here on out will be thanks to Canon. 

Wishing this was mine. 

The next day was conference Saturday, but in between sessions, we hit the beach.

The three brave souls who braved the northern California water. With no wet suits no less. 

As you can see, Austin came too. Where Tiffany and Carlie [are], there shall Austin be also. 

After the afternoon session, Tiffany and Austin headed back to Palo Alto, and I stayed at the beach until Tuesday Morning.  It was nice to take a break from work and have a 3.5 day weekend. 

From the inside looking out, just look how close the ocean is. Falling asleep to the sound of waves is bliss.

In between conference sessions on Sunday, we walked along the beach.

We found this river of debris. It's been very rainy here this winter, and this is the aftermath.  

Rachel, the new 2018 Senior Class President of Timpview High School, is feeling the weight of that calling on her shoulders. *"but what will our senior quote be??"

Makenzie, the girl who now has to live with the senior class president, is not impressed. *"what, like it's hard or something?"

Carlie is just wishing for more vacation days, *"would someone sponsor me to live at the beach?"

Sunsets, you da true MVP. 

On Monday we took a little road trip, and en route to our destination, we pulled over to buy some farm fresh produce. 

Turns out, you can pay even more for your fruit if you buy it on the side of the road. How fun.

We went on a walk at Point Lobos, which lead to a trail along the coast.

It was gorgeous. 

It was pup season, so we saw a few baby seals with their mothers on one of the beaches. 

Just trying to look more related to my sisters by braiding my hair. 

It was so nice to have family here and to be on a mini vacation. I'll take either of those things as often as I can.

So Canon, if you want to just sponsor this post and send a camera my way, I wouldn't even be mad. 

A Day in San Fransisco

One Saturday Tiffany and I went to San Francisco to check a few things off of our SF tourist check list, which can also be called:  “The Great San Francisco Food Tour 2017”.

Here is something to know about us. Tiffany and I are planners. There is no simple task that can’t be planned. Checklists can be made, excel sheets can be involved. There is research to be done, and reviews to be read. Whether we are going to a neighboring city, on a week long vacation, or buying shoes, planning is in order.  What will we eat? Where will we go? How can we make our schedule most efficient? How much will it cost? What will we wear? Should I buy these pants for our upcoming trip that is 7 months away? What shoes will feel good when walking, look cute in pictures, hide dirt, and dry fast if wet? So many questions must be answered.  The most important questions of course are those involving food. It’s a major factor that is not taken lightly. It’s often the most anticipated part of the trip, or the reason we go at all. 

On this day, the first destination on our list were the painted ladies. Made famous for all 90’s kids by the Full House opening Title sequence. 

But did the Tanners live in one of these, or did they just enjoy picnics in Alamo Square Park??

Speaking of Alamo Square Park, (the park in front of the painted ladies) it is currently under construction. So that really inhibited our picture taking possibilities, so we had to settle for the sidewalk.

Next stop included: Food!

Our researched suggested we go to  Miette, for its old time feel and cupcakes. We weren’t in the mood for cupcakes, but we appreciated the cuteness of this shop.

We opted to go down the street to a frozen yogurt/rice pudding shop, Loving Cup.

Tiffany got a delicious raspberry yogurt, and I got a cookies and creme rice pudding.

This is how you take pictures when you have too much pride to ask strangers to take your picture. You take turns.

Loving Cup final verdict: Would recommend. Next time: sample all of the rice pudding, but end up buying frozen yogurt.

Then it was on to the Golden State Bridge.

 I would be lying if I said that my main reason for wanting to go here had nothing to do with getting an  Instargram worthy photo. It was overdue that I announce to the social media world that I had moved. Mission accomplished. And it’s my most liked picture yet #millenialtalk.

We walked on the bridge for a bit and then headed to the Palace of Fine arts. 

We didn’t take any pictures, but this is what it looks like:

There was a wedding going on under the main dome when we were there. Us and our fellow visitors all cheered when they were announced “Man and wife”.

Then it was… time for more food!

It was off to the mission district, because apparently San Francisco is known for their burritos. 

As we drove into the mission district we found ourselves in a homeless hub. The streets were dirty, and there was a very different feel from our quaint walk around the the yogurt shop neighborhood.  The street was wide and lined with palm trees and it felt like we were in LA. 
Tiffany didn’t notice the palm trees until after she was satisfied with dinner, and as a result was feeling less anxious about the probability we didn’t make it out of there with her car. Okay that might be an over exaggeration. The area really isn’t that bad, but when you’re hungry your mind isn’t firing at 100%

Our SF food blogs led us to El Taqueria, and it was delicioso. 

Cramped and crowded=a good sign. 

El Taqueria final verdict: Will be going back, hobos and all.

Then it was off to, more food! Dessert round 2.

Were we hungry? No. Were we already in the neighborhood and had another place to check off on our “Great San Francisco Food Tour 2017” checklist? Yes.

We were lead to Tartine Bakery.
Turns out, the chocolate filled pastry we wanted to try had sold out long ago. 

So we settled for trying a cookie, a brownie, and chocolate bread. Chocolate overload? Impossible.

Tartine final verdict: Get there early so we can actually try what we want to. Never buy the cookie again. Brownie was good, but I haven’t thought about  it since- AKA probably not going back anytime soon. But actually now that I am thinking about it, I probably wouldn’t mind having one right about now….

Slowly but surely we will become experts and perfect travel guides for when all of our loving friends and family come to visit us. We do it all for you.

My Life, As Told Through Snapchat

Since I am a millennial I use many different social media apps to let all my friends know what I am doing all of the time, even if what I am doing is non-monumental or not interesting in the slightest. I don’t know what it is about feeling the desire to let people know such details about my life, but it is a thing, and I love it. This desire has led to Snapchat being the primary documenting source of my life. And since this is a blog all about me and my life, it feels only right to tell you about what has been going on by dissecting some of my Snapchat videos for your viewing pleasure.

I had to upload these videos to YouTube just to be able to put them on here, which I didn’t want to do, but it was the only way.

Disclaimer. These are not exciting.

Welcome to east palo alto. In this video we learn that even the default geotag on snapchat understands just how ghetto this place is. La Cazuela is a restaurant just down the street from us, and it is definitely the best place to eat within our vicinity. It’s quite delicious. Most of the Mormon kids know about this place and eat here, so it’s not unusual to run into the other YSA’s.  It gets rave reviews on Yelp.

Some of the reviews have a trend:

One wrote: “The area is a bit sketchy looking; I could have sworn I saw a drug deal go on outside. However, the inside of the restaurant had a very homey feel.”

Another wrote “Definitely recommend, but don't leave any valuables in the car!"

And one more for good measure, “when we were eating some lady was passing by outside asking for change, so just FYI it's in that kind of hood”.

EPA is not for everyone, but this restaurant is.

One Saturday night, Tiffany decided it was finally time she bought a dresser and stop living out of her suitcase.  This is how that night transpired:

As made evident by the first 19 seconds of this video, we do a pretty good job at entertaining ourselves. The sad thing is that we actually passed up going dancing with some friends to finish putting this dresser together.  Talk about antisocial, but once you get started it’s hard to stop.  We finished at 1 in the morning.  We were somehow able to convince Austin to come over to help us. This video was clearly in the beginning stages of our friendship, as made evident by the clothes he is wearing. He never tries that hard anymore.  Now he wears socks with his Tevas.

A halfhearted attempt at documenting a night in San Francisco:

This is a prime example of filming for the sake of letting your friends know that you are somewhere cool. Nothing happens in this video. Why did I use that “Fisherman’s Wharf” geotag?  It covers up most of the video, but how else would people know that I was in San Francisco if I hadn’t??

I do like that it documents that we all bought matching T-shirts on a whim. We got the idea, and went around to all the shops on Pier 39 trying to find the best deal. We bought them, and immediately put them on.  What tourists.  

Again you see that it is Tiffany, Austin, and I all hanging out together (as it would be for many days and nights to come). That night we also went to golden gate park, played some cheap games at Musée Mécanique(the retro penny arcade on fisherman’s Wharf) got three free samples each and a chocolate chip cookie at Ghirardelli Square, and we also...

unintentionally ran into our friends on their honeymoon. One night after their marriage (that we couldn’t attend because we don’t live in Utah anymore), we saw them on the streets in SF. The world is so small.

Something people do for fun around here is go to the Ritz Carlton fire pits at Half Moon Bay. One Friday night we went with some people from the ward.  Ari brought stuff for smores, and we all sat around and chatted under the stars. 

For a few minutes we shared the pit with two 30ish year old women who sipped their wine and chatted to each other about their previous trips. To be discrete, tiffany texted me, “us in 15 years”.  We can only hope. At one point a worker from the hotel came to tell us when the fire pits would be turning off, and he had a British accent. It must be a requirement if you want to work in the high end hotel business. Or maybe they provide linguistic tutors to all their employees so they can learn accents to appear extra fancy.

This video is another “look at me and where I am” moment.  In my opinion Tiffany makes the video, because she looks just a little bit crazy with her wide eyes and the wind in her hair. If you happened to notice the random boy in the video just staring at the camera, it’s not a ghost, that’s Brandon. He came with us when we went to go down to the beach.

And here is just a picture taken with snapchat.

My brother Josh had a long layover in SF, so I went and picked him up from the airport and we went to dinner. We got tacos, and they were delicious. Then I dropped him back off. It was the first time I had seen a member of my family in the flesh since moving out here.

In conclusion, if it weren’t for Snapchat, I would have zero video evidence of my life.