Flakers

The camping trip to the Sierra Mountains was canceled due to rain and the people we planned on going with decided to have a BBQ, since they bought so much meat.

Well….ahem….Long and I were cooking & prepping for 2 days straight, so we were NOT happy when we heard the news. I knew (and everyone else knew) there was going to be rain, wind, and cold, but I wanted to go anyway just for the experience. I mean it’s not everyday you get to camp on a mountain and freeze your ass off in the cold rainy weather in a tent!

After about an hour of deciding on what to do for the weekend and with all the prepared food, we decided on heading out to camp in Monterey. It turned out to be one of the best camping excursions we went on! Although it was chilly, we had a fire to warm up to and 2 thick sleeping bags to cover us up. As the weekend progressed, it got warmer and we actually ended up lying on Carmel Beach for a couple of hours on Sunday and Monday. At one point we even fell asleep on the beach.

We’ll definitely come back here soon. Hopefully with body boarding gear.

Here’s a recap of this weekend as usual working my way back.

Monday, May 26, 2008

BREAKFAST:

Ba-NAN-NA! I also had a cup of coffee, but didn’t take a picture.

SNACK:

More Dirty potato chips.

LUNCH:

The last day in Monterey and we’re low on food, so we decided to dine out. We decided on Japanese food and went to a place called The Barnyard, which was ~15 minutes away from Carmel Beach. Our waitress was really nice (and refilled our water glasses ). I thought this was a perfect end to our trip.

Robata Japanese grill and sake bar.

We started off with Wakame, seaweed salad, but I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture. Silly me. It was good though.

Miso soup

3 different types of rolls and they all came with 8 pieces. I can’t believe we finished them all! I forget the exact names of the rolls, so I’ll just describe them to you.

Roll #1: MY FAVORITE! Avocado, pickled relish, and macadamia nuts.

Roll #2: Avocado & Cucumber

Roll #3: Wakame roll. It was the seaweed salad we ate as an appetizer in roll form.

I call this my “dragon” sauce because once you dip into it you should feel heat escaping from your nose and eyes.

Dragon Sauce: mixture of Sriracha, Wasabi, soy sauce.

On the way home to Oakland, we stopped by Cherry Bean. They had this roaster in the back. Ahh…it was a beautiful site to see! I would definitely love to own one of these. haha.

I bought a pound of coffee beans and as usual when you buy a pound you get a free cup of coffee. Of course I didn’t refuse.

SNACK:

Back on the road there were a few cherry stands. We stopped by to pick up a batch.

Pb cookies. Now all crumbly.

Small fuji apple

carrrots while cooking dinner

DINNER:

Mi topped with green & yellow onions, lime, tvp, and cilantro

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

BREAKFAST:

banana

coffee via the french press

granola turned into cereal topped with strawberries and vanilla soy milk

SNACK:

banana chips

Primal Strips. Long and I used this guide book throughout our entire trip. It had a cartoon map that was hilariously accurate.

Soy Macchiato, no sugar added. No latte art, but nice microfoam

trail mix.

LUNCH:

Picnic by the beach

Grilled Boca burgers

grilled veggies and onion buns

Here’s how my plate looked like.

SNACK:

Ice cream from Baskin robbins.

chips

DINNER:

Cornbread, mashed potatoes, mock meatloaf with gravy by the campfire.

grilled corn

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

BREAKFAST:

Coffee

Whole Grain Waffle. It doesn’t look like much, but it tastes pretty decent. I didn’t spray cooking oil onto the waffle iron, so the batter stuck to the sides. I had to pull it all out with a butter knife.

SNACKS:

Granola

Trail mix: banana chips, semi sweet chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans, dried sweetened cranberries, and almonds.

PB cookie

LUNCH:

Sandwich: lettuce, spinach, Yves Deli slices, steakhouse tomato, vegan pesto, and mayonnaise

vegan cheese dip with Sun chips and carrots on the side

SNACK:

pb cookie with a warm cup of vanilla soy milk by the campfire

DINNER:

Chili and vegan cornbread. The warm chili warmed me up really well, as it was cold at night.