Hot in San Francisco + Brunch at Greens Restaurant

I know. It’s supposed to be Cleveland but this insane heat wave came over the Bay Area this weekend and completely wrecked my plans to get my first Pumpkin Spice Latte. Actually, I’m sitting at Starbucks as I type this, waiting for the next hour that I am on call to pass so that I can go home and relax. {hallelujah}

Because it is ridiculously hot outside, I had to get my pumpkin fix from a La Boulange reduced fat pumpkin cheesecake loaf.

La Boulange is a French bakery here in the Bay Area that Starbucks has partnered with to make some of their baked items. Have any of you seen their goods at your local Starbucks? It was my first pumpkin treat of the season and it was delicious. I’m hoping to recreate something similar for the blog soon.

On Saturday, Brandon and I had plans to go watch the Texas A&M game at a local Aggie bar in the Marina District of San Francisco and the weather was surprisingly sunny and warm without a cloud {or sign of Karl} in the sky.

Unfortunately for us, the America’s Cup boat racing event was going on so it took us almost an hour to find parking (which later turned out to be a complete disaster). Gotta love driving in the city!

Before the game, we had plans to have brunch together at a vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco that I’ve had my eye on for a while.

Greens is located in Fort Mason in the Marina District and their dining room has a beautiful view of the bay.

We were there around 2pm but I would love to go back for dinner to see the bay at sunset.

By the time we got there, I was starving so I ordered granola with yogurt to satisfy the hangry as quickly as possible.

I also ordered the Yellow Fin Potato Griddle Cakes with eggs over hard and almond-parsley pesto.

Brandon had the Fig and Caramelized Onion Pizza with goat cheese, asiago, walnuts and sage.

His was amazing and it reminded me of Amy’s fig pizza that I was drooling over last week. SO good.

After scarfing down our food, we literally jogged to the bar to make it there before kickoff. However, I had to stop to get a shot of the pretty flowers along the way.

I really wish I had time to get more pictures to show you what a beautiful neighborhood the Marina district is. Brandon and I are not keen on the idea of city living but we both agreed if we had to live anywhere in the city, we would love to live there.

Luckily, we made it Monaghan’s with about ten minutes to spare before the game started. Whoop!

There were a ton of Aggies there and we saw a few familiar faces from the BBQ. We also met some new people as well; two of which actually lived in College Station still.

Bar lighting makes for an awesome picture! Ha.

There was also a Plant Café right around the block from Monaghan’s so we stopped in to get a couple of juices and tempeh sandwiches to go.

What? You don’t drink organic juice after a night at the bar? Oh.

Anyway, I opted for the Healthy Sunrise which is made from carrots, beets, oranges, apples and lemon and Brandon got a spicy red juice with some spicy veggies or something.

Tempeh burgers in hand, we walked to the car only to find that it was no longer there. {Sigh} It had been towed because they said we were blocking someone’s driveway (literally by an inch-I think the parking police were just trying make money) so we had to grab a taxi to where it had been towed. Six hundred dollars plus a hundred dollar parking citation later {I wish I was kidding}, we drove home over the bay bridge feeling a teensy bit depressed.

Lesson learned: leave an extra hour early to find parking and be 100% sure that you are not even a smidgeon in front of a driveway.

Although parking turned out to be a complete nightmare, we still returned home safe and sound to our precious Coco which allowed us to realize that in the grand scheme of life, none of that really matters. Besides, I think I have officially made every parking mistake possible in the city so it can only go up from here, right?

Well, I’m hoping to have a nice dinner and then get in bed early so I can read my book. I know, I’m so exciting.

Have a great day!

Is the weather cooling off by you?

Would you rather live in the city or the suburbs?