Adventurin’ : Comedy Sketchfest Nightlife, Cal Acad of Sciences

Every Thursday Night the California Academy of Sciences hosts NightLife…  a Themed night of fun, exploring, great music, wonderful food & drinks… just for the 21+ set! 🙂
It is a only a $12 entry fee ($10 for members)!!
Of course, you can amp it up and get the VIP tickets at only $59 – then by-pass the lines, get a 1hr private tour, and passes for the ‘big’ events!

Dano and I (and a group of our Super Cool meet-up friends)  attended for the first time in conjunction with SF Sketchfest… apparently, this was a VERY popular theme and all passes to Greg Proops’ podcast & the Tom Lennon/Ben Garant panel were taken by the time we got in the building…   ah pooey!

Nevertheless, we made a great night of it and it turned out AWESOME!! 🙂

~ We listened to a few comedians on the Stand Up! Stage.
~ We had freaking awesome food in the Cafe, with great dietary options…
so look forward to hitting The Moss Room restaurant in the future!
~ We caught a glimpse of an albino alligator named Claude… COOOOOL! 🙂
~ We watched the Convoy Improv Troupe from LA.
~ We Met Ben Garant!!! Nice & Sincere guy! 🙂 (and saw Tom Lennon)

So, in all, our night turned out wonderfully! 🙂

I look forward to future NightLife nights!

I also got a great pic of a quote by scientist, Wallace Broecker :
“Climate is an angry beast and we are poking at it with sticks”

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Cookin’ : GF Yellow Cake with Satsuma Mandarins

YUM! 🙂

We receive a lovely weekly delivery of Local Organic Produce from Farm Fresh to You… We love it!

It’s Satsuma season, which is great, because they are so easy to peel, delicious to eat and cute! Though we get a big bag delivered every week… they are coming out our ears!! hee hee! 🙂
Then, of course, I remember that they have a short season and I delight in what I can do with these little orange goodies!

I’ve been sending a few with Dano to work, pre-peeling some to grab on-the-go to eat with a mozzarella stick…
What else is a girl to do!?!?!
MAKE CAKE, of course!! 🙂

I grabbed my Bob’s Red Mill GF Yellow Cake mix and started my experiment!

I sectioned and peeled the thin skin off those little suckers… making about a cups worth of juicy naked Satsuma sections!

Since the mix called for water and I knew I’d have mandarin pieces/juice, I substituted the water with Organic Coconut Milk!

I also made a Mango cake with a frozen Mango I had… same substitution and fruit measurement.

SUCCESS! 🙂

I slathered the cakes with a Whipped Cream/Coconut Milk topping (don’t forget a dash of powdered sugar.)

Sprinkle slices with a touch of cinnamon to enhance flavors and wow your fans! 🙂

Enjoy!

(If you are interested in a delivery of Farm Fresh to You… receive $10 off your 1st box with code : 6164 Buendia)
(If you are not living in the Bay Area… check out localharvest.org  for your nearby CSA or Farmer’s Market)

Eatin’ Out : Betty’s Eat Inn, Santa Cruz

This place is TOO awesome… I was drawn to it by its 50’s-style decor… I SO love that!

Then Dano and I fell in love with the Naughty side of Betty’s! 🙂

The sign is a sure sign of what’s in store : “Juicy Patties, Hot Buns!”

We stepped into a burger joint that features fantastic art, typically conceptualized by Betty, herself…  and half a Silver Twinkie (aka : Airstream Trailer) along one side of the dining room!

We ordered Burgers, of course, a wedge salad, sweet potato fries, Coke, and a shake!
Every thing was wonderful… the fries were insane… the burgers were so surprisingly flavorful!
Since I ordered my cheeseburger without a bun, I kinda’ had a burger salad vs. the lettuce-wrapped ‘protein style’, I get elsewhere… regardless, it was Fab-U-Lous!! 🙂

The story on the menu is pretty insane itself, I had to ask if it was true… and was told that, indeed, it is Betty’s true story!

As for the naughty side of the menu!?
~ How about a little secret lube on your burger?
~ An “Adult” shake anyone?

I relish a fun, little naughty side any day! 🙂

Chinook Bookin’ : Cafe Delmarette, Santa Cruz

We headed over to Santa Cruz, for the first time Ever, via Hwy 1/PCH,  the Thursday before New Year’s…

There is SO much to see/do there… we did not get to all of it… and we knew this might be the case.

So, rather than force it all into one day, we headed over to Pacific Ave. (the main street through downtown), so that we could sit down at a coffee shop and look through the things to-do AND see about hitting up some of the ‘offers’ in the Chinook Book.

The Coffee place : Cafe Delmarette
They offered a 2-for-1 drink in the Chinook Book… We ordered two Hot Chocolates… of course!! 🙂

Good Hot Chocolate… Quaint ‘Cafe’… Wonderful downtown area… Friendly locals!!!!

As we sat drinking our hot chocolate, I looked through the Chinook Book for other eats and treats… a local couple, Clare and Tim, sat next to us and I asked if they could use some of the more ‘resident’ type coupons (for gyms, grocery stores, etc)… so we exchanged coupons and Local info!! It was great fun to get some info about the area from them, including that Tim himself is an artist, whom painted the sign for THE Cafe Delmarette that we sat!

Enjoy!

Adventurin’ : Patterson House, Ardenwood Farm (pt. 2)

As promised… Part 2 of the Ardenwood Historic Farm visit… discussing the Patterson House tour!

We visited in Mid-December to go on a tour of the Eucalyptus Grove when the Monarch Butterflies spend their time in their Over-Wintering Phase… have a peek at the 1st part blog here :
https://sfonewb.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/adventurin-monarch-butterflies-ardenwood-farm/

After our butterfly tour, we went on the tour of the historic Victorian, the Patterson House.
Originally built in 1857 as a Farm house  in which that last Patterson resided until the mid-1960’s…
thereby housing three generations of the family!!
The home and surrounding land is now a Park!
It is a wonderful setting for picnicking, lovely strolls, interacting with animals and touring the home.
As well, during the ‘active’ Summer season, they have many activities that include little train rides AND an active blacksmith workshop!! I’m very excited to visit during the ‘season’! (That will likely be a part 3 blog post!)

George Patterson came out to California to take advantage of the gold rush… that didn’t work out quite as planned… so after working a bit, in other ventures, he’d gathered enough money to buy a farm and home! The farm was very fertile. He and his wife were able to expand onto the small farmhouse and create a gorgeous white Victorian.

The Docent was super informative and fun, she really took on as much of the persona of the home as possible… and was able to interact with all ages of group!

The land itself is home to chickens, goats, cows, and more which we did not see during this visit. Though there are certainly peacocks… we saw a lovely one milling about the front lawn while were were there!!

Of course, Dano did pull out his EMF meter to take a few readings to see what activity there might be… not really much except for a great old house.

My favorite photos below are of the Exterior of the home itself, an artist’s painting of the home, AND in the kitchen was a a list of foods from Way Back When… I had NO idea Welch’s Grape Juice has been around since 1872!!!!! WOW!!! 🙂

Some other food surprises :
Jello 1897
Animal Crackers 1902
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups 1917

Eatin’ Out : Pamplemousse, RWC

YUM! I have totally found ‘my’ local cafe!
(well, I actually found it awhile ago… and have recently revisited! Happy times!)

Pamplemousse Patisserie et Cafe

I wanted to head in here because their website photos looks so appetizing… being Gluten-free…  I could see that I’d be headed for a refreshing salad, maybe some soup, and a tea…. at least.
Though, I love to bake and have been baking GF for over a year, I’ve not myself made french macarons… so I had no idea what to expect.  I was SO Happy when the staff informed me that the macarons are GF!!!! I had no idea! 🙂

Dano & I took them up, toot sweet, on the Buy 12 Get 1 Free deal… Yes, they were more ‘hollow’ than I expected a ‘macaron’ to be… AND that just that played into our childlike behavior of Cracking the Outer Shell with our fingers… FUN!

They have a nice chewy center (LOVE that!) and a crunchy outside… the buttery flavor in the buttercream is delightful!
Though sometimes the ‘flavor’ of the actual macaron itself is not ‘solidly’ present.

FAVS : Coconut, Yuzu, Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Raspberry, Amaretto
Though, ahem, they have 35 flavors listed on the site… I still need to try about 25! No Prob!
Most Anticipated : Lavender Vanilla and Chocolate Earl Grey!!

Yes! We did have salad, soup, and my hubby had a sandwich…

The Mixed Greens w. Chicken (added Goat Cheese) was so good! The dressing was great, chicken was flavorful, and the Greens are truly ‘Greens!’ No Iceberg lettuce here!

The flavors of all the foods and goodies are so well put together! Enjoy!

http://www.pamplemoussecakes.com/

A little Earl Grey & Macarons for me…. Iced Tea & Tiramisu for Dano