Donuts, Glitter and Visas, OH MY

MY VISA ARRIVED HOME TODAY. YAY! I'm all ready to go to new places and such. HOORAH.

Today was another day off for me, so I decided to do what my mother has been suggesting. I went to Dynamo Donut & Coffee for fun times! It was an adventure because I took two new buses (24 and 48) and went to a part of town I was ENTIRELY unfamiliar with. Which was pretty cool. I almost walked right past Dynamo... but doubled around quickly when I realized I was leaving fantastic donuts behind me. There were happy birthday signs everywhere! I came on the right day for their 4th anniversary/birthday thingymajigger. I ordered two donuts (Maple-Bacon-Apple and Ginger-Orange) and was pleasantly surprised when the guy gave me an extra (Apricot Cardamom) to celebrate their birthday. He told me I should go enjoy this beautiful day on the patio so I did.

It was absolutely charming on their back porch/patio/garden. And I paced myself, so it wouldn't feel like I ate three donuts by myself (even though I did, but whatever). SO I DECIDED TO BRING MORE DONUTS HOME.
I asked the guy to pick me an assortment of four. He gave me six. I love birthdays. (I also bought Tilly and Stella a doggie donut. OM NOM NOM)

When I came home, we gave the dogs their donut and I walked them down Page until Golden Gate Park. There were SO MANY DOGS. It was kind of annoying because Stella and Tilly do not play well with others. It was an ordeal.

We decided that we needed to get out. Except everywhere fun in San Francisco (apparently) is 21+. Ptthhhhbt. But we got an invite to go play some dominos out in the Richmond District with some of Nate's friends. SO AWAY WE WENT. We stopped to get dinner first at Tia Margarita, which was yummy. Then we walked over to Nate's friend's house. (His name is Nate as well.)

Heidi and I found the best thing ever. Well, things to be precise.

Sitting on the sidewalk were never before worn gold flats. GLITTER. SO MUCH GLITTER. And they were sitting next to a book entitled "The New Feminist Agenda". Score. They were just my size. How freakishly awesome is that?

I suck at Dominos.


TODAAAAY (Saturday) was a slow day. It was very slow. But at least I wore my pretty new shoes. Heidi made risotto (corn, zucchini & asparagus) and I prepared the salad (mango, butter lettuce, radicchio, avocado and cucumber). We watched The Artist. It was absolutely lovely. After, we noshed on the plum-cardamom upside-down cake Heidi made.

A good night.

Love,
Henna

Del Popolo!

PIZZZAAAAA. OM NOMNOMNOMONOM.

Last night, THE AMERICAN had a special event, "Pitchers & Pizzas" with the Del Popolo food truck. It was insane. We were in charge of drinks and the truck was in charge of food. But just to show you how crazy things were. Del Popolo had a line wrapped around the corner for almost the ENTIRE four hours. We sold almost ALL of the beer we had (12 kegs). In four hours. I was manning the inside taps and non-alcoholic beverages. So much beer.

The pizza is fantastic. Eat it up. We finished cleaning up inside the restaurant around 10:30 and Nate and I drove Melanie home to Sunset. Then we got Micky D's. It was surprisingly awesome at 12:30 in the morning.

I woke up late. I was so tired.

Love,
Henna

I'll Dream of You

Heidi and Nate got back all safe and sound last night. I was very worried because I hadn't gotten any texts from them (turns out my phone had been hoarding 30-odd texts and send them tonight). So I was getting a bit worried and decided to stay up, cook dinner, and furiously read my book (1Q84).

I made catfish.

Mmm. Chewy.

Today was a typical day at work. Food. Served it and all that jazz. Until 2:53 (or something)... anyway. Hella close to when we close.

A couple of dudes, older dudes. They ordered their food and the younger dude (still old) told me I was beautiful. Whatever, that's cool and all. He comes in later to bus some cups from his table and called me "a beautiful thing". Ooooh, thank you. I'm a creature now. 

THEN. AND THEN. He brought one last thing in, told me I was so beautiful (third time's the charm, I guess...) and then told me that he'd dream of me. (eyaaaaaaaagh). Then he gave me twenty dollars. "This is just for you sweetheart, for you and your smile."

Well, first thought was ew. But hey, money is money.

Heidi and I ordered take out from the new Chinese place in the Lower Haight, Wonderland. It was some pretty decent food.

And now we're watching True Blood. Hoorah

Love,

Henna

Fingerprints?

I have cuts all over my fingers. I don't know how they got there, but they're there. And there's a cut on my wrist. From my watch. Another gash thing in the crook of my arm because I dragged the sharp end of the cheddar bin (20 lbs of cheddar). Good thing I've already been fingerprinted, amiright?

Today was so much nicer than the two-marathon-plus-baseball-game-crowd-line-out-the-door-all-day. Mostly, I think, because it was a Sunday. People are so much nicer on Sundays. Or maybe I'm making that up because I'm so gosh darned tired from yesterday that someone could have been yelling at me and I would have just seen daisies everywhere instead. Or something. A man told me I had an infectious smile. "When you smile, it makes me smile. It is very nice." Then another guy told me I had pretty eyes... but I'm pretty sure he stumbled in from the bar across the street... so.

I spent most of the day on register, which I enjoy because I get to smile and be generally pleasant all day. Then I can go home and feel justified in my cynicism and general hatred for the people around me. Ahhh, it's so nice when that happens. There was a very lovely family that came in to the restaurant. They were visiting from Virginia and had found the restaurant featured on a website all about what to do if you only had one day in San Francisco. Another couple came in and ordered a couple sandwiches. They were totally adorable in their preppy, pastel clothing. Pastel is such a nice change from the orange and black sea that is the Giants Crowd. I translated the couple's name tag slogan from the French correctly and they were very surprised. "YOU SPEAK GERMAN?" Wait. That makes no sense. I totally meant French. But the sentiment is the same. I mean. preserve our hearts is NOT difficult. But I got to look all impressive and stuff.

Dinner was good.

I made sizzling sesame steak.

COOOOOKING.

Raw, Marinating Beef

Finished product!

Love,

Henna

I. Am. Exhausted.

You know those terrible days that are so busy you just want to curl up and hide underneath the register? Yea. That was today. A line starting at 10AM and not ending until we closed. And we were understaffed and hooof.

So I got home, walked the dog and made dinner. But the first picture is my breakfast.

Biscuit with a fried egg inside.

I found a good recipe for corn tonight. Put 1/4 cup of sugar into a pot of water, boil corn in it for 3 minutes. Voila.

Love,

Henna

Candlelit Marshmallows

I didn't update last night because power went out on the entire block. And the park across the street, but I'm still trying to figure out what they needed to power over there.

Don't worry, Mom, I worked on Appendix 8 before the power went all wonky.

I cooked myself a lovely dinner last night, chicken legs and bok choy. Super delicious and very moist and COOKED ALL THE WAY THROUGH. All you have to do is set the oven for 375, rub salt and pepper (and garam masala if you're like me) and stick in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Simple, simple, SIMPLE! Cooking the bok choy was also very easy. Cut a head in half (lengthwise) and place several of these into a microwave safe bowl. Add several tablespoons of water and cover the bowl loosely in saran wrap. Microwave for 4-5 minutes. Voila. EASY DINNER.

Super easy.

What's dinner without dessert? I made BANANA S'MORES. (I do have pictures of all of this, they're just on my phone and such.) Right after I pulled my banana s'mores out of the oven, the power went kaput. Twice. The entire block.

So I finished my marshmallow confection in the dark.

I took this picture before the power went out.

I FINISHED MY VISA APPLICATION THIS MORNING. Yaaaaaay. And then I went to work. I took the 21 Hayes (again, to avoid that bus driver) and got in to work a couple hours early. So I stopped at a Starbucks, ordered a coffee and sat down to get into 1Q84 (refer to earlier post).

That book is getting interesting. It's totally unpredictable in a fabulous way. I can't wait to read it on the bus tomorrow.

Today, I was working the 3-9 closer shift. I walked into work, clocked in and started making sandwiches. Piglets and mousetraps were my game. And as soon as we opened, serving tons of booze to 22 year olds was the new game. Seriously, almost everyone ordered alcohol was no more than 22 tonight. I was getting those driver license that were still vertical. A lot of alcohol. So much was sold. Hooolllyyy crap.

Anyway. I walked to the bus after I got off work because none of the taxis driving by were open. The dogs were very happy to see me, insisting on food and dragging me several blocks around the Panhandle.

Thankfully, it's time to sleep for me.

Love,
Henna

The Bus is Full of Crazies

All of them. And they take the buses I always take.

Work was long yesterday. We had a huge build... etc etc. There was a 40 sandwich order at the beginning of our lunch rush, so everything was backed up 35 minutes. It was somewhat stressful.
So I skedaddled as soon as I could and ran off with Nate, Heady and Handsome Dan to band practice.

Handsome Dan brought his dog, Morrison, so I had some good company. I hadn't eaten, so I left for a bit to find something (anything) to eat. Hello Chili Lemon Garlic Thai Cafe! Thank you for the pineapple fried rice.

Dark picture, but Morrison isn't any less cute.

Today was pretty uneventful... except for the pregnant woman on my bus trading cigarettes. It was. Wow.

I was on the bus headed into my biometrics appointment so they could TAKE MY FINGERPRINTS. But the 21 Hayes (which I took to avoid that bus driver on the 6 Parnassus) broke down on Market St, so everyone on the bus had to get on the second 21 Hayes behind us.

You'll be excited to know that when I got off the bus to walk to my appointment, I never got lost. I even got there 20 minutes early. I thought it would be kind of like the DMV, but they asked for my passport and appointment paper and as I was being given a number, they called my number.

The woman who fingerprinted me was super nice. She asked if I was going abroad to study, what I was studying... (Psychology and Statistics in case you were wondering) We proceeded to have a discussion about child psychology and how siblings interact. She made the whole thing very pleasant. Conversation (mostly) distracted me from noticing that I have scars on every single one of my fingers. I think. Yichh.

But I did some grocery shopping and tried to cobble together dinner. I'll probably buy some sort of meat tomorrow to go with my veggies, fruits and carbs. *sigh* And I even used the exercise bikes and did push ups and stuff. My body is going to haaaaate me tomorrow.

Work tomorrow and hopefully some jogging with the dogs!

Love,
Henna