Flogger Attacks: Everything

i've been lazy, and i apologize for that. so to make up for it, i'm creating this one huge blog, just for you. where to begin...

When:

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market opened it's Thursday summer season on July 2. Food vendors and restauranteurs serve up the best and finest street food you'll ever have, and in just one place. another exception to that is of course, the actual street food in various locations around the city (to be flogged about later). what's on the menu?

namu

439 Balboa Street @ 6th Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94118

(415) 386.8832

Vegetarian Okonomiyaki & Kimchi Rice.

RoliRoti

Various Locations

(510) 780-0300

Bistecca Arrosto with Lingua & Roasted Corn Salad with Will's Avocados

4505 Meats

Various Locations

chicharrones@4505meats.com

White Nectarine Ginger & Vanilla Spritzer

When:

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Atlas Cafe

3049 20th Street

San Francisco, CA 94110

(415) 648-1047

Smoked trout on toasted grain with fig chile chutney, arugula & sesame vinaigrette, accompanied with a side salad

Humphry Slocombe

2790 Harrison Street

San Francisco, CA 94110

(415) 550-6971

21st Amendment Watermelon Wheat Beer and Secret Breakfast

Kitchenette

958 Illinois Street

San Francisco, CA

Maple Bacon Snickerdoodle

*not pictured: 4505 Chicharrones

When:

Tuesday, July 29, 2009

Yank Sing

Rincon Center

101 Spear Street

San Francisco, CA

(415) 957-9300

Gelateria Naia

1245 North Broadway

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

(925) 943-1905

When:

Monday, July 28, 2009

Leland Tea Company

1416 Bush Street

San Francisco, CA 94109

Nick's Crispy Tacos

1500 Broadway

San Francisco, CA 94109

(415) 409-8226

When:

Sunday, July 27, 2009

Bucca de Beppo

Westfield San Francisco Center

Beard Pappa's

Melt

When:

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market

Namu

4505 Meats

When:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Juste le Debut

35F Cresent Drive

Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

(925) 687-4553

Flogger Attacks: Lolliphile's Maple Bacon & White Russian Lollipops

Lollyphile

San Francisco

Maple Bacon

it's the most peculiar flavored lollipop you'll ever taste in your lifetime. bacon and maple are great together, especially whenever you get the hankering for something breakfast-y. but to put the two together in a lollipop? that's unheard of, right? wrong. it works, and it works well together in this sweet little treat. whole pieces of real bacon, yeah that's right, REAL bacon pieces are on top of this lollipop of delight.

the bacon is smokey and salty and pairs really well with the maple syrup. at first lick, i was really hesitant, "could i really put this in my mouth?" and yes, i could and did. i can't say more than that. the lollipop is what it is, Maple Bacon.

White Russian

to all you The Big Lebowski fans out there, this lollipop will make you proud. i personally am not a fan of the cocktail drink myself, a bit too strong tasting, but i'll eat these pops one after the other.

the While Russian lollipop is a creamy coffee confection, very reminiscent to a really good mocha flavored drink without the sting of coffee liqueur. although, because of the flavor profiles this lollipop was supposed to have, i almost wanted the sting just so i can say, "yes, that's a white russian!" i'm glad it doesn't, because now i can consume many of these without getting tipsy, but i almost wish it did...

Flogger Attacks: Lollyphile's Wasabi Ginger

Lollyphile

San Francisco, CA

i've heard about Lollyphile for sometime, and even tried to hunt them down in SF, but came up nil. the only way i was able to get my hands on these pops was to order them online directly at http://www.lollyphile.com/. the only problem is, they sell them by the bulk. i wasn't going to buy bulks of singular flavored lollipops for flavors like: Maple Bacon, bourbon, Absinthe, Ginger Wasabi and White Russian, without tasting them first. so instead i wrote an email suggesting that they have an assortment pack a.s.a.p.

well that didn't happen, at least not right away. so i signed up for their mailing list and started to follow them on Twitter . i got an email two weeks ago, and low and behold, they finally made a variety pack, two actually: Mixed Pack - Classic and a Mixed Pack - Boozy! i ordered one of each.

my package of pops came in fairly quickly, but unfortunately i wasn't able to consume them immediately, due to a cleanse i was finishing at the same time. my first reaction to pulling the pops out of the bag was, "holy mackerel, these things are huge!" and they are. i finally opened one today: Wasabi Ginger. not my first flavor choice, but do to a production mishap on the Bacon Maple pop, i switched to the Wasabi Ginger.

the huge pop itself was definitely a mouthful. the sweet and spicy flavor of the Wasabi Ginger pop balanced nicely together. the more you licked the delicate layers, you start to see little flecks. i'm assuming that this was the horseradish and mustard that the label clearly states on the wrapper. the sweet flavor is reminiscent of a caramelized honey. the spice is very gentle, which seems to disappear the more you eat it, but i think that it's because the spiciness continues to linger in your mouth.

this is definitely a strong flavor for those who aren't used to this combination. i really enjoy it. i also don't think that one person can actually finish off a pop in one sitting, so as gross as this may seem, i put what i couldn't finish back in the wrapper.

so with one flavor down, i still have: Maple Bacon, Absinthe, Bourbon, and White Russian left to try. which do you think i should try next?

Day 7 of Master Cleanse

i think my mental clarity is gone. i feel very spacey, that my attention span has shortened and almost as if i constant state of nothingness. my focus for work and the like, are not what they used to be. with work being what it is now, and deadlines coming up, i don't think i should continue. i've been debating with myself to stop here or soon, i can't continue to be in this state, and it's not to my liking.

it's not that i'm craving for food, but the nourishment my body is not getting from food itself. i don't feel "energized' as it supposedly give you. in fact, i feel very sluggish and not motivated to get up in the mornings. this has been going on the last couple weeks, and i don't like it.

on the positive side, i've lost a total of 8 lbs.

for my own sanity, i'll be making a quick chart of my 10 day schedule to see where i'm at, to continue to tell myself that this is almost over.

7/07 - Day 1

7/08 - Day 2

7/09 - Day 3

7/10 - Day 4

7/11 - Day 5

7/12 - Day 6

7/13 - Day 7 - Finished

7/14 - Day 8- TODAY

7/15 - Day 9

7/16 - Day 10

i don't know how anyone can do this past the ten days. kudos to your will and strength. i love food way to much, and this cleanse has taught me to reevaluate my eating habits. not that i have any bad habits to begin with. i don't eat very many processed foods, sugars, sodas or grease. so why the cleanse? well for as long as i've been on this planet, those above mentioned evils have passed through my body at one point or another, and left some baddies. so a cleanse was the solution to get rid of it and start anew.

i'm considering being more vegetarian, but i've tried that once before, and i love meat way too much. i've tried alternatives, such as tofu and tempeh, but that could only go so far. the taste of a juicy medium rare NY steak... yum! you can't beat it. so here goes the beginnings of day 8. two more days to go...

Day 5 & 6 of Master Cleanse

Day 5

it's the halfway mark, only five more days to go. i'm famished! seriously famished, but i'm still doing okay. today i kept busy, running errands and it helped. visited with friends/family, then after they had pizza. omg, the smell of the pie sitting on my lap was torture, but i held off. i walked into the other room and kept busy while they were eating.

the evening was fun (sarcastically speaking of course). having to go to the club and not have one ounce of alcohol was difficult. i felt like i wasn't able to have much fun, but it was okay. i made it through that also. being around friends helped, although i apologize for not being much of a host. we'll make it up next time, i promise.

Day 6

as much as i like to avoid having to be in a restaurant where they serve food, sometimes it's unavoidable. celebrating birthdays in my family means going out to eat with the immediate members. and, once again, it's up to me to pick out the restaurant. so we went to Tomatina for lunch to celebrate a birthday. not where i wanted to be, but i had no choice.

oh, the food. just looking at made me drool. the hardest part of the whole time was not being able to have my lemonade with me. so no sipping to curb the hunger pangs. all i had was water with lemon squeezed in it.

family can be so cruel. how can you wave your greased up olive oil garlic roll in front of me? that's mean, but all in good fun at my expense. not surprised to hear the ridicule of not eating or "fasting" as they call it, but they backed off so they can eat their lunch. then there was the Tiramisu after, ugh, tiramisu... and froyo. they went to Yogurtland for froyo. one of my favorite places to go, and yet i indulged in ice cold water.

we went home and i quickly made the lemonade, that saved me. i then finished the rest of my Sunday vegging out to cable tv, watching movies and browsing on line. i tortured myself going through my Yelp page and bookmarking restaurants to visit, making a mental note of a celebratory lunch/dinner after the cleanse is over. i also started to drum up some ideas for the Iron Cupcake Challenge, which is near approaching. i was going to start putting together the ingredients and bake, but then reminded myself that i can't even taste my own creations till Friday, so that will have to wait until then.

i drank as much of the lemonade as i could, but because it was so late in the day, i had leftovers for tomorrow, then i fell asleep on the couch.

Day 3 & 4 of Master Cleanse

Day 3

supposedly this is the hardest day to overcome, and believe it or not it was. i was working a demo for Galaxy Granola in Berkeley this day, and being that the product was "new and improved" i was seriously tempted to eat it, or at least taste it so i can speak so honestly about the product. i held back. as much as it was tempting, my goal on finishing the cleanse was more important that granola. i once read in another diet book, "it'll be there tomorrow." which is referring to food itself. food is in abundance, so there's no need for me to indulge on something so little.

same goes with the rest of my day. later that night i watched the Rise Against and Rancid concert. the smell of nachos and hotdogs filled the air, not to mention flowing rivers of beer, and still i held back. the funny thing is, i actually craved the lemonade. that was a reassuring feeling.

i forgot to mention, that after drinking the lemonade the whole entire day, my tongue felt clammy and gross. think of burning your tongue on a hot beverage, because that's what it feels like. by morning, it does go away. i didn't get to flush in the morning as scheduled, so i don't know what the overall effects will be except for not letting the waste out of my system. i think i should be okay.

Day 4

i would have to say, Day 4 was probably the hardest so far. i wouldn't say that my mood has changed, but i would have to say, that i did get highly emotional quickly and by the reactions to family members and friends a bit harsh as well. it may be a lack of food, after all even though calories are entering the body, they are empty and not fully feeding the brain of the nutrients it needs. i'm not starving and i'm not craving for anything.

the difficult part was being with someone that is eating food. the smell of a cheesesteak and a basket of onion rings was unbearable (regardless of the greasy lingering air) i still wanted it, but once again, not enough to break the cleanse. i am thankful for friends who have been on this journey because without there support, i don't think i can keep going. i know that, if i breakdown to these temptation, i'm only disappointing myself, and i really don't like that feeling.

it's also heartbreaking to be around people who don't understand or support you during this time. unfortunately, i'm just going to have stay strong emotionally and hold my bearings on this, and not let anyone get me down. being only day four, i'm considering extending the ten days and try to see how far i can take it. forty-five days is max, and i don't think i'll take it that far, but as long as i can

Day 2 of Master Cleanse

day 1 went off with a hitch! i'm so proud of myself for getting through it. and i have to say, Day 2 went by smoothly as well.

i prepared the lemonade last night, this time with a few changes. the first time i squeeze the lemonade i left the pulp in, with this second batch i strained it all the way. didn't want the pulp to get stuck in my straw. lol! for the second saltwater flush, i chilled the water, hoping that it would taste much better, and it was, but i almost gave myself brain freeze. plus my body was freezing for about 15 to 20 minutes.

today, i kept busy at work and wasn't hungry at all. thought about food, but not enough to go grab any.

i braved going to the gym today. i was still weary about going, because i haven't had solid food for two days. i didn't make it yesterday because i was distracted and still very hesitant. but, i needed to work out because my body was starting to feel soft and i missed the natural endorphins i get from working out. so since i missed spin class this morning (because of work), i decided to take the evening spin class. it kicked my ass, as usual, but i felt fantastic after. i also braved going into the sauna, knowing that if i do go, i'll be losing water, but it felt good to steam. i probably should've brought a bottle of water with me for the water loss, because after i felt kinda faint. so i rushed home and sipped more lemonade.

all in all, i feel really good. i've lost 1.1 lbs, and some how gained .1 % of body fat. i think it's just water. they say day three is the hardest, so we shall see how that goes. i'm going to be pretty busy all day, so hopefully that'll keep my mind off food. it doesn't help to be working a promotion at Whole Foods in Berkeley for a few hours, but i'll keep some lemonade in a cooler right next to me when i work.