San Francisco Staycation!

Who: VegNews Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria

What: An evening's vacation in my hometown

Where: San Francisco, Calif.

When: Thursday, May 5, 2011

Why: Why not take an hours-long vacation at home?

The Scoop: So, some people would call going out for the evening just a regular old outing, not so much a "vacation." Well, I say vacay is all in how you think about it. On a recent Thursday night, I took a little time off (that just happened to fall between the close of business and bedtime), and toured San Francsico. Along with my adventuresome roommates, I headed for the Sutro Baths, which, insanely, I'd never really visited despite having lived in the Bay Area nearly my entire life. Really, you might as well play tourist when your city happens to house a number of places that are frequented by actual tourists. 

The Sutro Baths ruins and flowers

 

We got to the Baths shortly before sunset, and the view was completely stunning. The ruins of the Baths are totally enchanting, as they are partially overtaken by the tide rushing in, and partially covered in a sandy beach. There are caves, swampy lagoons, jutting rocks, and basically everything you need to feel like you've happened upon the end of the world. (Just don't turn away from the ocean and face the parking lot—that kind of ruins the magical whimsy.) 

A duck and her ducklings in the lagoon right after sunset

 

Our need for scenery sated, we turned to another necessary element of any good vacation: food! One of my favorite far-away vacation destinations is New Mexico, where my dad grew up. Our family used to drive out there every few years, and I could never get enough of the sun, the history, or the food. I'm 99-percent certain that as soon as I hit retirement age, I'm headed straight for a tiny house in the middle of nowhere (potentially Truth or Consequences, but we'll see if I'm feeling heady at age 70) to bake away the rest of my days in the sun, wearing my own shriveled weight in turquoise jewelry. Suffice it to say, The Land of Enchantment has a permanent spell cast on this gal. So, after our non-desert beach foray, I was eager to try Green Chile Kitchen, a newish New Mexican restaurant here in town.

Green Chile Kitchen, photo via SF Weekly

 

Any menu that includes sopapillas (little fried bread triangles ubiquitous in NM) is OK by me. While the restaurant is far from completely vegan, the sopapillas are, as well as the fantastic veggie chile stew. Packed with green chiles (which are the secret to a long, happy life, in case you didn't know), I could easily eat this stellar stew every single day. 


With full bellies and a new collection of travel photos, we went home, just in time to go to sleep and be ready for work the next day.

Sugar Plum Vegan Bakery

Who: VN Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria, VegWebmistress Laura Hooper Beck, and three honorary VN staffers
What: Northern California's first all-vegan bakery!
Where: Sugar Plum Vegan Bakery, Sacramento, Calif.
When: April 18, 2010
Why: The reason why we do most things: awesome vegan food

The Scoop: Maybe you've never considered the California state capital to be a "destination" city. Perhaps you've heard that it's not as glamorous as Napa, not as hip as San Francisco, and not as savvy as San Jose. Maybe you are wrong, dead wrong. On a recent staycation Sunday, a few brave adventurers—namely Laura, Peter, Khane, Cal, and yours truly—made our way up highway 80 to Sactown.

The case o' greatness at Sugar Plum Vegan Bakery

First of all, it was a gorgeous day, which always helps when falling in love with a new city. Second, we went straight for the good stuff—aka Sugar Plum. Having already thoroughly oggled the online menu, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive just as a batch of SPV's oversized cinnamon buns came out of the oven. Yes. We ordered two immediately.

Hello, cinnamon bun. Do you see that frosting?!

When the general excitement of the cinnamon smell abated long enough for us to be able to read again, we picked a tofu breakfast burrito, tempeh Reuben, and chef's salad. Um, let's talk for a second about Reubens, and why we should all eat one every day. It's because they are delicious, insanely so. SPV's version featured lightly toasted rye, crisp pickles, punchy sauerkraut, and perfectly flavored tempeh, all enveloped in vegan cheese and thousand island dressing. Heaven? Yes. Everything we ordered came out of the kitchen in record time, and was incredibly delicious. While we sat in the sun-drenched front patio and gorged, a steady line of eager diners marched into Sugar Plum, which we took as a good sign for the very recently opened eatery.

Tempeh Reuben. We could have eaten a dozen of these.

We easily could have eaten twice as much as we did, but only if we'd also thought to bring our extra stomachs with us. Instead, we took a leisurely (read: stuffed) stroll around the tree-lined neighborhood, sprawled for a while in a grassy park, stumbled upon Gluten Free Specialty Market—a totally gluten-free store, which carried a bunch of vegan goodies like the new retail packages of Daiya—and then headed back to SPV to pick up some sweet treats for the ride home. Among them were a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing, an oatmeal-cookie sandwich, a burger (OK, that one's not-so sweet), and a cheddar biscuit. Amazing. Every last one. We are thrilled to announce that as soon as we convince the rest of the team, VegNews is officially moving to Sacramento. We're pretty sure the only convincing they'll need will be a taste of SVP's fantastic food.