TrueBurger is a must.

Cheesy TrueBurger & fries & toasted marshmallow milkshake

If you live in the Oakland area you probably know about TrueBurger, there's just no way you can't. It's just so so so good. All the ingredients are really fresh and there's nothing flashy about it, but a lot of care to detail which makes the perfect burger. The one word I would use to describe it is: buttery. As a whole it had a very rich, buttery flavor which I highly enjoyed. I really thought the bun of the burger was really good, most of the time I hardly notice the bun, it's just used to get the inside ingredients into my mouth, but this one had a really flavor and a light texture with a little bit of chewyness (in a good way). We also got regular and garlic fries, which were both great. Super thin and crispy. And the milkshake. They have a huge list of other flavors you can add to your milkshake, so we got two vanilla milkshakes with different mix-ins. Twinkie and toasted marshmallow both absolutely delicious. It's a very subtle flavor in you milkshake but you can definitely taste both of them and both really really good. The toasted marshmallow was my favorite and I highly recommend it, I could drink it everyday. They started to get crowded just as they opened up, but they got your order out fast, so it wasn't a big deal at all. They have two locations in Oakland, on Grand and one on Broadway and sadly closed on Mondays :( TrueBurger is definitely one of the best burgers I've ever had. 

Japanese Candy and Soda

Went to a local Japanese grocery store and we picked out the sodas with the cutest bottles, and candy with the coolest packaging. The peach soda was actually pretty good, but we can't figure out what the lucky cat soda is supposed to be. It's a little sour, seems like something I know, but I can't put my finger on it. The Super Soda has a very very very sour powder coating, but after that it was sweet and then a powder filling that was a little fizzy. It's very hard to describe, but its definitely an experience. The other bag was other flavors of soda, coke, grape, melon, lemon and ramune. This one was sweet and also had that fizzy quality. It was a lot of fun picking out drinks and candy that we had no idea what would taste like and even more exciting trying them. 

twisted fishtail braid from Barefoot Blonde & a mint mojito

tried a tutorial from Amber at Barefoot Blonde

Love her hair tutorials, wish I had as beautiful and long hair as her. But I can never get my hair to stay very long in loose braids, it just slips right out. I love this hair style because there is so much texture and I think even as it slips out it still looks beautiful. All those braids were quite a work out for my arms though!

I miss this coffee so much when I'm in NY. Philz Coffee is a chain in California that serves a wide variety of blends of coffee, haven't tried a single one I didn't like. The Mint Mojito might be their most photographed and famous cup. It's sweet and creamy, and they stuff the cup full of fresh mint. It is a light coffee that is very refreshing. Also tried the Anesthesia to the Upside with cream and sugar today, I really enjoyed it. Had a very full coffee flavor without being overwhelming with just a little bit of sweetness. Would definitely recommend both of these cups. 

cooking pork belly buns / momofuku

our finished bun & the cookbook

We bought frozen plain buns so we only had to take on one challenge at a time and then we have the pork belly after cooking it for two hours, some greens and lightly pickled cucumber I think next time we'll try making our own buns and cutting the cucumber a little thicker so they hold their crunch for longer. The only seasoning we used in the whole dish was salt and sugar and hoisin sauce and it turned out really good!

plating our pork belly buns

Obon Festival in Japantown

San Jose Taiko drumming at Obon Festival in Japantown

painted utility box in Japantown

Computer History Museum & Google's self driving car

Google's self driving car at Computer History Museum

At the Computer History Museum in Mountain View they had one of Google's self driving cars on display. You could sit in it and they told you a little about what the car could do and how it worked.

I mostly enjoyed looking at the old posters and advertisements, a lot of the graphic design I really liked, you could really see how they used the grid. I wish I could have gotten better pictures of the posters, but the lim was so dim and the spotlights added a lot of glare. These are just two photos to give you an idea of what I was looking at.

 

recent purchases

Two of Urban Outfitters most popular bralettes.

lace halter & strappy bralette

I love bralettes for layering because they add just a tiny little peak of texture or color and they're super comfortable. :) 

beach day // VS & Gayle's Bakery

Bought lunch at Gayle's Bakery and then brought it to Seacliff State Beach for a picnic. Every time we go to this beach we stop at Gayle's to pick up food for our lunch. Huge selection of food, we got sandwiches, pasta, pastries, bread and shrimp that were all delicious.

Swimsuit from Victoria Secret, summer 2014 collection

virgils & fentimans & wild poppy

Virgil's is my boyfriend's favorite root beer, and we finally found it at Whole Foods. There were quite a few brands and drinks that we've never heard of before so we also picked up Fentimans Cherry Tree Cola that had a very cute dog logo. 

Virgil's root beer tastes like black licorice &

Fentimans cherry tree cola tastes like sour cherry 

I also had to try this wild poppy because the bottle is too cute.

I love the little poppy.

I actually really like this one! It really does taste like peach and the light vanilla makes it very sweet.

cat grass update // approved

Jaws mowed the grass down, so I think he likes it

planting cat grass in my previous post here

Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant

meat combination & ye doro tibs

I love Ethiopian food and this is probably my favorite place. The flavors are so bold and buttery with a little bit of spice. The cheese and the salad add a nice refreshing touch, especially good on very hot days. This restaurant has won tons of awards, and I highly recommend it!