Travel Refreshes Your Perspective

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As I sit here, staring out at the setting sun across the San Fransisco skyline, my inspiration is renewed. There's something about being entrenched in the hustle of a place like San Fransisco. And while I've only been here for about eight hours, and seen little more than the view from my hotel window, the local ABC station and a very fancy French restaurant, I like it here. I wish I could have taken a picture of my meal tonight, as it was perfect in every way that you could hope for, however, I wasn't in a setting which Instagramming your food seemed appropriate.

Maybe it's the fact I've been awake now since 3AM, and according to my internal clock, we're quickly approaching midnight and I'm delusional. Maybe it's the Mumford and Son's I'm currently humming along to, but there's nothing I would quite change about this scenario. The shower had a fancy head, huge fluffy white towels greeted me upon my exit, and I have my choice between two equally soft white beds. But this is feeling like a dream.

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Throwback Thursday: That Time Cazey and Sara Went on a Valentine's Day Date

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February 14: Single's Awareness Day, also known as Valentine's Day for those in a relationship. Most of those people who are single feel themselves falling into the 'Single's Awareness Day,' but not me. No -- I encouraged/forced my blog's baby daddy to take me on a date. A real, legit date.

Why? Because I deserve it, and we both deserve a day dedicated to our best friendship.

I encouraged Cazey to take the stereotypical male role and asked him to make us a reservation in advance (forethought proves he cares), pick me up at my doorstep with flowers in hand and pay for my meal. He complied with almost half, which sounds about average for what I may expect from a normal male date, so I'll take it.

Cazey attempted to make reservations at the location we selected together (after Cazey took the lead and made some suggestions), but they didn't take reservations, so we planned to leave early so we could get right in. A plan, several weeks in advance - quite a commitment.

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Brunch Review: Godfreys Drag Brunch

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This is going to be a tough brunch review to write, because when you go to Godfreys' for brunch, you almost forget that you're there for a meal. Sure, they serve food (and sometimes serve it directly to you, as you can see on the right), and you 100% have to buy food, but it was just food. So instead of writing a review where I document exactly what I ate and show how delicious it was through close-up Instagram-worthy images of my meal, this review is going to be a little bit different. Here's what you need to know about Drag Queen brunch at Godfreys.

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Brunch Review: Helen's

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I've been to Helen's three times in my life: New Year's Eve 2014, New Year's Eve 2015 and the weekend after New Year's Eve. The two New Year's Eves were totally alright, but the brunch was really alright. Pretty awesome, in fact. But it didn't start out that way.

We rolled with a total of 7 of us, which I get is a number. I walked in first to see if they could accommodate, and the lady replies with, "We don't usual take that big of a party," to which I replied, "You can totally split us up and that's fine." And not in a way that indicated it wouldn't actually be fine, because it would have been 100% fine. They also were not crowded.

She goes to check with the chef to see if they are allowed to seat 7 whole people at one table. I turn around and give my crew the half-shrug indicating we may or may not make the cut.

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Brunch Review: Duck Donuts

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Apparently Duck Donuts are a big deal in another state, so they built it into a chain. One of these new shops is right here in Willow Lawn of Richmond, Virginia. Naturally, we had to go while I was still eating unhealthy things a few weeks ago.

When you walk into the store, the sweet, sweet scent of donut hits you automatically. It's like a giant, aromatic hug of donut. And they have free samples. However, the menu is confusing, with you being able to make your own donut, but then there's also specials. The specials are labeled like, "Monday's Special: Reeses Cup," so you'd think you can only get it on Monday, but you can actually get it any day you'd like.

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Brunch Review: Banditos

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Brunch at Banditos = Better than Expected

Real talk: When I first think of Banditos, I think of a smoking bar with ridiculously cheap drinks and dollar tacos during happy hours. And a lot of company I would not usually keep.

But brunch at Banditos is super legit! They have a bunch of TV's for the sports lovers. Banditos has a big enough space to bring a crowd of friends. They have cheap drinks. And it's one of the only places I know of that serve chips and salsa as a brunch appetizer.

On the downside, if you do happen to take a large crowd, it does really cramp service time. However, if you're rolling that deep, that's probably an expected outcome anywhere. And the chips did help to fill the void.

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UPDATED Brunch Review: Social 52

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You may remember from my brunch reviews of On the Rox and Pearl that I seem to really enjoy hearty meat meals for brunch (which is definitely accurate). So it’s no shocker that I ordered the hearty brisket bowl when I went to Social 52. It fell way short of my expectations.

I had a really hard time deciding what I was going to order at Social 52, and usually that’s because there are several dishes that I’d really like to try. This was just the opposite, as there was nothing on the menu that I really was dying to eat. It’s a pretty limited menu, with no obvious shining stars.

So I went with their brisket bowl because my roommate once got the brisket sandwich for dinner at Social, and it was hot and spicy. Almost too hot and spicy, which is a problem I usually enjoy. The brunch bowl is a total letdown, especially in comparison to the sandwich brethren I was mentally comparing it to. It was a big, unflavorful bowl of baby vomit grits and meat. I should also throw them a bone and share that I don’t usually love grits, so me not liking the grits that much isn’t surprising. The lackluster meat though, is really surprising. It hardly tasted like anything at all. Also, just a non-cherry on top, the menu online says you get a biscuit with this meal, and I certainly did not get a biscuit with this meal. I did not bring it up at the time, because there was no need for more subpar food at the table. I’m not blaming anyone in the case of the missing biscuit, our waitress was a waitress and did her job as you’d hope she would. It just didn’t exist on my plate ever.

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