San Francisco: Day 1

This past weekend, I finally made it over to the West Coast to visit my friend Prajit from university, who currently lives in Berkeley.  Always busy, he also was hankering to take time off to see as much as he could of the bay area, and so we spent every day I was there out experiencing as much as we could.

The first evening I was there, he took me to a cafe I've been dying to visit ever since I went to a screening of the film May I Be Frank.  Cafe Gratitude, located in Berkeley, serves up nutrient-packed fare, and even features a raw foods section of the menu.

The inside of the cafe had a warm and cozy feel to it.

The menu had so many interesting things on it, so we ordered a line-up to try as much as we could!

First - drinks!  From left to right: living algae (I AM ENLIVENED), wheatgrass (I AM RENEWED), maca milk and date shake (I AM DELICIOUS), mint and raw cocoa shake (I AM COOL).

Then food, which came out very quickly.  Prajit had the organic ratatouille-ladled polenta (I AM WARM-HEARTED). 

Wanting to try one of their raw specialties, I went for the raw deep dish pizza (I AM HEARTY).

I had no idea what to expect from raw pizza - it was fantastic. 

Packed with nutrition, I thought the food here was both healthy and tasted amazing.  I was so impressed I even bought a cookbook.

The next morning, we stopped at a famed breakfast local to feast.

Prajit ordered a steak and cheese crepe, and I went for a California crepe, stuffed with avocados, cheese, and loads of veggies.

Then we grabbed some Blue Bottle coffee at Guerilla, a hole-in-the-wall cafe with plenty of character, before hitting the road.  

The drive to the coast was full of interesting landscape, mostly smooth brown hills dotted with gnarly, wind-swept trees.

After about two hours, we made it to our destination - the resort town of Monterey, located south of the bay area on the Pacific Coast.  Armed with a tourist map, we decided to check out as many beaches as we could.

There was the State Beach...

...and the rockier (and more scenic) Pacific Grove Beach...

...and finally, we drove further south along the coast toward Carmel, checking out a handful of beaches along the way.

We even saw seals basking on the rocks!

We finally found a beach we liked and spread out our towels on the white sand, relaxing for a few hours in the sun.  The water felt great to wade in, but was too cold for much swimming.

After a day of exploring, we were starving, and so went to Cannery Row in Monterey to try some local seafood.

We chose the restaurant Fishhoppers, which advertised fresh seafood and great ocean views.

We started off with some fresh calamari.  You could actually see ships trawling for the next day's catch out on the water while you ate.

For the main course, I tried the crab-encrusted sea bass carefully plated atop garlic mashed potatoes, while Prajit went for the swordfish.  Both were delicious and quite filling.  While a bit pricey, the restaurant did live up to its description.

In addition to the lovely ocean views out on the patio, where we sat listening to the sound of the ocean while we ate, the restaurant had one other special touch I enjoyed - the inside portion was lit with jellyfish glass light fixtures.