Gastro Monkey // 美食家

Noodle in a Haystack is a ramen pop-up that I have been following for about a year now. Through following them, I learned that they had been working on their yuzu shio ramen for a few years now, and that they started making their own ramen because the local selection wasn't great , especially after having gotten used to the ramen in Japan (I was pretty excited to know that I wasn't alone in this assessment, or that others have suffered from culture shock moving back to the States!). Before I went to Japan and had real  ramen, I wasn't that picky. After having Ichiran and a few other random places, I just wasn't able to eat ramen anywhere. Santouka became the only place that I would go to, but their ramen is only tonkotsu. I personally prefer miso ramen, so the tonkotsu is too heavy for me to enjoy frequently. At first, I wasn't sure about going to Noodle in a Haystack because it looked like it was $50 for ramen. Let me explain why it's more than just ramen,...

If you haven't noticed, I take my friends' visits pretty seriously. I really hope that they eat good food, see a ton of things, and have a great time. Of course, depending on time constraints, one can only get so much done, right? Here are a few sights I took my friend to. Where would you take your out of town guests if they wanted to see some sights in Northern California?  She arrived in the afternoon, and it was then that I realized I should have just asked that she fly to SFO since the plan was to start out in the Bay. After picking her up from Sacramento's tiny little high tech airport, we drove out to San Francisco, dropped off our things at the hotel near Golden Gate, and went out to the Sutro Baths. I was hoping she would get to see one of the fantastic sunsets, but we were out of luck. While it was 100 degrees in Sacramento, it was about 55 degrees at the Sutro Baths, and it was also a bit foggy. Honestly though, it was still pretty and relaxing. A...