A Brief Recommendary Interlude.

A Brief Recommendary Interlude.

Things that I have recently enjoyed, because I'm a consumerous consumer with lots of consuming:

One - Vitasoy original soymilk.

Henceforth, named soy juice because that's what it really is. A few weeks ago, we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in San Diego, Rancho's Cucina for breakfast with Sarah, Scott, Grace, and Natalie. The breakfast was far below their usual standard, but that's beside the point. Sarah and I got coffee, and I asked for a little jug of soymilk for mine. I took a sip of it before adding it to the coffee, and damn it, it was the best tasting soymilk, ever. We even gave it to sweet probably-lactose-intolerant Grace to drink, and she slurped it up with nary a complaint. The waiter showed us the container, and LO AND BEHOLD, it wasn't even vanilla flavored. The container looks slightly retro and cheesy, and I thusly adore it.

This morning, I poured a little of the vanilla-flavored variety Vitasoy into my coffee, and it kind of sucks. (This is proof for you that I haven't been bought out by Vitasoy.) So, stick with the plain original un-vanilla'd and NEVER MAKE FUN OF SOYMILK AGAIN, bitches.

Two - The new BRMC album, "Howl."

We've seen the delightfully named Black Rebel Motorcycle Club before, but I am so much more excited about seeing them tomorrow night due to the recent release of Howl. The album, it is golden. They mellowed out slightly since their prior albums - but not wussy mellow, or third album mellow, or even radio sellout mellow. I think of bluegrass and Bob Dylan when I listen to Howl. Did you know that BRMC is Noel Gallagher's favorite band? That's hot. Anyway, don't steal this album. And come to their show tomorrow night.

Three - Veg'n Out Restaurant in San Diego's North Park neighborhood

This vegetarian restaurant does not suck! It is mere blocks from our new house, and I am counting the days until we move and I can coast on my rusty uptown-style bike to this delightful little eatery and eat their North Parker or South Parker burgers more often. It's very casual, and the staff will talk to you from the kitchen while they're making your food. The best parts of the menu are the burgers, although Erik likes the (non-vegan) fake chicken nuggets, too. The prices can add up when you start getting extras (like vegan cheese or avocado), but it's worth it. They give you some veggies and dip with your burger, and I recommend asking for the vegan dip. It's brown and tasty. The non-vegan dip is just boring ranch or something, aka white and non-tasty. They also have a really impressive childrens' menu.

Four - Pannikin Coffee in San Diego County's Two Mile Strip of a (strangely) Incorporated City of Del Mar, specifically their soy vanilla latte

Good god, this may well be the best, frothiest, sweetest, coffeeingest soy vanilla latte I've ever had. I always make a point to get one on the way out of town (northward on I-5, which is pretty much the only way we ever go out of town anyway), even if I'm running late. Like Saturday for example, when I was an hour late to a bridal shower, but damn it, I didn't fall asleep at the wheel and spent the two hour drive engulfed in perfect vanilla latte bliss.

Pannikin is a local company, so anyone outside of San Diego is just going to have to wait until they visit me. The sweet coastal pale yellow victorian stick house-ish incarnation of Pannikin in Encinitas is by far the cutest setting, but their lattes hardly measure up to the Flower Hill Pannikin in Del Mar. Especially when the skinny girl with the jutting shoulder bones and fantastic jewelry froths my soymilk. That sounds naughty. But there's a big difference between a latte crush and a girl crush.

Tangential fact: at least 50% of all parking citations received by Julia have been from the Incorporated City of Del Mar.

Further tangential fact: I have one that I got in July but forgot about.

The end. Note that I didn't start calling soymilk "soy juice" after all.