I don't care about telling you about my days anymore, because what's really important is how much yummy food there is in Santa Cruz. Holy crap! It is really cool living somewhere with only a handful of corporate-owned stores and everything else is just unique, individual stores; it gives the town so much more personality! First there was the Picnic Basket, Then there was burger. (the lowercase and period were intentional - so trendy!) and The Buttery Cafe. burger. has a ton of different crazy burgers that are all named after famous people. For example, the Snooki is a burger in a grilled cheese with chili. They also have a really large and interesting beer and wine selection, I may have to go there for my 21st.
The Picnic basket is this little restaurant on the shore front. It's a sandwich/salad place that makes stuff in house and gets a lot of their ingredients locally (very Santa Cruz) and I'm pretty sure it is almost completely run by college students. I've gotten peach and goat cheese salad, roasted eggplant and goat cheese sandwich, yogurt with fresh peaches..... seeing a theme? Peaches and goat cheese; my perfect restaurant XD They also make BOMB fritattas.
The Buttery Cafe has an amazing name. It's also a sandwich/salad place, but obviously with a more homey feel. I'm pretty sure this is the only place in SC that isn't completely laid back because it is always so freaking busy! No matter where you are standing, you are in someone's way, but it's totally worth it. They have a butter latte, which is just a latte made with a sweet buttery sauce that is delicious! And they make their hot cocoa by putting a giant scoop of ganache in a mug and mixing it with hot milk; comfort food level 10. They got some other cool things I've never seen before, like stuffed avocados :3
There is also the Penny Ice Creamery, which is a little shop that makes their ice cream in house with local ingredients (like many shops in Santa Cruz seem to, which is really awesome). Their flavors are seasonal and really unique and delicious, like roasted barley and chocolate/anise/orange. I don't even know how to describe roasted barley, it's just amazing. They also have a really bomb float that's strawberry soda (also made in house) and basil ice cream mmmmmmm.......
Even the food on campus is pretty great, it is definitely wayy better than I thought it would be. I've been here for 9 days now and the menu has yet to repeat itself. Every meal has 2 or 3 different hot options, there are always 2 soups, a bagel/bread station with tons of cream cheese and jam flavors, coffee machines, different desserts, and an organic/local salad bar. So I am happy with my food situation on campus. Well, mostly. Of course my dining hall closes at 7 and is closed on weekends so I gotta hike a bit to the next closest dining halls at night and on weekends. ALSO, up the hill from me is this cafe that has realllly good smoothies and Korean beef tacos.
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