Vanilla Bear

On February 11th, my comm had a wonderful luncheon to celebrate Valentine's Day at a small restaurant in Berkeley.

My boyfriend was on drill that weekend, so he couldn't attend any of the holiday festivities and meets, but a good friend of mine and I decided to go together and be each other's dates. We had a blast matching our coordinates and exchanging valentines. I drew her inside a cute card, and she baked me a tiny cake!


The food was really good! The menu was pris fix, but we had the usual option of pasta, fish, or chicken. I initially chose chicken, but when I saw what went with it, the hostess was kind enough to call and ask if they could switch my option. I ended up with gnocchi with a cream sauce, wild mushrooms, and some kind of fancy cheese.

It was pretty funny when my table got our food, we had at least one of every option. The chicken by far had the biggest portion, and it was hilariously sad how tiny the salmon was. My date was still hungry after, so we all gave her some of our food.

The menu had so much fennel! Our soup starter was a creamy fennel soup, which was simple but delicious. The salad was garden greens with fancy cheese and shaved fennel. I had never seen it shaved before, it looks like jicama or cheese.




For dessert we had vanilla ice cream with a big snickerdoodle cookie - which I promptly crumbled and mixed into my ice cream!

One generous couple bought each table a bottle of prosecco for a toast. It was an amazing treat, and made the evening all the more special. To friendship and loved ones!


I definitely prefer meets where we can take our time over a few courses at small tables. Meals are such great ideas for meetups because if conversation lags, you can eat a little and the silence doesn't get awkward. I love being able to see people I haven't seen in a while, but sitting at smaller tables of 4-6 are much more intimate than one or two long tables. You can really get to know new people or bond with friends.

I am thankful for the friends I have made in this comm, I feel so lucky to have a loving and supportive network here. I don't want to live anywhere else!

I hope you had an amazing Valentine's Day, whether it was with significant others, your family, or just your own lovely self.

What did you do this year?


Coordinate rundown:

• Onepiece is from Infanta
• Bolero is from Innocent World
• Tights are Rose Museum from Angelic Pretty
• Shoes are from Season
• Headpiece is from Ciciworks/Cutie Creator
• Accessories are from various Taobao and offbrand sources

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