lunchtime spectacular

People at work have been talking up the Porchetta Sandwich (porchetta is Italian for fancy sounding pork) at the RoliRoti food truck. This popular joint always has a lengthy (and discouraging line) and only rolls around to the Ferry Plaza on Thursdays. Lucky for us, Driver was bent on eating this sandwich for lunch and offered to pick up the same for anyone who wanted to try it.

Behold, the crispy porchetta! Slathered with some sort of fruity compote (apricot?) and fresh greens, sandwiched between the perfectly weighty bread (you know, not too thin and not too heavy,) this sandwich is well worth $8.50!

happy lunches make happy workers

This porchetta sandwich was so good and filling I only finished half. Saved the other half for dinner and my stomach is pleasantly full as I write.

The nice thing about Driver picking up lunch was that this freed up time for Bunny and I to hop over to Truckstop SF. This little alley houses three trucks from a rotating schedule and today happened to be the day when Kara's Cupcakes came over. Kara's Cupcakes are by far the very best sweet baked goods I've ever had or made. I would buy more of these if they were located closer to my home or work... it's not easy getting to their Scott Street or Ghiradelli Square locations on my lunch break. But maybe that's a good thing because most likely, I'd be substantially heavier if I had easy access to Kara's.

Besides proximity, I also love the cupcake truck because they're a little cheaper. In my experience if you don't buy at least six, cupcakes go for $3.25-$3.50. But at the truck single cupcakes sell for $3. Huzzah!

Love the DIY-ness.
I once fixed a shoe with duct tape and it kept for 6 months more!

party truck!
This is pretty much the only reason I went to the alley today.

L to R: s'mores, Meyer lemon, blackberry cream, and my all-time favorite chocolate velvet

Kara's Cupcakes are always super moist and topped with richest and smoothest buttercream ever. Let me break these down for you...

• Sweet S'mores are chocolate topped with a marshmallow topping, toasted of course. The bottom of the cupcake is a delightfully crunchy and granular graham cracker crust. I love the mix of textures on this cupcake... I think that if these were easy to transport, I would go camping more often.
• Meyer Lemon is a filled cupcake! Sweet vanilla cake is injected with a little lemony filling (not quite a custard, not quite a jelly) and topped with smooth lemon buttercream. Warning: this lemon is not sour!
• Blackberry cream is the seasonal flavor of the moment (past favorites include almond crunch and strawberry... yummy!) This is a luscious chocolate cake filled with blackberries and topped with the most divine incarnation of the berry ever - blackberry buttercream. See the flecks in the frosting? Those are REAL blackberries!
• Chocolate velvet is simple but sometimes simple can be elegant, effortless, and perfect. Not-too-sweet chocolate buttercream on the moist chocolate cake you expect from Kara's, decked with little flat chocolate sprinkles... these are not the crunchy sprinkles that have no taste, these are almost like chocolate shavings and they just melt into the buttercream.

Even though I have been treating my friends, family, and myself to Kara's for quite a few years, picking up a box never fails to make me as ridiculously giddy as a seven year-old going to Chuck E. Cheese's.