“Smoking…a life-style choice that probably saved all of our lives…”
Anthony Bourdain in Sweden. This is what he told his producer and camera crew during a camping trip in a frigid Swedish tundra. He’s talking about being the only man with lighter to start a fire at their camp site. Yesterday, I watched his latest episode of “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel. I am so hooked on the food and the locales that he races through on this show.
OK - well, I’ll do my best to post pix from my Bay Area trip….and I’m missing Mark - as usual. We do that sick-sweet thing on the phone:
Him: “Wish you were here.”
Me: “Why don’t you fly here?”
Him: “Why don’t you fly here?”
And then I groan ’cause I would if I could but I can’t so I don’t. He flies back to Kansas City next Saturday. Thank heavens for my smelly dog. She reminds me of my dog mom duties and it’s nice to have someone to come home to.
Back to the trip…let’s start on Van Ness…
And this is what San Francisco can do with it’s City Hall…that’s right - this is only a City Hall….other states use this grand style for their state capitols buildings. It took us about 7 minutes to walk to City Hall from the Hotel Monarch. We got a sweet deal on the room from hotels.com. It’s in a great central location to the theaters, food and the sites.
OK…this is the first of many food pictures. I’ve lived in the Bay Area for seven years and I have too many pictures of the sites. In addition to hanging with my good friends, another major goal for my trip was to soak up all the good food. Our first stop was Fina Estampa at the corner of Geary and Van Ness. It’s across the street from Tommy’s Joint…if that helps. When we settled into our hotel, I needed a nap. I got some shut-eye on the plane, but thanks to my grave yard shift, my body felt like it was in the middle of my bed time. Susan called to see if we wanted to go out for drinks that night. I did - but it sounded like I was still sleeping on the phone. Work also called to see if I was coming in. That made me giggle and I assured them that I was on vacation and my sub was probably driving in to Topeka.
I felt normal after dinner at this fab Peruvian restuarant. We caught them a few minutes before closing and they were happy to seat us.
Yummy carbs - we had these tasty garnishes with our bread….my favorite was the green-garlic stuff - savory, buttery with a nice garlic bite.
And here’s shellfish that I can trust! Yeah! I’ve had oysters and mussels in the Midwest…but my dad’s paranoia about fish freshness must have seeped into my own palate. Grrr. No worries - Kansas oysters were fine…but California seafood is totally in class of it’s own. This is Choros a la Criolla: the mussels were marinated in lemon juice and served chilly with onion, tomatoes and cilantro. It’s a small dish but very satsifying - everything just popped in a good way in my mouth - especially with the cilantro bringing out that fresh mussel flavor.
A 2:00 AM snack at Naan’n'Curry on Eddy.
After our Peruvian feast we met up with Susan and Tom at the Gold Dust on Powell. Powell has a Baby Gap and an H&M Store! That’s new for me…it’s also nice to see the bums, the cable car turnaround and Blondies - all at their usual locations. I brought along pictures of Daisy for everyone to coo at. Such a cute puppy. But she’s smelly right now. Real smelly. I’m having her get a bath at day care today. Thank God for Dog Day Afternoon.
Now, I’m more familiar with the Naan’n'Curry in Berkeley. It was one of our favorite lunch spots when I worked at Haas. After we did drinks at the Gold Dust - we headed to New Dehli for some peace and quiet. The Gold Dust is fun for live piano music and friendly waitreses - oh and cheap irish coffee. New Dehli had swanky vibe. Mark lost a couple of chess games to Tom. He didn’t castle when I told him to…such is life. Susan and I tried out the fruit-infused vodka. She did lychee vodka with 7-up and I did strawberry-flavored vodka. Very nice and naturally, I couldn’t taste the booze with the 7-up. A good drink.
2:00 AM felt like I was in the middle of my work day. So I wanted lunch. A cab driver told us Naan’n'Curry was just around the corner - so we sent Susan and Tom home….and then we indulged my chicken tikki masala craving. Oh yeah! Complex, hearty, almost cheesy but so much more…I love that tikki sauce. We also did veggie samosas.
I love how we can travel around the culinary world in one night in San Francisco.
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