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gurdymonkey....because I could probably use one.
Josh and Ellen drove up from Monterey and met me at my place on Wednesday after work. They've spent the past year in Bangkok and came back to visit family for the holidays before going back to Thailand. As it happened, they were in Japan when the fewmets hit the windmill and civil unrest closed the airports in Bangkok, so they simply traded their plane tickets and left from Narita. The downside: cell phones, drivers' s licenses and the silk they were going to bring me are still in Bangkok. The upside: they acquired international licenses so they could still rent a car, and they'd amassed a backpack full of books while in Japan that I got to have a look at, plus the gift of a Kyoto Costume Museum edition on getting dressed in period Japanese costume. The text is in Japanese, but the pictures make it unnecessary.
Figuring they've had an entire year of authentic Asian cuisine, we ended up trying a German restaurant in Alameda called Speisekammer. Decent hefeweisen on tap (yeah, I know it's a summer brew), my salmon with cucumber dill sauce, spinach and mashed potatoes was good, as was the pear crisp we all split, but honestly, the best thing was the order of potato pancakes we shared. Best I've ever had.
Came home, watched part of my ratty bootleg copy (which I would be more than happy to replace with a pristine, restored edition if Criterion would get off its butt and do something) of Aru Kengo No Shogai, but it was getting to late to see all of it, so I went up to bed.
Yesterday we had our annual company party at Golden Gate Fields - lukewarm and lackluster buffet lunch in the clubhouse. I hung out with our safety compliance guy, Genaro, which was actually nice, because he's good people. I bugged out in time to meet Josh and Ellen in front of the Asian Art Museum in SF.
"You know," Josh suggested, "the admission price goes down to $5 at 5PM." So what do we do? Go around the corner to a little bistro-ish place and buy drinks, which ends up, of course, exceeding the differential of what we would've saved anyway. Then after I bought our tickets, I decided to treat myself to an annual membership since I'm over there several times a year anyway, so they credited me for two of the three tickets, since a basic membership means I can get in free with one guest.
The Afghanistan treasures show was well worth seeing again, and the permanent collection regularly rotates certain items, so there were a number of things out that I had not seen on the last trip through in October, including a wonderful pair (originally mounted on doors) of Kano school paintings of gibbons in the style of Hasagawa.
Three hours later, we determine that Fisherman's Wharf is a target rich environment, eatery-wise. I'd had recommendations from friends at work to try "that place down the alley," so Scoma's it was. Not cheap, but bustling, even in a recession, and the steamed mussels I had was so generous I had to get creative with how I stacked the empty shells in the bowl provided for them, and the wine and garlic sauce so yummy, that I was dipping bread in it when the waiter came to clear Josh and Ellen's plates. He had a steak and shrimp combo, she had a crab and bay shrimp sandwich on sourdough that she pronounced heaven. Desserts were pumpkin cheesecake (mine - light and airy as cheesecake can be and often is not), spumoni (Ellen) and a chocolate marquise (Josh).
Josh and Ellen drove up from Monterey and met me at my place on Wednesday after work. They've spent the past year in Bangkok and came back to visit family for the holidays before going back to Thailand. As it happened, they were in Japan when the fewmets hit the windmill and civil unrest closed the airports in Bangkok, so they simply traded their plane tickets and left from Narita. The downside: cell phones, drivers' s licenses and the silk they were going to bring me are still in Bangkok. The upside: they acquired international licenses so they could still rent a car, and they'd amassed a backpack full of books while in Japan that I got to have a look at, plus the gift of a Kyoto Costume Museum edition on getting dressed in period Japanese costume. The text is in Japanese, but the pictures make it unnecessary.
Figuring they've had an entire year of authentic Asian cuisine, we ended up trying a German restaurant in Alameda called Speisekammer. Decent hefeweisen on tap (yeah, I know it's a summer brew), my salmon with cucumber dill sauce, spinach and mashed potatoes was good, as was the pear crisp we all split, but honestly, the best thing was the order of potato pancakes we shared. Best I've ever had.
Came home, watched part of my ratty bootleg copy (which I would be more than happy to replace with a pristine, restored edition if Criterion would get off its butt and do something) of Aru Kengo No Shogai, but it was getting to late to see all of it, so I went up to bed.
Yesterday we had our annual company party at Golden Gate Fields - lukewarm and lackluster buffet lunch in the clubhouse. I hung out with our safety compliance guy, Genaro, which was actually nice, because he's good people. I bugged out in time to meet Josh and Ellen in front of the Asian Art Museum in SF.
"You know," Josh suggested, "the admission price goes down to $5 at 5PM." So what do we do? Go around the corner to a little bistro-ish place and buy drinks, which ends up, of course, exceeding the differential of what we would've saved anyway. Then after I bought our tickets, I decided to treat myself to an annual membership since I'm over there several times a year anyway, so they credited me for two of the three tickets, since a basic membership means I can get in free with one guest.
The Afghanistan treasures show was well worth seeing again, and the permanent collection regularly rotates certain items, so there were a number of things out that I had not seen on the last trip through in October, including a wonderful pair (originally mounted on doors) of Kano school paintings of gibbons in the style of Hasagawa.
Three hours later, we determine that Fisherman's Wharf is a target rich environment, eatery-wise. I'd had recommendations from friends at work to try "that place down the alley," so Scoma's it was. Not cheap, but bustling, even in a recession, and the steamed mussels I had was so generous I had to get creative with how I stacked the empty shells in the bowl provided for them, and the wine and garlic sauce so yummy, that I was dipping bread in it when the waiter came to clear Josh and Ellen's plates. He had a steak and shrimp combo, she had a crab and bay shrimp sandwich on sourdough that she pronounced heaven. Desserts were pumpkin cheesecake (mine - light and airy as cheesecake can be and often is not), spumoni (Ellen) and a chocolate marquise (Josh).
Got in late, but fortunately the office seems pretty quiet today.
I'm going to miss 'em.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 06:48 pm (UTC)*whimpers*
no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 07:50 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's my suggestion and I am sticking to it!
no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 06:57 pm (UTC)Whimper
Date: 2008-12-12 08:48 pm (UTC)Re: Whimper
Date: 2008-12-12 09:22 pm (UTC)Re: Whimper
Date: 2008-12-12 09:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 09:25 pm (UTC)I can highly recommend Capurro's, though. It's old, it's small, it's still owned by the founder's grandson (who is in his 60's now) and it features a swing trio almost every night (they're in their 80's and played with the greats 50 years ago).
no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 10:01 pm (UTC)Scoma's
Date: 2008-12-13 04:25 am (UTC)Buono Digestivo!
Re: Scoma's
Date: 2008-12-13 05:28 am (UTC)The mussels were soooooo yummalicious too.