What I Loved Most About San Francisco

DSC_0235

How many ways did I leave my heart in San Francisco? Well, it might have been about 10 ways, in about five places. Such a cool city. It has the restaurants, diversity, and energy of New York; but the history, charm, and sweetness of Main Street.  It’s a great dichotomy.

I might have left my heart in a few places, but here are the things I loved the most:

I’ll add links to each of those to tell more over time …

Boudin Sourdough Bakery: A Must-Stop (for Foodies) in San Francisco

I love bread. I love any kind of bread, actually, but sourdough and French are my favorites. And fresh-baked bread … mmmmmm …

So of course when we were in San Francisco, we had to stop at the Boudin Sourdough Demonstration Bakery. I loved everything about it: There was a terrific store on the first floor that a foodie can fall into. It had amazing olive oils, dips, soups, herbs, cooking utensils, cute serving pieces, cheese platters, California wines, yummmm …. I’d love to go back there and spend more time. (I would have done all my Christmas shopping there if I thought I could’ve fit it all in my suitcase!) We did buy the kids some hot-chocolate mix, and bought my parents (and the kids) some sourdough loaves to eat while we told them about our trip when we came home.

Here’s me, very happy there:

DSC_0212

After we shopped around, we got lunch at the bakery cafe, and then I was REALLY happy, because that was one delicious lunch. We ate outside, on the patio by Fisherman’s Wharf. We each got bread bowls — mine was a creamy-tomato-soup bowl filled with crunchy sourdough croutons, and Superman had a chili bowl with a beer. Here’s mine:

DSC_0214

THEN — the part I wanted to tell you about — is that there is a cool little Boudin sourdough bread “museum” on the top floor of the factory. It’s a self-guided tour, $3 per person. It’s a beautifully put-together little walk-through that includes some basic information about San Francisco history (the Gold Rush, the 1906 earthquake, the fires, etc.) and how it translated to the Boudin family making their home in San Francisco. Then it goes into the history of the family and how they brought their famous sourdough recipe (and “mother starter” to make all subsequent loaves just perfect). It also had some cute interactive displays (great for kids) about why San Francisco’s climate provides the just-right environment for making sourdough bread. It was a very cool little museum! (Incidentally, if you can’t make it to San Francisco, but you happen to be in Anaheim, Disneyland’s “California Adventure” provides a pretty good overview of the same process and interesting facts about Boudin.)

Here is Superman in front of another neat display we liked, about the foods that supposedly originated in San Francisco (including the Popcicle, the martini, chop suey, Irish coffee, and the fortune cookie):

DSC_0221

We really liked this little museum (and the whole Boudin experience), so if you find yourself in San Francisco, near Fisherman’s Wharf, be sure to swing by! There is a lovely, dark-paneled Bistro Boudin upstairs (sit-down dining), along with a bistro bar that includes some famous California wines.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Martini at Top of the Mark, San Francisco - Photo by C. Sanchez, 2009

Martini at Top of the Mark, San Francisco - Photo by C. Sanchez, 2009

Here’s where we toasted our 20th anniversary — at the Top of the Mark in San Francisco!

(We spent our 15th anniversary toasting each other in Manhattan, so this milestone was celebrated in another great city.)

The views were gorgeous, the company was superb, and we were able to toast to 20 great years of being married, being best friends, and being in love.

… and then start planning our 25th!

(Hmmm … what city should we see then?)

My Daughter and Infomercials …

My 13-year-old daughter turned to me excitedly the other day and said we MUST get a NuWave Oven Pro.

“You can broil, roast, grill, bake, and even dehydrate without all the fats and oils,” she explained patiently.

She’s also mentioned that we could use a Slap Chop, a ShamWow, the Shark Vacuum, and possibly EZ Combs (“You can create dozens of dazzling hairstyles,” she adds without looking at me.)

My daughter has been falling asleep to infomercials.

She even watches them – on purpose – all morning on the weekends. She tells us excitedly, at football practice or at dinner the next day, about the dehydrator, the Your Baby Can Read products, or the fact that the Snuggie now comes in “wild prints.” She says all this as if it’s common knowledge — as if I’m sort of the last to know.

I should have known something was amiss when she became devastated – distraught, mind you – when Billy Mays died. Continue reading

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...