no rut today!

Me as Astroboy. If I could only fly...

Ganesh watches over the third story landing.

Today we trotted into SF to visit the manga exhibition at the Asian Art Museum. It's definitely a worthwhile show, especially for the artsy, designer, geeky set. There were lots of amazing Japanese wood block prints on display as well. The sheer genius of style and execution was both inspiring and humbling.

Afterwards, we had a delicious meal at Lalita around the corner. If you're into Thai food, this place will delight you taste buds. The service was excellent and the restrooms very clean. The deep fried vegetarian egg rolls, fried banana, and sweet mango rice are highly recommended :P (all the entrées we had were delicious, but you'll have to figure those out on your own). As we were walking out, we noticed a dead fish floating in the pond. I wish I got a shot of it to share...

This pic has nothing to do with today, so think of it as a bonus! (a numerical, bluish bonus) This address is right next door to a new gelato place on Shattuck. The employees all dressed in black, but disappointingly, did not speak with harsh German accents. The gelato was good, but not very memorable. Meh.

bike me

panoramarama (click the above image to get a HUGE panoramic view - 2mb)

In an effort to be able to fit into my pants again, I have finally started to do some exercise. Lucky for me there's a nice bay trail only a mile or so from home. The ride through local streets is kinda sucky because I just hate riding a bike next to cars, but once I arrive at the marshes I'm rewarded with a magnificent view. I tried to take some pictures to convey what I see, but in the end I decided only the panorama would do. I loosely stitched together about 10 shots in photoshop so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. I only wish you could hear the wind blowing across the water and see magnificent egrets fly slowly by.

As a super happy lucky mega bonus, at the trail head is this awesome Mexican/Peruvian place. It's not much to look at, but Cathryn and I went walking here over the weekend and decided to check it out. You know how you look for local places to eat that are absolutely amazing, but that no one knows about and Zagat hasn't reviewed? Well this is it! It's family owned and operated – the mom cooked the food and her son served it. I think I'll start writing to every weekly reader to try to get them to write a review about this place. It's awesome!

A tale of red zone parking

I forgot to write about our wait for a table at Louis' Diner. If you go there during the weekend, expect to wait about 30-40 minutes for a table! Anyway, while we huddled together in an attempt to shield ourselves from the crazy windy day (the wind is filled with sand, which ends up in your mouth and eyes – yuck), I noticed that a car was parked right in front in a red zone AND a bus zone. I kept saying, "No way! How can that person not have gotten ticket yet???!!! I get a ticket for parking illegally for 5 minutes!". But it was a Sunday, on a steep, heavily trafficked street, so I figured parking enforcement would not want to deal with possibly getting killed to give someone a ticket (although I imagine it would be a juicy one).

So the entire time we waited for our table, I was also waiting for the car to get a ticket. When our name was finally called, still no ticket, but we went inside and I moved on to thinking about food. When our friendly waitress arrived, we started talking about parking in the area. She then proceeds to tell us how she parks in the red zone out front until a close parking space opens up for her to move her car into. The reason is because her shift ends late, and it's scary to walk in that area at 9pm when she gets to leave. I then found myself hoping that she wouldn't get a ticket and felt kinda bad for wishing that she would. I'm just glad I didn't blurt out "There's a car out front that should be TOWED!!!".

Anyway, all this is just another reminder for me that having compassion and understanding is the better way to go through life. That being said, I still think some people deserve what they get >:)

ps. Is it just me, or has there been nothing to buy at Target lately?

I had a bacon, mushroom, onion, and cheese omelet :)

The Cliff House and Sutro Baths.

Our view from the best booth in Louis' Diner :)

Ocean Avenue.

On Sunday Cathryn and I had a lunch outing with my friends Ali and Jed to meet their new daughter (who happily tried to eat the table) and to catch up. We couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise – though it was gusty, it was beautiful, sunny, and very clear. It was great to be outisde and in some sun. I know I'll sound wimpy especially compared to my East Coast counterparts, but it's been a long, dark, cold, wet, miserable winter!

For those interested in what a camera obscura looks like, here's a short clip. It really doesn't do any justice to the real thing, but at least you'll get an idea of what it's like.

Yeeearrrrgggg!!!

I just had a major tune up for my Passat at Fritz & Peters. $840 later, it's done. Sigh... I had a nice dutch crunch sandwich at Genova's, though. It's like eating delicious razor blades with salami and provolone.

Blogging about my blog

An escaped crab leg flipped into the sweet and sour bowl. Hole in one! (ewww...)

My blog now features labels which conveniently kinda sorts my blog entries into categories you might find interesting to read all at once! Think of it as any product which is repackaged as "New and Improved!!!", but it really isn't all that new nor improved, but it IS more expensive. So, if you consider yourself a true American, you must compel yourself to re-consume my blog!

During the labeling process, I noticed that there were very few restaurant entries. Hmmmm... maybe I missed some mentions in other entries, but I can't believe I forgot to mention that Cathryn and I had lunch at The Slanted Door in the Ferry Building in the cracker post. Excellent food, excellent service, expect to wait.

Speaking of restaurants (god that word is hard to spell!), last night I joined my family and my sister's in-laws for her husband's father's nephew's sister's brother's cousin's mom's 90th birthday (you can actually stop at "father"). We ate at the same place that we had Nazli's farewell dinner at. I can't recall the name, but it's on 25th and Franklin. The farewell dinner was SO good, I vowed to return one day. And yesterday was that day, but this time around, I saw the cook use the restroom, and before he left, he rinsed his hands. Why didn't I say 'washed his hands' you ask? Because washing requires the use of SOAP, which he skipped, which is also what I'll be doing when thinking about this place when I go to eat in Chinatown (sorry, Naz!). Also, I'm pretty sure the rinsing was just for show. He probably would've just walked out if I wasn't there.

It's iocane powder, I bet my life on it!

Ahhhh... it's late and it's quiet and I'm blogging once again. So much has happened this past week it's insane! Work has been relentless, I'm getting new insurance, and the whole weekend was dedicated to Melissa and Sean's wedding activities (pics to come).

It started Friday night with a trip to Ireland's 32. 'twas and okay time there and it was fun to see who's related to people you know and also to order drinks from a surly Irish bartender. On Saturday, we ate at the Orchard Hotel (Vignette) where the amazing food was only surpassed by their excellent staff. I got to take my new suit out for a spin and Cathryn looked ravishing in a polka dotty dress (small dots, not huge 80's style ones). The next day we dragged ourselves out to Angel Island where we were greeted by beautiful weather and friendly park rangers.

Oh yeah, getting back to the whole switching insurance thing, my new potential insurer required that I get an automatic shutoff valve for my gas main. Yes, I can hear everyone's eyes glazing over right about now, but if you or someone you know owns a home in California, I would say spread the word about giving it serious consideration. Many people don't even know how to shut off their gas main and getting this little dohickey installed is supposed to do the trick all on its own. Installation is $250 for most homes, up to $400 for larger homes or for homes with more intensive gas needs. It's hard to put a price on safety, but it's usually less costly than having your place explode (the only upside being if some squirrels are caught in the explosion). Call 1.866.723.8178 for more info.

p.s. All the casks were from a company wine tour in Napa and the table shot is from Triple Rock. I love taking those table shots!

the trouble with trivial

Photos from a nice dinner at Bocca Di Beppo's. There's nothing like a nice BART car to yourself and a virgin mary-like figurine to watch over you whilst you consume mass quantities of carbohydrates (so... goood....) We also drank some sort of weird shots that tasted like kerosene mixed with propane mixed with gasoline mixed with mint and lime. It was yukky, but STRONG like bull and hit harder than G Bush looking for invisible weapons in a sovereign nation.

In random internet news, I found this really cool conceptual clip on YouTube that shows a guy named Noah Kolina who takes a photo of himself everyday for 6 years (he's a photographer, natch). The clip besides being very conceptually intersting is scored by an amazing piano performance by Carly Comando (yes, that's her name). I found her profile on MySpace and you can download her song there if you like.

FUGU ME!!!

I was out and about in the mission district during the daytime (for once) and all the shops were open! We wandered through shop after interesting shop. This particular book store was all sci-fi, all fantasy, all the time. I really had to withhold my urge to buy this great HR Giger book, but then I spotted this book that quite possibly has the suckiest title for a book that has ever been written and my yen to buy a book quickly vanished. Far be it from me to judge a book by its cover, but I think the title explains everything – rickshaw dancing causes centrifugal forces which the main character will use to defeat the main antagonist and at the same time sexually satisfy the main love interest. Brilliant!

Last night, Cathryn and I finally got to try out this great French restaurant called Le Theatre. I thought the waiter was a bit uppity frenchie at first, but then I realized he was handling the ordering for all the tables in the restaurant! After things quieted down, he was much more pleasant. But the service in general was excellent and the food was amazing! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes French food or wants to try out a new place. Speaking of French food, if you've ever eaten at the French Laundry, please tell me about it!