The Last Day | SF 2017

Friday, 21 April 2017Friday, 21 April 2017 Starr2 Comments

Last time on SF 2017, I visited Yelp HQ and saw one of my oldest friends in her new home city before being reminded that I am not immune to jet lag and I cannot party as hard as I used to. But here’s to the weekend!

A few weeks before our trip, I booked a brunch reservation for Saturday and kept it late so that Ben and I could sleep in a bit, knowing that we were going to be suffering from jet lag and late nights especially since Ben had been working so hard on his presentation just a few days prior.

After really enjoying those thick black-out curtains and abundant pillows that make hotel sleep so satisfying, we got up, got washed, and got ready to head out for brunch. I wanted us to leave a bit early so we could see the famous Painted Ladies and then walk over, so I called us a Lyft and waited.

… and waited and waited. The car never showed up, so I cancelled it and called a new one, because now we were unable to take a small walk to brunch and make our reservation. But then that car didn’t show up either, and it got stuck at the same place as the last car. Ben and I walked out of the hotel and discovered that Market Street was blocked off for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. GO FIGURE. There was hella traffic (some Cali lingo for you West Coasters!) and we had no choice but to start walking in the direction of brunch (over 3 miles away) and try to catch a Lyft after we got away from traffic so that our table wouldn’t be given away. I called the restaurant and then began to power-walk/casually run westwards, gawking at how many cars were stuck downtown trying to get past this parade. After a fair bit of drama trying to figure out how to optimize getting into a Lyft and onwards to the right direction, and with the great driving instincts of our driver, we finally made it to nopa, a little sweaty and very hungry.

The restaurant was actually not that full when we arrived after 1pm, but it filled up pretty soon after we ordered our food. We weren’t sure what to get and weren’t really vibin’ the menu (still too sweaty), but I went for some yummy sounding items and hoped for the best.

We didn’t really love the food, so we opted not to order more and just munch more later somewhere else. But off to see the Painted Ladies from Alamo Park!

… so the park was closed and we were only able to see these Victorian houses from real up close it was pretty disappointing, because I really wanted to lay out on the grass and relax a bit while humming the theme from Full House. (🎶Whatever happened to predictability…🎶)

Walking up this ridiculous hill took quite a bit out of us, so we got a ride over to the Palace of Fine Arts so that I could take Ben for the walk that Christine showed me last time I was here.

They were actually setting up for a wedding here that day!

Of course, I brought Ben to Crissy Field as well, and it was strange and different but not bad to share my personal, peaceful place with him. I was really glad to have been able to share this special place.

We started walking towards Pier 39 to check out the sea lions, since it was a really beautiful day and we didn’t mind walking pasts the piers. Since that is a 3-mile journey, we walked about halfway and then got a little ride so we wouldn’t be exhausted and late by the time we arrived.

I started to feel really hungry, since we never managed to find food after an only-okay brunch, but I didn’t want to spoil my appetite for dinner. Then I saw a place that advertised beignets and I had to eat SOMETHING. (But I didn’t let myself have beignets, in an attempt to exercise some semblance of willpower.) So I shared some fried seafood and oysters with Ben so as not to be drooling when I showed up for dinner.

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After a super quick Daiso run (why don’t we have these on the East Coast, can someone please tell me), it was off to fulfill 3 big goals of this SF trip:

Be reunited with Christine
~~Evaluate~~ Meet her new boyfriend
Eat cioppino!

The last one was another goal that was something I regretted not doing my last trip, similar to my trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum. I didn’t have specific ideas about what I wanted to eat in San Francisco last fall, and when I saw a sign for “Cioppino’s” at Fisherman’s Wharf, I remembered this delicious seafood stew that I first tasted in Alaska, strangely enough, and was invented here in the City by the Bay! I kicked myself for not seeking it out then and made sure to get some this time around. After some searching, many people mentioned Sotto Mare as the place to go; even when they found a new go-to, it was compared to Sotto Mare. Since Christine had been meaning to try their famous cioppino as well, it was an easy decision where we should eat and what we should get.

As you can see, I really had a hankering for oysters…

This was so tasty and we probably only needed one to share between the 4 of us but man, I still think about this yummy stew with pasta and seafood and that crab meat!! “Best Damn Crab Cioppino” indeed.

It was a lot of fun hanging with Christine and Phil, and I was so happy to meet Phil because he was really cool and seems to make Christine happy. Plus he was so easy to like!

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With that, Ben and I walked back to our hotel to get packed and get going, as our flight was at 7AM the next morning. Which happened to be Daylight Saving Time, so really… we did not get very much sleep before our flight. (I actually, bizarrely, woke up about 2 hours after I fell asleep and just stayed awake until I got on the plane, so… that was a thing.)

We had a really lovely time in San Francisco, and I still can’t believe that I got to visit again so soon after my last visit, especially given how long it had been since the visit before that one!

I’ll be back again someday soon.

Where should I visit the next time I’m in San Francisco?
And where do you think I can pass on?

What city should I visit next? There are still a lot of American cities I haven’t seen, even on the East Coast!

Peace, Friendship, and Fusion Food | SF 2017

Tuesday, 18 April 2017Wednesday, 19 April 2017 StarrLeave a comment

Last time on SF 2017, I waited in line for pastries before experiencing a wide spectrum of feels at the beautiful Walt Disney Family Museum. Time to pull myself together and get ready for dinner and fun with friends.

When I emerged from the Walt Disney Family Museum, I entered the still-gorgeous day in the Presidio. I rushed through the latter part of the museum, fearing that there was still a lot left and I’d be late for dinner, but I left earlier than I planned, so I walked back out to Crissy Field to revisit one of my favorite spots from when I visited Christine back in September.

If I ever moved to SF (don’t get your hopes up, Christine!), Crissy Field would be a big part of it. I don’t know that I ever feel as calm and at peace with myself and the world as I do when I’m sitting at Crissy Field. I wasted a good chunk of Christine’s afternoon getting lost in how tranquil I felt the last time I visited, and I had to set an alarm to make sure I didn’t lose track of time this time around.

I didn’t see any dogs for a long while this time around, and I got pretty worried until I saw this doggo frolicking in the water. And all peace was restored to the world, or at least to mine.

Finally, I did tear myself away from the beach to head back to the hotel to drop off the pastries I managed to stop myself from eating to give to Ben and get ready to eat dinner with one of my very oldest friends, Connie.

Lemme talk to you guys about Connie. I met Connie when I moved in the middle of the 3rd grade and she lived a block away from me the whole time I lived in that house in New Jersey. We were both Chinese-American, rode the same bus, and in the same grade. We were even about the same height and had similar haircuts for almost all of the rest of elementary school. Needless to say, this meant that I got used to people calling me “Connie” pretty quickly. We spent a lot of time together because we were neighbors, and when both my parents were working, my brother and I would spend afternoons after school with Connie and her brother, watching TV, playing video games, and playing outside. She was one of the closest friends I had while I was living in that town, and I never appreciated her enough for it because I think I spent a lot of time being jealous of her – consciously or not – for being all the things I wasn’t while still being good or better at the things I was good at.

Then I moved to Maryland, and after college, she started working for Yelp in Manhattan. I visited her while she was there a few times, and this year she got promoted and, with that promotion, moved to San Francisco. She had actually only moved for a few weeks when I visited, so I believe I am officially the first person to have visited her since her big move across the country. I’m so proud of her for making this big move and for everything that it means, and I’m glad I was able to see her!

I met up with Connie at Yelp HQ! If you don’t know, I was actually on Yelp’s payroll as a brand ambassador, so it was nice to finally see the place where my paychecks come from! They were actually having their demo day for a recent hackathon, so I’m excited to see which ideas actually get used. It was really nice for me to talk to the Yelp devs as both a Yelper and as a developer, so I could ask technical questions and ask about how some of the designs actually made Yelp a better product.

Afterwards, we got dinner at HRD, which was specifically recommended to me by the Yelp DC Community Manager, Kimberly, as a spot that I would love. I am not going to ignore a recommendation like that, so off we went! We were so surprised by HRD that we nearly walked past it. Because Kimberly is a classy lady of fine tastes, I think I was expecting it to be a fancier sit-down place, but HRD is a super casual eatery that let me know Kimberly knows me better than I thought: I care about the yumminess of the food most at the end of the day! I was also apprehensive because a lot of fusion food in DC falls very flat and has made me wary of fusion food in general, but HRD totally nails it.

Then we went off to get bubble tea before calling it a night. I’m so glad that Connie and I have remained friends for almost 2 decades now. It’s crazy to think about it that way, because it certainly doesn’t feel like that long, but when we consider how old we were when we first rode the bus together… it has been a looooong time. And I am so grateful for all of it.

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While I planned on spending the rest of the evening drinking my bubble tea, maybe tracking down some macaron ice cream, and just general lazing about in the hotel, Ben invited me to join him while he was eating dinner with one of his coworkers and another friend. I was real full and had to sit in the hotel room just staring at the TV for about 20 minutes before I got up to leave. (The TV was off, mind you. I just stared at the blank television for 20 minutes. I didn’t pass out. I just… stared…)

Somehow, Ben’s old coworker tried to get us to go clubbing with him (that’s the last thing we did with him before he moved out west…), but I was literally yawning as they pregamed in his apartment and just was not able to hang. That time difference is no joke!

Do you still spend time with friends from elementary school? I am still in touch with a handful, but I wonder if I’ll ever see friends from my first elementary school again, the ones I made before I moved and met Connie! That would be pretty wild. (I’ve friended a few on Facebook and they say I look the same. That’s good, right? Because I moved when I was 7.)

What are your favorite casual eats in SF? I complain often about DC’s good food being unaffordable, but then I find myself being recommended higher-end places when I travel to other cities, which was part of what made visiting HRD so refreshing. What are some unpretentious places you like to eat in SF, or any other city for that matter?

CS-SC Reunion | SF 2016

Tuesday, 4 October 2016Tuesday, 4 October 2016 Starr2 Comments

Last time on SF 2016, we had a Big Night Out with Ben’s college friends that began with a fancy steakhouse dinner and ended with clubbing. And then actually ended with taking care of folks who had a bit too much to drink. I was finally able to go to sleep at 3:30AM… Pacific time…, which really made my 5AM alarm feel extra special.

I wasn’t even mad when my alarm rang Sunday morning because it was my big day with Christine! You may remember that she visited me last year for her first-ever trip to the East Coast and our first-ever in-person meeting. (#blogfriendsarerealfriends) I was so excited to finally revisit San Francisco primarily because it meant I could see Christine, who had graciously turned down many awesome Labor Day weekend plans to spend time with me.

2016-09-04-12-23-26 — Thank you for a wonderful day, love! ❤

Also, one of the best things about Christine is that she basically planned our whole day! Oh man, I was in heaven. It felt so nice to be on a vacation and to not have planned it. Plus, I trust Christine’s judgment with her home city and the best things to see, do, and eat!

(As for the title of this post: Christine’s initials are my initials reversed! Fate!)

Her first item on our itinerary was breakfast at Mama’s on Washington Square. Mama’s is a tiny restaurant that only seats about 30 people and opens at 8AM. So Christine and I agreed to start lining up at 6AM. Yep, you read that right. I got in a Lyft with the license plate “PHARAOH” and found Christine already waiting at Mama’s.

She was 2nd in line.

The woman who was first in line didn’t want to be in any of the photos of the line hahaha

The food was good but if you see a line as long as it was, don’t feel bad about skipping it. We got the famed Monte Cristo sandwich and the bay shrimp Benedict we saw on the specials menu. (Also, it is cash or debit only; no credit cards.) It was a very cute restaurant and it felt cozy, almost like someone’s personal dining room rather than a restaurant with hungry diners all staring in through the windows at you, willing you to eat faster and shut up so they could get their breakfast on.

My other photos are a bit awful but this one is great because Christine is in it!

I finally have my own signature Christine at a restaurant photo!

The Monte Cristo was so good that I forgot to put jam on most of it oops. The jam does make it better though!

Bay shrimp Benedict… with a focus on the home fries, my least favorite breakfast potato…

After Mama’s, we did a quick little stroll around Washington Square, where we saw a lot of middle-aged Chinese ladies doing… something… Seemed like some kind of choreographed exercise, with one lady shouting when to do the next move, but the women were standing so far from each other, spread all over the park. However you get your blood pumping!

From there, we went to the Palace of Fine Arts, a gorgeous Greco-Roman-inspired structure that was originally built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo. Today, its theater is still in use and it is a popular location for weddings and photo shoots for very good reason. Just look at it. It was built to be looked at.

It was an easy walk to Crissy Field from the Palace of Fine Arts, so after ogling some very expensive houses (very very expensive) we strolled on over. This was one of my favorite parts of the day, because we were able to walk along the water, breathe in the sea breeze, and just relax. I think our sleepiness had caught up to us just a little bit at this point, so Christine and I literally sat and took in the sights for at least 20 minutes, people-watching, dog-watching (there are so many dogs it is glorious), kite-watching, Golden-Gate-Bridge-watching…