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!

IMG_0939001-01 IMG_0941-01

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!

Weekend + Wedding in Roanoke

Friday, 21 October 2016Thursday, 20 October 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Back in May, my friend Yufeng asked me for my mailing address. Yufeng is one of my oldest summer camp friends. We met back in 2005 and I’ve seen him a few times during my visits back to New York. He got engaged back in December, so me and our mutual friend Barry (who was at summer camp with us, in New York when I visited the both of them, and actually shares an alma mater with Yufeng) were 99.9% sure that we were going to receive wedding save-the-dates. Hurray!

About a week later, Barry informed me that he received an invite! For a July wedding! Ohmygosh so soon! And I waited and waited and… started wondering if maybe I wasn’t actually invited? If maybe Yufeng and his [now] wife decided to remove me from the guestlist? Barry offered to bring me as his +1 but I thought that would be pretty awkward if I was explicitly not invited. Luckily for everyone, I got an email with more details about the wedding and found out that the postal service randomly returned my invite to the bride’s parents. With that, we booked our July 4th weekend in Roanoke and prepared to celebrate Yufeng’s big day!

(Note all photos are by Pat Cori unless otherwise indicated.)

After my first ever Cracker Barrel visit (I can’t believe it took me so long to go! I had a great meal and love the little general store!), we arrived in Roanoke and checked into our hotel, buzzing and ready for the wedding.

13558822_10209827474147204_3882542411059913060_o — One of mine: a shot of St. Andrew’s that does *not* do it justice in the slightest

The ceremony was late Saturday morning at the absolutely stunning St. Andrew’s Catholic Church. (Random fact: This is also the childhood church of one of my coworkers, who is from Roanoke!) Gorgeous stained glass windows, an amazing altar, beautiful statues. We took a few photos with my friend Barry and I got my first-ever in-person look at the bride. You see, before the wedding day, I had actually never met Deirdre before!

14712633_10154575250622114_4000510603046190680_o — A sneak peek at the couple and the beautiful church

First of all, it needs to be said here that the singer was magnificent. Her voice was so clear and pure but strong, she had excellent breath and tone control… I mean, this congregation is so lucky to have her! Such a lovely voice.

Second of all, this was easily the most-Catholic wedding ceremony I have ever sat through. There was much singing, to the chagrin of me, Ben, and Barry, who missed a cue to refer to the book of hymnals. I felt so awkward and embarrassed that I just started giggling uncontrollably, and it was very difficult to keep it in. While I do appreciate the ritual and ceremony of the Catholic Church, it is very easy to feel out of the loop if you haven’t learned all of them. However, I later learned that the ceremony was modified to accommodate folks who were unfamiliar with Catholic ceremonies and that everyone was kind of playing it by ear and just following the priest’s lead. For example, he made an unexpected joke about double happiness, which is traditionally used in China for weddings, that took Yufeng and his family by surprise.

14711589_10154575251667114_7508253250110341214_o — *Random fact*: I was happy to see that the rehearsal dinner was actually done with the bride and groom in traditional Chinese dress!

After the lovely (if sometimes stressful-for-me) ceremony, we broke for a little recess. The families had set up an excursion up Mill Mountain to hike, look out over Roanoke, and enjoy a delicious lunch of biscuit sandwiches! It was a nice view and we got to meet some of Yufeng’s high school friends, who marveled at the fact that he had invited two of his summer camp buds to his wedding years and years later.

But the best thing about the excursion up was the Mill Mountain Star, the largest freestanding man-made illuminated star! (Citation needed…)

13708413_10209996376409655_7052000807739557_o — One of mine: not pictured, me looking around wondering why complete strangers didn’t understand why Starr was so excited about the giant star

This was the star of many of the Roanoke Snapchat filters. (Yufeng had his own Snapchat filter for the wedding!) (Also, let me make this confession now: I was very confused when I realized Roanoke, Virginia was not Roanoke the Lost Colony.) While we were enjoying the mountain air, the bride and groom were taking photos with the wedding party.

14680825_10154575257737114_1260532255936933526_o And then it was time for the reception! Luckily for us, while we knew no one at the wedding but Barry before the mountain hike, we were seated with our new Mill Mountain friends! The food was yummy (and even worth the huge oil splatter I got on my dress), the dancing was great, and everyone had a wonderful time.

14713023_10154575276892114_7672539895746874723_o 14681081_10154575274502114_4354188304525898446_o 14608735_10154575271012114_6608415051832442172_o 14700896_10154575273287114_1272787686188747152_o

Yufeng’s younger brother did a great lion dance! 14633206_10154575269367114_5704007812831381321_o

And of course, the moment of fear when I stand at the very back of a crowd of women with my hands firmly behind my back.

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14707873_10154575280382114_6596233268260240089_o — RELIEF

It was a really lovely wedding and I couldn’t be happier for Yufeng and Deirdre.

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The next morning, there was a lovely brunch at the Maridor Bed & Breakfast, where we got to send off the couple one last time.

Until next time! Thank you for inviting us to your wedding, Yufeng, we truly had a wonderful time and are so happy for you both. I am so grateful to have been able to call you my friend for the past 11 years and could not have imagined, back in 2005, being able to see you marry the love of your life.

Congratulations again!

Eat, Hike, Sing | SF 2016

Friday, 7 October 2016Thursday, 6 October 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Last time on SF 2016, I woke up with the sunrise after taking a little 2-hour post-clubbing nap to meet Christine for breakfast! Then we enjoyed a really leisurely, gorgeous stroll through the Palace of Fine Arts and Crissy Field. After enjoying the scenery for a bit, it was time for a little pick-me-up!

After basking in sunshine, sea air, and people+doggy-watching, I felt my 2.5 hours of sleep catch up to me and was slammed with a wall of exhaustion. It was time for my first San Francisco cup of coffee!

Christine and I had passed several very educational signs at Chrissy Field, one of which was describing the snowy plover, a very cute little bird. It is also the name of a trendy coffee beverage at Andytown Coffee Roasters (review), which turned out to be a really refreshing drink at exactly the kind of coffee shop I expected to visit in San Francisco.

At Andytown, Ben joined us to perk up himself and to join us for lunch at San Tung for some delicious Chinese food. Unfortunately, Christine and I were still pretty stuffed from breakfast and Ben was too sleepy to feel hungry. But the food was really delicious.

From there, it was time for us to work off all that food with the Lands End Hike. We started at the Sutro Baths, or more accurately the ruins of the baths.

It was a beautiful, beautiful hike. A bit strenuous for sure (and all the more difficult holding our leftovers from lunch) but it was really lovely to see the views and to breathe the fresh air. This whole day was really invigorating and I was so happy to spend it with Christine and Ben.

I took a LOT of photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, of the baths, of the water… but I’ll spare you for now.

The timing fairies were in our favor and, by skipping the Lands End Labyrinth, we were able to finish the hike in time to get Ben over to Japantown to meet back up with his friends for dinner. In fact, we were a bit early, so we browsed around Daiso (which we don’t have on the East Coast) and a little shopping center before splitting up for dinner.

Greeted at the end of our hike with an affirmation that we did, in fact, hike Lands End.

I was still feeling very out of it from the lack of sleep, the hike, the abundance of food, and maybe even from the caffeine since I don’t drink a lot of caffeine at all, so I was having a hard time deciding where to eat. We finally decided on Shabuzen, where we nommed on a delicious shabu-shabu meal together. It was bittersweet for me because, with Christine headed to San Jose to see her bestie, it meant that our magical day together was coming to a close. I felt especially bad/sad about it because I was so out of it at this point in the day and was being a bit of a drag, to be super honest. (Man, 1000 props to Christine for putting up with how indecisive I was about what to eat for dinner.) (And to Ben, who puts up with that on a too-regular basis.)

We said our goodbyes, and I still had some time before Ben’s group wrapped up at Korean BBQ, so I walked around the closing shops that we had browsed together just a little while earlier. My first walk-through, I felt sensory overload by all the things and prices and wowowowow factor, but with the shops emptying out and the sky getting darker, I was finally able to re-center and re-focus on the present and feel just a little less dead. I also got to try out this fun liquid nitrogen dessert from Chocolate Chair that was like a giant Cap’n Crunch Crunchberry (sorta) that let you breathe out dragon’s breath when you ate it. Very drying but super fun to play around with once you get used to it!

I posted Snapchat and Instagram stories of me trying to look like a dragon! There are folks on Youtube who did a much better job than me, though.

And then our group ended the evening with karaoke because of course we did! My favorite thing! Even though I was really struggling at this point — 2.5 hours of sleep and it being about 4AM Eastern time when we finished — I still had a lot of fun at karaoke. A highlight was hearing one of Ben’s friends do a Tupac song, because I don’t know him too well and no one has ever heard him rap before, let alone go through an entire Tupac Shakur song! It was a beautiful moment, I will treasure it forever, along with the time that me and another person simultaneously put “Careless Whisper” (aka the sexy sax song) on the karaoke queue. (It literally came up twice in a row because we both entered it around the same time. It was destiny.) (Also, we wound up forgetting our leftovers at karaoke. After I forgot to hand them back to Christine. After carrying them around for our entire hike. Womp womp, that was an epic fail.)

Our last full day in San Francisco finally came to a close, and honestly, I had a really amazing time. I only started fading around dinner, but the energy of the Bay really kept me going. We had so many amazing Lyft and Uber drivers throughout the day. The weather was absolutely perfect.

It was going to be hard to say goodbye to this wonderful weekend.

Did we miss any major sights while we were in San Francisco?
What are your favorite Japantown eats?
And what’s the last super-hyped food you tried? Was it worth it? The dragon’s breath dessert was… just okay. Really drying, not particularly tasty, and the effect of the liquid nitrogen doesn’t last very long. But it’s fun to try once and to split it with a bunch of friends!

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…

I’m not sure when the last time I felt so at peace was. This is one of my happy places, for sure.

Christine and I had a big day of adventuring, so I’ll leave off here with my rare moment of zen. Our day wasn’t even close to being over though!

Where is your favorite breakfast spot in San Francisco?
What are the best places for people-watching and Golden-Gate-Bridge-watching?

Cali & Cosplay | SF 2016

Thursday, 8 September 2016Thursday, 8 September 2016 StarrLeave a comment

Surprise! I went to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend so that Ben could see his college friends and so that I could see Christine! Shout-out to my fave who stayed behind in the city when she heard that I was going to be in town, even with many attractive offers to travel out-of-state tempting her!

We flew out Friday evening after work and arrived about half an hour earlier than we had planned. (Thank you, tailwind!) Checking into the hotel, I had the most magical realization:

img_2045-01 — SPOTTED: Eric & Ariel (in the same corset I wear for Ariel!) while rolling up to the hotel

San Francisco Comic Con was happening at our hotel! We have never seen a hotel lobby as crowded as this one was, but most of all, I have never been in the throes of a convention like this before and I was pumped beyond belief. While Ben’s friends were staring in awe at these nerds whose costumes they didn’t recognize, I had a singular thought in my mind the entire weekend:

These are my people.
I need to be among them.

It was a nice treat to see so many cosplayers and nerds celebrating the things they love every time I walked in and out of the hotel.

img_2046-01 — How great are these hand-made costumes?

Long story short, I resolved to get my nerdy self to a convention next year! We’ll see how that resolution goes!

We had a quick catch-up meal at Delarosa behind the hotel, and had to go all the way around rather than through the back of the hotel because an intimidating security man said so. (My guess: Talent coming in/out of those doors? I saw a poster that indicated Jenna Coleman was there!)

Most things closed by 11PM, so we headed up to one of the hotel rooms and just caught up and chatted for a while. It was nice to have the group all together again and free to just chill. The last time I saw most of these folks was at a wedding, and naturally, the then-newlyweds weren’t as free to hang out with us. This time, all of us were there for Labor Day weekend, to relax and spend time with friends.

Pacific Standard Time really started taking a toll on us this evening, as we stayed up until 1:30AM talking… but that was really 4:30AM Eastern Time! The time difference was always a blessing in the morning and such a curse in the evening.

What are your favorite things to do in San Francisco?
Have you been to a convention before? I’ve gone to conferences, but not conventions, and I am just dying to go. Would you dress up if you went?