12 January 2011

San Francisco: A Photo Essay

For my 34th birthday last month, Nate and I flew south to my all-time favorite city, San Francisco, for a long weekend. We've taken quite a few short trips to the Bay Area over the years. Now there's less pressure to see all the sights. Instead, we can relax... Hence sleeping in past official breakfast time and dining on soup for breakfast at farm:table.


Broccoli soup & apricot preserves pie for brekkie at farm:table. The lemon oil drizzle woke me up!


Tangy apricot preserves pie and coffee - this girl's best friend



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On our walk back to Union Square, we stumbled upon lots of green. Like this ivy-covered building...



The big tree in Union Square. So festive!...
This charmingly retro green streetcar...
Old meets new - I love the retro scene of this traincar with the modern lady in front.

And, lots of other "green" wafting through the air. My my, those San Franciscans sure like to puff tough on their "herbal cigarettes."

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One can't take a trip to SF without visiting the Mission for (yes, more) eats. The district swims in taqueries, like the postage-stamp-sized Papalote. The entrees were mediocre. But the specialty salsa - a cream, tangy, spicy concoction - made the BART journey worthwhile. Papalote sells the salsa in glass jars, and had the TSA not banned liquids above 3 oz., I would have stashed several in my carry-on bag to take home.

Papalote's salsa - creamy & spicy. Nate frowns when he realizes we can't bring it home to Seattle.

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We'd already planned a visit to the Ferry Building along the water (I'd been so inspired to visit this indoor market since drooling over Lorna Yee's post and pictures). The weekly farmer's market, held on Saturday mornings, was icing. Here are some scenes:

San Francisco = fog. View from the pier.
Oysters in the a.m.? Not so much. But the display sure is lovely.

Streaming sunshine.

Chicken little.
Inside the Ferry Building.

Moving on to dairy.

Queso, queso, queso!

The wheels of the cheese go round and round.

Beta carrot-ene.

Oh, honeyman. Lots of varietals of fresh honey from this farm stand.

Rainbow of peppers.

Blue Bottle coffee!
Heavenly eucalyptus wreaths. Again, I wanted to tote one home but it wouldn't fit in my backpack. Alas, I found a similar version at Trader Joe's upon return to Seattle.

Intoxicating lavender
Welcome to the Port of San Francisco
That's a lot of meat.
From Rose Pistola - a mahi mahi sammie + tangy lentil salad. Perfect to share on a bench outside with the seagulls and sea air and my love.

All in all, it was a lovely trip. And as the song goes, I left my heart...

01 January 2011

Year in rewind: Back to meat

Turkey, bacon, avocado, tomato = a delight

In a world that is heading decidedly meatless (at least here in the PacNW), I am a rebel.

Early this year that my doctor put the kibosh on my vegaquarian ways, sending me home with a Rx for meat.

And so, to begin this new decade, I began adding meat to my menu rather than subtracting it.

It wasn't easy at first. I was squeamish just thinking of eating birds, let alone cooking them. And then, a few months in, a realization dawned: I was starting to enjoy ordering poultry. In fact, I loved turkey.

A few months ago, I confessed another secret to you: eating bacon. The admission only fueled my fire and now I order the slices with reckless abandon; I even cooked some - twice - at home this week.

I still shy away from other red meats, and plan to do so for the longhaul. Vegetarian meals continue to grace our plates a few times a week; they're not going anywhere in 2011. And I need to work on cooking poultry - right now, I'm more comfortable ordering it when we dine out.

In 2010, I've ordered fish from Duke's Chowder House, fried chicken from Ezell's, and bacon from IHOP. We've come a long way.

I look forward to hearing what my doctor has to say come spring during my annual appointment.