I’m back from the most terrific birthday celebration I’ve had to date and I have the city of San Francisco to thank for it! Being a city girl myself, I made sure that we saw as much of the city as we could while checking off some adventures on our “bucket list” like walking over the Golden Gate Bridge, visiting the Haight/ Asbury, and having Ethiopian cuisine after four years of going without it, having left Chicago. It’s amazing how much the city has to offer and I found myself trying to convince Andy that we should make the move to San Fran so we’d be back in the thicket of diversity, culture and who are we kidding… good food!
What a magnificent structure!
Then we got back to our little love shack and two dogs with our yard, washer/ dryer and driveway… that’s when reality set in and I remembered why it was that we moved from Chicago to California in the first place! HA! I do miss the city, however now I know it’s just a few hours away and the perfect place for a weekend retreat. My step-brother Jeff and s-i-l Suzanne live in St. Francis Woods, only the nicest part of the city, so we felt very posh pulling up in their neighborhood in our X-Terra with all the BMWs, Range Rovers and Mercedes parked along the streets. “We’re not in Grover Beach anymore,” I said to Andy! Their house was beautiful and I got to meet my nephew Moose for the first time, a chocolate Lab they rescued one year ago. He was one of the highlights of the trip, if you ask me!
Cousins Corduroy and Sugar were not happy when I returned and they could smell Moose as over us!
On Sunday, my actual birthday, Jeff and Suzanne took us to The Olympic Club where they are members and we had the most delicious brunch. I have never seen a buffet like that in my life nor can I remember the last time I had Eggs Benedict, French toast, bacon, hash browns and a pancake in the same meal! Fancy fancy! Andy was beyond happy when Jeff took him on the grand tour and showed him the club’s memorabilia from the Master’s tournament.
After, we headed over to the Pop-Up Bubbly Fest and boozed away for a good three hours while we ate fine cheeses, pork sammies and chocolate truffles. Not a bad way to spend a birthday if you ask me. My favorite sparkling wine producer, Mumm Napa, was in the house and I parked my little bootie next to that booth for quite some time and was not disappointed! Oddly enough, we ran into one of the owners’s of Pops for Champagne in Chicago, a joint Andy and I were regulars at. The world is small people!
And since this is primarily a food blog, I feel I must tell you about the little spots that we ate at just in case you’re planning a trip to the city by the bay. Andy and I consider ourselves “foodies” but not food snobs by any means- meaning we’ll check out any restaurant someone suggests weather we’ve heard bad things about it or not. You never know the little hidden gems you may stumble upon! I would recommend yoga spots but I don’t do yoga on vacation… I rest!
_________________
The Slanted Door, located in the Ferry Building, has the best Yellowtail Hamachi that I’ve ever tasted! I heard their carpaccio and whole fish are just as excellent too!
That Ethiopian gem that I mentioned earlier is called New Eritrea and the vegetarian plate was the bomb! Not to mention the ingera, or spongy pancake to accompany. Andy and I had our first date at an Ethiopian spot and the cuisine holds a special place in my heart!
My auntie Janet told me about this place called Mario’s Cigar Bar , specializing in focaccia sammies. The focaccia is from the bakery just kiddie corner called Liguria’s and they’ve been open since 1910. We got a huge piece of onion and jalapeño focaccia and snacked on it all weekend long!
And of course a trip down the coast on the way home included a pit-stop at Nepenthe, out favorite spot in Big Sur. The restaurant just turned 66 so we celebrated its birthday too!
_________________
I just turned 35 and last week someone asked me “where do I see myself in five years” when I’m 40 and the answer is simple- I don’t think about it! If yoga has taught me one valuable lesson it’s to live in THIS PRESENT MOMENT and to not dwell on the past or on the future. Maybe we’ll move to San Fran someday and maybe not. Andy reminded me that every time we go away on a trip, I always say, “I could live here!” And it’s true, I could live just about anywhere I suppose. I love meeting new people/neighbors, scoping out new landscape and living in a new atmosphere. As long as I have my hubby, dogs and yoga mat, it doesn’t matter where I live.
OM is where the heart is!