Adventures in Gastronomy

I can’t believe my trip is over half complete and this is my first time blogging. Things have been going great. The weather has been typical San Francisco summer: foggy in the morning, fog breaking around mid-day, fog rolling back in later in the afternoon. Temperatures have been almost the same day and night.

We arrived on Friday night and stayed with our friends, Ben and Sandy, in Fremont (which is closer to San Jose than San Francisco. Down there, Saturday and Sunday were sunny and hot (no fog). We did a bit of shopping, but most of our time was spend catching up (and eating).

On Sunday we headed to San Francisco, but not until after having lunch in Jack London Square in Oakland.

While in San Francisco, Randy has been working a bit more than he did last year so I’ve been pretty much exploring the city on my own during the day. On Monday we did manage to go to SFMoMa together (modern art museum). It’s the first time I’d been there since 1998. After that, I was on my own for the week. I purchased a weekly subway pass so I’ve been trying to make the most of it: Nob Hill, SoMa, Pacific Heights, Alta Plaza, Fillmore, Castro, West Portal, Haight-Ashbury, Corona Heights.

We check out of our hotel tomorrow and stay with our friend Roy (who we also stayed with Sunday night) before returning to Boston on the red eye on Saturday night (arriving Sunday morning). On the plus side, Randy’s work ends today at 4PM and we’ll have the next two days to explore things together. He’s mentioned wanting to go to Land’s End and/or the De Young Museum in Goldgen Gate Park. I’m game for both.

Anyway, things are going great. We have a spectacular 33rd floor view of the bay and San Francisco skyline from our room (even Coit Tower/Telegraph Hill if you look to the left). But it’ll still be nice to head home and have life return to normal (in our own bed, hanging with our normal friends).

Plus, the maid came while we were gone so our home should be immaculate to return to!

Oh, and though I’ve not posted photos from this trip yet, I did finally manage to update/edit all of the photos from recent trips (Roanoke, Munich, Grenoble, Lyon, Paris) in my photo galleries. I removed the duplicates and separated the albums into “international” and “national” (since the sites couldn’t accomodate “all” of my photos together). San Francisco photos should appear soon. I promise!

July 17th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on San Francisco, Part I

I’ve finished packing. WOO HOO! After the fiasco last year (where Randy’s luggage didn’t appear for a few days), we’ve gotten smart and now mix our clothes in each other’s luggage so that if one suitcase gets lost we still have clothes to wear.

Poor Randy, though. Since he’s got business to conduct, in addition to the shorts, jeans, and t-shirts (like I’m bringing), he has to pack two suits, dress shirts, dress shoes, and ties. He’s also bringing out four BIG bottles of wine that he had been storing at our place for our friends in California.

Still, he managed to fit it all in. Oh, and he got us bumped up to first class so at least we’ll be getting a meal on this flight. It’s shocking to me that you can get away with not serving food (or even free snacks) on a 6+ hour flight. I’ve even taken flights to California that didn’t have movie screens. And just yesterday I read that United Airlines is removing the movie equipment on all continental domestic flights. Yeah, not just stopping movie service, but removed the entire equipment from the planes. Apparently, that 500 pounds will save them $10 million per year in fuel costs.

But 500 pounds is just two chunky people…will that really make that much of a difference on a plane that seats around 200 people? I fear other airlines are going to follow suit. Personally, I find this rather short-sighted. It’s just going to prompt people to take airlines like JetBlue, who offers free snacks AND free in-seat TV screens. It’s just going to remove a competitive edge. Plus, someday, fuel prices,airline ticket prices, and the economy will balance out and then they’ll just have to re-install everything again.

Just my two cents. Besides, who am I to say? Though, considering that I didn’t go to California for 9 years yet this will be my fourth trip in one year, these long haul flights seem to becoming a more frequent thing for me. At least I have my iPod.

July 11th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

Am I? I sometimes wonder. I’ve got a niece and a nephew of my own who I love and support as an uncle should. But by the same token, I like the fact that as an uncle I get to hand them back to their parents at the end of the day. Kids typically are not my thing.

But yesterday morning I got a text message from Randy saying that his brother and sister-in-law had their third child; a second son. The text message actually said “We’re uncles again.”

That, plus the fact that Randy’s mom referred to herself as my mother-in-law this past weekend, pretty much means that I’ve been welcomed into the family. And since they’ve all be so sweet, that’s something I’m quite thrilled about.

But this also means I’ve got yet another trip to take this summer. It appears that we’ll be heading to Tennessee for Labor Day weekend for a christening. Well, we’ll stay in Tennessee (where is brother lives)…but the christening will take place in, gasp, Kentucky (where his wife’s family is from)!

Hmm – since Randy and I aren’t married, though, does this make me an uncle to two nieces and nephews or five?

July 10th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

It seems as though I’d just unpacked from our last trip (we returned less than 36 hours ago) and I’m already packing for the next (we leave in just over 48 hours). This time, we’re going to San Francisco. The good thing is that summer weather in San Francisco is fairly predictable: no rain.

The question is the temperature. When I lived there, it was comfortably dry every day with sun until mid-afternoon when fog rolled in and cooled things off for the evening. It was essentially the same thing last year except we headed north to Mendocino where it got quite toasty (again, before the fog rolled in).

The outlook for the upcoming week appears to be warmer than normal….but still dry. I’m debating whether to pack 8 days worth of clothes or pack less and do laundry half way through the trip…but who wants to spend three hours of a good-weather vacation day in a laundromat?

I think I’ll suck it up and just fill the suitcase. OOH, or maybe I’ll just buy clothes there. Now that I’m a fat cow, I could use some better fitting (larger) things.

July 9th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

I never really consider myself a yankee. To southerners, I definitely am. But I associate “Yankee” to New York because of their baseball team, and we’re deep in Red Sox country up here, where Yankee is practically a swear word. So, yankee is just not a word I’d use to describe myself. I’m more prone to say “New Englander.”

Anyway, folks in the south most definitely consider us to be Yankees up here in Massachusetts. While in Virginia with Randy’s family this past holiday weekend, we were in a Home Depot where Randy was checking out doors (for a new backdoor). They were talking about installation and material cost and when Randy told the guy we were from Massachusetts and would likely buy the door there, the sales guy said the door would be the same price up there, but then you’d have to pay all those taxes since we’re from “Taxachusetts.” Randy agreed with the guy then changed subjects. Meanwhile, I started stewing and asked what the state sales tax was in VA.

The sales guy said it was 5%…which, incidentally, is the same as Massachusetts.

Damn southerners.

Otherwise, I had a great time. Randy’s family is the sweetest with Charlene, Roger Ray, Enid, Ennis, and Grannie treating me so well, fattening me up with fried chicken, biscuits, macaroni and cheese, and chicken n’ dumplings (which to me just seems like the chicken and biscuits all cooked into a soup-like mess of yumminess).

But what would I know…I’m just a damn yankee.

July 8th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 5 Comments

Does it make a sound? Similarly, if a blog is unread, does that mean it hasn’t been posted?

I just noticed that I’ve not had a single comment since June 24th! Where’s the love? You’ve all probably defected and gone to gawker.com or perezhilton.com. Admit it.

But I can be juicy, too.

Ok, maybe not. The following is more my speed:

Yesterday I went and had the oil changed in my scooter for the first time. According to the manual, it’s supposed to happen at 300 kilometers. I did it at 452 kilometers. But now that it’s all tweaked and healthy, I can notice a huge difference in how it moves. Well, it’s less sluggish. And hopefully my MPG will improve (I last filled it on June 17th {two and a half weeks ago} and it’s still at half a tank).

At 4PM today Randy and I fly down to Virginia. It’ll be my first time taking JetBlue (yay – TV screens in each seat…on a domestic flight! And they apparently serve free snacks, too!). That’s like first class on American Airlines! Wait, it’s better, Even in first class domestic American flights don’t have in-seat televisions.

Happy fourth! And comment, dammit.

July 3rd, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 11 Comments

No, that’s not a typo. I meant to say “Maid.” You see, our maid (or housecleaner) started yesterday, and we came home to the most spectacular place! It looked amazing…and she was so thorough! She cleaned-out the toater-oven. She WASHED the garbage can in the bathroom. She dusted the blinds (and the tops of the door frames). She cleaned under the kitchen sink (you know, where you store your cleaning products and empty shopping bags). She vacuumed the chairs.

This is all on top of the “normal” stuff you expect like dusting, vacumming and mopping. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more spectacular bath tub in my life.

I could get used to this.

We also got together with some college friends of Randy’s last night who flew in from California. It was a quick visit after they landed at the airport and before they drove to Framingham to visit their family. I must admit, I was initially not looking forward to this. First, they have two children and we all know how much of a fan I am of kids. Second, they’re kosher (limiting our dinner options). Third, they’re also vegetarian (SEVERLY limiting our dinner options). However, the kids were fun, we settled on burritos (theirs were kosher and vegetarian..mine was filled with delicoius murdered chickens) and a good time was had by all.

July 2nd, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on A Match Maid in Heaven

There was a spectacular thunder and lightning storm while I was at work on Friday. The sky got dark and then I saw lightning in the distance. It hadn’t begun raining in my area yet so I opened the door to my office’s roof deck and listened to the thunder. When I saw a lightning, I figured I’d try to take pictures of future lightning bolts.

I grabbed my cell phone (which I can barely use to make phone calls, let alone take photographs) and returned to the door way. I couldn’t quite find the button so when the next lightning bolt struck I just pushed inward (the whole phone moved). I couldn’t tell if the picture took or not so I just continued taking photos.

It was very frustrating because the cell phone would automatically go into idle mode after 20 seconds so I would have to press buttons to turn it on again, then find the camera option. Of course, by that time numerous lightning bolts had already flashed. I just kept clicking…hoping that lightning would strike at the same time I pressed the buttons on the phone (there was also a slight delay between pressing the button and the actual photo being taken).

Yet through some miracle, the first photograph I took actually worked! It was the only one to catch a lightning bolt striking the ground. The rest were just blurry messes or boring cloud shots.

June 30th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on It’s a Good Thing I’m Technologically Illiterate

Randy and I got together last night for dinner with our friend, Maggie and Dick. They live in New Hampshire so they drove down and met up with us in Arlington. I’d never been to Restaurant Flora before, but it was quite nice. Part of the restaurants takes place in an old bank so youv’e got two-story barrel-vaulted ceilings, large windows and even a safe that acts as a private dining room.

After about three + hours of good food and even better conversation, Randy and I went home and relaxed (I suppose the wine helped).

What a way to start the weekend!? Speaking of, why is it that college weekends always tending to start on Thursday nights instead of Friday nights?

June 27th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on Good Eatin’

Randy and I leave for Virginia in just one week. We’re heading to his family’s place in Virginia for the long holiday weekend. It’s funny, I recall kvetching last year before we visited because it was the hottest time of the year in the south.

Yet despite the 90+ heat every day, we had a good time. We essentially went from air-conditioned car to air-conditioned house, to air-conditioned car, to air-conditioned restaurant, to air-conditioned car, to air-conditioned house, to swimming pool. You get the picture. Unlike up here in Boston where you actually have to walk places (and distances), down there it’s door-door climate control.

Anyway, I’m not dreading the weather down there this year, unless of course the flight gets affected by thunderstorms and gusts of wind. I had a blast with his family last time and I’m sure I will again.

I’m hoping they take me to that fancy Italian restaurant again! (Randy can give you the details on that one). hehe

June 26th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: Comments Off on One Week