A Crazy Weekend (June 17-19)

This weekend started out stressful and ended out awesome. Friday I was really tired after work and got home hoping to unwind by watching some TV on Hulu. Instead, I realized that the power was out in only my unit, not the whole apartment. The land lady came and resolved things fairly quickly, so then I set out to meet a friend at a BBQ I was looking forward to. On my way, I passed a couple of sketchy looking black guys loitering on the sidewalk. However, I didn’t want to racially profile them so I just walked past. When I was 20 yards or so past them, I heard a crash and turned around and saw that they had broken a parked car’s window and were stealing things from inside. Naturally, I was really rattled. It was still broad daylight out (only about 6:30pm) and on a well-traveled road, so I was shocked that anyone would break into a car then and there. Since they saw me see them, I was also really worried they would come after me or something so I rounded the corner and hid in a store for a while. What was supposed to be a relaxing weekend definitely got off to a stressful start.

Once I got to the BBQ, things started picking up. As it would turn out, I was the only person with any grilling expertise, and cooking food over open flames made it feel like it was actually summer (although the chilly weather that took over as the sun set begged to differ). After dinner, I hung out with my friend watching College Jeopardy, of all things. I was pretty skeptical about whether this would be fun or not, but Jeopardy is surprisingly addicting!!!

Saturday morning Polly and Bee picked me up and so began two amazingly fun days with family. We met everyone else at a dog park in Richmond. It was a riot! It was really just like a town for dogs – they walked (or ran or swam) wherever they wanted and socialized with each other, and just generally had a good time. There were more dogs than people it seemed like.

After, we began a 24-hour long Culinary Journey. We began with lunch at Fish in Sausalito and shared some delicious (and hopefully sustainable…) seafood. My favorites were some excellent fish tacos with salsa verde and the crab roll. (I will spare you from the now-clichéd food blog photos of everything I ate.) Over lunch we got into a very interesting discussion about dietary habits, including a debate about the degree of individual vs. societal responsibility/blame for eating habits and knowledge. As a sociology student, I was in my element ☺ Nermie and I kept referencing watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. (Yes, I’m fairly obsessed with him…) This is one of the many things I love about spending time with our family – there are always interesting conversations and lots of different viewpoints from people I really respect and admire, and think are really smart (and I’m not just saying that to get brownie points!).

The girls with their rootbeer floats at Fish

On our way back to Polly and Alex’s we stopped at Cibo, a café/bakery in Sausalito and got some pastries that we were way too full to eat at the time, but will make an appearance later on in this Culinary Journey.

Before we could even finish digesting our late lunch, it was time to get ready for dinner. Polly planned an amazing night at Teatro Zinzanni, a theater/dinner place. Their website encouraged patrons to come in costume (think old-school glamour), so Bee was of course very excited. On our way into the city, we stopped at a crazy costume shop in the Haight. Once we were outfitted with hats, boas, tiaras, long gloves, and a mustache for Alex, we set off to the theater. I was surprised (although after a month out here I really shouldn’t be…) that we didn’t get weird looks from other people on the street wondering why were outfitted as we were.

We got to the theater, which was a specially imported big top circus tent (think Water For Elephants, reminiscent of the days when circuses were luxurious outings), and realized we were among the very few who had heeded the instructions to come in costume. All the better to stand out, though. Dinner was a five-course meal, and everything was delicious! (Spiced almonds and brie crostinis, some delicious cold soup – asparagus maybe?, a really good salad that I forget what it was but was delicious, a choice of entrees (I had the pork chop with peach compote and mashed potatoes), and a dessert that was just okay.) Frank generously got us some cava to go with the meal, so it really did feel very glamorous what with our crazy costumes and all.

The show was also amazing! I thought it would be a bit hokey, but cute, but instead it was all at once hilarious, impressive and creative. It was the perfect mix of little comedy bits (hosted by a brother/sister pair of Mexicans who would get audience members to come do crazy things, making fun of them all the while) and impressive Cirque de Solei-esque acrobatic performances. (My favorite stunts were on guy who climbed up a poll and then could hold his body completely rigid and horizontal, as well as a team of three French guys who all stacked up on each other’s shoulders and then to get down had the whole line fall toward the ground while maintaining the straight line and then at the last moment let go of each other and rolled on the ground to land. Scary but impressive!)

We got home and fell asleep quickly (or at least I did!), which was good because the 24-hour Culinary Journey continued in the morning. We woke up and it was a beautiful, sunny, and almost hot day in Marin, so we headed to the huge farmers’ market. First, though, we finally ate those pastries from Cibo. I tried the chocolate chip scone and it was seriously the best scone I’ve ever had!!! Usually scones are so dry but this one was so moist and delicious even though it was a day old. (Or maybe it was just that I had barely eaten any chocolate or butter in a few weeks? No… I think it really was an amazing scone.)

At the farmers’ market, we filled up on fresh produce samples, and also had some of that delicious all-natural, organic dim sum and the best smoked salmon I’ve ever had (YUM!!!!!!). I really love this farmers’ market. It would be so amazing if your life was such that you could come here every weekend with your family and do your grocery shopping and eat lunch and enjoy the live music and nice weather. I’m becoming a Bay Area convert!

Since Melissa had to go down to Stanford to start summer camp, Polly, Alex and I decided we would head down for the day with them. The girls and I rode down with Alex, and it was so nice to talk with him. He had really insightful career/life advice, and is always fun to spend time with. I’m so glad that he’s joined our family and I’ve gotten to spend more time with Polly and him this summer!

The Golden Gate Bridge was shrouded in fog when we crossed it going to Standford. Looked so cool!

In Stanford, it was REALLY hot! We ate outdoors at The Counter (a design-your-own burger place) because Spirit was with us and had to fight for shade under the umbrellas. We were finally starting to hit a wall in terms of food intake, but Spirit scarfed down a huge 1-lb (after cooking!) burger. After lunch we checked Melissa into camp and then saw a really nice outdoor mall. Spirit apparently really likes to shop, and has his own favorite stores that he’ll drag Alex into every time. (His favorites are the Apple store – I guess it runs in the family – and Abercrombie.) This day he discovered a new fashionable menswear store that he really wants Alex to get outfitted from.

All in all, it ended up being a great (and filling) weekend. I feel so lucky to have such great family and to have the opportunity to spend more time with the West Coast bunch.