Let’s see… to start: a couple of weeks ago I got a “Severe Weather Warning” from weather.com. I started thinking forest fires and mud slides, but then I opened the warning and it said: “There’s a chance that the Bay Area will get up to 1 inch of rain.” WHAT?! That’s what they call “severe” weather?! Jeez.
In other crazy news, when I was jogging around Lake Merritt, I saw a lady who had to be crazy. I saw her pick up geese feathers off the sidewalk and then pin them in her hair (you can kind of see it in this photo). Later I saw her doing yoga out on a dock in the lake, surrounded by seagulls and other birds. There really are some interesting characters out here.
In foodie news: last Wednesday (7/6) Kevin and I checked out the Berkeley Off the Grid event (OTG events are weekly gathering of food trucks). The food was, of course, excellent! Grilled cheese with truffle oil… of course that’s good. Adding truffle oil to something is almost unfair, because it HAS to taste good once you do.
Thursday a bunch of us went to The Trappist, a specialty beer bar (http://www.thetrappist.com/about/). The venue was very chic and the ambiance was really nice and trendy. We got to try (free) samples of lots of different kinds of beers, so I tried to branch out a bit. This resulted in some hits (I ended up ordering a beer that had a really woody flavor that tasted pretty sophisticated), but also some misses (choking down the sour beer was not the highlight of the night). It’s fun, but also kind of weird, to go to bars and live such a post-college/adult life. The swanky bars like this one are a far cry from the college-y dive bars. However, I have to say I really don’t like the concept of meeting people at bars. While we were sampling beers, some men (who were definitely too old) were talking to us and I just don’t like the concept of strangers intruding. Yes, I do realize that this sounds very arrogant (“What?! This rando deigns to speak to me? Who does he think he is?), but I just don’t like meeting strangers. I like meeting new people that are friends of friends or something like that but not people with no credibility/references.
Friday night I hung out with Monica, who is from Wellesley College and interning for Social Services at the County. She’s living at a fraternity house that is the historical frat or something like that. The house itself was really cool! It looked kind of rustic/farm house-y. I met a boy named Michael Jordan when we were out, and it reminded me of the story of how I named Michael after Michael Jordan. Because frat parties here are fairly lame, we left and went to a bar called Kip’s, which is apparently the Berkeley bar. I was either too tired or just really do dislike when random men try to talk to me, so I didn’t last long there and headed back home. One thing I will definitely miss a LOT about Harvard/college, is how I know everyone (or most everyone). I much prefer to go to parties and spend time with people I’m friends with than go to bars with a few friends and socialize with random people.
Okay… FINALLY… the weekend! I hope you’re still reading this long epic post. But now you know how I feel during the week… it can really drag until we hit the weekend. So here goes:
Saturday was great! I woke up feeling refreshed and well-rested (so I guess it was a good thing that Friday night’s destinations were so lame). I went for a nice run, and stopped by a farmers’ market in downtown Berkeley. I was only planning to pick up some produce to cook with, but my stomach was grumbling, so I also got some brunch from Raw Daddy’s Fun Cone Food (http://www.rawdaddyfoods.com/). I had the Forest and Earth Mushroom Polenta cone (Filled with layers of our freshly made corn polenta and a rich composition of portabella, oyster, and brown mushrooms, raw-simmered in our white truffle oil and smoked sea salt marinade. Drizzled with a counterpoint of our zesty mustard vinaigrette.) It was all I could do not to gobble it down in one bite… it was so good! The man, Raw Daddy himself, was quite a riot. He looks just like the cartoon drawing on his logo: he had neon green nail polish, long and unruly blonde hair, and a black hat with neon green ribbon.
After a nice relaxing morning (that was quintessential SF: local food and exercise…), I met Kevin in SF to go to Coit Tower. Coit Tower is kind of near Embarcadero and to get there you can be a lazy tourist and take a bus, or you can be rugged and hike up 800 stairs. We went with the latter, and while the stairs were rough (especially after just having run…), the gardens that the stairs wound through were worth it. I can’t believe it, but people actually live on this steep steep hill! There were houses right beside the stairs (I wish I’d taken some photos!). From the top, we could see Lombard Street in the distance. It looks so much cooler from far away. I remember driving down it when I visited SF with my family, and it was NOT fun to sit in traffic on Lombard Street for eternity. Walking back down, I was disappointed that we hadn’t glimpsed any of the wild parrots that supposedly live on the here. I was dawdling going back down the stairs hoping that they would miraculously appear. Then they did! All of the sudden, a little flock of 8-10 parrots flew overhead squawking. Before I could get over the excitement of seeing the parrots, I saw a hummingbird a few yards away from me. So cool!
For dinner, I had pupusas at El Zocalo in the Mission, as per my friend Anthony’s recommendation.
After dinner we met Pixar interns at Smugglers’ Cove, which is a pirate-themed bar that Polly recommended. The décor was cool, and the drinks (all with rum) were delicious. We had a scorpion bowl… but it was a far cry from the ones they serve at the Kong in Harvard Square!
The highlight of the night, though, was definitely getting a drink. While waiting to be served, I told my friend Rigo that I wanted to get the male bartender so that I could try to see if I could get a free drink. As fate would have it, I ended up being served by the female bartender. I ordered the “House Special,” which was a complex and involved drink that involved three types of rum and lots of other ingredients. I was so impressed with the bartender’s mixology skills and how deftly she could mix multiple drinks at once. Being a little tipsy, I told her how impressed I was and how it was amazing she was making the drinks so fast (which I threw in because I read on Yelp that lots of patrons criticize this place for being slow to make drinks, so I figured she would appreciate it). She was very appreciative, and handed me my House Special with an orchid for garnish (NOTE: the man who recommended this drink to me did NOT have such a flower in his drink!). Then… she never charged me. So I went back to my friends with my free drink in hand feeling very very pleased with myself. Who knows what it was… maybe she just really appreciated the compliments, or maybe she thought I was hitting on her (I don’t have reason to believe she was gay, but it IS San Francisco, after all. Haha), but I wooed my first free drink from a bartender.
Sunday was another fun-filled day, but it was quite exhausting. I borrowed a bike from Alisa and haven’t really ridden it much, but one thing I wanted to be sure to do this summer was bike to the ocean through Golden Gate National Park. So that’s what Kevin and I did Sunday (I’m so glad to have a close friend out here to hang out with, or else I’d get lonely!). We biked from the Civic Center through the Panhandle and into Golden Gate Park and all the way down to Ocean Beach. We stopped to get some food at Shanghai Dumpling King. The xiaolongbao were delicious (or maybe I was just starving).
I really wish I had had more time to spend exploring the park, but it was just so huge! I’ll definitely have to come back – to SF and specifically to the park. I feel like I’ve been trying to do a little of everything, but there are lots of places I want to go back to and spend more time at.
The ocean was beautiful, but sadly totally freezing! Once again I find myself wishing I had taken more photos, but c’est la vie. Biking back from the ocean was pretty painful. All in all we probably biked for six hours. My butt was so sore! I haven’t ridden a bike in so long! Yikes… I don’t know how those Tour de France guys survive.
So it looks like I was only able to pack one week into this post, but I get an A for effort. I will try to pack another week into another week soon! And I will try to take more photos. I can’t believe how fast things are flying by!
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