M.Y. China (Chinese cuisines), San Francisco

There were two nights while hubby and I were in SF where I had to hang around the Westfield Mall for a few hours starting in the early evening. It wasn't just for the convenience of having a chair and table to sit and write but also for the sake of staying near hubby. His work conference was just a couple of blocks nearby.

So I asked my pal J. to dinner with me one night and she recommended M.Y. China on the 4th floor of the mall. She works down the street from the mall and would come here with a gf and colleague a couple of times a month whenever they work late.

R & G Lounge (Chinese Cuisine), San Francisco, Part II

On one of the nights in SF, hubby and I decided to go back to R&G Lounge for that delicious baked black cod I'd been craving since we left the city.

InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco

While visiting SF for a few days, hubby and I stayed at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins, simply because hubby's company put him there. 

Crown & Crumpet Tea Room, San Francisco, Part III

While hubby was busy with work conference, I roamed around Japantown and visited familiar stores and shops until I got tired. Plus, having a few days away from our little one (he stayed with my parents) meant precious writing time for me.

That said, writing meant I needed a place to camp and staying all cooped up in the hotel room was not an option. This was in SF, after all! Thank goodness for Crown & Crumpet Tea Room on Post Street.

Japantown, San Francisco, Part IV

At the end of July, hubby attended a work conference in San Francisco. We'd just moved into our house at the beginning of the month and everything was still a mess, but he had to give a talk and couldn't get out of the trip. And of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tag along, at least for old times' sake.

We had a blast living there and will always have fond memories of The City. Can you guess where we went first? Yup, Japantown ^.^

I love za Daiso! Part II

When hubby and I moved away from SF, I was very sad. Because that meant I wouldn't be able to just spend my afternoon browsing through the shelves at the Japantown Daiso anymore. Being in Japan makes me very happy, because I'm back in the land of the za Daiso ^.^

No no, I don't go crazy hoarding dollar-store crap. Anyone who knows anything will tell you that there are gems to be found at the dollar store (or the consignment store, etc.), but I digress. I mean, we only hoard good stuff, right? :P

Like these adorable printed masking tapes and fabric tapes from the SF Japantown Daiso, which I use to label gifts, decorating envelops, etc.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Part II

My sister and I happened to be out there on a sunny day with clear sky. The temperature was just right, in the high 70's where we didn't need a jacket but didn't sweat either.

Click for large photos.

Sutro Baths, San Francisco

After Marins Headland, my sister, hubby, and I headed over to the Sutro Baths at Lands End. Hubby and I have actually been here several times whenever someone visits, SIL and her hubby in fall 2013, A-san, and then my sister in June 2014.

The thing is, there's a good and bad time to visit Sutro Baths, the good time being earlier in the morning on a sunny day, the bad time being any other time past 4PM because it'll be foggy, windy, and freakin' freezing. The photos below were taken on a sunny day but later in the afternoon when the fog already arrived. So as you can see, even a sunny day can be a bad time to visit if it's too late.

Click for larger photos.

Marin Headlands, San Francisco

Recently it's been cool and raining a lot where I am, pretty much the whole of May and June, right into the 2nd of July now. In fact, it's been so wet the whole damn state is blanketed in a thick fog-like mist. This is super unusual, because it's normally blasting sunshine and bone dry around this time of the year. The joke-du-jour is that we're getting Seattle weather, because they've been dry as hell and having lots of sun, and we're getting the rainy mist.

Anyway, this cooler weather makes me nostalgic for San Francisco again, because the summers there are actually cool, if not down right cold. Temperature hovers around the 70's and the evenings are windy and chilly with Karl the Fog rolling in. So I went looking through my pictures and realized there are a bunch of photos I haven't posted. So here they are, these ones of Marin Headlands and the derelict military sites. Click for larger photos.
I had to zoom the below info boards into 4 different photos.


Left panel.

Right panel.

Touring Alcatraz, San Francisco (Picture Heavy!)

During our time in San Francisco, I've actually toured Alcatraz Island twice, once with two colleagues who were there during an international conference our company held, and again with hubby and my sister when she visited us in May 2014. And since then I couldn't bring myself to edit the photos or post them. Alcatraz was a rather haunting place for me, you see (and many people insist it's haunted too!). The tour itself was quite interesting, and at the same time really sad. So I just couldn't look at these pictures for a long time. But alas Alcatraz is a piece of American history, and so here it is.


***Disclaimer: this post and images there within may be disturbing to some, proceed at your own risk.***

The tour is operated under the name Alcatraz Cruises and you board one of their ferries at Pier 33, near Fisherman's Wharf. There at Pier 33, outside the lineup gate is a sizable model of the island, with descriptions which I've zoomed so you can read.

Barracks/Apartments.

New Year Nostalgia, San Francisco

It's new year and I'm having a major case of nostalgia. San Francisco *sniff* Looking through my album I realize there are tons of pictures taken during 2013-14 I haven't posted, probably because I had been in denial and the pictures will only remind me that I'm not there anymore. So here goes, me facing my past ^.^

In the fall of 2013, right around the second week of September, Eno's colleague from Tokyo, A-san came to visit us in San Francisco. If you don't remember him, he's the bubbly foodie with whom we've shared many  adventures:

- He introduced us to his favorite hangout, Hibiya Bar in Ikebukuro. 

- He took us to Nagoya, where I learned I cannot live without fried chicken wings, preferably those from Yamachan. 

- He visited us in Taipei as well, and together with my sister we went to the onsen in Beitou, the National Palace Museum, survived a dinner from hell at Wang Steak (hell of a name too ^.^!), had hotpot though not the super spicy variety which would have been even better :P

Anyway, when A-san visited the fall of 2013 we took him to Ruth Chris, R&G Lounge, and pretty much drove him around the city all weekend! These are some of the photos I didn't get around to post.

We took A-san to see Land's End and the Sutro Baths, but unfortunately it was foggy and freezing that morning :( Here's Sutro Baths looking cold and lonely. We asked A-san if he wanted to walk down for a closer look, and he took one peek down at the baths and said, Nope. LOL!!! Anyway, my sister visited us the second time in May 2014 and we took her here again, and the weather was much more favorable then. I'll post those pictures soon!

Inner Richmond, San Francisco (Picture heavy!)

Ack, May already! Time to play catch-up again with my posts! Let's start with Inner Richmond. Instead of Chinatown, hubby and I go here for Asian food and groceries. I've read that foggy Inner Sunset is another great neighborhood for awesome Asian food, but Inner Richmond is more conveniently located for us and so we haven't been too tempted ^.^ We'll see, when we get bored of Inner Richmond, we'll probably find our way over to the foggy side...

There are many many shops and restaurant in Inner Richmond and this is just a brief glimpse of the few hubby and I absolutely love. 

- Brothers Restaurant (Korean BBQ/yakiniku): Hubby and I LOVE Korean BBQ/yakiniku, and wherever we go we'd always make a point to find ourselves a good Korean place to get our yakiniku fix. We've tried several places here in SF, several others in different states, even in different countries, with the exception of South Korea itself which is definitely on our list of places to go. But hands down Brother's on Geary is the best yakiniku we've had. Surely there are better Korean food elsewhere, hell, there might be better right here in SF, but we wouldn't know it because every time we come to Brothers, we'd leave in a food coma and have no brain power left to ponder whether the grass is greener across the street.

Fillmore Street, San Francisco Part II (Picture heavy!)

Combining some posts again, and adding in new ones. Here are more food porn on Fillmore Street, in poor lighting that adds to their mysteriousness. Just kidding.

- La Mediterranee - Fillmore: my friend A. recommended this place to me and I owe her a big favor for it. This place singlehandedly made me a fan of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food. I always thought my tastebuds are prejudice against the cuisine. Sure hubby and I loved the Turkish Kebab Truck in Yokohama, but since that was fast food it's not a fair comparison. In Japan we've also had authentic Arabian food, complete with a live belly dance performance (Al Ain, near Kannai Station, the chef used to be the executive chef at the Kuwaiti Embassy, this was not some pretend-exotic restaurant), and Greek (Sparta Restaurant, again near Kannai). Then there was also poshy Greek food in Manhattan, fancy Turkish elsewhere, blah blah blah. Nope, none of that did anything for me. They were good, but nothing to write home about. But La Mediterranee? I ate lunch there once with A. and immediately made a reservation for dinner with hubby the Friday after. Since then, I've ordered catering from there, had lunches and dinners. Thank goodness my tastebuds weren't prejudice - I just haven't had Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food that really impressed me. Until now. Whether you're new to this cuisine or a seasoned fan, you must try this place!

R & G Lounge (Chinese Cuisine), San Francisco

Hubby and I tend to avoid restaurants with lots of publicity, as in it has been repeatedly featured, in big name newspapers, magazines, TV shows, etc. To this day, I think our single worst dining experience was Joe's Shanghai of Manhattan's Chinatown. The 2-hours wait in the northeast bitter cold, the rude young hostess who treated people like dirt because dare they want to eat at her restaurant, the scalding hot soup dumplings that burned all of us who took the first bite, the greasy "soup" that spilled out from those dumplings, still pink with curdles of bloody run-offs. Yeah, suffice to say I was traumatized. 

So when hubby's colleague A-san visited us from Tokyo last fall and he wanted to go to R & G Lounge, my first reaction was, not that again! R & G Lounge has been featured extensively, you see. Anthony Bourdain nibbled on bites of their salt & pepper crab specialty back in 2010. And then there's A-san's Japanese sightseeing guidebook listing all the famous dishes one should definitely try.

Hubby snapped this calligraphy of this Bo Zhuyi poem to read while waiting for our food ^.^

Japantown, San Francisco Part III

Been cleaning up my blog some recently. I'm combining a few posts into this one with the addition of a couple new ones (Kappa and Kissako Tea) ^.^

- Kappa: let's get this out of the way - this is NOT a sushi restaurant. Kappa is located at the corner of Webster and Buchanan and well hidden on the second floor, sharing an entrance with Milo Lounge. This tiny little restaurant serves up Kyoto style kaiseki in a very intimate setting - the place's run solely by the chef and his wife. And all that will cost you - the omakase 7-course set meal is $86/person. With drinks, you can easily run up a tab of $200+ for 2. Reservations are made by phone or email only. And the omakase must be reserved at least 1 day in advance. You'll see why below.

Afternoon Tea at Craftsman and Wolves, San Francisco

Went to Craftsman and Wolves with A. for afternoon tea one day. Interesting name for a bakery, right? Someone recommended it to us after having seen me lurking around Crown & Crumpet one too many times. Being a fan of afternoon tea, I was totally game to try something new. 

Ruth's Chris Steak House, San Francisco

Happy Valentine's! Sorry I've been away for work, but I'm back and will start catching up with the list of drafts I've got built up :X

Let's start with Ruth's Chris Steak House. It's a high-end steak house and yes, it's a chain. I've been here a few times with hubby, the first time was to take his Japanese colleague A-san for an "American" treat. A-san actually already tried a Ruth's Chris branch in Seattle but didn't like it, and as I was doing my research for a nice steak house in SF, all I found was poshy places that served up Japanese-fusion plates. Not that there's anything wrong with Japanese-fusion, only that A-san was looking for a more "traditional" steak. It seemed like Ruth's Chris offered a pretty straight up fare, and so off we went. And it was a huge hit. 

Sorry the pictures are kind of crappy because the lighting was so dim!

Smitten Ice Cream, San Francisco

Here's one of the local and tourist top hits - Smitten Ice Cream. What's so special about this place, you ask? It gives you ice cream, as in, iced cream, the creamiest ice cream ever, and they make it right then and there at the front counter, in your presence at your witness (behind a fiber glass protective wall, of course). 

At anytime on any given day you can expect a line here, because it's sunny California and the winter here is like a beautiful and warm spring day everywhere else. Urgh.