Jungle Run

July 12, 2008

In the wee hours of early Sunday morning, Kali and I headed down to Los Gatos to do the 10K Jungle Run. There's also a half-marathon (which Sara, Laura and CeCe were doing), but I decided to run the 10K event to stick with my half-marathon training program (the SF half marathon is only three weeks away!).

The 10K started around 7:15 AM, the course starting at Los Gatos High School, through some neighborhoods of Los Gatos, to Vasona Lake Park, along the Vasona Lake shores, on the Creek trail back to Old Town Los Gatos, with a finish on the Los Gatos High School track.



Before the race, I ran into Cat, who I haven't seen in ages! Great to catch up again!

Some pics snapped along the route:



The course ended up being a lot more hilly than I anticipated, which was a good challenge. The combination of starting so early and the route being in mostly shaded areas helped preserve me from the typical heat-exhaustion effects that I am a big wimpy about. The first two miles I ran were pretty fast for me, and then I settled into a good pace. In the end, I ran my fastest 10K run yet, finishing in 55:22 (8:55 min/mile pace), which put me 129th overall (out of 493 runners in the 10K event), 44th for women, and 12th in my age division (30-39). Sweet!

Random dude in a jungle outfit:
After the run, Kali and I headed back up to the city to catch dim sum action with some folks at Ton Kiang.


I was pretty pooped for the rest of the day and didn't really leave the couch. It was so nice to veg out after a busy morning.

Renegade Craft Fair

July 12, 2008

Saturday was an awesome girly San Francisco day. I had a nice sleep-in, woke up, had a coffee, and then headed to Fort Mason with the girls (JoJo, Kali and Heather) for the 1st San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair. This event was created by some folks based out of Chicago who are do-it-yourself artisan crafters. They have held these craft fairs in Chicago, Brooklyn, and now San Francisco. It's a two-day event that features over 200 artists and vendors, hawking their handmade wares, including jewelry, belts, clothing, wall art, bags, paper products, and sewing supplies.

We found some great stuff. I got jewelry from Figs & Ginger, a vegan belt and buckle from Bunscombe Buckles, and a dress from Texture Clothing. I also really love Annie Galvin's art, which I'd love to buy more of some other time (when it's not so overwhelming with tons of people!), and Faryn Davis' Fernworks Jewelry (which I already own). We were there for about 2 hours, which was plenty of time to do some damage. The girls did pretty well at the fair, and are showing off their wares here:

From Fort Mason, we grabbed lunch on Chestnut street, and also stopped to pick up some candy goodies at Sweet Dish (it's all JoJo's influence...).

The Renegade Craft Fair was awesome, check it out next year if you didn't get a chance this year! I heart girly days!

Friday Night with the Kiddies

July 12, 2008

On Friday night, I was a good auntie (or Yi-Yi, which is what the kiddies call me, which means younger sister of their mom) and babysat the kiddies while their parents had a night out. I got there around 6 pm and the kid-fest ensued.

I spent most of the night, playing, getting crawled over, and reading books. Simon is getting really good with his words, he loves talking about trucks (such a boy!). They were really well-behaved and pretty easy, considering they all went to bed without too much fuss, and I only had to watch one Barbie movie. Thank goodness.

Anchor & Hope

July 10, 2008

After work, some work peeps went out for happy hour at Tokyo Go Go in the mission, where they feature $3.50 sushi handrolls and drink specials on Mon-Sat 5:30-7 PM. Will and I joined the crew for a couple drinks (I heart the lychee martinis!), no handrolls, as we had dinner plans later in the evening.



Will and I took off and met up with James for dinner at a newish restaurant called Anchor & Hope, located on hip little Minna street in SOMA, just down the street from the always great 111 Minna Gallery. Anchor & Hope, touted as "fish house" that hints of "gastropub", is brought to SF by the same folks who created and manage Town Hall and Salt House, two great SOMA restaurants. The head chef is Sarah Schafer, former head chef of Frisson, who has created a menu dominant in seafood dishes.

The building that now houses Anchor & Hope was a former auto shop, retaining the primary building features of old brick, with industrial finishes and great design that makes this big open space very homey.

The details of Anchor & Hope are very remniscent of what we've seen in the previous restaurants. Great, quirky menu with a letter press finish, they bring the fresh daily bread in a little brown paper bag:

A couple appetizers to start: Angels On Horseback, smoked bacon-wrapped oysters. Delish. Love the philosophy that you wrap something (particularly something yummy like oysters) in bacon, which makes everything better. Indeed.
Salmon gravlax with crispy potato cake, and mustard creme fraiche. Very subtle and tasty, the potato cake was lovely. Now that I cure salmon at home (though not as good as this), I rarely order gravlax in restaurants. But it was great that James ordered this so I could get a taste.
I had the Anchor & Hope Lobster roll, with Old Bay kettle chips and sea salt. The lobster roll was tasty, great toasted bread roll and large chunks of delicious lobster.

Dessert to share was a chocolate-espresso cake with salted pistachios, a wonderfully moist cake that was one of the better desserts that I've had in quite some time.

Anchor & Hope was a great experience, I would highly recommend it. It looks like a great place to check out for after-work oysters and drinks, and for dinner in a great atmosphere.

Brunch @ Maverick

July 6, 2008

On Sunday, I went to brunch with the boys (Will, Key, Shaun and Abe) at Maverick in the Mission. I have been to Maverick a few times for dinner (great food), but never for brunch. Both San Francisco Magazine and 7x7 Magazine voted Maverick's brunch the Best in Brunch in the city in 2007, so I had been wanting to go for some time. However, it's a small space and tables are hard to come by. Thankfully, I was able to get a reservation for Sunday. Sweet!


There are three varieties of mimosas, I started with the Strawberry Mimosa...yum!

Shaun joined me for a blackberry mimosa...yum!
House-made pecan coffee cake to start.
I had the Wagyu Beef Cheese Steak, with sliced center cut top sirloin, melted cheddar cheese, sautéed onions, Acme Torpedo Roll, fries. Delish! Just the perfect sandwich on a soft Acme roll and the perfect portion too.

I can't wait to come back here again for brunch, the menu has so many exciting options to try! Check it out. Very hip.

Independence Day!

July 4, 2008

Friday (holiday! whee!) was a fantastic day, gorgeous weather in the city, and full of activity. I started the day with a 5-mile run with Gail, Sandy, Kali and Sara around the Marina, followed by some shopping at Sports Basement (to use the 20% off coupon from the Stadium to Stadium 10K race, of course), and then brunch at Pacific Catch in Inner Sunset. I really do love their ahi poke wasabi rice bowls...

In the late afternoon, Gail, Sandy, Will and I headed over the Bay Bridge to Oaktown for a 4th of July BBQ at Gretchen & Safdie's house. In addition to all the luscious meat products on the grill, Wii Fit and Rockband was in the house!












Happy 4th of July!

TGIALW!

July 4, 2008

TGIALW = Thank God It's A Long Weekend!

On Thursday night, I went for mani/pedi with Heather, which took some time, but thankfully we had some long weekend Coronas to enjoy. We met up with Will for dinner at home and then we headed to Mad Dog In the Fog to meet up with some folks who were carousing in the Lower Haight.

It was just what we needed, a beer with some friends and some random trivia (it was trivia night!), and a not-so-late turn-in. Shaun had definitely been enjoying the libations, some might say that he was "Steve McKenna'd"....

Enjoy the long weekend!