Kiddies - 01/18/09

January 19, 2009

On Sunday morning, I went for a nice run with Sandy down at the Marina, where lots of other people had the same idea and were enjoying the nice weather down there as well.

In the late afternoon, I headed down to Santa Clara for my weekly kiddie fix, and a taste of my sister's great home-cooking (the evening's menu was coq-au-vin over noodles and sweet pea soup, delish!)











And I don't have to work tomorrow....whee!!!

Perfect Winter Day in California

January 17, 2009

Hooray for long weekends! Especially ones that lead up to a historical inauguration (can anyone talk about anything else?!? That's okay, I can't stop talking about it too!).

On Saturday, Will, Robert, Key and I had a pretty fantastic California day. The weather was spectacular (can anyone say "global warming"?) and we took full advantage of it.

In the morning, we headed across the GG Bridge and had brunch at Fred's Coffee Shop in Sausalito. Yum!

Key ordered the deep-fried french toast, and I had to capture it in film:
From Sausalito, we headed northwesterly to Point Reyes National Seashore, specifically to Bear Valley Visitor Center, the starting point for our hike, #6 on Marin Trails' Top 7 Marin Hikes "Sky Trail at Point Reyes National Seashore". It's a 6.9 mile hike with 1300 ft elevation change, 80% shaded and touted as the best hike to Inverness Ridge. Whee!

It took us about 2 hours to the hike at a leisurely pace. Great way to spend the day.

From Bear Valley, we drove northward to Marshall, to the stretch of Hwy 1 that is populated with oyster farms. Yum!

We first went to Hog Island Oyster Co. so that I could pick up a massive bag of Sweetwater oysters (50 oysters for $40, sweet!). And then we went to the Marshall Store for their oysters three ways (raw, barbequed, Rockefeller) and their amazing clam chowder. It was amazing to enjoy some good eats as the sun was slowly going down over the bay.

After the feed fest and a couple beers, we headed back to the city for a mellow night. In fact, we watched the phenomenal hockey game between the two top teams in the NHL: San Jose Sharks vs. Detroit Red Wings. That game was amazing!

Great (winter) day in California, definitely cannot complain!

Sharks vs. Flames

January 16, 2009

On Thursday night, I headed down to San Jose with Will, Robert & Sue Hee to see the San Jose Sharks take on my hometown faves, the Calgary Flames.

No matter how long I've lived in the bay area, my hockey heart still belongs to the Flames. I have a hierarchy of who I'll cheer for (Flames, then Sharks, then any other Canadian team, and then the Pittsburgh Penguins....).

It was a pretty sweet game. The first period was a little lackluster, but the second and third were more exciting. In the end, a late goal by Calgary's Dion Phaneuf (in the news recently due to the fact that he's dating an actress who was referred to as "sloppy seconds" by controversial and jerky player, Sean Avery) sealed the win for Calgary with a score of 3-2.

I can't wait for playoffs in the spring, Go Flames!

Dinner at Kat's

January 13, 2009

On Monday night, Katharine hosted the ladies (Gail, Sue Hee, JoJo, Dana and I, Wendy showed up a little later) for dinner at her house. She whipped up a sweet chicken apple sausage manicotti, garlic bread, and a pretty kick-ass salad. It was great to catch up with the ladies and check out Kat's newly redone double-pane windows (homeowner speak, still getting used to the fact that I'm so interested in this stuff now!).



For dessert, she made home-made ice cream cookie sandwiches! Yum!
Thanks for the fantastic dinner, Kat!

Benedetta is in Town!

January 11, 2009

The weather was amazing this weekend, with a record January heat wave hitting the bay area (yay for the city, boo for the mountains!). Will was off on another trip to the east coast (this time to Boston for a couple days), so I was left to keep myself busy on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, Gail and I did a great 6-mile run along the Embarcadero, a great start to the day. My girlfriend, Benedetta, came into town from Sacramento for the day, she's in the country for a couple weeks from Italy for work. We met up with Key for a lovely brunch at Foreign Cinema. The weather was perfect to enjoy their outdoor courtyard seating.

We shared a couple plates at the start of brunch from the "Weekend Picnic" section of the brunch menu.
Carpaccio with horseradish sauce, pommes frites, Manchego, fried capers. The horseradish sauce was so delish...
Foreign Cinema's makes house-made organic fruit "Pop Tarts" in two flavors, and we had to try them both (kumquat and carmelized apple). They were both delicious, however, I liked pastry better on the kumquat, and the filling better on the carmelized apple. I had the poached eggs with Morrocan duck, frisee salad and endive. The perfect balance between the perfectly cooked duck breast with eggs and a light touch of greens.

We had a lovely early afternoon at brunch, enjoying the weather and the insanely strong coffee after for dessert. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the Mission and Union Square.

The obligatory dashboard picture (a tradition with Benedetta and her family):
Great to see you Betta!