heading out of town again

It’s off to Sacramento this morning.  Meetings today and tomorrow.  And it’s been pouring rain all night.

But here, have a reminder that Olive is a lovely little girl!

San Francisco weekend, the non-dining blog entry

It was a merry Christmas for Conrad this past weekend - as we get older, we need fewer things and instead value experiences, and so I gifted him with a weekend escape to San Francisco.  And there was a caveat:  although we know people in the city and in the Bay Area, this would be just me and him.  No connecting with others.  No work trip bringing us there and taking us away from enjoying a city.  Just the two of us and a few days out of town.  So it was, then, that last Friday we boarded a plane

at Burbank Airport and dozed for at least part of the flight north over California scenery

- hey, that's Monterey and Carmel! -

and arrived in the Bay Area mid/late-afternoon.

It had been seven years since last I was in SF, from what I can tell, a trip with Courtney and Robert in that instance.  It's been over twenty years since the first time I went to San Francisco with Conrad.  It's not a city that holds a special place in our hearts per se - ask me where my least favourite conference was, and I will readily tell you ALA Annual in SF in 2015 was it.  But it's not far from us, it's a different city and vibe, and I wanted us to stay at a hotel that years ago I treated Conrad to:  the InterContinental Mark Hopkins up on Nob Hill. 

A junior suite for us,

a nice enough room despite being immediately adjacent to the elevators.  We got to the hotel in good time, checked in, set out bags down, and headed up to The Top of the Mark on the 19th floor.  Beating the crowds there, we got a window table with some decent views

and had a cocktail each

as the sun went down.  Back to the room, unpacking, changing, and on to dinner!

I'll cover that dinner and other meals in a separate blog post.  We ate so very well in San Francisco, and I'd like to highlight that.  So, let's skip to Saturday morning and the start of a busy day on foot.

I will throw in our "breakfast" which was really a stop for coffee and a pastry each at The Coffee Movement,

a place that I think Conrad may have spotted on a map and picked out for us to stop at.  And we're glad we did.  It felt Italian, standing out at a counter on the sidewalk, sipping lattes and eating sweet pastries.  A fine morning for it - fine weather all weekend, in fact.  We wandered off from there, no real destination in mind.  It was still fairly early out, and not much traffic around.  I dragged Conrad up Lombard Street, the so-called crookedest street in the US. 

Like other tourists (not too many at that hour), we took photos.  We stopped a few times to get our bearings while on our amble,

but we ventured on,

ultimately finding ourselves enjoying a second latte each sitting at a table outside a Souvenir Coffee location. 

Fully (de)caffeinated, we headed back to the hotel for a morning nap before showering, dressing, and starting on the afternoon portion of the day.

It was lunchtime when we ventured out, and we wandered a bit up and down in Chinatown

before finally and quickly consulting a website to find somewhere promising for a meal.  From there, we headed into North Beach

with the aim of visiting the Cartoon Art Museum.  I remember seeing it in 1996, but I swear it was a different location.  It's not a big museum, and I sort of wish they had divided the gallery spaces among fewer exhibitions presented in even greater detail, but I did like the Sunday Funnies display,

and I'm delighted such a museum exists.

By this point, the two of us - old men that we are - were a little pooped.  We joined the queue at the nearby terminus for the cable cars, and after something of a wait, we were back up Nob Hill and ready to rest under dinner.

Sunday.  Our last full day in San Francisco.  We walked a bunch again, but not quite as much as the day before by a hair.  Certainly we did more downhill and relied on rides back up again!  Our afternoon adventure took us to ICA SF,

another little museum in a terrific space that had previously been a bank vault.  Loved the space. 

Some of the artwork was pretty cool, too,

though as with all contemporary art, there were things that I just didn't get or appreciate.  The Kathleen Ryan pieces were pretty awesome, though.

From there it was a stop for coffee and pastries at Delah Coffee, a nice treat,

then on to walk through the Ferry Building.  Bustling down that way.  What I really liked, though, was stopping through the Hyatt Regency nearby.  Very cool architecture and decor. 

I'd love to have a conference there!  And then it was, once again, a cable car ride up Nob Hill. 

We deserved it.  Oh, we walked to dinner, but that was pretty much only downhill, manageable.  But our time as tourists on foot in SF was pretty much over otherwise, save for a short walk back to Souvenir Coffee the next day for our morning latte and bite!

Next up, the meals, which - again - worth talking about in their own entry.

a perfect day for it, but for…

… my schedule and needing to get in to work by a certain time.  Darn it.  But yes, the thing about outdoor pools in SoCal and being a ginger is that I have to cap how long I swim else I might burn.  Today?  Overcast, threatening rain.  My endurance was alright, too.  I could have stayed in longer.

But no, work calls, alas.

checking in before flying home

I mean, not literally checking in with the airline - we’re in a United Club here, so clearly we did check in.  Boarding in a hour.  A fine weekend in SF behind us, well, almost.  I will post more when I am on laptop, especially about the terrific dining we did.  For now, though, a photo or two and a hello on a Monday morning!

hello from SF!

Howdy!  A quick howdy at that.  I’ll blog more from my laptop when I get home.  For now, hey!  Look!  San Francisco!

first weekend in March

By the time this goes live, I'll be enjoying the second weekend of March, in San Francisco.  So that means that this is grossly overdue.  Ah well.  Better late than something something.  I love cliches!  😜

Some of last weekend will be rinse and repeat.  Friday night sitting at an end of the bar

at Maestro, enjoying cocktails

(sorry, Conrad, but I couldn't resist this photo of you and a margarita!)

and a light meal of queso fundido

and fried quesadillas. 

Cheese was our watchword that night, it seems.  Van didn't join us, but we had his company for a lot of the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning? 

Amara Cafe and our usual favourites. 

Always welcome!  I headed out for a haircut

and errands after breakfast, and it was a moderately productive day.

Saturday night was a nice evening. 

We met up with Heath and Nicole for dinner in DTLA.  In among the taller buildings,

a film shoot going on a block away,

we dined at Settecento, a new restaurant in a space on one end of the central LAPL building.  It was mild enough to sit outside with only a little assistance from a heater.  The company was great - Heath and Nicole are such lovely people, and it's been good getting to know them since, in a sense, they are Van's family.  The restaurant was fine.  I liked the food (I only got a shot of my appetizer, a deep-fried egg on spinach with a Parmesan cream),

but it needs a little more oomph and refinement, I think.  Service was friendly enough, but the gaps in service were noticeable.  No matter.  We had a nice time with Heath and Nicole, and the restaurant is fairly new and deserves time to find its footing more solidly and a return visit then.

Sunday came, and it was over to Van's that evening.  The Oscars, y'all, Gay Superbowl!  I joke, but I do like seeing the dresses.  I made us some oven-braised chicken in a tomatillo sauce

and a batch of perhaps the best biscuits I have ever made. 

I was pleased with those.  For dessert I had put together a walnut gateau breton

and served it with some cheese.  We snacked, we cocktailed, we ate dinner, we watched the spectacle on television.  Olive got some early attention and otherwise only paid us heed when we ate. 

It was a nice evening all in all.

Alright, I am surely in SF and at our hotel now, soon heading for a first dinner in the city.  Happy second weekend!