TX->CA->TX

This past weekend Kamran and I made our way to San Francisco and had quite a good time exploring the city and the neat restaurants, parks, and shops within.  Oh yeah, and hills.  Can’t forget the hills.  On the first night of our stay we went to a great restaurant per the recommendation of some friends, and it did not disappoint.  E&O Trading Co. is the name, and it was a delicious fusion of Asian cuisines.  Plus, the decor and lighting together made for a great atmosphere.  Definitely go if you are in town.

On Saturday, we went down to the Embarcadero and ran towards the Golden Gate bridge.  At just about eight miles we made it to the end of the path and the base of the bridge.  Even with the clouds and a bit of mist spitting at us along the way, it was quite a view and a welcome temperature change to say the least.  We were some of the only people not wearing pants or tights and long sleeves.  Knowing that we would be biking across the bridge later that day made me even more excited as we ran back to our hotel.

Union Square, day 1

After a Starbucks stop and a shower we made our way to La Boulange, a very yummy little French restaurant with some of the best oatmeal in the world (I know, who orders oatmeal at a French restaurant right?  But it is sooo good!) and some very cute tables outside along the street.  Once fueled properly, we picked up our bike rentals and began our 14 mile bike ride to Sausalito.  On the way we stopped at the best farmer’s market ever and I got us some peaches for snacks along the way.  If I were alone, I would have bought a whole backpack full of fresh fruit, however I knew Kamran would not let that happen as he was carrying the backpack : ) so I kept it moving.  At one point we made it up a large hill only to take a wrong turn and have to back track, which thankfully was our only snafu throughout the ride (if you don’t count me hitting my knee on the bike and having a five-year-old style tantrum).

Overlooking San Fran from the De Young Museum

What a view

Riding over the Golden Gate bridge was definitely a worthwhile experience.  Because we are the amazing athletes that  we are, we were able to bike past all of the slow tourists who were exercising for about the third time this year while attempting to cross the bridge.  We were flying man!  The only people who passed us were some “real” cyclists which was fine because they knew how to maneuver without issue.  I even saw a guy with a Wisconsin cycling jersey, sweet! Once we rounded the corner past the bridge to go down  a giant hill to Sausalito, we decided to take a picture at a pretty spot in the middle of a steep decline.  Being the weakling that I am, I had trouble overpowering my bike’s gravitational pull, so when I began getting off it kept moving a bit.  This is when Asia’s knee met Mr. Bike’s storage rack and exhaustion and hunger culminated in a sort of cathartic moment of tears and baby whines.  Not my best moment, but in my defense it hurt sooo bad!  Wahhh.  I had visions of me walking my bike the remaining two miles and I did not like that idea.  A few hugs and pictures later and I was on the mend.  Though it hurt for about two days, I am not forever crippled, so don’t worry everyone.

Top of a BIG hill...realizing biking is not our passion

Nearing the bridge!

Mmm what a meal we had in Sausalito!  Tomato red pepper soup, salad, and seafood risotto.  Warm, full bellies made us happy and sleepy.  We had some time before our ferry left, so we walked up and down the streets and looked in some interesting shops.  Definitely a place to drop some serious coin if you’re into jewelry, art, and ICE CREAM!  Unfortunately, we had had our fill at lunch and couldn’t eek out some space for some scream scream.  Oh well, we will save room next time.  We loaded our bikes onto the ferry and  had a nice little ride back to the city.

Must learn to make this at home

For our last dinner in town we decided to take the streetcar up to the Castro District and walk around until something caught our eye.  There was no shortage of yummy places to pop into, so it was not long before we came upon one that fit the bill.  We ended up Bisou Bistro, a modern yet comfortable French bistro one level looking down upon the ground level.  Our spot was right above the main room, so it made for a cool view of the place.  No time was wasted in ordering one of our favorites, ahi tuna.  This time though it had quite a spin.  It was ahi tuna on a bed of caviar with a vegetable mix on top and a soft-boiled egg.  Once the yolk was split the tuna and caviar soaked up all of its goodness.  Mmm.  It was divine.  Kamran went for his standby, lamb, and I got a vegetable dish.  Both were amazing!  The real star of this meal came at the very end when we decided to try the desert sampler rather than picking one.  In our minds this meant a tiny bite of four different treats.  Boy were we wrong.  We ended up with four deserts that were each big enough for us to share with a beautiful piece of pulled sugar floating from the base over the top of the treats.  They were all very good and very pretty, but we just didn’t have it in us to finish them all.  And in typical Asia fashion, I ended up spilling on myself in the process of moving the giant platter as well as accidentally breaking the sugar piece from the base.  I’d almost made it through the meal without a mishap.  Well, I will keep trying ; )

This was quite the stunner, all heads turned as it was delivered

This was all his idea

Clearly, we did a lot of good eating while in San Fran, but I’d say the coolest part about the city is that in the process of simply walking to a restaurant or shop you get to see so many neat buildings, streetcars and trolleys, people, and giant hills.  Definitely my kind of place.  Of course, I was missing my puppy and so we decided that we would not stay indefinitely.

Here is my very short list of things you shouldn’t miss (there are tons more):

• De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park
• Embarcadero, especially Saturday mornings for the amazing farmer’s market!
• Riding a trolley or cable car
• Walking up a gigantic hill or two (and back down of course)
• Sausalito for a meal (Poggio Trattoria), window shopping (real shopping if you are loaded) and ice cream
• Union Square for a chill atmosphere, people watching, and an espresso
• Nike Town, I have to include this just to keep my Nike loving reputation alive…but really, they had Nike swooshes for door handles and elevator buttons, way cool

Random Photos…

GQ pose

awkward pic #1

I found a penguin!

Mr. Penguin was quite cordial