Category Archives: Travel

San Francisco and the DNC

August 25, 2008 – 8:53 PM

Did you happen to watch the first night of the Democratic National Convention? I’m not super interested in politics, and even less interested in discussing them, but — wow. Since when did the DNC become as effective a tear-jerker as a chick flick? I was teary when Jimmy Carter was interviewed. I was teary during the Ted Kennedy tribute video (and when Maria Shriver was teary). I was teary during the Michelle Obama video, her brother Craig’s introduction, and I outright bawled when Michelle Obama gave her speech. What an awesome woman! Anyway, whatever your political leanings, the Dems put on a great show. Afterward, a commentator said he felt Michelle Obama missed an opportunity — this was her chance to describe what Barack was like at home, and what he was like as a regular guy. Frankly, I don’t really care. I mean, I’m happy that he seems to be a decent guy, but I’m not going to be living with him. I’m more interested in what his plans are for the country, his approach to solving problems and his ability to execute. But enough about politics — on to the important stuff: food!

So I spent the weekend in San Francisco, and WOW and double wow! Let me just begin by telling you how depressing it is to have to leave a place where the food court fare is of equal or higher quality than the priciest restaurants in San Diego. I went to the food court at the Westfield in Union Square (I think they call it “Restaurants under the dome” or something like that, but it’s really a food court). I cannot even begin to describe how awesome it was. I don’t even like to use the word awesome. But here are a few pictures. Look closely. Remember, this is a food court at a mall.

My husband got a delicious moules meuniere and the kids and I had Thai food. Speaking of Thai food, we also stumbled upon King of Thai Noodle House, in Union Square at Powell and O’Farrell. It’s been a long time since I’ve had good Thai, so I was really really excited to have extraordinary Thai. I had the Pad See Ew, and it was exactly what I wanted, cooked to perfection. It’s a no-nonsense kind of place — like the good Chinese restaurants with the bad decor — but you know it’s good if it’s packed with Chinese people. Anyway, this was the best Thai I’ve had in a looong time. King of Thai indeed! Apparently it is also the first Thai restaurant in San Francisco. That might just be restaurant propaganda though.

We also went to Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission District for the most amazing pizza (I’ve lived in NYC and had NY pizza; Chicago with Chicago pizza and New Haven with Sally’s and Pepe’s — but I think this is the best pie ever). I had a prosciutto and arugula pizza which defied expectations. It inspired me to make a potato salad at home with argulua — potatoes, extra virgin olive oil, fried bread crumbs and arugula — yum!

Another highlight was Katana-Ya, a Japanese restaurant on Geary. The chef there is a ramen master — apparently real ramen requires years of training to produce the ultimate ramen noodle — and it didn’t disappoint. I had the ramen in miso soup with the fried chicken pieces and wanted more.

Ok, back to the Mission District. We wolfed down an ice cream while we were there, at the Bi-Rite Creamery, a wonderful place where you get two scoops of ice cream when you order a single. The flavors are as funky as the Mission District, with Balsamic Strawberry and Salted Caramel being my favorite. And the ice cream is creamy. There’s a long line.

You will be shocked to discover that with all this eating and my sedentary lifestyle I am very out of shape. I am so out of shape that my abs and thighs hurt after walking around the city in order to eat.

I also hit the only place in the world where the dollar isn’t weak , H&M;. I went to Zara as well, where I scored a trench for $25! One of the world’s greatest mysteries is why every city doesn’t have an H&M; and Zara.

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Food Popular Travel

All food, all the time

April 30, 2008 – 5:36 PM

I just got back from a business trip to Colombia. You will be pleased to know that because of the constant attention of four bodyguards, a bullet-proof car, and an approximate net worth of $50, I was not kidnapped. I was, however, fed, gargantuan proportions of food, approximately six times a day, with an average of four desserts per sitting (I do not exaggerate). To the right you can see a photo of what was an appetizer…that came before the appetizer that came before the main courses followed by the four desserts. By the end of the trip, I was simply too fat to be kidnapped — no kidnapper could possibly afford to keep me alive given my new nutritional requirements. One of my most enjoyable experiences included shopping for handbags at a mall while accompanied by bodyguards. I believe the appropriate word for that is “weird”.

While we were there we had lots of delicious local fruits and vegetables, which were purportedly pesticide-free. They also appeared not to be genetic mutants, which was a nice change. When I got back a few friends and I got together, and the Oprah-watchers among us brought up a recipe for a pesticide cleanser. See here for the recipe. Apparently this is for people who don’t want to be slowly killed by pesticides, yet are also unwilling to pay for organic fruit (I sometimes fall into this camp). I was concerned that the vinegar would make the fruit taste disgusting, but a friend of mine tested it and said it was just fine…the only downer was that she had to plan 10 minutes ahead before serving fruit.

So, spray away! I plan to make the concoction sometime in the near future (you can get the grapefruit seed extract from health food stores and the usual suspects). If you make it, let me know how it goes! Then again, do you really want to live into your hundreds?

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Parenting Travel

The beach

October 17, 2007 – 11:48 PM

This is a photo I took of my daughter while we were at the beach this week. In preparation for the upcoming photo shoot I’ve been gauging the kids’ behavior in each environment. The ocean — beautiful, vast, humbling, soothing…yeah, the kids still hate it. The only way I was able to bribe them to sit on the beach with me was to bring boxes of salty snacks and juice boxes that a good mom wouldn’t buy. So I’m leaning toward park pictures now — I’d prefer not to end up with a photo essay entitled “The day we spent a ton of money hiring a professional photographer so we could have pictures of crying and whining and look more dysfunctional than usual”. I keep telling the kids that they’re going to be ostracized in California for not liking the beach.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine, who apparently spends quite a bit of time hanging out at a publishing company, recruited my kids to be photographed for a children’s book. My 4-year-old liked it. A lot. I’m worried she could easily be led down the Britney Spears path. My 2-year-old, on the other hand, frowned harder whenever they told her to smile. She is tending toward the opposite path. She has a real talent for chugging milk, so it’d be a serious loss to the college fraternity party scene if she ends up becoming a recluse.

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Parenting Travel

Hip Hop + Disneyland = Bad Idea

October 11, 2007 – 9:58 PM

So I did end up taking a day off from blogging after my first hip hop class, because literally every part of my body hurt. It wasn’t the normal kind of exercise soreness — it was the type of soreness caused by extreme stress on muscles that have never before ever been used. I am not genetically predisposed to do hip hop. I probably don’t even have the muscles that are required to do it successfully. But my neck — after an hour of trying to alternate between snake-like and robot-like moves — was killing me the next day. Only, not right away.

You see, long ago, in a galaxy far away, before I had even made hip hop plans, I decided that the best time to take the kids to Disneyland would be 1) off-season, and 2) in the middle of the week. I mean, who can take their kids to Disneyland on a Wednesday in October? Apparently, millions of people. By the time I got there the lot was packed. And here is important Disney tip #1: do not bring a large double- jog stroller that does not fold up. Contrary to my assumption that a place like Disney would have wild accommodations for handicapped people and people with children (people handicapped by children?), the trams that take you from the parking lot to the theme park only have two rows that accommodate said passengers. So on the way in, I waited til 6 trams passed before I could get onto one that had space for me. On the way back, it was worse — it took me an hour to get on a tram because handicapped people had first priority — so every time I was at the front of the line, a handicapped person would appear and get ushered on. The “handicapped by children” people are screwed.

So I finally got to the theme park, at which point important Disney tip #2 kicks in: do not go to Disneyland after your first hip hop class because the stiffness will kick in at exactly 10 AM when Disneyland opens and you realize you have 12 hours ahead of you pushing 60 pounds of people around a giant theme park. I was feeling totally fine until 10 AM, when I suddenly became an octagenarian and groaned my way around the park.

As luck would have it, I then stumbled upon important Disney tip #3: check that there isn’t anything wrong with your stroller before leaving the parking lot. Yup, my stroller broke. I was 5 minutes into Fantasyland and I groaned my way down to the ground to assess the damage. Should I abandon the stroller and attempt to walk the kids around? Should I scream for help? After about 15 minutes of sheer determination I was miraculously able, with my hands as my only tools, repair the stroller. I will now fast-forward past all the whining, crying and saying that they have to pee after finally getting to the front of a long line, to the part where my girls met Ariel the Little Mermaid. My 2-year-old rightfully asked, “Why do you still have fins?” (She’s right — Ariel’s supposed to be a human now.) We also stood in line for over an hour to meet some other princesses, and they turned out to be the B-list (Belle, Pocahontas and Jasmine). Bummed out by this, my 2-year-old asked Jasmine where Cinderella was. I’m sure Jasmine was annoyed. I bet she hates those A-list princesses.

Anyway, add to that the traffic on the way back (add an extra hour on for that, actually) and I will summarize that I never want to do that again anytime soon.

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