Ice Ice Baby

Went ice skating today with Becky and it was SO amazing.  I guess after skating so much throughout my life, I just need my fix from time to time.  Sometimes I get bored of walking and really wish I could just throw on a pair of skates.  It feels so good to glide and jump and spin around, I love it so much.  Even though I never really got that great at it, it's become such a big part of my life, and I'm glad I haven't lost it all yet.

Hugs and hielo [need to start practicing my Spanish!],
Angela

Haight on me, haters

Day 8 | Wednesday

Breakfast at Squat & Gobble in the Haight with Victor and Albert. I had the Mamma Mia crepe, but the whole menu looked delicious!


Then we headed to the California Academy for Sciences. It's the greenest building on the West coast! or something like that...


That night we stayed over at USF with Albert. It was a nice change of pace I suppose. It was a fun night.


Day 9 | Thursday

Lunch with Monica! We went to Katana-ya for Ramen, and it was yummalicious.


Also a pit-stop at Cako for a delish raspberry lemon cupcake!


More shopping in downtown, then we headed to Alamo Square to see the 'painted ladies' which are 4 authentic Victorian houses, often featured in postcards.


Then we bussed over to the Haight, which is the center of the hippie revolution by the way, to explore the little shops and also a pitstop at Escape from New York for some 'U Say Potato' Pizza!


Evening at grandma's house. Fried Rice!

Day 10 | Friday





Went to In-n-Out Burger and had a hamburger & animal fries. Just as good as I had expected. The bun is super crispy which I like a lot! Animal fries are okay. I'm not a saucy fries kinda gal.



Then Ghiradelli Square for sundaes! We had the Cable Car, aka. rocky road. BEST rocky road ice cream I've ever had!


Then we rode the cable cars back to downtown, soooo much fun. So relaxing, I was just standing on the side, with the wind blowing against my face, just cruising down the hill, watching the city go by, and I felt so great!


Then we took a street car to Castro, home of the LGBT movement. Also a cool area to poke around.


Finally, after dinner at dad's side grandma's house (we had bun riu which is a seafood stew that is really intense to make and very yummy) we hurried over to the CalTrain station where I took an 8:40 train to Santa Clara and met up with Izzy. We immediately headed over to a Beatles party. It was pretty fun. Some marshmallow roasting and toasting.


Day 11 | Saturday

Alas, I bid farewell to SF. In the morning, Nghia picks me up to grab my last supper, Viet food, always good. Then I'm off to San Jose airport.

Overall a wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable week on the West coast. I am a little sad to be back in hot and (uncharacteristically) humid Texas.

Hugs and hella hippies,
Angela

Sunny days, rainy days, and beautiful Berkeley days

Day 5: Sun


After a short stint at Breakfast at Tiffany's (where I discovered cinnamon apple Smucker's jam. not too shabby), we spent the majority of our day hiking on the Sawyer Camp Trail outside of SF. It was very peaceful, and a bit windy at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of beautiful greenery to distract from the strenuousness of a 10 mile hike. After, we had dinner at her other grandmother's house. More delicious Chinese food to fill my tummy.

Day 6: Rain



Rainy rainy day, means wet shoes and less-crowded streets. We started in downtown, stopping in at Boudin for clam chowder and turkey avocado sandwiches. Then a little exploring in Chinatown. We stopped in her dad's office for a bit, then scurried off to the Ferry Building, which is a sort of mini-Chelsea market. Several specialty food shops, cheese shops, chocolate/confectionary shops, a bread shop, and a few seemingly delicious restaurants. Then, I spent an hour-ish at the Intrax building, to say hello to all the coordinators/administrators face to face. Then after being lost, due to leaving my phone at home, we retraced our steps through Chinatown, stopping in at the man-to shop for a delish bite, and also at a madhouse grocery store to buy some mangos, and briefly paid homage to Yvette's middle school before quickly hurrying off to dinner at grandma's house (mom's side). I will never tire of a good, delicious home-cooked Chinese meal.

Day 7: Beautiful Berkeley, Fattiness, and Food

Today was the most beautiful weather and the most food I've experienced here so far. Sunny and a little breezy, just cool enough for a light cardigan, but never so hot that you're sweating. After a slow start in the morning, we headed down to the Mission to attack the triple threat burrito at Papalote's Mexican Grill ($20, as featured in Bobby Flay's throwdown). Definitely delicious shrimp, chicken, and steak, and splitting the burrito in half was the perfect portion, for feeling full and not sick.





We continued down Valencia to Anthony's cookies, where delicious cookies are born. Lots of flavors, and amazing cookie consistency, crispy but soft.

Then we BARTed to Downtown Berkeley, where the weather was even warmer. Next stop: Cheeseboard. Definitely pizza to remember. Good flavor, and one of the most satisfying thin crust pizza crusts of all time. Also, the whole operation is employee-owned, so the vibe is pretty unique, relaxed and dignified, in a way.


Then we met up with Aileen, long lost friend of the nerd camp days. Always lovely to catch up, I missed that girl!

Throughout the day we exercised our notorious gelato-sampling routine. Some of the fun flavors were: huckleberry white grape (Xanath ice cream- the Mission), avocado (Naia gelato- Berkeley), and brown sugar and banana dulce de leche (Lush gelato- Berkeley)

After wandering up and down Telegraph, swiping more samples from Yogurtland, shopping, and rekindling other long-lost friendships, we finally met up with Nghia and Scott. A short stop at Top Dog, which has way more hot dog flavors than I can handle.


Then we drove up to the Lawrence Laboratory, I think. Either way, spectacular view.


Now, for Zachary's--my first deepdish experience, ever! Had the mushroom & spinach and also the Zachary's special. I was partial to the mushroom & spinach. There was sooo much sauce! Can't say deepdish is my favorite, but it certainly wasn't bad.


Then, we headed to Fenton's Creamery, where I met my match. The gigantic Fenton's challenge sundae...


I went strong for the first two minutes. At six minutes, I was starting to feel full. Then, it slowly became more and more excruciating and in the end I basically gave up, I could feel my stomach rejecting the ice cream...besides, after a full day of eating, I certainly was in no shape to tackle this beast. The end was not pretty. My stomach has never been so impregnated by food, and I was shaking and shivering, maybe from the cold, or just from the discomfort. The final verdict: failure, but a good try, all things considered :) Had to spend a little time in the bathroom to spit up the ice cream that wasn't going down. (too much info? but it's the truth).

We drove back up to Lawrence Laboratory, for a night-time view of the city. Again, beautiful.

Good night San Francisco. Thank you for your sundrops, your rainrays, your delicious cityscapes and breathtaking food.

Hugs and food babies,
Angela

One is silver and the other’s gold

Day 4

Woke up early this morning for yoga and hula (no hoops) class at 24 hour fitness. Hula class was a little intense. Lots of sweat and by the end, I couldn't really feel my hips anymore.

Anyway, we went off to lunch at some Thai restaurant. Lots of spicy food (including tom yum soup, Yvette's mom's fave) and pad thai and my first thai iced tea! Definitely approve, it was super yum.

Lots of driving today, we hit basically all the major tourist spots in the city.

The Golden Gate Bridge


An Expensive Beautiful Neighborhood

Lombard Street

The curviest street in the world!




Coit Tower


Commissioned by some lady. Lots of frescoes inside painted by local artists. And of course a really great view:


Then we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Fish delish.

Hugs and hula hoops,
Angela :)

Little boxes on the hillside

I'm in San Francisco for the week! Such a unique and awesome city, can't wait to see what the next few days has in store for me. Anywho...a recap of things thus far:

Day 1

We arrived at SFO around 2:00pm. Virgin Airlines was pretty awesome, loved the plastic-y spaceship-y futuristic design and the fun safety video. Also, the individual touch-screen kiosks with music/tv/games/food ordering capability were awesome. Very forward thinking, other airlines need to catch up!

The first thing I said when I got out of the airport was, "Wow, look it's a mountain!" The first of many wowed moments as my eyes gradually grew accustomed to the sight of hills and hills and hills. Yvette's dad picked us up and we headed to city hall to get passports renewed. Pit stop at a bao shop to grab a snack, we got pork sung bao and it was quite tasty. City hall was very...stately. The atrium was nice, as well as the random little exhibits on either side.


Afterward we were dropped off at Yvette's grandmother's house for a disturbing episode of Tyra, a few clips of Family Feud and Arthur, and a wonderfully delicious meal of scrambled eggs with shrimp, cooked vegetables, chicken, lotus root with fishcakes, and the best salad in the world (aka. mango, strawberry, avocado, celery, and cucumber in vinegar dressing).

Day 2

Woke up at 10:12am by myself (which is late considering it's 1:12pm New York time...). Easy start to the day, we walked/bussed to the area near Yvette's high school. Had some delicious pho and banh mi and also some three-colored coconut drink stuff (coconut milk, some green jelly, and red beans..not sure exactly what it was, but it was quite tasty).

Then, we proceeded to Jolie's where I got my first ever pedicure. It was so nice to just sit and read The Joy Luck Club, which has been sitting on my shelf for approximately 8 months. The whole thing was amazing. Warm soak, some sort of scrub, lotioning, nail clipping, cuticle trim, buffering, and beautiful toenails.


On to a nice home-cooked meal at grandma's house. Mee fun, braised pork belly, and congee. Mango for dessert! Yummm

That evening we went for a walk at John McLaren Park. A little sketchy? A little rigorous at times...overall a good way to walk off a very filling dinner.





Day 3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YVETTE!!!! = my line of the day. to be expressed in various intervals and volumes, illiciting various magnitudes of annoyance and fright :)

My day began with an egg puff from Quicklys. We walked to Yvette's other grandmother's house to say hello, which really meant we were reeled into staying for bay gu (purely phonetic spelling). Basically rice paper wrap with pork seasoned with rice powder and garlic and lettuce, dipped into a mix of fish sauce, pickled carrots, and chili garlic sauce. aka. too much deliciousness for me to resist...

We spent the day in downtown, shopping. shopping. shopping. got shoes and swimsuit and necklaces and shoes. and a cream puff for beard papa. pretty delish. Can't say I've ever had a bad cream puff in my life, but that one was definitely a good one.

Then we went to Le Charm for dinner. ate a lot of bread. also had some calamari and mussel in delicious white wine sauce. had salmon for my entree with potatoes. All in all a delicious meal.


After dinner we took a short detour to Treasure Island, and I caught a snapshot of the city at night.


I've brought my heart to San Francisco...now let's see if I leave it here :)

Hugs and hipsters,
Angela :)