San Francisco / Mountain View / Oakland

Once I knew the City very well, spent my attic days there, while others were being a lost generation in Paris, I fledged in San Francisco, climbed its hills. slept in its parks, worked on its docks, marched and shouted in its revolts~ It had been good to me in the days of my poverty and it did not resent my temporary solvency.
- John Steinbeck

When I graduated from Pitzer College in May of 1991, I loaded up my car and moved to San Francisco. I didn't have a job, and was not quite sure what I was going to do with my liberal arts degree, but a friend's parents had an empty house in Presido Heights where we could crash in until we found a place. For the next five years I lived in this wonderful city - a terrific place to be a poor slacker in the pre-dot-com era. I made lattes, decorated cakes, worked as the assistant to the Organist at Grace Cathedral, and temped in law firms. Mostly I rode my bike around town, hung out in cafes, read left-wing literature and went to rock clubs. Ah, those were the days...

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This is Cole Valley, one of the neighborhoods where I lived. Tucked between Golden Gate Park and Haight-Ashbury, it is a nice quiet corner of the city. My apartment was on the hillside on the right. You can just see the Golden Gate Bridge through the fog in the distance...

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In May I went back to San Francisco, visited some of my old haunts, ate VERY well, then headed south to Mountain View in the heart of Silicon Valley to stay with some friends and meet their boys. I also caught an Oakland A's baseball game while I was in town. It was a lovely visit!

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My friend Kateri drove down from Sacramento to pick me up at the airport and spend my first day in the city with me. Thanks Kateri!

She is just hanging on in the photo above - the wind was really blowing!

Kateri was one of my students nine years ago when I taught High-School in Pleasanton, California. I was her AP Government teacher, and we have been friends ever since. She now works for an insurance company near Sacramento. Apparently all the liberal propaganda I tried to fill her head with didn't work...

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Soon after arriving, we headed for one of my favorite spots - Peasant Pies in the Noe Valley neighborhood between the Castro and the Mission. I used to go here all the time when I lived in the city, and I was thrilled to see that they are still thriving. I was also touched that Ali remembered me after so many years. Here is Ali showing off today's specials:

Ali and his partner Gerard make peasant pies - savory treats that originated in the South of France as a quick fisherman's meal. Kateri and I sampled the modern San Francisco versions - Curried Potato Yam, Zucchini Mushroom and Cheese, Chicken Potato, and a Beef and Vegi. If you are in San Francisco, pay Ali a visit - or, find their product in Bay Area Whole Foods Stores. Website here: http://www.peasantpies.com/index.html

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After a sustaining meal of at Peasant Pies, we headed for Ocean Beach at the edge of Golden Gate Park.

The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco.
- Mark Twain

The fog was in, the wind was blowing, and it was COLD. I loved it! (Kateri was less enthusiastic...)

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After a frigid walk on the beach and an afternoon hanging out in my favorite funky cafe in the Outer Richmond neighborhood, we made our way to the Marina District. Some of you might remember the vivid images of crushed and burning houses after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake - as you can see, the neighborhood has recovered well since that terrible day.

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San Francisco is one of the best places to eat in the world, and since we were there for only one day, I wanted to have a memorable dinner. We were able to get a reservation at one of the city's best - The Plumpjack Cafe in the Marina - and were not disappointed. http://www.plumpjack.com/cafe_main.html

Amuse Bouche anyone?

Our meal was sublime - we shared:

First

Veal Sweetbread Dumplings
Snails & Spring Onion, Lettuce Sauce with Flavors of Spring Garlic & Licorice

Canneloni of Big Eye Tuna
Raw Conch & Radish, Mortared Shiso with Sesame & White Soy

Second

Pacific Halibut
Octopus & Ramps with Artichoke Puree, Preserved Meyer Lemon

Poached Liberty White Pekin Duck Breast
Braised Leg & Cracked Green Almond with Seascape Strawberries, Foie Gras au Lait

Third

Pistaccio and Olive Oil Ganache
Green Apple Sorbet and Beet emulsion

The food and my dining companion alone were worth the flight west...

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We headed south to the Silicon Valley and stayed with my friends Dave and Bettina in Mountain View. When we woke up, Kateri and I breakfasted with little Hanik Weckerman Mohr.

Since food seems to be a theme on this trip, after a morning of playing with Hanik, we went to lunch at the University Avenue Cafe in Palo Alto. From the left - Dave, Bettina, little Jens (their younger son) Kateri and yours truly:

Jens is two and pretty darn cute...

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I got tickets to a Major League Baseball game in each city I was going to visit this spring, so the next day Dave and I headed across the bay to Oakland - home of the A's. McAfee Coluseum might not be as charming as many parks, but it is the place I went to my first baseball game ever as a little kid growing up in the suburbs to the east.

We had great seats, right on the third base line between the A's dugout and the bullpen, to see the mighty, mighty Oakland Athletics face the lowly Kansas City Royals...

McAfee is a little odd in that the bullpens are right on the field in foul territory. Good for the those of us who like to watch relievers warm up, but it must be distracting for the players...Lefty Joe Kennedy gets ready...

Our seats were in the part of the park where foul balls are pretty common, so I brought my glove just in case...I have see plenty of line drives go into the stands in our section on TV, so I was ready... I know, I know, those of you who are real baseball fans are thinking that only 12 year old kids bring their gloves to the ball park, but hey, I wanted to try and catch one!

I had my glove on all game and was ready for my big break after every single pitch. No luck. Then in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs I saw a cute little kid a few rows over that was all decked out in A's gear - too perfect of a photo op to miss:

Now isn't he adorable?

So, I go back to my seat, start to put my camera away, and crack! I look up and a smoking line drive is coming right at me! I realize that I put my glove on the seat next to me, then I realize that the ball is tracking right at my head! I had two choices:

1) try and catch the liner with my bare hand - high probability of breakage

or

2) duck!

I chose #2 and was just able to get my head down in time. The ball nailed me in the shoulder and bounced up behind us. Some other guy got the souvenir and I got a nice bruise on my left delt for my trouble. It could have been worse - if I had looked up a second later I would have gotten it right in the forehead... that damn kid...AND the A's lost to the Royals...Oh well, you can't win em all...

Next stop, Boulder, Colorado...