Remember Sarah? She’s finally getting married next month, so this past weekend, we surprised her with an awesome party, complete with hilarious spells to tear-jerking moments. Clad in bachelorette party favors, we roamed around downtown San Francisco for an awesome scavenger hunt, went Sonoma/Napa vinyard hopping in a fancy limo, and danced the night away at Infusion Lounge (with our fresh mani/pedicures). Pho was pretty much mandatory the next morning. Hope you had fun, Sarah!
Permalink to AFX Benefit Show
AFX Benefit Show
Two Sundays ago, Ryan and I went back to Berkeley to catch my sister’s dance performance on Upper Sproul. Various clubs were selling food and showcasing performances in order to fundraise for children in Ghana — not a bad idea. Ryan recorded most of AFX’s performance on his phone while I snapped away with my camera. Enjoy!
Permalink to A MADMEN-themed Apartment Birthday!
A MADMEN-themed Apartment Birthday!
The end of the month marks our one year anniversary living in our cozy Inner Sunset apartment, so we thought we’d throw a party before The Deep Clean. Helen wanted it to be MADMEN-themed (perfect excuse for girls to wear cute dresses and guys to show up in suits!), so we busted out the fake pearls and polka-dotted hosiery (is that even characteristic of the ’60s?). Or think Banana Republic. (Actually, I don’t know, I don’t watch TV, and I had to google image our own party theme.) I just know that I really appreciated the tie clips, tweed jackets, and newsboy caps (which probably aren’t particular to the ’60s either — but cute nonetheless). Somehow, Helen managed to find candy cigarettes and vintage posters/Madmen promo material to complete the ensemble! Carry along to the photos.
Permalink to Hong Kong from Above
Hong Kong from Above
People in Hong Kong love to “queue” in line for hours just for dim sum, afternoon tea, and particularly…any tourist attraction. One of the longest lines I’ve seen yet is the one to hop onto the historic peak tram; it winds around the entire block and tourists will stand in line for three hours+ just to experience the steep ride up top the top of Hong Kong. Pro-tip: Don’t be a groupie and do what everyone else does. If you walk up to the very front, you’ll realize that you can buy tickets to Madame Tussaud’s, which comes in a package with tram tickets! Pay a little extra, wait in a much shorter line, and see a bit extra at the peak!
Permalink to Tanning in our own backyard!
Tanning in our own backyard!
Contrary to what the name suggests, Inner Sunset almost never gets any sun in the summer; so when I came home to such welcoming warm weather, I messaged my roommates with such excitement and we all ended up basking underneath the sunlight, in our own backyard.
Permalink to Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival!
Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival!
My birthday weekend started at happy hour at Palomino’s on Friday and ended at Cioppino’s by the wharf Sunday night. In between, there was wine and cheese at Amelie’s (which by the way, was fantastic and now my new favorite place in SF), table service at the Mezzanine with SabastiAn, even a BBQ at our boss’s posh mansion tucked away in the Orinda hills. The best part? Walking from booth to booth sampling various chocolate concoctions at the Ghirardelli chocolate festival, before sitting down for more wine and cheese at Cellar360. Life is gastronomically fatastic… and the gym is in order — I promise.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes and presents!
Permalink to Labor Day weekend in Half Moon Bay
Labor Day weekend in Half Moon Bay
My dad was born on the night of an infamous flood in Taiwan, which is why I think he gravitates towards stormy beach weather. I remember beach trips in ski jackets and umbrellas… where we just stood there, facing the wind, rain, and waves — while my dad meditated and stared off into the blurred horizon. To be fair, it was really sunny in Fremont this past weekend (compared to San Francisco) and we didn’t predict Half Moon Bay to be so gloomy, but we still had an awesome time walking around the harbor, strolling along the beach, and warming up with the obligatory fish n’ chips, calamari, and chowder.
Permalink to Point Reyes Oysters and Cheese!
Point Reyes Oysters and Cheese!
Cheese in a barn
Working next to the Embarcadero means that our team heads over to the Ferry Building quite often for lunch. With all the options available, we still end up waiting in front of Cowgirl Creamery for a simple grilled cheese and cup of tomato soup — it never gets old. Last weekend, a group of us decided to escape the fog and head north to Point Reyes and meet at — you guessed it — The original Cowgirl Creamery, located in a humble barn with cute outdoor seating and such gorgeous weather!
My personal recommendations? The salmon bites and the ham&tam sandwich.
Permalink to A Great Start to Dine About Town!
A Great Start to Dine About Town!
In our apartment, Tuesday nights are lovingly dubbed “TND” for Tuesday Night Dinners huddled around the coffee table with The Voice playing on TV. This week, it was my turn to cook, so I prepared the one and only dish I’m decent at making: sushi.
Wondering where I got the ahi, salmon, and hamachi? Yum Yum Fish Market on 23rd and Irving — no joke about the name.
Wednesday, June 1, kicked off San Francisco’s 10th Annual Dine About Town event where over one hundred restaurants participate and offer special two-course prix fixe lunches for $17.95 and/or three-course dinners for $34.95. The foodie in me went a bit crazy and looked up every single restaurant on Yelp, eliminated any below 3.5 stars with less than 500 reviews or with 4 stars and <200 reviews (+ other metrics such as “Is this restaurant on OpenTable? Have we been here already?”), then ordered the decent restaurants into lists for Most Popular (1000+ reviews on Yelp), Best Deals ($$$$ on OpenTable), Closest to Work (for team lunches or crunch days), and The Remaining Contenders.
Day 1 of Dine About Town meant we went with the highest rated (and most popular) restaurant under the Best Deals list: Ruth’s Chris Steak House.
Having been to Ruth’s Chris (in Maui, actually), I thought the prix fixe menu was simply what we were paying for — a cheaper meal at a high end restaurant. The first course was a mixed greens salad (mainly arugula) with a few cherry tomatoes, some croutons, and literally, a splotch of balsamic dressing in the center — neither mixed in nor on the side. For the entree, I went with the petit filet with shrimp and a side of mashed potatoes. Decent, but smaller portions than usual. The dessert was a bit disappointing as it was just a chocolate cupcake and a custard topped with berries, nothing too special.
Day 2, Ryan chose Blowfish Sushi to Die For, since we’re huge on sushi and sashimi. On first impression, this place was more tacky than posh, considering there was a live DJ bumping Missy Elliott while anime was playing on the big screen behind the bar. However, once the food came out, I was deeply impressed. The ritsu roll was solid maguro (+ a little avocado, no rice), the steak appetizer was paired with salsa (unusual and surprisingly delicious) and avocado tempura (what!), and the chirashi was generous in portions (and selection!) and really fresh. Dessert was a green tea cheesecake with a scoop of green tea ice-cream and an almond cookie!
Considering that it’s Friday and we don’t have any reservations, we might just go the gym and eat Subway afterwards. However, I do have a reservation at Chapeau on Monday, which I’m definitely looking forward to! (It’s the highest rated restaurant on my Most Popular list, and highest rated overall!)
Which Dine About Town restaurants do you recommend?
Permalink to 15-30 sec. exposures of SF at night!
15-30 sec. exposures of SF at night!
Shooting [photography] (not wild game, paintballs or basketballs) with someone more determined and patient than I am always inspires me to try harder. My friend, Chris, drove up the last two nights to shoot some night photography with me, since we promised our friend that we’d contribute to an art show she’s curating on the 30th. Despite the rain and wind (worst conditions for a tripod and camera), we headed to the Palace of Fine Arts at midnight… and I ended up with a bad headache, fogged up lens, and a batch of unusable photos (with crazy cool flairs and bokeh, I suppose) — still worth the experience:
