san francisco…no flowers in our hair

I was nervous that I wouldn’t like San Francisco as much as much as I was supposed to.  Everyone raves about how great it is, and how it is their favorite vacation destination, and I was really nervous that I wouldn’t share the same sentiments with everyone else.  Luckily, we had an excellent experience today, and I can definitely say that San Fran is becoming a big contender for “Most Awesome Road Trip City” award.

We began the day by finding an awesome parking spot in the financial district not far from Ferry Market.  We got there and immediately set to waiting in line for the famed Hog Island Oyster Company.  I first read about Hog Island when I bought my dad a cookbook for some festive occasion, then quickly set about to reading it one weekend while I was visiting him.  Since then, it has been on the bucket list of places I must see/dine at before I die.  I recommended it to him when he was here on his honeymoon and he and my stepmom, Cindy, had nothing but rave reviews for the place.  So I was thrilled when we got there and the line was relatively short, as it was our first meal of the day (lunch has become the first meal for most days since we are incapable of leaving hotels/overnight locations much before noon).  We ordered 18 oysters (sampler platter), the grilled cheese, and clam chowder.  While I tried everything, the clam chowder was mostly for me, since the broth was made with bacon.  Let me just say that Hog Island did not disappoint.  The oysters, of which there were 6 varieties, were all spectacular.  Ice cold and ranging from salty to creamy to sweet, they were just what I was hoping they would be.  The grilled cheese, made with Mezzo Seco, cave-aged Gruyere and Fromage Blanc was so incredibly good, I had to fight the urge to order more than one.  Made with the most delicious blend of cheese and sourdough bread, with a side order of house made pickled veggies (carrots, cucumbers, fennel and cauliflower)…this dish was such a winner.  The clam chowder was also out of this world.  Made with Hog Island Manila Clams, aromatics and fresh cream, it was altogether light and flavorful.  Not your typical thick chowder, but something otherworldly.  I could bathe in this.  Oh, and it had bacon in it.  Do I need to get in to how much I love bacon?  Do I?  No, I don’t.  Bacon drastically improves just about any dish, in my estimation.  Bravo, Hog Island.  This meal was one I would like to repeat at least once every week for the rest of my life.  The glass of champagne for me, and a wheat beer for Joellen was also a great way to start out the day 🙂

After lunch, we walked around the Ferry Market building for a good amount of time, admiring and staring and smelling everything we could.  We almost bought about a dozen different gourmet foodstuffs and then remembered that we had nowhere to store them/nothing to do with them.  That might be the only negative to this trip; what would we do with a package of wild mushrooms?  I can’t wait to get back in to the kitchen.  Seeing all of these incredible ingredients everywhere we go and not being able to cook with them is turning out to be more painful than I could have imagined.  So after torturing ourselves for far too long, we hopped on the back of a bike and set out for greener piers.

One perfect bike ride later (shout out to Kyle for his excellent cycling services), we arrived at Pier 39 ready to see some Sea Lions.  And we did, and they were cool.  I got a Diet Coke and Joellen finished her really awesome iced coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee, and with our renewed sense of energy (read: we were so tired we contemplated coming back to the hotel for a nap but decided to power through), set out to explore more of the city.  Joellen led us all around with her excellent navigational skills, first to Lombard Street, where we walked up a virtual mountain in order to see cars swerving down a flower-lined road (it was actually very cool), then over to the Cable Car Museum (also very cool) then to a cable car stop, where we waited and waited and waited until we were finally able to get on to one of the cars (apparently one has to wait a long time if they want to get a seat on one of these bad boys).  We rode for a while until we got to the last stop then headed back to the car for a quick revamp before dinner.  I would just like to say that we walked several miles during all of this, many of them uphill, and that there were at least 7 hours between lunch and dinner.  I was asked today from an unnamed reader if we ever got any exercise after telling them what we had been eating, so I feel compelled to let you all know that we do, in fact, walk a great deal during our travels (thanks, Dad).

Dinner was at a sustainable sushi place called Tataki.  Since Joellen has planned so many meals with me in mind, I wanted to do the same for her.  Tataki had many vegetarian options, and lots of different specialties to choose from.  After much debate, we decided to share the spicy tuna, the futomaki, the avocado, and the mix-it-up (spicy tuna with crab and avocado).  It was all so delicious I can’t even begin to describe.  Very fresh, very flavorful, very San Fran.  We also started with the edamame, which was perfectly salted, and we were gifted an extra spicy tuna roll on accident.  So yeah, we maybe shared five rolls, but three of them were really small, and you know what?  We’re on vacation.  It was awesome.  When we got back to the hotel, we decided to have a very small dessert of a Clairesquares shortbread with caramel and chocolate.  Hey, we walked a lot today, ok?

With a fabulous day behind us, we look forward to tomorrow’s stop: Monterey!  (Hopefully there will be equally good food, because San Francisco set a very high bar for the rest of California).

❤ Amy

finally at the pacific!

Hello!  Tonight I write to you from the coziest place I think we could have chosen to stay.  As I lay here on the couch reflecting upon our day, I can’t help but feel that Seattle might be a Top 5 Favorite Place contender.  Although so far, there has not been a single hub that I haven’t liked, Seattle is definitely taking the lead (don’t worry, Minneapolis, you’re up there too!)

We woke up this morning in Spokane, Washington.  When we arrived there last night, I was not very impressed, and fairly certain that it would not be a town I would want to visit again.  Once we let the sunshine hit Spokane, however, I started to see a slightly different side.  After sleeping in too long/rushing to leave our hotel, we decided upon a cozy little breakfast spot that took us through some nice areas of town.  Frank’s Diner was exactly what you would want and expect from an old school diner.  Situated not far from Riverside Park, this train-car-turned-diner boasted not only breakfast foods of epic proportions in a very cool environment, but also the world’s greatest server, Gage.  Gage is perhaps one of my favorite strangers from this trip (there have been many favorites, but she takes the cake).  She has been with the diner for over 20 years and is exactly what you would expect in a career-server working in this kind of place.  Attentive, knowledgeable and friendly, she made our experience all the more authentic.

On to the food.  Oh my, the food.  Let me just start by saying that on the menu next to almost every item, there is the “lighter option.”  Now, if we had been thinking properly, we would have asked what this meant, and how big the normal portions were.  We lacked foresight, however, and hastily ordered our meals.  I could not believe how much food arrived at our table (nor could I believe how fast the service was, or the fact that Gage remembered I wanted lemons and wasn’t stingy with them).  I ordered the meatloaf benedict with hash browns and Joellen ordered the veggie and cheese omelet with hash browns.  I believe that Joellen liked hers, and I liked mine as well, but by the end I sort of left wishing that I had gotten something else.  The meatloaf was pretty good, but all of it was so covered with gravy that it was hard to taste anything else.  I think it is a great concept, but perhaps needs some fine-tuning.  Or not, since the place has been open for longer than I’ve been alive.  The shining star of my meal was the buttermilk biscuit, which was buttery and delicious and fluffy and just yum.  I could have easily gotten eggs and a biscuit and been happy, but I wanted a new experience, and I’m glad I got it.

We then hit the road for the easy drive across Washington to Seattle.  The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and varied from farm land to barren hills to rocky mountains to rivers and lakes to lush forests.  Washington really has a lot to offer and I am so glad that we were able to see so much of it.  We arrived in Seattle just in time for rush hour, but made it to our hotel in a fairly decent amount of time.  Seahurst Garden Studio is an incredible bed and breakfast that Joellen came across during her hours of research for this trip, and by far my favorite overnight venue.  When we got here, we were beyond thrilled with the amenities.  Situated on a hill, this one-room b&b is attached to a main house where owners Alice and Jane live.  The entrance is through the back yard, which is absolutely gorgeous.  Jane and Alice have taken such care of their property and it really shows.  There is a vegetable garden, flowers, a gorgeous willow tree and fruit-bearing plants all over.  The room is cozy, clean and well stocked.  We could not be happier.

After sitting under the grape vines for a while (I KNOW, RIGHT?), I got cleaned up and we drove in to town for an absolutely wonderful meal.  Annapurna Cafe was just what we needed.  Although we both asserted that we would never eat again after brunch, we started to get hungry right around sunset and agreed that enough time had passed and we were allowed another meal.  Now, I am a fan of all foods, and Joellen is too, for the most part.  But we just could not do one more gastro pub.  So traditional Nepalese, Tibetan and Indian food sounded perfect.  This restaurant was such an incredible find.  Most of the food is what you would expect to find in a traditional Indian place-curries, rice and naan.  But there were a few dishes that were not common and we were very excited to try them.  We started with the Spinach Momo, a traditional Tibetan-style steamed dumpling filled with spinach.  It came with a sesame chutney, peanut chutney and spicy tomato chutney, all of which were awesome, and were perfect compliments to the Momo.  We shared some samosas, which were great, the palak paneer, which is my personal favorite, and the Himalayan Curry.  This dish was all at once comforting, fresh and flavorful.  Unlike many traditional curries, the vegetables were perfectly cooked and the flavors of tomato and garlic really shone through.  I am a huge fan of all Indian food, and love everything about the creamy sauces, but this dish having none of that was such a pleasant surprise.  If you are ever in the area and want to try something different, you need to go to this restaurant.

Tomorrow we are off to explore and see all of the sights that Seattle has to offer.  Can’t wait to report back on the Emerald City.

❤ Amy