HOS couldn't help himself - he came back!! For a long weekend. OH YEAH BABY!!!
Now, I'm warning all of you readers, that these next 4 posts could be really really tedious - you see, we had such a bloody great time, and crammed in so much stuff, I am going to indulge my man and I by using this blog as our own personal diary so we never ever forget our Super Fantastic San Fran (SFSF) Weekend!!!
Day 1 - Thursday
HOS (for those who are new to the blog, HOS stands for Hunk of Spunk, which is code word for my hubby) arrives at SF airport. I had arrived two days before, so knew my way around a little.
After a mushy kissy kissy scene at the airport we hopped the BART (the cool train system) into town (btw fab public transport in SF) to drop off his stuff at the hotel on Union Square. We marched down to the F-Line (tram like thingy) stop to grab the F-Line to The Castro (or gay ghetto as it is fondly called). You can see HOS up there on pic 2 in front of our cute little tram like thingy! We wandered up and down The Castro (which is no way ghetto), sort of like a much more gay Paddington, but very cool shops, bars, and um...naughty stores!
We then walked along 19th Street (pic 3) to head to the Mission area to find a special bakery I knew of. We wandered through Dolores Park and into the Mission area, which is a grungy cool suburb of SF, apparently it's where alot of the bike couriers live! It's sort of Newtown before it became cool. Anyway, we were in search of baked goods.
Tartine. Cnr of Guerrero and 18th Street. We found it. Mecca of San Francisco foodies. Run by a couple of bakers (literally, they're married!), there is no sign, just a corner shop with bakery out the back and retail out the front along with an espresso machine (yay). We were both famished and let me tell you now, everything looked absolutley divine. They bake all day to make sure they have fresh product all the time. We started with the most wonderful Croque Monsier - which was their "country" bread sliced, with bechamel sauce, ham, gruyere and asparagus toasted open sandwich...dear lord it was fanatastic. We also had a slice of Cake Aux Olives which was quirky, but I kept going back to the Croque Monsieur. Then it was dessert...mmmmm...we ordered a slice of their signature cake, Lemon Meringue Cake, which you can see in Pic 3, and a Frangipane Tart with blueberries....HOS adored the Tart, and I adored the Lemon Meringue Cake...what a good pair we make!
So, after sating ourselves at Tartine, we wandered (or really hiked, SF is really really hilly), to another cool area called Noe Valley. This is sort of a cross between Paddington and Mosman, but smaller. There's a couple of streets of cute shops and cafes coveing everything from custom made bikes (HOS was in heaven) and wonderful ice-cream (I was in heaven). When we wondered into one ice-creamery, I discovered they had the famous SF ice-cream, Mitchell's, which was actually made just around the corner. In the name of research, sportsfans, I HAD TO TRY IT. And there you have it...pic 4, HOS holding our Mexican Chocolate (dark chocolate and cinnamon) ice cream and Pear Sorbet...ohhhh myyyyyyyy...so so so so good.
By this time we were waddling. So we waddled to the tram station, a different type of tram from the F-Line, and we caught this over to the awfully tacky, touristy, and famous Fisherman's Wharf. Well you have to, don't you. It was HOS's first visit to SF after all. So over we went. Bought taffy at Pier 39, pic above, watched the funny seals, walked up and down the crabby fishy Fisherman's Wharf, then jumped the tram thingy F-Line back to the hotel. Full of food, and all gooey and excited to be with each other. Sigh. So romantic!
You would think after fitting all that into an afternoon, we would have collapsed on the bed and never left the room. BZZZZZZZ WRONG. By about 9pm, we were feeling a little peckish...yes, it was time for more food. I suggested we go to get a "snack" from the cool Mexican place that the lady we met in Tartine recommended. She told us that the Mission area used to be a huge hispanic area, and the mexican food is the best around, and she told us which one she preferred. Of course I had written it down in my little green book, so knew exactly where to tell the taxi driver to go, we were off to Pancho Villa Taqueria!!!
Ladies and gents, there on the last pic, is our evening "snack". HOS left me to order, so up I went. The lady at the cafe had told me about the Carnitas Super Taco (Carnitas is pulled pork), so I ordered one of those, and then to accompany the Super Nachos with Spicey Chicken. DELICIOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. You can see it there, fresh and tasty, and after a little visit to the Salsa Bar to mix and match your salsas, it was a very special Mexican Feast - packed full of locals, and sooooooo cheap, I think I paid $20 which included the Tamarind soda and tip! If you can, get yourself out there - it's on Valencia if I remember correctly.
And that's how we ended our first day of HOS's SFSF Weekend. CRIKEY what on earth would tomorrow bring???
No comments:
Post a Comment