beXnlog

CA: More SF

1/21/06: Our third day in the Bay was mainly spent in San Francisco. Starting at the famed farmers' market at the Ferry Building, we sampled a ton of items: rosemary and lavender salt from Eatwell Farm, dried persimmons and other tasty fruits, countless cheese cubes and lots of apples, oranges and breads. For the middle of winter, this farmers' market was sure rockin; the one at Union Square in Manhattan is quite sad when compared with it! After walking through the outside market, we sat on the pier and drank more Peet's coffee, then finally decided to have some tamales from the Cocina Primavera stand at the market. be and i shared a big plate of 2 potato & spinach tamales with a scoop of black beans and white cheese plus some fresh hot sauce = so yummy and satisfying! I haven't had that many tamales so i'm no expert, but these were very delicious, super flavorful and filling.

Inside the Ferry Building are even more shops, food stalls and restaurants! We walked around twice, sampling a few kinds of olive oil, vinegars and breads. be was tempted to get some raw oysters on the half shell (craving due to Chez Panisse the day before) but didn't. For dessert we got 4 kinds of sorbet from Ciao Bella: blood orange, pear, ginger lemon and watermelon. Watermelon was okay but the pear was extremely tasty.

We walked down Market Street, stopping at a crafts fair, an old skool toy shop, the Apple Store and a few other places. At the first See's Candies we spotted, we ran towards it in anticipation of chocolatey goodness, only to have to wait in a longass line because one person was basically purchasing the entire store's contents! The line was worth it though; both of us chose a few select pieces and we enjoyed them the rest of the day. Of note were all the nutty See's pieces. The only "eh" piece was the kona truffle; the coconut coating didn't match the coffee interior.

be loved the Berkeley Amoeba Music store so much that we took a bus to the San Francisco location in Haight-Ashbury! (This time he got 13 CDs for $42.00!) We took a quick stop for hummus sandwiches and ginger beer, then later met up with Crack at the Citrus Club which specializes in various Asian noodle dishes. The wait was very long but we had a fun chance to catch up and get an East Coaster's opinion on living in the Bay. Crack had been there before so she recommended the garlic edamame and fresh Vietnamese spring rolls to start. The edamame were still boiled in the pod but were extra delicious from a quick saute in garlicky fragrant soy sauce and oil. The fresh spring rolls were light and tasty, with a good contrast of textures. For the main meal, Crack got a giant bowl of hot & sour soup, be ordered the shrimp & mushrooms over noodles, and i had the coconut curry noodles. be and Crack both seemed to love their dishes while i thought mine was okay. The noodles and fine shreds of vegetables were good but the coconut curry sauce was a bit soupy. They had a good number of vegetarian options so next time i'll try something else. Be sure to get the garlic edamame though!

Things close early in the Bay. We had to rush back to Oakland to pick up our rental car, which ended up being a Jeep Wrangler 4x4! Apparently they ran out of compact cars so they gave us the SMALLEST car they had! We ended our long day at ff's weekly gig "Magic Milkcrates," where i ran into 2 people i knew from college and be played card games for a while. We didn't stay out too late since the next day was the start of Rt 1 driving!

(PS: for dinner tonight we made: Quorn roast with fresh rosemary & sage, stuffing, cranberry sauce, brown gravy, sauteed kale with cumin seeds and roasted garlic potatoes plus ice cream on crushed cookies for dessert! It was like November all over again!)

posted by beXn @ 1:18 PM