ARDIRI

San Francisco Days...

Giraffe mural near Lyon and Page streets in San Francisco

Nom, Nom!

Yogurt, fruit, a dollop of honey, and granola at Boulange De Cole Valley (or the Patisserie as we call it).

Ike's Place: The Best Frakin' Sandwich Shop in San Francisco!

You must visit Ike's Place to try one of their OVER 200 awesome, drool-worthy sandwiches.  Bonus: Each sandwich comes with a lollipop; BOING! BOING! SUGAR!

I do believe that is Ike himself walking in to the shop right there!

Tasting the Bay Area Slice by Slice!

(The pic above has nothing to do with tasting pizza, except for the fact that we found it "as is" on the walk to the pizza place.  A little weathered and worn-out, but too cute!)

John and I are taking a "Pizza Odyssey" through the Top 6 Pizza Joints in the Bay Area as deemed by Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle Restaurant Critic. 

Saturday evening we went to Pauline's Pizzeria  in the Mission and had what may have been the best pesto sauce on Earth in the form of their Pesto Pizza.  Pauline's uses ingredients from their own gardens and the quality of their produce shone brilliantly in their special salad for that evening which was full of cucumbers and fresh herbs.  The Pesto clearly was fresh from the garden and Pauline's is so confident in their pesto recipe that they'll allow no substitutions and no additions!  I have to say that this is a case where the chef is right--the Pesto is perfect just as it is!  It may not look so pretty, but it most certainly tastes divine:

For dessert, we had the much-raved about Butterscotch pudding with a side of vanilla ice cream reluctantly suggested by our waiter.  We found the pudding much too salty.  I think we would have been happier with the homemade vanilla and orange bergamot ice cream sundae.

Nevertheless, I was very pleased with their house brand of wine, Pauline's Pizza Red 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, which was spicy and smooth at the same time.  Delish!

And here are the other five pizzerias we will be visiting:

Gialina

Gioia

Pizzaiolo

Pizzeria Picco

Rosso

MOMA(SF), I'm coming home...

A portion of the Exterior of the SF MOMA:

Saturday, my parental unit came to San Francisco to do a massive, weekend-long museum hunt.  First, we were off the Asian Art Museum to see the exhibit "Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty".  Which was--in my opinion--nyet, nyeh (not very interesting).

We then went to the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit, which was great, but uber-super-duper crowded.

I also loved this piece, but failed to note the name of the artist!

Today we're off to see the Chihuly exhibit at the de Young Museum!

Just a few tastes of a Saturday in the City

Vegetable Packets at the House of Nanking:
Bitter:Sweet playing at the North Beach Jazz Festival:
Some clowning around at an N-Judah train stop :

Playing tourist in my new hometown:

Thylacine?

Found on the sidewalk, up the street from the Giant Robot store. 
Thylacine?  An extinct, carnivorous marsupial in which both sexes have genital pouches.
That's an interesting thought to ponder, indeed.

Saturday Slrog Roundup: May 18-24

• May 18, Sunday--5 miles running.

Although the race for the Bay to Breakers started at 8am and I did my run at around 3pm, there were still hundreds of "runners" strewn throughout Golden Gate Park in their costumes doing kegstands and just generally acting silly.  I've finally figured out what the Bay to Breakers is for: Partying!  I ran it once and absolutely hated the race as I wasn't a "seeded runner" and waited at least 10 minutes to just walk across the starting line!  But now I understand, Bay to Breakers is all about costumes, silliness, lots of alcohol, and non-fitness-y fun!

• May 20, Tuesday--2.25 miles running; 10 rounds double-stepping of the Strybing Steps

This was supposed to be a 5+ mile run;  that is, until my Sansa MP3 player crashed and I don't do the running thing sans music.  It looks like my MP3 player has called it permanent quits on me!  Oh well, it lasted 2 years and I am quite rough with it (dropping it frequently, while running, onto hard concrete or asphalt, etc.)

• May 22, Thursday--6 miles running.

MP3 player not broken--Yippee!!  Today I added on another mile by running further into Golden Gate Park and around Lloyd Lake.  And lemme tell you something, Lloyd Lake is definitely not a lake!  It is a veritable pond with lots of happy-looking ducks and grumpy geese.

• May 23, Friday--5 miles running.

Running is a total mind game.  I know I could go out and run at least two or three times the mileage I usually do, but it all comes down to will--the will to keep going, to put one foot in front of the other (at a running pace!), to not stop and futz with the way you've tied your shoes.  Distance running is a physical manifestation of the will-to-power, which is especially evident if you read the biographies of ultra-marathoners like Dean (yummy) Karnazes and Pam Reed.

• May 24, Saturday--2 miles speedwork on treadmill (0-2 incline, 5.5-8 mph); upper-body weight so amazing to not be sick training; 1/2 mile hill treadmill-hill-walking (at incline level 10 out of 20, 3.7 mph).

• ETA on May 25: It is so amazing not to be sick any longer.  I highly recommend not catching the Haemophilus Influenzae bacteria.  IT SUCKS!  And it will literally knock you on your ass for at least a couple of months--10 weeks in my case--even with antibiotics, copious amounts of rest (and I mean going to sleep at 7pm almost every night!), and taking good care of yourself.  It made climbing the four flights of stairs to my apartment seem like a marathon.  I am SO HAPPY to be healthy again!

Worth Perusing...

Here are few websites that are worth your perusal:

• Tink (aka Lacey Jane Roberts) (non-traditional craft with yarn)

• Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Blog, Etc.; not specifically Walter Benjamin)

• Fecal Face (Blogzine serving the Bay Area Art Community since 2000)

• And, as always, good ol' Banksy

If only Japan itself wasn't so damn expensive...

At this point in my 3/4 of a year living in the 7x7 parameters of San Francisco, I believe that I have come to love Japantown--of all the touristy places--the best.  Here are some of the things I love:

Eating sushi at Isobune--"The ORIGINAL Sushi Boat Restaurant" (in March):

Going a little consumer-frenzied, blotto-minded at the prospect of a gazillion Totoro and other Hayao Miyazaki film-related tchotkes (Image from Totoro.Org/The Camphor Tree):

Perusing the books--almost all in Japanese--at the bookstore Kinokuniya and wondering who the hell (including--or perhaps that should be excluding?--Kate Moss) could pull off these tops (from sewing pattern books):

And spending way too much money on stationary and pens/pencils in KSG (the bookstore's entirely separate pen/pencil/stationary-orgy store).

I would so love to live in Japan, but it is too expensive and teaching abroad there pays crap.