visits and more busyness

Here we are again for another week. I left off last time about halfway through Rich's visit. The Saturday that began week 18 was actually the main reason for his stay in San Francisco: the now annual "Death March." Rich and some of his friends from various parts of the country have begun a tradition of meeting in a designated city for a ~20 mile walk, seeing landmarks and eating some food along the route. Last year, they walked New York City; this year, San Francisco.

Steve decided to join in, so on Saturday morning, I drove the boys to the southeast side of the Golden Gate Bridge, where they were meeting the rest of the marchers. I had to work, which meant that I couldn't do the walk. Instead, I took a few minutes to walk around the Golden Gate recreation area and got a few pictures before I drove home. Picture of the day? Done before 8am.

120/365 the bridge in the morning

In case you're wondering, the guys got through their march without actually dying. They walked the length of the Golden Gate and back, through Fort Mason, to Pier 39, up to Coit Tower, back down along the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building, up through China Town, up Market to Civic Center, through the Mission to Bi-Rite Creamery and Dolores Park, through the Castro, then up to Twin Peaks. Not officially included in the march was the 2.5 mile walk back down through Noe Valley and back to our house. I joined them for a beer & burger dinner at our neighborhood restaurant when they made it back. Steve was majorly sunburned, despite my insistence that he take sunscreen—which he never actually put on—but was otherwise in one piece.


On Sunday morning, we took Rich to Potrero Hill for brunch at Plow. We hadn't been there since February, but the place hadn't gotten any less popular in the meantime. There was plenty of time, after putting our name on the list, to walk down the street and look around at Big Daddy's Antiques (a few blocks away) before we had to get back to the restaurant for the end of our wait. While we were standing outside, I recognized one of my Flickr contacts leaving with her husband. I introduced myself, and we chatted a bit. It was fun to finally meet her in person!

Brunch itself was, not surprisingly, amazing. I couldn't decide between the french toast with strawberries and the lemon ricotta pancakes that I loved so much last time, so I got the french toast and a pancake on the side. The best part was actually the lemon ricotta pancake with the strawberries from the french toast.

121/365 plow pancake

Rich left on Monday morning, and I was suddenly without a photo-worthy object or activity in mind for the afternoon. I was also without the ambition to go anywhere after so many busy days. Then, Steve told me that my Blurb books had arrived at his work. These would be the Blurb books that I finally made of my pictures from 2009 and 2010. That was a good enough subject for me.

122/365 published

The break was over by Tuesday. It was time to start running the necessary errands to prepare for Carmen's baby shower on Saturday. First stop was Bi-Rite Market. We were doing some prizes based on places, and I was in charge of buying some local SF stuff. I got what I needed, stopped for a look at Pot & Pantry on the way back, and then decided to try out the newly opened coffee shop where Gypsy Honeymoon used to be. The owner guy made me an iced chai, since it was warm out, and I got a picture of the flowers in the window on my way out.

123/365 fiore caffe

Wednesday was part two of buying SF goodies. This time, a trip to the Ferry Building was required. I got S'mores Bites from Recchiuti and some lemon shortbread cookies from Miette. I also got a yellow cupcake with strawberry buttercream frosting from Miette. (I couldn't resist after seeing Rich's photo from Saturday of a chocolate cupcake with strawberry buttercream.) Since I wanted to eat it with a fork for better frosting-to-cake ratio, I took it home for its photo shoot. And yes, that strawberry buttercream was fabulous.

124/365 strawberry (short) cupcake

Cinco de Mayo was Thursday, so I spent part of the afternoon making David Lebovitz's Racines Cake from Ready for Dessert for the evening's festivities. It wasn't exactly a Mexican cake, especially since the recipe came from a French restaurant. However, a flourless chocolate cake with cocoa nibs on top sounded good to me—and easy to scale to feed 7 people. Steve made some cinnamon-vanilla ice cream to go with it, so that helped "Mexican it up" a little. Aside from having to separate 6 eggs and wash the mixer bowl and whisk attachment between whipping the yolks and the whites, it was pretty quick and easy to make. It turned out to be a good ending to our meal of shredded turkey in red mole, black beans, and rice (all made by Steve). We ate downstairs in Dan and Carmen's flat, Rob and Traci came, and Carmen's cousin Amy had just flown in from MI for the baby shower. A good time was had by all, even if pictures were somewhat sparse.

125/365 cinco de mayo dessert

And Friday was even busier. I was supposed to get my hair cut in the late afternoon on Thursday, but my stylist called and rescheduled for Friday morning. When I got back from doing that downtown, it was time for lunch with Carmen and Amy in Potrero Hill. Where else? Plow, again! It wasn't quite as crowded as it had been on Sunday, but we still had time to kill, looking around the little neighborhood. After lunch, we went to Big Daddy's Antiques (again) and got some dessert at the Tell Tale Trunk Show, which had been closed on Sunday. Then it was time for the main event: pedicures. It was my first ever (I know...) and it was a lot of fun. But the picture of the day was the inside of Plow. I just love that place.

126/365 plow again

That concludes another week and, as of that Saturday, another month. Here's the April mosaic! Not bad, even though I was sick for pretty much the whole third row.