SF real estate can bite me.

Very Good Things

Tajine - I've always had a soft spot for mom and pop run restaurants that seat about 30 people.. each tiny detail of their dishes are usually done with heart, and you can't find more personnable service anywhere.. Here's a new one to add to the list. It's a Morrocan cuisine newcomer in the tendernob area that seats about 30 people tops. I'm told that their old location, in the heart of the tenderloin, sat about 10 people. We waited about 15 minutes to grab a table late Friday night, and couldn't be more overjoyed with the reasonable and diverse menu. I think their most expensive item is $12.95. Service is a bit slow, but to their defense, it's a tiny place - the wait staff has to maneuver around tables to get to all the tables. Definitely worth checking out.

GoldStar Events - Daily Candy just made a posting about it, but it's great for discount comedy and theater tickets.. they even have specials on spas and massages.. Ooh la la!

Zoe Bikini - Another Daily Candy find. I actually haven't been here yet, but the concept is amazing. They carry a huge line of bikinis and, even better, they will make you your own customized bikini.

Endless.com - So I'm constantly accused for shamelessly plugging amazon.com products (have you seen our stock recently??) but Endless.com is seriously a good thing. It's incredibly user friendly, giving you the tiniest detail of the shoe. The catalog is continually growing and the pricing is highly competitive. Plus you get an automatic 5 dollar coupon with each purchase, and free overnight shipping. I just bought these super comfy Jaques Levine ugg-like boot slippers for $34 bucks (down from $130). I ordered them on Monday at 4pm, and received them on Tuesday at 11am. You can't beat that.

Tuesday Parking on Nob Hill - Not that it matters to anyone, but it took me literally 1 minute to find parking last night. It's a personal victory that I thought I'd share.

We will become silhouettes

Despite the difficult start of this past week, I was able to escape reality for awhile and attend the much anticipated Shins concert Monday night - the first of 3 concerts at the Fox Warfield.

It was just what I needed.. uplifting, soulful, haunting music coupled with thoughtful, somewhat silly lyrics carried out by the amazing and modest James Mercer, who at the end of the crowd's applause would just say "Wow, thanks!", as if he was surprised that we liked it so much. The two band members on guitars whose names escape me now ( but I think one of them is dating Elyse Sewell - model from the first seasons of America's top model - her blog by the way is very entertaining. I peruse it on occasion when i want to look for unannounced Shins news ) totally rocked out, and were able to say a bit more to their captivated hipster-yuppie audience.

I was worried with their third album release for awhile, since their second album is one of my all time favorites, but it's proven to be equally addictive. I'm often seen bopping to their music on my morning commute. I've turned to it much more this week, in trying to make sense of everything.

the ying and the yang

Sometimes when all things are going so well, something always happens out of the blue, that reminds you that things could just get crappy at a moment's notice.

This was so eloquently illustrated to me the other day. I had an amazing weekend.. got some time with my girlfriends, got my run on, finalized on some more wedding things, j was working and loving his job, found a really really good brunch place called L'Ottimista(food always has a way of setting my mood, saw a funny comedian by the name of Robert Schimmel (be forewarned - he's really really crass), had some great korean bbq, did some yoga.. Generally things were coming together.. and i could really feel that a part of the city was growing on me (not that I don't love the city.. some of the inconveniences of living in a city just perturb me at times when I focus on it). Anyhow you get the point, everything was going well and san francisco was the best city in the world... (besides paree). Then i get to my car and find my entire glove compartment emptied all over the floor on the passenger side. My third copy of Okay, Computer (Radiohead) was missing.. as were all my ipod accessories that I got for my last birthday.. that includes the iTrip, and my recharger, my cell phone recharger, my old cell phone recharger, a few other cd's. The perpetrator apparently popped the trunk and took all my extra bottles of washer fluid, and transmission fluid, and my Road Trip set (euge had given me this a long time ago when amazon was promoting the movie Road Trip. They had these great road trip carry-ons that contained everything from an emergency flag, jumper cable, to dental floss, just in case you end up in a bad spot during a road trip). I still have yet to figure out what else they took from my car.. I never keep inventory of my cd's anymore because they always get stolen. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

On the bright side, they didn't do any damage to my car.. which is part of the charm of the echo. It's apparently one of the easiest cars to break into. J told me that there was actually a vid on YouTube that showed you how to break into an echo with a couple of magnets and a tin can or something MacGyver'ish like that. ARGH! I'm just glad I didn't leave my ipod in there.. or my harry potter 6 book. God forbid.

Semi Star Sighting..

I must call it a semi-star sighting mostly because 90% of you probably won't know who David Wu is, and those that do know, were probably, at one time or another, forced to watch Taiwan MTV to see him VJ because of me (you are therefore a great friend).... AND may I defend him a bit more.. he was not only good looking back in the day, but he had a great role in this small indie chinese flick called, 'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter,' where he played a saxophone player who falls in love with one of the members of a 4 women band. This is not the same movie that was critically acclaimed a few years back. That one is Korean and called 'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring'. Notice the extra season at the end there. That's actually a much better movie, unless you (like myself) are a little obsessed with David Wu.

So late last night, J and I had to run a bunch of errands downtown, and were forced with the hard decision of finding a place to eat. Before the grand opening of the upscale Food Court (yes it is upscale) in Westfield Mall, there weren't that many places to eat down town.. Anyways we finally found ourselves at a small two top in Kuleto's (named for Pat Kuleto, the well connected restauranteur that seems to be everywhere in SF - check out the latest article '7 degrees of Pat Kuleto' in the february issue of 7X7).

Food was okay.. My steak was tender but a bit bland, fingerling potatoes were dry... David Wu and his family were seated a few tables behind me.. so that's what made the meal. I don't think anyone recognized him but myself of course.. And I didn't really believe it, til I googled him today to see if i could find more recent photos of him.. lo and behold, I found his blog . AND yes, it was him last night.

While you were out...

Justin and I went out to a huge bday dinner last night at 5 star Gary Danko. It was the most extravagant meal I've ever had.. foie gras, oysters, frog legs, lobster, crab cakes, squash soup, cheese plate, duck breast, filet mignon, apple break pudding and a chocolate souffle. Oh and a bottle of wine, coffee and tea. I was hallucinating at the end of night.

As our taxi pulled up to our block, we noticed that the front of our apt was blocked by a fire truck and a cop car. A fireman was busy hosing down the side walk and the side of the apartment that sat directly across from ours. We assumed that a little fire had started and didn't think much more, until this morning when our neighbor filled us in on the gory details...

Here is Karl's recap of the events that occurred last night while we were out...

"Mark and I were having beers in north beach—we came up the hill as a bunch of cop cars showed up on the scene---we walked over to look, and someone had been stabbed---the person was still there—on the ground—couldn’t see him really, but I don’t think he was in good shape, though he may have been alive

We thought initially he had been shot, because there were 4 or 5 different blood splatters on the wall—basically, the guy got stabbed and fell against the wall—and I guess as he fell he kept turning over and leaving different blood splotches—and a huge pool of blood on the sidewalk where he eventually fell

Anyway—it was quite brutal—very freaky

As for what happened-----one of the residents of the building next to us apparently heard someone scream and looked out---the stabee was hitting the wall and a tall, well-dressed (?) guy was running down Washington towards North Beach—this person called the cops and gave a statement, but….from what I gathered, it seemed like an argument began the whole thing (which would make it a targeted attack and not random)—in any case, the stab wound alone suggested it was something very intentional---the guy had been cut really badly—I would generally think a simple mugger would not really be hoping to kill someone and the stab wound looked lethal

i don’t know much more than that—people were just milling about, talking about it—cops were asking anyone if they had seen it but none had

one of the weirdest things was that they kept letting the cable cars through—so cars full of 40 or so tourists just kept going past this blood-stained wall—I don’t think I would want my kid to see that

I’ve not seen anything on the news—I don’t know if the one who was stabbed was a nearby resident or just in the area---mark and I watched the cops doing their thing from the rooftop, which was kind of interesting, and kind of scary as we realized that they had almost no chance of catching the person if it was random violence"

Pumpkin Patches, etc...

Just read about pumpkin patches in E's blog and thought I'd post up the whereabouts of pumpkin patches in the bay area, just in case you hope to find you inner child.

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My poor friend P just got a note that the World Trade Club is closing from bankruptcy. She was to wed there in January. Thank goodness she hadn't started on her invitations yet. Now the search begins again, but I don't think she'll have too many problems. There aren't that many weddings in January due to the weather.

The weather gods have spoken.

Winter is officially here in SF. Yesterday was the first day of rain. Forecast says that it will be followed by 4 days of rain. We'll probably see two or three more days of sun shine for fleet week.. and then 2 to 3 months of constant light flurries. I don't mind the drizzle. Having lived in Seattle and endured the 7 months of constant rain, the bay area weather seems tame, and it doesn't bother me at all. Plus like I always say, raindrops go well with a bowl of noodles, or a cup of joe, jazz on the side...

I do have to say that the rain seems to bring out the worst of the city. Yesterday I commuted home from the gym... usually a 15 minute ordeal. In the rain it always seems longer. Not only are you tired, you're damp on the inside from the sweat, and damp on the outside from the rain. And the rain doesn't do so well on Muni (the local public transportation system). On the 1, going from Financial District, through Chinatown to Fillmore, you get a colorful array of smells since the fogged up windows are kept shut to keep the rain out. And everyone drags the rain in on their clothing, shoes and umbrellas. There are little potholes of water on the uneven floor of the bus. It's inevitable that someone will slip and fall..

Yesterday walking around, I couldn't help but notice the bits and pieces of trash lying about, floating in puddles that were left because the city has yet to figure out a good drainage system. And on the news, there was a slew of traffic accidents and jams. I guess, over the course of the summer, people lose their ability to drive in the rain.

Don't get me wrong... I do love living here. These are just observations that I always make when this time of year comes around.

It's lunch time, and it's wet out, so I think I'm going to go get a bowl of pho.. and maybe listen to some jazz..

Restaurant Review: Myth

Myth Jackson Square, San Francisco

I dare say that Myth represents San Francisco cooking at it's best. To be honest, I was getting kinda sick and tired with the same old haunts in SF eateries.. I had been to 1550 Hyde Street 3 times.. Third time was only so-so. My weekly visits to Sanraku was wearing me thin, and the wait at Milano's was getting longer and longer. It was getting a little too cold for the eateries on Belden Place Ave (which I adore more for the people watching).. and so on so forth - you get the picture.

Then all of a sudden, my friend Katy called me with astounding news. She had gotten a reservation for us at Myth - a place that had been ranked as one of the best new restaurants in SF. I think she made the reservation two months in advance, but it was well worth the wait.

Over the course of the dinner, everything presented to us was delectable. The presentation was original - each morsel of food carefully mounted on the other one. The food combinations were experimental but well thought out and layered to complement eachother perfectly. The decor was hip and chic. Check out the private rooms as you make your way to the back where the restrooms reside.

A few things that keep this from being a 5 star on my list are:

• My friend Katy was without a fork for a few minutes, during the third course of our meal. She was drooling and yet we couldn't get anyone's attention to get her a utensil.
• I had the Hawaiian Walu which was overall divine. However it is described to come with mussels on the menu, but when the dish arrived, it was without. The bus boy got me a little dish of mussels as soon as I pointed it out.
• The restrooms signs seem out of place. They were faded and old, but no in a retro way by any means. They just need to be replaced.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to my next visit to Myth (aka Deliciousness).

Running is all in your head.

Running long distances is easy as long as your head is into it as much as you want it to be. My 4th half marathon race took place this past Sunday morning. Katy and I huddled with about 20,000+ other runners, at the edge of the Ferry Building when the gun went off at 5:30am. Mile 1, we were even at about a 9:20 pace. Temperature was good.. about 56 degrees, still overcast, sun had just started rising, slight breeze. My physical and my mental were in check. I was feeling good. Mile 2 came around, we stopped momentarily to grab some electrolytes.. Still feeling pretty good. I jogged up the hill that separates the Aquatic Park from Fort Mason and wasn't the bit phased. Mile 3 came and went, By mile 4, I was in the running zone that so many people talk about. I could feel my muscles tense up with every step, and my breathing had taken a comfortable pattern.... by Mile 6, I was starting to feel the run, but no matter, I was still going to make it in good time. I had lost Katy in the crowd, but I knew we would meet along the run somewhere.. We almost always do. As we rounded up the hill and started across Golden Gate Bridge, my mind started wondering what the hell I was doing at 6:30 am running across the bridge, and all of a sudden I was out of the zone. As soon as the "why" question comes up, it's like a catalyst for the rest of your body to start breaking down... It starts at the feet. The top of my left foot started landing very hard and a past bruise that I had there, started painfully reminding me that it was very much there.. Then came my thighs. Tight.. I should've stretched out my calves. My stomach started gurgling trying to process the spaghetti I had the night before. Then my arms started tensing up, my hands numb from the cold and exhaustion. I had lost my groove, my "just do it" attitude. Instead I started looking for a way out. I looked behind at the crowd, trying to find Katy, but she was no where in site.. And then I slowed down. down to a walking pace. Hundreds of people passed. So many, that I started running relunctantly, trying to regain my pace. By 7.5, I was out of it again. Still no Katy to be seen. The 4:10 marathon pacers ran passed me as did their crowd of people. I was still in the race and I could still get a personal best but the "can do" attitude was no longer existant.

Not sure how I made it through Mile 8 but the 9 Mile Marker came and passed and I started feeling nautious. I took a seat as the crowd started into Land's End. I felt defeated, much like Britain's Paula Radcliff at the 2004 Olympics women's marathon when she stepped out of the race at mile 23. The 4:20 marathon pacer ran passed. There goes my personal best. Minutes later, my friend Katy ran up. She had taken a spill on the golden gate bridge, and had bruised and bloodied up her elbow. Together, we made it through the next excruciating 4 miles.. partially running, partially walking, partially laughing. It just wasn't our day...

Next half marathon is in 10 weeks.. Time to start training my head.