Travel Rogue

April 24, 2005

A Taste of San Francisco

Woke up this morning to my friend's four-year-old daughter poking my nose and giggling. Ten minutes later, my little sleep nest also contained a two-year-old toddler in SpiderMan jams, complete with webbed wings, and a three-year-old beagle by the name of Lola. Spongebob Squarepants commanded the telly and without coffee or a full eight hours of sleep, my muddled mind was unable to comprehend any of the scene! But it was warm and domestic, and quite possibly the best way to kick off my trip. Later in the day, I re-entered my life as a 30-year-old single city chick, and met up with some friends at Slanted Door, a stunning Vietnamese fusion restaurant in the Ferry Building. The Ferry Building is destination shopping at its finest. The whole building is full of little shops selling cheeses, olive oils, potted herbs and even antique cooking implements! The pitstop at Slanted Door resulted in a tummy full of cellophane noodles and dungeness crab, and little rice dumplings rolled in peanuts, black sesame and coconut. Spectacular, and definitely deserving of a do-over. After lunch, I checked into Hotel Nikko, quickly swapped my heels for my tennies, and hopped on the Powell-Mason trolley for a run to Fisherman's Wharf. Be damned if I don't get a taste of lemon squeezed over freshly steamed crab while standing at the counter of Nick's Lighthouse on Taylor. To counter the guilt of an overly stuffed abdomen, I walked over to Pier 39 to visit with the sea lions. One in particular tugged my heart strings, as he swam around looking for a perch, and when unsuccessful, decided to just take his chances on the nearest floating buoy. Didn't matter that the buoy was already overloaded with sun-bathing lumps of muscled blubber, he jumped right in. The others protested, but he flopped right on top until the sheer weight of his body squished the others to the side and he was cleanly snuggled in the middle. For dinner, off to Butterfly to meet some colleagues. Three glasses of pinot grigio, a meaty yet delicate hamachi sashimi, and a positively heavenly salmon topped with two bites of black truffle. Their scent wasn't as heady as the fresh ones you might find in Rome, but their essence was enough to infuse the fish and its accompaniments with a warm, earthly flavor. Lovely, lovely day.

Posted by carolyn at April 24, 2005 01:38 AM

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