San Francisco - Part 2

Next up we headed down to Chinatown. We hopped on a cable car and took the relatively short trip. Now lots of people say they LOVE Chinatown and that it is something that you just HAVE to do while you are in San Fran... honestly, I didn't love it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the entire city is extremely hilly and hard on the feet or that I had to use the restroom and had to wander aimlessly to find someone who spoke English to direct me to the nearest bathroom. Maybe I didn't go the right places but I felt that all the little shops (mostly junky souvenirs) were all the same. I mean... I really only need one set of silk slippers and kimono and Chad would have killed me if I asked him to carry around a cast iron tea pot no matter how cute it was.
In any case, it was very interesting to walk around in almost an entire other world with almost all signage in at least dual Chinese/English and all the Dim Sum and delicious food you could ask for!

On with the pictures:

Entrance


Cable Car in Chinatown - ours had a sticky clutch and made me sick to my stomach with all the jerkiness and I NEVER get motion sickness!


Chad posing with his cousins


I LOVE the blown glass chandelier


These old ladies were playing MahJong in the park and I don't speak the language but I promise you they were cussing like sailors. I think one of them lost and I swear I saw her kick a pigeon!


Loved all the lanterns!


I walked in this place briefly (thats my fuzzy head at the bottom) and then realized that A) it was pricey and B) I had no idea what I would really be drinking...what kind of herbs exactly I couldn't tell!


Saw this cool plant while we were walking. Called a "Pitcher Plant" and collects water in the flowers.


Next we made our way to Lombard Street - the zig zag street.
Beautiful view of the homes and bay.


Awww... hilarious that I needed a sweater and scarf in August!


View of Alcatraz from Lombard.


Believe it or not, people live along Lombard and this street leads to their driveway - only about 20 foot long. I think the houses start about $850,000!


Beautiful bougainvillea growing up the side of a house.


Chad likes to get a little artistic with the rose and bougainvillea in the same shot!


I wonder what it is like to live in those flats in the middle of everything?


Another great shot of The Rock!


And now onto Ghiradelli Square
I would like to say that we stopped in the store and factory but the line was out the door for chocolate shakes and ice cream so we passed it up.


This little place was adorable! Perfect for a ladies who lunch event or a bite with your best (or prissiest) girlfriend!


Boudin Bakery - Don't even get me started - the place that brought sourdough to America. Get their to die for bread bowl soup!


View of the Golden Gate with the evening fog rolling it. Got quite chilly at this point. We waited for the cable car back to our hotel for an hour but luckily there was a pan handler playing guitar and singing Frank Sinatra to keep spirits up.


Cable Car Museum. I was worn out by this point so this is what a fake smile looks like.


Wheelhouse that manages all the cables


Workers splicing an old cable.


Randomly witnessed repair on the street. Replacing the clutch. Apparently Mr. Miyagi isn't teaching karate anymore.


It was SF Chef and Restaurant week and we got to attend a cooking demonstration by the head chef of Americano Restaurant.
He made fresh ricotta and then ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers fried.


As uncool as it may have looked - I was glad I brought one pair of walking shoes. Look at that incline!


Love hate relationship between me and the cable car for sure! It's okay if you are sitting but not great for standing and being swung around!


Up next: Napa and Sonoma wineries plus the beautiful countryside!

Cold... but not that cold

Random Thought:
It has gotten colder here which means harder to tear myself away from the soft sheets and comforter every morning. I lay there dreading the cold air that is waiting to hit me and then I remember... it will NEVER be as cold in the morning as the winter we lived in Omaha. I would stumble out of bed, fumble with the remote to turn on the morning news and weather and wait for the sentencing of more super cold temps. Twenty degrees, Nine degrees, NEGATIVE ten or how about my all-time favorite... wind chill of NEGATIVE TWENTY FIVE!

So... Forty degrees, thirty five - even twenty five degrees I think it'll be okay.

San Francisco - Part 1

Trip to San Francisco

City Hall - near the Asian Art Museum


Union Square Hearts (coming to a Christmas Card near you!)


We stopped by the famous Cako Bakery after dinner for a late night snack!

We also got these delicious macaroons!


FERRY PLAZA FARMERS MARKET
I was probably most excited about Ferry Plaza than any other one place in San Fran! I LOVE food and trying new foods and especially local FRESH food - and Ferry Plaza is the Mecca of all those things! What I wouldn't give to have access to this kind of food!

Fresh Flowers (for CHEAP!)


Beautiful Plums and Grapes

Gorgeous Grapes - taste of things to come in Napa!

Look at all these different color peppers!

...and the chilies!!

This kind of produce is just art to me! Can't believe it's actually real.

And the we headed inside!
...hide my debit card, please!

Actual morels at the inside market... won't be buying many pounds of these! Tons of different kinds of mushrooms!

LOVE this shirt!

Look at all these sauces and oils - wonderful!

Pasta, pasta, pasta!

Chad's new bible!

BOCCALONE! Tasty Salty Pig Parts

We ate lunch outside among all the vendors and food tents.
California Salmon on crusty bread with cream cheese, onion and heirloom tomato. HEAVEN!


Thats all for Ferry Market - stay tuned for Chinatown, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square and more!

Love Fern near death

If this blog were my Love Fern it would be on the back porch dug up by the dog, withered, needing water and close to death. Well Love Fern, sorry about that but I promise to keep you away from the dog, water you and perhaps sprinkle a little fertilizer now and then. This summer was ridiculously busy which explains my lack of posts!

Stay tuned!

Things to make you hungry

I know... another food post but currently I am uploading about a bazillion photos from our San Francisco/Wine Valley trip so I hope to have a series of awesome posts about that soon.

In the mean time:

Chad canned some of our peppers from the garden a couple weeks ago.
Here is another recipe in case you plan on doing this as well!

Another reason why it's great to make things at home and know where your food comes from!

Two of my favorite things to eat/drink and FINALLY a reason to pair them!

Yum, finally something to do with my leftover ginger after Asian cooking!

Did I tell you about the time my family processed 120 lbs of wild boar sausage in one weekend?

There's gotta be something better than the sherbet/sprite shower punch... turns out there is!

For those of us always promising ourselves to DRINK MORE WATER!

And those of us tired of the same old Iced Tea every night...

...because you can't have more variations for tea.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend!

Intensely Summer

It is intensely Summer around these parts with a heat index of up to 110 degrees most days. That kind of heat just zaps my energy and I have been insanely busy at work which explains my lack of posts here on the ole blog. That and we haven't done anything too exciting lately.

We are planning a trip to San Francisco and the Wine Country soon so my goal is to have a fabulous blog post(s) about our vaca!

Here are some great food related articles I have read recently:
(All brought to you by thekitchn.com)

Did I mention it was hot?

Like cook on the sidewalk (apparently literally) hot?

Our kitchen is not small but the heat sources are in a narrow area and it gets HOT!

We just finished the last of my homemade peanut butter ice cream-this is next!

We've got tons of these from the garden!

And I like to use my cucumbers for something other than Southern Pickles.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Favorite Food Posts of the week

I subscribe to almost 60 food blogs and skim through most of them seeing either the same old recipes or recipes with ridiculously hard to find or expensive ingredients. My new favorite find is thekitchn.com and here are a few of my favorite posts from the last few days.

Enjoy!

Tons of delicious fruit on sale these days...
What Are Some Non-Jam Ways to Preserve Fresh Fruit?

Crunchy Salty Deliciousness!
Side-Dish Recipe: Extra-Crispy Tossed Potatoes

A farm-raised husband and having lived in Nebraska have turned us into a sweet corn loving family! My husband is a naturalist - butter only.
Corn on the Cob - What are your favorite toppings?

Free Wine, perhaps?
Agritourism: Vacation on a Working Farm or Vineyard

FYI: I like spices and linens!
5 Souvenir Ideas for Food-Lovers and their kitchens

A hot dinner that doesn't heat up the whole house, love it!
Slow Cookers to the Rescue! Heatwave Carnitas

Good, because my garden is definitely producing a surplus!
Cucumber Noodles: Yes, Cooked Cucumbers.

Will go good with the new Parisian music CD I bought!
A Taste of Paris: 10 Recipes to Take You There

via: thekitchn.com

Spring Gardening Recap

On Saturday we got a LOT of garden projects done! We went to the Jenks Herb Festival, Southwood Nursery and Lowes! I love shopping and all but this kind of shopping just equals more work later!

Here is what we accomplished:

Rosemary and Mint


Sage and Thyme


Sweet Potato Vine


Million Belles that are in a window basket that still needs to be hung


Million Belles in a hanging basket and the newly filled bird feeder


Transplanted yellow knockout rose on the left and new LOVE rose on the right


We got this LOVE rose at the Jenks Herb Festival and it smells SO sweet!


My little garden helper who hopefully doesn't destroy everything!


Our raised garden that Chad built so wonderfully last summer!


Cherry tomato and peppers


Onions


Tomatoes


The planter around a tree in the front yard. Some of the pansies have come back but I filled in with some other purple flowers.


Purple flowers close up


This is where the yellow rose used to be and we replanted with an azalea.


We also bought some solar landscape lights so we'll see how bright they are.


I love succulents so I replanted the ones I had in these cute white pots from IKEA.


Now this dog house should have a post all to its own but Chad LOVINGLY made this awesome doghouse for Daisy. It was a lot of hard work and grumbled words but its done!


This isn't a gardening project but we just bought this AMAZING new table and I am so glad to have something that matches in our dining area now! I love dark wood and this table is substantial! It is ridiculously heavy and I think its going to last for a good long time!