The best Christmas present EVER

Well, it's official! After many months of wishing, worrying, and wondering, baby Tabbal is finally coming! The due date is July 27th, 2007 and needless to say, we are absolutely thrilled! Here's the very first picture of our strawberry-sized bundle of joy :)

Smells like holiday spirit

Yesterday afternoon I was in Union Square where they were putting lights on the tallest, skinniest Christmas tree I've ever seen (I think it was much fatter before it walked up all these hills). I sat and watched for about half an hour, while drinking a latte and listening to Christmas music on my iPod. I love this time of year when the season is just beginning, you're not sick of hearing Christmas carols everywhere you turn, Gingerbread latte's have returned to Starbucks, and you've still got plenty of time to do your Christmas shopping.

Hiking with the hippies

When you meet someone in San Francisco and they ask you "What do you do?", they don't mean 'what kind of work do you do?', they mean 'what do you do in your spare time?'. Each time we get asked this question, Nick and I will look at each other a little sheepishly and answer "Well, we like to eat." So this weekend we decided to grab the lazy, fat bull by the horns and get ourselves another answer to this question - we went hiking.

Sunday morning we drove up to Point Reyes, about an hour north of the city. We picked a hike out from the web that was about 5 miles long and in the 1-3 hour category, ending up at the ocean. Here's a few pics from our trip:



This last picture is the best one I could get of what we thought first was a goat, but turned out to be a white deer. From the web: "The White Fallow deer in Point Reyes National Park are creatures of rare beauty and have resided in the PRNS for more than half a century. The deer were originally purchased in 1948 from the San Francisco Zoo by a Point Reyes resident who released them into the wild to hunt. When Point Reyes became a national park in 1962, hunting was banned in the area and the remaining deer have thrived ever since. At present, about 1,150 exotic deer live in the park."

We ate lunch on the beach, breathed fresh air, listened to silence, saw plenty of wildlife, got a good work out, passed lots of smelly hippies on the trail, and generally had a relaxing day. Are we hikers now? Maybe not. But it was nice to get away from the concrete jungle for awhile.

Get out and vote!

Today is Election Day in the good ol' USA and I just came back from voting. My polling place, in typical San Franciscan fashion, was the garage of some guy's house down the street. In California, we're voting on about a bazillion things, including whether or not we should push to impeach Bush and Cheney. There were 5 ballots, front and back, with large enough print for the senior citizens which forced them to be about 12 inches wide and 20 inches long, and I'm not kidding. They might as well have been stone tablets we chiseled our responses on. Not electronic, and no potential for hanging chads, this time we had to take a black felt tip pen and draw a line to connect the front and back end of an arrow together next to our choice. Once you're finished making your selections, you have to go feed these enormous pieces of cardboard one by one into a machine that then tells you whether or not it will accept your line art. By the time the old man running the machine wheels it back to the Election Board, Arnold will be back in his mansion, sleeping off the victory party. Sigh.

Wedding bells and wine, wine, wine

I know I've been slacking on the blog, but between traveling to DC for my brother's wedding (Yeah Steve!) and unreachable Q4 goals at work, I'm swamped.

Nick and I were back in DC for Steve's wedding which was October 7th and had a fantastic time. It was really, really nice to see everyone again, and it made us both realize that no matter how great life is out here, how good the food is, the weather, how much there is to do...it really doesn't compare to having great friends and family around you. Maybe it will really be a two year vacation after all...
Below are some pics of the happy day - not the best photography ever done, but you get the idea:





















I also have the most awesome video of Steve & Kerry dancing, but I think I'll have to get permission from the happy couple once they get back from their honeymoon before distributing that one prime time. It was a truly awesome day and right now I hope they're lying on the beach in Aruba sipping frozen daquiris. Ahh..

Tonight is another "wine with the neighbors" party across the street from our apartment, and the theme is "Arabian Nights". We're all supposed to bring a bottle of wine and an Arabic appetizer. You'd think that I'd have some more creative ideas, but I'm stuck for anything that doesn't take hours to prepare (see what I sacrifice for the sake of this blog?). So I'm copping out and bringing Lebne (strained yogurt) with a touch of olive oil and sumac and some toasted pita bread. Tomorrow we're heading back up to Sonoma for another route of wineries and a hopefully delicious dinner at a place called Cafe Le Haye that both my chiropractor and the couple we met at the last wine party recommended to me. I don't know how it's going to beat the Girl and the Fig, but I hope it does.

Future race car driver

I didn't think it was possible for someone to love cars more than Nick, but it is. When we were in London last week we got to spend time with our nephew Alfred, Joyce and Stephen's genius child. He's not even 3 years old yet and he can stand on the street and name every car make and model that drives by, not to mention all the parked cars which present no challenge at all. And if you ask him what country a car was made in, he knows that too. It's absolutely insane. In this video, Alfred names the cars that each member of his family drives:


We also got to spend some time with little Thomas who does not name cars yet, but I'm sure as soon as he can talk his big brother will teach him.


The visit to London was wonderful and so was the food (especially Nahia's cooking - spinach pies, yum!) We went to a restaurant one night called DeCecco (same family as the dried pasta you see in the grocery store). Nick ordered their speciality which is pasta with lobster. Here's Nick enjoying his feast (I'm not quite sure if he's angry or just feeling manly - something about ripping the claws off a whole animal that does that to a person):

Wienerschnitzel and Apfel Streudel

I know it's been awhile, but it's amazing how much work you have when you haven't worked for a week. So back to Austria we go...

The next morning I woke up and met some of my colleagues for breakfast - an odd assortment of cereals and cold meat and cheese, but still a vast improvement over my dinner. My counterpart from Italy, named Chiara, was a tiny bundle of Italian energy with the cutest accent...Iya woulda likea toa...It's so fascinating to think that she is over in Milan doing the exact same job I'm doing, for the same cause, but all in Italian. The meeting room where we'd spend the next 3 days was a big open room with desks arranged in a horseshoe, confirming my belief that this would be a mini UN of Internet marketers. Austrians are very formal, and I worried that the meetings would all be talking at us and no interaction, but actually for the most part they were great. The most useful information all came out of personal conversations outside of the meetings, but still overall very good. I won't bore you with all the details since I'm sure it's not interesting to anyone besides me, and it's barely interesting to me. I'll just tell you about the time I spent outside of the meetings, and the food of course!

From the way that Europeans smoke, you'd think that nobody ever told them that smoking is bad for you. Out of 11 of us the first night, 8 people smoked. And not just casually, but like it was their job. I had to take showers at night instead of in the morning because my hair reeked so badly I couldn't sleep. The second night in town, 2 colleagues from Austria took me into town to see the sights before meeting up with the rest of the group for drinks on the rooftop of this building downtown. We ate "dinner" standing up at a sausage stand in the town center. Yum, sausage. There were 8 different kinds on the menu and the one they recommended came out filled with bits of cheese. There's nothing like sausage and cheese to get the heart pumping. The famous site in Innsbruck is called the Gold Roof, and basically it's just that - a small gold roof on the side of a building that used to house royalty.
The town is so cute - cobblestone streets and outdoor cafes, brightly painted houses, and little shops. A river runs along the edge and the mountains are always in the background. The air is so fresh, it just feels like there is more oxygen in it than normal. And the streets are clean (which considering how much people smoke is amazing - the cigarette butts must just disintegrate in mid air). It could be old town Nice, if the people were drinking wine instead of beer.

The last day in Innsbruck was the best. After the meetings were finished, I took a cab back into town and did some shopping. Swarovski crystal is made nearby and although the little jagged animals don't do anything for me, my mother used to collect them so they hold a special place in my heart. I bought a tiny pair of earrings for myself there and took this picture of a wedding cake made entirely of crystal: After picking up a gift for Nick and some chocolates for his parents, I settled into a cafe to have a beer and watch people walk by (not coffee this time, Mom!) After the beer I decided that I couldn't come all the way to Austria and not eat Wienerschnitzel, so I found a restaurant where Mozart had once eaten and ordered my dinner. The meat was perfect - pounded flat and fried with a thin, slightly salty and crisp breading.

With all this sausage and fried meat and beer, my body was screaming for some exercise, so I went for a long walk. Crossing the river I saw a tiny one way street leading up a winding hill. At the top was an old church with the most beautiful cemetary I had ever seen. I know cemetaries are supposed to be creepy, but they've never made me feel that way - more like solemn, contemplative. Anyway, this graveyard probably had 40 plots and each one was marked by an intricate iron cross about 3-4 feet high, all different patterns. On the ground each plot was outlined in stone with carefully tended flowers spilling over. One of the crosses had a rose vine winding up it with gorgeous, fat, red roses hanging off it. It was so moving and perfect and I thought for a moment that I would not be afraid of dying if I knew I would spend eternity in a place like this.

The sun was setting and since graveyards are slightly more creepy at night, I left and walked back down the hill to catch a cab and go back to my room.

The whole trip was fantastic, and a milestone in my life. This is the first time I'd been out of the country by myself and I left feeling satisfied, happy, and a little grown up.

Speisen getranke

I arrived in Innsbruck on Sunday afternoon after 14 hours of flying and several hours of running to and from planes. Flying into Innsbruck is an amazing experience. The town is nestled in a valley between two mountain ranges and it is by far the most breathtaking view from an airplane I've ever had. Jet lagged and starving I got to the headquarters of SOS where I would be staying for the next four nights. Nobody else had arrived yet so I dropped off my bags in the room and started out for a walk to see if I could find something to eat.

The first place I came to sounded nice and Austrian, Schlosse Cafe. I stepped inside to the most bizzare little bar, not cafe, I had ever seen. The place reeks of stale cigarettes. There are 8 cramped little booths, 4 on each side of the door. In the background I can hear "You can call me Al" playing on the speakers. After ignoring me for about 5 minutes, despite the fact that only 1 of the 8 booths is occupied, the waitress gestures to one of the booths indicating that I should sit down. She seems concerned when she realizes I can't speak any German, but takes pity on me and helps translate the menu. The cover reads "Speisen getranke" which according to Babblefish translates "Foods getranke". There are 5 pages - 2 of them with food, 2 of them with drinks, and 1 with about a dozen varieties of ice cream sundaes. For the food, this is pretty much how it went: sausage with bread, sausage with mustard, sausage with mushrooms, sausage with cream sauce, sausage with spinach, dried sausage, cold sausage...you get the picture. I ordered sausage with bread and a glass of water. The other booth in the corner seemed to have worked their way through most of the 2 page drink menu already.

Sitting back and waiting for my food I look around the "cafe". On one wall is a painting that reads "in vino veritas", or "in wine lies the truth." Caddy corner to this gem is a heavily lacquered wood carving of Jesus and the last supper. I feel like I'm in a movie.

I eat my dinner (not worth even mentioning) and make my way back to my room for a good night's sleep. I'll write more later about the next day in Innsbruck (which was a vast improvement), so stay tuned!

A vacation from the vacation

Tomorrow afternoon Nick and I are flying to Europe. He will stop in London while I continue on to Innsbruck, Austria for a 3 day meeting at SOS Children's Villages headquarters before I join him back in London for a nice long weekend with the family. I may not update the blog before we return on the 17th, but promise I'll have plenty of pics and stories to share then!

Where did all the tahini go?

I love grocery shopping more than the average person I think. I like the whole process of it - making my list, adding to it throughout the week. I like the feeling when you first walk into the store of embarking on a mission - everything is colorful and organized, picking out the perfect fruits and vegetables and meat, reading labels. And in about an hour you have accomplished this important task and leave with a basket full of possibilities. It's also a way of guilt-free shopping - I mean, you have to spend money on food right?

And you'd think that grocery shopping in San Francisco, food mecca of the US, would be an especially enjoyable experience for me. Which it is...for the most part...except apparently nobody in this city sells tahini, which is driving me crazy. We've already come to terms with the small Lebanese population here, and the lack of good Middle Eastern grocery stores, but tahini? I mean, they serve hummus in the middle of Iowa for God's sake (sorry Carla!). Google "tahini recipes" and you get 293,000 of them. Do none of these people live in San Francisco? So after an afternoon of grocery shopping yesterday and still no tahini, I'm off to the organic grocery store where, if they have it, it will cost $15 and last about 3 days in this house. Wish me luck!

Old friends and new friends

Happy Labor Day Weekend! We've had a full long weekend here in the sunshine state. Wednesday our friends Serge and Laureen came into town with their son Nicholas and we've been doing alot of eating ever since. If anyone appreciates food as much as Nick and I do, it's Serge and Laureen. We started out with crepes on Wednesday evening near their hotel. Thursday evening was dinner at a place called Palomino's right on the Embarcadero with a few other former comScore folks. This was actually the first bad restaurant we've been to since we got here. Nick ordered Garlic prawns and I'm not even kidding - there were 3 tiny shrimp cut in half to make it look like 6 - for $24. Absolutely ridiculous.

Friday I was off work, so we met up for breakfast at a San Francisco institution called Sear's in Union Square. They are famous for their silver dollar pancakes which are delicious. Every waiter in the place was in love with Nicholas, which is easy to understand. I swear his eyelashes are the length of my fingers! Friday lunch was at Nick's Crispy Tacos down the street from our house where I think we ordered one of everything on the menu. Friday night we ate at the Slanted Door - the Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building - and it was just as delicious as the first time. Nicholas, unfortunately, did not agree, which he demonstrated by projectile vomiting all over the rental car on the way home, poor thing.

Saturday morning was back to the Ferry Building for the farmer's market where we picked up ingredients for dinner that night - flank steak with fresh rosemary, roasted eggplant, tomato and basil salad with lemon thyme salt, and baked peaches. Sunday morning came and for our last meal with the Matta's we went to La Boulange for a french breakfast complete with coffee served in cups the size of bowls. We've probably gained back all the weight we've lost, but it was worth it.

After our old friends left, we spent the remainder of the day meeting new friends. First we met a cousin of Tanya's and her husband, mother, and two friends for coffee in Russian Hill. They live south of the city, but come into SF every Sunday for church. All three of us couples were married in the summer of 2004, and I can tell we'll spend alot of time together over the next two years. Then Sunday night we went over to a former comScore colleague's house for drinks with about a half dozen other couples. They have a gorgeous house with a rooftop deck that looks over the whole city and we had a great time. We're finally starting to settle into things here and making new friends makes it feel a little more like home.

Welcome Thomas Johnny Rogers!

Before I rehash the incredible weekend, I have to tell you that Joyce and Stephen (Nick's sister and brother-in-law) gave birth today to a son named Thomas Johnny at 2:40pm London time. We're so happy for them and can't wait to meet the little baby in September!
Here's a short video of the little guy:


An indulgent weekend
Saturday we finally got our bicycles out of the garage and headed over to Golden Gate Park to explore (and burn some calories in preparation for the weekend of eating). The park is truly an oasis in the middle of the city. We toured the Conservatory of Flowers (which was more plants, less flowers) where we saw banana trees, vanilla vines, cocoa pods, and allspice plants. We walked through the rose gardens where they grow dozens of varieties of roses and the smell is so wonderful it makes you dizzy. We found a donut shaped lake where you can rent peddle boats and row boats. We saw the Japanese tea gardens with their manicured zen gardens, lilly ponds, and tea house. We rode by picnic fields and lawn bowling, tennis courts, and a baseball diamond. There is too much for one day, so we will definitely be back.

Okay, on to the food. Saturday night we had reservations at an intimate little restaurant in Nob Hill called Masa's. A colleague of Nick's had given us a gift certificate as a welcome to San Francisco gift. The atmosphere was very nice - subdued and elegant, and the 6 course tasting menu we ordered was very good, though it didn't entirely live up to the bar set by the amuse bouche of butterbean soup with olive oil froth served to us as soon as we were seated. The soup was so delicious (though given it's main ingredients had to be butter and cream, that's probably not a difficult task to accomplish) that about 3/4 of the way through the rest of the meal, Nick asked for round 2. The other course that was memorable was the filet of beef with bordelaise sauce and maitaki mushroom. Neither of us eats mushrooms, but because this one wasn't shaped in the traditional mushroom way, we accidentally took a bite and oh my God, was it good. The filet melted in your mouth and the sauce was a perfect accompaniment. The most interesting thing about the restaurant is that it is haunted by this unsolved murder that happened to the head chef and owner back in 1984.

On Sunday we tried out a new church in Pacific Heights - this time a Presbyterian one. It was very similar to the style I grew up with in Maryland and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards I dropped Nick off at home and drove down to Palo Alto to meet Meaghan for some shopping. 25 miles away and the weather was 15 degrees warmer, so I got my fix of summer to last me a few more weeks. The mall is described as a "playground for the Silicon Valley millionaires", so needless to say it was more window shopping than real shopping, but it was fun just the same.

Sunday night we met some friends of Nick's parents at a restaurant in the Ferry Building called the Slanted Door. They call it Vietnamese fusion and between the organic meats and fresh vegetables, the complex flavors, and the view of the bay, I really don't think it gets much better than this. The food was so wonderful that we made reservations for this coming Friday when Serge and Laureen will be here visiting. The last time that Seta and Samir saw Johnny and Nahia was in the early 80's in Saudi Arabia, but they treated us like they've known us forever and we had a wonderful time.

I love this city.

It's official - I'm a Californian

Nick dropped me off this morning for round 2 at the California DMV in downtown San Francisco to take my written driving test for my driver's license and I passed (woo hoo!) with 100% right. I was pretty impressed with myself considering that another member of my family (who shall remain nameless) missed the maximum amount allowed to still pass. You can take a sample test here if you're totally bored. It's not as easy as you'd think it would be for someone who has been driving for over 15 years. When you've had 4 glasses of wine, does it really matter if you're blood alcohol is .05%, .08%, or .10%? After I turned in my test, they took my Virginia drivers license and punched a hole through it to indicate that it is no longer valid. I'm going to miss that license - I think it was the best picture that's ever been taken of me.

I started taking a yoga class around the corner this past Monday. I would have started sooner, but doing yoga for an hour in a 90 degree heated room, and then walking straight up hill for 1/2 a mile requires the immediate use of a shower. Fortunately our hot water was finally turned back on Sunday night and all is now right in the world. I'm not so sure about this class, but I signed up for their 30 days unlimited introductory special, so I'm giving it at least that long. It isn't very spiritual, which is fine, I don't need all the chakra vinyasa stuff, but I couldn't help but feel that this guy had just invented his own type of yoga which doesn't seem to have too much basis in the original. Either way it was a really good stretch and everyone in the class seems friendly.

Friends, food, and fire

Our friends Carla and Brian were here last week for a conference and it was nice to hang out with them and their adorable son Ben (pictured with his almost as adorable sunglasses and just as adorable mom) for a few days. The first night, Monday, they came over for dinner and we actually got to eat at our dining room table for the first time since we moved in. I made a salad with arugula, prosciutto, figs, pine nuts, and dry jack cheese to start with, then chicken with a chile rub and avocado and corn salsa. Dessert was baked carmelized peaches and vanilla ice cream. We drank a bottle of champagne and a bottle of Gvertzemeiner (I know I just slaughtered that spelling) that we picked up in Sonoma the previous weekend. A very nice and relaxing evening - and great to spend time with friends. Later that week we went out to dinner at a mediocre restaurant called Armena in the neighborhood. We tried for sushi, but the wait was an hour long. Armena was unfortunately the first blah meal I've had here, so I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get to show them a better food experience.

Friday night I flew out to Ontario, outside of Los Angeles, for Kerry's bridal shower which was Saturday morning. It was really nice to see her again after being away for 6 weeks now (!). Nick and I wrapped up the weekend with our very first ride on the cable car and a fire in our fireplace. After several days of living in a 62 degree house, shivering under a down comforter and blanket, and taking cold showers against our will (don't get me started), we finally overcame our denial that it is just freaking cold in San Francisco in the summer, and Nick channelled all his manly insticts and built us a beautiful fire last night.

A weekend of wine

This past Thursday Nick came home from work and excitedly told me that we had plans for Friday night to go to a party. Equally excited at the prospect of many conversations with real live human beings I asked him whose party it was. He paused before telling me that we were going to "Barbara's" birthday party. We don't know any Barbara's, but I did remember seeing a flyer taped to our apartment door downstairs inviting all the neighbors to come celebrate Barbara's birthday at 1711 Jones, right across the street from us. Ugh. Over the next 24 hours we debated who this Barbara was, and how sad it was that she didn't have any friends and needed to invite her neighbors over to celebrate her birthday (the irony), but we decided to go anyway, because even if she was our parent's age, that would still beat my first 92 year old friend by a good 30 years.

So with a bottle of wine and some homemade black bean dip with spiced pita chips, we headed across the street at 7:30 on Friday. It was the most incredible scene - dozens of people of all ages wearing name tags showing the cross streets on which they lived all milling about. A table full of dozens of bottles of wine and wine glasses, and a zydeco/bluegrass band playing in the background. We got our name tags and a glass of wine each and it was maybe 5 seconds before people were coming over to introduce themselves and find out who we were. We spent most of the night talking to another young couple named Sarah and Christopher who have lived in the area for the past 7 months. Eventually we met Barbara, who was celebrating her 60th birthday. Apparently every month she hosts these "wine with the neighbors" parties in her garden and people come back for them even after they leave the neighborhood. The hour we promised ourselves we'd put in at the party quickly turned into three before we walked home. Such a nice surprising evening.

The next morning, Saturday, we got up and ran down to the Farmer's Market to pick up some fruit and veggies for the week. Our friends Carla and Brian are in town from DC and coming over for dinner tonight (Monday), so I wanted to show them the variety of great produce we can get here. I'm making a salad with arugula, figs, prosciutto, and goat cheese. Then dinner is chicken marinated in lime and chile with a corn, avocado, tomato, garlic salsa and then finally carmelized peaches with vanilla ice cream. I love summer.

After that it was off to Sonoma for the day where we had a little road trip planned through 4 or 5 wineries and then to have dinner in town. I only know California wine country through movies and books. They do not do it justice.

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea:

Funny Cassoulet and a Ferry Ride

We had a great weekend here in the city. Friday night we went to the movies and saw Little Miss Sunshine with Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear, two excellent actors - it was so funny in parts that I literally laughed so hard my stomach hurt for two days. Saturday we ran some errands which included the elusive search for a kitchen trash can that looks good and doesn't cost $90. After 3 stores, I finally settled on a $12 trash can from Home Depot which doesn't look that great, but was definitely not $90. We ended the afternoon at the Ferry Building where we got takeout from Le Mistral, which I think of as Chicken Out if it was in the south of France and everything was made by a little old french grandma (or grand-mère), sat outside and watched the people and the sailboats go by. Ahhhh. I ordered the special of the day which was called "Cassoulet de Toulouse" and was so absolutely delicious. I think I got the recipe sort-of figured out, so am going to attempt to recreate it on my own tonight.

Sunday morning we walked the 10 blocks straight downhill to Fisherman's Wharf where we took a ferry over to Tiburon and had lunch at a place called Sam's Cafe which is right on the water, and pretty much the only thing to do in Tiburon. We had oysters and bloody mary's and both were excellent, though the oysters were a bit small. On the ferry back we met a very nice, uh, ferry (sorry, I couldn't resist) who told us about all his favorite restaurants in the city. He didn't have any Lebanese or Middle Eastern suggestions (I ask everyone I meet, and still no luck), but told us where to get the best steak, pasta, Ethiopian, and Greek. We briefly contemplated walking the 10 blocks back uphill, but opted for a cab. I think we could've done the 10 blocks by foot, but we still had unpacking to do, and the nap we'd have needed after that would've gotten in the way. Maybe next time. On that note, we're about 95% of the way unpacked, and will hopefully get to that 5% before the weekend.

Our very first (and last, I hope) earthquake

At 8:08 and 12 seconds PT last night, as we were watching TV, we experienced our very first earthquake. We didn't actually realize it was an earthquake - we thought it was just a really strong wind gust (it's pretty windy up here on this hill) - until about an hour later when it was reported on the news.

From the SF Chronicle:
"The quake was felt as a brief rumble in downtown San Francisco, some 40 miles away from the epicenter. To a few occupants of the Starbucks coffee shop at Fourth and Mission streets, it felt stronger than the passing nearby of a very large truck."

The magnitude was between 4.4 and 4.6 which I gather is pretty mild, but maybe stronger than they typically get. I am pretty proud of myself for not freaking out, but I wouldn't mind if I never had to experience another one.

Yesterday after work I tried out my first yoga class at one of the three yoga studios in walking distance from our apartment. This one was in a gym, so not the most relaxing space on earth, what with the sounds of free weights dropping and the cardio boot camp instructor yelling in the studio next door. The gym used to be an old movie theater and much of the interior has been preserved, including the large screen which shows old movies with subtitles while you work out. The yoga studio itself is in the old projection room. Only in San Francisco.

Almost famous

Yesterday we were coming back from grocery shopping when we saw dozens of motorcycle cops circling our street. Nick went over to ask a group of them what was going on and found out that Tony Blair was driving by (probably on his way to Fisherman's Wharf for a sourdough breadbowl of clam chowder). Coincidentally, Nick happened to be wearing his London sweatshirt, so we decided to stand around and see if we could catch a glimpse. If you're totally bored, you can watch a little video below of the incident.



I thought I saw the outline of a man and woman in the back seat of the limo, but was pretty disappointed that he didn't stop for a chat - especially considering the London sweatshirt - Tony didn't know that it was not worn just for him.

We went to the Farmer's Market yesterday morning (pre the almost Tony Blair sighting) with a former comScore colleague and friend of Nick's named Tal, and his wife Jean-Marie. After spending a few hours with them, it only confirmed my suspicion that San Franciscans take their food very seriously. Walking through the rows and rows of stalls with Jean-Marie and listening to the running commentary on all the dishes she'd made with the various ingredients - thai basil, dried chiles, fresh arugula, I was impressed...and hungry. She loves to make Indian food, one of my favorites, and promised to teach me. I love this city. After three hours and all of our cash, I had enough ingredients for us to eat really, really well this week. For dinner last night I made pasta with home made pesto (basil, toasted pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil) and an heirloom tomato and mozzarella salad. Yum.

Carbs and my very first friend

I think a part of me knew when I made the reservation that last night would be the night that I stepped over the line into carb land. I mean, how do you go to an Italian restaurant and not eat pasta? Especially when it's freshly made pasta called "tagliatelle alla bollognese"? It just rolls off your tongue. I couldn't resist, and my God, it was so worth it. Absolutely deliciously perfect tender yellow pasta with the most mouth watering meat sauce - a combination of beef, pork, and italian sausage ragout.

After the, uh, indiscretion last night, I needed to go for a nice long walk today, so I went down the other side of the hill to Polk Street in Russian Hill. At this point I still hadn't had any face to face conversation with anybody (since Nick left at 5am for a flight to Seattle), so I stopped at Peet's Coffee for a latte. The cashier had apparently talked to way too many people today, so she was no help. I sat outside with my drink and watched the people walk by. At a table next to me an interview was going on for what sounded like an Account Management position in the Internet industry. The woman was totally bombing the interview and I briefly contemplated walking over to their table and handing the guy my business card, but decided against it. I'm not ready to give up the sweet deal I have going on with SOS, even if it might mean human interaction on a regular basis. Plus I couldn't imagine that the woman on the interview would have been very happy about the whole thing.

So I called Nick to keep me company for a few minutes and while we were on the phone a woman passed me carrying what looked like two very heavy grocery bags. She was older and hunched over, walking very slowly. She looked so determined, but also so taxed by the weight of the bags, so I asked her if I could help her and got off the phone. Over the next 45 minutes or so I walked with her back to her house with the groceries. Her name is Helen and she's 92 years old and lives on her own since her husband died 15 years ago. She goes out once a week to get groceries and besides that stays in her house because she lives up a hill and 50 stairs. She's got arthritis, she's a bit of a crochety old woman, but she's got perfect hearing, has a beautiful garden she takes care of herself, and a very clean house. She was born and raised in Chicago until she decided to disobey her parents and move to San Francisco where she met her husband and moved into this house and she's lived there ever since.

The whole thing was bizarre, but nice. I usually don't do very well with old people - it's so hard for me to go and visit my own grandmother in the nursing home. But I liked Helen, and maybe it's my own loneliness here that made me more sensitive to hers. I gave her my number and told her to call me if she wants to go grocery shopping again, and honestly I hope she does.

The intellectual cabbie

Have you ever had a cab driver that could use the words "respite" and "homogeneous" in a sentence? Correctly? This is yet another thing that makes San Francisco unique. Usually I sit quietly in the back of a cab staring out the window and avoiding any unnecessary interaction, but these days, being starved for the sound of a human voice, I was happy to have someone to talk to. Not only did this cab driver have an extraordinary vocabulary, he also remembered intricate details about the movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" and taught me that when truck drivers have the numbers 309 on their trucks they are making reference to an old cowboy song from the 40's and 50's. Fascinating.

Tonight we have dinner plans with two colleagues of Nick's in from Reston. I picked out this little Italian restaurant in North Beach called Caffe Delucchi that I walked by yesterday when I was out exploring. The whole area smells like coffee and salami, which is much better than it sounds.

116 boxes

I am not sure how two reasonable people can accumulate 49 coffee mugs, 3 potato mashers, and enough plates to serve dinner to an entire city block, but this is the situation I have found myself in after two days of unpacking. I am also not sure how somebody could design a kitchen and not put in a single drawer to hold 3 potato mashers and an assortment of other cooking utensils, but this is also the situation I am in.

Every time my friend Beth moves, she unpacks her entire place within 24 hours, so armed with that knowledge, I thought we would be in good shape after an entire weekend. I was wrong. I think what she failed to tell me is that in order to unpack her entire place within 24 hours she mainlines espresso while smoking a crack pipe. I don't know any crack dealers in SF yet. In the meantime, we are living among boxes and boxes (116 boxes to be exact), but we are SO happy to finally have our things here and to sleep in our own bed. Right now I'm sitting at my grandmother's old wood desk looking out at the most beautiful rainbow colored sunset over the Golden Gate bridge. I'd take a picture if the camera batteries weren't shot, so for now you'll just have to trust me. It's awesome.

Today we guiltily took a break from the unpacking to try out the local Antiochian Orthodox Church, St. Nicholas. The priest at the church looked exactly like Johnny "Sack" from the Sopranos. He was so passionate about what he was saying that he sounded almost angry and I kept imagining him hanging out with Tony Soprano drinking chianti and smoking cigars. I am sure this is not what he intended, but I think he would have thought it was a tiny bit humorous if he knew. Before church, we stopped at this french bakery in North Beach called Boulange where I had the most delicious latte I've ever tasted and Nick ate some gorgeous pastries while I drooled wishing I was ten pounds skinnier so I could start eating carbs again.

90 years of ick

Last night Nick and I went by the new apartment with a borrowed vacuum cleaner to do some last minute cleaning before the furniture arrives. 90 years of other people's ick is pretty revolting, but the germ freak in me is finally satisfied with the state of cleanliness. I talked to the moving company this morning and hallelujah, our things are arriving tomorrow morning between 8 and 12. So I've stocked up my iPod and I have a really good book to read - a memoir of a young man who grew up in San Francisco in the 80's. He lived in the Russian Hill neighborhood too, so it's interesting to read his perspective.

I am still not convinced that the moving truck will actually fit on our street, but hopefully tomorrow night we will be sleeping in our own bed!

Yellow things

Before I begin talking about the weekend, I have to mention the vanilla beer I had at the Thirsty Bear on Thursday night where Nick and I met Meaghan, an old friend from comScore, for dinner. Our waiter described it as tasting like "cream soda", which wasn't far off from the truth. Yum! The restaurant is the first/only tapas brewery, and even though that just reeks of gimmick, we all really loved it.

On to the weekend...
So I was having a really hard time deciding how to kick off our first official weekend in San Francisco and finally settled on renting bicycles and riding up the Embarcadero to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building. As speechless as I was when I first discovered the Ferry Building, that feeling paled in comparison to the Ferry Building plus the Farmer's Market. There had to be over 100 stalls outside packed with the most beautiful produce I'd ever seen... and cheese... and flowers... and honey... and and... Nick and I wandered around in a daze for over an hour (well, I was in a daze, he was focused on getting back to the food cart that was selling grilled calamari cooked outdoors right in front of you) After a quick once over, and many, many samples (every stand offers free samples), we bought some things for dinner that night - the most adorable mini yellow cherry tomatoes, a couple of serrano chiles, garlic, and an avocado - all organic, all freshly picked. It's pretty funny now that I thought I would miss Wegmans grocery store when we moved.

Eventually we ended up back at the outdoor food stand/ restaurant area where we settled on grilled calamari and salmon, but next time we will brave the line for the rotisserie chicken stand which smelled spicy and delicious. I'm already planning what I'll pick up for dinner on Tuesday when the market is open again.

After lunch we continued on our bike ride up the coast past Fort Mason, Alcatraz, and hundreds of sailboats, and then back down to our apartment. After several hours on a bike with no shocks, we were both struggling to walk on Sunday morning.

Sunday was spent in equal parts shopping (well, mostly window shopping) in Union Square and cleaning our new apartment in preparation for the moving truck to arrive later this week. The first part was more enjoyable than the second part, but at least the apartment is ready to accept furniture now. It can't get here fast enough.

One tequila, two tequila

Last night we met up with a coworker of Nick's in from Chicago and had dinner at a local South Beach area restaurant called Tres Agaves (self described "Mexican kitchen and tequila lounge"). For a Wednesday night it was absolutely packed with people. Just inside the entrance was a 10 foot tall squared off arch made with chicken wire and filled to the top with thousands and thousands of rocks. Um, very artistic. Our waiter was actually Mexican too, which I don't think I've ever seen at a Mexican restaurant in DC. In addition to the look and the accent, his knowledge about tequila gave him away. The tortilla chips he brought were homemade and had just enough salt, and the salsa was really delicious - two kinds, one sweet and one spicy. We ordered the Carnitas (slow roasted pork with Mexican oregano and chile), Camerones (shrimp with garlic, onions, and serrano chile), and the Tacos (2 chicken and 2 shrimp). Side dishes of beans, rice, and cabbage and mango slaw were served family style. The food was really excellent - the pork was so tender and flavorful and the shrimp were perfectly cooked, not dry at all. Washed down with Negro Modelo, and I was in heaven.

After dinner we noticed a room to the side full of pretty attractive young people standing around chatting and drinking. The sign on the door said "Welcome TransPerfect members and guests only." In a city like San Francisco, if you put the word "Trans" in front of anything, you're begging for questions. Upon close inspection, none of these people seemed to be pre or post operative anything, all the men had adams apples and the women looked appropriately feminine. We were perplexed. A Google search solved the mystery.

Tomorrow night we're going to do the walk through and get the keys to our new apartment which is very exciting. We also just heard word from the truck driver that our things will arrive next weekend. It seems we've really moved to San Francisco. Crazy.

My own personal heaven

After my first day of work, I decided to go for a walk and explore my new city. Our temporary apartment is in South Beach at the south end of the Embarcadero (the main street that runs along the bay), so I turned left and headed north. The city has so many smells, but three are always present - cooking food, salty sea, and car exhaust - the first two being much more pleasant than the last. After about a mile, I crossed underneath the bay bridge and saw a large building in the distance with people milling about outside, so I went to see what was going on.

It took me a few seconds to fully comprehend where I was. It was heaven.

The Ferry Building Marketplace is a building (temple) dedicated to one of my favorite things in the world - food. Dozens of shops each completely devoted to some aspect of food or a particular type of food. One store sells only mushrooms - dozens of varieties of mushrooms, and most locally grown (organically, of course, this is San Francisco after all). I walked in a daze from one end of the building to the other, and with every store I passed, another smell came to me - cheese...olive oil...chocolate...strawberries... On Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings there is a farmers market in and around the building with stands full of produce, meat, and other (organic) goods, so I decided that Nick and I would come back and check it out this coming weekend.

It was difficult to leave, but I had a long walk back. Plus, I had a feeling I would need to burn alot of calories if I was going to manage to not turn into a cow living here.

First day on the left coast

Nick and I got into Oakland airport last night and after an unusually long ride to pick up our rental car, started making our way into "the City" (I've been told that native San Franciscan's call San Francisco "the City". Natives can always tell tourists because they say, "Frisco", therefore I have banished that word from my vocabulary lest I be found out).

We had to find a hotel for one night because the corporate apartment we rented wouldn't let us check in after 5:30 so we ended up staying at a Courtyard by Marriott which happened to be right next door to the meeting Nick had this morning, which made him happy, and right above a Starbuck's, which made me very happy. Despite a minor dried urine incident which resulted in free breakfast, the room was nice. We had dinner at a tiny Indian restaurant across the street which turned out to have above average food - a nice beginning to our culinary tour of the city.

Today we moved to our short term apartment at 2 Townsend Street right on the San Francisco Bay. The picture is the view from our balcony...not too bad. I think we are definitely going to
have to learn how to sail a boat sometime during the next two years. The air is salty and cool, and so far we haven't seen any fog.

I had a two hour conference call with work today, and have been amazingly productive for my first full day telecommuting. It's so nice to be able to concentrate without someone constantly coming into my office. It's going to get lonely, though, I can tell.

When Nick gets back from work tonight we're going to investigate the area, drive by the new apartment, and then pick up some groceries for the next week. I'm really feeling a mix of emotions being out here - it's so gorgeous and new and exciting, but I miss everyone already so much.