Alton Brown and Naked Castro People

Yesterday we had a great and extremely interesting day.  I had to give equal billing to the two most interesting events of the day; one pretty great, the other pretty weird.  But I'll get to that in a minute.

We woke up and watched the Gamecocks beat Tennessee in football.  The score was a little too close for me, but we won, so I'm not going to complain.  And after losing the last two games, it was a nice way to start the day.

After a quick lunch here at the apartment, we walked down to Chestnut intending to see the movie Argo.  We walked in, got our popcorn and sat down in the theater.  After the previews were done and the movie started, I realized we were in the wrong movie!  We were in the theater for the psycho movie, so we got up and walked to another room and found the right movie.  There are no titles over the doors letting you know which movie is playing in that theater like we have at home.  But we only missed a little bit of the beginning.  We both loved the movie.  I'd see it again, and Don said he'd also watch it again, with captions.

Then in the car to go see Alton Brown.  He was speaking at the Castro Theater for Science Week hosted by UCSF. When we got there, we realized we were an hour early so we thought we'd go get a glass of wine while we waited.  Then driving past the theater we saw a line snaking around the block.  So, Don dropped me off to get in line (it was first come first seated) and he went to find a parking space.  Then the weirdness began.  When Don found me in line he said he was driving down the street and saw a women walking the other way, WITH NO CLOTHES ON!  He said he thought it looked like a costume at first.  A man walked out of a store she past and took a picture of her.  I found this a little hard to believe.  As we were waiting in line, people dressed up in all sorts of get ups were milling around.  I didn't know if this was normal (it is Castro after all) but soon realized they were dressed up for Halloween.  Interesting.  There were lots of men in drag, women in slinky get-ups, all sorts of people.  When the line started moving, we were able to turn the corner heading for the front door.  That's when I saw him!  Alton Brown was outside taking pictures with everyone in the line:

I know it's not the most flattering picture of me, but I was tickled pink!  And notice we match!  His bow tie matches my shirt!  Or maybe that silly smile is because just before it was my turn to take this picture, two men walked by WITH NO CLOTHES ON!  I saw them coming and thought "where are the seams on their costumes?" just as Don had done.  There were no seams because they had on no costumes.  What would make someone do this?  Isn't it against the law for people to walk around naked?  There were lots of policemen around, so how could this happen?  And what would make someone want to walk around naked?  I don't understand.  Even Alton mentioned it in his show.

Anyway, I'm distracted.  Alton had a wonderful show.  It started a bit late since he was taking pictures with everyone in line (except Don, he opted out) and he took lots of questions afterwards so the event didn't end until around 9:30.  It was great though, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  But we had not eaten dinner so we were both starving.  We decided against having dinner in Castro for obvious reasons and drove back to our area.  We had a nice, albeit late dinner at Ristobar, then a nightcap at home.

A strange full day.  I think the most interesting thing I'll do today is walk to the grocery store.

Colleen and Peggy

Colleen and Peggy visited!  I had not seen anyone from home since July so I was ready for this visit.  They came on October 11 and stayed until the 15th.  I'm afraid we suggested that they stay in Fisherman's Wharf but they wanted a Marriott and that was the closest one to us.  I don't think they minded all the tourists though.  At least they didn't mention it to us if they did.

We did a whirlwind during their visit!  I'm writing this some time later so the timeline might be a little off.  But regardless, this is what we did while they were here.  Their first day we ate lunch down by the wharf then drove them around our area in the Marina/Cow Hollow.  Saw Billionaire's row, Lombard Street, Chestnut Street, we drove them up and down some pretty steep hills and showed them the one we walked up.  We had a coffee then took them back to our apartment then down the street to the Palace of Fine Arts.  Dinner at Meze's and a night cap (or two) before calling it a night.  Friday was Alcatraz day.

Don and I

Alcatraz Cell

Not so legal photo of us

The return trip

It was a fun morning.

Then we met up with Colleen's old college roommate, Pam.  We all hopped on a cable car (waited an hour for it) up to China Town.  Peggy bought some things for her granddaughters and we had a great time looking at all the China Town tourist stuff.  

Stopped in a restaurant for dim sum and on to Stockton Street where the local residents do their shopping.

Pam left us then and we got ready for dinner at Parma.  Good Italian food but I'm thinking I like e Angelo better.  They're real Italians there so that makes it a little more authentic, for me.  Anyway, more nightcaps.  We found Bin 38 with a patio and a fire pit.  Reminds me of home.

Saturday we met Pam in Little Italy for some good pastries. We walked around a bit until I tripped on a curb and broke my wonderful $2 flip flops.  Don was a hero and went down to Walgreen's in China Town for another pair for me.  He got a medium but when I put them on, they didn't cover my heel.  I guess Chinese women have smaller feet than I do.  But I made do for the rest of our tour.  We took a bus up to Coit Tower:

The view from Coit Tower of Fillmore Street

San Francisco from the top of the Coit Tower

Peggy, Pam, Colleen, me and Don

Then off to Zeke's to watch the Georgia game:

San Francisco Gamecock Club

We won!!!  That was a great game.

Then to the tapas place off Union Street for dinner.  Peggy was the only one who got a good dinner.  That was just about the only meal I've eaten here that was not great.

Sunday we did the Muir Woods thing.  Don, Colleen and I walked the regular track while Peggy took off and hiked one of the trails.

Beautiful.  We got a little worried about Peggy as she went off by herself.  The trail was supposed to be 2 hours but if she had taken a detour, it would be 4 hours long.  But she came back in the 2 hours.

After that we stopped and got some great pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge:

They wanted to stay in the Fisherman's Wharf area that night and do the tourist stuff.  So we hung around Pier 39 and had dinner and drinks there:

We had our second not so great meal there.  Oh well, the company more than made up for it.

Monday was the day they had to leave.  They went back to FW for some sourdough bread and some almond pastries to take home with them (Colleen graciously got some for us) then off to the airport.  

We had a great time and I hope they did as well.

Next visitors - Michael and Katie!

(Happy Birthday, Maggie!)

Fleet Week

So much has happened and I really need to catch up before I forget anything.  The first thing is Fleet Week.  If you're not familiar with this, it's San Francisco's way of paying homage to our military.  I thought it would be a good thing for me to do while Don's away.  Don left Thursday morning and by the afternoon I could hear the Blue Angels practicing over SF.  I was so excited I got chill bumps.  By Friday morning, it got a little annoying.  I would be out walking the dogs and all of a sudden a plane would whoosh by.  They  are loud.  I mean LOUD.  I had to not only give Bailey his medicine again, but I gave Missy one as well.  They were freaking out.  I read in the paper that they expected a million people to descend in the Marina area.  A million.  I seriously considered putting the dogs in the car and going somewhere else.  But at this time I still had hopes of meeting the Gamecock Club for Saturday's game so I decided to try to enjoy it.  On Saturday during the main event on our back patio I took these:

They were writing things in the air!  This one was for Geico.  I walked to the Marina Green to join in the festivities and tried to see how they were doing it, but I couldn't see a thing.  

There were so many people in the city that I decided not to try to drive to watch the game.  The paper was discouraging people from public transportation so I thought I'd take a cab.  The land lady had recommended something to Don so I called them and they turned out to be a limo service.  Long story short, I decided to walk up to Campus (a local bar on Chestnut) to watch the game there.  I got there and it was not so crowded so I got a table and a beer and started watching the game.  No one else was into the game, but that's alright.  It made me a little lonely watching it by myself, but they were doing well.  After my beer was gone, I noticed the bar was filling up.  It was 5 o'clock so I was a little surprised.  Then I found out the A's were playing trying to get in the playoffs.  Everyone was there to watch that game.  It got so packed that I thought I'd walk down to Ristobar, sit at the bar there and try to watch it.  As I tried to go pay my bill, there were so many people there I was stepping on peoples feet.  As I stood at the bar waiting and stepping on people, I just looked up, apologized and shrugged my shoulders, I couldn't do anything about it.  Down to Ristobar and no luck.  The Giants were playing after the A's so everyone wanted to watch that game.  That place  was so crowded I got one glass of wine, couldn't get anyone to switch the game over to mine and gave up.  There is an "Irish" pub down the street so I headed over that way.  As I turned the corner I saw a tv set up outside with Giant's game on and I knew I was not going to finish watching USC.  So I went over to Meze's to sit at the bar and have some dinner.

The service there wasn't any better.  Not because of the game (no tv's there), just bad timing.  I eventually had a nice dinner though.  As I was paying my bill, the bartender came over to apologize for the poor service.  I said I had been to two other places that night and this was the best.  She said that she was sorry I was having such a bad evening.  I gave her a big tip and went home.

But the Gamecocks beat Georgia!!  So it wasn't a wasted evening.

Don's "Weekend" Away

Don is back home this "weekend"; that is to say this morning at 3 am until Monday midnight.  So the dogs and I are on our own.  I just got back from walking them, it's quite enjoyable.  First Missy since she can't go poo in the back yard (probably the rats as I mentioned earlier).  The America's race has a preliminary race today in the Marina so they wouldn't let Missy off leash in the Marina Green so we had to go to Crissy Beach:

 Then is was Bailey's turn.  He doesn't like to be out much so we just went to move the car and pick up a paper.  I have to see how badly Obama did last night in the debate (no television here) and to find out today's schedule.  The Blue Angles are supposed to be flying at the cup and I want to go see them.  Hopefully it'll be after the exterminator comes.  They were supposed to come yesterday at 1 pm but by 1:30 when they haven't shown, I texted our land lady to ask if it was postponed.  She texted me back at 2:30 to let me know it was postponed until today.  2:30!  So I'll wait around today for them again.

BTW, Missy is much better today.  I think she had an upset stomach yesterday.

Cooking Class

Don and I went to a cooking class last night.  A woman who lives down by China Basin runs it out of her home.  There were 8 of us all together taking the class.  It was a "hands on" class so we were all supposed to be participating in the cooking.  One point of taking this class was to give Don some positive experience in the kitchen.  But Don and I were pretty much the only ones who did not have a chance to do any cooking.  There were several younger people there who stepped in and pretty much did everything.  Oh, well.  After we were finished cooking, we sat down and enjoyed the food together.

We made marinated chicken in parchment with beans and carrots, jalapeno flavored mac and cheese, roasted cauliflower with garlic and bread crumbs (I've actually made this before), and salted toffee.  The food was very good, but I don't think I need to do this again.  Most of the people in the class didn't know how to cook at all.  I did learn things, but not $65 worth.

Missy has been having issues.  I'm not sure what's bothering her but she seems nervous a lot of the time.  She's been going in the crate periodically, particularly when we leave the house.  I don't know what it is.  Maybe she needs more exercise?  We're taking her out walking pretty much twice a day.  I think I'll take her to the Palace of Fine Arts today and sit on a bench to watch the swans, and tourists taking pictures.  Right now she's sitting behind me whining.  I don't know what she wants.  She has food and water and she's been on a walk already today and I threw the ball to her in the back, twice.  Maybe she's bored.  Bailey entertains himself looking for the rats.  Speaking of which, they're going to come today to put something out for them.  I hope it's not so bad that we can't let the dogs out.

Don has a pinched nerve in his foot.  He says it's been hurting him lately when he walks too much and was afraid it was broken.  So he went to the doctor to get it x-rayed.  It made me smile when I pictured this.  He has the ugliest feet ever.  I can't imagine what they were thinking.  I guess they've seen this kind of thing before.  Anyway, they put a simulated prosthetic on it (they wrapped it) and he has to leave it on until Thursday.  If it doesn't get better, he might have to have an operation.  Then he said if he has to have this operation, I might have to do all the driving home in December.  It would serve me right as he had to drive most of the way here.

That's all the news for right now.  I'm going to drive down to Trader Joe's today and find something for dinner.  Oh, speaking of food!  We were getting the car fixed yesterday and while we were in the waiting room they had Giada DeLaurentiis on the Cooking Channel!  I'm sorry, but I used to watch the Foodnetwork all the time and haven't seen it except sporadically in the past few months.  I was disappointed when they told us the car was ready.

That's really all for now.