Happy Birthday Abby!

On Saturday, Matt's younger siblings, Abby and Josh came out to visit us. Abby was turning 17 on Monday, so they came out to SF to visit us and go to the giants game. When they got here (two hours laters than we anticipated), the first thing they told us was that they were starving. So we asked them what they wanted to eat....and we expected a "I don't know" or a "I don't care" but Abby blurted out, what about deep dish pizza? So we tried this Chicago-style pizza chain called Patxi's, the one in Hayes Valley. I think Hayes Valley is known as a trendy mini shopping area. Cute ritzy stores. Good food. Patxi's pizza....is awesome. We were starving, so we ordered a lunch special (pizza slice + salad + soda) and a large pizza. Josh was so hungry, he practically licked his salad plate clean (best salad ever). And the waiter gave us an extra slice of pizza because we had to wait a little longer (since someone else took our slice). Overall, a great experience (plus the giants game was on).

 

After eating, we decided to walk around a little in Haight Ashbury. They had never been there before, so of course, they had to experience the one place where it's practically cool to be homeless. I was on the hunt for a new pair of Toms, and Josh was on the hunt for some new sunglasses. We stopped in pretty much every store that sold sunglasses for 10 bucks. But Josh couldn't find anything!! We did check out some cool shops and met some interesting people. Nothing like a good dose of Haight Ashbury to get you acquainted with San Francisco. We also took them into Amoeba Records, the world's largest independent record store. It's just cool to see all the records/cds/tapes and learning about this place's history. There are also a ton of stores that sell giants apparel. Awesome.

       

Haight Ashbury sign!

After eating and shopping and people watching, we decided we wanted some ice cream!! Abby had looked up this place called Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission. It turns out that Bi-Rite Creamery is also on the Big Eat SF List so of course we had to go. There was a long line and we must have waited at least 20 minutes, but I think it was worth it. Matt got the trifecta ice cream trio, which included the flavor on the Big Eat SF List, salted caramel. For the most part, I think it's a really great flavor and it's yummy, but it wouldn't be my cup of tea all the time. It's definitely worth trying once though. I ordered the balsamic strawberry-vanilla swirl soft serve...and it was the BOMB! I love soft serve ice cream, so I'd probably be just as excited about McDonald's soft serve ice cream. We walked up to Mission Dolores Park and took some pictures of the awesome view of the city. But it was getting dark...which means time to get out of the Dolores Park (pretty sure it's a major hang out for druggies and dealers...uh-oh). For some reason, Matt was craving coffee (weird right?) and so we stopped at Philz Coffee. Yes I am embarrassed about how much eating we did that day. Philz is awesome. They individually brew each cup of glorious coffee. It's definitely a little bit more $$$ but well worth it if you're looking for a coffee treat. Plus they were closing and kind of rushing us out, so they gave us some free donuts because they felt bad. Good customer service...well good save anyway. Afterwards, we were too tired to do much, so we just came back to the house and hung out.

On Sunday, we tried a new place for breakfast called Howard's Cafe. The food was pretty good and decently priced. We picked Howard's because it was the only place with a tv and the giants game was already on at 10 in the morning. We'll probably be back. Looks like it's been around for a long time, so they must be doing something right. Afterwards, we took the N-line to Union Square to the Ferry Building. Abby was super excited because it was her first time riding public transportation!

first time riding the muni!!!

We walked around a little bit in that area because there was a really cool waterfall water structure. Sunday morning was also the day of the SF Marathon, and there were tons of people at the Ferry Building who had just finished up their 26.2 miles. Very busy. We tried to take the cute little bus to Fisherman's Wharf but we ended up going the wrong direction. Worked out for me though because I stopped in forever 21 and bought a pair of sunglasses. We finally took the right bus to Pier 39 and walked around the shops in that area. I think Pier 39 might be one of my favorite places in SF. There were a lot of seals out that day, making their crazy seal sounds. Matt and I totally pretended to be seals and made embarrassingly loud seal sounds. It was awesome. We also saw a magic show because there was a magician performing for "free." I think from now on, whenever I go to Pier 39, I will just put 10 dollars aside to pass out to worthy street performers. We tried on some hats in the hat store, played around in the left-handed store, bought some salt water taffy, and grabbed some coffee. Being a Sunday afternoon, it was super crowded. We walked through Fisherman's Wharf a little bit and saw a group of guys break dancing for a crowd. We also saw some pretty lame silver/gold "robot" men. I've seen some pretty good ones, so these guys were just mediocre. Abby really wanted to see the "bush man" who hides behind a fake bush and pops out at unsuspecting tourists, but apparently he was taking a break. Sad :( We meandered through North Beach, finally making our way to Chinatown, the neighborhood that I think Josh and Abby were most excited for.

seals and alcatraz!!!

magic show. yes he is throwing knives.

trying on hats. best place on pier 39!

i wanted to buy everything!

we love america!!

break dancers!

We walked around and stopped at all the stereotypical Chinatown shops. Josh bought some fake Ray-Bans finally, so at least he was successful in his shopping. We stopped in our favorite Chinese restaurant, Snow Garden, where we had last gone with Amber and David before a Giants game. I think I like this place so much because the food is super cheap and the people are really nice. Plus there were other white folks there (and the inside of the restaurant is orange...and who doesn't love orange walls!!). We got some chow mein, orange chicken, mongolian beef, and some potstickers. Overall, big success! Abby said they were the best potstickers she had ever had! I think the highlight of our trip was Matt's purchase: this man bought a fanny pack. No joke (I wish I were kidding). He also bought an alcatraz shirt in anticipation of our trip to alcatraz in August. He plans on bringing a camera and wearing his fanny pack. Embarrassing I know. 

he's so cultured.

we're not tourists... 

we don't monkey around!!

Nothing quite says tourist-y like Chinatown. After all the neighborhoods we had perused (did you lose count...i did), the kids were tired and we headed home. Quite a crazy weekend. So much that on Monday morning, I was almost late to work after waking up 20 minutes before I had to leave. Too much partying ;) just kidding parents. 

another one bites the dust

So we've been to the Taco Shop at Underdog's before because we found it on yelp looking for a place to watch the giants game. The first time we went, we LOVED it. 5 dollars for a tecate and a shot of tequila. Plus they have a good street taco combo. My favorite was the carnitas one. Well, we just recently found out that it's on the Big Eat SF list! Apparently, their tacos "Nick's Way" made the cut. So needless to say, we had to go back (granted we had already decided we loved it and would go back anyways). Well, we went on taco tuesday (because we LOVE taco tuesday). And the best part.....we got to sit on a pac man machine. Awesome. Like our table was the pac man game. I ordered a carnitas taco Nick's Way...which essentially is a loaded taco (with beans, guac, meat, cheese, etc) but with a soft and a hard shell. Can anyone say gordita? Yah!!! Anyways, the taco was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend this place to anyone needing a good taco fix. Plus two dollar tecates and a place to watch the giants game? Well worth the wait!!!

Anyways, that's another thing to cross off the list :) Stay tuned for pictures

our "wasssuppp san francisco" weekend

Soooo we decided we are not only going to try and conquer the 2010 Big Eat SF list, but we are also going to try and hit up as many cool neighborhoods in san francisco as we possibly can. we are going to call this the "wassup san francisco" challenge. we want to spend as much time possible getting to know the coolest city in the world. and that is exactly what we did this weekend.

On friday, matt's oldest brother was coming into town, so we decided to spend some time with him (his name is brandon). Brandon is currently in seminary school in Reno and he is "learning" to be a future pastor (sounds like a pretty awesome gig). He is part of something big...he is trying to help start up a church in San Francisco. It's awesome. On Fridays, he drives up from Reno to participate in the weekly meetings geared towards starting up the church. The meetings are at 7 on Fridays (at a local pastor's apartment), so we graciously accepted Brandon's invitation to join the party. Before we met up with them, we decided to try this awesome organic hot dog place in our neighborhood, Underdog. This place is totally mellow, like straight out of Berkeley "mellow." The hot dogs are a little bit pricier (they run about 4-5 bucks, but hey it's all organic...even the ketchup!). Anyways, Matt tried the bratwurst, and I decided to try the chicken apple sausage. This place is delicious. I love hot dogs, so I honestly am not super picky when it comes to these glorious pieces of meat. The bratwurst was definitely up Matt's alley, and he topped it with some onions, ketchup, mustard, and a little bit of sauerkraut. I wanted to spice up my chicken apple sausage, so I added relish, ketchup, mustard, some deli mustard, and even some sauerkraut. I am a huge fan of this place. At the end of the day, I don't think it tops costco's $1.50 dogs (plus soda), but I'm pretty sure very little in the world can top them. After our delicious dinner, we drove over to UCSF and attended the small group. You know, to be in a place where people love Jesus as much as these people do and are truly driven to do something big (well as big as starting a church) in a city as big as SF...it's incredible. The people were super nice and just welcoming. I know that sounds like every church, but these guys are welcoming, fun, and just overall cool. I think we will definitely be back next weekend...even though Brandon tricked us and didn't tell us that we were going to be filmed for a documentary about the SF lifestyle. Yes it was totally nerve-wracking being in front of a camera, but I guess if we had to do it for something, at least it was for Jesus. Honestly, as nerdy as it sounds, it was a really awesome way to spend Friday night. After the small group, we decided to go to a hookah lounge in our neighborhood called Old Jerusalem Cafe. They guarantee it's the smoothest hookah you've ever had, or you get another one. I don't know that I agree with that (especially since they made us order two hookahs since we had more than 3 people...Brandon brought a friend) but it was still a fun experience. I haven't hookah-ed in ages, so it was fun to do (and it inspired us to buy a hookah later this weekend....wait just a little bit longer to here about that). Plus they had a really good chai. Yum. Fun Friday night :)

On Saturday, we bid farewell to Brandon and his friend, Andrew. Matt and I had decided in advance that this would be a great day to explore SF. We took the N-line (which is kind of like a train/lightrail in the city) to Union Square. We did a little shopping...because that is the best type of thing to do in Union Square. He bought a cute zip up from Gap. We enjoyed watching people participate in a Special Olympics fundraiser....called Over the Edge, where participants climbed down the side of the Hilton. It was pretty sweet and very uplifting.

Afterwards, we walked upwards toward Chinatown. For some reason, I'm the chinese one, but Matt is the one that LOVES chinatown. No joke...this kid talks about it ALL THE TIME. I think it's because last time we went, he got bomb chinese food and bought like 3 t-shirts for 2 bucks a pop. I love Chinatown. It's just full of tourists and all these asian people giving the tourists funny looks. Plus everything is so cheap. I bought an orange scarf (guess where I am going to wear that) for only 4 bucks. We bought some mangos because they looked so delicious it would have been impossible to pass up. And as we were walking through exploring, it turned out that there was a parade today. I think it was supposed to spread awareness about oppression in China, and it was fun to watch the people walking through the streets chanting and the band following close behind them. It's not a good day in chinatown until you see a parade and/or festival. We thought about getting food in Chinatown, but for once in his life, Matt wasn't feeling chinese food. We also tried to get some egg custard tarts from the Golden Gate Bakery, but as you can see...they were on vacation.

We also stopped in a bookstore called City Lights. It's the first business in San Francisco to be named a historical landmark (most landmarks are famous because of the building, not what's inside). I know it's super famous, but I actually need to be enlightened on why it is super famous...so if you know, let me know :)

So we just kept walking...to North Beach. For those of you who don't know, North Beach is essentially San Francisco's Little Italy. If you are looking for some authentic pasta, this is where you need to go. There are little shops filled with cheeses, wines, bread, etc. Everything italian you could possibly think of. Plus tons of cafes (where you can get your cappuccinos!) and lots of pizza and pasta restaurants. Sounds like my kind of place. I love it here. We tried to decide on one italian restaurant, but honestly, unless you do some research beforehand, it's hard to pick one. So we decided to do something a little more interesting. We chose a restaurant called The Stinking Rose....their tagline is "We season our garlic with food." Yes this restaurant is entirely catered towards garlic. Honestly, it sounded like fun, because they had bagna calda (which is this dish matt has been telling me about for ages), but at the end of the day, I think I'm the kind of girl who can only eat so much garlic before I want to puke and die. Don't get me wrong, the food is delicious. We weren't very hungry, so we just ordered the appetizer bagna calda, which is essentially garlic cloves marinaded and cooked in butter, olive oil, and a hint of anchovies and herbs. Yes it sounds weird, but Matt has raved about it forever. What I did love at TSR is their foccacia and free pesto. The foccacia is maybe the best bread ever. Anyways, I think this is one of those places that you can go to only if you love reeking of garlic (and also having garlic leak out of your pores afterwards). I can see why people love it, it's quite the experience, but not so much for me. After our garlic-ky meal, we decided to head home.

Z Cioccolato candy store in North Beach

We stopped in Levi's to say hi to Matt's friend, Laith, who works there. After all that walking we were pooped. After our Muni ride home, we passed out for 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon. Sometimes I think we are 4-year olds sitting around waiting for naptime. When we woke up, we cooked up some dinner and stopped in the Haight Ashbury district to buy a hookah. After our hookah session the night before, Matt made up his mind to buy one of his own. I love Haight Ashbury. It's just such a fascinating area. Matt had a conversation with a homeless man who convinced Matt that he was a better rapper than Eminem....see what I mean about this place having personality? It's amazing. 

Later that night, we decided to see Captain America.  OMG. BEST SUPER HEROOOO EVER. Honestly, watching that movie made me proud to be an American...and thankful for super heroes in the world :) Five stars in my book. And if you decide to watch the movie, make sure you stay until the VERY end. You will not regret it!!!! In case you can't tell, we had a GREAT saturday.

On Sunday, we headed home to Sunnyvale. I think my mom has missed us a lot, so I'm glad we stopped by to hang out with her and my brother. We went to target and did our weekly shopping (for the record, target is much cheaper in sunnyvale than in sf...weird). Then we kicked it poolside. My mom took us to dinner and made us tons of food to take back with us...she is the best mom ever. We have "leftovers" galore and I pretty much don't have to cook all week. Plus we have lunch! awesome. Anyways, it was a perfect relaxing sunday...exactly what we needed.