Snapshots

I haven't been living up to this blog title lately in an international way, but I have been strolling around the excellent city where I live, as well as that other prettty town across the water (emphatically not called Frisco by anyone who's spent more than 10 minutes there. You may call it SF or just "the city").

Here are some of the neat things I've seen.

First off, we have the Ferry Building Market, where I've assembled many a gorgeous, overpriced picnic. The peppers at this stand taste as good as they look:


Parking near the Ferry Building is an exercise in frustration. It's not that you can't find a spot—it's just that they all have 30-minute time limits and require a Radio Flyer full of change. Behold the Most Expensive Meter in the Universe:


You can't really see the prices in that shot, but it costs five cents a minute. The Boy and I stood staring at it for about $1 worth of time, giggling to ourselves about how many souls we could buy and sell for the same amount it would cost to leave the car during lunch.

Then we went and parked a mile away in a cheap all-day lot, enjoying every minute of the sunshiny stroll back through the Financial District:


Then we met some friends at Market Bar, where they make killer pancakes but claim to have no bathroom for patrons. I had to stand in the public john line for about three years after drinking all this lovely tea:


But I survived. Mixing with the rabble can be humbling, after all.

The next weekend, I visited another farmers market in Noe Valley, this time to hear my friend Claudia read from her charming children's book, Meerkat Safari. The local cherubs had a blast, especially when she pulled out some animal finger puppets and played them the safari song:

dude on the right looks like corey haim

It's hard to top toddler elephant noises on the coolness scale, but this license plate I spotted a few minutes later managed to make my day yet again:


Don't even try to say that doesn't rule.

Next up: Lunch at Fresca with the fabulous Erinia, who came to pay her respects to her former hood. Our food was Peruvian and very photogenic.

lemonade

ceviche

spinach salad (before it went toxic)

But the crown jewel of the weekend was our trip to my buddy Mr. O's Annual Pork Chop and Mint Julep Festival, now in its 11th decadent year. As Miss E said of the wine—and this could really apply to everything the party had to offer—"It has a very good nose."


I have some photo souvenirs from my side of the bay also, but we'll save those for when I get back from a weeklong jaunt to Iowa and the homestead. Will do my best to write from the road, but I might be too busy napping in the cornfields and celebrating my mom's 60th.

The BCB over 'n' out.