Always great to be back in San Francisco, which I have loved since my mother took me here for my 16th birthday (awhile ago). Newer reason to love it — my friend Susan has been here for decades. Her neighborhood, the Sunset, was hopping last night as we walked past Asian shops to a great neighborhood Chinese restaurant San Tung packed with big families and smaller clusters of young people lucky enough to live in this gorgeous city.
I grew up with Chinese food but rarely find it now, especially good Chinese food. My kids’ version of Chinese food is Thai or Vietnamese. This was very good Chinese good – crispy fried chicken wings (who knew?), fresh mu shu pork (which I haven’t had in years) and perfectly stir fried green beans) The place is also known for it fresh noodles, (next time)
I am sorry I can’t post photos (technical difficulties) especially of all the lush green vegetation and colorful flowers – purple, orange, red – here and there. Welcome change from brown muddy Iowa.
We stopped in at the neighborhood marijuana dispensary— the smell of pot lingers on the sidewalks , here and there. It’s very clinical looking, more like a sleek pharmacy then a head shop. Samples in antiseptic jars on shiny white counters and iPads with interactive displays that showcase products with cold soulless names. This is not your grandma’s Mary Jane, weed, pot. Kind of sucks the hippie character out of the act of getting high. Guess that’s the point. Make it professional, medicinal, acceptable.
I also was blown away by the new Harvey Milk Terminal that I stepped into after deplaning. Awe-inspiring, bright, airy, sleek, white, trendy furniture, bold art work and wall installation with what looks like wood bits of old barn, a poignant display of photos and texts about Harvey Milk, whose 1978 assignation I remember hearing on the news in college.
Sunday we went to a farmers market full of gorgeous fruit and veg and flowers. Discovery: tiny kishu mandarin oranges smaller than a satsuma and even sweeter.
We hiked along the coast on a spectacular afternoon with lush vegetation and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, thru the fancy sea cliff neighborhood, stopping to tour a $12 million house for sale (it was an open house so we walked right in…) we walked past baker beach and into the presidio and Richmond areas. A six mile walk, as it turns out.
Finally got back here about 10 years after my first visit on a tour bus, visiting farms (a peach farm, lavender farm, winery) with some Iowa farmers. This time I had a rental car so I could zip off to fairly out of the way places on roads with names like Farm to Market, although not as many places as I wanted to hit. Need more than one day for that. Next trip I’d like to go to: Gruene, Comfort, Welfare, llano.
Blanco was almost my favorite because it seemed like a normal place almost, with more ranchers than tourists. I did stop at the gift shop next to the Rosebud Cafe where I found good local pottery to buy as gifts and expensive Mexican embroidery. The town square reminded me of Winterset, Iowa, with its limestone courthouse, but the Texas courthouse is smaller… It too has been a movie set (True Grit) as has the Winterset courthouse (Bridges of Madison County).
Sad to leave Austin and return to cold snowy Iowa but feel lucky we made it here. P.S. Austin is trying out a new approach to Uber pickups at the airport. The pickup is a line akin to a taxi line, a specially designated ride app pickup area in the garage where the rental cars are, a short walk from the terminal. Worked well. You order an Uber and then stand in a fast moving line and get the next Uber in line, taxi style except an Uber attendant emails your driver enters your pin/reservation number. Beats landing at a chaotic airport arrival area and trying to figure out which car is your Uber.
Tex-Jap sounds bad (unlike Tex-Mex) but Kemuri Tatsu-ya is a restaurant that fuses Texas and Japanese fare. Interesting idea and sort of worked. The restaurant designer must have had fun, mixing good ole boy Texas and Japanese izakaya (informal pub) decor, think cattle skulls and lanterns. Perhaps the most natural mashup we had was well-grilled smoked pork ribs with gochujang hot red chili paste. The corn with crema and chilis tasted almost Cuban. The ramen dipped in a broth with brisket bits was tasty but unwieldy.
East Austin seems to be the place for inventive food by young chefs, maybe because they can afford the rent, although that may be changing with gentrification.
Our friend Art recommended Antone’s, a blues club that turned out to be a block from the Hilton (where we have a great view from the 17th floor). Antones was sold out Sunday but almost empty Monday with no cover and we lucked out with the Brad Stivers band. Brad plays a mean guitar– rockabilly and blues — and sings well too. Realized he’s my son Noah’s age. Only 28. We hoped to see his drummer Lindsay Beaver’s band Tuesday but Brad filled in for her. Bigger crowd. Lindsey is booked at the Des Moines Marriott downtown on feb 15 so maybe we will catch her there. Didn’t know the Marriott has live music. Turns out it’s the annual Des Moines bluesfest!
I rode all day on a bike around Austin’s Lady Bird Lake before noticing the name of the bike I’d rented was the same as my grandson’s (aka Linus). Fitting end to a fantastic day. Coming from subzero Iowa, Austin was glorious — in the 60s, flawless blue skies, breeze. I may have gotten a sunburn. I’ll take it.
The trail system along the narrow Lady Bird Lake and on passageways between huge skyscrapers downtown is impressive and I felt safe sharing the trail/bike lane with pedestrians, scooters and cars. My rental from Austin Bike rental and tours got off to a rocky start when I walked past the place three times before realizing it located in a metal storage container plopped down in a food truck court in a small pocket of undeveloped surrounded by glass high rises. (How very Austin.) And the container was locked. eventually some nice girls arrived and I was on my way with a very comfortable and sturdy 7 speed “Linus” bike, a helmet, lock and pack to carry stuff.
There’s a very cool new protruding ramp known as “the EMC overlook” at MacRae Park on Des Moines’s south side offering dazzling views of downtown. We also took in some new views from the new Chris Coleman bridge in Gray’s Lake Park. Looking good Des Moines.
