San Francisco

ARRIVAR
Friday night in San Francisco saw me sneak into Dropbox HQ to steal all their secrets. Well actually, all I did was join in their happy hour and drink all their cocktails - but I think that's an upgrade.

And of course, what does a body do when their back in San Francisco? If they have any lust for food and character, they head to the Mission. Grue's stellar recommendation saw Himani, Grue and I pig out at Pakwan on 16th in the Mission. No-frills Pakistani joint where you order at the counter, pay in cash, BYOB, and go crazy when the food arrives. Pictured above are tangdi chicken, seekh kababs, fish kabab and daal palak (you know, to assuage our consciences). A most memorable meal that makes the parking hassles in the Mission totally worth it.

Now if you're in the mood for Thai food, I say.. go to Thailand! But if you've got a life that you can't just skip out on, fine, you can safely make do with Marnee Thai on 9th in Inner Sunset. Another stellar recommendation from my man Tones (he's getting awfully good at this restaurant business - wonder if he gets a cut). The photo frames and news articles on the wall proudly proclaim "best of blah blah" and "top Thai chef of yada yada" and I think: "Yeah okay, we'll see."

And see we definitely did. We got the coconut dumplings (look almost identical to appams in Kerala!) and the talay you see in the pictures. The dumplings were sizzling hot, super soft, and tasted mildly sweet. The talay was spicy, and earned my respect on account of the long, whole stalks of green pepper I saw used so often in Thailand. I haven't eaten at a single other Thai place in the US that uses these.

A word about San Francisco: Man this is a cool city. Golden Gate Park is huge - and on a sunny day, just perfect. And if you can get two people called Janette Fong and Neville 'Su Yong' Bowers to join - that's a perfect Saturday afternoon stroll.

A word to all you board game geeks out there - and there are a lot of us. Dominion is a great game. Be warned - there is no board. Just cards. But it's so much fun. Nice way to settle in after an aggressively spicy Mapo Tofu meal from Mission Chinese.

WINE & DINE

California farmers' markets are basically on the cutting edge of farmers market-ing anywhere. Fresh oysters and ceviche for breakfast? Apparently.

Starting our morning with the Mountain View Farmers' Market was a great idea. This is a place where even the baggies of salad mix come with pretty (and edible) flowers.

With Louise and Team Korea (Shane + Parents of Shane) leading the way, our winery tour in Morgan Hills kicked off with Guglielmo. Most of us picked up their ruby port. Delicious. After a pretty good Thai lunch, we hit up the Clos LaChance winery. The venue makes you feel like you're in Tuscany. [Having never been to Tuscany myself, I am relying on the word of my travel companions. But I can see where they're coming from. The place is very pretty] But the wine was meh. Feel free to avoid.

The highlight of the evening was home-cooked hot pot dinner. Here's Louise modeling the fresh tilapia we picked up. We also picked up what looked like enough hot pot rations to feed a medium sized Chinese infantry unit, but ran through almost all of it through dinner.


Day II of wine tasting saw us swap a Nisha for a Divya, and trade up from Morgan Hills to Napa. We started with a very personal wine tour at Delectus, one of Shane and Louise's favourites. Had never tasted wine right out the barrel before. It's rough. But educational. [Kind of like Karnani's core strategy class, I realise with some amusement]

Shane's darling parents took us to lunch at the venerable Bouchon. French food in a casual bistro setting. Between the enormous crab, lobster and mussel platter, the delicious bread and an enormous shank of lamb - I was pretty much done for at the end of the meal. Locomotion was an effort, and I think we all needed a nap. But there was more wine to be tasted, so on we went.

V. Sattui is a cool place, especially the subterranean cellar/bar where we did our tasting. The standouts for me were the dry Reisling and the Gamay Rouge (a rouge with a surprisingly big body). But the king of meads at this place was definitely the Madiera. At $45 a pop it taxed our poor grad student wallets. But I have a feeling it's going to be worth it. [As I write this at 35,000 feet, I really hope that bottle's doing alright in the belly of this plane]

AND THE REST
It's about that time in a travel blog when the writer (and I use that word generously) kind begins to lose patience. And I'm sure you've had enough too. So for the sake of my memory, and your sanity, here's a quick rundown:

- If you're in Milbrae, eat dim sum at Hong Kong Flower Lounge. They have shau lung bao. And it's pretty good. They also blanch the brocolli in front of you, which is cool. Oh, and their rice porridge (chok) is extremely well-made. I was all Oliver-Twist-can-I-have-some-more with my bowl after I'd had my first serving.

- If you're in the Mission (and let's face it, if you have taste, you will be), try Limon. Ceviche, fried chicken, vegetarian empanada (tastier than Argentinian humitas, btw!) are all great. Great drinks too.