Last post from San Francisco
Today is my last day here in beautiful, wonderful San Francisco. I take a red-eye back home to Mark, Tigger, and Brachtune. My friend and I are hitting up the Haight today but although I think I am going to lug my camera with me, I won’t have a chance to post again until I’m home.
Last night we ate at an Indonesian restaurant. I had a “tempe” and tofu dish that looked like this:
Not a very good picture, I’m afraid, but I had to use the flash and I didn’t want to disturb our neighbors, who were pretty close to us, by taking more than one picture. As it is, they asked me twice if I am a food critic. They also suggested that posing as a food critic would be a way to get good service in restaurants. Anyway, after the meal I asked the waiter if they made the tempeh on the premises and he answered affirmatively. I could tell that it was homemade, though, without even asking. It just has a more lovely texture than store-bought. Theirs was even better than my homemade tempeh, but the somewhat unfortunate thing is that after eating their tempeh, and after making my own, and finding it so much better than store-bought, I’m not sure if I can buy it any more. The unfortunate part is I’m not that great at making it and sometimes fail. I am getting better though and I ordered more starter before I left, so hopefully soon I’ll be a tempeh master.
Yesterday I took a Victorian house walking tour because I love Victorian houses. That obviously has nothing to do with food, but I’ll share a couple of photos anyway since my posts have been so wordy lately.
This is a block in Lower Pacific Heights:
These are a couple of Queen Annes:
This is an Italianate house I thought was pretty:
Too bad the houses I saw on the tour ranged in price from 3 million to 30 million. Apartments in Victorians are 1 million. Oof.
Well, time to pack up and check out. I will surely be leaving my heart in San Francisco.
Mihl Said,
September 25, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
The first picture is beautiful, as are the others. I love to walk around and take pictures of houses. These remind me of the ones we have at the Baltic Sea coast here in Germany. They look really, really similar, although they are always white.
I wish I could visit SF one day.
Jennifer Said,
September 26, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
I left my heart in San Francisco a long time ago! That incredibly high cost of living is what keeps me away. Glad you enjoyed your trip and I hope you get to return to San Francisco soon!
Destiny Said,
September 26, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
I think your food pic looks lovely! I’ve never even had homemade tempeh, wah!
renae Said,
September 28, 2008 @ 12:48 am
Mihl, according to the tour guide, all of the Victorians in San Francisco were painted a uniform white, gray, or brown during the Victorian era. Most of them were built of redwood, which was cheap and plentiful, but they wanted them to look as if they were built of expensive stone, so they painted them the colors of stone. Years later when the Victorian era was over and people were more willing to assert their individuality, they began to paint them all the lovely colors that are so associated with SF, but which are really a style borrowed from the East Coast. This is one of the rare examples where I am glad a later style prevailed over the original because I just love all the colors. I imagine those in Germany are beautiful as well though. Germany is near the top of the list of countries I intend to visit.
Jennifer, ugh, I know. Every time I mention to someone that I want to move there they have to bring up the cost of living. I have looked at apartments and houses on Craigslist and it’s very depressing, especially since I’m now used to having so much room where we are now.
Destiny, I never thought I’d actually find homemade tempeh in a restaurant so the first time I ever had it I had to make it myself (which is a pain!). The restaurant’s version was REALLY good though. So now I’m on a quest to perfect my own technique.
Mihl Said,
September 28, 2008 @ 5:04 am
Renae – thank you for the additional info about the houses. It’s pretty interesting how many similarities there are!
P.S. If you ever want to come to Germany, your welcome to visit Dresden as well.