I got a text message from Marie and Kenji this morning announcing the arrival of their second baby boy. He was born in the early morning and weighed, 7 lbs, 3 oz. Yay!!
Congratulations to the Suminos!!
Update: My parents went to visit the baby and my dad took this precious photo. I think they’ve decided to name him Brandon.
San Francisco has a lot of hills. I went on the Saturday Nike ClubRunSF Training Run and it sure was hilly. I managed to finish about 7 miles today and it felt pretty good. The training runs are pretty cool but it’s really easy to get lost. We went through neighborhoods, a little forest, golf course, and along the shore. It certainly is beautiful and really does keep me occupied.
Last night I went to see my second movie of the year with the Bangs and Sokol-Juns. We went to see Superbad, which was a pretty funny movie. And of course, the two contrarians (Jes and Vyl) decided to go see The Bourne Ultimatum instead, which actually made our movie more enjoyable. I also didn’t realize how expensive everything has gotten! A bottle of water is 3 bucks!! Ryan was nice enough to share his popcorn with me and the guy behind the counter gave me some tap water in a cup. Solid.
One of the best things about living in San Francisco is the wide array of restaurants to choose from. In the past two and a half weeks that I’ve been here, I’ve already eaten at three nice restaurants.
One of them was the infamous Gary Danko, which many people reserve for special occasions like birthdays and anniversary. Being the impulsive opportunists that we are, we decided to go on a random Sunday afternoon (5:30 pm reservation) with the Bangs. It was so much fun choosing my four courses and having a different wine paired with each course. I, of course, had to order the seared foie gras that was prepared perfectly. One the most memorable parts of the meal was choosing from the cheese cart. It had 16 different kinds of cheese and the waiter did a great job describing each and every one of them. I tried a cow’s milk cheese, goat’s milk cheese, a sheep’s milk cheese, and actually ordered a bleu cheese that was very pungent but not too bad!
We also ate at COCO500, which is walking distance from our condo. We went with the Masayas to celebrate both of our new homes. We had moved in a week before and they picked up their keys that day. Our waiter was very nice and helped us pick out our wine. We also talked to this guy that sat next to us who apparently eats there a lot. He recommended this really awesome chocolate dessert and was eating the paella that was as good as it looked. The overall experience was very typical of San Francisco fare and ambiance.
Just last night, we went to Perbacco with Jimmy and Eleen. It was a Wednesday night but so very packed. All of us couldn’t recognize half the menu so Jes just ordered for all of us. We ended up with 9 different dishes that we shared family-style, which gave us the opportunity to taste everything. That was a lot of fun and just the right amount of food for us. I also tried rabbit for the first time but since it was mixed in with duck, I couldn’t really tell you what it tasted like. That was a pretty indulgent meal and I’m glad that we ended up walking home.
On Tuesday after work, I threw Koa in the car, picked up Jes from work, and we drove to Chrissy Field located just next to the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a long stretch of grass, sand, and water, which makes for a very picturesque run or windsurf. In fact, it’s so windy there that there was a bunch of people in the water windsurfing and body boarding in full wetsuit attire. Crazy fools.
Anyway, Koa seemed to really enjoy romping on the sand. We actually let him loose from the leash and he darted from one end to the other taking in the wind, sand, and smells. There were plenty of dogs out there – mostly labs who were playing in the water.
We found a strip of land that was surrounded 3/4 of the way around by water. This was the perfect place to take Koa since it would make it much easier to keep him in one place without the fear of him going too far. If you know Koa, you know that he HATES water so it was safe to say he wouldn’t try to make a run for it through the water.
At one point, we were playing a game of chase and as he was running away from me, he got too close to the shore and didn’t realize he was coming up to the water so quickly. Before he could apply the brakes, he fell into this huge drop in the shoreline (underwater), which inevitably gave him a quick dunk in the water. In just a matter of seconds he had disappeared “plunk!” into the water. The look on his face as he came up for air paddling with all his might back to shore was a sight to see. He looked shocked, confused, and frightened all at the same time. I was laughing so hard that I forgot to take a photo of his head bobbing in the water. I think he was pretty much done for the evening once he made it to shore. Not only was he dirty from the sand but now wet and salty. I guess it’s time to send him out for a bath!!
On Saturday morning, we dropped the dog off at the “hotel” and drove down to LA for the weekend. We made it to Cerritos by 5 pm and had dinner with Jes’ parents before heading up to Hollywood Bowl.
I bought tickets to “An Evening with Diana Krall” a couple months ago and it was finally time to see the show. Going to Hollywood Bowl is one of my favorite summer activities and I was so happy to be able to enjoy this even after we had already moved to SF. I was sitting there taking in the sounds and the people thinking it was as if I had started a book, put it down to start a new book, and then picked up the old book again. I don’t know if that makes any sense but for a moment I felt like we had never left Southern California. This was how we were supposed to spend our summer…under the stars with the warm summer weather and a bottle of wine. Diana Krall was awesome, as expected and she surprised us with her dry sense of humor throughout the show.
We spent the night at Johnny’s place and got to play a little Wii in the morning. We also went for a 5-mile jog down to the end of Santa Monica Pier and back. It was pretty warm outside and there were plenty of people at the beach. Once we got back and showered, it was off to Cerritos to have a birthday lunch for my dad. His birthday is tomorrow and it was fun to see everyone together again – including the Suminos. Here are the photos.
We flew back to SF this afternoon, arrived around 7, and rushed over to pick up the dog. He seemed OK and not too traumatized by his brief time in the “hotel”. He did, however, come home really thirsty and then passed out on his doggie bed. I hope it wasn’t too bad for him.
What a great summer weekend. It was over 90 degrees down there, which was nice but a little too hot for my taste. It’s such a contrast from the fog that we encountered as we drove across the Bay Bridge this evening and they are certainly two different stories. I suppose I’m done with my LA book and ready to continue my SF book for now. Let the adventure begin!
I got an email from Johnny (and Patty) that their little baby girl was born on August 15th. Johnny sent two photos but I decided to post this one because I thought she had the cutest little smile. She’s 7lbs, 1oz. and it sounds like they’re all doing quite well. Congratulations!! I can’t wait to meet her!
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