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02.26.06
bg and I had brunch at Town's End; each order comes along
with a small basket of yummy mini muffins and scones. I need to
figure out how bake scones at home but they're trickier because
you have to cut the butter into the flour, a reason why they're
so buttery and flakey. Mmm, what kind of scones should I try? Apple,
hazelnut chocolate chip, or cranberry orange scones? My coworker
prepared a special afternoon tea for his fiancee and had to special
order clotted cream. At first, I thought ew and imagined something
like cottage cheese but it's actually like whipped butter and often
tops scones. Driving home was kinda scary, pouring rain and pour
visibility.
Town's End Restaurant & Bakery
2 Townsend St
San Francisco
415-512-0749
02.25.06
Oooh, I've never made pasta sauce and meatballs from scratch.
Here's the recipe.
02.24.06
I had dinner with Katie at Shanghai 1930 and watched Finding
Nemo. Heehee, Dora is so funny.
Shanghai 1930
133 Steuart St
San Francisco
415-896-5600
02.22.06
Here's a cool
article to determine high quality ice cream. The heavier it
is, the better!
02.21.06
Crissy got a pretty Chopard-style pendant with floating diamonds.
I can't find a photo of the one Crissy got but here's a fancy version
of the one she got. The diamond flowers in the photo actually move
around when you rotate the pendant. Very cool and modern.
02.20.06
Heehee, meet my new Snuffles. It's so soft and the perfect
shade of pink with a small crescent-shaped white tummy. It's one
of the special 25th anniversary editions. So cute, but it keeps
on getting bear-napped.
Buen Appetito
917 A St
Hayward
510-247-0120
02.19.06
Cool things I bought in Taiwan:
- Dark blue jeans
- Dark blue-gray jeans
- Gray skirt with black piping
- Lavender trench coat
- Olive-green cardigan with lace
- Pink Hoody Sweater
- 20 pairs of really cute socks (and each one different from each
other, yeah I know, I have moments where I get obsessed over certain
things, this time it was cute black socks)
- Lots of fabric
Shopping in Taipei was lots of fun this time because there were
no parents around hounding me to hurry up. I could take my sweet
time and consider what I wanted. Thank you Crissy! She took me to
all the hot shopping spots and was extremely patient when I had
my indecisive moments. So there were lots of stores aimed at young
shoppers that had tops for about $3-10 and $12 jeans. Tons of selection
but weird styles sometimes. They had small dressing rooms with no
mirrors. Anyway, shopping is seriously a national pastime in Taiwan;
if you're not eating or snacking, most likely, you're shopping.
So my goal was to find some new jeans because I only have one pair
that fit me well. Jeans are tricky because there are so many variations
with wash, length, cut, and fit. I tried on more than 10 pairs of
jeans before I found two that I liked. So when I was searching for
jeans, I grabbed all the washes and cuts I liked. The two I ended
up with were ones that I could actually squeeze into but I didn't
really have any idea of how they looked; they really need to install
some mirrors. Bleh, sizes in Taiwan run really small and I felt
like a fat American.
02.16.06
Flew south to Kaohsiung.
02.15.06
02.14.06
Happy Valentine's Day! I spent the morning at a Su
Ho Paper Museum but it wasn't as impressive as I hoped it would
be. I bought some handmade paper for my coworker at a store half
a block down. We really wanted to visit MOCA
but it was closed for the day. We explored Ximending and had a shaved
ice dessert for lunch. It had tapioca balls, shaved ice, mango ice
cream, strawberry ice cream, flavored syrup, chopped strawberries
and kiwi. It's kinda like a Taiwanese version of a banana split
sundae. For dinner, we ate at the alley (the equivalent of Durant
Food Court) with Vinnie, one of Crissy's floor mates, who's half
Taiwanese and half white. Afterwards, we trekked to Taipei 101 to
shoot photos of the the building at night. It was lit up specially
for Valentine's day with a heart on one side and 1♥1 on another.
We went to the Ximending Night Market for more shopping and snacked
on BBQ corn. =d
02.13.06
- Spent 4.5 hours at the hair salon to get my hair straightened.
I almost fell asleep a few times and my feet kept on twitching.
I can't sit still for that long!
- Gonguan, shopping area next to National Taiwan University, where
Crissy is studying
- Lantern Festival at the CKS Memorial
02.12.06
- Flew to Taipei
- Dragged suitcase up two flights of stairs to reach hotel that's
across the street from the Taipei Main Train Station. Thank goodness,
two teenage girls took pity on us and helped.
02.11.06
- Odawara Castle
- Kamakura
- Rinkai Fukutoshin
- Toyota Design Center
02.10.06
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office
- Owakudani Valley and Mt. Fuji
- Mt. Kami
- Atami and Hot Springs
02.09.06
I was window shopping in the Ginza, an upscale shopping district,
and found a small boutique that was selling Rootote
canvas bags for only $10. I got number 4 right below.
I've seen these bags at Urban Outfitters and they're usually sold
around $34 so I was thrilled. Rootote bags have a cute hidden side
pouch. If you want to purchase them, you can find them at the following
places:
Giant
Peach
Giant
Robot
Mixx
Shop City Girl
Areas we visited today:
- Imperial Palace
- Asakusa
- Ginza
- Meiji Shrine
- Shinjuku
02.08.06
We arrived in Japan and it was cold! Brrr, but at least it's
not snowing. A few weeks ago there were record snow falls.
02.07.06
I like how even though you're in economy class, each passenger
gets an individual TV screen to watch on JAL. I watched Just Like
Heaven, Elizabethtown, and Proof. I loved all the SF scenes in Just
Like Heaven; I want an apartment with a rooftop view of the SF skyline!
Ahaha, in my dreams. =p
I really like books on design and modern-designed everyday
products. I always feel like a kid in a candy store when I'm at
museum stores. I spent half an hour browsing at the SF MOMA Museum
Store at SFO before my flight. They had cool kitchenware with lots
of sleek lines and curves. Even though I appreciate the designs,
I'm not totally sure how if I would purchase anything for my home.
Btw, the SF MOMA Museum store has cool books about traveling around
San Francisco that are not from the major publishing companies such
as Lonely Planet or Fodors so be sure to take a look at those.
02.05.06
bg was throwing a Super Bowl Party. Lots of yummy food; I love
appetizers, lots of choices and no threat of getting too full. bg
made potato skins topped with cheddar. I made some banana mocha
chip muffins. Someone had brought crab and cheese rangoons that
were so yum. OK, so I'm not a big football fan so I decided to sneak
away and see Leslie's craft show with Julie. Totally a Channing
House reunion; I know it's been awhile since we've all seen each
other. Yay, Julie is almost done with optometry school though and
wants to return to the Bay Area. Anyway, I bought two gorgeous brooches
from Leslie. Do check out here website at www.feistyelle.com.
02.03.06
One of bg's coworkers had a birthday dinner at Cha Cha Cha.
I love how sangria has fruit mixed in but it ends up deceptively
bitter from the alcohol. Oooh, Giant
Robot was nearby so we window shopped a bit while we waited
to be seated. As always they had good stuffed animals, T-Shirts,
and books. The birthday guy proceded to get really wasted at bar
on Haight and then at 1751 Social Club.
Giant Robot
622 Shrader St
San Francisco
415-876-4773
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