Category: En route

Crash

This is a catch-up post for the past week, because I was so sick coming back from my trip. Yesterday was P and I’s anniversary, so we went to the local favorite sushi restaurant where we were welcomed warmly (it was a dark and stormy night, there were not a lot of people there, and they could use an Asian couple in the window table to draw customers).

My dad’s old office was on 73rd and York, so I spent a lot of summers growing up in the area where the plane crash occured Wednesday afternoon. There are ususally a lot of people walking around, especially connected with all of the hospitals in the area. It was a very sad way to go.

Last Thursday through Sunday I was in Las Vegas for my friend’s bachelor party. All I have to say is what happened in Vegas is staying in Vegas. What happened afterwards? I drove with 3 hours of sleep and 3 days of clubbing and I was really suffering. After dropping one of the people at the airport, I drove 300 miles back to Orange County to meet up with Pei. Stopped once at Alien Jerkey in Baker, CA – the best thing going was a very clean bathroom and easy access to Gatorade. Barfed just before picking up gas. Made it back to Orange County at noon and spent the rest of the day sleeping, then awoke to a bowl of homemade pho. P and I made it to the plane finally and came back at 6. Overslept a lot this week. Probably will need this weekend as well to catch up from jet lag.

Tuesday – Wednesday recap

Stayed at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf. I wish it had a minifridge, but otherwise it was comfortable and well situated. Valet parking was $38; kind of steep. Will keep it in mind for my next trip.

Across the street is a Barnes & Noble – quiet, low traffic, high selection. Trader Joe’s and a Safeway make it really cheap to buy supplies.

Took the Powell-Market cable car to Chinatown where we immediately went to the Golden Gate Bakery on Grant for moon cakes and egg custart tarts fresh out of the oven. I’ve had plenty of moon cakes in my life, but I’ve never had a fresh one – we get them all prepackaged in New York. The “dan tat” were huge – one inch deep custard and perfectly flaky crust. The line was out the door and down the street – it was really popular. We went to Ten Ren Tea to wash it down with tea.

Down the street is the more touristy Eastern Bakery. They had good roast port buns, but they didn’t really have any line. The had this $400 100 yolk mooncake in the window, which no one seems to be interested in.

Next door was the Wok Store, which had an extensive collection of seasoned woks. Pei was tempted to get one. Just outside we were chatting with two women and a baby about East/West coast stuff.

We walked down Market Street to Yank Sing. Absolutely perfect dim sum at expense account prices. We ended up with 4 stamps in the “bonus zone” oun our ticket.

We walked to the Embarcadero to Sur la Table and Ferry Market where we purchased a few ketchy items and a bit of wine. Then we took the F trolley car line to the Hard Rock Café to get P’s requisite pins, then walked down Fisherman’s Wharf to the Hotel.

Our next excursion was to Trader Joe’s where we got lots of drinks and became jealous of what we don’t get in New York. Then we met up with my bro for dinner at Sushi on North Beach, where we got the omakase – lots of food. We treked to The Cannery, but most everything was closed. We abused our Muni passes by riding on all of the Cable cars – including the California line, which we had not ridden before. In the Financial district, we took the F line back to the hotel.

The next day we loaded up on supplies at the Safeway, then drove back to Orange County. We only made a 20 minute pit stop to refuel and change drivers – highway gas was $3.02. We made it to the Costco in Laguna Negil, and bought cheap $2.52 gas there. We made it back to San Juan Capistrano at 7:30 and had a BBQ – ribs and steak — mmmm!

Next ride to Las Vegas this afternoon!