Sweet November (San Francisco Part 6)

Now it just seems like my posts about San Francisco will just never end, doesn't it? To be honest I hope they don't, but of course I have a finite number of pictures from when I went last November to January. Basically what I'm doing is giving you a ton of reasons why you should go too - at least once (more) in your life. By the way, Sweet November was kind of a funny casting decision. Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron together again! To rekindle their scorching chemistry from... The Devil's Advocate. Yikes! Anyway. Above is a picture of my cousin Kyle being taught by Mr. (Sensei?) Valero at Hapkido class. I'll tell you more of my babysitting adventures another time.

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30 Days and 30 Nights (San Francisco Part 5)

Hi everyone, I know I made an appeal to your generosity not long ago for my own country, but if you have something to give for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, please visit this page to find immediate ways to help, and visit these blogs who are helping too. Thanks so much.
I know, I know. I skip out for a week and a half and come back with a travel post!!! I just spent so much time filtering through hundreds of pictures from San Francisco and editing a fraction of that and still managed to end up with material for maybe three posts, so I thought I'd get a head start on writing about that before I forget. But how can I forget about San Francisco? It's not just about the sun and the culture, but also one of the places I consider home. I called this post 30 days and 30 nights because that's exactly how much time I spent in the United States when I landed last August. Part of the time was spent in Greenville, North Carolina. Above is a picture taken on Maiden Lane (and how), where all the high-end boutiques are.

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Tales of the City (San Francisco Part 4)

"Is San Francisco still boring?" A friend of mine asked when I told him I was there, and it totally short-circuited my brain because I have no idea how anyone could think that. Granted our trips there were years apart, but in my opinion it's one of the liveliest places I've seen (not that there's anything wrong with peace and quiet-- they both have their benefits). Perhaps it's because there's been considerable growth of the food scene in the interim. I'm posting this slightly ahead of schedule to give Caitlin a better idea of what to expect or search when she goes there. As it turns out, it opened my eyes to even more things I still want to see/eat when (not if, hopefully) I return! (... and please don't badmouth my anonymous friend, I won't allow it.) Above is a photograph of the always-lively Sur La Table at the Ferry Market Building.

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San Francisco, Part 3 of Hopefully a Lot

Not long ago I was talking about how difficult it is to really get bored, no matter where you are. If you can't vary the places you go to, you can vary your interests, vary your company (in this case, it changed from last year to mostly just me, without my mom and my brother), or vary your activities. And always, always (unless you never plan on coming back) leave something for next time. When it comes to San Francisco, you'd have to be a dead fish to finally run out of things to see or do, or you're just one of those people who don't like what San Francisco stands for. Above is a pic I snapped of the Caltrain terminal between Mission Bay and SoMa. (There's no logic in the optics of this one-- the lens blur was applied in post because my camera can't achieve depth of field well.)

I mean, just look at the cheeky shops you can see on Castro! Even the restaurants seem to have joined in on the fun. (That, or I'm just that filthy.) Under One Roof is a great shop filled with little gadgets for the home and furniture, and their proceeds benefit AIDS research.

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San Francisco Part 2

The staggering amount of input I received about San Francisco was a great help to me, so I want to say thanks again to everyone. However, I wasn't able to go to them all-- most disappointingly Yasukochi Sweet Shop and Tartine Bakery (from which the chefs garnered IACP nominations as Pastry Chefs of the year). Yasukochi was on the same street as my hotel, but several kilometers away-- all the way in Japantown, which I soon discovered was a LONG ride. But I can get the Tartine cookbook when I want to-- dessert is easy ("a piece of piss" as I sometimes say). I'm sure I can reproduce them. Now, before I get to the rest of my insane musings on San Francisco, I'll start with one of my favorite places I visited:



The Ferry Building Marketplace.

I didn't catch it in the morning, as I hear from my good buddy Allen (who is the genius who suggested this place, along with Todd and Diane) is the time farmers sell their goods. But I wasn't disappointed. Inside were some of the most unique shops I've seen in my life: a shop selling only mushrooms ("Now I've seen everything!" - Marge Simpson), one that sells different kinds of olive oil, Culinaire (an antique kitchenware shop), and a shop that has all the rare ingredients one could ever want. That's probably the closest I've ever gotten to a real truffle (as I'm not even sure I ate one at Cesario's). If you ever want to spend $80 for the ingredients to put together a single meal, this is the place for you, heh.


The Village Market, and a bag of amazing colored pasta ($20, WTF). I saw vanilla powder, Alfajores, all the grains I told my blogging friends I've never seen before (Farro, Quinoa), and insane pasta shapes. I'd say something really crass/ orgasmic/ TMI about the whole experience, but I don't want you to delete your bookmark to No Special Effects (I'm hoping you have one).

The Gardener-- homemade housewares, soaps, etc. Why did I not get stuff from here? Oh yeah, the money and luggage space thing.

Scharffen Berger chocolate shop. I didn't get a 2kg block of chocolate because that would add 2kg to my luggage. For another time, I guess. My brother got a "Bitter Sweet" shirt. I wanted to get the "Extra Bitter" but I didn't because 1) it's kind of an oblique reference to most, and I hate having to explain it constantly, 2) the double-meaning doesn't work for me, and 3) I don't want to have matching shirts as my brother.

The display at the only pastry shop within, Miette. Very cute items, nothing too fancy, very American fare. Didn't order, though.

Recchiuto-- I'm not recalling very clearly but I think this is the olive oil and wine place.

The Market Café. I didn't get anything (though my family did) as I didn't want to lose gawking time.

We took a hop-on-hop-off tour bus ($28, good for 2 days, good value) that hit several key stops all over San Francisco. There is another company that also offers the service that doesn't go through the Golden Gate bridge, but goes through Nob Hill, Chinatown, and North Beach. Most of you are probably thinking the second company is the clear winner but we weren't aware of the difference when we boarded the bus. Oh Well. At least we get to see Golden Gate Park. Above is one of my clumsy attempts to capture it.

At the park: The COnservatory of Flowers. $5 to enter, but I was pressed for time so I didn't. My Plant Taxonomy professor would probably strangle me for that.

Also at the park: The entrance to the AIDS Memorial Grove. Lovely place. I approached a sign that I thought would be a tribute to someone but it turns out it was just a sign telling dog owners to pick up after their pets. Hahaha.

When I was walking along the quiet path of the park, a random cyclist smiled and said "Hi." I was taken aback as nobody does this in the Philippines, regardless of the (I admit, superficial) boasting about our hospitality. That is just shockingly friendly to me, but I was able to hide my amazement and return the smile. Now, some other things I don't see at home:
1. So many pets and good owners. There are lots of stray dogs here instead. And nobody here pressures you to pick up their poop (not that our streets are littered with them). I saw a pet barber shop, pet hotel, and most puzzlingly of all, a pet bakery. WTF indeed. I hope they are baking treats for pets and not pets as treats.
2. Gay couples holding hands. Actually I think public displays of affection as a whole are more prevalent in the States. There's this girl I saw who would agree with me, but she can't speak because her boyfriend's probably still Frenching her.
3. Homeless people with signs talking about their situation. Some of the few incredibly sad ones I saw was a man who had cancer and was abandoned, and a woman who had AIDS and had children to feed. Now, I have no idea if any of it was true. Beggars here? MOSTLY CHILDREN.
4. People jogging everywhere, even downtown, in the middle of the day. The only person who does that here is me.
5. Electronic assisted mobility devices. Manila is just not a great place for the disabled. Each sidewalk I saw in the States had an incline on both sides of a corner. Very considerate design all around.
6. Blond eyelashes and blond beards. I'm starting to think they have magical powers.

Anyway. Back to the trip. Here are a few more sights around San Francisco:

The Sentinel Building-- oxidized copper gives it a characteristic color.


Jean Dubuffet's "La Chiffonniere" at the Embarcadero Plaza near the Ferry Building (that's my cousin Kyle hiding under it), and a few meters away, the Vaillancourt Fountain.

Keith Haring's sculpture at the Moscone center. I planned on paying a visit to the Yerba Buena ice skating rink to stock up on goods but it was closed.

Union Square

Maiden Lane in Union Square, where my favorite Sur La Table is located.

Inside St. Patrick's Church, where we heard mass.

We went to Stanford, and I was really blown away by the beauty of the campus. I'm sure many of you will say that it doesn't even come close to your campus, but believe me, the University of the Philippines is not well taken care of. At least it has trees. Grr.

Hoover Tower through the trees. (Eat your heart out, Graeme. Oh, who am I kidding, my pictures still suck compared to yours.)

A bench! I don't even think we have a spot this pretty where I studied.





Inside the Cantor Center for Arts. You can see their current exhibition of Makishi (African mask art), British photography (not pictured), and the ever-present sculptures of Rodin. There's two "Thinkers" in the picture. Can you spot them both? By the way, you don't see students lounging in our museums either, which I think is a shame.

Finally, on our last night in the States, we ate at Plouf. Here you can see Belden Lane where it's located, where several restaurants are lined up offering a different country's Cuisine each. We ate with my dad's first cousins and their families. I got to meet my adorable cousins Kyle (6) and Brittany (11). I managed to tie with Kyle on my first try at Wii Bowling. He was pretty shocked (come on, he's 6), but we had a lot of fun.

Along with communal mussels, I had this phenomenal plate of potato-wrapped scallops one a bed of fennel and cucumber. It is definitely something to attempt at home.

My brother had the special-- a rack of lamb.

Kyle wanted me to take a picture of his chocolate fondue.

For dessert, I had a Passionfruit Vacherin (I mispronounced it, because I am an idiot) with Grand Marnier Jelly. It's my first Vacherin despite the fact that I have two dessert cookbooks with several recipes, because I didn't find meringue with cream inside too appealing. Wrong. This particular dessert was extremely delicious (don't mind the stray raspberry-- my brother dumped the berry on his creme brulee on my dessert) and I will definitely start making my own vacherins at home (which is great, because you don't see it a lot on the blogosphere either).

That's a condensed version of my San Francisco experience. I wasn't able to write about my awesome shopping experience at Bristol Farms (a grocery at the basement of Westfield), my several false alarms thinking I saw my one of my blog friends (seriously, Allen, how many bespectacled ash-blond men could there be in SF? Answer: several-- also thought I might see Marvin, or Todd and Diane), my failed search for a banh mi, etc. But that's why there's always a next time if you make an opportunity.

Next update: VEGAS, baby!

San Francisco, and Let's Hear It for the Buys

(several links are to Google Maps-- my new favorite tool ever!)
HOWDY, SWEETS!

Mark (or Manggy as some of you may call him) isn't back yet. Instead, it is I, Spankmaster, who comes to you from San Francisco bearing good tidings. Over the next few posts on this blog we'll give you a little insight on the weird wonderfulness that is the States. It was my first time, and doubtful it'll be the last. I'll also soon talk about the little things about the States that fascinated me, mostly because they don't exist in the Philippines. One of my favorite things, though? Here's a beautiful paddle I got at Kitchen Collection for a mere $10-- a wonderful deal considering I can't find one in Manila. I foresee lots of good times for this paddle: you know, pizza parties and such.


Here's a short inventory of stuff I bought in the States:

Here is a lovely floral dinner plate from Bloomingdale's in Las Vegas (probably available in all branches, though). It costs $12-- already on sale but much more expensive than a plate would be in the Philippines. But I fell in love with the pattern so I couldn't let it pass me by.

This is a trivet from Harry and David, a gourmet/ candy shop, for $6. I'm a massive fan of these Victorian patterns, so here it is.

The only piece of clothing I bought in the States-- a "To Die For" shirt bought at Alpha Cult for $25. There are actually many great shirt designs to be seen everywhere, but I was trying to save money and I found I could actually take or leave a lot of the designs, except this one. Any other very good designs (probably from Juicy Couture or Ben Sherman, which is available in the Philippines anyway) would have been too expensive.

Here's a few items to keep or to give away to friends. All of them are from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Gift Shop. There are lots of great designs, even for the kitchen (more on this later), but they're all quite expensive. Something for the employed, I guess.

These are all the Audio/Video-related stuff I bought, at Borders (DVD of Eternal Sunshine and Legend of Chin CD), Rasputin Music (the Fall and Winter EPs of Jon Foreman), and the Apple Store (in Las Vegas). I received the free Borders Rewards Card on the second day of my trip and I think I wore it out. I think I saved a total of $13 or more in the process.

Here are the books I bought-- HOW Magazine's April 2008 issue (which is the International Design Annual), A Carpenters Anthology Songbook ($20), and Indulge ($40) by Claire Clark, pastry chef at the French Laundry. I've actually spied the contents of the French Laundry and 3 Star Chef (Gordon Ramsay) cookbooks back in the Philippines, but even if they presented awesome challenges (and BEAUTIFUL plates), I wanted to devote more of my time and money to desserts. After all, I can't buy truffles here in Manila, and it seems that Ramsay puts them in everything.

Here's almost all the food-related items I bought. From Sur La Table: A square ravioli stamp and wavy pastry cutter (kind of redundant items, oops), icing comb/smoother, and a single springerlie plaque. Also got whole Coriander, Saffron threads, Grade B organic maple syrup from Trader Joe's (had to hide it in the fridge as the cap broke when it fell during unpacking), and Farro from the Ferry Building Marketplace (more on that place next time). Also not shown: a Cuisinart automatic ice cream maker from Costco (CIM-60PC, probably identical to the ICE-30BC model), for $50. W00t!

Okay, I have to get this off my chest regarding salespeople in America. I am totally in love with all of them. I know things like this might annoy Graeme, but I do love that they take the time to smile, greet me and engage me in light conversation when I'm checking my items out. I think I'm making it seem like salespeople in Manila are a bunch of cold fish, but I think most are unless they are serving an obvious foreigner. JD (my salesguy at Sur La Table, Maiden Lane) gave me a student's discount even though I confessed I was just an enthusiast. He asked for an address to send the catalog to, but I said it would be a problem as I lived in an entirely different country. He was also very helpful in pointing out the springerlie equipment to me. When I returned with a solitary plaque instead of a rolling pin like I initially asked, I said it was just too expensive for me and he was like, "I KNOW, RIGHT?" Fun times. A lot of them cracked me up (one of them was hooked on the "Hot Mess, Tranny, Fierce" sketch of the last Saturday Night Live), and several were helpful as the huge pile of coins I accumulated (not to mention dimes being smaller than nickels and as small as pennies-- PAIN IN THE ASS, which I incidentally love as Spankmaster) really weighed me down.

Anyway. On to the trip. The first nights were spent at the El Camino Inn in Daly City. I'm not fastidious at all so I found the place to be quite sufficient. Good value for money, especially since there's free wireless internet that I clumsily used on my brother's PSP. Daly City is heavily inhabited by Filipinos, and that's where my uncle lives (he works for the Post Office). "TFC" stands for The Filipino Channel, which my brother thought was a funny advertising point. After a few requisite sightseeing stops (Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts), we were destined for Las Vegas (more on that in the future), so we really got do dig in deep after our return to San Francisco from Las Vegas and Long Beach.

Here's the massive pillars at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

Pier 39 (Fisherman's Wharf)

I Am The Walrus! Er, I'm with some walri, also at Fisherman's Wharf.



The Golden Gate Bridge, me at the bridge area, and FOG!! (Yeah... It never gets cold enough in the Philippines, except in Baguio.)

On our return to San Francisco on March 17: Hotel 480 (a Crown Plaza company). Great location, relatively inexpensive, and high marks all around.


Me at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Also, I stole a shot of the goods from the gift shop (I was too embarrassed to ask if photography was allowed inside). You can see some (EEXpensive) German-made pepper mills I was lusting after (inset)-- $90 or more, I think.

Me in a cable car trying not to engage in butt-bumping action with anyone.

Victorian-inspired (LOVE) houses ("Painted Ladies") in the Castro District.

A small glimpse of the long line forming outside the Irish Bank. It was St. Patrick's Day the day after our second arrival in San Francisco, so plenty of insane young people on the streets. It was my first St. Patrick's Day but I didn't do any celebrating: sorry, Corrs. Next time, when I'm better-informed and can handle a pint.

Here is a picture of a fucking spontaneous abrasion that formed on my forearm. It was so cold and dry in the States that this appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Freaking biblical is what it was.

Now, on to the food!


Our first dinner upon or return to San Francisco was at Zuni Café, at the advice of some posters at the eGullet forums. My mom got upset over the long distance we walked from Sutter to Market Street in the evening (er... homeless people...), and I can totally get behind that, but you only get to live once... Anyway. I didn't have an appetite because of the ranting and I ordered a salad. My mom had an unbelievably good fettucine and my brother had the pork stew with Butternut Squash and Fennel over soft polenta. The waitstaff's quirkiness cheered me up a little.


For $7.50 at BJ's, you can get a big plate of Caesar Salad, (great) potato wedges and half a Turkey Cobb sandwich. I still have an unwritten (till now) no-reviews policy for this blog, but I will say that during our visit the service was kind of slow.

We had pancakes for breakfast at Bellini on Powell Street. It's run by an Italian gentleman and there are lots of Italian people coming in.


My brother and I had a fancy Italian dinner at Cesario's. I thought I would finally familiarize myself with the taste of truffles by ordering a black truffle gnocchi but since I can't discern where the truffles are, it didn't help any. In any case, it did taste great and it's my first taste of gnocchi.


Because dining out with your extended Expat family can really fill you up extremely fast, I used every chance I got to order my own food to eat healthily/ exquisitely. Once I start studying in hyperdrive for the exams, I can't work out at the gym as often, so I can't gain too much weight on my trip. During one of our many trips to Westfield, I ate at the basement's food court. For $9 I had a Black Bean Chili, fruit salad, and roll from the San Francisco Soup Company. In the background you'll also see a big plate (with chap chae) from Sorabol, where I ate another time-- $9 for a HUGE plate of incredible spicy barbecue chicken with all the fixins.

Next update: San Francisco, Part 2. Disclaimer: Hi, this is Manggy. I'm actually back in Manila. Thanks for all those who commented, suggested, and wrote while I was away. I have more than 200 entries on my RSS feed aggregator, so I have a lot of your posts to catch up on, friends! They all look really good, too!