Around the World (Again) San Francisco 30 October

San Francisco 30 Oct

It was a very nice morning , bright and sunny, we had decided to go and visit the City Hall and at the same time take in Museum of Asian Art both on the same square.

But first we had some shopping to do, as we had promised Richard we would cook him a meal that evening. We had decided on a recipe from a dear friend of ours, Mamta, and it would be her wonderful butter chicken.  We walked the few blocks to the Noe district as directed by Richard and found the “Whole Food” Supermarket, first we had breakfast, sitting in the sun on wooden benches in front of the Supermarket, I had a monster beef roll, it is a good job that they cut them in half as it was enough for lunch as well. This Supermarket is really special, most of what they sell is either Bio, free range or comes from named farms in the close vicinity of the City. We bought everything that we required there, I thought we may have had problems getting some of the spices, but no everything was to be had, right down to the whole meal naan. 

Shopping done and deposited in the apartment’s massive refrigerator, we headed for the Metro a short distance from the house.

 

We went first to the City Hall, Richard had told us a lot about it and his praise was not misplaced, it is truly an imposing piece of architecture, outside it stands in regal splendour, but this is only a cocoon for what awaits the visitor inside, after entering the vestibule and passing through the security you are hit right between the eyes with the magnificent sweeping travertine stairway that seems to fill the whole ground floor.

 

It sweeps up to the first floor with its gilded wrought iron rails and marble balustrades.  But cast your eyes up and above is a massive domed ceiling, supported on a multitude of columns, everything covered in ornate carvings and moulded reliefs. 

 

A wedding ceremony was taking place right at the head of the stairs, it was a small affair, but carried out with great aplomb by the black robed official, I am sure the happy couple had selected a wonderful setting for their special day. We wandered around the first floor level. Stopping in front of the Mayor’s office to take a photo.

We could have lingered a while longer, but time was pressing and we really did want to see the exhibition across the road. So we left through the main entrance and crossed the square to the Chong-Moon Lee Centre of Asian Art and Culture, there was a special exhibition on called Celebrating Korean Art during the Janyo Dynasty.

 

We first ventured into this part before going on to look at the museums permanent displays of Asian art. It was a delight to see the intricate carved pieces and the delicate paintings. We spent a very worthwhile couple of hours just wandering from room to room drinking in the Asian culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the soul sufficiently immersed in culture we walked back through the Farmers market on UN Plaza (Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays) and hopped on the metro and back to Dolores, to eat the other half of the beef roll for lunch and start on the preparation and cooking of the buttered chicken, a tarka daal , rice and naan.

 

Mamta’s buttered chicken and daal turned out fantastic, but then her recipes always do, we all enjoyed it immensely washed down with a couple of beers. It was then time to hit the sack as we wanted to visit the Franciscan Mission a few blocks down early the next day. 

Follow the link below and you will come to Mamta's recipe on her website.
http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10189
 

Around the World (Again), San Francisco 29 Oct

San Francisco Tuesday 29 October 2013

We started off where we left off yesterday, took the street car from Dolores Park

 

Back to Golden Gate Park and its redwood trees boarded a hop on hop off tour bus to do the rest of the circuit. We had just missed a one so sat in the warming morning sun and watched the world go by. On the way to the pick-up point we had walked past the bowling greens, I stood and watched for a while and a couple of ladies (of advanced years) asked if would care to join them, I said I was off to do a tour, to which they replied,” Oh! that’s ok come along tomorrow, we are here every day”!!! Have I missed something? Do I really want to become a toy boy?

So the bus came along and we boarded, the young lady doing the running commentary was very good, she carried of her patter with great panache, and had a great repartee with the driver, she also had good interaction with the tourists.

 

We passed the Japanese Tea gardens and pagodas (it was here that the fortune cookies got invented), then out of the park onto the freeway that takes you through Richmond (much to the delight of Linda), into the Presidio and towards the Golden Gate Bridge. The tour guide kept us well informed about house prices and wages in the San Francisco City and bay area (she lived in one of the cheaper areas of Richmond), she shares an apartment with 3 friends, but still needs to hold down 3 jobs, how does that saying go “all that glitters is not gold” not even in the Golden City.

We arrived at the North end of the Bridge and took the obligatory photographs, here we could have taken another tour bus across the bridge and then on to Sausalito, but we opted to stay on the bus and complete the circuit.  

The name Golden Gate does not come from the colour of the gate, which is just a bog standard orange-red colour, it comes from the fact that it spans the Golden Narrows, the name given to this narrowing in the bay (by the early gold miners) as you enter it from the Pacific Ocean. The narrows have very strong currents and rip tides and the water is cold, very cold, another reason why no-one ever got out (alive) from Alcatraz.

Another piece of useless info, unlike a lot of ports up the west coast, this was not discovered (well it was already being lived in by the Indian people in any case) from the sea, but overland.

Upon leaving the bridge viewing point (the original site of Fort Point that guarded the narrows) we followed Doyle Dr. with the salt marshes of Crissy Field on the left; here are some modern sculptures (the driver didn’t think much of them) that are being provisionally being exhibited here while the Museum of Modern Art is being renovated.  

The tour bus now follows Lincoln Boulevard passing the second largest Military Cemetery after Arlington,  what a waste of young lives.

We then travelled through what had been the homes, quarters, mess halls and offices of the troops and officers stationed on the Presidio, one of which has now been turned into the Walt Disney Family Museum. It is closed on a Tuesday, guess what it was Tuesday.

Just before you exit the Presidio through the impressive gates, to the left you will see the very impressive Palace of Fine Arts, this would have been worth a visit and it was open but we had more pressing business, lunch in China Town. We passed the US Navy’s sail training ship that was moored at pier 47, we had seen a lot of the young cadets out and about enjoying their shore leave.

We arrived back at Fisherman’s Wharf, just in time to catch the next Hop on Hop off to take us to China Town.

 

 

 

The China town of San Francisco is the largest outside of Asia; it covers many blocks in downtown San Francisco, within easy walking distance of the financial and shopping districts. The Chinese arrived here for two reasons, they (and the Irish) helped built the Pacific Railway and this was the end of the line, also during the Gold Rush, many came and opened up gambling parlours and cheap food and drink joints, they stayed and today this is a thriving vibrant area, much of the business still carried out in their original tongues.

We popped into the old St Mary’s church, this nestles on a corner of Stockton street the new one is on O’farrell street, but I think that this smashing old church has far more charm, it is right in the centre of China Town, so you can kill two birds with one stone.

We wandered the streets and eventually selected a Dim-Sum place, though Dim-sums have in other China Towns and Chinese restaurants become an  all-day menu, here the original meaning is still adhered to and they are only serve them at lunch time.

We had deep fried salt and chilli prawns, deep fried salt and pepper calamari, steamed BBQ pork dumplings, steamed pork, mushroom dim-sum and some steamed sprouting broccoli with an oyster dipping sauce. We drank green tea and savoured our food and the wonderful atmosphere. This Dim-Sum house still had the private booths that you can still use to carry out business away from prying eyes and ears.

Suitably refreshed we headed to Union Square as Linda wanted to go to Macey’s  for no other reason than to say she had been in Macey’s, Nowt stranger than folks, though I did have a very nice old fashioned lemonade that actually tasted of lemon.

We then headed off to market street to catch the J street car back to Delores, for a while we stood and watched as they turned the cable cars at the corner of Powel Street, very interesting.

The cable car system in San Francisco was actually invented by an Englishman, he had seen the paternoster system used on the ski lifts in Switzerland and thought if you buried the cables in slits in the ground then this would be the solution to the problem in San Francisco. What problem did I hear you ask, well pin your lugs back and take note, until the cable car system came into being, all the goods, people and produce had to be transported up the streets by either hand barrows, horse and carts or you walked. If you fancy a bit of exercise try it up Powel Street. The life expectancy of a horse was max 4 years, this was very expensive and wasn’t good for the horses either. So the horse population have a Limey to thank that their life expectancy has increased in leaps and bounds since the pre-cable car days.

That evening Richard took us to a very nice restaurant, run by an ex-student of his, he is Kurdish and serves wonderful Kurdish and Turkish food, Bower the owner was actually present and we had a long chat. He is married to a German (from Dortmund) and lived for a while in Germany but he actually met his wife in San Francisco. The restaurant isn’t fancy but is serves very nice authentic food from the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

Hayes & Kebab

I had a smashing Lamb Kebab with rice and bulgur, Linda Babaganoush and a bulgur salad and Richard the Chicken Kebab also with rice and bulgur salad. All wonderfully cooked and it may have been that the staff had seen Bower talking to us but they could not have been more friendly (free dessert) and helpful.  Well worth a visit if you visit San Francisco.

We then headed home and into bed these long days are very tiring, we had said that may be it would be better not going to bed until late, but when the eyes start to droop, it is time for the land of nod.

Around The World (again) San Francisco 28 Oct

Monday 28^th October 2013

We had decided to spoil ourselves and have a real American Diner breakfast, Richard had pointed us in the direction of Castro and Market and here was a Pucker-Gen American Diner called Orphan Andy's.

It had the long bar with the bar stools, the fixed tables with bench seats and at each table was the ubiquitous juke box operating system. Fantastic, it brought back the Whimpy-bar era to me.

 

We got ourselves seated, straight away 2 mugs of coffee, 2 glasses of water and the menu, the nice waiter (I remember them as waitresses but I suppose we had hit on a one in Castro) came and took our order and was very patient and explained that yes they had pancakes but as theirs are cooked on a hot plate not in a pan they called them hotcakes (me redfaced stupido), we had ordered the whole wack, hotcakes, eggs, bacon and sausages.

Of course you are allowed as much coffee as you wish (in fact you have to tell them that you don’t want any more after the third mug). He was very helpful, we asked about the hop on hop off tour bus, out came one of those smart-phone thingies with apps (we have  dumb-phones with numbers)he told us that we needed to get the street car down to Fisherman’s Wharf and there was the start of the round tour.

 Just outside was the street car stop that took us all the way (I get senior citizen rates of 75cents) to the warf.

We got to Fisherman’s Wharf and enquired at the kiosk and as we had just missed a one we decided to have a look around pier 39, take some photos of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge (without fog)

 and the harbour Sea Lions that were basking in the morning sun on the decking that has been specially constructed for them. Interesting story, but they only started congregating there after the earthquake of 1989, they had at first tried to scare them away (they do pong a bit), but have now become such a tourist attraction that the city have decided that it is better to admit defeat and make their lives as comfortable as possible.

 

We then got on our Hop on Hop off all timber open topped tour bus, this is of course done with a running commentary, that explains the sights and each district as you pass through. The full tour takes about half a day (or longer if you decide to cross the bridge and go to Sausalito). It takes in the North Beach area (Little Italy), China Town (now that is what I call a China Town), the financial district of Union Square, Civic Center, Alamo Square (with some of the best “painted ladies in San Francisco), the tour busses no longer go through this district as the residents became sick of them and if you wish to visit and have a look you get off at Hayes street and walk down.

It was then on to Golden Gate Park, this had been our original destination as we wanted to visit the De Young Museum, we got off the bus and went to the entrance, guess what, Mondays it’s closed, I do wish I had one of those smart-phones with an app!

But all was not lost across the road is Californian Academy of Sciences, it was a wonderful experience with loads of hands on exhibits for the kids (I am just a big kid in reality), a rain forest section with free flying butterflies and rain forest birds. We met a very nice lady who explained all about them, she was originally from Wimbledon, but had emigrated many years ago, though she still had an English accent, a veritable fountain of information. You wind your way upwards from the forest floor and river with their monstrous fish, ever upward through the differing levels until you reach the canopy. It is truly amazing and is the next best thing to actually going to a rain forest (I have been to both the Amazonas and the Central American (Panama and Belize), the only thing missing is the actual Howler Monkey’s .

The aquarium is very well equipped and has lots of interesting exhibits as is the terrarium, spider collection (Linda didn’t think so). It also has an interesting shallow reef, with the local fish swimming around.

Prior to going into the rainforest we had been into the Planetarium and had a very interesting visual show on the causes and results of Earthquakes, this is a fantastic multi-media show projected onto the dome and you actually feel as if you are in the midst of the landscapes and earthquakes.

It was now getting on and we had a cup of coffee in a less than satisfactory restaurant (need to do better in there) and decided to head for home via a part of the park that would lead us to the street car. The Golden Gate Park has the last remaining Giant Redwoods standing in San Francisco. But it also has a multitude of other native and foreign flora. Another couple of street cars took us to the vicinity of 21^st street (more by luck than good judgement) and we decided to have a meal before heading back to Delores. We had been to Valencia the last evening to the Mexican and on the way there I had noticed what looked like a reasonable Indian restaurant, both being fans of Indian food we decided that is what we would eat tonight. Linda sent a Text message to Richard asking if he fancied joining us but he had too much work on so declined.

The Amber Dhara restaurant on Valencia Street

This is a very nice restaurant with plenty of seating (as it was still early evening it was quite empty), it has a very nice cocktail bar and you can if the restaurant is full take a seat at the bar, have a drink and take in the atmosphere. We didn’t need to, we were at once asked where we would like to be seated and as is normal a carafe of water appears with the waiter and the menu. Everything is prepared on the premises so don’t expect take away service, order a drink and may be a few nibbles and enjoy the surrounds, the staff is very attentive without being overbearing, they are I would say 95% native Indian and know their job and the food that they serve. Questions informatively answered and information given in a pleasant manner.

 

 

We decided on two of the lamb dishes, Linda chose the Laal Maas a spicy lamb red chilly curry, I ordered the Banjara Gosht,  pieces of roast leg of lamb in a very nice almond paste, ginger and brown onion spiced sauce. We ate them with plain Basmati rice and a Tandoori bread basket, this consisted of some very interesting naans, rotis, green pea kultcha and lacha paratha. It was as normal a monster portion, but then it always is and no we didn’t want it wrapped to take home.

We both agreed that the meal was very fine, may be not better than a Bradford curry house, but certainly no worse than the best that Akbar has to offer.  So it got a very high ooh’s and aah’s rating from Linda, I don’t think we shall have time to revisit it but if we had more time it would certainly be visited again and again. A big Thumbs up from both of us, for well-prepared tasty food at reasonable prices (USA Prices), the service was efficient, friendly and not at all over bearing.

We then headed wearily back to Richard apartment, I to work on my blog and Linda to doze in front of the TV (would you believe it Dr Martin was on).