I have several herbs that come back every year throughout my garden beds.  This year, my peppermint patch has been pretty hardy even with the late start to spring.

Hopped off the bus to visit Hayes Valley area of San Francisco.  Playground busy with children and people sitting on the benches enjoying the day.  Next to the playground you will find Miette where there is plenty of cookies, cakes and other confectioneries.

On the other side of the playground, I noticed a group of people setting up tables, benches and umbrellas behind a chain link fence.  The corrugated metal container was opened showing a bar complete with beer taps, ready to serve customers after completely setup.  I wandered over and noticed the sign Biergarten on the gate.  Biergarten, who's bigger sister is Suppenkuche(located in Hayes Valley also), is exactly as the name states, a beer garden.  They offer German beers and eats, very similar what you would find in a beer garden in Germany. I would love to sit outside under the outdoor string lighting, having a beer and bite with friends or even meeting new people.  I wonder if they even play oom-pa-pa music?




Right next door you will find Smitten Ice Cream, where you can watch your ice cream being made from scratch with some funky machine using liquid Nitrogen.  They offer seasonal flavors and I opted for the blood orange ice cream with pistachio shortbread.  Makes my mouth water typing about it.

I'm not much of a fine dining person.  I am more impressed by places that produce stellar food with common ingredients and off-cuts than restaurants that use rarer, expensive cuts because as I heard from a Top Chef episode, it's not hard making great dishes with Wagyu and Kobe beef.  Also, I can't justify spending most of my disposable income in one sitting and secondly, I'm not "foodie" enough to decipher small nuances in foods.  It's either good or really good to me.


All that being said, when my boss wanted to take us out to Alexander's Steakhouse, I certainly didn't say no but I did have some pangs of guilt (I wasn't even paying!) glancing through the menu, calculating how many meals I could have instead of the 3oz portion of Wagyu beef for $135.



Picture on left, of me, is taken by my husband's cellphone.  The saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" really applies here.  Seafood isn't really part of my usual meal plans and several years back, I discovered I am allergic to some shellfish.  Sushi and sashimi, just forget about it.  Imagine my surprise when a glass shot of hamachi, beautifully arranged with avocado and truffled ponzu came to the table.  "Come on! You have to try it!  Trust us, it's so good!" I was heckled by the others.  I felt like I was on an episode of Survivor and I had to take one for the team in order to make it to the next round.  Everyone else loved it so please, I don't want you to think it wasn't excellent but it's just not my thing, as you can visually see.

 
I was staying one street away from the famous "Painted Ladies" in Alamo Square Park or "Postcard Row" as others call the highly photographed Victorian/Edwardian colored houses.  If you ever watched the intro to the show "Full House" then you have seen the Painted Ladies.  With winter still happening here in Edmonton, I was in my glory of green grass, blossoming trees, chirping birds and warm weather.


There has been a lot of change in the Alamo Square and NOPA (North of the Pan Handle) neighborhoods,  particularly Divisadero St, which divides the 2 neighborhoods.  Restaurants like Little Star Pizza (my brother in law's family loved the pizza) and the upscale Nopa set up shop many years ago but are welcoming a second influx of new hip eateries, shops and markets which has been drawing more attention from people to not only visit but also live in the areas.


Isn't there something so charming about a neighborhood coffee/bakery shop, complete with sweet spot-eyed dog leashed outside (isn't he adorable!)?. The idea of waking up and walking down for your morning espresso before work, grabbing a rustic loaf for breakfast or enjoying baked goods and coffee with friends, sounds so lovely. I had read about the The Mill, a joint venture between Josey Baker Bread and Fourbarrel Coffee, on 736 Divisadero street, which is a stone's throw from Alamo Park Square.

Josey started as a hobby baker but it soon became more when he started running a "Community Supported Bread" (much like a CSA), where people subscribed online and he would drop off breads at various destinations for pickup.  He worked out deals with restaurants to use their commercial or wood-fired ovens to produce enough loaves but he quickly grew and as a result came together with Fourbarrel coffee to open The Mill.


I read that a must is the Toast! (complete with exclamation mark).  I grabbed the country bread Toast! with butter, cinnamon sugar, and a sprinkle of sea salt along with an Americano and sat down in the high-ceiling  modern room, complete with a long communal table.  I sipped coffee, listened to the hum of the open kitchen and watched people rifle in and out, ordering a coffee along with a loaf  or other baked goods in hand. I didn't particular care for the sea salt on my thickly cut toast but then, to each his own I say.

As with all my travels, the planning stage typically happens last minute, usually in a frantic state and with repeated under-the-breath grumblings of "why didn't I start this before!"  I asked folks on twitter and friends who have travelled to San Francisco and I repeatedly heard the same two words: Ferry Building.  After doing a quick internet search, I soon came to realize that the Ferry Building Marketplace is a foodie haven.  If you could only make one stop in the city, you just need to come here because it has some of the best of the best, making it impossible to leave the building unsatisfied.

I arrived early, before many of the shops were open, and headed straight for Blue Bottle Coffee.  As I stood in line, getting heavenly wafts of freshly brewed espresso shots, I saw a gentleman pick up his coffee order and a waffle served in a coffee filter.  "What's that?" I asked out loud while adjusting the camera around my neck, squelching any doubts from those around me that I was in fact a tourist. "You have to try the waffle, it's soooo good" the lady ahead of me responds.


A cappuccino ($3.25) in one hand and a waffle ($3) in the other, I'm ready for breakfast.  As I sip back my artfully foamed cappuccino, I think to myself "what's the big deal about the waffle?  It's a waffle!"  I have eaten many waffles but as I bite into the crunchy, caramelized exterior and taste the sweet, soft interior, the voracious pace in which I finish it quickly affirms that I have never experienced a waffle like this.  I later learn that it is a Liege waffle which uses pearl sugar, a coarse-type of sugar, that transforms ordinary into extraordinary in this Belgian specialty.