San Francisco trip - Saturday

Saturday morning we rented a car so we could drive North across the Golden Gate Bridge to Calistoga.  First we stopped off in Chinatown to pick up breakfast.  It was really crowded there due to the ongoing New Year's celebrations.  We stopped by the Golden Gate Bakery for egg tarts and were surprised there was no line.  Then again, their pastry maker passed away in 2007 and the crust just hasn't been the same since.  Since there was no line, we also didn't have fresh piping hot egg tarts.  The crust was still definitely not the super flaky delicacy of years past.  It pains me that they were not able to pass on the flaky pastry skills.  This place was a San Francisco landmark!  No more...  :(  We also picked up some dim sum to eat in the car.

It only took us a little over an hour to get to Calistoga.  We stayed at Solage, a spa that was rated #1 in Conde Nast for the Americas/Caribbean and #2 in Travel + Leisure magazine for U.S. & Canada.  Their restaurant/bar, Solbar, even has a Michelin star.  The service was great - the people who work there are super friendly and service oriented.  They even gave us some hot chai to drink when we checked in.  :)  The rooms were awesome - they had concrete floors and were like their own little cabin-like buildings.  The layout was open and spacious and the room had a sliding glass door that opened out to a covered patio.  The rooms come with a pair of bikes parked outside so you can ride around the property on them.  They also recommend you use them to ride into town (stores are two blocks away).  Their spa, restaurant, etc. all have bike racks in front for you to park your bikes.  Rooms for us were $320/night.

Saturday lunch we ate at Solbar.  The food was pretty awesome all around.  We ordered (it probably changes a bit daily):

• winter squash velouté - with crispy sage leaves and granny smith apples
• some creamy soup with chorizo that's not on their online menu
• spicy shrimp lettuce wraps - glass noodles, nam pla dipping sauce, avocado and pickled carrots
• salad of asian pears and winter greens - bibb lettuce, red cabbage, hosui pears, toasted cashews and chili-lime vinaigrette
• freshly baked sea salt flatbread - romesco sauce, salsa verde and white bean purée with pimentón de le vera
• LUCKY PIG - slow-roasted shoulder of long and bailey duroc pork, black sesame crepes, pickled pineapple, mongolian peanuts, lettuce cups and more
• meyer lemon pudding cake - meyer lemon caramel, blood orange granita, honey tuile

We all agreed that the flatbread was delicious, and it seemed each of us liked a different dipping sauce best.  The Lucky Pig came with a ton of super tender pork.  You got to build your own wrap and all the little condiments they gave were yummy too.

[the view from our patio]

After lunch, we rode in to town and walked down the main street to shop around a bit.  We then went back to Solage and decided to soak in the geothermal heated pools before our scheduled mud treatment.  There was a big pool and separated walled clothing-optional pools that were much hotter.  There was also a steam room heavy with a eucalyptus scent.  Sonny and I went to the clothing-optional pool but I chickened out of going nekkid.  It was a little weird at first but ultimately I regretted not taking full advantage of the experience.  7pm was our appointment for their signature "Mudslide for Two" treatment.  It was 3 parts - mud slathering/baking in a heated room and then rinse; a mineral bath in their footed tubs; and finally a relaxing twenty minutes in a reclined cushy chair, wrapped up in a luscious down comforter, with headphones that play new agey spa music.  It was verrrrry relaxing!  I loved the whole experience!  Well, except for one thing.  They need to replace those Bose headphones.  BOO BOSE!  We had tried to get the full spa package, but they were already booked (grrr at the last minute planning).  Even so, just the mudslide was pretty awesome.  Even Lawrence was able to unwind.  Next time I go to a spa, I'd like to try out some facial/skin treatments.

We ate dinner in the lounge area of Solbar where they serve you from a changing menu of small plates.  We loved the food...they had some really good dishes and the surprising thing was how affordable the prices were.  I should have written them down or at least taken photos of the menu.  :[

San Francisco trip - Friday

A few weeks ago it was suddenly decided we would go up to San Francisco for the weekend.  Josh and Lawrence needed to be in SF for a food tasting for one of their truck concepts.  I guess they decided to make a weekend out of it so I went up too.  Sonny, Josh's girlfriend was also there.  The tasting was on Friday.  Lawrence flew out of LAX at 6:30am.  I was going to as well but our plans were too last minute.  Instead, I left straight from work and took the FlyAway shuttle from Union Station to LAX.

I was really nervous the whole time because I was by myself.  I've gotten so used to having Lawrence around that having to do things like that by myself feels really weird.  Also, Lawrence didn't know where the Long Term Parking lot was and ended up parking in the lot across from the terminal, which charges $30/day.  I needed to get there early enough to move the car to long term parking.  Of course, I look up the maps for LAX way in advance and plan out my schedule with the bus times so that I have plenty of time to do all this.  I had plenty of time to spare, but I still got a little nauseous from the anxiety.  I speculated at Lawrence that this is why I've always tried to maintain a calm relaxed state, partitioning my mind so that I don't think about certain things.  If I'm constantly thinking about and worrying over everything at once like Lawrence does, I can get physically ill from the anxiety.

The flight was fine, just a little bit of scary turbulence and more anxiety.  I got onto the AirTrain, then the BART.  I helped some people figure out the BART ticketing system (Is it really so difficult?!  I suppose if you're in a rush and you don't read the instructions).  The others were already eating dinner in Chinatown so I had to take a taxi there.  I'm pretty sure that was the first time I had ever flagged down and took a taxi for myself, ever.  It wasn't so bad I suppose - the taxi driver didn't try to talk to me much.  I hate having to make small talk with random people cause I really don't know how to do it right.  O_o  Anyway, we ate at Yuet Lee.  We had crab, clams, some veggies, sweet/sour pork.  It was decently good but Josh didn't think it was anything special.  I suppose you have to think about it in the right way.  It's about as good as San Francisco Chinese food gets.  One can not compare that with the variety and quality of Chinese food available in Los Angeles.  That night we stayed at the Grand Hyatt on Union Square.

Weekend in SF

I've decided to split this up into multiple posts.  There's just too much to write about for one go.  These posts are not really meant to be informative - more like a personal journal for me to record my impressions.

A couple weeks ago, we suddenly got the opportunity to go up to San Francisco to hang out with Josh & Sonny.  I wasn't able to be there Friday until late at night so I missed out on the food concept tasting.  Saturday we rented a car and drove up to Calistoga to stay at the Solage spa & resort.  We ate at their Michelin-starred restaurant, Solbar, and relaxed at the geothermally heated pools before getting a relaxing mud treatment.

Sunday we drove to Yountville for brunch at Ad Hoc, and then drove up & down the highway for wine tastings.  We stopped at Opus One, Robert Mondavi, & Joseph Phelps.  For a late lunch we went to the Oxbow Public Market in Napa and gorged ourselves on raw oysters.  We also tried a place there called Pica Pica Maize Kitchen.  It serves Venezuelan street food consisting of various fillings over your choice of three different corn breads.

For dinner, we were back in San Francisco and tried out Heaven's Dog.  Monday & Tuesday we relaxed in SF, shopping, eating, and looking at condos.  I didn't call anyone up to hang out with because I wasn't sure of Josh & Sonny's plans and I didn't feel like I should go run off on my own but Lawrence assures me that it would be normal if I want to do so next time.