ダニエルの冒険

I haven’t written anything in the last few weeks, but that’s not because I haven’t had anything to write about. Contrarily, I’ve actually been so busy that I haven’t found time to write anything. I’ll quickly go through the adventures I’ve had since we left off with the Wizard of Oz in Dolores Park as I give this blog some much needed love. As a result of the colds caught at the movie (which I’m still partially recovering from), I didn’t do much during that week, but the next weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and with everyone (except two people) on the team taking a long weekend I asked if it was all right for me to do so to, and I got permission to have a four-day weekend.

Friday, 23^rd

I wanted to do something with Chiyo on Friday and we decided to go to Fisherman’s Wharf, the most tourist-focussed area in the city, but her school being in the area, she knew it well and wanted to show me around. We didn’t stray too far, keeping our route between Ghirardelli Square and Pier 33, but had fun checking out the various tourist-junk shops along the road and the more interesting ones at the Square. Of course we saw the sea-lions at Pier 39 too.

In the evening we went to Century Theatres on the top floor of the Westfield mall downtown to see Indiana Jones. I had been keeping my expectations as low as possible coming up to it, to avoid disappointment, and I’m glad I did. If I had hyped it up any bit at all I’m sure I wouldn’t have liked it but I managed to enjoy it quite a bit. Harrison Ford really looked like an old man a lot of the time, so I’m glad the script didn’t try making any lies about his real age. Before parting I invited her to try some Irish food in the Copper Kettle the next day.

Saturday, 24^th

At lunchtime on Saturday we met on 32nd and Taraval and went to the Copper Kettle, where I had been myself a month or so ago. This time the Mexican chef spared us his personal twist on a mini Irish breakfast so there was no melon thankfully. Not having any plans, we decided to hang out downtown around the Metreon and Westfield, which wasn’t as boring as it sounds.

The Metreon is full of Sony games consoles, TVs, laptops, digital cameras, camcorders, on the first floor and the second floor is a huge arcade. Half of it is “UFO catchers” (I’m not sure what to call them in English… those machines that never work, with the hanging arm you control to grab toys) and it was totally deserted. The Japanese go nuts for those things so it was weird to see a room full of them, on a Saturday no less, with no one around.

We tried to get into the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and were told we would have to wait “45 to 70 minutes”, so we just left and went to a small restaurant around the block, which I can’t find on Google maps.

Sunday, 25^th

On Sunday I wanted to show Kev around the city so we met at Van Ness station and took the muni to Castro Station. That’s right: first up on my schedule of San Francisco culture was the gayest part of the city. We saw lots of the usual gross guys and headed for Twin Peaks, with Kevin singing the theme song from the TV show of the same name over and over again. It only served to increase our determination as we ignored roads and paths and made a beeline for the top. When we finally got up there, dripping in sweat, his family were standing around taking photos. They had driven up the road in their car. They said they were heading for the Haight next and that was actually what I had been planning to do anyway, so they drove ahead and we walked down, found an N stop and got to Church and Dubose Station, bought smoothies in a Jamba Juice, and walked up to Haight St. The bus took us to Upper Haight and we ran into his family again. Looking to accessorise, we looked for sunglasses and watches. Kevin got a nice pair of foldable shades by Penguin in Villains (glad Dave showed me that place) and I found a paid of Tokyo Flash watches in Giant Robot, but not the new Infection watch I wanted to see

After looking around Amoeba Records for a while we got off our feet and had a drink in a nearby café. After regaining our strength, I gave him the grand tour of Sharon Meadows, turning before Dad Gardens through Skater Alley (where we were offered to buy some drugs), and walked into Hippie Fields, where I counted ten or so ways to know that there were hippies about (everyone sitting around in circles, the bad smell in the air, the hacky sack, the drums, the dancing in public when there’s no music, the psychedelic artwork on the ground, and way more that I’m forgetting). Hobo Corner still maintained its hobo glory, with trolleys with people sleeping in them scattered around the lawn.

We got on a bus to take us to Van Ness and got off at Alamo Square to see the Painted Ladies there, which made us late for our meeting with Chiyo at Van Ness but was worth seeing. Got some great photos there. We went to Kevin’s cousin’s place and met his family for a barbecue. It was a little weird for Kevin because he only knew his cousin and aunt and his cousin’s friends and neighbours were wandering around the house. It’s was quite weird for me because the only person I knew was Kevin. It was really weird for Chiyo because the only person she knew was me. And the only person I knew was Kevin.

People here really know and like their foods. San Francisco being as cosmopolitan as it is, there’s a huge variety of ethnic foods here so everyone knows a lot about food. The Irish palate is not so broad, so when an artichoke was put before us, no one knew what to do with it. I decided not to try it but everyone else started munching away on the leaves, saying how horrible they tasted. Kevin couldn’t get past the munching stage to the swallowing stage and after a while, the guy who prepared the artichoke came in and explained that you just eat the white tip of the leaf with some sauce and discard the rest.

Kevin’s cousin made some great steak but his lemon chicken was the best. The neighbour’s dogs ended up getting a nice bit of my steak in exchange for the paw.

Memorial Day: Monday, 26^th

On Monday I had a boat to Alcatraz at 12:35pm booked for myself and Kev, who had arrived the night before. We met in the morning at Van Ness station again and took the bus up to Fisherman’s Wharf. Good thing I had familiarised myself with the area on the Friday! We bought drinks for when we got thirsty on the island but mutually agreed that they were better drunk immediately, which we sort of regretted later on when we got thirsty on the island.

The audio tour was really great and the voice-overs by wardens and prisoners really made it. Looking into a cell while it was described as where three wardens were shot by prisoners through the bars with a rifle they had taken from a warden on the gun gallery was creepy. Loved it.

After Alcatraz we went to the Hard Rock Café and enjoyed the rock ‘n’ roll and burgers, two of my favourite things. The waitress introduced herself as our “server”, which I mis-heard as “servant”, which I thought to be pretty demeaning. I’ve noticed since that they use “server” a lot here. Maybe because it’s gender neutral?

Friday, 30^th

After getting up the courage for the Cheesecake Factory wait, myself and Chiyo decided to give it another go after work. First the waitress tried leading us to our seat, but found that there were none free. The next waitress tried bringing us to outdoor seating, but it was far too cold for that so I had already asked for indoor seating. Third time we were lucky and it was chicken for me and salmon for her. The salmon was really great and had some herbs on the top which gave it a great flavour. I asked the “server” for the name of the herbs and was told a name I had never heard before. The server admitted never hearing about it before either.

Saturday, 31^st

The next day we had late lunch in a cafe at 9th and Judah before Sex and the City. Olivia had tried going at Storm only to be told it was sold out, so on Thursday I booked tickets online, and found that there were hardly any showings left in the city. When we arrived for the movie about 40 minutes early, the queue for the screen was going through a set of ropes at the entrance, down the length of the lobby, through an emergency exit, and down a service corridor. We still had to get seats really close to the screen. Any later and there wouldn’t have been two free adjacent seats left.

Dinner was at Hana Zen, where I had been with Patrick. I ordered Otoro but what we got wasn’t Otoro, so I asked the waitress about it and she checked with the chef and explained that there wasn’t much tuna left so the best parts were gone. Otoro (as opposed to chuotoro) is the best part of the tuna, so she said she’d charge us the chutoro price. I also got to try some tenpura and some new fish: aji (“Carangidae” fish, which was great), engawa and hirame (both halibut but different cuts). We got some oysters on the half-shell too, which had a delicious sauce and were really fresh.

Sunday, 1^st

Today I sat around, did lots of washing for the upcoming week, and went for a walk while it was sunny. Next weekend’s plans? Seeing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in Washington Square hopefully. Gotta bring some sort of blanket or something this time so we don’t get sick again. Should be fun though. Just about to upload a ton of photos to Flickr. (Is it still hyperbole if I use mass to measure digital photos? Wouldn’t a gram of digital photos be just as hyperbolic a statement?)