Embarcadero

Spent some time in a fun area this past weekend.  I got to venture about the Embarcadero area of San Francisco.  The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront and roadway of the Port of San Francisco.  It comes complete with an older building that was built in 1915.  I know this because the building has that date labeled prominently on the face.  It even has the date lit with lights so you can see it in the night.

I guess that the port was very important during it's day because the area is huge.  It is also a wonderful place to roam and lose yourself in your thoughts.

Primarily a tourist spot, there are a number of restaurants and pieces of art.  It is also a nice example of reclamation and renovation.  All of the piers are open for walking around, there are folks fishing off of the pier.  There are wonderful viewing spots of the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Treasure Island.  The sea lions are in full vocal form on one end.  It really is just a genuine pleasure.

Speaking of restaurants, I also stopped at a place that bills itself as the oldest continually run restaurant in San Francisco.  Tidich Grill is a great place to land.  The layout of the restaurant has a huge bar running down the middle with these wonderful, slightly hidden booths down the wall.  The prices are bit high (but then again, EVERYTHING in the city is priced a bit high) but the food was wonderful.  I had a shrimp bisque and some lemon asparagus.  It was simply great.

Santana Row

It has come time to tell you about my favorite place to this point.  I believe I have mentioned it in the some of the older posts, but I feel that it should be given the full credit it deserves.  It is a place where the young turks strut their stuff and the well-to-do mingle and be seen.  A place where there are Aston Martins parked outside of the Tesla shop.

For this yo-yo who loves to "people watch", it is simply a heavenly place to be.  I am talking about Santana Row in San Jose.

To be honest, it is a lovely little three-block shopping and living center.  I have always liked the notion of having apartment complexes on top of a shopping district.  It seems so... well, cosmopolitan.

There are lots of higher end clothing stores and a couple of fun knick-knack shops like the stationary store MaiDo, a Japanese stationary store that (quite frankly) has some wonderful toys and craft items.  Well worth a peruse...

There are also a lot of wonderful restaurants there as well (you know me and food...).  My current favorite is a place called the Left Bank Brasserie.  It has wonderful outdoor cafe seating and the food (while pricey) is great.  But should also mention Pizza Antica which has great pizza, but even greater salads and served with pizza crust as bread.  

There are also a number of "club" like establishments that folks my age migrate away from after about eight when the aforementioned young turks start to come out.  We shuffle out to the street muttering under our breath about how "we could not hear ourselves think in there...".  Yes, people my age REALLY do that.  But we generally migrate over to the outdoor wine bars or the tequila bar.  (We do find our way...and it is quieter there)

How many types of sweet potatoes?

When one needs to clear the head, there is really nothing better than to go on a walk-a-bout.  Now this phrase may be a bit old-fashioned (and foreign for that matter - it is an Australian saying), but it really is true.

On Saturday morning, I looked about my apartment, took a deep breath and said to myself, "Self, you cannot put this off any longer."  The crustiness in the kitchen and rather unspeakable stuff in the bathroom needed to be eliminated.  So... I spent a rather long, lonely day cleaning up the place.  To treat myself after the day of cleaning, I watched one of my favorite movies - Blazing Saddles.

That brings me to Sunday.  I got up and decided that I just needed to get out.  But, where?  That is where Blazing Saddles comes into play.  The name of the town in the movie is Rock Ridge.  Could there be a Rock Ridge, California?  Yup.

As I pulled up and parked in Rockridge, the first thing I see is The Sock Hop which I know would tickle my daughter to no end.  A sock store.  That is one of the most wonderful things about this area.  The towns are littered with shops like these.  There is an almost abhorrence to the chain stores.

A bit more wandering had me back in Berkeley and at the Stained Glass Garden.  This is in a really wonderful part of Berkeley on fourth street.  This shop is fascinating with mosaic and stained glass supplies.

Lunch was at Vik's Chaat & Marketplace.  This Indian restaurant is nestled in (what looks like on the outside) a rather warehouse looking building but the food is really good.

Now after lunch, I was driving about Berkeley when I spied a grocery with produce spilling out the front entrance.  I cannot explain why, but this sight piqued my interest so I parked the car and ventured inside.  The name of the place is The Berkeley Bowl.  To be perfectly frank, dear readers, I have NEVER seen so much produce.  I mean there were four different types of sweet potatoes all piled together.  Name a type of vegetable or green and they had it in multiple varieties.  Of course, I had to buy a couple of things...

So overall, this was just what the doctor ordered.  Beautiful scenery, eclectic visuals, and (of course) a beautiful fall day to enjoy it all.

...but then again.

View from Jack London Square in Oakland

Okay, in my last post I spoke of all of the wonderful small towns and cities along the Bay Area.  These gems are fantastic places to visit.

Now having said that, I have to tell you about my first trip into Oakland.

I visited Jack London Square in Oakland which is situated on the bay.  It is a planned area that is lined with restaurants and shops.  I crawled my way from San Jose through the evening rush hour traffic and the normal 40 minute trip took an hour and a half, but that was okay.  The evening certainly was worth it.

As I got there, the sun was just setting and the skies over the bay were lit with beautiful pinks and blues.  The water on the bay reflected these colors magnificently.

It was a Wednesday evening in October so there streets were pretty bare but there was music in the air coming from a band playing at place called Plank which highlights pizza and Bocci Bowling.  After roaming about, I ended up at a place called Bocanova, and man was that a good (and rather pricey) choice.  I was in the mood for some ceviche and they had a wonderful sea bass ceviche with sweet potato, red onion, cucumber, and something called aji amaillo.  I have no idea what that last ingredient was, but it sure tasted wonderful.  Add to that a wonderful California Rose... wonderful.

After dinner, one last look at the bay and I decided to have a drink before heading back to San Jose.  The primary reason I stopped was because the place had a nice brass bar and Frank Sinatra was playing.

Life is good.

On the road to...

Fremont, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Gilroy, Dublin, San Ramon... the list goes on and on.

There are a lot of wonderful smaller towns in the mix here. While there are the three major cities, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose that form a bit of a triangle around the Bay area; in between each of these cities are a line of small towns that dot the landscape.  And each one of them has their own personality and design.

They each have a downtown area that is lined with shops and restaurants.  My current favorite restaurant in the area is the Bella Saratoga.  It is an Italian joint that is housed inside a house (Wow, diagram that sentence...).  But I also recently enjoyed Satomi Sushi in Fremont.

It really is a ball to discover new places in these little gems.  While the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose have almost anything that a person could want, it is really nice to just take a side trek and visit the town/cities of Palo Alto, Berkeley, Mountain View, Cupertino... well, you get the idea.

Just pull up to the downtowns in these places and get out of the car.  Roam around and find the most interesting things and places.  I will bet that you will find a new favorite place again and again...

A rose by any other name...

I grew gladiolas when I lived in Illinois.  I always had a vegetable/herb garden whenever I had a patch of dirt or pot to grow something in.  Tomatoes, peppers, basil, and mint have always been a staple and always my first choice when I do get a chance to garden.

But there has always been one plant that I have loved more than any other.  The one whose fragrance can entice me to stop what I am doing at almost any time and lean into for a full nose full of splendid aroma (Okay... that may have been a bit much...).  I am speaking of the magnificent rose.

This is (once again) a wonderful thing about where I have landed here in the bay area.  There are roses EVERYWHERE!  It is evidently the home of the rose.  My place of employment (Santa Clara University) must have the best grounds crew because I have honestly never seen so many different types and colors of roses in my life.  I actually saw a pale purple rose and when the wind blows just right, the entire area has that wonderful scent in the air.

Now, dear reader, you may be rolling your eyes (as my dear one does) and thinking "Hyberbole does not become you, Web Guy", but I can assure you that what I convey here is true.  There is even an active "rose society" just for the Santa Clara area and the city of San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.  The best part is that the rose dominance is not limited just to the campus of Santa Clara University.  It is all over the city of Santa Clara and large parts of nearby San Jose.

So as we tally the list of "why I love it here" items, we can add the beauty and wonderful aroma of the local flora to it.  It is no wonder that I keep my windows open in my apartment.

Now, I just need to start my own little contribution...

Finding a draft card to burn...

When I was a young fire brand college student, I became fascinated with the 60s movements and the people involved.  I could not read enough biographies and manifestos.  Being the political science major that I was, I just really enjoyed learning about that period of time and how it has affected American history.  That is one of the reasons that I am looking forward to this weekend.  I am heading to Berkeley, California.

Berkeley is home to the University of California, Berkeley and it earned it's wings as one of the major meccas of the anti-war movement of the 60s.  It is a place that has been on my bucket list for quite some time and I am looking forward to roaming around.  Now, I am not expecting to run into Thomas Hayden or any of the Chicago Seven but it will be nice to see what I can see.

Roaming around a college town is always a treat to begin with.  There are the funky bars and restaurants, the second hand shops where you can find a treasure or two usually line the streets.  The students are back in session so it will be great to hear and experience.  There is NOTHING better than gaggle of 18-22 year olds in all of their glory and righteous indignation (that is a compliment).

So off we go.  I wonder... if I let my beard grow and find some old bell bottoms...