Winding Down

so here we are in our last few days in northern california. yesterday we toured the city on foot. we've had beautiful weather this whole time- the bay area is known to be quite chilly, even this time of year, so we came equipped w/ warm clothes, but it's been sunny and hot the whole time. so yesterday, we first went to blue bottle coffee cafe- a sort of out of the way locals-only cafe known for their fancy slow drip, crazy good organic coffees- we shared among us an espresso, a mocha, a hot chocolate (local grown ingredients, naturally), and a few iced coffees. it was STRONG and good. a great way to start the day.

from coffee we headed toward the MOMA (museum of modern art) to see a frida kahlo exhibition. she's one of my favorite artists and i've seen a pretty comprehensive collection of her works before in new york, but this was especially saucesome since there were many photographs of her, really showing her life along side her work. very cool. if you've never seen her stuff, check it out for your ownself.

then we went to ghirardelli square for some nummies....a local treat....and then we wandered more around fisherman's wharf and found a famous bread company called "boudin" where we watched the bakery assembly line for a hot minute.

then we headed down to the haight-ashbury district ("the haight") to see what all the hype is about and to buy a cool jacket for my husband. this area was, back in the day, THE PLACE for hippies and beatniks alike...the dead and janis joplin and many others called this musically home.

then my husband, in his fabulous new mr. rogers hipster sweater/jacket and i went to the "it" vegetarian restaurant in the city called "millenium." the food and drinks were amazing- such as wilted spinach salad w/ smoked tofu, carmelized onions, potatoes and figs with fig mustard dressing....blackberry infused gin....etc, etc.

today- to berkeley to check it out- took BART (bay area rapid transit) to awesome pizza place called gioia for no doubt the greatest pizza i've ever had- the sauce, the cheese, the crust, all of it- amazing. then we walked forever to the scharffen berger chocolate factory for a tour and tasting.....also, quite an awesome experience. and we got to wear hair nets, which is always a plus.

one last day tomorrow.....have had such an awesome time, but ready to get back to home and dog...and studying.....grrr...