Adventures with Lisa & Kevin

Alison’s visit & Alemany Farmer’s Market

Post author By Lisa
Post date November 28, 2010
1 Comment on Alison’s visit & Alemany Farmer’s Market

On Saturday 11/13 we woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and decided to visit the Alemany Farmer’s Market in our neighborhood. It’s one of the best in the city and we had only gone together once before. Now that Kevin has Saturdays off we’ll definitely be visiting more often!

Probably my most favorite part of this farmer’s market are the amazing murals in each stall. They are gorgeous and I can’t get enough of them!

Yummy green beans

A really funny sign in one of the stalls

Kevin picking out some yummy mandarin oranges

And what’s a farmer’s market without fresh-cut flowers?

Our yummy loot! Apples, arugula, almonds, mandarin oranges, garlic, kabocha squash, green beans, heirloom tomatoes, bok choy and bell peppers.

After taking Lola to the park we made our way out to Walnut Creek to visit our good friend Alison who was in town! Last time she visited (check out blog post here from February) we had a grand ol’ time so we were expecting nothing less. 🙂

We met Alison and her friend Laura at Alison’s favorite Indian restaurant Sargam and enjoyed an amazing buffet lunch! Then we spent a few hours exploring Walnut Creek’s downtown area, walking and window shopping and, of course, getting pedicures! It was Kevin’s first time and I’m happy to report he’s a fan. 🙂

Oh-so-relaxing foot soak

The only photographic proof that Kevin got a pedicure!

So I love a good chair massage but the ones at this place were a little weird (check out where the pressure was at this particular moment–weird!)

The happy customers!

Showing off my orange nail color

Alison didn’t have any sandals so wore Kevin’s, haha.

We then went to her family’s home and spent a couple of hours hanging out (and eating Halloween chocolate) with her mom Laurel and her new kitties.

We then spent the evening with Laura and Daniel at Pyramid Brewery for some yummy nachos and beer and Club 1220, the only gay club in Walnut Creek.

We had a great time checking out Alison’s old stomping grounds and can’t wait to see her again!

foodie

A night out at the Ferry Building

Post author By Lisa
Post date November 28, 2010
No Comments on A night out at the Ferry Building

On Friday 11/12 I was running late to work so I decided to drive to work instead of take public transit so I’d get there in time. As you can imagine, parking at work is exorbitantly priced because I work just across the street from Fisherman’s Wharf, so I decided to take public transit home so that Kevin and I could make our way back out there to enjoy an evening along the Bay and drive home (it made the $10 parking fee worth it a bit more!)

We took the BART to Embarcadero Station and took a stroll through the Ferry Building. We were getting really hungry and couldn’t decide on a place so ended up at Gott’s Roadside Diner.

The city looks so so beautiful at night, dontcha think?

I was messing around with my camera’s functions and came out with this photo.

Kevin enjoying his bacon burger and garlic fries

Sinking my teeth into my avocado and somethin’ somethin’ burger

We then decided to walk along Embarcadero down to Pier 39 and enjoyed a photo opp or two.

Can you see me?

That’s the F train somewhere in there

Kevin not just doing what I say (like he normally does so well!)–I was trying to get him to pose in front of this Teatro Zinzanni sign and pretend that it was “Starring Kevin” but he wasn’t cooperating. 😉

We treated ourselves at home to some homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. We know how to live! 😉

garden

Crepes and gardening

These two items can only mean one thing…

CREPES!

Kevin treated me to a delectable breakfast of homemade crepes a few weeks ago. What a great way to kick off a weekend!

We decided to tackle a project we both really wanted to take care of but didn’t really want to do the grunt work…the garden.

It was looking a little run-down so we bought a few more plants and a whole lotta bags of wood chips to freshen up the place.

Beautiful, clear day

Lola, the headless doggie, out monitoring our progress

Spreading out the wood chips

One of our pretty new plants

Lola looking all majestic over the lavender

Giving kisses to the gardener 🙂

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Beautiful SF skies

On my walk home I’m occasionally astounded by the sky. From our street we can see directly across to Bernal Heights hill and there are times that the sky just blows me away. Here are some recent shots that I wanted to share!

Reminded me of a safari

For some reason I notice the sky a lot more living up here–it’s like the clouds have more character up here! 😉 Hope you enjoyed the photos.

foodie visitors

Heather’s bachelorette party

Post author By Lisa
Post date November 19, 2010
1 Comment on Heather’s bachelorette party

My lovely friend Heather who was in a sistahood with me at Redlands and who also went abroad to Nicaragua a few years after me decided to celebrate her upcoming wedding with a weekend in San Francisco! I was so happy to hear she’d be venturing out this way to celebrate so that I could definitely participate in the festivities. 🙂 They spent the whole weekend up here and I joined them on Saturday evening for some exciting bachelorette fun at AsiaSF.

AsiaSF is a superb venue for dinner and a show. The show was actually transgendered women who would dance on the bar every hour! The food was fantastic (duck quesadillas anyone?) and the ladies performances were extremely entertaining as well!

A very masculine doorman in his blue cowboy boots

The happy bachelorette (and Willy)

The group

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the ladies of AsiaSF…

Selena!!

I would love to come back sometime–just gotta save some dough for that night since it’s a wee bit pricey.

Afterwards we went to their hotel (which just so happened to be the same hotel my friend Maya stayed in that I visited) for some fun bachelorette themed games.

Heather in the middle with all of the Redlands girls

foodie Lola video blog

North Beach, Coit Tower & Levi’s Plaza

Post author By Lisa
Post date November 9, 2010
No Comments on North Beach, Coit Tower & Levi’s Plaza

Now that work isn’t crazy busy anymore I’ve made a goal to get out of the office once a day and go for at least a 30-40 minute walk. Generally I just walk down Embarcadero but that started to get boring so I looked up how close Coit Tower was and it turns out it’s only a 15 minute walk to the base of the staircase. Twice last week I walked up to Coit Tower and was amazed by how beautiful (and strenuous!) the walk was.

A random, funny mural at the base of the staircase: “No Dogs. Toy Poodles Okay.“

Middle of the staircase (total number of stairs going up? 358. And yes, I counted them.

Gorgeous flowers in someone’s front yard–anyone know the name of them??

Filbert Steps

I would LOVE to live here, what a cute little “street”!

Someone’s adorable front yard

Almost there!

Thar she blows!

After raving about my lunch-time adventures, on Kevin’s day off on Saturday we decided to take advantage of one of the city’s last sunny days and go explore North Beach for brunch and then hike up to Coit Tower.

We really wanted to go to Mama’s Cafe for brunch but the line was ridiculous and we were starving so we Yelp app’d across Curly’s Coffee Shop. It didn’t look like too much on the outside…

But it ended up being a yummy breakfast spot! And turn’s out it’s a Japanese diner as well–interesting mix dontcha think?

Walking through North Beach we saw them painting over my favorite mural (see photo in old blog post here) to celebrate the SF Giants’ recent World Series win. I guess I’m okay with them painting over my favorite mural…

With bellies full and Lola in tow, we started off on the Barbary Coast Trail (aka Stockton Street) to the base of the tower (never really knew what those street markers were for all this time, but looked it up and you can see the info. at this link if you feel so inclined).

We took a slightly different path down the hill and saw some more really neat homes and yards.

Kinda funny, kinda creepy at the same time.

We ended up at Levi’s Plaza which I pass by everyday on the way to and from work and hadn’t spent much time there before. Lola was in HEAVEN with the grassy hills and the shallow river and since there weren’t many people around we let her off leash to explore.

I actually got a close-up of this fly! Not the prettiest insect, I’ll admit, but I thought it was cool that I got this shot before it buzzed off.

Video of Kevin and Lola playing around

Bailey foodie

Night out on the town

Friday night was not like a typical Friday night for us. The reason? Kevin didn’t have to work the next day!! He finally has Saturdays off from now on (we’re keeping our fingers crossed that that continues through the holidays) and it was sooo great to be able to go out and not worry about staying out too late (since he usually has to work at 6am, yuck!)

We had a delicious date night at Goat Hill Pizza in Potrero Hill. Some of the best pizza ever!

Where the magic happens.

Patiently awaiting our feast…

Cute goat-and-pizza-themed artwork. Check out the top left one where the girl is looking at the goat and in her thought bubble it says: “That got shur luks gud.” HA!

Heaven!

Then we rushed over to visit with our favorite friends Carleigh and Scott.

My delicious duo

Me and Bailey! He was super lovable that night, I think because he didn’t have Lola to distract him.

Homemade Long Island Iced Teas for Carleigh and Kevin

Mountain Goat Bailey

We spent many hours (okay, maybe 30 minutes) playing a new game we created called “guess the celebrity’s age”. Scott and I are PROS at the game–the first time we played, the two of us obliterated the competition. The second time we played we let Carleigh and Kevin win a couple so they wouldn’t be upset. 😉 Some of the celebrities we guessed: Martin Short, Bette Midler, Eddie Murphy, William Shatner, Joan Rivers, etc. etc. Never a dull moment when the four of us get together! 😉

foodie Not San Francisco

Foodie reviews

It’s been a while since I wrote a foodie review…here are some of the places we’ve explored to get some grub!

Little Yangon (Burmese food)
in Daly City
What do you get when you cross Indian food and Thai food? Burmese food, apparently! Jessie and I visited Little Yangon after spending the day car shopping for her and it was exactly what we needed after that long day. I had never had Burmese food before and I was so so so impressed. I have to admit, I think about this food occasionally and can’t wait until I go back. 😉 The Rainbow noodle salad and eggplant were my favorite. Amazing food and really great service too!

Holy Grill
in SOMA, SF
YUMMMMMY burgers! Big, juicy, super flavorful. Not the cheapest burgers in the city ($6-9 each) but definitely worth every penny. I got the Yoga Burger (veggie patty with yummy toppings) and it was great. We ordered the garlic fries to share but they were a tad bit too garlicky for our taste (which is a LOT for us) so next time we’ll just go without. We loved this place so much we tried to eat there a second time within the month but were sad to find out they were closed on Sundays. 🙁 Now we know!

La Corneta
in Glen Park, SF
We were so happy to find this great taqueria near our apartment without having to deal with the crowds and the horrible parking situation in the Mission. We’ve only had burritos there but damn are they good. Good prices and great portions and only a one minute walk from the Glen Park BART station.

Jitra Thai
in Lakeside, SF
We went here with Carleigh and we were not disappointed. Really friendly service, good portions, tasty Thai food.

Big Nate’s BBQ
in SOMA, SF
Kevin and I were starving one day and our Yelp app led us to this place. Hole in the wall in every sense of the word. I wasn’t too impressed with their bbq beef burgers–the buns tasted like Safeway-brand buns and the meat, though tender, was just doused in BBQ sauce instead of cooked in it. We’ve heard raving reviews about another BBQ joint in our neighborhood (Johnson’s BBQ on San Bruno) that we’d like to check out for our BBQ fix next time ’round. It wasn’t terrible–but it wasn’t great either.

Lola parks video blog

Like a couple of kids

Last Wednesday as I worked from home and Kevin had the day off we took a quick little lunch break trip to Bernal Heights mini-park slides that Kevin had heard about on SF Secrets (if you’re ever in need of a good laugh, watch some of this guy’s videos, they’re hilarious!)

We were not disappointed!

There she is, in all her 40 feet of glory (or so someone online says, not sure if they got out there with their measuring tape or not…)

Lola racing Kevin up the hill

Kevin and his partner in crime

Me and my Lola girl

Me in front of the camera for a change

My oh-so-handsome husband

And to finish off…a video of Kevin and Lola going down the slide (if you watch closely you’ll notice Kevin lands on his rear at the bottom but he was pretty smooth with a quick save. And he thought no one would notice, ha!)

Lola parks video blog

Hike to Mt. Davidson

While Kevin was at work 🙁 Lola and I spent Halloween morning taking a hike up Mt. Davidson. The three of us took a hike up to the top before in May (check out the post at this link) and it had been quite some time since we visited so I thought that sunny Sunday was the perfect opportunity.

Lola overlooking the city

Sutro Tower in Twin Peaks

There is so much greenery on Mt. Davidson, you’d swear you were in a rainforest and not in the middle of San Francisco! That really is one of the most amazing things about this city–the tons of nature refuges within such a big, bustling city. Here are some nature shots:

Instead of “Where’s Waldo?”, Where’s Lola?