Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.

The weekend in San Francisco was really warm, like in the 80s or 90s, perfect weather for a walk around the Marina and tasty tacos.

Sunday we ate a new place, at least for me, Nick’s Crispy Tacos.  It was sooo good.  Usually I don’t find tacos filling at all.  I eat two and I’m still kinda hungry but in that yucky, fast food way.  But the tacos in “Nick’s style” – with cheese and guacamole and wrapped in two tortillas, one fried and one soft – were completely satisfying.

I had one carnitas – the pork tender, lean, and juicy – and one fried fish, which was doused in a deliciously tangy lime sauce, and was full about halfway through the fish, but ate it all anyway.

Plus the decor was really cool, like something out of the Rat Pack era:

I could imagine Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Ava Gardner lounging in their tuxes and furs in one of those red booths, with taco juice dripping down their chins.

Afterwards we walked out to the Marina area.  What a great day to be near the water, though I resisted walking on the sand, which in retrospect I should have because the callouses on my heels could have used a good scrubbing.  We had fun watching the dogs play on the beach.  I find it hilarious when they roll around in the sand.

As we were strolling, we saw the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.  “Let’s walk across it!” MB said.  The bridge seemed pretty long to me, and I wasn’t sure if people actually walked across it like they do the Brooklyn Bridge.  But sure why not?  Then as we kept going, the bridge hardly got any closer, and we realized it was much farther away than we thought.  Ah well, next time.

On the way back, we ran into the Palace of Fine Arts.  It was really pretty!

We saw a bride and groom having their pictures taken.  The bride looked pretty, but the groom was wearing one of those tacky white tuxes.  Plus he looked so not thrilled to be there.  Then again, when does any groom?

Walking back home was a challenge because of all the hills.  I kept thinking, How are these hills in real life and not part of some extreme gym workout?  We were so pooped, we had to stop in Japantown and see a movie (Surrogates, wait for the DVD).

Now it’s back to packing and organizing.  Soon it will be over!

My flight was supposed to get in at 10 PM on Friday, but we didn’t land till almost 11. The weather was terrible in New York that day – rainy, windy, and cold – so we sat on the tarmac for an hour, waiting for the 40 other planes in front of us to take off.

When I got on board, I realized I had forgotten my iPod and headphones, and I had to buy Jet Blue’s crummy ones for $2. The left side worked only sometimes. Jet Blue has gotten kind of ghetto, at least compared to Virgin America. You even have to buy blankets and pillows, and there’s almost no food. I loved being able to buy eats any time I wanted on Virgin, and not having to wait for the damned cart.

On the other hand, Jet Blue has more leg room and comfier seats. Most seats have that annoying head rest – who ever wants that? It pushes your head foreward so that you get a crick in your neck. Jet Blue’s doesn’t have that; it does what a seat should – dips back and contours to your head.

At SFO I thought I’d have to wait forever for my bags, but they came out lickety split. I think it’s only New York airports that are so awful about getting luggage out in time. By the time my taxi pulled up to our place, it was midnight, and I was pooped and hungry.

While there seem to be fewer places that are open late in SF, there are still a few. We went to Grub Steak, kind of like a diner but nicer. I had a cheeseburger for about $8 – not bad! The fries were an extra $2, kind of a rip off, but I usually only eat a few fries anway so I didn’t bother getting any.

MB gets fed at work so he had virtually no food in the apartment (pasta, cream of wheat, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, spoiled milk, and of course coffee). I wanted stuff for breakfast so we stopped at Bob’s Donuts. It looks like a hole in the wall, but who cares when fresh-baked donuts and pastries are melting your mind with their good-smellness. We got a couple of croissants and old-fashioneds, all for about $5. The croissants were just right – huge and fluffy, better actually than the ones we used to get at the more gourmet pastry shop near our NYC apartment. Next time I’ll have try the apple fritters.

The next morning was peaceful and lovely. I unpacked and did some rearranging while MB practiced piano (he bought a keyboard!) and fooled around on the computer. We spent the rest of the day just walking around. For lunch we grabbed crepes at Honey Honey (again!) since we were on Post and I was STARVING, then we wandered through Chinatown.

I have to say SF Chinatown is about a billion times cleaner than New York’s. Canal Street is a chaotic, fishy mess of markets selling, well, fish, weird seafood, and even weirder dried substances; old Chinese ladies pushing you out of the way to get their grocer shopping done; and clueless tourists trying to get their picture taken in the midst of a Mandarin (well, Cantonese really) maelstrom. SF’s Chinatown is very neat and calm in comparison. The only crowd I saw was in front of the very popular Golden Gate Bakery, which I will have to try next time.

Eventually we ended up near Coit Tower, and decided to climb up. The hill was by far the steepest I’ve climbed so far. There are steps in some parts, but I’m not sure they’re so helpful. Once at top, we got a very nice view.

Chilly off and on the whole day, I was in the mood for hot noodles come dinnertime. MB did some Yelp-searching and found Chai-Yo Thai Noodle. It was really good!

I had the Yen Ta Foe, a “combination of seafood with red bean curd in a spicy and sour soup” and your choice of noodles. I got the vermicelli which was probably a bit too delicate, but the dish itself was amazing. There was plenty of seafood – shrimp, fishcakes, squid, and this thing that had the consistency of a jelly fish but looked almost like an anenome. I have no idea what it was but it was tasty. Plus the soup was nice and sour, and just a little spicy. A bargain at $8.95. In New York the same thing would have been $12 or more.

That night we saw 9. We had heard it was hokey, but we liked it. The preview did make it seem very dark so it was good to adjust our expectations. Plus we loved the theater we saw it in. It was huge and so non-ghetto. Going to the movies in New York is often a ghetto experience – people talking in regular voices the whole time, a mess all over the floor, cell phones going off and mofos answering them. Hopefully on the west coast it’ll be different.

The next morning I had to leave! It was tough although we’ll be seeing each other again in just a few days. My flight back was much easier than my flight in. I breezed right through check-in and security.

“Where is everyone?” I asked one of the security guys.

“September and October are the best months to fly,” he told me. Kids are back in school, and the holidays are not yet upon us. Plus that time of day was before the international flight rush hour, which was what we hit last time when the line stretched all the way across the terminal.

The flight left on time and for most of it, my rowmate and I enjoyed an empty seat between us, till some guy just *had* to watch TV and squeezed in. We were both annoyed, though I probably wouldn’t like not having TV either. Next time I’m bringing some DVDs. Hopefully I’ll get the next Dexter soon from Netflix.

Plus it was so nice to have almost no luggage, having dropped everything off at our new place. All I had was my computer, purse junk, and an almost empty duffel bag. Since I was carrying almost nothing, I took the Air Train and subway home, which took about an hour, including wait time. I’m thinking about taking it for my trip out as well this Friday. Although I’ll be carrying stuff, I may just suck it up since it’s so cheap.

I’m totally taking Friday off. I thought about changing my flight to earlier in the day, but last night I took a gander at our still mostly unpacked apartment, and began to panic. I’d rather take the day to organize and throw stuff out instead, before heading out around 3.

Work was pretty calm today. I had time to mail out a whole bunch of Amazon orders (keep ‘em coming!) and a box of MB’s stuff, the first of several shipments. Tonight I may start trying to organize. I’m thinking about taping up signs around the apartment – Toss, Donate, Keep (NJ), Keep (SF) – and just throwing stuff into piles.

See all my SF pics.

And what better way to sum up the trip than with a Not-So-Secret-Diary-of-a-Bad-Luck-Girl’s Index, kind of like Harper’s Index, only a lot wordier.

Number of Japanese restaurants we ate at in one day: 3

I’m not sure how this happened.  I think one day we mostly just stayed in our area.

First we walked up Fillmore Street and popped into Osaka for sushi.  It was pretty good though not stupendous.  For an early dinner, we tried to find Kiss Seafood, which is supposedly on Laguna but we couldn’t find it for the life of us.  It seemed to be just apartment buildings.

So we gave up on that and instead went to Shabu Shabu, which in case you don’t know is a lot like Mongolian hotpot, which in case you don’t know is basically fondue with raw meat, seafood, and veggies.

It was very good.  We got the beef/shrimp combo, and the quality of the beef seemed pretty good, though a few pieces were a bit fatty.  We thought we’d never be full, but we totally were.

Later that night we were totally hungry again, so we stopped in this random ramen place.  It was just okay, but luckily my ramen was under $9 so I didn’t feel like it was a total ripoff.  I actually enjoyed the instant ramen I had last night, but maybe that’s cuz I knew it was only $1.

Number of movies we saw: 1

We caught Ponyo at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, which is this incredibly nice theater near our hotel.  For $2 extra you reserve your seats beforehand, which having dealt with terrible seats surrounded by obnoxious people, was totally worth it to me.  Plus there was much more leg room, so that when you got up to go to the bathroom, people didn’t have to get up to let you by. And I swear even the Sprite tasted better, like real Sprite and not just syrupy soda water.

Oh yeah the movie.  It was very cute and trippy, as the director’s movies tend to be.  I still like the others ones better though, namely Sprited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Number of museums we went to: 1

The Asian Art Museum. It was just okay. Lots of Buddhas and other artifacts. There was a samurai exhibit, but we didn’t feel like paying extra, since we’ve seen lots of samurai stuff at the Met. The archery demonstration was pretty cool though.

Number of touristy things we did: 1

Saturday we headed out to Fisherman’s Wharf.  It was pretty crowded but not as bad as the South Street Seaport or Faneuil Hall on a bad day.  We wandered around, saw a seal poking his head out of the water near the shore, and another shitload of seals sunning themselves on a rock.  Then we had dinner at this place, the Franciscan Crab Restaurant, sort of a random pick because it was fuh-REE-zing and we were tired.

We got the prix fixe at $19, which was reasonable: clam chowder, a main dish, and this custard-like ice cream for dessert.  My soup was delicious, but our entrees, the crab enchiladas, while tasty were more like crab mannicotti.  Sorta strange. The custard-ice cream was really good.

Number of toothless hobos MB struck up a conversation with: 1

We were on the bus on our way home from our (mis)adventure in the Mission.  He claims he thought the guy was just a street musician since he had a nice flute, but then he noticed the guy had no shirt on and not many teeth, and then he asked MB for money.

Number of homeless people in the Downtown/Civic Center area: A lot

I was kind of surprised though I have heard people say this before.  Maybe it’s because the general walking population is less so the homeless stick out more, or because of the mild weather, or because Giuliani really did make an impact in New York, for better or worse.

Number of stars I’d give our hotel: 4 out of 5

I really liked where we stayed, Hotel Kabuki. I’ve read reviews complaining about the small rooms, but I thought ours was fine.  It was also very clean with great bedding and cool Japanese-style decor.  The bath is traditional Japanese with a closed off extra-deep tub/shower area.

I didn’t take a bath but I showered in the part outside the tub, and unfortunately the water doesn’t drain very well.  The floor should be slightly slanted so that the water runs into the drain instead of pooling on the sides.  But maybe you’re not supposed to take extended showers in that area of the bathroom.  Maybe it’s just for rinsing off after a soak in the tub.

Our room had sliding glass doors with a little balcony.  It was fun to stand out there and enjoy the view:

The thing we had to remember was that the balcony was connected to our neighbor’s, of which we were reminded when their little white dog came trotting over and peeked in.  It was so cute.

As for the area, I found Japantown to be fun.  I’m a sucker for Asian convenience, grocery, and stationery stores. Plus this weekend was some sort of J-Pop festival so there was a fair, girls dressed up Harajuku-style for the grand opening of some store, and an all-girl Japanese punk rock band.

On top of that, Fillmore Street is very close by, full of cute shops and restaurants.  We had breakfast had the Grove twice. It was super crowded both times, but the service was equally fast. By the time I got my mocha, the guy was bringing our food to the table. We had a simple eggs special – two eggs, toast, and a side of bacon. Yum! The first time I had sausage, which was very good too, as was the coffee and mocha.

The only downside to Japantown is that the convenience and grocery stores close early.  I went out at 8:30 one night to get water, and the stores were already closed.  I had to go into the mall (which is right next door) and get some bottles from this crepe place.

Number of hills we climbed up and down: a billion

Wow, it was killer! Especially around Nob Hill and that surrounding area.  I didn’t know how the old people canes could do it without keeling over.  What really got us was going downhill.  Our shins were killing us.

Number of times I put on and took off my jacket in a span of 10 minutes: 10

I love this weather but it was sort of annoying to constantly be freezing one minute, then hot the next.  And then at sundown it was really cold.  Makes for good sleeping weather though.

And finally.  .

Number of jobs MB got: 1

Yes, this is really happening!  He starts September 1. Since getting a long-term apartment seems to be so difficult, we went with a four-month sublet in Nob Hill. It’s furnished so we don’t have to worry about that for a while, the building seems clean, and the apartment in good condition. There’s a washer/dryer in the building, and a Whole Foods a few blocks away (though SF blocks seem much longer than those in NYC). The owner also seems very nice.

As for whether it’s in “real” Nob Hill, or Lower Nob Hill, I think we’re on the northern edge of “Tender Nob” (thanks, Sitcomgirl ;)). While walking back from the Asian Art Museum to our hotel, I think I did notice like three prostitutes. Oh well. Lots to write about! And the place is just temporary till we find something more permanent.

Lots to get done before we move. MB’s going first, and I’ll be following at the end of September or beginning of October. While he’s working crazy hours and getting situated, I’ll finish up stuff here at work (haven’t given my notice yet) and take care of our apartment. I was a bit worried about what to do with our furniture, but I just spoke with my mom and she suggested moving our stuff to their house till we have a bigger place. I was hoping she’d volunteer that! We really don’t have much: a bed, two desks, a dresser, and a small kitchen table with two chairs. The bookcases are crappy, though if we’re moving a bunch of stuff, we might as well move those too.

Luckily for me JetBlue is having a special for the month that MB and I are apart: fly as much as you want for $600.  I’ve already booked flights for three weekends in September, and still have yet to book my last one way, just don’t when I’ll be going yet. I know it’ll be killer to fly that much, but we’ll miss each other too much otherwise. Plus it gives me the chance to lug a whole bunch of stuff over on each trip.

I’m a little nervous about these big changes – not having a job, living in a new city where I don’t really know anyone – but I’m also excited. While I worry about having too much time on my hands, I’m also looking forward to about putting tons of energy into my writing.