San Francisco Weekend

We took a weekend trip to see Owen and Kea and their new place. We persuaded my sister Deb to spend part of the weekend with us also; she got a ride down and back from Sacto with a friend.

Kea and Owen met us at the airport Fri evening and we went to a local restaurant, Mistral, for dinner before being dropped off at our favorite hotel in the area, Sofitel, just a few blocks from their condo.

Kea had a class in Egyptology at Berkeley Sat morning, so Owen took us up to San Mateo for a dim sum lunch at Champagne, then over to Sweet Breams, a small shop preparing Japanese-style miniature waffles in the shape of fish with one's choice of fillings. One buys them by the school (dozen) and they come in a ventilated box, piping hot. We chose half and half: nutella and red bean fillings. They seemed to know Owen and Kea very well there - it seems they slide by often, and the owner worked at EA while Kea was there. It rained most of the day, so eating seemed like a good passtime.

We returned to the condo to meet-up with Deb and Kea and did some catching up before venturing back out to Roti, an Indian restaurant in Burlingame for dinner. After dinner, we returned to San Mateo to introduce Deb to Sweet Breams. I took a side trip into Beard Papa for a cream puff.

Sunday morning, Owen picked us up and we returned to the condo for a video chat with Barry, Kelly, and Lilah, followed by a video chat with Ben and Sasha. Then all five of us got into Kea's near-new Saab 9.5 Aero and headed for a lunch date at Greens in Fort Mason, a vegetarian restaurant on the bay. They greeted Owen and Kea as long time customers and ushered us into their private alcove off the main dining room. The food was as fine as the atmosphere.

After a leisurely lunch, Owen drove us over to the Sutro Baths on the coast and we enjoyed a sunny afternoon strolling along the cliffs at Land's End with a great view of the GG Bridge.

Then it was time for a coffee and chocolate snack, so Owen drove us over to the Blue Bottle Coffee kiosk for some creamy mocha, then around the corner to Elbow Artisanal Chocolates.

Kea drove us back home, and we socialized. Sister Deb showed Kea how to tat, and Kea's great progress since with tatting can be viewed on her facebook page.

Owen drove us to the airport. We grabbed a pretty good burger at the Burger Joint inside the terminal and then caught our ride home. We used Virgin America for the first time and liked the interior of the planes - something a little different.