Good Eats

San Francisco is known for its good food, so we took full advantage.  My cousin, Betsy, helped us with a couple of great recommendations, and we also went on a Chinatown food walking tour.  

The walking tour was really interesting. 

The first (and my personal favorite) bite of the tour was a Green Onion bun.  It was a sweet and savory bun that was delicious.

We loved all of the interesting details about Chinatown.  I'm glad we got to go when we did, because Chinatown is suffering from gentrification and will most likely cease to exist the way it does in the next 20 years.  Most residents are in the 80s and 90s, and the young are fleeing because of the high cost of housing.

Next up was a barbecue pork bun and Moon cake.  The moon cake has a salty egg yolk center, so it was definitely the strangest thing we ate.  It's a one-and-done for me.  

Chinatown borders the financial district.  Most of the older Chinese spend their day playing poker at the park.  It was fascinating watching them.

We saw our church and then got to enter the oldest Bhuddist temple in San Fransisco.  We went through a store of items entirely made of paper that you can purchase and burn as incense with the thought that your ancestor will receive the gift.  The items look completely real.  The paper is very elaborate.

The fortune cookie factory was so fun!

For Dim Sum we ate pork and shrimp dumplings with spiced green beans and Peking duck.

We went to a tea house.  We only tried a couple of the herbal teas, the rest of the group tried some very strong teas. 

Our final stop was chow mein, fried rice, and a pot sticker. 

The kids had a great time and tried new things.  Chinatown is definitely memorable. 

Other food highlights while in San Francisco: We ate dinner in Little Italy.  Joel says the single best thing he put in his mouth the whole trip was the lasagna from The Italian Homemade Company.  

We ate Boudin's which was a favorite of my dad.  We all love the sourdough bread.  We went to the famous Dandelion Chocolates at the Ferry Building.  My cousin also sent us to Jane the Bakery.  The sandwiches and pastries were amazing! It wouldn't be complete without a trip to Ghirardelli Square for a hot fudge sundae.   

We ended our culinary delights with a ballpark hot dog and churro at Oracle stadium during the baseball game. 

San Francisco Sites

It was so fun exploring San Francisco as a family.  Some of the highlights include traveling down Lombard Street twice, taking a trolley and cable car, touring Alcatraz, seeing the Painted Ladies, the Fisherman's Wharf, and driving across the San Francisco Bridge.  It was also cool to explore Fort Baker and drive through Sausalito on the other side of the bridge.  And of course, the boys absolutely loved going to a Giants game at Oracle Park.  We did our fair share of public transportation, but Joel was also a champ driving all the windy, hilly roads of San Francisco.

It was a sweet victory of 4-3 over the Cubs.  We even got to see a pitcher make his Major League debut from the 4th row!  The boys were in baseball heaven!

Oakland!

We're spending most of our time in San Francisco, but we needed to go to Oakland for 2 things: Fenton's ice cream, and the Oakland Temple.  My parents were married in the Oakland Temple, and Fenton's has a long tradition among my cousins on the Stuetz side.  We went there several times with the Cuttings.  It was a nostalgic afternoon. 

The view from the temple is spectacular!

We crossed the Bay Bridge, checked into our hotel, and then decided we needed a view from the San Francisco side.  My cousin, Greg, told us about an amazing view at Twin Peaks. 

The incoming fog was the location of the Golden Gate Bridge, so we had to wait another day to see it.

Flowers

My sister is pregnant, and this will most likely be my last niece on the way.  I wanted to try to get her quilt done by the family reunion, but it was a tight turn around.  I got the quilt top done fairly quickly, but it was a time crunch to finish the quilt before leaving town.  I finished it the day before we left (thus, the dark finish pictures).  Phew!

The back is a pink cuddly flannel.

Sweet Baby James

It was a trip down memory lane to watch James Taylor in concert last night at Starlight Theater.  I grew up listening to him, because my parents loved his music.  It was SO good!  It made me miss my dad and I wish my mom could have been there.  I sang along to the entire thing.  It was so enjoyable and he had such a great sense of humor. His son was one of his backup singers. 

We had such a great night together.  Kara and Kimber are so much fun.