If I had to pick a favorite type of cuisine, it would definitely be "Asian." I love all types of Asian food, whether it's Thai, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. I love it all!!! One of my "must-eats" on any trip is to find a good Asian restaurant. When we were planning our honeymoon trip to San Francisco last fall, I was so excited to experience Chinatown. I read up on all of the good Dim Sum places to try out and finally settled on one that the guidebook said was good for novices. I was definitely a novice at Dim Sum. Minnesota has so many wonderful Chinese restaurants, but Dim Sum is not a big thing here.
After walking around Chinatown all morning, we finally found the restaurant that the guidebook promised would be "excellent for novices." We figured that 11:00 a.m. would be a good time to avoid the lunch crowd who would all be making fun of us because we didn't know how to order off the carts properly. At 11:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, however, the restaurant was packed to the gills. We were quickly lead to an empty table, and immediately the carts were rolling towards us. The first cart that came to our table had the daily special, which was covered with a silver dome. The cart driver pointed at a covered plate and asked if we wanted to try the special. We had just sat down and had not come up with a pre-Dim Sum game plan, so instead of looking at the cart's offering we just nodded our heads and before we knew it this was plopped down in front of us:
This was our first tactical error (I'm talking about the seafood special dish and not the pork buns). We did not really know what the dish was, and it ended up being flavorless and kind of icky. It was also expensive. I think it was around $17-$20, although they never actually tell you how much something cost at a Dim Sum. They just stamp your ticket and then bring you a final bill at the end.
After the seafood cart rolled away, Mike and I had a quick tactical discussion. We only wanted dishes that looked appetizing and wanted to get mostly appetizers with no more main dishes. At some point during that discussion the pork bun cart driver rolled by and I almost tackled him to get a plate.
After we got situated, the carts rolled fast and furious. Soon we were inundated with delicious looking dishes and we had a table full of food. I mean it. Here was our table:
As we looked around at the other patrons' tables, we realized that most people just had one or two dishes on their tables and we looked like little piggies at the casino buffet. It was embarrassing.
Our second tactical error was not telling the cart drivers "no" or "come back later." Instead, we packed our table so full of food that there was no way we could finish it all. I think once you start saying yes to everything, word spreads that you are suckers and then every cart comes to your table. I think the pork bun cart came to our table 4 times.
The real problem with this, besides wasting food, is that you have no idea what you are spending because none of the dishes are marked with a price. I'm sure you could ask, but we didn't. Our final bill was over $50! Even in San Francisco, that is a lot to spend at lunch for two people. We didn't even have booze.
I'm not sure that the restaurant we went to was good for the novice Dim Sum person, so I won't even name it. There were tons of Dim Sum restaurants, and I think that anywhere you go you will probably have a good dining experience. Unless you are a Dim Sum expert I would suggest going into a larger restaurant that looks like it has a good variety of food to choose from.
My favorite dishes from the lunch were the aforementioned buns and the ribs and pot stickers:
I was somewhat disappointed in my first Dim Sum experience, but I think a lot of the disappointment came from how overwhelmed I felt while dining and the large price tag that the lunch had. Next time I do Dim Sum I will go in with a better game plan and be firm in telling the cart drivers when I don't want something before our table gets loaded up again. It was a fun life lesson and I don't regret going, it just wasn't my favorite meal in San Francisco.
When Mike and I were driving from San Francisco to Sonoma, we decided to make an impromptu pit stop. I had been reading about the Muir Woods National Park and thought it might be fun to see the great Redwoods of California. Holy Cannoli, this decision did not disappoint.
The road to get to the park is a little windy and narrow, but it offers some amazing views of the forest. The worst part is that we were relying on my GPS system to get us to and from the park, but once you get into the woods, you lose all cell phone service. So this wouldn't be a place to go on a first date or with someone that you think hates you.
When you get into the park there are boardwalks all through the redwood trees, so even if you are an inexperienced hiker you can still enjoy the forest. There were tons of different paths you could take. I think we could have walked for hours.
It's also extremely quiet in the woods. There was a light sound of water rushing and these gorgeous rays of sun that were piercing down through the tree canopy. It was beautiful and peaceful. I am not much of a nature girl, but I started to feel one with the trees.
And just how big are the trees, you ask? It's hard to put it into perspective, but if I were a tree hugger, I couldn't get my arms around one. There were some fallen tree trunks that you could look at and they were impressive. Here's the best photo that I could get of an entire redwood.
The leaves were huge, although I have baby feet, so maybe it's just that my feet are really small.
There were also so many weird tree formations in the forest. I couldn't get enough of the bright green moss that was covering these awkwardly bent tree trunks. Here are my two favorites:
If you find yourself in San Fran, take a little side trip to the Muir Woods for some peace and beauty. I left these woods feeling refreshed and clear headed. It's amazing what a little nature can do for you!
Was anyone else super jealous of the Full House girls? When I was a kid, I wanted DJ and Stephanie Tanner's room so bad! Then remember when Danny's interior designing girlfriend came in and re-did the rooms so that DJ got Michelle's old room and then Stephanie and Michelle had to room together. The room re-dos were pretty sweet as well. Although, Danny was very worried that when DJ was alone in her room she would totally have sex with Aladdin in there. And you know she did. At least it wasn't that skeezy Viper guy.
One of the things that I was the most excited about seeing in San Francisco was the Victorian architecture. The houses and buildings in the city are so beautiful and charming that you can have a fabulous just wandering the streets and taking in all of the homes. We were in SF right around Halloween and the SF peeps go all out in decorating their houses for Halloween. There were ghosts and cobwebs and mummies around every corner. I loved it.
Here are some of my favorites:
I loved the bright and sunny colors of this house. Even on a dreary and rainy SF day, this would make my day more cheery.
I also loved the colors here. I'm not sure that I could ever be so bold as to paint my own house this bright blue, but the blue and gold together were so pretty and fun. That's one of the things that I love the most about Victorian homes. You can be a little bit whacky, without being tacky. Also, the picture doesn't do the gold justice, it was truly a glittery, shimmery gold.
Here are the famous painted ladies with the downtown skyline in the background. These houses were perfect, every detail is exact and they are meticulously taken care of. The park across the street, Alamo Square, is such a cute park. No wonder the Tanners wanted to picnic here.
A lot of the houses had these cool doorway gates. This was my favorite and was on one of the painted lady homes. I've never seen anything like it. I wanted to go in this house so bad. If the doorway is this awesome, I can't imagine the rest of the house.
Here's a cute Halloween house. Lots of ghouls and goblins.
This was my favorite decoration. Nothing to see here, just a skeleton in the garden.
There were a million more houses that I wanted to move into. San Francisco definitely sets the bar high in real estate. One cautionary tale is that most of these houses are on a hill, so when doing a walking tour of beautiful homes, try to avoid ones that are at the top of the hill.
