05 May 2008

goodbye again



(originally written April 29, 2008)

Luckily for us, we had a chance to explore another big American city before heading out east and San Francisco gets high marks, especially for its low pollen count. San Francisco is a great city and we did our best to enjoy it before our giant leap into the future. I call it a "giant leap into the future" not only because we'll be entering a time zone that's 14 ours ahead of Central Standard Time (CST) but also because we're diving into our own future - the place we'll call home for the next two years.

Fearing that guacamole is not nearly as popular in Seoul as it is in San Francisco, we thought it important to eat a Mexican lunch at Ferry Market. With the Bay Bridge in the background we had fish tacos, watermelon water, and chips with guacamole. The weather was perfect and there was a crisp breeze off the water. The fact that my fish taco arrived 20 minutes after Stefano's didn't worry anyone; things just sort of roll along out here - the colors are brighter, the fabrics are lighter, and the sky is blue blue blue.



In an effort to make us feel at home San Francisco is also sporting several cable cars from Milan. No matter how far we travel from Milan it manages to follow close behind. We don't go a day without seeing something that reminds us of our previous home and San Francisco was no exception; orange Milanese cable cars are regularly running down the streets. Even the little details are there. It says "uscita" next to the exits and Milan's seal is displayed on the sides of the cars. We imagine it must be some sort of cable car cultural exchange. Either that or someone is putting admirable effort into trying to freak us out.

Earlier that same day as a start to exploring the Italian side of San Francisco I'd trekked over to a small bakery on the advice of a food-loving hotel concierge. The word from the concierge was that each morning this bakery makes a finite amount of focaccia, and as soon as it's sold, the bakery closes. Not one to dally when food is involved, I went straight to the bakery and got a slice as large as a linoleum floor tile. The focaccia was brushed with tomato sauce and green onion and tied up with wax paper and twine.



Thankfully, the focaccia was pretty good as the two ladies running this simple shop aren't doing much of anything to heighten the experience. The message is clear: they are there to sell you focaccia and you are there to buy it. For example, I said "thank you" upon receiving my focaccia and in return I got a rough "ok" and a look that meant I should have left the bakery 10 seconds earlier. Later, when I reconvened with the concierge she apologized for neglecting to warn me about the ladies. At least I had an authentic experience.

We had Sunday brunch at a great place that came highly recommended by a friend although I really shouldn't say that we ate there because technically we ate someplace else - at the bar next door. It was the same menu and the same chef; the only difference was that you didn't have to wait an hour and a half to eat at the bar. We'd just finished with a 6 hour flight and as you might know, they don't really serve food on planes anymore so we were ready to eat - and eat we did.



The food at Foreign Cinema was great; well-seasoned and interesting. Their coffee was also way beyond normal expectations and the fresh lemonade made us both pucker. They also had Aperol (another Italian miracle!) and the people watching was spectacular. It was everything you expect from San Francisco. On the way back to the subway we took advantage of a small Mexican bakery and had a slab of Tres Leches cake which was sweet and soft and so so good. It reminded us of our favorite Chicago bakeries except without the gingerbread pigs.

For dinner that night we'd started with an appetizer popularly referred to as "Every Mother's Nightmare." There's nothing better than a hot fudge and caramel sundae from Ghirardelli as a starter for your meal. It was so drenched with hot fudge and caramel that I felt like an overgrown grammar schooler whose dreams had finally come true - a hot fudge sundae for dinner. We had to eat it fast before our moms found out.

For our second course we had a sourdough bread bowl filled with crab chowder over by the wharf. There are tons of places to choose from so we just picked the seafood stand with the longest line and happily, the soup turned out to be pretty great. We ate along the water and did our best not to antagonize the sea gulls as it's their neighborhood and you only come out unscathed if they let you. Thankfully, they let us.



For our final dinner in the United States before flying off to Seoul we ate at a small pizza place that I'd found by hunting around in food blogs and the like. Pizzeria Delfina's atmosphere is quirky and the pizza was truly excellent - very reminiscent of the pizza we would eat in Milan.

As we ate we had the chance to consider what we were about to do. It's not often that you say, "this is our last dinner in the United States for a long time." And when you do say it you get a hearty punch in the guts from whatever it is inside all of us that resists change. But then there are also the butterflies that start rushing around, delighted by the fact that soon everything will be new. To add to that mess of mixed feelings we were eating pizza that was screaming Milan!

And so it was almost like we were leaving Italy again... and we sure were leaving the United States again. Basically, we were leaving behind everything we knew and heading towards everything else. It seems that this is the way we've decided to live and the way that we feel most alive. So then here's to everything we know in Chicago and Washington and Miami and San Francisco and New York and Milan... and to everything we'll discover in Seoul. We'll see you there soon.

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Ferry Market: One Ferry Building, 415-693-0996
Liguria Bakery: 1700 Stockton Street, 415-421-3786
Foreign Cinema: 2534 Mission Street, 415-648-7600
Jocelyn Bakery: corner of 20th Street and Lexington
Ghirardelli: Ghirardelli Square, 900 North Point St
Pizzeria Delfina: 3611 18th Street, 415-437-6800

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