October 2006 Archives

We got all the guys together last night for a festival of food not on a Late Friday this time but an Early Saturday evening because two of the five guys attending are flying out on CX tomorrow night heading out to HKG. Lucky lah! There was Rib-Eye steaks all around. Homemade pesto over some kinda pasta, rabbit food (AKA "salad") and smashed potatoes. We also had several bottles of red wine. Burp. And after a heavy meal lidat, you can figure out how motivated we all were to go out and debauch like we did last week.

Yeah right. WHAHAHAH. Whipped out the cameraphone to take pix.

Looks like someone gassed the room! Eeeew!

Just think, 10 minutes ago, they were all whining "wannagoout!"

I left them all lidat as I walked home at 2330. They all left late this morning! Good thing I didn't need a ride...

When I'm stuck in San Francisco, I morph into a creature of habit. I ALWAYS go to the same places to eat, depending on what it is.

For example, when I want good ramen, I go to Santa or Himawari. For spicy Chinese food, I go to Spices. For izakaya fare, I go to Oyaji, each of these places I have written about at one time or another in this blog. Now, it's not out of stubborn loyalty or benign ignorance but rather that these are the "best" places for these kinds of foods. There's not a lot of diversity here in San Francisco, food or otherwise so ya gotta go with what you know.

There's a small restaurant across from the Kinokuniya bookstore in the Japan Center here. Besides being a fully stocked bookstore (with all sorts of Japanese books, magazines and DVDs), it's a good meeting place because traffic and transit here makes it impossible to meet at an agreed time after work.

"Want to eat?"
"Sure. Where to meet?"
"Meet me inside Kinokuniya and we'll figure it out then"

Across from Kinokuniya is a small restaurant called Maki. It's really small inside (19 seats!!) and has some tables outside.

I've run past this place soooo many times!

The menu is posted outside as well as all the accolades they've received. Lunch specials are a bit on the high side. Dinner is higher. Maki makes good Japanese comfort food like sukiyaki, shabu shabu and fresh made maki. Sounds ordinary, right? I mean, this is comfort food and the prices make it sound like a "date place". However...

They specialize in Akita style udon, called inaniwa udon. Unlike typical udon that's the width of TV cable (the kind you buy from Comcast) and has a chewy, almost undercooked doughy taste, inaniwa udon here is made fresh, is half the width of fettuccine and is very light on the palate. As is the broth. Yum.

This is the ebi udon and those are small tempura shrimps in the bowl along with a vegetable

I'm a self-confessed ramen guy and I've also developed a taste for Matsumoto soba. I never thought I'd like udon. Until now. It was really good! But be ready for sticker shock if you come here for dinner cuz this bowl costs....

US$18.00!! WAAAAAAAAH!

So this is definitely a date place, but unlike many date places in San Francisco, you will get a good quality meal and you'll leave satisfied knowing you've had something unique.

And I've got to stop running past small hole in the wall restaurants like this in future...

maki
Kinokuniya Building
1825 Post Street
San Francisco CA 94115
415-921-5215

It's an interesting world when a flight to HKG on SQ costs just US$70 (at last check) more than a flight on UA.

Cuz who wouldn't pay the extra US$70 for the extra "amenities" (AHEM) that SQ offers on a long haul from the states?

Actually, I know some ppl who are penny wise and pound foolish. Too bad for them! WAHAHAHAH

While trying to shop at Costco today, I had an revelation.

If you want to tell how someone drives their car, watch how they drive their shopping carts. If they block the aisles or cut you off with their carts, chances are this is how they act on the road.

And don't even get me started about those people yakking on their cell phones while trying to drive their carts! Once, I got my ankle rammed by some l'idiot who was trying to shop and talk on the phone at the same time!!!

...motorcycle!

Ten years ago, I purchased a second hand Honda Elite (Freeway) 250 from a guy who had bought it at a lien sale. It was in a dark, dank garage, chained to a post and had definitely not been taken care of.

"I was going to fix it up and ride it but I don't have the time and I need the space in the garage" was the reason why he was selling it.

I paid the guy and had one of my friends follow me on the 280 as I rode to SF Moto to have it repaired and fixed up. When I got there, I was told that it was a miracle that I made it there in one piece, let alone taking it on the freeway. Something about missing hub bolts...

That was an expensive visit, because it needed a battery, new tires and a major tuneup. But it was worth it because the Elite got me around the City, was great with gas and had enough "git up and go" to survive in San Francisco with all the mentally impaired drivers and tourists that we gotta deal with here. Going up and down the hills of San Francisco with or without passengers was never a problem nor was a quick jaunt over the Golden Gate Bridge. We went through a lot together, including an engine transplant and being in pieces for just over a year as I ran short on time to get her running.

After the new used engine was installed and tuned, she ran like a new bike. Quieter and faster. But earlier this year, I picked up a Suzuki GS500. Figured it was time to graduate to a proper motorcycle. And as these months have passed, the Elite got less and less saddle time.

Finally, it was time to let go. I sold my Elite today to a fellow motorcycle/scooter rider who understood the meaning of "backwards brakes" and no gas gauge. I love riding and my SV. But I'll always have a silly grin on my face when I'm passed in traffic by someone on an Elite 250, because I'll be seeing myself zooming by.

Went out for yet another late evening. Drank too much. Ate too much.

Wound up at Rouge this time. Drinks and bartenders weren't bad. Bartop dancing could use some work. But the highlight of the evening was the entertainment as we wound up the evening. See below.

Too much to drink? You may look like this!

At Roughe, we met some girls who joined us for supper at a late night Korean joint in the Fillmore.

Some kind of (spicy) hot soup. Yum!

The first round!

After this there was short ribs and bbq pork. No pix of that because all eight of us were eating fast!

Guess which one is the accountant and which one is the teacher?

Went to Russian Hill to visit a fren and her new swanky pad. Except that it's not quite swanky yet because everything is still in bubble wrap and not all the furniture has been delivered yet.

But check out the view outside the door!

The view from the left. Stick you head out the door and turn left.

Do the same as above, except turn your head to the right and look.

How about an eastward rooftop view? Gorgeous day today too...

When everything arrives, then you'll see pix of the interiors!

And here it is a moment later on the Fulton Freeway. Party goers exit their vehicle while another one goes to warp...

Whoooosh

This was taken on a Saturday night before heading out. No flash!!

Taken with a GR Digital; click pic to enlarge

Pictures come out real purty if you can hold the camera still!!!

Last week, an amazing thing (for San Francisco) happened. We actually got a new mall! It was built on the site of the old Emporium that went out of business in 1995.

Yes it takes a very long time to build things here.

But one of the things that the new mall builders restored was the big signature dome.

The symbol of the new San Francisco Centre

You can click on all the pix on this blog for a bigger version...

Apologies for the lack o' posts. My poor MacBook was diagnosed with RSD. That's Random Shut Down for you non Apple types. The good thing is that Apple has acknowledged this as a problemo and is fixing it. My MacBook was sent in last Monday. It came back this Monday. So far so good.

So I found this meme on Xuan's blog. Here we go....

01) What is the phone brand?
Dopod S300 (AKA Cingular 3150)

02) What are the last 3 digits of your mobile number?
918

03) What does the 2nd message in your inbox say?
Hey! Have a great flight back! Was glad to meet up with ya...

04) Who’s the first person who comes up under the letter M?
Ma (HP sorts by last name)

05) Who’s the last person you rang?
Returned Lee's missed call. He wanted advice about the upcoming Election

06) Who was your last missed call from?
Lee

07) Who’s the 2nd person who comes up under D?
Depalma

08) What does the last message in your inbox say?
It's Sat in SF? It's Tues am here! Thanks for the joke!

09)Who comes up under J?
Jen (again, last name)

10) Go to your Sent Items - what does the 10th message say?
Saw some of the Indo haze over SIN. Yuck. Like a really bad in HKG. Weather (here) cleared up so nights were nice.

11) Who’s the 4th person who comes up under S?
Shu (still last names!)

12) Who’s your network provider?
Cingular in US, StarHub in SIN

13) How many messages are currently in your inbox?
I dunno. Maybe about 25?

14) What do you have as your background?
Big D for "Dopod". I dun have too much imagination when it comes to backgrounds.

15) Who’s the 2nd person who comes up under R?
Roper (you guessed it, a surname!)

16) Who do you have on speed dial 3?
I don’t use speed dial

17) If you’re on Pay as you Go, how much credit do you have?
Postpaid here. Prepaid in Singapore. Got about S$18.35

18) Who’s the first person who comes up under C?
Callahan

19) How many bars of signal do you currently have?
Full

20) What do you have as your main ringtone?
Some techno ditty that came with the phone. Am looking for "Heavy Action" ringtone to replace that.

Now get to it!

This weekend isn't a "lost weekend" because I remember it. But it ranks close.

One pearl of wisdom that I painfully remembered (around 0330 Sunday AM) was to "never mix alcohol". That's not a ban on mixed drinks; instead it's a ban on mixing types of alcohol. The rule is to stick to one kind of booze for an evening's carousing because mixing will make you hella sick.

If you drink cocktails, stick with that for the evening. If you drink beer, best to do that all night. Same with wine. But it's a very VERY bad idea to drink beer for 6 hours then move over to liquor and beer at the same time!

This weekend in San Francisco was Fleet Week. Except Fleet Week is a bit of a misnomer. It's only five days long this year, but I'd think that "Fleet Work Week" is a bit awkward. Also tomorrow is a fake holiday, Columbus Day which only the government and the banking industry gets off. In theory, it's a school holiday so kids can check out the ships that are here for "Fleet Work Week".

The highlight of Fleet Week is the arrival of the Blue Angels. Every year, they do the same show with the same stunts and every year it's cool! All last week, it was crappy, cold and cloudy. Then on Saturday, it got gorgeous. Blue skies and warm. Perfect timing yes?

I went over to a friend's place to watch the Blue Angels from his roof with a bunch of other people. Then we watched football and played the "debate drinking game" during the Schwarzenegger/someotherguyrunningforgovernor debate. Then I went to dinner. That whole time was about six hours of beer. One to two an hour. Then around 2300 or so, my friends and I went down to Anu down on Sixth Street near Market. Cool place in a sketchy area. That's when the mixing began. *shudder*

This, my friends, was a sign of what to drink!!!

I started with a Guinness. But somehow drum n' bass (which was being spun by the resident DJ) puts me into the mood for clear drinks. So I moved over to Chopin Martinis. There were a couple of those. Then another Guinness showed up when rounds were bought. Followed by a Sapphire Tonic and other drinks/shots. All served up by a very kawaii bartender who hails from Eastern Europe. She just got hired a few weeks back! Must visit out there soon...

Hmm. I think i take better photos inebriated...

All of this wrecked me around 0330 while in the four-point stance against the wall in the Denny's men's room. At least I know that my aim is good...and I didn't drive. And the next morning, there was Country Fried Steak and biscuits in a styrofoam take-out in the fridge.

Anu
43 Sixth Street
San Francisco 94103
415-543-3505
http://www.anu-bar.com