San Francisco

My parents took the day off yesterday and accompanied me to San Francisco. Our main destination was the Ferry Building, a mecca of gourmet/organic/holistic eating. You can read all about the stores and restaurants at the Ferry Building, like I did before I went, at

www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com

We took the ferry from Oakland and got to San Francisco around 11:30 am. After browsing through the 40 or so storefronts on the first floor of the Ferry Building, we made our way to The Slanted Door, a well-known Vietnamese restaurant inside. The place was packed, however, and we could only get a reservation after 1 pm (even then, I suspected we would have to wait). We decided it would be more fun to get take-out from any of the other fantastic eateries and eat outside by the pier. That way, I would also have room for a milkshake at Taylor's Automatic Refresher, a popular fast-food joint. ;)

View of downtown San Francisco from the ferry

Inside the Ferry Building

Far West Fungi, where we bought some oyster mushrooms

Miette, a French bakery I saw featured on Food Network's "Roker on the Road"

For lunch, we settled on DELICA rf-1. Now, I know moiji might be disappointed to hear that it was a Japanese deli, but what can I say? I had a hankering for real Japanese food (this place has locations in Japan). I chose the 5-item bento.

My bento, which contained (clockwise from top left):

Wild Rice Salad - A hearty blend of Lundberg Black Japonica, barley, and brown rice mixed with diced Japanese cucumbers, carrots, celery, and diced Gruyere cheese tossed in a white soy garlic dressing.

Fried Shrimp Cake - White Shrimp packed into a dense and delicious cake.

Wasabi Garlic Potato Salad - Garlic potato salad with wasabi mayonnaise, edamame, snap pea, and romaine hearts.

Spinach with Sesame Dressing (Goma-ae) - Spinach tossed in a traditional Japanese ground sesame.

Chicken Dumpling with Sweet Chili Sauce (center) - Ground chicken, organic tofu, water chestnuts and shiitake mushrooms in a sweet chili sauce.

The order window at Taylor's Automatic Refresher, where I got a white pistachio milkshake. It was divine!

After lunch, we walked downtown to the Yerba Buena Gardens at the corner of Market and 3rd. I was a bit disappointed with the "gardens" -- it was more like a park -- but there was a "sister city" garden containing representative plants from San Francisco's sister cities all around the world. Among them: Cork, Ireland (heath); Shanghai, China (camellia); Osaka, Japan (chrysanthemum); Caracas, Venezuela (canna lilies).

My parents in front of the falls at the Yerba Buena Gardens.

Outside the Ferry Building

San Francisco skyline with the Bay Bridge in the foreground