Highly Recommended: San Francisco Edition

A couple of weeks ago I got to visit a friend in San Francisco. As anyone who knows her will attest, she is the embodiment of the Highly Recommended Thing of the Moment, on a lifelong mission to find, enjoy, and share great stuff and experiences with everyone she knows.

In four days we did not lack for good food or activity. There are a zillion travel guides to San Francisco, but this is a bit different:

Burmese food: Burma Superstar & B-Star are the hottest Burmese restaurants in town, and B-Star apparently has the best dessert going. But unless you're going specifically for dessert, avoid the hour-plus wait, and head instead to Mandalay. There you'll have the best tea leaf salad in the city. Recipes for this salad, prepared tableside with minced tea leaves, peanuts, roasted garlic, and other crunchy wonderments, are apparently guarded as family heirlooms. Worth fighting over.



Rae Ann's big hobby is jewelry making. She has a friend whose creations are being used in fashion shows and worn by the likes of Anne Hathaway. Her friend got us into a fashion show sponsored by Gen Art. Guys: if someone ever asks you to go to a fashion show, don't even blink: GO. What's not to like? Even if you think haute couture is an excuse not to make real art, or on a more basic level, that you'll turn into a girl, you need to go. The majority of the audience is female, and they're all hot.

The show was ok. One of the highlights was a funny menswear line with removable button-on pockets. The other was a collection of chiffon dresses that were about a foot too long for any of the models. We totally thought one of them would buy it while trying to walk in their Louisa Parris bustyourasswear.



Halloween night we went to a gallery opening, with many people in costume. There was a Frida Kahlo who gave Selma Hayek a run for her money. The opening at Velvet Da Vinci was for pendants, including this brain-bending piece. How the artist welded all of the rings together without it becoming a melted mess is beyond me.



There was also some outright art:



And then this:



The picture is the size of a quarter. It's a mosaic. It's as if Seurat worked in femtoclay instead of paint, and took his scale in the opposite direction. Phenomenal.

Other SF highlights: Blue Mountain Coffee at the farmer's market on the Embarcadero on Saturdays. Running over the Golden Gate Bridge.





This very California sign:



And last but not least, a chocolate donut from Bob's Donuts to make Homer Simpson proud:



On a side note, I have started a project which will consume my nights and weekends at least through February. If you don't see any posts from me 'til then, you'll know what's up. In the meantime, Hex, Monster, and Werdna will keep you hooked into what you need to know right this moment.