A Life, Lived: Hello San Francisco

Travel days are such fun aren't they?

I figured I'd need to get up at about 4 am in order to get to the airport for my 6 am flight. The problem was the alarm clock in my hotel room didn't work. The time was wrong - four hours fast - and I couldn't change it. I tried to set a wake up call but it was electronic and I had no idea if I had done THAT right. So, in a panic I set my iPod alarm. I set my Blackberry alarm. Surely to goodness one of those would work!

Of course I didn't need any of it since my subconscious was convinced that none of the technology would work and it kept willing me to wake up. ALL NIGHT LONG.

ARGH

Needless to say it was not a great sleep.

I took the shuttle to the airport and dropped my bags off and was through security by 10 minutes to 5. By 5:10 I had my coffee and was at the gate. I LOVE the Buffalo airport. The fact that flights about half the price of a similar flight from Toronto and the parking is about a third the cost of parking in Toronto makes it better and better.

After an uneventful flight through the rain we landed at JFK. Terminal 3. My next flight to SF took off from terminal 2 so I walked there to settle in my the three hour layover. I LOVED terminal 2. It has recently been redone - many of the restaurants have tables set up with plugs for your electronic equipment. The one that I was at had an iPad to use to order your food and drink. Sure it was 14 bucks for a coffee, Greek yoghurt, and Cliff bar but I had a spot to hang out, plug in my phone and lap top and relax for three hours. Totally worth it in my books.

In fact, I was so settled that I almost missed my flight to SFO! Working away in a trance I heard them call my zone and managed to race on board.

My relaxed state crashed to a halt - I was seated in a section where there were an excess number of babies in arms. Now in my books ONE baby in arms in my flying vicinity is too much. There were 6 . . . SIX . . . SEI . . . SEIS . . . έξι in my general area. All appeared to be in various states of distress.

Karma was clearly smacking me in the head for various transgressions over the past few weeks.

My observation - parents who ignore their children while they are screeching like a banshee should have the kids taken away. Clearly they are distressed. The plane is making noises they don't understand. They are bouncing about. Their ears hurt. Play with them. Cuddle them. Don't ignore them.

I ended up dangling my key chain in the face of the kid seated in front of me until I thought my damn arm might fall off.

Other then this the flight was fine. I enjoyed a wee bottle of wine and the Delta cheese, cracker, and fruit platter. Sure it wasn't the fine cheese I'd buy at home and I missed my fig, rosemary and balsamico jelly but it held my attention.

After we landed I was one of the first off of the plane. My colleague and her sister met me at the luggage carosel and once my luggage arrived we headed into the city.

The conference hotel is the Marriott Marquis across the street from the Moscone Centre. I've attended conference sessions here before but never stayed in the hotel itself. So far I like it. Mind you, it could be the fact that I somehow managed to obtain gold status last year. Good lord, they treat you well with gold status. I could get used to this.

I got settled, showered away the travel grime - have you ever noticed how truly wonderful that shower feels after 15 hours of travelling?

We had no plans for the rest of the day - other than an early dinner reservation. We wandered about the Union Square area. The weather gods smiled upon us and the rain had stopped earlier in the day and the sun shone down. Fingers were crossed so that the next 6 days of rain that has been forecast go the same route. Nonetheless, it was sunny and decidedly warmer than at home. We noticed that the cherry blossoms were out in bloom . . .

I had made an early restaurant reservation at Colibri, a Mexican restaurant that Paul and I had been to twice before. The restaurant features classic Mexican cuisine, blending the rich flavors, textures and traditions from ancient Aztec and Mayan foods like chiles and corn with the unique blending of Spanish and French influences.

My colleague is a food wasteland - no spicy, no foreign, no fish, nothing unusual. She eats like an 100 year old. In fact, if she had her dream every meal would be grilled cheese or chicken fingers or something mushy. She is wonderful fun though and a great friend so I was determined to push her a bit but not too much. Plus, I had to have some meals that I might actually enjoy . . .

We were there in time for happy hour margaritas - I convinced Nancy to NOT ask if they'd make her a strawberry margarita (this place does REAL Margaritas).

I ordered the Tamalitos Colibri to start with. They were corn dough tamales stuffed with Oaxaca cheese served with tomato sauce, queso fresco and white corn. They were excellent - Nancy even tried some but I am sure the tomato sauce was far too spicy for her. Oh how I wish we could get fine tamales at home. SIGH

My main meal was Mole Poblano - that legendary blend of spices, chiles, nuts and chocolate made into a rich and flavorful sauce. It was served in the traditional Puebla style, over chicken. It was wonderful - ILOVE good mole sauce and can't get it at home anywhere. I am afraid that I embarrassed myself by sopping it all up with the fresh corn tortillas (also very good). Double SIGH

At my suggestion Nancy and her sister ordered the carnitas (not spicy and sort of mushy - just what a 100 year old might desire) which they seemed to enjoy - certainly no one whined that their mouth was on fire.

An order of rice, which we all shared, rounded out the meal.

4 margaritas, and food for the three of us came to less that $ 110 with tip.

Good margaritas, great food, excellent company, and cheap = a fine first dinner in SF for Jerry.

By the time we got back to the hotel Nancy and her sister were ready to pass out (Have I mentioned that Nancy's normal bedtime is 8 PM - she has the sleep patterns of a senior too. Hmmmmm). My technique for beating jet lag is to force myself to get into the local time the first day. I decided to head up to the top floor bar. The hotel has these giant things that look like the wheels with massive spokes from the ground up by the roof . . . they can be seen from all around the city, in fact, I've always considered them to be an eyesore - who knew that there was a bar behind them with incredibly stunning views of the city?

When I mentioned that I was heading up there Nancy and Laurie seemed to find a reserve of energy and decided to join me. The views of the city were stunning. All of the best tables were gone but a lovely lady from Denver asked me to join her at one of the better tables because she was vacating it soon. I chit chatted with her for a bit - she was far nicer than those awful folk at the Hancock tower who refused us to sit anywhere near their table with the fine view last summer. Sure, the drinks were expensive ( $ 20 bucks for a wine and a diet pepsi) but A) I didn't care because Nancy was buying, and B) did I mention the views?

Nancy and Laurie went to bed. I wandered down to the SOMA Whole Foods to stock up on' hotel provisions' - greek yoghurt, craft beers, wine, fruit, juice, Cowgirl Creamery cheese, and bittersweet chocolate. Back in the hotel I sampled the beer - MMMM and nibbled chocolate. I got caught up on work e-mails. Chatted with Paolo and finally went to bed at 10 PM - hoping that I would sleep through to my normal time in the morning.

It almost worked - I woke at 4 am (normally I awake at 6). SIGH

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If you get the chance try Del Mar on the Embarcadero or Contigo, an exceptional tapas place owned by a former blogger.Of course SF is a foodie dream and you almost can't go wrong even at In and Out Burger:D

Posted by: bellini | March 22, 2011 at 10:35 AM