Better late than never. This blog is being recorded almost a week after Thanksgiving because AHHH….our lives are crazy right now. Before we left we began installing ductless splits for our house, which right now have been amazing. The construction is still ongoing and growing due to what happened on Thanksgiving (foreshadowing), but it is going well so far.
Our normal tradition of going to San Francisco was back into effect and we were ready to go. We left this year on Wednesday with the intent of coming back Saturday mid-day to have some rest and relaxation before the workweek. Our first stop back in the city was to Kate’s place (Grant’s Aunt) who was kind enough to relinquish her North Beach penthouse to us. From there we walked over to Tony’s and got their extremely tasty coccoli (fried dough with prosciutto) and a calzone.
The next morning was Thanksgiving and I was up early purchasing more crap than I like to admit. Black Friday sales were happening early due to Thanksgiving falling late this year and so I jumped on it. At 10:00 am I had to wake Grant up so we could get a present for Menchin who was hosting Thanksgiving. We walked to the Embarcadero, which was about 25 minutes away to pick up some high-end soap for her. It wasn’t until we were back at Kate’s place and Grant looked up as I was walking up the stairs did he mention that my pants were ripped in the butt. So I, needless to say, walked all of SF mooning people without even knowing. Talk about oblivious on my part.
After changing, we met up with Kate and Russ and headed to Marin. We arrived on time, which never happens and started chowing down. The conversations were great and it was fun seeing friends this time every year. It’s crazy to see how big the kids are getting year after year. It is extremely noticeable considering that we only really see them once a year. After chowing down on some yummy food and talking about flavored “moisturizers” with Annaliese we made our way back to the city.
Having eaten at 1:00 pm, I was a bit hungry for something yummy. Surprisingly there were quite a few different places open that evening and we decided to eat at Pinocchio’s, which was the first restaurant Grant and I ate together. The place was busy, but not overwhelming. The waiter failed to cover over for a while, but Grant and I talked while we waited. Eventually, he came over and took our order. It came out quickly and we asked for the bill. Then we asked again. Then we asked again. We were annoyed because it was taking forever and we were ready to kick our feet up and relax.
Finally, the bill came and we left a 10% tip because we were dissatisfied with the service. You would have thought the world ended because of this. We were outside of the building and the waiter chased us down to ask what was wrong with the service. I don’t think Grant or I have ever been questioned on our tip and we barked back what was wrong with the service. The waiter told us to get out and never come back to this restaurant. It was a large scene, but we could care less because simultaneously we had a bigger issue.
Our great friend Emily had gone over to check on the dogs for us. When she arrived she noticed there was a large puddle in the living room. Except it was not urine from the dogs, but rather a leak. So while this waiter is screaming at us for leaving a sub-par tip-- I am Facetiming with Emily looking at the damage in the house. She was smart enough to find a bowl that the leak could flow into and at least it was covered for the time being. A week later as I write this and we are making solid progress in having it fixed.
This kind of ruined the day, but after reviewing the costs for coming home early and knowing there was not much that we could do, we both decided it was better to stay and deal with that nightmare when we returned.
Black Friday was pretty calm for us as we had done most of our shopping online. We did go around to a few stores like Gap—found what we wanted and then ordered it only. We met up with Kate and Russ at Yang Sing my favorite Dim Sum restaurant and continued our glutinous Thanksgiving food-a-thon. Asian food in San Diego is awful compared to the worst place in San Francisco. So anytime we are here I want to get some sort of Asian inspired ethnic food.
By the time we got out of there, it was time for our first play—Groundhogs Day. I have never seen the movie, but it was a favorite of Russ and Grant. For those that haven’t seen it—skip to the last 20 minutes of the movie and you will have seen the entire movie. It was fun to see their interpretation of the Bill Murray classic and they did a really nice job with switching between the sets over and over. There were even some moments that had a magical element with the lead actor appearing in bed to start the cycle over again when a minute before he was jumping out of a building.
We parted ways with Kate and Russ and wandered around Union Square a bit longer. My next play was Hamilton, while Grant’s next play was some Drag spoof of Harry Potter. If this is not indicative of our personalities I don’t know what is. We ate at this random fast food joint before the show began. We sat at a shared table, which was inhabited by some weird individuals. The most interesting one was the individual that began coughing in our direction and spitting on the ground right by Grant’s feet. This behavior was to get us to leave and as we got up to dispose of our food he quickly grabbed our remanence. I offered additional food, but he grunted and continued to spit on the floor. Fearful of having him turn his faucet of a mouth on to me-- we left.
Grant said his play was hysterical. It was sold out and this was the second to last remaining showings before the end of its run. Hamilton was sold-out as well. The Orpheum Theater, where the play was housed, was absolutely gorgeous inside. The only problem was the limited number of bathrooms. This would have been Grant’s worst nightmare so its probably better he didn’t come with me. The play itself was fun to watch. My preference is musicals that mix dialogue with music rather than ones that tell the entire story through music. I bolted as soon as people began bowing to avoid the madhouse that was about to commence.
Saturday we slowly got up and began to pack. We met at Russ’s house for some lemon ricotta pancakes to celebrate his birthday. His family in the area were in town and we got to see them, which was nice. We left for the airport soon after, and even with the delay and turbulence made it back in one piece. Now we are trying to put our house back together, but that will be something that happens piece by piece.