SFO bound! I can't give Air NZ enough credit for their attention to little details such as this. Definitely one of the delightful things I notice on each trip (and of course keep sharing with you all each time I fly with the national airline). The sharp eyed of you may notice that the seat (10K) is towards the front of the plane...a privilege of international work travel!
After a very restful night's sleep on the Business Class lie-flat seat, I awoke refreshed and enjoyed this delicious omelet.
One of the first things I did was to meet up with Jason & Susanna in the Mission. We got ice cream at the amazing Garden Creamery. My choices (on the cone) were Hojicha and Black sesame.
Being in the Mission and so "close" to many fantastic ice cream parlors, we walked over to Bi-rite Creamery for Round 2.
Third stop was food-free and we dropped by Imran's for a quick chat on the roof deck (unfortunately Chandana was ill and couldn't join us)!
The next morning was the 2018 Soccer World Cup Final between France and Croatia. Deryck and I got croissants (Arsicault of course) and enjoyed watching the match live. I wore my France jersey and the team came through for the win!
After catching up over lunch with Kevin, Noelle invited us up to her office for a coffee and a chat. It was lovely getting to hang out with a beautiful view of the Bay Bridge!
As an early b-day present, I treated Deryck to a meal at State Bird Provisions (1 Michelin Star). What a fantastic meal. Here are some highlights:
Red trout with vinaigrette
State Bird with provisions (fried quail -- their signature dish)
Fried rice with kim chi, short rib, and mushrooms (my favorite from the evening)
The next day, I ran an errand to Ikea and snapped this pic. It's an inside joke if you've seen Terrace House: Opening New Doors.
I also made the pilgrimage to Apple Park to glance at HQ.
Last day of the pre-work portion of the trip, I enjoyed a Kouign-amann (again Arsicault) for breakfast before departing for the airport.
Fare thee well SFO. See you again (soon).
Good afternoon San Diego!
First day at the FPH Tijuana office, we went out to lunch for tacos. I present to you Taqueria La Fiesta.
My order was 2 Tacos Especial (the ones on the left with Shrimp and Birria - stewed beef, and the one on the right an Adobada). All delicious. Also, 2 tacos would've been plenty.
Day 2 at the office was a Friday and I ended it a little early to head back to the US. Over the weeks, I would become very used to making this (always time consuming) journey across the San Ysidro Border Crossing...
Eventually, I made it to San Diego where I was obliged to eat a late lunch at Lolita's. I ordered the California Burrito (carne asada, cheese, salsa, guacamole and fries wrapped in a tortilla) since it's a San Diego specialty. Very delicious.
Coincidentally it was Comic Con in SD. While I didn't have tickets to the main convention, I had just enough time to briefly say hi to Traci & Erik and then take a quick peek at the exhibit set up for Star Trek Discovery. It featured many props used in Season 1, including this costume worn by Michelle Yeoh's Empress Georgiou character. And then I had to hustle to get to San Diego airport to fly to back to SF...
The reason I went back was to watch the Rugby Sevens World Cup, which was taking place that weekend at AT&T Park. Here's the Men's All Black Sevens team warming up for an afternoon match.
That evening, we were privileged to witness the NZ Women's Sevens team win the Final and be crowned World Champions!
And in the aftermath, we caught sight of (retired All Black) Keven Mealamu and asked for a cheeky selfie!
And on Sunday, Deryck and I popped down to Levi's Stadium to watch a preseason match between Manchester United and the San Jose Quakes.
And on the way to SFO to catch a late afternoon flight back to San Diego, we watched the Men's All Black Sevens team win the Final and be crowned Champions (via streaming).
Back at the office during the week, I decided to try the legendary FPH MX cafeteria. All of the above (pan fried chicken, roasted chilis, rice, refried beans, tortilla chips, mini quesadilla and salsa) cost < US$5. Amazing flavor and value.
That night I apparently was hungry and went to a food truck for a late dinner. I saw on the menu an option to "Prueba todo" (which means to try everything), which I interpreted as a way to sample a few of the different items on the menu. I did not realize (until it was too late) that it meant I literally got one of EACH item on the menu. I was so full after this meal. I'm happy to report that I finished everything.
A few of us took a day trip up to Orange County, CA to visit one of our suppliers and on the way back to MX that evening, I stopped in Irvine for dinner with Claudia. It was great catching up over some yummy Paella!
At the end of the week, I had more travel plans (catching the theme yet?). With time to kill before my flight out of San Diego, I visited Balboa Park. Just my luck, it was a special night at the San Diego Museum of Art with free admission. First up, Caged Pie by Wayne Thiebaud. Love his style and color palette.
Beastly Beestinger by Alexander Calder. Yup, sure looks like a Calder.
The Shadows by René Magritte. There's one of his common motifs: a pipe. (More from Magritte to come)
I also had a wee bit of time to catch up with my former FPH colleague (and fellow American) Jake! So happy I got to see you and Jess in your lovely home. All the best and hope to see you soon.
Okay, so this is one picture that I'll use to describe a whole fiasco...here I am on approach into LAX. I had a tight connection (< 1 hr) because I had used reward miles to book my connecting flight (to SFO) and I was ready to run from gate to gate. Of course, the gates end up being in different terminals so as soon as the door opened I started sprinting. I got to the next gate breathing heavily with about 15 minutes to go before departure and...the door was already closed! (So frustrating as they knew there were a couple of us coming from this other flight). Anyhow, I go to customer service and they inform me if they rebook me, I would have to fly out the next morning to my final destination, PDX, via Denver...and I would arrive in the afternoon with only a couple hours to spare before I would need to be at a wedding (instead of my scheduled morning arrival, via SFO). That would be unacceptable so I made a quick decision to rent a car one-way and drive from LAX to SFO to make my connecting flight the next morning. And I was in my rental car and onto the 405N by Midnight. 6 hours later, I pulled into the SFO rental center just after sunrise and then over to the gate with a bit of time to spare before the SFO-PDX flight departed. Phew...what a long, sleepless night on the road, but I made it! TL;DR I HATE LAX.
The obligatory PDX carpet photo. Glad it's a picture of my feet and not of my tired face.
Josh came to pick me up from PDX as planned and we decided to do a bit of sightseeing before I got too tired. First stop was the beautiful Multnomah Falls.
Breakfast was a stop at Pip's Original where we picked up a half dozen each of a variety of flavors. Really yummy. They also serve fantastic chai.
Lunch was from 808 Grinds for some awesome, broke da mout' food! Josh and I shared this kalua pig and mochiko chicken plate with a side of furikake fries and butter mochi. We didn't finish this all (we just had breakfast shortly before) so we packed it up for Josh to take home.
I snuck in an afternoon nap, then I got dressed up for Steph and Evan's wedding! After a concise ceremony, we had a drinks break before dinner. Here I am hanging out and catching up with Troy (L) and Molby (R). Also, one important note, there was an extreme heat wave in Portland that weekend and it was over 100˚F in the afternoon...yikes!
Then it was dinner time. They sure picked out a delicious menu!
And then cake cutting! Congrats Evan & Steph!!! (Someone was excited for cake)
Post-wedding Photo Booth shenanigans with the Prometheus crew.
Post-wedding, I met up with Josh and a couple of his friends for a visit to the Multnomah Whiskey Library. I don't believe I've ever been somewhere with such an extensive selection of spirits available. Truly remarkable.
Since I'm in Portland, I gotta get some ice cream right? We dropped into Ruby Jewel Scoops and I was not disappointed. I sadly cannot remember what flavors I got. Just trust me when I say they were delicious.
Thanks for being a great host Josh. I hope I can come back to Portland sometime and spend more than just a weekend. It's a great, weird city.
Lastly, we grabbed an early dinner at Imperial. American food using local ingredients. Quite delicious:
Grilled artichokes (a seasonal specialty)
My first taste of the Impossible Burger (plant-based meat substitute). I will say that I didn't think it tasted quite like meat, but it was very satisfying and "meat-like" i burger form.
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