Hi all. Work sent me to Tijuana for a month. I had quite a bit of fun exploring Mexico during the week and reconnecting with many friends in the States on my weekends. Check it out!
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.
Hello my dear reader. Please enjoy these pics (and a few non-pics) recapping my brief (but amazing) trip back to California in August/September.
Let's start at the airport. No lounge this time, but I got to hang out a bit with Mark before the flight and we opted for some pre-flight Macca's. Good old Georgie Pie!
I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it again: I really do appreciate this little detail.
Spicy Asian Chicken. Nothing spectacular, but tasted okay and sounded like a better option than "beef pasta". Best part of the meal had to be the Kapiti Black Doris Plum ice cream.
Back at SFO and, of course, enjoying their interesting and engaging exhibits. This one depicted United's close ties to Hawaii throughout its history of flying.
After a sleepless night in a tent in Los Padres National Forest (no thanks to wandering animal sounds), Grant & I set off to look for signs of wild pig in the pre-dawn light. We saw lots of coyote poo and a couple deer, but no signs of the specific animals we sought.
We covered a few miles and several hundred feet of elevation with no luck. Once the sun got high enough, the temperatures soared and we took a break for food and to seek shade. Around mid-afternoon, we set off again to search one last pre-determined area. When we found no recent signs of potential pig activity, we made the call to pack up and head back to civilization (i.e. LA). Our first hunt may not have resulted in success, but we learned a lot and will apply the knowledge towards future hunts.
Pre-dawn LA from Angeles National Forest. We went deer spotting with much greater success than we had in Los Padres. Mercifully cooler weather, but swarms of Canyon flies really reduced the level of enjoyment. Good, preliminary reconnaissance prior to the start of deer season.
Being back in civilization, we decided to make the most of the weekend and met up with Judy and some friends for lunch in Little Tokyo. I opted for the Ikura (salmon roe) cold udon from Marugame Monzo. Simple and flavorful. Not pictured, the delicious tempura soft-boiled egg I ordered as a side.
Next up, Black sesame mochi ice cream from Mikawaya (the brand who popularized mochi ice cream). So yummy.
Then, I got a "Koko Churro" roll from Dulce. Based on their popular Tapioca Roll (crusty exterior, soft/chewy interior), this adds coconut sugar and cinnamon to give it that extra sweetness. Really yummy and something just a bit different.
And finally (at least during our Little Tokyo eating spree), Hojicha soft serve from Midori Matcha Cafe. Pretty legit if you ask me. Their Matcha soft serve tasted amazing too, but I'll give bonus points for the Hojicha variant being less commonly available (*spoiler* foreshadowing).
Later that evening, Grant, Judy & I had a lovely dinner at Bone Kettle in Pasadena. Amazing broth, flavorful meats and generally good food with friendly service. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics. I did, however, get a picture of our post-dinner dessert from the neighborhood favorite: 21 Choices. I went with their Organic Peanut Butter flavor. Simple and tasty. I'm not overly sentimental about LA, but I've missed 21 Choices so much!
On Monday morning, after a quick bit of archery practice at the range, Grant dropped me off at BUR for the flight back up to SFO. Just before checking in, I managed to grab a quick bite and chat with Traci. So glad we could catch up since it has been such a long time since our last! Oh, and if you happen to like comics and podcasts, check out her great podcast: Comic Potluck!
Back in SF again, I met up with Sue & Ant at the Ferry Building before embarking on a quick, afternoon tour of some of the city's landmarks. After a drive down Lombard Street, we made it to the Painted Ladies. You may recognize them from the opening credits of Full House.
Seeking something different for Sue & Ant to try, we first attempted to go to Burma Superstar on Clement St, but faced a 45+ minute wait (not something us hungry people fancied). Instead, we ended up around the corner at Cajun House for some good old fashioned seafood boil. House fried rice, Cajun shrimp and Lemon butter Crab legs. Yum.
The next day began with a stop at Tartine. While there, I had to indulge in a Morning Bun. Incredible.
On our drive down to Facebook for lunch, Sue and Ant got a hold of my phone and changed my wallpaper to this. Charming. :-) After an intensely filling meal, we visited Stanford for a quick campus tour including stops at the Rodin Sculpture Garden and the Memorial Church.
That evening, I met up with Jason, Susanna and Ed for dinner in San Mateo. After discovering (to our disappointment) that Bonchon doesn't open on Tuesday nights (yeah, really), we ended up at Koja Kitchen for their Asian fusion fare. Again, good food and great company.
The next day, I took the BART out to Berkeley for an awesome breakfast and catch up with Brent. I wish we had more time to chat, but he had a busy day and I'm glad he set aside a bit to spend with me. Anyways, after that I met up with Deryck and Kevin for some lunch and we ended up choosing to go to the Tartine Manufactory. Man, their baked stuff tastes amazing.
For dessert, I picked out a slice of their Tres Leches cake (since I already had a morning bun the day before). It did not disappoint. Oh, and we ate this before actual lunch since they served it to us first. Oops.
After Deryck returned to work, Kevin and I met up with Jason for an early afternoon scoop at Mr & Mrs Miscellaneous. I tried their fantastic black sesame. Very nice.
And then, Kevin and I finished the afternoon at Urban Putt (indoor mini putt). We completed the "Pink Putter Challenge" by playing the course with their shortest available putter (the pink one) and got our photo taken to be put up on the wall. Gangsta.
And at the end of the day, I had dinner with the F&P gang (and those associated) at Fish in Sausalito. We managed to split the Kiwis on the left and the Americans on the right. Good times all around.
The next day began with a Ham & Cheese croissant from the amazing Arsicault Bakery. Legit.
Then, I went back to my old 'hood for lunch at Los Gallos with the old work crew. Al Pastor tortas = yum. Great seeing all the Abbott folks even if just for a little bit.
After that, I spent a bit of time hanging out with Nick at the local Starbucks talking story before heading back to the City. Then, onward to dinner at old favorite Izakaya Sozai with Deryck. Get ready for some food pics. We started with the Agedashi tofu. Delicious.
Next, we got the Shishito peppers. Always a nice dish, and one I haven't had in a while!
Then, grilled skewers! Pork jowl on the left, chicken meatball on the right. Tasty.
My main dish: Salmon Sashimi, Ikura and Okra Ochazuke (rice with tea). Very yummy. I just wish I had a slightly bigger portion.
Finally, dessert: fried mochi, azuki (red) beans and vanilla ice cream. They ran out of their Jasmine tea ice cream (supposedly good), so I'll have to try that next time!
We made it to Friday! Deryck and I decided to check out ‘āina for some local kine food in California. We started with their housemade "Spam" musubi. Safe to say, the fanciest version I've ever had.
Next up, Guava jelly filled malasadas. Pretty damn good, I must say. And super visually appealing.
Deryck chose the Chicken katsu with udon "mac" salad and an omelette as his main dish.
I went for the Short Rib "Loco Moco" with a rich mushroom gravy. Supa ono!
After lunch, Deryck headed back to the office and I went to check out the SFMOMA (my first visit since their major renovation). A few of the things that caught my eye included this installation, "Gutter Corner Splash: Night Shift" by Richard Serra.
And of course, I enjoyed seeing a couple of Wayne Thiebaud's paintings which I hadn't seen before ("Canyon Mountains" on top, "Flatland River" below).
That afternoon, Liz, Sue, Ant and I headed to AT&T Park to see the Giants take on the Cardinals. On Star Trek Night no less (bonus points if you can spot Locutus in this picture).
All smiles early when the Giants had the lead. And, of course, rocking the appropriate color on Orange Friday.
Obligatory Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries while at AT&T.
Pre-wedding Tacos at Nopalito in the Inner Richmond with Sue & Ant. I opted for the Tacos de Pescado al Pastor (and a Horchata, because why not). Nom nom nom.
The F&P gang back together again to celebrate Jess & Mark's nuptials. The Barn made for a stunning reception location!
The First Dance. Congrats you guys!!!!!
The OG Flatmates (i.e. Me & the Sisticles: Angela and Jess). What an awesome night!
Since I'm here in the Bay, my trip would not be complete without seeing my various Hānai Families. That started earlier in the day with a lunchtime visit with the Inouye/Lees and the Inouye/Wongs. So glad I got to see everyone (and meet Benji)! Then, a quick catch up with some old former Abbott folks, Chrysbe, Harman, Nic (+ Justin & Reilly). Finally, dinner with T, Amy, Troy, Evan, Sonya, Lori, Bernie, L, Cindy, and Brooks (oh, and how can I forget Buster at the bottom center). Miss you all so very much!!!
NZ spoils me with some seriously delicious ice cream, but I still miss the homemade amazingness of Cindy's ice cream. Hojicha (!), Green Tea, and Strawberry this time around. So good. Thank you so much for the ice cream (and whisky cake) Cindy!
All good things must come to an end. The last day came and went so quickly that I apparently didn't take any photos. I had breakfast/lunch & boba with Deryck, Brad & Patti at the surprisingly tasty Burmese restaurant Mingalaba in Burlingame. Then, dinner with Deryck, Sue, Ant, Nick, Jessie, and Evelyn at our favorite, Fat Wong's in San Bruno. Afterwards, Deryck, Sue, Ant & I went to the airport where I did a bit of luggage reshuffling, farewelled my brother, and chilled with Sue & Ant before running to my gate to make my flight. Then, back to NZ I went...
Thanks so much to everyone who spent a bit of time with me on this trip, particularly Deryck, Grant & Judy for the accommodation. Much Love and Aloha. See you all again soon.
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