We
departed Napa and planned our route to San Francisco so we would cross
the Golden Gate Bridge during the late afternoon sunshine. The view was
well worth the little bit of extra traffic we hit by taking this
alternate route.
We
arrived to Jimmy and Michelle's house in Oakland with little time to
get settled before we headed to downtown San Fran for the night.
Following a wonderful dinner, our plans were to go "big" for the
night...and I am pleased to say we did not disappoint. Jimmy and his
friends had us in and out of a variety of establishments well known and
some not so well known in the downtown area.
We got a later than usual start Saturday as a result of going "big" Friday night.
However, once in motion we quickly assembled the ingredients necessary
to create an amazing home cooked meal and enjoy a relaxing evening in.
Jimmy and Michelle are blessed to live in an area littered with
wonderful local markets and shops. With our prime rib, fish, vegetables
and wine in hand...we were set to pick up our guest star for the
evening.
About
two years ago at work, I hired a PR agency in Beijing to help the
company with our marketing efforts in China. My account manager, Maggie,
and I became quick friends. Maggie relocated to San Francisco a little
less then a year back and we had made plans to see one another during my
visit to San Francisco.
After
finishing up our shopping, we picked up Maggie from the BART station
and headed home. This was shaping up to be the perfect storm of a
dinner. We arrived home, turned the music on, opened the wine and all
of us transformed into suos-chefs; putting forth a real group effort to
create our meal. Our movements slicing, dicing and chopping were almost
as fluid as the good conversation and vibes running through the kitchen.
As we stood there laughing and chatting away, Maggie thanked us so much
for inviting her to join us; this was her first dinner at an American
home. And that there was the final element to our perfect storm.
Jon and I spent the next day exploring the wharf and other parts of downtown San Fran that we missed on Friday evening.
The cosmic forces aligned and also made it possible for me to meet up
with Maritza and Jose, a couple I met while visiting Nice, France in
late April. After having a late lunch with Maritza and Jose, Jon and I
made our way over to Berkeley to visit with one of Aunt Jo's daughters,
Barbara, and her family. Barbara even treated us to a tour of the
Berkeley campus, a real honor considering the notable scholars who came
from the university and rich history of the campus.
We
left San Francisco and our wonderful hosts (Jimmy and Michelle) on
December 11. Our plan- ride the Pacific Coast Highway down to Los
Angeles before departing California and see what adventures we could
find along the way.
The gang going "big" Friday night...Jon, Nadia, Brent, Matt and Jimmy.
Michelle, Jimmy, Nadia and Jon...the perfect storm of a dinner in the foreground.
Maggie and Nadia on their first US meeting and Maggie's first home cooked American dinner.
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