San Francisco - Haight District

Haight street in San Francisco has the distinction of being the centerpoint of hippy culture in the 1960's.

With the beat generation (1950's) going to North Beach the lower rent area of Haight, because of a proposed freeway, attracted the people that would become the centre of the "Summer of Love". Lots of influential rock bands started here.

After the decline of the hippie movement it became a hard drug and crime ridden area from 1968 to the early 70's. It then became the proving grounds for famous comedians then for the punk and dance music scene.

Currently it is a mix of all the above things and is great fun to walk around. For those who like used clothes shopping, there are vintage stores of many eras and stores that sell clothes of fictional vintages, like steampunk. Amoeba records is a premiere place to find music, movies and memorabilia. Here is an article from SFGATE on the Haight area and suggestions.

San Francisco - Street Views

On the streets of San Francisco were great examples of architecture. Take a gander!

San Francisco - Japanese Tea Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden, nestled in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, is a delightful oasis in a busy city.

What I noticed were the multiple hues of green that were present.

The water was only disturbed when the large koi fish broke the surface. Even though there was a lot of people in the park, everyone quieted down and enjoyed the surroundings.

I really like the woodwork under this archway.

We would have gone to the tea house, which was priced very reasonably, but we had other places to go.

San Francisco - Stinking Rose

The Stinking Rose is a tourist and local staple in San Francisco for many many years. Even though i'd been to San Francisco multiple times before, I never went here before.

First was the Bagna Calda, basically garlic, butter, olive oil and a little anchovies. Delicious and spreads on the focaccia like room temperature butter.

Then I had the rabbit with garlic, tomato sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and a bit of olive oil.

Everything was delicious and hearty. I'd come back again.

San Francisco - Two Wineries around Los Gatos

One of the things my wife wanted to go to on our trip to the San Francisco area was a few wineries. In this case she wanted to revisit Thomas Fogarty and Ridge.

Thomas Fogardy was the fellow who invented the embolectomy catheter for vascular medicine. He also liked wine and started with a few acres in 1979. Now at over 300 acres with 25 devoted to vines, you can enjoy this oasis off the Skyline Boulevard. I found the wines tasted quite good.

The land Ridge is on was used for growing grapes for wine since 1885 but the Ridge winery was founded in the 1960's. It wins world awards for its wine and placed highly in the legendary Judgement of Paris in 1976, where established French wines were blind taste tested with California wines. It also won in a recreation with the original vintages for the 30th anniversary. I found the wines very very good and some are recommended to age for several more decades to get more out of them.

Below is a view from Ridge.

There are many more wineries in the area. Why not give Sonoma a break and try something different when in the San Francisco area and looking for wine.

Postcard of the Interwebs - 19 August 2014

Skulls Shows gradual Human Sidestep into a Neanderthal: Interesting find in Northern Spain's "pit of bones" could have found the evidence of an evolutionary sidestep from Homo Sapiens to Neanderthal.

Earth Sized Diamond: Approximately 11 billion years old, this star has collapsed to a white dwarf and is believed to be mostly carbon. This hard to find object was estimated in size by using how much it bent light from a nearby pulsar. Cool!

Titan Older than Saturn: OK. First Titan is evaluated as being older than Saturn, the planet it currently orbits (due to nitrogen 14 to 15 comparisons) but it also has a different nitrogen than Earth, meaning two different creations of these planets. Wow!

Colonizing Venus: A very interesting and novel way of colonizing Venus...with balloons!

Radio Burst from Beyond the Milky Way: One observation from one observer is unproven but this recent detection by two radio observatories is significant. Could it be a stellar event or another civilization, long dead...who knows for now.

Potential Cure for Diabetes: From the Salk institute, mice were injected with FGF1 protein and had normal blood sugars for at least two days. Could be developed to correct human's levels for longer. Of course we need to change people's diets so we don't need to get this treatment in the first place...

Religious Children more likely to believe fiction as fact than Secular children: Interesting. A study that shows how teaching children that things they cannot ever perceive is real somehow skews their judgement of whether other things are real or not. Hmmmm.

Maritimes - Pearl Resteraunt

The Pearl Resteraunt is a fantastic resteraunt and the best place I ate at during my stay in the Maritimes. Its located in North Rustico just East of Cavandish.

The place is a converted barn and has lots of quirky art and decor.

For an amuse bouche they served a philo pastry with goat cheese and cranberry compote. Delicious!

Next came the lobster bisque with shrimp, chives and creme freche.Very nice and smooth.

The main was roasted and braised lamb with roasted asperagus, mixed vegetables, quinoa with fruit and beans, and a mint dressing. Hearty without being too filling.

For dessert I had the homemade ginger ice cream with shortbread.

Funnily enough, the owner's daughter works in Victoria, BC so i've been asked to say hi to her when i'm downtown.

This is also the last post for my Maritimes trip. Hope you enjoyed it.