Peace out Bay area!

See you in a few days!

mission how I love thee

A couple weekends ago we went to the Mission with the McMillan's to grab some dinner. The Mission has become a great destination in the city to do a food tour. We decided to partake of a cheese steak at Phat Philly. I have only spent time in the Philadelphia airport on a layover so I have no idea if it's true or not but these sammies are authentic.
Betsy is so excited to eat a cheese steak. She went with the classic with provolone
I went with the mushroom steak with the Cheddar beer sauce!
I think the McMillan's went with the classic with the beer sauce as well. Happy customers.
Afterwords we decided to walk the 6 or so blocks to bi-rite creamery in the hipster district to get a sweet treat. We figured we needed to walk our cheese steak off and the subsequent ice cream we were about to eat. There is always a line so we burned calories standing as well.
On our way back both Liz and Betsy gravitated to this street sign. I have no idea why since they both shun this name for a shorter, nickname version.

The mission never disappoints

The Parentals

A couple weeks ago Betsy's parents came to town as they often do. Apparently they love driving along Interstate 80 and the great barren state of Nevada. We were excited to have them because they brought the sunshine to our often foggy Inner Sunset neighborhood.
We decided to take on a quick driving tour of the city. Our first stop was Golden Gate Park and the de Young Museum. The museum was packed and expensive but to our surprise the observation tower is free! We were so excited. Here is Sue and Ernie!

They were really excited about the fantastic view of the park and surrounding city.
Betsy is so giddy at the view!
Ernie and Sue were so excited there was no fog for their trip.
We then walked to the Conservatory of Flowers.
All that walking made us hungry so we drove to the Embarcadero to Houston's for an early dinner. You've got to try their prime rib french dip. So yummy! After dinner we toured Pacific Heights and other various neighborhoods until we ended up at the Golden Gate Bridge!
We stopped to take some photos and enjoy the sun!
Betsy is such a good photographer!

We then headed to the ocean and back home where we watched a movie and relaxed.

Then next day we went to church then had brunch at Park Chow. We decided to visit Betsy's older brother that lives in Redwood City for the afternoon. We relaxed and bbq'd and were treated to Sadie the wonder beagle. She loves to peel oranges!

apparently she bites off one end and sucks the insides out.
The next day Betsy's parents drove to Chico to visit her brother John and head back to SLC. We were sad to see them go. We were glad they were able to spend a couple days with us in our new apartment and be chauffeured in our new car. Come back anytime Ernie and Sue.

First shirt

A few weeks back I took a screen printing class and have been excited to use my new skill set. After some initial setbacks (exposing screen too long, etc.) I finally got it to work. I made Betsy a shirt depicting where she has lived in San Francisco so far. She loved it!
I am excited to make more shirt designs!

Mad Men!

Betsy and I are so excited about this!
So excited that we Mad Men'd ourselves. Here I am getting into the office in the morning
and here is Betsy in full HR mode. I think that girl at the typewriter is about to get fired!
Check it out for yourself here!

The end of Federal

On Thursday, we said goodbye to the Kane's. The Kane's were our old neighbors when we lived in the loft on Federal Street. In fact, it was their apartment we took over. The Kane's are moving up to the Great Wet North (Oregon) to become farmers. We are sad to see them go.
Since the Kane's have left we don't have a tie to our old building or the Mendoza Parking space we always parked in during the weekends.
So as an homage to our old hood (and to the Kanes), we decided to do our old Coit Tower walk. Betsy got me up super early on Saturday and we drove over to Federal and parked in our usual spot. The weather was a bit brisk but we were excited about our goal. Breakfast sammies at the Ferry building!

As you can see, Betsy is very excited!
It was fun to walk our old route and visit all our old haunts. I hope we can still visit from time to time.

Pizza revisited

Last weekend we decided to try and replicate a pizza we had at Cheeseboard in Berkeley using our favorite world famous Trader Joes's pizza dough. We decided to us heirloom tomatoes, pesto, parsley, and garlic. Betsy likes to add tons and tons of toppings to our homemade pizzas and I am constantly trying to edit her choices! Less is more when it comes to pizza toppings.
Cooked it fast and super hot at 550 degrees on our pizza stone and it was perfect. We added parsley and a bit of lemon zest after the pizza was baked. Our best homemade effort to date!