Saturday 10/19 in SF

11/19/2013:  I’d proposed hosting Ben, Becca & Katherine (Ben’s girlfriend & classmate of Becca’s at Stanford law), Alex & A for dinner – Sat AM it occurred to me I should make a reservation.  Open table didn’t get me v. far (it being Sat AM and I was trying to find a nice place for Sat night for a party of 6 around 7 PM)—asked the concierge to help.  She gave me a list of SF places (and Alex had suggested some in Palo Alto)—Becca & Katherine were too busy w/ schoolwork to come – I found a resv in Palo Alto, and Ben counter-proposed the Mayfield bakery & cafe.

We met Claire (a friend of A’s from Carleton – he stayed w/ her family for a couple months when he first arrived in SF and still goes weekly for Sunday dinner) for lunch & went to a gluten-free Venezualan place in her neighborhood (only in SF)—v good spicy sandwich on corn bread & plantain & taro chips.  Then we went to a vg cafe for coffee and sat outside, savoring it)

A & I went to the Asian Art Institute – just overwhelming.  I’ll post pictures rather than rave on.  After a few hours, I couldn’t take in any more, went to the gift shop & wound up in the cafe.

We went back to A’s place for a little (so I could recharge my phone)—not cluttered at all (A pointed out that L had set the bar pretty low) – he shares the house w/ 2 other men, one a teacher & the other a graphic artist.

Dinner was nice, but I was running out of steam, and sometimes conversation flagged.  Alex was checking her phone under the table intermittently & Ben was checking his openly.  We all hugged & A drove me back to the hotel (by then it was about 11).  I kept waking up in the night, nervous I’d sleep through my 5 AM wake-up call (I had alarms set on my bb AND my cell phone, in addition to a call from the front desk), but of course I woke up in time and trip home was uneventful.

Feel bad not to have taken a picture of Alex & Aaron--the one below is from Mom's birthday

 

Walking this morning, I twisted my ankle on a rock & fell, so am kind of sore but nothing broken or sprained.