Coast Starlight

The Coast Starlight train travels between Seattle and Los Angeles.  I caught it in San Francisco (actually Oakland, you take an Amtrak bus from San Francisco to the Oakland train station) and took the twelve hour trip south to Los Angeles, past farm fields and rolling hills and ocean views.

You can have your lunch and dinner in the dining car, but I chose to pack my own food and spend most of my time next to a big window in the observation car.  I had my favorite California cheese and chocolate (Humboldt Fog and Recchiuti Asphalt Jungle Mix), local raspberries, fresh mini sourdough baguettes from Acme Bakery and cherry pastry from Frog Hollow Farm.  Acme Bakery and Frog Hollow Farm are both in the Ferry Building which is right next to the Amtrak station and they both open early enough that you can pick up fresh stuff for your trip.  Plus you can have a Peet's coffee and a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich from Cowgirl Creamery Sidekick while sitting down by the water, watching the commuters come in by ferry and waiting for your bus.

I'll post more photos from the train trip over the next while...

Sausalito Stones

Poem

A poem I had published in the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal...


SYMPHONY ON HAIGHT

The sound was in the distance and then
close
closer
and there he was rounding the corner of Haight
striding along the gum-flecked sidewalk
in majestic bluegreen robe and turban
and beat-up sneakers
squeezing that accordion as if life itself depended on his music
a symphony of one

the sound faded as he made his way down Clayton
the music became
birds
wind chimes
the N Judah train
silk scarves rippling in the sun

Parisian Pooches, Outer Richmond

Car, SOMA

Bay to Breakers 3

5:30 am

Looking west on Market Street...

Houses, Lower Haight

Mission Eats

At Taqueria Cancun on Mission and 19th you can sit at a picnic table beneath the papel picado and enjoy a carne asada (grilled beef) super taco with onions, cilantro, salsa, cheese, avocado and sour cream, plus tortilla chips with two kinds of salsa and a fresh cantaloupe agua fresca, all for only five bucks.

Or for six bucks you could sit at the little counter at the hole-in-the-wall Yamo on 18th and dig into a Burmese tea leaf salad.

Or for a ten dollar treat there is the Peruvian Limon Rotisserie on South Van Ness where you can get a delicious half-chicken with three dipping sauces, yuca fries and a salad.

Now for something sweet there's Knead Patisserie on 24th at the back of Local: Mission Eatery where you can bite into the popular pomme d' amore, a creme brulee-like pastry.

Or a cookie from Anthony's on Valencia.

Or olive oil ice cream from Humphry Slocombe on Harrison.

Or a fresh juice or smoothie from Sidewalk Juice on 21st.

These are just a few of the inexpensive culinary delights in the Mission.  I've mentioned some other places in previous posts, and still have many more to try...  

Market Street

Skateboarding, Embarcadero

Lee Fields

Saw a brilliant sold-out show by Lee Fields and the Expressions at Brick & Mortar in the Mission a few weeks ago.  It's always great to see a performance like that in an intimate space.  Take a listen to "Faithful Man"...

Laundry, 6th & Howard

Buena Vista Park