Weekend update.

I spent the weekend playing tour guide again. A friend that I've known since elementary school is moving to San Francisco very soon, so we spent most of Saturday afternoon walking around different neighborhoods to help get her acquainted. I sympathize with how daunting it is to apartment hunt in San Francisco for the first time. It kind of feels like just closing your eyes and throwing a dart on a map. All of the neighborhood names are meaningless so you end up wasting a lot of time checking out dodgy apartments that you would never live at in a million years. I'm really surprised there aren't more people working as brokers for desperate apartment hunters in the Bay...maybe in a year or two there will be.



In any case, we started out the morning though with brunch at Absinthe. We amazingly got their before the restaurant even opened so I finally got to eat at one of the coveted sidewalk tables! AND...it was sunny after a rainy morning. I feel ridiculous getting exciting about something like this, but after waiting 1-2 hours on average for brunch, I'm sorry, but it's kind of a big deal! Two bellinis later, we set off for the Mission, Union Square, and ended up the day watching the Bay Bridge lights turn on at Chaya.

I also finally saw The Wolf of Wall Street. I never managed to watch all of the Best Picture nominees for this year (I still hope HER wins!)...but I'll get to all of them eventually. The Wolf of Wall Street was a great film. It seemed to be...furiously filmed if that makes any sense. And who knew Leonardo DiCaprio could do physical humor! I can tell  it's going to go down as a classic...in the same vein as Goodfellas. Poor Leo, I hope we wins an Oscar finally. All in all, a really fun and relaxing weekend. Should you ever find me complaining about something that is so #firstworldproblems, please pinch me and remind me that I am really lucky to be where I am.

Tartine Bakery.

Finally catching up on some backlogged posts. I've had a lot of visitors lately. When that happens I typically find myself at Tartine Bakery in the Mission. I went here for the first time when I was still at Cal. I remember the first time I went, it was my first time exploring the Mission District with my boyfriend and it was such an adventure. We made a day of it and went to the symphony at night.

Needless to say, I love this place. It has deep ties to how I feel about the time I've spent in the city and I will always return to it with friends new and old. But enough of the sentimentality--this place is amazing for brunch or coffee with a morning pastry. Nothing quite like washing down a Tartine morning bun with a cappucino on a Sunday.

The shiitake mushroom croque monsieur is my favorite thing to order. It's a thing of beauty. The pickled carrots are the perfect compliment too. I ordered this recently when my oldest brother and his girlfriend came to visit for a weekend.

And here are the glorious loaves of bread that people line up for. I love stealing a glance each time I walk by the cashier to see the loaves being freshly pulled out of the oven. FYI, you need to call at least one to two days in advance if you want to purchase loaves. Isn't that crazy?

Tartine Bakery

600 Guerrero St

San Francisco, CA 94110

b/t 19th St & 18th St in Mission