Actual Conversations, #1

The hectic week finally gets a lull. For me, anyway. This is the first random weekday I've had off in a long, long while, and it feels good. So good that I am finally starting The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I'm sure will be an excellent time. There's not much to be said about a good day when it involves conversations like this:

It's a general requirement that Pokemon comes up on a regular basis without question with almost everyone I interact with. If I get a puzzled look, it's a sign for me to turn off the Pokemon switch, which is decidedly less entertaining, but okay, I have to sound like an adult sometime, I guess. Even my parents will get some Pokemon references. They at least know that Pikachu is not the only existing Pokemon in the world. I assume they've gotten to the point where, if my brothers have some sort of cartoon-anime-animal poster on their wall, or if I have a little cartoon-anime-animal charm on my keychain, they will just say, "Ah, it's another Pokemon."

Anyway, enough about Pokemon. For now. Because I like doing little recaps of my long week.

So, pizza didn't work out for Pizza, Pajamas, and Python. Or whatever I'd put that in before. Apparently, Scott's order and name and everything that relates to him had disappeared entirely from the Patxi's record that evening. He ordered four hours ahead for that pizza, and expected it to arrive promptly at 8:30pm. Fifteen minutes passed. He called and confirmed that pizza was happening. Half an hour passed. One hour passed. Two hours. And partway through The Holy Grail, that was the answer to the mystery. Except it's not really an answer, because we don't know what happened to it. The poor lady on the phone sounded so stressed out that I expect it was happening all evening, and man, I know how that feels. He was promised a gift card, but even if it doesn't come, it's no big deal.

Yeah, okay, we ended up making okonomiyaki #19. And we did it right this time! Thin pancakes, and we added some finely chopped rainbow carrots into the cabbage mixture. Instead of coconut oil for the pan, we totally used bacon grease. I mean, hey, I think it tasted extra good this time, but I like to think that bacon grease from the extra crispy bacon I cooked minutes earlier makes anything savory taste better. And anyway, we had to find some way to use up that strange eggless mayonnaise.

Scott's, as per usual, looked better than mine.

I really need to learn how to write text with food.

We didn't get to finish Monty Python that night, as we discovered that eating bacon seems to make us strangely sleepy every time we consume it. Besides, actual Valentine's day was upon us - 15 February! Joy! I still had no idea what he'd planned, but I knew for sure that it wouldn't be a bad surprise, as I am not very partial to bad surprises. I mean that I don't startle very well, and I startle very easily. As in, I am not responsible for any injuries I cause when someone startles me, because I WILL probably freak out and drop something. Okay, I inevitably end up injuring myself, but that's beside the point.

It turns out that Scott's idea for Valentine's day is taking me out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all defined very loosely in terms of time. Breakfast was at 10:30, at Curbside Cafe, where I first felt the need to weep because I never knew food could be that delicious. More specifically, the French toast. I'm currently trying to figure out if my Yelp review actually comes up first, or if it's just Google's way of saying they know I'm here, and they're watching me eat my French toast.

Glorious, wondrous French toast.

This French toast is so, so good. It's good to the point where I can't eat any other form of French toast. If I'm going to have French toast, I will get my ass over to California and Fillmore and have French toast. I love how the server brought our plates around, announced the French toast, and knew immediately that it was for me. Of course, the first time I was here, he also thought the French toast was for me, except that time it was Scott who ordered it. Oops. Do you feel like eating French toast yet? Ohhh, I sure hope you do.

After getting pleasantly stuffed with the French-American brunch, we walked back and finished up the Holy Grail. I seriously don't know why I haven't watched that movie until that day. I admit that I have missed out. Immensely. And we promptly entered a food coma for three hours.

When I finally found myself awake at around 2pm, I woke to the sound of Scott trying to make reservations for dinner. This was promptly rejected, as the mystery place was already full up. I have never been to a place where it's so popular that you actually need to make reservations in advance, so frankly, I was pretty relieved. To me, that sounds like I need to be extra-fancy, and that is not something I know how to do. Instead, I decided to figure out what was on the agenda. Groggily, I correctly guessed our next venue: a tea shop. I had assumed this earlier and brought my tea-drinking dress, though it was not Lovejoy's as I had expected. We were to go to a place called Taste Tea, a place I would surely appreciate, as it combines tea and wordplay into one location.

Unfortunately, this place was barred down for some reason. We still have no idea why. We were on Hayes and Octavia with no tea shop, but I knew of a different sort of place: Schulzies. I had no idea that Scott had such strong feelings for bread pudding. I was certain for a moment that he would leave me for the fantasy land of this bread pudding temptress, but thankfully he instead went straight to pointing out that I did not have actual bread pudding because I didn't opt for the whisky sauce on my s'mores bread pudding scoop of yumminess. This scored me a place that 1) Scott did not know about and 2) Scott has thanked me for, which makes me feel like a god.

Apparently, tea shops are not uncommon in San Francisco, and we happened to be a few blocks from Samovar on Page and Laguna. It was my first time there, and it was a lovely place. I really wanted to take a picture of the bathroom. Uh...yeah, forget I wrote that. That's really a note for me. Dark hardwood floors and a perfectly muted blue on the walls. Ahem. Anyhoo.

The Moorish tea service and two types of herbal teas. Ooh, no caffeine.

The Moorish tea service called out to us. I'd never heard of halloumi cheese before. If you haven't either, it's really a thing you should consider getting behind, because it's smoky and awesome despite having a weird rubbery texture. I'd never actually had anything on this plate before. I also ordered the Ocean of Wisdom tea, which was fantastic. The Moorish mint tea was nice, though for some reason, steeping it for a really long time makes it oddly sweet. Still can't figure that one out. Oh, and even though this dish had no meat, we were both incredibly full as a result. And we split it. It's always nice when food makes you full when you least expect it - for me, that means "even though it has no meat".

Another food coma later, it was dinnertime. I quickly discovered the foolishness of wearing heels when walking north from Laguna towards the Marina. I probably would have tripped if I weren't being exceedingly cautious with every step, but it was essentially an accident waiting to happen. Our journey brought us the the bro-filled land that surrounds Umami. My camera decided to crap out on me, so there is nothing to entice anyone with, but I will say that the Montecristo burger was terrifying and delicious all at once. It was this beautiful thing, made with a bun dipped in vanilla bean something or other, dusted with powdered sugar, and served around a burger that was accompanied by prosciutto...and a small ramekin of maple syrup. Good gracious. It doesn't sound appealing, but it was beautiful. Like reading The Catcher in the Rye for the first time, minus the angst.

All in all, a glorious actual Valentine's day. I didn't get to go to Sunday brunch due to work, which was a bummer, but all was well after a short and sweet game night with our game night friends. Next up: the macaroni and cheese adventure.