Start your morning around 8:30am
1. Sunset Farmer’s market
2. Pastries and coffee at Arizmenti Bakery – cherry cornmeal scones, berry muffins


Start your morning around 8:30am
1. Sunset Farmer’s market
2. Pastries and coffee at Arizmenti Bakery – cherry cornmeal scones, berry muffins
Getting There
The Merced Branch of the San Francisco Public Library system is 1/2 block from the 28, K buses. Right acrossed from the Stonestown mall. There is plenty of street parking with 2 car parking for 10 minutes.
What is different?
One standout of this library is the central garden space with maple trees and 5 benches. On this sunny Saturday, taking a book outside to read without checking out the book is a great way to spend 2-3 hours browsing and reading books. There is 1 aisle worth of Chinese fiction and non-frictions books.
Interior
There is a nice fireplace with 6 comfy leather seats. A lot of 4 top tables spread a crossed the library. It’s a single floor library with almost 1/3 of the space devoted to childrens area and a small teen section.
Noise
A lot of kids, so expect noise around level 5 out of 10.
I am a partner at a modern Japanese restaurant in Burlingame, California
Our new Salmon Fiesta dish is as good as it looks. Enjoy six pieces of wild king salmon sashimi wrapped in cucumber and mango, served with sweet vinaigrette. It’s a refreshing and delightful way to begin your dining experience. And if salmon isn’t your favorite fish, the dish is also available with tuna or yellowtail.
Which fish would you try it with?
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Tony Tam
I was playing tourist again in San Francisco and saw this Alamo Square Park Shoe Garden. It’s amazing how many little things I still have not seen in this greatest city (next to Paris) in the world.
From sfgate.com:
Alamo Square Park: One of the most photographed spots in San Francisco, thanks to the breathtaking views of the City and the row of six beautifully restored Victorians nicknamed the Painted Ladies. The west side of the park allows dogs off-leash. Between Fulton, Hayes, Steiner and Scott streets.
Don’t miss the mysterious “shoe garden” on one side of the gardeners’ shed in the middle of the park. It was created by the park’s gardener, who kept finding shoes among the park trash and hated to throw them out. He arranged them on top of logs and placed the logs around a flower bed, then planted the shoes with flowers. Now people drop off pairs of shoes with hopes of finding them sprouting later. (-SF Chronicle and SF Gate)”
I overheard a young 20 something dude talking at Ritual Coffee.
“I don’t ever leave the Mission, maybe someday I’ll explore Berkeley”
It reminds me of a Sex and City episode where the Manhattan Guy says to Carrie or Maranda that he ‘never leaves the island because everything is available in Manhattan, why do we need to leave?’
Could the SF Mission area be a mini-Manhattan?
sfgate.com (SF Chronicle) has very insightful guys to the neighborhoods of SF
(you can click on the photo enlarge)
I love the night scene in large cities. It feels so alive, filled with the energy of human beings, full of lights and cars. I’m on my bike over to the SF Metreon and looking at the sureal lights of the SF MOMA.
if I don’t loose my curiosity and passion for what I am doing and where I live, I will constantly find jems and little moments of joy.
My favorite spot here in the city
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Just sharing some amazing houses in the Hayes Valley
This Saturday, Kate didn’t have dance class so I actually got to spend Saturday morning with her at the SF Ferry building farmer’s market . I went in with $200 in cash and came out with $80. Pretty scary but the food is so so good.
If you like yogurt, you must try to buy this Saint Benoit Yogurt , it’s at most fine grocers in the Bay Area :-) They have honey, plum, strawberry, plain flavors. The yogurt culture is from France, it’s “sweet, mild and smooth”
16 bottles of Saint Benoit Yogurt == $34
5 baskets of strawberries == $16
1 lb of Pasta Shop paparadelle == $3
pastries from Fog Hollow with coffee == $26
1/2 lb of organic baby bok choy == $3
2 lbs tomatoes == $6
bag of kettle corn == $3
2 salmon rice balls, == $24
1 package of veggie sushi
1 bottle water,
1 bowl of soba noodles with radish
(from DELICA rf1 )
Web Site Counter
I had a craving for Tiramisu and found this site that just reviewed Tiramisu in different cities
http://www.heavenlytiramisu.com/frisco.htm
I tried it at Trattoria Volare on Columbus. The Tiramisu was very light, fluffy, hint of alcohol, super yummy!
Will have to try Steps of Rome and Stella Bakery tomorrow since I’ll be working late on another Sunday 9:00pm launch website
Web Site Counter
I’ve always loved the city, I used to live in the Sunset, but that is totally different than downtown.
I’ve made the plunge and put down for a 6 month lease in the middle of downtown at the Rincon Center. Two blocks from the Ferry Building, a few blocks from Caltrains.
It’s not the bridge view side of the building but I get almost 2 solid walls of staring out on 19th floor at downtown SF high rise buildings. In the bedroom I get a great view of the Ferry Building. If I walked out in the hallway I get the Bay Bridge.
I’m going to love it here.
The calligraphy means “Bridge of Dreams“, done by David Furukawa-Chen of Shifuku Tea Co. It has the same meaning in Chinese as well as Japanese
I love Saturdays at the SF Ferry Building, afterwards, we hit the farmer’s market in Castro Valley for some live electric guitar.
Food, coffee, flowers, live music, suntan, people :-) Life is good on Saturdays.
Kate enjoying a piece of bread from The Acme Bread Company while running circles around me
Kate and I take pics of each other
Chocolates from Recchiuti Confections
Fresh steam chicken bun from “Out The Door” of Slanted Door
Best morning pastries and coffee from Fog Hollow Farms We got one pastries right out of the oven, it was heavenly
Update: Official finish time is 0:58:54, place #752!! (I’m in the Fun Runners division). Some photo proofs they took while I was running
Out of 31,246 people, 751 came in faster than I did in the entire race. I’m very proud that after only 3 months of semi-intense running and having never done any running before, I did so well in my first race. Next race is the SF 1/2 Marathon on July 31st. I welcome Saturday long run partners
If you want to see the entire list go here and put ‘%’ in the first name hit search, then click on the Time column to sort by time. It’s weird how there are people with the same Place finsh and they don’t tell you the division. (Fun Runners, Seeded Division [$$$], Pledge Runners, Centipeds, Team Placement, Costume Contest)
Right after the race:
Just finished the Bay to Breakers in under 59mins flat. I had my Treo 650 with me, I’m glad I took pictures. I think I saw at least 10 nude people, but the sight was not pretty… Why can’t the good looking men and women be nude. Tag the naked people on my flickr photos. Use the word naked. I counted 8 photos.
Here is the running route
Mile 1, followed this group of girls in Cat suits, got a boost of energy base off of cheers from the crowd
Mile 2, being passed by everyone, I had a speedometer, I kept my pace at 8’30” / mile
Mile 3, the Hayes street hill, I passed people left and right, I hit the hill at 8’45” / mile
Mile 4, my pace slowed to 8’50” / mile, people passing me quite a bit. Threw away the huge bottle of water (stupid idea) Was getting stomach pains from too much water
Mile 5, pistachio nut and walnuts gave me a huge boost. Ran at 7’05” / mile. Passing a lot of the same people who passed me
Mile 6, still going strong here at 7’30 / mile, getting passed by a bunch of people I saw earlier
Mile 7, fastest time yet at 6’0″ / mile, passing everyone who passed me, finished strong!!!
In my mind I was competing with these dudes and gals, I know that’s not good, but hey it was a race right?
News Coverage:
Everyone’s a winner in city’s freaky race (SF Chronicle)
Moroccan outruns deep women’s field (SF Chronicle, on the women racers, 5 mentions of the Hayes street hill)
7 Comments
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/17/2005 10:21 pm
There are lots of Yahoo’s who would’ve finished faster and didn’t enter. Lawrence, Brad Clawsie.. lots of other really dedicated runners.
Run Yahoo!’s Run!!!!
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/17/2005 07:56 pm
Fastest Yahoo!? Good question. I don’t know the answer, but I know that Lawrence Chin didn’t enter, so you still have a chance. That dude ran 3:09 for the Boston Marathon. that is like 7min/mile. That guy is a freaking stud.
Did anyone else see the “Google is hiring” chick or the Google Centipede?
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/16/2005 09:43 pm
congrats. nice job. now please have those naked shots removed from all flickr serrvers.
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/16/2005 08:27 am
no idea whether I’m the fastest Yahoo. I’m just happy that I ran strong at the end. Given I was so nervous before the race and I drank too much water during the race, I still was able to finish ahead of the pack, I’m ecstatic.
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/16/2005 08:17 am
So, were you the fastest Yahoo in the race?
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/15/2005 09:17 pm
You’re crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever run a 6 minute mile.
I’ve never been so thankful that the camera in the Treo 650 sucks.
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Yahoo! User Yahoo! User
commented
05/15/2005 04:36 pm
Nice run. You kicked my ass. 84 min… ouch!
Just came back from the SF Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. Now this is what you call a meal for a king. Strawberries, mint leaves, cherries, apricot, asparagus, honey yogurt, pistachio nut, honey glazed walnuts, apple turnover, costata, cherry krisp (from Fog Hollow Farms)
For breakfast I had some very yummie honey yorgurt from Saint Benoît Yogurt If you are into yorgurt, you have to try these.
For lunch, I had neiman ranch beef beef short ribs over rice with a glass of Vietnamese ice coffe from Slanted Door.
I had no plans for this Saturday’s run so I just let it flow. Here was the route and it turned out to be really enjoyable.
Folsom & 4th to Market & Larkin Log: 1.5 mile
Run thru the Civic Center Plaza under the row of trees. Log .4 mile
along Fell to Ashbury Log: 1.8 miles make a right and there is the Hayes Ashbury, run down Hayes to Van Ness Log 1.9 miles
I didn’t even realize that the ‘postcard row’ of 6 the victorians were right on Steiner and Hayes Run full speed down Market & 8th and stop at 5th & Market Starbucks Log: .7 miles
Order a triple shot, grande, blended latte and walk home
Log for Saturday 2005.05.07: 6.3 miles, 2 hills of san francisco
Tag.Running
Prev: Freedom of running
Finished the ANA Cable Car Chase this Sunday morning.
Highlights:
Official Results 5.67 miles
Pace: 7:26 min/mile
Place: 101 out of 543
Age Placement: 34 out of 109
Things I did wrong
Things I did right
See Photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonytam/albums/72157664595163017
I started running today at 5:20am down Ellis and Polk and to my surprise the prostitutes were already awake and working. I saw a total of eight along my run. When I ran back from Union and Polk one of the girls already got into a Taxi yelling her destination to the other girls. I guess it’s a safety thing. Then 30 seconds later I saw a police car drive by, pretty much ignoring the situation.
At around 6:00am the drug dealers ( or I thought they were ) were waking up.
Then 6:15am, the conventions goers were waking up, probably because they couldn’t sleep or for their free continental breakfast at 7:00am
The homeless were still asleep.
In summary, the hardest working bunch were the girls. It’s really kinda sad. I thought prostitution was illegal except in Las Vegas?
Log: 4.4 Miles