Friday - October 15th
Up at 6:30 to a cloudy, cool and foggy day. But, as Linda recently told me "SF in the rain is better than most places in the sun." So, who cares about a little fog?
The usual this AM with webwork 'till 10:30 then I made a cheese and sourdough baguette sandwich was out the door for a walk at Lands End. But, I got a little side tracked.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
A foggy start to this middle of October day.
Walking down 9th towards the park I saw these mail boxes. I liked the colors and textures.
I pass this store on 9th Ave every time I go t0 The Park or walk through looking for my next meal. This time I decided to stop in.
Why?
For 10 years I have suffered from foot pain. Sometimes, nearly debilitating foot pain.
For years I thought it was my choice of shoes/boots. But no matter what I tried, it always ended up the same - pain which felt like my foot was in a slowly closing vise. Finally, I went to a Physical therapist. They confirmed my self diagnosis of
metatarsalgia and put me on a stretching routine and also fabricated a rather crude metatarsal pad.
This gave me no relief and I just learned to tolerate the pain. But, this past June, out of desperation I wore a pair of Chaco sandals on one of our hikes. The difference was remarkable. I told Betsy it was like my feet had gotten out of prison. No pain what-so-ever!
So, I decided to see if the folks at "On the Run Shoes" might have some idea how I could get the same comfort and pain relief from a pair of hiking shoes/boots as I did from Chacos.
After spending a good bit of time with both the salesperson and the manager here is what they came up with.
Here we have a pair of Keen Voyageurs and a set Stablefeet orthopedic inserts.
Meet Arial, originally from Charlottesville NC and now enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute. Having had her share of foot problems she was well educated about such things as metatarsalgia and plantar fasciitis. After carefully fitting me I was out the door for a "test drive" and on my way to Land's End via GG Park.
I walked over to the Music Concourse and snacked on my cheese and sourdough baguette sandwich then it was through the tunnel to the other side of JFK Drive and then up 8th Ave to Geary where I picked up the 38 Geary but to the VA Hospital.
On my way to the bus stop I passed Boudins Bakery, the legendary maker of sourdough bread.
Sourdough is a dough containing a lactobacillus culture, usually in symbiotic combination with yeasts. It is one of two principal means of leavening in bread baking, along with the use of cultivated forms of yeast (Saccharomyces). It is of particular importance in baking rye-based breads, where yeast does not produce comparable results.
In comparison with yeast-based breads, it produces a distinctively tangy or sour taste, mainly because of the lactic acid produced by the lactobacilli; the actual medium, known as "starter" or levain, is essentially an ancestral form of pre-ferment. In English-speaking countries, where wheat-based breads predominate, sourdough is no longer the standard method for bread leavening. It was gradually replaced, first by the use of barm from beermaking, then, after the confirmation of germ theory by Louis Pasteur, by cultured yeasts. However, some form of natural leaven is still used by many specialty bakeries.Source: WikiPedia
The view of Ocean Beach was a bit different than the one I saw on that sunny, bright Monday.
Dune restoration still continues as the flagged native plants bear witness.
Seeing a view like this always make me forget, at least for a moment, that I am in the middle of a major metro area.
In the distance is China and Baker Beaches and the neighborhood of Sea Cliff where the likes of Robbin Williams and other millionaires maintain residences.
I began to feel those hunger pains again so I headed down 29th Avenue towards Clement in search of sustenance.
Remembering a place I had a great noodle bowl in 2007 I decided to try relive the experience.
Yummy!
As in 2007 I ordered the House Special which has ground pork, chicken breast, shrimp, crab, and squid with egg noodles.
Seen here is a decoratively cut piece of squid with a morsel of chicken breast clinging to it. Tasty and very filling.
In between slurps and bites I amused myself by going through the
Bay Guardian.
Click on the cartoon to read it.
Always entertaining, the adds in the rear of the newspaper are fun to look at and ponder over.
Many choices! I just could not decide...
That Mariah, she is such a hottie!
Finished with my feasts I headed down Clement.
Future eats??
Then, on a whim, I caught the 29 Sunset to Baker Beach - the end of the line. I stayed on and then had quite a ride to the end of the line of the other side of the city where the bus turned around near Candlestick Park which is nearly 15 miles. I saw the pretty to the gritty and everything in between on that ride!
The ride on the 29 Sunset bus was quite a tour of the city and went through about 11 different neighborhoods. Sea Cliff, Inner Richmond, Inner and Out Sunset, West Portal, Lake Merced, Balboa Terrace, Excelsior, Portola, Visitation Valley and, finally, Bayview.
When I got back to Ed's he asked me what I had been up to. I said "I just spent three hours on the bus!". He looked at me and asked incredulously: "On purpose?" HA!! I then told him the story of my end-to-end ride on the 29.
All that ridin' had made me hungry and I knew Ed would be wanting dinner so it was out the door and around the corner to "Yum-Yum", a Vietnamese resteraunt.
As I recall Ed had seafood soup and spring roll and I had 5 spice chicken.
We both enjoyed our meals although I must say the 5 spice chicken I had at Sunflower in 2009 was much, much better - in both presentation and taste. Take a look and you will see what I mean!
Last shot of the day. Then it was back to Ed's for some Linsley Mysteries. I kept dozing off so about 10:15 I hit the hay.
Another fun day in the The Big City.
