San Francisco Part Two

Here's the Fortune Cookie Factory. I've been here before, but Seamus had never been. I was a little sad that because we were there so late at night, the women weren't folding the cookies this time, but we still bought a bunch of bags and chatted with the guy there. We ate a whole bunch of the messed up ones from a bucket while there... it was great. Man, it doesn't take much to make me happy. We also got the "sexy fortune cookies" which is, of course, the important part. Here's one for you:

"Fu Ling You Says: Midget always getting nose in other people's business."

Seamus says this isn't sexy, but hey, there is a reason I explained them to him as "sexy" fortuned cookies.

(Again, I feel that taking pictures is annoying both for myself and for other people in public, so these are photos from online)

This bakery is pretty awesome. Supposedly it's the only bakery in the country that makes its own Moon Cake filling. So, I had to get some. Gotta say, I do not know what to make of it. I asked the baker what the best one is, and she said, "Lotus double yolk." So, we got two. I've been sitting here nibbling at this strange item... and I have no idea what is going on. There are two yellow balls inside, but Seamus and I keep looking at each other and going, "There is NO WAY that is actually an egg yolk!", but we're both too chicken to find out, haha. I'll update this post when I get up the nerve to take a big bite.

We went to Sear's Fine Foods for lunch, and it was pretty damn good. We both got some sort of special, whose name eludes me, which had a fried egg, corned beef and hash, fruit, homefries/hashbrowns and Swedish pancakes. It was massive, and I didn't stand a chance against it. I was just happy that their iced coffee was fresh made, instead of coming out of a jug of coffee made hours before. I would definitely go there again, it was a great start to the day.

We went to Brandy Ho's for dinner.... and man, I will never look at Little World again. I can't eat MSG, so my options in Chinatown were pretty limited, even to the point where I couldn't safely go to the famous R&G lounge. However, I heard about this place which has good reviews, and more happily, never uses MSG. You walk inside and see giant red letters (block letters nailed, not painted, on) reading "ABSOLUTELY NO MSG". I could see it over Seamus' shoulder through our meal and it was very comforting, especially since I had woken up that morning with a screaming headache. The food was quite good. The dumplings and wonton soup were faaaaabulous. The soup in particular... fresh bok choy and shrimp dumplings....om nom nom nom. Seamus really liked the veggie dish, tofu and broccoli in a spicy garlic sauce. We were so-so on the general's chicken, but really liked that it wasn't swimming in sugar, and that the meat was white breast meat. It was just so nice to eat Chinese that tasted like home-cooking and was very, very, very fresh. I wouldn't say it was spectacular food (beyond the dumplings and my soup) but I can say I had a spectacular time with Seamus just relaxing and letting ourselves breathe... and eat :)

A lot of our time today was also spent shopping in Chinatown and Union Square. We got Seamus some Clark's shoes at the West-something (can never remember the name) mall there, and they are pretty darn sharp. I think I've seen enough of Union Square and Civic Center to last me a lifetime, haha. It was a bit of a hassle going around town hunting down some size 15 shoes, but Seamus' feet felt a million times better once we did. I was just glad my headache was gone... I was scared that I was going to spend my vacation with an icepack, but I was fine after lunch. Honestly, we're having such a great time that a headache wouldn't even stop me.

Tomorrow we think we'll go to Four Barrel in the Mission and check out Valencia street for breakfast. It should not take too long though, so we'll probably cab up to Japantown for lunch and then spend the rest of the day in North Beach and then walk back.