Boron - Washing Day and a visit to Fisherman's Wharf

Boron

In my ongoing attempt to meet Robin Croft's challenge to reference an element in each day's blog. Today, with clothes washing being a key part of my plans, I identify the low- abundance element of Boron (atomic number 5) which in its compound form as Borax is a key ingredient of Tide, the brand of washing capsule I use when in the USA. It is very similar to the Ariel tablets in the UK, produced under different brand names by the same multi-national - Proctor and Gamble.

But before the washing, we step back to Sunday night and our amazing Garlicky dinner.

The Stinking Rose

Even though we had been walking all day it seemed a little lazy to use public transport to go the .6 of a mile from the Hotel to tonight's restaurant, so we walked through Chinatown taking photos of some of the murals as we went and arriving at our old favourite, The Stinking Rose.

The Stinking Rose

We first visited this restaurant in 2002, since then we have visited it each time we have been back in the City. It is a delight to arrive and smell the garlic for about a block before you get to the restaurant. The phrase stinking rose is an old English title for garlic, and garlic is at the heart of this restaurant.

While fundamentally it is a Italian Restaurant, located in North Beach, the Italian section of San Francisco, its puns and images associated with garlic in all its forms and uses dominate the location and its food. 

Bagna Calda

We began with a lovely shared dish of Bagna Calda, this dish is made up of garlic cloves, oven-roasted in olive oil until they are tender and juicy. They are served with some wonderful focaccia of which we had two lots. As you eat you can feel the garlic get into your system. Even for people like us who eat a bulb of garlic in our meals 6 days out of every 7 on average, this is a lot of garlic, but that is not a bad thing.

Gnocchi with a garlic, pork and beef sauce

For mains Drew opted for Gnocchi with a garlic, pork and beef sauce. The sauce was not excessively garlicky, but after the Bagna Calda, it might just have been a lighter version. The gnocchi was light and fresh and soaked up the sauce. The sauce itself had an intense depth of flavour. Very nice indeed was Drew's final judgement.

Fettuccine with garlic, pork and beef ragu with garlic meatballs

I chose the Fettuccine with garlic, pork and beef ragu with garlic meatballs. The pasta was el dente and the rich sauce spread its way across the pasta. The meatballs had chunks of garlic running through them and gave another texture to the pasta with sauce. The meatballs were beef mince and provided a rich dimension of flavour. I certainly knew I had been eating garlic by the end of the meal.

Garlic Ice Cream

Drew decided to have dessert, as it is not likely he will get a chance to have Garlic Ice Cream anywhere else. The ice cream was cold and the garlic taste seemed to come as a surprise given that most other ice cream flavours are sweet, but it was not off putting, rather it provided a cool and refreshing end to the meal without reducing the garlic input.

We walked back down Stockton and popped into a Walgreens to buy Tide for our washing tomorrow. We arrived back at the hotel soon after 9:30pm and got to bed by 10.00pm.

Washing our clothes

As I mentioned in one of my comments, in response to Linda, earlier in the blog, I had scheduled washing days to make sure we had enough clean clothes for the holiday without early packing. With a flight tomorrow (Tuesday), Monday was a great day to wash the clothes we had used since the beginning of the holiday.

Having woken at 4am I wrote yesterday's blog post. I got up and showered at 5:30am, and then went down to the lobby to pick up coffee at 6am.

Coffee in the Hotel Lobby

Having had coffee and put the clothes for washing into Drew's suit case we left the hotel at 6:55am and walked up the two and a half blocks to the Coin-op Laundry at Bush and Mason. 

Walking up with the dirty clothes

The laundry (as they are called here) opened at 7:00am and at 7:04am when we arrived we were the fourth clients of the day. Drew had assumed we would be first, all three of the other clients were native San Franciscan's living in apartments without wash/dry facilities. <<Co-pilot's note: There are so many wonderful anecdotes which we could give about the characters in the laundry and their political views, but there just isn't time enough to do it justice, just to say Boris did come up at one point, and not in a complimentary manner - surprise, surprise.>>



We only needed one machine and for $3:50, with our own Tide pod, the machine did the wash in 36 minutes. The dryer needed 25 minutes to dry the clothes (for $1) so the whole process was both cheap and quick. We had folded the clothes and put them back in their case by 8:20am.

Breakfast

We had noticed a few days ago that there was a small restaurant serving breakfast between the laudry and the hotel. So on our way back down we stopped at Roxanne's for breakfast.

Haydn's Peasant Omelet with Home Fries

I had what was called a peasant omelet, this was a three egg omelet made with Canadian bacon, potatoes, green peppers, tomatoes and jack cheese, served with Home Fries and Wheat Toast. This was wholesome and pleasant, a great way to start the day.

Two eggs over easy bacon home fries and white toast

Drew had two eggs, over easy, with bacon, home fries and white toast. His was lovely too.

Coit Tower

Coit Tower

Having completed breakfast it was back to the hotel to put clothes into the cases ready for tomorrow's travel. 

In our ongoing attempt to see the parts of San Francisco we had not previously visited we left the hotel at 9:20 to head towards Coit Tower. 

Telegraph Hill

Coit Tower has stood as a recognisable landmark of the City since 1933 when money from the will of Lillie Hitchcock Coit was used to build the tower in Pioneer Park on what since the 1840's had been called Telegraph Hill due to the semaphore located there to give warning when ships were entering the bay through the Golden Gate. 

I have no idea why I've never been up Telegraph Hill before, especially as Pioneer Park features as a regular meeting place for Anna Madrigal and Edgar Halcyon in Tales of the City.

This part of Kearney is steep - Peter Macchiarini Steps

From our hotel we drop down a block of Bush St to Kearney St and then walk 10 blocks before starting the climb to Coit Tower. All the times I have been to this City I have never been to Coit Tower, I wonder why? Maybe the steep gradients and steps might have put me off in the past.

Steps up to the Tower

After the hills and four sets of steps we made it to the top of Telegraph Hill and to the Tower. However it was clear that there was little point in paying the $10 for a trip to the top of the tower as the bay fog was as dense as it had been yesterday. It appears Mark Twain never said the famous quote:

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.

But whoever did coin it knows the effect of the fog here. The temperature in the City is in the 70s and the sun is beaming down, but once you approach the coast the fog is cold and damp.

The Fog where the Golden Gate should be

We were however able to take lots of pictures, even one of where the Golden Gate Bridge would have been if there was no fog.

Greenwich Steps

We might not have got the best views of the holiday from Coit Tower, but it was fascinating to see the City from this alternative perspective.

The walk up was worth it, as we were also able to climb down via the Greenwich Steps, a part of San Francisco we had not even heard of, but greatly enjoyed.

The Start of the steps

A Street to some, is steps to others

The steps can be steep

Even in the fog the sun is bright enough to need a hat

The official name of the Greenwich Steps is simply Greenwich St, but the amazing fall from the Tower down to Embarcadero is full of fascinating houses clinging to the hill and lush gardens lovingly cared for and dark private places people have made their own. You can follow the whole route down on Flickr - starting here

The Piers

So, unexpectedly early, we had made it down to the waterfront and the piers. We were much earlier than expected, due to the effective short-cut created by the steps. 

We then walked along the piers and come to that heart of tourist San Francisco Pier 39. Its gaudy, tourist driven tat is made up for by the wonderful Sea Lions in K dock. 

A huddle of Sea Lions

One noisy fellow on his own

Drew was so pleased to be back here to watch these wonderful creatures again. He really enjoys them and their antics. If you are a fan of Sea Lions there are a further 14 photos on Flickr starting here.

Even though the bay still had swirling fog, the City itself was now bathed with sunshine.

A sunny San Francisco from Pier 39

The Pier also gave us a great shot of Coit Tower and its successors as tallest building in San Francisco.

Iconic buildings of San Francisco

With Coit Tower in the centre, the Transamerica Pyramid, the tallest building in San Francisco from 1972 until 2018, to the left and the Salesforce Tower, the tallest building in the City since 2018, to the right this shows the City as it develops and grows. 

As I look up at the buildings I recall that on the 31st of December 1999/1st January 2000 the Transamerica Pyramid was full of employees from 10.00pm to 2.00am in case the Y2K bug impacted on the financial heart of the City. I was staying here at the Triton that week and met a number of hotel guests who were in the City to manage the fears of that time. It is a shock to the system to remember this is 19 and a half years ago. What would I tell my younger self if I could talk to him now. 

Enjoy life, come to San Francisco as often as you can, you are a lucky guy with lots of good things ahead, and San Francisco is a great place to celebrate all that.  

But enough of what the co-pilot is likely to call 'maudlin nonsense and back to the day.

<<Co-pilot's note: Cease this infernal moaning and get on with the happy stuff.>>

Dinner at Lunchtime

As we fly from San Francisco to Hawaii tomorrow I'd planned to eat our main meal today at lunchtime, to have time to digest it before the flight. So at 12.30 we arrived at Alioto’s at the heart of Fisherman's Wharf for our reservation. 

Alioto's is an old favourite of ours having eaten here first in 2009, so we knew when we came back to San Francisco that it would be on our list of eating places. 

A bright pier from Alioto's

The views over the bay, even a fog bound bay, are amazing. You'll note the contrast from a bright and sunny foreground to the line of mist hiding the Golden Gate Bridge.

Bread and flavoured Olive Oil - Alioto’s

We began the meal with Bread and flavoured Olive Oil, the peppery richness of the olive oil was delightful.

Smoked Salmon - Alioto’s

For starters (appetisers to use the local phrase) I had Smoked Salmon, served on toasted sourdough bread, with capers and a sprinkle of lemon - it was fresh and delicious.

Caesar Salad - Alioto’s

Drew choose Caesar Salad which was salty, crunchy and delicious. The anchovy was well mixed through the salad and the croutons were garic rich. Drew was very happy.

Albert tying on Haydn's Bib - Alioto’s

Food from heaven - Nonna Rose’s Famous Crab Cioppino - Alioto’s

An empty plate, but a messy bib - Alioto’s

When I first came to Alioto's I had never tasted Cioppino, a dish invented here in San Francisco by the Italian community. I've now eaten it in a number of places, but the one here remains the most delightful and special.

It was fishy, seafoody and rich in tomato, garlic and parsley - absolutely amazing. If you ever come to San Francisco make the effort to treat yourself to this delight. Even if, like me, you end up a bit messy at the end!

Truffle Halibut - Alioto’s

Drew went for the Truffle Halibut, this pan fried halibut was served with sauteed mushrooms, caramelised pearl onions and truffle oil over mashed potatoes. The mash was creamy and the halibut was cooked perfectly, a sauce might have made it richer, but Drew enjoyed it just as it was. 

Back to the Hotel

We walked from Alioto's up four blocks to Taylor and Bay, the start of the Cable Car line. We took the Cable Car all the way up to the stop outside our breakfast place of this morning and walked the two blocks down to the hotel. 

We then sorted our paperwork and checked the arrangements for tomorrow's travel while loading our photos on to Flickr. It has been great to have speedy WiFi here, let's hope this bodes well for the rest of the holiday. 

Walking

It is amazing to think that on Sunday we ended up with us having walked just over 24,000 steps which equates to 9.65 miles. 

Today it it was only 15,200 still 5,000 over my target and a reasonable 6 miles. 

Later

At about 5pm we went back out and wandered around Union Square visiting Williams of Sonoma and the Apple Shop among others, it was our favourite type of shopping - window shopping.

After a coffee and confirmation of tomorrow's flights (and our dinner booking) we got back to the hotel at 8.30pm and to bed at 10.00pm.

Time differences between here and Hawaii mean we will be later with the blog post tomorrow (if you are reading in the UK).