Yeah, yeah, as if i could do without talking about food here for long ;).
Well, there is no recipe here, and there's a lot more to tell before i get to the "food rant", which makes it suitable for my diary. If you want to snark on the inappropriate title, so be it :-D. So, last week i was away for cpl. of days for a conference near San Francisco. The conference was near a tourist spot, Point Reyes, about one and half hours away from the city. We drove to Point Reyes from San Francisco late in the evening, which meant that we would encounter fog and low visibility. That would only add to the already difficult, serpentine route on highway one :-D.
The Bay Bridge was closed that day, because of the oil spill that everyone has heard about now. We had to make it to the conference by 7:30, because a colleague had her presentation the same day!! After crossing the Golden Gate, we were on our way!
While driving through the foggy, dark and very serpentine route, we didn't even realize that we were driving sooooooo close to the ocean!! That realization would set in after a cpl. of day on our ways back, when we would be driving during the day time. This part of highway one is really scenic and gorgeous during the day time, but in a very dizzy way! The many twists and turns can leave one car-sick!
Highway one, on the way back
The conference venue was kinda' obscure.....we missed it, went ahead a cpl. of miles, only to realize that we needed to turn around :-D.
This place, as a colleague intutively remarked (which turned out to be an accurate hunch)-was an ex-rehab place!! The place was around a bay, very dark and foggy, just like everywhere else around there, in the night. But we were thrilled to have reached in time, and safely at that! What with a cpl. of deer and a coyote sightings during the drive!
The next morning revealed the true beauty of the place! Lush with pines and wildflowers, it was refreshing! The place is near the sea-shore and has cute lil' trails to explore and enjoy the natural beauty and fresh air! Whatever tiredness (and bitterness) we had gathered from our drive the day before, all melted away!
A big plus about this place was their kitchen! They surely took good care of the vegetarians :-D. I have written here before about how conference usually reserve pasta and salad for vegetarians. Why complain, i will agree with you that conference food in gereal isn't anything good. But here, they had a huge number of choices for breakfast, one vegetarian soup and great bread for lunch and dinner everyday, besides some really well done salads, pastas, vegetables and desserts (except the first day when people felt if the cake was doused, no, make it soaked, in marsala, instead of a gentle drizzle!). I was kinda' thrilled :).
It was nice being San Francisco after a long time, even if that meant mostly driving through the city. I love the city, and i don't mean just the tourist attractions. I love the fact that they have a reasonable public transport system there and a lot of other such things :). No plastic bags, for instance :). And it has something like seasons (compared to Los Angeles) :-D. There's a lot more thats nice and lovely about this city. I just like the place, i love it, actually!
So, on our way back, we stopped at Fisherman's Wharf for lunch-we went to Boudin's.
They are known for their sourdough. and i am known for my love for sourdough. i was really hoping something yummy, having had their bread a number of times. All my hopes were dashed when the only vegetarian sandwich on their take-out menu was NOT ON SOURDOUGH! Now you know what made me sour enough to entitle my post thus!! I am not a big fan of cold sandwiches, and the "No sourdough for you" didn't make it anymore pleasant for me :). What made it more painful was the sight of everyone enjoying their breadbowl (well, clam chowder in breadbowl) :-D. My experience during the conference had spolied me into expecting something great :-D. But seriously, was i expecting them to have a fake corn chowder, sans bacon, on their menu, just for people like me ;). Not quite, its Fisherman's Wharf, so naturally the emphasis would be on sea-food. But a sandwich with sourdough wouldn't hurt, though may be, for those (including vegetarians) who visit Fisherman's Wharf for reasons other than having sea-food (which many say isn't great), may be its a decent idea to have some vegetarian soup that can be served in bread bowls :-D.
I have to tell you this though, i made myself a nice breadbowl with fake corn chowder soon after i got back home!! ok, not that soon, the next day :-D.And, to those, who love a breadbowl: please think before ordering one, especially if you don't intend to finish the breadbowl! There's a lot of food wasted, why would you want to contribute to that! Or may be we can have smaller bowls? I told ya, i was gonna' rant ;).
There are times, when we just go on about our lives like a machine. Oftentimes, for me, this has included spinning a cocoon around myself, albeit involuntarily. 
Those times, when we just offer ourselves to the day to take us through it. And for what it's worth, i love those days :). But in the midst of it all, there are moments that make you sit up and take notice, of the world and people around you.
When an ordinary cup of chai tastes like elixir, because it had that extra ingredient of love. When someone calling you "silly" actually feels great, because it's your lil' niece who spouted this wisdom :). 
Those are the moments when i love being the butterfly, fresh from the warmth of my cocoon.....
To stand in the line for more than half and hour, just to ride the cable car-even though you could have taken the Muni and saved much time. 
Just because it felt just the most appropriate thing to do. To shop silly and to know that its OK to sometimes do things for yourself. 
To sit in the sun and have masala chai after a really fun day.
If only it were possible to say it all in words.....For now, i will just leave you with few pictures. They are the reflections of those fun moments, the moments of just being.....
