as promised from my previous entry. day two of my two day weekend getaway in san francisco.

the day i spent at ferry building left me wanting more so i think you can guess where we end up spending the rest of the morning. that and also i read that there is this very great brunch place in the ferry building itself that i wanted to try.

first thing we wanted to do was brunch at boulette's larder which deserves another entry of its own. so watch out for it :)

after breakfast, i wanted to check out each of those specialty stores more carefully and perhaps get ryan's mom a gift from san francisco since her birthday was coming up too. one of the things we saw the day before but didn't try were olive oil. there were quite a variety of olive oil from extra virgin olive oil to some infused with herbs and mixed with balsamic vinegar which can be used as a vinaigrette. they offer some bread cubes so you could sample to see which one you might be interested in getting.

then we came across boccalone, the home of tasty salted pig parts. chris cosentino is the co-founder, co-owner and chef of this very popular spot.

i went into the store, just to see what kind of cured meats they had to offer and then i was utterly curious to know how tasty they were. i think ryan was excited from the sheer variety of these handmade artisan meats that they freshly slice everyday.

i gave into temptation and since i was not hungry enough for a sandwich, i decided to go for their mix salumi cone to try some of their offerings. three slices of three different cured meats. on top of that they were giving out bite size samples of their spreadable salumi on bread and it was right on the money!

i can't quite remember what they were but i think one of them was mortadella, another was prosciutto and the third was one of their varieties of salumi. they were indeed tasty, salty goodness in a bite. they all had their own distinct flavors, good amount of fat and good amount of flavor. and i can imagine how delicious it would be piled in a sandwich. after i was done with the cone, i wanted more but i had to restrain myself since we've already had lunch plans.

after all that good stuff, i wanted to look for hog island oyster co. since tyler florence recommended this place to have the best raw oysters in town - the best thing he ever ate - obsession edition. we looked at the menu, i was tempted (it's seafood!) but we decided to save this for my next trip here to san francisco.

we decided on our lunch destination like weeks ago.. actually, it might be months ago since ryan has been craving for malaysian food for the longest time. i wasn't too thrilled with the malaysian restaurant reviews in san francisco that i read in yelp so we've decided to drive about an hour away to cupertino for some good malaysian food that we've tried earlier last year at layang-layang restaurant.

our lunch included: chow kueh teow, kangkung belacan, fish head curry in claypot and a young coconut drink to share.

overall, the food was really awesome. i am a bit iffy on the noodles cos it's nowhere close to the good ones i can get in malaysia (d'oh). to be fair though, no malaysian restaurant in the US has been able to mimic the flavors of chow kueh teow in malaysia and it probably has a lot to do with the availability of ingredients. the flavors kangkung belacan and the fish head curry were both on point that i wanted to continue eating even though i was completely stuffed. oh, how i miss thee, malaysian food.

it's quite funny cos in response to all my twits on my food adventure over that weekend, one of my friends twitted:

looking back, it does seem like it, doesn't it...

that pretty much described my weekend escapade three weeks ago to my favorite, beautiful city of san francisco. this was my sixth visit so i honestly thought i've been to every part of the city. btw, this is going to be a super long entry..just so you know.

my lil getaway started with my 7am flight to san francisco which meant i had to get up at an ungodly hour of just before 4am to get ready before going to the airport. the poor cab driver has to drive me to the airport so early i felt a lil bad. the driver was pretty friendly... perhaps too overly friendly... we had some conversations about food and other stuff and had quite some things to talk about which was kinda nice, i guess.

anywho, one good thing about travelling this early in the morning is that i got a whole row in the plane to myself. stretched out and all, i was determined to take a nap before my exciting day ahead in san francisco!

when my plane landed at the airport, i was so refreshed by how warm it was. poor ryan who drove a lil too early from folsom got there about half hour earlier and had to wait another fifteen minutes cos my flight was delayed in chicago.

the day was definitely looking up, all sunny and warm and was in the mid-60s. perfect weather for just strollling around and driving on the steep roads. i've had the day mostly planned out, where i wanted to go and most importantly where i wanted to eat :)

my first food stop of the day was a sweet place i've been talking about ever since my last visit to san francisco: kara's cupcakes! but this time i went to their original store at marina since we've always wanted to try the mini cupcakes.

as we looked around, we were pleasantly surprised to see such a nice neighborhood with a ton of petite specialty stores and several restaurants. i suggested that we walked around the neighborhood since we had some time to kill before we had to meet our friend, james for lunch. i really love days like these - warm, laid back and fun to explore the quaint stores at our own pace.

as we were exploring, i found something i wanted: gelato at ciao bella. :) i've actually seen pints of ciao bella sold at fox&obel but have yet to find it in other grocery stores.

they had quite an extensive selection but i ended up with mango sorbet, ryan with triple espresso and james with strawberry. they were all so yummy :) but honestly, how can u possibly go wrong with gelato?

apparently after all that amount of food i had, i still had cravings for seafood. ryan called me a seafood fiend which i shamelessly agree..haha. i absolutely adore seafood. i mean c'mon, we were in san francisco where the fresh seafood is abundant and reasonably priced. we found ourselves at a fresh seafood vendor where they offered some assortment of seafood salads and warm dishes prepared fresh. at the front of the store, they even have freshly shucked oysters for raw oyster lovers.

the two i decided to get for snacks were tuna pokē (which means to slice or cut) and the calamari salad with bell peppers and onions. pokē is a raw fish salad in hawaiian cuisine. the seafood was fresh and it tasted pretty good although the tuna was overpowered by the sesame oil in the dressing.

we sat by the pier as we shared our seafood salad. ahh, this is the life...

the lack of sleep has finally caught up with me so i suggested coffee since ryan and james needed their coffee fixes too. peet's coffee was next and i got myself a soy latte and man, it was good. very good tasting bitter fresh coffee with a hint of sweetness from the soy milk. enough to pick me back up.

ryan is quite picky with his coffee especially because he needs a very strong bold coffee and he's been disappointed a number of times even at starbucks. but peet's coffee hit all the right notes with its freshness and coffee punch, just like they promised on their sign that says they set a timer to ensure that their brewed coffee is enjoyed within 30 minutes. he was so happy with the quality of the coffee.

as evening approached, we had to check in to our hotel in daly city before heading out again for our restaurant week dinner reservation at chouchou restaurant which would also be another blog entry on its own.

well, i've decided to split this post into two so part two coming your way real soon. :)

once again, i am celebrating chinese new year away from home. btw it's the year of the rabbit for those who are interested.. regardless i was gonna make the best of it :) i called my parents and they told me that they were working on a 10 course cny eve reunion dinner. since i was doing my own version of mini reunion dinner, i prepared three dishes. 

a fish dish is a must because "yu" which means fish is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance". i found myself a whole red fish snapper and steamed it with a thai sauce. second dish was a shrimp dish with shiitake mushroom and oyster sauce - the same way my mom cooks it for chinese new year eve dinner. i am so happy it turned out almost like my mom and when i took a bite, it took me back to the time when i spent cny with my family back home. the third dish was an asparagus dish with canned small clams and mushrooms. 

chicago is expecting what national weather service say could be "dangerous, multifaceted and potentially life-threathening" blast of wind and storm.  and i'm gonna be in the middle of it.. (well not literally, but you know what i mean)

according to a meteorologist at national weather service, the last storm of this potential magnitude to hit chicago was in 1999. the city record for the worst snowstorm was in 1967 with 23 inches of snow.  

a blizzard warning will be in effect from 3pm today until 3pm tomorrow.  we are expecting anywhere from 16 to 24 inches of snow which could set a new city record.

in the past years, there has been forecasts to brace ourselves for the "worst storm ever" often anticlimaxed with minor snow fall for the next few hours. however, it seems that the level of confidence of the forecast is pretty high according to tom skilling, a wgn meteorologist.

with warnings of whiteout conditions, the weather service urged people not to travel once the blizzard hits. according to wikipedia, whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility and contrast are severely reduced by snow. the horizon disappears completely and thereare no reference points at all, leaving individual without any orientation.

hibernation day could possibly be in store for tomorrow. i hope i have everything i need in my apartment: books, food stocked up and a warm and fuzzy blanket/comforter to keep me extra warm.. those in chicago, keep warm and keep safe!

tldr | blizzard and tons of snow happening in chicago today and tomorrow. stay home!

 as chicago redeye puts it (very smart with the cover, redeye), 

 this is going to be interesting.

*updates |

tuesday, 3pm | i left work a lil early today to try to get back to my apartment while the weather was still mild. the wind was blowing so hard that as i was pushed by the wind as i was walking. it's snowing pretty hard now and everyone is scrambling to get home early.

tuesday, 11pm | just received an email that work is cancelled tomorrow. yay! never had a day off due to snow before. snowing pretty hard with winds threatening to blow ppl off their feet outside. good thing no one is walking/driving outside cos it would be terrible! except i saw a cta bus driving on the empty street outside. this might be the real deal blizzard, people!

wednesday, 10am | more snow this morning.. it actually kinda looks nice from inside. :) the photos don't really do justice to how much it's snowing and how hard the wind is blowing.