John sent me this New Yorker cartoon this morning, and it’s pretty much how I feel – I may be back at work but I’m still thinking about California vacation, and the final Dead shows.
Our last day in Californa, Friday, after our big road trip of Thursday, we decided that what we needed to do was work a little bit and then go out and find a good breakfast. We went to Zazie, in Cole Valley, a newly gentrifying neighborhood next the the Haight. I almost let a snarky Yelp-er put me off the place, but I looked around more, and found out that it’s woman-owned, been there since 1992, and pays a living wage rather than taking tips. The enclosed back patio where they seated us was about the most pleasant place to sit and eat I’d been to in San Francisco, all of which would’ve made it worth it even if the food had only been ok, instead of the delicious that it was. I had skillet eggs – fried eggs on top of a corn cake, with spicy tomato sauce and spinach, and avocado on top of the eggs, all served in a little cast iron pan. And garlicky fried potatoes. And a big pot of tea. They had all kinds of sophisticated-looking brunch drinks, mimosas and Bloody Mary’s and things with grapefruit juice and lavender syrup and champagne, and because it was the Friday of a holiday weekend almost everyone was indulging, but I felt a little over-indulged from Ad Lib the night before so stuck to the tea.
We went back to the hotel, by way of shopping at Britex and See’s Candies, and got packed, and by then it was time to head out for our last California adventure, Opera at the Ballpark. Which was pretty amazing – The Marriage of Figaro, broadcast in high-def on the scoreboard at the ballpark, from the San Francisco opera house. The sound was decent for stadium sound. Instead of suits and dresses and champagne flutes, all these people in jeans & t-shirts eating hot dogs and garlic fries. Plus even though we sat in the bleachers it was a sky box level, so nice bathrooms.
We traveled all day the 4th, so sort of missed any festivities, and fireworks.
Sunday morning we had an omelet with zucchini butter and spicy tomato sauce (made from my last two cartons of frozen diced tomatoes from last summer) and the ends of whole wheat bread and bacon. And fruit – strawberries and cherries and banana that I biked over to Whole Foods for. Then Mark went back to Chicago and I worked.
To make up, I ordered the last Grateful Dead show ever, on pay per view, on Sunday evening. So I got to see a few fireworks that way. I have all three shows in my iTunes now, too. Listening to Bird Song, from the 4th.
