Victory Lap

Before heading back to Texas for the Thanksgiving holidays, we celebrated Jared's 29th birthday with a collection of friends we have made since moving to San Francisco. 

We kicked off the rainy evening at Tony's Pizza, universally recognized as the best example of Neapolitan pizza in the Bay Area and according to our Northeastern friends in attendance that evening "not as horrible as most pizzas on the West coast".  Several delicious pies and more than a few bottles of Italian red later, we dashed through the rain to nearby Mojito, to check out a local funk band, the Grease Traps. 

Although the music didn't exactly blow any one's mind, it was the perfect backdrop to a rowdy evening with friends and a great way to ring in Jared's victory lap through his twenties....

Greatness Falls

This week, the unthinkable happened- Ming Tsai was eliminated from the Next Iron Chef.  For those of you that have had the opportunity to visit us here in SF, you might have met our new favorite quirky television chef (RIP Floyd- we love you, brother!) and star of Simply Ming- Ming Tsai.   Dubbed by Kelly as the Chinese Sly Stallone, Ming has kept us couch-bound many a Sunday morning in awe of his East-meets-West combinations.  

When Jared discovered that Ming would be a contender to serve as the next Iron Chef, we had no doubt that he would blow the other no-name chefs out of the water.  Unfortunately, Ming got a bit overzealous and often tried to incorporate the entire pantry into one dish.  He was also criticized for his "dated" plating tactics (apparently frosted glass plates are sooo 90's). Only one challenge away from his place as the next Iron Chef, Ming was eliminated.

We have had a few days to recover from this trauma and our anger at super-lame monkey boy host Alton Brown has subsided a bit, but we still feel confident that Ming would have been the best Iron Chef of the bunch.  At least we will still be seeing Ming, merging Yuzu and Ranch Dressing without missing a beat, every Sunday on PBS from the comfort of our mini-couch....

Baby Power

This has nothing to do with anything happening out here, but not everything has to be relevant to us. As an avid photoshopper, this is just an art form that I find to be outrageously hilarious.  Let me know if you agree...

Runway Ready

Walking down Mission street, I usually expect to see everything from pickled pigs ears to chargers for first-edition cell phones, but I was stopped in my tracks when I saw this lovely pair of Cinderella slippers in the window of a Payless shoe store:

In case you can’t read the label, they are designed by no other than Project Runway’s very own Christian Siriano, one of my all-time favorite designers from the show and winner of PR Season 4.  Apparently in  collaboration with Payless, (most likely modeling after Target's many successful top designer partnerships) Christian Siriano has an reasonbly priced but still quite "fierce"collection.

Since I live in a city that has a high level of appreciation for patterned socks with open toe Birkenstocks and hipsters in mom jeans with Amish-inspired print blouses (see the NYT's recent analysis of SF fashion), these beauts have yet to make it out of the house. Luckily, I have a few trips to Texas in my future and I know that their shininess and impracticality will certainly be appreciated there....

A Giant Celebration

Not surprisingly, we seem to be some of the only people in town feeling the sting of the Rangers' loss.  Its almost like people don't even care about Texas sports around here...

Foreseeing the possible madness on Monday night, Jared convinced me of the merits of watching the game at our favorite neighborhood gourmet ham and oyster bar Hog & Rocks, a surprisingly good place to watch sports.  Packed to the brim with Giants fans, even our lone Ranger fan (pun intended) from game 4 was nowhere to be seen.   After the post-win madness of Journey songs, tequila shots, and high fives all around, we headed to the streets to see how the everyday fan was taking the news.  This video pretty much sums up the feeling of things on the streets: http://missionlocal.org/2010/11/revelry-at-16th-and-valencia/. Luckily, we missed the later incidents of mattress burning and winner-induced looting.

But the fun didn't stop there.  Today, a victory parade with over 100,000 people in attendance was held in downtown San Francisco. 

Everyone in the city seems to be wearing orange and there is a marked increase in the number of games of catch going on in the park. It is pretty hard to not be impressed with the level of excitement, but given the amazing amount of heartbreak these fans have endured over the years and the fact that they won with a panda, a fearful beard, and the kid from Dazed and Confused at the helm, it is not very surprising.  So, the bottom line is that if the Rangers had to get beaten, at least it was by a team that truly savoured the victory with a full-fledged citywide throwdown.