head trip.

it's hard for me to give up control sometimes and i seem to be learning this lesson of late. the last eight months since my dad's accident have taught me so much about that. i'm not quite sure what it is about control and me. i'm not a superfreak about it, but i do like to know what's going on and i'm sure it's off-putting at times to say the least. i'm working hard to resolve that and just work on acceptance (and no, not in a weird new-agey way). this past weekend proved to be an excellent exercise in losing control - for fun.

my better half (and i never use that term lightly) surprised me with a weekend away. i wasn't really supposed to know where we were going (though he slipped on a "sourdough bread" comment), so i had some idea. we were off to san francisco.

i started the weekend on thursday by using a gift certificate to a spa our friends had given me as a "thank you" for doing some design work. my dad kicked in a service, so i spent a couple of hours basking in the glow that is pampering: a facial and deep tissue massage. why, oh, why hadn't i done this sooner? these used to be like eating or breathing to me several years ago. my point? highly recommended. go.

after flying to sf on southworst, we stayed at the opulent, rich-with-history palace hotel on market. and because my brother-in-law is one of those people who are obsessed with points, we used some of them to upgrade our room to a pretty sweet one with a view of the transamerica building (apparently a big deal according to our sf pals). i'm big on the comfort of hotel bathrooms and this one came with a dimmer, so it was a-ok by me. i liked the hotel because of the richness of the decor and the history. notably, the pied piper bar and the promenade area through which newly-married couples used to be carried by horse (it pays to befriend a history major). i fell in love with the glass ceilings on the main floor and over the pool.

i got to do whatever i wanted, so i chose to go to the ferry plaza farmers' market on saturday morning. yes, i've gone there many times before, but i love that place. got my fix of eatwell farm goodies, including some juicy strawberries that my nephew and i indulged in, and said "hello" to one of my friend's friends who didn't remember me. but seeing as i'm invisible, that's no big surprise. i also liked the vintage electric streetcars, which (oddly) i never noticed before.

i just like exploring the permanent stalls, too. how great is absolutely everything at miette? from the design of their stall (vintage but not overdone, super clean) to the design of their pastries and of course, their branding. i heart them. i also enjoyed the extensive (and so attractively displayed) unusual spice collection at boulette's larder. i was dawdling in sur la table and lo and behold! there was a book signing taking place by tyler florence, one of my chef crushes (hey, i like his food, too!). i thought it was so geeky, that i just had to buy the book and get it signed. (i won't talk about the rachael ray lovers in front of me.) he was kind enough to dog-ear some of his favorite veggie recipes. my better half asked rachael or giada? and of course, he chose giada, but said "rachael is great, too." yeah right. the line consisted of about 85% women. i'm sure they like his cooking, too.

for dinner, we went to millennium restaurant, an upscale vegetarian establishment. i have wanted to try it for a while. i'm even on their mailing list. i like the fact that they support organic food production, sustainable agriculture and (yeah!) composting. they do not use any genetically modified foods. the dinner was fantastic. i enjoyed some thai dolmas (not on their online menu) and a warm spinach salad. i tried the black bean mole torte and thought i should have had that. for dessert, and i'm really not one for dessert, we selected a corn meal strawberry shortcake. it was so great i nearly polished it off myself. i want to recreate that, so if anyone has any clues, please let me know! the other five diners were not vegetarians, but i felt that they were satiated and enjoyed the meal (well, my brother-in-law, the guy who orders two steaks for dinner, admitted to eating tacos beforehand, but - ). can't wait to go back.

we shopped at union square and i couldn't find a stitch of clothing that i wanted. go figure. we should have gone to union street or somewhere more "boutiquey." i did manage to pick up a cool backpack, that is now hurting my back. any suggestions for a better one?

on sunday, our goal was to take in an early-morning hike like this one, but the clouds came in and scared us away. i was looking forward to showing my better half the home of cowgirl creamery, since that's one of his favorites, but alas, we'll save it for our next trip. happily, the trip wasn't wasted. we got a quick coffee and chai at caffe divino in sausalito. god, i love their chai.

what else to do if we can't hike? dim sum! with the same gang that joined in for our millenium trip, we enjoyed a really huge meal at harbor village in embarcadero 4 (that left us oddly bloated). their house-made chili paste is too die for. probably explains the bloating. anyway, i know there are a ton of cheaper and probably better restaurants for dim sum, but i like this one because it's clean and it's good. it is also very pricey.

afterward, we loaded up the pack with some eats from acme bread and most unfortunately, no salami from mastrelli's (same owners i believe as my beloved molinari and also closed sunday), and headed back to la.

the only bad thing about the trip was that it was too short, as most vacations are. but then again, that's something i just couldn't control.

photo/art credits (why didn't i bring the camera?): cardcow.com; palace hotel; miette; cowgirl creamery.