Saturday, January 25, 2003

I was tired all day today. Exercise and oatmeal. Napped. Patrick and I took MUNI to the Castro to return the movie we watched last night. We had lunch at Catch (2362 Market Street, 415-431-5000), which turned out to be the worst experience we've had at Catch. We waited a long time before we could place our order: one plain water, one iced tea, one fettucine marinara, one shrimp and crab ravioli. Our side of fries and a small ketchup dish arrived within minutes—before we even got glasses of water and Patrick's iced tea. The glasses of water arrived soon after I requested them from our fries deliverator. The iced tea followed shortly thereafter, brought by our waiter, Sean. Our entrees arrived within an expected amount of time after our fries were cleared (but the ketchup was mysteriously left behind). However, we had never gotten a basket of bread like other tables had, and since Patrick doesn't eat his pasta without bread, he had to wait to eat until someone was flagged down and someone else eventually brought us bread with an apology, "Sorry, guys." All the food was delicious—the fries in particular were like McDonald's fries but better because they were fresher. Food was prepared mostly very well. My water glass went empty during the course of the meal, and I also emptied Patrick's as well. Neither were refilled—no one even bothered to try. Patrick got one refill of iced tea with an expected amount of time. We declined an invitation to "expresso" and dessert. (Yes, he quite clearly said "expresso.") Sean cleared our plates, again mysteriously leaving behind the ketchup. During our meal, two women were seated next to us. One of them had to send her plate back twice: once because she had ordered a side salad but instead got a side of fries, then again because her burger was not cooked as she had ordered. We left no tip and decided not to eat at Catch again (at least for a while). Within seconds of leaving the restaurant, both of us felt sick in the stomach. (I'm not making this up.) To calm our bellies, we searched for ginger tea at Starbuck's, but they didn't have any. We found it at Tully's, then later found crystallized ginger at Buffalo Foods. Our stomachs were feeling better, but I didn't have the energy to go to Chinatown to see the Flower Festival, so we went home and I took a long nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: macaroni and cheese and homemade tortilla chips. (I was still full from lunch, so we only had snacks for dinner.)