Monday, November 1, 2004
Woke up, took a bath in the jacuzzi tub. Had complimentary coffee and orange juice from the minibar in the hallway. Breakfast in the dining room: coffee, orange juice, and Numi earthy vanilla healer (rooibos) tea. First course was 3 mini-courses: slices of banana and apple with yogurt, one piece of shu mai and spicy shu mai sauce, and a slice of Bob's special coffee cake. Second course was 2 slices of bacon, chocolate chip pancakes with pecan butter and maple syrup. During breakfast we chatted briefly with a woman who wore too much eyeliner (I wanted to tell her that she was beautiful without the makeup, but I knew it wouldn't make any difference) and her husband who talked about rare books, and we watched a black cat chase a squirrel into a tree outside the window. I took a nap while Patrick packed. As we left, the same squirrel we saw earlier made squirrel noises, which Patrick had never heard before from squirrels. On our way back from Sacramento, I had planned a surprise trip for Patrick to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, California. The factory is amazingly clean and super-automated. The tour is fascinating in that it takes you through the factory from an overhead perspective, so you can look down at all the activity below. Parts of the tour were not very interesting to us, particularly the gallery of "art" made from Jelly Belly jellybeans. In the gift shop you can purchase defective Jelly Bellys which they call belly flops—2 pounds for $7. You can try any of the 50 flavors at the sample bar. Patrick tried 2 new flavors—roasted garlic and apricot. All the candy seemed to sell for about $8 per pound, which seemed pricey to me. We ate lunch in the Jelly Belly Cafe, which, in hindsight, was a big mistake. If you remember anything from this review of the Jelly Belly factory tour, remember DON'T EAT AT THE CAFE. We were hungry, so we tried the medium Jelly Belly pepperoni pizza, which was shaped like a Jelly Belly jellybean. It wasn't inedible, but for $8 you'd expect something that tasted better than what you can get from the freezer section of the grocery and can cook in your microwave oven. The pizza had only 8 pieces of pepperoni on it, and it was overflowing with flavorless cheese—way too much cheese. We continued the drive home—no problems except I had to stop to take a short nap. We saw a funny sign advertising some new homes which said, "Start making memories!" Patrick took a nap while I tidied the apartment. Dinner at Spiazzo (415-664-9511, 33 West Portal) with Patrick: Caesar salad (shared), Patrick had ravioli naturale (but with tomato cream sauce instead of regular tomato sauce). I had penne al salmone. We shared a piece of tiramisu. Grocery shopping at Safeway on Taraval. Patrick talked to his mom in New Orleans. We watched Jon Stewart on Crossfire—a video clip from ggreg.com.