Friday, December 21, 2018
Vacation day. Breakfast at home with Patrick: pain au chocolat and croissant with Jake's Castro Kitchen Fabulously Flirty fig jam, hot darjeeling with milk. Rode Muni to Montgomery Street Station with Patrick. SFMOMA with Patrick. Ate in the museum restaurant on floor 5. We shared two items: chinese chicken and rice noodle salad (napa cabbage, scallions, sesame seeds, soy, cashews) and daily special: garganelli with italian meat sauce and grana padano parmesan. The deliverator brought us the wrong dish, and I had to exchange it. The problem was resolved within a few minutes. The salad was spicy even though the menu made no indication of it, but we were hungry and didn't complain. I would not order it again. Rode Muni home. Nap. Rode UberX to dinner at Absinthe with Patrick. Laurentana still water, Green Beast (Absinthe, lime, sugar, cucumber, served tall) for Patrick, Bienvenida (Mezcal, Cynar, blanc vermouth, ginger liqueur, orange bitters, stirred and served on the rocks with a twist of lemon) for me. We shared: garlic pretzels with Vermont cheddar mornay; half french onion soup gratinee; half veggie soup; cow burger (Piedmontese beef chuck and brisket, aïoli, lettuce, red onion, french fries, house-made pickles) with gruyere and mushrooms. Dessert: profiteroles. Patrick had a double espresso at the end. $128.60 before a $21 tip. Afterwards we went to SFJAZZ for a performance of Adam Shulman: A Charlie Brown Christmas with bassist John Wiitala and drummer James Gallagher. The performance was terrific. I particularly liked Gallagher's style and intensity. Between songs Shulman described some of the background of the music which I later reread in greater detail on Wikipedia. I wished that he had mentioned that Guaraldi was born in San Francisco and graduated from Lincoln High School in my neighborhood as well as San Francisco State which is also in my area of town.