Saturday, April 6, 2024
Ran in place while watching part of Bologna 🇮🇹 Walking Tour - 4K60fps with Captions - Prowalk Tours Italy on YouTube. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, toasted sliced almonds, diced half banana; hot water. Continued reading Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. Housecleaning: vacuumed, washed dishes from dinner last night, changed air filter purifier prefilters, cleaned the bathroom, performed a butcher block wood butter treatment, weeded in the back yard, washed all three of the trash bins. Ate a popsicle and drank some water. Napped. Walked and rode Muni to Restaurant Week dinner at Starbelly. Prix fixe menu, $45/person, your choice of three appetizers, three mains, and two desserts. Cocktails: Patrick had smoke show (mezcal, anejo tequila, amaro, house mole bitters), I had passionflower (blanco tequila, passionfruit, citrus, hibiscus). Patrick had house-made dungeness crab and buratta dumplings with brown butter, garlic, and aleppo chile garan; sumac-seared Hawaiian tombo tuna with white butter bean puree, grilled little gems, and green olive salsa; and warm toffee cake with mascarpone and medjool dates. I had butter lettuce salad with crème fraiche herb dressing, caracara oranges, radishes, and dill; house smoked duroc pork chop with sweet potato puree, grilled green beans, and apple chutney; and salted caramel pot de crème with cornmeal-rosemary cookies. The appetizer neither of us got was house made chicken liver pâté with buttered bread, sweet onion marmalade, and grain mustard. The entree neither of us got was grilled bavette steak with crispy plantains, nopales, and heirloom tomato salad with spicy peanut salsa matcha. All food and drink were delicious. However, Patrick's entree arrived first, and we waited perhaps 10 or 15 minutes before mine arrived, and only after we caught our server's attention and asked why it was taking so long. Also, the menu said asparagus but what I received was green beans, and it seemed strange that they would make that substitution without telling you. Despite these issues we enjoyed our meal, and I tipped Gam G 20% because it was unclear whether the problem lay with the kitchen or the wait staff. Afterwards we visited Badlands because Patrick had not yet been since their post-COVID reopening. There was a very light crowd when we arrived. We got happy hour mezcal margaritas—a pair for $14 after tip, and soon afterwards the bar started getting full. We departed not long afterwards with intentions to return another day. We walked and rode Muni to West Portal Station. We visited the memorial outside the library for the family of four killed on March 16—there so many photos, candles, flowers, and small gifts. There was a longish wait for either of the busses we needed, and the arrival time kept changing to later and later times, so we began walking. While walking we saw from a distance one of the busses we were waiting for pass; there was no way we could catch it. So we walked the rest of the way home. To bed.