May Wrap Up

sunset at Bodega Bay

Some favorite moments of May: witnessing dear friends celebrate marriage; having my best friend visit from out of town; celebrating my husband's birthday with a weekend getaway and hiking among redwoods; and as always enjoying San Francisco during meals with friends and meandering through the Mission. I'll be at a music festival this weekend, which is the best way I could think of to start the summer.



Eating (April & May): I didn't cover these in the April wrap up so here are the places I tried for the first time in the last couple months:

• Fable - I mentioned the ambiance in an earlier post... the food is great, too. (I went twice for brunch already, and ate on the pretty back patio)
• Marlowe - the burger lives up to its hype. (Another double: I ended up going to the burger bar a couple weeks later.) Plus, I'm a sucker for the kind of interior design featured here.
• Absinthe - I've passed by it in Hayes Valley a bunch, and finally stopped in one night after seeing a show downtown. Food was solid, and there's lots of tables, so it's a good option if you have a group and you're going to see a show nearby.
• Presidio Social Club - Went for brunch (got their hamburger w/"tomato jam"... delicious) and ate on the back patio... it's a good thing I don't live very close because I would go all. the. time.
• Duck Club (Bodega Bay, CA) - For an upscale resoirt, the restaurant was not as big a space as I expected (we ended up eating in the bar/lounge area, but it offered the same menu). Both the food and the service were great, though, so if you're visiting Bodega Bay and want a nice meal, check this place out.
• State Bird Provisions - This place has been hyped up so much and I was scared I had too-high expectations going in, but it was absolute fun and I will have to write about it separately, I'd feel guilty lumping it with all the rest.

Watching: HBO (Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley) and Younger are all coming to the end of their seasons. I just started watching Wayward Pines and am feeling ambivalent... maybe I'll just wait til Orange is the New Black returns.

Reading: Sadly I haven't finished a book in a while. I have a couple business-related books on my Kindle... maybe I'll get to them on vacation this summer. (Any suggestions, fiction or not, are most welcome!)

Since it's graduation season, here's Brooke Shield's heartfelt, pragmatic and entertaining commencement speech given at FIT.

State Bird Provisions (view from the chef's counter)