Paul took me to the BART station and I went to the Embarcadero – I always feel exhilarated at the end of Market Street in San Francisco! I walked along the Embarcadero, snapping pictures – sculpture, the Bay Bridge, AT&T Park – and made my way to the Caltrain station (another new mode of transportation for me – I’d never had a reason to be on Caltrain). Rose had taken the day off and gone for a long bike ride in the morning; she picked me up at the station and we went back to her house. I was ready to get up and go, but it was nice to take a shower and relax a bit instead! We talked and talked.
The Coast Starlight didn’t have wifi for much of the ride – but timing is everything. I checked Facebook (what can I say) and noticed that Patrick, a fellow Morocco RPCV, posted a blanket invitation to the Giants-Padres game – I messaged back and forth with Rose that this would be a good way to see him (and the game) and it all got finalized just before I went out of range for the night. I didn’t realize that Rose hadn’t been into the city much – having just been on Caltrain, I was now an expert. How nice that Caltrain stops just two blacks from the ballpark! We had Caribbean appetizers and met up with Patrick and his friend.
What an exciting game! A sold-out pennant race game – Padres 3, Giants 2, but the crowd was enthusiastic throughout. Especially fun were all the panda hats for Pablo Sandoval, affectionately nicknamed “Kung Fu Panda.” We know now that the Giants won the World Series this year, but even then, one could sense some magic. It was Rose’s first professional baseball game! That made it all the more fun.
There are things to come back for in Palo Alto – the Baylands nature trail sounds nice, and on the Stanford campus there’s a Frank Lloyd Wright house – but this weekend was all about going into San Francisco; not because we planned it, but it just worked out that way. I was glad to give Rose the impetus to go there! We had a leisurely Saturday morning (some rummy was involved) and on the train it popped into Rose’s head that she wanted a Vietnamese sandwich for lunch – mind you, she hadn’t had one for years; her last one was back in Houston. Linda had wanted them too, but I didn’t know what she meant, so we didn’t go out of our way. Now that I know, I will try a Vietnamese sandwich in Seattle to see how it compares! I downloaded a restaurant-finder app and we walked and walked, through SOMA to the Moscone Center area. Not every Vietnamese restaurant has Vietnamese sandwiches, and the app made no distinction. One restaurant waiter tried to tell us where to go, but we couldn’t understand him. Finally, we were getting overly hungry, and I spied a cab and asked him to take us to another place on the list. Then I looked at his picture and name and asked him if he was Vietnamese. Yes – what are the odds (I don’t know, in San Francisco)? I asked him to take us to the best Vietnamese sandwich in town, and he took us to the place that (we realized) the waiter was trying to tell us about. Saigon Sandwich, on Larkin and Eddy – a tiny storefront with two seats and a line out the door. Why didn’t I know about Vietnamese sandwiches in Vietnam? The key is the fresh baguette – but the there’s a blend of ingredients that gives it a kick. I found a recipe in Real Simple; haven’t tried it, but here it is:
Banh mi recipe
Portuguese roll
Meat (the Saigon Sandwich one had chicken)
Vietnamese slaw:
½ Kirby cucumber – cut into thin strips
¼ carrot – cut into thin strips
¼ cups cilantro leaves
½ jalapeno pepper (seeded and sliced)
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pinch each salt and pepper
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