San Francisco

San Francisco holds a very special place in my heart. During my last semester of university I studied abroad at San Francisco State University. I spent 5 beautiful months exploring this incredible city. It has so much to offer and every time I return it feels just like home.

On our first night we wandered down to Pier 39 and around Fisherman's Wharf. Touristy yes, but it is a great location. My brother was a little tired of burgers (Can you believe it!) and felt like fish. Now I'm sure your thinking, great, a lovely little seafood restaurant, maybe some lobster, and of course clam chowder. Well sorry you'll just have to visit for yourself to find out about that experience. Because we went to Joe's Crabshack. Now in defence, at the time of walking in we didn't know it was a huge chain, nor did we know they dance on the tables, but the food was good and just the change in menu we were looking for. I had the fish and chips, G. had the fish and shrimp and chips.

The next night we took it up a notch in chain restaurants and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Up until this point we'd never ordered dessert after dinner because we were always too full from dinner, but we were determined to make it to dessert this time. It was definitely worth it. I had the most incredible Chocolate Fudge Brownie Sundae ever. It was three of the densest, fudgiest, chocolatiest (?? huh?!) brownie I'd ever had with ice cream, whipped cream and choc fudge. Amazing. Incredibly sweet and rich. I managed to eat one of the brownies and a scoop of ice cream and I was done, but the memory remains forever. In case you are wondering, I didn't have cheesecake because I don't like it, but my brother did and I think he thought the cheesecake was just as amazing as my brownie.

When we were planning this trip there was only one place my brother was determined to eat at and we had to wait until San Francisco to get our chance. In 'n' Out was on the cards for lunch today. I'd never eaten there before because I don't eat burgers and that's all they serve. This day I stuck with fries, and the thickest milkshake I've ever had. B had the double double cheese burger which he really enjoyed. I don't think it was his favourite burger ever but it lived up to the hype.

The Ferry Building. Oh the joys, the love of the ferry building. If you ever go to San Francisco go here. No seriously do it if you do nothing else. There is the fresh food, cheese, meat, bread, chocolate... on and on it goes. So pretty, so yummy. There is a small selection of restaurants as well. For dinner after In 'n' Out lunch, my bro was back on the burger wagon and we went to Taylor's Automatic Fresher in the Ferry Building for more burgers. This place is kinda a cross between a diner and fast food place. It looks like a diner, the menu is like a diner, but you order and pay at the counter. I had chicken tenders with fries and grilled cheese. G. had a burger (shock horror) fries and chicken tenders. He said it was the best burger he's had yet. That's a pretty big statement given the number of burgers he ate in two weeks. The chicken tenders and grilled cheese I had were pretty damn good too.

Our 13th and final full day was nice and relaxed. We slept in and then just wandered around this beautiful town. For lunch we stumbled into this really great little diner on Chestnut St, Bechelli's. It was probably the most authentic diner experience we've had all trip. I had grilled cheese with bacon, dripping with oil and delicious. G. had a burger (his 4th in a row, it really is getting disgusting at this point). Dinner was a not so authentic diner experience, Lori's Diner back in the city. Don't get me wrong, its a great menu, good food but well its a bit same same. I had chicken tenders. G. had his 5th burger in 3 days.

I have loved my brief trip to the USA. Lots of great food, and tons of shopping. I've bought a few cook books, some cookie cutters and a couple other bits and pieces. Check out the pic of my loot. The books I picked up were Baked, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and Big Fat Cookies. I also picked up the January copy of Food Network Magazine and an old copy for Everyday Food. Look out for some great posts about these in the future.