Foodie Fun in San Fran: the Trifecta

So, in case you didn't recognize from our last post, Scott and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on the 14th, Valentine's Day. Many of you men will notice, with jealousy, that Scott is able to tick-off two of the major holidays largely agreed upon by women to be "very romantically important". But wait....my birthday is also the very next day, February 15th....and so, the Trifecta of major holidays all in one weekend. Now I must add a disclaimer, we did NOT get married on Valentine's because we are sappy romantics - at the time, I was teaching school and happened to have a week-long break that started with Valentine's Day and we had to be practical! However, it is what it is....and now we have the Trifecta-effect. I recently said to Scott that I need a "distinct" day for my Birthday - sometimes I feel like I was born in December and my birthday gets overshadowed by Christmas. But....I digress! I'm not complaining in the least, rather, I recognize that I got to feel special, loved, honored, pampered for an entire weekend, and I loved every second of it!

This year, to mark five years of marriage, we decided to take a little trip to San Francisco - what began as a "get away" to a fun destination, ended as an unintended, overindulgent Foodie adventure of the most ridiculous kind, i.e., we were uncomfortably full the entire trip. Due to the fact that we were trying to squeeze-in a number of highly rated restaurants in the three days we "breezed" through California. And, oh yes, we were able to squeeze-in a few sight-seeing excursions as well, such as: Pacific Coast Highway, San Francisco Ghost Hunt, Fisherman's Wharf, etc. The "highlight" of those sight-seeing adventures occurred on a day that made national news on CNN for a severe-weather warning, my birthday, February 15th. We boarded the cruiser to take us to Alcatraz Island in not-quite torrential rain, but wholly underprepared for the weather: in sweaters, jeans, thin cotton scarves, and one umbrella. The boat rocked and rolled its 15-minute trip to the island and the rain worsened, pelting down on us as we disembarked and climbed a series of switch backs to reach The Rock. In the freezing rain we explored the "streets" of the penitentiary and I felt growing sorrow for the men who passed their lonely sentence in those despicably small, cold cells. Then, drenched, shivering, and somewhat seasick, we finished our walk down the Embarcadero and....bought another umbrella.
Feb.13- Lunch: Chaat Cafe, Fremont, CA
Dinner: Six-course menu at Masa's, San Francisco
Feb.14- Breatkfast: Dynamo Doughnuts, San Francisco
Lunch: Gorilla Barbeque, Pacifica, CA (we found this amazing place on the Food Network Channel - Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-in, and Dives; we waited 2 hours to order and receive our food, but it was definitely worth it)
Dinner: Roy's Hawaiian Fusion, San Franciscso
Feb.15- Breakfast: Left over Dynamo Doughnuts
Snack: Ciao Bella Gelateria, San Francisco
Snack: Ghirardelli's Ice Cream Parlor, San Francisco
Dinner: The Stinking Rose, San Francisco (a fun restaurant where everything is cooked with garlic; we even ate the garlic ice cream at the end of our meal)
Snack: Gelateria Naia, San Francisco

Did I mention that we ate a lot? We are definitely fans of food, and we were well-fed on this trip.