Secret Agent Josephine

My days here in the Bay Area are starting to blend. Not because they’ve been boring or all the same. It’s been the exact opposite. I’ve done something fun every day! But more because my memory is crap and I can’t keep track. The adventures have been many. I will skim over them quickly and share some of the highlights.

On Friday, Matt took me to the City (San Francisco) for a romantic date night at The Vault Steakhouse.  Matt is a Virgo, and he loves to plan everything far in advance with reservations and every detail mapped out to the minute. He is my exact opposite. Where I am impulsive and lack control, he excels in control. He is organized and thoughtful. He keeps better track of my schedule than I do. It is common for him to text me from Northern California to make sure I remember an appointment. He’s that guy. You’d think it would be annoying, but I find it endearing because I am absent-minded and always wonder where I am supposed to be. See above. My memory is crap and I think I’m getting early-onset dementia. Seriously, I worry about it at least ten times a day. But I digress.

The Vault was terrific. We had early reservations (of course) and had the whole place to ourselves. Our server, Nathan, was so polite and personable. He felt like a long-time family friend. He told us stories about where our wine came from and answered every silly question I had (I am a journalism major after all and full of curiosity).  We ate a waygu steak (omg, iykyk), which was out of this world. But the real star of the show was the iceberg lettuce salad. I know!!!  It was not your average iceberg wedge with bacon bits and blue cheese dressing. No, it was a ratatouille moment for me. One bite of crisp lettuce with raw garden peas, pea shoots, finely sliced slivers of carrot, blue cheese crumbles, and a curious egg-salad-flavored dressing sent me back to my childhood. I was four years old again, picking raw peas from my parents’ garden, breaking the shells, and popping the sweet green pebbles of freshness into my mouth. It was time travel. I was transported. So yeah. Can a salad be better than your most expensive steak dinner? Maybe!

Before our reservations, we also visited a Joe and The Juice coffee shop in the city. I probably should have started with that, but it was not quite as memorable compared to my experience at The Vault. I did really love the pink packaging and the fact that the coffee shop took up an enormous amount of space in a beautiful old building that, in pre-San Francisco-Depression days, would have cost an exorbitant amount of rent, but other than that, it was just another good cortado in a long list of great cortados that I’ve had on this trip. I’m so spoiled.

The next day, I met Cathy, aka PlumeriaCat (who often comments on this blog), at the Renegade Craft Fair in Fort Mason.  It was really, really fun. I’d heard of this craft fair before but didn’t realize how cool it was. I don’t know what I thought. I guess I thought it would be a bunch of crafty people making quilts, scrapbooking, or some other becky-home-decky Christmassy craft crap that I look down my nose at like the design snob I am. I can be so dumb sometimes. Anyway, when I got there, it completely blew my mind. It was a festival of art and a marvelous collection of all the best kinds of artists: comic strip artists, fashion designers, potters, print-makers, people making clothes out of vintage towels from the seventies, macarons with natural food-dyes, woodworkers, spice-makers, chefs and chocolatiers…. I was floored. I wished I had enough money to buy every expensive piece I admired. Not just because I wanted to own the pretty, shiny things but because I wanted to support these hardworking artists who support themselves by making things with their hands!! Every seventy-five dollar handpainted, hand-thrown mug was worth every penny! But, alas, I don’t have eighty-five dollars for mugs—sad face.

I took a ton of photos of things that inspired me. I left so motivated to work on my art that I almost wanted to tell Matt, “Sorry, but I need to get home as soon as possible and start some major project with a sewing machine and some vintage towels!” Of course I’m not going to do that because this month with Matt is precious but it did light a fire under my butt to work on creating more art that is cohesive enough to put in a booth at a craft fair someday. It’s a new goal I’ve never really had before.

It was so good to finally meet Cathy in person. We’ve chatted all over the internet over the years, so I knew she was a kindred spirit, but we hit it off famously, and now I’m thinking I need to schedule a wintertime trip to actually shop for some Christmas gifts.

Speaking of meeting internet friends in real life, I sent out a blast to every Bay Area person I know (which turns out there are a lot of them since I lived here while I went to college and visited a lot as a child), and I’ve spent the rest of my time here meeting everyone for lunch and coffee. I am a regular social bee!  This is not usually me at all. I don’t think I even have this many friends back home in Southern California. This tells me that I love it here, that my kind of people live here, and that if it wasn’t for my awful seasonal affective disorder (and lack of a healthy income), I should seriously consider moving here. Le Sigh.

I met Torrie for lunch at  Saul’s Deli and had my first pastrami sandwich ever. I know. How have I lived this long without trying such a classic?!! Beats me! East Bay does not lack in amazing food. My next few posts will probably be about all the fantastic places I’ve eaten at here. Torrie and I also hit it off (told you the internet was an amazing friend filter), and we talked so much (three hours?) that she was late for her doctor’s appointment! But that was okay because I was within walking distance of Bart, and the neighborhood was one of my favorite places to explore! I love it here. I really do.

More to come!