We actually started with dinner at Ping’s Chinese Restaurant in San Rafael, which is consistently lovely and affordable at the same time. If you ever get to go, order mu shu pork for a starter, and do whatever it takes to get an order of the honey pecan prawns. Mmmmm…heaven. And the asparagus chicken and combination fried rice is pleasant too. It’s all served family-style, and at $10-15 a plate it’s a good deal (and we had a coupon!). And they have tablecloths and a quiet atmosphere perfect for a date. It looks a little strip-mall-dive from the outside, so it’s a place mostly only the locals know about. Try it if you’re in the neighborhood.

Then we headed south to the City, across the Golden Gate Bridge and over to the Palace of Fine Arts. We took pictures with what we collectively decided was neo-classical architecture. Swans in the pond. Very romantic. And free.

Then to Fisherman’s Wharf where Colin found the perfect parking place at Ghiradelli Square. We shared sundaes

and explored the rainbow of chocolate packaging and manufactory.

Then down the street to see the Cannery, look at the marina, and stare out the car window at the Coit Tower (which apparently wasn’t built to look like a fire hose nozzel, according to a random internet site I read that may or may not be a reputable source). A drive down the twisty Lombard Street and we were all too exhausted to go on.

Since I derive great pleasure from it and I don’t remember bringing it up here before, I thought I’d mention “Jeeves & Wooster.” It’s a comedic British TV series based on a set of novels written by P.G. Wodehouse back in the 1930s. As far as I know, it’s where the idea of calling butlers “Jeeves” comes from. Both the shows and the books are delightful.’

Colin and I discovered the show a few year back, but yesterday for the first time I acquired one of Wodehouse’s books, The Code of the Woosters. In the show, the main character, Bertie Wooster, is played brilliantly by a 20-year-old Hugh Laurie of current “House” fame (he’s British, by the way–I’m always impressed at his ability to change his accent).  Anyway, Wooster is a uselessly rich young man who goes around visiting friends and relations and getting himself into all sorts of hilarious trouble, while his wonderful manservant, Jeeves (played by the equally brilliant Stephen Fry), manages to gracefully extract him from it and pull together a happy ending.  And all this with silly, witty banter intertwined for the entertainment of all.  If you like dry-ish comedy, I recommend you check it out.  Oh, and Hugh Laurie singing “Minnie the Moocher” here is pleasantry itself.  Hee-de-he-de-he-de-he, sir.

Falafel balls from Costco

Updating my blog

Trying new recipes

Painting shows (Bob Ross’ happy trees…)

Checking on the garden every day…some of those plants grow fast, and some of those pests eat my veggies fast!

Listening to Colin practice the piano

Planning for the next family get-together

I’m cooking sans microwave for now, obviously.  I don’t know about you, but we use our microwave quite often.  I suppose I could go find the box in our storage room that holds our toaster oven and use that to decrease the awkwardness of heating up the entire oven for every little reheating activity.  It’s a convection oven, too, so it would make things heat up faster than our big oven.  Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of that until just now.

We’d never purchased nor priced a microwave before since we’d gotten one for our wedding, so the other night when we decided our microwave was unusable Colin and I were relieved to find out that there are many acceptable models under $100.  After reading through reviews and “most popular” lists on Amazon and Walmart and Sears and Target and Sam’s Club sites, Colin determined that if and when we buy another microwave, we should probably go for either a Sharp or a Panasonic 1100W 1 cubic footer.  So, when we get our tax return back (maybe this weekend!) we may take a little chunk of it and get a microwave.  Then again, I may see how we do with just the toaster oven and watch yard sales for a good microwave…