San Francisco Travel Post

Earlier this month we traveled down to San Francisco, which quickly became one of our all time favorite cities. The minutes Mike landed we started eating our way through the city, starting with super trendy Katana Ya ramen, especially since it was just a block from the hotel. The Katana Ya ramen with fried chicken and deep fried gyoza was the favorite.

The following day we decided to head towards the Embarcadero, watch the ferries and have a terrific Peruvian dinner.

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Our Union Square hotel was situated in the heart of the City, where we had access to the beautiful neighborhoods of Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill—and best of all—Chinatown.



It was harder than usual to find a dim sum restaurant that served food from steam carts; there were a surprising number of dim sum restaurants that were mainly take out. After getting our fill of har gow and shu mai we headed up the hills to seek out the views from Coit Towers.



After roaming around in the neighborhoods all day, we decided to head to the Mission District where we joined the masses soaking up the sun at Dolores Mission Park and had some of the best pizza at Pizzeria Delfina. After roaming around the Mission District for a bit, we decided to head back to the Union Square and bar hopped until it time to eat again at Izakaya Ninja.




The next day we decided to check out San Francisco's Ocean Beach neighborhood, explore the Sutro Baths ruins and walk through Golden Gate Park. The weather couldn't have been better. We ended the night at Burma Superstar for dinner in the Outer Richmond neighborhood.



We love how diverse San Francisco is, especially when it comes to Asian food. Luckily we were able to meet up with a good friend who loves ramen as much as we do and drove us out to her favorite ramen restaurant in San Mateo.



And before we knew it our time in this magical city was over. Lucky for us, we'll be back annually, if not more. What we'll miss is the interesting architecture and incredible skyline—all that gold rush money really brought on a golden age of architecture and engineering.

California Dreaming

California sunlight, blooming bouganvilla, palm trees, warm Pacific Ocean breezes, fresh avocados, Meyer lemons and Spanish American architecture - hoping to find this and more!

All images - Pufik Homes

Hanami

In the dead of winter, Mike kindly reminded me that the cherry blossom hanami season in Japan would be a perfect place to celebrate my birthday. But I selfishly thought Mike was making the suggestion because he was aching to go back to one of our favorite places in the world. I quickly kiboshed the idea, stating I'd rather be on a beach somewhere. That is until my instagram feed filled up with images of hanafubuki or falling cherry blossom petals.

Sakura season to many Japanese represents a concept called "wabi-sabi" or a sense of imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. A reminder that beauty is fleeting and in constant transformation.  Very fitting for a spring birthday, don't you think? Spring also represents new beginnings so I think I will start planning my next birthday now because when the cherry and fruit trees in Portland start to burst I truly feel a sense of renewal. 

Photos from Hello Sandwich here and here.