Birthday at the Ferry Terminal

There's a lot to explore in the Bay Area, but for the most part, we will do so during the weekends. On the weekdays, Dawn takes the BART downtown to her office and I work from home, though this will change in September when I begin heading down to Stanford a few days a week. Since last Tuesday was my birthday, Dawn treated me to lunch downtown at the Ferry Terminal along the Embarcadero.

The Ferry Terminal is a foodie's mecca. Earlier in the decade, the city refurbished the historic building, converting it into a marketplace filled with organic stores. As long as you have deep pockets, you can buy whatever gourmet food your heart desires: humanely-raised beef, fancy olive oil, or artisanal bread. (We're glad that we can satisfy all our lard needs while we live here at the Pranther Ranch Meat Co.) There was a farmers' market the day we were there, so we picked up some organic plums and grapes as well as some homemade tofu--it really is better than regular tofu.

The Japanese restaurant inside had some incredible bento boxes with crab cakes, seaweed salad, and cooked eggplant. My tastes have improved since I was kid; we used to always get pizza on my birthday. In the future, I'll probably have to go back to that tradition since I doubt I can find bento boxes in Syracuse half-as-good as the one I had at the Ferry Terminal.