To market, to market

There's no shortage of farmers' markets in San Francisco, and we've been taking advantage of them and trying to get most of our fruits and vegetables there. One of the most popular is the Ferry Plaza Market, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and since I work just a couple of blocks away I often swing by during lunch to pick up some veggies for the week. This market is on the bay with all sorts of food stalls and caters to the foodies of SF.

As beautiful as the Ferry Market is, on Saturdays we usually end up closer to our house at the Alemany Market, which is a little less glamorous, especially considering it's under the freeway in a big parking lot. It's closer to the house and the fruit and vegetables are CHEAP and since we live in Cali, still beautiful and mostly local. I have serious doubts about all the "organic" signs I see, especially considering the items are being sold dirt cheap ($1.00/pound for organic peaches -- I don't think so). Our favorite stall is run by a woman who sells these delicious stuffed Afghani flatbreads called Bolanis. Every time we're there she insists on giving us several samples each, even if we've tried them all and know what we want to buy.

I think one of my favorite things about the Alemany Market though, are all the reviews on yelp. They just crack me up and seem to sum up a lot of SF -- a little bit of the holier-than-thou attitude. Not only do the reviewers get to feel superior because they're shopping at a farmers' market, they get to review that market and talk about how much better it is because it's not as pretentious as the Ferry Terminal Market, which just makes the reviewer sound really pretentious. Some of the best quotes: "you don't have to wade through the yuppie fashion show that is the Ferry Building," "if you want overpriced produce served with a silver spoon, go to the Ferry Building," and "not the shi shi poo poo tourists of the Ferry Market."

San Francisco ride

Bimbo's 365 Club is about a 25 minute walk from the BART, and in general we haven't gotten that good about learning the other modes of public transit in SF because we like to walk and our house is on BART, so it seems to make the most sense to us even though it might not be the quickest way to travel.

Bimbo's is on a cable car line, however, which will take us directly to the BART. The cost to ride the cable cars is a little steep, $5 one way, and most people think of it as something just for tourists. But, SF has a little thing called the FastPass, which is a monthly pass that gives me access to the light rail (aka Muni), buses, the BART stations within the city and cable cars. (Bob doesn't have a FastPass since it doesn't include his trip down to Palo Alto). So, since my ride was free and a cable car came around the corner, we hopped on. It truly is a pretty sweet way to get around the city, especially late at night when there aren't as many tourists, and really nice that the city wants to encourage residents to use it too.

We had the added bonus of having a chatty conductor. I had my big, huge bag I use when I want to go to the gym after work. He told us it reminded him of the sotry about when Ann Richards was governor of Texas, and a member of the State Legislature wanted to pass a law that would require women to carry handguns in order to fend off sexual predators. Ann Richards replied, "Is he crazy, does he know how long it would take me to find a gun in my purse?" Then, as we were walking away from the train the conductor shouted after us, "Have a good night, don't get a hernia!" Nice to know he's looking out for me.

Bimbo's 365 Club

We're sitting at Bimbo's 365 Club waiting to see Alejandro Escobar, who Bob tells me is like the Latino Bruce Springsteen and Carrie Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter and fiddle player from Austin, TX.

Bimbo's reminds me of the Copacabana in Goodfellas, but we came in through the front door, not the kitchen. The main room is full of intimate round tables with reserved signs, and here in the lounge we're cozied next to the fire in red naugahide seats and tables with pink cloths. It's quite fabulous and you can read all about the history here.

The bartenders are dressed like Isaac on on the love boat and have martini glasses filled with ice to chill along the bar. I bypassed the martini and opted for a Miller High Life, The Champage of Beers. Should be a good show.