TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

You know what makes me go WOW about San Francisco? The adorable Victorian and Edwardian houses. I have a weakness for period style architecture and these beautiful houses are everywhere in the city and I just can’t get enough of them. They are just simply WOW. The 'Postcard Row' Painted Ladies on Steiner Street near Alamo Square. I was supposed to show off the beautiful houses but instead it looks like I am showing off the San Francisco skyline. Bummer. These wow-factor gorgeous houses are nicknamed, the ‘Painted Ladies’ of San Francisco and the famous ones are on Steiner Street facing the Alamo Square with the San Francisco’s Financial District skyline in the background. The dainty houses are often referred to as the ‘Postcard Row’ and I guess they fit in well to the picture perfect feminine representation of San Francisco, while the Golden Gate Bridge I’d say is the masculine representation of the city. There are about 48,000 -+ Victorian and Edwardian houses and mansi...

Last week, like the rest of the Dutch women in the Netherlands, I went to watch the ‘Gooische Vrouwen’ movie with Blondine, but before I delve into my quick film review, I’d like to talk about a restaurant I have discovered that night: Restaurant & Brasserie LUDEN (this restaurant badly needs their website upgraded, seriously) I was really impressed with the grandiose interior and ambiance of this restaurant — CHIC. Where have I been? Why have I only seen this now? The place was lovely, elegant and stately. Vintage as well which really brings the character out of this restaurant. And oh, I had to be careful with my hair getting on fire from those tall candles as they were about my height. And in eating places like this, you do not have to complain about the elusive customer service in the Netherlands. The unspoken rule of tipping in this country (based from what I understand how the locals handle this): Tip if you must, but most people here just round it off, so that is usuall...

It is a fact that almost everyone who comes to San Francisco has in one way or another have in mind the world renowned Golden Gate Bridge to experience. Either have a foto taken with the bridge as the stunning backdrop or truly experience this San Francisco icon by walking on it. Well, taking our fotos with the bridge as the background was definitely not enough, we have to walk on it! The opportunity came during the day of the tsunami warnings (which was downgraded to an advisory). We went down to the beach front after an hour of waiting on Telegraph Hill for the waves to arrive. Firstly, we went to the park (part of the Golden Gate Bridge National Recreation Area) just below the bridge where we saw a news crew as well patiently waiting for some tsunami action , afterwards , we went up to the lookout park and we were lucky enough to have quickly found a parking spot. Great! Now it’s time to stretch our leg muscles and walk on this renowned bridge! But before doing so we have to t...

While having coffee in Seattle’s Best Coffee Shop on downtown Market Street, San Francisco City, we spotted this Filipino guy with big printed capital letters of the ‘Philippines’ on the back of his jacket. Great advertisement, I reckon. Keep it up! Everything is Filipino about him, his jacket, his baseball cap, his looks of course and should I bet a hundred euros that he is singing a Tagalog/Filipino hip-hop song? He was humming to a tune that we don’t really know because he was seated outside the coffee shop and we have this massive thick glass that separates us, but in any case, I can only surmise, by the way he is dressed up, perhaps along the hip-hop type of music. Then we realized that he was actually filming himself. Oh wow, this is so cool! And the undercover agents in us thought—ah, we’ll help him, and film him as well =) Umm, are we breaching privacy laws here? Aw, not really =) There are unbelievably SO MANY Filipinos in California. When we landed in San Francisc...

Before the trip, I knew about the ‘Dungeness Crab’ specialty in San Francisco, so I made sure that I treat myself to these delectable crabs. It is by far the most popular and most commercially important crab in the western states of America. A lot of people depend their living on this ten-legged creature, as well as the palates of many gastronomic sea food lovers, like me. And although these crabs are not as massive as the king crabs you see on Discovery Channel’s ‘The Deadliest Catch’ series (I have watched this quite a few times, like, last night), they are still quite big for individual consumption. OK, maybe their size is just good enough =) So where to go to get this sea fare goodness? I like eating them at home or somewhere where it is not awkward to make your hands dirty and stinky, and your cheeks spattered with crab juice (eww, I know! haha), but for this Dungeness crab experience, I thought it’s best to eat them raw, right on where it was originally marketed, on the st...

Two companies that profited from the California gold rush, managed to engrave their distinct brand on San Francisco's hills and live through the decades, in fact over a century. Boudin Bakery and Ghirardelli Chocolate Company are one of the oldest culinary companies that exists in the USA today. BOUDIN BAKERY Boudin Bakery, founded by French baker and immigrant, Isidore Boudin is largely known for its sourdough bread; a bread that is indeed sour because of the bacteria in it--a wild yeast or so it is called which makes the bread taste a bit acerbic. This yeast was successfully developed more than a century ago by Boudin, and the same method is still traditionally followed, up to this day. The best known Boudin sourdough bread is the sourdough bowl that goes with Clam Chowder soup, see here for my post: Hot Clam Chowder in Sourdough Bread , a very typically San Franciscan dish. Its flagship bakery in Fisherman’s Wharf is also a museum. I didn’t go into the museum but did w...