Bridal Shower Weekend

It's only two more weeks until another high school friend of mine ties the knot, so a group of girls got together this weekend to help her celebrate the San Francisco way! Here's a summary of our food adventures. Apologies, I was too busy having fun to photograph everything, but this is a great plan to follow if you want to have 2-3 days of fun in SF

FRIDAY
-Blissful Bites
-Academy of Sciences
-Blue Danube Cafe
-Cha Cha Cha's
-Humphrey Slocombe

SATURDAY
-Tartine
-2223 Market
-Miette
-Paulette
-Tal-Y-Tara
-home cooked jajang myun

SUNDAY
-Hong Kong Lounge dim sum

And now, here come the photos!

I was tasked with getting to the Academy of Sciences and snagging planetarium tickets while another friend picked the bride-to-be from the airport, so I stopped by Blissful Bites and bought a welcome present. I bought the six cutest cupcakes, which were pretty well received by a bunch of cupcake connoisseurs. I only had a bite of the Oreo one, but I really liked it. I was saving room for dinner, though, which was a night of tapas and sangria at Cha Cha Cha's in the Mission followed by ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe!

The next morning, we got up bright and early for not one, but two breakfasts. First, some of us stopped by Tartine because we realized there were too many in our group who'd never eaten there. One chard quiche, ham and cheese croissant, apple bread pudding, and a round of coffees and lattes later and the problem was remedied. The ladies were nice enough to accompany me on a remodel-related errand to Ceramic Tile Design. They had fun though, because the showroom really is more like an art gallery than a tile store.

After that, we met up with the East Bay resident in our group and headed to brunch at 2223 . This was the dark horse candidate in this week's eating adventures. None of us had ever been, but it turned out to be really delicious! I'll definitely be bringing people back in the future. The guest of honor had a fruit and yogurt parfait to keep up her vitamin intake for the weekend.

I shared a fried chicken salad, because I'd already had my fruit in the form of baked apples...

And everyone sort of dug into this delicious corned beef hash with perfectly poached eggs. This is one of the best renditions I've had; the only superior one that immediately comes to mind is the one at Canteen. And at about $10, 2223's entrees are really nicely priced for a San Francisco lunch. After eating all this food before the clock had struck noon, we took a nice walk to Hayes Valley for some window shopping, and a few souvenir purchases at Miette and Paulette.

I can't say we were hungry by mid-afternoon, but we were beat so we headedto Tal-Y-Tara Tea & Polo Shoppe in the Outer Richmond. That's right, San Francisco has its own polo shoppe where you can buy everything to ride like a fine English gentleman/woman, plus a lot of very nice tea to boot. The photo above is motorloaf; a carved out loaf of dark nutty bread. The center is used to make tasty sandwiches, which are then stuffed back into the crust for easy transport (get it? It's food for a motor trip!) The crust is then used for jam and clotted cream. Yum! We also had Harlowe & Sons China Rose tea, and a very interesting herbal blend called Forest tea. It was reminiscent of ginseng tea, but a little more palatable.

After Tal-Y-Tara, we just took it easy. We went for foot massages at a Chinese spa, occupying a private room and getting our cares pampered away for an hour and a half. Then we did some shopping and headed home, where N made everyone some of the tastiest jajang myun I've had in a long time. We spent the evening munching through the various treats we'd gathered and playing Bananagrams, the best new game of 2010 as far as I'm concerned. Then we all went home to bed and met up for a farewell dim sum at Hong Kong Lounge. Not a typical bridal shower weekend, but I think it was a lot more fun! I got to show off my city, eat more than I have in ages, and hang out with lovely people. I can't wait for the wedding in two weeks. Beautiful San Diego, here I come!