However finding a space is just part of the problem. I rarely have enough change to pay for the hour’s worth of parking I really need for my usual Saturday morning excursion. And sometimes I wish I could buy even more time so I could get a meal and shop, for example.
So I was pleased to learn (from one of the lovely women at the Golden Gate Meat Company) that the metered parking situation is about to change, hopefully for the better. A new city program, SFPark, is slated to begin a prepilot phase along the Embarcadero this month, replacing today’s meters with smart meters that not only can take credit cards (in addition to coins and San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority cards) but will support longer parking intervals.
In researching the parking meter upgrades, I learned that the same program will also collect and provide (via the web and text messages) real-time information on parking availability at meters and city garages. Finally, SFPark will use variable pricing to attempt to redistribute parking, so that, for example, you’d pay more at a meter on a block with high demand than you would at a meter on a block that typically has empty spaces.
Not hard-core foodie news, but definitely SanFran. It might still be tough to find an empty space on a Saturday morning, but at least if I do I can actually pay for it, whether or not I happen to have lots of quarters.
]]>This week, however, I no longer have the excuse that I gave myself for so long, which was that my day job kept me too busy. After 12 1/2 years, PC World decided it could do without my services, and so Monday I joined the ranks of the unemployed.
I’m going to be looking for paying freelance work as a tech writer, but in the meantime, I now have time to see if I can really do this blog thing.
The world has changed since I started out. Most notably, I can tweet my own horn on Twitter (sanfranfoodie) and Facebook now. And when I write something worth tweeting, I hope I’ll have readers.
]]>Sometimes I stop at K&L Wines (4th Street between Brannan and Townsend) before heading to Safeway; they have a lot of good wines in my target price range ($8-$15) and also sell some really tasty extra-virgin olive oils (my favorite is Las Brisas, a Spanish import).
Click here to see a map of my usual route.
Today I departed from my usual routine (partly because I was up so late setting up this blog that I overslept) and didn’t get to the farmer’s market until after 11 a.m. I went with my friend Harry McCracken. It was sort of a rainy day:
Here are some of my regular stops at the market, starting with the Acme Bakery:
Have you ever seen such lovely croissants? My sister-in-law (who is half French) and her partner (who is pure Parisian) say the croissants here are better than the ones they get in Paris.
Asparagus is in season and here’s where I get them. (They sell potatoes all year round.)
The Fatted Calf sells an impressive selection of charcuterie. I bought some chorizo in loose form for a paella I’m making.
The Fatted Calf sets up shop on the south side of the Ferry Building. I often duck in to stop at Mastrelli’s, a pocket Italian deli that sells Molinari sausage and a selection of other goodies. I took this photograph because it has a a De Cecco pasta type–mafaldine–that I’ve never heard of. It looks like skinny (about 1-inch wide) lasagne strips.
Finally, I invariably stop at Chue’s stand for green and leafy produce, herbs, onions, garlic and ginger:
I realized as I was snapping photos that no one stall shows the flavor of a visit to the Ferry Plaza. It is, after all, right on the Bay, only a football field or so’s distance from the Bay Bridge. I saved this photo for last:
This is me:
I love cooking, and I love a good restaurant meal. I live in San Francisco, a fabulous and world-renowned foodie mecca. So I’m going to start keeping a journal about the meals I cook, the places where I eat and shop for food, and my general musings about all things food-related.
It’s past 2 a.m. now, though, so first I am going to get some sleep.
]]>