A Thousand Errands
Such productive business on my first day in Fog City. I'm a bit sleepy so I'm going to chop up my narrative into bullet points.
FOOD: Eating out is surprisingly reasonable and the food is not only mouth-watering but is served in large portions. For a late lunch, I hoofed it to Little Saigon near the Tenderloin. At a place called Mangosteen, I had garlic noodles with fried tofu and steamed vegetables. Totally delish and it only set me back $12.80 including tip. The Safeway in Hayes Valley (the gay Safeway) was a bit on the pricy side and I forgot to pick up my tuna. I do have full confidence that the freshness and quality will make up for their steep prices. But in terms of value, the Market Basket on Somerville Ave runs blocks around its western competition.
PEOPLE: I'll have to be patient with this one but I feel like there's very few manners. Nobody says thank you to the bus driver. Everyone is either very hip or very homeless. I attended a spirituality discussion in the Tenderloin and the intelligence and wisdom of some of the homeless members jarred me from my prejudice. But as much as I read about the prevalent homeless situation, I was (and am) wowed by the sheer extent. There's a lot of psychosis here and people pushed into the margins. It's sad but also a good reminder that I need to maintain my center of gravity.
TRANSPORTATION: I don't know why everyone complains about the MUNI on-line. To wit, the MUNI is equivalent to the buses, Silver Line and Green Line on the T. Awaiting the #47 took only 9 minutes. And I found the F line, the series of historic street cars gliding down Market, to be efficient, frequent and charming. My first F car was a lemon-and-lime Los Angeles original. Throughout the day I also hopped on a San Diego, a Newark, New Jersey and even a Toronto model.
FOOD: Eating out is surprisingly reasonable and the food is not only mouth-watering but is served in large portions. For a late lunch, I hoofed it to Little Saigon near the Tenderloin. At a place called Mangosteen, I had garlic noodles with fried tofu and steamed vegetables. Totally delish and it only set me back $12.80 including tip. The Safeway in Hayes Valley (the gay Safeway) was a bit on the pricy side and I forgot to pick up my tuna. I do have full confidence that the freshness and quality will make up for their steep prices. But in terms of value, the Market Basket on Somerville Ave runs blocks around its western competition.
PEOPLE: I'll have to be patient with this one but I feel like there's very few manners. Nobody says thank you to the bus driver. Everyone is either very hip or very homeless. I attended a spirituality discussion in the Tenderloin and the intelligence and wisdom of some of the homeless members jarred me from my prejudice. But as much as I read about the prevalent homeless situation, I was (and am) wowed by the sheer extent. There's a lot of psychosis here and people pushed into the margins. It's sad but also a good reminder that I need to maintain my center of gravity.
Glad you're settling in nicely. I remember eating at a cafeteria-style bar/restaurant called Tommy's Joynt (honest) that I thought was good and very reasonable. Check it out. Corner of Van Ness and Geary. Roast turkey dinner with all the fixin's.
ReplyDeleteSandy, it's so funny you mention that. Tommy's Joynt is literally six blocks uphill from where I'm staying. There's also a Tommy's Tequila in Lower Pacific Heights but I plan on avoiding the latter.
ReplyDelete