Culinary Muse

Summer in the City

I realize that the rest of the country is sizzling, so it may be a bit unfair to flaunt our lovely, cool, SF summer fog. But flaunt it, I must. My new morning walk takes me down the hill, through Chinatown, across Broadway, a brief stop at Caffe Trieste for cappuccino, along Grant, another brief stop at the French American Bakery for an anise biscotti and then up the hill to Coit Tower. If I am there early, it is just a few ladies practicing Tai Chi and me. Any later than 9:45, and I am joined by lots of tourists, mainly from Germany or France. Weak $ = more tourists. Good for them, and us (at home).

PEOPLE WATCHING 101

One could easily become a habitué of the Sunday morning outdoor café scene in San Francisco’s Union Square.  The appeals are many.  Lush urban setting. Sophisticated people watching.  Table service.  On this 79 degree morning I have observed an extended French family with a total of eight children consume 10 cans of Coke, an 80-something Grandmother light up a cigar and a young Asian man stroll by wearing a Panama hat, white linen pants, pale blue sport coat and spectators.  Did he lose his walking stick?

It occurs to me that a degree in People Watching would require course work at this Field Campus.

Course Description:

PEOPLE WATCHING IN UNION SQUARE, SAN FRANCISCO (1 unit)

This course will work on your people identification skills in the field.Identification will be, but is not limited to, the following Classifications:

 
People with Parrots (single/couple)

Street People (mutterers, screamers)

Tourists (foreign, domestic, w/ & w/o children)

The Tattooed, the Pierced, the Sun Burned

The French

The Nervous

The Confused

I leave you with this final question: Why is that man sucking on his cell phone?

SIPPING COCKTAILS WHERE NO MAN WOULD HAVE TREAD BEFORE

The Muse turned to Mr. Muse Sunday evening over cocktails at the AMERICANO and said "If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would be sitting outside on the Embarcadero, sipping a cocktail and perusing a bar menu and that the temperature would be 70 degrees at 6 pm in July in San Francisco I would have called them a nut case". Yesterday’s nut case has become today’s prophet.

First, let’s talk about the flora and fauna of the neighborhood. To get an idea of what it looked like in 1968 watch the Steve McQueen movie BULLITT. The flophouse where Bullitt is assigned to protect a witness stood just a few feet away from the HOTEL VITALE. The movie gives you a good idea of what a dark and grimy part of town this was. The Ferry Building was a very scary place. Mr. Muse was once shooting photographs from inside the tower of the Ferry Building and he heard a loud hissing behind him. He turned around to face a cat-sized wharf rat up on its hind legs, baring its teeth. Lovely. Using his tripod to keep the rat with the glowing red eyes at bay, Mr. Muse escaped. Trust me. This was not an area that you would want to hang out in.