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Rick and I just spent a great weekend mixing out and out gluttony with fresh air and exercise. This saw us take in numerous fabulous restaurants, including upscale BBQ joint Wexlers, and the old faithful, Luna Park (tip, follow them on Twitter for exclusive discount codes), as well as new brunch fave, Out The Door (soy sauce on fried eggs? Oh the deliciousness! And the beignets and iced coffee??). However, we also managed a fairly punishing 5 miler around Angel Island and Sunday saw us take miles in our stride in our pursuit of iced, creamy perfection. We were on the hunt for the best ice-cream that San Francisco had to offer…
While having dinner at Wexlers on Saturday night, Rick chose the root beer float, with root beer ice cream provided by that quirky SF gem, Humphry Slocombe. HS is a great, independent ice cream store in the heart of the Mission, and we’ve both been longing to go for months. The name? If you’re British, you might recognize it as a mas-up of two beloved characters from 80s kitsch comedy “Are You Being Served?” It’s a memory i’ve long blanked out of my mind 
So, this was our challenge. Did Humphry Slocombe have the best ice-cream in the city? Or did that honor fall to the other Mission classic, Birite Creamery? And yes, before you say it, i know that it’s kinda lame to only visit two ice cream stores. In our defense, it was hot, we walked miles between each one, and we wanted to end the weekend not weighing the equivalent of a baby elephant!
Both stores absolutely nailed the concept: individual tastes, artisanal flavors, local ingredients and quirky, fun takes on classic ice-cream flavors. All served up with a healthy dose of San Francisco hipster. Natch.
At Birite, fave raves were the Meyer Lemon, Roasted Banana, and Salted Caramel. Clean, bright flavors, really suckering you with their key ingredient. I could have happily eaten my entire pot of roasted banana, but it was time to hit the road and walk it off, en route to the next.
Over at Humphry Slocombe, things took a decidedly left turn. Rick sampled the Boccalone Prosciutto (yes, really) and settled on the Secret Breakfast (Bourbon and cornflakes, obviously), while i tried the Blue Bottle coffee and Balsamic Caramel. All a lot more left-field, and while most of the flavors did really work, it was a little harder to eat a lot of them. I think these are meant for sampling and tasting, not downing by the pint. Of course, i would never down ice-cream by the pint…
My winner? Birite Creamery. I love unusual flavors, but i also really like to enjoy ice-cream that tastes like really great ice-cream, and not like some very clever person has put together some unusual tastes on my tongue. Rick is more of an adventurist (watch him go crazy over foams!), but for me, the roasted banana and salted caramel at Birite were just out of this world. A little slice of heaven on a sunny Sunday morning. Perfect.
So, i think it is true that good weather shines on weddings (whoever said it was good luck if it rained on your wedding day was clearly just bitter after a downpour put a dampener on their day). October is usually a pretty safe bet in San Francisco, as most of the summer fog has rolled away, for a little while at least, and bright sunshine is the norm, day in, day out. But the last couple of weeks have put paid to that, with cold wind and even, gasp, rain! There was also a storm, horror of horrors, which is actually quite cozy and ‘Fall-like’ if you’re not a wussy West Coaster. And after nearly four years here, i’m a wussy West Coaster!
Which is why I was grateful beyond belief that the Friday of our wedding day was bright, clear and full of sunshiny goodness! We definitely got lucky with the temperature too, which was warm, but not stifling. Especially important when you factor in the two hours – TWO HOURS – of constant photos! Well, i guess our photographer, the very artful and creative Stanley from SJ&Kim Photo Creation, had to make sure he got at least one good shot
The day was pretty much perfect, and it’s really nice to be writing about it two weeks later. I still get a little thrill when i glimpse that ‘classic with a bit of masculine flair’ band on Rick’s wedding finger. It just makes me feel happy in a way that I’m not sure i could ever imagine before getting married.
One of the things i was most grateful for was the lovely, low maintenance and low key nature of the day. It suited us down to the ground, meant that we could focus on getting married, and not have to worry about seating plans, or wedding favors, or speeches, or [insert your own wedding chore here]. Don’t get me wrong, i love going to full on, traditional weddings, but it just wasn’t for us. I’m a firm believer that you should have the day that you really want, not the one that others want you to have. And that’s what we did.
The essential ingredients of our perfect day?
- A simple, yet elegant, black and white color scheme for our outfits. There was even room for a tiny bit of flair from my fabulous purple shoes. Sarah Jessica Parker might regret wearing black on her wedding day, but I never will. We stayed true to our own style, and felt fabulous for it! I even had TWO black dresses, for day and for evening. You know, just ’cause!
- Very lovely cream roses, from the very lovely Fleurt. We ordered them in 5 minutes over the phone, and they turned out perfect! So much so that we had interested buyers for the bouquet at City Hall
- Both of our very lovely mothers and two great friends at the ceremony. Rick was well and truly the alpha male in a group of five women, and there was much hilarity as our mothers walked through the security checks together, clasping my bouquet (as i’m allergic to flowers!). Let’s just say there were a few crossed wires among bystanders as to who wanted to get married… I also want to commend my friends for perfecting their own ‘pin-up’ stance as they practiced posing on each other while waiting for our photo shoot to finish! And there was also the funny incident with the forgotten signatures from the witnesses, thanks to a very busy JP (seriously, there were about 50 couples getting married that day)- good times!
- A fabulous and very long lunch at of our favorite restaurants, Spruce, complete with a wonderful surprise of champagne delivered to the table from Rick’s coworkers. A perfect cork popping moment! And don’t get me started on the delicious squash and chestnut soup. Oooh, i love those Fall flavors
- A wonderful happy hour with all of our San Francisco friends at 1300 on Fillmore. A little like the flowers, this was booked sight unseen by Rick and I (Yep – we are trusting. And busy!), but it was PERFECT. Sexy, jazz-inspired, a little retro and v stylish, it might just be one of my new favorite bars. And it’s local too. We were looked after so well, drank wonderful cocktails and passed delicious apps (yes, my favorite thing in the world – braised shortrib – made an appearance), even though Rick and I were too busy to eat anything! I’m so grateful to everyone for coming out and making us feel special.
- So after all those good times, what was a fitting finale to our San Francisco wedding day? Why, a shared cheeseburger and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds in our room at the Ritz Carlton of course!
For us, this day was a celebration of our relationship with each other, and with San Francisco, and it couldn’t have been any more perfect. So much so that we are planning to keep the good times rolling, with a series of family and friend events in both the US and UK over the next few months, culminating (hopefully!) in a proper honeymoon (after our great ‘mini-moon’ in NYC this past weekend) in Italy. Wish us luck on this arduous journey
Enjoy some unofficial pics from the day – I want to remember everything in minute detail, so am glad to share these!
Sometimes it seems as if even your free time is highly regimented. This blog is called Life Beyond The List for a reason, as it’s my attempt to chronicle some of the ways even an anally-retentive, list freak like me can chill out and enjoy the good stuff. BUT, then i find myself with a to-do list for weekend activities! This weekend, it went something like this:
- Spend quality time with boyfriend (yep, this actually made it onto an actual list – and yes, before you say it, I feel sorry for him too;)
- Go to gym twice, so i can kid myself those two Specialtys cookies last week won’t make it onto my hips
- Go to grocery store, so i can buy some healthy food for the week and not resort to take-out tacos from the hole in the wall on Divisadero Street, near our cottage
- Cook said food in advance for the week, knowing that there won’t be time to cook all the luscious-looking veggies and fish when i actually need to eat them
- Harangue myself for buying the same old things at Whole Foods, that are easy to make, taste good and fairly healthy. I always want to cook new recipes, but just never have the time. Turkey chili and roasted squash it is then
- Call my Mom back in England, for a weekly dose of local gossip, swine flu update, and progress report on my brother finally moving out, aged 29…
- Set up my new laptop, so i can transfer my ridiculous number of photos and have a proper repository for my blog materials
- Research a potential Fall trip to Chicago, only feasible if United points can be used. And we all know how easy and intuitive it is to book flights with miles…
- Wonder aloud for the hundredth time why my herbs (Italian Basil, Thyme and Sage if you’re asking) won’t grow any taller, but be grateful that at least they smell amazing
- Wring my hands in horror at the damage snails have wrought on my baby squash plants, and consider kind ways of torturing them
- Try and train an 11 yr old dog in the basics of obedience
- Walk 11 yr old dog for an extra time during the day, ’cause the sun is shining and i feel like a bad person if i don’t
- Facebook my friends that left me messages three weeks ago
- Finish and order my first Blurb book, of our new cottage, for my Mom back in England
- Buy frames for two prints that are begging to go on a wall, somewhere
- Work out new ways of preventing dog from going upstairs and chewing through baby gate, without damaging the look and feel of our cottage
- Decide on a theme (with boyfriend of course) for each room in cottage, so we can finally make some more progress in the decor dept (note to boyfriend – posters of classic Sci-Fi movies do not a country-style cottage make…)
- Sort through photographs to start planning the photo wall that Anh-Minh inspired me to create
- Visit a new restaurant or new bar (in this case, Press Club for delicious wine, and Lolo for quirky, amazing food), so i can at least kid myself my boundaries extend beyond SPQR and Delfina Pizzeria
- Try and walk past Gap without buying some new floral print item of clothing (oops, failed – take a look: http://tr.im/u7rt)
- See the new Harry Potter movie, because, you know, it has to be done. (Very good by the way. Nice and dark, which always appeals to me)
- Practice Lindy Hop before our two hour, Monday night class
Yep – sounds sooo relaxing doesn’t it?? And the sad thing is, this didn’t even involve hanging out much with my friends, something that definitely needs to be remedied for next weekend (luckily, August is full of good times ahead in that dept, so a little calm before the Margarita storm was actually kinda welcome this weekend).
BUT – the good thing is, it did involve hanging out with my boyfriend a lot, which, as he works every Sunday, was a good deal. It also involved one of the best massages i’ve had in a long time at Uncoiled (try it, and say i referred you – discounts in it for you and me!), and some old-fashioned, zero cost, zero stress, sitting on a chair on my porch, in the sun, and with a very happy dog, just the flowers, butterflies and wind chime for company. Lovely.
View from my back yard
It’s a constant battle of mine to actually switch off completely and relax. I’m not that great at it, and sometimes, it isn’t even that great for me. In fact, sometimes (and as noted with the Lindy Hop trials), it’s actually more therapeutic to engage my brain in something different and challenging, then just lie around, feeling wan and apathetic. But, i would like to feel less pressure to complete all these different personal projects, that can sometimes feel overwhelming. Even a three day trip to Calistoga has required military-style planning, and don’t even get me started on a Christmas trip to the UK. I guess i need to remember that sometimes, a day spent in the sunshine, listening to nothing but peace and quiet, and stroking a very chilled out dog, should be at the very top of my own, personal, to-do list.
What about you? What’s top of the personal de-stress list, and do you have enough of it in your life?
