The power of a good meal and dear friends

For a few reasons, I took a break from photography and blogging this summer (…and autumn… and now we’re approaching the end of the year… yikes!). But one of the instances that brought back my love for photography was this get-together with 2 dear friends, Chrystine and Nicole. Chrystine hosted us at her house, and it could not have been more perfect.

We started off with appetizers…

…and some of the best tea I’ve ever had (ginseng oolong, I think?). It left you with a sweet taste in the back of your throat, almost like honey.

Then we moved on to the main course, cooked by Chrystine herself:

the best steak salad ever with butter-and-garlic roasted mushrooms and butter lettuce, with a side of potatoes au gratin with cheese and bacon (sadly not photographed because I instantly started eating it).

And even though we were stuffed, we still had room for coffee and chocolate.

But even topping that was the company and conversation. (~Thank you, N & C, for the lovely day!)

Take me out to the ball game: SF Giants vs AZ Diamondbacks

We were lucky enough to get some tickets to Tuesday’s San Francisco Giants game (the games are constantly sold out!).

It was Bruce Lee night, too.  (My pictures are sadly lacking our new Bruce Lee bobblehead.)

I was able to pick out pitcher Ryan Vogelsong warming up so many yards away. Gregor Blanco was so nice, always flipping baseballs into the stands.  (I didn’t see any Diamondbacks throwing balls into the stands. I’m just sayin’.)  And I saw Duane Kuiper, one of the awesome announcers, sitting out in the stands.

Overall, it was absolutely freezing, but so very fun. (Even if the Giants lost in extra innings.)

The Outer Sunset with Stephanie

Fun times with Stephanie exploring the Outer Sunset in San Francisco.

First stop — Outerlands. We got there before it opened, and yet the wait was still 1 hour and 45 minutes. We put our names down and traipsed off to nearby Ocean Beach. It was a extremely foggy (and dark and windy) day, but pretty typical for this time of year in SF.

After many, many attempts to get a beautiful scarf picture (like this one), we realized our scarves were seemingly made out of lead, so we walked back to Outerlands to await brunch.

Brunch was had (hello, Dutch pancake — you were amazing), and we went to Fort Funston for a beautiful view of SF to cap off the day. And Stephanie was able to capture my scarf a-flyin’ here.

PS: If Stephanie posts her pictures from the day, I’ll update this post and add a link here. (So Stephanie, please post your pics — the world wants to see them!) Be sure to check out Stephanie’s view of the day.