Certainly had a fun filled, packed Saturday with the beautiful weather.

We got up surprisingly early, 7:30am! On a Saturday, that’s almost unheard of, we usually only get up early to go snowboarding or if we have to really go somewhere. But it was nice because we spent a quiet morning at home drinking our coffee and having a bit of breakfast and catching up on a few things. Maxwell enjoyed our early rising so that he could peek out the window to smell the morning air. He’s in mid-sniff:

I took the bus down to the Embarcadero to get some goodies at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and just enjoy the beautiful weather.

My treasures for the day: strawberries,

Pepper jelly and beautiful Pomelos,

A huge artichoke and brussel sprouts,

Garlic Quark and Red pepper Curds.

I enjoyed brunch at Stacks’ in Hayes Valley. My friends Kat & Jon had some to pick me up from Union Square to join them for brunch. I ordered a short stack (2 pancakes) of their banana macadamia nut and coconut pancakes, quite a mouthful to say and an even bigger mouthful to eat! I only ate like 2/3 of the portion and packed the rest in a doggie bag. I liked the macadamia nuts but probably too much coconut.

After brunch (which Stacks’ is open until 3:30pm on Sat/Sun), I invited myself over to my friend Kat & Jon’s place to spend the afternoon (I hope they didn’t mind) since we hadn’t hung out in a while. They live on top of Russian Hill and have a great view from their building. You can see all the beautiful San Francisco landmarks.

The Transamerica tower, Bay Bridge, Coit Tower.

The new span on the Bay Bridge to the left.

Alcatraz (which I’ve yet to visit…)

The Golden Gate Bridge.

Berkeley’s Campanile… in the middle, that tall skinny thing.

I wish I had a better lens.

We met up with some of their friends for drinks at Bistro Aix before having dinner at Okoze Sushi, where Ron joined us.

I remember dining at Bistro Aix before but I didn’t remember them having such a lovely outdoor dining area. The heat lamps were on and we were seated at a quiet table in the back corner. It was quite cozy and the service was very attentive. We were only there for an hour for wine and appetizers.

We had dinner at Okoze Sushi where Kat & Jon recommended. They had met one of the sushi chef’s on previous visits, his name is DJ, and he has always treated them well with good food on subsequent visits. Tonight, Jon asked him to prepare some things for our party of 7, whatever he thought would be appropriate. We started out with some edamame and this waygu beef carpaccio dish. Yummy!

The restaurant was too dark so I gave up on taking pictures with my phone’s camera and just decided to enjoy the meal. We had delicious sashimi, an extra large special roll that had soft shell crab inside and some sort of white fish outside with siracha sauce and salmon roe, tempura, and a few other little things. Everything had really strong flavors and seemed more fusion cuisine rather than traditional Japanese. My only complaint would be that it was quite loud inside the restaurant so it was hard to have a conversation but then you can really concentrate on eating.

What a wonderful activity packed day in San Francisco…

Stack’s Restaurant
501 Hayes Street

Bistro Aix
3340 Steiner St (between Lombard & Chestnut)

Okoze Sushi
1207 Union St (at Hyde)