Alphabe Thursday - "N" Is For New Orleans - July 21, 2011

Yesterday, I said a sad farewell to Martha Meaux Genin at San Francisco International
Airport as she headed home to New Orleans.  We met in that exciting city in September
of 1962 as we began our nursing studies at Charity Hospital and we have remained
friends for nearly 50 years now.  Our two week visit passed all too quickly, in a flurry of
long hours spent catching up on life, reminiscing on "the old days", dining out all over
San Francisco and nearby cities, and just cherishing our precious time together, knowing
that we might not ever again have the opportunity to spend so many days with each
other.  Somehow, once you reach the second half of your sixties, you really do come
face to face with your mortality. 

The day Meaux arrived, we started our culinary adventures with lunch in Daly City at
a lovely, peaceful spot called the Burma Cafe.  It is decorated with my favorite animal,
elephants, and all their dishes, that I have tried, are delicious.

This was my second visit to Burma Cafe.  We had two of the dishes I'd eaten previously
 - the wonderful lamb curry and their tea leaf salad, a crunchy delight of marinated and
fermented tea leaves, lettuce, tomato, peanuts, fried onion, sesame seeds, fried broad
beans and split pea.  We also had a stir fried prawn dish that was also superb.

The second night of Meaux's stay, I took her to eat at Zingari, a wonderful Italian

restaurant at the Hotel Donatello in San Francisco and, afterwards, we got to see my

favorite piano player, Shota Osabe, and vocalist Anne O'Brien.  Both had been informed

ahead of time that my friend would be in town so Anne sang one of our nursing school

favorites, "Scotch and Soda" - I can't remember how many of those we drank during our

three years at Charity - and Shota played, "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New

Orleans", as only he can.  It was such a terrific evening!

We went up to West Sacramento for a three day visit with my middle son, Alex, and

his lovely wife, Laura, and, of course, my two granddogs.  The first day, while Alex

had classes, we met Laura's mom, Christine, at a gourmet spot called Pizza Rock, for

dinner.  That was really fun.

This pizza trio we shared was an interesting combo - the first was arugula, tomatoes,

and proscuitto, the second was a scrumptious meatball pizza and the third, a dessert

offering, had apples, brown sugar, goat cheese and a caramel glaze.  We also had a

wonderful vegetarian Neopolitan pizza.  Their menu has all sorts of unusual combos.

Here's my son, Alex, with Taffy.  All he got for dinner was pizza leftovers but the study

paid off -  he got an 87 ( B ) on his linear algebra exam!

Bucky and Taffy HATE being relegated to the rug while we eat!  They try to inch

forward but don't make it far before a stern glance sends them back.  They really are

pretty well trained dogs!

Another night, we went to dinner at Manivanh, my all time favorite restaurant

( Thai ) in San Franicsco.  It's located near San Francisco General Hospital and I don't

exaggerate when I say I've probably eaten there at least 1000 times in the past 15 years. 

The Douangpanya family, originally from Laos, who own Manivanh, are like family to me. 

I've eaten at their home, am often invited to their family gatherings and even have a dish,

"the Carmen's Special" ( I concocted it ) , named after me!

This is me with my "baby" - Jeremy will be 27 in November.  He is a Cal Poly

graduate where he was a decathlete and he constantly is trying to get me to lose a

hundred pounds and to become healthier.

Meaux is the godmother of my oldest son ( 40 ).  She was the maid of honor at my
wedding to his father and practically did all of our wedding arrangements for the event
which took place in New Orleans.  My folks lived in Georgia and Ed and I were living in
the Boston area at the time.  Guess where we honeymooned?  SAN FRANCISCO!  I've
always loved this place!

This is one of my favorites, Manivanh's duck salad and the picture below is the Carmen's Special.

This past Monday, my dear friend, Silvia Solorzano, joined me and Meaux for lunch.  We

went to San Francisco's Richmond District to India Clay Oven for their wonderful buffet. 

I should have taken more pictures there but I was too focused on the good food!

Before we headed home, Silvia took us to the most amazing place in San Francisco's

Mission District, near Mission Mental Health where she used to work.  She'd been

asking me, for years, to go see this Buddhist temple.  I was so totally suprised to see

this serene and lovely place of worship in the city's Hispanic district.  I will do a post

on it another time so I'm only going to show a picture of one of the Buddhas inside. 

The nuns and staff we so wonderful and I left there with such a sense of peace.

To end Meaux's visit, we drove to Palo Alto where she lived as a young RN.  We tried to

find her apartment, without success, but we drove to El Camino Hospital in Mountain

View where she was a pediatric RN.  Afterwards, we went back to Palo Alto for lunch at

Staits Singapore Restaurant, one of my favorite spots.  I had a ginger drop martini ( I've

since perfected their recipe and, on special occasion, make a batch of them ) and we had

a fabulous meal. 

 Entrance to Straits

All Straits restaurants have a Buddha, placed prominently.  I suppose Chris Yeo must be

Buddhist.  He certainly shows his love for the world in the fine dishes he prepares.

Tuesday night, we stayed home and planned our next get together.  Hopefully, there will

be another one.  I am still hoping to make that six month visit to India in mid-October but,

as soon as I can after I return home, I'll head to New Orleans to see Meaux.  We can't let

too much time pass between visits.  Life is too short, especially for those of us over sixty!

I am participating in Jenny Matlock's wonderful Alphabe Thursday ( though Thursday is

drawing to a close ).