The Saturday PhotoHunt - sponsored by Sandi - Dusk - June 13, 2014

Sandi has chosen "dusk" as today's photohunter theme.  I have a few photos
to contribute to the title.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India - the Arabian Sea

Looking out at the Pacific Ocean from Daly City, California

Sacramento, California as the sun sets at dusk

Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong, at dusk

Nassau, New Providence Island, the Bahamas, at dusk

I am participating in Sandi's 

Saturday PhotoHunt - "Dusk"

Add your "dusk" contribution 

to join in the fun!

Outdoor Wednesday, # 215 -Looking Out at San Francisco Bay From the Hills of Daly City - February 20, 2013

This picture was taken on a nice sunny day from Wembley Drive in Daly City.
It runs almost to Skyline Drive which separates the city of Pacifica from Daly City,
both in San Mateo County.  From parts of Skyline Drive, you can actually see
San Francisco Bay on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.  One thing 
I do miss when I'm living in India is my proximity to the ocean - especially when
 I'm living in places like Jaipur!

I am participating in

Outdoor Wednesday.

Add your photo to join in the fun.

Outdoor Wednesday #212, The Hills of Pacifica and Daly City, California - January 30, 2013

It really is so beautiful where I live less, than 3 miles from the Pacific Ocean.  On
foggy days, sometimes you can't see more than a few feet in front of you but, when 
the sun is shining, the water glistens in the distance and the hills are amazing!

I am participating in Outdoor Wednesday, # 212 -

 add your picture and join in the fun!

Nice Surprises - May 2, 2012

Recently, in Facebook, I was contacted by an adolescent boy I had mentored when
I first arrived in San Francisco over 36 years ago!  He wanted to thank me for being
so kind to him and for my patience and tolerance.  He went on to become a respected
engineer, not that I had a thing to do with that.  It is always nice, though...when
someone says thank you, after a quarter of a century.

This young man ( well, now about 50 ) is in the Bay area for a few weeks, visiting
from his home in Hawaii and we met for lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant in
San Francisco, Manivanh.  We sat there and talked for nearly four hours!  His
memory is so much better than mine, that's for sure.  He was able to recall all of the
folks that worked in the mentoring program and all the other kids that participated.
For a short while, all the years fell away and I was just starting life in this city by
the Bay!!  What a fun day it was.

I had another nice surprise, too.  Years ago, when I was eating at Manivanh, I told
the owners that I wanted to have a special dish with green beans, eggplant, and a few
other ingredients...but there wasn't one specifically like it on the menu.  "No problem,
we'll fix that for you!" Next time, I came in, Sam asked, "Do you want your
Carmen's special?"  I've eaten it so many times over the years as have other people
with me, then it spread to friends of friends, medical folks from San Francisco General
until today, I looked at the menu and, lo and behold:

This was my view as I headed out today from my temporary residence at my

friend, Silvia's house:

With that view, it's hard to remember there is misery and anguish in much of the

world.  I offered a prayer for world peace and an end to hunger and suffering

and thanked God for my fortune in life.  

It is always so soothing and serene at Manivanh.  Since their post-Thanksgiving

fire several years ago after Thanksgiving, they rebuilt and redecorated and I love

the special touches that bring the feel of Thailand to the Mission.

Except that she is Thai, I almost feel I should be saying "Namaste"

Here I am with my friend, Jeff, for the first time in over 35 years,

thanks to Facebook.

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 ).

Camera Critters #171 - Not Feeling Jumpy - July 16, 2011

My friend, Meaux, and I got back home to Daly City yesterday afternoon, to fog and
drizzle.  That didn't stop us from going out today for a wonderful lunch at Nick's at
Rockaway Beach where it continued overcast and misty.  The weather seemed to make
us even hungrier so we shared Nick's famous Dungeness crab sandwich AND a
fabulous seafood platter that had sauteed calamari, scallops, and prawns and fried sole,
scalone ( scallops and abalone ).

Before we went home, we stopped at our neighborhood grocery, Manila Market.  It
has all kinds of fresh fish and wonderful Oriental produce.  I had my camera in my purse
when I came across a plastic bin of live frogs that really broke my heart.  They were
all piled on top of each other, with the most pathetic looks on their faces.  If there were
some way I could have gotten away with it, I would have helped them make a break
for freedom!  There might have been a handsome prince or two in the bunch!

I am participating in  Camera Critters #171 .

Check out the site and join in the fun!

Home, At Last - Five Impatient, Inpatient Days!! - June 14, 2011

I did not realize, when I arrived at Seton Medical Center last Thurday afternoon, I
would not be discharged until a full five days later.  I had akready received IV
antbiotics Sunday night in the emergency room and began Bactrim and  Keflex,
oral antibiotics, the following day.  When I saw my doctor Thursday and had
showed only minimal improvement in the redness and swelling in my left lower
ankle and foot, she felt that I had to be hospitalized to receive "big gun" antibiotic
therapy. 

I pretty much opted not to tell folks that I was in the hospital since I really didn't
feel very well or social.  My last night, Phil Zaragoza, my dear social worker friend
and fellow traveling companion of yore, stopped by and that cheered me up a great
deal.  After sharing a cruise cabin and hotel rooms with him, in the past, I felt no
need to put on makeup and could just enjoy the support of having him there.  I
had not been in touch with how really lonely I was feeling.  My thoughts had often
gone to the disease process I had - cellulitis - which Mayo Clinic defines as:
" a common, potentially serious bacterial skin infection. Cellulitis appears as a
swollen, red area of skin that feels hot and tender, and it may spread rapidly.
Skin on lower legs is most commonly affected, though cellulitis can occur any
where on your body or face. Cellulitis may affect only your skin's surface —
or, cellulitis may also affect tissues underlying your skin and can spread to your
lymph nodes and bloodstream.  Left untreated, the spreading infection may rapidly
turn  life-threatening. That's why it's important to seek immediate medical attention
if cellulitis symptoms occur."

In addition to the redness and swelling of my left ankle and foot, I could barely
weight bear on my left foot or bend  my ankle.  I related it to the excess swelling. 
An MRI in the hospital showed marked denerative changes in that ankle and, since I
had an elevated uric acid, I might also be developing gout!  I do know the resident
kidney stones I have are uric acid stones so they may be the culprit for the
elevated uric acid in my blood..  My physicians will have to follow up with me for
that!!  With my usual bad karma, medications for gout are not good at all with my
gastric ulcer!!!  Nor are the ones that would help with the arthritis in my
shoulders and knees.  Why does a sweet old lady like me have such bad luck!!!

So, now I am home, both arms full of bruises ( I've counted 17 ) - one day the lab
came and drew blood three times.  As if that weren't enough, on two occasions,
my IV infiltrated and had to be restarted.  It took three needle sticks to get it
going the last time - kudos to Tess C., the evening charge nurse who seems to
have an incredible skill at finding an elusive vein.  She got my antibiotics
going again when the other two sweet nurses could not.  They were unwilling
to make another try!

I never felt well enough to get online to do my blog or respond to comments.  One
night, about 11P, as I was reaching for my little Acer notebook, I somehow,
managed to knock over the whole bedside table, sending it crashing to the floor.  I
think it woke every patient in the entire wing and, boy, did it send the nurses
running!  My computer is now out of commission and my desk top went to
computer heaven over three months ago.

My doctor, Alice Yan, is wonderful.  I've been seeing her over ten years and she really
does take the best care of me.  Also, as she did exactly one year ago, she had Dr.
Shefali Talwar consult, the most beautiful young Indian woman who is the area's
specialist in infectious diseases.  While cellulitis is not a communicable disease,
her knowledge of antibiotic treatment was important in my case.

It's amazing how exhausting being a patient is!  Once I got home, I took my
evening medications, set the clock for 10PM and took my nighttime meds and
one sleeping pill.  For the first time in months, I actually slept straight through
for EIGHT hours.  I do believe I'm on the road to recovery!  I must confess that,
as you lie there in a hospital for hours on end, listening to the bleeps of
biomedical equipment, realizing you are sixty-six-years of age, you are definitely
confronted with your mortality. 

Thanks, dear friends and family, for all the good wishes and support.  Hopefully,
by the end of the week, I'll be back to my normal abnormal!!!

Friday Flash 55 - The Nurse is Worse - June 10, 2011

I'm once again a patient,

And gumpy as can be,

Dragging around an IV pole,

Whenever I have to pee.

In spite of a shot of morphine,

And a pill I got for sleep,

I can't seem to get any shut eye,

For listening to machinery bleep.

And Seton Hospital blocks my favorite Facebook games!

I am participating in that charming Mr Know It All's fabulous meme,

Friday Flash 55 - surely you want to be a part of it!

Another spider bite! I woke up in the middle of the night last Friday to a severe stinging in my left ankle. By morning, my ankle and foot were completely swollen and I could hardly put any weight on my foot at all. I had hoped to wait until Monday to see my doctor but, when it kept getting worse and worse, I went to the ER Sunday night. They gave me IV and oral antibiotics and started me on a 14 day regimen. Today, I went back in to see Dr. Yan and she said, "You need to be admitted so we can give you multiple IV antibiotics." So that's my story. I really don't feel well. That's why I've been so poor about replying to your comments and reading blogs, which is almost my favorite pastime. Wish me well and, for those who pray, that might even be good!
 I definitely could use a few prayers.

Alphabe Thursday - "U" Is for Unexpected - March 3, 2011

It is wonderful living in the San Francisco area.  When one least expects it, the most
delightful things can happen.  Today, I finally got around to going to in to have lab work
my doctor ordered almost two weeks ago.  It was nothng urgent, really, just annual
studies that needed to be done.  I had to be fasting for them and, since I didn't go till
nearly noon, I was ravenous after the long wait while a dozen or so people went ahead
of me.

When I left, I turned around in the St. Francis Shopping Center up the street and, in the
far corner, I  noticed a sign that said, "Dim Sum Specialists."  That sounded like a perfect
solution for lunch so I joined the line at the counter.  What a disappointment.  Nothing
looked at all appetizing.  In fact, most of the choices seemed rather dry and shriveled up.
I mean, how dare they advertise like this in an area where dim sum really is almost on a
par with the best offered in Hong Kong!!  Totally annoyed, I left, enduring the rain again
and got back in the car.

As I put the key in the ignition, directly in front of me, I saw another restaurant, the
Burma Cafe.  I figured it would be as bad as the other place, in the dilapidated shopping
center and almost left.  However, my curiosity - and the fact that I had never eaten
Burmese food in my sixty-six years - got the better of me. I got out of my car and went
inside.  What an unexpected surprise!

The setting was lovely and serene, with statues of elephants and various deities and
flowers that brightened the setting.  While only one couple was dining when I arrived,
several tables were occupied by the time I left.



Connie, the young woman, who was the only one serving during the time I was there, was
very attentive and friendly.  She explained the dishes and made helpful suggestions.  She
explained that there were similarities between Burmese, Thai, and Indian food but said
that Burmese food was, traditionally, not very spicy hot.

Intrigued, I ordered much more than I could finish, knowing that my sons would be
more than happy to finish anything  brought home.



For an appetizer, I chose aloo puri, fried puffed whole wheat bread ( I had eaten that

before in Indian restaurants ), served with curried potatoes.  That was absolutely

wonderful.

Aloo puri

Next, I had tea leaf salad!  Connie told me that was their most "exotic" salad.  It consisted

of marinated fermented tea leaves, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onion, fried broad beans, split

peas, peanuts and sliced jalapenos.  Connie brought it to me, beautifully arranged on a

plate to see before she mixed it up.  I had to restrain myself from finishing it all because I

wanted to save some for my boys to try. 

Tea leaf salad, before mixing

Tea leaf salad, mixed

I also had garlic noodles, some of the best I've ever had, with lots of garlic, scallions and

BBQ pork.  The lamb curry with potatoes were fabulous - not spicy - but in a wonderful,

fragrant gravy which both sons deemed delicious. 

Garlic noodles

Lamb curry

I had no room for dessert though I did drink two cups of Burmese milk tea, a sweetened

tea - no spices like the Indian chai ( which I actually prefer ). 

The menu for the Burma Cafe is very extensive and there are many more dishes that

I hope to try in the future.  It is definitely a place that would be fun to try with a group.

That way we can all order something different and share!

Who would have thought that a rather dowdy shopping mall like the St. Francis would

have such an unexpected gem like the Burma Cafe.  I am so lucky to have stumbled

upon it!


I am participating in Alphabe Thursday - check out the site and join in the fun!