shabu-shabu!

Over the weekend, we partook in "shabu-shabu", a Japanese hot-pot, fondu-esque dinner experience like no other. It was awesome. Before moving to San Francisco, Finn & I had never heard of shabu-shabu and since being here, we've heard several people rave about it & have been excited to try it out. Our nice friend Bash invited us along Saturday night and we had such a fun time!

Bash starting everyone off with hot sake.
I personally adore how teeny the sake cups are.

1. Two large pots of broth are brought to the table and set on hot plates. We chose spicy miso & ginger chicken for our flavors. It takes about 5 minutes for them to begin boiling. 

Majid awaits, chopsticks drawn.

2. In the meantime, everyone creates their own concoction of sauce using the different ingredients on the table. You can choose from garlic, chives, chili oil, sweet soy sauce, and sesame sauce. They also bring you rice, udon noodles, and a giant plate of vegetables to add to the broth.

3. Then comes the glorious meat - extremely thinly sliced beef or lamb (sorry people who are grossed out by the thought/sight of this). I, for one, love beef. This is where "shabu-shabu" comes into play...

4. The phrase "shabu-shabu" is the Japanese equivalent of "swish-swish", or the noise of cooking the meat as you dip it in the hot-pot. You basically swish a piece of meat in the boiling broth and because it's so thin, it's cooked in about 10 seconds! Add some udon noodles, rice, a touch of sauce, some vegetables, and ta-da!

shabu-shabu in action!

5. Dessert is included (my kind of restaurant)! Green tea or red bean ice cream...both very good.

In addition to being absolutely delicious, dinner was so fun. It's such an involved and tactile experience in which everyone collaborates and shares or, in my case, drops noodles on the ground to the delight of the Japanese family at the neighboring table. We stayed for about 2.5 hours and left full and happy. I can't wait to shabu-shabu again. Not sure if it's meant to be a verb, but it is now.

. . .

homeless antics.

A list of strange things I've seen in San Francisco:

     1. One man threw a full 22oz beer can at a moving car while walking through moving traffic. He hit the car. It was loud.

     2. A woman dressed in all 4th of July themed clothing, throwing pops at people's feet who were walking by as she shouted, "THE FOURTH OF JULY IN 1955" (this was weeks before the 4th of July, by the way).

     3. A fellow walking through heavy traffic (seems to be a theme), addressing a man across the street who was approaching Union Square. Waving his hands he yelled things like, "GET OUT OF THERE, THAT'S MY PARK" and "GET AWAY" over and over.

     4. A woman confronting an invisible being, warning them against crossing the street..."you'll get slammed you orange-head!!". I've wondered several times if the illusion actually had an orange for a head. 

     5. A man literally just rolling around on the ground in the middle of Union Square. Like, really enthusiastically. 

. . .

the 4th.

Part of our afternoon was spent in magnificent Golden Gate Park where we heard a big orchestra play patriotic tunes at the park's 112-year-old bandstand. Afterwards, we settled on a sunny patch of grass, some of us throwing a frisbee, others just chatting it up & watching whiffle ball games. In the evening, we went to Ghiradelli Square to see the city's fireworks show over the water. It was around 55º and very windy, definitely my coldest 4th of July to date. We ate free samples of chocolate (compliments of Ghiradelli) and jumped around to keep warm until 9:30 arrived - the show was beautiful and worth the chilly wait. Fun indeed!

. . .

my people are here.

I am having a really fun week. 

Three of my favorite friends in the world (Caroline, Lauren, and Nick) are all here. 

Our little one bedroom apartment is filled to the brim and it rules.

. . .