Preparations
So, last night while the Things were at babysitting co-op, Hubby and I went into the City and did some preparing for “Hubby and Erica’s Excellent Adventure”. First, we walked all around Chinatown, not having done that in ages and ages. We looked for some kind of cheesy, awful touristy San Francisco souvenir to take to Zib, but didn’t fine one that seemed right. Actually, if it weren’t for Kiddo, we would have gotten her one or two of these little carvings/sculptures we saw in one store. They were small — only about 1 1/2 inches tall — and they were chubby, Buddha-like couples demonstrating different Kama Sutra-type positions. They were pretty funny.
From Chinatown, it’s only a couple of blocks to North Beach (the Italian neighborhood, for those who haven’t been to SF), so we ended up there. We really hadn’t been in the mood to eat Chinese food, but once we were in North Beach, preparing for our trip by eating some Italian food sounded like a good idea. We stopped outside this place to look at the menu, and a wonderful young Italian waiter talked us into the place. After a few minutes in there, I felt old b/c I was the only person over 40, but we stayed anyway. Nana would have hated it b/c it was about 80 times too loud for her, but we really liked it. It was a pretty typical SF Saturday night — one table had five twenty-something girls and two guys out celebrating one girl’s birthday (the waiter put his arms around her and kissed her when she closed her eyes to make a wish on her tiramisu), and another big table was a different birthday party where there was uproarious laughter as a very butch woman opened up her presents of lesbian sex toys (the pre-teen tourist kid near us got an eyeful, I’m sure).
Anyhow, we had carpaccio for our appetizer. Wow. Hubby had the crab ravioli, which had a terrific orange-colored sauce on it. Me, I had risotto with shrimp, vongole, e funghi. Oh, my gourds, it was wonderful! For dessert, we shared a homemade tiramisu at the waiter’s suggestion. Oh, and for bevande, Hubby had an Italian beer, and I had a lemon-drop martini (not nearly as strong as the martinis Adri makes; Hubby said he could have told me that w/o even tasting it!).
Afterwards, we walked around a bit more, then had coffee at Caffe Trieste. As we strolled around, I picked up a catalog from Biordi so that I can compare prices when we’re in Italy and know if I’m getting a good deal. In Washington Square, they had a huge movie screen set up, and hundreds of people were relaxing on the grass, watching Mrs. Doubtfire. We had a lovely evening. We may have to find an excuse to go back to The Steps of Rome one more time before we leave; it really was fabulous. I’m gonna like eating in Italy!
