Golden Gate Park, Chinatown and The Mission

I’m in love with California. There, I said it. I know everyone rolls their eyes when they hear people talk about California, but this state is so great. With the exception of insanely expensive gas, food and rent, it has a lot to offer and you truly get what you pay for. And I can attest to that because as I am writing this, I am sipping on a $4.50 mint mojito iced coffee from PhilzCoffee…words cannot describe.



But back to my point about loving California- I went into San Francisco earlier this week with two of my roommates and had an absolute blast. The day began at Golden Gate Park, which I was expecting to mirror NYC’s Central Park, but this park has so much more (no offense, I still love Central Park). Complete with an art museum, science museum, Japanese tea garden and a ton of other gems, we settled on walking through the 100 acre+ botanical gardens. After about 2 hours of walking, we worked up quite the appetite and decided to head into Chinatown to grab some dimsum and moon cakes. Another lesson I have quickly learned: always bring cash into Chinatown because they do not take credit cards and get very upset with you when you walk out of their shop empty handed. Every shop in Chinatown is tiny and packed with people ordering dumplings, noodles and baked goods I had never seen before. It was so hard to pick what I wanted, partly because it all looked delicious and partly because I had no idea what any of it was. My roommate Margaret, the life saver, has spent time in China so she knew what a lot of the dishes were and forced me to try my first Moon cake. Moon cakes are incredibly dense and have a cooked egg in the center. Sounds a bit strange, but it tasted like a savory fig newton…with a ton of calories. If that wasn’t enough, we went to a fortune cookie factory and got free samples of the warm flat cookies that two women fold into the treats we get in our take-out bags, cookie after cookie, day after day. To settle our full bellies, we popped into a tea shop for some free tastings and had the funniest older man brew some delicious samples of jasmine tea. As we sat at the bar, he would yell at innocent people outside to “Come in and drink some tea! Good for your health, keeps you young and sexy like me!” Free tea, free entertainment.

Our adventure continued to Delores park, which is in the Mission area of the city. There were children playing on the nearby playground, couples snuggling on blankets, and groups of friends listening to music and catching some afternoon sun. As I watched these people enjoying their afternoons and looked at the city from where I sat on the hill, I thought to myself how lucky I am to I have this opportunity. I know I keep saying it, but I feel like I have to pinch myself after every adventure I have here. This is what its like to take risks. This is what its like to try new things. This is what its like to work toward something you want. This is what its like to live.




I could go on for hours about how neat San Francisco is but I am trying to keep my posts brief and post more often because A LOT goes on around here and its getting hard to keep up.

Today also marks ONE whole month of me living here! It has flown by and I cant believe we are already preparing for summer. The farm has been in hustle mode, with our booth at the farmers market opening this week, rows of cover crops are being plucked to make room for summer veggies and camp counselors arrive for training next month. Its about to get crazy around here!