The last few months have been so exhausting, both good exhausting and bad exhausting but either way leaving me at a low emotional ebb. So Bear and I took a couple of days off to recharge our spirits. Luckily it happened when San Francisco Sketchfest was in town, so I’ve gotten to see a ton of really excellent comedy when I needed it the most.
Saturday night we drove into the city to catch a taping of one of the comedy podcasts I’m always going on about, Never Not Funny. The show was at 2, so we had our adorable babysitter come over to play with Atticus in the morning, and then drove in for a fancy lunch. After much consultation with Yelp, and a surprisingly hard time finding a nice place to eat lunch in a town known for it’s food, we decided on Gamine.
I ordered a brie and proscuitto crepe which I have to confess not liking a ton, but I didn’t even care. Bear got this mustard and apple cider glazed pork chop served on a bed of brussel sprouts, and then we got a side of the potato gratin. I devoured every last sprout and all of the gratin and then ate nearly an entire loaf of bread as I rudely used it to sop up the sauce on Bear’s pork. That sauce! I nearly licked the plate clean.
I wanted to try one of the delicious sounding desserts, but Bear wanted to walk off his meal before heading in for more, so we poked around a couple of the shops on Union street, I just about had a tantrum in an antique store when I saw all the delectable midcentury furniture that couldn’t come home with me, and we stumbled upon the chocolate shop that sold us those treasures in the photo.
I don’t really like chocolate (I know.) unless it comes hot and in a mug, but Bear loves chocolate, so he spotted the shop and wanted to get our dessert there. When he spotted a sign for gourmet hot chocolate, he knew he could make us both happy. CocoaBella is my new obsession. First of all, the hot chocolate they made me was out of this world. I chose a shade of chocolate and a flavoring, and what they handed me was like a warm chocolate hazelnut pudding. So rich I just drank it in little savoring sips.
Then we chose a few chocolates, but these are no simple chocolates. This place turned out to kind of be a chocolate gallery, with each selection carefully curated from the best artisan chocolatiers in the world. I had a pear one, a tangerine and chili one, and a lemon zest one, and I can’t stop thinking about them.
We got to our show with plenty of time to spare so I had a couple of minutes to meet some people I’ve chatted with over the internet thanks to our shared love of comedy nerd things, and then watch the show working on my knitting in between times I was clutching my stomach from laughing too hard.
The theater was right next to Chinatown and there was a big outdoor festival going on, so we had to zoom out of there as soon as the show was over, but once I saw we had driven past the historic City Lights bookstore, I forced Jared to stop and let me out so I could go check the place out while he drove around the block a few times.
An independent bookstore, a comedy show, gourmet hot chocolate, a walk in the city, midcentury furniture and a fancy French meal. If that is not a day that recharges my spirits, I don’t know if there’s any hope for me.