Fallfest 2015

Volunteering for Fallfest has to be one of the best secrets of San Francisco. Where else can you volunteer a few hours for a great cause and get to sample some of the best appetizers from some of the Bay Area's top restaurants? For wine drinkers, you also get to sample wine. I just drink coffee and eat gelato. Gelateria Naia was there entire day passing out different flavors of gelato.

Look at all the mini cannoli!

In addition to food and drinks, there were cooking demos, live bands, silent auction, BBQ contest by different fire departments, Blue Angels flying by, and people watching. You know who go there to show off their dresses or their bodies. It's always fun to see some outrageous outfits.

Best sample dish!

Of all the small plates I sampled, I loved the roasted pork in a spicy middle eastern flavored sauce with potato salad the best (see photo above). It was a very generous portion, too. Most of restaurants gave less than half of this serving. It was so good that I had to go back for a second sample.

I also got to see Chef Tim Archuleta from Ichi Sushi doing a sashimi cutting demo. He made it look easy.

It was another perfect day volunteering and eating in San Francisco. I just loved it!

Sashimi cutting demo

What I Learned at Million Dog March

A few days ago I found out that Million Dog March was going to take place today in San Francisco at McLaren Park. I thought it would be fun to participate, so this morning I got up at 6 a.m. and arrived at the park around 8:30. It was nice to get up early and drive over to San Francisco without its usual traffic.  McLaren Park is the second largest park in San Francisco (Golden Gate Park is the largest), but many people who came for the March today had no idea this place existed including myself! 

Once the March started at 9 A.M., it took quite a while for the crowd to get moving. A few dogs got snippy with each other. Fortunately I never have to worry about Kelsey even when other dogs snap at her sometimes. She would just back off and not let anything bother her. Most of the sponsors for the event had booths setup at the parking lot. Kelsey got a red Yelp bandana that says "The Original Yelper" on it. As usual, many people commented Kelsey for carrying her own stuff.

While marching along the route, we came upon a large oak tree that has a few interesting displays on it including the one shown below. I am not sure whether it's a joke of some sort as you can clearly see the "squirrels" in the clear box are not real preserved squirrels.  The text reads "Sammy & Shirley 1926-1932 died from starvation during the great depression. Preservation performed by taxidermist July 1932". Everyone was amused by the displays on the tree.  

After the March, there was a post-march festival with the event sponsors and other vendors. There was a live band as well. Everyone was checking out everyone's dogs. A young woman was quite taken by Kelsey. She told me that Kelsey looks just like her dog who recent passed away, and she told me her dog was a Hovawart. I told her everyone thought Kelsey was a mixed breed of Rottweiler and something else. She spelled out Hovawart and told me to look it up because that's what Kelsey looks like. I was surprised as I look at pictures of Hovawart, which means "an estate guard dog" and read its characteristics. Kelsey definitely matches most of the descriptions including getting along with non-canine pets in the household. It's an ancient German breed that's rare in the States, so people usually assume it's a mixed breed. I have seen many dogs including working at UC Davis Vet Med Hospital, but I had never heard of or seen a Hovawart before.  

Hovawart or Rottweiler mix?

Earth Day in San Francisco

Monday, April 22, is Earth Day.  On Saturday, April 20, many Earth Day celebrations took place through out the Bay Area.  I took BART to Civic Center to enjoy a day of Earth Day festivities.  Many  green merchants of the Bay Area had booths at the festival promoting their products and services. Rainbow Grocery had fresh bananas for everyone.  I ate 3 bananas yesterday while having a great time soaking up the sun and participated in some group art projects.

Holistic Hooping provided many colorful hoops of various sizes for anyone who wanted some twirling exercise. I was never good at hula hooping so I just watched others laughing and giggling with hoops around them. Chinook Books were being given away for free, which usually costs $20 each. It's a book of sustainable local coupons. I flipped through the book and immediately found a free pet wash coupon which normally costs $12.

In addition to free bananas, I also enjoyed many samples of Naked Juice and Odwalla while checking out some organic clothing merchants.

My friend who loves to dance ended up dancing on the grassy area with others wearing solar powered wireless headphones. I, on the other hand, sat on the grass carefully read through the entire Chinook Book and bookmarked all the useful coupons in the area.

As the festival ended at 6 p.m., we headed to the food court at Westfield San Francisco Centre for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to find Loving Hut Vegan Cuisine in the food court and were able to use one of the coupons from Chinook Book. Neither of us are vegetarians, but we can't deny how delicious Loving Hut's dishes are.

Earth Day festivities were filled with live music, free food samples, money saving coupons to take home, and feeling of peace. It's one of the many free local festivals I highly recommend.

Sunday Streets San Francisco

Kelsey inside of Embarcadero BART Station

Daylight saving time started this morning, so we lost an hour.  I could be working in the garden, but the weather was nice so I decided to take another day trip instead. Today was also the first Sunday of San Francisco Sunday Streets 2013. According to its website, "Sunday Streets are events that encourage recreation, community activities and fun in San Francisco. Sunday Streets closes stretches of city streets to automobile traffic, and opens them to people for several hours on a various Sundays throughout the year, so participants can enjoy a large, temporary, public space where they can bike, walk, run, dance, do yoga, or do any other physical activity. Non-profit and health organizations offer free activities and share information about their services during the event."

Roller Skater girls on Embarcadero Ave.

I have heard of these events in past years but have never checked it out.  Since I woke up early this morning, I decided to put Kelsey's backpacks, a.k.a. service dog costume, on her again and take her for a BART ride.  After taking Kelsey on the ferry last October, I was sure Kelsey would do just fine on BART. Kelsey entered and exited BART gates with me, got on and off the escalators and elevators with little confusion.  I could see that she just watched my feet and followed.

Embarcadeo was quite nice without the usual weekend traffic. We took a long walk down the pier. Normally I would go shopping in the Ferry Building, but I didn't want to push my luck and drag Kelsey in there, too.

On Sunday, January 6, 2013, San Francisco began charging for Sunday parking. Ever since that took place, I have stopped driving to the city on Sundays. Some people have been upset with getting parking tickets on Sunday. I hope with Sunday Streets, people can just leave their cars at home for at least a day.

Volunteering at Fallfest

The Ferry Building is just across the street

For second year in a row I volunteered for Meals for Wheels of San Francisco at one of its annual fundraising events, Fallfest. Over the years I have volunteered for countless non-profit organizations and for various social causes. If you love food, Fallfest has to be the best volunteer event in the area. It is "a celebration of the Bay Area’s best in food and wine. Leading restaurateurs, winemakers, mixologists, and epicurean artisans join together for an inspiring day of premier wine and food tasting, chef demonstrations, cocktail competitions, and panel discussions. It all takes place outdoors at Justin Herman Plaza, which is transformed for the day into a European-style marketplace, taking full advantage of the season’s gorgeous weather and the waterfront’s beautiful views."

My shift at the Silent Auction tent started at 2:30 until 5 p.m. I arrived at the event around 1p.m. to enjoy the food sampling as a guest. Not all volunteer organizers are as generous as Fallfest. I have volunteered for other culinary events that absolutely wouldn't allow volunteers to taste any food at the events even as the events were closing down.  In addition to tasting countless amazing samplers, I also won an one-hour docent led tour at the Marin Mammal Center by playing their Spinning the Wheel!

At the Silent Auction tent, I immediately recognized a few patrons from last year. Once again, they were generously bidding on various items that benefited Meals for Wheels. The auction ended at 3 p.m.  We quickly gathered all the auction items and lists to compile the list of bidding winners. We had 30 minutes to put all the winners' names on the charts for them to claim their items and pay. I was assigned to guard and pull out the winning gift certificates as the winners came forward. It was fun to interact with some of San Francisco's nicest people. I shall be back next fall!

Sunday in Golden Gate Park

Gold Gate Park Map

This morning I woke right before 8 am. I got up, packed up, and headed over to Golden Gate Park with Kelsey in the back seat. Do you know there is free parking in Golden Gate Park? It's limited to 4 hours during Monday through Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, it is unlimited, but you must get there early. I got to the park at 9 am, and there was plenty of parking. As I was parking, I could see one car after another pulling up and parked behind me. I was pretty sure by 9:30 it would be hard to find parking.

Banjo Stage of Bluegrass (photo taken 2011)

I can see why people love the city. Every weekend and every day there is so much going on. One can never and should never be bored in this area. Many of the weekend activities are free, and if you don't mind taking a little time to plan and pack your own food and drink, you don't need to spend any money at these events. This weekend was the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. It always runs for 3 days starting from Friday to Sunday. People come from all over the Bay Area to enjoy this free music festival.  It is also SF Fleet Week. I am not sure whether that's free, but I am sure if you know where to go, you can see the air show for free by looking up the sky.

The Golden Gate Park Band

Today there were 6 stages on one side of the park for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. On the other side, just across from De Young Museum, The Golden Gate Park Band was having their last free performance of the season. After I checked out several stages of Bluegrass Festival, I sat on one of the green benches in the shade to enjoy a different kind of music. Kelsey seemed to be pooped after hours of walking, loud music, and being surrounded by people.  She just laid down to take a nap.