Hooray for Tiny Turkeys!

Ian and I have had off work since about 6 pm last Tuesday.  Yep, it's Sunday night.  It felt like a lifetime off.

We had about 30 minutes to hang out at home (read: run around the house straightening) before driving to the airport to pick up my Deedahn and Jeff. I had spent some time Saturday creating them a sign, and we came equipped. I guess you could say they were a bit embarrassed.

Not to go into all the detail of our time together, but it was nice piddling, relaxing, running around the city, eating. Wednesday was super crummy weather-wise, which also happened to be the day we chose to go to Alcatraz. 

Alcatraz is still cool--I'm not one for audio tours, or any tours for that matter. But the tour is very interesting, and well-worth the time.

Other highlights have to include that we stumbled upon an ice skating rink in Union Square on Thanksgiving Day and gave it a go. Ian and I always tried to go last year. We even went to the ice skating rink at the Embarcadero Center last year, only to discover it was the day sponsored by Starbucks--aka, free hot chocolate, coffee, and skating. Needless to say it was too packed and we never made it on the ice.

But this year, although warm outside, Jeff, Ian, and I donned our rented ice skates and took to the ice. Deedahn, holding numerous coats, sweaters, and 1 purse, waved to us from the sidelines. A picture of him so familiar to me through all these years.

What can I say? We're suckers for some holiday fun. I am pretty nervous in my old age, so I was a bit slow and wobbly. But at least my butt never hit the ground. And winging around to see the huge tree in Union Square (it was lit on Friday night) was not so bad, either. It was essentially a whole hour of a grin plastered to my face.

We got a late start with making dinner as a result, but Ian put out some tasty Mt Tam cheese (a delicious local favorite), and Deedahn opened the bottle of Kir Royal he brought back from Paris. Lovely. We had all the traditionals--turkey (our 2-year streak of tiny turkey breast--all 3 pounds!), stuffing, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, sweet potato biscuits, and pumpkin cheesecake. Not a bad endeavor.

The other notable favorite outtings (because why would I blog about the awesomeness of going to bed at 10pm most nights, or enjoying cups of coffee in the morning with my dad?): Golden Gate Park, our dinner at Magnolia, and brunch at Foreign Cinema.

Well, maybe also my walk with Deedahn in the morning after their arrival. It was fun taking him around the neighborhood--seeing Mission Dolores church, Dolores Park--then walking down 18th to Market and back home.

I may also want to mention our "brunch" Friday morning (post-Thanksgiving). It started with Deedahn waking up and having some cheesecake with his coffee. Then Jeff microwaving some mac and cheese for breakfast. Putting Tootsie on the TV. After I made some blueberry muffins, we all filtered in to watch Tootsie and munched on them. I also decided mac and cheese sounded good, so I made myself some. To which Ian returned that call, came back from the kitchen with his own mac and cheese AND pumpkin cheesecake. Which Jeff met, by getting his own cheesecake and heap of whipped cream. Which spawned Deedahn into asking for some mac and cheese. So we made him some, but not before he also asked for turkey. I finished us off by eating a piece of pumpkin cheesecake. It was a lovely disaster chain reaction of a morning, that found us coming out of our food / Tootsie coma at about 1 in the afternoon (still all sporting our pj's. my idea of perfection).

OK--back to other stuff. Golden Gate Park is incredible. Why don't I ever come here? I will start. We took the N pretty much to the ocean, which is also just incredible. 

Then we walked to the edge of Golden Gate by the Dutch Windmill. 

On through trails of fragrant trees, bushes, and flowers. All the way over to the Bison Paddock.

 

Yes, bison. Then further along past lakes and waterfalls, doggies, runners, walkers, bikers, lovers, kids, ducks. Onto the Japanese Tea Garden, which alas, was closed for the day.

On then to Haight Street. To Magnolia, which happens to be a place Jeff loves to eat, but Ian and I have never been there. It was perfect. We were chilled a bit, tired of walking so much. Sat in a booth, ordered our brews, and a delicious gastropub feast ensued. Stuffed, we walked down Haight, and back home.

So Foreign Cinema for brunch Saturday before they left--it's been over a year since I've been there for brunch, but man is it delicious. So glad we made that decision. We made the trek on a gorgeous Saturday morning. Sat outside, and feasted on the homemade pear and raspberry poptarts, a croque monsieur--and then we all had our separate dishes. It was delightful. Headed to the airport, and the only thing happy about the separation is the fact that we'll see them in a few weeks.

It's setting in a bit about how precious the time is...Deedahn is moving to Paris everyone (for those that didn't know). And it's so much harder to get there now that we're living on the west coast. It's like every minute counts. A rare thing that we can all be together at once. Even rarer come January, but we'll do our best.

In the meantime, Ian and I have been preparing for Christmas. The Christmas tree lot has moved a couple of blocks closer to our house, and we're readying ourselves this week to get one. It's good to see a few windows on the street donning lovely, bright lit trees. It's starting to appear everywhere--lit snowflakes line Market Street, wreaths and bows don the streetcars.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and I can't wait!