![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianSo far:
Tuesday: Ate at a very homestyle Chinese restaurant (Bow Hon) here in Chinatown where![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hattifattener's sister and her partner live -- the chicken was cut up with the bones still in, and the mushrooms were clearly those canned mushrooms in the little can at the grocery store.
Wednesday: Went to Berkeley, poked around the Cal campus, and saw the amazing botanical garden. Its Welwitschia is growing in Namib-Desert conditions, unlike ours at the UW greenhouse (search for "dewing"), and it has a great variety of indoor arid plants. Not so hot on the orchids and carnivores, but we're hard to beat there. Where it really shines is in the outdoor plantings. The "Crops of the World" garden was fun even in winter, and the Chinese herbal garden was sorted by general type of medicinal use while individual plants were labeled very thoroughly. The large areas representing different parts of the world were my favorites, though: tea tree! things called oak but not even in the right family! 20-foot dahlias! I could spend all day there.
The Other Change of Hobbit is a fine SF bookstore, very close to a BART stop. I got the Tiptree anthology #3, which is of course worth buying and worth having, though this time a fair amount of its content is available on the web.
BART is fabulously useful but so loud. Caltrain is much preferable if one is visitingoyceter in parts south. We went to a good Asian-fusion place that Wim (who has the receipt) says is called Three Seasons; ate duck spring rolls, yellow curry, green beans, and pad thai that was billed as pho; and got to have a little rattie time before the last train left. (Favorite figurine: Sasuke blowing fire!)
Thursday: Set out in the rain with intent of seeing multiple fabric stores and musems. Went to Britex, which is impressive in overall fabric stock but has fewer quilting prints than I had hoped. Bought nothing, though Wim's sister got a nifty blouse pattern (which they gave her in the wrong size). Admired lots of things. Remnants are not 50% off, more like 30%, but they tend to be quite large pieces that would still be useful for actual garments.
Went to the Asian Art Museum, because all of us really wanted to see the Hidden Meanings exhibit, which is about puns and symbolism in Chinese art, chiefly dishes. It was wonderful, and there was a brochure I could take away with the basics. Looking forward to decoding dishes in Chinese markets. We went through the permanent exhibits, too, though without giving them the attention they deserved after a couple of hours. Still, many impressive and lovely things, including modern pieces using traditional styles. Henry Wo Yue-Kee's work was wonderful at full size, and the Japanese bamboo basketry was astounding. Must go back.
Today, maybe Golden Gate Park, since it's not raining so far.
Tuesday: Ate at a very homestyle Chinese restaurant (Bow Hon) here in Chinatown where
hattifattener's sister and her partner live -- the chicken was cut up with the bones still in, and the mushrooms were clearly those canned mushrooms in the little can at the grocery store.Wednesday: Went to Berkeley, poked around the Cal campus, and saw the amazing botanical garden. Its Welwitschia is growing in Namib-Desert conditions, unlike ours at the UW greenhouse (search for "dewing"), and it has a great variety of indoor arid plants. Not so hot on the orchids and carnivores, but we're hard to beat there. Where it really shines is in the outdoor plantings. The "Crops of the World" garden was fun even in winter, and the Chinese herbal garden was sorted by general type of medicinal use while individual plants were labeled very thoroughly. The large areas representing different parts of the world were my favorites, though: tea tree! things called oak but not even in the right family! 20-foot dahlias! I could spend all day there.
The Other Change of Hobbit is a fine SF bookstore, very close to a BART stop. I got the Tiptree anthology #3, which is of course worth buying and worth having, though this time a fair amount of its content is available on the web.
BART is fabulously useful but so loud. Caltrain is much preferable if one is visiting
oyceter in parts south. We went to a good Asian-fusion place that Wim (who has the receipt) says is called Three Seasons; ate duck spring rolls, yellow curry, green beans, and pad thai that was billed as pho; and got to have a little rattie time before the last train left. (Favorite figurine: Sasuke blowing fire!)Thursday: Set out in the rain with intent of seeing multiple fabric stores and musems. Went to Britex, which is impressive in overall fabric stock but has fewer quilting prints than I had hoped. Bought nothing, though Wim's sister got a nifty blouse pattern (which they gave her in the wrong size). Admired lots of things. Remnants are not 50% off, more like 30%, but they tend to be quite large pieces that would still be useful for actual garments.
Went to the Asian Art Museum, because all of us really wanted to see the Hidden Meanings exhibit, which is about puns and symbolism in Chinese art, chiefly dishes. It was wonderful, and there was a brochure I could take away with the basics. Looking forward to decoding dishes in Chinese markets. We went through the permanent exhibits, too, though without giving them the attention they deserved after a couple of hours. Still, many impressive and lovely things, including modern pieces using traditional styles. Henry Wo Yue-Kee's work was wonderful at full size, and the Japanese bamboo basketry was astounding. Must go back.
Today, maybe Golden Gate Park, since it's not raining so far.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-23 03:43 am (UTC)Glad to hear you're having a good time! I wish I could see the garden, but I'd have to see it with you to appreciate it fully.
Speaking of which.....we must visit the arboretum sometime.....
no subject
Date: 2006-12-24 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-25 07:09 am (UTC)Also, the Asian Art Museum basic sounds awesome -- I should go check that out.