Dim Sum and Other Delicacies
Angelika Due to the bad weather (does El Nino actually exist?), we have had to move our weekend activities indoors to places with a roof over our heads. So, we've been visiting various museums and trying out new restaurants. San Francisco and the entire Bay Area is truly a culinary hotspot, and it's hard to decide where to go because there's so much choice. We thought it would be smart to visit restaurants that we wouldn't easily find in Germany. So, we first tried Ethiopian cuisine, which was good, cheap, and fun. The restaurant is called "Blue Nile" and is an absolute insider tip. You sit in dimly lit cubicles separated by wooden bead curtains and eat with your fingers. You tear off a piece of Ethiopian bread called "Injera" (imagine it like a pancake) and use it to scoop up the vegetables or meat. You drink honey wine with it, which is a real hit. Another culinary highlight: The world's best Dim Sum restaurant on Geary Street. Those of you who have traveled to Asia will know what Dim Sum is. Legend has it (or rather, my restaurant guide claims) that Dim Sum originated because Chinese businessmen loved spending hours in tea houses to conduct their business. Since one tends to get hungry during this, the tea houses began offering small snacks. This is still done today as follows: Waiters push small serving carts through the restaurant, and you simply take what you like, with each cart offering something different. There are clams, crabs, or mushrooms wrapped in noodle dough, called dumplings, spring rolls, mango cream, etc. It's definitely really good! Now that your mouth is probably watering, I'll end my excursion into the land of gourmets. On a side note, it's worth mentioning that Michael has enrolled in a course starting mid-February to learn proper wine tasting. It covers European and Californian wines. Since we have the Napa and Sonoma Valleys (wine regions) right at our doorstep and have already done some wine tastings, Michael has developed the ambition to learn how to distinguish a good wine from a bad one. The era of supermarket wine is definitely over.
