'But Cheeks

Cookiecrumb set it all up - lovely lunch on the prettiest day of the year in San Francisco (I think she ordered the weather, too) at the Hog Island Oyster bar in the Ferry Building to meet DancingMorganMouse and Mr. Brown after all these years of reading Morgan's comments and stories about her life in Oz on her blog - only to fall ill herself and miss all the fun! Sometimes, life is unfair.

My Beloved and I did have fun with Mouse and Mr. Brown - they are interesting, lively, funny and open to the San Francisco experience. How could we not enjoy people like that? Mouse is quite pretty, too, and Mr. Brown has lovely blue eyes, a bonus in my view.

The food was good, too. The Hog Island folks serve a grilled cheese sandwich that is my new gold standard, despite having no salami in it. The cheese is as thick as a Swiss shepherd's lunch, but melty all the way through. I don't know how they do that without burning the bread, but they do. Wonderful!

The clam chowder captured the essence of clams so tiny that I almost mourned how short their little lives were until I took my first bite and sip, when all regrets flew away. The broth was light and thin, not like the library paste served in many places, and packed with flavor of anise, herbs and ocean.

My Beloved and Mr. Brown's halibut cheeks with spinach and forbidden rice was the hit of the day. The halibut was deliciously mild and meaty and the dramatic black rice was wonderfully lemony-nutty-crunchy; I'd love to know how they made that rice!

We sat in the shade with the bay at our side, being entertained alternately by the new friends from Down Under and the very lively young waiter whose service with both food and wine was a marvelous performance, exchanging ideas and wishing that Cookiecrumb and Cranky could have joined us. We strolled the Ferry Building with coffee from Blue Bottle, admiring the goods and chuckling over the prices, then exchanged hugs at the end of the afternoon and promises to get together in Sydney next time.

Sometimes, life is really, really unfair.