Playing Housy

Saturday.  Another day in the life of Mr. Daniel Wingard
during his stay with his good friends and family (yes, both!) Chris and Leah in the Sanest of Franciscos! 
As per discussion had the prior evening, Saturday’s breakfast involved my solicitation for the delicate art of pancakery.  I put
together a dry mix the night before and we worked out the product for
breakfast.  The pancakes were strange – really quite unlike any pancakes I had
ever made before – they were spongy and cakey.  There were some different
ingredients (hey.. you gotta make due with what’s around) and a different
environment (they have this way-cool stove from the… I dunno.. Paleolithic era
which outputs enough heat to roast a truck, but is somewhat hard to
control).

 

After breakfast, there were some very specific house
buying duties to perform – a new place had opened up in south San Francisco and we
went down to check it out.  It was a nice place – and there was a really funny
discussion between Chris and Leah as to the level of suburbanness the property
extolled.  A careful distinction was drawn between ‘old’ or ‘classical’ suburban
– which was decidedly more urban in their opinion and newer suburban, which
would be wholly unacceptable.  I just smiled along for the trip!

 

The house was generally pretty great – huge storage, interesting design,
good quality and tons of storage with an exceptional price.  Apparently, it was
good enough that it really forced them to think about the level and type of
obligations that would go along with seriously purchasing a house.  We talked it
over during lunch at a lovely Vietnamese place on the ‘old South San Francisco
main street’ – I had excellent noodles!  Yum – superb broth and tasty
ingredients.  And spicy enough to clean out all pores, noses, sinuses, and some
clogged gutters on neighboring buildings ;-0  It was a beautiful afternoon
really – truly perfect weather.  We really enjoyed sitting outside having our
lunch, under a nice umbrella in the sun with a gentle breeze.  I really remember
how it felt to sit out there – it was so nice! 

 

In the end, they decided it simply wasn’t the best time
for them to be looking for or buying a house (after having spend several months
looking, making offers, discussing options, and visiting dozens of properties). 
I think it was hard for them to come to that decision, but if I think about the
situation as I saw it, it was probably the right one to come to for the time
being.  We took a few hours of downtime (some of which was spent writing earlier
parts of this account) and took a great walk along the beach, continuing the
discussion and enjoying the sunset in the Sunset. 

 

Saturday night was also a big treat: sushi!  Now, if you don’t know already, there is probably
nothing in this world I enjoy more than sitting back to a slow, rich, relaxing
meal that involves fresh fish, beer, and good sake. <- I felt so relaxed just
saying that.  I love sushi so much it’s not healthy, really.  I make a point of
saving it for special occasions and when I have it, I savor every moment.  This
was a wonderful meal too – wonderful selection of sashimi and some superb sake
to accompany.  Truly deep, pervasive bliss. <satisfied sigh, maybe eyes
rolling gently back into my head>