As I walked around the San Francisco Orchid Society's 2010 Pacific Orchid Expo entitled Carnaval! (Yes, with a startling exclamation mark, please), I realized that I knew very little about these exotic fleurs. I had the notion that orchids were merely ornamental and pretty, but my original idea was very quickly obliterated as I saw the outstanding variety and diversity the expo had to offer.As you can see in these pictures, orchids come in a different sizes, colors and shapes. Boobsie even bought one called "Pagan Love Song"...hmmm very exotic.
There were even really scary ones that were aptly named Draculas! No pictures of draculas made it to this post, though. I did not want to give you nightmares. However, please enjoy these pictures I took of the orchids I thought stood out the most and if you're so inclined, you should mark your calendars for next years show. I know I will, for scary as some of them may appear, most of them were just extraordinarily beautiful. I'll need my orchid fix next year, for sure.
"What? You've never had weekend breakfast at Tartine? Oh, gosh you should go and have their breadpudding or their morningbuns. To die for!".I've been hearing this forever and God knows, I've thought about it and planned it, but somehow it never panned out. Something about waking up early on weekends just totally messes up my inner wirings. Last weekend I finally bit the bullet and made a commitment to initiate myself to this San Francisco tradition on Saturday. Of course, it had to be the morning when it's raining and the whole city just felt like it was drenched and gloomy. I picked up my friend, Boobsie, and together we ventured off. On the drive to Dolores Park, with the sound of the windshield wipers as a background to Boobsies raves about the delicious Tartine offerings, my mouth was salivating. Boobsie: "Oh, yes! The bread pudding is soooo goood, but they're over-rated."Leave it to him to always come up with contradictory statements. I wanted to point out this contradiction, but I digressed. I haven't had my coffee and I didn't want our conversation to turn into a full blown argument. So, I bit my forked tongue.We finally arrived, and of course Tartine is not only famous for their pastries, but also infamous for their long lines. As luck would have it, the queue was quite long and included an additional negative. Behind us was a very loud, obnoxious cel phone user who deemed it appropriate to shout all of his phone blabbing into our sensitive, un-caffeneited ears. Rude. I think I would have felt differently about this guy if I understood the language he spoke which was italian. It's one thing to shout on your cel phone in public, it's another to deprive your unwitting audience of the ability to determine the reason behind all the screaming. We need to understand at least your end of the conversation to know this. (Although, in your case it seemed pretty unilateral, since you never stopped your yapping)This was not an auspicious start, the rain, the mixed review, the loud un-eavesdroppable talker...We eventually got our food: prosciutto, cheese and arugula pressed sandwiches (reminds me of Roma), bread pudding and banana cream tarte. All were ultra-yummy and delicious and satisfying and worthy of all the respect and kudos it's been given by SF local foodies. We ate on a nearby bench and while we were eating and reveling in our delights, I suddenly remembered to take pictures. (Sorry, they didn't turn out well, as you can see. Believe me, the food tasted better than it looks in the photos). As I was taking my last bites of the bread pudding I looked up and I realized that the sun was shining brightly, and that it's been that way for awhile. The city was warm, dry and families were walking pass us with wide smiles on their faces. What brought on this fantastic change? Did Tartine's pressed sandwich and the bread pudding bring with it not only gastronomic satisfaction, but also a magic that can turn gloom into unicorns, puppies and rainbows?No. Sorry to burst your bubble. I've always believed that climatic changes occur when people bite their tongues and keep their negativity inside. It makes for a better day. However, some studies say that suppressed emotions can cause inordinate weight gain. Oh, well. 
