espetus

Yesterday I stayed at home most of the day: slept in, did laundry, cleaned the other half of the balcony, cleaned the bathtub, vacuumed. It was rather relaxing since usually when I'm doing chores it's as if I'm trying to cram them in just before going somewhere else that there isn't time.

Afterwards, went bowling where I got to play with some of the toddlers roaming around (one guy brings his daughter on a regular basis and another brought his granddaughter). The kids are quite friendly and in general will let most of the women there carry them. Though they have some reservations about some of the guys. We're all in the same section of the alley so people keep a general eye out for the kids when it's their parent's turn to bowl. We managed to win 4 games and remain in 1st place!

Today, the hubby decided to join me on vacation and took the day off. The morning I spent taking a cartful of stuff from the balcony to the reuse and recycle shelf in the garage: plastic trashcan, five cinderblocks, a wooden plank, a neglected jade plant, and bag full of dead leaves from the surviving plants. I'm not sure how we got all that stuff on the deck in the first place, the thing is only 20 sq feet or so. But so goes with the rest of my life of weeding, and refocusing.

In the afternoon we headed to Golden Gate Park and wandered around. Ate at the de Young cafe but didn't tour inside. We asked the security person at the museum if the metal had been the bright orange color. She said yes, and it will eventually turn into the green color like the Statue of Liberty. "I'm not sure how you design ugly, but they did." I'm not sure what to make of the building, but it was striking in terms of the angular design and the texture of the metal. It will take a bit longer before it reaches its green hue. But I do think it's a daring design in the way that it's ultimate look with really at the whim of the elements. It's very chameleon-like. The Academy of Sciences is still closed, but I'm looking forward to it opening as we could see the two domes of the rooftop gardens emerging. With the two museums across from each other it will really be a dynamic contrast in architecture.

Went instead to the Japanese Tea Garden and took pictures of all the flowers. Even with a bit of a crowd at the garden it was a serene place to walk with various alcoves shaded by large Japanese maples or bamboo. The cherry blossoms were gorgeous!

For dinner with went to Espetus, a Brazilian Rodizio style restaurant. All you can eat, but fancier with better service. A metal disk on your table rotates between green and red. They have a salad bar for starters, then when you switch it to green, they come by with long skewers of meat (and roasted pineapple with is wonderful!). Our friend told us they had 12 different dishes on the skewers but we only got through nine of them before we couldn't go any further. But it's hard to resist saying yes. The hubby kept saying he was done, then when the next new thing came, he had to have a taste. We decided we'll have to come back another time with more people to try the other dishes. High grade meats infused with wonderful flavors. And their cheesebread is so yummy! (cheese is just baked right in)

It's back to work on Monday. So I still have a couple more days to stay in vacation mode.