San Francisco

I feel like it always rain in San Francisco. I've been told that it is quite sunny in the Bay area, so I must have impeccable timing. This weekend, Chinatown is throwing a Lunar New Year street fair and parade. The last time I was in SF for the lunar festival, it also rained cats and dogs. Although everyone still perseveres, tough little buggers.
Stayed at the Hilton SF and the Hilton Financial District. The Hilton SF is undergoing major renovations in their lobby area including their restaurant area. Apparently, they are expanding the convention space but it was fairly unobtrusive when I checked in. Here is a city view from the room.

As I came in early for a Sunday work event, went out and saw an old friend from back in the day. Went to Sudachi on Sutter and Polk. Japanese sushi restaurant, very modern and the food was good. Not super dark as some other restaurants and the staff was super attentive. My friend said that past criticisms of the restaurant was bad service, we certainly didn't receive bad service. Afterwards, went to Element. Not a bad lounge/club, alot of asian people in the mix. Odd mix of music at times but mostly hip hop and rap.

During daylight hours, I was consumed with buying alot of bbq pork buns and red bean sesame balls at various bakeries in Chinatown. Had some roast duck and soy sauce chicken to balance the finger foods I kept buying. Went to Marketplace near Pier 1. I've never been to this area of SF, I was duly impressed. Had some good cupcakes, bread, and chicken pot pie. Cupcakes from Miette Bakery (organic bakery), bread from Acme Bread Company (uses wheat flour but you couldn't tell), and the chicken pot pie from Golden Gate Meat Company. Definitely have to come back and try the rest of the food in this area.

I'm hosting a reception and decided it was more economical to book a suite than a meeting room. Moved to the Hilton SF Financial District as it was recently renovated/converted and has a much more updated look than the Hilton SF. I am staying at the Presidential Suite and it is certainly very nice. The room is about 1200 square feet and very cool. The living room has a telescope to look out into the city, double rimmed bathrub, dual showerhead (one on ceiling), and two balconies.


More pictures are available on my facebook page for those interested. :D

Houston

In Houston for a nanosecond. Ok, not that short but I feel tired this week. Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Flew to Houston at the crack of dawn on Friday and I was kicking myself for scheduling such an early morning flight. Had to layover in SFO for 3 hours and spent fighting with my computer's wireless card to stay connected to the the Tmobile hotspot. These are the times when I envy people with PDA phones and/or national wireless cards. Luckily, when I called at my hotel, they were nice enough to give me back my money.

Staying in the Galleria area - Hilton Garden Inn. The area seems pretty nice, reminds me of South Coast Plaza's neighborhood and there are a string of hotels here as well. Ended up deciding to stay at the HGI because of the room rates but I was trying to convince myself to stay at the Homewood Suites just across the way since it was a block closer to my event. It all worked out as the HGI has courtesy cars that will drive within 3 miles (actually all the hotels have courtesy cars in this area), more than enough for my purposes. I rented a car to get around houston - mainly to and from the airport to hotel - but driving in the immediate area is a pain. Houston traffic is pretty bad and they have as many lanes as LA. :D The room is your standard layout but I'm on a corner so I have a pleasant view of the top floor of the garage as well as Nordstrom. Doesn't matter much as I have a finance midterm on Monday and should be focused on that.

Had dinner at two of the 'Papa' restaurants. I think I'm beginning to grow out of TX bbq, a little too sweet for my taste and the pecan pie was super sweet at Papa's BBQ. I should go back to Atlanta to visit my friend and get some Fatt Matt's bbq. :p Or convince someone to go to Alabama for Dreamland bbq. Went to Little Papasito's the next night, Tex Mex is OK. Reminds me of a better version of Chevy's. I did enjoy their mango margarita. Suprisingly, a drink not commonly made well in mexican themed restaurants.