SCOTT HOWARD

It was my friend AnBy's birthday, so we took him to Scott Howard. Wow. This week has really hit me with back-to-back deliciousness... and a tighter fit around the ol' waist. Maine lobster served on top of a crab risotto... and that was my appetizer! For dinner, I had a perfectly cooked, thick, juicy steak. Between seven of us, we had three bottles of wine. After the requisite birthday shots, of course...

I remember thinking: I feel so bad for these people who have to wake up and go to work tomorrow.

CORTEZ

Ok. There seems to be a conquistador theme creeping into my life right now, for some strange reason. First with The Fountain. Then, Montezuma's revenge struck close to home (not me but my neighbor). Now, the restaurant... Cortez was pretty awesome. All month in San Francisco, several restaurants were offering a "Dine About Town" special menu, including Cortez. The chef is also a baker, and he makes, by far, the best bread in town - something called Bay Bread... simply melts in your mouth. Just talking about it is making me hungry. Otherwise, it's quite a fusion - pseudo-Mediterranean meets tapas with aspects of California nouveau...

Fusion. You'll find just about every restaurant in Northern California has a "fusion" character.

MoFo, CaGa and ErSe helped polish off the Bordeaux during the 3-course meal. The cocktails we all had beforehand were pretty fancy, too. The tawny port that came during dessert, though, was mine, all mine...

A PLACE TO SMOKE!

San Francisco is not a town for smokers. I take that back. San Francisco is not a town for cigarette or cigar smokers. The social tobacco inhalers normally need to step out into the bitter SF cold (all things being relative - I don't even wear a coat in "wintertime") and puff curbside. It creates an interesting social sidewalk scene, and your clothes don't end up wreaking of smoke at the end of the night, but every now and then, an indoor smoke is a welcome thing...

The Occidental has come through for San Francisco. It's a Cigar "Club" for the young-at-heart but not the pink-of-lung. Great beer selection and they make an excellent dirty martini, which means I'll be going back. Thank you, Occidental... my fingers were getting a little frigid.

FEAST ON THE EPIPHANY

Today is known in Christian circles as the Feast of the Epiphany. I had a feast, and I had an epiphany.

"Love the life you live. Live a life of love..." - Darmaon LeRoi, paraphrasing from a keychain inscription.

DISH DE JOUR: SQUID IN ITS OWN INK

Sounds absolutely disgusting, doesn't it? But if I'm going to travel to exotic places, I figured I should start getting used to eating some pretty weird cuisine. This twist on calimari that Picaro

serves rates pretty high in terms of weirdness, but I've got to say... it's pretty yummy - no, I'd go as far to say that it's very yummy. In fact, it's one of the most satisfying appetizers I've ever had in San Francisco. Tough to beat the mushroom dumplings from Eos, though. Mmmmm, Eos. I may have to head that way again soon.

I should credit MoFo for her adventurous call on the order, in the first place. MiCa, LaDe, and RuCa each had a different reaction to the squid, as is evidenced by the photo (MiCa -"Fun!", LaDe -"Whatever, look at that cute guy over there," and RuCa - "Eww, gross, you couldn't make me eat that if you paid me!").

UNTAINTED LOVE '007

hard to focus a camera on New Year's Eve

THE PRE-PARTY took place at MoFo's North Beach pad. LaDe was in town again for the weekend, her new boyfriend MiSa made an appearance, and CaGa the reliable and her friend Am were there, as well. Champagne was the beverage of choice - I like the way the bubbles tickle my nose, what can I say? But since it was New Years and all, people seemed to be okay with drinking a whole lot of it. MoFo set out some smoked oysters, crackers and a palette of international cheeses! Sorry, I couldn't resist. The forces of the world are trying to "domesticate" the IMOL in me, and that alter-ego of mine must resist those forces when at all possible.

THE PARTY PARTY - Vintage415 is a swanky social club that throws parties around town... (when I say town I mean the "city" of San Francisco, all 7x7 miles of it), thus the "415" - our illustrious area code. We caught the last hour of Tainted Love, an 80's cover band, then a couple of DJ's started cranking out some groovable tunes. I admit. I danced. Quite a bit, I tranced. Little lit. Lost pants.If what they say about New Year's Eve being a reflection of what's to come for the year ahead... that's a pretty blurry reflection, I must say, but oh what fun is sure to come...

THE AFTER-PARTY - CaGa, Am, MoFo and I met up with MeRe and her boyfriend Na at Mezzanine. More DJ dancin' and as a result my legs are still sore... though not as sore as my head from all that champagne.

ps I noticed that in the last picture here (right), I have a marked increase in scruff... which makes me think me that maybe that last party lasted longer than I realized.

It's a good thing I've been in constant training.