Nancy suggested we dine at the Axis Cafe which I first heard about in 2010 when I heard they make the best Tomato Basil soup. So, I ordered it and it was fantastic! I mean, on a grey and gloomy day in the city what could be better than a warm bowl of soup and a hot sandwich for lunch.
Carrying on the tomato theme I also ordered the Grilled Cheese Sandwich. It's filled with Tillamook cheddar cheese, roasted garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and also came with a small, green, side salad. It was really good.
There's indoor dining and a patio (with heaters) which we sat at so Chin C. Chin and Rocco could join us. When it started to sprinkle our waiter graciously offered to set up an umbrella for us to sit beneath. Very nice customer service.
I tried to get a picture of the pups but Chin C. Chin sat under Nancy's chair and Rocco only had eyes for her plate. LOL
After lunch the skies opened up and the rain began falling as I met up with friend and wedding photographer Wendy Maclaurin Richardson to learn more about her recently launched interior design company Maclaurin Design. I'd been to Wendy's home in the past and way back when realized she was a talented designer with impeccable taste. So while I was surprised to learn of her new company I wasn't shocked.
As we sat in the cozy Cafe de la Presse on Grant Street (right across from the entryway to China Town) she shared with me many beautiful rooms she's created in her portfolio. In return I couldn't resist sharing with her the lack of style at my house by showing her this picture on my iPhone:
Hubby's personal project to eat enough Ductch black licorice to stack the containers to the ceiling next to his side of the couch. He's probably around five containers away. Clearly one decorating extreme to the other with Wendy's sense of style being far more preferable. LOL. I may have to work on hubby about going for a slightly more mature decorating theme.
If you've been looking for Dutch black licorice you can pick it up here at Rocket Fizz in downtown Campbell. Maybe you'll see my hubby there when he makes his weekly stop for a new tub.
After leaving Union Square Carl and I headed to Samovar Tea Lounge at Yerba Buena Gardens.
Yesterday I tried the Nishi Sencha 1st Flush "Induces the Alpha state like no other. Clean, mildly vegetal, ocean and kombu, served in a glass pot and truly First Flush - $11.00"
These are teas you enjoy as you would a glass of fine wine. The range and depth of flavors are quite astonishing if you've never had fine teas prepared at their correct water temperatures.
The Nishi Sencha had a very fresh, bright and grassy flavor as I drank it that was replaced by a sweet after taste.
These are teas you enjoy as you would a glass of fine wine. The range and depth of flavors are quite astonishing if you've never had fine teas prepared at their correct water temperatures.
At a glance a visit to Samovar can be considered expensive. Relatively speaking it is or isn't. Compared to a glass of water or the obligatory cup of tea you receive for free at a Japanese restaurant, yes, a pot of Samovar tea could be called expensive. Compared to many other luxury beverages, it is only relatively so. It's a splurge I enjoy just a few times a year and if you love tea and are visiting San Francisco a visit to one of Samovar's three locations may be a real treat for you too.
The Nishi Sencha had a very fresh, bright and grassy flavor as I drank it that was replaced by a sweet after taste.
The reason I was up in the city was to attend a Girl Geek Dinners. This was the fourth event I've attended and was, for me, the most inspiring. The Girl Geek Dinners is an organization that promotes women working in technology. To be honest I'm not sure if there is bias involved or if there just aren't that many women interested in working in technology but at each event the message is always the same: For women who code they will often be the only woman in the room with their male counterparts out numbering them 4 to 1 where they work or 150 to 1 at conferences and hackathons. Slowly that's changing as more women enter technology and even more so thanks to groups that actually bring together women in technology.
Our Speakers at Girl Geek Dinners #17
In particular I found Christine Cheung of Pyladies, Kaitlyn Trigger of Lovestagram and Sacha Laundy founder of Women Who Code, very inspiring as speakers. They all gave me a boost of confidence that if I really want to learn how to program or develop my own iPhone app (someday), I (little ol' me) can learn how to do it! For instance Kaitlyn, with the help of a few friends, taught herself Python, Django, Jinja, HTML, CSS, jQuery and Photoshop all to create an interactive Valentine’s card maker that uses the Instagram API to surprise her boyfriend ( the co-founder of Instagram) with for Valentine's Day.
There were six speakers. Check out their websites below and if you're a woman who wants to learn more about becoming a self-taught developer, programmer or coder see if there's a Pyladies group in your area or start attending the Women Who Code meetups in San Francisco.
Christine Cheung (President, Pyladies)
Pyladies.com - "PyLadies is an international mentorship group with a focus on helping more women become active participants and leaders in the Python open-source community. Our mission is to promote, educate and advance a diverse Python community through outreach, education, conferences, events and social gatherings."
Kaitlyn Trigger (Founder, Lovestagram)
Lovestagram.com - "Lovestagram makes it easy to send a personal valentine to the Instagram-lovers in your life."
Suzanne Axtell (Conferences Communications, O'Reilly)
Conferences.Oreillynet.com - "O'Reilly conferences bring alpha geeks and forward-thinking business leaders together to shape the revolutionary ideas that spark new industries. We translate the innovator's knowledge into useful skills and tools that can be applied to real world applications."
Stephanie Teng (Product Manager, Yelp)
Yelp.com - "Our purpose: To connect people with great local businesses"
Hannah Hu (Front-End Engineer, Yelp)
Yelp.com - "Our purpose: To connect people with great local businesses"
Sasha Laundy (Founder, Women Who Code)
Meetup.com/Women-Who-Code-SF - "We are women who code:
- in any framework
- any level of experience
- any size of company
- or just code for fun!
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