Have you ever stood around with your old friends and surveyed the kids you’ve produced and thought, “gee, we made these. We have kids. OMG, we’re adults”. This happened quite a bit on our San Francisco trip as we reconnected with some old friends we haven’t seen in at least 10 years. We met our old college friend Jeremiah and his family at the Exploratorium and geeked out in the monochromatic room (a room where there is no color unless you shine a white light on things. Trippy) and tried to keep track of 4 kids under 8 years old. An impromptu dinner invitation at their house in the Mission resulted in Mark ending up cooking the meal because he’s just so much faster at chopping up vegetables than any one of us.
The next evening we managed to have dinner at Chez Panisse without the kids thanks to an invitation for reservations AND babysitting from one of Mark’s old co-workers who used to work the line with him at a restaurant in Soho back in the late 90s when they were both starting out in the business. Melissa and her husband both worked at Chez Panisse for a number of years. And lastly our last morning in San Francisco was spent at Dynamo Donuts, the *excellent* donut shop that Mark’s old Pastry Chef boss back in NY opened up a few years ago (more photos on that later).
We’re actually in Seattle now but have more San Francisco photos to share. That trip was all about connecting with people we’ve known for a long time, some for nearly 20 years. Quite a trip.
What did you think of Chez Panisse???
I find myself having those thoughts a lot. “Holy cow, I made and am responsible for another human being. I’m an adult. This is so weird.”
Love that kitchen. It looks so lived in.
It’s so funny to see the juxtaposition of a glass of red wine with a box of mac ‘n cheese in the background. Lovely pics!
i’m loving the pic with the wine and mac’n chesse too (and chocolate)!!! i love them all.
wonderful! it’s great to see the bay area through the lens of a visitor. you’ve been going to some of my favorites spots! and yes, we too sometimes sit back and are amazed that these kids are ours!
Is that garlic in that photo? The picture with the red strings on the left.
Sounds like a wonderful trip. Enjoy Seattle too!
Yes, that is garlic!
@Michelle we really enjoyed our meal. There were a few dishes that were really outstanding, one being the nettles pizzette
Looks like a great kitchen. Love the photos… and… by the way beautiful kids!
Seems like you blink and those beautiful littles are grown and gone. I love your blog!. So full of inspiration. Always yummy!
That’s so nice Jenna!
Our kitchen is definitely lived in, and yes, that is dirty garlic from our CSA hung up to dry on the curtain rod that should have a curtain to cover our pantry (but our kids kept playing with it and pulling it down) along with some lemon verbena that is probably dusty and needs to be composted, a lovely carved Balinese angel, and several kindergarten art projects.
It was great to see you guys as grown-ups–along with those kids you made! Thank Mark again for making dinner.
safe and happy travels.
love your taste and style.
love to meet in brooklyn and have you as my guest on my blog.
hello to lecia –
pve
I’ve definitely felt like this. This summer we were in L.A. visiting a friend of mine that I’ve known since 5th grade. She has two daughters, both older than we were when we became friends. I just kept thinking, “We’re the moms. WE’RE the moms!” In some ways it still felt like we were supposed to be eating pizza in the living room and watching Grease for the 75th time.