Bay Area | October, 2023

|

October recap! We began with a San Francisco Symphony concert

Featuring a San Francisco premiere of “Herald, Holler and Hallelujah!” by Wynton Marsalis and a classic, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

Office of Accountability

Our first visit to the Yayoi Kusama exhibit at SFMOMA.

These pumpkins look very round in photos, but you might be surprised at their real shape in real life! You’ll have to visit yourself to see.

Diego Rivera mural, coming to its final months.

Down in Mountain View, Google opened its new public-facing spaces including a restaurant, Google store, small makers market, and community spaces.

Really nice! Would visit again.

I bought the dino t-shirt, and it is glow-in-the-dark. I love it, hahaha.

Solar eclipse! We went over to the Exploratorium where they gave away free eclipse glasses, but it was so cloudy we didn’t think we would be able to see anything. I improvised a muffin eclipse instead.

But the clouds did part long enough for us to see that cute little solar crescent! And then we found some sea lions, and Alex was conveniently wearing his sea lion shirt to match.

Visiting our friend Emi Grannis for her studio warming party. So many beautiful baubles!

Emi shares studio space with paper artist Zai Divecha, who also makes the most beautiful work.

Found a little stacker ring I liked that was slightly too small for my index finger, but not to worry. Emi resized it for me on the spot!

Visiting the nearby RH in Dogpatch that we have never set foot in. The food at these RH restaurants are generally mediocre and overpriced, but it’s fun to walk around anyway. I would just go to the rooftop of this one for some nice city views!

Mahjong party!

Check-ins with the girls.

We attended the Warriors’ preseason open practice, where they made the rookies each sing a song, haha. We bailed out before the end and got burgers at Gott’s out front.

This is the fourth time Alex has randomly run into Vivian, including three times around San Francisco and once when we ran into her in Tahoe. Plus, visiting Fjallraven on my backpack hunt. I ended up getting one from State, which I love!

 

A very cute art show by Alice Lee and Amy Wibowo, featuring Asian snack ceramics, mahjong planters, and more.

Love this “Made in Taiwan” cookbook by Clarissa Wei and Ivy Chen! My first recipe from the book, braised pork belly, turned out very very deliciously.

Check-in date.

I decided to make my own mahjong set! Started with a little paper mockup for sizing reference, and then I found a shop on Etsy who could make me these custom-sized wooden blocks. It came relatively quickly, all the way from Greece! I still haven’t actually started with making the tiles (though I have ideas and sketches), so you’ll have to come back later to see how it goes.

Got to try Pomet in Oakland, a restaurant owned by K&J Orchards, which is one of our favorite fruit farms, and helmed by Taiwanese American chef Alan Hsu.

Camping for a night up in Marin, with a stop by the farmers market in Point Reyes Station.

Fried rice while camping, highly recommend.

Also a great idea: make-ahead breakfast burritos. Will do again.

A lovely bike ride along the nearby trails.

A stop at Heath Ceramics, and Indian Pizza.

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.