We woke up at 9:00am this morning at CANDLESTICK RV PARK. We were renting a car from ENTERPRISE (they’ll pick you up!). They picked us up at 11:00am. We had asked for a mid-sized vehicle, so Eric could get the bike in there, if he needed to, but all they had was a mini-van and we were in a hurry, so we took it (free upgrade). I feel like I should be picking the kids up from soccer, but – hey – it gets us where we’re going!
Eric wanted to get the RV aligned, so we drove to San Rafael in two vehicles. I was in front with Betty (the GPS system) in the mini-van, and Eric followed behind in the RV. We got to BRANDON TIRE at about 1:00pm. They took the RV for a test drive and then proceeded to do the alignment. Meanwhile, right down the block was a diner called PHIL’S CAFE, so we had lunch. After a fast lunch, Eric went back to wait for the RV to be finished. I was going to drive around San Rafael in the rental and then meet him back at the shop.
Unfortunately, before I had a chance to even drive away, he called to say that there was more work that needed to be done on the RV. The ball joints were “shot” and need to be replaced. They couldn’t even align the truck without doing this work. Eric said the truck would be much safer and run much better with the ball joints replaced, so they are doing the work tomorrow (they had to order the parts). It is just one more repair we have had to have done in the last 11 weeks. Eric said we have invested so much in this RV that we have to keep it! I want to keep it anyway, and now we know it is in good shape and is “road worthy.” We didn’t pay much for it, so I figure it was inevitable. We could have paid $10,000 more and had less headaches, but you get what you pay for!
We got back to the campground at about 3:00pm and I needed a Starbucks – badly! I programmed Betty to take us 2.5 miles to the nearest Starbucks and got my iced latte in a neighborhood called NOE VALLEY, which is considered an upscale yuppie neighborhood. There were lots of interesting stores and restaurants on the strip.
When we got back to the campground, we relaxed for a while before going in the rental to pick Jimmy up at his apartment. He took us to a great restaurant in North Beach, San Francisco’s renowned Little Italy. This fabulous restaurant is called THE STINKING ROSE (“It’s Chic to Reek!”). They say, “We Season our Garlic with Food!”
We started with Bagna Calda, (Garlic soaking in a hot tub): “Garlic cloves, oven-roasted extra virgin olive oil and butter with a hint of anchovy. A wonderful treat for spreading on our house-baked focaccia bread. Served at your table in an iron skillet.” WOW! We love garlic and it doesn’t get much better than this. We were oohing and ahhing. As my mother always says, “My mouth was having a party!”
Then, we shared a large Sizzling Iron Skillet of Roasted Mussels, served with tiny pots of melted garlic butter. We also love mussels, and I’ve never had them like this before. Dipping the roasted mussels into the butter was heaven on earth. I must say the only place I’ve ever had mussels that compared to this was at WATERZOOI, a fabulous Belgian Bistro in Garden City that serves mussels that have been cooked in big pots with all different seasonings, like Fra Diavlo, Creole, Thai, Provencal, or Paella.
Back to the Stinking Rose!!!! After indulging in all the bread and garlic cloves, and the mussels in garlic butter, we each had an entrée. Eric had the Sea Bass, with asparagus and acini de pepe. I had the angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, olives, basil and roasted garlic. Jim had the spinach fettuccine, with chicken, asparagus, roasted tomatoes and pine nuts.
We know we’re going to offend everyone who comes within “sniffing distance” of us for at least a day, but it was worth it!
We didn’t even look at the dessert menu, because we decided beforehand that we would go back go GELATERIA NAIA for some more gelato. It was THAT good!
I had two flavors: Ferrero Rocher and Dark Chocolate. Jimmy had Chocolate Covered Cherry and Stracciatella, which is a cream gelato with chocolate chips. Eric had FOUR flavors (because he got a bigger size than us). He had Gravenstein apple, cantaloupe, dark chocolate and one other that we can’t remember the name of! The best was the Gravenstein apple. It tasted SO much like an apple. FABULOUS!
We dropped Jimmy off at home and headed back to the campground. We have to get up REALLY early tomorrow, because we have to be back in San Rafael at the repair shop by 7:30am. We’re going to leave the RV for them to fix and we’re going to MUIR WOODS and SAUSALITO.
It should be a fun day, but of course the most important thing is getting the RV fixed. After all, it’s ALL about the RV!!!