Here are a few of the things I fell in ♥ with on our San Francisco holiday!
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Dandelion Chocolate
As you all know, I’m pretty fussy about chocolate, preferring to temper my own whenever possible. We wandered into Dandelion Chocolate on Valencia Street purely by chance, having strolled down from the extraordinary Paxton Gate (more on that in a future post).
I was completely blown away by their chocolate! The bars are made from scratch using cacao beans grown on a single estate, then carefully tempered to a rich, dark 70%. The flavour profile of each variety is distinct and elegant. Without doubt some of the best chocolate I’ve ever tried and so beautifully packaged that I purchased three bars on the spot, and then went back to pick up five more to bring home. So far, the Hacienda Azul from Costa Rica has been my favourite…
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Zenni Optical
To be fair, I’ve been crushing on these guys for quite a while now.
I had new Zenni glasses delivered to where we were staying in SF and they were absolutely perfect for our holiday adventures. The frame is stainless steel and the lenses are transition and progressive – that’s photochromatic and multi-focal, in old person speak. They cost just US$94 plus US$5 delivery (although shipping to Sydney would only have been US$5 more). They’re very comfortable, they’re ludicrously affordable, and they remind me of my dad. I’m completely smitten with them…
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Blackcurrant Aguas Frescas
I discovered two local SF drinks that I adored – the Arnold Palmer (a mix of unsweetened ice tea and American-style lemonade) and aguas frescas (Mexican fruit drinks). Dan and I ate three times at Cholita Linda in Temescal, just so that we could indulge in their blackberry aguas frescas…
Admittedly, their fish plate was pretty awesome as well…
When we came home to Sydney, I discovered that a reasonable copy of the the Cholita Linda drink could be made by mixing together equal parts of pure lime juice with Ribena cordial and topping it with ice cold water. Dilute to taste – it’s the proportion of lime to blackcurrant cordial that’s important…
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Vintage Thrift
I thought we had decent secondhand shops here in Sydney, but the vintage and thrift stores in San Francisco are out of this world. We had huge fun visiting as many as we could find, including the beautiful Rocket Reuse in Alameda…
…and some amazing shops in Haight-Ashbury, where we found (but didn’t buy) World War II fighter pilot hats…
…and heavyweight bike jackets…
Our very favourite store was the completely insane Mission Thrift, which sold everything from Bavarian loden jackets to wedding gowns to vintage military uniforms…
Pete and Dan had to stop me…used cowboy boots at $20 a pair were almost too hard to resist…
I bought a dozen (ok, more) square scarves to use as furoshiki and then gave the girls at the counter a lesson on tying them…
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Suiseki
Treasure Island is an artificial island and former military base in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can only enter and exit from the Bay Bridge, which runs over the land mass. Once a month, they hold an amazing flea market, which offers a huge selection of vintage memorabilia, hippie clothing, secondhand goods, and artisan arts and crafts.
I had a conversation about Suiseki, the Japanese art of viewing stones, with Daiza artist Jerry Braswell. The stones are carefully selected to suggest mountains, lakes, animals or other scenes from nature, and then a daiza (stand) is carefully carved to support and complement it. Jerry’s pieces were stunning, and I particularly loved the one on the top left, but we didn’t have enough baggage allowance to bring it back to Sydney…
After a lovely chat, we were walking off to explore other parts of the market when Jerry came after us. He gave me a small stone with stand, and said “I’m sure you can find room in your luggage for this”. I was very touched by his kindness, and promised that I’d find a spot for his gift on my rock shelf (and I have)…
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Kate Spade Wallet
I’m madly in love with my Kate Spade wallet! It’s full hide leather and I picked it up for 65% off at Nordstrom Rack. My old purse was falling apart at the seams (literally) and all my cards had started dropping out of it. The Kate Spade has a zip the whole way around…
…and when it’s open, everything stays inside. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to buy a new one…
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Piccolo Keep Cup
Finally…my Australian-made 4oz Keep Cup has traveled all over San Francisco with me. It’s been a little trooper – it never leaked, it was small enough to fit into my handbag, and baristas all over the city went mad for it. If you’re an espresso, macchiato, piccolo or gibraltar drinker, then I can’t recommend this highly enough. Order directly from the company website and you can choose your own colour scheme!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Wow! Such amazing places and treasures to be discovered. The chocolate looks very tempting. Such a lovely color. Sounds like you had an amazingly wonderful visit in the US!
Beautifully written and engaging as always Celia. Love the new glasses.
Lots of things to love here, although I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t bring home a fighter pilot’s hat or new boots.
The Zenni bug has bitten quite badly here – I got a new shipment just last week.
Love it all! Agua Frescas are the best! So glad to hear that you had a good time in my state. :-) Hugs, Maz.
Amazing stuff to buy there. I would have to buy that Desperados leather jacket. That is so me! I love vintage shops. Shopping is far more fun with girlfriends (or should I say women friends? Never know which one to use but I still prefer the former, even though I’m on the wrong side of 60). And those boots – I am definitely not sharing this post with my daughter.
You had such a wonderful trip! I’d have loved those thrift stores, not sure I’d have been able to resist those cowboy boots. And what kindness you were shown with your gift…but kindness begets kindness 😀
SF is one of my favorite cities. You have found some wonderful treasures on your brief visit. Love your new glasses.
Looks like you had an awesome time! I love San Fransisco, we may pop over in November, depending on the cost of hotels.
All I can say is thank the Gods that you are out of there now………the fires and smoke are beyond the pale :( Yes, San Fran is one of my favourite cities also.
Lucky you!
Your new glasses are gorgeous on you!!! Love reading about your adventures!
All fabulous – and I really can’t understand how you managed to walk away from the boots! Mine are over 20 years old and I still wear and love them 😃
I loved all your holiday posts Celia. Thank you so much for sharing :)