This past weekend, Mike Meeker and I got away for a little romantic stay in San Francisco. Say what you will about San Francisco...I know it can be a bit much for those with a more conservative palette. But for me, San Francisco is my kind of town. The food, the architecture, the water, the Golden Gate Bridge, the food, the theatre, the wackadoo people, the food, the shopping, the topography, Alcatraz and oh, did I mention the food? We stayed at the very impressive and cool J.W Marriott not to be confused with the plain ol' regular Marriott. Our room overlooked Union Square and was just steps from Nordstroms which was having their half yearly sale thank you very much. Funny story. Mike could not for the life of him remember where we were staying. Upon arriving in the city he googled our location on his iPhone only to lead us to a spot halfway across the golden gate bridge. It showed our hotel in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. So there was much yelling and male/female oriented arguing about maps vs. asking for effing directions already!!! I turned down several one way streets going the wrong way all the while screaming "I feel like I am in a canyon and getting chlaustro (my abbreviation for claustrophobia)." Mike was just sticking to his guns and kept giving me the directions from his phone. His trust in technology over common sense was driving me bazerk. Finally, we arrived at our ultra mod and fancy hotel and thanks to an ex Navy guy at the reservation desk, we got upgraded to a fancier room on the 17th floor with a view of the city and the bay. And every time Mike got in a cab for the next 2 days he would freeze up and give the name of the wrong hotel. First cab driver asked him "Where to?" His response, "The Hilton". My response "ummm No. The JW Marriott." Second cab driver asked him "Where to?" His response, "The C.W. Hilton." My response, "That's not even a hotel!!! ha ha ha The ha ha J. ha ha W. ha ha Marriott ha ha ha hee hee hee!" The third cab driver asked him "Where to?" His response "I have no idea ask her grumble grumble." My response "The JW Marriott please. (Under my breath) or we could try the C.W. Hilton ha ha ha haaaa!"Anyhoo, we dined at Roy's of Hawaii Friday night. We had been dreaming of this miso crusted butter fish we had in Hawaii several years ago and they had it on the menu at the San Fran location so off we went. It was just as delightful as I remembered. We started off with a wagu beef and lobster sushi roll, then we had shrimp curry and mango salads and finished with the misoyaki butter fish. The best thing about dinner was at the table next to us Mr. and Mrs. Perfect were having a very awkward anniversary dinner. They had perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect clothes and she had a lot of perfect jewelry. Upon their pineapple martinis arriving, Mr. hands Mrs. a velvet pouch. Now my ears and eyes perked right up because this velvet pouch was robins egg blue and I knew exactly where it had come from. Tiffany's baby! So I'm all excited for Mrs. to see what treasure the pouch held. I held my breath. Mrs. pulls out a big ol' sparkly diamond anniversary band. In the dullest voice possible Mr. says "happy anniversary". Mrs. puts the band on her hand. She looks at it. She has said nothing. All of a sudden she blurts out "It's really sparkly, I don't think it matches." Mr. says "It matches. I made sure it was the one that went with your ring." And then Mrs. goes on and on about how she's not sure and it seems too sparkly and it might be okay. Mr. says nothing during her rambling. Then the oddest thing happens. She stuffs the velvet pouch in her coach clutch bag and they begin eating their appetizers for which she makes yummy noises and gets all excited. And I'm sitting there thinking "she is seriously getting more excited by the lobster dumplings that at least a $7,000 ring! Is she crazy?" And midway through the canoe appetizer platter Mr. goes "maybe it looks different than you thought because your fingers have gotten all fat." And then I got sad for Mr. and Mrs. Perfect. Here they were in one of the greatest restaurants in the world. They had been blessed with amazing looks and obvious wealth and they had each other. But they were miserable! And here I was with my iPhone toting husband, in our military rate hotel room, eating at a place we can only afford every 5 years or so with him making up the names of imaginary hotels and I couldn't love him more or be happier with my life. It was one of those life defining moments that makes you realize to shut your trap and just be in love and grateful. But I'd take the ring from Tiffany's if somebody wanted to give it to me. I'm just saying. It was A LOT of diamonds for pete's sake.
We hopped in our cab and sped to the Orpheum Theatre to see my absolute favorite musical of all time...Wicked. I can't explain to you how much I love this musical. I get emotional when I hand the dude my ticket and I don't stop blubbering until I leave the theatre. Here's the story without giving anything away. The play opens with the celebration in the Emerald City that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead. And then some citizen of Oz yells up to Glinda in her bubble "wasn't she your friend?" And then we go back in time to the origins and childhoods of Glinda the Good Witch of the North and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West. It turns out they knew each other in boarding school and the play follows their lives. Many truths we had always assumed about all the characters are turned upside down as the play explores how rumor, politics and circumstances can twist and turn the truth about events and people. Are we born wicked or do we have wickedness thrust upon us? And here's why I feel so emotional about this play. Most people think it's because it's based on The Wizard of Oz which is my favorite movie of all time. But that's only about 2% of why I love this play. Here's the real reason.
There was a time in my life several years ago when some people I loved believed me to be a certain type of person. They believed me to be hateful, mean, dishonest, sneaky, hurtful and that I purposely tried to destroy relationships. It was awful to have people think these things about you. It made me angry and it hurt deep in a place that I had never hurt before. As time went on and I felt exposed, raw and misrepresented to a host of other people, I began to change. I started to become what they thought I was. For the first time in my life, someone I loved was suffering and instead of feeling badly I was glad. I thought they deserved what they got. I had lost my way. I became horribly and totally lost. I did things that still shock me when I remember them. I allowed everything about my life to spiral out of control. My heart was broken and my compassion was gone. I was deeply depressed both situationaly and chemically. I was heavier than I ever had been. I was angry with everyone in my life and my marriage was in crisis. I felt as though everyone in the world hated me and who could blame them? Look what I had become! A monster.
There are moments in this musical that take me back to that time and remind me of exactly how I felt. I like to see this play and listen to the music often because it reminds me that every person in this world has goodness inside of them. It reminds me not to listen to mean gossip about people and that there are two sides to every story. It makes me look at every person in my life differently. For example, there are people that I grew up with thinking were flawed in certain ways. I wonder sometimes what the real story is with that person. What pain am I not aware of or what is the whole truth behind their heart? We have to be so careful how we think and judge others. We must always remember that every person has some measure of goodness inside of them, even if they have lost their way. I know there are murderers and child molesters and people that do horrible things and I'm not really speaking of them. I am more speaking of that girl you knew in high school that you thought was such a bitch. Maybe she's not. Maybe she was really insecure and had a mother who told her worth could be found only in her looks. And that lady at church who is just so hard to like...maybe she is sad and lonely and is protecting her heart by being mean and nasty so no one sees how hurt she is inside. This musical, in an amazingly wonderful way, strips down a story that I grew up loving above all others and reminds me that people are complex and we all have it inside of us to be both wicked and good. It is just my favorite story in the world and the music is wonderful.
After I sobbed my eyes out and picked through fries and a cherry diet Coke with Mike and his chocolate malt at a 50's style diner near our hotel, we stumbled back to our room feeling drunk on food and Broadway and salty fries and chocolate but mostly, we were drunk on FREEDOM. We were out in an actual big city, past midnight! We put on fluffy bathrobes, jumped up and down on the bed like...well - five year olds. Then we thought about our adorable five year olds at home that weren't with us. And then we fell on the bed in evil diabolical laughter that we were freeeeeeeeee! ha haaaaaaaaa...suck it losers!!!! And then we felt badly for about two seconds and promised to buy our angel baby girls something sparkly in the morning before we left town.
The morning greeted us unlike 99% of mornings in San Francisco. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Not a single cloud. And a gentle cool breeze made your hair flutter but didn't whip it around so it lashed at your face. It was a perfectly glorious day. We headed to the ferry building where they hold a Saturday farmers market and perused the food stalls for gourmet treats. Mike even went without his beloved breakfast foods so he could be ready to sample all that was offered. Luckily he found a gourmet ham, egg and cheese sandwich at the gourmet meat shop and fresh squeezed blood orange juice iced down perfectly at the Farmers market so he was in Heaven! After walking around for a long while, we found ourselves waiting on line for a table at Ferry Island Seafood. We snagged an outdoor table right on the water where we promptly ordered our standard San Francisco treats to share: dungeness crab louie, big bowl of clam chowder and a grilled artichoke with garlic aioli. We had our books and we sat and basked in the sun and deliciousness and freedom. We wanted to read but kept on talking and talking to each other. It's amazing how much talking we did! You would think after almost 18 years of marriage we would be pretty much talked out. But no. We just couldn't shut up. It was wonderful.
We wandered aimlessly for about an hour. We found the sparkly gifts we had been thinking of for the girls. Swavorski crystals on a necklace of ribbon. Hot pink for Katie and sky blue for Jessica. We took pictures and allowed the sun to begin to crisp our faces. We hopped in a cab. Mike was appropriately silent as I gave the instructions to the driver. We picked up our stowed luggage and car and headed slowly out of the city.
Mom and Dad gave us an extra surprise by announcing that we did not need to rush over and pick up the girls Saturday night but could pick them up Sunday morning after breakfast and before church. We did not wait on the phone for them to change their minds. We said "thankyouveryverymuch" and promptly hung up. I got to do grocery shopping for the next two days festivities and got to bed early.
After attending church at the Marshallese branch on Sunday we had Mike's mom and dad over for Sunday dinner. Inspired by our trip, we dined al fresco on steak, shrimp, grilled corn, grilled potatoes and a simple but delicious salad of tomatoes and cucumbers. Berries, home made angel food cake and ice cream sundaes were the dessert selections and were enjoyed as the last of the days light slipped away.
Again, inspired by our trip, we invited my parents and both of my grandmas over on Monday for my attempt to recreate the miso glazed butter fish that we had dined on Friday night at Roy's. I got the recipe from a website long ago, but have never had the courage to attempt making it myself. The ingredient list is odd and intimidating in the number of items that go into the dish. I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Thanks to my sous chef Dad and my line cooks Mike and Mom, it was an enormous success. The plates were beautiful and the dish was a very very close replica of the dish we had in the restaurant. I served it with steamed calrose rice and spinach sauteed with apples, pine nuts, golden raisins and shallots. We had my Grandma's sour cream lemon pie (heaven) and berries with honeyed Greek yogurt for dessert. I was thrilled and shocked that I had recreated this dish. And now that I've done it once, it will be much less intimidating to try again.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend full of time spent reconnecting with those that I love. All of these people rallied around me while I was down and out with the recent iron infusions I underwent. I wanted to cook for them to show them I am thankful for them and that I love them. And for Mike, I wanted to reconnect with my best friend and let him know I was so grateful he held us all together when I could not. He worked his butt off to keep all of our balls in the air over the past month. He is too good to me. Even if he is directionally and hotel name challenged, I couldn't be luckier in the person I share my life with.
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