Playing chopsticks

Here’s a recap of selected highlights from last week, including a couple of restaurant mini-reviews, so I’m posting this in the food file:

On Wednesday afternoon, Caroline and I went to So Noodles (I think that’s the name) on Irving Street in San Francisco. Great place. As Caroline and I agreed, a cute first-date lunch kind of place. Casual and very reasonably priced; most everything is about six dollars or so. We had some crispy, spicy chicken to start, and I had a noodle dish with shrimp and mushrooms in a peanut sauce. Tasty. The entrées come in large portions, so bring your appetite.

Afterwards, we went to Stonestown where I made a beeline for Banana Republic. Lots of stuff on sale. I picked up a few sleeveless tees–note to self: must work on biceps, etc.–and a couple of dress shirts. I’d wanted to get some shoes–I need to expand my collection in the loafer and boot categories–but they were out of my size. Bah. Oh, well. A quick run through Williams-Sonoma with a stop at the altar of KitchenAid stand mixers–now in pink!–had a calming effect.

Thursday night I met up with the Stanford gang and we had dinner at Tamarine on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Very swank. The cuisine is Vietnamese; we shared a few dishes, including scallops and carmelized chicken, all with various kinds of fragrant, infused rice. For dessert, I had the inventive chocolate ganache wontons–basically chocolate sauce and banana wrapped in fried wonton wrappers. And I’ll also mention that the wine and cocktail list is extensive; the martini list alone, my goodness. The whole evening was quite a treat.