Fancy Food Show

We're back! We had an early flight to LA on Saturday morning, and except for the short woman in front of me who insisted on having her seat tipped back as far as possible, which made it impossible for me to move, the flight was great. About halfway through the flight, seat-back woman got up to walk around, neglecting to put her seat-back up again. I asked a woman seated next to her to please put the seat up, and when she did, I was able to stand and stretch out my legs. My calves felt like they were on fire. Seat-back woman spotted me stretching and grimacing and took the hint, since she didn't put the seat way back for the remainder of the flight. Queenee had an aisle seat and was able to get up and walk around a few times. The hour-long flight to San Francisco was lovely, smooth, up the coast and on time. We grabbed a cab and headed for the Hotel Palomar.

We like this hotel, but we have a suggestion — our room needed a ceiling light, or some additional lighting. The vaulted ceiling was fine, but it would have been nice to be able to throw a switch and have more than just the light by the door. Otherwise, we were very happy. We had a handicapped room, which means the doors are wide enough for a wheelchair and the tub has several grab bars, perfect for Queenee and me. And there is a free wine tasting from 5-6pm nightly — we managed to make a contact there and hope they will buy some candy from us!

Once we were checked in, we walked to John's Grill for a late lunch, then made our usual trip to Walgreen's for snacks and soda, then went back to the room to get some rest.

I feared that the show would be slow due to the economy, but there was plenty of foot traffic. I think things went well. This was the first year I spent all three days at the booth and I learned a lot. I got to meet a few people that I had talked to on the phone — it's always good to be able to put a face to a voice. We had good neighbors to either side of us — Wind & Willow and Dillon Candy Company — and have booked booths for next year with the same folks, which will be nice.

We had dinner at Annabelle's Sunday night. Not only is it only half a block away, but the food is wonderful. Queenee had a skirt steak and I had beef carpaccio and angel hair pasta. I could make a meal of the carpaccio, it was delicious. Monday night's dinner was at LuLu's and Tuesday's at Boulevard, and both were excellent. Queenee got to have lamb at Boulevard, which she loves and rarely gets, so that was a treat. The Boulevard dinner was with Jim and Joan and one of the sales reps and his new assistant. They are all great company and the meal was very enjoyable.

Wednesday was a free day and Queenee wanted to go to Chinatown. I picked up day passes for the buses and cable cars and then promptly screwed us up on the bus, missing our stop by a mile. We went to Fisherman's Wharf and walked around a bit, having lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I thought the Burlington Mall location was closed, but apparently not. Nyack seems to be gone, though. Anyway, it's a fun place to eat and the food is pretty good. After a small adventure on the trolleys and a short hop on a cable car, we managed to get to Chinatown. Queenee ducked into the first shop we came to and negotiated some good deals on a few pieces of jewelry. I got a small box, a netsuke carved from fish bone, a scrimshaw bead and a good-luck bunny charm. We walked down Grant Street to the Chinatown Gate, then from there back to the hotel. Jim was good enough to let us keep the room until 7pm and that saved us. Poor Queenee was worn out from all the walking and had whacked her shin hard getting on one of the trolleys. She has quite a bad bruise now.



Queenee and Joan had taken a car back to the hotel from Boulevard while the rest of us walked. The driver gave Queenee his card and said he'd pick us up and take us to the airport, so at 7pm he arrived and off we went. Our flight wasn't until 11:30pm, but we figured we could rest up and eat at the airport, which we did. Our flight left late due to not being able to get the engines cracked up, but we made up the time in the air and the flight wasn't full, so we had a row to ourselves and no seat-back issues!! We got home before 10am Thursday and spent most of the day resting and unpacking.

It's nice to travel, but it's good to come home.