If you didn’t see the photos of the sky before the storm, I recommend taking a look! Here is a link to the post from a couple days ago:
A November Evening, Saratoga
A November Evening, Saratoga
The sky was amazing last evening. I shot these with my DSLR.
Out and about in Saratoga
This little fellow was making a lot of noise and doing a lot of damage at the Victorian Village in downtown Saratoga yesterday:
Here is the courtyard in the lovely Victorian Village mall in Saratoga:
Saratoga is known for its trees. (Sorry the horizon is tilted. Picasa has excellent horizon-adjustment software, but I didn’t like other things it was doing on my computer, so I uninstalled it. I don’t know how to easily straighten the horizon in GIMP. Speaking of which, by the way, all of today’s photos have GIMP’s color white balance and color enhance applied. The photos were pretty in their original state, but I thought the enhancements helped them “pop” for web display without changing the hues too much. (Although the second photo has more blue in the patio and railings than it should.)
Out and about in San Jose
Across from the very modern and fancy Santana Row is this old coffee shop. The sign is so faded you can barely see “Coffee.” Circa 1950s?
But here’s some important news. There are food trucks at Valley Fair mall! Here’s the mall entrance:
And right down there, in front of a restaurant (!) are a couple trucks:
I’m surprised the mall allows them to compete with their tenants.
I didn’t notice the strings of lights until I loaded these pictures this morning. Interesting how many things we don’t notice.
Late summer garden, Saratoga, August 30
Ah, the macro setting.
Capitola and The Wharf Restaurant
In Capitola, you can park up on a bluff above the town at meters. These were filled so we parked on a side street beyond the meters then enjoyed the long walk down to the beach, the wharf, and the restaurant.
The light quality differs between the first photo and the rest. That’s because I white balanced and color enhanced the first one only. The others are as-is, straight off my Android phone camera.
The approach:
The restaurant:
The departure:
Birthday dinner in San Francisco, restaurant review
Dinner at Piperade on Battery Street (which is near the foot of the amazing Telegraph Hill, in Levi Plaza):
My only complaint was cost/value ratio. We paid as much as we did in Paris at L’Opera Garnier and that was with a TravelZoo voucher we had purchased.
I had a really nice time, but next time, I’ll pack a picnic and spread a blanket out on the Marina Green.
Saratoga Eats! Food truck event June 14, 2013
Intero Real Estate company in Saratoga did a great job sponsoring Saratoga Eats yesterday, opening their offices to offer clean bathrooms, setting up music for the kids to dance to, and advertising ahead of time with big signs strategically placed around town.
It’s neat to see this new business model giving opportunities to entrepreneurs! Not to mention offering fun new dining options for foodies everywhere.
It’s not as easy as it looks. Some trucks you can tell, they decided to turn Mom’s amazing cooking into a business. But, let’s face it, Mom has a touch of memory loss and Dad and Kid don’t quite have a handle on the assembly line aspect of cranking out meals. (No names mentioned; they will hopefully get better.)
The trucks that took their time to get the order right, who had pre-made items that just needed to be cooked, that knew their inventory status, and took their time when handing you the order for things like: “Would you like me to put foil on the bottom dish so you can stack them?” “Do you want me to pour the sauce on it here?” Did better. For all of these traits, and incredible quality and taste, we give two thumbs up to Wesushi.
Our favorite items from Wesushi, in order of preference. (If you have to just get one, get Sekiwake.)
Also with great service and amazing taste, two thumbs up to Midday Picnic, for the killer shrimp and chorizo slider. (Comes as a mini sand with slaw to die for.) Yup, it slides right down — after tantalizing the taste buds.
Nicci Carrera 