San Francisco

San Francisco is one of my absolute favorite cities (next to Boston and Chicago of course.) Over Thanksgiving break, my family and I drove to San Ramon, California, where my cousins live. It was a 12 hour drive of torture. Well, it wasn't actually that bad, but no one wants to be cooped up in the back seat for 12 hours! Plus, my two little sisters were also crammed in there. We left at about 6 PM and arrived near to 6:30 AM in California, so by our time, it took us over 13 hours to arrive. The worst part of the drive was when we were less than two hours away (so close!) we got stuck in a huge traffic jam. We literally drove a mile in more than an hour. Painful memories....

Finally, after one of the longest drives I've taken, we arrived at my cousins' house. It was like a dream. The sun hadn't risen yet, and fog clung to the round hills. We were greeted at the door by my aunt and uncle, grandparents (who were also visiting for a short time) and my two cousins. We had a delicious breakfast and went straight upstairs. We basically hung out and relaxed for the whole day. The weather was surprisingly warmer than it is here, so we took long walks and got Starbucks. I realized that it was the perfect day to go watch Catching Fire, which I really really really wanted to watch. I somehow convinced my Dad to take us after dinner.

We ate a delicious dinner, and headed right to the theater. My Dad was really tired from driving all night long the previous night, and vowed that he would be sleeping through the whole movie. We were a little late, but the ads were still playing. However, the theater was stuffed to the brim! We had to work really hard to find 2 seats together. We ended up asking someone to move over one seat so that my cousin Manaal and I could sit together. My dad somehow found a seat directly in front of me. I got comfortable and prepared to hear loud snoring.

The movie was amazing, and I was completely enchanted by it. A while later, I didn't hear any snoring. At the end of the movie,  I asked my Dad how his nap was. Apparently, he never went to sleep and he really liked the movie. I kind of knew he would. It was hard to fall asleep during an action packed movie like that!

The next day, it was Thanksgiving! We had a delicious Thanksgiving feast with Irani style chicken, lamb leg, and other sides. Manaal and I set the table for kids and adults. After we ate dinner, we ate apple pie, of course! Then, we headed out to go Black Friday shopping.

FFFFFOOOODDDDD

Yes, that is splenda... its an inside joke :)

We had a blast at the mall and went to sleep after 1 AM. My uncle made us wake up early the next morning, which was terrible, but very worth it. We all went and got ready to go to San Francisco. It was a warm, sunny day, which was perfect for a day out and about in San Francisco. When we arrived, we drove to one of the most crooked roads in the US. It was so steep that I was scared that the car was going to roll backwards down the road. The view from the top was really spectacular, though. We also took a short stop to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

View from top of curvy road

Golden Gate Bridge

After that, we headed to the Fisherman's Wharf, or Pier 39 for lunch. We walked around until we came to a huge bakery called Boudin, which is famous for its sourdough bread. We ate outside on the patio. Of course, I had the clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. After over-stuffing, we headed to Union Square to do some shopping. We went into the Macy's and accidentally ran into a pastry shop. That's not even the best news! The owner of the shop was Yigit Pura who won a chef show called Top Chef Just Desserts, which I watched. At this point, I had to get something! I got a pecan tart and a macaroon, and they were pretty good.

Fisherman's Wharf

Gorgeous trees

Boudin! YUM

Preparing food

My yummy clam chowder

Pics at Union Square:

I remember him from the TV show

Tout Sweet 

Rainbow macaroons! 

Chocolate Ganache  

Special flavored Marshmallows 

We wanted to go to other stores, but apparently there was a whole thing for lighting up the gigantic Christmas tree in Union Square and caused a crazy huge crowd, so we skipped the shopping and went to dinner. My aunt and uncle took us to their favorite South Indian restaurant. We never ever eat Indian food, and it was very good! Here are some pics of the meal:

Stuffed with potatoes (soo good!)

Gotta love this

Unfortunately, the next day was the day we went back to Arizona. We had lunch at a bakery in Danville called La Boulange. I had some French Onion Soup, a goat cheese sandwich, and a steak sandwich. No, I didn't order all of these things; I shared with my sister, of course.

YUM

Great ambiance 

French Onion Soup

Get a bowl of hot chocolate at La Boulange 

My steak sandwich 

After lunch, we went into a pet store and drooled over the kittens and then said goodbye to the family. We were back on the road. Another 12 hours... Thank god that's over.

I had so much fun with my family this Thanksgiving! What did you guys do over the break?