Things & Places Seen In San Francisco - Transport Part 8

When I took the photos, I didn't realise that there were all these different shots of transport - the usual and the unusual ones in San Francisco. Just like I did a post of transportation in Egypt, here's my compilation of transportation seen around San Francisco.

Ferry passing Alcatraz


Flipped Bus?

Tummy Warmer - Ketam Village Steamboat, Ikano Power Centre

With the "end of the world" weather that us Malaysians have been experiencing of late, I'm sure there were a few hopefuls out there who waited for the "winter storm" to happen on 20 November. Some hopeful to catch their first glimpse of snowflakes and some just because ... I know one who had hope for some sort of miracle and had sadly put away the winter clothes when it didn't happen. Awww....cheer up!

The rest of us went about our business as usual though we definitely realised that the temperature has been low of late and coupled with the daily rainfall, we have been feeling cold like we never felt before all these while in the humid Malaysian weather. I did a search and found out that the lowest temperature recorded in Malaysia was 7.8 ^oC on February 1, 1978 in Cameron Highlands. I was around but can't remember such a rare event. Of late, I have been warming up my tummy with hot soupy meals often - which brings me to today's post on Ketam Village Steamboat in Ikano. This is one of my favourite place and I'm quite a regular here, introducing Eat First Think Later and Precious Pea to this place plus lots of other friends too. However, I never got around to blogging about this place till now! I've been coming to this place about once a week since the cold weather to warm myself up.

Here, each of us gets an individual pot. While some may say "...but the fun is in sharing the pot..", some may rejoice "....finally...clean uncontaminated food (read - no saliva) all to myself!" Well...to each its own (precisely!) :o)

My friends' order of the combo set for 2 pax. Something I don't touch as I don't quite fancy seafood. I mean, I would eat seafood but not if I had a choice.

Why do I like coming here for steamboat? I'm not that particular about sharing food or saliva, it's just that ...

Ghirardelli Premium Chocolate, San Francisco

We have Domingo Ghirardelli to thank for bringing us Ghirardelli Premium Chocolates. Leaving Italy and migrating to United States, he created the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. In the early 1900's, Ghirardelli Chocolate then made its home in Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco (fortunately for me!). I always dropped by Ghirardelli Square for my usual treat whenever I'm in San Francisco.

This time round, my visit to Ghirardelli Square was even better as I met up with Kopi Soh, a former blogger turned avid Facebooker. Only a handful has seen her as she blogs anonymously and photos of her on the blog or Facebook usually shows her hand or her leg or her shoulder...you get what I mean. So, it was quite an exciting thought to be finally seeing her face-to-face and with us meeting up in San Francisco!

Kopi Soh and her cherry blossom tattoo!

With Mr Kopi Soh in tow, we decided to head straight for our sundae treats at Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop in Ghirardelli Square. We joined the queue, ordered and managed to find an empty table though the place was crowded. While Mr Kopi Soh waited for our order to arrive, Kopi Soh and I promptly went around the place and took photos. In this shop, one can actually see how Ghirardelli processes the cocoa beans into their premium chocolate.

Here are the steps and the explanation (taken off each display board at the shop).

In Step 1 - Cocoa Roasters, the outer shell of the bean is removed, leaving behind the kernel (also called "nibs"). These nibs are then roasted thus developing their unique flavor.

Step 2 Chocolate Mills

In three tiered mills, a combination of grinding and frictional heat melt the cocoa nibs into a liquid called chocolate liquor or unsweeted chocolate as we know it today.

O'Briens Delivery Service - Officially Launched!

I was invited to attend the official launch of O'Briens Delivery Service a couple of weeks back at The Curve outlet where I also met up with several other bloggers. I had called Simon along as he was one of the few (or the only one!) I know who is free on certain weekdays. We were the first few to arrive and later met up with TheNomadGourmand, Coco and Wilson and we sat together with the media folks.

Can you spot Simon?

From Top Left : Mr Hugh Hoyes-Cock, CEO of O'Briens Sandwich Cafe - Asia Pacific, Mr Eoin Duggan; First Secretary of the Irish Embassy and Mr Brian Pua, Master Franchise of O'Briens Malaysia and also the Operations & Business Development Director. All 3 addressed the invited guests with a short and simple speech before the ribbon cutting ceremony...

It's Official!

Latest addition to O'Briens Happy Family - spanking new O'Briens delivery motorbikes

It's that time again...

Yay! The weekend's here again....We are all another week older :o). Going to have another busy weekend...what will you be doing?

Party!!!!!!
Glow sticks at a concert venue

Have a great weekend!

Supper @ The Lodge Paradize Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

After leaving Luna Bar, some of us wanted to have supper and Czar suggested we go for Teochew Porridge at The Lodge Paradize Hotel. It has been awhile since I last went to this place which has been around for decades! We headed straight to Paradize Poolside Coffee House and promptly put in our orders.

Most of us had either ordered the Fried Beef Noodles in egg gravy (RM13.50) or the Teochew Porridge set (RM15), for two to share. I opted for the porridge and shared it with Cookie :o)

The Beef Noodles (Kway Teow "Flat Noodles") came flooded with egg swirled gravy that was delicious and the usual ginger slices and spring onions. I tasted some of it and it was quite good.

Here's the Teochew Porridge set, a large bowl of plain porridge served with 6 side dishes.

Chill Out @ Luna Bar, Pacific Regency Hotel, KL

How has your weekend been so far? It's already Sunday ... and the weekend has come and it's going :o). Take time off to chill ... Here are some pics I took of Luna Bar @ Pacific Regency Hotel when I did some chilling there recently. It's a nice place to hangout, soaking up the fun (not sun ...since at night, hahaha) with the usual suspects ... love the surroundings! Have your dinner there and party the night away at the pool area or just chill indoor. Click HERE for the floor plan of Luna Bar to have a better idea of the layout, it's a great place to throw a party.

View from the upper deck


Bright lights


Bar near the pool area

Things & Places Seen In San Francisco - Part 5

Today, I shall take you all on a tour when I walked around the pier area along Fisherman's Wharf. The weather was lovely with blue sky and great sights around. Most of these pics were taken at Hyde Street Pier where one can see some historical ships anchored here (read more about them by clicking on its highlighted name). This pier is part of San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Enjoy!

See what I mean by lovely weather (minus the two spots there on the upper left of my camera lens!)


Pier 43 Ferry Arch


Pier 43 1/2 home of the Red & White Fleet, one of the many ferry tour operators in the area.


Docked boats

Tea For Two @ Kokopelli Travellers Bistro

Got back not too long ago and decided to do a quick post as I'm sleepy. I had a lovely time over this weekend as it was a time of catching up with friends (with food ever present, of course) as we celebrated Halloween Day aka my birthday ;o). On Saturday, I celebrated with Jason and friends over dinner in Chynna, KL Hilton. I didn't bring my camera that night, hence no pics from me but check out Jason's blog soon as he did :o). Once again, Happy Birthday Jason (well, it's belated by now...). Yesterday, there was another group gathering at Kokopelli where I celebrated together with another friend whose birthday was just 2 days before mine.

Tea For Two Menu