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.