Parlor Profile: Mitchell's Ice Cream

When we were in CA a few weeks ago I dragged M to one of my favorite ice cream places in San Francisco. My friend Rho introduced me to it when we were both living in California and we shared a wonderful afternoon filled with ice cream, cherries and the beautiful view from the top of Bernal Hill.



Name: Mitchell's Ice Cream

Location: San Jose Ave., Bernal Heights, San Francisco CA



The Scoop: Mitchell's has been owned and operated by the Mitchell family since 1953 in the same spot in San Francisco and they make all of their ice cream on site. They are famous for their tropical flavors and they import fresh ingredients from the Philippines to make exotic flavors like Buko (baby coconut), Langka (jackfruit), Ube (purple yam), Lychee, Macapuno (young coconut), and Halo Halo (Buko, Langka, Ube, Pineapple, Mango and Sweet Beans).



The Flavors: We tried Halo Halo and Sweet and Salty Peanut.



The Price: One two-scoop cone ran us $4.80. Yikes!



The Verdict: I've decided to stop imposing a rating system on these ice cream parlors because honestly, would I ever give ice cream a bad rating? So needless to say, the ice cream was delicious. It was thick and creamy, melting down my hand and leaving me feeling a little uncomfortably full, the way good ice cream should. The Sweet and Salty Peanut was exactly that, who knew I would like salt in my ice cream? And if I had to choose again I would go for one of the tropical flavors by itself instead of getting Halo Halo which is all of them mashed together. I've had Ube in the past and it was earthy and bright purple, which gives it a leg up in my book. But I would be interested to taste the difference between "young coconut" and "baby coconut." Maybe next time (why must you be 3,000 miles away from me, Mitchell's?).

California, I'm comin' home

Here are some random pics from the trip to CA last week. I think I did a pretty good job packing, considering we were in temperatures ranging from 60 to 105 degrees F.


***The sunflowers are blooming in the fields around Davis!!***


***Tasting a little port at Heitz Cellar, missing Sissy***


***I visited Nicole and got to see the alphabet series in person (and take home "beehive")!!***


***The Full Houses***


***There is a whole collection of shoe planters in Alamo Square, San Francisco***


***I had to take a picture of those incredible balconies***



We ended the week with the wedding of my old roomates, Mike and G. I was living with them in Davis when I started this blog in early 2007. I've officially hit the age when all of my friends are getting married and it's surreal. There were two other weddings on the same day as this one! And as my coworker Rose said, this weekend "Facebook was blowin' up with wedding albums." So true. And so strange.



It was a lovely trip. I got to see many old friends and I dragged M around to a bunch of my favorite places; St. Helena, 826 Valencia, Mitchell's Ice Cream (more on this later), and the yard on F Street where we finished off the week with a BBQ and an evening of wine and mojitos. (Full disclosure - I probably shouldn't be able to drink as many mojitos as I did when I can't even spell the word - my first try went like this: "moquitos." For shame.)

Helena, Saint of Bicycles and Pastry

A few weeks ago I spent an idyllic four days in St. Helena, working on my thesis (really) and hanging out with my girl Jaja in the house on Inglewood Ave. We spent the time in the following manner:

1. Taking long morning bike rides that usually ended with us in the bakery buying pastries for breakfast.


The bike path across from Beringer Winery


A particularly long and hilly ride

2. Enjoying the landscape.




The view from the house on Inglewood Ave.



3. Schmoozing with wine people and generally pretending to be a part of the world of Napa Valley.


Prager Port and Winery


Barrels of home-made wine in the garage on Inglewood Ave.

4. Treating ourselves to good food.


The adorable kitchen garden at Go Fish


Watching the game in the outdoor bar at Go Fish


Local bread, cheese, tomatoes, and basil for lunch from the Farmer's Market

5. Working on projects (my thesis, her sewing).


The view from my work desk

All I could do the whole time was laugh at how lucky I am and revel in the joys of summer and unscheduled time. So precious and so fleeting.

Still Life in Rose

These days it seems that life = wine country. When it doesn't = research, that is. I'm not complaining.


(Photo by Jaja)

I had another wonderful time in Napa Valley this weekend, this time with Jaja and Scotty. My housemate Jaja's boyfriend Scotty runs his family vineyard in St. Helena, and my whole household (except Sammy) spent a long weekend there, indulging (perhaps a bit too much at times) in the wonderful commerce of the area. The rose in the first photo is handmade by Scotty, and the grapevine now resides in our front garden.


We started our Saturday here; Frog's Leap Winery. A free tasting (by appointment) and access to their beautiful porch, rocking chairs, organic gardens, and orchard.


Great little tasting room; Elizabeth Spencer in Rutherford. I love the design of this label; you can't see it very well, but the crossed swords are accompanied by two little red hearts.


A fun stop-off when you've gotten a bit tipsy at Elizabeth Spencer; St. Helena Olive Oil Company. A few doors down, and free tastings of everything from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, BBQ sauce, you name it. (Photo by Jaja).




Late lunch at V. Sattui in St. Helena. (Photos by Crystal)

We had a full Saturday, and sobered up just in time to go watch Kansas beat UNC at a local brewery. Jaja (our resident Kansan) says, "Go Jayhawks!"

Days of Wine and Elk

My wonderful friend Kristin came to visit from Minnesota in early March and we did Napa. We tried to find a bunch of cool, smaller wineries, but the GPS was so confused and kept misdirecting us. Each new gadget makes me more and more lazy, and usually wastes more time than it saves. End of rant. So we ended up going to two larger wineries, Mumm and Beringer, but we had a great time, lots of giggling.


Sparkling wine tasting at Mumm Napa

We also went to the Tule Elk Preserve at Point Reyes National Seashore. It's at the far tip of the seashore and the drive was beautiful and long. There are a few working cattle ranches on the preserve and some abandoned buildings left at the trail head at the elk preserve. They are beautiful and white washed and moss covered.


Old barn from an abandoned cattle facility on Point Reyes




Tule elk, hanging out right alongside the trail. Last time I was at the elk preserve, we needed binoculars to see them.


Kehoe beach, Kristin's first Pacific Ocean toe dipping!

I've amassed so many friends all across the country, and it's powerful when I get to see one of them again and it feels like no time has passed. I haven't seen Kristin since summer 05 when I visited her in Minnesota, but we were able to pick right up in our friendship. It's amazing how some friendships can span location, and work anywhere. I met Kristin in Hawai'i, then saw her almost two years later in MN, and then three and a half years later in CA. The time and location meant nothing, it's incredible.

Californitucky

I'm taking a Plant Conservation class this quarter, and we recently went out to northern Napa county to a preserve up there that allows OHVs (off highway vehicles) and also has a shooting range.

The rain let up for the whole day, we could hardly believe it.





OHVs can cause devastating erosion in areas where their use isn't regulated. And the regulation commission for them is also kind of hard-pressed to enforce regulations due to underfunding and biased interests (a majority of the board are OHV users).



We also went out there because the site has a lot of serpentine areas; the soils are full of heavy metals because the area was formed from deep ocean rocks that are high in magnesium and low in calcium. It's a fascinating ecosystem of plants that have adapted to these strange nutrient levels.



There was also a gold mine on the site that is now closed. The pit was pretty small, considering. And my professor said that they only made a profit margin of 2% the whole time they were there. Hmmmm, good riddance.





I'm taking some other pretty cool classes this quarter, so stay tuned to learn about them soon!

So Sur

A quick peek at my trip with Jaja to Big Sur this past MLK weekend. It was amazing. Lots of creative ideas came out of it, some of which you will probably see in the near future.

Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey CA



Sea Anemones, Monterey Bay Aquarium



Valley View trail, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park



Breakfast, Albert Moleras State Park



Waterfall (flowing from the cliff straight into the ocean, on the right side of the photo) - Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

REWIND: Thanksgiving in San Diego

My lovely friend Casey and her great family hosted me in SD for Thanksgiving. We had a huge delicious meal and drank an incredible amount of tea. Casey and I are enablers of each other when it comes to drinking tea, it's an addiction.





We also visited the San Diego Zoo . . .





. . . and gorgeous Balboa Park (where there's a small conservatory).









Here's how they decorate for Christmas in San Diego.



P.S. - Casey just graduated from UCD and has started an Etsy shop where she sells her adorable batiks under the brand name MoonSprout.