Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

Isaiah 53

A servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field.  There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look.  He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.  One look at him and people turned away. 

We looked down on him, thought he was scum.  But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.  We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures.  But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!  He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed.  We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.  And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him.

He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word.  Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence.  Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people.  They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.

Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain.  The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.  Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.  Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
 

Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors— because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest.  He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

All you need is ...

Do you know what one of my favorite things in the world is?

Old couples in love.

After just finishing 2 weeks in the emergency room at South's hospital, a place which can make even the softest heart just a bit cynical, I am now working for 2 weeks in a clinic at a private Catholic hospital, Providence.  The clinic here is what I imagine Heaven to be a bit like: wonderful sweet patients (most of them) who take their medicines, who want to get better, and who are so appreciative of everything you do.  They bring homemade cookies and fresh veggies from their garden at every visit, and people bring you tuna steak for lunch (yes, seriously).

Now I have to say that I do love working at South too.  The patients there are just more challenging, to say the least.  Many of them are "non-compliant", a doctor term for "daggum it why won't this patient take their medicine and stop smoking!!!" and as a result of that they show you the "natural process of disease", meaning "what happens to a body when its owner doesn't take care of it."  It's obviously a great place for learning, but not such a great place for your morale if you're really wanting to make a difference. 

So with that said, sometimes a place like Providence can be a bit of a respite.

Well today I saw these two patients that I just have to tell you about.  Let's call them Mr and Mrs S.

Picture it:  I walk into room number 1.  There in the corner chair sits Mrs S.  She is all dolled up for the doctor's office today in her bright blue cardigan with embroidered flowers, dress pants, and the cutest shoes I have ever seen.  Seriously, I wanted to borrow her outfit.  Her teal green cane was propped up against the counter; she has kyphoscoliosis (a hump and curve to her back) and the cane helps her get around. Her makeup was perfectly applied and when I walked in the door she smiled up at me with eyes wrinkled from 81 years of grinning.  We chatted for a while - she wanted to know about medical school, where I was from and if I was married.  Then she decided to tell me about her cold.  She told me she had been sick for about a week with the crud.  She just couldn't seem to get over it and finally decided to come into the doctor since she had been through a couple episodes of pneumonia in the past.  With that in mind, I do my exam.  Everything sounds surprisingly good and I'm not suspicious of pneumonia.  I go present my findings to Dr Israel, my proctor, and move on to the next patient. 

I look at the new chart and realize it's the same last name.  Mr S, the husband, is in the next room for his yearly checkup.  I can't help but smile a little when I walk in the room and see him with the same hunch in his spine.  He straightens up immediately and I wonder if his hunching is just habit so that he can stoop to help his wife?  He's not quite so dressed up in a plaid shirt and khakis with his orthopedic shoes, but smiles just as big.  He wanted to know about medical school and where I was from.  He then got on the subject of his time in the marines and working at a local plant nearby.  Then he decided to tell me about why he was there.  He was doing pretty well, despite the aches and pains of old age he said, but made more of an effort to shift conversation to his wife.  He said she had really been sick for about a month and he just couldn't get her to come to the doctor.  He was worried about her and wanted to know if I thought she would get better fast.  I told him I thought she would do just fine but that she would probably need an antibiotic, to which he replied, "Oh goodness!  I just want her to feel better!"  He then told me they had been married for 58 years.  I asked him the secret to their success to which he replied, "just know each other, listen to each other, and don't get all bent out of shape if something goes wrong".

Visiting with both of them completely brightened an already great day.  It's always great to see people who love and care for each other - even after 58 years!  It's even better to go into a room hoping to teach a patient something to improve their life, and they wind up teaching you something to improve yours.

Day 5

The finale ...

We got up early and headed out for breakfast at a "fine" restaurant called Sears Fine Foods.  It is a local San Francisco fav, and we can see why!  They're famous for their plate of 18 Swedish pancakes.  All those carbs were tempting since we hiked about a mile uphill to get there, but instead Stu went for the French toast and I had the apple chicken sausage with eggs.  It was great!

After we got our nourishment we crossed the street for the cable car stop.  We were planning on taking the famous Powel-Hyde cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf.  Well, we stood there on the sidewalk, watching passers-by and eavesdropping on a few free-spirited college kids' convos, and finally started wondering why the cable car hadnt arrived?

Stuart got out the iPhone and conveniently found an automatically updating schedule.  It said the car was 8 minutes away.  Meanwhile, all these buses kept stopping by us with our destination posted on their placard.  Assuming this was a quicker travel alternative for the locals, we continued waiting.  Well, after about 20 minutes of the schedule updating with later and later times, we got a bit frustrated.  I walked up a bit closer to the street and all the sudden noticed this bright orange poster right below the cable car sign

Basically, the 2 days we were in town were the 2 days they were doing maintenence on the cable car.  Those buses that kept stopping for us and then leaving when we just stood there were the cable car-alternate buses!   There we go looking like tourists again ...

After that revelation we gave in and hopped on the next bus.  Fortunately it was a cheaper fare than the car; unfortunately it was not so exciting.  The "end of the line" for this bus just so happened to be Lombard Street - the (second most) curviest road in the world!  This is a one-block stretch of road that was made into switchbacks because the 27% grade is too steep for cars to descend!

Check out those curves!

As soon as we got close we saw flocks of tourists posing at the bottom and making the hike to the top.  We kind of felt bad for the people that actually live on that street, but then we got over it and joined everyone else at the top.  We broke a bit of a sweat on the way up, which was nothing new considering all the walking we had already done.  The view was worth it!

View from the top of the street

After the hike up, we made our way back down and over a few blocks to Fisherman's  Wharf.  The FW has been San Fran's fishing home for over 100 years.  There are several things they are famous for:

1) Dungeoness Crab - These have been farmed in the waters nearby for years.  They then sell them right there in the wharf - and make lunch out of them too!

2) Clam Chowder in bread bowls - you can buy these on the street side and just eat them on the sidewalk; however, we opted to dine inside the restaurant and enjoy the views from upstairs

3) Sea Lions - yes, sea lions in San Francisco!  These guys somehow migrated here to the docks in the 1990's and haven't left since.  About 15 of them originally set up shop, but now in the winter there are up to 500!  They just kind of loll around on the floating docks all day and bark at each other.  It's pretty hilarious!

Look!  They're hugging!

4) Scary men in fake bushes - this was one of my favorite parts of the day.  This guy sits on a crate, hides behind some fresh-plucked branches, and jumps out at unsuspecting pedestrians.  Fortunately I saw it before we got too close, so Stuart and I just decided to hang back and watch him jump out and yell Boo at everyone.

After soaking in the Wharf we walked up a few blocks around the "beach" (which is not quite as lovely as Gulf Shores I might say) to Ghiradelli Square to continue on with breaking our Lenten fast.  We enjoyed the largest ice cream sundaes you could ever dream of

Look at the smile on that face!  A little peanut butter goes a long way ...

My gold Rush Sundae with a chocolate chip cookie on the bottom

Finished!

And to walk off those extra 8 billion calories, we headed off for our last stop of the day: Chinatown!  San Francisco has the largest concentration of Chinese citizens in the country.  They originally immigrated to work in the Gold Rush; however, their population increased so rapidly that I guess it scared the locals.  They decided to limit Chinese immigration and even put a tax on them for working and competing with the Americans.  Anyway, eventually the Chinese just created their own community and have been there since.  And by "own community", you might as well just say "own world".  Walking in Chinatown is just what I imagine walking in China to be like.

Fish for sale on the sides of the street

 After walking around and taking in the sights, we got up a pretty good appetite!  We decided that we should eat like the locals and check out some place in Chinatown.  Thanks to our Urban Spoon aps we narrowed it down to a few choices, the favorite being Hong Kong Clay Pot - based on title alone.  After a few minutes of searching signs full of Chinese characters, we saw a small man standing outside the restaurant with menus in his hand.  We interrupted his conversation with the friendly fish salesman next to him and asked for a menu.  He seemed quite taken aback that we were interested in eating there, and showed us the way upstairs.

It was quite a quaint little restaurant, and we were one of two American parties sitting down to eat.  That, my friends, is the hallmark of a good Chinese restaurant:  that Chinese people are eating there.  The waitress quickly came over with a pot of (I think) green tea and handed us menus.  We poured over them and decided that we wanted to split some salted and spiced prawns and steamed garlic spinach with a starter of spring rolls.  Not knowing portion sizes, we were concerned that we wouldnt have enough food to last us for the uphill trek home.  So when the waitress returned we had this conversation:

Me: Ma'am, is this #48 shrimp enough for us to split?
Waitress: Ahhhh, no no, no vegetable
Me: Yes there's no vegetables in that dish I know, but would this be enough for us to split?
Waitress: Ahhhh no no, this one have skins and heads
Me: (To Stuart) What?!
Stuart: Excuse me?
Me: Ohh you have to peel your own shrimp
Waitress: Yes!  You no eat that.  You eat honey walnut shrimp.  Much better!
Stuart:  Ummm ... ok.  Well get honey walnut shrimp.  And some spinach please.

So our mothering Chinese waitress ordered our food for us, and the food pictured above is what we wound up with.  And it was delicious!  She must have known that creamy sweet shrimp would have been a great choice for us.  And you know what?  The garlic in that spinach put the garlic at The Stinking Rose to shame!

Super sketchy food = super delicious food

In summary, after many days of spaced-apart blogs of our trip, we had a super time and were a little sad about coming back.  But life must go on!  Stuart started back to work and I have started working in the ER.  Many, many disturbing stories to come from that I'm sure....

Day 4

A sad day ... we had to leave Napa Valley

But on to San Francisco!

We headed out bright and early in the Corolla with our trusty GPS.  Stuart planned the SF part of our trip while I planned the Napa part.  Being the wonderful husband that he is, he knows I am a tree hugger and therefore planned the first part of San Fran as a stop in Muir Woods.

Beautiful views from the road up to the woods

In the words of Stuart himself, "Muir woods was started by Mr Muir, a real hippie philosopher who liked to sit out in the forest and write stuff."

Regardless of your hippie or non-hippie views, Muir woods was a pretty cool place!  You really cannot stand next to a 1000 year old Redwood and not be in awe of God and nature.

Trunk rings from a fallen Redwood

I will answer to "tree hugger" thank you very much

Stuart wasn't quite as excited about having his picture made inside a tree ...

Check out the swirly bark!

After hiking around the woods we were both famished.  Stuart GPS'ed us to In and Out Burger, a fast food love of his second only to Chipotle. We both had our burgers "animal style" meaning with sauteed onions and some sort of thousand-island type sauce.  It was pretty delicious!  We also met a cute family from Sonoma next to us who inquired about our strange Southern accents.  They kept interrupting us while trying to take this picture ... hence the awkward face

After In and Out it was off to the city by the bay!  Before we found our way through city traffic, we pulled off at a look-off area for great pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge!  I kind of felt like I was on Full House for a moment.  We tried to remember the theme song without much luck.

Agghhh!  Be careful up there!

Driving on the bridge followed by a SIX DOLLAR toll.  Yuck.

After we finished sight-seeing, we headed through downtown San Fran to drop off our car rental at the airport and catch the shuttle to our hotel, the Omni. I forgot to take pictures of what the hotel looked like, so here's one I stole from online.

After unpacking and checking out the room's fanciness, we decided to go for a walk!  Now, San Francisco is pretty daggum hilly.  I really had no idea.  I don't understand how anyone in that city can be overweight ... unless they ride the cable car everywhere.  Anyway, we went for a walk in the Financial District and Little Italy neighborhoods.  Obviously people watching was a big part of this and we again discovered that Californians are a bit ... different ... than Southerners.

On our walk we happened upon the City Lights bookstore.  I was in search of a souvenir cookbook and thought they might have one inside.  They had nothing even remotely related to cookbooks.  Turns out they are a bookstore specializing in "World literature, the arts, and progressive politics".  Oops!  Stuart got mad just looking at the choices on the shelves.  The only remotely interesting things I found were a book on NPR, and a book written by a physician about strange things that people have eaten.  Most of the rest of the titles were unmentionable, or things that we didn't understand.

Oh well!  Out on the streets again we went.  We were getting pretty hungry, and had heard about this place in Little Italy called The Stinking Rose.  Their motto is "we flavor our garlic with food", and every dish has garlic - even the desserts!  We sat down for a stinky dinner and were immediately brought an iron skillet of roasted garlic cloves for dipping bread in.  

Stinky!

Worlds longest garlic rope

I wound up ordering lasagna and Stu had fillet of sole with tomatoes and garlic.  While the dishes sounded delicious, we had unfortunately fallen prey to the tourist trap restaurant and the meal was nowhere near delicious.  Live and learn.

Afterward we wanted to redeem a bad dinner with a delicious dessert! Stuart had discovered this bar called Top of the Mark that reportedly had the best views in all of San Francisco.  Unfortunately, it was at the top of a 6 block stretch of 45 degree hill.  We trudged and trudged, and finally sweaty and out of breath, we made it to the top!  I felt a bit awkward walking in to this fancy hotel/bar with waiters in tuxes while we were panting and sweating, but we went for it!  And we were rewarded with wonderful views, and a delicious chocolate banana creme pie!

A smaller example of the hills we trekked

  Day 5 is soon to come ...

Day 3

830AM - Breakfast.  The Wine Country Inn where we stayed was wonderful.  Homemade breakfast every morning overlooking beautiful valley views - and homemade granola for every room!  Can't beat that!

Steam coming off my delish (and healthy!!!) breakfast casserole that I scored the recipe for

Building where we stayed

10AM – Hendry Ranch for a (free!) tour and tasting.  I had heard via much research that this was one of the best Napa Valley experiences around.  (History lesson follows): George Hendry inherited his father’s ranch , one of the largest plots of land in the Napa Valley, at the ripe age of 2.  He, his brother, and his mother worked to build it up into a prune orchard, dairy farm, and a small vineyard.  At that time, not long after the repeal of prohibition, grapes and wine weren’t necessarily en vogue.  Once George grew up, he decided to go to college and become an electrical engineer.  He designed a few impressive things but wasn’t satisfied, and decided to come back home and farm.  He began converting his ranch land into vineyards.  He used science and strategy to get the most out of the varying depths and types of soil, and wound up growing grapes so impressive that Robert Mondavi himself bought them up for his own wine.  After years of this, Mr Hendry decided that if his grapes were good enough for Robert Mondavi, then maybe he should stop selling them and make wine out of them himself!

Well, we make it up to the ranch which is just stunning.  Its 114 acres are some of the most varied in Napa County.  As we waited patiently with some other tourists, up walked Mr George Hendry himself to give the tour of his vineyards!  He had on a plaid shirt and straw hat, and was just as cute as cute can be.  He walked us through his vineyards, explaining why he grew Cabernet and Zinfandel on top of the hills, and Sauvignon Blanc in the flood plains.  After that came a short tour through his pressing and barrel rooms, and then finally a tasting.  We tasted each different type of wine that he makes as he explained the nuances with each, adding in what foods each wine paired well with.  It was SUCH an educational and fun experience!  How better to understand the wine making process than from the winemaker himself!  And I must add he had the best tasting Pinot Noir possibly in the world.

On our tour led by Mr Hendry (straw hat) himself!

Who wouldn't want to work out in this every day?

1:00PM – Farmstead for lunch.  This is a really neat farm-themed restaurant in St Helena where we stayed.  The chef is originally from Arkansas and does a lot of Southern themes in his food.  Featured on the menu were dumplings and cheddar biscuits.  All the ingredients (other than fish of course) are farmed right on site, and you can even walk through their vegetable gardens to see what you’re eating!  We decided to sit outside in the lovely weather.  Stuart ordered a citrus and feta salad with lavender toasted almonds to start, and I had a caramelized beet salad with goat cheese crema.  It was, how shall I say … one of the most spectacular things I’ve eaten.  And the beets were just beautiful!

Beets may be my new fav veggie

Stuart's salad

The remains of my salad were almost as beautiful as the beginning.  Check out those sauces!

The main course was a mufaletta sandwich with blue cheese cole slaw for Stu, and a cheese burger with fried potatoes for me.  Perhaps it’s hard to tell from the picture, but that was the most amazing burger I’ve ever had.  Hands down.

Mine in the foreground, Stu's in the background.  Mmmmm

Cute table decor

Two wooden coins, redeemable for a free wine tasting next door!

2:00PM – Long Meadow Ranch wine tasting – LMR is actually a combination with Farmstead.  They’re owned by the same folks.  There’s really not much to write home about here.  Because we got the free tasting coins we hopped by here.  However, the lady pouring the tastes was a bit too advanced for us and we didn’t really understand half of what she was talking about.  We did, however, get to do an olive oil tasting.  I was a bit intimidated by drinking a sip of pure olive oil, but it was pretty interesting.  Their organically grown olive oil was a bit better than the Crisco olive oil I use at home!

3:00PM – Sonoma.  We decided that since we had spent the better part of our trip in Napa, we’d see what all Sonoma had to offer.  We drove over the Mayacamas Mountains via a winding little road that made me car sick (fun times, but at least I didn’t lose the delish Farmstead burger).  We parked in downtown Sonoma and walked around.  Now, perhaps we were just biased due to our spectacular stay in Napa, but Sonoma just didn’t have quite as much to offer.  There was a plaza downtown that we circled a few times with a couple of cutesy home stores, but other than that it wasn’t too exciting.  We basically just hung out in the plaza, and watched people and ducks in the pond.  Well, I guess I should say that the people watching was pretty exciting.  Let’s just say that the folks in California are … different than the ones in the South.  Moms drinking wine in crystal glasses watched their children (who were drinking bottles of Perrier sparkling water, mind you) play in the sandbox.  The other side of the park was punk-teenager land.  15 year old girls with too-short shorts over red fishnet stockings yelled curse words at poorly groomed teenage boys on skate boards.  It definitely kept our eyes busy!

Strange plant we found to match the strange people we found

Bear Flag monument marking the spot where America claimed California from under Mexican rule

6:40PM – El Dorado Kitchen – our ultimate dining experience.  My trusty Frommer’s guidebook told me that EDK was one of the premier dining experiences in Sonoma county.  And fortunately, it was a bit lesser known and therefore less pricey than some of the Napa restaurants.  We decided to go all out and do the chef’s tasting menu with wine pairing.  Here’s how that works:  the chef, on whims, prepares 5 courses for each guest.  That’s actually 10 different plates for a table of two.  Then the sommelier (pronounced: some-molly-A), which is the restaurants wine director/connoisseur, pairs each dish with a glass of wine that would best compliment it.  Now before you think we’re raving alcoholics, these are not full glasses we’re talking about here!

Anywho, it was such a neat experience for several reasons.  First, you never knew what was coming.  You are kind of at the chef’s mercy on these things.  Second, EDK had an open kitchen meaning that we could watch the chef and the chef could watch us.  We could hear him say things like, “I think the lady will like this”; or “looks like they’re about finished with the first course, how about let’s make such and such for the second course”.  You really felt like the center of attention.  Third, the sommelier brought each glass to us by hand (a different kind for each of us, for each plate) and would describe why he thought it would pair well.  Very special attention!

Now, in hindsight I wish I would have thought to capture each course on film, but I didn’t.  You’ll just have to work through the descriptions!

Amuse Bouche – this is a single bite-sized hors d’oeuvre served at fancier restaurants.  It serves as a ‘whetting of your appetite’ and also as a peek into how the chef likes to cook.  Everyone in the restaurant gets one, not just those doing the tasting menu.  Anywho, the amuse this night was a wood-fired (interpreted: warmed over a flame) oyster with a radish salsa.  Now I am not one for raw oysters, but I must say that this was absolutely wonderful.

First course: salad of spring vegetables (radish, asparagus, green bean) with a fried oyster for me; tuna nicoise (pronounce: knee-swa) which is poached tuna served with crumbled hard boiled egg, green beans, and an olive tapanade for Stu.

Second course: wild mushroom risotto with a fried ham hock for me; Stuart had wild rice with California asparagus

Third course: seared scallop on a bed of escarole with foie gras (fattened goose liver) mousse for me; Stuart had bouillabaisse containing clams, mussels, prawns and squid.  This was my favorite dish of the course; I was sad when it ended.

Fourth course:  my dish was lamb chops and cutlets in a red wine reduction sauce with spring beans and tomatoes.  Stuart had Kobe slow-roasted chuck roast with roasted potatoes and carrot puree

Fifth course - dessert!  I had orange and vanilla crepes with toasted coconut ice cream.  Stuart had a homemade smore with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  This was Stuart's favorite course  =)

After this delicious meal, we were stuffed and bascially just had to go to sleep! 

Day 4 coming soon ...