SF MOMA

Now that we are living much closer to San Francisco, I've been trying to get Munch into the city more often. We recently visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The ticket booth was not yet open, so we stopped into Peet's for a latte and a cup of hot chocolate, as it was a typical gray, rainy San Francisco summer morning-

It was fun sitting at a cafe table on the corner and watching, hearing, and feeling all the busy-ness around us.

Once inside the museum (kids 12 years and under are free when accompanied by an adult!), we enjoyed the twinkling lights that hung over the entry. As we ascended the stairs, we could see that the lights actually formed a sort of video screen. One gallery had a lounge area with an interactive presentation where Munch could explore artists and styles, create her own artwork, and even email it so someone. The presentation, based on artist Roy de Forest's Country Dog Gentlemen, is also on the museum's website-

To prepare Munch for our visit, we had talked briefly during the drive over about modern art, the variety of media she would see, and I had her bring a notepad. Munch paused in several galleries to make little sketches of things she saw, but this portrait of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera inspired her to stop and draw for a long time-

The museum actually has a great education center, which we didn't come to until after exploring most of the second floor. However, I'd recommend that families stop in there first to pick up a few Family Guides or a MOMA treasure hunt, which contain fun activities to help keep kids focused and thinking about the artwork during their visit. There are even activities to keep adults entertained during their museum visit, many which have been designed by other guests (such as photograph the strangest item to be checked in to the coat check). Munch also chose to try an art hunt in which she donned a mask and adopted the persona of another character to try to find artwork in the galleries that might appeal to that imaginary character.

Before leaving, we sat and enjoyed this beauty, probably our favorite of the day, Collection by Robert Rauschenberg-

Girls Day in Chinatown

Prior to the move, Munch and I would typically stick to the East Bay when exploring. But now that we're closer to San Francisco, we have a whole new area to discover. In the middle of two days of forecasted rain and showers during Spring Break, we pulled on our rainboots and grabbed our umbrellas and headed to SF Chinatown, figuring that the rain would keep most tourists people away. A trip into the city meant we could also visit my aunt and uncle before they left for Wisconsin, so on the way we stopped in the Richmond district to bring them some char siu bao, baked bbq pork buns. Lung Fung makes our family's favorite. As they are "Lolo Owl's" favorite, we also grabbed a few cocktail buns and a small chicken hand pie that Munch wanted to taste.

At my aunt and uncle's house, Munch attempted to capture her favorite cat, Annie, and have a mini fashion show. My aunt had made Munch the most darling crocheted hats-

Other than a lot of roadwork, Munch and I had a fairly easy drive to Chinatown. I realized that other than driving past the dragon gates, I had never been for a visit either.

We walked uphill several blocks to find our first stop-a bakery to pick up some dumplings- Munch's favorite har gow, of course- and what I had read on yelp were really delicious gai bao- buns filled with chicken, boiled egg, a bit of chinese sausage, and a whole shiitake mushroom-

Just up the street I saw the sign for Golden Gate Bakery. Chowhound discussion boards have been buzzing about this place for years- are they open or closed, their frequent vacations, the passing of their pastry maker, the long lines, and their AMAZING dan tat. Walking closer, I saw that the bakery was open (hooray!) and the line was just a couple of people out the door (even better!). Munch and I quickly joined the queue for our custard tarts, making sure to get a few extra for Grandpa-

Their moon cakes looked beautiful too, but I had no idea what the differences were, so Munch and I quickly chose one filled with lotus seed paste and an egg yolk-

By now Munch and I were carrying two pink bakery boxes and were hungry, so I asked a young couple behind me where their favorite bubble tea place was. They directed me to the Sweetheart Cafe a couple of blocks away, where Munch ordered a soy mango smoothie and I had a fresh taro smoothie with coconut milk. Service was strangely slow, but the drinks eventually came out and Munch and I enjoyed them with a variety of the treats we had gathered.

Bellies full, Munch and I were ready to shop. She picked out a bright pink parasol from one store, we wandered a few alleyways before stumbling upon the fortune cookie factory, then we stopped in a market to pick up some snacks to take home where Munch found the most adorable panda cookies-

On our way back to the car, we came to the shop behind St. Mary's Cathedral where I found a children's prayer book for Munch. We ducked into the church for a few minutes to rest and admire the stained glass windows while Munch read her new book and practiced the "Our Father". I was surprised that Munch mentioned not seeing the holy water as we came in, but she found a bubbling fountain in the foyer and made the sign of the cross as we exited the church.

Tea at Crown and Crumpet

It's February and Munch and I are on Mid-Winter Break, or as I grew up calling it, "Ski Week". So she and I grabbed the opportunity to get to one of our "must-visit" destinations: Crown and Crumpet Tea Room in Ghirardelli Square. Snow White joined us for the day. We saved ourselves a drive by taking the ferry into San Francisco.It was a tiny ferry- very new (not even 2 weeks in service) and as plush as a ferry could get. It even had heat lamps hanging over the outer decks! Munch loved chatting up the ferry workers on board and spent most of time battling the bay breezes-
We had a little time to spare, so we wandered around the SF Ferry Building Marketplace. First stop was Miette, where Snow White and I picked out a couple of macarons- chocolate, rose, and grapefruit.
I was glad to see several merchants that were new (to me, at least- it's been a while since I've visited the Ferry Building). This one, Boccalone Salumeria, caught my eye-
as did the mushroom place, Far West Funghi, where I was able to show Munch what real truffles look like (and which reminded me to hunt down a new jar of truffled honey)

Knowing we had a few treats ahead, we passed on the doughnuts, although the flavors looked interesting-
We met up with my cousin and headed to Ghirardelli Square for our lunch reservation-
where Munch was so excited to find Crown and Crumpet that she didn't quite hear me say (several times), "Yes, this IS where we're eating!"
We spent several minutes oohing and aahing over how darling everything was- especially the table of sweets at the entrance

We were seated in the middle of the tea salon, next to the service area
I ordered the nursery tea for Munch
and tea service for myself (this serves one), but I think my cousin had the right idea ordering an extra plate of tea sandwiches as Munch worked through her three tiers very quickly!
All our orders came with a generous pot of tea- Paris for me, a decaf Muscat for my cousin (which smells AMAZING!), and Peppermint Chamomile for Munch. Munch's little teapot was just the right size for her and she was delighted to find a couple of heart shaped sugar cubes in the sugar bowl to nibble and add to her teacup-
While we finished our tea, Munch and Snow White explored the sitting area
and made friends with some other girls who were playing in the shop.

New Year's Day at the California Adademy of Sciences, San Francisco

That's Munch standing in front of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Containing the Steinhart Aquarium, the Morrison Planetarium, and the Kimball Natural History Museum, the Academy of Sciences reopened almost a year ago after a major remodeling and we were looking forward to seeing it.
We had heard that the lines have been INCREDIBLY long even months after the reopening, so we made sure to get there nice and early.We also chose to visit on the morning of New Year's Day, hoping that the previous evening's celebrations would keep people home in bed a little longer. Thankfully, our hopes were realized and the museum was pleasantly uncrowded at least until lunchtime. Parking was super easy, with a new garage built under the Music Concourse that sits between the Academy of Sciences and the DeYoung Museum. Once we got inside, we split up briefly to pick up the free, first-come first-served, showtime tickets to the Planetarium and the special 3-D Bugs film that was currently running. With specific show-time tickets in hand, we then took our time exploring the museum. Our first stop was the African Hall in the Natural History Museum-upon entering it, I was immediately transported back to elementary school and the numerous field trips we took to the "old" Academy. Munch immediately bypassed all the life-size dioramas and headed straight to the African penguins at the back of the hall-that's her on AudioDad's shoulders.
We eventually got her to move on to the Madagascaar and Galapagos islands exhibit where Munch loved seeing the tortoises, lemurs and played a game, projected onto the floor, where she stomped around on piles of leaves and tried to catch bugs.My parents found the exhibit on the global effects of climate change really interesting. This was a display about everyday waste and reusable alternativesYou can check out my parents' collection of American-made reusable tote, lunch, and grocery bags at Clean Conscience Goods- some items are also available through amazon.com.
Next we moved on to the Steinhart Aquarium's section where we came to The Swamp, an old favorite from the original Academy, which now is inhabited by a creepy, ghostly-looking albino alligatorDownstairs, we LOVED the different jellyfish- these we adorably tiny, with short, squat tentacles and these anemone-looking upside-down jellyfish, which bury themselves into the ground Here's Munch and AudioDad standing the front of the massive curved wall of one of the tanks-

We had packed a picnic lunch for the day, in order to avoid the possible crowds in the Academy cafe (I HAD heard that their food was quite good). We headed out to a few benches in the Music Concourse, which gave Munch plenty of room to run and play after eating.After lunch, we headed back into the now-crowded museum to see the Planetarium show (it was incredible!), and visit the enclosed, domed, four-story rainforest which was filled with butterflies, a few birds, and lush greenery We also couldn't miss the hilly, window-spotted, "Living Roof" of the Academy before heading home for a family dinner.