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.

My Two Valentines

We spent Valentine's Day playing tourist in San Francisco. The ferry is not too far from us and it's such a convenient way to get into the city. We took a high-speed commuter ferry and until we reached the harbor, it was a fairly quick and smooth ride in. The few rolling bumps we did get, Munch loved because they reminded her of a roller coaster.

We disembarked at Pier 39/Fishermans' Wharf. It's been ages since I was last in that area. The plan was to go to the aquarium on the wharf, but it was lunchtime and I happened to spot a Rainforest Cafe- we've never been, so how could I pass that up? It would certainly be a memorable lunch for Munch. She loved all the animals that we saw upon entering and there was a huge waterfall in the main dining room. AudioDad thought it reminded him of something you'd see in Vegas. The food turned out to be decent for a theme/chain restaurant- I actually really liked the lettuce wraps I ordered (they're on the appetizer menu). The only thing Viv didn't like was that the gorillas went a little crazy every fifteen minutes or so-


Next we headed over to see the famous sea lions that bask on the wharf. Munch and AudioDad have this thing where they make "ork, ork" noises at each other, but Munch has never really seen the real thing-

Next stop was the aquarium. Their main attraction is a series of underwater tunnels- the Munchkin kept asking where the whales were as she hopped back and forth between the parallel moving and regular walkways.

And we loved the touch tanks- most larger aquariums are always so crowded, Munch hardly gets a chance to explore. Here we were able to spend a good chunk of time, and Munch was able to see and touch the animals we've been reading about in one of her books about tidepools.

Since it was early and our return ferry wasn't for a couple of hours, we walked down the Embarcadero to the SF Ferry Building/Marketplace. It's home to a weekly farmers' market, several outposts of good restaurants, and other delicious food merchants. Munch and I were especially looking forward to some gelato from Ciao Bella. She got the Scharffenberger chocolate, AudioDad picked the cookies & cream, and I got a sampler of several flavors- zabaglione (my standard here), key lime with graham cracker bits (yum!), and an incredible pear sorbetto.

We did a little more wandering in the kitchenware and bookstore before boarding the ferry home-