If you have ever visited San Francisco, you’ll understand why I feel so blessed to have grown-up in an area with such rich diversity. While we’re suffering through the coldest summer on record in a bunch of years, Mother Nature has ‘forced’ us to do other stuff when we’d more likely be out waterskiing and wakeboarding this time of year. Today’s outing was a trip to the San Francisco Ferry Building to have lunch with a friend. Five years ago, the Ferry Plaza was an area where you’d see no one for miles on a weekend but now, the City has rejuvenated the entire area into a uber-hip gourmet marketplace, outdoor Farmer’s Market and Arts & Craft Market that rivals Portland’s Saturday Market. Added to the bayfront views are restaurants and sidewalk cafes making it difficult to decide what to eat.

The Ferry Plaza shops are the kind of place that a food whore like me just dies over. I could see myself going broke hawking some sort of specialty food in a place like this (and probably spending more than I could ever make before leaving!)

How on earth does one even consider ruining this still life for a Caprese Salad?

The shopkeepers have the best names for their shops!

This place has become nationally famous for their cured meats.

Everywhere you look there is still life.

These hydrangeas were as big as my head.

So if you’re in San Francisco 1) Make sure you hit the Ferry Plaza and 2) Let me know and I’ll tell you all about all kinds of places to go and see that aren’t on the tourist maps and won’t be seen on one of those double-decker buses. A couple of hints: We call San Francisco ‘The City’ not not ‘San Fran’, ‘S’-'F’ and [gosh forbid] NOT  ‘Frisco’. Hope to see you soon.

Tagged: Bay Area, food, San Francisco, San Francisco Ferry Plaza, suzy-homemaker, suzyhomemaker, tourism, travel