have fun while prepping for radiation treatment

It all begins here: my wife had a very small cancer removed from her left 'boob' and now it is time to get ready for radiation treatment. In order to receive treatment, which basically consists of a few seconds of radiation, repeated five days a week for six weeks, we have to commute from our stultifying yet bucolic Marin County setting into the remarkable facility at USCF Mount Zion in San Francisco.

Our clever strategy for trying to turn a pig's ass into a silk pursuit is to find a different and hopefully unique and tasty place to have lunch for each of the sixty visits that this protocol demands. Right now we're just in the warmups . . . that is, a few preliminary visits to precisely align the radiation beams to the physical body involved. This requires four dot-sized tattoos to provide markers for the technologists when they actually turn on the zapper device. But for now, just a few indelible dots  on the body, lie on your side, thank you and see you in a week.

To erase the not particularly traumatic memories of this event, we met our daughter Sophie near the base of Chinatown in financial-district San Francisco, where she is (mercifully in this economy) gainfully employed. We navigated two blocks north to the R&G Lounge. This unique eatery is a cut above most Chinese joints, with an attempt at basic elegance rather than your typical rat-trap elemental seating and tables. Wood paneled walls, designer strip lighting in the ceiling. Service, I must say, is second to none; your water is filled, your tea refilled, your plates cleared all in an instant.

As for food, very nice. Salt and Pepper Scallops are a standout, but you would not want to be sucking them down every day. It's deep fried fare, done at it best, which is to say, not overcooked, and not over-greasy. Nice salt and pepper taste; many dishes in this genre are often over-sweetened but in this rendition the simple seafood, salt and pepper flavors shine through. As Sophie says, eat this maybe once a month but not more. Really delicious in our sampling for December.  Egg rolls - - west coast version, that is to say, what we might call a spring roll. When we grew up back in the 50's/60's on the east coast, egg rolls were all about big fat rolls with meat in them. those days, apparently, are long gone, since we have not seen a big fat egg roll in years and in fact have resorted to making them ourselves when the craving arises. Even in New York these days you get something suspiciously like a West Coast spring roll. That being said, R&G put up a respectable and not overly-greasy (but not overly greaseless) version of egg rolls.  Nice, and delicious, and they delivered hot mustard to the table in a timely manner upon request (this does not always happen.) Moo shu pork was delivered with six ultra-thin pancakes, and the contents were suitably high quality: pork without fat, cabbage, scallions and who knows what. Very conventional, but very competent. Finally shrimp and chinese broccoli atop crispy noodles. this is the very definition of comfort food; a simple, mildly thick, moderately salty sauce enveloping shrimp, sliced broccoli stalks and plump shrimp (prawns) in its transparent richness. guileless yet effective. 

that's about it for the first visit. As we go down the radiation chain I am sure we will have many more fascinating posts about both food and radiation treatment. Stay tuned!