What a Difference a Day Makes

The quest for 30 different restaurants in 30 days was broken yesterday by the already-blogged, disappointing return to King Won Ton and Noodle on Irving Street, which did prove to have good dumpling soups, but not much else to entice us back in the future. Having felt the bitterness of a day wasted in trying to put a new place on our map, we fell back today to a familiar friend: Shanghai Dumpling King. This unassuming joint on Balboa Street has an extensive menu, but the stellar items for us are the dumplings. More specifically the xiao long bao (often called 'soup noodle dumpling') are always a treat. These are a small steamed dumpling with a pork filling and about a teaspoonful or less of rich broth inside. How you get the broth to stay inside is one of those special skills that not all that many cooks seem to have mastered; in fact the very concept is audacious. Happily, at Shanghai Dumpling King they have it down to a science. Ten of these little delights arrive in a bamboo steamer tray, along with a small dish with vinegar, slivers of ginger and soy sauce blended. You might consider letting them sit for a minute, because the broth within is probably about the same temperature as the surface of the sun, and will burn your mouth if you dive right in, tempting as they are, when they hit the table. The skins are quite thin, and the whole experience is a delight. We followed this up with what they call Pan Fried Pork Buns. Usually you associate this with a large, doughy bun, but again these are compact, with eight to a serving. They are fried on one side much like a pot sticker, but are round and stand about 3/4 of an inch high.Our final entree on Friday was a Green Onion Pancake, a standard of many Chinese restaurants. Unlike our last experience, this pancake came closer to our ideal, with a flaky texture.

Accommodations at Shanghai Dumpling King are quite modest; there are only a couple of tables in the first room, with a small dining room holding perhaps eight tables of different sizes. The good news is that you are close enough to everyone else to facilitate spying on their choices without too much obvious craning of your neck. But it is hardly a place to linger. No matter; with food as good as this it makes it all worthwhile, and the service is always courteous if not unctuous. When we came at lunch the front room was flooded with high schoolers from George Washington High right up the street, gathering up their takeout orders and adding condiments. It was quite a scene, with dozens of teens gabbing and grabbing their food, but then it was over just as quickly as it started.

We've been on a campaign to avoid parking meters in San Francisco, and have been remarkably successful. There is street parking, if you look for a little while, within two blocks of the UCSF facility. Similarly, if you don't mind walking a block or so you can find spots quite close to our favorite restaurant areas. This is, of course, a silly economy, since the most expensive part of the trip is crossing the Golden Gate Bridge every day to the tune of five bucks (six if you don't have a Fast Pass transponder.) Add a couple gallons of gas, currently down to two dollars each and you've already spent $9. But it is irksome to feed a quarter into a meter and get only ten lousy minutes in return. And carrying around all those quarters is not all that much fun either. So finding the free parking is our way of striking back; never mind the folly of it all.

One final thought about crossing the bridge: it has become a high point of the five-day-a-week trek to the big city. Each day brings something new; a large container ship passing underneath; the Farallon Islands visible (or not) on the horizon; the interplay of sunlight and clouds on the headlands and over the city. We were even treated to the sight of snow on Mount Diablo, something not unheard of but nonetheless rare. So as we pass through the Rainbow Tunnel on Highway 101 South and descend the curves down to the Gate, there is a small tingle of anticipation as to what new visual treats the scene will offer this day. Our appreciation of both the natural and man-made beauty of this area has been heightened, despite having lived here for nearly 40 years.

Of course the destination in all this is the radiation facility, and in this regard, we have a new countdown: one week down, five and a half to go. The extra half of a week comes about because of the intervening holidays; UCSF is closed for Christmas, New Year's and MLK Day, so treatments need to be added on at the end so they total to 30. But - - one sixth of the program is completed, and the patient seems not particularly worse for the wear. We've been cautioned that side effects like fatigue and skin irritation come a few weeks in, but for now all goes well and the more routine the better. Andrea has described a few sensations that occur periodically, one of which is that "the whole experience feels like you are a bug." And a couple of days ago she thought she felt the treatment going through her. This is undoubtedly the product of a rich and fervent imagination, but ya feels what ya feels. In the grand scheme of things, however, it must be said, so far, so good.