Warning: books ahead!

Last night, I treated myself. I booked a ticket for a talk in the Live at the NYPL series (which has some a** kicking talks on, check it out if you're in New York and you're into this sort of thing), which featured Alberto Manguel, speaking at the New York Public Library. For book-lovers, this is a treat (I think you could sort of compare it to going to a World Cup match for football lovers), and I loved every single minute of it. He talked about libraries, the future of books, Canada, Borges, why books are so wonderful, and how he doesn't use the Internet. And we were allowed to sit in the trustees room, which is normally closed to the public, and is a dark panelled room, with beautiful tapestries, and a very hallowed atmoshpere. It sent my book-heart racing again (after all, I am a bookhistorian), and I can't wait to unpack my boxes with books!

On a completely different note, the academics here have started to pick up a little. I'm taking 3 full credit courses (Advertising Management, my favourite, New Product Marketing and Entrepreneurial Finance), and this week my two half credit courses are starting: Negotiation, Conflict and Bargaining, and then Entrepreneurial Selling.

To top that off, it's that time of season again. The leaves are falling, the storms are raging, and the job applications are due. Here's my strategy for navigating through the forest that is called 'full time job hunt'. I am only applying for jobs that I could really see myself doing, nothing else. And I try and do my very best on every single application, since all of these are jobs I really want. I spent last Sunday writing two applications, so keep fingers crossed!

There's also a little more travel on the horizon: on Thursday I leave for Seattle and San Francisco, and I'm very much looking forward to it. I've been to SF before, but never to Seattle, and for a foodie and booklover like me, both of these are dream destinations. If anyone has any good ideas food/art/book-wise what I should do (KV?), I welcome any tips.

Comments

[Patxi]

I was living in the Bay Area before, and spent a summer visiting Seattle every WE. I definitely hope that you will enjoy my compilation.

Here you have my food recommendations, sorted by my preference, and I include a link to opentable to facilitate the reservation...

>>>>> >>>>> SAN FRANCISCO

.1. I am from Barcelona, and in San Francisco you can try *the best* Catalan restaurant in the US, B44.. In one word: Awesome Paella and everything else, and very trendy setting as well.

B44 Restaurant
44 Belden Place
San Francisco, CA 94104
Neighborhood: SF - Downtown/Union Sq
Phone: (415) 986-6287

More details and reservation:
http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=3598

.2. I am from Barcelona, but my mother's family is basque. You can have amazing french-basque dinner in Piperade. Excellent dining option, one of the best restaurants in town.

Piperade Restaurant
Piperade
1015 Battery St.
San Francisco, CA 94111
Cross Street: b/w Union and Green
Website: www.piperade.com
Phone: (415) 391-2555
http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=187

.3. For reasons beyond my understanding (I have different tastes than most Americans), the most famous bakery in town is Tartine Bakery. Been there, done that, but locals of all sorts *love* it. The most challenging thing is not the price (that will be in the two previous ones) but to park nearby, as everyone is trying to park in for 5 min and buy there. Funnily enough, all the garages in the neighborhood have explicit signs saying "please do not park here even if for 5min to pick up something from the bakery" or something along the lines

TARTINE BAKERY - SAN FRANCISCO
600 Guerrero Street @ 18th San Francisco, CA 94110
t 415.487.2600
Hours of operation and more at http://www.tartinebakery.com/

.4. One of my regular places for a nice quick simple dinner, located in nice Russian Hill is Le Petit Robert. I love the burger (more French than American) and the onion soup.

Le Petit Robert Restaurant
300 Polk St. (@ Green St)
San Francisco, CA 94109
Website: www.lepetitrobert.com
Phone: (415) 922-8100
http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=2868

.5. For a culinary experience, you cannot go wrong with Chez Nous. The tastes are superb, the small dishes are breath taking and the price tag is slightly lower than (1) and (2)

Chez Nous Restaurant
Phone: (415) 441-8044
http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=2971
1911 Fillmore Street (@ Pine)

.6. Last but not least, if you go to Silicon Valley, beware of bad restaurants. Surprisingly, big tech-money and nice restaurants show negative correlation! (= Silicon Valley sucks restaurant-wise).

Two recommendations for Palo Alto, both a block away from University Ave.:

.6.A. Mediterranean Zibbibo, good enough:
Zibibbo Restaurant
430 Kipling St.
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Website: www.zibibborestaurant.com
Phone: (650) 328-6722
http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=1951

.6.B. Vietnamese-Asian Three Seasons, excellent light and engaging Vietnamese food:
Three Seasons Restaurant
518 Bryant Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Website: www.threeseasonsrestaurant.com
Phone: (650) 838-0353
http://www.opentable.com/rest_profile.aspx?rid=2527

.7. Off food: There are many funny things to visit in San Francisco. One of the least

known and more shocking, if you have never seen one, is go to Golden Gate park and see bisons. Unbelievably huge animals!

San Francisco Neighborhoods: Golden Gate Park
"What's larger than New York's Central Park, once consisted of sand dunes, is now

covered with more than one million trees and is bison-friendly?"
http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/sf/neighborhoods/ggpark.shtml

Watchbison Committee
"The current herd has 12 females. Seven of the females are descendants of the 12

female and 2 male yearlings, purchased in 1984"
http://www.bwfly.com/watchbison/

>>>>> >>>>> SEATTLE

A foodies paradise! Small but with the highest concentrations of good restaurants in the USA.

.1. First, you can not go wrong if you pick any of the bars/restaurants located on or near the Pike's place market. All the best fresh food is used in the preparation in their menus. Also you have the original Starbuck (with an S) and a couple of nice Bakeries/Patisseries.

.2. Warning: *ULTIMATE FOODIE EXPERIENCE* Do you want to have amazing food? Do you want to drink nice wines? Do you want to be served a variety of wines all dinner long? Elemental can be all in one. They offer extraordinary food and they keep serving different glasses of wine that fit. My friend Nate (mention him, they will probably know who he is) invited us there and it was the best dining experience in the USA for the whole two years.

Definitely try to make it!

Elemental @ Gasworks
Tuesday - Saturday
Cocktails at 5
Dinner 6 to midnight

3309 Wallingford Ave N
206 547 2317
**We do not accept reservations!
Serving local, seasonal and organic fare
Offering a full menu until midnight

http://www.elementalatgasworks.com/index.html

.3. For fusion modern trendy design Asian restaurant, your best choice is Downtown Wild Ginger

Wild Ginger Asian Restaurant
www.wildginger.net
1401 3rd Ave (@ Union)
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 623-4450

.4. For a romantic and slightly more economic French dinner, I loved...

Cafe Campagne
Pike Place Market, 1600 Post Alley, between First and Pine, 728-2233.
Avg dinner price: $33. Casual but romantic French bistro. The fancier "sister" restaurant upstairs, Campagne, is also outstanding, but less relaxed, and quite a bit more expensive.

.5. There are a couple of Spanish restaurants, but they are *not* the real thing, so I will not put the directions here.

.6. Belltown area nice restaurant, with nice collection of wine is

Le Pichet
1933 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
1933 1st Ave
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 256-1499
www.lepichetseattle.com/

.7. You being a book lover, visit the central library in Downtown, a modern and superb building

The Seattle Public Library: Central Library Home
1000 Fourth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98104
206-386-4636
http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=branch_central&branchID=1

>>>>> Shoot me an email if you want more comments on what to visit

Ok, I confess I am a foodie. It only took me a couple of minutes to remember all these nice places. And I love every minute of it. I hope you try some and, more importantly, enjoy them!

I hope my quick guide can help you get two (of the three) best things in life: Great food and great conversations!

[Suzy]

Oh wow Patxi... these are wonderful!!! Thank you so much for taking the time, I appreciate it a lot!! Will print them out, and see if I can get reservations. Oooooohhhh, I'm so looking forward to this :-D

[Mary]

I just came back from spending 2 weeks in the Bay Area.
I definitely recommend you (if the weather is not so bad) to rent a bike (Blazing Saddles at Pier 39) and from there, you bike the Golden Gate and arrive to Sausalito at the other side. You can either take the ferry back to SF from this point or get a ride to Tiburon and take the ferry back to SF.
Speaking of food,
Delfina is a nice italian place at Mission, albeit very trendy, so you'll need reservations.
Tommaso's is another italian place in Northe Beach, this one has been around for a long time, the food is exelent and the ambiance a lot more relaxed than Delfina.
The Slanted Door is vietnamese food, located in the Embarcadero Building. Very nice.
Thep Phanom Thai Cuisine in Lower Haight. The decoration of this restaurant is far from impressing, but their currys are excelent.
Nopa, international food (Divisadero St, bet Fell and Hayes st.)modern, nice decoration.
And last but not least, I would definitely recommend you to go to the Cheesecake factory in Union Square...

[Patxi]

Are you back? How was your trip?

Let me know when you are back, because I have a NY centered question for you.

Cheers,

Patxi

[Suzy]

Mary: thank you so much for your recommendations, I appreciate you taking the time!

P: I'm back, drop me a line, more than happy to help.

[Jeff D]

I've been reading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle over here and have really enjoyed it.

If you like Eco, you will probably like Stephenson. He wrote a great novel called Snow Crash that would be a good (and much shorter) intro to his writing style.