sophie and nate left today for the long drive back to iowa. before they left we managed to spend a good amount of time together though. if only i didn't have work. speaking of. i only have work for two days next week and then off to dc!! i do have class next week though, and a paper to finish before monday. so i need to get planning.

last night neil. sophie, nate and myself sent to chez panisse for dinner. it was the best meal i've had there yet. i ordered a ricotta and artichoke salad with cilantro and lime. it was soooooooo good. i'm looking forward to trying to recreate it on my own. neil and nate both had oysters and sophie ordered a salad consisting primarily of blood oranges. for my entree i had a pasta dish... i can't remember the title. noodles similar to ziti, rigontoncinni, maybe? with mint, cream and aspargus. it, also, was very good. For desert I tried the caramel cream puffs with bittersweet chocolate sauce and candied walnuts. though it was a bit too rich it was still very delicious. we also ordered a bottle of wine with dinner, and as a result had a really, really good time.

Today we went to the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon in the marina. i haven't spent much time up there and got to see many different views of golden gate bridge and alcatraz. we also all tried more chocolate than we could all stomach. the best was definitely a chocolate with bacon, salt and pop rocks, or 'sizzling bacon chocolate'. wow, so good. later today neil and i went to sur la table, always a risk. i made it out of the store only buying a cooling rack though, crisis adverted.