Tuesday morning . . .
I awoke to sirens and shouting outside of my window. Strangely enough, this was the first time I've actually looked out the window. Not much to see really some tall buildings and what can only be described as financial district squaller. On the front of these hotels and businesses they look good, like they are well groomed. When you get around behind them the truth of the facade is revealed. Most of these buildings are not old enough to look as bad as they do but in a city where most of the buildings are constructed on a nightmare landscape of hills and angles I suppose getting a house to stand up is a technological feat worth merit. Due to my obscured view there was no way to tell what was going on below me so I got ready to go and started to walk towards Moscone West. I saw a bedraggled man being loaded into the back of a SFPD car which had (for some reason unknown to me) a wooden slat over half of the rear passenger side window. Other than that I must say that the conference was rather uneventful. I attended a few very good talks and some others that weren't so good. At one session the two speakers were unable to get their project to function at closing time and thus were forced to run a backup of the working model that they had made. If I were them I would have done the same thing but I guarantee that if Steve Jobs hadn't been ill and had happened to catch this the both of them probably would have been tied to a chariot and dragged around Moscone West. Good thing for them that he has a "small bug." I wonder, does this lend credence to my theory of geek based biological war? Is it possible that some evil genius armed with the common cold slipped it to Steve Jobs knowing that he would speak at WWDC infecting the rest of us?
No?
Ok well, needless to say, I had a good time at the conference and the provided lunches (which I didn't know existed) are excellent. I couldn't ask for a better sandwich, well not for free at least. Which brings me to the highlight of my day. The R&G Lounge was a fantastic bit of chinese food that I stumbled upon thanks to my good friend Morgan. The description of the restaurant mentioned fins eyes and beaks. Needless to say, I was all over this place. I decided to forgo the sharks fin soup, deciding that geoduck sashimi would be the way to go, at least for an appetizer. Let me tell you, it was marvelous. If you've never tried geoduck (pronounced gooey-duck) before let me be the first to suggest it. If you like clams then you'll love this super-sized version which is highly prized in chinese and asian cooking because it "keeps the yang up" a phrase which seems to refer to, well, you can probably figure it out. It was served on a bed of ice with fresh lemon and seaweed surrounding it. On a dish to the side was a bowl of soy sauce which had jalapenos floating in it and some very good wasabi. The pairing was ideal as the lemon and seaweed really opened the flavor of these clam-beasts up and the soy-sauce and wasabi combination added just the right amount of flavor. The only issue I had was, even though I am fairly good with a pair of chopsticks, these little buggers were nearly impossible to get ahold of. It was like a bad joke. I can eat almost anything with chopsticks yet for some reason this was like trying to grab a greased up bar of soap with two broomsticks (yet another feat that I believe everyone should try). The texture was similar to that of squid or octopus sashimi and the taste was more like clam. The meal was served with a fantastic hot tea and steamed white rice. After I finished this fantastic appetizer I moved along to the main course.
The main course was squab. I don't mean some of the squab. As you can see the head and beak was attached and I must admit, it was one of the best cooked pieces of meat that I have ever had. It appeared that some of the organs were cooked inside, namely the heart which was a little crispy bit of goodness. For those of you who haven't had squab it is a taste that is all its own. The texture is similar to duck and it is similarly greasy and fatty. I in no way have really described the amazing flavors of this dish but I've done the best I can. The squab was great and was served with a small dish of a delicious seasoning. I walked back to the hotel room and watched some Family Guy and Aqua Teen Hunger Force before falling asleep.It was a great night filled with a great meal and though it cost me roughly 1.6 days worth of budget it was worth it completely. I can't say enough about the service and at the end I was served (though I don't remember ordering it) what they said was sesame squab (at least I think that's what he said). It was one of the best sesame dishes I've ever had before. It was spicy and not drizzled in that terrible sauce which seems to have become a necessity at most chinese restaurants.
"To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
Voltaire