Side Street Cafe -- Saturday excursion #1

This weekend was quite a lot of fun. It started out with each of us doing our own thing. John was off filming "Outworld" while I tried to take advantage of having the afternoon off (remember, I mentioned the office in SF was moving to 215 Fremont and no one was going to be in) by working till about 3:40pm and deciding to go see the Anthony Hopkins movie showing at 4:40pm at a movie hall about 20 minutes away. After a frantic shower and a very quick donning of clothes and brushing hair I was on the way to the theatre. I was in time for the movie with one minute to spare. How is that for timing! Movie was great!

After watching the movie, I went on to browse the open air shopping center. Got a nice blouse at Nordstrom Rack and ended up in Barnes & Noble. bookstores are alwasy my favorite and even better when they have a coffee shop for reading and people watching which is exactly what I did. The unexpected surprise was this group playing what sounded like Buddhist music. It was lovely -- I can't really describe the sound other than it was quite soothing and sounded like harmonized wind chimes. There a number of xylophones and other instruments. One that looked like brass pots hung from a pole and nother that looked like brass pot lids. Very very cool -- it was like a brass band with instrument you have never seen before! I listened to them for a while thinking about good fortune and contentment -- all is well with the world.




Saturday we went to Side Street Cafe another place with wonderful wonderful breakfasts always has a line. Could not find parking close by but the food is worth it to hunt for parking. He had the Texas Chili Omelet and I had the short stack corn cakes with a cheese omelet -- yum. Side Street cafe is the best place for breakfast which they serve at all times of the day -- it is a pity they close at 2pm -- they have been written up in the paper and even mentioned in the Alaska Airlines magazine. I should know, I fly that airline every other week! Everyone says their stuffed french toast is to die for I have yet to taste it -- a terrible admission on my part.

While we were chowing down on breakfast this foursome sat down next to us. Three ladies and a guy -- it appeared 2 of the ladies were mother and daughter and the guy was the boyfriend of the daughter. Anyway, they started chatting about this new book that is out called "The Secret" which is currently on the NY Times bestseller list and is all the rage. My take on it is it is basically Norman Vincent Peale's "Positive Thinking" with new packaging (Book and accompanying CD) and 4+ experts. The guy was raving about the book and one particular story in it about how a woman was cured of cancer through thinking her body well and how the book was based on Christian principles without the religious language behind it. Hmmm ... interesting. They went on to have a lively debate on the merits of the book -- the mother and the 3rd girl on one end saying it is hard to believe in the power of focused thought and the couple on the other tyring to convince them through experiences to the contrary. Just my kind of conversation. I had to bite my tongue a couple of times to stop the urge to jump in. The tables in this place are so close you could eat off the next table without straining a muscle. Though, considering how good the food is, I would not suggest that little play because you might wind up with fork marks on the back of your hand!