Neighborhood Revisited

It's time to take a break from all the revolutions, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, recessions and other mayhem.

I seem to be doing that a lot lately.  I still watch the news, gotta keep up with it all!  So while it rambles on via the t.v. in the background, I turn attention to something different.

We live in a great part of town; Russian Hill.  Situated between North Beach and Chinatown, we get the best of both worlds.   Since we first moved to the City, Diane and I wanted to live in this area; sure wish she was alive so we could enjoy it together.

Back in the old days, we used to haunt the streets of Chinatown...the dim sum shops, oriental art stores and especially the herb stores and vegetable stands.  We experienced Hot and Sour soup for the first time together....beads of sweat hatching across our foreheads, eyes almost watering from the spice. 

The place is still there, although it's been remodeled.

One place that hasn't changed is Sam Wo's....entering through the kitchen, diners ascend the narrow staircase that leads them to several floors set up for dining.  Fortunately for the serving staff, a dumb waiter delivers food rather than them having to carry it.

It's not the best food, certainly not the worse....what it is mostly is Sam Wo's.....cranky waitress and everything. Diane and I shared many a happy time there....Jack and me, too.

 

It's good to reflect on happy times, especially when things are going rough.  And looking around at the world today, I'd say things are a bit rough.  It is exciting to see people rising up for freedom; prayers that they are not over run by folks with alternative motives, trying to steal their thunder for their own purposes.

But for today, for this moment anyway, Fifty Five Is The New Neighborhood Revisited....because sometimes ya just gotta look around and appreciate what's there.