san francisco

i wandered over to san francisco yesterday; the weather reports all said rain, it was clear and sunny when i got there. mostly it was to visit japantown and chinatown. i also wanted to check out some hopefully yummy french tea which was to be found at a french tea and macaron shop, chantal guillon. the tea was lovely, marco polo black tea by mariage freres, and i always take delight in a macaron.

i found this nifty little palm grass scrubby which is so tactile and a great color at an interesting hardware/kitchenware/paper store on post street; i'm not sure if i'll use it to actually scrub anything. it's one of those things that make large cities so interesting; shops don't just specialize in one area. chinatown was like being immersed in another country, and i oohed and ahhed over the 24kt gold figurines found in the window displays of jewelry stores. i often find myself at a loss as to what else to do when one is in chinatown, other than eat, and look at what is being sold as food.

one of my favorite things is this little baby owl incense holder from shoyeido, which i came across in a lovely scent filled store in japantown. i've had my eye on it for some time now, and was glad it was just as cute in person as it is on their website. you lift the little chouette off it's leaf and there's a small ceramic holder for stick or cone incense; the smoke comes out it's ears and tail area.