Down the Hill We Went

Down the Hill We Go is closing the virtual doors. It was a fun ride, but an unproductive one. Between three personal blogs, a full-time job, and raising twins, something had to give. While DTHWG received a handful of visitors, The Goozex Report really took off and started receiving thousands of visitors, I’m not about to give up the full-time job, and Rohde Family SF is now an institution; so DTHWG got the axe.

The silver lining on this cloud is that starting soon, the Best of Down The Hill We Go will be transferred over to Rohde Family SF. There were a few posts that became popular on sites like Outside.In and there are some personal favorites as well. I don’t want to lose that content and it might find some new readers on Rohde Family SF.

Any future posts that would have appeared on DTHWG will now be published on Rohde Family SF. I thank you for your support of this blog, and the Rohde’s look forward to seeing you on the family blog.

A Successful Sunday Streets Experience

We missed the last Sunday Streets and we weren’t about to miss the second one. We got up early, left home at 9AM, found a great parking spot near the ballpark at 9:30, and were in line to run the bases by 10 (we stopped at Starbucks for coffee and croissants).

The Giants staff opened up the gates, there were a half-dozen of us waiting (most with strollers and kids), and off we went! Being down on the field is a very surreal experience. Looking up into the stands instead of the other way around is an experience not to miss. Not to mention standing on first base and looking back to home plate, or rounding second and looking out at the expansive outfield; and who could ever forget hitting third base, looking down the base path, and seeing home plate. It was awesome. We did it twice.

We exited the field, walked around the harbor area, and re-entered the park to play in the Children’s Area. We were there so early, we practically had the place to ourselves, which was another surreal experience. Our 20-month old toddlers made a beeline for the mini-ballpark, grabbed the wiffle balls and bat, and proceeded to have their own little baseball game. We couldn’t have asked for more fun. Eventually, other kids and parents showed up, and we practiced our sharing time. Our kids had no problem with that, as they had many turns swinging the bat, and they had just as much fun chasing balls the other kids hit.

After the Children’s Area, we walked back down to the harbor area, and walked over to the neighboring playground. This is a pretty nice playground. It’s fenced in, has activities for the younger set, and has that soft, rubber ground that we like. It fits all of our pre-requisites for a park. After playing for awhile, the kids started to get tired and it was nearing lunch time. We packed up and headed home.

The kids are napping now. No doubt dreaming of becoming Hall of Fame baseball players, after all, they took their first steps toward becoming Major Leaguers today.

Let's Go to the Zoo

I haven’t been to the zoo since I was a kid, which makes sense, because the zoo is really designed for kids. My wife heard through the grapevine that the Oakland Zoo is very nice, so, for our first visit, we took the kids to the Oakland Zoo and it was well worth it.

They do make you pay for parking on top of an entrance fee, but you can tell that the proceeds go towards keeping the park clean and the animals well cared for. And the staff was very pleasant, friendly, and helpful. Becoming a member, which we are considering doing, has many advantages (including free parking and admissions to other zoos).

We arrived at 9:50 AM, before the gates even opened, and already the parking lot was filling up with families. Our kids are 20-month old twins and we saw at least 3 other pairs of twins strolling around. It was fun to see so many kids running around and enjoying the animals. The tigers and lions were still sleepy, so we moved on to the giraffes, elephants, camels, chimpanzees, bears, zebras, you name it, they were there. Our kids were speechless and amazed at the sights and sounds. They had never seen such large animals up close before and it made for quite the experience.

The Children’s Zoo was the absolute highlight. The kids were able to pet the most docile goats you’ve ever met. They also had alligators, who put on a show of splashing as they competed for a sunny spot. The Children’s Zoo also puts on a show, which allows the kids to get up and personal with more of the animals. It was getting close to 11:30 AM by that point, so we moved on to lunch, and missed the show (but we’ll be sure to catch it the next time we’re there).

Lunch was the only sore spot of the day. Let me highly recommend that you bring a picnic lunch. Yes, you’ll have to lug it around with you before you eat, but it’s well worth it. The Oakland Zoo has plenty of picnic areas and we saw lots of families with wagons to haul their bounty of provisions. We didn’t arrive that well prepared and ate at one of the cafes. Let’s just say the food was sub par and leave it at that. However, I will say the curly fries were tasty. But I’m very partial to French fries.

The day was a hit, we recorded 20 minutes of video, which captivated the kids after their nap. I’m sure we’ll go back again.

Oakland Zoo
9777 Golf Links Road
Oakland, CA 94605

Friday Night Date Night: Parent's Style

So, what do parent’s of 20-month old twins do on a Friday night date night? They go shopping for their 20-month old twins, and then get dinner, and then shop some more. That’s right, our night away from the kids was spent thinking about the kids. What can we do? We’re parents.

The San Francisco Parents of Multiples Club (SFPOM) held their bi-annual, members-only consignment sale Friday night. The sale was held in Golden Gate Park near the Botanical Gardens. They had some really good finds. We got three pairs of shoes—including never been worn before pink checkered vans, a pair of blue converse, and pink crocs—a fishing hat, and a pink winter coat complete with fur lining; all for under $24. That was awesome.

After Mom got her fill of shopping, we walked across Lincoln in search of dinner. We passed by many places, all with lines out the door, and then we remembered: it was Friday night and close to 7PM. This was rather unusual for us, as we never get out like this. We settled on Pacific Catch. Neither of us has ever been there before so we decided to give it a try. The place was crowded, but not packed, and the décor reminded us of the Venetian’s (think: Vegas) version of a coffee shop (that’s not an insult but rather a compliment).

We took our seats and promptly scoured the beer list. We both ordered the Alaskan Oatmeal Stout without hesitation. It just sounded good. And it was good, but it was served ice cold, and any beer snob will tell you that you have to drink stout at room temp. You just get better flavor that way.

For an appetizer, we went with the Hawaiian Poke, sashimi style. It was served quickly, and like the beer, it was served refrigerator cold. It was tasty, and was marinated in a good sauce, but it would have been better if it wasn’t so cold.

We split our entrée of fish and chips. The chips were sweet potato French fries and they were good. They were real good. I arm-wrestled the wife for rights to the last few on the plate. The fish was light and flaky and fell apart at the touch of the fork. It wasn’t greasy tasting at all. I was really impressed with the entrée. It was served with a jalapeño tartar sauce that wasn’t too spicy. I had to look past my water glass to find it (my wife had placed it conveniently next to her plate and out of my reach). That should show how good it was.

The conversation during dinner turned back to the consignment sale and the missus started thinking about this pink coat with a fur trim… It was only $7 and still in brand new condition. I said, “Why didn’t you get it?” Next thing I know, we are hurriedly paying the bill, and running across the street. We got back to the sale just as they were closing the doors.

Yes, we got the jacket, and we had a good dinner. That was Friday Night Date Night – Parent’s Style. Does it get any better?

Pacific Catch
1200 9th Avenue at Lincoln across from Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94122

Whole Food's 365 Organic Coffee

It’s been over a month since I’ve discussed coffee. And in my book, that’s a month too long. Those of you following my coffee thread know that we last left off with the San Francisco brand of coffee. It was good, but it wasn’t all that, and it left us looking for more.

I’ve compared beer to coffee before; and I’ll do it again. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Gordon Biersch Marzen might be my two favorite beers, but every once in awhile I have to mix it up with a Fat Tire or even BevMo’s own Coastal Fog IPA. Like beer, you have to mix up your coffee, or you’ll get tired of it. Hence, I’m tired of French Roast and I’ve moved on.

Our latest is Whole Food’s 365 Organic Pacific Rim blend from Sumatra and Papua New Guinea. Now this stuff is good. The Pacific Rim blend has great flavor and has plenty of caffeine kick. Just because I’m over the French Roast does not mean I’m over caffeine. Caffeine is still a top priority in my choice of coffee and the Pacific Rim does not let me down. We are still using six tablespoons of the whole beans to make approximately five cups of coffee. The coffee cups we use at home are equivalent to two cups; so my wife and I are getting our fair share of coffee each and every morning.

Let me try and explain why coffee is so darn important in the morning. Caffeine is such a necessary ingredient when picking Cheerios up off the floor for the third time in 10 minutes and wiping milk off the table for the fourth time. Also, coffee goes great with changing diapers and wrestling with a 20-month old who would prefer wearing his diaper to daycare rather than get dressed. Coffee is just one of those things I would rather not see disappear from my life. It gets you through the screams and wails for Barney while you’re trying to pack lunches.

If that’s not a love letter to coffee, than I don’t know what would be…

Rigolo

My family was casually strolling through Laurel Village a couple weeks ago and we noticed that Rigolo was closed. We took note and saw they were remodeling and they would reopen the next week with changes to the menu. We went back after the re-opening to check out the remodeling and the new menu. We walked in, looked around, scratched our heads, and asked ourselves, What the heck changed? We figured they must have painted and cleaned the floors; that was about it.

Then we thought, we better check the menu. Maybe the big changes will be found there. The first thing that I noticed was the pulled bbq pork sandwich was gone. GONE. Simply vanished. My favorite item on the menu was removed. Down the hill we go, indeed.

We ordered the kid burger for the toddlers, who were dismayed to see the toys were gone. They too thought, Down the hill we go… We loved the idea that Rigolo had toys for the kids to play with. Sure, the toys were old and dirty, but they were there, and they were played with.

I ordered a pizza and my wife got a burger. Can’t go wrong with a burger, right? Actually, at Rigolo you can wrong with a burger. Back in the day, during another visit, I ordered a medium-rare burger and my wife ordered a medium-well burger. Her's arrived bloody and mine arrived mooing. We decided the chef couldn’t handle cooking two different temperatures at once…

My pizza arrived and immediately I noticed it was not shaped in a rectangle. It was a circle. Back in the day, I liked Rigolo’s pizza for the crust, which is rare for me, because I’m a toppings-kind-of-guy. But Rigolo’s pizza crust was light and flaky. Kind of like a croissant. It was good. It was the reason I used to order it. Well, they changed the crust. It’s not light and flaky anymore. It’s just a boring, regular pizza crust. Ho hum. The toppings were good though. I ordered a make-your-own with three toppings: home-made sausage, mushrooms, and roasted garlic. The toppings saved the pizza. But you don’t go to Rigolo for pizza, you go there for the mac and cheese and the bbq pork.

My wife’s burger was OK. She ate it. Really nothing more to say there. It was cooked medium-well. I tasted the kids burger and it was overcooked and dry. But that’s a good thing for the kids.

I’m sure we’ll go back to Rigolo. It’s close by and it’s not awful. Although my first choice will be Asqew. Hey, I’m a guy. I like my bbq.

Rigolo
3465 California St
San Francisco, CA 94118

Blissful Bites Bakery

Blissful Bites Bakery is one of those places we’ve passed by a thousand times, each time saying, we need to stop in there. We never have. That is, until yesterday, and it was well worth it.

Blissful Bites is located on Arguello Blvd, near Clement Street. In the window, they have very enticing photos of cupcakes. Cupcakes with frosting piled high. That’s my kind of cupcake. Yesterday, in the early evening, we took the kids for a walk and we found ourselves passing by the bakery. We decided that we needed dessert for tonight’s dinner. We stopped in and took a look around.

Inside, there are several tables convenient for sitting down and enjoying your pastry, cake, or what have you. There are also a couple of sidewalk tables. The staff was very friendly to us and we noticed several customers moving about the place.

The display case was filled with so many treats it took us awhile to decide what to get. We got the standard chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting, the chocolate cupcake with orange buttercream, and we branched out a bit and got two of the banana chocolate chip with banana buttercream. The man behind the counter boxed them up and charged us $10.35. That’s right. We paid over $10 for 4 cupcakes. And these are not the huge cupcakes like you get at Costco. We started thinking these better be good cupcakes!

We headed back home, fed the kids their dinner, and split the chocolate cupcake in two for them to share. I had a sneak-taste and was like, Wow. That’s a pretty good cupcake! Mom agreed and said it was very fresh and moist. Before we could blink our eyes, our toddlers wiped their plate clean and let us know, rather loudly, they wanted more! It was a good thing we got four cupcakes, so we split up the orange buttercream, and they snarfed that down just as fast. Blissful Bites went two for two as far as the kids were concerned.

We (Mom and Dad) enjoyed our banana cupcakes after we put the kids to bed. These were a little disappointing after trying the chocolate cupcakes. The cake was not nearly as fresh and my wife complained the frosting was too thick (which is not possible in my book) and too sweet (also not possible). I happily ate her leftover frosting. When you pay $2.50 for a rather small cupcake, you kind of expect perfection. Blissful bites went two for three.

We might stop by another time. We did notice they had some tasty looking croissants…

Blissful Bites
397 Arguello Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94118