Orson's Belly

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses ~ 
Act 1, Scene 29, Part B

(Sorry, I didn't bring my camera inside with me for this mid-morning meal/snack, but this is a nice à propos photo for Memorial Day taken earlier this morning at San Francisco Botanical Garden[1]. This may not be "the Green Fields of France", but it ain't half-bad, Eric.)


http://www.orsonsbelly.com/


Place: ORSON'S BELLY
Location: 1737 Balboa Street (between 18th and 19th Avenues)
Hours: open at 8:00am Monday-Saturday, 11:00am Sunday
Meal: warm gorgonzola, walnuts, sliced pear (Bagel Sandwich) (unfortunately, they don't state anywhere on their menu exactly what the ingredients were in this one, but it all seemed to work out well enough, whatever they were); and a cuppa (drip Coffee) De La Paz Graceland (Blend)

http://fourbarrelcoffee.com/shop/de-la-paz-graceland-2/

(Here's one more version of Eric Bogle's "No Man's Land" for Memorial Day. This one is sung in English by Eric himself and in German by a singer identified only as Wachol.)


I really wasn't planning on doing another 'blog-entry this weekend because I wasn't really planning on going out to breakfast again. Well, actually I was planning on going back to Just For You bakery & cafe (see last 'blog-entry from May 25th, 2015), but after getting up this morning, I just didn't feel like driving "all the way over there". Yes, I know that it is still in San Francisco (barely), but it is easily a half-hour to forty-five minute drive there from the Outer Richmond. Now, I would much rather have an hour-and-a-half wait for breakfast (not that I would ever be crazy enough to do that) than have to drive over (and then back again) with a thirty to forty-five minute drive included. So this morning when I got up, I just made some toast (See? I can actually "cook" for myself.) and a cuppa (pour-over style) Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee[2] (A HUGE thanks to Greg & Cindy Kipe!) and had a handful of kumquats[3] to round (or oval) it all off, too.

https://www.bettys.co.uk/jamaica-blue-mountain

Well, in lieu of driving "all the way over" to Dogpatch this morning, I decided to take a little hike through San Francisco Botanical Garden to kill some hours this morning instead. I really love this place (and it's free for any San Francisco resident). I am not really much of a "plant-guy", but what's not to like about a place that has lots of different flora and many species of birds hanging about? (And did I mention the "free" part for San Francisco residents?)

This is one of my favourite local birds. It is a Western Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma californica). Now, I am not sure of the exact Species of this guy/gal; it is probably a California Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma [californica] californica), but then it could also be sub-specied as a Nicasio Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma californica oocleptica) or Aphelocoma californica caurina or Aphelocoma californica californica. See what I mean? He/she didn't get close enough for me to ask. Either way, they are a pretty friendly and fun bird.

the Wild Parrots of San Francisco Interlude

Additionally, while I was traipsing about in different areas of the garden areas, I saw a couple smaller pandemonia[4] of Wild Parrots flying overhead. It is normally unusual ("normally unusual"?! ~ well, you get what I mean) to see them this far west in San Francisco.

After walking around a bit there for a few hours, I suddenly came over all peckish... esurient... eeee, I'ma all 'ungry-like! So, I curtailed my Walpoling activities, sallied forth, and infiltrated ORSON'S BELLY (see previous 'blog-entry from Saturday) once again to negotiate vending of some secondary breakfastary 
comestibles! As this was well-after 10:00am and before 12:00pm still, I really am not calling this mid-morning meal/snack "breakfast". You know what might be great, is if there was a name for a meal between "breakfast" and "lunch"...

Like I had said in Saturday's 'blog-entry, these Bagel Sandwiches are served open-faced (and are served with mixed greens). Mine this morning was piled high with lots o' good Gorgonzola (which is one of my favourite of the stinky fermented curds, Mr. Wensleydale) and thinly sliced pear (not sure of the type, though; you know, the greenish kind). To top it all off (literally), this was drizzled with some honey. The combination all worked out very nicely, too. Consider it a savoury-sweet thing.

The cuppa (drip Coffee) De La Paz Graceland (Blend) was excellent and really complemented the bagel-mess, too. So much so, that I bought myself a 12oz bagga to take home. I know that I just said on Saturday that I had too much Coffee already at home to use up ("...up which to use"? ~ Nah!), but I just emptied the last of my Bettys Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee this morning and am almost to the bottom of two other bags. (Can a person really ever have "too much Coffee", anyway? Well, if their name isn't "Joseph Smith, Jr." or "Brigham Young", I suppose.)

Afterward (because I noticed that a couple at the same table as I was sitting at [it was the extra large picnic bench deelie that could hold two to four Orson Welleses] had ordered Turkish Coffees and those came with a piece of Lokum[5] each, and I had commented to the owners that it now made sense why I saw a box marked "Lokum" over the kitchen area), I was treated with a free piece of Lokum myself. It went very nicely with the last of my Coffee, too.

I am not sure exactly when I will get back there again (I am pretty sure that it won't be in another two days, though), but I also like the sound of some of the non-breakfast items (served after Noon) on their menu and would like to try those, too. These are mostly salads, but all sound pretty tasty, such as: goat cheese cranberry (honey roasted walnuts, mustard vinaigrette); pearl couscous (spinach, cherry tomato, cucumber, Feta, fresh herbs, honey balsamic dressing); veggie cobb (romaine, avocado, hard boiled egg, Feta, agave roasted chickpeas, vegetarian Worcestershire dressing); or yellow curry chickpea (iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cashew, cilantro, curry yogurt sauce). However, don't expect any additional 'blog-entries for these. After all, this-here 'blog-thing is called "Breakfast at Epiphany's"; someone else will have to start a 'blog-thing called "Lunch at Cartier" if they want to.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
warm gorgonzola, walnuts, sliced pear (Bagel Sandwich) ~ 6.5;
De La Paz Graceland (Blend) ~ 7.3;
San Francisco Botanical Garden ~ 8.2 ;
the Wild Parrots of San Francisco ~ 8.5

___________________

1. http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/

2. I don't get why everyone says that Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is so expensive. Bettys sells it for only £17.50. What's the big deal?

Oh, wait... that is for only a 125g bag. Well, that still isn't that bad, right?

Oh, wait... with the current exchange rate (£1 = $1.46), that come to $25.62 for a 125g bag. I will let you do your own calculations as to what that equates to for a full pound (as in the measure of weight, not British Sterling).

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/semi-botanical pointer of the day:

A few weeks back, I was looking for kumquats at a Chinese produce market on Clement Street and asked if they had any available. The guy seemed to speak perfect English, but could not understand what I was asking for. I explained that kumquats are small orange-citrus fruit, but he still did not understand me.

Now, here's the kicker: The English name "kumquat" derives from the Cantonese "金橘 (gam-gwat)", literally "golden tangerine".

Maybe I need to learn how to say it in both Cantonese and Mandarin.

4. I can't really confirm that the plural of "pandemonium" is "pandemonia", but I also can't prove that it ain't. So, unless your name happens to be "John Milton", I am going with this spelling.

5. In case you have never had this confection before:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_delight