What a feast!

I was so tired from all the travelling that I spent most of the day sleeping. Jennie and Max went around the city running errands - but since they are going to take me around the city in the coming days, they didn't take any pictures.

When I woke up, it was to the smell of a wonderful dinner being cooked. Jennie and Max told me that one of the things people in California love to do is eat. Why? Well on one hand there's a lot of really fresh produce. California is the largest agricultural state in the U.S.A., producing over 350 commodities. It is the sole U.S. producer of many fruits and vegetables sold in America. San Francisco - where Jennie and Max live - which has been greatly influenced by its coastal location, which has made it a natural center for maritime trade - has a thriving market for seafood.

In addition, San Francisco is an incredibly diverse city. Like many larger U.S. cities, San Francisco is a minority-majority city, as non-Hispanic whites comprise less than half of the population. As of 2005, the Census Bureau estimated that 44.1 percent of the population was non-Hispanic white. Asian Americans, principally Chinese, comprise nearly a third of the population. Hispanics of any race make up about 14% of the population. San Francisco's African American population has declined in recent decades, from 13.4% of the city in 1970 to just over 7% of the population.

With so many great, fresh, ingredients - and such a diverse mixture of people - it seems to Jennie and Max that a natural outcome would be a lot of great opportunities to eat good food :-)

... and so, we had a feast in honor of my first night here.

Here's me and Jennie sitting in the Kitchen with all the wonderful food. Here's what we had:

Moving clockwise around the set of dishes - at the top we have meatballs in marinara sauce with black olives, sauteed mushrooms, shrimp baked in an egg souffle, and shrimp sauteed with olive oil, garlic, and mixed tomatoes...

There was also a side dish of bok choy with garlic...

Brussel sprouts, fresh bread, two different kinds of cheese, cured olives, and sweet onions.

Whew! I'm so full and we're going to have baked apples with cinnamon and sugar for dessert.