More glorious food

The Beach Chalet, near Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
After a 6km  through the Golden Gate Park we had developed a hearty appetite for lunch! On the advice of the man who rented us the bikes, we pulled into The Beach Chalet which overlooks the Pacific Ocean & serves a mean lunch.  Both boys enjoyed burgers ( they reckon the Americans are pretty good at making burgers!), I thoroughly enjoyed crispy & spicy calamari (I just have to mention the batter, it was sooooo good, light & crispy to a tee - everything was battered including the thinly sliced lemon pieces & chilli flakes - yummy!), Ben enjoyed muscles served with chorizo & fresh bread.  The service was very good & the location 10/10.  The 6km return bike ride was predominantly uphill!!!!!  (Have we mentioned how hilly San Fran is???).

Sam's Anchor Cafe, Tiburon, San Francisco
Another bike ride = 30km (took us about 6 hours with a few sight seeing stops). The bike ride commenced from The Wharf, San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge, an easy cruise into Sausalito (people relate it to being similar to a seaside village in the French Riviera - I could agree), we all enjoyed delicious Italian ice creams at Sausalito. Then a long ride around the edge of the bay to Tiburon (another seaside village).  We were on a mission to end up at Sam's Anchor Cafe for a refreshment & food stop. I guess we arrived there at 4:30pm, weary, thirsty & hungry! So we had an early dinner, sitting outside by the water's edge.  It was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon. The boys devoured their very fresh fish 'n chips, Ben enjoyed Penne with fresh crab meat & I had the special of the day - grilled Flounder served on a bed of mixed green beans and corn with a dash of lemon sauce - YUM!!!! Other than the food - Ben also enjoyed a couple of Fat Tire beers!!!!! As we stepped outside the cafe, there was a street party with a band playing a few "family orientated" tunes, kiddies dancing, parents enjoying beer & wine. A fantastic atmosphere on a Friday arvo in Tiburon.  It would have been fun to stay longer but we had a ferry to catch and bikes to return before 8pm!!!

Shoeless Joe's Sports Bar, O'Hare, Chicago
This place was adorned with television screens - Dougal counted 35!!!! Everyone was in good spirits as the Chicago Blackhawks (ice skating) had a win today! We were after a quick dinner (our flight from San Francisco was delayed by 1 hour - what is it with United Airlines???? And they damaged my suitcase grrrrrr). Shoeless Joe's turned out to be a winner. Again, the boys gave the burgers a thumbs up especially the super soft buns, I devoured my 3 BBQ pork sliders - the shredded pork was tender & full of flavour & the mini buns super soft - YUMMO!!!.  There was so much sport to watch - ice hockey, baseball, basketball.  The boys were surprised to see the American's playing Seven's rugby being televised - albeit on one of the smaller screens!