San Francisco Main Public Library

My main objective in visiting San Francisco last weekend was to look around at the San Francisco Public Library for a class paper. It is an amazing library with six floors and services for people of all abilities and cultures. Books are offered in about 30 different languages, and there are library centers dedicated to the deaf, blind and those with learning differences.

This is the library from the outside. It is located in the Historical Civic Center District. This is a very convenient location, because it's close by to the Financial District and Chinatown. Also, a good friend of mine lives near this area.

This is the inside of the library. I love the skylights that let the sunshine inside. It makes everything seem so bright and cheerful.

There was a gallery exhibit in the African American Center of artistically designed cigar boxes that I thought were really pretty.

This is the outside of one cigar box. You can tell the artist took a lot of time to decorate it. It reminds me of an antique jewelry box.

Here is the inside of a cigar box. This was a really interesting collection, and when I have time, I'd like to look up some more information and history about it.

 Here's a glimpse of the microfiche/microfilm section. Patrons need special permission to access these files. Government information, you know.

 As you can see, the library hosts lots of events. I enjoyed seeing all the brightly colored fliers.

Next post, I'll share some more pictures my friend and I took while walking around San Francisco. :)

Sneak Peek

I have been unbelievably busy these past few weeks keeping up with summer classes and work. I feel like I'm running a race and just barely keeping up with my last breath. Yesterday, though, I allowed myself a whole day of fun, visiting several districts of San Francisco: The Historic Civic Center District, Nob Hill, Tenderloin, Tenderknob, North Beach, The Financial District, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf. That's at least four miles of walking, and my legs are reminding me today, but it was worth it to share these places with a good friend of mine who just moved to San Francisco and had not done a lot of exploring yet.

I am still waiting for all my pictures to transfer over to my email, but in the meantime, here is a sneak peek to show what's to come...

An entry from an old fashioned card catalog at the San Francisco Main Public Library...

Outside of a market in Chinatown....

Washington Park in North Beach....

So, I definitely got my fill of San Francisco for the time being. Stay tuned for more! What did you do this weekend?

Weekend cooking/baking

Hi readers! I hope you are having a nice weekend. I wanted to make some new things this weekend, so I made some curry on Friday and some cherry muffins today.

This is a green curry made with coconut milk, plus garlic chicken and green bell pepper mixed in. It was a bit spicy because I didn't add in the sugar like the directions with the curry paste suggested, but I added it in after to the rest of the batch, along with some lemon juice that kind of balanced out my own serving.

These muffins, though, came out perfect. I used a cake recipe from The Joy of Baking, and adapted it to muffin form. What I really like is how nicely the lemon zest comes out in the flavor of the muffins.

Tomorrow, my coworkers and I are going to get dim sum! Tonight, my housemates and I are having a barbecue, too. So, more fun times ahead.