Valentine's Day, Year Of The Tiger Begins, The Bears Dance And All This Strong Beer Is Starting To Catch Up With Me...

It is easy to find me on any Sunday in the city.  I have this pattern of walking for coffee along Valencia Street and ending up in Hayes Valley for brunch.  On Valentines Day, which this year, was also the beginning of the Chinese New Year, I battled through a hangover headache all day.  I thought, for sure, some coffee at Four Barrel would help.  Matthew was behind there new single origin bar, now open on the weekends.  He recommended the Kenya and said it was like how a Pinot Noir is, because it changes every time you drink it.

I clocked into Bar Jules about a half an hour later still with head aching.  So I ordered some Bubbles and a Burger.  I figured it was time for a "little hair of the dog."  I was with Shana, whom I asked to be my Valentine and Strong Beer Drinker for the day.  My head needed some clearing up first before even thinking of beer.  And the burger certainly helped.  Marin Sun Farms Beef and the shear thickness of it always makes it hard to pick anything else on the menu. And I always get it with cheese and bacon.  That is a no brainer.

Fast forward an hour and Shana and I are at the kiosk on Linden Street ordering our Blue Bottle Gibraltars made by A.J.  Shana got us some Rosemary Shortbread cookies to munch on while we waited for drinks to come up.  As I ate the buttery goodness, all I could think of was that A.J. had the magic touch to cure this heaviness that remained in my head.  Otherwise, I might have to give into some Advil.

I certainly was not ready to tackle a lot of Strong Beer Drinking. But we did end up at Zeitgeist for an Elysian ESB after all.  There was a PLAY T-Dance for the Bear Weekend over at DNA Lounge starting in the early evening and I needed a power nap.  So just after one beer with Shana, I bailed and walked toward home.  I ended up bumping into the Egg Cream Cart and the Sweet Constructions folks over at FABRIC8.  I got some cookies from the Sweets and an egg cream and a few pieces of rugala from Egg Cream lady before landing home for a quick nap.

I finally was rid of my headache when I headed over to the dance later that night.  Most folks ended up dancing the night away.  My night ended around midnight because I was one of the unfortunate that did not have President's Day off.  Oh, what a headache that was...