Update: I love returning to West Coast, I have so many decadent and joyful stories here, and I can’t wait to write my next chapter with you. This blog post is a work in progress and I can’t wait to add more of my favorites as my years go on.

I have so many ideas for wonderful fall dates, this is just an example of the joys that we can experience as we explore the foggy city together.

Let’s satisfy our inner art nerds by wandering through the Letterform Archives, an intimate museum in the Dog Patch dedicated to calligraphy, typography, and graphic design.

For lunch, let’s raise the heat by getting wings from Hot Sauce and Panko and drive down to Lafayette Park, protect our wings from the friendly dogs (we’ll encounter .

For dinner, we deserve to treat ourselves to Mourad. A little bird told me that their flakey duck basteeya, succulent octopus spiced with mustard, and brown butter couscous are best enjoyed in a booth seat….

I know we both appreciate thoughtfulness and creativity, from the company we keep to the flavors we savor. So for our night cap, let’s hop into a cab and enjoy the artistry and poetry of one of my favorite cocktail bars in the city, Trick Dog. Their summer/fall 2022 menu is directly inspired by a curated list of contemporary poems (which honestly gets me wet in so many ways).

Let’s quietly toast to us, for transforming the familiar to extraordinary even if it’s for tonight.

“Poetry and drink have the capacity to resurrect or transform the familiar, to make what is known feel once again strange or extraordinary. You know something was carefully made when it changes you a little.”

- Katherine Ogle, poet and editor of Trick Dog’s menu and poetry anthology, “In Good Spirits”