Great Indian in SFO

I just got back from spending the last 2 nights in San Francisco.. love that city... a mini London to some extent.. I had to head there for a conference and when I do get to head there I try to find new things to see and to meet up with friends.

So we have found the equivalent to having your local indian/pakistani place. For $27.00, we ate for two and there was plenty left on the table. The food is excellent, cooked by Mexicans, owned by Pakistani's.. finally a place that equals Lahore Kebab in London.. no alcohol here either but there is no shortage of good cocktail bars close by..

try this one.. Bourbon & Branch, a very cool Speakeasy.. and a definite step back into the 1920's. have to make sure I get to return to both of these places pretty soon..

and now I am back in San Diego, watching America's next top model.. and waiting for JK to come home.. for a change I got home before him.

A different slant on the RAND

So as part of my strange travels around the US, I come across small towns.. and on our way to Mammoth, we came across Randburg and Jannesburg, named wierldy enough after the infamous Egoli in South Africa..

these towns were initally created as mining towns for gold, based on the wealth created by gold in JNB.

In 1896, Randsburg was called Rand Camp, and Red Mountain was originally called Osdick. Johannesburg was established in 1896 as the planned service community for the mining camps. It is the only Rand-area town laid out with straight streets and right-angle intersections. All three towns still retain remnants of the past and have been able to maintain their unique ambiance through the efforts of renovation and preservation.

Its however very different from what we know as Johnnesburg. Would you ever find a swap meet (clothes exchange, the concept of bartering comes to mind) in JNB? My poor fellow South Africans would be surprised to see the lack of high rise buildings or cool cars for that matter.. a very different take on the heart of Africa.

Mammoth.. some great pics

Nuff said.. I think you will work out all the characters in these photos.. the one with the kid (Queen Bea) shows what john and I would like if we adopted a white kid.. welcome to our Brangelina aspirations..............

More Snow.. Mammoth with the Jarvis

Yay!! Finally a vacation in overworked America.. I tell you these folk have it bad.. very little holiday period and they work much longer hours … lets all adopt the French way of living… I would give anything to run a CleanTech Fund in the middle of Paris.. Parisian macaroons, Chateau Margaux wine and the best of the cheeses.. (I don’t have a weight problem) on a daily basis, not to mention a 35 hour work week and the Louvre and great clothing.. I will be the outlier and shower daily.. I promise..

So as a result of Sarah’s initiative we headed out to my first holiday in the US since arriving to Mammoth Mountain.. for a skiing trip.. I agreed to this with only 8 days of skiing under my belt not thinking much.. but just the fact that I can be outdoors and with some old friends.. and Queen Bea… who as you will see still loves handbags.. a women after my own heart!!! When you become a teenager, and if I don’t have any daughters, I will loan you my entire handbag collection… you will be the coolest gal in high school.. forget the Cheerleaders..

Ryan and Chiara, friends of Zachary joined us for part of the time. He is the guy standing while the rest of us sods are sitting around.. they were great, lovers of meat product which bode well with John and of variable ski expertise which bode well with me.




Mammoth is truly beautiful.. check out the photo of Sarah with the awesome background.. and skiing is comparatively cheaper than Europe.. so head over schi canone (“Ski champion”) Andreja and come visit us.. The slopes (green and blue) for yours truly were great as well until we went down the moguls and I fell ever so often.. but all in fun and as long as I did not break any of my appendages, I was happy.

The food was good too.. Its amazing how many chili fries, hamburgers and hot dogs one can put away during lunch, not to mention dinners with lots of wines.. I had not drunk this much since I left my Londres..

On the last evening, after Queen Bea finally realized that the John was cooler than I, we headed for a spa treatment.. how superbly wonderful.. ..

More photos to follow..


Queen Bea and my Longchamp handbag.. it must be the sheen.. but she truly loves it..

Weddings.. ours included

And now for the weddings.. in the last year, we have been to many weddings – Dave Clawson in Provence (more photos later); Jason and Cat in LA, and Tim’s in Chicago.. We also have another of John’s friends getting married in March, then a few in Europe in June/July including Jane & Paolo and then ours in November..

We have decided to choose Cape Town as our wedding venue. There are many reasons for Cape Town. Firstly, Cape Town represents some of the most enjoyable years of my youth, it’s the town where I attended university and in the Old apartheid South Africa, the first place where I truly interacted with people from other backgrounds and race groups, and subsequently lived there for the longest consecutive time of my adult life – 7 years. It is where I always take visitors or recommend as an absolute must if you ever visit South Africa. For John, it’s the place in South Africa that he most associates with California. Its where he enjoys must of his wine purchasing and its where we (mostly me) hope to one day own a piece of a wine farm.. One of his favorite restaurants is also in Cape Town where they serve the best Karoo lamb ever and where we intend to have the Thanksgiving dinner.. if the owners agree.

I am fortunate to have such close and long standing friends in South Africa and was even more grateful when Nothando decided to join me on my one day trip to visit possible wedding venues in January.. Nothando is one of the classiest woman I know with some very high standards so getting her to help with the wedding venue decision making process was indeed a plus..

We hail back from 2000 when we first both arrived in London, not knowing anyone.. We met through my London housemate and dear friend, Phares who knew Nothando through work. He had arranged that we all meet up at Ronnie’s Jazz Café in Soho – gladly she arrived on time. We hit it off immediately and together we had some of the most fun filled times in London.. pre MBA. She is Zimbabwean by birth and global in outlook on the world and after visiting three of the top five wedding venues in Cape Town, we both decided that this wine farm will be the place.. The wine tasted good and lunch was equally delicious..




















The wedding date has been set for November 29th, to take advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday. We do hope that as many of our friends and family can make the trip down to South Africa. Looking forward to seeing you all there!!!

New Year's in Chicago..

So we kicked off 2008 attending a wedding in Chicago. It was one of John’s friends from his Georgetown days.. yep, he spent a year in Georgetown before heading to Stanford.. What was great to see is that even though these friends don’t keep in contact often, the bond amongst them all is still very strong and they are all so similar… think five JK’s together..

We got there on a Friday, after spending way too long in airports due to snow… and headed straight for a friend’s reunion at Charlie Trotter’s restaurant.. a long cry from the days of meeting up in the local coffee shops at school..

Charlie Trotter’s restaurant is considered to be one of the finest restaurants in the world.. and is recognized by a variety of accolades.. but I do believe over the last 20 year’s it has been taken over by better, finer restaurants in the world.. We went for the Grand tasting menu (tasting menus are all you can actually get at Trotters) together with a wine pairing..

Perhaps my palette is no longer “fine”, but for $700 for the two of us, I have eaten better at Michelin starred restaurants in France and the UK. Of the seven course meal, the venison was the best.. none of us thought that the wines were well pared.. my personal view is rather wait and head to the Bordeaux region - St Emillion to be exact and spend a night at this hotel and book yourself the dinner (tasting menu and wine pairing). (http://www.hostellerie-plaisance.com/uk/). Probably the best meal I have had ever…

Well enough about the food, Chicago looks great in the snow.. It’s the second time I have visited Chicago (the last in 2001), and between the trips, Frank Gehry has now made his mark on the city.. (more to follow on my visits to frank Gehry buildings).. It was wonderful being in proper winter weather again.. the seasons don’t really change in San Diego, so I enjoyed the boots, long coat, and French beret style hat (subsequently lost in Chicago).



















Another new addition in Chicago is the Bean or properly known as Cloud Gate in the Millennium Park. “Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.” We spent a lot of time, taking many photos with our reflection on the Bean.. this is a pretty cool sight and well worth a visit if you are in the town.. Let’s face it the chances of you bumping into Oprah are close to zero, and I would recommend this as the next best alternative.

We also went to one of the best steak restaurants in Chicago.. Gibson’s Bar and Steakhouse.. well worth a visit if you are in the area.. but go hungry.. skip lunch that day..

Right here, Right now - Grand Canyon

Its been absolute ages since I have written - so much for keeping new year resolutions.. well at least you don’t have to see our thanksgiving turkey every time you come to the blog.. November was a very long time ago.. too long in fact.. but life got so super busy... Since then we have moved house: now living in a 3 bedroom townhouse so there is plenty of space for visitors..

On the work front, I have invested in five companies, and it just so happens that the first deal started on the day after my last entry on this blog.. but enough of work, let me share with you our trip to the Grand Canyon..



The Drakensberg is no comparison.. don't let the Saffers tell you otherwise.. The Grand Canyon is truly amazing.. Its a powerful and inspiring landscape, the Grand Canyon overwhelms the senses through its immense size. It is the unique combinations of geologic color and erosional forms decorate a canyon that is up to 29km wide, and 1.6km deep. We actually visited it when it was snowing.. (Snow will be a theme on this blog for a while) The sight from the Canyon is continues for absolute forever..

We decided to fly in Phoenix for a weekend drive up to the Canyon.. and needless to say that when you live in San Diego, there is no need for very warm clothing. As a result we forgot to take much more than a light jacket with us.. Upon reaching a town called Williams, we were forced to stop to buy some gear.. and low and behold the only option available was the Family Dollar store (the equivalent of PEP in South Africa or well I don’t think there is a UK/London comparable.. so hence the yellow hat and the strange looking jacket.. at least I was warm..




Photo's dont really do this place justice.. you have to come visit it when you are travelling to the US. However, I have to say that what we really wanted to go to was the Skylight, where you get to walk out into the Canyon on a glass like structure.. That my freinds, is on an American Indian reservation and costs $100 to do so and about 4 hours from the Park itself.. Well Conde Nast, maybe next time..