Shopping for Xmas already

Ornament for S, for his first stamps in his passport

Old World Christmas 36234 Ornament, Passport

Shopping already for the Feast of Seven Fishes

Option #1


Mercury Glass Fish for the favors
4 inch long for medium size, $1.49

Japanese sandwiches in SF

Eater article on Japanese sandwiches in SF

Bread N' Chu (no website as yet) 
1900 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121

also mentioned in article

Stonemill Matcha
On Valencia Street, a neatly-cut tonkatsu sandwich has been a hit at premium matcha cafe , 

Ichi Sando (no website)
1581 Webster St Ste150, San Francisco, CA 94115
In Japantown, serving instagram-ready tamago sandwiches for $9.50 a piece.

Not mentioned, but visited
Bread Belly
Superior bread! and they have salads etc

coldspringtavern.com

Andrew Romano

Oakland shop with vintage rugs and home goods

https://thevintagerugshop.com/

NYT on Paris

Places to go, including a tour company with a chocolate tour

Book Report

I've managed to get back to the library more regularly for my mystery fix, plus I've been reading blogs about romances (!!!!) and kid books. The latest:

A trace of smoke / Rebecca Cantrell

A great portrayal of the tension in Germany as the Nazis begin their rise and the defiance of the gay sub-culture of the time. The characters had me rolling my eyes occasionally - a romance seems created after the author realized she'd need a devoted lover to pull off some stunts late in the story, and went back and wrote it in. Read her inspirations (Phillip Kerr) for better noir and read Rebecca Pawel for better historical / political / detection.

Hardball / Sara Paretsky

Just....can't....care. I was about 40 torturous pages in when a load of books was due back to the library and I heaved it in. What was it about? Haven't a clue - stupid people doing stupid things? Kinda like her other books.

(just read the Amazon stuff - I guess it's about fine uplifting racial justice kinds of things - but you still can't make me read it)

U is for Undertow / Sue Grafton

Eh, at least there aren't very many letters left....I think I liked this installment (slightly) better because CHRIST , I know all I need to know about Kinsey's packable black dress, her running, the bread her neighbor bakes and all that shit, and U was blessedly mostly about the actual story. This was (another?) chapter 1: present time, chapter 2: the past story. You get to the end and say, bad guy been got, I can forget I ever read this book. I havent' bothered with the library waitlist for this series since, like, F. But I'll put it in the basket if there's nothing else available and while I don't hate it with the fury I have for Paretsky, mostly wonder whether they were the best use of my time...

Better books next time - the good mysteries, kid stuff, and my first contemporary romance that didn't come from my mother-in-law's shelves.