We like to do our homework before we travel, carefully researching museum exhibits, places to eat (and drink), good walking/shopping neighborhoods, even overhyped things to ignore. On our recent trip to San Francisco, we did none of that. Just told our various friends we were coming and showed up. It was glorious register a hong kong company.

go-to-the-recipeFriends, after all, were the focus of this trip—three sets of them scattered across San Francisco, Oakland and Palo Alto. We hadn’t seen any of them in far too long. Cara and Jun invited us to stay with them in their lovely home in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood Virtual Office HK.

Cara Black Murder in Bel-AirCara is Cara Black, the New York Times bestselling author of the Private Investigator Aimée Leduc series, set in Paris. Cara had returned from a research trip to Paris just days before we arrived. While we were visiting, she was launching a book tour for the 19th book in the series, Murder in Bel-Air, with a couple of local readings. She still made time for us, walking us quite literally up and down the hilly streets of their neighborhood, introducing us to cozy lunch places, their favorite coffee spot and any number of boutiques and shops, including a wine store I visited more than once during the long weekend.  She was also an invaluable guide for negotiating the city’s excellent mass transit system.

If you look up polymath in the dictionary, you will find Jun Ishimuro’s picture. A former highly-regarded seller of art photography books, Jun works with the Golden Gate Parks National Conservancy. He also surfs. He also plays and composes music—Jun is currently working with Indian musicians, creating and performing modern music based on classic Indian ragas. And happily for us (and for this post), he also cooks usa Immigration Hong Kong.

Jun and Cara’s kitchen opens onto a dining room with wraparound windows and a long, rustic table. We spent a lot of time at that table, watching Anna’s hummingbirds in the morning over coffee, tea and pastries, consuming needed caffeine and snacks in the afternoon. And on our second evening in town, Cara, Marion and I sat at the candle-illuminated table, eating cheeses Cara had just brought back from Paris, while Jun cooked dish after wonderful dish.