When you think of Valentine’s Day, do you envision cherubs, harps playing, clouds, pink hearts, red roses & boxes of candy? Or does it fill you with dread? For those of us who are currently “under appreciated romantically,” shall we say, you don’t need a significant other to enjoy what is known to us as Singles Appreciation Day. Yesterday turned out very nicely for me even though I’m single. In the morning, I took some nice photos of the fog from the office windows. On my lunch break, Rocket Farms was handing out miniature rose plants; both my co-worker & I got one. In fact, they may have put our picture up on their Facebook page, as they were taking lots of pictures of the people they were giving plants to. At 6:00 p.m., there was a mass pillow fight in Justin Hermann Plaza, directly behind my office building. I don’t know how many years this has been going on, but it has always taken place on Valentine’s Day since I’ve been aware of it. I’ve never witnessed it before, as I always had to rush home to get ready to go out! This time I was leaving directly from the office to meet my friends for dinner, so I had time to see what the hype was all about. People started milling about with pillows at 5:30 p.m. There were even people selling pillows, in case one decided to participate. When the clock struck 6:00 p.m., feathery mayhem ensued. For my part, I tried as much as possible to remain on the perimeter to take pictures & videos, but sometimes you have to move in a little closer to get better shots. A few people actually bonked me on the head a couple of times with their pillows, even though I wasn’t participating! It was a novel experience for Valentine’s Day. Ten minutes was my maximum viewing time before I headed over to North Beach to meet my friends for dinner. I was meeting up with a man & a woman, both of who are currently single. Our restaurant of choice was E Tutto Qua, which specializes in, you guessed it, Italian cuisine. Although I’ve eaten there many times over the past 6 years, the man had only eaten there once. The woman had never eaten there at all. We were greeted warmly & seated quickly. Right before ordering, I announced to our waiter, Mirko, in my very best bad Italian “Ho intenzione di mangiare come una porcellina stasera!” (Translation: I intend to eat like a little pig tonight!) He was amused. My selections for the evening were the scallops with truffle oil appetizer, the pasta course of paccheri golosi & the entree of a chicken breast in rosemary sauce served with roasted potatoes. The woman had the burrata with olives, cherry tomatoes & arugula as her appetizer, followed by seafood linguine, tiramisu & 2 glasses of wine. The man also had the scallops with truffle oil appetizer, the spaghetti neri (with squid ink), the tiramisu arancia & a glass of wine. We loved the food, as well as the service. We were in no rush, so must have been there for at least 2 1/2 hours. Afterwards, I had a peaceful ride home on the cable car, although I overheard an English tourist say to the cable car driver “There were a lot of people walking around with pillows. What was that all about?!”
