Warm Chow and Fast Boats on a Windy Day

As reported earlier by The Great Mushnik, yesterday was one of those only in San Francisco days. In the first place, it was sort of chilly. In the second place, the food was really good.

Ms. Mush and Mr. Silent B. took the Duck and the Plot out to lunch for Duck's belated birthday. In the proud tradition of Birthday Zen Master Punk, Ducknik has been milking her birthday for weeks.

The 45-foot America's Cup catamarans were practicing out by Crissy Field and Fort Mason. These are not the gigantic 72-footers they'll be using when the Cup takes off for real next year, but these little boats were still quite a bit larger than anything else out there with a sail.

Every one has a corporate logo. When they tie them up to rest, they feed them cash.













 Although the boats also carry national flags, like the Republic of Korea's entry below, there is no requirement for the captain or any of the sailors to actually be from the country whose flag is painted on the boat. Plotnik's assumption is all the sailors are very bad boys from Southern California whom the Tiapos women can't ever get enough of. You can see Alcatraz in the background, where those bad boys used to end up.

 Afterwards, a trip through the Italian-American Museum at Fort Mason, to see the exhibit on Italian-heritage major leaguers throughout history, was absolutely wonderful. If you're a baseball fan you don't want to miss these fabulous photos and stories. From Ernie "The Shnozz" Lombardi through the three DiMaggios all the way up to Barry Zito and Dave Righetti's dad, this is not only fascinating but it's free.