Mickey's rainy holiday research trip to San Francisco—a cultural & culinary adventure

You might have heard the news: California hasn't been sunny lately. We were hit with a cold, soggy storm with high winds, just in time for my recent research trip to San Francisco during our Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The clouds unleashed so much rain on the City that I kept waking up in our hotel convinced that I was back in Brussels.

My partner and I flew to San Francisco to research my next LGBTQIA+ novel, which takes place in the City. One of my characters, a Mexican American lesbian dancer, is from the Mission district, a colorful, thriving Latinx/Hispanic area, and her female love interest, a transplant from Boston, lives near North Beach, a historically Italian neighborhood (where I used to live).

As I sat in intimate cafés sipping cappuccinos and munching on biscotti, pretending to be my characters as I scribbled furiously in my notebook—it's easy, because they're in their early 20s, just like me when I lived in the City.

I couldn't stop peeking out the foggy windows. That's where I saw Fall leaves scattered on wet sidewalks, jets of water shooting from the sky, dozens of abandoned umbrellas... just like in Belgium, where my first two novels, Underwater Vibes and its sequel, Broad Awakening, take place.

As the most European-style city in the USA, San Francisco lures in throngs of people from around the world with its multiculturalism, high tech-high energy atmosphere, cool, unpredictable weather, and more.

While many restless implants from the Big Apple (New York City) grow tired of its slower pace, everyone else, including scores of European and Asian tourists, find San Francisco not only charming, but inclusive for all kinds of communities, especially LGBTQIA+ folks like us.

As soon as we dropped our bags off at the hotel, my partner and I went to explore my old haunts in North Beach. Finding most restaurants closed on Thanksgiving night, we ducked into Vesuvio Cafe, on Columbus Avenue, directly across from City Lights Bookstore. Years ago, I hung out at both these places on weekends, where they still attract eclectic crowds.

We wanted to find a good location to celebrate this important American holiday, but since none of my favorite restaurants were open, we figured at least a tasty beer in a cozy environment would warm our insides and bring us some holiday cheer.

As soon as we entered the cafe, the barmaid greeted us with a friendly smile. Huddling together at a back table (my partner and me, not the barmaid and me!), we tried their Anchor Porter (yum!), reminding me of those delicious, dark British beers I like to sip in Nottingham with BSB readers after our Bold Strokes Books UK festival each summer.

To add to my excitement, I spotted a huge holiday buffet about three inches from my brew-hugging elbow. It featured large chunks of carved ham, candied yams, turkey sandwiches, European cheese, homemade bread, stuffing, pumpkin and pecan pies (my favorites).

My faithful readers know that I'm a total foodie, as evidenced by zillions of culinary scenes in my novels. I must admit, the painstaking research to create these scenes-just like at Vesuvio Cafe on Thanksgiving-isn't always so painful. I even published a story for a travel cookbook once, written under a pseudonym because it featured me giving cooking lessons to young, Japanese brides-to-be.

What a disaster! (The cooking class, not the story. Judging from my dreadful history with cooking, I'm definitely more of a gourmande than a gourmet (hint: look up these terms to brush up on your French).

Anyway, back to San Francisco... The kind owner of Vesuvio Cafe invited us to enjoy her generous buffet-which she had been serving for forty years to hungry neighborhood locals who had nowhere else to go for their Thanksgiving holiday meal, a bit like us-and I ended my sumptuous repast with two tiny slivers (scratch that... huge slices) of pumpkin pie, washed down with another frothy Anchor Porter.

To conclude, I can't wait to share a British beer and tons of fish and chips with you all at the Bold Strokes Books UK festival in Nottingham again in June!

Happy Holidays!