One thing you should not do is ride the bus when you're nauseous to the point of being violently ill. This will inevitably cause you to vomit in the stairwell of the bus, all of the other passengers will be horrified, promptly exit, and the bus will have to be taken out of service. Everyone (including that decently nice Vietnamese girl just trying to get to work) will be mad at you.
Something that is great to do when it's thunderstorming, however, is sit inside at Stella Pastry in North Beach and enjoy dessert and an espresso. Please allow me to set the scene:
It is dark outside. You've just made it indoors after skipping through the starting rain and it seems you've just barely escaped what is coming. Suddenly, the sky opens up and torrents- no sheets- of rain begin falling from the night sky. You are so thankful to be inside amidst the warm glow of the numerous display cases filled with pastry.
You will try one of their Italian specialties and soon thereafter, determine their cannoli is almost perfection with its dense creamy filling and hard crumbly shell. You will lick your fingers as you sip your meaty espresso out of one of those comically tiny cups that always make you chuckle a little. (You are a giant.)
Outside, the raindrops continue to come crashing down onto the pavement as you sit behind the large cafe window, and people headed down the street rush past you looking wet-- and miserable. But you have found sanctuary. And although it is not the enduringly graceful Saint Patrick's church at Jessie Square where you very briefly considered converting to Catholicism so as to one day be married there, Stella is an institution and it protects you with its sweet, old-world goodness. Just think of a young (strapping) Marlon Brando yelling at the bottom of a staircase, "Stella!"
The photo is from Stella's website, and yes, they do look that good.
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