Saturday, June 2, 2007

Asian Art Museum

I love museums. Something about walking through one just relaxes me. The Asian Art Museum has free admission on the first Tuesday of every month (courtesy of Target), so I went last month in an attempt to distract myself from studying for finals.

I enjoyed their Japanese bamboo exhibit, which had so many cool baskets and vases that it made me want to try basket-weaving myself (reality hit me later and I haven't embarassed myself by actually trying this). Then I wandered around looking at their normal exhibits, which showcased various artifacts (mostly paintings, ceramics, and clothing) from China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. My favorite part of the whole museum, however, was the gorgeous stairway near the entrance. Just beautiful.

Top left: Stairway entrance. Top right: Silk embroidered Korean bridal robe. Bottom left: Collection of vases from the Chinese Qing court. Bottom right: Recreation of a Japanese tea room.

The little eatery on the first floor, Cafe Asia, also has some pretty decent food, and you don't need to pay admission to eat there. I ended my museum trip with a Thai green papaya salad (steamed prawns served with shredded green papaya salad tossed with mint, basil, peanuts, and cilantro dressing) and a cold bottled Kirin. It's kind of sad how many Japanese restaurants don't have Kirin, and here I found it in a museum!

Anyway, this is a lovely place to spend an afternoon :)

Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 581-3500
www.asianart.org

2 comments:

Passionate Eater said...

I LOVE the food in the Asian Art Museum! They used to have this salmon and curry dish that was really delicious. The other day, I had their salmon sandwich, and that too was very tasty.

... And don't forget to visit the "Jade Room" when you go to the Asian Art Museum. What girl doesn't like that room? :)

Anonymous said...

Good post.