Vintage Dad

Last week on Father's Day a few of my friends posted old photos of their dads on Instagram and Facebook, and (with their permission), I wanted to share some, since they are so great as a collection. *That's mine up top.

Weekends, Etc.!

I was just in Portland helping my good friend Jane with a job, and I realized that there are a million things I haven't blogged about yet! A couple of weeks ago, Jane and our friend Anjel curated an amazing show called Roses Are Red at Rise Above Gallery in Oakland, and I helped design the t-shirts to promote it. Specifically, I drew the nettles, and Anjel did the lettering.

I went to see Richard Misrach and Roz Chast at City Arts & Lectures (separately)- in particular, Misrach's work is so consistently amazing, and it was great to hear him speak about it. I went strawberry picking on the coast and had lobster rolls twice in one week. I went to the Monster Drawing Rally at the Verdi Club and went bar hopping for the first time in ages, and had an incredible dinner at Central Kitchen. I went for a walk around the Lafayette Reservoir and had a suburban day with my friend Via. I saw a boat trailer race/demolition derby at the Contra Costa County Fair. And then I flew to Portland- that will be a separate post.


my friend hannah is opening a doughnut shop!


beautiful paper cut by anjel


detail of jane's hand-painted rose wallpaper


our friend christine made the plant installations in the window




snowballs and sweet peas at katie's snowball truck








fair fare










amazing signage in the fruitvale district


marina at the monster drawing ralley




lobster roll #1, at sam's in half moon bay




3oz strawberry!

Weekend!

This weekend was crazy busy, and even though I haven't yet caught up on posting about my recent travels, I wanted to post this first. Saturday we had a bit of a family emergency, which was scary but everyone is okay for now. And it didn't stop me from making the most of the holiday weekend! I went to see the A's play the Yankees, followed by fireworks set to tv theme songs, attended an Outstanding in the Field dinner with a friend at Devil's Gulch Ranch in Nicaso (cooked by Thomas McNaughton, who had his pet pig Kona with him), watched the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th anniversary fireworks show from Cavallo Point, had a spa day, and took a mini road trip to the Sacramento County Fair by way of lunch in San Rafael, cherry picking in Farfield, and backyard cocktails (with fresh-picked grapefruit) in Davis. Not too shabby, all things considered. I only wish I'd gotten pictures of the fireworks over the bridge! Hope you all had a great weekend, too!

Weekends, Etc.!

at the standard hotel in los angeles. i disagree!
Lots of fun things lately! My mom and I went to LA for a weekend and I got to meet some of my oldest and dearest friends' new baby, which was very exciting. And of course a trip to LA means lots of good food, which we ate at The Eveleigh, Milk, Clementine, Donut Man, and Jar. Back in SF, I got to see Jacques Pepin and Daniel Patterson in conversation at City Arts & Lectures (Mssr. Pepin is even more adorable in person!), went shopping at the Vintage Paper Faire and had ice cream at Ice Cream Bar, went on a couple of beautiful hikes in the hills, and attended a live taping of NPR's "Says You."

roast beef with olives and preserved lemon from the local butcher shop in berkeley, eaten on a sunny day in tilden park

Last week my friend Jessica and I drove up to Healdsburg for a special winemaker's dinner celebrating my favorite vineyard, Unti, at Dry Creek Kitchen... but the dinner was cancelled at the last minute. We made the best of it, though, with lunch at Sol Food in San Rafael, an excursion to the uber-fancy Club One gym in Petaluma (they have waterslides!), some wine tasting, saw a movie, had a wonderful dinner at Scopa and pastries at Downtown Bakery. It's been like summer here in the Bay Area this week and I'll be sad to see rain again next week, but between Pop Up Magazine, seeing Tuneyards perform a live soudtrack to a silent film, the Ru Paul's Drag Race finale, and Obscura Day, I think I'll manage.

"banana puddin'" sundae at the ice cream bar, sf

grilled cheese month at clementine, los angeles!

strawberry donuts from the donut man, glendora

SXSW 2012

I flew directly from Stockholm to Austin, where my friend Jessica picked me up and took me to 24 for a veggie burger and roasted banana milkshake (one of my favorite Austin meals), then to Domy Books for the opening reception for Wayne White's show (in conjunction with the premiere of Beauty is Embarrassing, a film about him, at the festival), and then to the Long Center for a screening of Eating Alabama, a documentary about a couple who ate only from local farms for a year. After the film we were going to go to the Sherlock party PBS was throwing (I am totally obsessed with that show), but as you might imagine I was a tad tired, having been awake for more than 24 hours at that point, so we stopped for a late night donut at Gourdough's, and turned in.


As action-packed as that sounds, we did really try to take things easier this year than last. We planned our trip to coincide with the film but not the music portion of the festival, since last year it was clear that pretty much any band we wanted to see either played recently or would be playing soon in the Bay Area, and running all over town to hang out with throngs of drunk party-goers in the hot sun ended up being exhausting. So this time we got to see a total of nine films over the course of two and a half days, and eat lots of good street food, and hang out with our friends, all without feeling rushed or sacrificing sleep. Not bad! I think my favorite movies were Casa de Mi Padre (it was really quite amazing), The Source (a documentary about the 1970's Los Angeles-based cult of the same name), and Beauty is Embarrassing. Brookyln Castle (about children playing chess) and Daylight Savings (a love story starring two Bay Area musicians, so I'm a bit biased) were also very charming. And it was fun to see 21 Jump Street with an enormous crowd- both Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill were there, which added to the general excitement. In addition, we saw Eating Alabama, Gayby, and Somebody Up There Likes Me.

Trailer: One Final Push

But the highlight of the festival for me was seeing the world premiere of Lena Dunham's new HBO show Girls. We got to see the first three episodes, and I can't WAIT for the whole series to air. I absolutely loved her film Tiny Furniture, and this did not dissapoint by comparison. Think Sex in the City meets Freaks & Geeks (Judd Apatow is producing, which is no coincidence), in which the ladies are all 20 years younger and considerably less glamorous. You can watch more previews and clips on the HBO site.


And how could I not mention food? Besides 24 and Gourdough's (we made two trips there of course), we also had great chicken and waffle tacos from Lucky J's, ice cream sandwiches from Coolhaus, amazing corn dogs from Fire & Soul, and a really delightful lunch at the East Side Farmacy- seriously, this place is adorable!- on our way out of town. In addition, our friends made the trek out to the Salt Lick with us for some kick-ass BBQ, and I have to admit I had more than my share of chocolate peanut butter milkshakes at the Alamo Drafthouses during movies.



Time for a cleanse?