To Austin and Back Again

As usual I have gotten behind on this blog. It seems like the more I have to write about, the less time I have to post. The last couple of months have been exceptionally busy and I have lots to fill you in on, but I thought I'd start with my most recent adventure. My friend Jessica and I decided to take a road trip to Austin for SXSW because she reviews films, and I have just always wanted to see what the festival is all about. Some of our Bay Area friends were playing a few shows, and I have a few friends living in Austin, so that was my excuse. In four days, I saw seven films and seventeen bands play, which by most standards is not much. To say it was overwhelming is an understatement, but we had a great time.


We started our road trip with a night at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. We were really only there for a night (we decided to make this a "scouting" trip, with plans to come back for longer), so we didn't get to enjoy the amazing pool(s), but we did have a wonderful meal at the King's Highway restaurant and loved the decor. The next day we drove to Scottsdale in time to catch a SF Giant's spring training game against the Dodgers. I personally am an Oakland A's fan, but they weren't playing the day we were there. The game was really fun, with lots of action, and I got sun burnt, which felt great after the miserable weather we've been having here in California. On our way to the stadium we had passed a couple of antique malls, so we stopped after the game and found all kinds of treasures! I got a new globe for my collection, as well as some drinking glasses, and some fantastic nautical bookends. Here are some of the things I didn't buy.



After baseball and antiques we were starving so we had dinner at Fry Bread House in Phoenix, an amazing restaurant my friend Layla had recommended. I am a huge fan of sopapillas, a New Mexican specialty, and fry bread is very similar. We had it used in place of tortillas with tacos, and also for dessert with honey and powdered sugar. Yum!



In the morning we left Phoenix early to get on the road to Marfa. I had been wanting to visit Marfa forever and it did not disappoint- it is such a cute town! We stayed at El Cosmico in one of the trailers, which was really fun. We had dinner at the Marfa Table, including a delicious coconut tres leches cake for dessert (I had never thought about making tres leches with anything other than yellow cake!), and then went over to Padre's for a michelada before bed.


the "slow burn" and the "son of a peach" from gourdough's donut truck
We arrived in Austin on Monday afternoon, picked up Jessica's badge at the convention center, and had just enough time to stop at our hotel and change before heading out to the first film of the week, Win Win, which is now out in theaters and was incredibly charming. Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan were there for the Q&A and it was a great way to start the festival. After the movie we went across town to the party Oscilloscope was throwing to promote their new film Bellflower. There were donuts from the insanely good Gourdough's (I had one with cream cheese and jalapeño jelly and one with peaches), free beer, and a live cricket eating contest, but we didn't stay long before heading back downtown to meet some of Jessica's friends at the Zynga party. Monday was the last night of the Interactive part of the festival so many tech people were heading home the next day, and this party was enormous. TV on the Radio were playing, along with Sleigh Bells, and there was free vodka and probably THOUSANDS of people. Around 1:00 we started getting sleepy so we went back to the hotel and turned in.


michelada. in austin micheladas are made with horseradish and worcester sauce like a bloody mary, and often served with olives, unlike the version i am used to with only chili, lime and tomato

Tuesday morning I met up with my friend Jacob while Jessica was seeing some films. He and I had lunch at Rio, a Brazilian cafe on the East side of town and then went to see Last Days Here, a documentary about Bobby Leibling, lead singer of Pentagram. After the movie I went to the drugstore to buy some graph paper so I could properly chart out my schedule for the rest of our stay. With so many films and shows going on, it took me about two hours to narrow things down into this spreadsheet. Then I went to a screening of Upside Down, a film about Creation Records (who discovered the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub, Primal Scream, St. Etienne, and Oasis, among other bands), which was pretty interesting. My friend Sara picked me up from the theater and took me back to her place for dinner, which was lovely. Then I rushed over to downtown to try and see a midnight screening of Hobo with a Shotgun, but it was sold out. Luckily I ran into Layla and her friend, and they took me to the East side, where The Oh Sees and Bare Wires were playing, and I was able to meet up with another friend, Marlene. Marlene and I wandered back downtown and ran into still another friend, Jason, and we all had a michelada and caught up until I realized I was going to miss my shuttle and had to call it a night.


mary timony playing with wild flag
Wednesday, I met up with Marlene again and we had lunch at an awesome farm-to-table diner, 24, before catching Wild Flag's set at Waterloo Records. I had maybe the best veggie burger I've ever eaten, and a roasted banana milkshake that was to die for. Wild Flag were really cute and put on a great show. It's always nice when the band seems to be having just as much fun as the audience. Jessica had needed to go to a doctor about an eye infection she had, so I went and picked her up, and then we went to a screening of El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, about the famous restaurant. We had dinner in the theater (the Alamo Drafthouse is the best!), and then headed over to the East side again to check out our friends the Wrong Words at a massive show at Trailer Space Records. There were 22 bands playing (since noon) and by the time we got there at 8:30, the whole show was about two hours behind schedule. Jacob met us and we hung around the parking lot drinking beer (the liquor store across the street was literally almost out by the time we left- I think they might have had about a dozen six-packs remaining after having been swarmed by hipsters all day and night) until Apache and the Wrong Words finally played. I had been planning to wait around for Conspiracy of Owls but it was already quite late and I was exhausted so I just went home. In the shuttle I was treated to an impromptu performance by a hip hop band from Detroit called Clear Soul Forces, who were apparently staying in the same hotel as we.


big freedia at the windish agency showcase
Thursday I saw three movies; Jessica saw five. We started the day with Page One: Inside the NY Times, which was fantastic (my second favorite of the festival after Win Win), had a mid-afternoon michelada in the sun, and then went to see The Dish and the Spoon on the South side, which was good (if you like quiet, character-driven indie films). After that, we took a little break to see Low and Edwyn Collins at the French Legation Museum, where we saw my friend Jacob again, and then I lazed around a little while Jessica went to see the Le Tigre film. The plan was to meet up for a 9:00 showing of Bellflower, but the Strokes were playing a free show that made traffic impossible to navigate. My shuttle ride to the theater- which would normally have taken 20 minutes- took almost two hours, and by the time I arrived, the line was so long for the movie that it wasn't worth trying to get in. I was able to let Jessica know in time and she waited for me downtown as I got back on the shuttle to meet her. Then we went to see a much less crowded screening of Attenberg, a fairly avant-garde Greek film that was a little too "artsy" for my taste but not bad. I had popcorn and a Diet Coke for dinner. Jessica wanted to try and see a midnight movie afterwards, but I opted to meet my friend Ajax and go see Big Freedia perform instead. We only got to see a couple of her numbers but it was still awesome. On the shuttle ride back to our hotel, I overheard a spectacularly embarrassing conversation between one of the members of a band called Shit Horse (really) and his date.


versus at homeslice pizza
Friday I made my way over to South Congress to see Versus play an acoustic set in the garden behind a pizza place. They were great as usual, and I got sun burnt again walking back to the East Side afterwards (the one day I didn't carry sunscreen with me, of course). I met up with Ajax and Layla at the Shangri-La, where they were playing (they, along with singer-guitarist Josh, are the Wrong Words). Marlene met me there as well and we watched Wounded Lion's set before walking over to see if we could get into the OFWGKTA/Pentagram show, which had a line around the block. Instead we went back to the Shangri-La, watched the Wrong Words, and then got some empañadas across the street before meeting Jessica downtown to see Another Happy Day, which was probably my least favorite thing I saw at the festival (how many movies about families breaking down at weddings can there be?). After that we tracked down the Coolhaus truck for some enormous ice cream sandwiches, followed by a breakfast taco at another truck whose name escapes me. I had originally planned on trying to see Japanther next, and possibly Davila 666, but I was too tired, and we were supposed to be leaving town at 7:00 the next morning anyways.


Saturday we were up early as promised and had a quick breakfast at 24 (yes, I totally had another veggie burger and milkshake for breakfast). Then we drove for about 16 hours to Bisbee, AZ, so we could stay at one of my favorite places in the world, the Shady Dell. If you have never heard of the Shady Dell, you are missing out. Its location is the only reason I have not been there a million times, as it is truly one of a kind. While the rustic style of the trailers at El Cosmico in Marfa was very nice, they really couldn't hold a candle to the cozy, authentic feel of the Shady Dell. On the way there, we had dinner in La Mesa, NM at Chope's, home of some of the finest green chile I have ever eaten, and some excellent sopapillas with honey for dessert.



When we got to the Shady Dell, we slept snugly in our little twin beds under chenille bedspreads, and in the morning we walked up the hill to the wonderful Bisbee Breakfast Club, where I found another favorite of mine on the menu: the Pancake Sandwich (yes, you can make one at nearly any restaurant by ordering two pancakes, two eggs and bacon, but it is rare to find it listed as a menu item itself)- the mark of a fine breakfast establishment where I am concerned.


bisbee

lunch at mrs. white's in phoenix
After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast we were feeling a bit lazy so we decided to stop in Tuscon to check out some antiques, figuring that would get us home around 3:00am, but things took a bit longer than we planned. We got some nice items (I came very, very close to buying my dream Hoosier cabinet for $500, but with shipping it would have been too much), and then drove to Phoenix, where we had an amazing lunch at Mrs. White's Golden Rule Cafe, a total hole in the wall we NEVER would have found without the help of Jan and Michael Stern. We had fried catfish, smothered chicken, yams, green beans, black eyed peas, cornbread and mac and cheese, and boy was it good, but it definitely slowed us down. By the time we got to Palm Springs again, it was already nearly 10pm and that meant that even if we drove straight through, we wouldn't get home until 6:00am.

Just as we were realizing that (over a slice of coconut creme pie at the King's Highway), Jessica's mom called to let us know that the Grapevine was closed due to flooding and snow, and we decided to try and spend the night someplace near LA. I had been hoping we could make it to Santa Barbara (thus missing the Monday morning LA traffic when we got up), but the rain became torrential and we had to pull of the road in Hollywood. We figured it must be fate, so we drove over to the very chic Farmer's Daughter hotel and booked a room. We got some rest and then in the morning we stopped in Brentwood at the Larder (my favorite!) to pick up food for the road. The rest of the trip was uneventful, and I am so happy to be home!


this is the "renovation" cleanse. this time i'm doing the "foundation" version
This trip was so much fun, but I am completely wiped out. I think that if I go back to SXSW again, I will have to make sure I get to take more breaks, and allow time for proper meals... After all the good things we ate, plus the not-so-good things that are inevitable on any road trip, I am feeling the need to detox so I am doing a Blue Print Cleanse. This is my second time drinking their juices and although they are not cheap (understatement), they are really tasty (I am contemplating buying a juicer so I can make my own green juice daily). I'm only cleansing for three days this time, just to get the fast food and caffeine and sugar out of my system, but I already feel much better after just a day and a half. I would definitely recommend BPC to anyone looking to clean up their body. I've also heard really good things about Can Can Cleanse, which is local to SF, and I want to try that the next time I need a pick me up.

Weekends (Catch Up)

In addition to exotic vacations and craft shows I have had a lot on the books the past couple of weeks. In no particular order, I :


Attended the Slow Food SF annual Crab Feed with Erik, where I consumed more crab than I had previously thought possible.

Watched a documentary about Playland at the Beach (San Francisco's answer to Coney Island from the 1920's-1970's) at the SF Public Library with my friend Suzy, followed by cocktails at Smuggler's Cove and amazing burgers at the Double Decker.

Went to two shows at the Stork Club after not having been there in at least 5 years (the Barbies are gone!): Grass Widow playing a benefit for a friend of a friend's friend, and the Wrong Words with the Touch Me Nots.

Saw the Golden Girls Christmas Drag Show with Jessica (our annual tradition), which included guest star Jane Weidlan of the Go Go's this year!

Attended my friend Jenn's holiday potluck, which, although I was only able to stay an hour, was extremely fun.


Ate a memorable pre-birthday dinner at Camino, where they had printed up special menus just for me!

Had an wonderful 30th birthday, including brunch with my parents at Brown Sugar Kitchen, dinner with Lexi at Little Star, and more alcohol than I have probably ever consumed with my friends at the Hotsy Totsy Club. Thank you to everyone who bought me drinks, and an extra big thanks to those who made sure I didn't die from alcohol poisoning!

Celebrated Christmas with my high school friends, as per tradition, with a new generation joining us for the first time!


Played games at my friend Myles' super fun event, TwistMess (if you live in the LA area, you should seriously hire his company, Wise Guys Events, to put on a game for you or your business). So much fun!!

I think that catches us up until the New Year...

Weekends!

Last weekend was Budget Rock, and I got to see some friends' bands play, which was really fun. Most of the weekend I spent prepping for my annual pumpkin carving party on Monday night. Erik and I made a bunch of really yummy foods, including my favorite bruschetta, roasted squash skewers with hand-pulled mozzarella (Erik pulled it just before the guests arrived), locally made salumi, spiced almonds, our favorite beet salad, and three knockout (if I do say so myself) desserts: chocolate-walnut cake, pluot gallette with rosewater whipped cream, and pear-almond tart. Everyone drank lots of Cava, and we carved some great pumpkins (that is my portrait of Seymour, above).



The rest of the week I worked on my costume: a s'more! My friend Jenn helped me sew the graham crackers and marshmallow, and it all looked great, but when I went out on Thursday night nobody could tell what I was supposed to be, so I opted to wear my old KFC bucket costume for the rest of the weekend. I'm going to try and get some good pictures of the s'more costume to post here.

Anyways, on Thursday night I went to a party hosted by Down at Lulu's in Oakland. A bunch of bands were playing, dressed up as other bands, and we had a lot of fun. Friday I was feeling a little under the weather so I opted to stay home and take it easy, which was good because on Saturday I went party-hopping in San Francisco and needed all the energy I could get!


I started out at a house party in the Mission with my friend Kelsey, and then I met up with Jessica and Aleks and we had drinks at the Uptown before heading to a warehouse party some RISD friends of mine were throwing down the street. After that, we met up with Jessica's friend Catherine, and my friend Elka, and the four of us went to an AMAZING party at Elka's friends' studio space. I don't know what the place normally looks like but they had set it up so that all the studios were like little storefronts, and there were huge trees and awesome hand-printed wallpaper... it was great. There were some bands playing and a bar so we stayed there for a while. Next we went to another party in the lower Haight in a big, beautiful house full of people who didn't live there or know anyone who did. It was surreal, and it was also 3:00am. Finally we ended up at Catherine's house, with a guy dressed in a banana suit that we met on the street, and Elka and I took a cab home and climbed into bed around 5:00am.

On Sunday I handed out candy to trick-or-treaters, and then went over to Jenn's house for a yummy dinner (she made a great squash and ricotta casserole) with her, Ajax, Lexi and Layla. The five of us went to a show at Thee Parkside in SF where a lot of the same bands we'd seen on Thursday were playing, and said hi to some friends, and then went back to Oakland to a dance party at the Era Bar. They were having a costume contest and I am sad to say that I lost to a very slutty Lady Gaga, but we had a great time dancing. After that, Lexi and I went on to the Hotsy Totsy Club for one more drink, and then splurged on fast food and donuts before crashing around 3:00am.

I'll tell you this: I'll be thirty in a little more than a month and life keeps getting more and more fun! Hope everyone else had as great a holiday weekend as I did.

Weekend!

Tomorrow I'm going to post more about the past few weekends, but THIS weekend was pretty amazing in its own right. On Thursday night I attended the release party for The Exquisite Book, created by fellow RISD alums Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski, and Matt Lamothe, at Rare Device. My friends Susie Gharhemani and Eunice Moyle were there drawing live along with Caitlin Keegan, Tom Neely, Lorena Siminovich, Kelly Lynn Jones, and Lisa Congdon.

I met up with my friend Jessica at the party and we headed over to the Great American Music Hall to see the ever awesome Wrong Words open for the Hoodoo Gurus. Yes, the Wrong Words are also friends of mine, but they make really incredible music and you should definitely check them out before they become megastars so you can say you were fans of them before they became famous. After the show we were hungry, so we went over to Nopa for dinner at the bar, which was delicious!

On Friday morning, I met Susie for breakfast at Plow, a new restaurant in Portrero Hill that was wonderful. After breakfast we went on an adventure, first checking out Warm Water Cove ("Tire Beach") and then spending some time at Scrap, one of the more dangerous places on Earth for those of us who are pack rat-inclined. Susie scored some great paper, and I got a case full of paint chips and some millinery fruit which I will probably never use, but couldn't resist.

Tiny Furniture Trailer from Lena Dunham on Vimeo.

That evening, my other friend Jessica picked me up and we drove up to Mill Valley for a couple of films at the MVFF. We saw Most Valuable Players, a documentary about high school musicals which was great, and then quickly drove over to San Rafael to grab some dinner at Sol Food (our favorite Puerto Rican restaurant- the platanos maduros are like crack) before going back to see Tiny Furniture, which is so incredibly excellent... I'm sure it will be playing at a film festival near you and it is definitely worth watching. Really, really good.



On Saturday I got to sleep in (you'd think I'd get to do that more, being self-employed, but you'd be surprised) and then I went into San Francisco to stop by the opening party for the pop up store Stacy Pancake put together at Pancake & Franks, in which my products are featured. Stacy had done a great job of setting things up- I loved the way everything was merchandised! I was able to browse a little before going to a very memorable dinner at Benu.

I have a friend who is a food critic, and he invited me to join him for the thirteen course tasting menu at Benu. We also had the wine pairings, which made some of the courses really shine, like the eel fuille de brick with creme fraiche paired with my favorite beer of all time- Hitachino Nest White Ale- and the chestnut custard, cranberry and mace ice cream, paired with Royal Tokaj. YUM. Also, he got me excited about my book idea again (one day you will hear more about this), which was great. Thanks, Mr. Miller!

On Sunday morning I got up early to make a pie for the Mission Pie contest. There was a good showing (21 entries) and I heard some great comments about my pie, but I didn't win. My friend Elka came along to cheer for me, and while the judges were deliberating we walked down the street to the El Perol in the Mission Market for an amazing pan con chicharron (a Peruvian sandwich with roasted pork, grilled sweet potato and marinated onions) and a pineapple agua fresca.


After the contest we drove out to the Marin Headlands, where our friend Michele was one of many artists holding open studios. It was nice to see some work outside of the gallery context; I feel like I don't have that experience that often now that I'm no longer in art school. I particularly loved the glass piece below by Helen Lee (she does some letterpress work and this is a play on "Lorem Ipsum," for those type nerds out there), and a painting by Leo Bersamina that I am not going to show you yet because I am hoping to buy it!


Then we stopped by Park Life to see my friend Marina before going back to the Mission for an extremely tasty dinner at Bar Tartine. Everything was so good but I think the highlight for me was the quince tart tatine with honey and buttermilk ice cream, accompanied by a glass of Moscato d' Asti, my favorite guilty pleasure.

Whew!

Weekend! (Las Vegas Edition)

I know I'm behind on the blog, and there have been so many awesome weekends that it's hard to begin to catch up. But this weekend was so above and beyond that I am still reeling in euphoria/disbelief. Let me start by saying that when my friends and I first heard about Matador Records' 21st anniversary bash in Las Vegas, I was DYING to go. I have been a Guided By Voices fan since my 13th birthday, when my cousin Matt sent me a copy of Bee Thousand, my very first CD. When I heard that they were reuniting this weekend with the original lineup, and playing alongside so many other incredible bands such as Yo La Tengo, Pavement, and Sonic Youth... I had to be there! But try as we might, none of my friends or I were able to secure tickets- they simply sold out too fast! I was placated by the fact that GBV announced other tour dates (I am seeing them tonight in SF!), and by planning a trip to see friends in Seattle and visit BrickCon. I'd completely stricken the idea of Vegas from my mind when last Sunday my friend Susie informed me that a few more tickets had been released! I jumped at the opportunity and the next thing I knew I was changing my Seattle flights to Vegas.



How can I begin to describe the surreality and simultaneous awesomeness of being in a Las Vegas hotel full of hipsters? Of hearing the likes of Belle & Sebastian and Harlem over the loudspeakers on the casino floor while bachelorettes in painful heels and their male counterparts decked out in Ed Hardy played the slots? Of eavesdropping on bearded, flannel-clad boys discussing their plans for SXSW amidst a sea of fake tans and fake boobs at the pool? This weekend was a blast. I was lucky enough to go with one of my very oldest friends, and we took Vegas by storm. In addition to seeing SO MANY AMAZING BANDS that were such a huge influence on my young adult life (Sonic Youth, Pavement, Cat Power, Spoon, Superchunk, Belle & Sebastian, GBV, Liz Phair, Yo La Tengo, The New Pornographers...) and some newer favorites (The Clean, Fucked Up, Harlem), we played black jack, ate room service, sunbathed by the pool, drank far too many frozen cocktails, ate our way through a brunch buffet, visited the Liberace Museum (which closes permanently on the 17th), and walked almost all the way up the Strip.


Now that I am home, I feel a little empty inside. I never went to summer camp but I imagine that this is what it would feel like to leave one's fellow campers and return to "our sorry little lives," as Bob Pollard so eloquently put it during the closing set last night. During the shows I failed to take any pictures worth posting, but the Matador flickr page has quite a few. Here is a video of one of my favorite moments from the Yo La Tengo show. How awesome are Ira and James' dance moves???

Yo La Tengo "You Can Have It All" LIVE Matador at 21 10/2/10 from 'SUP Magazine on Vimeo.

I have been reading the press from the event, watching fan videos, and poring through other peoples' flickr accounts ever since I got home in some sort of attempt to reassure myself that this actually happened, that Superchunk ruled my world, that I rode the elevator with Bob Nastanovich and sat at the bar with Dan Bejar. If this was a "Lost Weekend," then I don't want to be found!

(Extended) Weekend!

This weekend I went to see two shows: Built to Spill and the New Pornographers (long live the '90s!). Built to Spill played at Slim's and it was a great show; the New Pornographers played the Fox, which is a beautiful venue but much too big. I felt like it wasn't much different from watching them perform on tv or something. Too bad.

I also had a delicious dinner at Doña Tomas, drinks at Camino and the Hotsy Totsy Club, and took a mozzarella pulling class! Erik and I made about 12 balls of cheese (and took home more like 8... ahem), and we can't stop eating them. I think we're going to have to start buying curds on a regular basis to feed our mozzarella obsession. Even the bad cheese we made is so much better than the stuff you buy in the store...

Last night I drove out to Turlock with four lady friends to visit the Stanislaus County Fair. I attended my first demo derby there years ago, and things haven't changed much. Here are my pictures!

Local Flavor

I've done some pretty awesome food-related things in the past couple weeks. (And some non-food related ones, like going to see Yo La Tengo with Sic Alps, Thunderbleed, Camera Obscura, and the Matthew Sweet musical at Berkeley Rep, watching my friend Myles compete in the Comedy Sportz Left Coast Tournament, getting dolled up to watch the Kentucky Derby and drink mint juleps, cooking dinner with friends, antiquing...) I went to an incredible dinner at Camino which was to promote the chickens and eggs from Soul Food Farm. As usual, Russ worked his culinary magic, and it was really fun getting to know the other folks we were seated with. The only bad thing about the evening was that, as a result of the copious amounts of wine being poured I forgot to take any pictures after we started eating! The picture above is of the lovely flat bread and pickles that were on the table when we were seated; I wish I'd been able to document the rest of the meal as well.


(homemade ricotta!)
Then I finally (two years after buying my first cheesemaking equipment) took a cheesemaking class!! It was just a beginning class, but we learned how to make ricotta, feta, and our own yogurt. I am so excited to move on to some slightly more advanced soft cheeses (creme fraiche, mozzarella, chevre) now that I have seen how everything works. I took the class through the Institute for Urban Homesteading here in Oakland. They also offer courses in everything from beekeeping to butchering, seed saving to homebrewing, greywater collecting to animal husbandry to making your own makeup and bread!


I also had the pleasure of attending Samin Nosrat and Christopher Lee's Pop Up General Store at Grace Street Catering, where I bought a bounty of locally produced foods. You can see all my purchases above: Amarena cherries and bronze-cut bucatini from Samin, empanadas from Fig and Miel, strawberry ice cream from Little Bee Bakery, salted chocolate cookies and sea salt caramels from East Bay Cookie Baker, pizza dough, a gorgeous potato gratin, and rose geranium panna cottas from Jojo's Goodies, English muffins from Goulash, and organic dog biscuits made by Siew-Chinn Chin.

I must say, as much as I support the homesteading and DIY movement, I feel really good about buying small-batch products made by professionally trained cooks- so far everything I've tried from this group (of mostly Chez Panisse people) has been fantastic. I think it's wonderful that so many home cooks are finding a market for their goods, but I would rather spend my money on beautifully crafted foods like these... if I want homemade preserves (or cheese!), I think it's more fun to make them myself!


And speaking of homemade preserves... Last week I also went to the Jam It Salon at 18 Reasons, hosted by Karen Solomon of Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It. I thought this was the perfect forum for homesteaders- a place to share our products and swap tips, without making it into a business transaction. A pretty good group of people showed up to share their homemade foods. I brought some lemon curd, a jar of kumquat-key lime marmalade, and some cranberry sauce, and I got to taste all sorts of pickles, cheeses, baked goods and jams. I also managed to forget to take pictures at this event, so the above one is from the last time I made lemon curd.

Weekend!

No travelling this weekend, but I had lots of fun- so much fun in fact, that I hardly took any photos. On Friday night, I met up with my friend Jessica at her workplace, where we talked about the tropical vacation we are planning for the winter. We walked from there to Electric Works to see the current show and eat grilled cheese sandwiches from the Toasty Melts cart. Afterwards we walked over to the Forage SF Underground Farmer's Market, but the line of hipsters waiting to get in was prohibitively long, so instead we went to Bloodhound for a drink. On our way back to our cars, we passed the Chez Spencer truck and had to stop for some potato gratin, escargot lollipops and warm chocolate pudding. French food out of a taco truck... yum! Then we went to see Date Night, which was hilarious! If you love screwball comedies, and adventure comedies (think The Out of Towners, or The Golden Child), then you should see Date Night. I haven't laughed that much at a movie in a long time.

On Saturday I spent the day catching up on some work and personal things, and in the afternoon, Erik made us a tasty snack of white beans and beet greens to eat while we watched Glee! (we are catching him up on the first season). In the evening, we met up with my friend Marina to check out the opening of the new Compound gallery in Oakland, where my friend Kelsey has a studio. After that, we had a quick dinner at Burma Superstar (I could live on their coconut rice) before heading over to Studio Quercus to see my friend Ajax's band, Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance play an awesome show. It was fun to see lots of friends there and to have a proper Oakland night out.


Sunday Erik and I watched more Glee! and prepared for the Ayurvedic cleanse we are doing this week. Well, really Erik prepared- he is the dal-making expert in our household. Meanwhile, I made some sorbet (above) from the Logan and Olallieberries I picked last summer. Then I took a lovely walk at Point Isabel with Seymour and soaked up some sun, before going over to my parents' house to have dinner with my mom and pick artichokes from my dad's garden. Aren't they beautiful? The ones in my garden are going to be ready soon, too.

Winter Adventures

I've been busy these last three months! Since I posted about my autumn adventures, I have


Been on a Storybook home tour.

Rubbed elbows with Clive Owen at the Mill Valley Film Festival opening party.


Traveled to London and Paris.

Seen a bunch of movies: An Education, Gentlemen Broncos, Invention of Lying, Where the Wild Things Are, Men Who Stare at Goats, Fantastic Mr. Fox (twice), Up in the Air, Coco Before Chanel.

Lost 20 pounds.


Acquired a new tattoo.

Been to a bunch of shows: Sunset Rubdown, Devo twice (performing "Are We Not Men?" and "Freedom of Choice"), Pixies (performing "Doolittle"), Mission of Burma, the Dead Hensons farewell show with Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance, Drunkhorse with Red Meat and East Bay Grease (Horse Meat Grease)...


Spent Halloween in LA with my friends and got to see "Beau Fib," my friend Myles' new musical.

Celebrated National Sandwich Day.

Threw a couple dinner parties.

Attended a Wild Dinner hosted by ForageSF.


Celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.

Attended two wonderful brunch parties at Jenn's and Jessica's.


Went to the biannual Art Deco Society vintage fair.

Visited a few art openings.

Saw my friends Ajax and Roscoe DJ at the Attic.


Exhibited at the RISD alumni holiday sale and Renegade Craft Fair.

Went out for our annual crab eating excursion with Jenn, Ajax and Kara.

Celebrated Chanuka at my family's annual latke party.

Attended Stephan Jenkins' "Truemeaning" benefit party (and the after party).

Saw a screening of historical film clips,"Landscapes of the East Bay."


Went to see the Golden Girls Drag Christmas show.

Bought homemade birch beer at an "Underground Farmer's Market."


Saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at the Paramount Theatre.

Celebrated my birthday with amazing friends.

And before the year is out, I intend to go see Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, play Camera Assasins on the UC Berkeley campus, and spend lots more quality time with the people I love.