From Afield: New Orleans French Quarter

Not too many photos as we didn't have much time to walk around...

From Afield: Downtown Oakland

As I've mentioned before, I grew up in Oakland and it is very exciting to see new businesses moving into downtown after nearly 60 years of depression. Oakland has such a rich history (it was once known as "the Detroit of the West," back when Detroit was known as "the Paris of the West"), but many major employers left town after the second World War and the commercial areas of the city have never fully recovered. Downtown is full of beautiful art deco buildings and hidden gems, and it's wonderful to see it finally being appreciated. My friend Marina and I wanted to take some pictures of the less-historic parts of downtown before they become obsolete; here's what I captured this afternoon.

Bright

Bright

(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!

County Fairs, Part Two