I don't like mornings like this...

Generally, I've never been much of a morning person but I've gotten used to the fact that I do, in fact, have to get up every morning and so I do. I have my morning ritual which includes the usual, shower, brush teeth, put on make-up, get dressed, etc. but it's mornings like today that make me realize that I really like my morning ritual. More importantly, I like my morning ritual to be quiet.

I guess that's no surprise for someone who has apparently become very sensitive to noise in adulthood. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for complete silence here. I've gotten used to the sounds of the neighborhood, the kids getting to the school across the street, the (very) frequent trash pick-ups, neighbors yelling for their kids to get in the car to go to school, etc.

But every once in a while, my neighbor's landscaping team shows up at 8:30am. This is right when I'm sitting down at my desk with my first cup of coffee of the day and start reading through the news, emails that came in over night, etc. It's supposed to be a pleasant time of day.

Here's what it means for the landscaping crew to be next door:
1. chatting & laughing among the crew while they wait for their boss to arrive (totally ok with me and not that unpleasant of a sound. Only problem is that it is happening directly under the window I am sitting next to!)
2. revving of some motor-powered thing, apparently to make sure it works at full power and at low. I can't figure out what it is, either a leaf blower or a wood chipper or something in between but it's very loud and annoying
3. my neighbor's valiant efforts at Spanish as she tries to communicate with the crew who only speak and understand Tagalog and some English, which means she just keeps getting louder and louder, especially over the noise of the motorized thing
4. one of the crew's hacking cough and the accompanying intermittent hawking of phlegm and spitting, which is just kind of disgusting.

Finally, at 9am they begin their work, which brings with it a whole other slew of sounds which I am mostly fine with other than the continuous revving of the motorized thing and, with it, the smell of exhaust that fills my apartment.

My conference call this morning is going to be simply delightful.

Brazilian Carnaval (it's not a typo!)

Through a friend of a friend, I learned about the Brazilian Carnaval in San Francisco this weekend. There were events on Saturday to which I was invited but it was cold and rainy and my pj's and couch was really comfortable so that didn't happen.

Then yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day and so I decided to get out of the house and travel to "the City" to see what this festival was all about. My friend Chokri and I decided to take purely public transportation for the day.

We started with the bus right outside my apartment. That took us to downtown Oakland where we were going to get on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport - a subway). Instead though, since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to opt for the ferry instead. So, we crossed the bay on the ferry, and then transferred to BART once we got to San Francisco. A couple of blocks of walking later we were in the middle of a huge festival of fantastic costumes, delicious food, soul-moving music, and tons and tons of people.

It was a blast. Here are some pictures of the journey and the festival.


on the bus...


the ferry...


we made it to the City!


dancers at the festival


There was this wall of bougainvillea that was just screaming for attention!


there were so many pretty murals on walls...

more fun in the kitchen...breakfast

Today I woke up and decided I wanted something fun for breakfast. My usual is almond butter with some type of jam and fresh strawberries on WASA crackers and while I love it, I wanted something else today.

So, I looked in my fridge, had a cup of coffee, and thought about it for a while. I didn't really feel like having pancakes but that seemed to be the obvious choice. Hm. What to do? Well, consulting the "Joy of Cooking" is always a good start.

The results are below. I stuck with my usual almond butter, added the organic rhubarb jam (with ginger and plum brandy) I found at the farmer's market last week, plus my trusty mango butter from Trader Joe's and I made a Crepe Cake.

As many of you know, I see recipes as a starting point/suggestion so I did not follow it precisely but the result is still quite yummy: I didn't have milk so I substituted soy milk, I didn't double the recipe since I don't have 8 people to feed this morning, I made tiny crepes instead of 8" ones, and I topped it with powdered sugar instead of regular sugar. I used the almond butter as a base layer and then alternated between the rhubarb jam and the mango butter. It's really tasty. :)

Next time, maybe I'll make a savory one with cheese, leeks, and spinach. That sounds delicious too!

Adventures in cooking/getting creative with left-overs

There's a new Cuban restaurant in my neighborhood and I recently tried one of their empanadas. It was delicious. So then I was craving empanadas...

Late last week, I decided I wanted to at least try to have something that was similar in flavor so I made a concoction out of ground beef, some left-over olive tapenade, raisins, peas, and all kinds of spices (I read through some recipes and, as I believe recipes are merely suggestions and/or starting points, I picked and chose which spices sounded good: cinnamon, cloves, cumin, etc.). I added that mixture to some rice pilaf and had a good dinner but there was A LOT left over. Tupperware...

Last night for Sunday dinner/game night, I made artichokes with a Hollandaise sauce for dipping. Also quite good but after lots of games and laughter, there was still lots of Hollandaise sauce left over. Hmm...

What do you do with left-over faux-empanada filling and a bunch of Hollandaise sauce? Well, you improvise and you make actual empanadas. If you are me, that is.

So here's what I did: I found a simple empanada dough recipe (for baking since I don't have a fryer) and I substituted buttery eggy Hollandaise sauce for the lard and an egg yolk the recipe called for. Then I used the rest of sauce beaten with an egg to brush the empanadas before I baked them (instead of just egg).

The results are actually quite delicious. I am very happy with them. Now I just need to find enough people to eat all of them!

Empanadas anyone?

Busy weekend

It was a busy weekend but it was fun! First, on Friday, my friend Genevieve played at an open mic show at a place called Mama Buzz Cafe. It was great to hear some good local live music.



Saturday was the Great Strides Cystic Fibrosis Walk. My friend Sarah (see earlier post "Sarah's Project") has CF and this is the largest annual fundraising walk for CF. It was a beautiful day in San Francisco and it was a lot of fun. We walked as Team Incredible and we had the best t-shirts out of all the walkers! There were about 500 walkers and we raised about $100,000 by Saturday. (Donations are welcome year-round if you're interested. Check out www.cff.org to donate or find out more.)

Below are Sarah (you can see the awesome t-shirt), Team Incredible getting ready to walk, and the view from the Presidio. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning!

home

I have made major locational changes in my life. Germany to Boston for college, Boston to Ohio for law school, Ohio to Northern California a couple of years ago for work. These big moves are always exciting, always challenging, and never easy.

The first couple of moves were such that I had immediate, built-in friends (college and law school will do that for you) but the last one was a little different. Granted I had built-in, immediate connections with people at work since that's why I moved out here in the first place, but I'm the kind of person who likes to have my work life and my personal life be a little separate. (I have to add here that some of my closest friends in California are from work - were from work since I no longer work with them. So I guess now they're friends, not work-friends. Yay!)

It also always takes me a little while to settle into feeling like I actually live in a new place. I always forget how long it takes to feel that way. Typically, I feel like a stranger in a place until I can confidently give directions when asked, run into people I know on the street, and feel like a regular fixture in my neighborhood.

After 2 years of living in California, I realized just the other day that I have achieved this settled feeling. I feel like I actually live here now, not like I'm pretending to live here.

You see, recently, as I was walking the 5 or 6 blocks home from what I am calling my local "Biergarten" (outdoor patio, beer, casual, fun atmosphere, lots of regulars and locals), I was stopped 3 times by different people along the way who all either live or work in my neighborhood, know me, wanted to say hi and chat for a moment. (One called to me from across the street, ran over and hugged me. Another came out of the restaurant when I walked by to say hi.)

It made me really really happy. It also made for a very pleasant walk home, stopping to chat, feeling like I really do live here in this neighborhood. Realizing that people here know me and are genuinely happy to see me when I happen to pass by. I feel like I'm home now.

things happen...

I returned from my trip to Ohio, which was wonderful by the way (pictures below), on Monday. When the plane landed in Oakland, I called my friend to come pick me up. You see, it is very convenient to have a friend drive you to the airport in your car and pick you up in your car. That way you don't have to pay for parking while you're out of town and you have immediate access to your own vehicle upon your return. It's quite perfect.

This time, however, not so much. As I waited at the passenger pick-up area, I began to wonder what was taking my friend so long to get to the airport. Typically by the time I get outside, he's pulling up. So, I waited figuring there was probably traffic. A few minutes later, my friend finally pulled up to the curb... very slowly.

As he got closer I saw that the front passenger side window was gone but for a bunch of clusters of broken glass hanging on to the edges of the frame of the window. A silent "what happened?" didn't even make it out of my mouth before he stopped, turned the car off, and got out. He was covered in glass, visibly shaken. He came to my side of the car and kind of fell into a shaky but relieved hug.

Ok, here's what happened: He was driving on the freeway to come pick me up at the airport. The freeway is pretty rough with lots of uneven pavement and many, many trucks. He was passing a truck when something either fell off the truck or the truck spit a rock at the car. Whatever it was, it happened very quickly and the window shattered, scaring my friend and covering him in glass.

We reported it to the police officers milling about at the airport who told us we needed to report it to the highway patrol. So, as we drove away from the airport, me in the back seat to avoid sitting on a pile of glass, being blown away by the lack of a window, I called the highway patrol. A stop at a gas station to vacuum up the glass and a visit to the highway patrol to file a report later, I now have a brand new front passenger window, which cost less than my deductible on my insurance so it was all out-of-pocket (boo!).

The truck by the way didn't stop. The driver likely didn't even know what happened. It was an out-of-state semi and, although my friend got the license plate number of the truck and we included it on the report, I doubt anything will come of it. I'm just glad my friend didn't get hurt and that it was just the window that was damaged. It could have been much worse.

Ok, now for the fun stuff! Pictures from Ohio:


Shawn and his mom, Karen, right after he received his "Graduate Of the Last Decade" Award.


My boys!! Celebrating Shawn after the award ceremony.

Shawn, the honoree, and me in the garden at Karen & Tony's house.



Gretchen and Mikey came by!






Rashaun and me at the soiree in Shawn's honor and to celebrate my visit. Also at Karen & Tony's.