Drunk Post Numero Uno

I've been having some fun at Amnesia watching Gaucho play...I've never encountered another band that could make me feel innocent, happy, sexy and loved as much as this one. If you have any inclination to seeing a self-described "Gypsy Jazz" band play, this is your spot. FREE every Wednesday at Amnesia, the crowd is filled with humble dancers thrilled to enjoy the beats that they put in front of us. Anddd, they have Death and Taxes from Moonlight Brewery solidly on tap. Thank Jeez for Amnesia.

Check them out:

Light & Love,

M.

Carry On

The weather in SF has been completely marvelous, and it's got me all cheery and motivated again. I was researching my next business venture while listening to itunes and this song came on - I don't think I could have found something that exemplified my mood more perfectly.

So here I am, cross legged on the floor, tecate and lime in hand, solid and reveling in the day's gifts.

God, I'm such a hippie sometimes. I must have gotten it from my Dad (check out his high school picture)

Light & Love,

M.

Missing Home.

I'm reveling in the love that is my family and friends, sad for the fact that I can't be there to shoot the shit with them.

Borrowing from Amanda @amandarecord.com (see below) I would love to share this amazing song with you. Always makes me smile :)

Growing Up, Moving On

I came across this piece while going through one of my old blogs, and I can't get over how it seems to sum up the last two years of my life. I've changed a lot, indeed, yet I still haven't come to terms with the direction my life is heading. I'm still trying to become whole in mind and body, and I'm not sure if that's something that will ever change.

Bottom line - it's time for me to become passionate again. Ph.D., here I come!

"Melting, Melding, Molding

How interesting, how confusing, unpredictable and energizing life is. I am who I have always been, yet somehow I seem to contradict myself wherever I go. I play into the world’s stereotypes yet try to break them, I am sternly feminist yet care deeply for the desires of men. What a joy it’s been to be kicked off my feet for once.

I try to be unapologetic for who I am, solidly standing in who I have become based on the experiences life has pushed upon me. Although I am deeply content with the person I have developed into I feel that there is so much more for me to become. I certainly have a hole in my story. Friends and family seem to define a person, depending on the amount, type, world views, and passion, yet I have never felt defined by someone. I’m not sure if I have seen eye to eye with every one of my close friends, perhaps I have just been floating along the river of youth unaware of the world that has opened up to me…

Now I am praised for who I am, who I have become, yet I see this future of mine taking a drastic turn onto a two way street filled with live music, people dancing in the streets, coffee houses and yummy cocktails. Is this really where my life is heading, or should I put on my blinkers and make a U-turn? I hope that I follow this street, wherever it takes me, because I see in myself things that I haven’t yet accepted or let known to humans. I would love to be relaxed and joyful in gait, intelligent in speech, and sexy beyond belief in the way I move my body to the upbeat music that has been blaring in my head for the past few years.

I have and will continue to melt and meld into a person who is whole in mind and body, a person who is and has always been."

Part Deux - Ethan in the City

Some might spend vacations relaxing at the beach, at Disneyland or even on a wild adventure in the wilderness, but Ethan spends his vacations drinking beer at 10AM.

5. Dinner at Commonwealth. 
Holy moly, what a night. We got dressed up (read: this means that Ethan put on a blue suit and orange tie HAH) and went out for a nice romantic dinner. Commonwealth is a new american style restaurant with fun and creative plates that are meant to make your taste buds and eyes jump for joy. We started with a bottle of '09 Getariako Txakolina from Urki Txakoli, a beautiful dry white that complimented the light fare we were about to have. Oh WAIT we ordered charred octopus, pork jowl and asparagus...at least we didn't order gnocci for the second night in a row (we really almost did). The dessert was by far one of the best I've ever had - Lemon sponge cake, Thyme ice cream, candied honey and creme fraiche. The cake was moist but still soaked up the melting ice cream, the honey was crispy (!?) and I just about died.

Afterwards we went to every dive bar in the mission trying to find a good dance party, but we only found photobooths. These were the only family friendly photos out of the bunch:

6. The most insane dance party I've ever been to. Cat Club. 

50's Motown dance party with all the best Drag Queens in San Francisco? How did we stumble upon this heaven? Ethan and I had been out all day running around and ended up at Cat Club in SOMA where I proceeded to dance off all of the beer that I had consumed throughout the weekend. 

*A man in yellow boy shorts was voguing to 1950 classics* If this aint heaven...

7. Pizza and *more cards* at Arizmendi Bakery in the Mission. 

I was having a really bad day and needed to chill out, so Ethan and I went to get some pizza at Arizmendi. Every morning they find whatever is fresh at the farmers market and make one style of pizza on a house-made sourdough crust. Delectable. As always, kicking his ass at cards made me feel much better.

8. Beers and Fried Pork Ears at Magnolia Gastropub. 

Magnolia was the one place that we absolutely had to go to, so after spending some time at Zeitgeist we bussed over to Magnolia. They have beer on tap that they've brewed themselves and, most especially, they have been on cask. In San Diego I could go around the corner and find a beer on cask, but here in San Francisco it's been a lot harder to find. Cask conditioned beer is served warmer and without the help of a CO2 tank to pump the beer - giving you a beer that has a stronger flavor that seems a little smoother. I'm obsessed, mostly because I feel that the carbonation in beer takes away from a lot of the more complex or subtle flavors by overpowering the taste buds. Anyways, Magnolia was AMAZING! Wonderful beer (I suggest the Pride of Branthill on cask) and the most amazing beer accompaniment - fried pork ears. Outstandingly crunchy crispy with a little crack when you hit the thin slice of cartilage in the middle, I've never had anything like it. Unfortunately, I've been back since and they were more oily and the cartilage was a little uncomfortable to eat. Sad face.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience having gung-ho Ethan up here to visit - next time: sleep more. 

The Wild Week of Ethan...Post 1

I've finally recovered from the ridiculous week I had with Ethan (it was 2 weeks ago), and I thought I should share some of the high points:

1. Dinner at Serpentine in Dogpatch. Even though we weren't seated until *an hour and a half* after our reservation and we dined with an uncomfortably argumentative couple, the dinner was one of the best I've had in a long time. Livers, meat & cheese board, gnocchi (with bacon lardons!!), battered calamari and several A+ cocktails. Ethan and I were happy campers indeed. It's also GORGEOUS inside, with a clean concrete style and skylights.

2. Brunch at Foreign Cinema.

We were hungover as shit and feeling like zombies. A pick me up at Ritual coffee in the Mission led us to Foreign Cinema in a search for a spicy bloody mary and Oh Lord, did Foreign Cinema deliver just that - along with some beef carpaccio and sardines that kicked my butt into high heaven. I don't think Ethan will ever be the same after that carpaccio...it came with fried capers and homemade potato chips teehee.

3. Oakland beer adventure at The Trappist. Ethan noticed that his friend had checked in at the Trappist, a belgian beer bar in Oakland, and we decided on a whim to BART there and surprise him. Beligians tend to be my favorite style (mostly the strongs) so I was beyond happy. My favorite was Moonlight's Reality Czeck (oddly NOT a belgian beer), a Czech Pilsener. Nice and light for a daytime drinkie.

4. Card game at Zeitgeist.

The weather was a little off while Ethan was here, but we decided to take in what little sun there was on the back patio of Zeitgeist. While kicking his ass at cards I sipped on yet another bloody mary (theme of the trip) and generally enjoyed spending time with Ethie. The game started quite tame, but slowly escalated to us hurling insults at each other. Such a good time!

More to come....

Newspaper Nails? Yes, Please and Thank You

I stumbled across this amazing tutorial for creating "Newspaper Nails". It looks easy peezy and could be a really great compliment to a 50's inspired summer dress. Now I just need to find a newspaper...

Whew.

Home improvement is tough, don't let anyone tell you differently.
I spent most of the day finding studs in the walls and planning where to put my shelving...a task that's so much harder than it should be!
Here's what I ended up with:

A sink in the middle of the house, paint everywhere, 

broken glass, etc.

I'm not good at this.

Better news - I start my new job tomorrow! Pam from Bay Area Staffing actually came through with an amazing 6 month temp job at a community housing non-profit. Next project, lay out the clothes :)

Maybe a cup of tea first...

Trucking Along

Yesterday was the big day...Off the Grid! A self-described "roaming mobile food extravaganza", Off the Grid is comprised of several mobile food vendors that have a passion for kick ass street food. I've been a dedicated HOMI in San Diego for a while now, so I was super excited to try out what SF had to offer. 

After taking the bus to literally the other side of the Peninsula (with a stop at Bloom Saloon for a few, okay several, cocktails) we ended up at Fort Mason, a picturesque landmark on the Marina side of SF. We stumbled down the grassy knoll to this:

A beautiful sight. Accompanied by a nose-full of ranging scents; a little curry, asian spices, bbq and some wafting tunes from a live band. Almost immediately my heart started beating like I had just locked eyes with a handsome gent across the bar...okay, I love my food.

Anyways, the picture doesn't do it justice but there were TONS of people milling about and the line for each truck was about 25 people deep. The friends decided it was too much for them and waited outside the circle while I tried to decide what I wanted to eat. Dumplings! I was the lucky woman to get the last tofu dumplings at Saucy Dumplings...YUM. They definitely had more flavor than the pork dumplings, but the dumpling shell was a little too chewy for my taste. The sauce was kickin, some sort of sesame vinagrette. After that I decided to take my chances on Zombie Curry, mostly because of the name. I got the yellow curry which was spectacular, spicy, tangy and full of veggies. They served me a large portion but had run out of rice so I had to eat it with their Naan, not too much of a sacrifice. I'll definitely go back to try their green curry!

Once the sun set it was scary windy and cold, so we decided to take refuge in a cheesy mexican restaurant with a shitty cover band. Bad move, girls! We made up for it by spending the rest of the night running around SF like madwomen dedicated to going to every Thieves bar in the city. After ending up at Hemlock (been there during happy hour, much better at night!) we made two more stops and then home we went. Sleep came easy, as can only be expected after a wonderful night like that. 

Recruiting Bliss

Ack. What's a girl gotta do to land a job in this city?

I've discovered one thing - recruiting agencies. At this point I'm not quite sure if they're legitimate or if they are going to steal my identity while making me work in a sweatshop...
I have another interview tomorrow morning to do some admin work at a museum. Fortunately this sounds much more promising than any other lead I've come up with on my own. This lady is absolutely amazing, or so says her Yelp review here. Should be interesting...

The worst part about all of this is that I have a B.A., okay okay it's in Psychology, but nonetheless - I've spent the money and time to obtain a college degree but I still have to fight to get a good job. I could rack it up to the fact that I'm young, but in all honesty...I've been out of college for two years now. I could rack it up to the economy, but there seems to be tech startups every five feet in San Francisco. Eh, for now I'll just find bliss in those moments that are cost-effective.

Backwoods tourism

Tasha and I took the Alfa out for a day trip to celebrate the beautiful weather...
It's poured here for the past week - something I'm not used to. But it's been nice for the past few days, almost like a summer day in San Diego, so I've spent most of my days out in the sun. Freckle time.
I followed my internal compass to the location above (somewhere close to the presidio) that had a wonderful view of the GG Bridge, thankfully we were able to step out of the car so I could snap a few touristy photos.
Afterwards we found a wonderful little Nursery called Three Bees Nursery that's on Clement Street, a diverse neighborhood dotted with Pho restaurants, bookstores and hair salons. The two men who were working were helpful and pleasant (I think our good moods rubbed off on them a little), and we left there with the backseat filled with plants.
I dropped by Trader Joe's and picked up some rum, sparkling limeade and mint and prepared some easy mojitos for me and Tasha to sip while gardening. All in all a wonderful day.