I’ve got to work out some sidebar issues (hello, labels?) but I dig the colors and the rest of the design elements. This is awesome because I can spend a long time customizing colors if I like the theme design but not the colors.

Hold tight – more content coming shortly.

Enjoy this lucky day!

however, i had such a great experience at nopa last night, that i decided to pop my proverbial restaurant review cherry here.

for months now i’ve been seeing my friend violet’s tweets about going to nopa, her photos of things like burgers and bacon brittle, and hearing her tell me what a great spot it is.
i even started following her friend richie on twitter because of her post where he, i assume, sent her home with a burger bun she’d requested be held.
he’s got a fun blog with a question of the week, observations/thoughts, quotes from the kitchen (my personal favorite segment) and photos.

to get a little tangential, i must say that following some people’s blogs and twitter streams is like happily running into someone often at parties or “the regular spot” (wherever that may be for you – the library, a bar, the back of the bike repair shop, your local tattoo parlor): you feel like you kind of know them, you have easy things to talk about, and you want to know them more and have more things to talk about.

that said, when i walked into nopa with my man & no reservation and the hostess smiled at me and offered the chef’s counter, i was excited to finally meet richie of linecook fame and get to watch some of that quoted hilarity in action.

this is the finishing counter before the dishes get taken to the tables. I wanted to get a shot of six plates of beautifully seared halibut but I was too slow on the draw, and they’re super fast on the delivery. instead, I caught a burger with a side of greens going out with a burger with a different kind of delicious – fries. I’m sad I didn’t try the greens… I do love greens. I’m jealous.

It was so much fun to watch the plates get finished here – so much olive oil, pepper, and basil aoli getting poured, cracked and dished!

when we walked up to the counter, the team made courteous nods and I said to richie (I recognized him from his blog photos) “we’re twitter friends” and he and Ponder said “all right!” or “oh cool!” or something like that (now I’m following him too…) Ponder pointed someone out to me but it was a little loud and I thought he was telling me the foursquare mayor was there but he was telling me that sean penn was there (which I found out tonight in perusing tweets about nopa from yesterday). i’m really glad I didn’t hear him correctly or I would have been irritatingly star struck and might have missed some of the joy I got from my meal and observations.

Okay, enough jibber jabber. Here’s my list of favorite things:

- i don’t spend much time or money in upscale restaurants, but like to, a lot. i tend to feel a bit like a country bumpkin in there – especially when the amuse bouche arrives. I tend to get overly enthusiastic about surprise bites.
last night was no exception but it was about the salt. the yummy little salad on a crouton was served with a little finger bowl of malden sea salt.
i’ve heard of it, read about it and known of its existence for a while but have never been exposed to it in its raw form like that.
it’s beautiful! little tiny square crystals of salt. we played with those until our drinks came.

- i really liked my white manhattan – white whisky is really sexy – strong like, um, brown (?) whisky, but much fresher. [I'll have to ask our friend Camper over at Alcademics about white vs brown/aged/whatever it's called whisky.]

- we ordered burgers cooked differently – mine medium, his medium rare. and whaddya know, mine was done a touch more than his and had plenty of pink. i guess i don’t order the burger in upscale restaurants very much (that just made me think of that scene in the Nanny Diaries – no linking – if you’ve seen it, you know. if not, carry on and forget I even brought it up) but having the burgers turn out exactly right was unprecedented and made me happy. um. I think my country bumpkin in showing…

- the corn on the cob cooked in and smothered by house made basil aoli was freakin’ delish! cooking corn in a hot oven rather than steaming/boiling is a really wonderful way to make it.
and what a treat to have a little something sent out by the kitchen when I’ve only just met them! thanks guys!

- i love pudding.
and custard.
and panna cotta.
all things egg/milk/sugar/gelatin/cooked.
love them.
but, i usually avoid creme brulee because the few times I’ve had it, the predominant flavor was sterno, which I always attributed to the pastry chef holding the torch too close to the sugar, burning it quickly, rather than using the less hot tho less sterno-y front of the flame for a touch longer.
anyway, possibly flawed theories aside, I couldn’t resist burned honey creme brulee and figured I’d take a chance.
and I’m so glad I did – not a whif of sterno could be smelt and that dessert was out of hand (outta hand!).
burned honey – whoda thunk it?
the marinated strawberry on top was nice – a few more would have been even better!
I could have done without the short bread that accompanied – I’ve never been much of a fan of dry, crumbly sweet things. I save my dry crumbly for aged cheese. however, as far as shortbread goes, it was quite nice – great tooth & flavor, just not my thing.

- shan got the fruit galette with chevre ice cream and both were perfect. the ice cream was just the right amount of goaty, sour and sweet. and the galette was basically that perfect mix of sweet, light, flaky crust and fruit.

- my first sip of their house made earl grey cream liquor was stupendous.
subsequent sips wished for less coffee flavor and more bergamot. I mean, I’m a huge fan of earl grey and was expecting to be given a lot of bergamot and tea flavor. when our waitress told us of the ingredients (I think she said it had rum, tequila, coffee, earl grey and lots of other things) I was suprised by the addition of coffee but figured they knew what was up.
call me traditionalist but I want my tea based things to taste of tea, not it’s uppity younger cousin. (my mouth loves coffee but my stomach does not so I’m a bit bitter – much like the coffee I favor but cannot drink)

Here you see my earl grey cream liquor and three cooks – Ponder (grill master), Linecook (Richie) (sous master) and the oven master whose name I didn’t catch. The oven master had an awesome flatbread dough rolling technique that was fascinating to watch. He cranked out order after order of that flatbread and it was all made exactly the same. I know that’s how it’s done but it’s rare to get to watch it without being a part of the bustling kitchen stuff (I was a food service person for a few years in my youth – a chef once told me to “get out. get out while you still can!” and I took his advice and got into administrative assisting instead. a similar tho less smelly and less delicious profession.)

- the typeography of their menus was super fun but hard to photograph because it was curvy justified. here’s a section of the dessert menu – the digestifs and coffee/tea. Yum!

When we left we were so very satisfied and happy. My experience was everything I’d been hoping for and I’m looking forward to going back as the seasons and thus, the menu offerings, change a bit. We were so full and sleepy that Shan took a lil nap while we waited in the bus stop – you can see the dining room thru the glass so know that it’s an easy spot to get to and from! Lots of public transportation options!

Bonne appetite readers!
Merci nopa!

SATURDAY

My friends Jim and Kiki live in a great apartment that overlooks the Dyke March‘s route so they open their doors to us almost every year so we can watch/participate.

The Dyke March is always on “pink saturday” and I had to arrive after working all day. I left work a bit early as this is a super important fun event that happens once a year. It’s like a bday party – totally worth clocking out an hour early.
I stopped at home to feed the cat and change and ran up the street to Jim’s place with my rainbow body paint kit with 15 minutes to get painted before the Dykes on Bikes went roaring down the street.

That was a great start to the weekend.
[click any photo to see it larger]

During the parade I was busy “participating” and only caught one image.

A little girl walked by with her moms and a poster that said “I <3 my 2 mommies." I was slow on the shutter and thought I missed them.
As you can see, one of her mommies asked her to turn around for me. That just breaks my heart open with joy – I wish this photo could show you how freakin’ cute this little girl’s face is.

Violet Blue and I met at this very same party five years ago. We call it our anniversary. Here she is in all her hot gangsta glory (wearing Ben’s hat).

My 89 (??) year old Grand-Aunt Polly is a Old Lesbian Organized for Change (OLOC) and she and her ladies were posted up in the sweet viewing spot of the corner of 16th/Dolores where they got a fab, ground eye view of the parade. I was too busy introducing her to Kiki and Violet and being introduced to all of Polly’s friends that I forgot to get a pic, but one of her friends got a great one with what looked like a really good camera.
I’m really glad I’ve started spending time with her – she’s totally together and fun and has a lot to say and contribute. Her friends were super cute when they found out I am her grand-niece.
Y’all should support all the Old Lesbians in your area – they freakin’ rock!

After the parade ended, Violet took Ben and me to “a sekrit party in the armory.” The armory is owned by Kink.com (NSFW).
It was my first visit to the giant building that I ride past every morning on my way to work, so I was excited to see the rooms and how they’ve got everything set up.
There were a few scenes being filmed that night but the crowd, which was pretty non-usual for that space according to Violet, was really lame and took the fun out of watching.

We wandered around with our free drinks and took pics in the different themed rooms, which was super fun.

Violet took this selfie of us and I totally <3 it.

Just about every room had a row of pegs as well as O rings strategically placed in all kinds of places.

Violet got her first Digital SLR photography lesson while I explored a small closet.

Ben and I both got psyched about the light right here and Violet was happy to oblige us with her keen modeling skills.

We decided we’d have more fun eating than sticking around (again, lame “industry” crowd – boo) so we went to Monk’s Kettle [Their kitchen is open until 1am, btw...] and all ordered burgers and ginger beer. This was my third or fourth visit and I felt confident highly recommending it to these two who’d wanted to check it but hadn’t yet – they were pleased.
2am, time to sleep.

SUNDAY
I woke up around 10 and called the boys to figure out the plan for the day. It was decided that we’d start by meeting at Jim’s to watch a bit of US vs Brazil soccer (wow – the first half was awesome. didn’t see the second.) and have some champagne and glitter.
Fur removed……glitter and sunscreen applied, we headed over to Zuni‘s street party to say hi to our bday friend Janice who was pouring drinks for the first time. She made us some mean margaritas, got some glitter (and sunscreen!) applied and we headed down to Civic Center for the after parade party.

We walked into the festivities via the dance music area while they were in the middle of a Michael Jackson tribute set, which made me really happy.

Yay for gay pride & kissing outside!

This beautiful man and his two little girls looked so sweet to me, I had to ask for a photo. He obliged me with such a sweet smile – I was very happy.

This mirror ball man of awesomeness was sitting on the curb, looking a little sad, when we started dancing in front of him. A few minutes later, he perked up and started dancing as well and people started taking photos almost immediately. I could tell he really enjoyed having his photo taken in that fabulous outfit. That made me super happy.

I saw this tattoo from across the dance-street and had to record it, with permission of course. I think it’s wonderful and really says a lot, even if I don’t believe in God and his/her judgement, per se.

We walked home before the sun went down and I had a long relaxing evening with my man after his return from a weekend riding trip.

Best pride ever thanks to good friends, excellent imbibles and perfect weather in my favorite city.

<3

I’m still upset that this weekend warrior trying to go somewhere special on his bike wasn’t allowed because of Caltrain’s ridiculous bike policy. But I’m grateful for his generous attitude and sweet demeanor. I hope someone gifts him with something extra super special today.

For Shannon’s birthday last week, we went to Santa Cruz to see his step mom and go for a long training ride thru a new area.
We decided we’d go thru Watsonville and discovered that our route took us straight thru the ripe strawberry fields. OMG – YUM! It smelled amazing.

We took a break at a roadside stand to hydrate and have a snack – the snack was a quart of organic strawberries that were probably only a few days from the field. YaUm!

The ride was 61 miles total and even tho I cried for about a mile near the end, I made it. I wasn’t in a lot of pain – just some strain that was gone the next morning.

Next step is getting a proper bike fitting so I can eliminate that strain on my wrists and left leg. Will let you know how that one goes.

I still need a bit of help with my fundraising – I’d LOVE to get to $5k so I can ride around in a special jersey that shows that I inspired people to donate $5k to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in our lifetime.

Regarding the leg – I had an amazing session with my massage school teacher Marty. He’s a rolfer, massage therapist and cranial sacral therapist. Oh, and, he also helps people with money. He’s a super mellow city guy who rides a fixie (with a front break) and totally understands my biking needs.
A week after my 90 minute session, my pain has been reduced to about 90% of what it was.

So, that’s the leg thing.

I’ve also been focusing a lot on our fundraiser that’s TOMORROW NIGHT! It’s taken a lot of planning, organizing and hitting the pavement putting up posters and giving out flyers. It’s been a great time. I’m so excited to put on my special cowgirl costume – complete with red cowgirl boots and a red, pigtail wig.

We need to raise $3012 to get everyone to their minimum needed to do the ride – I’m really hoping we can get to that number – think good thoughts for us, huh?

The event will have raffles and a silent auction. Those of you not coming to the event will have to dream wistfully of gigantic feather pillows with amazing fabric, cases of wine, a bed and breakfast stay, shopping, dining and spa-ing gift cards, home-made leather tote bags as big as paper shopping bags, jewelry, photos, and the list goes on.

Did I mention wine? We have three cases and a magnum to raise money with…

I’m hoping to get up early enough to ride to work tomorrow morning – as if I don’t have enough to do already! I’ll keep you posted!

Was pretty unimpressed until we got to the SECA Art Awards Exhibit and the Face of Our Time | Four Shows exhibits.
The former is up until May 10th, the latter, April 26th. Go see them.
Here are some samples (it’s still so strange to be allowed to take photos in museums – I feel like I’m breaking a rule…)

Tauba Auerbach – the whole alphabet, from the center out, digital VI

Leo Rubinfien – Wounded Cities – Casablanca, 2004, in the Casbah El-Habous

Judith Joy Ross – Nancy Tate, protesting the US war in Iraq, Bethelehem, PA

The next two are in the permanent photo collection…

Harold Eugene Edgerton – Jackie Jumps the Bench

Terry Evans, Field Museum, Spartina, 1857

Next month, I hope to spend more time there… I think the permanent photo collection needs a bit more perusing.

We woke up around 10 and said “let’s bike to Fairfax!” and we did!

Training has been hard for the last couple of weeks because it’s been raining a lot on my days off. While I don’t mind riding in the rain, it’s really hard to decide to do it when it’s also really cold, my apartment is cozy and I have anatomy homework to do. Our Sunday training rides with other ALC8 riders (and friends) has been canceled two Sundays in a row now due to really bad weather (windy, cold, pouring rain).

We left around noonish after having Shanny’s special steel cut oats, peanut butter and prunes (usually we use raisins but we were out – raisins are definitely better). I discovered today that my warm up is riding from our place at 16th and Valencia to Golden Gate Bridge along this path.

The last little bit of Arguello before it enters into the Presidio (the long street in the middle heading into the big green area) is the nastiest little hill. It’s soo steep but thankfully it’s only two blocks long – I still end up at the top totally winded and needing a bit of a rest.

The Golden Gate Bridge crossing is my least favorite – sadly – as it should be super sweet. Yes, the view is outstanding and incredibly special but by the time we get past all the tourists walking, tourists on bikes, tourists standing in the middle of the walkway taking pictures and not hearing the cyclists approaching from behind yelling “on your left!”, I’m annoyed, to say the least. But, then we get the fabulous downhill into Sausalito. That hill is dessert before dinner – tho, it’s also work after play when the ride is reversed – phew!

The stand out items from today’s ride are:
1. We got to Fairfax in just over 2 hours – much better than the 3 hours it took last time.
2. I rode up White’s Hill without much trouble – but was definitely at the last of my energy before lunch.
3. The coffee “prize” I gave myself at Fairfax Coffee Roastery (no online presence could be found! how odd!). Their coffee is all roasted right there and they have a lot of organic options. I got a 16 oz americano and added honey and soy (and a splash of half n’ half) and it was a great treat – except that I could only finish half of it (I know, I know, blaspheme but it was time to go!)
4. We made it home in six hours total – which is what we did last time WITHOUT White’s Hill AND the lunch/coffee break we took in the sun. Yay!

With hope, my next post will be sooner – here’s to good weather on my days off!!

Wanna help me reach my goal?

Wanna help me reach my goal?

Wanna help me reach my goal?