being a small child
having a chaperone

peanut butter cup

anxiety
small voice
confusion

sunlight

Mrs. Naylor

mustard yellow jacket
brown pants
a $20 bill
brown leather wingtips

feeling the pain (on my behalf) in everyone’s heart
(even the judge)

witnessing myself from outside of myself

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!

I can’t remember why it came up tonight but we realized it’s a medley of two songs from the 80s that use “rock” in the chorus so off to YouTube I went to find them.

First, I found Solid – a fun song and a cute vid. Dude’s got some serious style but his stylist on the video shoot should have untucked his jacket…

Then I found the gold: The Whispers: Rock Steady.

If you don’t have five minutes to spend with your speakers on, come back when you do. I’ll wait.

Okay.

Ready?

I need to make a time stamp list of awesomeness (if you click on the video to go to the youtube page, there should be a comment by addycat777 [aka me] with the time stamps as links if you want to save yourself a little effort – however, not all of these are there and I got the numbers wrong and youtube wouldn’t let me edit or repost – argh!):

1. 0:37 – favorite dance move with the appendicular body

2. 0:59 – love the bearded back up singer/dancer (his beard looks glued on)
Watch for more of him cuz his moves are hot. (I’ll spare you additional time stamps about him)

3. 1:26 – hey! where did those dancers come from?

4. 1:36 – “doin’ the snake. mmm…maybe not…”

5. 1:44 – his “jazz square” pirouette reminds me of my jazz dance class when I was 9. We listened to this song during our warm up, which included jazz squares with our feet and hips.

6. 1:57 – enter freight elevator. that must be on what the crowd comes to populate this underground funk party.

7. 2:31-2:34 – I WILL learn this dance move and show you at the next party.

8. 2:48 – is that a tour jete I see in the background?? Justin did a couple of those for me on my birthday. He’s really good at it, very graceful and always has pointed toes (even in cycling shoes!).

9. 3:22 – after more freight elevator and a moment without the crowd, they’re in their party suits.

10. 3:32 – dude with the sunglasses and half-fro is really feelin’ it

11. 3:55 – can’t quite figure out why they went back to the other, “not party” suits…

12. 4:06 – looks like they can’t either!

13. 4:33 – I know they used the “not party” suit footage here because of this sick move. it’s spontaneous – not to be replicated – magic, caught on film.

This song makes me happy. Although, after trying to get all of those time stamps just right, I need to avoid it for a little while… but this video I could watch without sound, over and over while practicing all of those moves. Soon, I too will be able to dance like Barack Obama.

- I wanted to raise $5k and made it as far as $3600, which is awesome, just not what I was aiming for.

- I had physical challenges that kept me off of the bike for about 160 of 560 miles.
* My handlebars weren’t set in their ideal ergonomic state and that made my hands, especially my right one, really painful to ride with (and for some time after).
* The padding in my shorts was irritating my skin in a way that made sitting on the seat something painful enough to draw tears.
* The good news about these issues is that they are totally avoidable in the future and they did not keep me off the bike for any more miles than they did – yay!

Now it’s been just over two weeks since we left LA and quads are back to normal, sitting on my bike seat is very comfortable, my hands are pain free, and I’m rested.

Here are my favorite moments in list, and somewhat chronological, form.

Day one

- rest stop one – discovering those wonderful peanut butter and jelly graham cracker sandwiches that I’d had once before when I volunteered for ALC.

- Emily’s cookie monster outfit made a lot of people smile.

- climbing the 92, getting to the top and being handed strawberries, and then riding down the beautiful, smooth curve into Half Moon Bay. Here’s a fun little map showing when I was most excited.

- this little house in the woods made me really happy. so did all that green.

- Mom, this photo was taken for you. lighthouse in the fog.

Day two (celebrating 32 years of life)

- Emily made a little sign for my butt, Justin gave me a princess pinata that I tied to my do-rag and Shannon took this photo.

- Then, Greg gave me a ride to the SAG bus for the first time “only cuz it’s your birthday!”. I think it was wind that dissuaded me from continuing – cross winds are a BITCH!
The SAG bus, however, was Divalicious!

see the little TV (click for larger view)? They had The Supremes playing for us – very sweet.

Day three

- my favorite part of the ride was conquering The Quad Buster. Mostly because the downhill after was the most joyful exertion I’ve had in a long time. I had a few miles of superfast “onyourleft onyourleft” and then on the smooth flat after, from somewhere, I found a sprint and I raced (safely!) past a row of eight riders. Just as I settled in to a nice open road I hear “BOOS! You were riding REALLY FAST!” coming from behind me. Shannon caught up to me after waiting for our friends while I hit the downhill first. that made my day because he’s much faster than me.

- entering central california – dry dry dry, but oh so photogenic.

- i broke the rules by taking this while riding but i’m SO pleased with the result (and i didn’t get busted, or hurt)

- rest stop “dia de los muertos” where I told everyone in front of the camera to “pretend your dead” before I realized the rest stop theme.

Day four

- this day started out with pain in my hands so great that i was crying by 10 miles. i mistakenly thought that if i waited for the SAG bus at rest stop 1, i’d be driven to lunch to get taped/mended/magically cured and then ride the rest of the way to camp. what i didn’t realize is that once on the SAG bus, you’re going to camp. so, this was a sad day for me, tho, it was good to rest my hand.

- in that first 10 miles, Josh asked me what my goal for the day was and I laughed as I said, “honestly? to get to rest stop 1.” He commended me for my realistic perspective and then congratulated me when we got there.

- i took this from the bus after deciding i wanted a photo of the fog AND a cyclist.

- synchronistically, i spotted Emily in her big bird costume from the bus TWICE, without knowing where on the route she was. that made the bus ride a little bit more bearable.

- once at camp, it was so windy that putting up the tents was a two person job. Silas and his recumbant had made it to camp even before the SAG bus so he helped me put up all three of the remaining tents for our team. that made me feel good. then we took pictures of the people sliding down the oil and water slip and slide that was created on the grassy knoll across the campground.

Day five Red Dress Day
- our gear roadies looked (especially) awesome this day

- favorite portrait

- favorite landscape

Day six Rained Out
Here’s the story: This day included a small one lane bridge that the CHP had to close from other traffic so that our 2150 riders could pass safely. They agreed to close it during a specific time window – I believe it was between 9 and 1. The previous night, we slept thru some serious rain and even got rained on at breakfast but by the time we were ready to roll (our group, not the riders waiting to go out right at 6:30 am) the rain was gone and the sun was coming out.
However, this was not the case on the big hill covered in soaking wet riders with flat tires.
Those riders were given two options: turn around and go back to camp or wait here (in the cold and rain) for the SAG bus. Half of the riders went back to camp to wait with the rest of us for three to five hours for a bus ride to Ventura.

- We got in line for the bus about four buses back and I think I heard that it took 20 buses or so to get everyone to the campsite in Ventura, so we were lucky to be in the front. We got to Ventura around 2 or 2:30, laid our soggy clothes out to dry in the warm SoCal sun and I quickly hopped into the ocean.
The warm, salty ocean that I got to swim in for about 30 minutes of heaven before I got hungry for dinner.

- the candlelight vigil on the beach that night was really special. very solemn and so very quiet, except for the sounds of sniffles here and there. seeing this got my tears flowing. I fought with myself about taking a photo and finally decided that i’d appreciate having the image after the fact, and I do.

Day seven
- i finally got to paint a rainbow on my face (while wearing my SF Bike Coalition SF Bike Map Jersey no less!)

- best Jamba Juice stop ever (Greggy got one with peanut butter and banana that will be my next choice, for sure – highly recommended!) This was just a few blocks before closing ceremonies and we got to cheer on the few hundred riders that were behind us (read: not many!).

Shanny, me, Justin, Greg, Silas (Emily had to leave the morning of Day 6 to get back to SF for a family wedding, and somehow I lost Josh just a mile or so before this spot – we missed them both!)

Well folks, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this little recap. I can definitnely see myself doing this ride again someday, perhaps 2011, perhaps even sooner!

To all of my sponsors – thank you so very much for helping to provide education and service to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS as well as help people with HIV/AIDS live happier, healthier lives.

My coach, riding buddy, partner and best friend, Shanny Bannanny Sis Boom Bammy aka Shannon Shalako. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t feel as prepared as I do for this crazy seven day ride from SF to LA!

realistic energy chew, no?

Justine Bateman Veber, Jetson, Juicy, or Justin Case, whatever you call him, he’s my happy maker when I need it. He started out without a bike and is now a HAWD COAH cyclist, riding about 100 miles a week by riding home (SF Mission District) from work (Millbrae or Redwood City) a few times a week.

helmets are the best hair stylers

This is Emily.

She gets two pictures because she’s
super fun/silly

AND
super hot

Also, she’s got enough energy to be at least two, if not three teammates. We heart her for doing this ride for the 8th time and showing us the ropes.

This is our beloved roadie Greg. He’s definitely the wind beneath our wings. He loves orange and cute illustrations of monsters and anthropomorphized animals and inanimate objects. He said “I’m not going to bike but I’ll drive!” and thus the PIKLWGN is driving sweep so Greggie will be sweeping us off our wheels (and taking us to the hotel – KIDDING!)

sweet perfection in the tub

Here you’ll find, on the left, Jimmy Kitty. He’s our bestest cheerleader who’s going to meet us in LA when we cannot walk anymore and take us to a fancy hotel and put us in the salt water pool. We heart Jimmy Kitty for being such a fluffernutter.
On the right is our animal loving, soon to be vet friend Eric. He’s not going to be on the medical team (snicker) but will be roadie-ing at the ALC Store. He’s the one who will avert his eyes when we five finger discount bandanas (KIDDING! we’ll totally buy them! [if they're cute!])

close up and serious
[Eric's not usually that serious, but sometimes he can be a little judgemental]

Seven days later, Team Project Roadway had our first all team (minus roadie) training ride together.

We rode a 85 miles from San Francisco to Pt Reyes and back.

Here’s our path (you can click and drag as well as zoom in and out right here!):

View Larger Map

That’s as long as our first day to Santa Cruz – I did it – but barely.
If it weren’t for my freaking awesome teammates’ support, I would have taken the bus home from Fairfax on the way back. Emily gave me Advil to kill the pain in my back (new riding position) and my butt (new saddle – apparently they need to be “broken in”) and after our pit stop, Justin told me that I’m “not allowed” to take the bus and that they’ll ride whatever pace I need. Because of the sweetness in that sentiment, I didn’t remind them that they’d essentially already been doing that every time they stopped to wait for me to catch up. By then the Advil had kicked in and I felt okay, if not actually excited, to go ahead and ride all the way home.

And I did! We all did!

I felt really slow the whole way; it seemed that I was always catching up to my teammates while they awaited my arrival. But they were all smiles.

PHEW! This stuff is hard! But so rewarding.

:Begin bike nerd details:

Now I’m focusing on working my core as that’s the key to my new (and more athletically accurate) riding position: Curved back, all weight in the legs, hands & arms are only there for balance, not weight support.

I’ve got new handlebars coming in the mail to allow my hands to be aligned with my acromion so as to help with that “non weight supporting” ideal. Apparently, the bar is pretty rare because it’s so narrow (like my shoulders, surprisingly) so we had to get a new stem that not only put me 2 inches farther out (Lorri thought I needed more reach, ironically, as that’s what I’ve been bugging Shan to reduce, but her explanation along with her other adjustments make a lot of sense to me as far as what “comfort” should feel like on a road bike, compared to my 10 years on a mountain/hybrid) but also will accommodate the new oversize bar.

Shannon’s already installed my new, “no float” cleats to help keep my legs focused in the same plane, rather than getting to move a few degrees here or there. I’d had a little problem with my left leg and Lorri thought this type of cleat would be a good way to train my legs to operate correctly. And I’ve not had a problem with using cleats and don’t think that this change will be hard to get used to.

:End of bike nerd details:

Now I just need to finish up getting the necessary gear – jerseys and shorts mostly. Gosh, I hope I still like riding after ALC8 – I’d hate to have all of this gear and nothing to do with it!

Aiming to do another 60 mile ride as well as a couple of 25 mile rides this week and next to finish up with the training part of this wild ride.

OH – and, if you’ve got a few $$ to spare – I could really use another $1700 to get to my $5k goal http://tofighthiv.org/goto/adrienecrimson
Every bit helps!
Thanks so much for all of your support – however you offer it!

2. Yesterday I whacked my arm on the counter at work (again) and promptly put arnica cream on it and took some arnica pills. A few hours later, I did the arnica again. Then I went home and ate lots of fresh pineapple.
Arnica and the bromine in pineapple are supposed to keep bruises from discoloring and hurting.
Today, the bruise is half what it was the last time I whacked my arm into the counter and it doesn’t hurt at all. Yay for homeopathy and healing with foods!

3. The fresh pineapple I ate last night was AMAZING! We ate a quarter of it raw and put the rest of it into the braised chicken broth to cook and add it’s flavor. Fresh pineapple cooked with chicken is really tasty – a completely different fruit than the common canned pineapple one finds in chinese food and on Hawaiian pizza. YUM!
The chicken turned out amazingly too!

4. We have two pints of ben and jerry’s in the freezer waiting to be devoured. Call me over 30 but I’m so excited for ice cream and a DVD tonight.

1. give out tickets, in my head, to douchebags not doing things according to standard, ticketable, traffic laws.

2. fart – it’s the funnest place to fart – except for maybe around the campfire.

3. sing a song that goes “la la la la”

4. pedal as fast as I can and then laugh or say “yeah!” kinda to myself – working up to shouting it out loud.

5. record outgoing voicemail messages to amuse those who make it to the voicemail box connected to my phone number. there are two different messages…

6. squint, carefully, and tilt my helmeted head down a bit so the visor blocks the sun because I’m not pleased with any of my current sunglasses.

7. change gears – soon, I’ll get to change 27 but for over a month I’ve only really used two – maybe four. (broken right side lever – only three gears in back and I never really use the big chain ring in front)

1. when I’ve had some wine and I exhale deeply I really enjoy the quality of my breath.

2. when I’ve been dancing for hours and feeling the music and my body and my breath takes over and it’s deep and full and loud – then I push harder. GAWD I miss that – it’s been years. SIGH.

3. when I’ve been sitting or lying down for a while and I get up and stretch and have a head rush because of the lack of breath – I always get in the most interesting head spaces that I wish I could record somehow.

4. one time, when I was in college, a friend walked me thru some healing exercise where I “hyper oxygenated my blood” by breathing fast and deep – it was a really wonderful experience and has been referenced a few times since in different healing experiences.

5. when I’m giving a client their shoulder massage and I take a deep breath at the same time, or just before, they do. that one makes me feel dharmic.

6. sharing breath with my partner is always dreamy when I enjoy it.

7. when taking a deep breath actually does clear my head and calm me down.

8. when I’m crying really hard and my breath has a shudder – it’s uncomfortable but satisfying somehow.

9. on a crisp, clear night when I’m riding my bike on a flat, straight road thru the trees as fast as I can go and I spontaneously take a huge deep breath.

10. one night in college, I tried to convince a friend that inhaling a puff of smoke and holding it as deeply as possible in the belly until a yawn comes was a really freeing way to get high. she told me that i should try getting naked and walking around the dining hall because, that too, would be a freeing experience.