So last Saturday, the movers came and packed up all our stuff. They were amazing and efficient, and only over their estimate by $100. I have to say, I don't think I will ever be able to move my own stuff again. It felt like some of the best money I ever spent - no U-haul, no tired aching back from hauling 300 boxes up stairs in two different apartments.
Then we kicked around San Francisco for a couple more days, doing a few more "last" things. We took one last drive down the coast to Monterey and back. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it rained for most of the trip - the first rain we've seen since March. But, it still brought back a lot of good memories. Our trips up and down the CA coast were some of our favorite times. Then we headed to the airport on Monday and hopped on an airplane with one way tickets. It was really weird, and I don't think it really sunk in that we weren't coming back.
On Tuesday, we took a peek at an apartment with the broker that we've been working with (the rental market in NY is so crazy, you use a broker to find a place, just like if you were buying a house in any other city in America) and decided that it would be PERFECT! And that afternoon we signed a lease. Hooray!! The last piece of the puzzle fell into place. The one drawback is that the apartment wouldn't be available until November 1st because they were going to gut renovate the place. New kitchen, new bathroom, new floors - yes, they can complete that in two weeks. So, until then, we'll be staying in short-term vacation rentals all over the city. Tuesday and Wednesday nights, we stayed in a room in an apartment out in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Which is a neighborhood that is just starting to be gentrified. We went to an amazing restaurant for dinner last night called Roberta's pizza. I can already tell that we are going to eat a LOT of good food here, and I am going to have so start seriously exercising again to facilitate that!
Then today, we moved to an apartment in the East Village in a really great location. It's just mind-boggling here, the sheer number of restaurants. You walk down the street, and they just keep going and going and going. We walked down 2nd Ave tonight from 13th st. to 2nd St. and there was no break - the entire way was lined with restaurant after restaurant. In San Francisco, it's more like you'll have 3 blocks of restaurants, and stores and stuff, and then it will break for awhile, and then you'll have a few more blocks of commercial stuff. But this is uninterrupted food, I'm telling you. It's so dangerous - how do you ever decide where to EAT!!?? I could see myself spinning my wheels for hours and hours of indecision. So many choices, so little time.
Anyway, on Saturday we move to Williamsburg, in Brooklyn for 6 days and then next Friday, we come back to the East Village apartment for 2 days and then we spend our last night in a nice hotel (as a treat) and then we move into the apartment. Whew, I got tired just typing that. I start work next Monday, and it's going to be really nice to stop being so transient and actually settle down in our own place. But so far, all this moving around has been giving us a really nice overview of the City, both Manhattan and Brooklyn.
On Wednesday we spent some time just hanging out and walking through Central Park. Today we checked out the High Line park - a new park built on the old elevated train platform - and a couple of galleries. Tomorrow I think we'll head to an art museum and then do some shopping. Both Neil and I need winter coats. It's already colder here than it ever gets in San Francisco and we don't really have any winter clothes left - there's no point in keeping them when the temperature never goes lower than 50 degrees.
And I have to say I am in HEAVEN with the weather here. It's October, and it feels like OCTOBER! It's FALL!! Finally, a SEASON!! It's crisp and cool and there is just a smell in the air that feels exactly like Portland. I just feel like I'm home.
I'm really nervous about starting work next week - all new jobs suck for the first few weeks, meeting all the people, learning the new job, the new politics. No fun. Hopefully it will go fast, though, and I can get into the swing of things really quickly.
So, that's our first few days in New York - already a whirlwind of activity and food! We are both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. So here's to a good night of sleep and being ready to head out on the town again tomorrow!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
New York, new york...
Wow, I'm really out of practice at this. Things have been kind of out of control here for the last few months. First up was the audit, and even when you know exactly what you're doing, it still takes two months to prep and complete the stupid thing. And I'm kind of a control freak when it comes to doing work (something I need to work on), I don't trust anyone else to do it right, and so I end up taking the whole project on myself. Which really isn't smart and at some point, just isn't going to be feasible anymore. So that was July and August. And then my sister had the cutest baby EVER (please see proof below) which, of course, required a visit to meet said baby.
And then, I came back to San Francisco for two days, and jetted off to an interview in New York, because - holy cow it's time to start applying to jobs now - AHHH!! Said interview went poorly, I didn't get a great feeling about the job for numerous reasons, and so I told them I didn't think the position was a good fit. Back to the drawing board, so I thought. Then they called me a day later, made me tell them why I didn't think it was a good fit, and proceeded to convince me that it was a good fit, and so I negotiated salary and took the job. So I have a job, YAY! Which is really great news, because if you don't have employment, you have to have a guarantor to get an apartment - a guarantor that makes 80x the monthly rent. Which basically meant that I'd basically need my whole family to line up and co-sign on our lease. Not an attractive idea.
So, it seems like we've been waiting FOREVER to move, and now all of a sudden everything has to happen in 10 seconds. I've lined up the movers, booked our one-way tickets to New York on October 18th, along with the doggies and I'm heading back to New York next weekend to try and find us a place to live. And then I start work on October 25th. Holy cow, the wheels are starting to spin a little out of control. I'm hoping that something doesn't fly off the tracks!
I will leave you with the second of many, many more Maggie pictures to come:
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Summertime or bust
We are heading home to Portland tomorrow for a week-long extended vacation. This is the longest period we have been home since we arrived in San Francisco and I can't WAIT. Notice how I said we were heading "home". Our house is in San Francisco, but home will always be Portland. Or somewhere in the PacNW!
Festivities will include two weddings, a visit with Neil's family with a beach-day outing, lounging in the hammock, grilling steak, eating farm-fresh eggs, lounging down at the lake, possibly some canoeing, hiking, camping at Swift Reservoir, feeling warm grass on my bare feet, bocce ball, horseshoes, a night at the Kennedy School, dinner at Screen Door, Portland favorites (Lucky Lab, Powell's books, 23rd st.), Craft Brewfest, Blue Hour happy hour, visits with friends, hanging with my nephew, and most of all - BASKING IN SUMMERTIME.
It will have to last me for awhile. Or until August, when my niece will finally be here!
Festivities will include two weddings, a visit with Neil's family with a beach-day outing, lounging in the hammock, grilling steak, eating farm-fresh eggs, lounging down at the lake, possibly some canoeing, hiking, camping at Swift Reservoir, feeling warm grass on my bare feet, bocce ball, horseshoes, a night at the Kennedy School, dinner at Screen Door, Portland favorites (Lucky Lab, Powell's books, 23rd st.), Craft Brewfest, Blue Hour happy hour, visits with friends, hanging with my nephew, and most of all - BASKING IN SUMMERTIME.
It will have to last me for awhile. Or until August, when my niece will finally be here!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tea time!
I got a coupon for 1/2 off High Tea at the Laurel Court in the Fairmont Hotel (big, old, fancy hotel on Nob Hill) so Neil and I ascended the hill to rub elbows with the fancy types on Sunday. Unfortunately, we didn't get the memo that you are supposed to dress for high tea. We both showed up in nice enough shirts, and then jeans. Eveyone else had a dress on (because everyone else there was a woman). Once we sat down, we looked okay, but I'm pretty sure the maître d' thought we were lost when we first wandered in.
I've done the whole tea thing with my mom and sister a few times. There is a little farm out in the middle of nowhere up by my parents house called the Pomeroy House that does a traditional afternoon English tea and I just love it. The little tea sandwiches are adorable (and tasty) and the scones are buttery deliciousness and there are always good selections of teas.
This tea was even more of a treat, because it was in the Laurel Court, which is super-beautiful and fancy and every now and then - shhh, don't tell - I like to pretend that I'm fancy. Fancy without a dress, though, of course. Neil was actually very keen on the idea as well - he likes things like little finger sandwiches and I think - shh, don't tell - that he likes to feel fancy every now and then, too.
We forgot to bring a camera, so I stole some images from the interwebs. Here is the Laurel Court, right off the beautiful lobby of the hotel:
We actually sat at the table right in front of that big mirror.
I chose the Fairmont Blend tea, so I'm not really sure what was in it, or what kind of tea it was, but it ended up being really fabulous, with cream and honey. Neil chose the Earl Gray which neither of us really liked that much - it was very flowery and the floral scent before I took a sip just almost made me a little bit nauseous. Interestingly, every other table around us had really pretty little silver teapots. We got some dumpy old ceramic teapots. Perhaps it was the jeans? I'm sure the tea tastes the same no matter what it is served in. The tea leaves are loose in the pot, and so they had this little silver strainer that sat on top of the teacup, and you pour the tea through it to catch any stray leaves. Then there was a precious little silver cup that the strainer sat in after you were finished with it.
After our server brought our teapots, he brought out our little tray of teatime treats. Isn't it beautiful?
There were five different types of tea sandwiches. Here was the menu:
Smoked Salmon and Chive Cream Cheese Pinwheel on Rye Bread
Five-Spice Beef Tenderloin and Lady Apple Slaw on Black Olive Baguette
Dungeness Crab and Mango Salad on a Corn Muffin
Coconut Curry Chicken on a Mini Herb Roll
Cucumber and Sonoma Goat Cheese with Sun Dried Tomato Tapenade on Black Walnut Bread
My favorite was the Beef Tenderloin and Neil's was the Crab Salad on the corn muffin. But they were all super-delicious. I didn't try one that I didn't like.
On the next tier were our scones, accompanied by pots of Devonshire Cream (like delicious, richer, whipped cream), lemon curd and pear compote. Just heavenly. I'm not usually a huge fan of lemon curd, but this stuff was magnificent. I did a combination of cream and lemon curd on one bit of scone and I will just say, wow...
By this time, we'd drunk about 6 cups of tea a piece, but we forged ahead onto the last tier, the dessert platter with an assortment of pastries. I don't remember exactly what was presented, but there was a madeline, which was okay, a fruit tart (mine had a blackberry on it that was severely underripe, dampening my experience a bit), a cheesecake tart thing that was excellent, a coffee/tiramisu/bar thingy that I could have eaten a boatload of, and finally, we ended with chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup which was so amazing that I almost cried when it was gone. It melted in your mouth to a luscious, rich chocolate heaven that just slid effortlessly down your throat. Mmm, I'm starting to salivate just thinking about it right now.
It ended up really being a lot of food, and a lot of tea, and they practically had to roll us out of the Laurel Court when we were finished. We browsed around the hotel for awhile afterwards - it has amazing views of the rest of San Francisco, because it sits right up on the crest of Nob Hill - and then we headed back down the hill to return to the commoners. Because neither of us had cash for a bus fare for Neil, we walked all the way home. It was an unceremonious, fitting return to our regular life.
But for a couple of hours, we were fancy...
I've done the whole tea thing with my mom and sister a few times. There is a little farm out in the middle of nowhere up by my parents house called the Pomeroy House that does a traditional afternoon English tea and I just love it. The little tea sandwiches are adorable (and tasty) and the scones are buttery deliciousness and there are always good selections of teas.
This tea was even more of a treat, because it was in the Laurel Court, which is super-beautiful and fancy and every now and then - shhh, don't tell - I like to pretend that I'm fancy. Fancy without a dress, though, of course. Neil was actually very keen on the idea as well - he likes things like little finger sandwiches and I think - shh, don't tell - that he likes to feel fancy every now and then, too.
We forgot to bring a camera, so I stole some images from the interwebs. Here is the Laurel Court, right off the beautiful lobby of the hotel:
I chose the Fairmont Blend tea, so I'm not really sure what was in it, or what kind of tea it was, but it ended up being really fabulous, with cream and honey. Neil chose the Earl Gray which neither of us really liked that much - it was very flowery and the floral scent before I took a sip just almost made me a little bit nauseous. Interestingly, every other table around us had really pretty little silver teapots. We got some dumpy old ceramic teapots. Perhaps it was the jeans? I'm sure the tea tastes the same no matter what it is served in. The tea leaves are loose in the pot, and so they had this little silver strainer that sat on top of the teacup, and you pour the tea through it to catch any stray leaves. Then there was a precious little silver cup that the strainer sat in after you were finished with it.
After our server brought our teapots, he brought out our little tray of teatime treats. Isn't it beautiful?
There were five different types of tea sandwiches. Here was the menu:
Smoked Salmon and Chive Cream Cheese Pinwheel on Rye Bread
Five-Spice Beef Tenderloin and Lady Apple Slaw on Black Olive Baguette
Dungeness Crab and Mango Salad on a Corn Muffin
Coconut Curry Chicken on a Mini Herb Roll
Cucumber and Sonoma Goat Cheese with Sun Dried Tomato Tapenade on Black Walnut Bread
My favorite was the Beef Tenderloin and Neil's was the Crab Salad on the corn muffin. But they were all super-delicious. I didn't try one that I didn't like.
On the next tier were our scones, accompanied by pots of Devonshire Cream (like delicious, richer, whipped cream), lemon curd and pear compote. Just heavenly. I'm not usually a huge fan of lemon curd, but this stuff was magnificent. I did a combination of cream and lemon curd on one bit of scone and I will just say, wow...
By this time, we'd drunk about 6 cups of tea a piece, but we forged ahead onto the last tier, the dessert platter with an assortment of pastries. I don't remember exactly what was presented, but there was a madeline, which was okay, a fruit tart (mine had a blackberry on it that was severely underripe, dampening my experience a bit), a cheesecake tart thing that was excellent, a coffee/tiramisu/bar thingy that I could have eaten a boatload of, and finally, we ended with chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup which was so amazing that I almost cried when it was gone. It melted in your mouth to a luscious, rich chocolate heaven that just slid effortlessly down your throat. Mmm, I'm starting to salivate just thinking about it right now.
It ended up really being a lot of food, and a lot of tea, and they practically had to roll us out of the Laurel Court when we were finished. We browsed around the hotel for awhile afterwards - it has amazing views of the rest of San Francisco, because it sits right up on the crest of Nob Hill - and then we headed back down the hill to return to the commoners. Because neither of us had cash for a bus fare for Neil, we walked all the way home. It was an unceremonious, fitting return to our regular life.
But for a couple of hours, we were fancy...
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Just some pics
The delicious chili that Neil whipped up.
Yummy potato chips (but a bit greasy, as you can see)
A wedding ring that I am working on for my friend Katie. All I have to do now is set the diamonds. eeek. Scary.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Beware of flying pigs
Three things this week:
1. Neil made dinner twice this week. If any of you are familiar with Neil, you'll understand the title of this post and it's relation to this phenomenon. If you aren't familiar with Neil, let's just say that, in the past, it has been much more likely that you would catch a glimpse of a flying pig than eat a dinner prepared by Neil. No more! He is taking on two meals a week from here on out and apparently has been hiding his mad cooking skills from me all these year because his food is GOOD! On Monday he made chili and boy was it yummy. I peeked into the kitchen during the prep work and noticed that he has amazing knife skills - he chops like a pro. I asked him how he learned that and he shrugged and mumbled something about the cooking shows that I watch and that it just seems like common sense. ? Who is this man?
Last night he tackled tacos and while he wasn't quite ready to make his own tortillas this time, he did whip up homemade Mexican Rice and made his own taco seasoning. Again, with all the chopping involved in this meal, I was blown away by what a good knife-handler he is. He even figured out, on his own, that the chef's knife doesn't work with tomatoes and you need to whip out the serrated knife to cut them properly. ? Who is this man? Next time, he plans on doing the tortillas as well. And I don't know if it's just because I didn't have to do the cooking, but I swear the food tasted better than when I make it. I also surmised that it could be the fact that I don't measure any more, and he followed the recipe to a T, with measuring spoons and cups in hand. Could be something to this whole "following the recipe" thing.
He's already making plans for next week's meals - pulled pork sandwiches, tortilla soup, orange chicken - the ideas are starting to whirl. I think he's going to find that he really enjoys cooking. He actually thanked me last night for forcing him to do it!
2. I made potato chips last night. Well, actually, the real story here is that I bought a mandoline and I now love it with all of my heart. The potato chips were more of a result of my wanting to slice something, anything, with my new toy. Now that I've sliced, I am dying to julienne so tomorrow we are having french fries. And then maybe some summer rolls, so I can finely julienne some vegetables. Such FUN! But the potato chips were also a lot of fun. I soaked the sliced potatoes for 30-40 minutes, then drained and dried them thoroughly. Then I heated up a tiny pot of oil, about an inch deep because I was running low on oil, and fried like 10 tiny little batches of potatoes. It took forever and after this I would just go to the corner store and buy a huge container of oil because it took SO long. So they turned out super-crispy and nice and tasty, but a little bit oily. I read somewhere that it's better to fry stuff like this in lard, or another fat that is firm at room-temperature, because then when they cool, the fat firms back up. So I'm on the lookout for lard now at the grocery store.
3. Last but not least, I got totally fed up with the bus passing me by every morning, crammed to the brim with people and causing me to be 1/2 hour late to work and bit the bullet and started riding my bike. It's been three days now and I'm feeling pretty good about it. However, there are two downsides to riding a bike in San Francisco - the hills and the wind. The morning commute is a joy because the hills aren't as big in that direction (there's some great downhills) and the wind hasn't started blowing yet. But after work - oh! It's miserable getting home. I ride home on Polk street, and there are 6 blocks with hills between 10-18% grade. Oh that doesn't sound like much, sure... TRUST ME IT'S STEEP. And of course, there's the 18% grade block that my apartment is on so I get all the way to within site of my house and have to make it up one last ridiculously steep hill. And then carry my bike up the stairs to our apartment. Needless to say, I always arrive home wheezing, breathless and sweating like a madman. It's pretty. So the hills are one thing, but it's like God thought we had it too easy, those of us biking in the city, so he added some of the nastiest winds ever to the mix. I'd say that the city averages wind speeds of around 20mph on a daily basis in the afternoons. The windows in our apartment usually rattle from 12:00 on because of the force of the wind. Riding into a headwind going East-West and feeling like you're working so hard only to look down to realize you're in your lowest gear and barely moving is so demoralizing. What's worse is when you sigh with relief as you take a left onto a North-South street and then realize that somehow there is still a headwind!!! Or almost worse, a nasty crosswind that threatens to blow your tires out from under you and pushing you into that car that's driving dangerously close anyways. And of course add to the mix those people lurking in their parked cars and waiting to open their doors into you.
But all whining aside, it's immensly more pleasurable to ride a bike than sit crammed on a hot, humid, smelly bus and I've actually been enjoying myself. Not to mention the fantastic workout I'm getting without having to use any extra time out of my schedule at all. Right now my goal is to ride to work every day but Friday, so we'll see if I can keep it up. Wish me luck and no flat tires!!
1. Neil made dinner twice this week. If any of you are familiar with Neil, you'll understand the title of this post and it's relation to this phenomenon. If you aren't familiar with Neil, let's just say that, in the past, it has been much more likely that you would catch a glimpse of a flying pig than eat a dinner prepared by Neil. No more! He is taking on two meals a week from here on out and apparently has been hiding his mad cooking skills from me all these year because his food is GOOD! On Monday he made chili and boy was it yummy. I peeked into the kitchen during the prep work and noticed that he has amazing knife skills - he chops like a pro. I asked him how he learned that and he shrugged and mumbled something about the cooking shows that I watch and that it just seems like common sense. ? Who is this man?
Last night he tackled tacos and while he wasn't quite ready to make his own tortillas this time, he did whip up homemade Mexican Rice and made his own taco seasoning. Again, with all the chopping involved in this meal, I was blown away by what a good knife-handler he is. He even figured out, on his own, that the chef's knife doesn't work with tomatoes and you need to whip out the serrated knife to cut them properly. ? Who is this man? Next time, he plans on doing the tortillas as well. And I don't know if it's just because I didn't have to do the cooking, but I swear the food tasted better than when I make it. I also surmised that it could be the fact that I don't measure any more, and he followed the recipe to a T, with measuring spoons and cups in hand. Could be something to this whole "following the recipe" thing.
He's already making plans for next week's meals - pulled pork sandwiches, tortilla soup, orange chicken - the ideas are starting to whirl. I think he's going to find that he really enjoys cooking. He actually thanked me last night for forcing him to do it!
2. I made potato chips last night. Well, actually, the real story here is that I bought a mandoline and I now love it with all of my heart. The potato chips were more of a result of my wanting to slice something, anything, with my new toy. Now that I've sliced, I am dying to julienne so tomorrow we are having french fries. And then maybe some summer rolls, so I can finely julienne some vegetables. Such FUN! But the potato chips were also a lot of fun. I soaked the sliced potatoes for 30-40 minutes, then drained and dried them thoroughly. Then I heated up a tiny pot of oil, about an inch deep because I was running low on oil, and fried like 10 tiny little batches of potatoes. It took forever and after this I would just go to the corner store and buy a huge container of oil because it took SO long. So they turned out super-crispy and nice and tasty, but a little bit oily. I read somewhere that it's better to fry stuff like this in lard, or another fat that is firm at room-temperature, because then when they cool, the fat firms back up. So I'm on the lookout for lard now at the grocery store.
3. Last but not least, I got totally fed up with the bus passing me by every morning, crammed to the brim with people and causing me to be 1/2 hour late to work and bit the bullet and started riding my bike. It's been three days now and I'm feeling pretty good about it. However, there are two downsides to riding a bike in San Francisco - the hills and the wind. The morning commute is a joy because the hills aren't as big in that direction (there's some great downhills) and the wind hasn't started blowing yet. But after work - oh! It's miserable getting home. I ride home on Polk street, and there are 6 blocks with hills between 10-18% grade. Oh that doesn't sound like much, sure... TRUST ME IT'S STEEP. And of course, there's the 18% grade block that my apartment is on so I get all the way to within site of my house and have to make it up one last ridiculously steep hill. And then carry my bike up the stairs to our apartment. Needless to say, I always arrive home wheezing, breathless and sweating like a madman. It's pretty. So the hills are one thing, but it's like God thought we had it too easy, those of us biking in the city, so he added some of the nastiest winds ever to the mix. I'd say that the city averages wind speeds of around 20mph on a daily basis in the afternoons. The windows in our apartment usually rattle from 12:00 on because of the force of the wind. Riding into a headwind going East-West and feeling like you're working so hard only to look down to realize you're in your lowest gear and barely moving is so demoralizing. What's worse is when you sigh with relief as you take a left onto a North-South street and then realize that somehow there is still a headwind!!! Or almost worse, a nasty crosswind that threatens to blow your tires out from under you and pushing you into that car that's driving dangerously close anyways. And of course add to the mix those people lurking in their parked cars and waiting to open their doors into you.
But all whining aside, it's immensly more pleasurable to ride a bike than sit crammed on a hot, humid, smelly bus and I've actually been enjoying myself. Not to mention the fantastic workout I'm getting without having to use any extra time out of my schedule at all. Right now my goal is to ride to work every day but Friday, so we'll see if I can keep it up. Wish me luck and no flat tires!!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Camping Weekend
We headed out to the coast this weekend for a camping trip with some friends. Google maps gave us ridiculously terrible directions that landed us smack in the middle of murder road at 11:00 at night. Following Google blindly (never really a good idea), we started out on Hwy 1, made turn after turn onto progressively smaller roads (the last few had no lines) and finally found ourselves saying, "Do you think it could be down this gravel road?" We finally shook ourselves into reality and realized that Google had done us wrong. Just then, I remembered that I had printed out a brochure from the state park we were headed to and that it had a map at the back of it. Which promptly took us directly to our destination. Luckily Neil, Lindsey and Alec had headed up earlier in the day and so we arrived to find the campsite already prepared, a fire roaring and wine at the ready. Ahh, that's my kind of camping.
We stayed at Salt Point State Park which is about 18 miles north of Jenner and about 2.5 hours from San Francisco. I picked it because it was one of the only parks that still had online reservations available. Californians are serious about their camping, apparently. If you want to camp somewhere any time after June 1, you better start making your reservations in December. I don't remember it being quite that cutthroat in Oregon, but maybe I just have my rose-colored glasses on, which is usually the case when it comes to the Pacific Northwest. :)
Anyway, the campground was really lovely, with big, secluded sites set into a nice, wooded area. We got a nice big spot, large enough to accomodate all three of our tents. There was also a racoon box included, to lock all your food away from the pesky little furballs. Unfortunately, there was no lock provided, so we secured ours with a stick. Neil woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of scuffling, looked out of the tent and saw a racoon with his hand up in the cabinet, just looking right back at him. The stick held, but the racoon could still get his little paw inside. Luckily, all we lost was an apple.
We started Saturday off with a fantastic breakfast of granola, yogurt and loads of fruit, then followed that up with some tidepool exploring, where Lindsey proved to be the star of interacting with the wildlife. I don't think there was an anemone left un-touched by the time we left the beach. There were tons of little crabs scurrying around. We also saw a sea star eating a crab. I didn't know they did that. It was pretty gnarly.
Then we ate a ridiculously delicious lunch of grilled cheese and apple sandwiches. Yes, you heard me right - cheddar and apple slices, on the sandwich, and grilled. Talk about gourmet camping food. After that, we needed a nap. Although it was super-windy out on the beach, the campsite remained pretty well protected and it was really pleasant there - perfect for napping.
After waking refreshed, we ended the day's physical activities with a nice hike along the bluff overlooking the ocean.
The rocks around Salt Point are sandstone, and they are simply beautiful in the afternoon light. They are soft and tawny and warm.
We spotted some sea life - seals and well, that's all - but the seals were super-cute out sunning themselves on the rocks.
There was also some really beautiful flora - sea grasses waving in the wind, succulents in brilliant reds and contrasting greens.
After dinner, we had a rousing game of Apples to Apples, roasted some delicious s'mores, had a lovely chat session around the fire and then headed off to bed.
We stayed at Salt Point State Park which is about 18 miles north of Jenner and about 2.5 hours from San Francisco. I picked it because it was one of the only parks that still had online reservations available. Californians are serious about their camping, apparently. If you want to camp somewhere any time after June 1, you better start making your reservations in December. I don't remember it being quite that cutthroat in Oregon, but maybe I just have my rose-colored glasses on, which is usually the case when it comes to the Pacific Northwest. :)
Anyway, the campground was really lovely, with big, secluded sites set into a nice, wooded area. We got a nice big spot, large enough to accomodate all three of our tents. There was also a racoon box included, to lock all your food away from the pesky little furballs. Unfortunately, there was no lock provided, so we secured ours with a stick. Neil woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of scuffling, looked out of the tent and saw a racoon with his hand up in the cabinet, just looking right back at him. The stick held, but the racoon could still get his little paw inside. Luckily, all we lost was an apple.
We started Saturday off with a fantastic breakfast of granola, yogurt and loads of fruit, then followed that up with some tidepool exploring, where Lindsey proved to be the star of interacting with the wildlife. I don't think there was an anemone left un-touched by the time we left the beach. There were tons of little crabs scurrying around. We also saw a sea star eating a crab. I didn't know they did that. It was pretty gnarly.
Then we ate a ridiculously delicious lunch of grilled cheese and apple sandwiches. Yes, you heard me right - cheddar and apple slices, on the sandwich, and grilled. Talk about gourmet camping food. After that, we needed a nap. Although it was super-windy out on the beach, the campsite remained pretty well protected and it was really pleasant there - perfect for napping.
After waking refreshed, we ended the day's physical activities with a nice hike along the bluff overlooking the ocean.
The rocks around Salt Point are sandstone, and they are simply beautiful in the afternoon light. They are soft and tawny and warm.
We spotted some sea life - seals and well, that's all - but the seals were super-cute out sunning themselves on the rocks.
There was also some really beautiful flora - sea grasses waving in the wind, succulents in brilliant reds and contrasting greens.
It was really windy out on the bluffs and I kept having to drag Swarley into the wind. Every time we stopped to look at something, he would try to turn around and start walking back towards the cars. When we finally did turn around, with the wind at our backs, he picked up the pace and was trotting out front, leading the crowd.
After dinner, we had a rousing game of Apples to Apples, roasted some delicious s'mores, had a lovely chat session around the fire and then headed off to bed.
We were the last ones out of the campground on Sunday morning after a leisurely breakfast. We stopped in Healdsburg at the Bear Republic Brewery for some delicious beer and lunch and then back home to the City. Camping is not exactly the most leisurely activity, I arrived home completely exhausted - but it's worth the exhaustion for so much great scenery and exploration and good times with good friends!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Warning: graphic pictures of cheese curds
I told one of my friends that I had made cheese and that I had pictures, and she thought she would be totally grossed out by the cheese curds and whatnot, so therefore, I thought I would put a general warning out there to anyone terrified of cheese curds. Do not read any further if you have a cheese curd problem. I think they look pretty cool, actually.
It's been about 3 weeks now since I made my first ever cheese (besides ricotta which doesn't count because it uses common kitchen ingredients, not special supplies), but the glow still hasn't worn off. I don't know what it is that is so exciting about making something like cheese. There is just kind of a mystique about it - it seems like a magical, complicated procedure that a common human shouldn't be able to perform without extensive training. Or something like that. So to be able to turn it out in an afternoon and have it actually taste good, is pretty darn fun. Granted, I didn't make an aged Cheddar or a Gruyere or a Gouda. I made cream cheese. But still.
So the process went something like this: Heat up a big pot of milk and cream. Add the culture that you buy from the cheese lady (http://www.cheesemaking.com/). Stir it in. Add the rennet. I used vegetable rennet for no particular reason. I guess, originally, animal-based rennet came from the stomach of cows and the thought of using stomach in my cheese...I don't know...Plus, this way vegetarians can eat my cheese! :) So you stir the rennet in, cover the pot with a tea towel and then just let it sit for 18 hours. I got up the next morning so excited to check out the cheese! It had firmed up until it was about the consistency of greek yogurt.
I cut it up into cubes and loosened it from the edges of the pot, then I poured the whole thing into a big colander lined with cheesecloth.
The curds had separated from the whey, and so you have to give it time for all of the whey to drip out of the cheese, so I rigged up the cheesecloth to dangle from the water faucet. And I just let it dangle for 8 hours or so. It really reduced in size as the whey dripped out. The cheesecloth was probably about half as full at the end of the dripping period.
Then, to finish it off and to squeeze out the last bit of whey, I put the cheese in a pasta strainer (b/c it fits so nicely into the pot), placed it over a pot, put a plate on top of the cheese in the strainer and placed a weight on top of the cheese. The book said to use a couple of bricks. Well, there didn't happen to be any bricks laying around the house, and I couldn't really put my finger on anything that heavy. Until I spied our dominos set. It worked out perfectly. I dumped them all in a plastic bag and they were nice and flexible to fit down into the strainer on top of the plate. I put the whole contraption in the fridge and let it sit overnight.
The next morning I woke up and, voila - cream cheese!! Well, close, anyway. I put the drained cheese into a bowl and kneaded in a bunch of cheese salt, and then formed them into two little patties, wrapped them in plastic wrap and it was all good to go.
I didn't get to taste it right away, because I was already late for work (cheese-making not being part of my usual morning routine), but tried it the next morning on some homemade bagels and it was really good! It was nice and creamy, with an interesting tang to it. It didn't taste anything like the cream cheese that you get from the store, but I'm okay with that.
So cheese-making success has been achieved. Next up, Mozarella!! And then I might think about investing in a cheese cave so I can move on to the aged Cheddar, Gouda and Gruyere! And then, maybe I'll get a cow and some goats to have my own milk! And then... Oh dear, this could get out of control.
It's been about 3 weeks now since I made my first ever cheese (besides ricotta which doesn't count because it uses common kitchen ingredients, not special supplies), but the glow still hasn't worn off. I don't know what it is that is so exciting about making something like cheese. There is just kind of a mystique about it - it seems like a magical, complicated procedure that a common human shouldn't be able to perform without extensive training. Or something like that. So to be able to turn it out in an afternoon and have it actually taste good, is pretty darn fun. Granted, I didn't make an aged Cheddar or a Gruyere or a Gouda. I made cream cheese. But still.
So the process went something like this: Heat up a big pot of milk and cream. Add the culture that you buy from the cheese lady (http://www.cheesemaking.com/). Stir it in. Add the rennet. I used vegetable rennet for no particular reason. I guess, originally, animal-based rennet came from the stomach of cows and the thought of using stomach in my cheese...I don't know...Plus, this way vegetarians can eat my cheese! :) So you stir the rennet in, cover the pot with a tea towel and then just let it sit for 18 hours. I got up the next morning so excited to check out the cheese! It had firmed up until it was about the consistency of greek yogurt.
I cut it up into cubes and loosened it from the edges of the pot, then I poured the whole thing into a big colander lined with cheesecloth.
The curds had separated from the whey, and so you have to give it time for all of the whey to drip out of the cheese, so I rigged up the cheesecloth to dangle from the water faucet. And I just let it dangle for 8 hours or so. It really reduced in size as the whey dripped out. The cheesecloth was probably about half as full at the end of the dripping period.
Then, to finish it off and to squeeze out the last bit of whey, I put the cheese in a pasta strainer (b/c it fits so nicely into the pot), placed it over a pot, put a plate on top of the cheese in the strainer and placed a weight on top of the cheese. The book said to use a couple of bricks. Well, there didn't happen to be any bricks laying around the house, and I couldn't really put my finger on anything that heavy. Until I spied our dominos set. It worked out perfectly. I dumped them all in a plastic bag and they were nice and flexible to fit down into the strainer on top of the plate. I put the whole contraption in the fridge and let it sit overnight.
The next morning I woke up and, voila - cream cheese!! Well, close, anyway. I put the drained cheese into a bowl and kneaded in a bunch of cheese salt, and then formed them into two little patties, wrapped them in plastic wrap and it was all good to go.
I didn't get to taste it right away, because I was already late for work (cheese-making not being part of my usual morning routine), but tried it the next morning on some homemade bagels and it was really good! It was nice and creamy, with an interesting tang to it. It didn't taste anything like the cream cheese that you get from the store, but I'm okay with that.
So cheese-making success has been achieved. Next up, Mozarella!! And then I might think about investing in a cheese cave so I can move on to the aged Cheddar, Gouda and Gruyere! And then, maybe I'll get a cow and some goats to have my own milk! And then... Oh dear, this could get out of control.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Neil
Katie called me a slacker the other day for not updating my blog and I guess it is about time. What's the news been? Neil graduated about three weeks ago and had his big MFA graduate exhibition. It went well, but he was exhausted when it was all over. It was a crazy week of installation, very few hours of sleep, family, graduation, eating and we basically just crashed when it was all over. The last couple weeks have been so nice, getting to see Neil before 10pm almost every night, and having him around the house on Saturdays and Sundays! He moved all of his stuff out of his studio this week, and into a storage unit and I think that really made it sink in to him that he really is done. He's been a little bit mopey the last few days, and I don't really blame him. He's had a great couple of years. And he counted his paintings as he was moving out and he said it was around 45. So, it's been a very productive couple of years, as well.
For your viewing enjoyment, here's a little visual re-counting of his time at school, in paintings:
First semester, first year:
It's been quite a journey, as you can see from the shifts in his paintings every semester. So now, Neil's preparing to enter the real world again - searching the job listings and going on interviews. It's not nearly as fun as art school, but that's life, I guess. As soon as he gets a job, he'll look for a studio and continue on with the painting, and hopefully do some research into galleries.
I made my first cheese last weekend, a cream cheese that turned out pretty tasty. I have pictures and want to show you all the fun steps, but I need to make dinner now, so that'll have to wait until another day!
For your viewing enjoyment, here's a little visual re-counting of his time at school, in paintings:
First semester, first year:
Second semester, first year:
First semester, second year:
Final semester, second year:
It's been quite a journey, as you can see from the shifts in his paintings every semester. So now, Neil's preparing to enter the real world again - searching the job listings and going on interviews. It's not nearly as fun as art school, but that's life, I guess. As soon as he gets a job, he'll look for a studio and continue on with the painting, and hopefully do some research into galleries.
I made my first cheese last weekend, a cream cheese that turned out pretty tasty. I have pictures and want to show you all the fun steps, but I need to make dinner now, so that'll have to wait until another day!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Cheeeeeese, Gromit
I first got interested in cheese-making when I read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver back when we were still in Portland, so atleast two years ago. It's such a lovely book and was my first real eye-opening glimpse into the world of industrialized food and what it takes to escape the system. A whole new world opened up to me as I read through those chapters. Asparagus is a perennial, modern breeds of turkeys can't have sex, and, wonder of wonders, you can make cheese in your own home. When I read the chapter on cheese-making, I practically drooled onto the book, I was so excited. I am a sucker for do-it-yourself projects and how absolutely cool would it be to make your own cheese!!
I promptly stirred up a batch of ricotta cheese, pronounced it absolutely delicious and visited the website of the cheese-making supply shop she notes in the book. (www.cheesemaking.com) I ordered the culture and the rennet to make mozzarella cheese and waited with bated breath for it to arrive. Unfortunately, when it arrived, it was the wrong culture. There are mesophilic and thermophilic cultures and mozzarella needs the thermophilic culture. I got mesophilic, for some unknown reason. I guess I mis-read the recipe. Whatever the reason, mesophilic is mostly used for aged cheeses - cheddars, goudas, etc. and me being without a handy-dandy cheese cave, those cheeses weren't really going to be easy for me to make as a beginner. You can also make cream cheese and cottage cheese with mesophilic culture and for the life of me, I can't figure out why I didn't try one of these cheese. But I didn't. And the cultures and rennet sat in my fridge until we left Portland, when I carted them down here to S.F. and promptly stuffed them in the back of the fridge down here and forgot about it again. Like I've said before, I am excellent at starting new projects; not so good at finishing them. I moved on to other things, and no cheese beyond ricotta was ever made.
Fast forward to last week, when I picked up a book called "Hayfever" at the library. It's about a literary agent from New York City who purchased a farm in Vermont with her husband and started making award-winning goat cheese. I am an absolute sucker for these back-to-the-farm, make your own cheese, grow your own food type books and this one has not disappointed me so far. It's interesting to read about caring for the goats, and the milking process and the making and selling of the cheese. But most of all, it's really got me thinking about making my own cheese again. And, hey - I already have culture and rennet, right? Nope. Apparently in our move from first apartment to second I either decided that I was never going to make my own cheese and tossed them both out, or I have stored them so well in this apartment that I just can't find them. So I got back onto that cheesemaking site tonight and placed my order for all the goods to make cream cheese and mozzarella. I figure if those two go okay and I like making cheese (which I fully expect to after my ricotta experiences), I might invest in a little mini-fridge as a cheese cave and start in on some cheddars and provolones. Mmmmm. I love cheese.
It should take a week or so for the supplies to arrive but then it's cheese - here I come. I'll keep you updated on the cheesey status! Here's hoping I don't lose focus this time.
I promptly stirred up a batch of ricotta cheese, pronounced it absolutely delicious and visited the website of the cheese-making supply shop she notes in the book. (www.cheesemaking.com) I ordered the culture and the rennet to make mozzarella cheese and waited with bated breath for it to arrive. Unfortunately, when it arrived, it was the wrong culture. There are mesophilic and thermophilic cultures and mozzarella needs the thermophilic culture. I got mesophilic, for some unknown reason. I guess I mis-read the recipe. Whatever the reason, mesophilic is mostly used for aged cheeses - cheddars, goudas, etc. and me being without a handy-dandy cheese cave, those cheeses weren't really going to be easy for me to make as a beginner. You can also make cream cheese and cottage cheese with mesophilic culture and for the life of me, I can't figure out why I didn't try one of these cheese. But I didn't. And the cultures and rennet sat in my fridge until we left Portland, when I carted them down here to S.F. and promptly stuffed them in the back of the fridge down here and forgot about it again. Like I've said before, I am excellent at starting new projects; not so good at finishing them. I moved on to other things, and no cheese beyond ricotta was ever made.
Fast forward to last week, when I picked up a book called "Hayfever" at the library. It's about a literary agent from New York City who purchased a farm in Vermont with her husband and started making award-winning goat cheese. I am an absolute sucker for these back-to-the-farm, make your own cheese, grow your own food type books and this one has not disappointed me so far. It's interesting to read about caring for the goats, and the milking process and the making and selling of the cheese. But most of all, it's really got me thinking about making my own cheese again. And, hey - I already have culture and rennet, right? Nope. Apparently in our move from first apartment to second I either decided that I was never going to make my own cheese and tossed them both out, or I have stored them so well in this apartment that I just can't find them. So I got back onto that cheesemaking site tonight and placed my order for all the goods to make cream cheese and mozzarella. I figure if those two go okay and I like making cheese (which I fully expect to after my ricotta experiences), I might invest in a little mini-fridge as a cheese cave and start in on some cheddars and provolones. Mmmmm. I love cheese.
It should take a week or so for the supplies to arrive but then it's cheese - here I come. I'll keep you updated on the cheesey status! Here's hoping I don't lose focus this time.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Baby!!
I got to take a quick weekend trip home to Portland this weekend. It was jam-packed with visits and fun and shopping. But the best part was that I finally got to see my sister and the proof that she is really having a baby girl in August.
Doesn't she look great? I think she is ridiculously cute with her little bump! I even got to feel the little girl kicking. She got a little bit active the last night I was there.
I also got to do a LOT of baby shopping. I love my nephew, but it's just not the same shopping for little boy clothes. The little dresses, the little jammies and cute little hats and shoes. They all reduce me to a simpering little puddle of "oohs" and "oh's!" I could have bought out the entire store. So baby comes in August and she will only need those adorable little sundresses for probably a month, so I bought a whole range of clothing, including twelve months so I could buy some of the cute little summer clothes. This is one of the 12-month items I got:
The pink in real life is much more vibrant - really a magenta more than the pinky color in this photo. It just makes you think of summer time and those little details are citrus slices. She's going to look good enough to eat. We also hit up a second-hand store and I got a bunch of stuff there. Everything is still in really good shape and it was really affordable. Between my mom and I, little baby girl has a whole new wardrobe.
I can't wait for her to arrive! It's going to be a long four months.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Announcement
So, the title of this blog is "In a new city" and, seeing as we have now lived in San Francisco for one year and 8 months, it technically isn't really new any more, per say. Sure, there are parts of the City we haven't really gotten around to exploring, I suppose. We haven't really spent any time in Noe Valley or the Richmond districts. We've definitely made our way through the meaty stuff, though. But looking back through the blog posts from the beginning, I've definitely noticed a tapering off of juicy tidbits about the city. It's really become much more about what I do on a daily basis, and less about exploring a new city.
So, what to do to remedy this situation? Instead of changing the title of the blog, we've decided to adjust our life to match the blog title. In October this year, we will be making a coast to coast move to New York City. A new city. :) Neil will finish his program in less than a month, then we'll kind of just chill out and enjoy our last few months in our first new city. Then in October, we will head out to the Big Apple. We are planning on looking for a 1-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. We will use the bedroom as a studio and treat the rest of apartment as if it were a studio apartment. I am practically licking my chops in anticipation of all the planning, organizing, and financial wizardry that is lurking out there in the months of July and August. There is just something I absolutely love about apartment-hunting, job-hunting, and moving-truck hunting. And for all of you who are going to make this assumption, (I assume you will because everyone we've told has assumed this) the move to New York is not because of the art scene. We decided to do it simply because we can. We have no ties to anything solid at this point, (children, house, etc.) and when we settle back into Portland, I want it to be for good. We just kind of need to get some wanderlust out of our system. New York is exciting and a huge adventure and that's still what we're seeking at this point in our lives. I know by age 30 you're supposed to be settling down and starting a family, but I recently calculated that Neil and I have spent about 15-16 years in college, between the two of us. I did 5 years of undergrad, then 2 years of post-bac and Neil has done 2-3 years of community college, 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad. So, we're a little bit behind in all the "living" that people do around age 21-23, when normal people actually graduate from college and start their real lives.
So now it's just hurry up and wait. And try to enjoy the last few moments we have in our first new city. All the discovery has been fun and I can't wait to do it all again!!
So, what to do to remedy this situation? Instead of changing the title of the blog, we've decided to adjust our life to match the blog title. In October this year, we will be making a coast to coast move to New York City. A new city. :) Neil will finish his program in less than a month, then we'll kind of just chill out and enjoy our last few months in our first new city. Then in October, we will head out to the Big Apple. We are planning on looking for a 1-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. We will use the bedroom as a studio and treat the rest of apartment as if it were a studio apartment. I am practically licking my chops in anticipation of all the planning, organizing, and financial wizardry that is lurking out there in the months of July and August. There is just something I absolutely love about apartment-hunting, job-hunting, and moving-truck hunting. And for all of you who are going to make this assumption, (I assume you will because everyone we've told has assumed this) the move to New York is not because of the art scene. We decided to do it simply because we can. We have no ties to anything solid at this point, (children, house, etc.) and when we settle back into Portland, I want it to be for good. We just kind of need to get some wanderlust out of our system. New York is exciting and a huge adventure and that's still what we're seeking at this point in our lives. I know by age 30 you're supposed to be settling down and starting a family, but I recently calculated that Neil and I have spent about 15-16 years in college, between the two of us. I did 5 years of undergrad, then 2 years of post-bac and Neil has done 2-3 years of community college, 4 years of undergrad and 2 years of grad. So, we're a little bit behind in all the "living" that people do around age 21-23, when normal people actually graduate from college and start their real lives.
So now it's just hurry up and wait. And try to enjoy the last few moments we have in our first new city. All the discovery has been fun and I can't wait to do it all again!!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
baby seeds
I stopped by my garden on Saturday and everything is growing!! Well, maybe except for the carrots. I thought I saw a little green, but I could have been imagining it. But peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes, broccoli, and onions were all up. Oh yeah, I guess the cilantro hasn't sprouted yet, either. It's been so rainy here the last few weeks, I haven't even had to go water. Thanks, Mother Nature.
And another great thing - NO WEEDS!! It appears that the fat layer of dirt I layed on the plot has definitely worked as a weed-smotherer. I pulled out about 6 blades of grass, and that's it. It's such beautiful dirt, too - so rich and deep brown. So once the seedlings get more substantial, I'll probably put a light layer of compost over the whole bed to nourish and to keep everything nice and snug and warm. There's something so great about seeing your little seeds push their way above ground, though.
Here's to fresh veggies in a few months!!
And another great thing - NO WEEDS!! It appears that the fat layer of dirt I layed on the plot has definitely worked as a weed-smotherer. I pulled out about 6 blades of grass, and that's it. It's such beautiful dirt, too - so rich and deep brown. So once the seedlings get more substantial, I'll probably put a light layer of compost over the whole bed to nourish and to keep everything nice and snug and warm. There's something so great about seeing your little seeds push their way above ground, though.
Here's to fresh veggies in a few months!!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
This means war!!
So I usually don't talk much (or at all) about my work on this blog. Mostly because I think it would just bore you all to tears. The working life of a non-profit accountant is not best-selling material, trust me. But today I'm going to talk about it, mainly because I need to vent.
Today I inadvertently started a war with our Audit/Tax firm. Well, mainly with the tax side of the business. So, it's that time of year where we have to file our tax return. Non-profits don't pay taxes, but we still have to file an extremely detailed form with the IRS reporting everything from our net income to how much we pay our executive director. Our audit firm sends us a planner that they use to help us provide all the information to them that they will need to prepare our return. I dutifully filled in all the information that they requested and we sent the info off to our tax partner. About a week later, they shot the completed forms back to us. Wow, what a super-fast turnaround time, we thought... (please note the foreshadowing here). And I set to reviewing the forms to make sure they were prepared correctly. The third number I looked at on the forms was incorrect. Then the next number I looked at on the forms was incorrect. Then there were four or five numbers that I couldn't even figure out how they calculated. I ended up having to go through the entire (54 page) form with a fine-tooth comb and double check every number and word entered. They had our phone number wrong, for goodness sake. So I asked for some further information on where they had pulled all of their numbers from so that I could double check that they were right. The tax partner sent over a spreadsheet showing all of their calculations and it turns out that they hadn't even used most of the stupid tax planner that I had dutifully prepared for them. They pulled most of their numbers from our audit, and most of them were wrong. I should note now, for full disclosure, before I start really ranting, that I also noticed a few errors that I had made when preparing the planner. Fine, I admit and take full responsibility for my errors, and did so when communicating with the tax folks.
*I will now pause for a deep breath before I start to fly off the handle*
Wait for it....
Okay, so I summarized all the errors that they had made in email and spreadsheet form, provided them with the correct numbers so they could fix the returns, and sent them off to the staff accountant who prepared the forms and copied my boss and the tax partner on the email. Then I went to lunch because it was fricken 2:30 already.
When I got back from lunch, my boss (who was fully aware of the whole situation and the errors that had been made) comes and tells me that he just received a phone call from the tax partner and basically they got into a knock-down drag out fight over the phone. The gist of the tax partner's reason for calling was, "We don't have $15,000 in our budget to make all of these changes you're asking for."
*crickets*
What? WHAT? First of all, do the return properly in the first place, with the correct numbers THAT WE PROVIDED TO YOU and it won't cost you anything extra AT ALL. Secondly, I've prepared tax returns for non-profits. It's not going to cost $15,000 to take 10 minutes and make some changes in a software program that then generates the forms for you. That will cost approximately $30 (and that's at billable rates, not actual cost). Thanks. Thirdly, am I really having to argue with my accounting firm to get them to prepare a correct return? Shouldn't that be the other way around? Aren't they supposed to be the watchdogs? Finally, no apology at all for the mistakes that they made, and for sending us such an error-filled form. In fact, she actually argued with my boss about the some of the numbers, even though we had demonstrated exactly where they had made their mistakes.
So when the partner made the statement, "we don't have $15K in our budget to make all your changes" my boss's answer was basically, "not my problem" and then he literally said, "and if you're worried about how much it's going to cost you, then you should do it right the first time." And then the tax partner hung up on him. I guess we're now expecting a call from the audit partner on our account who the tax partner is going to "bring into the conversation," I'm sure to smooth our ruffled feathers, or to reprimand us for being such difficult clients. Hmmm...
Whatever tax lady - this means war!
Well, it's been a very professionally frustrating day. Thanks for letting me get that out of my system. My boss just stopped by my desk and we spent another 15 minutes ranting out loud about the whole things. Me suspects that we may be looking into a new tax service provider. I forgot to mention that this same thing happened last year.
The end (or is it just the beginning...)
Today I inadvertently started a war with our Audit/Tax firm. Well, mainly with the tax side of the business. So, it's that time of year where we have to file our tax return. Non-profits don't pay taxes, but we still have to file an extremely detailed form with the IRS reporting everything from our net income to how much we pay our executive director. Our audit firm sends us a planner that they use to help us provide all the information to them that they will need to prepare our return. I dutifully filled in all the information that they requested and we sent the info off to our tax partner. About a week later, they shot the completed forms back to us. Wow, what a super-fast turnaround time, we thought... (please note the foreshadowing here). And I set to reviewing the forms to make sure they were prepared correctly. The third number I looked at on the forms was incorrect. Then the next number I looked at on the forms was incorrect. Then there were four or five numbers that I couldn't even figure out how they calculated. I ended up having to go through the entire (54 page) form with a fine-tooth comb and double check every number and word entered. They had our phone number wrong, for goodness sake. So I asked for some further information on where they had pulled all of their numbers from so that I could double check that they were right. The tax partner sent over a spreadsheet showing all of their calculations and it turns out that they hadn't even used most of the stupid tax planner that I had dutifully prepared for them. They pulled most of their numbers from our audit, and most of them were wrong. I should note now, for full disclosure, before I start really ranting, that I also noticed a few errors that I had made when preparing the planner. Fine, I admit and take full responsibility for my errors, and did so when communicating with the tax folks.
*I will now pause for a deep breath before I start to fly off the handle*
Wait for it....
Okay, so I summarized all the errors that they had made in email and spreadsheet form, provided them with the correct numbers so they could fix the returns, and sent them off to the staff accountant who prepared the forms and copied my boss and the tax partner on the email. Then I went to lunch because it was fricken 2:30 already.
When I got back from lunch, my boss (who was fully aware of the whole situation and the errors that had been made) comes and tells me that he just received a phone call from the tax partner and basically they got into a knock-down drag out fight over the phone. The gist of the tax partner's reason for calling was, "We don't have $15,000 in our budget to make all of these changes you're asking for."
*crickets*
What? WHAT? First of all, do the return properly in the first place, with the correct numbers THAT WE PROVIDED TO YOU and it won't cost you anything extra AT ALL. Secondly, I've prepared tax returns for non-profits. It's not going to cost $15,000 to take 10 minutes and make some changes in a software program that then generates the forms for you. That will cost approximately $30 (and that's at billable rates, not actual cost). Thanks. Thirdly, am I really having to argue with my accounting firm to get them to prepare a correct return? Shouldn't that be the other way around? Aren't they supposed to be the watchdogs? Finally, no apology at all for the mistakes that they made, and for sending us such an error-filled form. In fact, she actually argued with my boss about the some of the numbers, even though we had demonstrated exactly where they had made their mistakes.
So when the partner made the statement, "we don't have $15K in our budget to make all your changes" my boss's answer was basically, "not my problem" and then he literally said, "and if you're worried about how much it's going to cost you, then you should do it right the first time." And then the tax partner hung up on him. I guess we're now expecting a call from the audit partner on our account who the tax partner is going to "bring into the conversation," I'm sure to smooth our ruffled feathers, or to reprimand us for being such difficult clients. Hmmm...
Whatever tax lady - this means war!
Well, it's been a very professionally frustrating day. Thanks for letting me get that out of my system. My boss just stopped by my desk and we spent another 15 minutes ranting out loud about the whole things. Me suspects that we may be looking into a new tax service provider. I forgot to mention that this same thing happened last year.
The end (or is it just the beginning...)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Another helping of delicious, please.
I HAVE to tell you about this because OMGIAMSOEXCITEDABOUTIT!!!!
I am not an adventurous cook, generally. I very diligently pick my recipes every week and stick very closely to what they tell me to do. I don't usually pull out measuring spoons and sometimes not even measuring cups, but I generally don't mess around with ingredients. If it says red bell pepper, I buy a red bell pepper - no substituting something I already have in the fridge. But for the first time, really, on Tuesday night I thought outside the box and prepared a dinner using NO RECIPE AT ALL. I can sense some of you yawning - "ho, hum - what's the big deal." This was a huge deal for me because 1) it turned out to be one of the most delicious things I've ever made, in my opinion and 2) it means, to me, that I am starting to graduate to that next "level" of cooking, where you just start to instinctually know which foods go together and taste great together. Believe me, it's taken many, many moons to get to this point and, frankly, I'm pretty darn excited.
So anyway, without further ado, I would like to share with you the "recipe" for what I am going to call: "GREAT BIG BOWL OF DELICIOUS". I will acknowledge that I'm sure this recipe has been made a million times and can probably be found in countless cookbooks, but in my mind, I have invented it. Please let me continue to believe that.
I started with a TJ's bag of mixed grains - Israeli couscous, orzo, red quinoa, and split peas. I cooked it in chicken broth according to the package instructions. Then I added minced garlic, chopped roasted red bell peppers, olive oil, chopped green onions, garbanzo beans, and chopped parsley. I crumbled goat cheese over it and called it done. Oh, it was so easy to make and so flavorful and, for a really professional description, yummy in my tummy! And SUPER healthy to boot. All those grains and beans and herbs and olive oil and a hint of cheese. Perfect. And I found that it takes a lot longer to chew a mouthful of really small different grains, which lets your stomach relay the message that you're full before you overeat. In short, it helps you eat a little less. But really, it was all about the taste. I had leftovers for lunch today and it almost tasted better - like the flavors had melded even more over time. I hate to toot my own horn, but by golly was I excited about this one. For a little more protein in there, you could add tofu or shredded chicken.
The thing that inspired me to think about the whole foods that I had in my cupboard - grains, legumes, vegetables, etc. was another book that I want to share with you. I know, I keep pushing all these books at you. I'm a book-pusher. Shameful. But I just get so excited when I read about these things - it's like whole new worlds are opening up to me. This one is called, "The Jungle Effect" and it's written by a doctor who started studying 5 "cold spots" for chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, depression and bowl trouble), meaning that there are very low instances of these diseases in very specific parts of the world. For instance, in certain parts of Mexico they are relatively few occurences of diabetes in populations that still eat the indigenous diet. In all of these cultures/geographical locations, the health of the people can be tied pretty directly to their traditional diets. So the author traveled to these locations to research the diets, analyze why they are so beneficial and then snag a few recipes to bring back to her patients. It seems that our ancestors spent thousands of years developing diets that were optimal for our health in so many ways. Through centuries of trial and error, they discovered what worked and why. Even if they didn't know the scientific reason for why it worked, they knew that it did. Then the industrial revolution came along and we threw all of that out the window and replaced it with fast and highly processed foods. Genius. Now the grocery store is just a giant land mine and we have no memory of what we traditionally ate to know what we should return to. It's especially difficult for Americans who are usually "mutts" and have no cultural heritage to speak of anyways. I have no idea where I come from, really, and so even if I wanted to return to eating the way my ancestors did, I wouldn't even know where to look. Anyway, the author explains it so much better than I could, so it you're at all interested in the history of food, check it out. Even if you don't use the recipes in the book, or follow her recommendations, I found it a extremely interesting account of what we all used to eat before we could just walk a block to the corner market.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!!
I am not an adventurous cook, generally. I very diligently pick my recipes every week and stick very closely to what they tell me to do. I don't usually pull out measuring spoons and sometimes not even measuring cups, but I generally don't mess around with ingredients. If it says red bell pepper, I buy a red bell pepper - no substituting something I already have in the fridge. But for the first time, really, on Tuesday night I thought outside the box and prepared a dinner using NO RECIPE AT ALL. I can sense some of you yawning - "ho, hum - what's the big deal." This was a huge deal for me because 1) it turned out to be one of the most delicious things I've ever made, in my opinion and 2) it means, to me, that I am starting to graduate to that next "level" of cooking, where you just start to instinctually know which foods go together and taste great together. Believe me, it's taken many, many moons to get to this point and, frankly, I'm pretty darn excited.
So anyway, without further ado, I would like to share with you the "recipe" for what I am going to call: "GREAT BIG BOWL OF DELICIOUS". I will acknowledge that I'm sure this recipe has been made a million times and can probably be found in countless cookbooks, but in my mind, I have invented it. Please let me continue to believe that.
I started with a TJ's bag of mixed grains - Israeli couscous, orzo, red quinoa, and split peas. I cooked it in chicken broth according to the package instructions. Then I added minced garlic, chopped roasted red bell peppers, olive oil, chopped green onions, garbanzo beans, and chopped parsley. I crumbled goat cheese over it and called it done. Oh, it was so easy to make and so flavorful and, for a really professional description, yummy in my tummy! And SUPER healthy to boot. All those grains and beans and herbs and olive oil and a hint of cheese. Perfect. And I found that it takes a lot longer to chew a mouthful of really small different grains, which lets your stomach relay the message that you're full before you overeat. In short, it helps you eat a little less. But really, it was all about the taste. I had leftovers for lunch today and it almost tasted better - like the flavors had melded even more over time. I hate to toot my own horn, but by golly was I excited about this one. For a little more protein in there, you could add tofu or shredded chicken.
The thing that inspired me to think about the whole foods that I had in my cupboard - grains, legumes, vegetables, etc. was another book that I want to share with you. I know, I keep pushing all these books at you. I'm a book-pusher. Shameful. But I just get so excited when I read about these things - it's like whole new worlds are opening up to me. This one is called, "The Jungle Effect" and it's written by a doctor who started studying 5 "cold spots" for chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, depression and bowl trouble), meaning that there are very low instances of these diseases in very specific parts of the world. For instance, in certain parts of Mexico they are relatively few occurences of diabetes in populations that still eat the indigenous diet. In all of these cultures/geographical locations, the health of the people can be tied pretty directly to their traditional diets. So the author traveled to these locations to research the diets, analyze why they are so beneficial and then snag a few recipes to bring back to her patients. It seems that our ancestors spent thousands of years developing diets that were optimal for our health in so many ways. Through centuries of trial and error, they discovered what worked and why. Even if they didn't know the scientific reason for why it worked, they knew that it did. Then the industrial revolution came along and we threw all of that out the window and replaced it with fast and highly processed foods. Genius. Now the grocery store is just a giant land mine and we have no memory of what we traditionally ate to know what we should return to. It's especially difficult for Americans who are usually "mutts" and have no cultural heritage to speak of anyways. I have no idea where I come from, really, and so even if I wanted to return to eating the way my ancestors did, I wouldn't even know where to look. Anyway, the author explains it so much better than I could, so it you're at all interested in the history of food, check it out. Even if you don't use the recipes in the book, or follow her recommendations, I found it a extremely interesting account of what we all used to eat before we could just walk a block to the corner market.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!!
Monday, March 22, 2010
all tuckered out
My best friend Krista and her husband James came to visit this week. They arrived on Sunday and we had 5 whirlwind days together exploring the city and then they departed on Friday. We had an extraordinary time together, full of good sightseeing, good eating, and good friendship, but I have to admit that I'm completely worn out. The weekend was spent recuperating from more excercise than I've had in a long time and I still feel a bit zombie-like today. We toured the Marina, Chinatown, the MOMA, Golden Gate Park, the Castro, our neighborhood, and wine country all in 5 days. I think we covered most of the city by foot. But we all seemed to enjoy ourselves and I think it's always refreshing to see your humble abode through other people's eyes. I discovered, while they were here oohing and aahing over everything, that I do actually live in a pretty cool city. It helped that we had sunshine and 70's all week long, as well. It's summer here in the City.
On Thursday we headed up to Sonoma County for a day in the wine country which, as always, was perfectly fabulous. We hit three wineries, Jacuzzi, Martinelli and some German-sounding one that I can't pronounce. Hold on, I'll look it up....
Gundlach Bundschu Winery. Say that three times fast, I dare you.
All the tastings were really interesting and informational. I find sometimes, that if you appear to be 30 or under and enter a winery for a tasting, you can get the cold shoulder. All the pourers who served us were full of answers and very engaging. My favorite tasting was at the Martinelli winery, which we've been to before. They grow the same grapes, but in different vineyards, so when you taste, let's say two pinot noirs, you really get a sense of the whole "terroir" thing. We tasted two Chardonnay's from different vineyards first and it was striking how completely different they were. I found it absolutely fascinating. Usually, you taste 5 different wines and so you don't get a chance to compare on that level. We repeated the process with pinot noirs and zinfandels. It really was fun. And they usually have very expensive wines, but their Zinfandel was affordable and so I got to come home with a bottle!
After the full day of tasting and touring (we started in Sonoma and ended up in Healdsburg, so we really covered a lot of distance) we were famished and headed to Sunflower in Potrero Hill. If you ever visit San Francisco, be sure to check this place out. It's a Vietnamese restaurant and they have the location in Potrero and then two other little storefronts in the Mission. It's is delicious, light, fresh food that is really affordable. I'll admit that I've never had Pho before, but had it here for the first time a couple weeks ago and was blown off my feet. What flavor!! On Thursday I had the vermicelli with chicken and imperial rolls and savored every bite. Fantastic. I have nothing but praise for this place and we've been to both locations and the food was equally delicious at both. And the ambiance at the Potrero location is really quite nice. The Mission locations are more hole-in-the walls but that's fine.
On Saturday, after we slept in until 11:30, I made it my garden to finally plant it. The garden did a bulk dirt order a couple of weeks ago, and my dirt level was kind of low in my plot and needed an infusion of good dirt, so I participated. For $28 I got beautiful, luscious composted manure to top off my plot. And, guess what? When I spread it all on, it acted as a weed-killer. So I don't have to dig it all up and lay down cardboard or newspaper for the weedless gardening. I just need to be careful not to disturb the soil too much. I put the dirt on almost three weeks ago and I visited the plot yesterday to plant and not a weed in sight. YAY! It probably ended up being about 4-5 inches of dirt. So yesterday I put in peas, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, radishes, carrots, broccoli and onions. I know - all that in an 8x4 foot bed? Crazy, right? It's amazing what you can squeeze into such a small space. And then I watered everything and wow - the new soil just soaked up all the water like a sponge. With my old dirt, the water would just sit on top in a big puddle for 5-10 minutes before soaking in. It would take a while to water, because I didn't want to completely flood the plot. Yesterday was like a dream, I just continually watered in a circle around the plot and when I had arrived back at the beginning of the circle, the ground already looked parched again. Perfect.
To accrue the 12 community hours I have to do every year, we are allowed to attend some classes at another local community garden and get credit for that. So I'm taking three classes in April which I think will be really interesting, all relating to organic gardening. It will be an easy, entertaining way to get the hours taken care of.
Here's hoping that something grows!
On Thursday we headed up to Sonoma County for a day in the wine country which, as always, was perfectly fabulous. We hit three wineries, Jacuzzi, Martinelli and some German-sounding one that I can't pronounce. Hold on, I'll look it up....
Gundlach Bundschu Winery. Say that three times fast, I dare you.
All the tastings were really interesting and informational. I find sometimes, that if you appear to be 30 or under and enter a winery for a tasting, you can get the cold shoulder. All the pourers who served us were full of answers and very engaging. My favorite tasting was at the Martinelli winery, which we've been to before. They grow the same grapes, but in different vineyards, so when you taste, let's say two pinot noirs, you really get a sense of the whole "terroir" thing. We tasted two Chardonnay's from different vineyards first and it was striking how completely different they were. I found it absolutely fascinating. Usually, you taste 5 different wines and so you don't get a chance to compare on that level. We repeated the process with pinot noirs and zinfandels. It really was fun. And they usually have very expensive wines, but their Zinfandel was affordable and so I got to come home with a bottle!
After the full day of tasting and touring (we started in Sonoma and ended up in Healdsburg, so we really covered a lot of distance) we were famished and headed to Sunflower in Potrero Hill. If you ever visit San Francisco, be sure to check this place out. It's a Vietnamese restaurant and they have the location in Potrero and then two other little storefronts in the Mission. It's is delicious, light, fresh food that is really affordable. I'll admit that I've never had Pho before, but had it here for the first time a couple weeks ago and was blown off my feet. What flavor!! On Thursday I had the vermicelli with chicken and imperial rolls and savored every bite. Fantastic. I have nothing but praise for this place and we've been to both locations and the food was equally delicious at both. And the ambiance at the Potrero location is really quite nice. The Mission locations are more hole-in-the walls but that's fine.
On Saturday, after we slept in until 11:30, I made it my garden to finally plant it. The garden did a bulk dirt order a couple of weeks ago, and my dirt level was kind of low in my plot and needed an infusion of good dirt, so I participated. For $28 I got beautiful, luscious composted manure to top off my plot. And, guess what? When I spread it all on, it acted as a weed-killer. So I don't have to dig it all up and lay down cardboard or newspaper for the weedless gardening. I just need to be careful not to disturb the soil too much. I put the dirt on almost three weeks ago and I visited the plot yesterday to plant and not a weed in sight. YAY! It probably ended up being about 4-5 inches of dirt. So yesterday I put in peas, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, radishes, carrots, broccoli and onions. I know - all that in an 8x4 foot bed? Crazy, right? It's amazing what you can squeeze into such a small space. And then I watered everything and wow - the new soil just soaked up all the water like a sponge. With my old dirt, the water would just sit on top in a big puddle for 5-10 minutes before soaking in. It would take a while to water, because I didn't want to completely flood the plot. Yesterday was like a dream, I just continually watered in a circle around the plot and when I had arrived back at the beginning of the circle, the ground already looked parched again. Perfect.
To accrue the 12 community hours I have to do every year, we are allowed to attend some classes at another local community garden and get credit for that. So I'm taking three classes in April which I think will be really interesting, all relating to organic gardening. It will be an easy, entertaining way to get the hours taken care of.
Here's hoping that something grows!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Ahhhhh-sparagus
I have been in the midst of a sickness for the last 6 days, and so activities have been minimal. Mostly I have been crashed on the couch watching LOST for the first time. I never got involved in it when it was actually "happening" and it's one of those shows that you can't really tune into at any time - you need to know the backstory. But I'm totally sucked in now. It's like crack - I constantly need a fix. Luckily, my immune system was willing to cooperate and put me in a situation where I could mainline it for 5 days straight. I would watch an episode and then, yep, sure enough at the very end, there would be a twist and then I would "have" to watch the next episode to find out what happened. Man, it would have sucked to watch the show in real time and have to wait weeks or a whole summer to find out what happened next.
Anyways, I'm coming out of the sickness now and I did a quick visit to the Farmer's Market on my lunch break yesterday and!! Lo and behold, asparagus was smiling up at me from the asparagus tent. Of course, the asparagus tent has been the potato tent for the last 8 months because there was no asparagus in season but - IT'S BACK!! I'm so excited. I took home a bunch and steamed it then sauteed it in butter and lemon juice and it was simply devine. Crunchy and snappy and fresh - it tasted like springtime in my mouth! There was a time when I was sure that I hated asparagus, even though I had never actually tasted it. I think there's all these urban myths out there about which foods taste bad or good, and we buy into these myths in childhood without doing any investigating for ourselves. Or else, the foods were prepared improperly for us when we were kids, leading us to believe that they weren't tasty. Asparagus can be absolutely disgusting if it is overcooked for even a second, so I suppose it isn't all a myth. But, anyways, I've tasted asparagus properly cooked now, and I adore it. I'm looking forward to completely overloading on it in the next few months. Then, just the time I'm getting sick of it, it will be over!
The other thing I wanted to tell you about was a book that I'm reading right now called "BottomFeeder". It's about the seafood/fishery industry and the tolls that it is taking on our oceans and fish supplies. It's a really, really depressing book, but I feel like it's something we all need to know, and all need to be aware of. Basically, we are fishing our oceans to extinction and no one is really doing anything about it. I know it seems ridiculous that we could ever pull all of the fish out of the ocean, but, for many species, we're really on track to do that, amazingly enough. So the book gives kind of an overview of the whole state of the oceans, and then explores different species and the problems and threats to that specific fish - like cod, bluefin tuna, etc. One of the species that it talks about in depth is shrimp that are now being farmed in third-world countries where there are little to no regulations on the farms. It was just horrifying. Basically the shrimp are being raised in cesspools of pesticides, chemicals and antibiotics which is, obviously, unhealthy to humans, but is also hugely destructive to the environment and the communities surrounding these farms. I opened my freezer last night and noticed an old package of shrimp from Trader Joe's that I haven't finished using. I looked closer at the label and, sure enough, it said "Farmed Shrimp - Product of Thailand". Of course, I don't have the details of what kind of farm this shrimp came from, or the state of the shrimp farming industry in Thailand, but based on the info that I just read in that chapter, that bag of shrimp went directly into the garbage. Technically, it was pretty gross-tasting shrimp anyway, before I even noticed where it came from - it was flavorless and rubbery. Sure, it was really cheap, but what's the point in saving money if it tastes like crap? Anyway, if you are at all interested in educating yourself about what is really going on out there on the high seas - I highly recommend this book.
"Bottomfeeder is an excellent read on a critically important topic. The book documents the massive overfishing that combined with environmental pressures is driving many fish species to the point of extinction, and that much of the cheap seafood on our plates is not safe or sustainable for humans or the planet. Unfortunately, this issue has gotten limited coverage outside the environmental media and for many readers Grescoe's book will be an eye opener that explores new territory.
Marine biologists estimate by 2040 a large number of species will be decimated. If whole sections of the aquatic food chain go the way of once plentiful Chesapeake Bay oysters and blue fin tuna, what will happen? Grescoe jokes about fish and chips being replaced with jellyfish and chips as a lighthearted way to highlight the issue. As he points out, fishing is the only large scale hunting activity still carried out in the wild. Decades of massive, industrial scale fishing are an uncontrolled experiment, upturning species in every ocean, turning predator into prey and destroying environments and human health through questionable fishing techniques, unsafe farming practices and black markets. Nobody escapes responsibility for this mess, but Grescoe turns what could have been an angry polemical rant into a globe trotting adventure and keeps Bottomfeeder enjoyable to read. His love of food shines through on every page as he talks to fishermen, scientists, bureaucrats and chefs. By the end of the book, the root cause of overfishing is shown to be the familiar toxic brew of greed and ignorance familiar to the environmental genre, aided by ineffective government oversight and often compounded by chefs whose promotion of a tasty fish can spell disaster for a species.
The tragedy is that Bottomfeeder may be too late to have a large impact. Chesapeake Bay oysters will likely never return and the race to the bottom is well under way around the world. The book does however give some excellent suggestions on fish to enjoy and species to avoid, leaving the reader a small part to play in turning back this "tragedy of the commons".
Even if you don't read this book, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium website for "Seafood Watch", a handy guide on sustainable seafood."
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Butter Fish
I went to Farmer's Market on Sunday with Fresh Crab on the menu. I spotted Dungeness Crab for $8/lb. a couple of weekends ago and have been working up the courage to try them at home since then. Mostly because Neil seems scared of the idea of me cooking crab. But I had decided to give it a go, for better or worse. But, when I got to the fish stand - no crab this week. Bummer. So I perused the other offerings and spotted "Butter Fish". Being totally intrigued by a fish named after butter, I asked the fishmonger what it was like. He said it was like a Ling Cod but meatier and richer. I liked the sounds of that, and plus it was locally caught in the Monterey Bay and one of the cheapest fishes on the menu. Cool. Having never heard of butterfish before, I did a little bit of research on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website (it's got a great guide to eating seafood, you should check it out) and I found that it is also commonly know as Sablefish, or Black Cod. Here is the blurb from the website:
"Sablefish, also known as black cod, is found in the cold waters of the North Pacific. Favored by chefs for its silky-smooth texture and heart-healthy fats, it can be baked, grilled, pan-roasted or eaten raw. It's a great alternative to freshwater eel, which is on the Seafood Watch "Avoid" list."
More About Sablefish (CA, OR, WA)
Although sometimes called a black cod, the sablefish is not a cod species. The wide-ranging, long-lived sablefish is popular in Japan, where most of the catch is marketed. This fish produces oil rich in vitamins A and D. It can live as long as 62 years and grow to a record of 4 feet (122 cm).
Commercial Sources
Sablefish are found in the North Pacific Ocean. In the eastern Pacific, they occur from the Bering Sea to central Baja California in Mexico. In the western Pacific, they are distributed from the coasts of Kamchatka in Russia to southern Japan.
The main source of sablefish is the United States followed by Canada.
Capture Methods
Sablefish come from marine fisheries, not fish farms. They are primarily caught with longlines and handlines. Additional types of fishing gear include trawls, pots and traps.
Buying & Eating Guide
Flavor and Texture
Sablefish has mild, soft-textured white flesh with a high fat content.
Buying Tips
Sablefish is sold whole, in fillets or steaks, and fresh or smoked. It is sometimes marketed as smoked black cod.
Apparently, Black Cod/Sablefish caught in Alaska or Russia is preferred, because the fisheries in WA/OR/CA aren't very well managed. But it is still a fairly good eco-choice, and a good alternative to Chilean Sea Bass, which is, I guess, severely over-fished.
Anyways, I ate the fish before doing any of this research, so I guess even if it had been on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's AVOID list, I wouldn't have known it until after fish was already in my belly. But I'm really glad that it's okay to eat because, boy, was it delicious. They weren't fooling when they named it "ButterFish". The thing practically melted in my mouth. I fried the filets in butter and lemon juice and sprinkled them with salt and pepper and to be honest, the butter was almost over-kill. The fish is so ridiculously rich anyways, that it's almost redundant to put butter on it. If I were to cook it again, and I most certainly will, I would fry it in a little olive oil and then drown it in lemon juice and just touch it with a tiny bit of butter at the end to soften the lemon juice. But I think it really needs the strong acidity of lemon to balance out the richness. I usually don't like white fish very much, but this one was different - it didn't taste fishy at all, it was more meaty and silky. And I would imagine it would be a really great blank canvas for all sorts of flavors, because of the lack of fishiness. I served it with sliced red potatoes sauteed in butter, with garlic and thyme and broccoli raab, sauteed in butter with lemon juice, salt & pepper. Yep, I really bought into the whole "butter" theme. Mmmm. Butter.
So, anyway, if you come across this fish sometime in your local market, give it a shot.
We had a lovely day here in S.F. on Sunday. Sunny and bright and clear. Neil and I walked down to Duboce Park with coffee and pastries and just sat on a bench for an hour or so, drinking in the sunshine and watching all the parents out playing with their babies. We spotted a baby Tiger (or who's a good golf person these days?), baby Steve Prefontaine, baby Pele and baby Peyton. Got to get them started early, I guess. There was also a french bulldog who was trying to steal basketballs and skateboards. He was pretty funny.
Today, we are back to the rain, but that's okay - Spring is in the AIR!!
"Sablefish, also known as black cod, is found in the cold waters of the North Pacific. Favored by chefs for its silky-smooth texture and heart-healthy fats, it can be baked, grilled, pan-roasted or eaten raw. It's a great alternative to freshwater eel, which is on the Seafood Watch "Avoid" list."
I found this info at the Environmental Defense Fund's website:
Although sometimes called a black cod, the sablefish is not a cod species. The wide-ranging, long-lived sablefish is popular in Japan, where most of the catch is marketed. This fish produces oil rich in vitamins A and D. It can live as long as 62 years and grow to a record of 4 feet (122 cm).
Commercial Sources
Sablefish are found in the North Pacific Ocean. In the eastern Pacific, they occur from the Bering Sea to central Baja California in Mexico. In the western Pacific, they are distributed from the coasts of Kamchatka in Russia to southern Japan.
The main source of sablefish is the United States followed by Canada.
Capture Methods
Sablefish come from marine fisheries, not fish farms. They are primarily caught with longlines and handlines. Additional types of fishing gear include trawls, pots and traps.
Buying & Eating Guide
Flavor and Texture
Sablefish has mild, soft-textured white flesh with a high fat content.
Buying Tips
Sablefish is sold whole, in fillets or steaks, and fresh or smoked. It is sometimes marketed as smoked black cod.
Apparently, Black Cod/Sablefish caught in Alaska or Russia is preferred, because the fisheries in WA/OR/CA aren't very well managed. But it is still a fairly good eco-choice, and a good alternative to Chilean Sea Bass, which is, I guess, severely over-fished.
Anyways, I ate the fish before doing any of this research, so I guess even if it had been on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's AVOID list, I wouldn't have known it until after fish was already in my belly. But I'm really glad that it's okay to eat because, boy, was it delicious. They weren't fooling when they named it "ButterFish". The thing practically melted in my mouth. I fried the filets in butter and lemon juice and sprinkled them with salt and pepper and to be honest, the butter was almost over-kill. The fish is so ridiculously rich anyways, that it's almost redundant to put butter on it. If I were to cook it again, and I most certainly will, I would fry it in a little olive oil and then drown it in lemon juice and just touch it with a tiny bit of butter at the end to soften the lemon juice. But I think it really needs the strong acidity of lemon to balance out the richness. I usually don't like white fish very much, but this one was different - it didn't taste fishy at all, it was more meaty and silky. And I would imagine it would be a really great blank canvas for all sorts of flavors, because of the lack of fishiness. I served it with sliced red potatoes sauteed in butter, with garlic and thyme and broccoli raab, sauteed in butter with lemon juice, salt & pepper. Yep, I really bought into the whole "butter" theme. Mmmm. Butter.
So, anyway, if you come across this fish sometime in your local market, give it a shot.
We had a lovely day here in S.F. on Sunday. Sunny and bright and clear. Neil and I walked down to Duboce Park with coffee and pastries and just sat on a bench for an hour or so, drinking in the sunshine and watching all the parents out playing with their babies. We spotted a baby Tiger (or who's a good golf person these days?), baby Steve Prefontaine, baby Pele and baby Peyton. Got to get them started early, I guess. There was also a french bulldog who was trying to steal basketballs and skateboards. He was pretty funny.
Today, we are back to the rain, but that's okay - Spring is in the AIR!!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
I FEEL A SEASON!!
It's happened - I can actually feel a season shift here in San Francisco. Last week it was winter, and now it's Spring. I'm so excited. It's that subtle nuance in the weather - that tiny shift in the temperature and the landscape and the smell in the air that is screaming SPRINGTIME! It actually feels a lot like springtime in Seattle felt (which, of course, doesn't happen until July. :) Not really - but definitely not until March/April), because it's still raining. But there is a warmth in the air that tells me it is a spring rain, and that the winter rains have passed. There is a certain smell to the rain as well - wet concrete seems to have a different smell in springtime than in winter. Maybe because it's warmer? It reminds me of track, when outdoor practice stopped being brutally cold and wet and started becoming warmer, yet still wet, but now bearable. When we could stop wearing layers of tights and strip off those sweatshirts during the running workouts. This is the season where track haunts my memory and fills me with nostalgia - the smells and the rain and the new green growth on the trees just immediately transport me back to long jump practice, or hurdles, or 200 repeats. These are the days when I long to be back on the track with my smelly spikes on, jumping over or throwing something. I miss that. And there's just no substitute for it in regular life.
I headed over to my garden on Saturday. I'd like to say it was because the weather was lovely and spring-like, but it was mainly because earlier that week, I got a slightly terse note from the garden committee asking me to please weed my grossly overgrown plot. I was reminded that the garden agreement stated that all plots would be maintained. Oops. I have really let the garden go over the last few months, mainly because none of the seeds I planted were growing. I guess that doesn't mean that the weeds weren't growing. So, I needed to go make amends. But, the lovely, spring-like weather did make it easy to go and I decided to ride my bike. Since we moved to the new apartment, I've been meaning to ride my bike to the garden because there's really no excuse not to, now. It's so much closer. And it turned out to be a perfect bike ride. I only had to ride on city streets for about 8 blocks, then I entered the Panhandle (which is a 5-6 block skinny little extension of golden gate park) and rode through that until I got to Golden Gate Park and once I exited the park, I only had 6 blocks to ride on 7th Ave. Delightful.
My plot was an abomination - I'm so embarrassed. But it had been raining so much that the weeds were a breeze to pull out - like pulling a knife out of butter. Or something like that. I finished up in just and hour, and there was a full wheelbarrow of weeds to dump. Next up, I'm getting some new soil through a big group garden order and I am going to try some weedless gardening this year, meaning that I'll lay down a layer of material - newspaper, cardboard - and then load up the dirt on top of that, and then plant. Supposedly, the plants grow and the weeds don't. I don't know - my parents did an experiment with it last year and that section of their garden was SO happy and productive. I need to do a little bit more reading, but it sounds like a good plan. A large number of garden members are also going together on a big, bulk heirloom seed order which should be arriving in a few weeks and then I can get my plant on. The one HUGE advantage to gardening in San Francisco is that there is no such thing as a frost, and the soil is warm enough to plant directly in the ground almost year-round. So I can put my new seeds right into the dirt as soon as they arrive. The one HUGE disadvantage to gardening in San Francisco is that it will never be warm enough to grow tomatoes, bell peppers or corn, all vegetables that I LOVE. So, I'll stick to the lettuces and broccolis and spinaches, oh my. It's all good if it comes from the garden.
Last week, when we were in Big Sur, I didn't get a chance to go to the Sunday Farmer's Market and so I bought my fruit from the grocery store instead of waiting for the Tuesday Farmer's Market. Wow. Huge mistake. It's not worth it, just...don't even bother. I got underripe, tart and juiceless oranges and super-sour, mealy pink lady apples. So this week, I didn't need to go to the Farmer's Market on Sunday, only the grocery store for some staples, because we had a limited menu this week, but I opted to skip buying fruit at the grocery store and head to the Tuesday Ferry Building Farmer's market. I still had to suffer through some of the bad fruit yesterday and so today I'm looking forward to biting into a crisp, delicious, sweet apple and a juicy, sweet, flavorful orange and tangerine. And maybe there will be some kiwis if I'm lucky. Here's to delicious fruit!!
UPDATE: Okay, I totally jumped the gun and have to scratch all that I said about Spring time. I just stepped outside to go to the market and the nice, spring rain has turned into wet, cold and WINDY winter storm. It is fricken freezing out there! :( On the up side, venturing out was totally worth it - my fruit is DELICIOUS!
I headed over to my garden on Saturday. I'd like to say it was because the weather was lovely and spring-like, but it was mainly because earlier that week, I got a slightly terse note from the garden committee asking me to please weed my grossly overgrown plot. I was reminded that the garden agreement stated that all plots would be maintained. Oops. I have really let the garden go over the last few months, mainly because none of the seeds I planted were growing. I guess that doesn't mean that the weeds weren't growing. So, I needed to go make amends. But, the lovely, spring-like weather did make it easy to go and I decided to ride my bike. Since we moved to the new apartment, I've been meaning to ride my bike to the garden because there's really no excuse not to, now. It's so much closer. And it turned out to be a perfect bike ride. I only had to ride on city streets for about 8 blocks, then I entered the Panhandle (which is a 5-6 block skinny little extension of golden gate park) and rode through that until I got to Golden Gate Park and once I exited the park, I only had 6 blocks to ride on 7th Ave. Delightful.
My plot was an abomination - I'm so embarrassed. But it had been raining so much that the weeds were a breeze to pull out - like pulling a knife out of butter. Or something like that. I finished up in just and hour, and there was a full wheelbarrow of weeds to dump. Next up, I'm getting some new soil through a big group garden order and I am going to try some weedless gardening this year, meaning that I'll lay down a layer of material - newspaper, cardboard - and then load up the dirt on top of that, and then plant. Supposedly, the plants grow and the weeds don't. I don't know - my parents did an experiment with it last year and that section of their garden was SO happy and productive. I need to do a little bit more reading, but it sounds like a good plan. A large number of garden members are also going together on a big, bulk heirloom seed order which should be arriving in a few weeks and then I can get my plant on. The one HUGE advantage to gardening in San Francisco is that there is no such thing as a frost, and the soil is warm enough to plant directly in the ground almost year-round. So I can put my new seeds right into the dirt as soon as they arrive. The one HUGE disadvantage to gardening in San Francisco is that it will never be warm enough to grow tomatoes, bell peppers or corn, all vegetables that I LOVE. So, I'll stick to the lettuces and broccolis and spinaches, oh my. It's all good if it comes from the garden.
Last week, when we were in Big Sur, I didn't get a chance to go to the Sunday Farmer's Market and so I bought my fruit from the grocery store instead of waiting for the Tuesday Farmer's Market. Wow. Huge mistake. It's not worth it, just...don't even bother. I got underripe, tart and juiceless oranges and super-sour, mealy pink lady apples. So this week, I didn't need to go to the Farmer's Market on Sunday, only the grocery store for some staples, because we had a limited menu this week, but I opted to skip buying fruit at the grocery store and head to the Tuesday Ferry Building Farmer's market. I still had to suffer through some of the bad fruit yesterday and so today I'm looking forward to biting into a crisp, delicious, sweet apple and a juicy, sweet, flavorful orange and tangerine. And maybe there will be some kiwis if I'm lucky. Here's to delicious fruit!!
UPDATE: Okay, I totally jumped the gun and have to scratch all that I said about Spring time. I just stepped outside to go to the market and the nice, spring rain has turned into wet, cold and WINDY winter storm. It is fricken freezing out there! :( On the up side, venturing out was totally worth it - my fruit is DELICIOUS!
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