lucky duck

As of right now, I am super behind on my posts, my favorite month of the year is finally starting to catch up to me, and I am getting behind on cataloging all the greatness that has been goin on. I suppose to start this catch up I should begin with the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival which I have used for a few years now for my birthday celebration. I figure nothing is better (at least to me) than chillin on Golden Gate Park, listening to free live music with the people you care about.

Of course they had all the greatest food there, and stuffed my face at every chance I got, and also made people hold still for a while as I recorded all the goodness (thanks Channy for the patience!) Doughnuts are pretty high on the amazeballs list of mine, so i coulda had like 3 of these doughnut cones.

Walk this way....

...to more goodness.... They had such a great variety of food there, lots of veggie options, lots of the classic festival food, you know corn dogs and the failsafe chilli cheese fries. :)

We took a break from our home base to take a gander around, there were so many flippin people there, it was really impressive! I found out that there is one dude that sponsors this entire thing, some venture capitalist dude that spends hella scrilla. I suppose I should say: "Thank YOU!"

Sweet Channy B made me my fav's: carrot cake cupcakes. AMAZING! I think she even said they were non-dairy. which is always a plus! :) they were gooey and goodnessy. Pretty sure after this day I was on a sugar high for like a week strait...

And if that were not enough sweets, we walked over to Joe's Ice Cream after all the festivites had died down. This is hands down best ice cream in the city. Some of my favorites are the maple nut, rocky road and almond flavors.

I feel like a very lucky duck when I think of my friends and family and have been trying to make a conscience effort to appreciate people and life more than those "things" and "objects" we think we need in our lives. I am trying to take an inward look at myself to find what it is that makes me happy and pursue it, no matter what that subject or thing is.

When the day is said and done, the things that matter are the things we could never put a price on, things that make us smile, laugh when we least expect, and make us feel like we are whole. Those are the things I want to focus my energy on, because really, nothing else matters. :)

the good and the bad

Quick post to tell you about the good and bad in my city garden. Since the weather has been FANTASTICAL in San Francisco the past couple of weeks, my tomatoes have been ripening quite well for me. I have picked more of the little fellows in the past week or so than in the entire time of me owning the damn plant. I am not complaining, been snacking on them around the house and adding them to my dinner and lunch salads...

However I have to say my lettuce is the one giving me the trouble. Which is ironic because they were the ones giving me the most produce in the beginning. Now, I have lost 3 lettuce plants. They are wilting and basically turning to mushy gross I dont know if its because of the heat, or if I am over watering. So I cut back the water and pretty much have been watering once a week, or until dry. This makes me sad, BUT I just went to Sloat Garden Center with Karrie and Sam last Sunday and secured garlic and an artichoke plant. (EXCITED is not the right adjective to describe my feelings toward the artichoke, just to let you know.) So the garlic will replace my loser lettuce and the cycle of life continues in the city garden...

To add a little more good to my garden, thought I would share the beauty of this orchid, (once again I was playing with the settings on my camera) Chandra gave it to me last year for my birfday, and its as lovely as ever! Enjoy!

trying something new on a case of the mundays

I have realized that I need to start providing recipes and ideas to add to these concoctions I make, you know share the knowledge, knowledge is power kinda thing. Case in point these beets. Everyone who had them, loved. Me included and I think beets taste like dirt. Very simple to make but requires, containment, some gloves and excess amounts tin foil.

Roasted Beet Salad

3-4 medium sized beets

1 red onion

red wine vinegar to taste - about 2-4 tablespoons

white vinegar to taste (optional)

lemon juice to taste

2 tblspns oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Note to chef: wear latex gloves when even coming close to contact with the beets. They stain EVERYTHING.

Coat beets lightly with oil, bit of salt and pepper. Wrap beets in aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet (I wrapped the baking sheet in a bit of aluminum to prevent staining), and roast in the oven until cooked through (prick with a fork, they are done when totally soft), approximately 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, and then peel beets and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Mix all your ingredients together and presto chango, you got yourself a bomb.com salad.

wordless wednesday, sorta, ok not really

I just started receiving bi-weekly shipments from Albert & Eve Organics. I had a wonderful experience working with Brandon over there and have actually requested to get bigger delivery next time. I highly recommend these dudes... AMAZING everything. I have never had better grapes, artichokes, zucchini, ok, ok it was all damn, damn good! 

I cooked these artichokes the other day for Sam and I, and they were hands down the best artichokes I have ever had. Just used my tried and true method of steaming for about 15-30 min (depending on the size of the 'choke, stick a fork in the heart of it to test done-ness). I add a bit of balsamic vinegar to the water I steam in for a lil added flavor. I also create a dipping sauce I copied from a place I use to go to in LA. Froggy's I think it was.

Garlic Dipping Sauce:

Few tablespoons of mayo

salt and pepper to taste

dash of onion powder

cayanne pepper to taste (you can make it spicy as hell or just a hit depending on what you like)

dash of lemon juice

freshly chopped garlic to taste

once you have all your goodness, mix all together and enjoy with your 'choke. I normally will make it early in my dinner prep so I can set it in the fridge to all congeal together. ENJOY!

Power to the Peaceful, man

Chan and I headed out to the Power to the Peaceful Festival in GG park a few weekends back, and as always, I was not disappointed. There were all the normal crazies out since it was a free festival with only one large stage and one super small stage that had people going crazy for techno music. So needless to say there were the guys selling sage, hand blown-hand made glass pipes, and people just setting up shop with their tee-pees. awesome.

We didn't know it was BYO Tee-Pee. :(

we were chillin out just watching people go by... always the best part of a festival, the people staring...

Another favorite about festivals, they seem to have the most coolest art. This was all about the Buddha since it was a yoga and peace festival. I think it was a pretty good turnout at the festival, I know we couldn't even see the damn stage from where we were, but had a wonderful spot just below some trees to give us a bit of relief from the hot sun. I for sure want to check this out again next year... Cheers to another fantastical weekend in the city!

life is good

Sam and I decided to escape over the labor day weekend up to Burney Falls. Its a great place, way way way up by Redding. It took us forever to get there, but it was way worth it! The waterfall is beautiful! the water was super aqua-blue..but was found to be extremely freezing. the hike down to the falls is very short, so i felt like I was cheating by getting such an easy view of the glorious-ness.

 That night we grilled up some goodness, and had out traditional camp dinner, burgers, fruit and potatoes. The pit they had to cook there was especially impressive since it had a slidy thing that served as not only a grill but a hot plate too. this for sure added extra points to burney falls camping.

 There was a lot of fishermen around, either fly fishermen or off the dock dudes, and I was sad i didnt bring my gear. Oh well, there is always next time. they had a 2 fish limit on catches, which i suppose is a good thing, but how are you suppose to have a good dinner with only 2 little fishy?!?!?

once again I made sam put up with my camera antics and pose for a few shots. I really need a tripod contraption or something to help/speed this effort up. it was super misty there, so thats why the shot seems a little grainy,  I kinda like it though... (I am still fiddling with settings on my newish camera, these things are complex!)

So the falls feeds into a pretty good sized lake, and all around the lake and by the designated swimming hole, there are brambles and brambles of blackberries. Obviously, I went nuts. below was my first harvest. and this is only about half of what I got on day one. the next day I came in with a mission and an idea at hand. blackberry tarts. it was hot as hell and I secured a whole large tupperware of blackberries. at one point sam had to come find me to make sure i was still alive in the blackberry brambles. hahah he made sure I was and went back to swimming in the lake, hes a good man. :) needless to say though, the blackberry tarts didnt happen.

On night two we had our regular Korean bbq. I know, its silly, but its one of our favorite things to have while camping, and has really become our little tradition when camping alone to bring at least one meal of Korean bbq. I kinda like that...

YUM. KIMCHEE. YUM. life is good, good food, good company, good places... ENJOY!

good news

about a week or two ago now I hosted a dinner/game night at my place. complete with tacos, vino and good friends (Tara was visiting from Seattle and it was amazing to see her and chat about all the wonderful things that are in her life right now). :) Chan brought over these hot peppers to saute and after trying them we instantly realized they were not done. channy instantly burned her entire mouth and had to run into the kitchen for a glass of milk. next time these buggers enter my kitchen I will turn the heat down real low, add a bit more oil and saute til completly soft, that way the seeds will bring it down a few notches and we can actually eat them.

I didnt even get a chance to take a pic of the goodness, soon as i said lets eat, the game was on and the food was demolished. I suppose that means they were good? I really want to start hosting more often at the house. a once a month thing would be pretty awesome and a fun way to chill with friends without spending a ton of dough. when it gets colder i plan to make a pot roast for the group to enjoy. i think that means i need to set a date for the next game night. :)

flower power and a weekend of fun

the parentals and cronies in tow headed down to my neck of the woods a few weeks back, they are all garden enthusiasts so i thought of no better place to take then than the conservatory of flowers. we got there a little late so we were rushed going through the exhibit, regardless, it was beautiful. we strolled around the grounds outside before going in, here is what i saw:

this was from inside the conservatory. no idea on what it is, but its cool!

how soft and pretty do these look?

and the gang chillin in the conservatory of flowers. silly little family.

after flower viewing we wanted to sit and just watch the people walk by. from my experience some of the best people watching is at hippie hill in the park. so we strolled over there, took a back seat the the action and watched the crazys be crazy.

as we were sitting there, this guy came by to say word up.

last stop of the night was at a roller derby match-up. the San Francisco Bay City Bombers v.s. some other random team i dont remember. i have never been to a match and it was REALLY fun to watch. it was such a show, much like WWE. lots of fights, lots of energy and lots of crazy. i just came to the conclusion that i like watching crazy. weird. like must attract like. hahahah!! I had a lot of fun and would recommend to anyone that hasnt seen a roller derby match to go, like now!