Worth The Price of Admission

Friday night we went to Alison Krauss / Robert Plant concert at The Greek. Wow, T-Bone Burnett is an amazing producer and they did some awesome re-arrangements of Zeppelin songs. This was my favorite:

Got a Marshmallow?

Interactive Map of California Fires

Let's hope the crazies don't blame gay marriages on all the fires. I can see it now, "God hates California"

So Sad... Really Sad

Croatian Fans to Get Counseling for Shock Euro 2008 Exit - Euro 2008

It was a nail-biter of a game. But I can't imagine the whole country needs therapy.

I want to feel young again

Looking for Fun

See you there? I know it's not on the first Friday but we'll let that slide by this time. Click the title of this post to see the cool flier for the event.

Friday, July 11
FIRST FRIDAYS AFTER FIVE/East Bay Express
5pm–Midnight
FIRST FRIDAYS AFTER FIVE/East Bay Express BEST OF THE EAST BAY FFAF blues and jazz summer series continues with Billy Dunn and the Ladies Choice Band in the café. At 7 p.m. the East Bay Express rolls in with their rockin' Best of the East Bay Party. Live music and performances throughout the museum until midnight. The amazing lineup of the East Bay's best talent includes The Uptones, Flipper, Detstroyer-KISS cover band, Dyloot of DeepVoices, HOTTUB, Kev Choice Ensemble, DJ Malachi, Amoeba artist Brandi Shearer, The Whoreshoes, Mike Glendinning, Monarchs, + more music from Amoeba Music; performances by Splash Circus and Savage Jazz Dance Company; screenings of the Express 24-Hour Digital Film Festival; your favorite food and drink vendors; and a Kids Party Zone sponsored by Chabot Space and Science Center. And this year's party is going Green: come on a bike and get a free tune-up and valet parking. Flash a public transportation pass for a tote bag of goodies. Free!

Finally ...

People who sum it up perfectly for me.

Red Flag

Santa Cruz Mountain fire grows to 700 acres; no containment yet I just got home from camping here. Pray for rain, cooler weather, less wind, anything to help the firefighters contain the blaze.

One night last weekend we noticed the camp site next to us had a huge fire in their ring. We all commented on what idiots they were for allowing the flames to get so high. I guess people who don't live near the woods don't understand how quickly a fire can get out of hand.

I'm going back at the end of August. It will be interesting to see the damage first hand.

In the words of my friend Smokey Bear... Only YOU can prevent forest fires. Be careful out there.

Happy Birthday Laney

I know it's a few days early.. but you deserve the best!

Don't send a lame Birthday eCard.
Try JibJab Sendables!

Another reason to continue to rebuild

Oh how I love NOLA.
Taste of New Orleans | Bay Area Bites: by Thy Tran | posted in food and drink |

One needs many lifetimes to enjoy all that the Crescent City has to offer. Alas, I only have ten days and one stomach.

That hasn’t stopped me from trying, though. Here are just a few of the highlights from the past week….

If you’re here during the winter and if someone you know owns an oyster boat, be sure to pack a bottle of hot sauce and an oyster knife. A screwdriver from the engine room works almost as well. Otherwise, head to Casamento’s during the R months — like any proper oyster house they’re closed during the summer — or squeeze in with the tourists at Acme in the French Quarter.

If you’re here in the springtime, ask for wild crawfish from the Atchafalaya Basin. (Resist calling them crayfish or mudbugs, please.) At other times of the year, try to track down ones raised in the rice country surrounding nearby Lafayette. They’re on menus everywhere, but perhaps the best way to find some good crawfish boil is to take the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar all the way uptown to Audubon Park on the weekend. Make friends with one of the families gathered for a reunion or birthday (or at least, get to know the people tending the 60 gall"

click here to continue reading & seeing the pictures

Tree Huggers

I went camping this weekend. It was great fun. Four days without a shower. Maybe the redwoods felt this way about me.

Guilty As Charged

A few of my friends have hounds with this disgusting habit.

The picture came from Cute Overload! :) Thanks to Elmar for the referral.

Aside from the gross factor of the above picture there is a lot of animal cuteness.

Happy Meat

Maybe I don't need to drive up to Oregon every year...
What's New: Meet the new (meat) CSAs: by Carol Ness, Special to The Chronicle

Meat and poultry raised the old-fashioned way - on the pastureland of small Bay Area farms - is becoming easier for consumers to buy, thanks to an idea borrowed from the produce world: CSAs.

Instead of a weekly box of radishes and radicchio from your friendly local farmer, Bay Area households are picking up monthly boxes of steaks, stew meat, pork loins, lamb chops, whole chickens and sometimes goat, all raised by Northern California farmers and ranchers, mainly on grass.

The new kid on the block comes from Clark Summit Farm in Tomales, where Liz Cunninghame and Dan Bagley raise pigs, chickens (for meat and eggs) and cattle on their hilly acres.

Last Wednesday, some 30 members of the new Clark Summit Meat Club picked up their first monthly 10- or 15-pound boxes of just-packed, frozen cuts at three pickup spots - in San Francisco, Emeryville and Tiburon.

Clark Summit is the third active meat CSA in the Bay Area. Point Reyes' Marin Sun Farms and the Sonoma County Meat Buying Club, based in Petaluma, started their versions earlier this year.

The very first such venture, the Bay Area"

New Skill

I love to eat BBQ but I've never been the griller in the household. Dad always took top honor at family functions. Jane always enjoyed and excelled at gilling in our house. I got to enjoy the fruits of other's labor.

I've got a grill. I've got a freezer full of organic beef. Well, I guess it's time I dust off the cobwebs of the brain and learn a new still. So this weekend I decided to find a great marinade recipe and take my first attempt at grilling. Click on the link for recap on the results.

I think it was a pretty good first step. Actually it was pretty awesome.

I now regret all those evenings wasted not paying closer attention to my dad's culinary adventures. But maybe it's in the genes or I learned by osmosis since the first attempt out was such a success.

Daily Giggle

Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures - I Can Has Cheezburger?


more cat pictures


more cat pictures
I admit I like this stuff.

Lost Generation

It's worth watching all the way through or you'll miss the "twist".

Ew - I Warned You

I don't recommend doing a google image search for "face tumor"

It's not pretty.

Blech

Low sodium soup sucks. Just my humble opinion.

The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

Hello, Stella!

Mel's new puppy, Stella, stalks Granite. Granite taunts Stella w/ tiny squeaker squirrel. Love + hours of chase, tug, squeeks, yipes, growling & drool

Tis the Season

One of my favorite things about my house is the back patio. It's the perfect place to sit in the sun or under the stars with friends while we enjoy a beer, wine or margaritas and some yummy grilled eats. I spent several hours this weekend cleaning up the yard. Now the back patio is ready for the season of booze & bbq. YAY! Oh, I am also sore & sunburned from my efforts. I can smell the sizzling meat as I type. Mmm.

Just Pretending

I spent the weekend doing errands to make my home life a little more settled. I felt a bit like I was wandering in no-man's land for the past few months. Living in between what was my life & what I want my life to be. So I took Friday off to get a grip on my bedroom. I finally upgraded from the "divorce double futon" to a grown up queen bed. I also got new bedding. See my pretty new place for slumber:


The next step is selecting a paint color, painting & hanging some art on the walls. By the time we need to sell the place I'm sure it will finally feel like home again.

Now if I can only get the dogs to stop digging up the plants and I remove the weeds the yard will be in respectable shape for a BBQ.