I had the excellent fortune if being invited to dinner this week at E&O Trading Company with a friend who works in the food business. So the entire meal -- cocktails, appetizers, dinner, wine, frenette, dessert, dessert wines, and anything else you cared to ask the nice folks to bring you -- was free of charge. It was amazing. Our hostess kept us in check -- we actually ate every morsel on every plate. And we didn't even go home stinking drunk, in spite of free access to highly drinkable fruity drinks. Just pleasantly, deliriously buzzed and full of excellent food.
I'd say E&O is as good as Betelnut without the wait or the attitude. It's bigger, quieter, and has mellow no-drama service. Plus, it's right next to the 1st floor entrance to the Sutter/Stockton garage, making it relaly easy to bum a ride home with your friends.
If you go there (314 Sutter St.) you must get:
- Indonesian corn fritters
- duck Imperial rolls
- Green papaya-ginger salad
- mango-glazed Thai spare ribs
- spicy sweet potato naan
Also good were the portobello mushroom satay, Ahi tartar, and soba noodle salad. Oo, and the salmon satay with pineapple soy was also excellent. ANd the flight od 3 dessert wines were truly wonderful -- an orange muscat, and the other two delightful reds. Dang, not a bad deal to be queen for a day.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
A Day at the Maker's Faire
The San Francisco Bay Area delights me anew all the time. The Maker's Faire this weekend was no exception.
The Faire was the first of its kind, a gathering of folks from O'Reilly's Make magazine (stay tuned; they're launching Craft this fall. Look out Martha Stewart...) to actually get together and show off their goods -- and their brainpower. The Crucible folks were there with welding torches and a giant flamethrower. The Power Tool Drag Race folks were there -- although their fastest machine (88mph) was just a rocket on wheels, powered by compressed nitrogen and involving no power tool whatsoever. My favorite was the belt sander with wings (wings purely ornamental).
There were four halls of exhibits. We missed the sewing tent, where you can bring in old clothes and leave with anything you can make in two days. And I didn't get a chance to test-drive the 3-wheeled electric zipcars.
OK, here are highlights.
- a mechanical abacus that caluclates the curve of a sine wave. The inventor sketched out the plans for it and a printing device in 1848, but never built them. "They both work perfectly as designed" the nice bearded man showing off the device, which was utterly hypnotic, told me.
- 3-D printing. Last I heard, they were doing it with potato starch and expensive printers. Turns out, the serious folks send their work out to be "printed" at higher temperatures in steel and other metal powders. Glass, the artist Bathsheba Grossman says, can't be far behind.
- OK, this wasn't an exhibit. But this woman had a cool t-shirt with a cartoon heart on it. Check out all the organs atI Heart Guts. Gotta get me one of these.
- Metal. Chunks of it, any size. Metal Supermarkets, the convenience store of the Metal Industry. If I won the lottery, I'd buy steel. And a lot of tools. And a garage. With a house attached, for the furniture to go in.
- Better than NetFlix: rent videos that show you how to do absolutely anything, for $10 a pop. TechnicalVideoRental.com. Sample titles: Wine for the Confused. Focus on Flamework: Using Northstar Frit and Powders. Intro to Robotics with the Parallax Boe-Bot. (lots of Parallax robots on hand as well.)
- Cool lamps and other funky objects from Jonathan Foote, made from found objects like used hard drives and old street lamps.
- Coffee table made from half a sheet of plywood, from Andy Bot. Easier than going to Ikea. And getting out again.
- No idea what these guys did. But it was cool. Making jewelry from old fuses, I think. The mystery will be revealed when their site launches.
- Cool crafty shit everyone should own at the Bizarre Bazaar, from arty wallets, iPod cases (I bought one) and goofy animal patches (I bought two) and about 5 zillion more things I saw but was too dazed to investigate.
It was a good day. Princess is pleased.
The Faire was the first of its kind, a gathering of folks from O'Reilly's Make magazine (stay tuned; they're launching Craft this fall. Look out Martha Stewart...) to actually get together and show off their goods -- and their brainpower. The Crucible folks were there with welding torches and a giant flamethrower. The Power Tool Drag Race folks were there -- although their fastest machine (88mph) was just a rocket on wheels, powered by compressed nitrogen and involving no power tool whatsoever. My favorite was the belt sander with wings (wings purely ornamental).
There were four halls of exhibits. We missed the sewing tent, where you can bring in old clothes and leave with anything you can make in two days. And I didn't get a chance to test-drive the 3-wheeled electric zipcars.
OK, here are highlights.
- a mechanical abacus that caluclates the curve of a sine wave. The inventor sketched out the plans for it and a printing device in 1848, but never built them. "They both work perfectly as designed" the nice bearded man showing off the device, which was utterly hypnotic, told me.
- 3-D printing. Last I heard, they were doing it with potato starch and expensive printers. Turns out, the serious folks send their work out to be "printed" at higher temperatures in steel and other metal powders. Glass, the artist Bathsheba Grossman says, can't be far behind.
- OK, this wasn't an exhibit. But this woman had a cool t-shirt with a cartoon heart on it. Check out all the organs atI Heart Guts. Gotta get me one of these.
- Metal. Chunks of it, any size. Metal Supermarkets, the convenience store of the Metal Industry. If I won the lottery, I'd buy steel. And a lot of tools. And a garage. With a house attached, for the furniture to go in.
- Better than NetFlix: rent videos that show you how to do absolutely anything, for $10 a pop. TechnicalVideoRental.com. Sample titles: Wine for the Confused. Focus on Flamework: Using Northstar Frit and Powders. Intro to Robotics with the Parallax Boe-Bot. (lots of Parallax robots on hand as well.)
- Cool lamps and other funky objects from Jonathan Foote, made from found objects like used hard drives and old street lamps.
- Coffee table made from half a sheet of plywood, from Andy Bot. Easier than going to Ikea. And getting out again.
- No idea what these guys did. But it was cool. Making jewelry from old fuses, I think. The mystery will be revealed when their site launches.
- Cool crafty shit everyone should own at the Bizarre Bazaar, from arty wallets, iPod cases (I bought one) and goofy animal patches (I bought two) and about 5 zillion more things I saw but was too dazed to investigate.
It was a good day. Princess is pleased.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Princess - Day 1
Princess Judy is a pistol. Here's what I'm finding out so far...
1. PJ likes to cook. With a nice glass of wine in one hand.
2. PJ doesn't mind a bit when things go her way.
3. PJ has no trouble asking men out on dates
4. PJ sings Christmas carols while riding her bike on a sunny day
5. PJ likes to throw away things that are old, tired, dirty, or just taking up too much space
6. PJ doesn't give a shit about coupons or sales
7. PJ knows how to moisturize
Go Princess Judy!
I started a Zen Buddhism course today: Establishing the Path of Practice. There were more than 50 people who signed up. At $220 a pop, it was no wonder the abbot and 4 crack monks showed up to run it. It was cool. We did stretching, guided meditation, then zazen (sitting meditation) and formed weekly peer groups. We've committed to practicing an hour a day (yow). There's 30 min of zazen at home and a daily mindfulness exercise. This week, it's to eat one meal a day mindfully, with no distractions. I tried it with dinner, which was a most excellent, tasty, and nutritious seafood pasta with brocholini and red pepper dish of my own invention. It was hard. I mean, there's the newspaper, mail, journals, and yarn to futz with. One guy in our group just looked dismayed. He has like 5 children. He's like, when do I ever get to eat a meal alone, quietly, with no distractions? Oh well. Not my problem.
PJ made a cover for her hot water bottle out of an old sweater, and threw away the leftover yarn.
1. PJ likes to cook. With a nice glass of wine in one hand.
2. PJ doesn't mind a bit when things go her way.
3. PJ has no trouble asking men out on dates
4. PJ sings Christmas carols while riding her bike on a sunny day
5. PJ likes to throw away things that are old, tired, dirty, or just taking up too much space
6. PJ doesn't give a shit about coupons or sales
7. PJ knows how to moisturize
Go Princess Judy!
I started a Zen Buddhism course today: Establishing the Path of Practice. There were more than 50 people who signed up. At $220 a pop, it was no wonder the abbot and 4 crack monks showed up to run it. It was cool. We did stretching, guided meditation, then zazen (sitting meditation) and formed weekly peer groups. We've committed to practicing an hour a day (yow). There's 30 min of zazen at home and a daily mindfulness exercise. This week, it's to eat one meal a day mindfully, with no distractions. I tried it with dinner, which was a most excellent, tasty, and nutritious seafood pasta with brocholini and red pepper dish of my own invention. It was hard. I mean, there's the newspaper, mail, journals, and yarn to futz with. One guy in our group just looked dismayed. He has like 5 children. He's like, when do I ever get to eat a meal alone, quietly, with no distractions? Oh well. Not my problem.
PJ made a cover for her hot water bottle out of an old sweater, and threw away the leftover yarn.
Friday, April 21, 2006
how to be a princess
I have a friend who is a princess. She's got excellent self-worth, and things just seem to go her way. So I've decided to emulate her. I, myself, am going to become a princess.
Here's how it's going so far. Yesterday I took a long lunch break (princess eats slowly) and went to a Pilates class. After my daily toils were over, I gave myself a pedicure. Then I took extra special care with my hair, which pretty much got it all out of my face, and went out with friends. I wore jeans and sneakers and a $12 sweater. I'll have to do something about that.
Here are her highnesses priorities. Let the scribes take note.
1. lose 5 pounds. then lose 5 more.
2. take steps for haircare management. like get a haircut.
3. new frocks. a whole bunch of them. OK, maybe a new sweater.
4. indulge regularly in hot new combo: steam room + moisturizing facial mask
5. get larger palace.
6. pay someone else to do my laundry.
7. meet princes
8. Refine royal mind
I'm sure there will be more to add to this as her royal highness fulfills each of her explicit wishes. It would help if I had servants. Or at least a couple loyal subjext with some spare time to dedicate to my well-being. Have to work on that...
Princess wants more chocolate tapioca pudding.
Here's how it's going so far. Yesterday I took a long lunch break (princess eats slowly) and went to a Pilates class. After my daily toils were over, I gave myself a pedicure. Then I took extra special care with my hair, which pretty much got it all out of my face, and went out with friends. I wore jeans and sneakers and a $12 sweater. I'll have to do something about that.
Here are her highnesses priorities. Let the scribes take note.
1. lose 5 pounds. then lose 5 more.
2. take steps for haircare management. like get a haircut.
3. new frocks. a whole bunch of them. OK, maybe a new sweater.
4. indulge regularly in hot new combo: steam room + moisturizing facial mask
5. get larger palace.
6. pay someone else to do my laundry.
7. meet princes
8. Refine royal mind
I'm sure there will be more to add to this as her royal highness fulfills each of her explicit wishes. It would help if I had servants. Or at least a couple loyal subjext with some spare time to dedicate to my well-being. Have to work on that...
Princess wants more chocolate tapioca pudding.
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