The Quest for the Perfect Bloody Mary

Horseradish vodka is one of the many reasons I am thankful for friends. Not only is it fun to make and delicious, this treat bridges all gaps, tears down all borders…

While I was studying abroad in Ecuador my Junior year of college I met the two most amazing people ever (3 if you count Boyfriend, but he is not so much a part of this story)! Among many of the fantastic adventures we had while we were there one of them was the quest for the perfect Bloody Mary. In Ecuador there is a fruit called Tomate de Arbol. Let me tell you, tomatoes of the tree are nothing like a tomato of the ground (as we came to call regular tomatoes). Tomate de Arbol is best blended with vanilla and water or milk to make juice. Tomate de arbol is not good in a Bloody Mary. We searched high and low for Bloody Mary’s that had 1)regular tomatoes 2)anything spicy 3)vodka (not sugarcane alcohol). We even went as far as to try to make our own with a blender, tomatoes, and a couple of things we were hoping were horseradish and Worcestershire sauce. Needless to say, all attempts failed.

Until about 3 weeks ago I had completely forgotten about our quest, and had still never even tasted a proper Bloody Mary. Then horseradish vodka came into my life.

At my new job I met a fabulous couple. I work closely with the wife on a food project, and I also work with the husband on grant related stuff. They are also our neighbors, and we go over for dinner all the time because they are amazing people, amazing cooks, and have an amazing apartment.

One night when we were sitting around he (our neighbor) started passing out shots of this liquid of gods. It turns out that, along with being a doctor and a chemist, he is an expert on all beverages. Horseradish infused vodka is the ultimate Bloody Mary vodka, or accompaniment to a steak dinner. Upon our request he taught us how to infuse it for our Christmas baskets to take to my Bloody Mary Hunting friends in Portland. Finally the quest will end!

How to make Horseradish Vodka:

Buy really fresh horse radish, peel it, rinse it off, and grate it up. Be careful as onions have nothing on horseradish for making the preparer cry, and I don’t recommend grating it with your eyes closed.

In a clean mason jar put about a 1:3::horseradish:vodka (you remember the SATs don’t you) and let it sit for at least a week or two. The official story is you are supposed to let it sit in a dark place for 40 days and 40 nights, but we got a little excited and drank it after about 14 days.

Stole vodka is recommended, but we have also used Sky and Monopolowi which were also delicious.

After you have let it sit, strain out the horseradish. Let it sit and decant (pour off the top into a clean jar and leave the sediment part in the old jar. Put your product in the freezer for the most impressive presentation. You can sip it straight, or mix it with your favorite Bloody Mary fixins. I recommend lemon, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, salt, and tomato (of the ground) juice – no need for hot sauce as the vodka has quite a kick.

Eco Lodge

After returning from the mariposario, Boyfriend and I decided that we couldn’t see much more jungle from the city and decided that we should probably go to an eco-lodge. Eco-lodges all have offices in the city, so just in time to be caught in the torrential downpour of the afternoon, we began our search. The first place that we went was a moto-taxi ride away and boasted water slides and paved jungle paths. Bzzzz! No way! Despite the ever lowering price, we were not looking for a cruise ship vacation.

I was a little bummed, thinking all of the eco-lodges would be this way, but Boyfriend talked me into going to another place that was close to our hostel. We were relieved upon entering both by the cool temperatures provided by the air conditioner and the sign on the door that said that the prices were non-negotiable. We booked a 2night 3 day trip to an awesome lodge 140 kilometers up the Amazon River by boat. We were fitted for rubber boots (boyfriend got a sweet hat too) by Mad Mick, an Englishman who ran a shop just upstairs from the lodge office, and made plans to meet the boat the next morning.

We had the small problem of having packed for mountain trekking instead of jungle adventuring. The only long pants and shirts we had were long underwear which are not conducive to hot, humid, jungle environments. We really needed long clothes to help keep bugs off, so we searched for the TopiTop only to discover it had already closed for the day. We continued to the nearest pharmacy and bought some bug spray with 7% DEET (the highest they had/not very strong). The next morning the van picked us up and, after a quick stop at the now open TopiTop where we purchased long pants and long sleeve shirts for both of us for 47 soles ($15) total, we were loaded onto a power boat and headed up the Amazon.

We raced up the river past villages, jungle, abandoned ship yards, and one big looking city/town. I suppose I can’t complain because I am always barfing everywhere, but Boyfriend has a very small bladder. After an hour in the boat we had to stop and let him pee. It ended up being awesome because while we were waiting a pod of gray river dolphins swam by the boat. After Boyfriend re-boarded and we told him what he had missed, we continued another 2 hours up the river, and then, after waiting for a dog to swim across, up a side spit to our destination where we were greeted by lunch.

The schedule for our eco-lodge adventure was as follows

Adventure, Eat, Nap, Adventure

Because Thanksgiving is an unusual time to travel to an eco-lodge in the middle of the Amazon, we were lucky enough to have a tour guide all to ourselves for the first day and a half, and then we were joined by a German couple who were very nice (and significantly cooler than the father son pair who had arrived with us the day before). It would take far too long to go into detail about everything that we did so I think a list of our activities is the best bet. We went on jungle hikes both on tierra firma, and in the swampier areas, went in canoes to look for birds and other early rising wildlife, fished for piranha, searched for pink and gray river dolphins, swam in the Amazon, and went on night excursions to search for cayman and other nocturnal animals. During these adventures we saw a sloth, marmosets, tarantulas, macaws, toucans, gray and pink dolphins, squirrel monkeys, all kinds of hawks, kingfishers, egrets, herons, and other bids that I was not familiar with, catfish, piranha, a cayman (luckily from very far away), dozens of different types of ants and their nests, a baby jaguar paw print in the mud, frogs, toads, and we swung from vines like Tarzan.

The cottages were raised high enough not to flood when the waters rose to the peak a few months down the road, and were made of blue screen pulled over a wooden frame and a thatch roof. The in room bathroom was made more private with wooden walls and a door. The common area, which included comfy chairs and the dining area, was constructed in the same manner. To get from hut to dining room there were elevated wooden paths (for when the river was high) and the same path led down to the boat dock. The food was delicious and water, coffee and tea were provided. It was perfect!

Mariposario

Our activity of the day, we decided, was to go to a local mariposario, or butterfly farm, which was located a little ways up the river. We caught a moto-taxi and headed to the next little neighborhood to catch a boat. We had a really hard time shaking the moto-taxi driver who wanted to be our personal guide for the entire trip, for a fee of course. Finally after several attempts to shake him in a friendly way I pretended to look the other way while Boyfriend explained that we needed some alone time *wink wink*. The taxi driver did help us bargain a boat ride. For 24 soles, about $8, we had a 30 min boat ride up the river to the mariposario. The boat driver also waited for us for about 2 hours and returned us to the dock.

The boat ride was awesome! We went past abandoned ship production sites and riverside jungle. Even more awesome than the boat ride was the mariposario. It was a butterfly farm, and a jungle animal rescue center. We got to see up close jaguars, tapirs (my spirit animal), anteaters, capybara, and several kinds of monkeys. Also I almost cried/peed my pants when we were told to look at something in the water, and I thinking it was going to be a river dolphin, complied only to see caiman, one of the things I am most scared of on earth.

Amazon on a Whim

About 15 min after arriving in the Lima airport all of the symptoms of my altitude sickness had left. Now that I was thinking a little more clearly I was of course very upset because I thought that I had ruined our vacation. I was also not enjoying the prospect of returning to the family Thanksgiving that was already promising to be disastrous before our departure.

Luckily, as we sat miserable in the Lima airport, we noticed the back of our Lonely Planet (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/) It said “Glide past manatees, dolphins, monkeys, and macaws in the Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samira” so, after taking a quick glance at page 482 as indicated on the back cover, we walked over to the ticket counter and said “2 tickets on your next flight to Iquitos please.” The next thing we know we are in a moto-taxi flying down the streets to a hostel in the colonial rubber town.

The moto-taxis are typical of Iquitos which can only be reached by airplane or by boat in the Amazon River. They are small motorcycles with a surrey-like cart on the back large enough to fit 2-3 people comfortably.

City of Iquotos is very unusual in appearance. Iquitos was a major rubber export town because of the easy access provided by the Amazon River to the Atlantic Ocean. The rubber was harvested from jungle trees along the river and transported to the US and England. When model T Fords first started being widely produced, the rubber for their tires came from Iquitos. As such an important colonial trade hub, Iquitos was built into a grand city. The huge colonial buildings with their Portuguese tile outsides are still everywhere. Monsieur Eiffel, of the Eiffel Tower, even built a building on the corner of the main square. When somebody illegally smuggled some rubber tree seeds and planted them in easy to harvest rows, Iquitos was abandoned by the wealthy Rubber Barons. Without the incredible amount of resources pouring into the city, over the years the buildings, which are still used for local business and homes, have fallen into a state of moderate disrepair.

We know all of this rich history of Iquitos now, but because we had arrived at night we had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into. We could not see the tile buildings, or the view of the river. We had checked into a hostel at the recommendation of our moto-taxi driver who made $ from the hostel off of his recommendation. After a restless night in the muggy room we awoke to all kinds of ruckus. People were screaming and cheering at what seemed to be regular intervals. We lay on the bed for a while, reading our travel book and making plans of what we were going to do that day, and how we were going to get the heck out if the spur of the moment decision to go to Iquitos turned out to be a bad one.

We finally left the hostel and were relived to find that the ruckus was coming from the high school that was directly outside of the hostel door, and that we were in a perfectly safe riverside city.

When It Comes to travel, I Suppose I'm Just a Little Disaster Inclined

As can be expected when traveling, our Peru trip did not go as planned, but it was nevertheless amazing. We arrived, as planned in Lima to wait for our connecting flight to Cuzco. We had mis-planned a little bit and instead of having a 4 hour layover, we had an 8 hour layover. We found some comfy chairs at a Starbucks (odd, I know) and Boyfriend was able to catch some sleep while I avidly finished the trashy novel that I brought for the plane. Finally we made it to Cuzco. As we disembarked the plane and walked down the long hallway to pick up our baggage, I clutched the wall and crouched to put my head between my knees to keep from fainting. Slowly we made it to the baggage claim area, and found our bags and made it into a cab. By this time the combination of lack of sleep and lack of oxygen had rendered me incoherent. Luckily boyfriend was still able to communicate. We made it to a hostel and promptly went to bed. The short version of the story? I got altitude sickness and, despite staying for 3 days to try to acclimatize, and drinking about 2 gallons of coca tea, we had to head back to Lima.

Upcoming Travels & Why They will be Better than Last Time

Boyfriend and I have actually managed to get things together and plan a vacation! We will be strategically using our Thanksgiving break and carefully horded vacation days to take a 10 day trip to Cuzco, Peru and hike up to Machu Picchu. We seem to be switching off our vacations between party/urban vacations, and major outdoor vacations. Last summer (2008) for our outdoor adventure we traveled the Southwest and hit several of the major attractions including The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion. It was lovely but, I anticipate that Peru will be much more relaxing than the Southwest adventure for 2 major reasons.

Reason 1: Boyfriend and I have jobs now. When we took our trip last summer we were very aware that we were using the last bit of our savings to travel. We were freshly graduated form college with plans for the distant future (LSATs, MCATs, and more school) but no idea what we were going to do in the immediate future (jobs). It was inevitable that would be moving in with my parents until we were able to find jobs with our pathetic resumes upon our return to California.

Reason 2: We are prepared. Well I suppose that Boyfriend was prepared for our last outdoor adventure, but if mama ain’t happy…On our last backpacking adventure to the bottom of The Grand Canyon I

- was out of shape

- had not been backpacking since I was 10

- had a new backpack

- wore my water keens

- didn’t pack any gluten free camping food

Basically what I am saying is that I almost died. Thanks to our 5am departure from the top, we got to the bottom of the Grand Canyon fine, without heat stroke, and nothing to report but a couple of fairly major blisters courtesy of my sandals. After camping for the night at the bottom, near the infamous Phantom Ranch, the muscle soreness from the hike down had started to kick in. We left equally early the next morning, but I only made it about half of the way out of The Canyon before I was begging Boyfriend to rent me an emergency mule.

If my memory serves (it might not, the whole hike is kind of a blur) it is a 9.7 mile hike and there are 3 rest stops on the way up. There is one about 4 miles from Phantom Ranch called Indian Garden, then there is another one 3 miles from the top, and finally one 1.5 miles from the top. I seriously did not think I was going to make it the last 3 miles out of The Canyon. The whole hike is supposed to take 5 hours, it took me about 8 and, I kid you not, 3 of those hours were spent walking the mile and a half between the 3 mile and 1.5 mile rest points. I was being passed by elderly people who would stop and rest with me and tell me about their pending hip replacement surgeries, no joke.

The reason they have the rest stations is because families do day hikes to capture more spectacular views. We reached the 3 mile rest stop around 10am, so needless to say we began passing families on their way down to the various rest points. Fortunately I was able to provide educational opportunities for may of these young families who were teaching their kids how to hike. Parents would point me out to their small children and say “See how tired she is? That is why we have to pace ourselves.”

When we returned to our campsite at the top I made Boyfriend rub my entire body in Tigers Balm and curled up in a ball to die sleep, sans shower.

The next day I could not walk. I could only waddle. If you saw me from the back you would think I was 9 months pregnant with triplets. To add insult to injury, while I was waiting (in obvious pain) for the shower and old lady came up to me and started chatting about how she wasn’t sore at all because she does palaties at her gym at home.

I continued to be incredibly sore for about 2 weeks, and could still feel the remnants of the hike for about a month. Actually, I think if I stand on my toes my calves are still a little sore right now from that hike.

To sum things up I have a lot to prove on this Machu Picchu hike. The reason I think it will go better is because I bought hiking boots and have been wearing them around, I have been hitting they gym and trail running, and will be bringing lightweight, gluten free food. This should mean a much more pleasant trip for all people involved. Wish us luck!

*Please excuse me for calling my boyfriend, Boyfriend. I just couldn’t think of anything more creative and I didn’t think he would be thrilled if I used his real name… I just hope it is not as annoying as when my cousin calls her boyfriend her ‘man’ all the time.

Blog Action Day

As I contemplated my options for what I could write for Blog Action Day post that relates to climate change, I kept trying to think of the most powerful, and hopefully unique way to express my concern. I first racked my brain for sentimental stories about how climate change has affected my life. Perhaps an anecdote about my first middle school dance, canceled because of the weather. The more logical and studious side of me considered the more scientific approach of discussing the other prehistoric climate events that shaped our modern ecosystems. Then I though of compromising and telling the sad tale of an endangered species, like an orangutan whose mother was killed by poachers or polar bears swimming until they drown. All of these topics seemed boring and/or over done, especially since my education was not in the eloquent arts of English or Journalism, but rather in the science, and we all know that scientists are not known for their incredible communication (or social) skills. Rather than butchering a topic that most high school students do a better job covering in their college essays than I ever could, I’ll just stick to the basics (aka things I have written about before).


Availability of drinking water is affected by climate change anyway you look at it. With farm runoff, population growth and urbanization, crazy weather patterns, melting ice, whatever it is that climate change is doing, drinking water is in high demand and dwindling supply. According to a 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) report, “More than 1.1 billion people in both urban and rural areas currently lack access to drinking water from an improved source” furthermore “WHO estimates that in 2005, 1.6 million children under age 5 (an average of 4500 every day) died from the consequences of unsafe water and inadequate hygiene.” The magnitude of the drinking water access problem is overwhelming. Where on earth does one begin to put their drop in the proverbial bucket? I started with a Google search and found something that might be able to help until somebody much smarter, much more knowledgeable about water, disease, and basically science than I comes up with a permanent solution to the clean water access disparity.


I found a product called PUR. I admit that I have kind of a product crush on these water purification packets. They are just so cool, simple, and easy to get where they need to go. They are little packets of powder that can remove dirt, 99.9% of intestinal bacteria, intestinal viruses, and protozoa from 10 liters of water at a time (P&G 2009). The packets, cost $00.10 each. I recommend checking out the PUR website. http://www.csdw.org/csdw/index.html


To raise money to send these awesome little packets around the world, I made some t-shirts with a bean sprout print and put them for sale in my freshly created Etsy store. http://slowoveralls.etsy.com


In the Blog Action Day promo video it asks what difference one blog can make and then goes on to remind us that luckily we are not alone. What a fabulous reminder to have when facing overwhelming global issues! So here is my drop in the bucket.


In the words of the late Albus Dumbledore “We are only as strong as we are united”

To Whom it May Concern:

Dear Upstairs Neighbors;

It is with the deepest regret that I inform you that you are not good at singing.

Despite the endless hours of practice time you put in with your Wii rock band, your vocals have not improved. I quite understand the need to open all doors and windows of your apartment while singing to avoid their untimely breakage, but perhaps a better option would be what I like to call ‘silent singing’. In this practice the vocalist improves their singing by thinking the song lyrics in their head in the voice they think sounds best.

There is another possibility for improving your singing skills. It is entirely possible that your vocal talent, and your neighbor’s appreciation of your skills, is directly affected by karma. I would recommend attempting to recycle, discontinuing the writing of hypocritical notes, removing trash that you have throw down from your deck to your neighbor’s patio, and walking your cat on a leash. By making these few small changes I think that you will find your vocal cords slowly loosening, and those deep melodic tones that you so ardently desire to make will begin to expel from your mouth. I think that you will find you have the most talent before 11pm on weekdays as well as the gravitational pull of the moon after 11pm may effect the vibrations of your voice.

My final tip for your success is simple. I would recommend labeling your doorbell so that when the talent agent does come a knocking, they know which bell to ring.

Thank you so much for taking the time to consider my suggestions. Please feel free to contact me if you find yourself in need of more tips or information on how to not suck so much.

Sincerely,

Slowly Filling Overalls

Los Gigantes!

I don’t know much about baseball, but I LOVE baseball games. It is prime people watching and a perfect place to display hometown pride. I have noticed when traveling that it is always good to know the best player on your hometown team and how good your team is this season, because people will try to talk to you about it. (note: I also recommend you know how your college team is doing especially if you are going to a job interview – they always ask).

This trip to the ball park was no different. Boyfriend always insists on parking really far away by Mission Bay, where they are putting the new hospital, and walking to the ballpark. While I am occasionally annoyed, I generally like seeing all of the shenanigans that are going on outside the park. I like the people selling hats, and scalping tickets, and that guy who holds the sign that says “I’m too ugly to get laid. Give me money!”

This Sunday we bought tickets on our way in from one of these uncouth salesmen on the street and saved some money. We barely got ticket though because the scalpers were trying to sell them for $40 each which is outrageous seeing as we just wanted to sit in the bleachers. Luckily Boyfriend is pretty good at street bargaining so we got in for $20 each which is $5 less than if we had planned ahead and bought our tickets online or something. Lovely!

I love when jumbo-tron has the kiss-o-meter and the Carleton dance-off. Unfortunately they did not have a lot of activities on the jumbo-tron at this game. The lack of Jumbo-tron was not missed however because apparently there are a lot of Phillies fans in San Francisco. I would say that where we were sitting (back by the giant mitt) there was almost a 50/50 mix of Giants and Phillies fans. It lead to lots of good heckling, and fortunately no fights.

We won, even though I’m pretty sure if I was getting paid big bucks to play baseball for my job I would not drop easy catches so frequently (eh hem second base-man on the Giants, I think his name is Sanchez and he’s new).

Boyfriend got sunburned.

The Farmette

My parent’s garden is the best I have ever seen it. They have finally given up on their lawn and are allowing the garden bed to take over our giant back yard. There are now 5 large beds, 2 small beds, and a planting area behind a low retaining wall. There are also various fruit trees planted aound the property, and the chicken coop which we just incorporated 10 more chicks into on 4^th of July weekend. These little guys were in addition to the ten hens we already had and the one min rooster, Santino.

This weekend we harvested strawberries, cucumbers, carrots, green beans, and blackberries. It has not yet been hot enough to ripen the tomatoes and zucchini, and the pumpkins and squash will be ready in early fall.

I am working on my canning and preserving skills. I made blackberry jam, and made my first attempt at refrigerator pickles.

- 1 qt white vinegar

- 1/8c Creole Seasoning

- 1/8c salt

- 1/4c dry mustard

- Peppercorns

- Sliced lemon cucumbers with the peels on

The jam turned out really well. I will let you know if 3 weeks how they turn out. My mom made blackberry pie and strawberry ice cream. Delicious!

When the tomatoes finally do ripen we are going to be overwhelmed! I look forward to attempting to preserve them, and eat them too!

Little Baobab

On Friday night we of course had tacos for dinner at one of my top three favorite taquerias: Taqueria Cancun. Everything I have tasted from here is delicious. I particularly recommend the carne asada super taco, or for something a little lighter, the ceveche. After filling up (and returning to our nearby apartment to get my forgotten wallet) we went to the best place for dancing ever! It is called Little Baobab. It is approximately the size of my one bedroom apartment, and had the best atmosphere and DJ I have heard in a long time. The music was a mix of pop, and world, and oldies, and everything good in music all sped up to a good dancing tempo. It was not too heavy on any particular music type. I also loved that everybody inside the tiny club was dancing! There wasn’t really anybody just lurking awkwardly in the corner. I also put my jacket down against the back wall, and it was still there when we went to leave.

There was a $5 cover and drinks were cash only, but I was dancing so much I only had one drink anyways.

I would highly recommend this club to everybody! It was especially fun with out of town friends.

Academy of Science

This was not my first time to the academy of science. It is actually my second time since it reopened last summer, and the millionth time since it existed as the Steinhart Aquarium. When I first went after the reopening there were a couple of things that struck me. This place reminds me of why I love ecology and want to hurry back to school and travel and save the world and do lots of other amazing things. It also reminds me of two other things 1) I hate crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and all other similar water animal types, no matter what their size is or how much or little pigment their skin has (God damn albino crocodile) and 2) Unless they are your own kids, they should be kept in a cage. There were literally thousands of kids crying, and running, and snotting all over the glass of the exhibits. Don’t get me wrong, I was once one of those running, crying, snotting, very sticky little kids at the aquarium. But the moral of the story is that the 21+ age limit on the Thursday Nightlife program makes it very enjoyable. While it is still crowed, I didn’t trip once! I visited the rainforest area which then spit us back down into the underground aquarium part. It was just as amazing as I remember from my first visit to the new museum.

Because we rushed over to meet friends there right after work without eating dinner, we also sampled the food. It was a little pricey, as all venue foods are, but quite delicious. There was Mexican food (tacos & tamales), pastas (your choice of sauce), and fried foods (calamari, French fries, shrimp), and there were also a couple of other booths that weren’t as popular, I think they were a sandwich place and something else.

While almost impossible to capture with my powershot without reading the manual and mastering all of those different settings it offers, the living roof is breathtaking at night. On the night we went it was very misty, but nonetheless provided great views of the city, and highlighted the alien features of the roof.

The DJ was good, but not my style. He was playing house/trance type music, but the sound was good, not overwhelming to all of the exhibits, but as loud as a dance floor once you got to the exhibit where he was set up. It was also pretty awesome to see everybody dancing amidst the displays. I would say it was the coolest club I have ever been to! It had all of the elements; a cool venue to draw you in, loud dance music(depending on who you are), several locations in which to get drinks, crowded, possibility of VIP entrance, and I even got hit on by who I am pretty sure was somebody’s dad when boyfriend and I were momentarily separated.

I love the idea of making a place we typically think of as purely educational into an accessible, fun, (and still educational), community building activity. My only regret was that I didn’t really dress for the occasion. I came home from work and threw on leggings, a t-shirt, and a jacket, but it quickly became apparent that I should have taken the extra 30seconds to find some high heels and put on eyeliner.

I would definitely go back to this event!

Food Cart Extravaganza

The Food Carts were amazing last night, as they always are. What was really great was that they were all there, lined up, so you could walk down the row and see what each one does. My mom used to do a food booth at the 4th of July parade after party in the park and it was always a blast! We would hang out and sell the food that we had. We would trade with our neighbors for whatever they were selling. It was fun. The same thing was going on last night! Cart people were trading food and people were browsing and sharing their food with each other so that everybody could taste everything. I think I should open a cart. How about the Chili Chick or Slow Overalls Soul Food? YUM!

Boyfriend and I had the Sexy Soup Lady soup which was carrot, ginger, coconut DELICIOUS! (and gluten free). And I have to say, the sexy soup lady is pretty sexy. The soup came with a piece of baguette, which boyfriend told me was divine dipped in the soup with soup carefully spooned on top of it.

We next had the Magic Curry Kart chicken curry. It was also delicious, but a bell pepper is about the spiciest thing I can handle, and the curry definitely has a kick to it. But it was delicious, and he cooks it right there in front of you! To get the curry is a little more involved than the other carts because of the actual cooking. You write your name on a list and indicate if you would like tofu or chicken, then he cooks up large batches and attempts to call the names out. I say attempts because Señor Curry appears to be a man of few words. I mean, he barely batted an eye when a very pretty girl came and attempted to chat him up a bit. So you better be standing close by to hear him call your order!

Although they looked delicious, we are saving our sampling of the other carts for another day. We have already been to the Crème Brûlée Cart. It is amazing, but we have still to hit up several of the dessert carts. I bake at home like it is my job, so we have to plan ahead on those ones.

The event was for the bike coalition, and for a second I thought I was back in Eugene. Randoms kept coming over to chat with us, complete strangers, about Woodstock and the food among other things. One of the things I really miss about Eugene is that I never felt scared or intimidated by the people who were prone to coming and talking to me. In the city, especially in my neighborhood, it is entirely possible that the crazy who approaches might pull a knife or something worse. This event had the non-intimidating Eugene vibe.

I have a confession to make. I do not have a bike. Well I have a bike, it’s a yellow beach cruiser with a big basket, and currently is in a storage unit in the meth capital of the US in the Great State of Oregon. So it is needless to say that I am not a member of the bike coalition. The event was pretty fun though, and they get discounts on all kinds of useful things, and they have some kick ass sweatshirts. I would encourage those of you who have the thigh strength to bike the hills of San Fran to check it out.

A final thought: I am pretty sure that the crème brûlée guy and the magic curry guy are related.

!Viajamos!

As it turns out, boyfriend and I have been a little lame on the travel plans as of late. We waited too long to purchase our plane tickets to Alaska, and they now cost over $1700 for a pair of round trip tickets. This month, rather than travel elsewhere we decided to make the best of our misfortune and ‘travel’ our own city. (I told him this and he said it was called a staycation. I don’t know if I like that word.)

Despite the fact that Boyfriend grew up literally down the street from where we currently live (5 blocks), and I grew up about 30 min north, neither of us have spent much time here since we have been 21 – or 18 for that matter because we went away to college. I used to be cool and come into “the city” in high school, but I have found being a little bit older has its advantages in my city adventures, an not just at the bars. Shop owners follow me around far less frequently to check if I’m shoplifting, I can sample all I want and the store owners rarely get mad, and I get asked to leave and come back with a parent or guardian very infrequently.

So what is on the agenda? This week we will be going to:

Apparently all of the SF Food Carts are convening at an event at 7th and Mission today (Wednesday). I love food carts!

The California Academy of Sciences (formerly the Steinhart Aquarium) Thursday Nightlife event featuring DJs Alexander Frederick and Eli Glad and the SF Neighborhood Fashion Contest with 7x7 Magazine.

Friday we will be hitting up the pie lady at 17th and Folsom (I think those are the cross streets) and going out dancing in our own neck of the woods, the Mission.

Saturday boyfriend has to work, so I will be taking a break from our explorations to return to the Farmette and help Mom with the harvest.

But we will return to the call of the wild city on Sunday to attend the Giants game at SBC/PacBell/AT&T or whatever it calls itself these days Park. After all as that guy that Boyfriend is friends with says “The Giants are playing relevant baseball. Incredible!”

Garden Updates