hitachino nest

hitachino nest, white ale.

tried this weekend, cute and delicious!

doing okay

happenings and thoughts:

• not feeling super-excited about life right now.  no reason.  it'll pass, i know.
• layoff scare.  okay so far.
• catch up and italian with drew.  cheesy cute place.
• unbelievably awesome date in the mission with margaret.  mission street food, cancun taqueria, and mission pie.
• low key with matt.  takeout and star trek.  i likee.
• berkeley daze with matt.  short fire trail hike behind clark kerr campus, cheese board, and lawrence hall of science. 
• another fun mission date.  ritual, spork and gossip with lisa. 
• sunday streets with matt and company.  i was terrified to bike in the city and wasn't going to go. changed my mind at last minute and am so happy about it.  ran around bases at the ball park, taylor's, the ramp and back.
• chickpeas and cous cous, zucchini, and watermelon.  (not all together)
• enjoying flora's and naureen's recommendations.  the eyre affair, the book thief, and the gay talese reader. 

farm box

for the past 8 or so months, i've been getting a monthly (now bi-monthly) box of local, organic produce from farm fresh to you.  it's a hugely popular bay area CSA (community supported agriculture).

how it works:  choose a box size (small, regular, big) and frequency (weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, etc.).  then food is delivered to your doorstep.  the standard box is mostly veggies and some fruit, but you can specify if you want more fruit or more veggies.  you get whatever is harvested from the member farms that week.

things i like about this:

• seasonality.  learning about what grows when. 
  
• new vegetables.  it's forced me to try vegetables i wouldn't have otherwise -- brussel's sprouts, kale, chard, beets, for example.  (and i like them :)
  
• vegetable-centered diet.  it's changed the way i think about food probably for the better. better for personal health as well as the world. here's a first step to vegetable- (rather than meat-) centered eating. 
  
• puzzle.  it's fun to create tasty food using farm box contents and whatever else i have.  it's an opportunity to try new recipes.

i wonder though, especially with farm fresh to you, how much i am supporting local farms.  FFTY seems to be the distributor / marketer of several organic farms (including their own in capay).  it's not quite "straight from the farm." 

also, they can't be particularly "environmentally friendly" if they're making so many deliveries.  who knows.

all i know is i love my veggies.

happenings

gentle beginning to spring.  so i don't forget the last few weeks:

• pizza and beethoven with kat josh and matt.
• pt. reyes by motorcycle and hiking with matt.
• visits from friends -- lauren and sammy.
• gmat, done!
• housewarming, great to see everyone.
• bootcamp.  6:30a is so hard.  skipping about 50%.  need to do better.
• passover with joanna john and co.
• farmer's market and strolling around buena vista park.
• growing tomatoes (early girl, black krim) and basil.  fingers crossed.

disappoint

i'm always disappointed by ramen noodles in san francisco.  i've visited:

• katana-ya -- too heavy and greasy, not very chewy ("q") noodles.
• tanpopo -- just okay, doesn't hit the spot.
• sapporo-ya -- the worst!

 

same with niu rou mian (taiwanese beef noodle soup).  i've tried:

• taiwan restaurant -- watery, noodles not very good.
• taste of formosa -- has a wierd spice and burn-ey taste.

is it just me?  am i missing something?

muni mysteries, vol. ii

• it's sfmta policy to have a bus stop within 4 blocks of any san francisco resident.  interesting, seems like a good policy.
• muni metro.  there's F, J, K, L, M, N, T.  why start with F and where did T come from?

bus line impressions:

• 48 - near door-to-door service from my old apartment to matt's old apartment.  noe valley through mission to potrero along 24th.  frequent, pretty great.
• 33 - the section i used parallels the 48 -- noe valley through mission to potrero along 18th.  frequent, but shadier.
• 35 - nice community bus where everyone knows your name.  older, professional / retired crowd.  diamond heights to market and castro.  a lifesaver for those days i didn't want to walk up or down my hill.
• 24 - an interesting line, cutting through mostly nice parts of town. pacific heights down divisidero to the castro and noe valley. 
• 22 - great line which i'll probably take more often because of my new location.  marina down fillmore to the castro, mission, and potrero.
• 10 - the most well-dressed / professional crowd i've seen on public transit.  potrero through soma to the financial district.
• 9 - the bus from matt's old apartment to the financial district, where i work.  potrero through soma down market.  the financial district crowd definitely took the 10 (except me). all the people from southern-most parts of sf (vistacion valley and the likes) who were working near civic center plaza took this route.  some crazy people.
• 38 - epic!  from financial district through union square, the tenderloin, down geary through japantown to outer richmond.  working class.  interestingly, i believe the 38L (express bus during commuting hours) takes workers from richmond, does not stop in the tenderloin, and deposits them to the financial district.  magic to not have to go stop in that neighborhood!
• 1 - only been on it a couple of times.  financial district through chinatown, pac heights to richmond.  professionals to start and end.  chinatown ladies in between.
• 30 - only taken the section down stockton and montgomery.  lots of chinatown ladies with groceries!
• F - the seats are cushioned, omg.  above ground, nice.  all tourists, not nice.

the little j that could

some of muni's mysteries:

• why does the electronic sign sometimes indicate that the incoming train is simultaneously a J and K?
• why does the automated voice who tells us how long it is until the next train say things that are different from the real-time computer display?
• why is it that that sometimes the automated voice is correct and sometimes the computer display is correct but both are never correct?

muni, you puzzle me.

spring, you're here!

finally.  i missed you.  glad you're back.

i'm looking forward to longer days, warmer weather, sunshine, tomatoes and non-citrus fruit, camping.