Cherries, Part Deux

So apparently when you have a lot of cherries, the best way to store them is in the fridge in a loose plastic bag. And each day you should go through them and pick out the ones that are getting too ripe, since if they burst that can just ruin your whole batch. So that's what we did tonight.

I don't think I'm going to pick black cherries next year. They're really at their best the same day you pick them. Just over 24 hours later, they were already starting to turn too ripe.

In his cherry research, Sweetie found that you can pickle them, though I don't know why anyone would want to do that.

Pictures! Cherries truly are one of the prettiest fruits.

Early Adapter vs. Early Adopter

I've been a bit pouty since last night because I lost a bet. On the drive back from the East Bay last night (Shen Hua = best Chinese food in the Bay Area), Sweetie and I argued whether it's Early Adopter vs. Early Adapter. He thought it was the former, I thought for sure it was the latter. We placed a bet: whoever was right would cook dinner every night for the rest of the month. Not such a big deal for him, but it was for me. Despite my best intentions, I rarely cook.

Since both phrases are indeed used, we decided that the winner would be judged by whichever phrase it was that Malcolm Gladwell used in The Tipping Point. But then we got home and couldn't find the book (wait, why have all these books around when we can never find the one we want?). No matter, because Google determined the winner: there were far more results for early adopter, and it appeared that it was the phrase that M.G. used. I lost.

It makes sense that I lost the Early Adapter vs. Early Adopter bet, because I am neither. I still have my first cell phone, a red Sanyo Sprint phone that I bought in November of 2004. It works just fine - I see no need to replace it. And it's got a little polar bear character living inside of it who delights me to no end every time he tumbles across the screen.

iPhone? No thanks.*
Before he left this morning, Sweetie said that we didn't have to keep the bet. He offered to forget it, or at least help me cook. "OH NO, I'M DOING IT!" I said, pride intact.

Yikes. This is going to be interesting.

(*But I'm not above a little iPhone humor. Apparently, this is the meanest thing you can say to someone who just bought an iPhone: "Oh, you didn't want to wait for the new one?")

**Update** He didn't make me cook. He made one of our favorite Sunday night dinners, Balsamic Vinegar Chicken. He spoils me.

Cherries

We went cherry picking yesterday! It was so fun. We drove out to the East Far East Bay, to Brentwood, which is on the other side of Mt. Diablo (side note: this means that now any time Sweetie makes reference to Brentwood, I can't say "I don't know what that is", which is my catchphrase when it comes to most towns in Contra Costa County). Sweetie picked the farm and he chose well, because this was a place where they pruned the trees so they stayed low so there were no ladders involved.

I loved it! I could have stayed out there all day. Like many things, I attribute this to my Polish peasant genes, since up until one generation ago my people were farming people.

Cherries! The pictures don't do them justice, but they were so beautiful, shining in the sun. I totally want to go to more U-Pick places now.

Big Basin Camping

Camping last weekend at Big Basin was GREAT. It was just the two of us, so that made for some much-needed quality alone time, plus we had all this new gear to try out.

Our first night we showed up at 7pm, and were assigned site 120, which was conveniently located right by the bathrooms - ugh. So we had to deal with people continually traipsing near - sometimes through - our site, plus the noise from the bathroom doors slamming, and the light shining from the building. Of course, I wasn't complaining about the proximity when I had to get up and go at 1 a.m., but still. The next morning before we began our hike we marched over to the camp office and asked for a new site. We had scoped out the area beforehand to see which sites had been vacated, and came across lovely, spacious # 128, right by a creek. The cheerful ranger girl accomodated us by doing a quick switcheroo, and just like that, new and much improved site for us! See, it always pays to ask for something better. (also: make sure to get to Big Basin earlier next time).


The Skyline to the Sea trail was closed due to a fallen tree (one can only assume it was a redwood), so we decided to just do the out-and-back hike along the Sunset Trail to Berry Creek Falls. Sweetie usually prefers loops, but we didn't have much of a choice. I though it was only going to be 4.9 miles each way, but that's just the distance to the Berry Creek Falls trail - the actual falls are still over a mile away at that point. Which brought our mileage for the day to about 12-13 rolling miles. Not so smart after a winter of little hiking. Sweetie was not looking happy the latter half of the hike. I thought he'd see the falls and think it was all worth it, but that didn't seem to be the case. Though the falls are pretty cool:

Nonetheless, we made it, and even had enough energy to shower and make dinner (after a quick trip to Boulder Creek for cold sodas. It was a very hot day, and I always crave Coke after a hot hike).
We love our camp stove! It's a Century Matchless Two-Burner Stove. We're so glad we took the time to comparison shop at REI, instead of marching in, picking up a Coleman, and being all "Done." Our stove is awesome because:

1) it's got an easy matchless ignition
2) it's big, with plenty of space for both griddle and pot (Coleman's stove was narrower)
3) it's got two powerful burners, instead of one power burner + one lesser burner (again, like Coleman)
4) it's fairly light and comes with it's own carrying case

Also: note our cute new checkered picnic tablecloth. Picnic tables are almost always dirty - this makes it so much better!

We made penne with sauce on Saturday night, and eggs with bacon and hash browns on Sunday morning. And both mornings I had my much-needed coffee, thanks to the new coffee press I got at REI:

SO exciting - I don't have to depend on anyone else for coffee when I am camping! However, I am going to bring a different mug next time - the mug that comes nested inside the press tastes plastic-y.

I'm proud of us. We're totally getting this camping thing DOWN! Can't wait until Sonoma.

Big Basin!

We're going camping this weekend! I am so excited! Big Basin is less than a two-hour drive south, but it feels like a world away. We went there last October, during the one-year anniversary of when we met. And this weekend is the one-year anniversary of when we actually started dating. I love milestones!

We're not staying in a cabin this time. That was fun, but they're kind of musty. Bring scented candles if you go - they help with the smell, and they provide extra light. And romance!

Since it's just the two of us, we'll likely come back with lots of pictures taken by one of us holding the camera at arm's length. We have lots of photos like that. Even though this one is totally off and blurry and it's about 7am and I'm not wearing make-up, it's one of our favorites:


I can't wait to have S'mores!

Lost Season Finale Thoughts

Very few thoughts. This show isn't as great as it used to be.

I hope Miles is back next season. I figured he was a goner because he had Closure, which is the kiss of death on this show.

Also: I wish it had been Kate who was sucked into that hole, instead of Juliet.

Share the Sidewalk

I was almost hit by a woman on a bike today. I was stepping away from my car and heading up the hill to work - on the sidewalk - when she nearly hit me as she rode by on her way into Aquatic Park. "On your right!", she called back, when she was five feet ahead of me.

Grrrr. Bicyclists are always sqwaking "SHARE THE ROAD!", but I would be much more sympathetic to their plight if the majority of them had more regard for pedestrians.

Swag!

I was never one of those girls who dreamed about her wedding, so it really surprised me how much I've been enjoying the planning. Aside from the fact that this will all culminate in getting to spend my life legally wed to a wonderful guy, the wedding planning has thus far involved many of my favorite things: the ones that are FREE! The swag has just been great.

Take, for example, the gift bag that I got for going to Bloomingdales' Registry Night. You didn't even have to actually register - they just gave it to all brides-to-be who showed up:


Two All Clad pot holders, two Le Creuset mini spatulas, a sample of Jo Malone cologne, a sample of Nespresso coffee, and a Victorinox knife. This is somewhat representative of the calibur of stuff you collect going to wedding fairs, though there you get a lot more things like bath salts (thanks, Claremont Hotel). OK, it's not the most valuable stuff, but I like it.

But we did win something valuable at one of the wedding fairs we attended: this blue 3 1/2 Qt Le Creuset Dutch Oven, which retails for $185.


Cooks Unlimited of Noe Valley was at the fair advertising their registry services (which we're still considering), and we entered their drawing. I've pretty much been entering any and every drawing at those fairs - it's easy becuase I just bring along those little return address stickers that I've been deluged with in the mail - but this is the only thing I've won (and really, one of the things we really wanted to win). It sits in a place of honor on display in our kitchen, but we haven't used it yet. I've need to find some recipes.

Maybe I'll find one in The Bride & Groom's Cookbook, which was our gift for registering at W-S. They do great registry events, complete with hors d'oeuvres, cake samples, and champagne (I've probably had more glasses of champagne since announcing our engagement than I've had in all my years combined. It just rains on you. I swear, at the Bloomies event I had my own guy following me with an open bottle of Veuve, just waiting for me to give him the cue for a refill).

I love the little heart shaped glass bowl we got for registering at Crate & Barrel. It was made in Poland, just like my people. We keep our keys in it in the hall - and we never lose them!


See what I mean? Swag! I love it.

Yelp Party & Bad Cupcakes

I went to a Yelp Elite party last night, at 5A5, a new(?) steakhouse/bar downtown, located on Jackson Street on the same block at Kokkari. It was my first Elite party of my '09 Yelp Elitehood status. Getting to go to these parties is a big reason for wanting that "Elite" button on your profile.

Anyway, this is what most Yelp Elite parties are like: typically a Tuesday or Wednesday night, almost always 7pm - 9pm, and a long line to get in when you arrive a bit before 7. Seems like a good 75% of Eliters are in their twenties, which makes for a very young crowd. Drinks are free - usually a limited drinks menu, but the Yelptini cocktail is usually available. And boy, do Yelpers drink - often at these events the bartenders look like they don't know what's hit them. They just keep making those drinks as fast as they can for the crowd at the bar that never seems to wane (though actually, the first 30-45 minutes are usually the most crowded at the bar - the lines do seem to die down a bit after that).

ALWAYS eat before a Yelp party, because even if it's at a restaurant, there's never much food. Last night I got about two bites of steak and some fries - or, one bite of food per cocktail (three lemony Spring Flings and a sip of merlot that I then rejected, if you're counting). It's funny, at normal cocktail parties, the waiters can circulate with their trays of food. At Yelp parties, waiters bearing food take no more than three steps before Yelpers swarm about them like locusts, quickly devouring whatever's on the tray. Oh! I also tried a shooter of some sort - tasted somewhat seafood-y with soy sauce. Shooters are just a weird food, I don't see the point.

When I first started coming to these parties a couple of years ago, I was very into the scene and meeting other people. Now, I just see it as an opportunity to hang out with my chosen +1 for the evening (JJ, last night, who enjoyed her first Yelp party. "How often do they have these?", she asked), and enjoy some free drinks and bits of food. Though I still do end up talking to other folks. They tend to be a colorful bunch; the couple we shared a table with last night told us that they met through a Craigslist's Casual Encounters ad.

Though I still enjoy these Yelp parties, I'm definitely over the Yelp "scene" (DYLs, etc.), not that I was ever that into it in the first place. So why continue Yelping? In a way, it's been like a blog - an online scrapbook of my restaurant, shopping, even hiking experiences over the last three years. And just as I find other reviews helpful, I do think that my reviews help others sometimes.

However, the other day I got a cupcake at That Takes the Cake (and here it is - the first cupcake mention! Because if you are a twenty- or thirty-something woman blogging in a metropolitan area, you have to talk about cupcakes because THAT'S THE LAW.). I reviewed TTtC back in November of '08 shortly after it opened, and gave it a lackluster review. The cupcakes were dry and not very flavorful - I wasn't impressed. I decided to give it another chance, so I went in and got a Red Velvet cupcake. And in the year and a half since my last visit, things did not improve - it was AWFUL. It just tasted synthetic, and the frosting had that crusty quality that cream gets when it sits around for awhile. Immediately I began composing a negative follow-up review in my head.

Don't do it!











And then I stopped and thought about it. Some girl who loved baking decided to go for it and open up a bakery. And people must like her cupcakes, because years later, she's still in business. Who was I to piss all over her dream? I felt a little bit bad. On the other hand, cupcakes are $3 a pop -- don't people deserve to know that they can just walk a few blocks to Kara's and get a vastly superior cupcake???

I looked up the reviews. 330+ reviews and an average four and a half star rating. Are these people mad??? I guess this place will go on despite what I think. Just as well...closed up storefronts are a depressing sight.

Happy Lucky

We went and picked out our wedding invitations today, at San Francisco-based Hello! Lucky. And we proofed our save-the-dates, and added thank you cards to our order, as well. SO fun! And fun not only because they do cute, quirky, quality work, but also because half the time we forget the name of the company and call them Happy Lucky or Lucky Happy or Hello Kitty.

I won't be previewing our stuff here - that's a surprise - but here are some enjoyable examples of their work:

Sweet!


Who doesn't love space monkeys? Nobody, that's who.


Awww! Next year.


Good stuff.

www.hellolucky.com

Sweets!

I recently developed/discovered a new weakness: novelty bakeware.

I've always loved to bake. When I was little, I had two Easy Bake ovens. But I've always been content making the usual cookies, tarts, cupcakes, brownies, etc. without feeling the need to be more creative. Until now.

Last Christmas, W-S sold an igloo cake pan. I was drawn to it every time I passed by it on the sale table, but I didn't get it. In retrospect, I wish I had coughed up the $14.99. How delightful to bake an igloo shaped cake for the holidays!


(penguins not included)

At the same time, they were selling Build-A-Bear cake pans. I thought these were a little weird, but I think Bridgie would have loved a princess bear cake for her birthday:


This Spring, I'm fascinated by the caterpillar cake pan, though I do think the deco kit colors are a little garish. I would prefer pastels.


And finally, I have been craving Oreos non-stop lately. I blame the cookie cake pan:


Yum! Doesn't that look good?

I recently ordered a heart-shaped cupcake pan, on sale. But I was just notified today that it's out of stock, so my order was canceled. Sad. :(

I think I've learned my lesson. When these pans go on sale, I'm totally snapping them up. I can't wait to show up at somebody's house carrying a giant Oreo cookie cake!

The Search for the Dress

Yesterday was a marathon wedding dress shopping day. I went to four - FOUR! - bridal salons and tried on I don't know how many dresses and posed for countless pics with dresses that were the wrong size clipped to me to get the effect. Exhausting! But, I enjoyed it. I never thought I'd be this girl.

And I'm almost done! I don't feel the need to look at any more dresses. I'm giving it a bit more thought, studying the pictures a little more, and soon I'll pick out The Dress and go buy it.

Funny, I went into this with some VERY specific ideas of what I wanted, and what I didn't want. First rule: NO STRAPLESS, and no poofy skirt. I'm not that kind of bride. Second iron-clad rule: NO VEIL. Any time a well-meaning wedding shop attendant came at me, beaming and holding a strip of tulle, I would practically hold up my fingers in a cross and hiss. NO.

Funny how some of your original ideas can go straight out the window...

Turns out, 90% of all wedding dresses are strapless for a reason: because they look really good on, even if you don't have a model body type. And the spaghetti straps that I had also nixed -- well, my top dress choice has spaghetti straps. Go figure.

Like I said, I did start off with a very clear idea of what I wanted. In early June of '08 I sat in a movie theater between my friends Justyna and Margaret, watching the Sex and the City movie. During the wedding dress montage scene, I inwardly gasped at one dress. There it was - The Dress that I wanted to get married in! It was so clear to me (and I should point out, Sweetie and I had only been dating, oh, about two or three weeks at the time. Even then, I knew).

Since then, I have been driving myself mad looking for images of that dress. You'd think it would be super easy to find - just Google Sex and the City Wedding Dress Oscar de la Renta. It's the sleeveless dress with a V-neck, and she's wearing a big red flower in her hair. SO elegant.

But instead of my dream dress, THIS is all that comes up when I try to Google it:


Aaack! Euww! No, no, no! BAD! Just so POOFY and HARSH and POINTY and unflattering and don't even get me started on that thing on her head. NO.

So I can't find a picture of that dream dress, but as it turns out, Jenna Bush wore a very similar Oscar de la Renta to her wedding. At least, I think it was similar -- why is she at that weird back angle in all of her wedding photos? At first I figured she was disguising a baby bump, but months later, no new Bush has entered the world (thank God for that!).

Anyway, pretty dress. But I haven't found anything similar that I like. So this probably won't be my wedding look after all (though I am still considering the big red flower in my hair like Carrie had).

One more thing: at Lilac Boutique in Alameda, they had a dress that was JUST like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's! Now, I know that that dress is kind of a cliche at this point, but I was still excited to try it on. And whoah -- I was at once entranced, and utterly horrified. Bias cut is the least forgiving of all cuts. Every bump, every ripple of flesh is magnified. Oh, dear.

So, no slinky Carolyn dress for me either. But it's still a wonderful image, all these years later:


Loving the filmy wrap, the shoes, and the simple ponytail. Now those I can do...

Movie Night

Sweetie and I stayed in and watched Annie Hall last night. I haven't seen it in years. When we got the the "Gimme a Kiss" scene, he said that he had considered doing that on our first alone date. In retrospect, I'm glad he didn't. I probably would have thought he was weird.

Another great scene I wish I could find the clip of: cut to a young Jeff Goldblum on the phone at a California party, saying "I forgot my mantra."

10 Years in SF!

I moved to San Francisco 10 years ago today! Best thing I ever did.

(That's where the dd_50199 comes from, by the way).

Here's to the next 10 years, and beyond...