ARDIRI

2012--Finally!

At long last, the year 2011 has finally ended!  Watch as I bow down, prostrate my self upon the ground, and thank all the gods! 

Last year was a doozie: the end of a long relationship that truly should have ended at least a couple of years earlier, my re-entry into the dating scene for real, a quick lesson in salary negotiations, my first Bikram Challenge completed*,  a quick weekend jaunt to Hawaii, and a re-realization that the world is damn awesome! (*OK, so I didn't fully complete the challenge, but I did do 27 classes in 30 days while working full-time; I think that is more than pretty good!) 

Now for the resolutions:

1) Complete my Master's thesis. I have no more excuses left and I have no one but myself holding me back.  I must see this as a series of papers and not some big monster lurking under the proverbial bed.  

2) Continue my Bikram practice.  It makes me happy and healthy.  Ideally, I would like to do 4 days a week, but 3 will suffice.  However, I need to be conscious of how my angry little right knee is feeling and back off when necessary.

3) Keep up with the blog. I know that there is a novel,  a non-fiction book, or a series of restaurant reviews hidden somewhere in me and writers only get better by actually writing.  Of course, writing the thesis will help, but I've got to have some fun writing to do as well.

4) Spend more time with my girlfriends. Friends rock and should be prioritized. We all have busy lives, but I know I can make room for them.

5) Start being crafty again.  I used to do a lot of creative things--sewing, knitting, glueing shit from magazines to anything that stood still for more than 5 seconds (decoupaging).  What happened that stopped me?  A lot and really very little.  This year I'd like to return to being a crafty chica and also dip my big toe into "urban art" (but legally, of course).

Alright, I think that is enough for today.  There may be more resolutions to come...

Happy New Year to All!  Hello 2012, you are looking fantastic already!

The Apple of My Eye

Pink Pearl Apple!  Yes, it is real and it truly was that bright fuschia color (no camera tricks)!  Very tangy and delicious.  Pairs well with Malbec wine. 

Old Hag: Fine! Fine! Now, take a bite!...Don't let the wish grow cold!

Snow White (after biting into the apple): Oh, I feel strange, oh, oh...

Old Hag (expectantly rubbing her hands together): Her breath will still. Her blood congeal. 

Nom, Nom!

Yogurt, fruit, a dollop of honey, and granola at Boulange De Cole Valley (or the Patisserie as we call it).

Ike's Place: The Best Frakin' Sandwich Shop in San Francisco!

You must visit Ike's Place to try one of their OVER 200 awesome, drool-worthy sandwiches.  Bonus: Each sandwich comes with a lollipop; BOING! BOING! SUGAR!

I do believe that is Ike himself walking in to the shop right there!

Today's Randomnalia: Bikram, Yummy Vegetables, and Cake Wrecks.

•  Yesterday, I did my first class of Bikram Yoga at Funky Door Yoga in the Haight.  

Woomph!  Let me say my butt has been officially kicked by an hour and a half of vigorous yoga in a room heated to 105 fahrenheit with about 40% humidity!  

                                                                                (Image Credit: c3lsius_bb)
Today my body is sore all over in a good sort of way, but my head aches as if I have a hangover (despite drinking lots of water).  Before I do my next class, I am going to ensure that I drink lots of water with potassium and sodium.

• And, no matter how much I love getting my veggie box from my CSA Farmer, I have to admit that I am beginning to get tired of pale, winter root vegetables and am ready for some color like this box from October!
• I am absolutely laughing-out-loud loving the site Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong.  Exhibit A:

 
(Image credit: Chad C. via Cake Wrecks) 

In love and life, small things can make you feel so happy...

Like coming home to an empty egg carton labeled for my favorite empty-egg-carton use:  walking on it barefooted!  Such a cheap, easy foot massage can be had just from walking on the carton.

Or finding that your love-dove has bought a heart-shaped potato just for you!

The love-dove can be so sweet!

Tasting the Bay Area Slice by Slice!

(The pic above has nothing to do with tasting pizza, except for the fact that we found it "as is" on the walk to the pizza place.  A little weathered and worn-out, but too cute!)

John and I are taking a "Pizza Odyssey" through the Top 6 Pizza Joints in the Bay Area as deemed by Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle Restaurant Critic. 

Saturday evening we went to Pauline's Pizzeria  in the Mission and had what may have been the best pesto sauce on Earth in the form of their Pesto Pizza.  Pauline's uses ingredients from their own gardens and the quality of their produce shone brilliantly in their special salad for that evening which was full of cucumbers and fresh herbs.  The Pesto clearly was fresh from the garden and Pauline's is so confident in their pesto recipe that they'll allow no substitutions and no additions!  I have to say that this is a case where the chef is right--the Pesto is perfect just as it is!  It may not look so pretty, but it most certainly tastes divine:

For dessert, we had the much-raved about Butterscotch pudding with a side of vanilla ice cream reluctantly suggested by our waiter.  We found the pudding much too salty.  I think we would have been happier with the homemade vanilla and orange bergamot ice cream sundae.

Nevertheless, I was very pleased with their house brand of wine, Pauline's Pizza Red 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, which was spicy and smooth at the same time.  Delish!

And here are the other five pizzerias we will be visiting:

Gialina

Gioia

Pizzaiolo

Pizzeria Picco

Rosso

Just a few tastes of a Saturday in the City

Vegetable Packets at the House of Nanking:
Bitter:Sweet playing at the North Beach Jazz Festival:
Some clowning around at an N-Judah train stop :

Playing tourist in my new hometown:

Slightly Sideways*

A lazy, slow sunny Sunday afternoon filled with good wine in the slightly sideways(*) Napa...yum. 

I am looking a bit dazed and sun-tired here, with lips a teensy-bit too stained from red wine:

Vineyards...

More Randomnalia--All Over the Place!

• Despite being car-free for a little less than ten years now, my slight-obsession with tiny cars continues.  Submitted as Evidence: Another picture of vintage Mini; this one in the Haight with a parking meter for perspective on size.

  

• The upside of high gas prices?  Shopping locally and supporting small-business owners!

• **Uh, hello, anybody there Reverend Jesse Jackson???**  Could you possibly be more of an ignoramus?  Really?!  I think not! 

Where the hell was your brain when you said (supposedly off-Mic) that Obama should be castrated? 

Why in the world would a black man suggest that another black man be castrated in light of the fact that black men were often castrated before they were lynched?

Ugh, and so much more that I dare not say here...Let me just say, that the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a fool of himself.

• In a related vein, I am nearly finished reading Toni Morrison's Beloved and am thinking that perhaps the Rev. Jesse Jackson might do well to (re?)read this novel as it provides a graphic, haunting, and all-together disturbing refresher course on the horrors of slavery.

• I am tired, oh-so-tired, sleepy-sleepy.  Teaching  English Literature and Language Arts to 33--yes, 33!--6th-8th graders can sometimes feel like taming lions after being dipped in vat of gazelle blood.

  On the other hand, today's sleepiness is a "rewarding tiredness" earned from getting those same kids to be really excited and engaged with what we're learning.

• The 1975 edition of the Vogue Sewing Book rocks!  So much information!  So concise! Such clear directions!

• I had lunch last weekend with a friend and her husband at Zazil Coastal Mexican Cuisine in the Nordstrom's shopping center and was pretty disappointed.  The food is so-so, but not worth the price, and the ambiance of the restaurant is more suited to a fast-food environment.  The three of us spent $158 dollars on lunch and dessert (luckily, we had $100 in gift certificates to spend there!).  I'm of the opinion that one should never feel as if they are eating in an upscale-cafeteria-like-environment when you're paying $50+ to eat lunch.  Give me a break!  Puh-lease!

• My Princeton Review Career Quiz results are:

My INTEREST color is BLUE:  People with blue Interests like job responsibilities and occupations that involve creative, humanistic, thoughtful, and quiet types of activities. Blue Interests include abstracting, theorizing, designing, writing, reflecting, and originating, which often lead to work in editing, teaching, composing, inventing, mediating, clergy, and writing.

My USUAL STYLE is YELLOW:  People with yellow styles perform their job responsibilities in a manner that is orderly and planned to meet a known schedule. They prefer to work where things get done with a minimum of interpretation and unexpected change. People with a yellow style tend to be orderly, cautious, structured, loyal, systematic, solitary, methodical, and organized, and usually thrive in a research-oriented, predictable, established, controlled, measurable, orderly environment.

So shocking!  Not! 

Some of the suggested careers are: philosopher (got that covered with my Bachelors degree) and teacher (been there, doing that), professor (perhaps someday?).  The quiz also suggested I look into working as a Media Planner, Web Editor, Book Publishing Professional--all of which I would find interesting.  I am definietely intrigued by the Media Planner career as I L-O-V-E to critically tear apart advertisements and their often inappropriate placement.  However, I do not see myself becoming an optometrist, a Rabbi or Imam, or an antiques dealer.