ARDIRI

Ardiri--Sicilian for taking a risk or being consumed by fire.

Recent Posts

  • "Whole-Paycheck" Yoga Gear and Resolutions
  • 2012--Finally!
  • Human, All Too Human...
  • PSA
  • Don't Worry...
  • Cleaving
  • Ardiri
  • The Apple of My Eye
  • I Still Knit!
  • Surreal Small Things

Categories

  • All in the Family (1)
  • Art (5)
  • Backpacking (6)
  • Bikram (2)
  • Blog/Web Politics (1)
  • Body Politics (1)
  • Books (40)
  • Charity Knitting (26)
  • Community Supported Agriculture (1)
  • Contests (10)
  • Current Affairs (1)
  • Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive (29)
  • Detritus (3)
  • Dyeing (11)
  • Embroidery (3)
  • Etsy Shop (1)
  • Film (12)
  • Food and Drink (41)
  • Games (1)
  • HollYarns Hand Painted Yarns (9)
  • HollYarns Handmade (2)
  • HollYarns Patterns (2)
  • Humor (14)
  • KALS (18)
  • Knitting (144)
  • Knitting Swaps (47)
  • Living (96)
  • Love-Dove (23)
  • meme (2)
  • Meowsers (42)
  • Music (12)
  • Non-Quotidian Quote (6)
  • Origami of the brain and soul (3)
  • Philosophy/Philosophers (9)
  • Poetry (1)
  • Politics (29)
  • Public Improv (1)
  • Public Radio (1)
  • Public Transportation (2)
  • Queue (1)
  • Quilting (9)
  • Randomnalia (28)
  • Rant-er-roo (8)
  • Religion (1)
  • Retail Therapy (23)
  • Runagogo! (32)
  • Scarves (2)
  • School (39)
  • Secret Pal (23)
  • Sewing (24)
  • Slrog (88)
  • So San Francisco (19)
  • Socks (24)
  • Television (11)
  • The Great Outdoors (21)
  • Theater (1)
  • Travel (4)
  • Undeniable Reality (6)
  • Urban Art (8)
  • War of the Sexes (1)
  • We are Family (1)
  • Web/Tech (13)
  • Weblogs (6)
  • Wordless Wednesdays (1)
  • Words (1)
  • Worker-Bee (30)
  • Writing (1)
  • Yoga (3)
See More

Archives

  • January 2012
  • September 2011
  • June 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • November 2009

San Francisco Days...

Giraffe mural

Giraffe mural near Lyon and Page streets in San Francisco

Posted by hollyarn on June 06, 2010 at 05:31 PM in So San Francisco, Urban Art | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Nom, Nom!

Patisserie Yogurt & Fruit 2009 0001

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

Posted by hollyarn on June 20, 2009 at 12:56 PM in Food and Drink, So San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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!

Ike's Place Spring 2009

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

Posted by hollyarn on June 17, 2009 at 10:07 AM in Food and Drink, So San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Tasting the Bay Area Slice by Slice!

Stuffed_chick_in_sidewalk_aug_2008_
(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:
Paulines_pesto_pizza_aug_2008_0001
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!
Paulines_wine_rack_aug_2008_0001

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

Gialina

Gioia

Pizzaiolo

Pizzeria Picco

Rosso

Posted by hollyarn on August 12, 2008 at 05:00 PM in Food and Drink, Love-Dove, So San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

MOMA(SF), I'm coming home...

A portion of the Exterior of the SF MOMA:
Sf_moma_aug_2008_0001_2
Saturday, my parental unit came to San Francisco to do a massive, weekend-long museum hunt.  First, we were off the Asian Art Museum to see the exhibit "Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty".  Which was--in my opinion--nyet, nyeh (not very interesting).

We then went to the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit, which was great, but uber-super-duper crowded.
Fridakahloselfprotrait1940
I also loved this piece, but failed to note the name of the artist!
Sf_moma_pencil_piece_aug_2008_0001
Today we're off to see the Chihuly exhibit at the de Young Museum!

Posted by hollyarn on August 03, 2008 at 11:12 AM in Art, So San Francisco, We are Family | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Just a few tastes of a Saturday in the City

Vegetable Packets at the House of Nanking:House_of_nanking_veggie_packet_ju_4
Bitter:Sweet playing at the North Beach Jazz Festival:Bittersweet_at_north_beach_jazz_jul
Some clowning around at an N-Judah train stop :
Giraffe_john_july_2008_0001_5 Giraffe_holly_july_2008_0001_3
Playing tourist in my new hometown:
Transamerica_bldg_july_2008_0001_2

Posted by hollyarn on July 26, 2008 at 11:43 PM in Food and Drink, Music, So San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Thylacine?

Thylacine_june_2008_0001
Found on the sidewalk, up the street from the Giant Robot store. 
Thylacine?  An extinct, carnivorous marsupial in which both sexes have genital pouches.
That's an interesting thought to ponder, indeed.

Posted by hollyarn on June 07, 2008 at 02:51 PM in So San Francisco, Urban Art | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Saturday Slrog Roundup: May 18-24

  • May 18, Sunday--5 miles running.

Although the race for the Bay to Breakers started at 8am and I did my run at around 3pm, there were still hundreds of "runners" strewn throughout Golden Gate Park in their costumes doing kegstands and just generally acting silly.  I've finally figured out what the Bay to Breakers is for: Partying!  I ran it once and absolutely hated the race as I wasn't a "seeded runner" and waited at least 10 minutes to just walk across the starting line!  But now I understand, Bay to Breakers is all about costumes, silliness, lots of alcohol, and non-fitness-y fun!

  • May 20, Tuesday--2.25 miles running; 10 rounds double-stepping of the Strybing Steps

This was supposed to be a 5+ mile run;  that is, until my Sansa MP3 player crashed and I don't do the running thing sans music.  It looks like my MP3 player has called it permanent quits on me!  Oh well, it lasted 2 years and I am quite rough with it (dropping it frequently, while running, onto hard concrete or asphalt, etc.)

  • May 22, Thursday--6 miles running.

MP3 player not broken--Yippee!!  Today I added on another mile by running further into Golden Gate Park and around Lloyd Lake.  And lemme tell you something, Lloyd Lake is definitely not a lake!  It is a veritable pond with lots of happy-looking ducks and grumpy geese.

  • May 23, Friday--5 miles running.

Running is a total mind game.  I know I could go out and run at least two or three times the mileage I usually do, but it all comes down to will--the will to keep going, to put one foot in front of the other (at a running pace!), to not stop and futz with the way you've tied your shoes.  Distance running is a physical manifestation of the will-to-power, which is especially evident if you read the biographies of ultra-marathoners like Dean (yummy) Karnazes and Pam Reed.

  • May 24, Saturday--2 miles speedwork on treadmill (0-2 incline, 5.5-8 mph); upper-body weight so amazing to not be sick training; 1/2 mile hill treadmill-hill-walking (at incline level 10 out of 20, 3.7 mph).
  • ETA on May 25: It is so amazing not to be sick any longer.  I highly recommend not catching the Haemophilus Influenzae bacteria.  IT SUCKS!  And it will literally knock you on your ass for at least a couple of months--10 weeks in my case--even with antibiotics, copious amounts of rest (and I mean going to sleep at 7pm almost every night!), and taking good care of yourself.  It made climbing the four flights of stairs to my apartment seem like a marathon.  I am SO HAPPY to be healthy again!

Posted by hollyarn on May 24, 2008 at 05:40 PM in Slrog, So San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Worth Perusing...

Here are few websites that are worth your perusal:

  • Tink (aka Lacey Jane Roberts) (non-traditional craft with yarn)
  • Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Blog, Etc.; not specifically Walter Benjamin)
  • Fecal Face (Blogzine serving the Bay Area Art Community since 2000)
  • And, as always, good ol' Banksy

Posted by hollyarn on May 18, 2008 at 12:51 PM in Art, Detritus, Knitting, Politics, So San Francisco, Urban Art | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

If only Japan itself wasn't so damn expensive...

At this point in my 3/4 of a year living in the 7x7 parameters of San Francisco, I believe that I have come to love Japantown--of all the touristy places--the best.  Here are some of the things I love:

Eating sushi at Isobune--"The ORIGINAL Sushi Boat Restaurant" (in March):
Isobune_march_2008_0001

Going a little consumer-frenzied, blotto-minded at the prospect of a gazillion Totoro and other Hayao Miyazaki film-related tchotkes (Image from Totoro.Org/The Camphor Tree):

Cat_bus
Perusing the books--almost all in Japanese--at the bookstore Kinokuniya and wondering who the hell (including--or perhaps that should be excluding?--Kate Moss) could pull off these tops (from sewing pattern books):
Japaneses_pattern_books_march_2008_
And spending way too much money on stationary and pens/pencils in KSG (the bookstore's entirely separate pen/pencil/stationary-orgy store).

I would so love to live in Japan, but it is too expensive and teaching abroad there pays crap. 

Posted by hollyarn on April 30, 2008 at 09:32 PM in Film, Living, Retail Therapy, So San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

»

January 2012

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31        

SF, Hell Yeah!

  • SFist
  • SF Weekly
  • Mission Loc@l
  • Haighteration
  • SF FunCheap
  • The N-Judah Chronicles
  • Muni Diaries

Interesting!

  • mimi smartypants
  • WebUrbanist
  • Gizmodo
  • The SF Weekly Dinner
  • Six Hours A Week: Adventures of a Sudden Patriot
  • The SF Book and Brunch Club
  • CROSSROADS
  • passive-aggressive notes from roommates, neighbors, coworkers and strangers
  • whoopsy daisy!
  • tea reads

Crafty!

  • Bark n Knit
  • brainylady
  • Bulldog Knits
  • Coloursknits
  • Fig and Plum
  • Fricknits
  • Grumperina
  • knit and tonic
  • knot another hat
  • Living a Conscious and Creative Life
  • My Middle Name is Patience
  • Nightingale, tell me your tale...
  • Numerical Knitting
  • She Knits By The Seashore
  • sixoneseven
  • Stumbling Over Chaos
  • Subway Knitter
  • the purl bee
  • Yarn-A-Go-Go
  • yes, i MADE that.