MoodBrilliant

Our Favorite Bay Area Hikes

2012-01-31T18:26:00.000-08:00

In the last 5 weeks we've been on two fantastic hikes, one in the East Bay and one in the North Bay. This lead us to start thinking about our favorite hikes since moving to the Bay Area. By limiting the list to the Bay Area, we're leaving out fantastic hikes that we've done further abroad (Yosemite, Mendocino, Napa, Santa Cruz, etc), but perhaps we'll save those for another post, another day.

Our Five Favorite Bay Area Hikes…

1. Abbot's Lagoon
January 14, 2012 with Sascha

http://www.bahiker.com/northbayhikes/abbottslagoon.html

Our most recent hike and our favorite. From marshland to lagoon to seaside, this was a beautiful hike even in winter. Lots of birds to see, including this brown pelican:

After reaching the dunes, we walked for about 1/2 mile along the
oceanfront with Pearl practicing cartwheels along the way.

On the day we went, there were hardly any people on the trail so we practically had the beach to ourselves.

We even heard elephant seals at the South end of the shore getting ready for their mating season. Towards the end of the hike, with skittish quail dodging about in the underbrush, a herd of deer moved down from the hills to graze at the trailside. Beautiful.

2. Tennessee Valley
May 17, 2009 with Pia and Dustin; July 3, 2009 with Jackie

http://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/tennessee_valley.htm
http://www.marinmodern.com/blog/family-friendly-hiking-in-marin-county-tennessee-valley-trail.html

Another hike through the marsh and past a lagoon that ends up at the ocean.

The weather in May was perfect (in July it was cold and windy). We saw quails and wild turkeys as we walked the trail, and were dive-bombed by an angry hummingbird. The cove at the end of this hike made for a lovely picnic spot.

3. Coyote Hills Regional Park (Fremont)
December 17, 2011 with Krista, Sascha, Tim, Travis

http://www.ebparks.org/parks/coyote_hills

Coyote Hills Regional Park is located on the East side of the San Francisco Bay. We didn't see any coyote here, but we saw plenty of muskrats by the edge of the marsh. And there are lots of birds here, from ducks to hawks to egrets, we saw perhaps two dozen different bird species. There are some fantastic photos of the kinds of birds you can expect to see at the park on the Bay Area Hike website:
http://bayareahike.wordpress.com/category/coyote-hills/

We definitely plan to return with binoculars and a high-def camera.

4. Coit Tower and the Filbert Steps
March 28, 2009, just the two of us; August 20, 2011 with Krista, Mags, Mark, Sascha, Stu.

http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Filbert_Steps_and_Grace_Marchant_Gardens

We hiked Coit tower in 2009 shortly after seeing the documentary The Parrots of Telegraph Hill, about the colony of parrots that inhabit the trees on the Filbert Street side of the hill that leads up to the Tower.

The tower itself is worth seeing as a city landmark, though it's been very crowded both times we visited. Our favorite part about this hike is the 436-steps up Filbert to get up to Coit Tower. We have yet to see any parrots on our walks here (though we did get to see some from our deck in Noe Valley), but you can't miss their incessant squawking in the trees overhead. The gardens along the steps are not to be missed, and neither is the wonderful view of the city skyline from atop the hill.

5. Secret Sausalito Stairways
August 14, 2010 with Stephen

http://carfreeoutdoors.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/secret-sausalito-stairways-to-the-marin-headlands/

It was the Car-Free Outdoors website that introduced us to the Secret Sausalito Stairways, for which we are very grateful. The next time you're in Sausalito, try touring the seaside village by way of Jen's instructions in the link above. Climbing the stairs is quite an adventure but the views make it all worthwhile. Turns out, this trip was training for Pearl and Stephen's trip to Machu Picchu later this year.

Playing With Our Food

2012-01-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

As we continue with food experimentation, we've added a new tool to our kitchen arsenal: a vita-mix! Check out this fabulous home-made nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread) which tastes much better than the store-bought kind.

Chocolate/Hazelnut Spread

Our kombucha flavor list keeps growing, and we've recently been experimenting with a variety of different spices. Some of our more successful flavors include: cardamom apple, apple cinnamon, star anise and fennel, and espresso beans and vanilla pods. We are trying to prepare flavors that are in alignment with the current season, and we can't wait for the spring and summer as the berries and fruits of the new season will bring exciting flavors to our palate!

Red Date Kombucha, Rosemary Salt, Cardamom Kombucha, Sauerkraut, Fennel Anise Kombucha

We've also been in a pickling mood as of late, preserving daikon in sweet and spicy vinegar, and carrots in a spicy brine.

Lastly, our cabbage experiments are going very well: we made a successful cabbage, dill, garlic, and ginger sauerkraut and are currently fermenting our very own kim chee. The only problem with these is that the smell really takes over the house so we have to keep the door to the rear mudroom shut at all times.

Playing with our food is as much fun now as it was when we were kids!

The end of 2011; the beginning of 2012

2012-01-02T11:59:00.000-08:00

The end of each year often brings about a flurry of activity as we endeavor to visit family and friends, participate in holiday activities, check off the remaining items on our annual To Do lists, and generally tie up loose ends. In the two months since our last entry we visited family on the East Coast 3 times, saw a beautiful ballet choreographed by Alonzo King (Alonza King Lines Ballet), made our annual trip down to the Shoreline Amphitheatre for the Bridge School Benefit Concert (this year's line-up included Neil Young, Arcade Fire, Eddie Vedder, Beck, Mumford & Sons and Norah Jones), did a number of hikes along the East Bay Trails (including the Claremont Canyon Hike and the Coyote Hills Trails, both of which we plan to do again soon), attended the opera (San Francisco Opera's performance of Carmen), and most recently hosted a New Year's gathering that concluded with a morning hike in Marin to welcome the year in nature.

As we did last year, we wanted to share a few of our goals for 2012 with you and invite you all along to participate...

Visit two new states
Attend two new festivals
Visit the Petaluma Seed Bank
Visit Orr & Wilbur Hot Springs
Hike Macchu Picchu
Camp in the Pacific Northwest
Take a preserves class
Experiment with making flavored salts
Experiment more with fermentation
Make five recipes from “Make the Bread”
Ride a tandem bike
Run Bay-to-Breakers or a 5K Fun Run
Complete 20 miles of EBParks hiking
Learn two songs on guitar

Happy new year to all of you. As the year changes, so does the season. It's been a little milder and a little wetter of late which means it's time to head out to tend the garden...

Hiking and Camping in Yosemite

2011-10-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on a hiking and camping trip to Yosemite with our friends Dustin, Sascha and Krista.

We did a ~4mi RT hike (1000+ ft of elevation) to the top of Vernal Falls.

Half Dome in the distance.

The hike on day 2 was less strenuous, but no less impressive.

The giant sequoias of Merced Grove.

Relaxing amidst the trees.

Thanks again to Dustin for the photos.

Hardly Strictly, 2011

2011-10-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the third and final day of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/), a free festival in Golden Gate Park. Though we were busy on Friday and Saturday, we had just enough free time on Sunday to head out to the park in time to catch Emmylou Harris perform a set which mixed some songs off her new album with covers (including Gillian Welch's Orphan Girl and Gram Parsons' Luxury Liner) she's been performing for years. It was a great way to end the weekend.

(Thank you to Dustin for the fantastic photos!)

Food and Plants, Indoors and Out

2011-10-03T12:36:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, we took a raw fermentation class from Raw Bay Area chef Heather Haxo Phillips and got lots of great ideas on fermentation. We learned how to make raw coconut yogurt using vegan kefir grains, got tips on how to improve our sauerkraut and recipe ideas for kombucha second fermentations, and even learned how to make raw vegan cheese! Since the class, we've tried to make coconut yogurt twice. While we haven't gotten it right yet, we'll keep trying when we can afford the coconuts! Our first attempt at sauerkraut was pretty disastrous (too salty!!) but we remain undaunted and are ready to try again. We're also very excited to make the nut cheese the next time we make vegan sushi rolls.

After the class, we took Sascha's brother to dim sum in Chinatown. On the recommendation of a friend, we tried Great Eastern restaurant for the first time and were happy to discover that their to-miao (bean sprout leaves) was fabulous.

We walked off our very heavy lunch by going to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate park, a magical place filled with beautiful pools of water, hanging water lilies, carnivorous plants, and tropical orchids. The currently exhibit at the CoF is the Wicked Plants exhibition, a collection of "deadly" and harmful plants that features over 30 species of plants with scandalous histories, some of which can be found growing in many of your homes and gardens.

And speaking of gardens, our own garden is doing very well. We've been working outside all summer and wanted to share some of our success with you! We've had a month of tomatoes (red, yellow, and orange) and it looks as if we'll have many more in the weeks to come. The other crops -- broccoli, mustard greens, kale, chard, collards, lettuce, fava beans -- should all be ready soon. We may even get some late-season melons soon (currently we have 10-12 small melons on the vine, each about the size of a half-dollar). Hope you all can come and see our home and garden in person one day.

(Thank you to Patrick for the photos of the exhibit and of our lunch together.)

Floating, Flying and Broomstick Riding

2011-09-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

After lovely visits to both families, we took a trip down south to Florida and dropped in on Stephen and Ally in their new Orlando home.

We spent much of our trip to Connecticut discussing vegetable gardens with our nephew Chayce...

...and being entertained by his brother, Kyler.

Our first adventure in Florida took us out to the Crystal River...

...where we boarded a boat...

...with Stephen...

...and Ally...

...then donned our snorkel gear...

...to swim with MANATEES!!!

We saw 8 manatees in total...

...and swam with 5 of them.

Big ones...

...and little ones, too.

...and even watched the little ones suckle on their mommas.

That night we played minigolf at the coolest course we've seen.

Watch out for that water hazard: those gators are real, even if they are only 2 feet long.

The following day we drove out to iFly Orlando to do some indoor skydiving in a windtunnel of 100+ mph winds.

This way to Hogwarts!!!

Our last adventure on the trip was to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.

There was so much to see while standing in line for the Forbidden Journey ride, including talking portraits, squealing plants, and the Sorting Hat. And lots more, but we don't want to ruin any surprises.

You may be able to guess from the hoards of sweating tourists that the snow atop the shops is fake.

The butterbeer and pumpkin fizz were delicious, the lines were short (we made sure to wait until after the muggle kids were back in school), the Forbidden Journey ride really was amazingly well done. A real treat for Harry Potter fans!

A happy hippie camping road-trip

2011-08-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from our road trip up to The Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, and we wanted to share some highlights with you...

Stop 1: The Goddess Temple in Chico, CA

On our way up to Ashland, we stayed at the Goddess Temple in Chico where we slept in a teepee, made of wooden poles and canvas. We were surrounded by the sounds of bull-frogs (they really do sound like cows), chirping crickets and howling coyotes that seemed very close by.

Surrounding the teepee were lotus flowers, a moving creek, a naturalized pool and 4 acres of hiking grounds.

Stop 2: Stewart Mineral Springs in Weed, CA

We experienced our first "sweat" at the sweat lodge in Stewart Mineral Springs. A sweat lodge is a ceremonial sauna, in a domed hut covered with many, many blankets. Stones are heated in an exterior fire and then placed in a central pit in the ground of the domed hut. Elders from the Karuk tribe of California led the ceremony, which is the Native American way of cleansing the body, mind and spirit, eliminating toxins from the physical body to allow space for listening and reflecting upon what our inner spirit may be saying to us. The ceremony begins by lighting a bonfire that heats the stones used in the lodge. We each took a pinch of tobacco, and with our prayers, contributed it to the fire. Then after taking our place in the lodge, we joined the others in "singing in" the rocks. With the glowing rocks and the darkened space, it was a deeply profound and intense experience.

Stop 3: The Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR

We had a great time in Oregon and the Shakespeare Festival and fell in love with Ashland. We saw two fantastic plays (Henry IV, Part Two and Jonathan Moscone's Ghost Light) this year, and are looking forward to returning next year for Henry V and Romeo and Juliet.

In the middle of Ashland is Lithia Park, the largest and most central park of the city, consisting of 93 acres of forested canyon land. The park has two large greens, a bandshell, two duck ponds, playgrounds, and miles of hiking trails. We especially loved the daisies and the monkey bars where Leah showed off some aerial moves and Pearl tried to swing from one end to the next, quite unsuccessfully.

Stop 4: Hyatt Reservoir in Ashland, CA

We met a local Ashlander at the Bloomsbury Cafe who told us to explore Hyatt Reservoir (between mile 17 & 18 on Rt. 66), and it was a great suggestion (thanks, Carl!), for we saw very few people as we picnicked and hiked the open lake, watching the birds and wildlife that abound the area. We came upon a tree that looked like it belonged in a Tim Burton set and a deer who seemed as interested in us as we were of him.

Stop 5: McCloud Falls in McCloud, CA

The falls of the McCloud River is in the Shasta National Forest and consist of three levels: lower, middle and upper, each with its own distinct flavor. We spent most of our time sunning and swimming in the Middle Falls, which weren't as crowded as the Lower Falls, but are much more accessible than the pool fed by the Upper Falls.

McCloud Falls is certainly one of the most spectacular river falls in Northern California and is a must-see for anyone venturing north of the Bay area.

Catching Up

2011-07-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the Pride Parade after 6 years here in the Bay! We always seem to be out of town for Pride weekend, but this year's celebration at the Civic Center was so much fun, and made the sardine-like BART ride into the city worth every squished minute. We sat close to center stage, listening to the speeches and performances while we people watched and got some sun. The celebration was a rainbow of costumes, outfits and naked bodies of every color. The best part of the afternoon was when the guy next to us came back from getting some food and excitedly screamed to his friends: "We just saw furries!"

Later that evening, we walked to Cellspace with Blair & Sascha to watch MUCH ADO ABOUT LEBOWSKI, The Big Lebowski as writ by William Shakespeare: "an adaptation of an adaptation of a parody of a farce." The cast, the crew and the crowd all drank caucasians throughout the evening and a good time was had by all. The cast spoke a cross between Elizabethan English and The Dude's uniquely stylized L.A. English with ease, and the chorus of three men singing 70s music to accompany the action was classic. Highly recommended.

Our friend Jim recently returned to the Bay Area after a nation-wide tour with his band, The Love Dimension (http://www.thelovedimension.com/), and we were able to catch two of his shows last month. We were excited to finally check out both venues (Cafe Du Nord and The Starry Plough, must-see venues in SF and Berkeley, respectively), and to get to see Jim perform again.

Leah's close friends, Rain and Bebe, were in SF touring with their group The Paper Doll Militia (www.thepaperdollmilitia.com/The_Paper_Doll_Militia.html), as they presented their latest show THE TWISTED TALE. The show incorporates aerial apparatus, live music, shadow puppetry, slide projection, and narrative poetry, and was super impressive with dazzling flying sequences and creative costumes and characters. They are currently in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival - check them out if you're nearby!

We celebrated the 4th of July with a grand barbeque in our backyard that included lots of white sangria, hula-hooping, juggling while hula-hooping, laughing while falling while juggling while hula-hooping, and lots of food, fun and general silliness...all capped off with a few rounds of Celebrity (of course)!

As we've noted previously, this summer we joined the East Bay Park Trails Challenge, which means that we have 26.2 miles to hike by the end of the year. To put some miles on our log, we went on a 4.1-mile hike in Pinole with Blair and Kristin. It was a beautiful hike right by the bay. The trailhead is across the water from the Richmond shooting range, so we set off to the sound of discs flying and guns popping. The best part of the hike was the flora (blackberries!), and fauna: we saw a number of beautiful egrets and cool lizards running about, and and even got to see the cutest baby fox with its momma while picnicking by a lake reserve.

Out first round of pickles was mostly a success, with some recipes working better than others (the one with dry mustard, turmeric and celery seed, with a 3-to-1 water/vinegar ratio has been our favorite so far). The cucumbers in our garden are looking amazing, and we can't wait to start pickling the home-grown cukes. First, though, we have to get through the 5 jars of pickles we have left in the fridge.

And our kombucha has been going really well, too! We split the last batch in two and infused half with lavender (from our CSA), and half with mint. Both turned out amazing, especially the lavender which had a really strong flavor.

All in all, it's been a fun month. And August, with it's scheduled trips to Oregon, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Florida, should prove to have more than a few blogable moments. Until then...

A Pickle-in-Waiting

2011-07-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Our first mature cucumber!

Further Experiments Involving Jars

2011-07-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

Earlier today we did our test pickling experiment using store-bought cucumbers. We tried five different recipes, using ingredients such as: dill, mustard powder, mustard seeds, garlic, peppercorns, whole chili peppers, celery seeds, turmeric, and coriander.

These pickles should be ready in a few weeks, at which point the six varieties of cucumber plants in the garden should start producing fruit, and we can start all over again.

We'll let you know which recipes we like best next month.

Sushi night ala Cha-ya

2011-06-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

Along with Sascha and Leah, we decided to recreate some signature Cha-ya vegan sushi last weekend to great success! We even attempted their tempura rolls (whole rolls dipped in tempura batter and fried to a crisp).

Ingredients included: avocado, mushrooms, broccolini, squash, cucumber, green beans, lettuce, spinach, spicy tofu. Everything turned out so well. Yay for inventive cooking at home!

Further Experiment with Fermentation: Sauerkraut

2011-06-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

We started our sauerkraut project today!

For anyone interested in making these in your own kitchen, all you need are vegetables (we used cabbage, onion & carrots), mason jars, and a tool to push down the veggies.

Just cut the veggies in bite-size pieces, salt on the heavy side (the fermentation process needs salt), mix and start putting into the jar, pausing every once in a while to push down on the veggies to create brine. And that's about it! Just make sure that by the end of your process, all the veggies will be covered in brine juice (otherwise, mold will start to develop).

We'll keep you posted on how ours turn out!

Fire Dragons

2011-06-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

Last night, we drove to the Goddess Temple in Chico, CA to participate in a firewalk. Under the guidance of Claudia Weber, we watched a huge pyre of cedar wood burn down to coals, and then walked across the coals to the sound of two assisting drummers and the natural sounds of the surrounding forest (the frogs from the nearby pond were competing with the crickets and the drummers for audial supremacy).

The night was clear -- with the moon and stars giving the whole experience a most perfect atmosphere - and the setting at the temple was beautiful. We can't wait to go back to the temple to camp in their tee-pees or participate in other events there.

The coals were certainly hot but we survived (albeit with slightly tender soles).

It's definitely a fun experience so we recommend giving it a try if you get the chance.

Kombucha, sauerkraut and pickled vegetables

2011-06-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

Last week, our friend-slash-gardener-slash-garden/health mentor Lisa brought us a kombucha daughter and we've started brewing in our kitchen. For those of you who aren't familiar with the drink, kombucha is a fermented tea made from sugar, tea (usually green or black tea) and a SCOBY (symbiotic colony/culture of bacteria and yeast). It tastes a bit like sparkling apple cider, and has supposed benefits like improved digestion, better skin, stronger immunity, anti-aging effects, increased energy and weight loss. Some even say that it may have anti-microbial effects against harmful bacteria like E. coli, a range of vitamins and minerals, and possibly anti-fungal properties as well.

2 Gallon jar and "the new summer project"

Day 2 in the jar

Now that our kombucha project is well under way, we're excited to try other fermenting processes. The next time we get cabbage from our CSA, we're making sauerkraut! And Christopher just planted 4 more cucumber plants in our garden and we hope to start pickling cucumbers this summer. And we can't wait to start pickling other veggies, too...perhaps starting with garlic (our first garlic harvest was a success).

Stop by our place next week if you want to try our very first brew.

May Days and Birthdays and Sunny Days

2011-05-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

As the summer months approach, it's time to reflect on the doings and goings-on of another season passed.

When we left off in March, Pearl was just about to head to Ohio to give her first conference paper at the British Women Writers Conference. Though it was a little daunting at first, she had a great experience delivering her first paper. Everyone was very supportive, and she answered the questions asked of her with articulate ease. More importantly, the conference gave her the confidence boost she needed in preparation for her Orals exam, more about which anon.

Upon her return, we joined Stu and Mags on a hike around the Albany Bulb, a former landfill that juts into the Bay and which is now covered in volunteer art and graffiti.

The next evening we joined a group of friends to celebrate Sascha's birthday at Cafe Tibet, where we had tasty vegetarian food in the company of great friends. We had been hearing raves about the restaurant since we first moved to Berkeley and we were glad to finally have an excuse to go.

That weekend found us at the Green Festival which, due to reasons of economy, was noticeably toned down from prior years. Highlights from the festival included the Nada Chair (http://www.nadachair.com/), Pearl's Global Exchange hippie pants (not only are the pants environmentally-sustainably made, they were a steal for $15!), and, of course, the amazing food which was the best part of the festival: vegan corn dogs, knishes, and felafels!

The next week and a half were quiet (Chris marked his 6-year anniversary at work), until mid-April when Pearl took her oral exam...and passed with flying colors!!! After the test she said she felt as if 8 years of weight (marked from the start of her Masters program), was lifted from her shoulders. That night, to celebrate, we went down to Oakland to watch the Red Sox take on the A's. The Red Sox lost, leaving them 1-4 in the five years we've seen them here. While it was a bummer, the actual experience was still fun, especially as The Coliseum has the best vegan hot dogs we've ever tasted.

Around this time, Pearl participated in her second conference and gave a paper with Jasmine on essay writing and sequencing - Jasmine and Pearl co-created a syllabus on which the conference paper was based. The support from Davis professors & graduate students were overwhelmingly kind, and it was nice to partake in a composition conference, which differs greatly from English conferences.

On May Day, we took a walking tour/class called Wildflowers Of Skyline Serpentine Prairie, up in the Oakland hills, where we learned about the different native wildflowers in the Bay Area. We also learned that bees like the colors pink, purple, blue and white and cannot see red - good thing we planted lots of purple and white flowers in our yard! It was a great class (and free!), and we can't wait to take more free classes with the East Bay Parks.

A few days later we were in Massachusetts, visiting Chris' family for Mother's Day. It was great to see everyone and to have four generations together to celebrate.

On our return, we got to see one of the final performances of The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh at UC Berkeley, which was funny and shocking and very well acted.

The following week brought us two of the greatest days of the year: our birthdays! For Chris' birthday (which coincided with World Naked Gardening Day), we spent all day in the garden...clothed, it was cold :(. With Lisa's help we got a bunch of the bolted veggies out of the ground and a lot of new ones in. We planted cucumbers, melons, beans, hot peppers, carrots, beets, kale, and lots more tomatoes to go with the celery, chard, spinach and lettuce we planted earlier. We're not sure what will survive (our peppers didn't last year), and what won't get eaten by the neighborhood critters (as our cukes did last year), but we'll post pictures to show the progress.

In between the birthdays, our friend Diana paid another visit and we got to meet some of her lovely friends over salads and beers at Jupiter Cafe.

For Pearl's birthday, her sisters came out west and the three of them, with family friend Jose, went to Sacramento to watch Glee perform live. The sisters' visit was so much fun. We tried a number of different restaurants in San Francisco (Thirsty Bear for Spanish tapas, and Hogs and Rocks for jamon and oysters) and took the group to Martuni's, a piano bar where participants can sing along with the piano player. We also checked out the Vacaville Outlets -- it wouldn't be a Filipino reunion without outlets shopping, and we even found time to work out together (walks, pilates, yoga).

On Sunday night, we threw a party to introduce them to some of our friends, and thanks to performances from Jose (pilates class, singing), Mags (hula hooping, crumping), Stu (hula hooping), and Pearl (wind flute), it can safely be said that a good time was had by all.

A few days later, Pearl gave another conference paper at UCD where she was able to share the start of her dissertation project to an audience. This was her third conference - she's becoming a pro!

And that just about brings us up to date. Oh, wait! I left out the part about Pearl being one of the models in Sascha's video for his acupuncture practice (appointments still available, operators are standing by). And training for the 5K. And signing up for the EB Parks Trail Challenge. And how Chris grew his first beard (he's so grown up now)...then shaved it down to a mustache in a tribute to Steve Prefontaine (it helps with the running). And how we've started sprouting beans for salads again. And the komboucha. And...

Early Spring, 2011

2011-03-12T08:47:00.000-08:00

It’s been a quiet four months since our last post but we wanted to keep you updated on our latest…

We celebrated the completion of Pearl's Fall Semester by hosting our annual gingerbread house party. We baked the bread, prepped the icing, and gathered a bunch of friends over to regress momentarily to childhood by creating houses that would make Hansel and Gretel drool. Some pics:

Soon after, we flew to the East Coast area to spend Christmas with our families. Pablo, Karen and their kids flew in to spend Christmas in America. The last time Pearl's whole family was together was seven years ago, so we had a wonderful time reconnecting.

We also got to spend time with Chris' family, and it was fun getting up in the wee hours to open up presents with Diana. We got to participate in the family's tradition of ordering Chinese Food on Christmas Day, and it was a fun day of celebration with the whole family.

We returned to California after Christmas and spent New Year's Eve at Jesse and Jasmine’s, ringing in the new year with our friends.

In January, we returned our focus to our front yard, planting all sorts so wildflower seeds (poppies, sunflowers, daisies, etc) and three cala lilies. We are excited to see our front yard in full bloom this spring. Stay tuned for more pics.

In February, we welcomed Leah into our home, and it’s been so wonderful creating a new home with her. And, last week, we celebrated Sascha’s growing acupuncture practice by checking out Cancun, a taqueria that grows their own organic veggies. And with regard to our own organic veggies, we have been eating our peas (sugar and snap) and spinach for the first time. The peas taste sweet like corn, and the spinach is so rich, vibrant and crunchy. Y’all have to come and taste for yourself the difference between store-bought and home-grown.

That brings us up to today with lots of fun stuff ahead of us: Pearl defends her dissertation in April (okay, maybe not so fun, but definitely necessary); we’re planning to go on a firewalk for Chris’ birthday; Candice and Pia are coming into town to celebrate Pearl’s birthday weekend with a viewing of Glee on stage.

We'll write again when we have more to share! With Love, Chris and Pearl

Fall Fun

2010-12-01T11:06:00.001-08:00

Oh my, oh my, how the end of the year flies by.

In October, with help from Ciana, we transitioned our garden from Spring/Summer to Autumn/Winter: pulling out the tomatoes, chard, beans and herbs and planting beets, peas, carrots, tatsoi, spinach, and Brussels sprouts.

On Hallow's Eve eve, we dined at the Tenz's, newly arrived from Germany. We had a lovely dinner cooked by Courtney & Melissa and carved pumpkins, Pearl's first ever jack-o-lantern!

The following night, we stayed home to greet the Trick-or-Treaters. As we've never had a single Trick-or-Treater knock on our door before (in SF, NY, PA or anywhere else we've lived together), we were excited to watch the bowl of chocolates disappear as the night progressed. Our favorite was a 3-year-old girl dressed in a Mickey Mouse outfit (a rare classic costume among all the new superheroes and unknown cartoon characters).

Two weeks later, we traveled to Mass. to visit the Bauers. It was great to see the family, and Pearl even got to test the new body scan at the airport.

In late November, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner (vegan style). It was a plentiful meal consisting of the usual holiday suspects minus the turkey. Kristin even treated us to a trio of pies: vegan apple, vegan pumpkin and vegan chocolate pecan. Delicious.

Pearl's mom came to visit and we threw her an Asian-themed potluck party (sushi by Sascha, eggrolls, miso soup, and more), which we capped off with a round of Celebrity. Everyone who came to the party had to write up a "Ten activities for 2011" list, goals they wish to accomplish in the coming year. Here are our lists ~ if you wish to join us for any of the activities on our lists, let us know!

PEARL'S LIST:
1. Go sky diving in Monterey
2. Go lawn-bowling in Berkeley
3. Go camping in Stewart Mineral Springs Retreat, Mount Shasta
4. Go to mud-baths in Calistoga
5. Go to Octoberfest in Marin
6. Attempt a blue ribbon win at the June CA State Fair
7. Pass my Qualifying Exams
8. Run Bay-to-Breakers
9. Attend Fire Arts Festival in Oakland
10. See Elvis Costello in concert

CHRISTOPHER'S LIST:
1. Continue to practice guitar
2. Finish draft of my screenplay
3. Get a tattoo
4. Get my motorcycle license
5. Go fire walking [Fire]
6. Go surfing [Water]
7. Ride in a Hot air balloon [Air]
8. Take a mudbath, preferably in a natural spring [Earth]
9. Run Bay-to-Breakers or a 5K Fun Run
10. Begin studying French
11. Read 3 new books from the Modern Library Top 100

(Thanks to Tony for taking photos of the food)

Thanksgiving weekend ended with a trip to Salt Point in Jenner where we went mushroom hunting. We didn't find many mushrooms worth eating, though we learned a lot about mushroom picking and identification.

That just about brings us up to the present. Stay tuned for further adventures involving gingerbread houses, ugly Christmas jumpers, family reunions and more.

Happy Holidays!

The Hotel Bauer

2010-10-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

Chris and Pearl Among the Vines (Photo Courtesy of Lily)

Every year, there seems to be one month where our home turns into The Hotel Bauer (which is slightly different than Camp Bauer), and September was such a month. It started off with a trip home to see Chris' family, followed immediately by a series of hosting: friends, family friends, friends-of-friends, plus a visit from Micah and Sharon who were in town from Denver, finishing up with a visit from our most frequent visitor, the lovely Miss Pia.

And in between these visits from friends old and new, we:

* Welcomed new Berkeley-ites Blair (who just moved from Davis, CA), and Dustin (who moved from Germany).

* Took another edibles walk with Feral Kevin, this time in Lafayette, which commenced at the Community Center and ended at his school’s garden, where he manages an after-school program teaching kids how to farm. We are very excited to take his daylong mushroom foray in Northern California later this year.

* Helped Sascha revamp his website to include acupuncture, moxa and herb photos, with help from Dustin, Ciana and Krista.

* Planted and landscaped the front yard making the house appear lived-in and well-loved (it had been unattended for years prior to our moving here).

* Visited Jason’s uncle and aunt’s vineyard, Pasterick, in Sonoma during crush season, where we got to see the harvesting and crushing of grapes for the new vintage. We also walked through the magical forest, ate a lovely picnic and played a few friendly rounds of Petanque. We’re very excited to visit the Gerry and Diane again, as they have a lovely vineyard and are the most wonderful hosts.

Now, as summer turns quickly to fall, we have started to make plans for our next round of planting. We are thinking of planting lettuce and a bunch of underground vegetables, roots, bulbs and tubers, such as potatoes, beets, yams, and garlic. Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

With October well underway, we're excited to go apple picking and having many children ring our doorbell for treats on Halloween. Happy "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" season, everyone!

Welcoming our new front yard

2010-09-28T19:52:00.001-07:00

Hey folks,

We've been hard at work on the front yard. Thanks to Lisa, Dustin,
Sascha, Krista and Pia, we've turned our front yard from:

to

I know! We can't believe the magical change ourselves. The flagstones
look like they've been there for a while and the ground cover and
rocks work well to give our mound a bit of texture. But best of all,
we love how the purple petals from the princess flower off-sets well
with the red mulch.

Come on over and check it out!

Before and After

2010-08-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Bed #3, taken on July 13, 2010

Bed #3, taken on August 24, 2010

Santa Cruz to Sausalito to San Francisco

2010-08-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Stephen just left after his annual visit. His visits often mean new adventures, and this year we decided on a zip-line adventure to go with the usual assortment hikes and restaurant sampling.

Last weekend, we drove up to Sausalito and toured the seaside village by way of the "Sausalito Secret Stairs" - a series of steep, underused staircases that lead to a beautiful hill overlooking the Bay. Climbing the stairs was an adventure in itself -- it's been 8 months now since we moved out of San Francisco so the coastal hills were quite a challenge -- but the view made it all worthwhile.

This most recent weekend, Steve, Ally and Sascha joined us for a walk along the Bay to Chrissy Field and to check out the Wave Organ, an environmental art sculpture comprised of listening tubes that stick out of the water like periscopes. It's like a giant man-made symphonic sea shell. We heard subtle sounds of drums, cymbals and flowing water rumbling up the pipes as little waves slapped against the sculpture.

The view from Chrissy Field

Pearl listens to the music of the Bay

The highlight of the week was the redwood canopy tour, an amazing ziplines and rope bridge course just outside of Santa Cruz, where we flew through redwood trees at up to 150 feet up from the ground. The longest zip-line we zipped through was 450 feet long, and we got great rushes when cannon-balling through it (we were told that one can move up to 35 miles per hour!). Check out the video of Pearl coming in to land after the final zipline.

Pearl on her practice run at the zipline course

A rope bridge between two redwoods, 140 feet above ground level

Pearl completes the course

Pearl and Stephen, back at ground level

Garden Update: In addition to the lettuce and basil which we've continued to harvest, we've started picking the kale (for kale chips), cilantro (for guacamole), and radish (for salads). The beans have started climbing the ladder Sascha and Chris built. The tomatoes and peppers have started to ripen on the vine and change color.

A close-up of the beans climbing the ladder

The tomatoes are almost ripe

Our first homegrown radish

This past weekend we planted the blueberry bushes and hope to get another round of planting in before Labor Day. September will be busy, starting with a trip east to visit family, two baseball games, another fruits-of-the-forest hike with Feral Kevin, a visit from Pia, an exploratory trip to the tattoo studio, a housemate search, Pearl's return to school, and lots and lots of planting, gardening and harvesting. Phew.

The Garden - Part 2

2010-07-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

We've been hard at work in the garden all summer long, and we're already seeing so many wonderful changes ~ it's amazing how much happens in the span of a month.

We've been growing vegetables from both seeds and starters; the seeds are starting to sprout and the starters are beginning to fruit. Last weekend, we harvested some basil leaves for a roasted tomato dish that we served for a dinner party, and in the coming weeks, we should have the makings for a salad!

We just finished putting together two more raised beds and are on the hunt for some organic blueberry bushes. The blueberry season is over for this year but we hope to have three large (fruiting) bushes by next summer.

Here are our plans and some photos of our growing garden.

lettuce, cucumbers, celery, carrots, radish

Salad? Gazpacho? Salsa?

View of the beans, kale, chard, cabbage garlic as seen through the bean ladder Sascha made

Close up of the chard

In the herb bed: lavender, rosemary, oregano, dill, chives, parsley, cilantro, garlic, shallots

View of the brick border around the herb bed

The mint, bell peppers and habaneros are all being grown in separate pots outside the beds

Close up of the mint

The broccoli was started indoors in a planter and will be transferred to the third bed in a few weeks

The layout of the three vegetable beds

The layout of the herb bed

Garden Update

2010-07-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Lily, Sascha, Stuart, and Lauren's help these last few weeks, we've gotten a great start on making the garden of our dreams come true. Soon, we hope to be making dinners with the fruits of our labor. If anybody is interested in getting dirty or trying their hands at gardening, there is still a lot to do and we welcome all helpers! Just email us and come on over!

Some photos of our starters and seedlings

View of cucumbers, lettuce, celery, summer squash, butternut squash, and garden peach variety tomatoes (not in view, carrots and radish seedlings).

View of green beans, kale, chard, and savoy cabbage (not in view, garlic and onions)

View of oregano, basil and parsley (still to come, coriander and rosemary)

New photos of our home

2010-07-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

We've been spending most of our free time setting up house, both indoors and out. With the help of Lily and Sascha this weekend, we finished construction of our raised beds and teepee stalks, prepared our herb garden, and planted our cacti. Finally, our house is turning into a home.

By request, here are some photos of our progress:

Our puzzle, music, and dining area

Where we wake up to yoga and meditation in the mornings and work/study in the evenings

Where we spend most of our time, cooking up the yummiest of mostly-vegan meals

Our bedroom altar faces the east

Before and After of the Front Yard - Lily and Pearl weeded the front and planted cacti this weekend ~ what a difference!

Chris put together these redwood planks (courtesy of Barry) and they are ready for veggies. Amazing work, eh?

Sascha dug up about a foot of old soil and Chris bricked the sides. In the next few days, we will compost the roses and add top soil and herbs.

It's been a busy weekend, and we are exhausted but seeing the progress we've made so far has us really excited. There is still a long way to go before we start harvesting but we'll send updates as the sprouts start to shoot up.

Summertime

2010-06-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

It's the middle of June, and we're finally settling into our new home in Berkeley, just two blocks from where we've been subletting for the last six months. We're planning on staying put until Pearl graduates from school in a few years time; we have been doing way too much moving recently and and are ready to settle down, at least for the moment.

Our new home

We lucked out and found a newly renovated two-bedroom house with an open backyard that is perfect for a raised bed vegetable garden. This weekend, we started digging the beds for wildflowers and native plants in the front and started construction on the raised beds for the back. Soon we hope to have cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, peppers, broccoli, beets, squash, spinach and herbs.

Our back yard (the before pic)

Flowers from the yard

We've grown to love Berkeley-living so much more than we anticipated. We find that we don't cross the bridge into San Francisco as much as we thought we would; instead, we find ourselves exploring Berkeley, Oakland, and the East Bay. Last month, we went on a hike in Las Trampas Regional Wilderness in San Ramon with our friends Stu & Mags where we picnicked atop a large rock outcrop while watching a kaleidoscope of wildflowers blowing in the wind.

P&C at Las Trampas (courtesy of M. Chuang)

We also hiked with Sascha up in Marin to join the German Maifest celebration near Muir Woods where we were entertained by the Tourist Club SF in their traditional Bavarian outfits, dancing around a Maypole dance. Traditionally the maypole dance was an opportunity for young unmarried lads and lasses of the village to meet and pair up. The dancers at the Maifest were there to entertain rather than pitch woo, and were not so young, ranging from early twenties to, perhaps, late seventies, but all seemed to be having a grand time all the same. It was cute watching everyone get into the spirit of May!

Dancing around the pole at Maifest

Last weekend, Sascha graduated from American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine for his Masters in Acupuncture, and we attended the event with his father, Mickey, who flew in from Germany, and his uncle, Kirk, who flew in from Kentucky.

P&S&C at the graduation (courtesy of K. Schmidt)

For the coming months, our plans mainly include getting as much sun as possible in our backyard while we plant our garden, bbq and read on our new lawn chaises. We'll be visiting family in Boston in mid-July, and Pearl will be attending the Dickens Universe in Santa Cruz in the beginning of August.

If you find yourself in the Bay area or seeking a getaway weekend out West, come and relax in the sun with us! We always love guests :).

Spring Break!

2010-04-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

The lion of March arrived more than a little soggy following two straight months of rain, and the lamb seems to be heading out nearly as wet, but in between we had four lovely weeks of California sun where we packed in a ton of activities.

Our first March adventure was an outdoor class, or walkabout, where we learned to identify edible plants that grow in the wild: acorns (for flour), Miner's Lettuce, Thistle leaves, Stinging Nettles, Yerba Buena. Because the class took place in a public park, we were unable to pick the plants we saw on the hike; but soon after, we went on a walkabout of our own on which we used our new-found wilderness knowledge to discover these savory delights. And better still, on that second hike, we found some chantrelle mushrooms which we incorporated into our meal that evening.

The fruits (and fungi) of our wild plant and mushroom forage

As Pearl's semester came to a close, Pia arrived once again and we all headed directly to the Tattoo Expo at the Cow Palace. Amidst the bikers and tattoo aficionados, we looked as out of place at the expo as we did hiking the Grand Canyon in our argyle sweaters and designer shades but we mingled and talked to a few artists and eventually found the artist we want to work on us. She is located in Fresno so one of our next Pia reunions will have to take place down there. To see some of her work, click here: http://towertattoos.com/site/?page_id=12

The following day, we took Pia to visit our Community Supported Agriculture Farm in Dixon, CA for a tour and afternoon tea. We spent that day walking around the farm, seeing where our weekly box of veggies comes from and enjoying the newly hatched chicks.

Grape vines at Eatwell

The atmosphere couldn’t have been any different from the previous day's events. Here, we were surrounded by farmers and lovers of the earth, having gathered together to enjoy the sun and hear the farmer, Nigel, discuss his plans for the farm, which include building his new home: an "earth house" which will eventually be covered in soil and grass.

The frame of the Earth House

The house is designed to last for 900 years, and to withstand nuclear explosions, earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes. It's really amazing, and he's building it all himself, with the help of members and friends. Here is a video of the house that they posted a few weeks ago; when we saw it last week, some of the walls had already come up. http://www.youtube.com/user/eatwellfarmcsa

Pearl, Lily and Pia climb the house

After a full day in the sun, we came home and started a 1000-piece puzzle, the first of four puzzles we completed in the week that Pia was here.

For the remainder of Pia’s visit, we participated in activities to help us heal and relax: Pearl led morning yoga classes where we all learned to further control our breath, find our centers, and stretch our bodies.

Pia and Pearl took a capoeira class a block from our house where they attempted cartwheels, backbends and sweeping movements with their feet. While they certainly weren’t as graceful as the teacher or older students, everyone in the studio made them feel welcome; they even joined the roda (pronounced “hoddah”), where the professora and students took turns playing musical instruments (such as the Berimbau), singing and ritually sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The girls were a bit embarrassed to “play” with the far more experienced students whose moves included acrobatic play, feints, takedowns, leg sweeps, kicks and headbutts. Still it was an amazing experience due to the studio’s warm welcome.

Pearl also took Pia to Wing Chun class where she got to show off the moves she’s been learning in the last two months. Pia learned to aggressively defend herself eastern style, all the while enjoying the warm welcome that Pearl’s studio showed her.

To help their bodies recover from capoeira and Wing Chun, Pia and Pearl painted a ceramic salad bowl and plates at Brushstrokes (http://www.brushstrokestudio.com/), another fun activity in our neighborhood.

Our new salad bowl and plates

Towards the end of the week, Chris took a few days off work and we spent three days waking to yoga and meditation, cooking and enjoying amazing vegan food (the Guatemalan enchiladas and the Mauritian dinner were highlights), putting together puzzles, hiking, and showing off our moves with our brand new hula hoops. On Pia's last day in town, we hiked up to--and through--the Berkeley Botanical Gardens and back, a 9-mile hike in total.

The Redwood Forest at the Berkeley Botanical Gardens

I think it's fair to say that when she boarded the plane for the red-eye that evening, Pia probably slept pretty well after a long, active, and fun week. And we can't wait for her to return so we can do more Berkeley/California exploration.

...And Five Months Later...

2010-02-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

My, how the time does pass. The last five months have brought us experiences and friends, both new and familiar. It's been a wild and wonderful ride and before too much time passes, we thought we would pause a moment to collect ourselves.

In October, we finally made it to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, a three day music festival held every year in Golden Gate Park where bluegrass, country and folk artists come to entertain huge crowds of people from the Bay Area with their banjos and guitars. It was Lily's birthday and we spent a lovely afternoon with her, lying in the grass, soaking in the sun, and listening to the music.

As the year came to a close, we packed up our belonging, said a farewell (for now) to San Francisco and drove over the Bay Bridge to our new home in West Berkeley.

Though moving was a stressful experience, we offset this by taking a few days off with Pia to relax in a seaside cabin in Mendocino.

Because it was raining most of the time we were there, we spent many hours indoors, doing yoga and meditating or watching the waves crash against the rocks below. We did get a few hikes in, and the coastline area all along the North Coast is beautiful.

Our favorite was Glass Beach, a former town dump now home to a muted rainbow of sea glass.

Dustin, Courtney and Amine were in town for December/January so we were able to spend New Years Eve with them, and with Sascha, at our new home in Berkeley. The house we are renting is loaded with musical instruments including a harmonium, a sitar, numerous drums and guitars, and various other instruments of every shape and size, so we welcomed the new year with good food, great friends, and a lot of mediocre music.

Soon after, we left for Connecticut and Massachusetts to visit family. Candice just had a new baby boy, and we checked out the new family home being built by Christopher's parents. It was wonderful to be surrounded by our family once more.

Since our trip home, we have begun settling in quite nicely at our new life in Berkeley. We added a few new acomplishments to our skillset: Christopher just finished a two-day workshop and got certified in First Aid, and Pearl started Wing Chun classes a few blocks from our house and is learning self-defense. At present, we are helping Sascha put together his website for his healing practice.

The next few months will remain busy as always, but we are hopeful that we can include some hikes, music practice, and writing amidst the craziness. We’ll keep you posted of any adventures along the way!

September Adventures

2009-09-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

School’s back in session so we don’t know how often we’ll get to go on adventures and report back on them, but we did have a few weeks of fun before the seriousness begins…

During Labor Day weekend we flew to Denver, Colorado for Kendall’s & Jamie’s wedding. We squeezed in day-trips to Nebraska and Wyoming, a baseball game at Coors Field, as well as a beautiful hike in the foothills of the Red Rockies at Roxborough State Park. We would have included a photograph of the truly amazing vistas we saw along the way but CWB is still learning how to load a film camera so you'll have to wait for these until our next trip to the Rockies.

Two weeks ago, we camped by a lake on our very own island near Davis, CA. There’s nothing like sleeping outdoors, though we did catch some rainfall early in the morning.

Last weekend, we drove 3-hours east to Moaning Cavern Park to rappel down 165-feet into the cave, where we crawled and climbed through passageways to explore unlit and undeveloped areas of the cave. The link below shows a TV adventure show host on the adventure tour. (Note: we didn't do the zipline so you can skip to 1:45.) It was
pretty scary (but fun) dangling 160 feet above the cavern floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj_jdCAiDrA

And now we are looking forward to October, which is the height of the music and festival season in the Bay Area. If time permits, we’ll definitely blog about our experiences!

Tourreilles, France and a quick stop-over in Amsterdam

2009-08-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, Pearl here. Pia and I just came back from visiting our brother, his wife and their family in Tourreilles, France, a small village 30 minutes outside Carcassonne.

Tourreilles only has 100 inhabitants—most of whom are Karen’s relations—and has retained its old-time charm—there are no commercial stores in the whole village. It was truly wonderful to get away from the trappings of modern life; with no internet service, we really felt isolated (in a good way) from the outside world.

Karen’s grandfather, “Papi,” took us on a walking tour of Tourreilles—it takes about 30 minutes to walk through the village—and showed us the fountain that used to be the sole source of water for the villagers, the cemetery where generations of residents are buried, the fruit trees that feed the locals (the plums were exceptional) and the stone houses that make up most of the village. On our third day there, Papi took us on a truck ride all around his vineyards—the family has been producing wine for centuries—where he explained the different methods of producing grapes. I wish I understood more of what he was saying because we were getting an insider’s view of the life on the vineyards.

Karen’s parents, Jacques and Cecile, took us on a long hike up the surrounding mountains, and we saw the beautiful landscape of the village. There are apparently many wild boars in the surroufing woods that people come to hunt for pleasure! Later in the week, they planned a picnic on the summit of the mountains where we ate good fresh food (mostly from Papi’s organic garden) while watching the sun set and listening to Pablo perform Grateful Dead covers on his guitar.

Some of our other favorite moments include the family reunion that Jacques and Cecile hosted, where they served an authentic African couscous dinner out on their veranda; trying the Cassoulet and Fricassee, regional dishes of the area, at La Maison de la Blanquette; and visiting the medieval city of Carcassonne with Neil who wants to grow up to be a knight! Most of all, we enjoyed spending time with the French side of our family: the family dinners cooked by Cecile, playing Trivial Pursuit in half-English/half-French, reading to Neil, watching Neil and Marion splash in the pool, and jamming with Pablo on his guitar. We are sad to leave our French family behind but we are looking forward to our next family reunion.

***

Pia and I had an overnight layover in Amsterdam on our return flight to NYC so we decided to make the most of our time there and had a nice adventure in the city. Our first stop was at Vondelpark where we watched an outdoor concert amidst the tons of locals and their bikes. The band, Acda + DeMunnik Met Band, must have been popular because there were hundreds of shouting fans there with their kids as well as their grandparents, picnicking on the grass while listening to the music and smoking their hookahs. In the few hours of daylight we had in the city, we walked around the Old South neighborhood as well as the Jordaan and Western Canals. It was such a peaceful experience—we felt like we experienced the Amsterdam that locals know. Both of us could really see living there, feeling so at home walking around the city and canals. We ate dinner at Moeders and ordered an authentic Dutch meal (hachee, suddervlees en stamppot). Then, we popped into a coffeeshop around the corner and played some pool. All in all, it was a wonderful little adventure to conclude our trip to Europe.

From April to July, 2009

2009-07-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since our last post but it isn’t for lack of adventures to blog about; we’ve just been too busy with school/work and visitors. But now that we've had a moment to relax and collect ourselves, we thought we would share what we’ve been up to for the past three months.

In April…

…we crossed the Bay Bridge to Oakland to watch Mos Def perform at Yoshi’s, one of the nicest jazz venues in the Bay Area. Mos Def was fantastic, transitioning easily from jazz-hop to rap, even giving us an awesome rendition of Bel Biv Devoe’s Poison. He had just come back from Africa and his music was full of love and power.

…Pearl got her Reiki Master certification and can now initiate people in Reiki. She’s been giving a lot of healing treatments over the last year and Chris recently presented her with a Sioux ritual drum to incorporate into her healing sessions.

In May …

…Dustin came to visit from Germany, and Pia flew in from New York right in time for our birthday celebrations. We originally planned a bonfire beach party to celebrate, but were forced to move the party back to our place when we learned that the parking lot at the beach was filled up with hundreds of port-a-potties (the beach served as the finish line for the world’s craziest foot-race, Bay to Breakers, which was also scheduled for that weekend). Still, we had 80-degree weather, lots of vegan foods and desserts, and great company. It was the perfect way to celebrate our birthdays.

…The following day we took Dustin and Pia for a hike to Tennessee Valley Beach, just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. On our drive there, we passed many Bay to Breakers runners in elaborate costumes, or wearing only leather thongs, or wearing nothing at all (hey, it’s San Francisco!). The two mile hike to the beach through a protected grassland was beautiful and smelled like the eucalyptus trees that line the path. At the end of the hike lies a cove with a black sand beach where we picnicked and watched some young kids brave the cold Pacific waters.

In June...

…we flew to Boston to visit Christopher’s family and visit the new house his parents just purchased.

…two weeks later, Pearl officially finished her first year of graduate school at Davis with a 4.0.

…Steve came back to San Francisco and spent ten days with us. We started off his visit with a hike in Point Reyes where the view of the ocean was absolutely gorgeous, though the wind was near hurricane force at times. We also took Steve to Samovar where we had the yummiest honey oolong and jasmine pearl tea. Later in the week, we drove to Monterey Bay to check out the jellyfish and sting rays in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The following day we kayaked in Elkhorn Slough where we saw hundreds of otters and seal playing in the water and along the banks. We concluded his visit with a trip to The Fillmore Auditorium to watch Xavier Rudd perform (he transitioned between four different didgeridoos, guitars and various percussion instruments over the course of the show).

In July…

…Jackie came to visit for five days, and we started off her visit with a hike in Big Basin Redwood Forest National park where the redwoods grow to the size of a (vertical) football field. After that, we tired her out with many walks around the city and its surroundings: we brought her to Tennessee Valley Beach, to the Arboretum, the Japanese Tea Garden, and to the top of Bernal Hill. Mostly, we needed the walk off all to food we were eating! Apart from wowing her with our vegan cooking, we also introduced her to the many vegan restaurants around town including Cafe Gratitude (Jackie especially liked their espresso vanilla bean smoothies), Greens (the grilled peaches dipped in honey were our favorite), and Cha-ya (vegan sushi). It was so nice to see Jackie again; five years between visits is too long. Come back soon!

…recently, we’ve discovered that there are many fantastic day spas in the area where one can rent spa rooms with a hot tub, sauna, and a cold dipping pool. Albany Hot Tubs and Sauna has a very nice outdoor wooden hot tub where one can look at stars while relaxing with jets; Watercourse Way in Palo Alto has peaceful Japanese zen-like rooms complete with rest area, shower, cold plunge, hot tub and sauna. For those of you in the area, both places are a wonderful way to relax and meditate while taking care of one’s mind, body and soul.

…today, we raised close to $700 for the SF AIDS walk, a 7-mile walk through the beautiful Golden Gate Park. There were over 10,000 walkers that were present for the good cause. Thank you to all of you who helped us raise our funds!

As you can see, we’ve had a very busy three months! And it’s only getting busier…

… Christopher just started guitar lessons and his Reiki apprenticeship. He’ll be initiated in Reiki by August 1st and hopes to be playing his first songs by then as well.

…Pearl started dance classes, taking Afro-Cuban Folkloric classes and Congolese classes. She is also taking lessons on the wooden bamboo flute to accompany Christopher on guitar.

...At the end of this month we are heading back to The Fillmore. This time it's to watch Jarvis Cocker perform and we're hoping he performs some Pulp songs.

…In August we are visiting family in Boston for a few days and then Pearl is continuing on to France to visit her brother and his family.

…we are going spelunking in The Moaning Cavern which is California's largest single-chambered public cave. Cave tours, 3-hour spelunking trips, a rope rappel, zip lines, climbing tower, the works. Yeah!

…Pearl is co-teaching a vegan cooking course with kitchen manager Rachel at the Integral Yoga Institute.

…we are heading to Denver, Colorado for a friend’s wedding. While we are there, we’re planning on going horseback riding in Rocky Mountain National Park and making day trips to Wyoming and Nebraska. If anyone has suggestions on what to do and see in this area (and we’re not talking about Carhenge), we’re all ears.

…Manny and Supna are coming for a visit, and we will be heading up to Sonoma for a wine-tasting.

...There will also be camping trips, hikes, headstand and cartwheel practice, and scouting trips to Berkeley.

Whew! So that's us sorted for the next six weeks. Come join us if you can.

What We Did On Our Spring Vacation...

2009-04-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

We took some time in the last week of March to go exploring in San Francisco, visiting new neighborhoods, museums, and watching live music performances.

We started our vacation by visiting the Float Matrix. Float Matrix is a center for floatation which uses a sound- and light-proof pod in which you float effortlessly on the surface of 10 in. of water saturated with 800lbs of medical grade Epsom salt and 100 million year old Himalayan salt. The benefit of floatation is to approach a deep state of relaxation. We certainly felt relaxed and peaceful after an hour of floating. Check them out on the web at: http://www.floatmatrix.com/genesis/.

On Monday we rented a car and headed to Redwood City for a round of mini-golf and to pick up some gardening supplies. In the afternoon, we planted tomatoes, peppers and then repotted our goji berry plants. That evening, Sascha invited us for homemade vegan pizza at his apartment, where Lily joined us. After dinner, we walked over to The Elbo Room to support Sascha’s friend Kate’s CD launch party.

The following evening we caught another music show, this time at the Great American Music Hall, featuring The Dave Rawlings Machine (“The Machine” is just David Rawlings and Gillian Welch playing under a different name rather than as simply “Gillian Welch”). The show was fantastic, one of the best we’ve ever seen. We could really feel the chemistry between David and Gillian in the audience floor. We’ve seen them in the past, at The Bridge School Benefit Concert in 2006, but to see them up close felt really special.

On Wednesday, we started our latest sewing projects: his and her yoga pants. Nowhere near perfect, we thought these were a good starting point for sewing our own clothes. The contestants on Project Runway have nothing to fear (the piping on the left leg of the orange pants stops 7 inches short of the top – oops!) but we have already received orders from Pia, Lily and Sascha.

On Thursday, we woke up early to check out San Francisco’s hottest museum, The California Academy of Science. Unfortunately, there was a lot of school trips to the museum that day so there were kids running around everywhere. The lines were too long for the Rainforest and Planetarium but we had a great time exploring the living roof and the Philippine corals and fish in the basement aquarium. The building itself was very green and thus, very cool.

On Saturday, we walked. It had been a few months since our last neighborhood exploration and we had been saving Telegraph Hill, Coit Tower and the Filbert Street Steps for a day when we had nothing but free time. We took the F train to Jones Street and walked around the back streets of North Beach up to Coit Tower. The walk to the tower smelled lovely as eucalyptus trees paved both sides of the path. Afterwards, we descended via the Filbert Street Steps, all 436 steps down from Filbert Street to Montgomery Street as a passing tour guide announced to her group. These stairs provided the backdrop for the film The Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Though we didn’t see any parrots on our walk, we heard them squawking and moving about in the trees overhead. We ended up walking close to four hours that day before making our way home.

On Sunday, Eric and Mer invited us to a picnic, and we drove first to Baker Beach and then to the Conservatory of Flowers where we picnicked in front of beautiful flowers of yellow, pink & purple. Eric and Mer prepared a lovely vegan meal for us, and it was wonderful to eat amongst beautiful flowers and friends. We even drummed a bit, with Eric accompanying on the didgeridoo. As we sat in the sun and felt the grass beneath our feet, we couldn’t think of a better way to end our vacation.

San Francisco on Film

2009-02-22T09:29:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we finally got our act together and went out to watch "Milk" at the Castro Theatre (http://www.thecastrotheatre.com/), a San Francisco landmark dating back to the silent film era. We missed the film's initial run a few months back so we were delighted when it returned for a pre-Oscar re-release.

About fifteen minutes before the movie started, an organ rose out of the stage in front of the screen. The organist began playing film standards like Moon River and Somewhere Over the Rainbow, bringing back a bit of the magic that has gone missing from the modern movie experience. We'll take that over ninety minutes of awful movie previews any day.

”Milk” was excellent and it was especially interesting to watch the demonstrations against Prop 6 (1978) being played out on film much in the same way the anti-Prop 8 demonstrations took over the city last year. However, while Prop 6 was voted down in California three decades ago, Prop 8 passed...for now, at least. So much for progress.

Still, in doing a bit of research on Prop 8, we found a link to the Prop 8 contributions (http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/?appSession=107670381705648) from our neighbors in our Castro zip code:

Donations in support of Prop 8: 18.
Donations in opposition to Prop 8: 3908.

Seeing those numbers brings up a bit of San Francisco pride.

During almost every crowd scene in the movie, we could hear whispers from one row or another in the dark around us, exclaiming "hey, that's me!" We laughed at the thought that half of our audience seemed to have been an extra in the film. When "Milk" was being filmed in the city, ads were placed on Craigslist inviting the public to appear at specific areas in period clothing to be extras. Unfortunately, the filming took place on weekdays while we were at work...having seen the film, we wish we'd called in sick.

If you haven't seen the film yet, do so. And if you have the chance to watch it at the Castro, definitely do so. It was so cool to watch a movie about "The Mayor of Castro Street" while sitting in a theater on Castro Street. Thirty-plus years ago, Harvey Milk's camera shop was located a block from where we were sitting. On our walk home after the film ended, we even passed the storefront that was once Castro Camera.

All of the actors were fantastic. Sean Penn's Oscar nomination is well-deserved and we are hoping he wins this weekend. James Franco, Emile Hirsch and Alison Pill also stood out, as did the city of San Francisco.

Tune in to our next San Francisco Film Review when we'll be exploring Telegraph Hill through the lens of the documentary film The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

Further Adventures in Vegan Cooking

2009-02-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

Chris and I have been having fun with new vegan recipes again. Our latest experiments include:

* Vegan Donuts

* Buffalo “chicken” wings

* FLT sandwiches with homemade “facon”

* Fruit tarts with blueberry and apple fillings

* Strawberry & banana “ice cream”

* Blueberry muffins

* Coffee crumb cakes

* Eggplant Parmesan (with pine nut cream)

The photo above was taken on the night we made FLT sandwiches and Buffalo wings. We usually try to avoid cooking with wheat gluten/seitan but both dishes were delicious and we wanted to share them here.

Facon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches

From http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/04/vegan-bacon-and-lettuce-and-tomato.html

INGREDIENTS

- 1/2 cup of chickpeas

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

- 2 tbsp Bragg's soy seasoning

- 1 tsp liquid smoke

- 1 tbsp maple syrup

- 1 tsp sage

- 1 cup vital wheat gluten

METHOD

1. Finely mash chickpeas with a fork in a bowl. Add everything else in but the wheat gluten and mix well. Add in wheat gluten and mix with a fork, then knead by hand for a few minutes.

2. Heat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan over med-low heat. While pan is heating, flatten dough out with the heel of your hand on a cutting board. Get as flat as possible.

3. Cut dough into thin strips resembling bacon (only thinner). Flatten each strip even more before placing in the pan. The thinner the better. Place in pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes per side, until crispy and no longer "squishy." Add a little more oil to the pan, if necessary, when flipping “bacon” strips.

WEIRD FISH (http://weirdfishsf.com/) STYLE “BUFFALO GIRLS”

INGREDIENTS

Seitan

Tempura Mix

METHOD

For the “chicken”, place seitan in tempura mix and coat completely. Fry until golden. Set aside.

Sauce recipe from: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1839,132191-246195,00.html

BUFFALO CHICKEN WING SAUCE INGREDIENTS

2 cups of dry cayenne peppers (50 grams)
1/2 cup of water
1/3 cup of chopped onion
1 chopped garlic
1/3 cup of chopped tomato
1 cup of white vinegar
1 stick of butter
1 bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce
1/2 of the juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of honey

BUFFALO CHICKEN WING SAUCE METHOD

Start by roasting the cayenne peppers on a pan over a medium high flame. Toss them around inside the pan for a couple of minutes and make sure you don't let these get burned. Add enough water to cover the peppers and bring water to a boil. Let them cook for ten minutes. Drain water and place them in blender. Add 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar and salt. Blend on high and allow to percolate.

Place Smart Balance on a pan over a medium flame so that it melts. Add onion, garlic, tomato and the whole bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce.

Let all cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Immediately pour into blender and add the percolated cayenne pepper sauce. Blend on high for two minutes. Add the lemon juice, honey and ketchup, and blend again for a few seconds. Pour back into the pan where you melted the butter, and let it simmer for a good 20 minutes.

Pour sauce over seitan pieces and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Bridging 2008/2009

2009-01-18T12:06:00.000-08:00

As usual around this time of year, it's been a busy few weeks in our little home on Liberty Hill. As we say goodbye to 2008 and welcome in 2009 (albeit a little late), we wanted to send out an update to let you all know what we've been up to.

The busy season began for us on Christmas Eve when Pia and Dave arrived from New York. We spent the day and night shopping for food and wine shopping, preparing for Christmas dinner, and getting to know Dave.

Early the next morning Lily and Sascha came over for brunch, after which we all went for a city hike up to Corona Heights which offers glorious views of the city in all directions.

At 6:30pm sharp, we commenced our 7-course extravaganza and didn't finish eating until well past midnight!

We spent much of the following day digesting all of the food and drink from the evening prior. In the afternoon we explored North Beach, visiting City Lights bookstore, and walked around Chinatown.

A few days later, we made our way onto the back of a mechanical bull, because...well, we're still working on the why of it, but it was fun nonetheless. It was also much more slippery than we had anticipated!

To celebrate the new year, we invited Lily, Jason and Sascha to a Turkish Delight themed gathering, complete with belly dancers (Pia and Pearl took online classes from youtube that morning) and a Turkish meal prepared by all and eaten communally on the floor with our fingers.

Before midnight all six of us changed into our onesie pajamas to ring in the new year in style.

And 2009 has started off with wonderful news: we received news that my cousin Zandy and his wife Denise welcomed a healthy baby boy named Collin Andrew on January 1st...

...and my brother Pablo and his wife Karen welcomed a healthy baby girl named Marion Eugenie on January 2nd.

We were also able to spread some cheer to the owner of Ocean Front Walkers on 24th Street by presenting her with the photo of the six of us in the onesies that we bought from her store.

We also made a care basket for the owner of Love of Ganesha on Haight Street: Noot is so giving that we thought it was time for us to give back to her.

The Friday after New Year's Day we continued our international theme when Jason and Lily invited us to a Swedish night in Oakland. They cooked a wonderful meal complete with Swedish music (yes, there is more to Swedish music than ABBA), Swedish meatballs, Swedish liquor, and a Swedish dessert. After checking out the Art Murmur (http://www.oaklandartmurmur.com/pages/Jmap/Jmap.php), we returned to Jason's for a tea ceremony where Lily got to show off the new gai-wans and teas she purchased at the Red Blossom Tea Company in Chinatown.

In other news, the potted garden is also coming along nicely. The winter has been mild (70 degrees in San Francisco all this week!) and it looks like all of the plants will survive until Spring. At some point, we will have to get an expert in so we can figure out what is it that we've been planting. Once the plants start to flower and show a little color, we'll post some photographs.

And we are happy to report that our shitake mushroom farm recently gave off its first harvest. The mushrooms are buttery and delicious, great in soups and salads. Today we put some in our vegan eggplant parmesean.

Yesterday we took our first neighborhood exploration of 2009 and discovered one of San Francisco's hidden treasures, the Seward Street Slides. Tucked away off a little side street, the cement slides were a fun diversion during our walk. In fact, when we were there we saw more adults sliding down than kids! We hope to start blogging our neighborhood explorations soon but wanted to share this brief one with you now.

And finally, last week Michael found a photograph in the SF Historical Photograph collection taken of our street in 1956. Our house is hidden just over the crest of the hill on the right side.

Be well until our next posts!

Russell Brand. (He's famous in England you know...)

2008-11-06T23:02:00.000-08:00

We've been fans of Russell Brand since discovering him on the Jonathan Ross Show a few years ago and then again as one half of the famed "Goth Detectives." So when we discovered that he was going to be in town this week, we jumped at the opportunity to see him on stage at Cobb's Comedy Show in North Beach.

Russell was at his low-brow/high-brow best: one minute he is providing a Foucauldian deconstruction of the Jonas Brothers' chastity rings, and the next minute he is discussing British schoolage phenomenon of
"seagulling" (don't ask).

Prancing about on stage, Brand discussed his failure as a VMA-host, repeating jokes that MTV unfortunately cut from the show (the original introduction of Kanye West was very funny) as well as his deep-seated need for fame in

America

. What is wonderful about Brand is his open-book attitude about discussing his vanity and overly
self-involved ego. Not once does he hide his flaws from himself or his audience, and in fact, continuously laughs at himself for all of his fallible ways.

It was nice to see that Brand didn't dumb-down his act for a new audience and we hope he finds the recognition in

America

he so craves.

Bridge School, third time around

2008-11-06T22:57:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we drove down to Mountain View with Lily and Jason to watch the 22nd Annual Bridge School Benefit concert at the Shoreline Ampitheater.

The line-up was fantastic and the performances were brilliant. On stage this year were:

*Neil Young
*Cat Power
*Wilco
*Death Cab for Cutie
*Smashing Pumpkins
*Josh Groban
*Norah Jones
*Jack Johnson

The weather was beautiful. When we met our friends Mer and Eric at the show, it was sunny and warm in the high 70s. We spent the next eight hours chatting, listening to the music and lying in the sun until the sun sunk beneath the hills and the temperature dropped 30 degrees. Then we bundled up in our wool socks and ponchos and held each other for warmth.

As was the case in 2006 (though not last year), Neil came on stage and played with most of the performers. Some of the "with Neil"highlights were Cat Power's Fortunate Son, Wilco's I Shall Be Released (with both Neil and Pegi), Josh Groban's Harvest Moon, and Norah Jones' When God Made Me. Norah's whole set was fantastic. Her country-girl set, which she called her "having fun" set, included covers of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.

Here are some videos from Youtube that The Bridge School posted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMTezfr2hx0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgMYb6WXSko

As always, we had a wonderful time at Bridge School and we were able to introduce new people to the show (which we enjoy just as much as the concert itself). Please consider coming with us next time ~ it is always a fabulous time with Neil Young and his big family at Bridge School.

A day in the life of a school girl

2008-10-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

A number of you have been wondering how I've settled into my new life as a student, so I thought I'd post a blog about the new changes...

So far, everything is going well! I'm surprised by how easily I've slipped back into the academic lifestyle. My classes (one on Chaucer's Troilus & Criseyde and one on Intro to Critical Studies) are interesting and challenging, and the Chaucer class I'm holding discussion classes on is fun and exciting. I was intimidated with teaching Chaucerian language at first, but I have such a great support system at Davis that it hasn't been bad at all. I just pretend that I'm a Chaucer expert and the students think I know what I'm talking about :).

I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Davis. The people there are very helpful, and the vibe is easy-going and friendly. All the people in my class are smart & sassy, and the faculty are kind and full of advice. The campus is lovely, and I'm particularly fond of the gym & pool that is open to all the students for free!

Apart from commuting on the BART/Amtrak from San Francisco to Davis, that is...it seems to take about 2.5 hours one way with all the wait time and delays. But luckily, there's a woman in my program who lives 2 blocks away from me that has graciously offered to let me ride with her 2 days of the week. So I only have to take the public transport commute up and down once a week, which isn't so bad.

All in all, I'm really happy to be at Davis, and I'm super excited to be back at school. It's where I belong :).

Pia visits Camp Bauer...Again

2008-08-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY:

1pm – Pia arrived at SFO carrying 4 pounds of fresh ground Orens Special Blend, New York's finest coffee.
2pm – Treated Pia and Mary to a luncheon of homemade Chinese dumplings & spicy vegetable soup. Chris and Pearl labored for 8 hours to prepare the dumplings from scratch but by all accounts, the time was well spent.
5-7pm – Wandered around town amongst thousands of other people all trying to hail a cab to Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park.
7-8pm – Finally made it to the festival just as Beck took the stage.
8-10pm – Watched* Radiohead on stage.
*We did not actually watch Radiohead do anything. As there were 50,000 people at the festival, we were about two football fields away from the stage but the light show was great and the sound from the stage was even better.
10pm – Learning from our mistake earlier in the day, we wised up, avoided the throngs hailing cabs and found a bus that took us close enough to home that we could walk.

SATURDAY:

10am – Woke up early and ate Congee for breakfast, which Pearl picked up in Chinatown after her acupuncture appointment.
11-3pm – Sunned on the deck, grateful that for the first time in two months the fog is finally starting to dissipate and the real San Francisco summer is about to begin. Chris spent the downtime planting a tree (and checking this off his Life-To-Do-List).
3-6pm – Our friend Matt was is town with his band, My Friend Autumn. They played a set at Thee Parkside and invited Pearl on stage with her tambourine (which she then checked off her Life-To-Do-List). Our table was perhaps a bit under-tattoo'd and wanting for a little leather, but the bartender was cool, the drinks were cheap, and the music was fantastic.
6-8pm – Broke our vegan diet for the day by dining at Suppenkuche, San Francisco's best German restaurant. Suckling pigs for everyone!
8-12am – Returned home and played Celebrity in front of the fire. There was also a Bee Gees sing-a-long and Pia treated us to a performance of Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror.

SUNDAY:

12-3pm – Shopped for sunglasses and zippers. The zippers are for the upcoming Camp Bauer sewing tea party (date TBD).
3-5pm – Watched Tropic Thunder.
5-9pm – Prepared, rolled and ate Sushi. With the right ingredients and tools (rolling mat, sushi knife), it's actually pretty easy.

9-11pm – Relaxed in front of the fire, listening to music.

MONDAY:

12pm – Pia departed for New York carry 4 pounds of Nairns Oatcakes.

12:01pm – Chris and Pearl already miss Pia and can't wait to see her in 3 weeks.

Rafting the American River

2008-07-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

Like our forefathers before us, we celebrated our independence this Fourth of July by going whitewater rafting. On the recommendation of a co-worker, we opted to go down the Middle Fork American River, a 17-mile, Class 4 trip, suitable for the “active, fit and adventurous first-timer” (yup, that’s us!). Flowing through the Tahoe National Forest, we felt so removed from civilization, like we were the only people for miles around.

In the first six miles, we encountered numerous Class 3-4 rapids: as soon as we boarded our raft, we were greeted by Good Morning and Last Chance which certainly woke us up with cold splashes of water. Immediately after, we came across the infamous Class 4+ Tunnel Chute rapid, which drops 25 feet over the course of 100 feet. Our raft came into this rapid at an angle and we hit the first wall in such a way that our raft spun around a few times making it seem as if all of us were going to fall off the raft and have to swim down the rest of the 100 feet amidst boulders and crazy rapids. Fortunately, everyone managed to stay in the raft. By the time we hit the 25-foot water fall to our left, we were all very soaked and having the time of our lives. Tunnel Chute was followed by less intense Class 4 rapids such as the Submarine Hole and Kanaka.

For the next seven miles, the pace mellowed and we had time to gaze up at the beautiful lush forested canyon that surrounds the river. We didn’t see much wildlife, only some ducks and merganser and the occasional sunbathing turtle. One type of “wildlife” that we did see was the gold miners that still pan the rivers of California. We saw perhaps a dozen men, spread over the course of the river, hunting for gold. When asked “having any luck?” their invariable response was “a bit.” As gold sells for $1000 an ounce, “a bit” can add up to a pretty retirement fund fairly quick.

We stopped for lunch around 1pm and we were so impressed by the lunch that Tributary Water Tours provided for us – fresh fruits and vegetables, and sandwiches (with vegan options!). Our guide, Hatter, said that Tributary provides by far the best food of any company he’s worked for.

Another hour of mellow floating followed lunch but the trip ended with a bang as we encountered rapid after rapid after rapid without much of a break. The Chunder (Class 4) was an 8-foot drop and we watched with anticipation as the rafts before us disappeared down the rapids in screams of fear and excitement. This was quickly followed by Cleavage (Class 3-4), Upper Rucka-chucky (AKA, Up Chuck) (Class 4), Parallel Parking (Class 4), Ski Jump (Class 3-4), and Final Exam (Class 4). This last hour of rapids was so intense – intense but really fun. In between these rapids, we had to exit the raft as Hatter mastered the 35-foot drop of the Rucka-chucky (Class 6) rapids on his own (the commercial companies won’t take passengers over this fall).

What an awesome experience whitewater rafting was. We can’t wait to go again! While none of us fell over the raft, it certainly felt as if we could have fallen out any time. We credit our raft guide for a safe and wonderful trip – thanks Hatter!

Vegan, Camping, Comedy Shows & a Walk...

2008-06-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

As a number of you have noted, we’ve been less diligent about updating our blog this year. You see, we’ve been busy trying to cram in as many “blogworthy” activities as possible before Pearl returns to school this fall! Anyway, this is a what we’ve been up to this last month:

Vegan – As many of you know, we successfully completed our four-month vegan experiment at the end of April. Never before had we felt as fit and healthy as we did then. So what did we do to honor our very healthy bodies? Treated them poorly with fried foods for a month, of course! Yes, a horrible idea, and believe us, our bodies punished us relentlessly for every non-vegan bite we took. However, we’ve learned our lesson and have returned to a vegan diet indefinitely.

Camping – Number of times Chris and/or Pearl had been camping prior to April 27 2008: 0. Number of times Chris and Pearl have been camping since April 27 2008: 4. We had so much fun sleeping outdoors in Arizona (first in Havasupai and the again in Sedona) that we’ve gone twice more since our return. Lily has joined us for both of our California trips (just outside Sacramento) where we camped in the middle of a lake on our very own island! The lake was warm and we spent our days jumping in using the rope swing, paddle boating, and practicing diving for the two days we were there. We had so much fun that the three of us decided to return the following week for more rope swinging, canoeing, and BBQing. Who knew that camping would be so much fun?

Comedy Shows – Like camping, watching live comedy was a new experience for the both of us, but we’ve seen two performances in the last month that are definitely worth blogging about.

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS. Some of you might be fans of the HBO sitcom about the experiences of two naïve New Zealanders living in New York City. Well, Brett & Jemaine took their act to San Francisco with the songs they wrote for the show. Most of them are silly, ridiculous songs about their awkward experiences in the big city. While the songs are hilarious on their own, what we enjoyed best was watching Brett & Jemaine interact with the audience and with each other; the chemistry between them is just fabulous.

DAVE CHAPPELLE. We’ve wanted to see Dave Chappelle on stage for years. Lately, Chappelle has been popping up in different comedy clubs around the nation, returning to his favorite medium – stand-up comedy. So, we’ve been keeping an eye out for him in the hopes that he return to San Francisco. Last Sunday night, we discovered that he’d be performing later that night at the Punchline Ha Ha Comedy Club. We tried to get tickets through the club but it was sold out. Always up for an adventure, we decided to head down to the club to try our luck. There was a “stand by” line so we decided to wait in the hopes of being let in. We waited for 2 hours, from 10pm to midnight in the freezing cold, and watched as the never-ending line of ticket holders got smaller and smaller. There were about 13 people ahead of us on the stand-by line, and 6 others behind us. After all the ticket holders were let in, the doorman started letting in the stand-bys in groups of 2 and 3…finally, when we were at the front of the line, the doorman said “I’ve got room for two more and then that’s it.” We were the LAST people to get into the show that night! Amazing luck! Chappelle hit the stage just after midnight and didn’t say goodnight until past 4:40am! It was the most ridiculous 4.5 hours of our lives. Unfortunately, we can’t repeat any of his jokes here as he makes Carlin’s “Seven Words” routine look puritanical by comparison, but believe us when we tell you that Chappelle is at his best.

We are hoping that RUSSELL BRAND will also make a stop in the Bay Area this year. He’s been performing recently in Los Angeles and has a scheduled date in New York on July 20.

SF AIDS Walk – We just signed up to walk in support of The SF AIDS Walk 2008 on July 20 at Golden Gate Park. We joined the Quan Yin Healing Arts Center which provides free services of Chinese medical treatments (including acupuncture, herbs, massage & exercise) to patients with HIV/AIDS. The proceeds that we raise will help not only SF AIDS but also QYHAC’s own HIV/AIDS program. We’re really excited to help bring awareness to the cause.

If you would like to donate, please follow this link: http://aidswalksanfrancisco2008.kintera.org/cbauer4

White Water Rafting – For the weekend of July 4th, our friend Stephen is coming back to town and we’ve signed up to go rafting down the American Fork River. It’ll be our first time, and we signed up for a Class 4 ride, which is for the “adventurous beginner” and intermediates. Let’s hope we don’t fall off the raft too many times! We'll be sure to post photos post-ride.

Life Is Grand

2008-05-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Last week we took a trip with Pia to Havasu Canyon, a less-traveled section of the Grand Canyon and home to four beautiful blue-green waterfalls. It’s located on the Havasupai Native Reservation in the heart of the Grand Canyon, and the village can only be reached by foot or by horse (or, if you are feeling lazy, by helicopter). Visitors can stay the night at the sole lodge in the reservation or camp at the camp sites.

It’s been just over a week since we arrived at home, so we are fully rested, our muscles have recovered, and we’ve caught our breath enough that we can finally blog about our adventures.

The night before our hike, we stayed in Peach Springs, Arizona, the closest town to the head of the Havasu Canyon trail. Peach Springs is so small that it doesn’t have its own grocery store or gas station, so remote that we couldn’t get cell phone reception. The morning of the hike, we were up before the sun and drove to the trailhead without any difficulties (though Pearl almost drove head-on to into a deer standing in the middle of the road). As the sun rose over the desert we noticed that we weren’t as alone on the road as we had thought: all along the road on both side were many bulls, deer and giant, overgrown rabbits (think Harvey).

When we arrived at Hualapai Hilltop, we were surprised to discover that the parking lot was full at six in the morning. We hadn’t seen a single car on the road for the entire ninety minute drive to the trailhead. As we parked our car, we noticed two hikers, stretching and checking the straps on their camping packs. We quickly got ready and followed their lead because they looked like “expert” hikers with their “expert” camping gear and “expert” hiking outfits. Compared to them, we looked like the misfits group in a bad eighties movies (Chris was dressed in an argyle sweater, Pia’s shoes were falling apart, and Pearl was dressed as if she was on her way to an aerobics class). Unfortunately, we lost the “experts” when Pia and Pearl were using the disgusting Port-a-potties at the top of the trail (last toilet for ten miles!), so we started our trek on our own and hoped for the best. Just ten minutes into the hike, we met a man on his way up to the parking lot. Two hours later we passed another group of hikers on their way up who reported that they had left the camp at 3:45am, which meant that the first hiker must have started his hike up at about 2 in the morning!

The first 1.5 miles of the hike descends down steep switchbacks (elevation drop of 2000 ft). It was a fairly easy climb down the canyon, though we anticipated that the climb back up would be an entirely different story. Thereafter, the trail winds through the canyon for 6.5 miles (with a drop of another 1000 ft) to the village of Supai. It was a beautiful, mostly-isolated trail, surrounded by vivid red rocks, red sands, and red boulders. It seemed as if we walked into an Indiana Jones movie set, so seemingly similar to the backdrop of Petra in The Last Crusade. The only thing that took away from the beautiful scenery was our heavy packs. We stopped every so often to exchange packs and rest our backs (we were carrying a camping pack for the tent, a rucksack full of water and food and a makeshift sleeping bag carrier which proved to be awkward to carry from the start). Six miles into the hike, we had enough of the heavy weight on our backs and decided to hire mules to bring our gear up the canyon the next day. The hike down was difficult enough that we couldn’t imagine carrying our stuff up 3,000 feet. Pearl was even willing to leave our gear behind if we couldn’t hire mules!

We saw very few hikers heading down into the canyon but dozens, perhaps hundreds heading back up. This explained why the parking lot was so full. Unknowingly, we chose the day for the hike perfectly; all the weekend hikers/campers were clearing out just in time for our arrival, such that when we arrived at the falls that morning, we found it quiet and relaxing.

About 1.5 miles from the village, we came to the running waters of Havasu Creek and knew that we were close. At this point, we’d been hiking for close to four hours, completely exhausted and hungry. We practically ran the rest of the way to Supai, and turning the last corner before the village, we saw, to our surprise, the “expert” hikers from the parking lot four hours earlier. We sped up, overtaking them just before reaching the village, proving, well, nothing at all. Still, we were pretty proud of ourselves - who are the expert hikers now? J

It was a relief to see the village. Supai is an isolated provincial village with a lodge, a café, a general store, a school, a church, and a campsite. It reminded Pearl and Pia of the provincial towns in the Philippines. Supai is the only village in the country that still gets its mail delivered by mule.

We tried to have brunch at the café, but they were low on ingredients: the non-meat platter consisted of eggs, hash-browns and toast, without the hash-browns and toast; the breakfast burritos were served by spoon as they were out of tortillas. We had better luck buying tiny jars of strawberry jelly and peanut butter at the store across the café, which ended up providing our lunch and dinner during the trip.

We set out for our campsite, located two miles beyond the village, and passed the Navajo Falls. The 75-ft high waterfall was beautiful but it was no comparison to the Havasu Falls located about 5 minutes from the campsite. The Havasu waterfall drops 100-ft into sparkling blue-green waters (Havasupai means “people of the blue-green waters”) and looked like nothing any of us had seen with our own eyes. The water was freezing but swimming near the falls was a magical experience. Shortly after wading into the waters, Pearl was nearly dragged by its strong currents, though Chris was there to save her from floating away. She did drop the water-proof camera she was holding, and with it all of the photos we’d taken of the Falls. We were swimming about in the pools for about five minutes when Pia shouted “Look!” and we turned to see the camera drifting lazily back to us on a reverse current.

After the swim, we returned to our campsite, and Pia and Chris pitched our tent perfectly while Pearl made the best peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches we’ve ever tasted. By 3pm, we were utterly exhausted and all we wanted to do was go to bed. We forced ourselves to stay up by playing cards, had dinner (PB&J again) and by 6pm, with the sun still shining and the birds still chirping, we were in our sleeping bags fast asleep.

We woke up at 4:30am, packed up our tent and gear in the dark, left two of our packs at the mule-train drop-off, and began our trek back to Hualapai Hilltop just after 5am. We were fully rested from our 10-hour sleep that we started off at a great pace, extremely excited that we didn’t have to hike up with our packs. We watched the Grand Canyon expanse wake up with the morning sun, a magical experience for we were the only ones hiking at that hour and didn’t see anyone else heading the opposite direction until 7:30am. It was extraordinary to watch the texture of the rocks change depending on the location of the sun in the sky.

By the time we reached the last 1.5 miles of the hike – the steep switchbacks UP the canyon, Pearl felt like she was walking in place. The top never seemed to get any closer. It felt to us that we were hiking the last 1.5 miles for as long as the other 8.5 miles took. When we finally caught our first glimpse of the trailhead, we celebrated with a round of fist pumps and water. When we reached the top, we were shocked to discover that we finished the climb up in less than four hours…most guide books estimate this climb to take between 8-10 hours (though time estimated is with packs).

Our packs didn’t arrive for another two hours but we calculated that we wouldn’t even be nearing the top had we carried up our gear. As we waddled over to collect our packs, we noticed that everyone around us was walking like tired and sore penguins as well.

It took us another three hours to drive to Lake Havasu City, where we quickly showered and jumped into the hot tub to heal our bodies. We spent the next two days relaxing in the pool and the tub, stretching every muscle group while sipping on frozen margaritas, celebrating our wondrous feat. Next up: Sedona, AZ!

Sedona, AZ

2008-05-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

The drive into Sedona along Route 89A was a multi-color spectacle, the bright blue skies contrasting with the red-rock buttes, both colors even more intensified by the surrounding dark green forests. There was a sense of balance and peacefulness in the air, not surprising since Sedona is well known for its pockets of energy centers, called vortexes, that some believe enhance peace and creativity (though others believe the vortexes are burial grounds for alien spaceships).

Unfortunately, once we got to Sedona proper, we found that the tourism trade had taken over the town, ruining the peace that we felt on the drive up. The influx of restaurants, stores and galleries driven by the tourist industry coupled with the tiresome traffic jams left a bad taste in our mouths. It is easy to see why so many people have a love/hate relationship with Sedona because we were immediately drawn to the natural beauty but repulsed by the commercialism. We were excited to check out the work of the local artists and artisans but sadly all we found were shops that specialize in cheap Southwestern gifts that had little to do with art and a lot to do with overpriced and tacky knick knacks.

We couldn’t run away fast enough from Sedona proper and head back to nature! Thankfully, we made plans to camp at Sedona rather than stay at a hotel. We were lucky to have gotten the last spot at Manzanita campsite, a small but clean site with only 18 campsites. Each site has a fire pit, a grill, a picnic table, and room for a tent, all situated along a bubbly creek. We pitched in minutes (as if we’d been doing it for years!) and left our stuff to check out some of the famous Sedona vortexes.

Our first stop was Bell Rock butte, which is called so for its supposed bell shape. We walked around the butte on a path that heads directly to its base. Indeed, there was a powerful sensation of peace and balance in the air that surrounds the butte. Presumably, this is why people call it a balanced vortex (some say it is the synergy of the feminine, the masculine, and the balanced energy). Certainly, there was something remarkably serene about Bell Rock. We stopped at Cathedral Rock butte next, and we concurred that it looked like a church surrounded by towering spires made of red earth. This vortex is made up of the feminine energy. It was beautiful for sure, but the air here didn’t seem as magical as it was at Bell Rock.

As it was getting late, we decided to head back to our camp site for some dinner and s’mores. The kind campsite host taught us how to light a campfire using pine cones as kindling, and we were able to eat dinner under the stars in the warmth of a fire. It was so fun making s’mores over a campfire, just like in the movies. We spent the rest of the night huddled around the fire, looking up at the stars, loving the peacefulness of our immediate surroundings and the expansiveness of the heavens.

The campsite host warned us that unlike in Grand Canyon, the temperature might drop to below freezing by midnight and to prepare ourselves for a cold night. So we got bundled up, reluctantly left the warmth of the fire and climbed into our tent. The host was right: the overnight temperature dropped into the 20s. When we got up at six the next morning, we could still see our breath on the air. We hoped that the sun would come out soon for our hike up Bear Mountain.

We had read about Bear Mountain in our travel guide book, which called the hike “strenuous” and marked it with a big W for “wilderness.” Cocky from our “expert hiking” of Grand Canyon, we thought we were well equipped for it. With our compass, water and snacks in tow, we started the drive to the head of the trail. Finding the trailhead proved more difficult than we anticipated because it was not clearly marked; this should have clued us in on how “expert” this hike would turn out, but we naively started our hike into the wilderness despite the lack of markings. About two minutes into the hike, we soon realized that the W really meant wilderness…there was no trail for us to follow – no markings, no cairns, no nothing! We kept walking in the hope that we would come across a trail that would lead to the mountain but after ten more minutes of walking aimlessly around, we were forced to admit that we had no idea where we were going. We couldn’t see the mountain or anything to indicate in which direction the mountain lay. So we laughed and decided that perhaps this was too advanced for us so we slowly traced our way back to the car thinking that we’d do an easier hike somewhere else this time around. As we began to walk back to the car, we quickly realized that we had no idea where our car was parked – everything looked the same! We wandered around for about fifteen minutes getting more and more lost. As Pearl freaked out, Pia turned the compass around in circles trying to figure out how to use it and Chris bent down to look for signs of foot prints from previous hikers (he was using his ranger skills to get us home). He found some horseshoe prints and we followed these for a while before just deciding to just head “that way.” Luckily, we found the road and followed it a half mile until we reached the car again. Guess it was the universe humbling us from being so cocky about our expertise.

That pretty much ended our trip to Sedona – we thought about doing another hike, but when it came down to it, we decided that we’d rather spend the rest of the day lying in the sun. On the drive back to Lake Havasu, we all decided that with a little training and a lot of friends we could one day climb Mt Kilimanjaro. Who’s with us?

This Week's Obsession: Tea

2008-02-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

Last week we received a wonderful book from our friend, Liz, called "The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture" by Jennifer Leigh Sauer. By a small coincidence, this week we are playing host to our friend, Stephen, who recently started up the website teaviews.com which is devoted to tea reviews.

On the recommendation of the book, we spent much of the week
taking tea classes, watching tea ceremonies, and sampling dozens of teas from around the world. On Sunday we took our tea at Samovar Tea Lounge in the Yerba Buena Gardens; on Friday we took a gai wan class at Teance in Berkeley where we learned how to properly steep and drink tea using the "lidded bowl" - the preferred method of tea drinkers since the Ming Dynasty; on Saturday we escaped the rain by spending the afternoon at The Imperial Tea Court at the Ferry Building where we watched a gong fu tea ceremony using yixing clay pots.

We can't wait to try a few other tea houses in the city and to take additional classes, but what we are most excited about is performing the tea ritual for our friends!

Vegan Black Forest Cake and Other Recipes

2008-02-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

We were hesitant to post this one, lest you think that our vegan experiment has consisted entirely of desserts, but this recipe was too good to pass up. For a dinner last Monday we baked a vegan Black Forest Cake. It wasn't that difficult to make and it tasted delicious. Also below are some of our favorite non-dessert recipes that we've had on heavy rotation over the last two months. Enjoy!

Vegan Black Forest Cake

Cake:
2 cup almond milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

“Buttercream” Frosting:
3/4 cup margarine (or Smart Balance) softened
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
6 tbsps almond milk
3 tsps pure vanilla extract

Cherry Filling:
1 jar maraschino cherries
2-4 T kirschwasser (cherry liqueur)
1-2 T cornstarch

3-5 T grated chocolate

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease bottoms and sides of two 9" cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper.

Whisk together the almond milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil and extracts to the almond milk mixture and beat till foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add in two batches to the wet ingredients. Beat till no large lumps remain. Fill cake pans with batter. Bake 30-40 minutes till toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan five minutes and transfer to rack to cool completely. Peel off wax paper. Set aside.

Cream together the margarine and the shortening until well combined. Add the confectioners' sugar in about 1/2 cup batches and beat well adding a little splash of soy milk after each addition. When all ingredients have been well incorporated, add the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Make sure consistency is thick enough for frosting the cake.

Simmer cherries in syrup and add liqueur. Add cornstarch until filling is thick. Set aside.

Place one of the cakes on a serving plate. Spread some frosting on the cake and when cherries are fully cooled spread the cherries over the frosting. Place other cake on top. Frost the cake evenly. Toss grated chocolate evenly on top of cake. Decorate alternating frosting with cherries. Serve.

And now for the non-dessert recipes…

Best Hummus Ever
(recipe modified from: www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2007/09/the-best-hummus.html)
2 teaspoon cumin seeds
3 garlic cloves
3 cups of rehydrated garbanzo beans (or two 15-ounce cans, drained)
1/4 cup tahini
a pinch of cayenne and paprika
kosher salt
the juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup of olive oil

Toast cumin seeds in a little skillet until fragrant and dark, about a minute. Pour them into a mortar and pound with a pestle. Add garlic cloves to the cumin and pound them until they become paste.

Scrape everything into a food processor and add all the remaining ingredients. Pulse the machine a few times, then add 1/2 cup (or more) of olive oil. Process until smooth.

Guacamole
2 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 ripe avocados
1 habanero, minced
bunch of cilantro, take off stalks and mince leaves
2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
1 lemon, juiced
3-4T olive oil

Mash avocados with a fork. Mix in half of lemon juice and half of olive oil. Mix in shallots, garlic, habanero, cilantro, tomatoes. Add more lemon juice and olive oil if needed. Salt & pepper to taste.

Pita
(recipe from: http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/)
2-1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for sprinkling while kneading & rolling out dough
2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons good olive oil
1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)
8 8-inch squares of aluminum foil for baking pitas

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour with the salt, sugar, and yeast. Add the oil and water. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for three minutes then stir in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time. If the dough is moist, add a small amount of additional flour.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 6 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces.

Roll into balls, dust lightly with flour, and cover with a damp tea towel. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Use the palm of your hand to flatten each ball into a disk. Finish with a rolling pin, flattening the dough into a disk about 6" in diameter and 3/16" thick.

Place each round on a square of foil, and carefully place 3 or 4 of the rounds directly on the oven rack. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until they are puffed.

Repeat with the remaining disks.

Japanese Avocado Salad
1 head red-leaf lettuce
3 stalks green onions, chopped
1 carrot, juliened
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 avocado, sliced thinly

Carrot-ginger dressing:
3 T mirin
3 T rice vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 T vegetable oil
2 t sugar
1/2 T sesame oil
2 t ginger
4 T grated carrots

For the dressing, mix all of the ingredients in a tight-lid bowl and shake.

Toss lettuce and carrots and place in serving bowls. Throw green onions on top. Arrange tomato slices and avocado slices alternating the two. Put dressing on top and serve.

Vegan “Borscht” Soup
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 shallots, minced
6-8 cups water
beets, peeled and chopped (use latex gloves)
green stalks of beets, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
spinach leaves
mung bean sprouts
fresh dill, minced
fresh parsley, minced

Sautee tomatoes and shallots in oil. Add dill and parsley. Add 6-8 cups of water. Let simmer for half an hour. Add beets, beet stalks, potatoes, carrots, spinach, mung bean sprouts (or whatever veggies you want). Season with red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, dried dill, dried basil. Serve with a dollop of Tofutti Better than Sour Cream.

Chinese Vegetable and Noodle Soup
2 T oil
4 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T ginger, minced
2 T red chili paste
6-8 C water
2-4 T rice wine
1 pack firm tofu, cubed
bok choy, cleaned
spinach, cleaned
mushroom, sliced
carrots, chopped
water chestnuts, drained
bamboo shoots, drained
baby corn, drained
1 packet noodles (mung bean, chinese vermicelli, soba or udon)
salt and pepper to taste

Condiments:
garlic - sliced thinly and fried until crisp (3-5 minutes)
shallots - sliced in rounds and fried until crisp (5-8 minutes)
ginger - grated
scallions - chopped
peanuts - ground using mortar & pestle

Sautee shallots, ginger and garlic in oil until golden. Add chili paste and sautee for another 2 minutes. Add water and rice wine. When boiling, drop to low heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Thirty minutes before serving, add all vegetables, tofu and noodles. Simmer for another thirty minutes and flavor with salt & pepper. Serve with condiments on the side.

More Vegan Desserts

2008-02-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

For a dinner party we're having tonight, we decided to try another recipe from Romero's & Moskowitz's VEGAN CUPCAKES TAKE OVER THE WORLD (the book which provided the wonderful recipe for our cupcakes), and we are absolutely amazed by how delicious these recipes are.

The vegan Milano cookies that we made last night are even better than Pepperidge Farm's, and we're not exaggerating. After a bite of these cookies, you'll realize that going vegan is really not that hard!

http://vegancupcakes.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/vegan-milano-cookies/

Veganism Rocks!

2008-02-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

Hello again,

For those of you who haven't heard, we have gone vegan...temporarily. We've decided to try it from January to May and see how we feel. We've just passed out first month mark and so far we feel fantastic.

We've been experimenting with new recipes and modifying old ones. The vegan borsht was a big hit, as was the penne primavera, the veggie tempura and Courtney's vegan banana chocolate ice cream. But, by far, the recipe that got the biggest reaction from our friends has been the vegan cupcakes we made this Saturday for a housewarming party. Most of the guests didn't realize that the cupcakes were vegan until after they were all gone. It was a great pleasure to see our empty tray next to the unopened box of store bought cupcakes on the counter.

We found the recipe in the link below. The only change we made was to use almond milk instead of soy.

http://inmylife-paola.blogspot.com/2007/02/vegan-cupcakes-rule.html

If anyone has any recipes they would like to share, please pass them along. Cheers!

Goodbye 2007 . . . Hello 2008

2008-01-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everybody!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Chris and I were lucky enough to have Pia for the 10 days leading up to the new year, and in typical Chris-Pearl-Pia style, we had a lot of activities planned for the end of 2007...

On Christmas eve, the three of us spent the day cooking a meal for 10 (turkey, mashed potatoes, honeyed sweet potatoes, stuffing, biscuits, green bean casserole, and brownies) and on Christmas day, we brought it over to Fill Up America and helped serve to those in need. In the morning we were wrapping donated presents for children, and the afternoon we served the food. Fill Up America was able to feed over 300 guests on Christmas day, and it was wonderful to be part of such a fulfilling experience.

We spent Christmas evening at home, cooking and eating a wonderfully decadent meal.

A few days later, we threw a "Goodbye 2007 . . . Hello 2008" party to celebrate 2007 once more before heading into 2008. We had over 30 friends and friends-of-friends show up for some food, some drinks, some dancing and a whole lot of fun.

On New Years Eve, we started our day by skyping with our nephew Neil. He's almost 2 and has been saying the funniest things (a mish-mosh of French and English).

We rang in the new year at the Eclectic Fever masquerade ball, a world music event, where we danced to Bhangra and Mexican Reggae and even a beatboxing MC.

Despite all the activity, we found plenty of time to relax in our matching red striped onesies.

We were sad to see Pia go but it's time for us to start working on our annual To Do Lists. We hope you are ready for a great 2008; we certainly are!

Four Months in San Francisco

2007-11-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

Hello, from San Francisco! Yes, we know it’s been a while since we entered our last update but we’ve been busy…honest. You see, when we last wrote, we had just completed our first year in San Francisco and were moving into a new apartment. Before we had unpacked our things and settled in, we hosted our first houseguests in Noe Valley. As it was Manny’s and Supna’s first trip to the city, we planned a packed itinerary for their vacation which ended with a road trip to the hot springs in Calistoga and then to Sterling Vineyards in Napa. The winery provided a beautiful aerial tour (via cable car) of the vineyard and ended the tour with a private tasting that included the wines they provide to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscar Night.

Not long after they left, Pablo, Karen and Neil flew in from France for a week full of activity. We hiked in Big Basin Redwoods State Park (http://www.bigbasin.org/) where you can walk inside trees that disappear into the clouds; we drove down to Monterey Aquarium (http://www.mbayaq.org/); wound our way down Lombard Street; and spent an afternoon at the Exploratorium (http://www.exploratorium.edu/), a hands-on museum for kids (and adults). Neil especially loved the bubble exhibits at the Exploratorium but was more than a little frustrated with the hologram exhibit (he spent three full minutes trying to pick up the ball that he could see but kept disappearing when he opened his hand). At the close of their trip, we had a big barbecue, and Matt and Anne, who were in town for a wedding, joined us for the afternoon. It was wonderful to have so many friends and family celebrate together in our new home.

Our friends Hewitt and Katya came to visit in late August, and it was also around this time that we took a road trip to Milpitas, CA to catch our second Wizard Rock concert (the first being last year’s Harry and the Potters/Draco and the Malfoys open-air concert in downtown San Francisco). The Whomping Willows and The Parcelmouths played to a near sell-out crowd - near sell-out because the concert was free - in the Milpitas Public Library auditorium. Some might find it a little awkward being the only adults at the show not chaperoning a young child, but years of accompanying Pearl to Mandy Moore movies left Chris well prepared for such an occasion.

The first of September was an exciting day from start to finish as we awoke at 4 in the morning and spent the early hours sitting on our deck watching the Aurigid Meteor Shower (http://aurigids.seti.org/) light up the sky and then watched the sun rise over the bay. After a quick nap, we received massages from our friend, Liz, who is studying Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture at The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the city. Later that afternoon, we made Chinese dumplings from scratch using instructions we found on-line (http://jenyu.net/fd/photorecipes/dumplings/) and served them at a dinner we hosted that evening.

And then the San Francisco festival season started, and we had The Summer of Love 40^th Anniversary celebration and The Power to the Peaceful (http://www.powertothepeaceful.org/) concert just 6 days apart. By the time the Love Parade and Folsom Street Fair rolled around, we were all festivaled-out for the year.

Mid-September brought a new houseguest and new opportunities to explore the city. We took Rishell and her daughter, Julene, to the Strybing Arboretum (http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/) and the Japanese Tea Garden (http://www.holymtn.com/garden/JapaneseTeaGardenMap.htm) in Golden Gate Park. That weekend, we returned to the hot springs in Calistoga and met up with Chris and Allison (celebrating their first year anniversary) in Napa on the way back to the city. The next morning, we explored a new farmer’s market, the Alemany Farmer’s Market in Bernal Heights. Much larger and with greater variety than the market at the Ferry Building, the Alemany Farmer’s Market is a haven for new and interesting produce. We tried Dragon Fruit (also known as pitaya, it’s like a cactus-grown kiwi fruit from Central America), Jujubes (which taste like a cross between an apple and a date), and Longan (which is similar in taste and texture to a lychee), among other purchases.

September also brought out the athlete in us. We joined 5300 other Bay Area runners in the Corporate Challenge (http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=14) and ran the 5K loop around Crissy Field in the Presidio. The setting for the race could not have been any more perfect, as we ran alongside the beach in the shadow of the Golden Gate at sunset.

October began with a trip to Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon winery (http://www.rubiconestate.com/site.php) in Napa to celebrate Lily’s 21^st birthday, and ended with a return to the Bridge School Benefit Concert (http://www.bridgeschool.org/events.html) where we saw an amazing (and rare) live performance by Tom Waits with The Kronos Quartet. Also performing at BSBC this year were Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sara, My Morning Jacket, John Mayer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Metalica and Neil Young.

We celebrated Halloween at the month’s end, dressed as a cowboy and cowgirl for work. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any trick-or-treaters this year (to their little legs, the hill on 22^nd St must seem like Mt Everest), so we spent a quiet evening at home.

The following weekend, Pearl took the Literature GRE exam, and we celebrated afterwards by getting lost in the Cool Patch Pumpkin Farm 40 acre corn maze (http://coolpatchpumpkins.com/_wsn/page4.html), the world’s largest corn maze (according to Guinness). It took us just over an hour to complete, although Pearl tried to quit after the first 10 minutes.

Which brings us to today, November 6^th: Election Day. We arose early to vote down the street. The big race this year was the mayoral race and we had 13 candidates to choose from, including a homeless vegan taxi cab driver named Grasshopper, a nudist activist, a sex club operator, a coffee farmer, and a “showman” who goes by the name of Chicken John – you’ve got to love San Francisco!

And in between Pearl found time to study for her Literature GRE test, send out an article for publication and apply to graduate programs; Chris found time to take some photos of the city and read no fewer than 11 books. We took up running in the mornings, became regulars at Yank Sing's Sunday Dim Sum, read the last Harry Potter book, took another sewing class, attended a few parties, hosted a couple dinners, made some new friends, reconnected with old friends, and, occasionally, found the time to sleep. As we said: it’s been a busy few months. We will try to be better about sending updates more frequently but with all that we have planned for 2008, we can’t promise anything.

Wrapping Up Our First Year in San Francisco

2007-07-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

As we noted in our previous entry, July marks our first full year in San Francisco. We still can’t believe that we’ve been here for a year already but in honor of our anniversary we’ve put together a "Best of San Francisco" list.

FOOD AND DRINK:

We haven’t gone out to eat all that much as we’ve been trying to eat healthily and have been busy experimenting in the kitchen but we wanted to share a few of our favorites all the same.

Best Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurant: Millennium – Such inventive dishes, like their edamame gnocchi and stout ice-cream. Millennium, our favorite restaurant in San Francisco, is vegan but markets itself as vegetarian so as not to scare away casual diners.

Best Taqueria: Taqueria San Jose – Great food, not so great neighborhood. Our tasty dinner for three was less than $10! The taquerias in the Mission are still the best deals in the city.

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant: Fattoush –While we usually cook our own Middle Eastern dinners (falafel, tabuli, raita, hummus, baba ganoush), we have yet to perfect the phyllo dishes that Fattoush is known for.

Best Dim Sum: Yank Sing – $$$ but worth it. The best Dim Sum this side of the Pacific.

Best Tapas Restaurant: Cha Cha Cha – If only for their strong sangrias and lively atmosphere.

Best Tea: Ten Ren Tea Shop – We’re still hooked on their Pearl Jasmine tea with its strong aroma and flavor. Go easy on it though: this tea contains powerful anti-oxidants which caused us to break out in sores for weeks…we’ve cut back our consumption since then.

Best Dive Bar: Zeitgeist – This biker (bicyclist) bar is almost always crowded and you will likely have to wait an hour for your food, deal with the surly bartenders and sit near the port-o-potties, but it’s still a blast. They have a Golden Tee arcade game in the back and the tamale lady makes her rounds so nobody goes hungry while waiting for their order to come up.

Best Coffee Shop: Philz Coffee – Coffee is serious business on the west coast and everyone in San Francisco has a favorite cafe. For a long time our favorite was Blue Bottle Coffee. Then Philz opened a shop next door to our old apartment and we haven’t gone anywhere else since. Even after our move to Noe Valley, we still make trips back to our old neighborhood to pick up coffee. Philz holds coffee tastings three times a week. Every floavor is worth trying but our favorite is Jacob’s Wunderbrau.

Best Grocery: Rainbow – An independent, collectively run, worker-owned and operated cooperative which provides natural, organic, vegetarian food and environmentally and health conscious products at an affordable price (how’s that for a bit of free advertising?!). You can buy anything in bulk, which helps with saving costs and wastes.

Best Farmer’s Market: The Ferry Building Farmer’s Market – Our favorite Saturday morning destination.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Best Outdoor Concert: Bridge School Benefit Concert – Still the highlight of our SF experience. We can’t wait to bring everyone we know to the 2007 show.

Best Indoor Concert: Travis – We had such a blast doing the pogo to ‘Why Does it Always Rain on Me?’ with 1000 other fans at the Fillmore. Travis played all the songs we wanted to hear and Fran did a solo encore of ‘Flowers in the Window’ with an unplugged acoustic guitar and no microphone.

Best Indoor Festival: Green Festival – Still tops our indoor festival list. We’re looking forward to the 2007 Green Festival to check out new environmentally-conscious products as well as all advancement in green.

Best Outdoor Festival: Power to the Peaceful – We had a great time last year hanging out in the sun, listening to music, eating raw pizza and watching all of the beautiful freaks walk by. This year we are especially excited about the festival season as 2007 marks the 40th year anniversary of the Summer of Love.

Best Magazine: Common Ground – Still free, green, conscious.

Best Record Store: Amoeba Records – Whether you are a Sk8r Punk or a Deadhead, a Hippie or a Hip Hopper, Amoeba is THE place to go for music.

Best Movie Theatre – Kabuki Theatres – Remember when we were young and going to the movie meant sticky floors and creaky seats without much padding? The seats at Kabuki are like hundreds of little padded thrones in which to sit while enjoying your movie. Feel free to remove your shoes…even the floor is clean!

Best Lecture: The Dalai Lama – He came to San Francisco on his tour to promote positive change in today’s world. The Dalai Lama is charismatic, clever and very funny; the talk was perhaps more entertaining than enlightening.

ACTIVITIES:

Best Class: All of them! – Last year it was painting and yoga. This year, we learned to meditate, snowboard, speak Mandarin and sew! Next on our list is a cake decorating class, reiki and more Mandarin.

Best Monthly Event: Cafe Gratitude Nights – Every month, Café Gratitude, one of the best raw restaurants in the city, hosts parties that bring together people from all over the Bay area. The parties usually include live music as well as live performances from various local artists. One of the more memorable performances was a man who recited his own poetry standing on his head! The energy is always positive and the vibe fabulous. Seriously one of the best evening gatherings we’ve experienced yet.

PLACES:

Best Neighborhood: Noe Valley – our new home! Noe is kind of like the epitome of what a San Francisco neighborhood should be with its sidewalk cafes and cool little independent shops. Noe offers great views of the city as well. The best view? From our deck, of course! On a clear day, we can see all the way to Oakland.

Best Park: Dolores – Surrounded by palm trees, Dolores Park is THE weekend destination of the young for some fun in the sun. And for good reason; it’s the prettiest park – and one of the sunniest - in San Francisco.

EXCURSIONS:

Best Trip North: Only an hour north of us begins the beautiful vineyards of Sonoma, Napa and Calistoga. We have been wine touring a few times now, and we’ve learned a lot about wine and the art of drinking it. One of our favorite tours is the private tasting given at Sterling Vineyards, situated in the hills of Calistoga. Jean Pierre gave us a very educational tour, which ended with a blind taste test! We also recommend the sparkling wine tour and restaurant at Chandon.

Best Trip East: If ever we find ourselves pining for snow, all we have to do is drive two+ hours to the east and we find ourselves in the heart of Lake Tahoe. Last winter, we learned how to snowboard at Heavenly Resort in North Lake and we are already making plans to return this coming winter to improve our riding.

Best Trip South: One of the biggest and best aquariums in the nation is 2 hours south, in Monterey. It’s home to "The Kelp Forest," a three-story tank full of animals (from sharks to sardines) which recreates the wild life found in the bay waters. In two weeks, we are going back to the aquarium with our one-year-old-nephew in tow. We’re hoping the weather is warm enough and we can kayak among the sea otters.

Best Trip West: We are only about 15 minutes to Ocean Beach, so there isn’t much to the west to explore but we’ve been told that at certain times of the year, round trip tickets to Hawaii are only $150! We haven’t been yet but are very excited to try it out soon.

So that wraps up our first year. We’ve tried to cram in as many activities into one year as we could. But we aren’t ready to slow down just yet. On to year #2…

Apartment 2.0

2007-07-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a full year since our move to the west coast (can you believe it?!?!) and the first thing on our To Do list for this year was to find affordable housing. While we loved the convenience of our apartment in SOMA - where we could roll out of bed at 8:15 and still make the 8:19 train to the peninsula without breaking a sweat - we needed to find a place we could actually afford.

So, in mid-June we began our apartment search: pouring over the listings on Craigslist each day, attending open houses each evening. It was an incredibly painful process as everybody else in San Francisco appeared to be looking for housing at the same time we were. The owner of one Craigslist posting placed a follow up ad to ask people to stop contacting him: he had 68 emails and 160 phone calls inquiring about the apartment within 24 hours of posting it.

The search quickly became overwhelming. We shifted our search from neighborhood to neighborhood to try to find an affordable (ha!) place with a commute that wasn't prohibitive. We looked in Potrero Hill but kept reading scary articles in the newspaper about certain parts of that neighborhood (everyone says it's up and coming but at present it seems to be more coming than up); we looked in our old neighborhood, SOMA, but couldn't find anything we could afford; we explored Glen Park but couldn't find anything nice enough to offset the 2 hours commute each way; and finally we found Noe Valley, which we immediate loved.

Noe Valley sits amid the hills in the heart of the city. Everywhere you look there are huge, beautiful Victorian houses and gorgeous views of the city. 24th Street is lined with cute independently owned shops (24th Street Cheese Company, Noe Valley Bakery & Bread Company, Noe Knit, Phoenix Books) and the Noe Valley Farmers' Market sets up between Sanchez St. and Noe St. every Saturday.

We attended every open house in the area for two weeks and turned in applications for a handful of them, but kept losing out to doctors and lawyers and other rich 20-somethings with stable jobs and huge bank accounts (I overheard someone on the train last year say that San Francisco is where thirty year olds go to retire - I don't know if he was quoting it from elsewhere but it has stuck with me ever since).

Finally, just as we were growing desperate - we had to vacate our apartment in two weeks and had guests coming before then - we found a jewel of an apartment, applied and were accepted the next day! Not only was it less expensive than most of the apartments we were looking at, but we instantly felt at home there.

With a little help from our friends (thanks again Lily, Mike, Eric, Adam and Suzanne!), we moved in on July 4th and have spent the last two weeks getting settled in to our new apartment and exploring our new neighborhood.

Our apartment (the lower half of a Victorian built in 1899) was built on top of a giant rock atop a steep hill so we have great views from our deck and living room windows. The hills can be a bit painful at times, especially after a long day of work, but we are trying to look at the positive side of things and expect that doing the hills seven days a week will soon get us in the best shape of our lives.

We were hoping to spend as much time as possible on the deck - watching the sun rise over our morning coffee, watching it set in the evenings - but the foggy season hit San Francisco right around the time we moved in and there is a thick, creeping mist that has been sitting over the city for the last ten days. Still, we've been told that the fog should lift in the next few weeks and summertime in San Francisco will begin.

I'll upload some photos of our new place now - we hope to add pictures of the neighborhood soon.

Links to references:

24th Street Cheese Company: http://www.noevalleyvoice.com/2007/April/Chee.html (article from The Noe Valley Voice newspaper)
Noe Valley Bakery & Bread Company: http://www.noevalleybakery.com/

Noe Knit: http://noeknit.com/

Phoenix Books: http://www.yelp.com/biz/qia-BKVF-UyXn1mZoeRiUQ?rpp=20&sort_by=relevance_desc&start=20 (reviews from yelp.com)
The Noe Valley Farmers' Market: http://www.noevalleyfarmersmarket.com/

Pictures of our New Apartment

2007-07-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

Our New Apartment in Noe Valley

The View from the Street

Staircase up the Rock

Noe Valley Hills

The Deck (on a clear day)

Lily and Pearl Relaxing on the Deck (July 4th)

View from the Deck

Livingroom

Dining Room

Bedroom

Bathroom

Office Area

Kitchen (view 1)

Kitchen (view 2)

Kitchen (view 3)

Kitchen (view 4)

Arts and Crafts

2007-06-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Our first sewing projects are finally complete! Pearl made two pillows for our couch and Chris finished his yoga mat bag.

Our next few projects (pajamas, meditation pillow, hippie dress) are on hold until we finish moving into our new apartment next week. We are so excited about the move and will be posting photos in the next few days.

Our New Hobby

2007-05-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, we took our second sewing class at Stitch Lounge and learned how to sew a pouch, piping (Pearl's favorite), button holes and zippers. Check out the photo to see our progress.

So what's next? Well, we expect to get our sewing machine back from the shop sometime next week and Pearl's making us pillows for the living room while Chris is making a yoga mat bag and onesie pajamas.

Wish us luck!

Coming Soon…

2007-04-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

We’ve updated our events calendar. Here are some of the things on our calendar for the next few months:

April 8: Stitch Lounge (http://www.stitchlounge.com/). We signed up for a Sewing Basics class in hopes that we can start making our own clothes and costumes within the year.

April 21: Earth Day. While March 20 might have been San Francisco’s official Earth Day, there will still be lots going on later this month. We might use this as an excuse to head over the Bay Bridge to the Berkeley Earth Day Fair.

April 26 – May 10: The San Francisco International Film Festival (http://fest07.sffs.org/films/). There are many interesting films showing at the festival this year. We are especially looking forward to Paprika, Lady Chatterley and Golden Door.

April 29: His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (http://www.dalailamabay2007.com/). The Himalayan Foundation hosts the Dalai Lama as he speaks on the topic of creating positive change.

May 2: Travis at The Fillmore (http://www.travisonline.com/). Travis are on tour in the US for the first time in over three years to promote their upcoming album, The Boy With No Name.

May 10-13: Trip to Newton/Boston. Heading to Newton to see CWB's mom for Mother's Day and to Fenway Park so PCB will stop complaining that she's never been.

May 20: Bay to Breakers (http://www.ingbaytobreakers.com/main.html). We are still looking for costumes for the world’s most outrageous footrace…perhaps after our sewing class we can make our own!

May 30: Voxtrot at The Great American Music Hall (http://www.voxtrot.net/). Voxtrot are on tour to promote their upcoming self titled album. This show will make it the third year in a row that we’ve seen them perform.

June 4: Red Sox at Oakland. We are hoping to catch Dice-K fever. Go Sox!

Quarterly Update (Q1 2007): We Are Now, Like, Hella California

2007-04-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

It’s now the first day of April and one-quarter of the year is over. Sounds like it’s time for an update. Some of this you may already know; some might be new:

Weight loss/diet – Living in California, we have access to an excellent selection of organic fruits and veggies and have been eating healthier than ever before. We try to make our weekly trip to the Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning (schedule permitting), have been doing lots of walking and are working out fairly regularly.

Since January 1st, CWB has lost 15 pounds, 1.5 inches off his waist, and 4% body fat. PCB has lost 5 pounds, a combined 6 inches off her chest, waist and hips, and 5% body fat. At the beginning of the year, we signed up with a website (www.my-calorie-counter.com) which tracks your daily intake and exercise. By keeping track of our diet, we’ve been able to modify our meals to improve our general health and well being. We feel great and are extremely happy every time we look in the mirror.

Bi-Rite Creamery – Sticking to a healthy diet can be difficult at times. Especially as we’ve just discovered the newly opened Bi-Rite Creamery (http://biritecreamery.com), an all-organic ice cream shop and bakery whose ice cream flavors include Salted Caramel, Honey Lavender, Double Ginger, Chai Spiced Milk Chocolate, and Pumpkin. Although the Ginger Snap Cookies/Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwich and the Roasted Banana Ice Cream Pie were tempting, we stuck with ice cream on our first trip: CWB ordered a scoop of the Salted Caramel and the Coffee Toffee and PCB had a scoop each of the Honey Lavender and Double Ginger. Yum!

Colon Hydrotherapy – Perhaps our most “California” experience to date. Even though we had read all about the process beforehand, it was still a little awkward and uncomfortable at first, but our hydrotherapist (http://www.bodyharmony.com) explained every step very clearly and put us at ease. She talked about the health benefits how hydrotherapy can complement a healthy diet and promote proper digestion going forward. CWB was worried that it would be too flaky, but the way it was described to us made a lot of sense in terms of remaining on the right track to good health.

How it works: the water is heated to just about body temperature (between 95 and 100 degrees) so you don't notice the water being pumped in, just that your bowels are feeling more and more pressure. The pressure builds up for about four or five minutes and when the discomfort becomes consistent you tell the therapist you need to “release.” (Like birth contractions - but to a far, far lesser degree - the discomfort comes in waves and when the waves get closer together you signal the therapist to release.) The relief is immediate and the water that flows back out (into a separate tube) takes with it the waste that has been collecting in your colon. The therapist then massages your stomach gently to push out any pockets of gas and water.

The therapist also massaged our legs, arms, shoulders and chest which helped to soothe and relax us during the process. The “fills” can get uncomfortable at times, but if you can focus on your breathing, the process goes much more smoothly. Having recently taken a class on Vipassana Meditation (see below) we were equipped with the proper breathing techniques.

After the therapy, we felt calm, clean, awake and really, really hungry. That evening, we returned home and started to fill up our colons in preparation for our next trip.

Yoga Tree – In addition to taking care of our bodies through a proper diet, we’ve started taking classes at The Yoga Tree in Hayes Valley (http://www.yogatreesf.com) with Stacey Rosenberg. She teaches the Anusara style, is very patient, and is an excellent teacher. Stacey’s Yoga 101 class was CWB’s first introduction to yoga, and he liked it so much that he has begun taking regular Sunday morning classes with her.

Insight Institute – Starting in January, we took a beginner’s Vipassana meditation class through the Insight Meditation Community of San Francisco (http://www.sfinsight.org) taught by Eugene Cash and Kris Bailey. We didn’t realize how much we would take away from the course! First and foremost, it gave us a good foundation for our meditation practice, aiding us in our spiritual path. Second, we are able to incorporate so much of what we learned about meditation into our daily lives. We never realized how being mindful of all our actions is so important in maintaining a peaceful environment.

Mandarin Classes – Women hui shuo zhongguohua…yi diar (We can speak Chinese…a little bit). Since the second week of January, we have been taking Mandarin lessons with the ABC Language Exchange (https://www.abclang.com) at the Embassy CES. Our teacher, Yu Zhang, has been wonderfully patient and creative in helping us learn the language. Last Thursday, she got us to memorize and recite a poem by Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty. We couldn’t believe that we were “reading” and reciting in Mandarin! We are very pleased by how much we learned in the twelve-weeks we’ve been studying Mandarin and we are certainly going to continue taking classes. Zai jian.

California Drivers License – After nine months, we finally made it to the DMV and got our licenses. The test was really difficult and full of San Francisco specific question on subjects we never had to think about back East (parking on hills, trolleys, bicycle lane etiquette, coastal highway driving). But we are both glad the test is over and we won’t have to take another one until we move to a new state – which given our track record should be in a few months.

Café Gratitude – You may recall that during our trip to Alive!, Dine Knight highly recommended Café Gratitude (http://www.withthecurrent.com/cafe.html) as one of the best raw restaurants in the city. While the café located in the Mission was a little too loud and hectic on a Friday night, we enjoyed our meal very much and learned that the other locations (there are three CGs in the city) are quieter and more intimate. CWB ordered the “I Am Flourishing”: a Mediterranean Plate with sprouted almond-sesame seed hummus, spicy olive tapenade and coconut yogurt cucumber tzatziki salad. PCB opted for “I am Cheerful”: a live burger made of pumpkin seed and walnut with macadamia nut “cheese.” We finished the meal with a raw cacao and ginger cake that was so rich we couldn’t eat more than half of it together, though it was definitely the favorite dish in an altogether very tasty meal!

SF MoMA – Last weekend we met Lily at the MoMA (http://www.sfmoma.org) to see the “Picasso and American Art” exhibit. This was our first time at the SF MoMA since moving to SF (we had been once before, in 2000) and we really liked the space. It was an interesting exhibit -- we never realized how much of an impact Picasso's work had on American art. Each room of the exhibit displayed one of Picasso's works alongside the American pieces that it inspired. To our surprise, the exhibit demonstrated how Picasso's style was appropriated by Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol!

So what’s coming up on our “California To Do” list? Well, next week we start training for The Bay to Breakers 12K (http://www.ingbaytobreakers.com/main.htm), perhaps the world’s wildest and dressiest footrace which includes a costume contest and “Centipede Division” where groups of tethered runners (with strings up to 13 people long) compete.

On Easter Sunday we are scheduled for a class at Stitch Lounge (http://www.stitchlounge.com/) to learn basic sewing techniques. We hope to start making our own clothing within the year and when we do, we’ll post our creations.

On June 5, we cross the bay and head to Cisco Field in Oakland to watch the Red Sox.

Best of all, we just bought tickets to Boston for Mother’s Day weekend!

And of course, we’ll keep you all up to date with our adventures as they happen. Check back soon!

San Francisco to ban plastic bags to promote recycling.

2007-03-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

(From CNN.com)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to become the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets to help promote recycling.

Under the legislation, beginning in six months large supermarkets and drugstores will not be allowed to offer plastic bags made from petroleum products.

"Many [foreign] cities and nations have already implemented very similar legislation," said Ross Mirkarimi, the city legislator who championed the new law. "It's astounding that San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to follow suit."

"I am hopeful that other U.S. cities will also adopt similar legislation," he said. "Why wait for the federal government to enact legislation that gets to the core of this problem when local governments can just step up to the plate?"

The city's Department of the Environment said San Francisco uses 181 million plastic grocery bags annually. Plans dating back a decade to encourage recycling of the bags have largely failed, with shoppers returning just one percent of bags, said department spokesman Mark Westland.
Mirkarimi said the ban would save 450,000 gallons of oil a year and remove the need to send 1,400 tons of debris now sent annually to landfills. The new rules would, however, allow recyclable plastic bags, which are not widely used today.

A spokesman for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who must approve or veto the legislation, called it sensible. "Chances are good that he is going to sign it," said Nathan Ballard.

"Only in California..." entry #52

2007-03-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

We’ve been getting such wonderful weather lately that Lily, Chris and I decided to throw a barbeque last Sunday. The temperature has been hovering right around 80 degrees all week and we got to enjoy a lot of sun, some great food and a few friends.

Here are some pics from the day.

Neil is one!

2007-03-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

Pia and I celebrated Neil's 1st birthday with my brother's family in Lyon, France. We were fortunate to be there at a momentous point in Neil's life: we saw him change from a baby to a toddler and he is now a walker! :-)

Some pics from our trip...isn't he handsome?

Winter, San Francisco Style!

2007-02-26T19:26:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven’t yet heard, a few weeks ago Pearl and I went snowboarding for the first time, or as us boarders say, we “rode the mountain.”

Pia flew in to join us for the trip and she, Pearl and I awoke at 4am so we could be at Alpine Meadows in Lake Tahoe before the start of our 10am beginner's lesson. With the sun still hours from rising, we made our way through the city streets to pick up Suzanne and Lily and then jumped on Route 80 and headed east to Tahoe. We were making great time when (adventure alert!) an hour outside of the city our rented minivan started making funny noises. Strangely enough, when we picked up the van the previous evening, it only had a total of 7 miles on the odometer. Luckily, we had enough momentum to roll off the exit in Roseville and come to a stop at the closest gas station where Pearl spent the next three hours of the phone with the rental agency. Suzanne kept the rest of us entertained by playing guitar and singing songs.

Finally, after hours of waiting, a truck arrived with another minivan in tow. The replacement was not as new, nor as nice, but it worked and that was good enough for us.

We arrived at Alpine well after our lesson was to begin, but this turned out to be fortuitous. Lily's friend, Gray, who had worked at Alpine the previous winter, met us as we were finishing lunch and offered to give us a private lesson. For the next 3 hours we rode the mountain, fell a lot, developed a few bruises, got soaking wet, and had a great time. None of us were expert riders by any means, but we all looked good in our boarding outfits and let's face it, that's what is most important anyway.

Lake Tahoe in general - and Alpine in particular - is beautiful. It was snowing when we arrived, the first snow we'd seen since our move. It's funny how when you don't need to do the shoveling snow seems almost magical, like something out of Narnia. And like much of California, Alpine is green conscious (from the website): “Environmentalism does not begin by adopting a set of trendy “go-green BMP's”; it’s more of a mindset that starts with self, manifesting into choices, actions, and life practices. Most guests and employees have actively chosen Alpine Meadows as their home mountain because of the resort’s environmental standards and high regard for the mountains. Alpine Meadows does as much as it does not. Alpine Meadows works with Colorado-based Renewable Choice Energy. The resort purchases 100% renewable energy. Using this amount of wind energy is equivalent to not driving a car 1,822,061 miles. That’s three and a half round-trip tickets to the moon!”

When we'd had enough, we set out to find our hotel which was a beautiful place overlooking a mad-made beach on the lake. Being cold and wet, we upgraded to a room with a fireplace where we bathed, showered, stretched and rested.

That evening, we dined at Gar Woods Restaurant, a sumptuous meal of fresh fish and fancified side dishes.

When we returned to the hotel, Suzanne picked up her guitar again and sang us to sleep.

The next day we all awoke in pools of our own sweat. The fire which stayed lit through the night to dry our clothes also warmed the room to roughly the same temperature as the Sahara...at midday...in summer.

We took breakfast at The Old Post Office and then returned to the mountain. This time we almost made it in time for our lesson (thinking that the lesson was at 10:30 we strolled in 15 minutes "early" only to find that the lesson had begun at 10). Still, one of Gray's friends recognized us and snuck us into one of the lessons already underway. We all progressed steadily throughout the day, learning how to control our speed, how to change directions and how to come to a full stop without the use of our faces.

Toward the end of the lesson, our instructor, Josh, announced that we were all going to take the lift to the top of the hill and ride down to end the day. The next few minutes were somewhat of a blur: I remember standing in line, then a chair attacked Pia and knocked her to the ground, then all of a sudden I was level with the tops of the trees I'd spent much of the morning narrowly avoiding. I was more than a bit frightened when I realized that nothing held me to the chair as I was rocking in the wind 40 feet above the skiers and snowboarders below.

After what seemed like an hour, I made my graceless exit, head first, off the chair at the top of the bunny hill. Pearl executed her dismount with ease and then rode down the mountain in full control ending our lesson and the whole experience on a high note. That afternoon, wet, tired, bruised and happy, we made our way home. Along the way we made our plans to return again as soon as our collective schedules would allow.

Best of all, we now finally have an answer for all our friends and family when they ask us if we'll miss the seasons during our stay in SF: It's 70 degrees and sunny in mid-February, but if we want snow, winter is only 3 hours to the east.

San Francisco Soul Food

2007-02-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the end of Lily’s apartment search, Chris and I took her to experience her first raw restaurant. She chose Alive! Restaurant (“Alive is 100% L.O.V.E: Living, Organic, Vegan, Enjoyment!”), which specializes in Raw/Living Vegan Cuisine. All of their dishes are free of wheat, grains, animal products, dairy, and honey, cooked under 115 degrees F. Check out their site at http://www.aliveveggie.com/

We started our meal with organic teas, sharing an order of Sunny Scallion Pate and an order of Vegetable Wrap. For the main course, each of us tried a different “noodle” dish (their specialty!): Chris ordered the Fettuccini Alfredo, Lily ordered the Sweet Sesame Ginger Noodles, Suzanne ordered the Asian Almond Noodles, and I ordered the Korean Vegetable Noodles. All of their pasta and noodles are made from zucchini. Each dish was so divine and each had a unique flavor so distinct from the others. We could really taste the freshness and flavor of each ingredient. To end the delicious experience, we shared the Black Forest Mousse cake, made of raw organic macadamia nut crust, cherries, cacao mouse, and coconut crème. While it didn’t exactly taste like the Black Forest cakes we are used to, it was so rich and decadent that between the four of us, we were unable to eat it all. It certainly felt like the perfect way to end our meal.

Funny aside: midway through the entrée we fell into conversation with the two women sitting next to us at Alive! Dina and Marta had just returned from a 5-week intensive course on raw cooking at Living Light Culinary Art Institute (www.rawfoodchef.com), and we enjoyed listening to them critique and dissect each flavor in their dishes. They even asked us if they could finish off the last of our Black Forest Mousse cake, which we gladly shared with them. Lily thought it was so hilarious (“You would never share your food with a complete stranger on the East Coast”). She is quickly learning the cultural differences of the two coasts.

We learned that Dina and Marta are part of a group in Austin, Texas that encourages healthy-living. Dina Knight – who, it must be noted has lost over 60 pounds since converting to an all-raw diet and who looks fantastic – is part-owner and chef at Living Health, a service group “dedicated to providing coaching, education and support for those interested in improving their state of health through diet, lifestyle changes and natural therapies.” (www.elivinghealth.com)

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. We can’t wait to try the other raw restaurants in the Bay area. Dina and Marta suggested that we try Café Gratitude next. Anyone want to join us?

SF Green Festival Addendum

2007-02-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

As a follow up to our “It’s Easy Being Green” blog dated November 17, 2006, we wanted to report that only 4% of all the waste generated during the San Francisco Green Festival made it into the landfill. Everything else was either composted or recycled. Go SF!!!

*************************************************************************
http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/279/:

Green Festival San Francisco – November 2006
Overall Greening and Waste Recovery Numbers
Matthew J Dufon, Greening manager

Congratulations, San Francisco Green Festival!Thanks to the amazing efforts of hundreds of greening volunteers under the leadership of Greening Manager Matt Dufon, the San Francisco Green Festival achieved an impressive 96% resource recovery rate. What an incredible feat! Only 4% of all the waste generated during this 3-day event with 35,000 people found its way to the local landfill. Another great example of what's working in our communities.

Total Landfill Waste: 930 lbs.
Total Compost Recovered: 9716 lbs. (4 ¾ Tons)
Total Corrugated Cardboard: 3900 lbs.
Total Recycling Recovered: 6613 lbs.
Total Electronics Recycling Recovery: 65 lbs
Total Weight of Waste Recovered: 21,224 lbs.
Percentage of Overall Landfill Diversion: 96.33%
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Sleepless in San Francisco

2007-01-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, Pearl and I attended another excellent benefit concert, the "7th Annual Sleepless Nights Gram Parsons Tribute Concert" at the Great American Music Hall.

As we entered, our hands were stamped as proof of payment and I was more than a little joyed to find that the stamp they used was Elvis' TCB logo. The concert was more than 30 minutes away and I was already smiling.

The (modestly named) Great American Music Hall looks like an ornate Bowery Ballroom - a flowery Bowery, if you will - and claims the title of San Francisco's oldest standing nightclub. Since its construction in the days following the earthquake of 1906, the GAMH has spent time as a bordello, a WWII-era dancehall, a jazz club, a Moose Lodge, a condemned building, a French restaurant and its current life as a music venue.

This year's concert benefited the Pat Spurgeon Kidney Foundation, named for Pat Spurgeon, drummer of the San Francisco band Rogue Wave who is on dialysis and awaiting a kidney transplant donor. The band's webpage (www.roguewavemusic.com/) opens with the following note: "In a logical world, medical insurance would cover his donor's and his expenses after the procedure, but it does not; so he and his family must carry the financial burden. The expenses can be huge. We are trying to raise money for costs like: donor's travel, care, bills, lost work wages, etc., as well as Pat's expenses, care, bills, etc. while he is in recovery."

As he took the stage, the host and concert founder, Eric Shea, opened by announcing that earlier in the week a donor had been found and Pat would soon receive his transplant. It made me think that maybe 2007 is curing the ills of 2006. Let's hope.

Shea originally sought to have his former band, Mover, included on the bill of Gram Fest, the Parsons tribute concert located in Joshua Tree, CA (near the site where Gram died in 1973 at age 26). In true San Francisco DIY ethic, when Shea couldn't get anyone at Gram Fest to return his phone calls, he decided "let's put the show on right here" and Sleepless Nights was born. The fist concert was held at Slim's in 1999. It soon moved to the GAMH, but continues to benefit those in need in the San Francisco community.

Shea opened his set with Hickory Wind and then moved into a audience-aided sing-a-long rendition of You Ain't Going Nowhere. The sets were short and the turnovers were quick so the evening flew by. Highlights included Miranda Lee Richards' cover of She (Pearl's favorite), The Real Sippin' Whiskeys cover of The Return of the Grievous Angel and Sweetbriar's rock out version of Jesus is Just Alright. Also performing were Dave Gleason’s Wasted Days, Red Meat, Paula Frazer and Patrick Main, Elisa Randazzo and Ben Ashley and a reunited-for-the-night Mover.

As with the acts, the audience reflected Gram's wide influence on the music of the last four decades. From folkies to country music lovers to indie rockers; from the kids raised on covers by Beck and Ryan Adams, to those who were introduced to his music by Elvis Costello, to those who were old enough to have seen him on stage with Emmylou Harris and who can remember when the Byrds, the Stones and the 70s "went country," the concert provided something to entertain every fan.

For information about the venue and for the GAMH events calendar:
http://www.musichallsf.com/

For additional information about Gram, check out the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_Parsons
http://www.gramparsons.com/faq/

Chris & Pearl’s Second Half of 2006 Best of San Francisco

2007-01-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

January 1^st not only marked the beginning of the new year, it also marked our 6 monthiversary. To celebrate the occasion, we’ve decided to create our very own “Chris & Pearl’s Second Half of 2006 Best of San Francisco” list to recap our favorite places (so far) in San Francisco. Here goes:

Best Indoor Festival: Green Festival – We’ve noticed that since the festival, we’ve been wearing a lot more green. Coincidence? Probably. See blog dated November 17, 2006.

Best Outdoor Festival: Power to the Peaceful – See blog dated September 10, 2006.

Best Concert: Bridge School Benefit Concert – The highlight of the year. See blog dated October 29, 2006.

Best Chinese Restaurant: House of Nanking – Cheap, fast and delicious. What more could you ask for?

Best Japanese Restaurant: Any of the ones in Kinetsu Mall, Japantown.

Best Sushi Restaurant: Hama-ko – Fresh fish daily with great recommendations from the owner/chef.

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant: Fattoush – Their phyllo dishes are the best.

Best Dim Sum: Yank Sing – Best Dim Sum in the Western Hemisphere.

Best Fish-n-Chips: The Chelsea Kitchen at The Edinburgh Castle. They’ll fry anything.

Best Brunch: Town’s End – It’s on Townsend Street. Get it?

Best Tapas Restaurant: Cha Cha Cha – If only for their strong sangrias.

Best Vegetarian Restaurant: Golden Era – Sister restaurant to Golden Lotus in Oakland.

Best New California Restaurant: Coco500 – Best fancy French fries ever.

Best Sandwiches: Crepes on Cole – An avocado in every sandwich.

Best Tea: Ten Ren Tea Shop – We’re hooked on their $60/pound Jasmine tea.

Best Bar: Thirsty Bear – Don’t miss their home-brewed vanilla beer. Yum.

Best Dive Bar: Zeitgeist – The Best place to get home-made tamales from the tamale lady, play a few holes on the Golden Tee arcade, and hang out with bikers…by the way a “biker bar” in San Francisco refers to bicyclists. Honorable mention goes to Edinburgh Castle where you have to pay extra for a clean glass.

Best Drag Show: AsiaSF – We went for the singing. Honest. See blog dated October 15, 2006.

Best Grocery: Safeway – We added this only as an excuse to mention that our Safeway is 100% powered by wind energy!

Best Farmer’s Market: Ferry Building – Our favorite Saturday morning destination. See blog dated September 2, 2006.

Best Bookstore: Citylights Bookstore – Old. Dirty. Disorganized. Perfect.

Best Magazine: Common Ground – Free, green, conscious.

Best Record Store: Amoeba Records – Everybody’s favorite record store.

Best Lecture: Naumann night: A Lecture on Bruce Naumann – Winner by default as this was the only lecture we attended.

Best Reading: David Sedaris – His stories about San Francisco and Japan cracked us up. He’s exactly the same in person as he is on the radio…same size, too.

Best Rendition of “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On”: 3 earthquakes in 4 days in mid-December – quite a titillating experience, Pearl was giddy with delight for days. Don’t worry folks, they were little.

We haven’t been to a taqueria in the Mission yet (I know, what is wrong with us?) but it’s on our list for 2007. For those of you who have visited or lived in the city, let us know what we should include on that 2007 list. Cheers!

Maligayang Pasko, Everybody! (Merry Christmas)

2006-12-25T22:41:00.000-08:00

Last night, we spent “noche buena” at my aunt’s house in the East Bay, eating barbequed ribs (yes, a BBQ in December!) and singing hours and hours of karaoke. We returned home at one in the morning and began cooking a holiday feast for FILL UP AMERICA (http://www.fillupamerica.org/), an organization seeking to serve home-cooked Christmas meals to over 300 San Francisco homeless. Christopher and I were up until five a.m., cooking a meal which included a 20-lbs roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, biscuits, corn, green beans, apple pie and brownies! We took a quick nap and then drove the meal to the shelter. It was wonderful to start the Christmas morn, sharing our food and love to those in need.

Being so far away from family and friends, and seeing as the weather is sixty degrees and there are palm trees outside our window, it’s a far cry from the white Christmases with which we grew up, but we wanted to take this time to wish each and every one of you a very merry Christmas. Though we are sad not to see our loved ones today, we are happy knowing that we helped others enjoy the holiday.

Chris' New Fedora

2006-11-17T21:58:00.000-08:00

Some photos of Chris and his beautiful new hat, courtesy of Karema Deodato

http://www.karemadeodato.com/index.html

Isn't it gorgeous?