Coming Soon…

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

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.

(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

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!

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!

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

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

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%
************************************************************************

Sleepless in San Francisco

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

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)

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

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

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

Isn't it gorgeous?

It's Easy Being Green

On Sunday, we attended the SF Green Festival (www.greenfestivals.org), an event which promotes and celebrates green, safe, healthy communities as well as local economies. This is the largest Green gathering in the nation (there are three in the US, the other two are held in Washington, DC and Chicago, IL), featuring over 200 speakers and 400 green businesses, green how-to workshops, green films, green career sessions, and best of all, green food.

It was amazing to see how much improvement and acceptance green living has achieved in recent years. Hemp products used to be harsh and rough; now, there are many hemp products that are smooth and actually wearable. Chris bought a beautiful messenger (see image on right) bag made of hemp & rubber from Amazonia Designs (with all profits going back to the people in the Amazon). One of our favorite products was clothing made of 100% bamboo which felt softer than cotton. We ate a raw, organic lunch with friends, sampled many delicious and nutritious snacks, spoke with vendors about their products, and learned a lot about conscious living and green living.

Among our favorite booths were:

Branch – Sustainable design for living. Branch donates 10% of its annual profits to organizations that promote environmental responsibility. Check out the chaise lounges! (http://www.branchhome.com/)

g diapers – A single Pampers or Huggies diaper takes over 500 years to biodegrade, one g diaper takes 5 days to biodegrade. FIVE DAYS. ‘nuff said. (www.gdiapers.com)

Goddess Gear – Comfortable clothing that’s easy on your conscience. All of their garments are hemp or other natural fibers -- including bamboo. (www.goddessgear.net/)

Alive! – Raw cuisine, using only organic ingredients and everything in their menu is dairy-free, animal-free, wheat-free, and gluten-free…and everything is delicious. (www.aliveveggie.com/)

Fernyn’s Grove Sustainables – Exotic corsets, bridal & couture clothing all mindfully made from organic, sustainable, and traceable textiles. (www.mycorset.com)

Method – A San Francisco-based green merchant whose products we did not see at the festival but which we’ve been purchasing since our arrival. Good smelling and good for the environment! (www.methodhome.com/)

It was wonderful to see how many people gathered to support green living. Think green!

Great Music, Better Cause

Last weekend, Pearl and I attended the Bridge School Benefit Concert, one of the most highly anticipated events on the Bay Area’s social calendar, which for all its lack of pomp and pageantry, still maintains the intimacy of a backyard barbecue – well, a barbecue with your 22,000 closest friends.

The Bridge School was founded in 1986 by Pegi Young (wife of Neil Young), James Foederer and Dr. Marilyn Buzolich to educate children with speech and physical impairments and teach alternative means of communication. Neil and Pegi’s son, Ben, was one of the school’s first students.

The proceeds of the annual benefit concert, an all-acoustic, star-studded celebration, which was started the same year as the school, partially funds the technology, equipment and support needed to provide the students with an excellent education and also the transition program which assists Bridge School graduates with their education and integration into their home school district post-graduation.

http://www.bridgeschool.org/about.html

The concert is now in its 20th year and has featured performances by some of the biggest names in music, including Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Jerry Garcia, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, REM, Beck, Willie Nelson and John Lee Hooker. Many artists return to perform time and again. This was the fifth BSBC for The Dave Matthews Band and the seventh for Pearl Jam. The only constant from year to year is the founder and host, Neil Young, and the promise of a fantastic show. This year was no disappointment.

For a line up from each of the BSBC’s 20 concerts see the link below:
http://hyperrust.org/Bridge/Benefit.html

The weather was beautiful (nearing 80 degrees in late October!) and the concert was already in full-swing when we arrived at the Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre in the second hour of a day-long concert. We had missed the first two performances: Neil’s opening set which featured his wife, Pegi, performing alongside a Native American drummer and dancer, and psychedelic folk singer Devendra Banhart. I was sorry to have missed Neil (although we had many other opportunities to see him throughout the day, evening and night) and as well as Bert Jansch who accompanied the first two sets and took the lead at one point during Banhart’s performance.

As we entered the amphitheatre to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ rendition of Gram Parsons’ Hickory Wind, I knew at once that we were in for a good show. The upper lawn, already a patchwork of blankets and bodies, left hardly any green showing. It took us nearly 20-minutes to find four square feet of grass on which to lay our blanket. As we wandered through the masses, we caught our first glimpse of our host as he accompanied Gillian and David as they covered his own Country Girl.

Two large screens, on either side of the stage, provided close-up of the performers, interspersed with shots of the crowd and of the current and former students (Ben Young among them) who sat onstage, providing a beautiful and moving backdrop, a constant reminder of the cause we were supporting and celebrating.

Shortly after we settled in, the next performer, Death Cab for Cutie replaced Gillian, performing a handful of pretty pop songs and then a cover of Graham Nash's Military Madness for which Neil returned to the stage to join in on guitar and vocals.

Trent Reznor followed with a stark, emotional set. We were wondering how well Reznor would fit into the acoustic format but he pulled it off quite well. Seated at a piano and accompanied by a string quartet, he did an excellent job re-arranging some of his formerly metal-heavy tracks – Hurt and The Frail among them.

Up next were the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl, brought huge smiles and some impressive acoustic head-banging on My Hero, a song which he dedicated to Neil. The group brought their set to a close with Everlong after Grohl recounted that at a previous Bridge School performance of this emotional song, he retreated to his trailer in tears.

Pegi Young then introduced a short tribute to Emma Pitcairn, a 25 year old Bridge School graduate who passed away last month. Set to Neil’s One of These Days, the tribute showed Emma from childhood to her young adulthood: Emma had such a wide smile in every photo (with her family, with friends, in classes at school). The brief documentary helped us reflect on all the school does for its students and how much every student becomes part of the Bridge School family. It again served, like the live shots of the students onstage, to remind us of the reason we (the audience, the performers and the students) were there. This tribute received one of the loudest and longest applauses of the evening.

"One of These Days"

One of these days,
I'm gonna sit down
and write a long letter
To all the good friends I've known

And I'm gonna try
And thank them all
for the good times together.
Though so apart we've grown.

One of these days,
I'm gonna sit down
and write a long letter
To all the good friends I've known

One of these days,
one of these days,
one of these days,
And it won't be long, it won't be long.

And I'm gonna thank,
That old country fiddler
And all those rough boys
Who play that rock 'n' roll
I never tried to burn any bridges
Though I know I let some good things go.

One of these days,
I'm gonna sit down
and write a long letter
To all the good friends I've known

One of these days,
one of these days,
one of these days,
And it won't be long, it won't be long.

From down in L.A.
All the way to Nashville,
From New York City
To my Canadian prairie home
My friends are scattered
Like leaves from an old maple.
Some are weak, some are strong.

One of these days,
I'm gonna sit down
and write a long letter
To all the good friends I've known

One of these days,
one of these days,
one of these days,
And it won't be long, it won't be long.

One of these days,
one of these days,
one of these days,
And it won't be long, it won't be long.

The highlight of my night came next as Brian Wilson took the stage and performed a selection of my favorite songs, including God Only Knows, Wouldn't it Be Nice, Heroes and Villains and Good Vibrations (with Neil on a 200 year old pump organ). It was the most fun set of the night: young and old fans alike got up to dance and sing along with California Girls.

As darkness drew in, Pearl Jam kicked up the intensity with a cover of Dylan’s Masters of War. Their set included Around the Bend, Thin Air (which they dedicated to two friends of Maricor, a Bridge School graduate and current Berkeley student), Lukin, and Betterman, culminating with the Eddie Vedder/Neil Young collaboration Throw Your Hatred Down.

As the sun rounded the horizon, the cold drew in quick. The crowd thinned as the families with young children made their way to the exits. Those who were able to handle the cold remained, turning their collars up against the cold and huddling close for warmth. The video screens which had been providing shots of the Bridge School students smiling, clapping and laughing, now showed them burrowing into their parents for a warm place to sleep.

The Dave Matthews Band turned a number of their radio friendly hits into extended jams. Favorites Crash and Everyday were fun and lively and got the crowd dancing. Neil Young reappeared to another huge applause and joined Matthews on an 18-minute version of Down by the River. It was clearly the showpiece of a very impressive set. As the two men walked off the stage, Neil turned to prostrate himself before Matthews in a manner I’d seen so many fans doing every time Neil gained the stage.

Finally, Neil reappeared one last time to close out the show and with a set that included Harvest Moon and One of These Days. As we were leaving the amphitheatre around midnight, Neil gathered all the performers together one last time and led them in an excellent rendition of Keep on Rockin' in the Free World - a perfect way to end a perfect show.

--------------------------------------------------------

From: http://bad-news-beat.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1795
10-22-2006, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California
Performances by Neil Young

1. Ambulance Blues (w/ Bert Jansch)
2. Long May You Run (w/ Pegi Young)
3. Comes a Time (w/ Pegi Young)
---
w/ Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
4. Country Girl (guitar, harmonica and lead vocals for last verse)
---
w/ Death Cab For Cutie
5. Military Madness (guitar and vocals)
---
w/ Brian Wilson
6. Good Vibrations (pump organ)
7. Barbara Ann (background vocals)
---
w/ Pearl Jam
8. Throw Your Hatred Down (guitar and vocals)
---
w/ The Dave Matthews Band
9. Down by the River (guitar and vocals)
---
w/ The Prairie Wind Band
10. After the Garden
11. Goin' Back
12. Harvest Moon
13. Old Man
14. One of These Days
---
15. Rockin' In the Free World

“Look ma, no hands!”

Last weekend, I finally had a chance to try trapeze swinging, and boy, was I shocked to discover how truly hard it is! Pia, Yuhka and I trekked all the way to Oakland to fly at the Trapeze Arts Circus School. http://www.trapezearts.com/aboutus.jsp

Yuhka earned the “best amateur trapeze swinger” badge as she was able to swing and knee-hang and back-flip and catch all on the first try. Pia earns 2nd-best as she was able to do all of the above, though not necessarily on the first try. And I earn “worst amateur trapeze swinger” as I was barely able to handle the knee-hang up in the air. But, don’t feel bad for me – I pretty much gave up (mentally and physically) when I realized that I had to exert a lot of effort (and listen and follow orders) to accomplish the swing. These trapeze artists work hard to do their stunts! While I didn’t find the experience at all scary, – I actually liked being up on the 35-foot-high platform – I was definitely not yet ready for the physical challenge of the sport. ;p

How it works: All beginning students wear a safety harness fastened snugly around their waists. The harnesses have two clips that attach to long ropes, called safety lines, which control how quickly students fall. Students coat their palms with chalk to keep their hands from slipping off the trapeze bar. Before they can be caught by an instructor, they must rub their forearms with chalk to help the catcher get a better grip. Two safety lines are attached to the student's harness once he or she is on the platform. An instructor on the ground has control over the other end of the lines and alternately pulls on or lets the lines free to help the student control momentum. Before students jump off the platform, they practice their form on a static trapeze, one that does not swing at all. An elevated net is strung tightly across the trapeze practice space. The net provides a gentle, bouncy landing for students. Once they land safely, students unhook their safety lines and pass them up for the next flier. Then they roll off the side of the net onto a mat. An instructor on the platform helps students on take-off. The instructor clips the safety lines to the harness and pulls the trapeze within reach. Keeping a firm grip on the back of the student's harness, she shouts, "Leisto!" as a signal that the student is ready to fly. The climax of the first lesson is being caught by an instructor on a second trapeze. The instructor swings back and forth to gain momentum, then wraps his legs around the trapeze and hangs upside down. Timing and speed are crucial to a successful catch.

Cool fact: To Mythbusters’ fans: the 360 Swing Set Myth was taped at this circus school and our instructors were featured in the show. Adam & Jamie return to the school next week to debunk a pirate-myth! http://www.trapezearts.com/aboutus.jsp

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

That’s a MAN baby, yeah!:

AsiaSF – where the trannies look even hotter than the women. Actually, it was quite difficult telling those helped by modern science versus those born into womanhood! www.asiasf.com

No Kool-Aid for me, thanks, I’ll stick with the water:

We went to one of the best vegan restaurants we’ve ever eaten at in Oakland and found out, mid-meal, that a cult owns and manages Golden Lotus under the guidance of a woman who calls herself the Supreme Master Ching Hai. No wonder all the servers had blank stares and funny smiles on their faces. Ah, but they do know how to cook great food! You can read more about the Supreme Master here: http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/eng/article/chinghai.html

A Tale of Two Concerts…from Beck to Emmylou:

You know you’re 30 when you’re the oldest ones at a concert one week (too old to even see the person you’ve paid to see -- it’s more than a little embarrassing to admit that we left the concert after four hours, but still an additional five hours before the headliner, Beck, came to the stage) and the youngest ones at a concert the week after (we were the only under 35s at the Emmylou Harris venue).

Sometimes, Californians are just TOO laid back:

Our company has a great connection with a car rental agency that drops-off and picks-up rental cars for employees. We rented a car for 6 days, but the agent left the car with us (unlimited mileage and all) for 2.5 weeks (“uhm yeah, do you mind if we pick up the car next week?”). Total bill for renting a car for 18 days? $150.

Audium, an experiment in boredom:

Audium is billed as an experiment in three-dimensional sound (“sound-sculptured space”) held in complete darkness. In actuality, we sat for 70 minutes in the dark and listened to an old man on an outdated organ stroll through his library of sound effects. While the intention of Audium is to display how adding dimension to music can enhance the experience of listening, what it actually showed is that you can get a better experience sitting at home listening to music on a surround-sound system; so save yourself the cost of a ticket. http://www.audium.org/

Another Hippie Day

This past weekend, we drove 2.5 hours north of San Francisco to one of the hot springs resorts just outside Calistoga. Situated atop a beautiful mountain, these resorts are geared toward soul healing and finding the peace within. Indeed, it was very peaceful, soothing, and calming. Chris opted for the energy work massage which combined various techniques to relax the body from within. My massage was a mélange of shiatsu and water-swishing performed in a warm pool, where my masseuse stretched my body in varying directions, floating me all around the water. I felt like I was suspended in air, in the middle of a dream, the smell of lavender filling my chest.

The hot springs were comprised of different meditative pools -- the cold pool was a freezing 50F, the warm pool was 80F, and the hot was 112F, all filled with the mineral-rich spring waters of the surrounding mountains. In fact, all the waters (tap, drinking, etc) all come from the nearby springs. There was a lot of literature which stated that their water is purer than Poland Springs!

There was such a serenity within the place, where man and animal really seem to exist harmoniously. At one point, as we were walking back to the car, a young doe walked out of the woods and approached us, paused briefly to say hello and then walked on by. As we continued to walk on the path, we passed a number of wild turkey and quails milling about. We have heard stories of campers at the resort who wake to find a friendly fox at the opening of their tent.

The people at the resort were also very friendly, and everyone seemed to be so at peace with themselves and those around them. They were all so beautiful, not only on the outside but you could really sense their auras/chi as full of beauty too.

The overcast and cool weather was a bit of a downer but all the same we can’t wait to go back!

(Do you get the feeling that by the time we leave California, we'll have turned into hippies...or even New Agers?)

Napa Valley, or "hmmm, is that a hint of grape I'm tasting in this wine? How quaint!"

Domaine Chandon
We thought it would be fun to explore some of the vineyards near our new home so we drove up to Napa for the weekend recently. Our first stop was the Domaine Chandon winery in Yountville, CA. Foodies take note: America’s top-rated restaurant, The French Laundry, is just a few blocks from the vineyard. At Chandon, we joined a tour, participated in a private tasting, and dined at Etoile, Chandon’s lovely restaurant (which locals say they prefer over "that French dry-cleaning place”).

Some neat facts about the vineyard:
* This is Moet & Chandon's American counterpart
* The winery released its first vintage in 1976 – the year we were born!
* When the winery was built, the architects took special care to preserve the natural landscape and managed to build into the location, cutting down only 3 trees in the process.
* They only grow three types of grapes - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier – but are able to combine them to create a wealth of flavors.
* They practice sustainable farming.

Of the Wines we Tasted, our Favorites Include:
*Chandon Brut Classic - it was like biting into a green apple
*Domaine Chandon Chardonnay, Carneros - it had a vanilla/butterscotch aftertaste
*Chandon Reserve Brut - nutty, mushroomy, and cheesy

The tasting was fun but after about a dozen glasses, we were all so sick of trying to come up with new descriptions for each new wine. For the tasting, the docent pours a couple sips of wine into your glass, asks you to hold it up to the light, swirl the wine, smell it, describe the scent, taste it, describe the taste and texture. Wash, rinse, repeat. Fun for the first few glasses - not so much thereafter.

Etoile Restaurant:
For those interested in fine-dining, we highly suggest eating at Etoile. The fava bean ravioli is excellent and the striped bass on foie gras risotto is one of the best fish dishes I've ever tasted.

The Proper Way to Open a Bottle of Champagne (or Sparkling Wine):
1: Make sure the sparkly is cold, best served at around 45F
2: Loosen the wire cage but do not remove it entirely
3: Drape a towel over the top of the wire cage & bottle
4: Slant the bottle to a 45 degree angle
5: With one hand, hold towel end tightly; with the other hand, get a good grip of the bottom part of the bottle.
6: Slowly turn the bottle from the bottom while keeping the cork side still until you hear a gentle hissing sound – you should not hear a loud pop.
7: Voila – you’ve properly opened a bottle of champagne/sparkly

Other Napa Valley Trip Highlights:
Our tour guide recommended we also try the tour at the Miner Family Vineyards so we toured that vineyard (a smaller locally-owned vineyard) thereafter. We found the wines at Miner to be a mixed bag but eventually we found one we really liked - the 2005 Rosato, Mendocino.

On Sunday, we hiked through the redwood trees in the Bothe-Napa valley State Park. It was absolutely beautiful and the redwoods were truly ginormous. In typical Pearl fashion, I managed to navigate us off the trail and got us lost for about an hour, uphill no less. On the bright side we got to see more of the park, or so, that’s what I kept telling my companions!

It was a fun-packed weekend (aren’t they all?) and we can’t wait to do it again soon!

9/11 Meditations through the sounds of Kronos Quartet

Chris and I saw our first classical performance at the Herbst Theater on 9/11, entitled "Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Fifth Anniversary of 9/11" written, arranged and performed by the Kronos Quartet. Consisting of 2 violinists, a viola player and a cellist, Kronos have been performing for over 30 years, expanding the range and context of a string quartet. Their work has been featured commercially (in films like Requiem for a Dream, 21 Grams, Heat) as well as the antithesis (one of their first works was Black Angels, a highly unorthodox, Vietnam War-inspired work that featured water glasses, spoken passages, and electronic effects). Over the years, they've worked with hundred of artists & composers ranging from Philip Glass, Wu Man, Thelonious Monk, David Bowie and so forth.

For Monday's performance, the Kronos Quartet played pieces originating from 14 different countries like Turkey, Iran, India (to name a few) by 9 varying composers like Terry Riley, Gustavo Santaolalla, Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky. At times, it was one of the most powerful musical performances we've experienced and we've decided to share his-n-her thoughts on the evening:

Her: The music left me speechless: images of war, violence, sadness and death ran through my mind for most of the evening. I saw children attempting to escape the bombs that were dropping from the sky; I saw the innocent murdered; I saw bloodshed and the devil-incarnate himself. I was amazed by how powerful the music was to conjure up such traumatic images in my head. It was frightening and impressive all at once. It made me realize how much death and destruction fills every second of every day, and how far removed I am from such sorrow. The music filled me with shame, ashamed of the superficiality with which I (and most Americans) surround myself when there are so many suffering around the world. Despite all this pain, Kronos Quartet ended the performance with visual images* of peace and harmony which left me with hope -- perhaps someday we will be surrounded with less violence and left with more love.

Him: Let me preface this by saying that on the day of the performance I was laid up in bed with a fever, the chills and a severe cold; much of my energy during the performance was expended just trying not to cough, sniffle, sneeze or otherwise shatter the "fourth wall" for those around me. Pearl has gone on record saying how powerful and moving the performance was but in my sickly state the weight and emotion of concert was lost on me. I found the "story" very difficult to follow as I was unknowingly fading in and out of consciousness throughout the evening. That being said there were some very beautiful moments and some very unpleasant moments, some very thrilling music and some very bland music.

Here are the thoughts that bounced around in my head during the performance:

Story-based live performances are like operas in a foreign language. Even if you do not understand the language there are other ways the musicians can communicate the story.

War may be chaotic and atonal but good music is not. War is not easily captured using music, but Kronos did an excellent job capturing peace in the second half of the show with a combination of music, lighting and visual projections. They attempted something similar in the first half of the evening but the chosen visuals were not as effective. During the first half of the performance, there was too much reliance on the music to carry the story and it was largely - to my ears - unpleasant music, accompanied by hammers and power tools. Holding a belt sander against a metal plate makes for some fantastic sparks but also makes a terrible racket.

I felt the strongest parts of the show came when the quartet mixed other medias into their music (lighting changes, video projections). I especially liked the use of the prerecorded samples. This could be the start of an interesting new direction in string quartets. In a few years we’ll see the first crossover performers – the Hip Hop String Quartet. My money’s on Mos Def.

*There were no visual images of bloodshed that accompanied the earlier part of the night -- I saw all of that only in my mind

Peaceful Saturday Afternoon…

Deeming ourselves “festival” people, Chris and I stopped by the POWER TO THE PEACEFUL festival out at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park yesterday afternoon. Started in 1999 in support of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, the festival shows support for all prisoners on death row, and after the attacks of 9/11, now serves as a day of remembrance for lives lost in the tragedy as well as a call to end war around the world. Through music, dance, and art, P2tP reminds us that “the path to a less violent world starts from within.” Michael Franti of Spearhead sums it up nicely: "We can't change the world over night, but we can be a drop in the river that moves a mountain."

It was a wonderful way to spend the day. We skipped the morning yoga (they had free yoga classes from 9-11AM) but made it for the free outdoor concert, headlined by Spearhead. We also heard New Monsoon & Blackalicious, as well as speakers Rabbi Michael Lerner & 2004 presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. Although it was a cold, wet day, we stayed in the park for a few hours, sampling the raw food selection the festival offered (it is a good day when you can go to a festival and get raw pizza and raw sushi) as well as the solar-powered organic snow-cones (honest!). There were also many people in costumes so we enjoyed people-watching while dancing to the music (people-watching in San Francisco is generally interesting). Most of all, we enjoyed watching the little hippie children running around with huge smiles on their faces, saying hello to everyone they passed.

All in all, a peaceful Saturday afternoon…