Survey Says: Allergies

Friday night I was sitting downstairs participating in a pre-Passover sedar and suddenly I felt a tickle in my throat. Was it Passover or was I getting sick? The tickled turned into scratchiness and it lasted for a couple of days. I dosed on Airborne thinking I could battle the cold before it hit hard. No such luck. Finally I bought some cold medicine which eased it a little but in the middle of the night I kept waking up choking for air.

Last night, while taking a cab home from Fruitvale BART, I was chatting with the driver and he said, "get Claritin, it's allergies." He was kind enough to drive me to Walgreens for no extra charge. The Walgreens generic version of Claritin helped somewhat but today I went one step further and bought Zyretec to see if that does the trick.

I am not the only person walking around coughing, sneezing and with watery eyes. The checkout woman at Walgreens says that people are really suffering this year. Believe me, she is the authority. This is a difficult year for allergies. They say it takes something like seven years living in a place to develop allergies and the funny thing is that when I previously lived in the San Francisco Bay Area I didn't suffer. Now that I've been gone for three years and returned I'm feeling it.

Parties and Transitions

This past weekend I went to a Saturday night party which prompted me to make some observations and realizations.

Observations:

• I'm not into loud parties with people getting drunk
• I would rather spend time in small groups or one-on-one really getting to know someone or making a deeper connection with a friend
• By 11pm I'm ready to be in my cozy bed

Realizations:

• So many people are in career transition - unique to the San Francisco Bay Area?
• Ask people what they do and they act confused and ashamed - and I'm not talking about bankers
• People would rather talk about 30 Rock than real life (I've never seen 30 Rock so that puts me out of the conversation)
• I'm making better connections with rocking cool amazing women than any men I've met in the past year - hum.

In contrast to this Saturday night party I had a lovely lunch earlier in the day with two mature women friends. We had flowing conversation on a variety of very interesting topics, ate unbelievable decadent food and made future plans to trek out on an arts venture. So inspiring. Why is this so much more appealing than scoping out men at depressing parties?

Meadow at di Rosa Preserve

After many weeks of planning a group of us went out to the di Rosa Preserve in Napa. This is a vineyard and meadow site housing a collection of contemporary artworks by San Francisco Bay Area artists collected by Rene di Rosa and his wife Veronica.

It is an amazing facility in the true casual-elegance that can only be Napa Valley. Farmhouses that are somehow old and modern in the same breath house absolutely fascinating pieces of art. Ranging from art cars to flying Virgin Mary's, the world's tallest filing cabinet to a house made of glass bottles, this is a feast of whimsy.

I was surprised by how many artists, from the Hearts in San Francisco project that I managed, were represented in the collection. Only now, four years after the event, do I fully appreciate the significance of the artists who were asked to participate. The project's creators were in effect commissioning art from the Bay Area's most edgy emerging and seasoned artists.

Most of the preserve pieces are out in a meadow and we were warned to wear comfortable clothes and shoes. However, I felt like being quite girly and decided to wear my one and only pair of high heals. Everyone was concerned about my ability to teeter totter on all the bits of rock and to step over the high grasses, but I am proud to say that I did not fall, twist an ankle or even clunk around like a ostrich on stilts. I looked quite good thank you.

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Those Sewage Again!

Oops - I mean segway. How funny that I spelled it that way. These folks were being instructed how not to "freak out" going down a hill. We freaked out for them as the descended into the San Francisco Bay from the Angel Island Nike Missile site. Surreal.

More Angel Island

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10 Course Tuscan Dinner Anyone?

My friend Dave has an amazing group of musical friends who love to cook and entertain. For the past seven years they have been presenting 10 course Tuscan dinners for lucky silent auction top bidders around the San Francisco Bay Area. The first one sold for a little over $100 and now they are going for thousands of dollars. What a fantastic fundraising idea!


I had the pleasure of participating as a prep cook and waitron at last night's extravaganza. Let's just say that the volunteer staff eats just as well as the 10 guests. Starting at 1pm and working through to 10pm we ate, cooked, cleaned, served and sang. Well, they sang and I listened. The guests commented that it sounded like we were having even more fun in the kitchen then they were having in the dining room.




Highlights from the meal included Red and Green Gazpachos, Pork Ragu with Polenta and two kids of Tiramisu - regular and Berrymisu which uses berries and citrus liquor instead of chocolate and coffee. The hosts to their menu to a wine shop and had each course paired with a lovely wine. In the kitchen we had our own supply too. Luckily we had lots of leftovers so I'll be enjoying this meal again over the next couple of days.


Here is Dave cooking the Pork Ragu and a photo of the Gazpacho ready to go out to guests.


I've linked to recipes but these are not the ones used by our Chef Jonathon Moon.

Giving Off a Friendly Vibe

This evening I think I was giving off a friendly vibe. After hanging at my new favorite cafe in the Mission, La Boheme (great decaf Chai lattes, casual atmosphere, filled with creative types and always a place to find my friend Andrew), I headed down to 24th Street BART station and started tapping away on my crackberry. An older, professional looking man approached and asked if he could sit next to me. I made space and continued my crack addiction while he pulled out his crackberry and started looking over my shoulder. I didn't know what to make of his actions so I kept an eye on him and noticed that he was comparing his crackberry to mine.

"You're Blackberry is so sleek" he said.
"It is the newest one - I got it on Monday." I responded.
"Oh it is so nice. Mine is not so nice. It is too big. But it is for work so I have to carry it around."
"This is an addiction - you can keep getting the latest and greatest ones - just look at people going crazy over the iphone." I commented.
"Yeah, I guess this one works for me. Oh, gotta go, that's my train. Nice chatting with you." He reaches over and gives me a nice pat on the shoulder.

This guy didn't try to pinch (British term for stealing something) my crackberry, he didn't try to pick me up, he just wanted to chat about our technology.

Then I got on the train, took a seat and pulled out my new book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon. The woman in the seat next to me said.
"Ooh, do you like the book?"
"Just started it, on page 11 and good so far."
"I'm reading Salomon Rushdie. His latest book is fantastic."

On and on went our conversation and it extended into clothing, mortgages, Victorian lifestyles, and Alameda - where we both happen to live. The woman offered me a ride home and I said yes. Well, should could have tried to kill me or something crazy but I decided to take the chance. We chatted the entire way.

It is still a reverse culture shock to have people be so friendly to me after my time in the UK, especially on London's Tube where even if the person next to you is reading the same book as you no conversation is made. I love that folks from the San Francisco Bay Area are eager to make small talk and get to know people. In the past I would have shied away but now I'm "living out loud" and trying to connect to people. Seems worth the effort.

Images from my first 10 days back in the San Francisco Bay Area

Mind Mapping at a Price

Tootling around the San Francisco Bay Area after a three year absence is like filling in the grey areas in a giant map. I kind of sort of remember how to get places in the big picture but the little details need completing. Nicole has been nice enough to let me use her car. Unfortunately it is a gas guzzler and my mind mapping exercise is a bit pricey.

So far I've made it to Oakland, Berkeley, South San Francisco and all over the City of San Francisco. The only landmark of note that I've not yet seen - the Golden Gate Bridge. Kind of hard to miss but I know those golden gates are waiting for me.

Rednecks like Us

The San Francisco Bay Area did open up its Golden Gates for us yesterday and also gave us some fantastic red necks. We're quite sunburned.

Stephen and I each did our own adventuring and ended up walking miles around the city. I met up with my friend Claudia who use to work with me at Business Arts Council. It was so easy to fall back into flowing conversation after all these months.

Next Stephen and I met up with my cousin Diana in Berkeley. We sat at Berkeley Marina and soaked up the rays. The day was capped with our friends Stacey and Stefan in Alameda. There two little boys kept us busy while we all enjoyed sushi.

Today the super fog has returned. We are heading out to the beach to brunch with our cousins Julie and Michael. Looks like we need not worry about the sidetrip to pick up suntan lotion. Then this evening we hook up with our world-travel friends John and Nicole.

DC was the holiday portion of our trip, now we're on the mini-gatherings. Good thing we have Connecticut next week to get some more rest and relaxation before heading back to London.