A Bowl of Strawberries and A Birthday Wish

Today, June 14th, is the natal anniversary of a dear friend. Hello, friend!

Happy Natal Day, Friend!

While I'm bummed I'm not able to deliver  in person, I want to wish you all the best and a bowl of strawberries too. I know they're your favorite!

Neither of us is given bon mots nor sentimentality, but there's just something about these strawberries that makes me think of you today. I hope you'll find some strawberries on your end.


Strawberries can be frozen, freeze dried, and you can eat them off season. But it's never the same experience.

So a bowl of strawberries is just like a good friend. Thank you for sharing some time and space on this blue planet of ours. It turns out that it was fortuitous that I didn't play well with other children, and had plenty of time to go for long walks and study maps. It afforded me humility and made a good introduction when we did meet. How long ago was that now?

I'll look forward to seeing you soon. But in the meantime, can we enjoy some strawberries and celebrate with a toast?

Hope so.

Green Garlic and Soba Noodles, The Joy Of

The soba noodle intrigues me — it's a visual and tactile experience.

I'd been looking for an opportunity for in-home experimentation, and happened across a crispy tofu, green garlic and soba noodle recipe from NYT's Martha Rose Shulman.

I enjoy finding recipes and bringing them to life. In general, people like to eat too. So it wasn't hard to find an eager audience on a Tuesday evening.

This dish was easy enough to prepare if you can do a bit of chopping. The key, as with many Asian dishes is to cook fast over high heat and served promptly.

Soba is served!

Here are a few points —  most subjective — from this amateur gastronome:

• The recipe- NYT notes that if you can't locate soba noodles you can use brown rice or another hearty grain. I'd go to lengths to get the soba. Order them online if you must — they're essential to this dish.
• Grape Seed Oil- Required to "wok" the tofu.
• Wok- There's just no substitute for high-temp cooking.
• Seasonal Green Garlic- it's here and gone in a flash — get going! The bulbs can be pink or purple hued.
• Garlic Flavor- Subtle, earthy,  even a bit buttery.
• Reviews? Rave!

I'd like to send Martha Rose a big bouquet of green garlic for sharing this special recipe!

Now, who'd like to sample more soba recipes?

Moving? Go, But Pack Only Good Energy

Do I really need this?

Before I moved across the country, I had the pleasure of meeting @TheLisaDShow. An emigre from TX, she has candidly chronicled the experience of being in a new locale with family in tow.

She is celebrating the 1 year anniversary of the move, and you can view it here. She's a darn good blogger, and Evanston is lucky to have her. I especially like items #11 through #19. @TheLisaDShow, will you permit me to piggyback and add a few points of my own?

First, I am not my belongings and my belongings aren't me. It's a long story but I gotta have my stuff until I don't. Surprise, there is plenty of stuff in SF, and I need little of it. Shelter, warmth, a nosh, and wifi make the top four.

Second, leverage the undiscovered path. It will lead you to a vibrant sense of being. I won't go as far as to suggest I'm there yet. There is no recreating the life you had, but there is a new one waiting to be had. Again, not there yet, but I think it'll be pretty awesome.

Third, life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans. I'll ruin this if I elaborate, so enough said.

Fourth, if something isn't working, do something else. Anything is better than nothing. This relates to LisaD's point about jobs finding those who 'seek' or 'make' them. If you put a little positive energy into the universe, it will return the favor.

Fifth, create a little demand and you'll be in demand. This follows from point #4 I think.

Sixth, chill out and be yourself. Back to that positive energy thing.

Seventh, always move forward. That's right, learn from the past for the present and the future. The journey ahead is always way more interesting.

What else?

Cherry Blossom: Festivals and Metaphors

Maybe it's because I'm new to SF, but the cherry blossom has captured my attention this spring. Why not, it is a stunning blossom and it is here for a flash. 

Blossom Porn- I'll be it's gone today!

To further pique my interest 45th Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival is taking place in my neighborhood. This is really a cultural festival for the Japanese-American community in Japantown (Nihonmachi). This community has been flourishing since the immediate aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. It has quickly become one of my favorite spots here.

The cherry blossom is revered in Japanese culture. To paraphrase, the beauty of the cherry blossom (sakura) is the floral embodiment of the Buddhist notion of the stunning but transient nature of physical life. In contemporary Japan, the blossom is much celebrated, complete with hanami, or viewing excursions. People go on organized excursions to castles, temples, shrines to admire the fleeting beauty of flowers and then they have a little picnic. So it follows that the blossom is rooted in the culture from the beginning of recorded time to present day ad copy.

Hence the festival in San Francisco. But it gets better, as this festival blossoms over two weekends. And this coming weekend, April 21st to 22nd, culminating with a two hour parade on Sunday. A two hour, Japanese style parade. This means the featured 2012 Cherry Blossom Festival Queen, accompanied by musicians, artists and shrine wielding damsels.

Other items not to be missed are the tea ceremonies and Ikebana exhibits. Relating to the later, I didn't realize there were so many philsophies/schools dedicated to the contemplative art. My mind may well do better with thoughtful sessions of Ikebana as opposed to blogging.

Working Mommies + Spring Break = Pile of S*ck

This week SFUSD is on spring break. So no school is in session all week.

Awesome, right? A cherished week of freedom before the homestretch- summer break- is in sight.

But what if you are a working mother? What if you are a working, single mother? Either way, your life this week is a pile of suck. A graduated pile of suck depending on the complexities of your circumstances.

Mommie: I'm bored and you're late for work!

How do I know? Let's just say that I know; I've got first-hand knowledge. Maybe your kid is psyched to have the freedom, he is ready to run wild, sleep-in, stay up late, play with matches, spray pain the cat. I could go on, but you get the picture. And that picture just sent chills up your spine. It should, because it's a horror.

Let me put together a hypothetical set of scenarios:

1. Spring Break- so no school- what to do with the little one(s) for 6-8 hrs of the day?
2. Job- yours- 
• Demanding- or at least demands your presence and undivided attention- that's a challenge given #1
• Enables the world to go around- food, housing, gets one to school during non-spring break weeks with shoes, lunch dough etc
• Enables you to pay for the school fundraiser- listen up school!
• Numerous other reasons why you need to have it
3. Life Scenarios (Graduated Complications)-
• Single Mother-  divorced/single/widowed- whatever- you're in it on your own
• 1+-Multiple Kids- some on spring break, others not- horror now and horror later
• Job- keep returning to this- you're supposed to travel this week too
• Decorum- keep it together- you're a mother, a boss, an employee etc- a model for others
• Children- oblivious to this- as they should be- but they're not helping either
• Home- keep going- meals, cleaning, laundry- it gets harder given the above points
• OSO- Off Schedule Operations- it makes life suck- hardcore suck
• What else? Gosh, I don't know- maybe there is an ex-spouse lurking? Maybe you're got a cold, or...I could go on but this is making the anxiety well in me even...

Full disclosure, I am a post-modern, childless, gay man. But I've seen with my own eyes. So, here's to you ladies. I know it's all on you, and there is no sign this social trend is abating. Evidently in 40% of families the wife/mother/lady is the major bread winner. In some way, some aspect of this is going to fall on you, sister.

To my own mother, who was a working mommie: I know that some spring break past, I made your life more challenging. How about a belated apology and a chai tea latte on me? You still got it all done, and just the right way. I <3 you, lady!

Spring Break = Pile of S*ck

I know I'm broaching the tip of an emotionally and politically charged ice berg. So while I'd love to get some comments going, let's keep in mind this wasn't meant to ignore the trials of any mommie, any where.

To conclude, this one is for all of you mommies at the mercy of SFUSD this week. Here's to you!

Now, what can I do to help?

Red Devil Buses = Panama City's Highway to Hell?

It seems each city in Central America, at least that I've visited, offers a distinct brand of kinetic energy. Panama City, in that regard is true to form, and offers the inquisitive visitor a unique circle of chaos. If you are visiting soon, and it will have to be soon, you won't be able to miss the Diablo Rojo buses.

Next stop?

But you are going to need to make that soon, as these buses which form the backbone of the transit system, are on the cusp of making their final rounds. Pres Ricardo Martinelli no less has made it a cause to eliminate these converted school buses. Welcome the era of the Metro Bus, and it seems for the residents who depend on the bus for their transportation, the change can't come soon enough.

Let's be clear, riding one of the Rojo's is not like navigating the streets of SF in your Subaru. Oh no, this is a dangerous, chaotic and enervating exercise that residents are delighted to see ride off into the sunset. Why? Well, consider:

• Danger- The privately owned buses are known for a flagrant disregard for traffic laws and the general well being of their riders. Once they were school buses in Florida, and went on to second lives as the workhorse of the PC transit system.
• Private Ownership- They're all privately owned. This means that the mass transportation in PC is subject to market forces. This means that the more people they carry quickly, the more money they make. Oh, and since the officials were looking the other way for the longest time, it meant the ride was nothing short of a highway to hell.
• Public Transportation = Worldly- Pres Martinelli is eager to recast PC as the Singapore of Central America- the sort of place that attracts global corporations b/c it is safe, stable and sane. Part of that is having a reliable public transportation system that doesn't maim riders with alarming regularity.

Careful in the crosswalk!

If you must endure riding the Rojo's, your daily commute is a pile of suck. Granted they are visually compelling- often highly stylized with spikes, horns- multi-hued kaleidoscopes of odes to buxom salsa singers.This is not your bland Muni bus for sure. No the Rojo's are the daffy relation you'd like to keep under wraps, but in spite of being repeatedly muted and medicated, continues to besmirch your good name.

I have to wonder if one day the Rojo's will inspire civic nostalgia for their colorful, albeit odious presence. I'd hazard the guess that if you must ride these daily, your threshold for this type nostalgia is significantly higher than mine. So the answer is 'not any time soon'. That's just as well. And, let's hope the residents of Panama City get the ride they rightly deserve.