It's been a long, long week. But i've had a lovely weekend, thus far. I'm going to avoid talking about the week so much, and focus on the weekend. I was supposed to have a day off on Friday, but wound up working from home all damned day. Good that i was home, at least. (Ok, that's the last of the work talk!) Forrest came over for dinner on Friday night - i tested out some non-dairy versions of recipes i'm playing with. He's such a good testbed! It was great to see him and chat, and good to finallly get to show him the house.

Saturday morning Mike came over to hang out, and we went out for breakfast, ordered wine from Navarro and Bonny Doon, and did a bit of work on the rec room that allowed us to set up some networked Quake3. Coffee, beignets, and killing each other, loudly - a really nice afternoon. Saturday evening we had on our own, and had a chance to sit quietly on our lovely couches and read while sipping chai with Grand Marnier. I really do like my house, a lot.

Today we'll be checking out the annual Bernal Hill Festival, hopefully with Carrie - and then i'll be working on Duane's 40th birthday dinner. I've settled on a Creole menu, and am finally getting to serve up Ramos Gin Fizzes - i'm gonna try and shake the first one by hand (90 seconds of shaking! Jeeeeeepers) and then will probably resort to the blender for the rest. Look for a menu and recipes on Gastronome next week...

Speaking of Gastronome, Miss Beca has posed a lovely topic for discussion over there. I invite you all to drop by and join in the commentary!

(This chattery update brought to you by my Sunday morning coffee, Goblin, and an apple.)

I'm a little spastic at work, feeling the crunch time pressure. We're all blowing off steam in little silly ways. I string some tape across the opening of my cube and attach a sign reading "SEND SCOTCH".

Localization Producer Rachael (who is sometimes my supervisor depending on which hat I'm wearing) walks by, reads the sign, asks "what kind?" I say "ideally, Laphroaig, but whatever." She walks away.

Half an hour later she comes back, slaps a bottle of Laphroaig 10 year on my desk, tears down the sign, and walks away.

These people really do give me just about everything I ask for.

... a masala tea ice cream cone picked up from Bombay ice creamery on the final leg of a five mile walk on a sunny San Francisco Saturday. Bliss.

Spotted in the garage: a bumper sticker on a car. The message?
Honk! if you understand punctuated equilibria.

What's worse: i thought it was really funny.

Such a lovely weekend! Saturday night the Leckmans and Forrest came over for dinner, and i had a ball cooking and visiting and putting my feet up on Ely. Sunday i sat on the couch and did a very geeky thing - created a community foodie-type site. You can read about Saturday's dinner over there, if you're so inclined.

Sunday in the late afternoon i had a lovely march up Guerrero, just me and my iPod, to meet up with Carrie for a drink and a snack. We wound up at Tokyo-a-go-go instead of Andelusa, but had a lovely time and snacks nonetheless. I walked Carrie to her meeting, and then went on to Tin Pan, where i met up with Russell and had dinner at the bar. We meandered home, and ran into Ramona, our new regular bartendress at Dr. Bombay's when we stopped in to read and have a lovely beverage. (Well, we haven't been to Dr. Bombay's in some time, but the second time we've been back this month, and Ramona the gothpunk girl from Seattle has been there both times. Cool.)

Today i worked from home, had a birthday lunch with Beca and Carrie and Russell, and worked some more. Monday night at the pub, caught up with David from upstairs, and lured a few more of my friends into joining gastronome. It's been a weekend for catching up with friends.

oh. my. god.

It was the right plan for a birthday surprise for Meredith, but i'm not certain i can do this again any time soon.

See, Meredith only rarely drinks ethanol-based beverages; and her poison of choice is root beer. Not too many places in our 'hood carry root beer on tap, but there are an awful lot of good dessert locations. So. A dessert crawl seemed in order.

We started with dinner at Bruno's, and encountered dessert number one:

A martini glass full of (reportedly) excellent chocolate pudding, with what i think was creme anglaise on top, and shards of chocolate.

Then on to Ti Couz. A shared simple berry crepe, and a lemon sugar. And a friendly bartender.

A stop at Luna Park to make reservations, and on to Timos. A cute bartender who talked flirtatiously of pain, a crepe suzette & a lemon tartlette, and mint tea.

Then back to Luna Park, for a few orders of 'Build your own S'mores'. Mere sereneded us with a re-rendering of Jay & Silent Bob's 'And then i ate S'mores'.

And then it was both closing time for restaurants, and a conquered foursome, full of sugar. Tomorrow i'll add links and make Mike report on whether or not Mere slept at all tonight.

(Oh yes. A sucess, definitely.)

(Wednesday note: somehow, between the coffee and the sugar, i didn't get to sleep until 6am. Go figure.)

Wow. It's been a while, and not for lack of interesting things to write about. Russell went to a China Mieville reading, we went to the annual night zoo event at the San Francisco Zoo with Beca, we attended and bartended a lovely o-bon party, and we visited the skull exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences, my department re-orged at work and i am now doing two jobs. I even have some pictures to share from some of those events. And yet, that's not what i'm finally breaking silence to discuss today. Today i want to regale you with the tales of a lovely dinner we had with the Dodds last night. Such good food (if i do say so myself), and such a good evening with some of our favorite folks.

Mere arrived around 3:45 from her workshop in Berkeley - we slowly hung out in the kitchen and did all the prepwork for dinner. In between we talked about all manner of things, including the benefit for 826 Valencia that it turns out Meredith is attending this evening.

Around six, all the prepwork was done, and we snacked on some sliced apple, paranno cheese, and a few slices of baguette, with italian sodas for Russell and Mere, and a small gin and tonic with lots and lots of lime for me.

Russell drove out to fetch Mike from the train station, and Mere and i set the table. When they arrived, i poured first glasses of Kaz '98 Squeeze, and served the saffron-garlic soup (From The Secrets of Success Cookbook, Fleur-de-Lys). The soup was a vivid yellow colour, and tasted divine. Mike and i switched to a small glass each of a Wellington '99 Zin; the soup paired better with the spicy red. [Ok, so the soup was tasty, but at least several members experienced some GI distress later in the evening, and we pegged the large amounts of garlic in the soup. Be wary.]

Our main course was great, except that i flambed the fish. And, uh, i wasn't supposed to. Another recipe from the Secrets of Success book (but this time from Masa's), we made "Black bass with pine nut gratinee'. We stayed pretty close to the dish as described, but i added a bit of simple mashed potatoes to give the dish a little binding. I sautee'd baby spinach and pine nuts and golden raisins in browned butter; plated this on top of the mashed potatoes, offset on the plate. The fish was seared off in a pan, and then crusted in a coat of toasted, chopped pine nuts, butter, and breadcrumbs, and broiled. (The broiling step was where i noticed the black smoke, and had to blow out the 6-inch flames that were merrily carbonising my crusts. Luckily, the fish didn't overcook, and i had a little extra crust left over, so that was recoverable.) The fish leaned up against the potatoes, and i surrounded the plate with a circle of bright saffron buerre blanc, and drizzled the fish with a pumpkinseed/olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette. Quite tasty, and i think the potatoes were a good addition. The plating was picture-worthy on the black china, but we were busy being sociable and eating, rather than posing our food for posterity. [My only note on the recipe is that i followed the recipe for buerre blanc, despite it having a fair amount of cream in it to stabalize the sauce. I think it made it prettier, but i like my buerre blancs sans cream, and will probably make it that way in the future.] Mike and i drank the '98 Squeeze, which i think paired perfectly with this course.

We followed with a salad of baby greens with a citrus-balsamic vinaigrette, dried cherries, pistachios, and Point Reyes blue. Mike and i each had a glass of '89 Navarro Cabernet Sauvignon, which was fantastic paired with the cheese.

Finally, we made and devoured an apricot tarte tatin, with ice cream, coffee and water and a rousing round of Give me the Brain!. Everyone should know that Mere makes a great pie crust - this one was exquisite.

We sent the Dodds home, finished cleaning the kitchen, and retired full and happy. A very, very good night.

Tonight i bought a container of duck fat.
Soon (read: when my throat is sufficiently recovered) i will fry new potatoes in it with thyme from the garden. Then i will roll over with joy.

So, tonight we finally caught up, and hosted Mother's day dinner for Mom Bornschlegel. Andi brought her new guy Mike, who is some unknown-amount allergic to cats, so we decided to grille outside.

I don't know how it was in Santa Cruz today, but all morning while i planned the menu and drank coffee, it was slate grey and windy as all hell here. While we were out getting groceries a lot of the clouds blew away, but it was still classic San Francisco windy. The wind subsided mid-dinner, but came back by the end - everyone was pretty happy to get back inside and wait for cake and coffee. And Mike didn't really suffer at all in our de-catted living room. Goblin being shy is sad for her with the cat-lovers, but is really helpful to the allergic folk.

They showed up at 6; we had prepped everything and taken it downstairs and started the fire before they arrived.
On the table:
--a bottle of Robert Sinskey Vin Gris de Pinot Noir
--a bottle of '97 Navarro Petite Sirah
--a bottle of '97 Eberle Zinfandel
--a large pitcher of ice water with lime and mint
--a cheese plate with some teleme
--a bowl of cherries
--a tray of olives

All the courses were served appetizer-sized: 3-4 scallops a person, etc.

Course one: Veggie Antipasti
i grilled a series of vegetables, and served them as they came off the grille. I often serve this with grilled toast, and cloves of garlic for folks to rub on the bread, but we had enough food coming that we skipped the toast tonight. First were orange and yellow peppers. Mike had a hard time believing they weren't marinated in something extravagent, but they were just rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Second to the grill were zucchini - quartered lengthwise, rubbed with olive oil, salt & pepper as well. I just think they are SO tasty over the fire.

Third i grilled off the artichoke hearts - according to Schlesinger's 'Artichokes Johnson' recipe. Cut the top third off, snip off the tops of the rest of the leaves, and parboil in salted water for 15 minutes. Slice in half,pull out the heart, and coat liberally in olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill until carmelized, and squeeze lemon and drizzle olive oil over the top. These are something special, even for artichoke lovers.

Course two: Scallops with prosciutto
Directions: Wrap half of the scallops around the circumference with proscuitto. Thread onto skewers, alternating wrapped and unwrapped. I like to start and end with wrapped ones. Wrapping them just before you put each on the skewer is easiest for me. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill over medium heat. Pull 'em off the skewers, squeeze a lime over them, and server. (I forgot the lime until we were one scallop in - oops - then added it.)

Course three: Spicy Grilled potato salad
This was another Schlesinger recipe. Two thumbs up. Red creamer potatoes, parboiled, halfed, and threaded onto skewers. Grilled over medium-high heat. Tossed with olive oil, mustard, chopped garlic, chopped fresh parsley, and hot sauce just off the grill.

Course four: Grilled peppered filet with roasted garlic toast and blue-cheese butter
This really is just what it sounds like, and is another Schlesinger recipe. Really, if you like to cook over live fire, these are books for you. Grilled toast. Peppered filet, seared over fire. Roasted garlic on the toast, filet on top of that. Blue cheese mashed with butter on the steak. *tasty*. Russell, of course, bypassed the blue cheese portion of this course.

Everyone ran up and down the stairs, carrying up the preptrays and dishes. Russell's mom did just enough dishes to get her hands warm, and then we made her stop. Brewed coffee (both kinds: caf and decaf. No Heather, not espresso and brewed.) Andi employed the kitchenaid to turn the manufacturer's cream into whipped cream, with some Germain-Robin brandy and sugar & frosted the torte she brought. Topped half with skor bars and half with raspberries. Some of us might have used the extra whipped cream on our coffee, but we're not telling. The cake was so, so good. Andi says it had three ingredients: butter, sugar, and chocolate.

A bit of chatting, water, coffee and wine later (yeah, we did look at the French Laundry menu and cookbook; fanchildren we are), the Mountain View contingency headed south and the goblincat emerged. A successful gathering, i think!

Just in case any of you are actually reading, and i didn't already invite you:
I recently set up a small mailing list for like-minded people to discuss food-related things: restaraunt reviews or advice, recipe sharing, menu planning advice, wine pairing war stories, etc. You get the picture. And people are sharing! It's great. Drop me a note if you'd like to be added.

I was inspired to choose gastronome by some higgeldy-piggeldy poems Andrea wrote us after her birthday dinner last year. They are fabulous, and worth sharing again.

Higgledy Piggledy
Meriko, gastronome
Created five courses,
Crowned by a hen.

Five courses! That must be
Quinto-gastronomy!
Indulgence I’ll repeat...
If you insist.

(If you're truly curious, you can take a gander the menu for the night.

Such a decadent day!

We left San Francisco just before noon, and drove north through the intermittent rain. We arrived in Yountville around 1:30, parked, and walked through the rain to a cafe, where Russell had a salad and i had a bowl of soup. Trust us on this; you really don't want to eat much on the day you dine at the French Laundry.

We had a little time before it was allowable to check into our lodgings, so we drove about rural Yountville, and ran into Robert Sinskey's tasting room. I tried a few wines, bought a few bottles, and picked up a Commander Zinskey tshirt. Russell declared that we are now allowed to visit any winery i like, provided it has fish. We checked in, found the Petit Logis not just charming, tastefully decorated, and well-decked-out in the bathroom department, but right next door to Bouchon, and only a few blocks away from our dinner location. We lolled about for a bit, dolled up, and headed to Bouchon for a pre-dinner cocktail. (A sidecar for her, a Maker's Mark manhattan for him.)

And we were off. It started pouring just before we set out, but we were well-prepared with rain jackets and umbrellas. We stopped at precisely 5:45 at the front to risk the camera in the rain so we could show you the front sign. Pretty. Onwards, through the door, where they took our jackets and umbrellas and ushered us towards our table. The room was nicely lit -- not too dark, not too bright, with plenty of natural light streaming in. It felt warm and elegant and comfy - somehow, all at the same time. Only two other tables in our room were seated at the time - we noticed that the reservations were staggered, keeping each table at a different spot moving through the courses.

[Fair Warning: i refuse to torment fellow diners with irritating flashes from a camera. I did want some pictures of food, but i had to catch them in low light with the 'record movie' function on our lovely camera - so the food pictures are mostly for you to have an idea of the plating. If you want to see some professional pics, get a copy of The French Laundry Cookbook - our Coffee and Doughnuts really looked just like those pictures!]

Our waiter was charming, and the service overall during the evening was impeccably smooth. The only place i've been where the service was comparable was at La Folie (thank you, Tom!). (I do hope our primary food runner was either trying to be funny, or knew he was funny. He was so completely a caricature of himself!) We looked over the menus - it was clear that i was going to order the chef's tasting menu, and Russell decided on a set of courses from the 'choose-five' prixe fixe. Kevin (our waiter)came back and discussed wine with me - asked my likes and dislikes, and suggested a few things for the first courses. We agreed he'd come back for the later courses and we'd discuss some glasses to pair then.

I did splurge on the super-fancy champagne to go with my first course - Oysters and Pearls. (A Krug Grande Cru - i forget which year.) The gentleman who i later decided was the manager of the room opened the bottle a foot or so behind me, and i heard NO pop. I tasted the champagne - yum - and then in a single long pour, filled the glass to the top without stopping. So cool. (Side report: unlike most times i've tried champagne, it didn't give me an instant hangover. Either i'm changing, or i just need to drink exceedingly expensive champagne.) Our amuse arrived - Keller's signature salmon tartare on cornets - our creme fraiche was infused with walla walla. Russell nibbled, i went for the full experience, chomping off the head of the cone in one bite.

My Oysters and Pearls arrived - with a HUGE scoop of Osetra caviar on top. The sabayon with tapioca pearls wasn't too weird - it paired nicely with the salt and sea of the caviar, and cradled the perfectly poached oyster sweetly. And what they say about caviar and champagne? True. Absolutely something where the effect is far greater than the sum of the parts. (And when the parts are that good to start with? Careful, laddie.) They brought Russell an amuse as well so he could share in that course - ironically enough, it was a salad of fresh fruits with a chunk of sweet crabmeat in the middle. I found the lump of crabmeat to be quite tasty.

We each paid homage to the venerable foie gras - the cold torchon with brioche, and the sauteed foie with verjus sauce and sauteed grapes. Both were divine - the cold plate lavishly rich and smooth on my tongue, and the hot perfectly crispy on the outside and meltingly rich on the inside. I paired a late-harvest semillon blend from Australia with this course.

We moved on to the fish courses. Cod for me first, with perfectly cooked pole beans and thyme. The thyme-infused oil was brilliant - both in color and as a pure burst of flavor on my tongue. I had a lovely glass of chablis with this. We followed with the macaroni and cheese for me, and a piece of monkfish tail served with artichokes and onions with a deep, buttery sauce for R. The sauce was really interesting - it was very, very light, and yet had a similar mouthfeel to that perfectly silky reduced oxtail sauce we all love. The mac 'n' cheese was glistening - a perfect disc of crispy parmesan balanced over tender lobster meat, sitting atop a bed of orzo swimming in enriched, reduced, creamy lobster broth and mascarpone. The lobster seemed almost crisp and refreshing next to the heavier, more intense lobster of the pasta sauce - each mouthful balanced perfectly. They poured me a glass of a chardonnay from Santa Barbara that was distinctly unlike most California chards - proven by the fact that i quite liked it!

Moving onto meats, i had rabbit rillette with mushrooms, which was well balanced in flavor and in texture. As i'm coming to expect, the sauce was smooth and a pure hit of flavor that complimented the meat nicely. I started on a glass of a Chatenuef du Pape that was just lovely.

They then brought my veal, and Russell's rabbit. His rabbit was a tiny 'rack', the loin, kidney and rabbit pithivier with cherries. Succulent was probably the best word for his dish. The veal, vegetables, and sauce again were lovely - textures pairing perfectly through this dish. Our cheese courses were also lovely; Russell had some pecorino with red and yellow peppers.

When my strawberry sorbet arrived, the burst of clean, cold, sweet, pure fruit was sheer pleasure. After the heavier courses, it was a blast of simplicity that was intense on a completely different axis. The panna cotta and gelee invoked the memory of strawberries and cream in my mouth.

Russell's Coffee and Doughnuts was lovely - the cappuccino semifreddo was so light and creamy, but cold and rich at the same time. I liked it world's more than i like mousses. My chocolate thing was deep and of a pleasing texture. The late-harvest zinfandel was perfect with it.

There seemed to be no end of mignardise - little tarts, tiny meringues, wee twists of chocolates with nuts. (I just looked up mignardise - it literally translates to 'preciousness'. Precious these were!) We had some coffee, signed our check, and walked back.

Total running time? Just under four hours. Was it worth it? Every penny. Every bite i put in my mouth was exquisite, and each dish managed to end with me wanting just one more bite. Keller's signature dishes really shine - the foie gras, the macaroni and cheese, the oysters and pearls, the coffee and doughnuts were my favorites of the evening, if you made me choose. (And yep, they do have a vegetarian tasting menu, too - so you veggies shouldn't avoid it on account of all the meat!) Here i am, sated, on our way out.

(lots of picture links today - beware!)

I started the day with cinnamon buns and reading Ruth Reichl's Comfort Me With Apples. (Recommended! She's a great writer, and if you're a bay area foodie type, you'll recognize many people and places. Priceless stories, well told.)

The Leckmans called, on their way home from Marin, and we headed out in search of pineapples. Russell is always tying his shoes while we're walking, and today he happened to stop in front of our local sex-supply shop, Good Vibrations. On to our local produce market (at 24th and Valencia) where we acquired four large pineapples, and admired the lemons and limes. Another block and a half, and we met Tad & Beca just in time to help carry up a few groceries.

We played with the new camera, extracted lovely pineapple juice, admired Soosh (who really needs to stop brawling and let his ear heal), and played with the new camera. We bore witness to the clever beast using the toilet, just like the rest of us. And then we scuttled off home, stopping back at the veg market, Lucca, and the fish & poultry market. (Where we chatted for a while with Bob, the head of the fishmongers about barbecuing, fish, and Macintoshes.)

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. We picked up and started cooking. I mixed the first pitcher of Singapore Slings just in time for Tom, Carol, and Tim to arrive. We sipped at the slings, made the first of many toasts, and snacked on pate and olives. Dave & anne arrived, bearing great slabs of meat, which we promptly fed through the grinder & carried downstairs. Everyone mixed their own bowls of steak tartare, accompanied by hot toast, fresh off the grille. (Our condiments? The classics: Worcestshire sauce, mustard, egg yolks, parsley, capers, cornichon, smashed anchovies, salt, pepper & hot sauce.) The weather held; it was cool, but not bitterly cold, even when we were grilling by moonlight. We opened the magnum of Greenwood Ridge '97 Cabernet Sauvignon, and sipped away at that.

Consensus was that we were too full for more starch, so we nixed cooking up the israeli couscous with asparagus pesto, but we did grill up the accompanying asparagus, mushrooms, and scallops with proscuitto. Everyone helped carry the dishes and prep bowls upstairs, where we settled into some '97 Navarro Pinot and some '95 Navarro Cab and a few ferocious Jedi Knight battles.

When we had let our stomachs rest a bit, we had some cheese (d'affinois & drunken goat) with the season's first cherries, a pear, and some of Carol's delicious brownies.

The evening ended content, full, and happy.

Though not quite as, er, complete as Gaiman's Being an Experiment Upon Strictly Scientific Lines, we spent some time concocting our version of the Singapore Sling this evening.

The final winner of a recipe:
1.5 oz gin (We were using Tanqueray 10, but i generally prefer Bombay Sapphire.)
0.5 oz cointreau
0.5 oz kirsh (cherry brandy)
1.5 tsp powdered sugar
juice of half a lime
0.75 oz tangerine juice
2.25 oz pineapple juice

I shook this over ice to get it cold, and then served it over fresh ice with a bit more kirsch floated atop. Good garnish? A sprig of mint, a piece of pineapple, a cherry. Traditionally this has Benedictine as well, but i have no such beast in the house at this time. After a few they get a bit sweet for me, but squeeze a little extra lime, and it evens right out. We'll see how they go over by the pitcher tomorrow.

Such a lovely day.

Woke up in the most leisurely of fashions. Meandered about the house after a while, with coffee and books and laptops and cats. (Well, really, just a single cat.) Finally wandered out to the vegetable market on 24th. Came home. Started cooking.

We started with the cinnamon buns from the Cook's Illustrated recipe i mentioned last week. MMMmmmm. While they were in the oven, i made the peanut sauce. Dropped the tofu in. Chopped up some garlic, and shelled the shrimp, and set them marinating with the garlic, some white wine, and some olive oil. Started the ginger, limes, lemon, mint & sugar macerating for the punch. Moved on to the veggie prep. Snapped some asparagus. Quartered some zucchini squash. Quartered a stack of red and yellow bell peppers. Sliced, trimmed, and parboiled some artichokes. Picked and chopped some parsley. Sliced some bread. Russell started some coals, and was incredibly helpful in the kitchen. (And on the cinnamon bun front!)

Took everything out to the back, and sat with a drink and a book until our lovely guests arrived. (Forrest, followed by Neal, and then the lovely Carrie.)

Picked up the living room, gave the barbecue an overhaul. (We haven't used it since Thanksgiving!)

Everything was incredibly tasty - we started with some grilled bread, rubbed with raw garlic cloves. Moved on to to the veggies - starting with the peppers, and ending with the artichokes (smothered in olive oil, salt, and lemon juice). We had the tofu with a little extra peanut sauce, and the shrimp in a sauce that cooked in pyrex on the grill - garlic, parsley, white wine, lemon, and butter.

The guests helped move the gear back inside, we made some tea, and reheated some cinnamon buns with strawberries for dessert. Then they were off to home and Spiderman, and we are spending some time reassuring the cat that we still like her.

Lovely, all told. Good friends, good food, a good book, a good cat, and a great husband.

I haven't been travelling, but i think i've been homesick. I've been spending a lot of time at work lately, including my first full weekend in the office in a very long time last weekend. Yesterday i was at SJCC prepping for WWDC. Today i am finally just HOME, and it is lovely beyond belief. I have a wee bit of work to do, but my trusty tinybook will be able to help me out.

This morning, i've spent my time reading, making cinnamon buns with creamcheese & buttermilk icing, watering and weeding our wee garden patch, and installing some needed updates on tiny. Cook's Illustrated just rocks. If you cook, get a subscription. The scientific approach to cooking appeals to me greatly, and their recipes are solid.

Amongst other updates you missed (because i never wrote them) are some pics i took of the garden a week or so ago. Check them out!
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The word of the day is cardoon.

So. While i've clearly been a laggart with my writing, everything else seems like a whirlwind these days. Things should return to normal with the close of WWDC at the end of next week, and i'll be sure to start reporting regularly again - if nothing else than for my sanity. In the meantiime, things have happened:

• We had a lovely dinner party with our friends Nicia, George, and Forrest. Food was great, conversation better, and zombie games the best.
  
• Russell's contract was cancelled. Want to hire him?
  
• My friend MikeM has had a Kubrick quote in his sig for a long time: "If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed." Russell and i went on a Kubrick-fest these last few weeks - Barry Lyndon, Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, The Shining. Jeepers, that man had range.
  
• My boss resigned, making some of my professional problems more tractable, if more work. Oh, and i'm not technical enough to be an engineering manager. Or something. (Granted, he wasn't technical enough to tell me HOW i wasn't technical....) Point. Moot. But amusing.
  
• Speaking of work, our project took a hairpin 180 in focus, so i've been spending a lot of weekend hours down in C'tino.
  
• We had our carpets cleaned. Hooo-boy, does it improve the room score. Frequent visitors might not recognize the living room carpet. We definitely need to hit it and the stairs more regularly.
  
• We're working our way through the new 'hood restauarants at Guerrero and 22nd - Luisa's, an italian joint (good food, inexpensive, nice folks - same chef as the now-gone Pastaio on 16th), Tao Cafe (Vietnamese with French influences, inexpensive, fantastic food - highly recommended. Good veggie/vegan options too. Still have to try the pho.), and La Focaccia (Pizza, need to get there soon). I'll properly review them when i've been a second time.
  
• WWDC is this week. I'm on the run all week, and we'll miss our symphony this Friday. Anyone want our tickets? We're NOT missing the Josh Redman trio on Saturday, though.
  

My work day started with discovering that artichoke season has returned; the telltale bag of 5-6 artichokes was hanging from my office doorknob when i arrived. (I'm lucky enough to be a recipient of fresh artichokes each year from a coworker's garden.)

I left work a little early, and took the train to San Mateo. I enjoyed Forrest's NYF playlist, courtesty of my iPod. Sat for an hour at the bar at Viognier, and nursed a cocktail for an hour while i read a book and wrote some letters. Around seven, Mike arrived, and i had a wonderful dinner & visit with him. (Three onion soup & halibut with tomatoes and eggplant for him; gratin of morels and polenta with teleme cream and lamb medallions with gnocchi and more morels for me; a cheese plate to share for dessert with the last of our Syrah.)

We meandered to the train station (it's changed in the last year! It's really nice, and another block down the road now), and chatted until my train came. My kind husbandkleetcha met me at the train station, and we came home and i finished my book.

So the scoreboard:
Fresh artichokes: 1 point
Rejuvenating cocktail hour at the bar alone: 2 points
Wonderful meal: 1 point
Great conversation with a dear friend: 3 points
Read an entire book (and it was good!): 2 points

Not a bad day at all. Just what the doctor ordered.

Sometimes you can have your cake, and eat it too. Last night, a heartbroken friend came over for some sympathy and advice from chez borogove. Russell made gnocchi, we talked and had some wine, and then i decided to try and whip up a recipe i'd peered at in April's Food and Wine.

The recipe turned out to be a twofold blessing - a very clever cake (the batter manages to separate itself out into a light fluffy cake on the bottom, and a lemon-curd-like pudding on the top during baking) that was tasty, refreshing, and a treat to eat.... but also comic relief. Russell couldn't stop barking "GARY DANKO LEMON PUDDIN' CAKE!?!", over and over. And we were all in just the place where we needed the laughter. So, thanks to Gary, and thanks to Food and Wine for the Lemon Pudding Cake.

Still trying to get into the working at home groove. I don't feel like I'm accomplishing enough yet. It's not like I don't distract myself with researching not-really-on-topic things when working in an office setting, though. The guilt-pressure hasn't yet built up enough to really drive me yet. Maybe using the laptop makes me think I'm on leisure time and I need to sit in front of a desktop machine to feel productive.

And then there's the cat. Goblin was incredibly fussy this morning. I fed her and threw her a couple of Pounce treats and cleaned her litterbox and explained to her repeatedly that, no, I wasn't going to leave the house and abandon her all day. She's finally apparently tired of crying at me and is now being lazy.

But I made some inari today, and since I completely miscalculated the amount of rice to make, I had to use it up rolling some random sushi. So not only did I make twice as much inari as I could eat, I now have approximately a kajillion cucumber rolls -- getting stale in the fridge. In meriko's words, "that sounds... appetizing."

We finished watching the first season of Buffy last night, and followed it up with the La Femme Nikita DVD. The subtitling on the DVD doesn't match the subtitling of the VHS version that I'm familiar with. It also has some weird translation choices that made me unhappy -- apparently-arbitrary changes of number, and idiomatic insertions/deletions that I thought unnecessary or just plain bad, even with my knowledge of French, which requires metric prefixes like "micro" and "nano" to quantify.

And there's the goddamned CD player, which used to whine and wail all the time, and which I've been threatening to take to the shop for years. I finally took it to the shop, and $140 later, it still whines and wails. Damn it. Damn it. Do I take it back to the shop and try to reproduce the problem for them, and try and argue that they should re-fix it for free?

Anyway.