nonstop art

Over the next week, there's a lot of art exhibit openings.

On Friday at the Asian Art Museum, the upcoming Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga exhibit will get a lavish opening reception. Saturday is the first full day. Tickets start at $350.

You could also head over to Mina Dresden Gallery for a food/art/music/wine night benefitting Red Poppy Art House. It's $30 to get in, and there's both a silent and live auction.

On Saturday, Catherine Clark Gallery has their grand opening at their new location at 150 Minna.

This weekend is also Arcade Fire at the Greek Theater.

On Sunday, the SFMoma has their monthly First Sunday Connections with breakfast and other events. The Legion of Honor has their usual Sunday jazz brunches (but this Sunday and next are already sold out).

Monday and Tuesday are days to check out great movies like Once (now playing at the Embarcadero) or take a break.

On Wednesday, back at the SFMoma, they have their preview night of the new Matisse exhibit. Thursday is the first full day.

Thursday is First Thursday at a lot of galleries around town. As this site shows, besides 49 Geary there are other downtown galleries to check out as well.

Finally, Friday is First Friday at Artist X-Change in the Mission.

Big Sur overview

Waves crashing on craggy rocks below, soaring condors swooping above verdant hills in blue skies, sun shining down, fog rolling in in the distance. Those images are the ones you will keep with you when you think back to Big Sur.

This stretch along the PCH-1 is hauntingly beautiful. One of my favorite jazz artists is Chet Baker and it's his music - romantic, smokey, aching - that you can hear in your head as you wind your way down along the coast.

Big Sur is a mixture of hippie sensibilities, outdoor activities, and high-end get-away-from-it-all. We made sure to experience all of it.

Nepenthe - a classic spot where Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth used to have a retreat. This simple restaurant (try the ambrosiaburger) has excellent views whether you sit inside or out (we sat outside), very good wine list (we had a Bonny Doon) and great family history: it's been owned and run by the same family for well over 50 years.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park - an excellent choice if the day is very hot as here we hiked in the shade through the redwoods, to a waterfall

Ventana - we stopped here to enjoy a wonderful lunch of oysters, tuna, crab, and beautiful views. The sun was shining strongly by now and the views are truly spectacular. We sipped champagne and bloody mary's as it was brunch. We finished off our meal with a delicious dessert, which Cielo - the name of the restaurant - is known for.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park - this hike is an excellent choice when there are blue skies and you want views across the ocean. You can also hike inland through redwoods and clovers. Here, we saw an even more spectacular waterfall pouring onto the beach with stunning views out across the ocean (note: a wedding took place while we were there).

Esalen - this place has a very hippie vibe. Check your inhibitions at the door and strip down to join other naked people in the hot tubs. Outside, with the waves crashing below, views out over the ocean and clffs soaring above, Esalen is perfectly situated. After soaking in the hot tubs, the masseus will collect you to give an hour 15 minute Esalen massage which should work out all your kinks. Finally, you could either head back to the hot tubs or, if like me, you fall asleep the masseuse will allow you to sleep for another 30-45 minutes. Afterwards, make sure to explore the grounds to see them live the organic localvore way: their own garden with organic veggies, a communal dinner, and cabins dotted throughout the property. A wonderful retreat where you could sign up for interesting workshops (I noticed a sign noting Deepak Chopra coming to give a lecture).

There's still much to explore in Big Sur, so we will certainly be back soon.

Carmel overview

Carmel itself is a high-end mix of shops and restaurants. It's overrun by tourists. However, a bit of digging around and exploring will expose a different side of Carmel.

We stayed at the Mission Ranch. Upon arriving and checking in, we decided to eat at the restaurant on the grounds. As the place is owned by Clint Eastwood, we joked that he might sit next to us. We walked in the door and had to hold the door open for the person walking in behind us: Clint. Pretty exciting way to start the weekend, and also a good sign that the celebrity-0wner actually comes to his own place.

We decided to sit outside, next to a fire pit, overlooking the sheep pasture. Simple, easy comfort food with an eclectic mix of wines (including local Monterey Peninsula wines). We warmed ourselves by the fire, and took notice that everyone was enjoying themselves, including Clint!

After dinner, went inside to sing and dance along with everyone else. The Piano Bar is a locals' favorite where everyone takes a turn singing. Great fun and a great introduction to Carmel and its colorful local people.

The next morning, we went for a long walk through the local neighborhoods where everyone seems to be a in a competition to produce the most beautiful yards. We came out at the Carmel River, with a view back over the sheep pasture we overlooked the night before. Then, walking over the beach, scrambling over rocks, and taking in the views, we made our way bit-by-bit to the main town.

There, we came upon the aforementioned shops and restaurants. There's a great women's clothing store called Paloosh (no website). There's also a local winery Galante tucked away down a very cool little alley. We also popped into a local deli Nielsen Brothers which allowed us to stock up on some picnic supplies. We went into Carmel Bakery ("we bake while you sleep" is their slogan) which has been around since 1906. We also stopped by the Highlands Inn for its stunning views.


Finally, on the way back home from Carmel, we detoured via Pebble Beach to drive along 17-Mile Drive for some more exquisite views over the ocean, making sure to stop at Bird Rock and Seal Rock.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Lisa! ;)

Ramp it up

I've heard about the Ramp. And it certainly did not disappoint.

After some big few days in a row: Thursday night (yield), Friday night (St. Regis & Swig), and Saturday (oyster fest), Sunday was a long sleeping-in followed by a lazy brunch.

It was an absolutely gorgeous sunny blue skies day and a perfect way to spend it would be outside on the water. Off to the Ramp we went.

Upon arriving, you come to what seems a dead-end and a parking lot. There's some brown wooden walls, and it looks like there's noone there. After we made our way around those walls, though, we realized we were not the only ones who decided to show up, so there would be a little wait. Bloody Mary's for a little hair-of-the-dog was the perfect cure for the hangovers we were nursing.

While waiting for our table, we moved outside to sit in the sun and look around. There's usually a cruise ship parked across, and you can glance over the Bay. The wait was not that long and we were brought over to our table in the sun.

There's a lot of choices. You can go brunch - which we did with huevos rancheros and another egg dish (which contained chorizo, cheese, and peppers) - or you can go their full lunch menu. A lot of others chose to go the non-egg route and were enjoying burgers and other dishes.

Go on a sunny day, hang out for a couple hours.

San Francisco Gas Prices

Keep checking back here to see if prices are changing at all.

Climate Change Research

It's really interesting to see not only leading financial publications devoting time to green issues (such as the Economist), but various leading financial companies making their "green" research public.

In addition, anyone who's worked in the financial industry is aware of the ubiquitous Bloomberg terminals. The founder of that company, Michael Bloomberg, is the current mayor of NYC (and potential 2008 independent presidential candidate). Earlier this week, he announced that all the yellow cabs in NYC would go green within 5 years.

JPMorgan has made its climate change research public.

Goldman Sachs has an Environmental Policy Framework (where you can see where they invested).

Bloomberg has made Environment & Sustainability one of his key platforms.

10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life

You may agree or disagree with this overview from lifehack on 10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life, but it's an interesting little read.

There's a lot of opinions over on digg about this (http://digg.com/health/10_simple_ways_to_save_yourself_from_messing_up_your_life)

I'll let you click over to the appropriate links and let you decide whether this is useful information, a bunch of pop psychology, or completely and utterly worthless.

New Zealand's 4th Most Popular Folk Parody Duo!

You've probably seen the random Outback commercials where a dark-haired guy with glasses talks a bit of nonsense about various meals. He's one half of Flight of the Conchords and they are ridiculously funny.

You can check out What the Folk and listen to some of their previous work.

The reason I'm posting this, by the way, is that after watching Entourage last night I noticed a little commercial that Flight of the Conchords are going to have their own show on HBO. You can catch the pilot on the interwebs here, or go here to RSVP for a chance to catch it at the Rickshaw Stop (where it's simply listed as "private event") tomorrow as noted in the flyer to the right.

This is kind of a grab-bag of links.

New music picked up recently at Rasputin - http://www.rasputinmusic.com/ and on itunes
Rodrigo y Gabriela - http://www.rodgab.com/
Peter, Bjorn & John - http://www.peterbjornandjohn.com/
Sea Wolf - http://www.seawolfmusic.com/
Glenn Hansard - http://www.myspace.com/theswellseason

A great hike I went on the other day was at Land's End / Coastal Trail - http://www.josephstubbscreations.com/Home2/sf/sfparks/lincoln/lincoln.html

Benkyodo - mochi - http://www.benkyodocompany.com/
Park Chalet - chilled out place - http://beachchalet.com/aboutus/index.php?page=parkchalet

12 steps to a healthy home

Taken from the Spring website.

16th (today) through 20th (Sunday)

This is a reformatted version of a previous post.

16. The SF International Arts Festival starts today with the Zachho Dance Theater doing a free dance/installation off the top of the roof of SFO.

17. My favorite beatboxer, Kid Beyond, will open up for the New Deal at the Independent tonight.

18. I'm pretty excited that Cantina is finally going to open over in the Tenderloin at Sutter and Mason. Cantina's the brainchild of the former bar manager at Frisson. He's doing a soft launch starting this weekend (the official opening will likely come a couple weeks later). Here's a sample of their drinks menu.

19. O'Reilly's is hosting its 8th annual "Oysters & Beer Festival" featuring, um, oysters and, uh, beer on Saturday. Also some music (of the Flogging Molly and Tea Leaf Green variety).

20. Sunday is Bay to Breakers. However, I'll likely be hiking and then drinking steins laden with beer und essing einen sausage at Mayfest up at the Tourist Club in Mill Valley.

The Guardian also puts out its weekly picks on Wednesday, as does the SF Weekly. Note that this week is SF Weekly's annual Best of issue.

Baobab

On Friday night, I was taken out to the Mission. I wasn't told where exactly we would go nor what exactly we would be in store for. We ended up at Bissap Baobab, a Sengalese restaurant. Immediately, upon walking in, you are greeted warmly and asked to wait at the bar (there's always a wait due to their popularity).

There's a high-energy buzz in the place, African music playing, and the bar makes some potent ginger and tamarind drinks. After a bit, they'll come get you and take you to your table.

It's a real mixed crowd: very international in feel. We had (some salty) beef pastries which were balanced out by a sweet plantain dish (with tamarind dipping sauce). For the main courses, we tried a tilapia (dry) in a wonderful sweet and creamy coconut sauce and a (also dry) chicken kabob with a nice mafe dish on the side. Mafe is basically peanut sauce and they don't skimp on the amount you get. Overall, the sauces definitely were great, but for some reason the actual meat itself was overcooked.

I would definitely go back, though, as the place itself is a lot of fun. There are large groups, people on dates, and everyone enjoying the food, music, interesting African-inspired decor, and the unmistakable energy of the place.

"After your meal, take a few steps around the corner to the Little Baobab. Bursting with energy, this little juke joint has a big heart that beats to the rhythms of music from around the world. " Their website does not lie, it was a great mixture of African music (heavy on the beats), reggae, and salsa. Even more international feeling crowd than in the restaurant and more of those potent ginger and tamarind drinks.

Summer Festivals in San Francisco

May 16-27 SF International Arts Festival

May 19 Uncorked! Public Wine Festival
May 19 San Francisco Oyster & Beer Fest
May 20 Bay to Breakers
May 20-June 17 Mountain Play (Mt. Tam)

May 26-27 Carnaval

June 2-3 Union Street Festival

June 8-10 Harmony Festival (Santa Rosa)
June 10 Haight Ashbury Street Fair

June 16-17 North Beach Festival
June 17-August 19 Stern Grove

June 20-24 Sonoma-Marin Fair (Petaluma)

June 29-July1 Pinot Days
June 30-July 1 Fillmore Jazz Festival

July 6-September 29 Marin Shakespeare Company Festival (Forest Meadows)

July 14-15 International Chocolate Salon

July 25-29 North Beach Jazz Festival

Local and Reused

One way you can be a bit greener is to "think global, act local." In fact, a localvore is a person who eats only locally-grown and produced food. You could extend that definition to one who also shops and supports locally owned businesses.

For example, a localvore would shop and eat locally rather than patronizing national or international chains. The San Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Alliance can help you find locally-owned businesses. The following is taken - often verbatim - from that site.

Supporting local businesses reduces environmental impact. Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.

There are many other reasons, though, such as significantly more money re-circulates in your city when purchases are made at locally owned, rather than nationally owned, businesses; most new jobs are provided by local businesses; your city's one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of your distinctive character; and local business owners invest in community.

Other reasons are that oftentimes customer service is better; competition and diversity leads to more choices; public benefits far outweigh public costs; encourages investment in your city; and non-profits receive greater support as non-profit organizations receive an average 350% greater support from local business owners than they do from non-locally owned businesses.

Stores like Cole Hardware or Standard 5 & 10 instead of large hardware chains. Amoeba Music instead of the mall CD store. Book Passage or Books Inc. instead of Borders or Barnes & Noble. Rainbow Grocery or farmers' markets instead of big supermarket chains. For a good guide to organic and green stores and restaurants, look to the Green Zebra.

For even less impact on the environment, look to purchase reused / recycled / vintage at places like the once-a-month Alameda Flea Market. Looking to redo your home, look to Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley. Across the street from Ohmega, you may want to see if there's any vintage clothes you might like at Twisters Vintage, Dolled Up Vintage, or Retro Diva / Icon Vintage. Those stores are more focused on the 50's, 60's, 70's vintage clothes. Closer to home in San Francisco and sporting more recent styles look to any of the various Crossroads.

Alembic

Seven months ago, the owners of Magnolia Brewery opened up a restaurant called The Alembic on Haight, near Cole.

Soft glow from Edison bulbs hanging from the ceiling, dark wood, that similar tin ceiling (as seen in Bourbon & Branch), blackboards with lists of rye, bourbon, and Scotch, make you think that you've walked into a bar.

The Cole Valley crowd gathered around the bar sipping well-crafted drinks, the above mentioned whiskeys, or Magnolia Brewery beers will confirm that you are in a bar. However, if you continue walking further back, you'll see a smattering of tables and people eating different bits of food here and there.

The menu - divided up into drinks and eats - is a small plates menu meant to be shared. These are not light dishes, though. They're heavy, good fall weather eating along with a scotch or ale from Magnolia. We sampled a few dishes and thought they were a bit too much on the heavy side (too much oil on the calamar) but I thought overall they were tasty. Be prepared, though, for the food to be on the more gamey side - with rabbit, porcini mushrooms, duck.

Art you don't know about this weekend

While the SF International Film Festival ends tomorrow tonight, there's other ways to get your cultural fix this weekend.

Emergining indie artists and designers are showing their creations in Noe Valley on Saturday at the Maven Craft Fair.

Over in the Mission, artists of Workspace Limited will be holding Open Studios all weekend long.
A new exhibition of Martin Munkaci's photographs opens up at the SFMoMA. (Yeah, I've never heard of him either, but he's influenced Henri Cartier-Bresson and Richard Avedon).

Zazie

On Saturday morning, we had brunch at Zazie. They have a nice assortment of sweet and savory.

For their French Breads, they use challah bread so the slices are nice and thick. They also have gingerbread pancakes on the menu, plus of course there's a rotating selection of specials.

On the savory side, they have a variety of different eggs benedict with a light hollandaise sauce. There's usually a very long line, due to the fact that the food is so good. In addition, there's good people watching and you can hit Egg or Cole Hardware while you wait.

Hint: the four tables outside are first come, first serve (no need to wait in line).

Once - great movie

Saw a great movie at the SF International Film Festival last night. Once is very un-Hollywood - there's no big explosions, you won't recognize any of the actors. You may even have a little trouble understanding the accents sometimes. Set in Ireland, it tells the story of two people (played by non-actor musicians Glen Hansard and Market Iglova) who find each other.

The music is incredible as Glen, lead singer of the Frames. and classically-trained Czech pianist Market create beautiful, romantic, poignant, and in-the-end extremely catchy songs together.

Sometimes described as a modern musical, don't let that put you off. Rather, the songs really do fit well into the story which shows a relationship developing bit-by-bit. Hopefully, this movie will get some decent distribution, rather than be shown only at film festivals (at which it has picked up awards this year).

Some music for you

Hit a few shows recently at the Fillmore and the Independent.

Gym Class Heroes (their video - http://youtube.com/watch?v=eiiU-Fky18s) and RX Bandits opened up

Also went to the Silversun Pickups show at the Independent and and Dangerbird Records labelmates Sea Wolf opened up (2 of their songs)
http://www.seawolfmusic.com/media/youreawolf.mp3
http://www.seawolfmusic.com/media/Thegardenthatyouplanted.mp3

In between, I went to see A Pack of Wolves, a brother of one of my friends is in it.

Top 100 Restaurants

These are the top 100 restaurants for 2007, according to the SF Chronicle.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/food/top100/2007cuisine

Some of my favorites (link through the above website)

Buckeye Roadhouse (Mill Valley)
Chow (San Francisco and Lafayette)
French Laundry (Yountville)
Michael Mina
Tartine Bakery
Town Hall
Betelnut
Bocadillos
Coco500
Foreign Cinema
Gary Danko
Nopa
Scott Howard
Koi Palace (Daly City)
Ton Kiang
Yank Sing
Bistro Jeanty (Yountville)
Bouchon (Yountville)
Dosa
A16
Ozumo
Sushi Ran (Sausalito)
Zuni Cafe
La Taqueria
Tres Agaves
Limon
Aqua
Hog Island Oyster Co.
Slanted Door

Mark your calendars: May 16-20

Good god, I just saw what's all going on the weekend of the 16th-20th (what, your weekends don't start on Wednesdays?). I was reading the Guardian on the bus and then had a couple e-mails in my inbox. Thought I'd share.

The SF International Arts Festival will start the 16th with the Zachho Dance Theater doing a free dance/installation off the top of the roof of SFO. Note that it's starting about one week after the SF International Film Festival ends, which is currently going on.

My favorite beatboxer, Kid Beyond, will open up for the New Deal at the Independent on the 17th (note: the New Deal's playing 2 nights at the Independent and only one night with Kid B opening up).

I'm pretty excited that Cantina is finally going to open over in the Tenderloin at Sutter and Mason. Cantina's the brainchild of the former bar manager at Frisson. He's doing a soft launch starting the weekend of the 18th (the official opening will likely come a couple weeks later). Here's a sample of their drinks menu.

O'Reilly's is hosting it's 8th annual "Oysters & Beer Festival" featuring, um, oysters and, uh, beer on Saturday the 19th. Also some music (of the Flogging Molly and Tea Leaf Green variety).

In addition, that Sunday is Bay to Breakers.

Gasolina

As most people don't yet have compressed-air cars or hybrids (but if you look out for them in SF, you'll constantly see Priuses on the road), you can take the bus or bike to work, especially on May 17.

However, the reality is that most people still rely heavily on their car. It's unfortunate, especially as it looks like gas prices will continue to rise into the $4 per gallon category.

There's a pretty useful site called Gas Buddy which allows you to find the best-priced gas stations in your area. The local SF version is at http://www.sanfrangasprices.com/