Northern California Autumn

We drove north to Sebastopol on our color hunt. Do grape leaves count?

Bix Birthday

Yesterday my favorite person (the Chef!) sailed through another year -- this past one full of his amazing alphabetical booze adventures. It was just last Saturday afternoon he was sitting on a bar stool drinking a series of "M" drinks here. That includes "the Minnehaha" Cocktail, which reminds me of visiting the Librarian in St. Paul, and "The Millionaire" which makes me sing the Mekons chorus. I hope the N-Z cocktails summon equally good memories. That is, if we remember anything after another year of cocktails. hic. Happy Birthday to The Chef!

We celebrated with our first trip to 40's style SF restaurant Bix. Naturally, there were cocktails.

Special thanks to Mrs. Virus, who directed us to the right alleyway when we were wandering the streets of San Francisco trying to find this tucked-away-in-an-alley restaurant. We made it!

Eighteen Years

We celebrated appropriately by watching a depressing movie about prostitution and teenage abortion. (It was a toss up between this indie film or another episode of Mad Men Season One - a television program of nastiness that never fails to leave me feeling hollow inside.) Although it must be 2008 -- viewing was on a lap top whilst sitting on the couch and certainly not at the Majestic Theatre, which now has, huh? crappy concerts? Just like the Pinkney Street Hideaway (now a parking lot!) and O'Cayz Corral (burned to the ground!) the majority of our early dating landmarks are gone gone gone. Except for the Plaza Tavern.

No matter, we're still here. Tra la la.

Royal Stories

"Many amusing anecdotes to share after this, my favourite being when X was enthusing about The R*yal Channel to Prince Ph*lip. His retort? "I haven't got a clue what you're talking about..." At which point he turned his back and swept off, without even bidding him farewell..."

"I told the Queen that my job was to help as many people around the world view her content from the R*yal Channel, to which she replied "does it go overseas?""

Prince Ph*lip also said to X "Is there sport on this YT caper? Hmph. There should be more."

the Queen!

You can bet we didn't quite believe it when we heard that one of our co-workers met the Queen yesterday in the London office. Here he is with one of the people who uploads videos on the right, and ahem, on the left -- THE QUEEN! The hat! She is interested in "the place"!

Garden Spider

Now I can't go back to the garden because I am afraid.
It's a Golden Garden Banded Spider!

Chicken Hat

They do not like to wear the chicken hat.

Burning Down The House

Everyone loves David Byrne SO MUCH that the crowd gave him a standing ovation when he WALKED OUT ON STAGE?! Harumph! Shouldn't he have to sing first? "Oh yeah" said the chef, "I guess the Talking Heads were played on the radio." It's hard to pay attention surrounded by that kind of eager enthusiasm. I'm a tough sell on ovations, they must be earned. Unless you are Johnny Cash and say, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."

However, all grumping was forgotten when the Extra-Action Marching Band came out for the encore -- what a welcome surprise, their edgy pom-pom-strippers-plus-horns skank completely balancing out the happy Up With People cheerleaders dressed in white. I won't brag about our seats, but we were closer than the person who took this video from the rafters.

Hardly Strictly

The schedule:

11:00: Jon Langford's Skull Orchard f/ Sally Timms
and the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus
12:20: Hazel Dickens
1:00: Ben Kweller
2:30: Elvis Costello's High Whines & Spirits
3:25: Iron & Wine
4:40: Justin Townes Earle

Welshmen

Jon Langford and the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus.

Garden Blooms

The random bloom explosion. Orderly rows? Nope.

So fancy -- Formosa Lilies

Spotted Bee Balm

Remember the "green zinnia" sprout? A few months ago I misidentified it amidst the "volunteer" Cosmos that are now taking over the plot (plus the one next to ours and the pathway, oops.) There is no sign of green zinnia blooms. sniff. Don't care for hot pink cosmos, but the bees are having a good time, but why are they not on the spotted bee balm?

Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Biscuits

It is very hard to find a bar of unscented soap. That is why it was with great sadness (and much anxiety) that Hausfrau realized that longtime favorite "Pure & Natural" unscented soap, made by the Dial (TM) corporation, was being discontinued. Note that this soap was far from "Pure & Natural" -- it even had "fragrance" it was just not super perfumed. It was only being carried at ONE store in town (Andronico's) requiring a specific destination shopping trip to replenish the supply. No more. Desperate, the first thing Hausfrau did was check online. Could this special smell-less soap be delivered to the door? At drugstore.com there was only one case available. That's 72 bars of soap for $130. The thought of a giant case of soap sitting in the garage was too much for Hausfrau - depleting one bar at a time over a period of just how long? Hausfrau hates change, but it was time to find a new soap.

That's how she ended up at a grocery store in San Bruno on a desperate soap hunt. The closest thing was "Simply Ivory" with "just a little scent" -- oh yeah, how about NO SCENT, JUST SOAP dammit. Is that so IMPOSSIBLE? No Mountain Fresh, Sport Scent, Almond Honey, nothing! just SOAP. Frustrated, Haus Frau turned the corner and spotted the special British Foods section in this particular grocery store...and a smiling face. The "famous cheeky face of the Tunnock's Boy." Hausfrau was relieved that this was not a wasted trip.
Tunnock's wafer biscuits! Turns out along with a police station, traditional main street shops, pubs and rail station, there is one big biscuit factory in Uddingston, Scotland.

Even better, each wafer biscuit was individually wrapped and the shiny wrapper boasted "4,000,000 of these biscuits made and sold every week? How was this possible? Who is buying all these Carmel Wafer Biscuits?

Interesting Facts:

• The Chocolate used on the caramel wafer is made from condensed milk (that must be why they are so chewy)
  
• An individual Tunnock's Caramel is devoid of a sell-by date, though the multipacks do have one. (another reason why they are so chewy).
  
• St. Andrews University has a Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Appreciation Society (a college cookie club that attempts to cover up obvious cookie nerdness by raising money for "charity". Sure, charity. They even have a "constitution". Unfortunately, there are no photos of the members, but the President is an Astrophysics major and there are links to "Lord of the Rings" and uh, the cartoon "Pearls Before Swine"? I would love to attend one of their meetings. Please add pictures Appreciation Society!
• This is the best, from "begining" spelled wrong to the "Rustic Maiden Fair" who says things like "I come hither bearing you a wondrous gift of Tunnock's Caramel Wafers." Warning: Biscuit Porn.
  

Note, Dial has just re-branded their unscented soap in a much smaller bar (unlike Tunnock's which is "still original size.") It's called "BASICS - Hypoallergenic" tested by Dermatologists even when all Hausfrau requires is NOT to smell "Mountain Fresh". Hausfrau may be obsessed with unscented soap, but she has yet to form an appreciation society.

Nick's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday today to Nick Cave, who is still a spry blur at fifty-one. The Chef & I (plus geek girls PVC and Usher Supreme on the floor) were lucky to see NC & the Bad Seeds a few days ago where he leaped about the stage, knocking things over in his furious path with well-timed high kicks to prove that he is still the same ol' punk -- even more so off the smack! We were exhausted just watching him in the sauna seats up in the rafters. Along with the sonic rants from "Dig, Lazerus, Dig!" we were thrilled to hear a few oldies, "Tupelo", "Deanna" even "Stagger Lee". All the classic Murder Ballads rolled out to cheers from the crowd.
p.s. there is no better mountain man on the violin than recent Bad Seed (and Dirty Three leader) Warren Ellis.

Nashville

DJ BC lights up Ritual

It was a treat to catch up with Mz Tancho this weekend. We took a swing past Ritual Coffee Roasters to view the glorious art of DJ Big Cookie lighting up the walls. Congratulations DJ BC! Mz Tancho and I could not resist annoying the nomadic laptop "office" brigade by leaning in w/ loud ahs and ooohs. Hipsters gave us the stink eye and we just laughed. Getting older means you don't give a fig what strangers think.

"I Live in San Francisco"

Portrait of the artist in the gallery.

We look forward to receiving one of these happy Chinese New Year postcard delights in the mail each year. That DJ Big Cookie sure is something, like a super croissant, but better.

...check out how this beauty was created.

So much happy laughter. Plus, Mz Tancho scored some nice burlap bags.

Lemony Merritt

Accordionist meets curmudgeon -- a conversation brimming with sarcasm, yet between friends (whew) witnessed tonight at the Herbst Theatre. Plus the usual melancholy music that makes people laugh. There were no Gothic Archies songs, but it was in the same key as below: "smile: no one cares how you feel/be vicious, vain, and vile/everything's yours to steal if you just smile/ always the best disguise/a license to defile/everyone you despise will die/so smile. "

Hornocopia

Hornocopia hits Dolores Park.

We had to sneak away when the pressure to dance became overwhelming (despite our obvious love for brass). Cheers to the Brass Liberation Orchestra and Blue Bone Express!

Maximus

It takes a team of skilled professionals to find a video this cute:

Chihuly @ the DeYoung

Slow Booze '08

Before the masses hit the "Spirits Pavilion"...

...the Chef readied his samples -- a slow booze "Corpse Reviver" w/ lemon juice, cointreau, Death's Door Gin, Underhill Lounge Swedish Punsch and a touch of Absinthe, and the Vodka Cobbler crowd pleaser also known as "that pink thing".

My favorite spot was the Pickle Pavilion (featuring brined objects from Picklopolis.) Not only do I love pickled anythings, but since I was ticketless volunteer, the nice Pickle people were not checking tickets when giving out samples and I "relished" going through the line a few times. ha! get it? relished!

The fancy food crowds didn't know that the lines were shorter at the farmer's market. I felt spoiled, as we shop local each week just a short stroll away (with plenty of slow booze demos right in our kitchen). No tickets or "slow dough" required.