Projects Completed and in Progress

Well so much for New Year's Resolutions. How many times has it been said, so I don't feel so bad. I have been hoping to carve out time to blog more, although I have been keeping busy in 2012:

I've been attending a small writing club at least twice a month (been attending 2-3 times per month for four months now) with a small group of work-mates. It's been motivating and inspiring. I have not made a huge amount of progress on my writing progress, but I have been much more consistent, aka writing a little every week.

I completed an article for the Winter 2013 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. And I'm hard at work on a new essay for the Summer 2013 SFSFF! The program list will be announced on 5/23!

Helped Michelle for three of her four pop-ups, aka 20th Century Cafe preview

Teresa, Michelle, and me at the pop-up at State Bird Provisions

I read a bunch of books including the incredible memoir by Michael Tradowsky (found out about the book from his daughter Kirsten who I wrote about in this blog last year). His book is War Children is about growing up in a artistic, non-political family in Nazi Germany. I wrote a brief review on Goodreads.

I completed a video for Michelle's Kickstarter campaign. She reached her goal 12 days early! I received some nice compliments including one in the SF Weekly blog SF Foodie that said, "The Kickstarter page has more details about the café, but the real draw there is the sepia-toned, 1930's/40's video showing Polzine's trials and tribulations getting the place open. It's a fun watch that encapsulates the vintage feel she's trying to create in her café." Kickstarter page with video -- she's got 7 days to go...pledges over her goal will help buy an ice cream machine (you cannot believe the ice cream she makes!).

And I'm working on another video for her Kickstarter, for the last few days of the campaign - seriously, amazing ice-cream!

That's it for now.  A bit of catch up on my creative/project online diary...done and done!

Memoir Thoughts - "Bones, Blood & Butter"

I've been reading chef Gabrielle Hamilton's "Bones, Blood & Butter" and thinking about memoirs.

What compels someone to bare all, identifying thoughts that are so personal, so at risk for judgement? I put down the book with a realization that I know more of her inner thoughts than perhaps 99% of the people I love. I know so much and feel an intimate bond based solely on this knowledge, despite the fact that thousands of other people have also had this experience and despite the fact that it's unlikely I'll ever meet Ms. Hamilton.



I suppose although she's shared these stories and thoughts, she still keeps me (and her many readers) at a distance by virtue of the way I received this information - a book. I didn't hear these thoughts from her directly and unlike sharing between friends, there is no shared experience between the two of us, but simply a one-way, indirect connection. So although I know more of her inner life than I do my best friends or family, there is not the intimate connection, only the illusion of one.

All that said, I love her descriptions at the beginning of the book about the big party her family hosted each year and the traditions they created - all the tasks for the lamb roast and prepping the house and yard and the menu...



I hope soon to visit NYC and Prune (her restaurant in the Lower East Side). I think it will be odd if I catch a glimpse of Gabrielle and realize she's a complete stranger.

Photos above borrowed from http://bloodbonesandbutter.net

Holiday Cooking - Jello Fun

Wow, how did two weeks go by with nary a thought to blogging...unacceptable!

Work has been exceedingly crazy in addition to a work trip to Ohio where I sadly saw little of the place, but had some great conversations with customers who teach science in higher education (them's some smart people!). So most of my head-space has been taken up with work and thoughts of the future and where I want to go with my career.

That said, I have had a bit of time to look through some vintage magazines I recently acquired, especially in light of the coming holidays! Holiday time is when my thoughts turn to cooking. A couple mags have some great recipes, and some vintage horrors, that I'll be posting over the coming weeks.

Today I'm thinking again on the subject of Jell-O. Wikipedia corrected my erroneous spelling of Jello, to the copyright-correct Jello-O. Prior to the Jello-O brand and in other locations it seems the name for gelatin desserts was jelly or perhaps jellies. I looked at some vintage molds online and so want to bring a fancy-looking dessert to Thanksgiving this year. Or maybe gross-out the family with some savory-type gelatin dessert...hum. Cooking project!



This ad is from the Dec 1, 1954 issue of Australian Home Journal. Yum...so easy! so good! so tempting!!

Food Cart Phenomenon

Margaret of Nomad's Kitchen at Sansome and Greenwich, San Francisco

I am slow to catch on...the phenomenon has finally made its presence known to my brain. A coworker months ago recommended following the Creme Brulee Man on Twitter. What a great concept! He can be free to go where he pleases, can easily update his account via cell phone, and customers can find him.

The Creme Brulee Man at Dolores Park, SF (photo from Tamara Palmer's SFoodie blog on SFWeekly.com)

Since following the CBM, I've been hearing about this mobile food cart thing more and more.

I asked this same coworker, let's call her Molly (pssst...her real name is Molly), how long this foodie subculture has been thriving. She believes it is in large part due to Twitter, which came about in 2006 and enables the aforesaid customer hookup and exists in all big cities where people love to make food and can't afford or want to start a restaurant.

In comes the explanation of the above photo - Nomad's Kitchen. I was walking to get my usual boring sandwich and I ran into Margaret standing beside her super cute set-up of vintage bike, picnic basket of goodies, and menu sign. She was lovely to field all my questions and to provide an amazing Thai pulled pork sandwich...oh soooo good! She said her set up was a bike deli. She went on to say she loved cooking and preparing food, but couldn't afford a food truck let alone a restaurant. The bike business will hopefully enable her to save up for a food truck, but for now she's having a great time traveling to places, tweeting her location, and selling her food.

I walked back to work with my sandwich and getting to my desk, I knew I had to run back with my camera and get her pic. I found her on Twitter - http://twitter.com/NomadsKitchen - and am keeping a look out for when she's back in my neighborhood.