The Warmth of the Sun

When my friend bought his house I made him a couple of redwood planter boxes. One for strawberries and the other for his lemon tree. His backyard was pretty bare with just the two containers and the pine needles that fall from his neighbors tree. 

When I went over there the other day I took a peek at his backyard and saw that their whole building had gone gardening crazy. They bought a mini greenhouse, citrus trees, eggplant, and tomatoes. On the upper deck where I was standing were containers full of lettuces, kale, herbs and flowers. I was very happy that my planters had ignited a gardening frenzy. Now if only the neighbor would cut down his pine tree, they might get more sun on their plants.

Thar He or She Blows!

I have seen the whales and its incredible.

I think its so amazing that when I have to move my car for street cleaning, instead of waiting to find a parking spot I can drive a few blocks out to Fort Miley look out over the sea and on a windless morning see an occasional spout of water turn into an umbrella of sea water. 

Give a Little Bit

I got off a bit early from my job in the Presidio.  I had photographed a lot of stuff at work and I was tired. The sky had cleared. It was blue and sunny and my bus transfer was still good from the morning.  I walked down to Lombard Street to catch the 28 bus. I had to walk through two sets of traffic lights to get to my bus stop. I was waiting for less than a minute when I saw an elderly couple walking toward me, . They were looking at one of those tourist maps that leave out the Richmond and Sunset districts. As they approached the bus shelter, they walked to the side of the shelter to examine a map of all the bus lines.  I asked them where they wanted to go and they said "Downtown" and pointed to Union Square on their folded and creased little map. The were looking for the Palace so they could get on the 30 Stockton bus.They may have been from Italy.  I told them to walk straight ahead two blocks and they would see the Palace.  
They thanked me and walked down the street.
Today I was walking towards the Ferry Building and as I was about to cross the street I noticed the same couple I had given directions to yesterday coming right at me.  I waved to them and smiled and they did the same to me.

Dirty Story with a Happy Ending

I am lucky to have a space where I can garden. Everyday that I go out there brings me joy.  I didn't even mind when it started pouring while I was transplanting strawberry plants. A good raincoat was one of the best things I've bought even if it was from the Burlington Coat Factory.

Growing your own food is one of the most satisfying things you can do. It enables you to detach yourself from the computer, get outside, hopefully compost, eat something you grew and maybe even share produce if you are capable of this trait.
Touching dirt can also be beneficial to your well being as there is a bacteria in soil called mycobacterium vaccae. The microbes in soil cause cytokine levels to rise which results in production of higher levels of serotonin so if you run out of Prozac you may want to grab a handful of dirt and get happy.

I Cover the Waterfront

My friend got a Taylor Dunn Cart in exchange for painting another Taylor Dunn Cart. Last night we
took it for a joyride along the sidewalks of the Embarcadero, through Pier 39's back road, around Fisherman's Wharf and the pier where the crab boats come in. I had never seen this pier before. They actually do a lot of crabbing judging by all of the round nets that were neatly stacked in tall cylinders along the pier.
We almost ran over a rat that ran in front of the cart. It looked like it had spiked its hair with gel.
We ended up at the crab stands in front of Aliotos, parked the cart and got crab cocktails. They weren't great.
We headed back to my friend's shop at pier 33. He was driving on the street facing oncoming cars. As a car approached us he quickly grabbed the Brodie knob (a knob attached on the steering wheel to enable the driver to do one handed turns easily) and made a sharp left up a handicap accessible 
sidewalk.  I flew partially out of the cart but luckily I was holding on to a rope handle that was 
attached to the dashboard.  "Duuuuuude!" I yelled.  I was terrified for a brief moment.
"Can you buy adrenaline?" my friend asked me.
"No"
"There you go" he said.

Free Food, Drink and Tip

 

I've been recently surprised by things I've been harvesting that have been growing outside of my garden beds and amongst the rest of the "weeds".
The other day I picked a bunch of dandelion leaves. I  sautéed them in olive oil with an anchovy, garlic and chile.  It was quite good but next time I'll use 1/3 less garlic.
I have also been picking the nettles that pop up every year.  The first nettle harvest was added to a meatloaf but lately I've been making a nettle tea which I steep over two days and resembles polished green glass that you would find at the beach. It has the consistency of something that would be syrupy sweet yet it has a clean, nutty and grassy taste. There's also a bit of danger as I always wonder if one of those little needles from the nettles will get caught somewhere in my throat. It's always best to use a fine strainer before pouring it in a glass.

2017

I went to Japantown to get some food for New Years but when I got to the Japanese market I saw that the store was packed and every cashier had at least ten people in each line.  I immediately turned around and went back home to the Richmond District.  There are a lot of Asian markets in the Richmond and I thought I could at least get some mochi at one of them. I went to New May Wah which has food items from all of the Asian countries but they didn't have what I wanted so I headed to New Seoul Market two blocks away.  I walked up and down the aisles and saw no mochi.
Japanese usually bring in the new year with traditional foods made from root vegetables, beans, eggs, chicken, fish, rice and tofu. There are probably some other things that I can't think of at the moment.
I had none of these good luck foods to start off January 1.  I wanted some zoni which is a clear broth soup with a piece of mochi.  Instead I had Krusteaz pancakes and a cup of coffee.  As I ate my breakfast I wondered how my luck will be in 2017.  I am hoping it will be a good year for coincidence.