Peru: Day 3 (aka Inca Trail: Day 1)

On the third day in Peru, we finally embarked on our four-day Inca Trail tour.

We started by meeting our guide Raul in the lobby of our hotel at 5am. He took us to our bus, where our porters (18 porters + 1 chef for the 13 of us!) were waiting. We all drove 1.5 hours by bus back to Ollantaytambo, where we stopped for supplies (ponchos, etc.) and some people ate breakfast. We also picked up our assistant guide, Edison. From there we drove another two hours from to "kilometer 82" (Piskacucho), where we started our trek. It was about 10am when we finally left the entrance checkpoint.

Raul told us that the first day would be "flat", but we soon learned that the Peruvian definition of flat is not quite the same as the American definition of flat; we ascended almost 1000ft that day, from the trailhead (2720m / 8923ft) to the first campsite at Ayapata (3000m / 9842ft).

For much of the morning, we followed the Vilcanota River:


Along the way, Raul showed us various plants and animals; there was a parasite that grew on cactus that was used by the Incans to make dark red clothing dye, lots of insects (including a walking stick), and a few llamas and alpacas.

cactus parasite:


Raul demonstrating the dye:


walking stick:


We also saw several Inca sites; a fortress called "Huillca Raccay" and larger nearby site called "Llactapata":



We had been warned by friends who had done the Inca Trail that the camping food was likely to be boring and dominated by potatoes, so we were pleasantly surprised by our first lunch.

Our porters had gone ahead and set up a nice lunch tent, complete with folding table and chairs, and warm water and soap for us to wash our hands. For food, not only was there a sliced avocado appetizer and fresh salsa, Jorge the chef had caught and cooked fresh fish, as well as several side dishes:



After lunch, we refilled our water bottles with water that the porters had boiled for us, and set on our way. The porters cleaned up after us, ate their own lunch, packed up, and still passed us up about an hour later, each carrying a 25kg pack. Those guys were amazing!

From time to time, Raul would point out certain mountains in the section of the Andes that were clearly visible for much of the trek. He said that this snow-capped peak was "Mt. Veronica":


I keep thinking it's strange that a Peruvian mountain is called "Veronica", but I've yet to discover the origin of the name.

We hiked until about 5:30pm, when we arrived at our first campsite at Ayapata. Of course, our awesome porters had set up our tents on the best site in camp; it was closest to the bathroom and had the nicest view. We had a bit of time to change into camp clothes and shoes, and then at 6pm, we had "happy hour", which meant biscuits, popcorn, hot chocolate, and more.

Dinner followed immediately afterwards, and we carbo-loaded on two kinds of pasta, before enjoying banana flambe for dessert:


After dinner, Raul gave us a little talk about the next day's hike, and then we were off to bed, so we could get enough sleep before our 5:30am wakeup call.

in color, this time

I stupidly forgot to add photos to my Memphis Minnie's post last week. Anyway, without further ado, here are some visuals.


(pork ribs, beef brisket, greens, and sweet potatoes)


(beef ribs, beef brisket, hand-cut BBQ fries, and tangy coleslaw)


(pork ribs, beef tri-tip, beans, and mac 'n cheese)

Peru: Day 2 (Sacred Valley)

We had to get up pretty early on the second day in Cuzco, since we had scheduled a 8:30am start to our Sacred Valley tour. After a minor snafu (we had 9 people; the van which initially came to pick us up only seated 8), we were on our way around 9am.

First we headed back up the hill towards Sacsaywaman, stopping briefly for a nice city view. Then we drove into the Sacred Valley itself, where our first stop was at an animal sanctuary. There, we saw a variety of wildlife, including parrots, llamas, alpacas, owls, donkeys, a wild cat of some sort, and more:



At the end, we got to see several Peruvian condors!


I think we were all pretty impressed with the animals, and we left some pretty good tips behind.

Next, we went to see the Pisac ruins. It took some time to climb up to the ruins, and even more time to climb around the hills above the ruins, but it was worth it; the area was gorgeous:




Afterwards, we stopped by the famous Pisac Market for some souvenir shopping. Since it was a Monday, it wasn't too crowded, and we were able to browse and haggle in peace. I ended up buying an "alpaca" scarf (10 soles ~= $3.30) and a toy stuffed alpaca (15 soles ~= $5). I also bought a freshly baked chicken empanada out of a brick oven (2 soles ~= 66 cents), which was pretty good.

After a unremarkable lunch in Urubamba (all-you-can eat for 30 soles ~= $10, but mediocre food quality), we proceeded to the massive Ollantaytambo fortress. We climbed up to the top, where our guide pointed some of the more famous features, including some storehouses and a "face" engraved into the rock on the opposite side. It was late afternoon at this point, so the lighting was really pretty, although hard to photograph:




As we drove back through the town of Ollantaytambo, we ran into some kind of festival; lots of the locals were dressed up in traditional costumes:


Several people fell asleep on the 1.5 hour drive back to Cuzco, but I was awake for most of it, and noticed the scenery was much nicer on the road back; we drove from Urubamba through Chinchero to Cuzco instead of through Pisac as we did on the way there:


We arrived back in Cuzco around 6:30pm, and after a quick shower, we were off to the Llama Path office again for our 7pm briefing meeting. We mostly reviewed information that we had already read before, but it was nice to meet our guide Raul, who would be leading our Inca Trail tour, and for everyone to meet up (part of the group had spent the previous night in Ollantaytambo, so we hadn't actually seen them since arriving in Peru).

After the briefing, we grabbed a quick dinner at a restaurant right next to our hotel. I've forgotten the name (and it wasn't exactly Peruvian cuisine) but most people seemed to like the food pretty well. My grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup was so-so, but my banana split was excellent:


We went straight to bed after that, as we were supposed to be packed and checked out before 5am the next morning.

unexpected savings

Last year we replaced our ugly old inefficient heater with a shiny new one. It was expensive, but we figured that over the long term, we would save money (and the environment).

Recently, we got an email from PG&E:
Thank you for participating in PG&E's Winter Gas Savings Program. You saved 45% in gas usage and earned a 20% credit on your spring bill!

I love when a decision pays off even better than expected.

Peru: Day 1 (Cuzco)

Even after the whole American Airlines travel debacle, we still arrived in Cuzco and managed to get checked into our hotel around 9am. We went to the Llama Path office to pay the balance on our tours, and then set off to find some lunch.

After wandering around the Mercado Central for a bit, eating some sweet tamales, and buying some "alpaca" hats, we ended up near the Plaza de San Francisco.


We were unable to find a nearby restaurant in any of our tourbooks, so we finally just walked into a random place, which turned out to be pretty decent. We tried Inca Kola (much too sweet), alpaca (a bit tough), and papa relleno (stuffed potato, quite yummy):




After lunch, we had only a little time before our Cuzco city tour started at 1:30pm, but I managed to fit in a shower anyway. We were picked up in our hotel lobby by our guide Casiano, and were on our way.

First stop was the Koricancha temple. Casiano gave us a good overview of the history and showed us all the perfect imperial Inca stonework, and we also loved the courtyard and the views from the outside:



Next, we went to the Catedral, which was only a block away from our hotel:


Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside, because I liked the interior very much. It felt more modern than a lot of cathedrals, with white plaster ceilings and grey stone trim. There were some interesting paintings, including what appeared to be a black Jesus; Casiano explained it was the Lord of Earthquakes, and that his was by far the most popular chapel among the locals. There was also a Last Supper painting depicting guinea pig as one of the dishes, and a small underground niche containing the ashes of the great Incan writer Garcilaso de la Vega.

From there, we headed to the outskirts of the city, to see Saqsaywaman and Qenko. Saqsaywaman was grander; impressive in scope with a nice view of the city. Qenko was quirkier, with winding rock passageways. We thought it would be a fun place for kids to play hide-and-seek, or even "sardines":



We spent so much time climbing around Saqsaywaman that we didn't have much time left at this point (the sun was setting) so we only glanced at Puka Pukara from the road, and then embarked on the short walk to Tambomachay, aka the "Temple of Water":


That was it for the (four-hour) tour; after Tambomachay we drove back to our hotel, said goodbye to Casiano, and met up with the rest of our group for dinner.

After some discussion, we ended up at Sumaq Misky. Some of us decided to split an appetizer platter, which included "guinea wing", alpaca kebab, chicken wings, and more:


The guinea pig was surprisingly good; very flavorful and tender, kind of similar to quail or another small bird. The alpaca skewers were again rather tough, but someone did order an alpaca t-bone which was much juicier. I was less fond of my Aji de Gallina, which was much too egg-y for my taste.

It was a short walk across the Plaza de Armas back to our hotel, but we were pretty beat after the long day, so only one game of Dominion was played that night before bed. I did manage to check my email on one of the hotel's free internet terminals, though.

blackberries & blueberries & cherries, oh my!

I've really been loving the summer fruits over these last couple weeks.

Every morning, I grab a big bowl of Bing cherries from the microkitchen at work, and polish it off within minutes. Plus, two coworkers went cherry picking in Brentwood (one last weekend and one the weekend before) and they've been bringing in the fruits of their labors; those cherries are even better than the ones we have normally.

Yesterday, I was at DeMartini's buying (more) cherries for games night tonight, and I tried some of the blueberries they had out as samples. They were so good that I bought a box, in addition to 4.5 lbs of Bing and 1.5 lbs of Rainier cherries. I also threw in a couple of black plums.

Then, just now I was getting breakfast and there was a big bowl of blackberries and cream, so of course I had to help myself to a generous serving. That doesn't mean I'm not eating cherries, though.

other weekend eats

On Friday, we went to dinner at Spruce with some friends. When I was in high school, I used to park my car at the UCSF Laurel Heights campus, so it was kind of nostalgic walking around that area before dinner.

Anyway, onto the food...

The meal started with some gougeres. They were tasty enough but I think I've had better recently. Either that or I just like cheesier gougeres:


For appetizers, we split some charcuterie, a couple plates of sweet corn and squash ravioli, and some duck fat potatoes:



The potatoes are not pictured, but they looked like fried potatoes, and were good, but I'm not sure I could tell that they were fried in duck fat, just from eating them. The ravioli was fine but I liked the charcuterie best, especially the thin sliced meats and the rabbit pate.

For my entree I ordered the "charred Berkshire pork tenderloin, crispy pork belly, shelling beans":


Surprisingly, I liked the tenderloin better than the pork belly. The tenderloin was delicately flavorful and tender, whereas the pork belly was almost too fatty for me. The crispy skin was good, though. The beans were fine but unremarkable.

D had the "honey lacquered duck breast, cinnamon spiced foie gras, radicchio & orange":


The duck breast was yummy and all of our friends thought the foie gras was amazing (just slightly crunchy on the outside) but I still liked my pork better.

One of our friends had invited us for dessert and coffee at their loft afterwards, so we skipped having dessert at the restaurant, but did have some petit fours:


I liked the raspberry gelee much more than the coconut meringues, but others at the table preferred the coconut, so we easily polished off the plate.

Overall, I liked the decor (modern and understated) and the service (subtle but attentive). The food was fairly good and I would go back if I were in the area, but I wouldn't fight traffic on a Friday night to eat there on purpose.

On Saturday, some friends and I hosted a brunch for a couple who is expecting their second baby. We thought it would be fun to do something low-key rather than a full-blown "shower" type event. We chose the Three Degrees Restaurant, inside of the Toll House Hotel in Los Gatos.

Three Degrees has a really good weekend brunch deal; $21 for three courses (breakfast pastries, appetizer, entree, and chocolate fountain for dessert), including unlimited champagne. We chose that option for the group, but substituted the cake-cutting fee for dessert. We also booked their private dining room; they have a nice one in the back of the restaurant that can probably fit up to about 25 people.

Each person could choose one of two appetizers, the "antipasto platter" or the "seafood plank":



Both were good, but I was more impressed with the serving size of the antipasto. I'd also eaten two pastries so at this point I was starting to worry I'd be too full for dessert.

There were lots of great entree choices, including: smoked salmon bruschetta, flank steak and eggs, cajun chicken omelette, corned beef hash, breakfast tacos, and more. I myself saw the first item: "blueberry white chocolate pancakes", and stopped there. The pancakes were yummy and all but I was disappointed the white chocolate wasn't in chunks; I think they had melted it and incorporated it into the batter.

D ordered the crab benedict, and those were very good indeed, with plenty of crab meat:


Another interesting dish which several people ordered was a sampler, with quail eggs benedict, toast brioche, seared pork belly, and fried potatoes:


I thought the food was quite good and the portions were extremely generous; I took home a non-trivial amount of food, even after D had some. I think if I have occasion to be in Los Gatos on a weekend morning, I will be tempted to stop by again, especially for the $21 price.

I ordered the chocolate and raspberry cake from the nearby Icing on the Cake:


The cake itself was moist and delicious, and I liked it very much, although the frosting was on the sweet side. Afterwards we stopped by the bakery again and I bought a piece of almond poppyseed loaf (okay, slightly too almond extract-y) and a piece of banana walnut loaf (delicious!), as well as a "pecan brownie chunker" cookie (also good).

Afterwards, several of us walked around downtown Los Gatos for a few hours. We browsed some high-end home & garden shops, got some gelato at Dolce Spazio (mango raspberry sorbetto, very good), watched people at the wine festival, and I bought some chocolate from Fleur de Cocoa (which I've yet to eat, but it smells delicious).

mmm...beef

Last night I finally got to try out Memphis Minnie's BBQ. I was going to see Porgy and Bess with a friend, and she and her boyfriend are big fans of Minnie's, so we decided to get some BBQ before heading to the opera house.

Meats:
- St. Louis style smoked pork ribs: I'm a big fan of pork ribs so I ordered this as one of my two meats for my "two-way combo". They were okay, but I've had better.
- Santa Maria tri-tip steak: My other meat choice; the steak was well-flavored and tender, and I enjoyed dunking bits of it in the "stupid hot" sauce.
- Texas big beef ribs: This was my favorite; I stole at least 1.5 ribs from D's plate. I'm really not used to having beef ribs at all, and the few times I've had it, it's been less than outstanding, so I was skeptical, but the beef ribs at Minnie's are amazing. I'll be getting these next time.
- Texas beef brisket: Again, I've had some dry and tasteless briskets, so I was wary of ordering these, but I should have listened to my friends; the brisket was juicy and flavorful, and I liked it better than the tri-tip.

Sides:
- cornbread: Came with the plate, and was pretty decent; not too dry, had visible bits of corn, and was sweet but not too sweet.
- beans: I chose this as one of my sides, hoping they would be sweet Texas style baked beans, but they weren't. On the bright side there were large chunks of meat interspersed with the beans.
- mac & cheese: My other chosen side, which turned out to be pretty good but nothing to write home about.
- coleslaw: I dislike mayonnaise-y coleslaw, so I was a big fan of Minnie's "tart" coleslaw, which to me tasted most like Japanese pickled vegetables. Yum! I ate nearly half of D's coleslaw.
- fries: These turned out to be shoestring fries seasoned liberally with salt, pepper, and something red, and served in generous portions. I liked these very much (and the trend continued of me liking D's plate better than my own).

Sauces:
- a South Carolina-style mustard sauce: This was my least favorite. I'm only moderately fond of mustard, though.
- a North Carolina-style vinegar sauce: This one tasted okay but very runny and I quickly gave up on it.
- a Texas tomato-based sauce: The best of the three sauces on the table, but still not really necessary since the meats were already well seasoned.
- the aforementioned "stupid hot" sauce: I like spicy food, so even though the tri-tip didn't really need it, I ended up dunking bits of it in this sauce from time to time.

Next time I'll be ordering the beef ribs and probably the beef brisket, unless I decide to try the Memphis sweet smoked pork. I'll definitely be having fries and coleslaw on the side.

eating Asian

When I got back on Sunday after eating Peruvian for a week, I was craving Asian food. Even though it was already 9:30pm, we re-heated some 粽子 for a late dinner. They still tasted delicious.

On Monday, we tried out Korean Village, the new restaurant that took over Joy Restaurant's old location. It was so-so, probably better than the one next to Marina but not significantly so.

Yesterday night, we scrutinized our fridge, discovered we had pork chops and onions, and attempted katsu-don. It actually turned out quite well despite our lack of green onions.

I haven't decided what to eat for tonight's dinner yet, but we've already made plans to eat ramen with friends at Himawari tomorrow night.

32 hours

I just got back home yesterday night after spending a week in Peru.

The trip was really fun; the 13 of us spent two days exploring Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, and then embarked on a four day trek, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, before returning to Cuzco by train/bus. I'll post much more later, including photos (I took over 30 GB of RAW so they're likely to take some time to process).

The travel part was horrible. We were booked on American Airlines from San Francisco to Lima via Miami, and from Lima to Cuzco and back on LAN Peru.

Things that went wrong:
- The outbound flight from Miami to Lima departed over an hour late. We were supposed to arrive at 4:10am to catch our 6:00am LAN flight, but instead arrived at 5:05am. Nevertheless, we cleared immigration and got to baggage claim by 5:15am. There, we proceeded to wait 40 minutes for our bags. Hearing several "final boarding" calls for your flight while standing in baggage claim is really frustrating. We ended up taking the 7:20am to Cuzco, and barely got there in time for our 10am morning meeting with our Inca Trail tour company.
- Because we had missed the 6:00am flight on the outbound journey, when we got to the airport to take our return flight, LAN said our reservation had been cancelled, even though we had specifically asked the agent to check that our return reservation was still valid, when she was rebooking us on the 7:20am. After some heated discussion, the LAN agent grudgingly gave us seats on our original 4:45pm flight. D and I were seated separately, but thought nothing of it until we got on the airplane and discovered the flight was only half full. We easily reseated ourselves, as my entire row was empty. I'm pretty sure that was no accident; the agent was not very happy with us after our conversation.
- Upon arrival in Lima, the American Airlines desk was not yet open for check-in, since we had arrived nearly 5 hours before the departure time for our Miami flight. We were told it would open at 7pm. Some AA employees did show up around 7pm but they spent at least 10-15 minutes setting up, and then after they opened the line, we spent another 10-15 minutes doing security interviews. We then stood in line waiting for the actual check-in desk to open until about 7:45pm, while several of the desk agents stood around chatting. We finally checked in around 8pm and were told our flight was going to be 20-30 minutes late.
- We showed up at the gate at the revised boarding time, and were surprised to see that our flight was listed as "on time". However, no one was boarding. The gate agent said the flight was still 20-30 minutes late, but didn't explain why the departures board was wrong.
- After 20-30 minutes, we were told the plane had arrived but had "maintenance issues" and the flight was going to be an additional 45 minutes late. Then, after an hour, we were told the maintenance was going to take another 2 hours. At this point a massive throng of people approached the gate desk to try to get their connections rebooked. The guy sitting next to us checked his laptop and informed us that the same flight had been 6 hours late the day before, which did not make us feel better. The gate agents did give out some sandwiches after awhile (although they didn't have any options for our vegetarian friend), but no meal vouchers. We finally left Lima around 3:30am, instead of the originally scheduled 11:20pm. As an aside, the floor in the Lima airport is tiled with stone and very cold.
- When we arrived in Miami, we discovered we were rebooked on the 3:30pm flight to San Francisco. (Our original flight was 8:30am, but we were already 4 hours late, so we calculated it would only be a couple of extra hours of waiting; not too bad.) However, half of our group was booked on the later 7:00pm flight. After doing some research, they got themselves rebooked on the 1:45pm connecting through LAX. At this point we all expected to arrive back in San Francisco around 6 or 6:30pm, and D and I had managed to secure $10 meal vouchers for lunch, so we were moderately un-cranky. (As another aside, I am now much, much too familiar with the Manchu Wok in Miami's Concourse D, having also spent 3 hours there last year waiting for a delayed AA flight to Buenos Aires, since it closes the latest of all the restaurants in that terminal.)
- We boarded our flight at 3pm as scheduled, and I fell asleep while waiting on the runway. An hour later I woke up and we were still on the runway. Apparently we had been delayed an hour and 40 minutes because a runway at SFO was closed "due to weather". Conveniently, a thunderstorm rolled in as we were waiting on the runway, and at the time that we were cleared to takeoff, the thunder and lightening were in full force, and it was pouring cats and dogs. We waited another 25 minutes for the storm to clear, and finally took off 2.5 hours late.
- When we finally arrived in SFO, I checked the LAX route that the other group had taken. They had been delayed out of Miami (30 minutes) and delayed out of LAX (30 minutes) but had eventually landed at 6:20pm. I am not clear at all about why it was okay for them to land at 6:20pm but not okay for us to land at 6:30pm.

In the end, instead of getting home around noon on Sunday, I got home at 9:30pm, after 32 hours of travel. I think that may have been my longest travel day ever, in terms of absolute hours.

Proportionally, my worst-delayed trip involved getting stuck on a runway in Syracuse for 9 hours while flying from San Francisco to Boston via St. Louis, after having already seen the runway at Logan Airport. That particular flight (on the now-defunct TWA) also involved aborted detours to Hartford and JFK, and should have taken about 6 hours but ended up taking 17 hours in total.

Anyway, it's a really good thing the rest of the trip was gorgeous and delicious and exhilarating and otherwise awesome. Stay tuned...

mom's 粽子

Originally I wanted to plan a 端午節 party this year with friends, where we could wrap 粽子 together. We did that a couple of years ago and it was really fun. Things got busy what with trip planning and all, so that idea fell by the wayside. But, my mom made a bunch over the weekend and gave me a bag, so at least I could have fresh 粽子, even if I hadn't made them myself.

After eating some yesterday night, I have to say my mom's 粽子 are noticeably better than mine. They were very delicious. Must figure out what I'm doing wrong...

unnecessary guilt

Why does American society conspire to make women like this feel guilty? What's wrong with not thinking the world revolves around your kids, anyway?

She says, of loving her husband:
...I am far too busy worrying about what's wrong with me. Why, of all the women in the room, am I the only one who has not made the erotic transition a good mother is supposed to make? Why am I the only one incapable of placing her children at the center of her passionate universe?

Yet, her husband does not seem to feel the same guilt:
He seems entirely unperturbed by loving me like this. Loving me more than his children does not bother him. It does not make him feel like a bad father. He does not feel that loving me more than he loves them is a kind of infidelity.

It's tempting to chalk her thoughts up to one woman's worrying too much, but anecdotally, it does seem that friends and family of new parents act like the mothers should be able to think of nothing but their babies.

From the article:
Actually I remember very little of my Percocet- and Vicodin-fogged first few days of motherhood except for someone calling and squealing, "Aren't you just completely in love?" And of course I was. Just not with my baby.

Honestly, one of the things that makes me fear having children is that so many parents say that "it changes your whole outlook on life". I don't want to revel in sleep deprivation and go around saying things like "it's all worth it" and become a social hermit but not even care. If I do have kids, I hope that I can be at least as grounded as the author of this piece, and still maintain other priorities. (But, without the guilt complex.)

daytrip to Point Reyes

Since I'm leaving for Peru next weekend, I didn't want to make big plans for Memorial Day, but I did want to get out of the house, so I decided to plan a daytrip to Point Reyes.

We started out in Novato, and stopped briefly at the Rouge et Noir cheese factory and the Tomales Bay Oyster Farm before heading to lunch at Nick's Cove. There, we had local fresh oysters (the Preston Point was especially good), clam chowder with leeks and bacon, a fried oyster and pork po' boy for D, and a Camembert and salami sandwich for me.

After lunch we drove down to the Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station, where I discovered I liked their "Red Hawk" even better than their classic triple-cream "Mt. Tam". I also bought some delicious "Cave Aged Marisa", and a Spanish Fig Almond Cake.

From there we headed towards the Point Reyes Lighthouse. The road was a bit windy (WINE-dy) and the weather was very windy (WIN-dy), but we had a good time driving around, enjoying the views, and walking the short distance down to the lighthouse:


On the way back, I mostly enjoyed gawking at the fields of cows. In some places there weren't even any fences between the cows and the road. It was there that I realized they are very placid animals; our presence apparently did not bother them at all:


We did try walking along the Mount Vision trail for a bit but the day was too foggy to see much of anything, let alone a view, so we soon headed home, briefly detouring through Samuel P. Taylor Park, mostly for nostalgia's sake. I used to go there all the time as a kid, and I even remember specifically learning to jump rope there, when I was about five or six years old.

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. There was a birthday dinner, a housewarming party (at which I tried Kopi Luwak coffee, which my cousins and I will probably forever call "poop coffee"), some board games (of course), and tonight we watched the Nuggets-Lakers game at a friend's house (beat LA!), but overall I feel quite well rested, for once. Time to start packing...

gardening

This year, we've actually started to grow some fruit and vegetable plants in our backyard. (I myself have done nothing to contribute to this process; I just sit around and take pictures.)

They're pretty small as of yet but still fun to watch. And, the tomato plants in particular have started to grow really fast recently.

Tomato plants:


Strawberry plant:


Watering the cucumber plants:

adventures in ice cream

A few months ago, I was chatting with a friend about our impressions of Bi-Rite's ice cream, and she suggested I try Humphrey Slocombe, since I have a penchant for weird flavors.

Last weekend before the Bay to Breakers, D and I went to the city to drop off a bag at a friend's house (since she was feeding us and letting us shower and hang out at her house after the race). It was a pretty hot day so it didn't take much to convince her and her boyfriend to join us for an ice cream run to Humphey Slocombe.

The store is located kind of on the edge of the Mission, at 24th and Harrison, which may explain why the line was not too bad. I tasted the Balsamic Caramel and the Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee, and decided I liked the latter much better than the former. D tasted Cinnamon Brittle and made a face, so we decided on White Miso Pear, Milk Chocolate Passionfruit, and the Vietnamese Coffee that I'd liked. I thought the Miso Pear was so-so (although D liked it) but liked the Milk Chocolate Passionfruit quite a bit, even though it sounds kind of disgusting. It tasted mostly like chocolate, with a tart-fruity aftertaste.

Overall I thought their flavors were more inconsistent than Bi-Rite, but more ambitious. There were several which we actively disliked (Balsamic Caramel, Cinnamon Brittle), but then there were the surprisingly good ones (Milk Chocolate Passionfruit for me, White Miso Pear for D) and the solid "regular" flavors (Vietnamese Coffee). I think I'll have to reserve judgment until I try a bunch more.

I'm most intrigued by the cheese flavors (Andante Chevre Strawberry Jam, Government Cheese) and the meat flavors (Foie Gras, Pistachio Bacon). Others that sound interesting include the Secret Breakfast (bourbon & corn flakes), Green Tea-Black Sesame, the Peanut Butter Curry, and maybe the McEvoy Olive Oil. I quite liked the Honey Lavender gelato I got from Gelato Classico a couple of weeks ago, so I'm also tempted by White Chocolate Lavender and Lychee Rose Petal. Sounds like I'll have to stop by multiple times...good thing it's the beginning of summer.

Dutch oven, check

A couple of months ago I tried to make bread using the popular No-Knead Bread recipe from the New York Times.

Two things went wrong:
- The recipe clearly states the bread should rest for "at least 12 hours, preferably about 18". Unfortunately, I interpreted this to mean that it was okay for the bread to rest longer, so I left it for over 24 hours. Of course, all the yeast died, so the second rise didn't work.
- The bread is supposed to bake in a "heavy covered pot". I put the dough in one of my trusty non-stick Calphalon pots, happily stuck it in the oven, and went upstairs to work on other stuff while it baked. It wasn't until twenty minutes later, when I smelled burning plastic, that I realized the pot had plastic handles. I cooled off the handles with cold water and continued to bake for the requisite 30 minutes. My poor pot will no longer be the same.

All things considered, the bread turned out surprisingly well. It smelled absolutely delicious when it came out, and although it was denser than it would have been had the second rise worked, it was still yummy enough that we polished off the loaf in two days.

After that episode, I became obsessed with the idea of buying a Dutch oven. I do subscribe to Alton Brown's theory of not buying single function kitchen tools, but I convinced myself that there are lots of other things that can be made in a Dutch oven, like stews, roasted meats, etc. I did my usual crazy internet research thing for several weeks and finally decided to splurge on a Le Creuset, courtesy of multiple BB&B gift cards and one of those ubiquitous 20% coupons.

Of course, now I'm going to be out of town the next three weekends, so I guess I won't be attempting to bake bread again for awhile. Maybe I'll make some when my brother comes to visit in July; I hear he's quite the cook these days.

eek!

My spinning instructor quit teaching my spin class! Apparently her schedule got too crazy, so she decided to only teach Pilates classes, at least at my gym. I'll miss her a lot; her teaching style is super upbeat but she's also great at motivating without resorting to yelling. Much sadness...

finished!

Several months ago, a friend convinced me to sign up for the 12k (7.46 mile) Bay to Breakers, even though I'd never run more than 5 miles before. Since then I've worked on longer distances, finally hitting the 7 mile mark last weekend.

On Saturday D and I stayed overnight at that friend's SoMa loft, as he lives walking distance from the starting line. We were up by 6am, met up with some other friends and got out the door around 7am, and were at the starting line dodging flying tortillas by 7:30am. This year there was a new "corral" system in place, and we were in Corral C (< 12-minute miles), the third of five corrals.

We spent some time zigzagging our way forward through the crowd in the beginning of the race, but were mostly clear of the slowest traffic by the time we hit the Hayes Street Hill. The hill was pretty tough, but on the bright side, we seemed to pass more people than passed us. There was a convenient water stop just over the top, where we grabbed a gulp or two of water before proceeding. At this point I'd lost everyone that I'd started with, except my running buddy who I'd been training with for the past couple of months; I guess we were more used to keeping track of each other.

During the fourth mile, we passed by another friend's house on the Panhandle, and were able to wave hello as she peeked through her second-story window in her pajamas. Soon afterwards, we entered Golden Gate Park. At first I thought it was a nice change, but by the fifth mile I was tired of the crappy asphalt, lack of shade, and increasingly warmer (maybe low 70s?) temperatures.

I perked up a bit after hitting the 6-mile marker; in my strange little mind there seems to be a large difference psychologically between being "only 1.x miles from done" as opposed to "over 2 miles from done". So, I was able to finish pretty strong, sprinting the last quarter mile down Ocean Beach.

Thanks to those expensive RFID tags, we were able to see our results almost immediately; I finished in 01:15:38.290, which made me 4182nd overall, 1044th among women, and 338th among women in my age division. It also calculates to 10:09 per mile, which means I almost hit my stretch goal of 10-minute miles.

Anyway, it feels good to be done, even if I am still dehydrated today, after having drunk at least eight bottles of water yesterday.

Next up, Machu Picchu via the Inca Trail. I think I'm just starting to realize that I'll be in Peru in less than two weeks! Time to hit the stairmaster and dig up all that camping gear...

Taiwanese orchids

One of my coworkers is obsessed with photographing flowers; he does a really good job even with the random shrubs between the buildings at work. So, when I was at the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival last Saturday in Union Square, and I saw a ton of gorgeous orchids from Taiwan, I decided to give it a shot, too. This is my favorite:

Vosges tasting

Last month when I was in Las Vegas, I discovered a Vosges store inside of the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace. I was pretty psyched about it since I thought they only had stores in Chicago and New York.

Anyway, the night before we left, I swung by and bought a ton of chocolate: two boxes of truffles (Italiana, Green), three bars (bacon, mushroom, goji), and one box of exotic caramels. The truffles and caramels are long gone, but I just started on the last bar today. I've written down my thoughts about all the different chocolates below.

Exotic Caramels
Crema: Argentinean dulce de leche + Costa Rican cashews + milk chocolate
Sunshine: tupelo honey + milk chocolate + bee pollen
Maple: Canadian maple sugar + maple syrup + walnuts + dark chocolate
Tarte: blood orange + Campari® + dark chocolate + hibiscus powder

I surprisingly did not like the blood orange, as it was too-caramel-y and definitely not orange-y enough. The maple syrup was pretty good, and the dulce de leche was not as sweet as I'd feared (having been to Argentina recently), but nothing stood out about them. Even the bee pollen was fairly bland. As you can tell, I was not a big fan of the caramels.

Collezione Italiana
Rooster: Taleggio cheese + organic walnuts + Tahitian vanilla bean + bittersweet dark chocolate
Sale del Mare: Sicilian sea salt caramel + milk chocolate + pine nut
Polline di Finocchio: Wild Tuscan fennel pollen + dark chocolate
Olio d'Oliva: First press extra virgin olive oil + white chocolate + dried kalamata olives
Balsamico: 12-year aged balsamic vinegar + dark chocolate + Sicilian hazelnuts

My favorite of this collection was the Sale del Mare. I'm not sure if it was the pine nut or what, but there was definitely something in addition to salt that I really liked. The Rooster was quite good as well; the cheese taste was subtle, although it got stronger towards the base. The Olio d'Oliva was fine, although I'm not so much a fan of white chocolate, but the Balsamico was too sour (the vinegar overwhelmed the chocolate) and the Polline di Finnochio was also too strong for my taste. Maybe I'm not a fan of fennel, either. Overall I thought the collection was more creative than the Aztec, and about on par with the Exotic, although that one has the edge of greater variety.

Green Collection
Ellateria: Indian green cardamom + dark chocolate + white poppy seeds
Kaffir: Thai kaffir lime + fresh coconut + dark chocolate
Kayoko: Japanese macha green tea + white chocolate + cherry blossom petals
Buddha's Leaf: Malaysian pandan leaves + dark chocolate + cocoa powder

For me, the standout in this group was the Kaffir, which also trumped all of the Italiana truffles. The dark chocolate was delicious, there was a refreshing lime aftertaste, and the coconut was not too sweet (as it sometimes is). The Ellateria and Kayoko were both yummy and well executed, but I'm a bit tired of cardamom in desserts, and again am not as fond of white chocolate. Also, the cherry blossom taste in the Kayoko was strong and fragrant, but there wasn't enough tea flavor for my taste. The Buddha's Leaf tasted fine too, but the pandan leaf flavor was pretty weak, so it mostly tasted like dark chocolate with cocoa powder. I liked this collection quite a lot; definitely more than the Italiana and the Aztec, about as much as Exotic. It's a shame it's a limited (spring-only) edition.

Mo's Bacon Bar: applewood smoked bacon + Alder wood smoked salt + deep milk chocolate, 41% cacao
Organic Enchanted Mushroom Bar: organic dark chocolate + reishi mushrooms + organic walnuts, 66% cacao
Goji Bar: goji berries + pink Himalayan salt + deep milk chocolate, 41% cacao

My favorite of the bars was the Goji Bar. The sea salt was delicious (I love salty chocolate) and the dried goji berries added wholesome sweetness and texture but weren't too chunky. The Bacon bar was also well done; the bacon bits made the bar slightly salty and crunchy but the overall taste remained surprisingly cohesive. The Enchanted Mushroom was so-so; I felt there wasn't enough mushroom flavor, and I couldn't find any walnut taste at all.

geography

Some friends and I have been researching possible restaurant venues for a party that we're planning for next month. We finally found a good candidate last week, but wanted to see it in person, so we decided to go and check it out today.

We met up in Mountain View for dinner, where the following conversation ensued:

her:	Okay, so meet you in Los Altos?
me:	It's in Los Gatos.
her:	What? Really?? ...long pause...
her:	Holy shit that's far!
me:	Yeah.

As it turns out the place was quite nice and we're likely to have the party there anyway. It took me nearly 40 minutes to drive home, though.

strategy

Overheard during an epic 4-on-4 battle, at our Starcraft LAN party on Friday night:
"We just have to hold out for another 15 minutes and <opposing player> will give up. He has RSI."

We're all good friends, really! (He did give up.)

mistaken identity

I have a pretty common name, so sometimes I find myself the victim of mistaken identity.

For instance, I have an alter ego (who apparently is not too clear on her own email address) living in lower Manhattan. Over time I've been sent her street address, some of her credit information, and her login credentials for several websites. One time I even got hate mail meant for her, from a woman in New Jersey. Apparently the "other me" was getting a bit too cozy with that girl's 19-year-old boyfriend.

There's another person with my name, who works for a company formerly located at my current office. I've gotten several letters intended for her over the years. Last week, I received her Wells Fargo RSA SecurID crypto keychain. I keep meaning to call Wells Fargo about it, but I've been too lazy to do so as of yet.

sigh

I must really be getting old when people younger than me are on their second marriages.

duh

Last week, after running three times in a six days, I started to have some back pain. I've actually had occasional issues with back pain since college, usually lasting a week or so, and with months and sometimes years between episodes. I tried stretching, resting (1-2 days), and ignoring the problem, but nothing worked until yesterday, when D suggested Salonpas. Only after he mentioned it did I remember that last time it was indeed Salonpas that cured me. Four hours later I was sitting upright, standing up normally, and carrying bags of groceries (okay, one bag). Chalk up another one for wacky Japanese remedies.

probably not the point

I went to the symphony yesterday to watch The Four Seasons, as well as a Mozart Divertimento (not a big fan) and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. It was an enjoyable performance, but I was most amused that the first viola snapped a hair in her bow three separate times, and every time she looked increasingly annoyed about it.