La Cicciolina di Boccalone

Mmmm.... Delicious pig face...

Tried “La Cicciolina” sandwich at Boccalone today…  I was a little leery, since it includes coppa di testa (essentially head cheese, plus tongue and trotters), along with lonza (cured pork loin), pickled carrots, radish, mint and chile.  It was pretty darned delicious – though I did occasionally find myself screaming internally, “Pig face! Pig face! You’re eating pig face!”

Oh, and the always-delightful house-made potato chips from Lulu Petite were especially lovely today.

In space, no one can hear you scream – for ice cream!

Apparently, they’re doing a remake of the sci-fi/horror classic “Alien” – but a family-friendly, G-rated version.  Here’s one of the first stills from on-set…

from Gizmodo

Ix-nay on the Egetable-vays…

Well, I think the nutritional value of Chef Boyardee is debatable – but this commercial always cracks me up.

Now if only there was some Chapstick too…

Drinks after work at Red’s Java House this week.  There was an open bar – something I should never be allowed near, since I deemed it perfectly reasonable to begin drinking whiskey at 5:00 in the afternoon.  This is always a well-advised course of action…

At any rate, Red’s provides this really thoughtful extra in their unisex bath facility:

I guess as long as you rinse it really well, it’s perfectly fine and not-at-all gag-inducing…

Ceci n’est pas une pipe.

Mais je crois que le flic veut faire une pipe…

Why, Annoying Lady at Walgreens?

All I needed was to pick up my prescriptions for my inhaler and some ointment (don’t ask)…  And this dame was at the pharmacy counter.  It was pretty clear she’d already been there for awhile, grilling the pharmacy tech as to the most appropriate OTC medication for her runny nose – which, as she repeatedly and loudly announced was not due to a cold or allergies but to NON-ALLERGIC RHINITIS.  And yes she said it in all caps.

She already had a box of Claritin and wanted to know which was stronger, that “or…  or…  oh, I can’t remember…  Let me just run and get it.”  And comes back with a card for Actifed (a card, since in CA, OTC meds that are used to make methamphetamine have to be kept behind the counter).

“Now, which is stronger?  This one or that one?  I have a runny nose caused by NON-ALLERGIC RHINITIS.”

The pharmacist indicates Claritin is better for a runny nose, as it’s an antihistamine.

“I don’t have a problem with HISTAMINES.  I have NON-ALLERGIC RHINITIS.  I’ve used Actifed before and that works.” (Um, then why are you holding up the line of six people behind you by re-enacting the Spanish inquisition,  only with decongestants instead of heretics?)

“Is the Claritin stronger?  Well, I’ll try that to see if I that helps my NON-ALLERGIC RHINITIS.”

Of course, she is also purchasing a bunch of other weird stuff (trail mix, Q-Tips, cooter depilatory), but finally the ordeal is about over – or so I thought.  I’d forgotten about the fact that one must also show ID and provide a signature when purchasing meth-lab supplies – even if they are being used to treat NON-ALLERGIC RHINITIS.

“What?  I have to sign.  I’ve never had to do that before – ever!  Ha – only in San Francisco!”

Surprisingly, I was able to quell the nearly irresistible urge to give that bun at the back of her head a good hard yank.  Though I suppose I ought to give her some credit for not referring to it as “Frisco”…

“I’ve never had to do this in Las Vegas!”

She’s from Las Vegas – why am I not surprised?  She must be the toast of the town…  Plus I’m sure the dry desert climate really helps with her NON-ALLERGIC RHINITIS.

Gee, Officer Crustacean…

The Lobsters gonna have their day

Toniiiiight…

The Crabs are gonna have their way

Toniiiiiiiiiight…

from picture is unrelated

Bouquets to Art

For the past 25 years (unbeknownst to me), the DeYoung has put on an annual fundraiser, “Bouquets to Art.” Local florists donate arrangement inspired by the artwork from the DeYoung’s collection and then the old ladies (and Chris and me now) arrive in droves to oooh and ahhh – and criticize.  And, as Chris pointed out, everyone really is a critic.  “Oh, I don’t care for the way that branch is placed…  I’m not crazy about those colors…  Carnations? Really?”

So the whole thing is pretty hokey – but the flowers are quite lovely and some of them rather clever as well.  A few of our favorites.

The Majesty of Nature – Plus Tons of Good Restaurants

I was getting ready for work last week and my crazy kitty-cat was acting weirder than usual.  He was crouched on top of my laundry hamper, making that odd quacking noise that all cats seem to make when they see birds or other potential prey frolicking about outside.  Only his quacking seemed more intense than usual…  So I peered out the window and saw this.

Yes, it was one of our friendly neighborhood falcons red-tailed hawks.  And both the cat and I were  fascinated, as the large bird sat there, giving serious stink-eye to some of the pigeons that passed by.  I was hoping to see a kill, but no such luck.  And once I’d opened the blinds all the way, kitty found something else to do.  I think he realized that he was probably looking pretty succulent to Mr. Falcon Hawk…

UPDATE: My sister the birder has advised that this looks more like a red-tailed hawk.  And she’s the expert.  Despite this not being a falcon, George and Gracie are in fact back on I’m guessing that this may in fact be George, of George and Gracie, who are back on Falcon Cam*.  Gracie is currently incubating a clutch of four eggs.

It is always pretty amazing seeing one (or two) of these birds soaring above my head during lunch or just hanging out in the ‘Loin.  I do live in an amazing city.

*I had some difficulty viewing the live feed due to my firewall settings. You may need to add the IP to your trusted zone.

Puppy Odysseus

I can’t wait for Kitten Iliad.

from adrian molina via sfist

No Comment

NYTimes ran an article about a supposed increase in mistrials due to jurors disregarding judges instructions not to discuss or research aspects of the case – largely as a result of the ease of access afforded by iPhones and Blackberries.  It’s sort of interesting, though not sure if I necessarily believe it’s widespread.  But my favorite part was the end of the article, in which they spoke to a Seth McDowell.  He had served as a juror and another juror revealed that she’d Googled the defendant – but got no results.

Mr. McDowell, 35, said he thought about telling the judge, but decided against it. None of the other jurors did, either. Now, he said, after a bit of soul-searching, he feels he may have made the wrong choice. But he remains somewhat torn.

“I don’t know,” he said. “If everybody did the right thing, the trial, which took two days, would have gone on for another bazillion years.”

Mr. McDowell said he planned to attend law school in the fall.

Sounds like the writer of this article is angling for a job with the Onion.

And reminds me once again of something I once heard said about a jury of one’s peers: “How can they be my peers, if they’re not smart enough to get out of jury duty?”

Watch “Kings”

Apparently, the premiere on Sunday did horribly in the ratings, so the show is likely doomed. But if you haven’t tuned in, I heartily endorse this program. The concept is weird (bible-retelling-meets-Dynasty-meets-alternative-future-sci-fi-meets-Shakespeare) – but the cast is rather amazing, the story compelling and the cinematography is genius.

You can catch the full 2-hour premiere on Hulu.  And here’s a great review from Heather Havrilesky on Salon ( be warned – the review does contain spoilers).

“Is it drafty in here?”

Gawker posted some pictures of some of the more “out there” stuff shown during Paris Fashion Week – along with some appropriate captions.  This was my favorite…

“Yes, hi. I’m here for the job interview?”

Why, Not-Carrie-Bradshaws?

Judging from the lack of cameras, film crews, craft services table and, most notably, Manolo Blahniks, I had not inadvertently stumbled into the filming of the opening sequence of “Sex and the City: San Francisco.” Why, then, were these dames walking four abreast on the sidewalk? At lunchtime? Near my office? While I am trying to get my lunch? Which requires me to walk on the sidewalk, something made well-nigh impossible by this wall of humanity spanning the width of my path forward?

And they were definitely a foursome, despite the two on the left appearing to be slightly in the lead. I know this because I stalked and photographed observed them for the entire block, fulfilling  my role as citizen-journalist and righter-of-wrongs.

I’m still not sure what that one in the green hooded jacket was up to – but she was definitely up to  something…

Let a Jackass Be Your Umbrella

I’m not a fan of the oversized umbrella – especially in urban settings.  Actually, let me rephrase that: large umbrellas should be disallowed by law.

With all the rain over the last few weeks, I have been witness to umbrella infractions that are truly monstrous (and I am referring both the the umbrellas and the infractions when I use the word “monstrous”).

Exhibit 1

Diameter of umbrella is equal to half the width of the sidewalk, as is clearly evidenced by the comparison of the squares in the sidewalk to the offending umbrella.

Exhibits 2A and 2B

Umbrella is of excessive diameter, in a pattern or color that draws further attention to its immense proportions, as if to say “Outta my way, plebs!” Also, umbrella is being used in front of my office when I am going to lunch, causing me great suffering.

The truth is I never left you…

from omgblog

The motion is passed… Well, something is passed.

Do fart jokes ever get old?  I think not…

from Funny or Die via  Gizmodo

“Honey, could you pass me that magazine when you’re done?”

So many captions…

- “Do you have to stare at me like that?  It’s creeping me out…”

- “I think you missed a spot…”

- Knock, knock.  “Um, could the three of us please have some privacy?  Jeez…”

- “This is Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise.  We are now circling Uranus, searching for Klingons.”

- “Somebody light a match…  Actually, make that three matches.”

- “Well, one’’s a toilet, one’s a bidet and…  Oh, alright – they’re all toilets.”

- “C’mon – really?  All three seats are wet?”

- “Calgon, take me away!”

And I can’t stop wondering which of these three locations is the “worst seat in the house,” as it were…  Well, all of them, I guess.

Not to mention – brown?

So many questions…  So very many things so very, very wrong…

from failblog.org

Why, Mr. Cable Car Conductor?

The San Francisco treat!

After a long and annoying day, capped off by a trip to the gym (ugh), followed by a return trip to the office to retrieve my phone that I’d left sitting on my desk, I walked to the bus stop at a leisurely pace.  NextBus.com had advised the 2-Clement wouldn’t arrive for ten minutes.  So imagine my chagrin when I saw it pulling away from the stop just as I got to the intersection.  Sigh…  Oh well – I’ll just hop on the California St. cable car.

Of course, as I get to within about 20 feet of it, I hear the bell ring and off it goes.  Now mind you, I’m getting on at the terminus right across from my office.  The cable car was just starting to roll from a dead stop, so I sprinted and jumped on just as it got underway – about 10 feet from where it had been sitting at a complete standstill.  “Oh good,” I thought to myself, “I just made it.  I’ll be home soon to get in some Rock Band rehearsal time.”

As I sit down, the conductor came flying through the car to berate me for jumping onto a moving cable car.  Now, I won’t quibble – he’s probably right.  I’m no spring chicken and my hip is just waiting to be broken.  But be that as it may, he didn’t have to be such a major league asshole about it.  He was both shouting and talking to me like a kid who he’d just caught shoplifting.  “Now you know you’re not supposed to jump on like that!  You can get me and the gripman in a lot of trouble! You know you’re not supposed to do that, right?!”  Blah, blah, blah – a regular tirade.  OK, I get it and I apologized (but insincerely…  Ha!  I showed him).  “If you ever do that again on my cable car, I’ll put you off!”  And then he’s staring at me like a maniac, apparently committing my face to his mental mugshot gallery. “And I’ll remember you if you ever try that again on my car!”  Jesus, enough already – point taken.

Of course I wisely refrained from using either my initial response (screaming “FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!” as I jumped from the moving cable car, middle finger raised defiantly) or my second (“You know, I’ve been riding cable cars a lot longer than you’ve been skimming the fares on them…”) and just buried my nose in my PDA.

A couple of minutes later, he’s back next to me. “You know, every day we see people do that and they wind up in the hospital! People get seriously injured, we have to call an ambulance!” Blah, blah, blah…  Jesus H. Christ! My response was snippy at this point – “Alright, I get it,” I hissed through clenched teeth.  Lucky for me,  someone else boarded while the car was not moving but in a manner the conductor didn’t find to be up to his clearly exacting standards for safe passage, so his wrath was now redirected toward her…

I figure this annoying cable car trip is just about over.  But then the guy standing on the running board in front of where I’m sitting asks the conductor in a too-loud, overly-solicitous nasally whine, “How long is this good for?” referring to his ticket.

“It’s a one-way ticket.”

“So I can’t use it get back?”

“No it’s a one-way ticket.  You’ll need another ticket to return.”

“So if I want to come back, I can’t use this again?”

“No, you’ll need to buy another ticket.”

“And how much is that?”

OH MY GOD! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP…  He’s yelling all of this almost directly into my face, my ears slowly dripping blood from my now-shattered eardrums.  And it continues – a lengthy discussion of day passes, Fast Passes, one-way tickets – ad infinitum.

As you can imagine, it’s all extremely irritating.  But to cap it all off?  It wasn’t some hayseed tourist who thought he was on an amusement park ride.  It was some guy who lives here on his way from the office!  “It’s just been so long since I’ve taken the cable, I wasn’t sure how it worked!”  Is it really that complicated?

And what’s with people who ride public transit during commute hours and talk?  Commuting is to be done in silence, eyes shut or glued to reading material or staring at an indeterminate point in space out the window.  There is to be no interaction of any kind amongst passengers or between passengers and operators.  The only exceptions are screaming frantically “Back door! BACK DOOR!” if the back door doesn’t open at your stop; and rolling your eyes in unison with all the other passengers while you all start shouting “Step down! STEP DOWN!” or “Push the bar! PUSH THE BAR!” at the rube screaming “Back door!”

A16 Gets a “B”

Finally got around to trying A16 – they take reservations now, so that was a big incentive…  We lucked out with parking and arrived 15 minutes early and they seated us right away.

I’d read that A16 has a great wine program – and the wine list certainly was extensive.  Many bottles seemed to be on the pricey side, too…  But not long after we were seated, the sommelier that evening, Anaïs, arrived and asked if we had questions.  I told her we’d like to share some half-bottles, what little I know about the wine we like and that we preferred something inexpensive.  She started us with a very nice white, followed later by two different reds (the last one from Sicily and my favorite).  And all this just a bit more than $50.  I was really impressed by her knowledge of wines and how much she engaged us in the selection of the wines, despite a small budget.  We were very fortunate to leave our wine selection in her very capable hands.

Roasted Beet and Farro Salad

As for the meal, we started with a roasted beet and farro salad.  It was a lovely and well-balanced dish, the sweet beets set off by the salty ricotta salata and a nicely acidic dressing.  And the farro gave a salad some substance and toothfulness.  Very good.

Pizza Bianca

Next was a pizza bianca, with cheese, chiles and basil.  The crust was flavorful and delcious and the flavors played nicely.  The rather unfortunate drawback was that there was way too much cheese – it overpowered the rest of the dish and made the crust rather soggy in the center.  Not sure whether we just had some bad luck or if they don’t execute pizza bianca especially well, because the other pizzas I saw coming out of the kitchen looked marvelous, especially the margherita and salsiccia….

Braised Pork and Porchetto

For our entree, we shared the braised pork with porchetto – and I realize as I’m writing this, I don’t know which was which.  At any rate, there was some sliced pork (the shoulder, I believe) served along side what looked like an inch-thick slap of bacon.  The meat was very nice, though it didn’t bowl me over initially.  But then I tried it with a bit of what I took to be the porchetto.  I’m not sure how it was prepared, but the exterior was wonderfully crispy and salty, while the fatty interior was the texture of soft butter.  It was wonderfully creamy and delicious (well, duh – it’s salty fat…  Or fatty salt?  Either way, a combination that is hard to beat…)  Our side was roasted carrots and turnips – fully-cooked yet still with some crispness and just a bit sweet.  All very good…

For dessert, we shared the house-made gelato, which seemed like a can’t lose proposition.  And for the ricotta gelato with pistachio and candied fruit, it was – the first bite took me right back to the gelateria around the corner from the apartment we stayed in Rome.  It was really delicious.  The other gelato was chocolate – and it was lousy.  It had that faux-chocolate flavor one associates with Carnation Instant Breakfast or Ensure – sort of powdery and artificial and not at all chocolatey.  I was really surprised by how disappointing this seemingly simple and easy-to-create dish was.  I’d actually read that desserts are a weak spot at A16 and that certainly proved true for the chocolate gelato…  But the ricotta gelato was sensational.  Go figure…

At any rate, despite the gelato, it was a lovely evening.  Chris and I really enjoyed ourselves, most of our meal and the fine service.  Then we headed home to get in a few rounds of Singstar before bed.  Who could ask for anything more?