Nesting

Winter weather like we've been having makes for great nesting. Ever since Martin and Erika purchased their new king-sized Tempurpedic bed, my new favorite nest is among the many pillows there (Erika now requires no fewer than FIVE strategically placed pillows to get a good night's sleep). I especially like Martin's new contoured memory foam pillow (see picture). All three of us could go on and on about how the king-sized memory foam mattress has changed our lives for the better, but this post is about Nesting, not lazing around in bed.

Neither Erika nor Martin is much of a nester, but the chemical urges of impending parenthood are not to be taken lightly. A few weekends ago they acquired a sofabed (purple, velvet, many-pillowed, shows off cat hair quite nicely), 4 dining room chairs, and a secretary (family heirloom, borrowed from Erika's parents). This necessitated an entire re-arranging of the house, moving the "library" from the big unused storage room to the living room (no small feat) and finally turning the storage room into a dining room/guest bedroom. There was also a shuttling of dressers and tables from one room to another, which resulted in a much more livable and cozy configuration. Did I mention that all of the paintings are finally hung too? Now all we need is baby furniture...

Since Erika is unable to physically move anything much heavier than a 20-lb cat, she has channeled her nesting urges into a baking frenzy. This month she has produced three batches of scones (Meyer Lemon, Coconut, and Orange-Almond) and a Meyer lemon pudding cake with cardamom whipped cream that is to die for, but not quite at the same level as what you get at her new favorite restaurant - Range. A shopping spree at Williams-Sonoma to trade in on her winnings from the company bake-off should enable much more where that came from, especially since her purchases included the Tartine cookbook. She is looking forward to reproducing at least half of the recipes, starting with the Gougères, or maybe the savory bread pudding...

In other foodie news, Martin and Erika have continued their exploration of Mission Street and found a Delicious Cambodian restaurant on the corner of Mission and Cortland. It even delivers, which practically guarantees our patronage after April 30. I'm sticking with my "Healthy Weight" Wellness cat food for now, though I *did* deign to eat a tiny morsel of real Virginia Ham last night, courtesy of Uncle Dave and Beth. Not bad!

The Big Storm

Many of you have inquired about The Big Storm that hit San Francisco this weekend. It was a doozy! Our power went out Friday morning, a few minutes after Erika left for work. It came on again ten minutes before she got home from work. In between, I was not affected, as I spent the day in front of our (gas-powered) fireplace. Martin was home sick, but was able to cook on the (gas) stove and when his laptop eventually ran out of juice, moved out to the Nervous Dog for the rest of the afternoon. The Nervous Dog is our Other local cafe. The first cafe, which is just a few doors down Mission Street from us, shall remain unnamed because we have only bad things to say about it. Its only redeeming qualities are that it is very close and has free Wi-Fi. It was never very popular in our household, but it REALLY fell out of favor when Erika observed The Chef (Martin has another, less flattering nickname for him that begins with A) baking scones and practicing some VERY unsanitary kitchen habits which involved the contents of his nose. But I digress.

My point was that we weathered the storm just fine. Lots of downed trees, but not on our street. Erika's umbrella only made it a few blocks before the wind completely destroyed it, turning it into an unsalvagable collection of bent metal and tattered black material. Sadly this incident coincided with the breakdown of the MUNI (bus) system in our neighborhood, forcing Erika to walk 10 minutes to BART in the pouring rain and gale-force wind without an umbrella. Luckily her office was warm, dry, and with power for the entire day, and the rain had stopped by the time she left the office. We were lucky - friends in Davis were in the dark from Friday morning all the way to Saturday night.

The best part of the storm was visiting Ocean Beach on Saturday morning at around 8am (early rising - one of the benefits of jet lag). The beach was completely gone. The water came all the way up to the cement stairs and walkway and there was all kinds of detritus scattered in places where the water normally never reaches. The ocean was exactly the color of a latte, and yards of coffee-colored foam made it look even more like God's morning coffee. The waves were relentless and chaotic, rolling constantly towards the shore and against each other and crashing violently into the cement walkway. If you stood long enough in one spot, you could actually see the dunes being changed and re-located as the waves wore away at the sand in unaccustomed places.

Erika misses the thunder and lightning storms of the East Coast, but has decided that watching the ocean after a storm is an even more powerful reminder of who is in charge of this earth.

The Alemany Farmer's Market

We are all settling into our lives in San Francisco in different ways. Martin and I finally understand what Erika meant by "drafty old Victorian" and "damp cold", and we spend the majority of our time at home in the laundry room/Martin's office (makes keeping an eye on those delicates in the dryer easy to do) or Right Next To the gas fireplace. Erika, on the other hand, having learned in New York about The Importance of Wearing Hats, has been out and about, visiting her new favorite San Francisco institution - the Alemany Farmer's Market - as often as she can.

The Alemany farmer's Market is NOTHING like the Ferry Building farmer's market.

A comparison:

Ferry Building produce: beautiful, organic, heirloom, and priced for the tourists
Alemany produce: not *certified* organic (the process is expensive and time-consuming and many farmers grow produce organically without getting certified), incredibly diverse, and priced for the locals. I've seen raw peanuts, hand of Buddha, pink lemons, smoke-stained grapefruit from Riverside, and even a lone Durian fruit. Where do they GET this stuff?

Ferry Building prepared food booths: Ten-dollar sandwiches from well-known San Francisco restaurants
Alemany food booths: 2-dollar Pupusas, Tacos and Tamales!

Ferry Building Shoppers: Designer sweats and strollers, tourists from places where lettuce doesn't grow year round gawking at the foodie paradise around them
Alemany Shoppers: Everyone else and by everyone, I mean EVERYONE: Grey-haired, heavily pierced gay men comparing bok choy with little old Chinese ladies. Veiled Muslim women haggling with Mexican farmers. Wiccan lesbians (see photo of car belonging to aforementioned females). A radiantly beautiful African woman teaching an Asian grandmother how to play bongos. One hard-to-ignore blonde in platform boots and a black corset that made her cleavage so prominent that she could have hidden a few bunches of rainbow chard in there and nobody would have been the wiser. I am not making any of this up - these are ACTUAL examples that I witnessed.

Ferry Building entertainment: Jamaican steel drum band or those annoying Peruvian pipes
Alemany entertainment: The Cat Lady!

Ok, I need to take a break here to explain the Cat Lady. She is probably in her 70s or even her 80s, and she plays ragtime music that must be from her childhood. She has some sort of boom box laying down the main track, and she accompanies it with a variety of instruments, my favorite of which are the saws. She uses a bow to play saws of various sizes like violins, all the while keeping time by "tap-dancing" her toy cat with her foot! And not just any cat - this feline sports star-shaped pasties! Suffice to say, the Cat Lady draws a crowd every Saturday (see picture). [Editor's note: Actually you can also see the blonde in the platform boots in this picture, behind the cat lady. Her cleavage, however, is hidden.]

In other news, Erika is also very busy out-growing all of her clothes. The Belly at 20 weeks is a Thing to Behold. She still managed to fit into a cocktail dress for the company Christmas party last night, but it was a stretch (literally). Ah, yes, the Company Christmas party. Erika has again succumbed to the world of full-time employment, at least for the next 4 months. The job was too good to pass up, especially when the urban goat farm did not work out.

Martin is busy plotting our move to Sonoma County (some time next year?), which is fine with me as long as the new house has a proper heating system and I am allowed to go out in the yard and sun myself. I have discovered the roof in our current apartment (see picture) but it makes Erika and Martin nervous when I spend too much time up there.

The kittens return next week, when Erika and Martin go to Prague. I am dreading sharing my space in front of the fire, but at least I get to eat junk food for two weeks.

Nasty little kittenses

We *hates* the kittenses...nasty little kittenses...




There is a reason I haven't posted in so long. Actually, several reasons. Not having an internet connection in the new apartment is one. And the other two are Maurice and Tango - two kittens that we have been baby-sitting ever since we moved in. The first few days I intimidated them so much that they wouldn't leave their room, but NOW the tables have turned and they torment me night and day. I can't believe how much energy they have, racing from one end of the house to the other. One will stalk me from the front while another one bats at my tail - I can't stand them! Erika and Martin seem awfully attached though - luckily they are leaving tomorrow and won't be back until Thanksgiving.

While I've been busy fighting off the kittens, Erika and Martin have been exploring the neighborhood and Working! Yes, they are Both working full time these days. Erika found her (temporary) dream job working at a web strategy firm South of Market in San Francisco, and is applying for an urban goat herder position to fill in the gaps. After work, E&M have been making their way up Mission St., trying every restaurant on the block. Burritos, amazing Thai food (California Larb, anyone?), burritos, passable Dim Sum, burritos, and last night - Guatemalan food! And they haven't even reached the end of the block yet. Next week: Crossing the street! Martin has been eyeing the Peruvian and Vietnamese restaurants across the way... This should keep us busy until crab season starts on November 15.

The only downside of the hood is the local grocery store - Safeway. Erika went in search of San Francisco sourdough bread there last week and found "San Francisco" sourdough from three different states, none of which were California. As it turns out, the guys in St. Louis, MO make pretty good sourdough bread! Soon she will succumb, and drive to one of the THREE mega-Whole Foods in the city. For those of you who have not been following the debate between Michael Pollan and John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, Whole Foods has changed their practices to include a much larger percentage of locally sourced foods. Erika found a mousetrap behind the refrigerator over the weekend, so my food source might be getting a bit more local in the coming weeks...stay tuned.

Another Move

While I am fairly certain that I have terrorized Montana the House Cat enough to necessitate years of Kitty Psychotherapy for that poor pussy, I'm not sure how psychologically prepared I myself am for tomorrow's move. I finally have Erika and Martin perfectly trained to open the front door within 30 seconds of my first or second "I want to go out NOW meow" and I'm not sure I'm ready to become a full-time indoor cat again.

After spending the morning supervising movers who filled up our new San Francisco apartment with boxes, Erika too became a little wistful. Especially after realizing that this is her 4th Autumn Move to SF. It's becoming something of a tradition.

First there was the move in November 1997 from Mountain View to a charming studio on Jones in Nob Hill. It was exciting to finally live in the Big City, but parking a 4WD truck in one of the hilliest and most competitive parking areas in the city soon lost its charm. Hosting dinner parties where two of the seats were on the futon bed and the other guests had to bring their own chairs finally convinced Erika to move to a 2-bedroom with a roommate in Alamo Square.

After a brief hiatus in Sunnyvale, Erika's next move to SF was in November 2000, to a drafty old Victorian on Waller in the Lower Haight. The broken heater was a hardship (a theme to be repeated in several New York apartments), but it was the crazy roommate who kept re-arranging the kitchen in passive-aggressive/obsessive-compulsive rages who finally forced Erika out. She asked Erika to leave so that her boyfriend could move into Erika's room (and pay only half of the rent that Erika had been paying!).

After living in New York for 2 years, Erika moved back to SF in December of 2003, into a gorgeous Arts and Crafts-ish one-bedroom on Steiner in the Lower Haight. It was perfect, but the neighborhood was not. The gunshots, drug addicts, break-ins, and stolen cars got a little too frequent, and Erika decided that she would be better off in NOPA in yet another drafty Victorian, but this time with two great roommates.

Fast forward 4 years to the last days of October 2007 and Erika finds herself moving back from New York yet again to SF for probably the last time, this time to Bernal Heights. Another beautiful Victorian - time will tell whether or not it is drafty too. This one has 2 bedrooms and a tiny half-bedroom in the front, just right for the Baby who will be joining us at the end of April. We are ALL hoping that our Next move will be to a place in the country that is big enough for our growing family to thrive and put down some roots...

Calling all Birds of Prey

While I've been hanging out in the backyard, avoiding dive-bombing humming birds, Erika has discovered a new hobby - counting ground squirrels on the Stanford Dish Loop. Monday she counted 52 and today - a record 76 SQUIRRELS! It's a veritable All-You-Can-Eat Buffet for some lucky hawk. And for those of you skeptics who think she might be counting the same critters twice - Erika has strict rules methods for confirming that each squirrel counted is a bona-fide unique and individual animal. She doesn't count non-descript rustlings in the bushes either. 4 legs and a fluffy little tail on each one.

Ok, others of you may now be thinking that Erika needs to get a job. She is making a tiny bit of progress in that area. Ironic, serendipitous progress, but progress nonetheless. Tomorrow she will forego rodent counting to sign a very short-term contract at the advertising agency whose client is the very same company where she worked in New Jersey. In fact, she will be working on the very same project that she was working on in New Jersey, albeit from an entirely different angle. Funny.

In other news, the Audi has been christened. She is now Maude as in "Maude, the crotchety old lady who did NOT like her parts messed with for a California smog check". For two full days after her idle was adjusted, she refused to run right. She would stall every chance she got, and rev up her engine at the MOST inopportune moments, such as while waiting at a stop light next to some souped up hot rod. Turns out she was lying about her age, too. Her birthday was actually in 1986, not 1984. After 2 mortifying days of this behavior, we drove 4 hours to Tahoe on freeways and nice curvy mountain roads. She's run like a serene grande dame ever since. But the name stuck. If Erika ever gets a new beloved Subaru, I supposed it will have to be called Harold.

Autumn in California (or whatever)

It's hard to tell that the seasons have changed in the Bay Area. It's officially fall, but things don't look or feel much different. Some days there is a chill in the air that wasn't there a month ago, and there is certainly more moisture threatening, but the hills are still sun-bleached, and the only fall color that we have noticed appears on a few Japanese maples that are planted on a freeway overpass in Mountain View.

So, Martin and Erika journeyed to "Apple Hill" in the Sierra Foothills this past weekend to really experience autumn. Apple Hill is a collection of apple growers just outside of Placerville who celebrate apple season in a big way for a few short months. You can drive from farm to farm and pick or just purchase all kinds of different apple varieties and apple treats like apple cookies, apple pies, and caramel apples. There is also the Jack Russell Brewing company, which brews all kinds of seasonal beer and hosts a BBQ and a band on the weekends. Makes for a lovely way to spend a sunny fall afternoon. In addition to The Best Apple Pie Ever, a couple of antique Polaroid cameras, and (of course) some delicious snacking apples, Erika and Martin also collected two perfect pumpkins in preparation for the Great Jack 'O Lantern Carving Contest, which will take place on October 27th. I won't be taking part in that since I lack opposable thumbs, but I *have* been practicing my Scary Cat look, making my tail all bushy and raising the hair along my spine. Makes Montana the House Cat run every time.