Hello all, here's a quick update on life lately...
First off, Merry Christmas! Tisa and I spent Christmas with the Shumakers this year, and I really enjoyed spending some quality time playing "crash the cars" with Cavin, then later charades, fictionary, and pictionary with the rest of the family. One of the highlights for me was watching my wife try to act out Too Fast, Too Furious; for the word fast, Tisa did a stop motion action of someone running and made a phenomenal "ffshhh" sound that was unmistakably fast.
Another highlight is the cast-iron dutch oven, which was a gift from Mom and Dad Shumaker... I get to finally try out the no knead bread that Bahman posted on his blog a while back... right now dough is rising in the cold oven. You should really check out the Bittman video on how to make bread, hopefully all goes as planned (we are trying to use 2/3 white flour and 1/3 wheat to substitute for a slightly healthier recipe). Here's the original youtube video, if you're so inclined. Or, you could see the modified recipe update for a speedier version a year or two later (where Bittman looks a little hurt that his bread has no crust).
Tisa and I just finished a mini-tour of the northern bay area... here's a quick list of the highlights in chronological order (not by order of importance)...
1. Arrived in SF, staying at Parc 55, very ritzy, very cheap through hotwire.com . But, wait, charging for internet in the room? Lame. Also, parking = nightmare. We parked at a meter a block away from the hotel, then searched fruitlessly for overnight parking, only to return to a parking meter three spots ahead of the original an hour later. Had to get up at 5:30 am to find daily parking.
2. Sweet Crepe's near union square. So good. Savory. (Goal for the upcoming year: try to make a savory crepe).
3. Sweet art at the MOMA.
4. Dinner with Jeff K. at a sweet italian diner, a block from his place--very good food, fun mission district restaurant.
5. Up to Petaluma that night, slept in, checked out the downtown in P-town, then talked with a realtor about what neighborhoods would suit us in the future.
6. Drove through picturesque vineyards and rural countryside about 10 blocks from Petaluma's downtown. The countryside is littered with little bike trails, totally separate from the roads that traverse the county alongside the farms and wineries.
7. Wine tasting @ russian river winery.
8. Met cool people everywhere--from business owners to teachers at restaurants, everyone was friendly and enjoyed striking up casual conversations with us. Such a great change from the pervasive indifference one gets accustomed to in Lala land.
9. Russian River Brewing company. Amazing brews.
10. Iron Horse Winery before leaving town (pictured above). Really great wine, friendly owners, and a great view of the vineyards. Wine tasting is outside, and there we met a wine-maker who was buying a bottle of champagne to celebrate the birth of his daughter. He was a cool dude.
Well, that's ten, and that should be enough. But, my overall impression is that I definitely want to move to this area. Tisa feels the same. We plan on heading up here in 1.5 years... too long, but a necessary time frame to really be ready to buy a house. I can't wait.
