Alumni of Bookshop Santa Cruz

I didn’t particularly love my time at UC Santa Cruz. Aside from its small but devoted journalism department, my experience at UCSC was more summer camp with extensive journaling than rigorous academics. But I stayed in Santa Cruz in large part because I got a job at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Bookshop Santa Cruz is a Santa Cruz institution. It’s been on Pacific Avenue since 1966. It survived the 1989 earthquake (it continued operating out of a tent when the quake destroyed its building) and it survived the infiltration of chain bookstores that attempt to put it out of business.

Bookshop is an unofficial information center for Santa Cruz.  In summer, people from ‘over the hill’ would call the store to ask about the weather or the surf. People stopped in to ask for directions or for restaurant recommendations. Just about anyone who visited Santa Cruz made their way through Bookshop Santa Cruz. I once ran into my 6th grade teacher while I was working there.

It wasn’t necessarily an easy job. Working with the public is always a challenge, but it was even more difficult in Santa Cruz, where the store, like the town, attracted crazies like moths to a flame. (A customer once told me I looked like a ‘peaceful dolphin’.) But in the 10 years since I left Bookshop, I’ve looked back on it fondly. My work there felt more meaningful than any job I’ve had since, certainly more important to me than making wealthy people wealthier. I believed in Bookshop, in the importance of  an independent bookstore, a place with personality and determination. It’s an endangered species these days.

It isn’t nostalgia that’s made me look back on my days at Bookshop Santa Cruz, though. Rather it’s the news that my old employer is ‘going rogue’ (to quote a certain Alaskan nutter) and selling copies of Sarah Palin’s new book with a pack of nuts — and not just any nuts, “Sarah Palin’s Just Plain Nutz”. The online offer states that the nuts are also sold separately: “A bag of Sarah Palin’s Just Plain Nutz is also available for $3.98 to those who can stomach a 1 ounce bag of walnuts, but can’t stomach 432 pages of Sarah Palin’s writing.”

This isn’t Bookshop’s first stab at creative bookselling, but it is one reason that I’m proud to be an Bookshop alumni.

Update: Green Apple Books, my favorite SF bookstore, has another option. Buy the Sarah Palin book at Green Apple and the store will donate the proceeds to the Alaskan Wildlife Alliance.

Rave: Presidential Flickr

On this one year anniversary of the election of Barack Obama, I’d like to highlight one of the things I appreciate about this administration. It isn’t Michelle’s focus on fresh, local food or her awesome sense of style, nor is it the President’s commitment to health care reform or repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Instead, it’s decidedly less political: it’s their willingness to have their life and work at the White House documented and shared with the public through The White House Flickr photosteam.

It doesn’t sound exciting, I know. I had pretty low expectations myself. The day-to-day workings of government seem kind of boring, even if you’re the president. Cabinet meetings and speeches don’t seem like they’d make for compelling photos, but this administration doesn’t just show us the official events or meetings with world leaders. Peppered throughout the  Flickr photosteam are pictures like this one that show such a human side to the President.

President Barack Obama bends over so the son of a White House staff member can pat his head during a family visit to the Oval Office May 8, 2009. The youngster wanted to see if the President’s haircut felt like his own. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).

Of course all U.S. presidents have had a life of their own while they were in office, but for the most part, we the people didn’t get to see much of it and that’s part of what makes The White House Flickr photosteam so interesting. There are the meetings, of course, and then there are the pictures that show the President is just another dad playing with the family dog or watching his kid’s soccer game.

Some of the pictures give the sense of seeing the DVD extras, the outtakes from the Presidency, like Obama joking around in this picture, or the unusual interview, shown below.

If you haven’t seen the pictures yet (or even recently), head on over. I can almost promise that you’ll be charmed.

Rave: Rainbow Grocery

The longer I live in the East Bay, the more I miss Rainbow Grocery.

I’d expected to miss my beloved little BiRite, but I figured we’d find plenty of alternatives to Rainbow. After all, Rainbow is an old school health food store, and I figured that by moving closer to Berkeley, I’d be closer to the country’s original health food stores, probably still run by aging hippies.

But I’ve been sorely disappointed in the East Bay’s grocery stores. Even the famed Berkeley Bowl left me cold. Sure it has a huge produce section, but I get my produce at the farmers market, and aside from produce, I found little to distinguish the Bowl from any other grocery store.

I do appreciate that many East Bay markets carry local foods, but they’re often priced far higher than San Francisco stores do (or even the farmers markets). Straus milk at the grocery store closest to our East Bay home is twice what BiRite charges (and BiRite isn’t exactly known for their low prices). They also charge $11 for a pack of Primavera tamales that we can get at the farmers market for $8.

Of course, I could try to go to a different store that charges less, but most stores close right around the time that I’m getting off BART. (This could be another post: why do so many places in the East Bay close so early? Grocery stores close at 7pm on weekdays (earlier on weekends!) and even many restaurants close by 9pm. Is this because the E.B. is packed full of families and kids are put to bed by 9pm? Please explain.)

Rainbow is different: it’s open until 9pm; it stocks lots of local foods and it charges less for them. You’ll find food from some of the same farmers that come to the Ferry Building Farmers Market: produce from Knoll Farms, Rancho Gordo beans (in bulk and cheaper than anywhere I’ve seen), St. Benoit yogurt  (again cheaper!), raviolis from The Pasta Shop (in bulk!), Primavera tamales.

Rainbow’s bulk section is unparalleled. You can get nearly any grain, legume, dried pasta, chocolate chips, olive oil, vinegars, tea, even salt in bulk. Their bulk selection goes beyond food, though: you can also get organic liquid soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and laundry detergent. It made it easy to make ‘greener’ choices. We brought home far less packaging when we shopped there. Our pantry was transformed from disposable to reusable. We threw out less, too, by simply refilling a container of hand soap, for example, instead of buying a whole new bottle.

If you haven’t been to Rainbow yet, a few words of warning: it’s not Whole Foods. It’s a basically a warehouse, the floors are concrete, the cashiers may have dreads and aren’t likely to chat with you, they don’t sell any meat, and it’s in an absolutely hideous location (South of Market, under the freeway) — a place I hate to walk or drive.  But you should go there. I mistakenly avoided Rainbow for years for exactly these reasons, but now I struggle to live without it.

Rave: SF Roof Decks

Things look different from above.

In San Francisco, both tall buildings and the city’s many hills offer a new perspective on the cityscape. I like to get to a new perch and try to orient myself. (This may be something I’ve inherited from my dad who loves climbing mountains in part for because it gives him a chance to re-establish where he is in relation to the natural world.)

A higher vantage point can also give you a glimpse into parts of city life that you can’t see from the street. When we visited SF when I was a kid, we took the glass elevator at the Fairmont Hotel and I was surprised to see that city dwellers used their roofs in the same way people in the suburbs use their backyards. From the elevator, I’d see people sprawled on chaise lounges on their roof. Some roofs had gardens on them, some had barbecues.

San Francisco museums are getting into the idea of using roofs in new ways, too. The DeYoung may have started the trend with their copper, hole-punched observation deck high above Golden Gate Park. But the new roof spaces at the Academy of Sciences and at SF Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) aren’t just about the view.

At the Academy of Sciences, the roof is alive.  The porthole-covered hills may look like something from outer space, but the wild strawberries and cheery poppies growing on the living roof will be familiar to any Californian. A gardener weeding the roof on the day I visited said that there are over 70 species of native plants just around the observation area.

Inside the new Academy of Sciences, I’m reminded of all the things I love and miss from the old Academy of Sciences, but up on the living roof, I’m dazzled. It’s eco-friendly (it cools the interior and recycles rainwater), it’s a fitting addition to a building that is housed in the middle of a park, and I like that the view here is what I consider ‘real’ SF — the places residents actually go, like the park and the neighborhoods.

The SF MOMA’s new roof deck and sculpture garden is in a far less green area of SF, downtown just two blocks of Market Street with views of some of the best and worst examples of SF architecture. It works as an art exhibit, of course, but the real draw, for me, is the new Blue Bottle cafe in the MOMA’s roof deck.

Blue Bottle coffee is worth seeking out and I doubt many visitors to SF sought out Blue Bottle’s Hayes Valley kiosk or were able to find their Mint Plaza cafe, so I’m happy to see them opening in places like the Ferry Building and the MOMA. We’ve got some crazy delicious coffee in SF, and if you visit and stick with Starbucks, you’re missing out on a vital part of SF culture. (I loved overhearing a woman take a sip of her coffee at the MOMA and exclaim: “This is strong coffee!”). You can also buy Blue Bottle coffee beans at the MOMA cafe — a perfect SF souvenir.

Blue Bottle was also clearly inspired by their museum location and this location sells slices of cake that echo works of art. We sampled a lovely raspberry cake with lemon curd, a delicious take on Thiebaud (shown above). The Mondrian cake is almost too clever to eat. But if cake isn’t your thing, you can also hit up some of SF’s best ice cream: the cafe serves Humphrey Slocumbe ice cream in a sundae and in an affogato.

When we move back to SF, I hope to make cake and coffee at the MOMA a weekly event. Mr. WholeHog happens to be a member so it’s easy for us to just pop in, but to me, there’s another benefit of roof decks that’s worth the cost of admission: no smokers.

{Apologies for the dark, iphone pics.}

I like to get to a new perch in the City and try to orient myself. Things look different from above. (This may be what I’ve inherited from my dad who loves climbing mountains for a chance to re-establish where he is in relation to the natural world.)

Rave: Indian Springs Calistoga

Napa Valley is a pretty common escape for us City-folk. It’s an easy enough day trip from SF, but if you’re drinking wine (and why wouldn’t you be?) and especially if you’re wine tasting in the fall, in November, say, when the grape leaves start turning their most vibrant colors — you’re going to want to stay overnight.

But where? Napa lodging tends to be expensive and most hotels require you to stay two (pricey) nights. I’m happy to pay more to stay somewhere special, but I can’t stand the faux French chateaus or faux Tuscan villas that are so prevalent in Napa. I don’t want a ceramic rooster in my room, nor do I want to sleep in antique four-poster bed with an f-ing teddy bear.

My tastes tend to be more modern and simple — ideally, with a bit of vintage-style — and that’s just what I found at Indian Springs in Calistoga, my new favorite place to stay in the Valley.

Just look at this sweet cottage:

Isn’t this the cutest?! This is the Colbert Cottage (cottage #3).

Inside, there was a bright red couch in the living room, a full kitchen (we’ll make better use of the kitchen next time), great linens (Frette, if you care about such things), and a sweet back deck where you can read the Chronicle, delivered each day to your doorstep.

We stayed one night in Cottage #3 and another night in Cottage #11.* Cottage #11 was smaller and lacked the back deck and the kitchen stove, but it had a cozier layout and more vintage charm, like the sweet jade green and burgundy tiled kitchen and bath.

As much as I loved our cottage(s), the real star of Indian Springs is the warm mineral pool:

The pool is open from 6am to midnight so we began most mornings with a dip and every night, we returned to swim in the steaming waters and look up at the stars. Dreamy, I tell you.

After floating one evening, Mr. WholeHog pronounced himself the most relaxed he’s ever been.

The one thing we didn’t do enough of this trip was simply lounge — a shame since Indian Springs has many, many places to veg. Cottage #3 had its sweet back deck and in the back yard, there was comfy hammock. In front of the Bath House, you could sit under big orange umbrellas. Or up at the pool, you could stretch out on chaise lounges in the sun or in the shade.

This particular option was calling me right about the time we were checking out and preparing to head back to the City:

Now Indian Springs might not be your thing. Maybe you like to stay in a flowery B&B. Maybe you can’t sleep without a teddy bear nearby. Maybe you had a bad run-in with a mullet in Calistoga a while back and now stick to the more upscale parts of the Valley. That’s fine and dandy.

Go get your free bottle of Beringer and that continental breakfast. I’ll be here, maybe on the back deck of the Colbert cottage, or floating in this gigantic bathtub pool, or taking a little nap on a chaise lounge in the weak winter sun.

*There’s no two-night minimum at Indian Springs, but we decided to stay another night and take advantage of their ‘winter’ special: stay a weekday night (we stayed Sunday night) and get free mud baths!

Rave: Tamra Davis Cooking Show

You can buy a ticket to see your favorite band perform, but how often do you see your favorite band in real life?

Beastie Boys fans are lucky. Thanks to Tamra Davis and her online cooking show, we don’t have to resort to stalking the Beastie Boys in order to see what their lives are like off stage.

The point of the show isn’t the B-Boys, of course, it’s cooking. Most of the meals Tamra prepares for her family and friends are organic, mostly vegetarian (some include fish) and kid-friendly. But while I’ve picked up some new recipes from the show, I admit that the real reason I tune in is for the glimpse of my favorite band in their natural habitat: whether its backstage on their European tour or on vacation, eating fresh fish in Hawaii or making crepes in the Hamptons with their famous friends. The whole Beastie clan shows up for a barbecue in at Mike and Tammy D’s place in Malibu. Ad-Rock hangs out with Mike’s kids while MCA makes lemonade and Tamra prepares grilled fish sandwiches.

I should warn you that if you aren’t a Beastie fan, you may not be as enthralled with the show as I am. (I know Mr. WholeHog finds it boring.) But for me, even in the episodes that don’t include the Beasties are worth watching to see woman try to balance all the things she loves in her life — filmmaking and motherhood, cooking and yoga, good music and good friends.

Rave: The Fatted Calf at Oxbow Market

I know gas prices are high and driving in the Bay Area can be a trafficky nightmare, but you should still head to Napa.

I mean, now.

Going to Tahoe? Russian River? Cross town? Take a detour through Napa. It’s a lovely drive, after all, through those vineyard-covered hills. But don’t get distracted by the grapes: this time, you’re not in Napa for the wine, you’re there for the meat.

Fatted Calf opened their first retail location earlier this year in the Oxbow Market, Napa’s version of SF’s Ferry Building. We’ve only been twice so far, but I think dream about it almost daily.

Fatted Calf is already one reason I get up early every Saturday morning and go to the farmers market. When we have something from Fatted in the fridge, we know there’s a delicious meal in our future.

At the farmers market, a chalkboard lists their selection of sausages, salumi and assorted meaty treats (although those in the know order online and pick up their order at the market). Often, you don’t see exactly what you’ve bought until you get home and unwrap it.

In the display case at the Oxbow location, though, you can see nearly everything that Fatted Calf produces and it’s a beautiful sight. If the stacks of sausage, bowls of pate, and thick salamis aren’t enticing enough, there is also usually something fantastic on display at the store, like this leg of wild boar:

With a few exceptions (like, say, tonno. There is simply never enough tonno), Oxbow has everything Fatted makes, along with many items that are rarely, if ever, at the market – racks of seasoned ribs, or lovely lamb chops marinated in orange zest. The store even sells an assortment of other quality products, like Rancho Gordo beans, Soul Food eggs and locally produced milk.

But we’re likely to head back to the store just to have Toponia’s porchetta sandwich again. It’s the best sandwich either of us have ever eaten — lots of roast pork with parsley, onions and plenty of olive oil. We ate it on the road which I do not recommend. This sandwich needs your complete attention (and lots of napkins).

Rave: Pizzeria Delfina

Naturally, one reason we’re visiting Italy is the food. Our trip is taking us to three regions of Italy, Emilia Romagna, Liguria and Tuscany, each with its own local specialties.

Our itinerary was influenced by food we love in San Francisco. We’re heading to Panzano, for example, because that’s where Taylor at The Fatted Calf trained with Dario Cecchini and we’re devoted to The Fatted Calf.

Florence beat out Rome and Venice as a destination for our first trip to Italy once we heard that Craig Stoll of Delfina named his restaurant in homage to Da Delfina, a restaurant just outside Florence. Whether that’s actually true, we don’t know but the mere rumor was enough for us.

We love the food at Delfina, but we’re far more likely to be eating next-door at Pizzeria Delfina. The pizzeria has become my favorite restaurant in San Francisco. It never disappoints — the food is consistently delicious and although the menu is small, there’s always something new to try. It’s also reasonably priced, fairly close to home and a stone’s throw from BiRite Creamery, another favorite of mine.

It’s not the fanciest place to eat. It’s small. Tables are pretty tight and overflow outside onto the sidewalk especially on mild nights. Aside from a great mural of SF on one wall, it has a pretty utilitarian look.

It’s also decidedly discovered and doesn’t take reservations so expect a wait at peak times. I opt to go right after work which almost always guarantees a seat. You may also avoid a wait by going mid-day since the pizzeria opens at 11:30am Tuesday through Friday (at noon on the weekend).

Of course if it’s a busy time, you can still get your fix by calling in a pie and picking it up, although I haven’t found that the pizzas are as delicious as they are in the restaurant, hot out of the ovens. But take-out makes for a great picnic. A week ago, we called in a pizza and ate it sitting at the top of Dolores Park, taking in one of my favorite views of the City.

We end up at the pizza fairly often. We may simply be in the neighborhood, picking up bread at Tartine or groceries at Bi-Rite, when we see that there are seats available and meatballs on the menu.

It’s hard for me to resist their meatballs, which are only offered as a special. They may be served with marinara or tucked into a calzone. Mr. WholeHog says these meatballs are the closest he’s found to those his Italian grandmother makes.

The specials are usually worth ordering. It may be little heads of escarole stuffed with anchovies and capers and braised in tomato sauce, or we recently had a special fritto of fava beans. It was a preparation I’d never encountered before: the entire fava bean pod was fried and eaten. This delicious dish changed my whole concept of how to eat fava beans. I had no idea that the actual pod could be eaten or that it could taste so good.

If you’re lucky, the special pizza will be one with that includes an egg. (Although if you don’t love eggs — specifically egg yolks — you probably won’t be into this pizza). I consider it one of the world’s best combination, up there with bread and butter or bacon and eggs. The rich egg yolk, the salty cheese and the bright tomato sauce make for an incredible pie.

I can only hope we find pizza as delicious in Italy.

Rave: Neti Pot

I was hoping to keep quiet about neti pots, but neti pots kept popping up. They were mentioned on Oprah. There was even an article on neti pots in the New York Times. A coworker mentioned that he bought one at Walgreens. I never expected a nasal genie lamp could go mainstream.

A neti pot is strange-looking and I can attest that it’s also strange to actually use one. You take what is essentially a small genie lamp and fill it with salt and water. When the salt dissolves, you insert the spout into your nostril, tilt your head and the salt water pours out the other nostril. The idea is that it cleans your sinuses.

“Oh sure,” I thought the first time I heard of the neti pot. “I’m sure it also cleans your aura.” I figured neti pots were something prescribed by shamans along with dream catchers and crystals. I found the online images hysterical and somewhat pornographic.

But as strange as it is, as frankly embarrassing as it is to admit, I’m a convert. I neti daily. (I also now consider “neti” a verb).

I came around to the neti pot last summer, on the second day of a brutal sinus infection. My head felt thick and I couldn’t breathe well or hear well. The sinus pressure was intense. Like any other fool these days, I turned to the internet for medical advice and spent an afternoon trying assorted homeopathic sinus remedies. I concocted spicy teas, I sipped apple cider vinegar, and, as a last resort, I went to a nearby natural foods store and bought a blue ceramic neti pot.

Imagine my horror when the neti pot worked. It didn’t totally clear me up, but I could hear better, breathe better, and my sinus pressure was gone.

Since then, I’ve neti-ed nearly every day and at the risk of jinxing myself, I haven’t had a sinus infection since using the neti pot. My allergies haven’t taken me down since last July. While my coworkers have spent the winter plagued with colds and flus, I’ve been fine.

And while I still don’t believe in that auras can be cleaned or that dreams can be caught, I credit my health to neti.

Looking Up I Noticed I was Late

I love the quiet of the early morning. Even in the City, the streets are nearly empty before 7am. The sun casts an orange glow behind the Oakland Hills, and the day feels new and fresh.

Even though I know the morning is a special time, I rarely get myself out of bed in time to enjoy it.

Although I love the idea of a calm morning, a morning spent savoring a cup of coffee and reading the paper, the reality is that my mornings are a race against time. Instead of relishing Mr. WholeHog’s excellent coffee, I drink it in the bedroom while I decide what to wear, or in the bathroom as I brush my hair.

So it feels heroic to find the time to sit still on a single weekday morning, as I have each week since the new Blue Bottle café in Mint Plaza opened.

Going out to breakfast always feels like a reminder to slow down, but we don’t go out to breakfast much these days. Mr. WholeHog makes better coffee than any restaurant, and few breakfast places use quality, locally-sourced ingredients.

That’s why Blue Bottle has become such a happy habit for us. The coffee is among the best in town and their breakfast items are all farm-focused. We’ve had sublime poached Eatwell Farm eggs on thick slices of Acme bread. I spent one delightful morning with a cappuccino in one hand and a bowl of creamy polenta with gruyere and ham in the other. We shared the apple and pear compote with Strauss yogurt recently, and I’m not making the mistake of sharing that again! I’ll need my very own bowl of Blue Bottle’s breakfast-y version of apple pie.

Mint Plaza, as luck would have it, is a convenient stop on my way into work (and any place that serves good coffee is on the way to Mr. WholeHog’s work). Although the cafe is getting a little busier each week, I still find that regardless of the crowd, I leave the cafe well-caffeinated and surprisingly calm for a weekday morning.

I’ll get to work faster if I take MUNI from Blue Bottle, but I choose to walk to work instead. I’m in no rush, after all, and it’s not often that the Financial District streets are so quiet.