Happy Birthday to me
So Friday was my 29th birthday. It's also Bill Clinton's special day. Why the world didn't stop and throw a parade for the two of us, I don't know. I did manage to wrangle 18 or so of my friends to Saha for a birthday feast. Sorry if I didn't invite you, it wasn't intentional, it's just kind of hard for a restaurant to accommodate such large groups.
Saha bills itself as "Arab Fusion" which is about right, what with lamb appearing on the menu as often as tofu or edamame. I chose Saha because they had an extensive menu with meaty dishes (including steak, for those types, seafood, vegetarian and vegan dishes. Anyone can eat there. And everything was quite affordable, especially because of the 30 or so tapas-style small plate dishes. It's also kind of obscure, so it wasn't crowded on a Friday night, which is a good thing in my mind.
Ahh, but the food was an incredible yummy yum. I went prixe fixe; in this case soup of the day, a small plate, and an entree. The soup was carrot-ginger-coconut cream, so it was rich and decadent with a slight spike of spice from the ginger. Next up was the BBQ Mushroom and Tofu small plate, for which I lack the vocabulary to describe its tasty savoryness. My entree was a okra, tofu and quinoa stew. Again, I could never be a food critic because word do no justice to the flavor sensations exploding in my mouth.
Sweet Tar made arrangements for Maggie Mudd to deliver one of their legendary vegan ice cream cakes. Candles were lit, that song was sung, the crowd chanted "speech! speech! speech!" and when I stood up to thank everyone, they yelled "boring!" Half the cake was my favorite, the subtle and delectable lychee-coconut. The other half was Tarmac, a concoction of chocolate, peanut butter and oreo chunks (right?). People were shocked and baffled by the vegan-ry of the cake, because it was so yummy.
Jem showed up with her cousin Pete, which was a pleasant surprise because she went to the Liz Phair show earlier, and you know what happens at rock and roll shows. By the way, Jem's band, Jean Marie, is the best. Please go to all their shows. Or at least listen to their songs on mySpace.
After dinner we walked to the Edinburgh Castle, to occupy the front room. We rolled dice, people bought me shots, Smith showed up, Ryan B. drank too much Jaeger. It was a gay old time. All in all, it was one of my better birthdays. Thanks everyone.
The next day I made a run for the hot sunshine of Ukiah, leaving the cold cold fog of San Francisco behind. Even though he never said actually said it, Mark Twain was on to something when he didn't say the thing about the coldest winter was a summer in San Francisco.
Ukiah is so hot and nice right now. In the evening the coastal breezes roll over the western hills and gently push the hot air around. I've been wearing flip flops and shorts for three days straight now. My toesies are so happy.
On Saturday night I went to a Lu'au fundraiser for the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. Grace Hudson live in Mendocino County around the turn of the century and she documented the native Pomo Indians with beautiful oil paintings. I've lived in Ukiah most of my life, and have been to the museum a few times, but I guess I mature enough or something now to appreciate both the aesthetic and anthropological value of her work.
The Lu'au was kind of junky. It should be said that I have attended many a fine Lu'au this summer, but this one a had a typical catering menu but with Hawaiian music playing in the background and mai-tai's served in plastic cups. And for a fundraiser, it seem liked the 100 or so people in attendance were either on the museum board of directors or already volunteered.
Highlights of evening included an older dude who grew up in Hawaii giving a talk about the slack key guitar music of the islands and it's connection to country western music and the steel pedal slide guitar. I was totally into that, especially when he supplemented his talk by playing some tunes.
After the lu'au, I drove around Ukiah for a bit, hoping to see someone I know wandering the streets or something. I drove by the Forest Club, my old haunt, in the hopes that an old bro of mine might be smoking out front. I should have just gone in, but it's been a long time since I hung out in Ukiah and I just don't know too many people around here. The Forest is kind of rough sometimes too; I've never walked in there alone. It isn't always the most inviting place.
The cops were out in full force, which is pretty typical, but kind of shocking when one is used to the laissez-faire approach the SFPD takes. I was followed twice for tens of blocks by patrol cars. After running up on my bumper for several blocks, a patrol car darted into the next lane and pulled up next to me. I am not a kid anymore and I wasn't doing anything wrong, so I gave the cop a "what the fuck do you want?" look as I am tax paying, speed limit driving citizen. Once he decided I was cool, he dropped a block back and left alone.
I saw two patrol cars parked and surveilling the entrance to the Forest Club, yet another reason to not go in there. Perhaps there's a Fatwa out on the Forest Club and the Ukiah PD was protecting it. It's not like the Ukiah Valley is a police state, but those effing guys get bored and have nothing better to do than to harass those that are out on a Saturday night.
Sunday I had brunch with my family. My dad got bummed when he found out the sausage was vegan. I collected my loot. I did pretty good this year. Tar took me to Chico to see Alfalfa, bought me two shirts, a Dears CD and this killer box set of 80's underground music. Becky and Ian gave me a gift certificate to Millenium and my family gave me a bunch of photography gear including a nice Bogen tripod.
The city of Ukiah sponsors concerts in the park every other Sunday in the Summer time. It's prolly a lot like the Stearn Grove concerts in the City, but without the fog and the Arctic Zephyr wind. So I totally went. There were several thousand people there and I was terrified of running into people I used to know and not remembering their names.
I did run into a few whose names I could never forget, like my old friend Scarb. Scarb showed me his new motorcycle, which was pretty sick, and his two year old boy, Waylon. Waylon had a mohawk. It kind of made me want to have kids, so my boy could have a mohawk and grow up hanging out with Scarb's kids.
I had a several awkward conversations, mostly with old friends that now have kids. It kind of made me crazy and I had to leave. As the sun set, I took the long way back to Hopland, along the scenic East Side Road which winds through pear orchards and grape vines. I almost kept going straight on through to San Francisco, but I decided to stick around for another day.
I spent Monday hanging out a Freedom Skate Shop with Justin and Scarb. It's a good way to spend the day. Freedom recently expanded, so now the skate shop and the neighboring Freedom Girls occupies the whole building. I had sushi with homeowner Scarb and he tried to talk me into buying a house. While that maybe possible in Mendocino County, it's impossible in the absurd Bay Area real estate market, so it took us a while to understand where the other one was coming from.
I could write more, but I should cut it off here. Thanks.
Saha bills itself as "Arab Fusion" which is about right, what with lamb appearing on the menu as often as tofu or edamame. I chose Saha because they had an extensive menu with meaty dishes (including steak, for those types, seafood, vegetarian and vegan dishes. Anyone can eat there. And everything was quite affordable, especially because of the 30 or so tapas-style small plate dishes. It's also kind of obscure, so it wasn't crowded on a Friday night, which is a good thing in my mind.
Ahh, but the food was an incredible yummy yum. I went prixe fixe; in this case soup of the day, a small plate, and an entree. The soup was carrot-ginger-coconut cream, so it was rich and decadent with a slight spike of spice from the ginger. Next up was the BBQ Mushroom and Tofu small plate, for which I lack the vocabulary to describe its tasty savoryness. My entree was a okra, tofu and quinoa stew. Again, I could never be a food critic because word do no justice to the flavor sensations exploding in my mouth.
Sweet Tar made arrangements for Maggie Mudd to deliver one of their legendary vegan ice cream cakes. Candles were lit, that song was sung, the crowd chanted "speech! speech! speech!" and when I stood up to thank everyone, they yelled "boring!" Half the cake was my favorite, the subtle and delectable lychee-coconut. The other half was Tarmac, a concoction of chocolate, peanut butter and oreo chunks (right?). People were shocked and baffled by the vegan-ry of the cake, because it was so yummy.
Jem showed up with her cousin Pete, which was a pleasant surprise because she went to the Liz Phair show earlier, and you know what happens at rock and roll shows. By the way, Jem's band, Jean Marie, is the best. Please go to all their shows. Or at least listen to their songs on mySpace.
After dinner we walked to the Edinburgh Castle, to occupy the front room. We rolled dice, people bought me shots, Smith showed up, Ryan B. drank too much Jaeger. It was a gay old time. All in all, it was one of my better birthdays. Thanks everyone.
The next day I made a run for the hot sunshine of Ukiah, leaving the cold cold fog of San Francisco behind. Even though he never said actually said it, Mark Twain was on to something when he didn't say the thing about the coldest winter was a summer in San Francisco.
Ukiah is so hot and nice right now. In the evening the coastal breezes roll over the western hills and gently push the hot air around. I've been wearing flip flops and shorts for three days straight now. My toesies are so happy.
On Saturday night I went to a Lu'au fundraiser for the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. Grace Hudson live in Mendocino County around the turn of the century and she documented the native Pomo Indians with beautiful oil paintings. I've lived in Ukiah most of my life, and have been to the museum a few times, but I guess I mature enough or something now to appreciate both the aesthetic and anthropological value of her work.
The Lu'au was kind of junky. It should be said that I have attended many a fine Lu'au this summer, but this one a had a typical catering menu but with Hawaiian music playing in the background and mai-tai's served in plastic cups. And for a fundraiser, it seem liked the 100 or so people in attendance were either on the museum board of directors or already volunteered.
Highlights of evening included an older dude who grew up in Hawaii giving a talk about the slack key guitar music of the islands and it's connection to country western music and the steel pedal slide guitar. I was totally into that, especially when he supplemented his talk by playing some tunes.
After the lu'au, I drove around Ukiah for a bit, hoping to see someone I know wandering the streets or something. I drove by the Forest Club, my old haunt, in the hopes that an old bro of mine might be smoking out front. I should have just gone in, but it's been a long time since I hung out in Ukiah and I just don't know too many people around here. The Forest is kind of rough sometimes too; I've never walked in there alone. It isn't always the most inviting place.
The cops were out in full force, which is pretty typical, but kind of shocking when one is used to the laissez-faire approach the SFPD takes. I was followed twice for tens of blocks by patrol cars. After running up on my bumper for several blocks, a patrol car darted into the next lane and pulled up next to me. I am not a kid anymore and I wasn't doing anything wrong, so I gave the cop a "what the fuck do you want?" look as I am tax paying, speed limit driving citizen. Once he decided I was cool, he dropped a block back and left alone.
I saw two patrol cars parked and surveilling the entrance to the Forest Club, yet another reason to not go in there. Perhaps there's a Fatwa out on the Forest Club and the Ukiah PD was protecting it. It's not like the Ukiah Valley is a police state, but those effing guys get bored and have nothing better to do than to harass those that are out on a Saturday night.
Sunday I had brunch with my family. My dad got bummed when he found out the sausage was vegan. I collected my loot. I did pretty good this year. Tar took me to Chico to see Alfalfa, bought me two shirts, a Dears CD and this killer box set of 80's underground music. Becky and Ian gave me a gift certificate to Millenium and my family gave me a bunch of photography gear including a nice Bogen tripod.
The city of Ukiah sponsors concerts in the park every other Sunday in the Summer time. It's prolly a lot like the Stearn Grove concerts in the City, but without the fog and the Arctic Zephyr wind. So I totally went. There were several thousand people there and I was terrified of running into people I used to know and not remembering their names.
I did run into a few whose names I could never forget, like my old friend Scarb. Scarb showed me his new motorcycle, which was pretty sick, and his two year old boy, Waylon. Waylon had a mohawk. It kind of made me want to have kids, so my boy could have a mohawk and grow up hanging out with Scarb's kids.
I had a several awkward conversations, mostly with old friends that now have kids. It kind of made me crazy and I had to leave. As the sun set, I took the long way back to Hopland, along the scenic East Side Road which winds through pear orchards and grape vines. I almost kept going straight on through to San Francisco, but I decided to stick around for another day.
I spent Monday hanging out a Freedom Skate Shop with Justin and Scarb. It's a good way to spend the day. Freedom recently expanded, so now the skate shop and the neighboring Freedom Girls occupies the whole building. I had sushi with homeowner Scarb and he tried to talk me into buying a house. While that maybe possible in Mendocino County, it's impossible in the absurd Bay Area real estate market, so it took us a while to understand where the other one was coming from.
I could write more, but I should cut it off here. Thanks.
posted by pete g at 8/23/2005 11:20:00 AM
1 Comments:
I like your long posts!! You write well and I'm bummed when the post ends. I had fun at your birthday and liked your spiffy threads. Also, once, T used the term "Arctic Zephyr" in casual conversation and I was like, "Huh... nice verbiage."
NOW I KNOW THE SOURCE!!!
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