Randomness

Put on your pretty lies, you're in the city of wonder

2009-03-09T14:45:00.004-05:00

This weekend I was whisked away to the city with some of my school friends to meet up with some of their old college friends. Without going into too much detail of the intricacies of a friend of a friend having more money than is comprehensible to me, I found myself in the middle of a weekend of oddities and excesses, VIP areas and table service. It was weird. The highlight was Saturday night, which found me absolutely floating on Cloud Surreal as I sat down to a specialized tasting menu at Daniel, complete with wine that put my jaw on the floor and an unfathomably old Madeira. This might mean nothing to most people but it is absolute insanity in the best way possible for me. So I was as giddy as can be, clasping my hands together as each course was set in front of me and giggling little squeals as I listened to our host ordering wine. At the end of our meal, we took a tour of the kitchen. So we get down to this beautiful clean kitchen that is being closed up, as it is now 12:30 in the morning and we stand behind the line to take a picture of our whole group. We're talking to the staff and joking around while pictures are flying when suddenly a bunch of the chefs start yelling, "Chef, Chef! Get in the picture!" This little Asian woman comes in and my friend Lou says, "Is that the pastry chef?" I shrug, then realize they are still saying, "Chef, get in the picture."

I look up and see, as if in slow motion, Daniel Boulud rounding the corner and heading to our group.
"Oh my God. This is not happening." Lou whispers behind me with a shrill giggle.
I clasp Lena's friend Anne's hand, almost inaudibly whispering, "OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod..." as Boulud pounces on top of the line to get in the picture. He then climbs off and circles around to shake our hands, do introductions and take more pictures. When he leaves, Lena stares at Anne, who is in grad school for Psychology and shrieks, "ANNE! It's like if you met Freud!!!"
With half of the group having attended culinary school at some point, it's a pretty astounding experience to have. And that was my weekend.

Under Pressure

2009-02-26T10:53:00.004-06:00

One problem with having all your friends in all your classes is that all of you will be anxiety ridden at the exact same time. Once this week is over, the cloud of stress should abate.

We're seein' things in a different way

2009-02-03T20:06:00.002-06:00

My Dad introduced me to this organization:

In August 2008, Wholesome Wave launched the Market Box Program at the Norwalk Community Health Center (NCHC). Through this program, Wholesome Wave purchases surplus fruits and vegetables from its Westport market, packs the produce into half-bushel boxes, then delivers and sells the boxes at affordable prices to families with little access to fresh food. Each box, a $20-25 value, may be purchased for $6 in Food Stamps or WIC vouchers. The program benefits families that want to purchase fresh produce but do not have the time or economic means to shop at farmers markets. In addition, farmers benefit by having a wholesale outlet for their end-of-day surplus.

Yeah, my dad's pretty awesome.

2009-01-25T21:56:00.001-06:00

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

These little town blues are melting away

2009-01-25T16:30:00.002-06:00

I left Berkeley on a high, albeit extremely stressful note. Getting back into NY and hanging out with Sarah , Williams and Trent and a couple other ladies I haven't seen in years was pretty wonderful. It's almost strange to be back at school and have things pick up almost right where they left off. I start classes tomorrow and I can't wait, although for now it's nice to just sit around in the comfort of familiar company.

Radio plays what they want you to hear

2009-01-17T12:27:00.002-06:00

After going through the unhappy experience of signing up for health insurance, I was out last night and found out a friend of a friend worked for an insurance company. After a little small talk about how he's able to sleep at night, we chatted a bit about my new policy and other plans. When each plan was rebuked with, "psh, that's overpriced." "no no, that's crap" "no they're totally cheating you," I asked, "So, if you were me, how would you get good insurance? like how would you go about that? What would you do?"

"Work for a huge corporation."

Til this house feels like it did before

2009-01-15T05:49:00.004-06:00

I can't sleep. I haven't been able to sleep for days. I'll get in a few hours and then wake up to twiddle my thumbs trying for a few more hours before I have to drag myself to work. I'm a little stressed out. It seems like a whole lot of items piled on my plate all at the same inopportune moment. I think I'm going to really miss everyone here and the restaurant and Berkeley and all of it, but at the moment I would want to be back in NY if for no other reason than to have this stress over and done with and feel like I can breathe a little. I've gotten in 3 hours of sleep so far tonight. It's almost four and I've been awake for well over an hour now. I think it's time for me to just toss in the towel and make some progress on the million things I need to do.

Skin has gotten thicker but it burns the same

2009-01-06T20:24:00.004-06:00

I have two weeks left in California. Exactly. With a day off today, I decided to head to San Francisco and meander around. At one point I find myself running errands in the Mission district, and realize there's an ice cream joint nearby that I had been meaning to go to since I arrived. I see this group of four teenage boys looking tough but nearly identical, 3 of them in extremely oversized white Ts, one in black. I start pondering their lack of individuality when I notice one of them is carrying a golf club. At the very instant that I think how strange this is, all of them scramble into the bus stop. Now mostly covered by the signs on the walls, all I can see is a 5th body laying on the ground cowering in the corner of the stop and arms raised and plunged down behind the sign. The boy with the golf club stays behind the others, lurching around but from time to time the head of the club is thrown into the air and forced to disappear with the arms. A man in front of me rushes to the stop where he hesitates and looks around, his shocked and terrified face echoing an understatement of my thoughts. Lasting all of 5 seconds, the four boys leap out of the bus stop, one yells in Spanish and then another screams, "Let's go" as they fly and leap and scramble down the street. Tears fill my eyes without spilling onto my cheeks and I realize my jaw has been stretched open in horror and my back is now against a store front my body seems to think will protect me. The body in the bus stop rolls around as the man makes sure he's ok and lifts his cell phone to his ear. Everyone else keeps walking.

It's time for me to get out of here.

noises in the darkness

2008-12-29T21:26:00.003-06:00

Walking home after a long day of work that followed a long night of being social and a very short time actually sleeping, I dial up my voicemail to check a new message,

"Hello, Jenna, this is Tim. Um, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but when I woke up this morning your rear window was smashed in...well yes someone broke into your car sometime last night, and well, I thought I should let you know..."

I didn't really hear the end of the message as my feet changed directions, leading me a few blocks away to the driveway where I park my car. The entire rear window shattered, a hole bigger than a basketball leered at me. The things in my trunk were uncovered from the canvas that hid them but...nothing was missing. My CD case holding my entire collection of music, a stand of drawers that holds miscellaneous electronics and crafty items, my kitchen scale all sat grinning under glinting shards of glass.

Only a hippopotamus will do...

2008-12-25T00:45:00.002-06:00

Well Merry Christmas everyone!

The restaurant is closed Christmas Eve and Day, which gives me enough of a break to relax, but not enough to head anywhere. Although checking out all the weather and delays across the country, seems I might not have gotten anywhere anyway. This past weekend, my roomie and I went and picked out a Christmas tree, which was a nice first for me. He also seems to be a bit of a Christmas decoration hoarder as the apartment has glittering globes and sequined fruit, lights and garland pretty much everywhere you look. A tiny Christmas wonderland if you will.

I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing tomorrow, as I have a couple invites if I want them, or I might just enjoy my day off relaxing and making use of the cheese I tried my hand at today. There is currently a ball of perhaps too firm mozzarella and bowl of not-the-best ricotta in my fridge with the makings of pizza dough hanging around. So homemade pizzas are in my future at some point that might not be too fantastic, but will be made completely from scratch. And Haagen-Dazs has peppermint bark ice cream, which was a nice early Christmas present I bought myself. Delicious.

I just want to know today

2008-12-15T11:35:00.005-06:00

Whenever I can, I have been working catering events in my downtime. Other than everyone saying the events are occurring less than last year, the events don't seem to display the signs of economic turmoil. As women run around department stores, grabbing sparkling wine out of my outstretched hand and lumbering out of the event bogged down by shopping bags, some people are obviously still spending.

And THEN there was the event I did Saturday.
"WHOA!"
"What?"
"Did you see that girl fly off one of the electronic bulls?" pointing at the huge screen of the stadium.
The electric bullS...between the ice skating rink making fake snow and the ferris wheel, behind the four band stages and next to one of the four dining tents.

Happy Holidays to those employees I guess.

One of my coworker's fiance is a glassblowing artist. So yesterday a bunch of us headed to the middle of nowhere in San Francisco to hang out with furnaces and torches and molten hot glass. All of us are pretty used to being in environments where burns are easily acquired (evidenced by the beautiful badges of honor lining my forearms), but sitting at a bench with a spinning glob of burnyourskinoff got all of our adrenaline pumping. I think I said, "That was so much fun!!" about 20 times on our drive back to Berkeley.

A time to plant, a time to reap

2008-12-08T15:38:00.002-06:00

Today on my day off I got the chance to go to one of the farms where we source produce. Dhondup drove me out to the farm in Sonoma County, which gave me the chance to find out he had lived in or visited a lot of the same places I went to in India. Small world.

There is something about being able to frolic in the mud and crush herbs in my hands and feel the weight of avocados hanging from the branches. Chatting with the farmer Bob Cannard and learning about rose hips and strawberry trees. Quite literally a breath of fresh air. I feel very lucky to be able to get involved and learn about the entire process of my work. A great way to spend my day off.

Want them to know what your name is

2008-12-05T22:20:00.002-06:00

Have I mentioned that one of the photo shoots at the restaurant was for San Francisco magazine, which was doing an article on desserts in the area and one of the photos features yours truly.

Oh yeah, in the background of a picture the size of a postage stamp. woop woop.

Dashing through the Snow

2008-12-05T19:33:00.003-06:00

I came home from work at 5...technically I'm done at 3:30 everyday but I hung out to make cocoa nib truffles...so anyway I staggered home drunk with exhaustion and sugar. My eyes brightened as I climbed the stairs to see my roomie Sam bustling around our new "outside" Christmas tree and a present from "St. Nick" was sitting on my counter...complete with my family's "It's not Christmas unless you have this cookie" Cookie.

With a Smile on Your Face

2008-12-04T22:18:00.003-06:00

I never thought about the concept of someone screaming off key until I was at a concert last night and suddenly I can't hear the blaring music over:
"AAAhaaaaaahhhhhhhHHHAAAAaahHHHHahhhAAAAAaaaaaHHH"

For the entire song.

My first thought is, I wonder if something is wrong with this girl, who seems to be making this incredibly loud jarring noise for absolutely no reason. Just screaming. But then the song ends and so does her yelling and she starts telling her friends how she doesn't want to have a voice tomorrow. Imagine the most nasal voice you've ever heard and add raspy, Jersey/surfer accent and you have this girl. I didn't get it either. So as I began pondering whether I complain to someone, move and hope to not get caught or what. And then the song comes on that I had been waiting and hoping to hear. But wait, I can't hear it because of the wahaAAAhhhhHHHHAAahaha wacko behind me. So then the visions of fists flying begin flying through my head.
The song ends and the dude next to me leans over, "if no one fills those seats up there after the next song, we're moving" which alleviated the idea that it was all in my head and actually not that horrifying a noise as I thought...as the girl starts talking about how she's going to be as loud as she wants to be, she doesn't care, yadda yadda yadda.

in my head I was was screaming as loud as she was.

I turn around and tell her I can't hear the music over her screaming.

She feigns shock.

And other than a handful of comments "directed at her friends" *wink wink* about how she couldn't make noise anymore, and some screams at normal junctures, I heard every song from there on.

Anticlimactic story? yes. But I am constantly surprised by the anticlimactic strangeness found in everyday life.

My moon, my man

2008-12-01T12:06:00.002-06:00

So in about a month and a half I will be leaving Cali and heading back to New York. Which means I can start stressing about the possibility of driving cross-country by myself in winter. Yikes. So if anyone knows someone along the way who 1. wants to join in the drive or 2. wants to let me crash at their pad...OR if anyone wants to come visit me in Berkeley and then take an awesome road trip to anywhere between here and NY, that would be awesome. I'll pack the snacks.

Oh anxiety.

My life surely would be upside down

2008-11-29T18:41:00.002-06:00

My family left while I was at work today. It was a wonderful week-long visit from them. Thanksgiving was fantastic and my family were good sports about my tiny apartment and proportionally tiny kitchen. All in all, great.

I'm staying in California for about the same amount of time that I lived in Chile and I'm beginning to think it is the worst amount of time to live anywhere. Just enough time to get really comfortable and start loving a place before leaving. Awesome.

Interestingly, a year ago I was in Mumbai.

The Engine Turns on a Dime

2008-11-17T22:36:00.002-06:00

60 Minutes stopped by again. Whenever the segment actually airs, if you see a lady peeling 34 quarts of Sierra Beauty apples, that lady would be me.

After my shift ended I hopped in on the wine class the restaurant has every monday then headed home, at which point a random guy asked if he could walk along with me and recite some poetry to me. Ok so when he was done with two (actually pretty decent) poems, he tried to sell me a little book of poems he had put together. Still, feeling like I'm living the good life. AND, I can now walk up stairs like a normal person.

Don't ask about going down stairs yet.

On such a winter's day

2008-11-14T22:34:00.002-06:00

Last night I was invited to go foraging. This is not your ancestors' foraging. I made my way to the restaurant around 1 to meet up with the rest of the group. We grabbed some drinks, some bread and headed to campus where a random and humongous olive tree stands in front of a campus store and across the street from an urban outfitters. surreal. We opened up some bottles of wine and begin stripping the tree of as many olives as we could reach (and see) in the darkness.

The night may or may not have ended with a visit from a cop who, when he found out we were all coming off of working at the restaurant and were seriously harvesting olives, gave us a smile, "alright, pour 'em out. I know how it is for you guys, I've worked in restaurants and yours is a great one. I know you need to relax with how hard you must work, but tonight, do it somewhere else."

And 3 hours later, I got up to go to work.

Even as my eyes do see it

2008-11-09T16:46:00.003-06:00

I am feeling pretty pathetic as I limp around the restaurant, knee blown up, bruised and still bleeding a bit and hands bandaged up quite fantastically. At least I get a few laughs from people confirming the ridiculous image I have of myself as I carry farm boxes down stairs, taking the stairs one. step. at. a. time.

This is incredibly frustrating and has doubled the amount of time I take to do absolutely everything. Luckily it's healing up pretty quickly as far as I can tell and I plan to be good as new within the week.

Hey Me Hey Mama

2008-11-05T23:27:00.003-06:00

The television's proclamation of Obama's win is echoed by car horns blaring and joyous screams from the street. Strangers high-five as they pass each other and dance freely down the sidewalk. I head to the restaurant and am met by a glass of champagne, hugs and congratulations. Giddy grins and shining eyes filled with hope and accomplishment head out into the Berkeley night where revelers are dancing and drinking in the street. Traffic going through crowds with arms stretched from the windows to the stars and American flags waving in the darkness. Fireworks booming, music pumping and glasses constantly filled. Berkeley was alive last night.

However, the decision to head downtown to the bars with a group of people on bikes landed me on handlebars for the ride, landing me sprawled on the pavement in the middle of an intersection, landing me on my couch with a coworker icing my bloody mess of a knee at 2am, landing me in the emergency room on my day off to get x-rays. Kneecap officially not fractured. But body officially Messed Up.

let it be me

2008-11-02T17:03:00.005-06:00

Terra Madre was like an AIESEC conference. Except about food. And 7000 people of all ages. And more diverse I would say. And less dancing breaks, which would have been more than welcome by me. So I guess there were definitely differences, but it often had the same feel. And I sat in workshops wondering if they talk about our food structure at AIESEC conferences these days. I wonder how many normal people who consider themselves politically intelligent and active completely forget the importance of things like food choices and food laws (especially in the United States). I don't think people generally grab a bag of chips and wonder if that choice contributed to the suicides of over 87,000 farmers in India between 2002 and 2006 (Search for anything Vandana Shiva, especially YouTube videos. Amazing). That would be depressing.

Remember that going to the polls on Tuesday is not the only time you cast a vote.

So the conference did have many depressing times, but also many inspiring times. People are doing some amazing work around this world.
The US delegation had a meeting one day and Wisconsin showed up strong, with appearances by Tory Miller of L'etoile in Madison and Will Allen, doing great things in Milwaukee, among other places.

In other news, work is wonderful. I'm really getting into my groove and enjoying it. Also having a pretty good time outside of work, hanging out, working some more, becoming a fixture at the local cafe and library... And I can't wait to go back to school. Ironic.

Till I won't no more

2008-10-21T19:27:00.002-05:00

A lot of my foodie friends have been abuzz about this recent article, written by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, if you've read them (if not, definitely think about heading to your library). It's a bit lengthy but brings up some great points.

Kissing Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream

2008-10-17T22:32:00.002-05:00

This week I ate the best strawberries of my life. Mid-October. Strawberries. Californians are spoiled when it comes to eating seasonally. This is a walk in the ideal climate park. I also have fresh figs for breakfast many days...and can tell you whether I prefer kadota, greek royal or black mission figs. I haven't been bragging about the food I eat on a daily basis. It's amazing. Amazing. Although to be fair, I pile on the food at work so that I don't have to spend as much money to feed myself. And I get spoiled at work.

I have the next two days off, which will be filled with getting ready for Italy among other things. Miss Sarah is in town for a marathon Sunday. It's amazing how a familiar face can brighten your day.

Get yourself to the butterfly lounge

2008-10-15T23:39:00.002-05:00

Apparently we do have "photo shoots" all the time. Every time that I decide to not shower before work. Luckily I'm an intern and therefore not in any camera's lens.

My fingers seem permanently berry-stained, joints constantly aching and the pads of my fingers are exfoliated to the point of hyper-sensitivity, thanks to strawberry seeds, peach and plum pits, leathery fig leaves and a good daily dose of searing hot pots, sheet trays, water, everything.

I also got a second job as a server at catering events. So if all goes well, I will soon be catatonic from exhaustion--but with an income!