nils biker boy video

a short video from del mar

This blog is NOT abandoned!

I read not long ago that there are something like 220 million abandoned blogs in this country. That's a lot of stalled ambition.

My ambition inre: blogging was stalled for a while, too. That and forgetting my login info for blogger. So there you have it.

Anyway, the only reportable excitement is that our neighborhood has a regular ice cream truck. Who knew? And what you don't see in the photo shown here is the little kid down the block absolutely SCREAMING for ice cream. Good to know some things never change.

And that's enough small town news for today.

Art and Commerce

On this most recent Sunday, we went to the birthday party for the lovely and wonderful Annie Galvin at Ireland's 32 on Geary.

We haven't seen Annie or her husband Eric for quite a while. Too long, in fact, since they're both sweet, funny and generally terrific people. They're both pursuing their artistic passions, and Annie is a so talented...and I want the wrestler painting (pictured with this post) from her Wexford Girl website!

One of the more interesting moments during the party was that someone asked me if I was an artist like Annie -- the answer in my case being no....

However, it did strike me that so many of our friends have combined art and commerce to hammer out a living AND follow their dreams....Annie paints, Eric is starting a printmaking business, Lauren is a photographer, Joel and Noami cook, Carter is a textile designer, etc., etc., etc. Only question is -- WTF am I doing???

Right on to them I say -- and as for myself, I better get on it and find my muse. Or maybe my muse is just stuck somewhere on MUNI....

More anon.

1 for 2 on local recommendations...

So, we got two recommendations on local joints -- the first for Chinese and the second for coffee/breakfast.

The Chinese joint, called Chinatown -- as in "I'll take you down to Chinatown" -- is on Kentucky Street in the heart of downtown P'luma.

We ordered some shrimp chow mein, potstickers, orange chicken and sauteed spinach. While the potstickers were good, the rest of it was drowned in cooking oil -- such that if have a biodiesel in need of a fillup, this is could be your spot.

We'll try it again, but order carefully.

Our second local pick, the Tea Room Cafe, was much more successful. This is a coffee/tea house that serves breakfast and lunch/brunch-y stuff. We went on this most recent warm Saturday morning, and it is a warm and inviting space, and was plenty busy. We ordered breakfast and grabbed a seat outside to enjoy the morning sun. Jen had some potato cakes (kind of a pancake made of mashed potatoes) with a side of bacon, and I enjoyed some banana-pecan pancakes. Both yummy, and sustenance enough to see us through out shopping trip to the Saks outlet....

Sooze Wine Bar + Kabuki Sushi - downtown Petaluma

We just got back from downtown.... before settling on a dinner location, we had a quick glass of wine at "Sooze" -- the wine bar in the socalled Great Petaluma Mall. Personally I was underwhelmed by the Mall and we were both underwhelmed by Sooze.

Don't get me wrong, I love the concept and I like their wine list. But seriously, $9 for a glass of unremarkable local Pinot Noir (and this was the low end) doesn't really cut it. For that kinda dough, you can go to Bacar or any other place in the city and imbibe. I can get a $25 glass of Kistler chard pretty much anywhere.

Factor in a rather pricey continental-influenced menu, and that's a tall order here in shit-kicker-ville.

Dinner at Kabuki, however, was great. Good, fresh cuts of nigiri sushi served by actual Japanese people! We ordererd several pieces of nigiri, one roll and a tonkatsu dinner. The tonkatsu (aka tempura fried pork chop/cutlet) was a big portion and the dinner sides (salad, miso soup) also showed evidence of effort by the staff. Our waitress was a bit indifferent, but the busser and the sushi chef (who asked us to do the tipout separately) were great.

Also, the guy hosting reminded me a bit of the American Taliban guy, John Walker Lindh. But I'm sure that is only a coincidence. I think the real dude is in gitmo or something.

Next up -- I may discuss my frequent trips to Whole Foods -- the melting pot of Petaluma...

roading 1.0

As all of you know, I am a bit of a car freak. I like to drive...and the new digs in Petaluma put me close to some really good driving roads in Marin and Sonoma County. The West side of Petaluma is a good jumping-off point for vehicular misadventures, particularly on rainy, lightly-traffcked afternoons...heh heh heh.

The first loop that I tried is Western Avenue to Spring Hill to Chileno Valley Road -- starting from downtown P'luma, you take Western (going West, surprisingly) which then turns into Spring Hill Road as you leave town. Western is dull, and things don't get interesting until Spring Hill, where you get to see a lot of dairy farms and cattle ranches. Spring Hill is mostly a transit, but has a few good corners -- once you get to Bodega Ave, you take a left and then turn on to the Tomales-Petaluma road, which takes you past a Coast Guard training center.

Make a left past the Coast Guard place, and you're on Chileno Valley Road -- it is a really nice combination of 3rd and 4th gear corners, with nice elevation changes and very little traffic. This section around Laguna Lake is really cool, and the views are spectacluar.

Next time, I am headed up to Bodega Bay.