A major part of planning is shopping, and a major part of shopping is knowing where to shop. While the grocery list for our Iberian dinner contained plenty of items that were easily gathered in one morning's visit to the…
On a beautiful, balmy mid-February day, DPaul and I were compelled to undertake a field trip to Berkeley. Shocking, but true: We actually crossed the bridge.
Our main impetus for this excursion was to go to Sari Palace on University Ave to pick up a couple of Jodhpuri suits that we had had made for Saturday night’s Mardi Gras event. This in itself is reason enough to go to Berkeley; we each had a gorgeously embroidered, beaded and brocaded suit made custom for less than off-the-rack at Men’s Wearhouse.
But it was a lovely day, and as long as we found ourselves out in the Eastern colonies, we opted to avail ourselves to one of my greatest pleasures, Urban Ore. A self-proclaimed "ecopark," Urban Ore is a scavenge yard chockablock with the detritus and flotsam of countless renovations or demolitions. While it’s not the place to go if you’re looking for something very specific, you are almost certain to find something you didn’t know you needed.
In a past life, when I was doing theatrical set and prop design, I practically lived at Urban Ore. When your budget is under $100 and you need to effectively build and furnish an entire house, this is where you start.
As loyal readers know, I have a bit of an ice cream problem. It is, hands down, my favorite food, my greatest weakness and my guiltiest pleasure. I eat it very rarely as a result, in part out of deference…
I must confess that I started this post several times already, and repeatedly held back. For you see, though I do endorse Drewes Bros, I cannot do so unconditionally. There have been the occasional incidents that have set me off…
I know, I know. The obvious conclusion to that title is the farmer's market. But the reality is that the farmer's markets in town are profoundly inconvenient for me. When I do get to go to them, it's as a…
As I've mentioned in the past, despite my phenomenally WASPy name, I am in fact fully half Italian-American, and it is really culturally how I identify myself. The bulk of my family lived in Rotterdam, NY, a suburb of the…
Now, there's no shortage of places to buy wine in San Francisco or even, for that matter, here in Noe Valley. So that makes it all the harder for any of them to stand out. But hands down, my favorite…
I'm a mycophile, tried and true. Throughout my vegetarianism, mushrooms made a handy substitute for many meats. Finely diced and browned, they implied ground beef. Sliced and seared, they took on the toothsome texture of strips of pork or chicken.…
I like me some cheese, mmm hmm. And when I get the hankering for havarti, a craving for Cotswalds, the yen for...well, I can't think of a cheese that begins with Y...I head straight to the 24th Street Cheese Company.…
Certainly one of the greatest joys of San Francisco is access to incredible markets with great diversity and quality of product. I'm starting a Where to buy... category to capture my favorite places. It should come as little surprise that…