sushmita's posterous - Filed under 'SF'

June 22, 2009

Treasure Hunt in SF!

I've always loved treasure hunts, so you can imagine my excitement when I heard about the Diamond Dash treasure hunt. Theo and I woke up on Sat morning and headed to Crissy Field to participate. They gave us breakfast, t-shirts (advertising David Clay Diamonds), and then we were off! Different clues and riddles were texted to each pair and we ran around the area solving and answering the puzzles.

Theo and I solved the final puzzle reasonably fast and were headed to the area where the diamond ring was hidden when we got a txt saying that the diamond had been found, game over. Shucks. But we headed over anyways because it seemed like a cool spot to check out (Wave Organ). On the way, we passed a couple leaving the winning area and they told us they thought it was a hoax because they hadn't seen anyone with the ring and even the cameramen didn't seem to know who won. When we got to Wave Organ (really pretty spot btw), there were two other couples there, a couple photographers, and a couple of the game organizers. Theo and I were chilling on the rocks when suddenly we saw a guy from one of the couples bending down to pick up a box, saying something about how one of the organizers just dropped the box in front of him. The cameraman was right there and rolling as the guy pulled out the $15000 diamond ring, dropped to one knee and proposed :) Apparently he had been the first one there, but his girlfriend wasn't with him, so they were waiting for her to join him. Pretty awesome event!

Click here to download:

Treasure_Hunt_in_SF.zip (12111 KB)

Filed under // SF

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May 20, 2009

I totally need to start taking the SF BART more often...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/red-swings-on-bart-train-san-francisco.php

Click here to download:

I_totally_need_to_start_taking.zip (149 KB)

Filed under // odd SF

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April 24, 2009

9th Annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel race

Every year, a few hundred local SF'ers dress up (we'll take any excuse to put on a costume) to race down a very curvy hill in the city on big wheels and other little kids' toys. The race was originally held on Lombard St. and has since moved to the very twisty Vermont and 20th in Potrero Hill. There are only two rules: no rubber wheels and no trash left behind. Everything else is fair game.

Click here to download:

9th_Annual_Bring_Your_Own_Big_.zip (10553 KB)

Filed under // odd SF

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February 26, 2009

How to Cook a Dragon

We went to a book reading at the Get Lost bookstore in the Castro last night. The author, Linda Furiya, is ethnically Japanese but grew up in a small town in Indiana where her family brought in the only ethnic diversity. Begin the tale of cultural confusion! Actually it gets more complicated - at 30, she ends up in a serious relationship with an American man who lives abroad in China. She leaves her apartment and job in San Francisco to visit him in Beijing and ends up staying for years. This book was about her experiences in China and she uses food as a metaphor to describe everything she went through during those years.

I could relate to the cultural confusion being Indian American and not being fully Indian or American :P She had an even more exaggerated experience growing up as the only Asian in a small little town. She seems quite American in terms of her outlook and way of life, but in terms of food, she mentioned seeking comfort in both American and Japanese food. Her parents only cooked Japanese food, but she did tell us about a close neighbor who taught her mom (and her) how to make pie crust and turkey and stuffing and some other great American classics. In Beijing, with food as her solace, she found it very difficult to find any of her comfort foods. She talked about how she and her then-boyfriend overcame the challenges of making a grilled cheese sandwich (they had to use their bread machine instead of the sweet thin-sliced white bread found in Beijing) and how they searched everywhere to find shoestring french fries to accompany their homemade burgers (one of them used to run down the street to the McDonalds, but the fries wrapped in plastic there would be soggy by the time they got home...finally they found shoestring fries in a random mom and pop grocery store.)

Someone asked at the end if she has been back to China since, and she said that she doesn't want to because she left so many memories there (I think referring to her relationship that ended there). But the other thing I found interesting and kinda lovely was that she spoke about not wanting to change her memories of Beijing and Shanghai. She doesn't want to go back and see how it all looks different, but rather wants to believe that they are the same cities she experienced so much in for those years.

Filed under // food SF

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February 24, 2009

A Delicious Day of Fun

One reason I love living in SF is that this crazy city holds events like a grilled cheese invitational which happened this past Saturday: http://www.grilledcheeseinvitational.com/norcal

Molly, Theo, and I got up and were out the door by 11:15 to make sure we'd be early enough in line to be one of the 500 judges. We power walked our way from Potrero Hill to Dolores Park, burning off some calories to make room for the grilled cheese! Sadly, when we got in line they announced that they had fewer judges than expected and were reducing the numbers even more. So we didn't make it in.

But somehow, if you can believe it, it turned out to be a very awesome grilled-cheese-free day. Here are some highlights:

Tartine: We met up with Vandna and Derek in the line and headed to Tartine to pick up some delicious treats and then settled down in Dolores Park to eat (pics below) There were tons of silly dogs...one in particular who romped over to us, licked Derek's cream tart, and rolled over on his side knocking over Theo's water with his tongue hanging out in excitement :)

Katamari in Dolores Park: As we were getting up to wander over to watch a few minutes of the grilled cheesing, I happened to see my two friends from Seattle who were in town also sitting at the park to eat their Tartine treats! So they joined our group and wandered over to the grilled cheese mob. As we were standing back to watch the chaos, we ran into another of our friends who was with a friend. So two more joined us for our wandering adventures. From our arrival at Dolores Park, we went from 3 to a group of 9.

Omnivore: When I was at Tartine I flipped through a Noe Valley newspaper which advertised an event at a local bookstore where Lori Narlock, author of Small Plates, Perfect Wines would be talking about pairing wine with small plates. "Wine and appetizers will be available". Our big group strolled over to the Omnivore bookstore which turned out to be an awesome store focused on all things food. Lori made two delicious dishes that we all got to try along with a Chardonnay. Molly bought her book so I will definitely post again when we get a chance to cook some of the dishes in the book.

Pirate store!: Did you know there is a pirate store in the Mission? How excellent. And they're charitable pirates...they provide tutoring and workshops to help students develop their writing skills.

Shoe Biz: Across the street from the pirate store was a fun shoe store where I picked up a new pair (in one of the pics below).

Little Otsu: While I was in the shoe store, the rest of the gang went to a cute vegan boutique nearby where they make some really great prints.

Luna Park (bar/restaurant): By this point in the day, we were back down to 4 people. Molly, Theo, Vandna and I hit Luna Park to sit down after all that walking. And we ordered a sangria punch bowl :) It was not sangria, but it was still very tasty and a nice way to kill some time before dinner.

Mission St Food: Very cool SF thing where every Thurs and Sat the Mission St. Food organizers feature a local guest chef who makes a set of small dishes. "Ideally, this will be part of an indie cooking movement that will let talented cooks reach the public without the risks of opening a conventional restaurant—and let the public enjoy great food without the costs of dining at a conventional restaurant." They used to do this out of a taco truck, but have made the move to a Chinese restaurant to have more room for these guest chefs. Profits go to a food-related charity. The food was pretty good - we tried all the savory items on the menu and I think our favorite was the Peking Crepes.

Theo, Molly, and I managed to catch a bus back, pick up some white russian materials for our Big Lebowski viewing and get home just as the rain started. Perfect.