r3dm0nk3y
It's been two weeks
since I started my job. It's really been swell. It is hard finding any free time right now, with full time hours at work and summer school in full swing.
The Berkeley campus makes UCSD look tacky. I walk from the BART station, down a street full of cool restaurants and shops, through an on-campus nature preserve, and past beautiful buildings to get to my class - not to mention the fact that it is always sunny and ten degrees warmer than the city.
The award for first person to visit me in SF goes to Richard. He is up here on some business adventure. We are going to reminisce like it hasn't been three weeks.
Posts will increase in frequency once I have been returned to the land of high speed internet, a.k.a. next Saturday.
Moved In
Our new place is kind of dissapointing. Don't get me wrong the city is great, and our place is asethetically pleasing, but it is quite loud. The walls are paper thin and our neighbors, who moved in two days after us, have partied until 2am the last two nights. Looks like we are in for at least a year of fun.
I walked to work a few minutes ago. It only took me a little over half an hour. I got to the area early, so I stopped by a coffee shop called Brain Wash, just down the street from the office. It is my first day today and I am both nervous and excited. Off I go.
Everything is packed
and stacked into the moving truck. We leave tomorrow at 5 AM for the great north. Nat is waking up at 3 AM to convince the cats to take a sedative. I do not envy her. I'm already tired from moving all of our stuff down one flight of stairs. Come tomorrow, we are moving O's + our stuff up four flights of stairs. Rock and roll. I am so antsy to get moved. 10 more hours.
Gnocchi with Fresh Veggie Sauce
Treat yourself to some tasty Italian potato thingys. I just made this up tonight. It turned out really well.
1 pack of vegan gnocchi (I like the ones they sell at Trader Joe's)
3 or 4 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 carrot, diced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
about 1 tbsp olive oil
about 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
to taste: salt, pepper, dried basil, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, whatever
Some roughly linear steps:
1. Start a big pot of water a boilin'
2. Chop all of the veggies
3. Add the oil to a big pan or wok and heat it up at a medium-high-ish
4. After the oil is hot add the sliced garlic and brown it (don't burn it, duh)
5. Add the rest of the veggies once the garlic is nice and golden-ish
6. Add all of the spices and vinegar to taste and stir the pan/wok occasionally
7. Oh yeah, don't forget about the boiling water. Cook the gnocchi. When they are floating, drain the pot
8. Saute all of the goodness that now lives in the pan/wok until the tomatoes have broken down, but the other veggies still have a little crunch
9. Toss in the gnocchi and mix away
10. Yay!
Recipe Manifesto
I am going to start posting recipes that Nat and I make up or modify substantially. I think that people often have a negatively skewed perspective on vegan cuisine. My hope is that you will be inspired to try out a recipe for yourself. When I think of new recipes I think in approximations. As such, spice amounts, etc. vary each time I make a particular dish. Play around. Have fun.
Last time
we moved we procured a bunch of free boxes from Wal-Mart...a bunch of free bleach boxes. After we moved, everything had the stank of hospital for weeks. This time we are letting no luxury go undiscovered: we bought a bunch of moving boxes. Stackable, clean, strong moving boxes.
Nat and I have made a verbal list of all of the things we want to do in San Diego before we depart. One of these things is to attend the Hillcrest Farmer's Market and binge on tamales, hummus, and olives. Fatness ahoy!
Back in San Diego
weary from the horror of driving through LA at rush hour. O was nice enough to post the pictures we took of the apartment to his
Flickr gallery. They don't do the place any justice. You will have to visit to experience its true glory. I'll write more once my brain has an opportunity to recover.
We found one
We have a new home. It is perfect. Huge kitchen. Views of the bay and the city. Hardwood floors. Really tired and full of vegan ice cream. Will post a few pics tomorrow night.
Awful night, exciting day
I'm sitting in Russian Hill at Royal Ground Coffee. The Nob Hill/Russian Hill area is adorable. Our hotel room was so noisy last night. Live music and yelling outside at 1:00am. We have two places to look at at 2:00pm, a place a 5:00pm and another at 6:00pm. Spent the morning watching bad television and laughing at Bob Barker's animated corpse.
Safe...we think
The drive to San Francisco took almost exactly eight hours. We somehow managed to find our hotel without getting lost. The hotel is kinda creepy. Our room looks out across Geary Street to "Frenchy's" Adult Superstore. Frenchy's promises a DVD sale to end all sales, but the people blatantly dealing drugs in front must just be there to create some ambiance. There's also these anonymous redish stains on our carpet. Hooray! Fear not - we don't feel unsafe, but I'm glad we're only staying five days.
There's no wireless at the hotel, so updates may be a little sparse. I'll try to find a hotspot close by.
Tonight, after we go look at some apartments, we're walking to this Thai place that promises "Certified 100%-Pure Vegan" fare. As if that wasn't keen enough, it also has free wi-fi.
UPDATE: The first place we looked at was really cute...for someone else. Great neighborhood. Very young and diverse. However, the flat was on a busy street with no parking and was all tagged up. No dice.
Let the hunt begin
Natalie and I leave tomorrow morning to start looking for apartments in San Francisco - the same fine city that brought us Rice-a-Roni. We have appointments to look at several places on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have a meeting with B|P on Wednesday.