Rise of the Megalodon

TFB Movie night featured the can't miss "Best Worst movie ever" according to some
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon.

This is the movie with those "awesome" giant shark special effects. You know the one where the guy drives his sea-doo right into the shark's mouth? It is also the movie featuring a most infamous proposition. Featured before in the best worst movies clip, here is a compilation of many of the movies crazy moments. Many more moments unshown.

The only types of Sharks I like

3/30 Game 40, Sharks vs. Coyotes
















Down low watching warm ups.
















I've never been close to the ice with hockey players on it but man is it nice. It's like going from a crappy 13 inch TV to a 60 inch HD TV. All the players look... big! And human sized. I imagine there's a lot of head pivoting involved but someday I have to watch a game from one of those primo spots.
















JR
















In between period Shark blimp.





















































A 3-1 victory for the home team.
















And this was the best shot I could get of Wayne Gretzky. He's the one in the grey suit with all the red lines of hockey lore spilling from his brain.
















Post game "wrap up" and Sneakers. Nothing of note.

And back to our regularly scheduled program...

My day started with taxes. Time to get these done and away with. As the image above indicates, it did not go as well as I'd have liked. I owe very little but that wasn't the problem. Last year when I filed with H&R Block, it was a pretty reasonable price. At least I remember it being like that. As a return customer, I was expecting not just similar, but quicker service. They had all of my info on their computers after all, but alas. Fail. It was just as slow and I had an extra form that needed to be filled out for stocks because some stocks were automatically sold to cover the profit/discount from the ESPP. Anyways, ok that was nice to get that handled except the cost of services some how almost doubled from what I recall from last year so no more H&R Block. >=P And the tax lady, telling me to buy a house so I can deduct property tax and mortgages? Mind your own business! You're looking at my records. I obviously can't afford a mortgage in the Bay Area. OK, end of tax rant.
















So I was also antsy about time because I wanted to get to the San Francisco Sketch Crawl at Ghiradelli Square.
















A lot of people were drawing the other people drawing which I reminded me of art school but it also made me think "that's something you can do all the time!" Well, at least if you're a student. As for people, I thought getting out and drawing people in motion was more interesting. Personally speaking.
















Teleport! Headed over to the Redwood Regional Park in Oakland for a hike. This is by the Canyon Meadow Staging Area. I was supposed to meet Ed and co. here for some light picnicking and a hike but got there a little late. Maybe today was an antsy day cause with no cellular reception in the middle of the woods, I didn't know if they we late or had run up the trail.
















I'm usually more patient but something about sitting still did not jive with me today. So off on the trail I went.
















and went...
















obviously taking pictures along the way.





















The weather was nice. Warm enough but not so much that a hike would cause you to get uncomfortably hot.
















And then up a trail...













So this is about at the sharp left turn on the left side of the map. The blue X's are guesses at where I took these pictures. So I've already walked 1.5 miles and you'd think I'd have seen Ed and co. by now or more likely they were late and I should walk back. Nope, let's climb up the 30% grade hill instead??? So up the mountain I went. Up the trail. The even shrinking in width trail.
















Until better judgement and irrational fear of non-present woodland creatures made me turn around.





















I'm probably 1/2 a mile up the mountain by now.
















So with the return walk back I managed to walk 4 miles supposedly looking for Ed and co. but that really turned out to an adventure in "male exploration." I really should have taken one of those map pamphlets. If I had continued on that trail, it would have looped back around.
















Oh well.













So I did find Ed and co. at the picnic area (duh!) They had just finished eating but were hanging around. Karen and Jason were playing with their cute kid Theo. I started at the picnic foods so quickly that there are pictures of neither picnic of picnic foods. After an hour or so of lounging about and recharging on nourishing foods, I guess I was ready for more. Ed, Karen, Emily, and I went for a hike while Daphne stayed behind to read/sleep and Jason and Theo stayed below to play.
















They had signs along the trails warning us about newts and trouts. Here was a ~5 inch newt crossing the street. I guess we just missed mating season.





















Oh yeah, so that map above shows the trail we took. I don't think those maps are to scale. The curvy part on the left side of the trail on the map; yeah there were like 5x more curves. It was hard to tell just how far we were along the trail. I wish they had trail markers on the trail with corresponding indicators on the map. Just a thought.
















We did hear a bunch of coyotes while on the hill. They were so goofy sounding we thought it might have been people making the sounds but some of them were just too good to be humans. Jason had taken Theo for a stroller ride along the trail and was convinced they were all coyotes.
















Ok, about 7 miles +1 from walking to/from Ghiradelli to Fort Mason.
















Dinner. Too tired to cook but still managed to walk 8 Clement block (and back) for food. =P The "Phở" on the sign had always kept me away from this place. I don't want to get my Phở from a nice looking place like this. I'm sure I feel it to be overpriced and not "good enough" to cost more but then I read on yelp that they served crab + garlic noodles so I thought I'd go try this place out. Not for the Phở but for the regular menu items I guess I overlooked.
















I've never had crab + garlic noodles before but I was really pleased with this dish. Let's just say it had a new flavor previously unexperienced; and it was really good too. Not salty. And the crab flavor was really integrated into the overall flavor of the dish. I wasn't too hungry so I got the smaller serving and it turned out to be just the right amount. I left thinking about when I'd be able to come back and try more of their (less expensive) foods to see if they can all taste so good. The service was really good too. Well the one main guy. He seemed like the head chef but was running around doing most of the servicing.

Busy day. So tired.

How cool is this? Pt. 2

What next? An kangaroo that can make sushi?

How cool is this?

Monkey Riding Mini Bike - Watch more free videos

Show, Singing Bear, Street Talking

Ben had a closing night reception for his show.
































An... interpretive? song performance by Tranny Bear Loves Trout.









We were delighted with some wonderful street conversation when Thien showed up. We talked about his upcoming podcast, restaurant reviews, restaurant ideas, and art show ideas.

Those evil mice!

World's Scientists Admit They Just Don't Like Mice

lol

Monday Creations

So TFB postponed their movie night to Wednesday so I sort of had my own normal movie night. Rummaging through my DVDs I was surprised to discover I had A History of Violence. When did I get this movie? How long has it sat unwatched on my shelf? Why is this movie poster so awful? Ok, I get it. Ooo, we can't see his whole face, it's shrouded not in darkness but behind a gun. But it's also a really awful poster. Maybe I'll "get it" when I watch the movie and get jealous because game ads don't tend to do such in depth ads with hidden meanings that surface post process. Well unless you consider I Love Bees in depth but not the depth I was going for. Look forward to my edited notes. Or if none, I was spot on with my cheesy and awful poster with no depth call.





















The other creation of mine tonight is a revisit to a forgotten ingredient:
















Gorgonzola. Here is a look at the interesting cheese. It has lots of these mold pockets that give it a marbley appearance.
















As such, I sought to create a sauce that mimicked this marbling. Here is my sauce before any Gorgonzola has been added. It has a reduced sake base with creme for the body. Ground pepper and nutmeg for some extra depth and added creamy taste and for faux mold, some freshly chopped Italian parsley.
















Gorgonzola can have a strong overpowering flavor so some spears of asparagus are added for both nutrition and tempering.

Some more BYOBW

Up close



and the first person cam.

Sunday, Bloody Easter Sunday

Boulange de Cole Valley





















For a bit of a reunion. Who is our surprise guest? Can you guess before you get down past the food pictures?
















Smoked Salmon Frittattattatta. In that category of good but not great.
















Fruit Tart. Hard to go wrong with one of these.





















Does anyone recognize our guest? It's Alice. She's been in living in SF for about 5 years now but she was originally one of the New York Chinese... peoples crowd. I think the last time I saw her was at a reception for my brother Gabe's wedding engagement. 1999?





















I'm not liking my hair right now. It's in the medium awkward length where anything resembling control over it requires many minutes and careful hair product application. Ok folks, Alice says hello to all of you but now she's gonna go deliver her boyfriend some lunch.
















Easter Sunday would bring me to McKinley Square near the Potrero Hill area. There is a pretty good view from up here. I think I can see the Twin Peaks of Twin Peaks.
















The have an official dog path for you dog owners.












So this is it. It's called BYOBW. Bring your own Big Wheel. As in those plastic kid three wheel low to the ground pedal bikes. The event began at 5pm. Last year BYOBW took place on Lombard St. but I guess due to the tourist pull Lombard street is, it caused too much trouble for the residence that they got angry and made threats. So this year's BYOBW took place on what I feel is an even curvier street on Vermont at 20th st. Here is the street at 4:20











And then at 4:40









4:55...





















5:00



Go!
















After the first run down the hill, everyone mobbed back up for another go. It was A LOT of freakin' people.
















View from down below.





































View from up top.
















Cue Daft Punk: "One more time" I liked the big red bud helmet. It looked so comical coming down the street.


















Another decent view of downtown.
















Back home, some Portobello Risotto
















And the dish I think I will never make again because it's just more food than I can possibly eat and it takes too long to prepare (unless I pre-bake the peppers not-next time) to make for hungry guests.

Here is a video of me cooking in my apron and underwear.