Corndogs + Avocados

You may have noticed that I blog in starts and fits. I suppose this is a fit. We’ve paused the catching up on the France trip back in March to bring you the following catch-up goings on from early April, mostly because I just found the chord that connects our camera to the computer so I can download pix from the last three weeks!

First, a couple of weeks ago we went to Zingari Ristorante in San Francisco. The food and the ambiance were decent, but, for the price, I think we expected more.

Darin had the Filetto Gorgonzola (filet Mignon) without the Gorgonzola and really liked it. I had Granchio con Panzanella (crispy crab cakes with truffle scented couscous and chipotle lime alioli), pictured below; decent but not amazing. Darin thought this part of my meal was hilarious. I followed it with the Barabietole (red ruby & beet terrine, Napa Valley goat cheese, balsamic & shallot infused vinaigrette walnut oil); nice. Ended with white chocolate profiteroles; decent but not amazing.

Many of you may be unfamiliar with the finer points of commuting on public transportation. If you find yourself a new commuter on BART, we have provided a photographic lesson below on proper commuter posture. Our model for this effective lesson was Darin. If you can manage to eek out a little drool the folks around you will believe in an instant that you are a seasoned BART-er. But if you snooze through your stop instead of magically coming to when the train arrives at your station we will all know that you’re an interloper.

(Note - Darin actually posed for this photo. It was not an action shot!)

HIGHLIGHT: Darin and I love Thai food. Two weeks ago we met Christina & Nick at Karen & Craig’s place for a Thai food extravaganza. It was brilliant. Karen & Craig had taken a Thai food cooking course and knew exactly what they were doing. We all showed up with various ingredients and Craig met us with a list of chopping, frying, slicing, etc. chores to be done. We all picked one or two things to do and Craig kept making graceful rounds with a tasting spoon to keep us somewhat on task and the food just right. It was the most relaxed and fun cooking I’ve ever done. We chatted, cubed, bounced babies, played with kids, chopped, chatted some more and suddenly dinner was ready!

This is something I want to do again and again.

And hello, these two couples have the cutest kids. We would have taken more pictures but it was our first time to the inner sanctum of Thai cuisine and we didn’t want to behave too much like star-struck tourists.

I’m guessing moms only want pictures of their kids revealed when their faces are clean and they’re picking up their toys or hugging teddybears. Since I’m not a mom yet, however, I’m immune to such constraints. And I LOVE these two boys!

And the cout d-etat, Darin cooked. I have proof here. I knew I’d have to post the proof or none of you would believe it. Make sure your volume is turned on.

Finally, mom got a baby Mantis rototiller. She put it together and she and Darin braved the planter boxes out back together. When you pull the chord to get the motor going it sort of purrs/chugs like a little motorcycle engine. But the moment you squeeze the handles that little machine screams right into action! I’m not sure who was more excited, Mom to have the boxes rototilled or Darin to have played with a motorized thingamadoohicky.

Also big news was the Stockton Asparagus festival weekend with my fabulous sister and her phenomenal husband. But you’ll have to check back in a couple of days for shots of that. I have to go create a test for my high school students now. Yuck.