Lots of news, Diana Mini film roll back, and oysters fresh from Tomales Bay!

It's been exactly two months since I last updated this blog - I believe it's the longest lapse I have ever had happen since starting this chronicle of daily randomness nearly two years ago. Sorry! In any case, a quick news update before all of the pics and other goodies...

Since my last update, Ian and I (well, admittedly, mainly Ian) have been engrossed in planning for a huge 2.5 month long trip to Europe! We've been saving a ton of money over the past year working here in San Francisco and with me planning to start my last medical school pre-requisite classes in the fall and with Ian starting nursing school in the fall as well (yayyy!!!), we figure there's no better time to disappear to the other side of the globe for a little while. Once school starts up for both of us, it may be quite some time before we can take such a lengthy, uninterrupted trip. While at heart both of us prefer a traveling style more in line with picking one place and really experiencing it as a local would, with two and a half months we figured we would do a little bit of hopping around this time to get a general survey of the continent for future trip planning :-p. We will fly into Madrid, spending a few days there before making our way down to the Andalucia region of southern Spain with its incredible Moorish influence (Cordoba, Grenada, Seville, etc), may or may not ferry over to Tangier, Morocco for a day, before continuing up the Mediterranean coast to Valencia for two nights and onward to Barcelona for 4 nights. From there, we take a quick flight (our only within-Europe flight) over to Budapest for a couple of nights, train to Vienna for a night, and then train to Prague for a few nights. Berlin for nearly a week to visit friends is next, and Bryan will be flying in to join us! Per Bryan's request, we will then head to Hamburg for a bit before taking the train over to Amsterdam, and then making our way to Cologne. We have yet to decide if we will take a river ferry from Cologne down to the Frankfurt area, but we will eventually head to Strasbourg, and end at the apartment we are renting in Paris for the entire month of August. Bryan will spend his birthday in Paris with us :)

Ian and I will be packing only one backpack each (I have a 38-liter Deuter backpacking pack) ... I hate seeing people travel pulling their entire apartment in suitcases behind them, so we will keep it simple. Rather than doing hotels, we opted to use Airbnb.com to find rooms in people's homes or even entire apartments for short-term rent ... our average spent on lodging per night is well under $100/night, and we will have the added benefit of being able to interact with local hosts in each place we stay (one host claims she makes the best potato omelette in all of Spain!). We thought of the idea of hosteling our way through Europe, but with two people even a night in the hostel can be just as expensive as the private apartments we are renting through Airbnb. Anyhow, more details about the trip to come later in a separate post.

Memorial day weekend at the end of last month was spent in Richmond, Virginia for Ian's sister's wedding. I played violin before the ceremony while everybody was arriving, and then during the ceremony as well. While I am very well aware of the glaring mistakes I made here and there, nobody really seemed to notice and I received many compliments on the music (even trending on twitter and facebook immediately! haha). Rather than traditional stuffy wedding music, Katie opted for pop songs. I had never done anything like that before (playing along with a background instrumental track and improvising some parts), so it was a great way to expand my musical horizons beyond the classical world I trained in.

Now for some pictures ... I've been playing around with my cheap plastic toy camera (Diana Mini) lately, and threw a roll of expired Kodak T-max 400 (black&white) into it. What I love about this camera is that it is so basic (i.e. you have to simply guess your focusing distance and turn a nob that has some very vague focusing suggestions) that I have to relinquish all control. It really emphasizes the element of surprise when you get the photos back - half of the roll was pretty much no good, but some of the photos came out and I was pleased especially considering it was my first time ever using such a camera. In a world where perfectly exposed, perfectly focused digital pictures are the norm now, it's fun to get back to the real "raw" side of film photos

my super small and lightweight Diana mini 

Shooting half-frames (camera has a choice between two half-frame shots in one frame, or one full square frame)

Shooting in full square-frame mode

The garden shed at Ian's mom & stepdad's house in Richmond, VA. At first the fogginess of this photo being underexposed (i can't control the aperture or shutter speed) bothered me, but I slowly started falling in love with how it makes this photo look so creepy. While it was actually a beautiful warm morning with birds chirping, the shed surrounded by dark forest and the fogginess of underexposure totally change the mood to the complete opposite.

 At the historic Mankin Mansion in Richmond where the wedding took place. Ian and I playing real life chess - me as a human pawn!

At the Maymont Estate in Richmond

I threw in a roll of Kodak ultramax 400 (color negative 35mm) so I will compare how the camera shoots color vs black and white. So far I love the lack of control and the soft focus of the plastic lens. Supposedly with color film the cheap plastic lens will give nice color saturation and a soft "dreamy" photo look (like old family photos) so I will see once I finish off the current roll.

In other news, the other day Ian and I were itching for a day trip so we drove up north across the Golden Gate bridge to check out the Point Reyes National Shoreline area and Tomales Bay where some of the best oysters are farmed naturally ...

On the highway 1 just past tamalpais valley on the way through the Marin Headlands to the coast, a huge construction truck broke its axle and was turned totally sideways blocking both directions so traffic was backed up on the little road ... we waited patiently at standstill for over 45 mins

 Making our way up Highway 1 along the coast

First stop - Drake's Oyster Farm. Situated in a completely different estuary (Drake's Bay) than the other oyster farms (Tomales Bay), we stopped by here on our way to see the Point Reyes lighthouse. This family-run oyster farm supplies over 60% of all oysters in California and is one of the nation's only natural shellfish hatcheries (yes, from seed!). They primarily grow Pacific oysters (also known as Sweetwater oysters) which are originally from Miyagi, Japan. The sweetwater oyster tasted quite briney initially, but after chewing through it a little longer, surprisingly tasted exactly like cucumber

So the point reyes lighthouse was actually closed this day, but we did enjoy some hikes along the cliffs. Unique among lighthouses, the pt. reyes lighthouse is one of the few that is actually located lower, rather than higher, up on a cliff to increase visibility. This is due to the dense fog that blankets northern California - descending 300 feet from the cliff to reach the lighthouse allows the beam of light to actually pass under the fog layer rather than through it.

Made our way to Tomales Bay for the other oyster farms, most notably...... 

 Hog Island Oyster co! They are famously located in the San Francisco ferry plaza building as well, but their farm is located out here. Hog Island is the only farm in the area that also grows Kumamoto oysters (the little creamy ones) in addition to the common Pacifics that the others grow.

Grabbed a picnic bench next to the water, some chorizo, crackers, and local Cowgirl Creamery cheese (located nearby), and a dozen Kumamoto oysters to shuck ourselves 

Ian's lazy shucking

My first beautifully shucked kumamoto! So cleanly done ... I am an expert!

 

Nothing could beat this beautiful sunny day, shucking our own oysters right next to the water

 Love the tiny size of kumamotos along with their clean, creamy taste. I actually enjoyed these best completely plain with nothing added.

We eventually made our way through Petaluma on our way home and randomly stopped by this part of old town called the Water Street area ... trains used to pull up alongside the river and water mill

inside the water mill building

of course I can't pass through Sonoma farm country without grabbing something from a roadside farm stand! A pint of the freshest, most ripe red strawberries for home!

Liquid nitrogen ice cream, another step in the right direction, tea excursions, and book lists

Great article for those who haven't seen it yet. This is what unfortunately happens when we have to practice defensive medicine in the U.S. because everybody thinks doctors are miracle workers and are out to file lawsuits at every chance they can:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/04/04/149978690/doctors-urge-their-colleagues-to-quit-doing-worthless-tests


First off, sorry for the lack of updating recently! It all started when my digital camera died and I never re-charged it :-/

That said, Ian has reminded me that despite working nights, I shouldn't let work consume me ... there's more time in a day than just my 8-hour work shift. On the days I do go out and do lots of things, I feel great - I get so much accomplished. I am trying to remind myself of this more and more often.

I was feeling a little creative and headed down to the amazing FLAX art supply on the historic F-line tram. I heard that they had a pretty awesome selection of handcrafted papers/stationary (my weakness) and wanted to see for myself. I was also looking for something to do with all of the vial caps I've been collecting.

(not my image: http://www.hayesvalleyshop.com/stores/flax.html)

This place is pretty incredible ... it's like a Safeway-sized warehouse of absolutely anything and everything! Their paper selection did match my dreams, and I ended up buying a couple pieces of varying textures. I also dug through their clearance bins and found some great bulk packs of mixed papers to use for various projects ... letters, origami, bookmaking(?). Ian got me a cute shirt from Flax which was designed by a Japanese artist ... I'll post a pic of it eventually (haha)

After the art shop, we walked over the hill to Hayes Valley to hang out for lunch. We came across a little area around Patricia's Green which was basically a dirt lot with shipping containers. Well, it turns out those shipping containers open up to reveal a beer garden, ice cream bar, food carts, and an espresso bar!  Ian had heard about the ice cream place called "Smitten" from a friend, so we decided to check it out. At first, it seemed like your "normal" (well, normal for SF, since it's is a very foodie town with high standards) handcrafted ice cream stop, but it turns out it was so much more than that! Check out the video. Sorry it's sideways, I don't normally record video on my cell phone:

So it turns out this place throws fresh cream, eggs, and your main flavor ingredient (for me, chocolate) into the bowl ... pretty standard right? But then comes the fun part: liquid nitrogen is added to immediately chill the cream into ice cream. At - 320F, it is so cold that 60 seconds is all it takes to make the ice cream. But, since liquid nitrogen is used and the product is not "frozen" and then slightly melted and re-frozen again (like what happens when ice cream shops open/close their freezers), ice crystals never form in the ice cream and it's incredibly smooth and creamy.

My "Tcho" chocolate ice cream with soft lemon-cookie waffle cone

After wandering around a bit in the boutique shops of Hayes Valley, we stopped by another place I've been meaning to check out for a while ... Taste tea lounge. It opened last summer and specializes in Chinese/Taiwanese teas.

Comfy lounge corners in bright bay windows for people watching

We opted for gong-fu-cha preparation style of Da Hong Pao. I love gong-fu cha because the style of preparation forces me to really slow down and focus on what I'm doing ... there's a reason why it's tea "with effort". From the warming of cups, pitcher, and Yixing clay pot, to the rinse of the leaves and decanting of the water, to the quick brewing and pouring of water over the closed clay pot to keep it warm - there's no rushing in gong-fu cha. Plus, I love any opportunity to practice various tea preparation styles :-). It was so quiet here on that weekday afternoon ... for a while, we were the only people in the place. Definitely on my list of go-to places in the future, and a great spot to bring a book to relax. Prices were very reasonable, and the owner was a cool guy.

The next day we also headed to another tea lounge for lunch, Samovar, which is right down the block from our apartment. I read online that they had a very limited supply of Hekisui ("blue-sapphire jade") ceremonial-grade matcha, and I was intent on trying it. From Uji on the southern outskirts of the ancient city of Kyoto - one of the oldest tea growing regions in Japan. Cultivation was encouraged by the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu from the mid 1300s, and the area has been known for superior green tea throughout the country since.

Ian relaxing on this sunny, warm day

My hekisui matcha, served in a summer-style bowl made by a local potter. Summer-style "chawan" (tea bowls) are shorter, thinner, and wider than winter bowls which are thick, narrower, and deeper. These differences allow the tea to cool (or remain hot) depending on the season. Such a high grade of green tea, however, cannot be brewed with water that is too hot (just about 150 degrees F) so I didn't have to wait very long to enjoy. Generally speaking, matcha can be quite bitter and intense which is why during traditional Japanese "Chado" (tea ceremony) guests eat small sweets while watching the host go through the effort of preparing the tea. However, high quality matcha should be less bitter. This Hekisui matcha was very smooth, creamy (notice the foam from hand-whisked preparation with a bamboo whisk), and not too bitter despite being very "intense". 

To balance the intensity of the Hekisui matcha, I ordered my usual greek yogurt which includes strawberries, mint leaves, walnuts, and fresh medjool dates in a rose syrup. Yum!

From the garden, we finally picked our first yuzu fruit! It's been a year in the making and I'm quite surprised this little yuzu tree was able to make fruit on the balcony with the limited light!

Finally turned yellow ... there are a couple more on the tree for now, but they're still green. Incredibly aromatic, I'll be sure to find a good use for our very own fresh yuzu! The tree is already flushing with its fourth (?) set of flowers again ... it can feel the weather warming up, although temps at night still drop to about 40F.

I've been meaning to read more as well, so a month ago I picked up "The Tiger's Wife" by Téa Obreht. To much fanfare, this young author has stayed at the top of the New York Times book review, so I was curious. The story is generally about a young doctor in the former Yugoslavia just as the country is breaking up into its constituent parts (how it is today) and weaves in allegory and folk tales as she tries to understand the circumstances surrounding her grandfather's death in a mysterious out-of-the-way town. There were some really interesting parts (notably, the folk tales and allegory), but otherwise I felt like the super-saturated description throughout the book was a little much, and I was left disappointed at the lack of resolution at the end of the book. I know, I know, some will say that's part of the "art" of it, but honestly, I was underwhelmed and didn't think the book as a whole lived up to all of it's hype.

I'm now reading a book I'm really excited to start ... "The City & The City" by China Miéville. He is a British author associated somewhat with the steampunk movement, 'weird fiction', and fantasy. He's a member of the British Socialist Worker's Party and a lot of his left-leaning political attitudes are evident in his works. "The City & The City" is a story about the investigation of a murder between two cities. Not in the linear sense, as in between two neighboring towns, but between two "perceptive" realities. This really caught my interest because we really live in our own worlds/bubbles and ignore other ones. The citizens of one city in the book are trained to ignore the "other" city's citizens so much that they don't even notice them - save for a few weird instances - despite the "two" cities being the exact same geographic locale. I can already tell this book has some hints from George Orwell's 1984, so I'm excited to delve into this weird fiction based in very real contemporary political and social concerns.

We also saw a really great French film the other day called "The Man In My Life". It's about a gay man who moves into a little town in rural France and starts developing a relationship with his neighbor who has a wife and kids. It really delves into the essence of the family man's fight to understand his feelings towards this new neighbor, while struggling against his obligations as a husband to his understanding (at least, initially) wife and as a father to his kids. I really wish a lot of straight men would watch this film to understand that you don't have to be homosexual or identify as that in order to develop deep relationships with other men ... the film was funny, beautiful, and artistic (but not in an annoyingly hipster kind of way). Definitely one of my favorite films, and a great way to get some French practice into my daily routine.

And as a last thing, Ian submitted his application to Olympic College in Washington so we are expecting to hear from them within the next month or so. I really hope he is accepted this round, but if not, he will be accepted next year's round at the latest (thank god for a nursing school that actually takes into account merit and isn't just a random lottery like so many around the country). I've submitted my application for my pharmacy technician license up in Washington as well, so I'll be waiting on that. I'm planning to finish up my last medical school prerequisites in the next year or so. In the meantime, I've got a wedding to play violin at! Katie (one of Ian's sisters) has asked me to play some fun contemporary pop songs during the reception of her wedding on May 27th, so I've been putting together some instrumental tracks to play along with for some great songs by Jason Mraz, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, and others. It'll be really fun, and my first trip anywhere east of Austin, TX. We are also planning a cross-country roadtrip sometime this summer (hopefully!) and are hoping that Bryan will be able to come along as well :-)

Lots of stuff coming up - I'll be sure to remind myself to enjoy the "now", and not just the future.