I really didn’t have a chance to post from California, so there’s a lot to catch up on.
My luggage eventually did arrive, but not before it took a detour to San Diego and then LAX. Unfortunately, somewhere in that detour, the TSA opened it up and rearranged the contents in such a way that the delicate piece of woodwork I brought out to show folks at Stanford was right next to a hard plastic thing and got scratched. Not so fun.
Laura and I cooked a bunch while I was out there, including several recipes from The Herbfarm Cookbook. Especially good were the roast chicken (we used lemon thyme with it), herb-marinated leg of lamb, and toasted coriander mashed potatoes. I ended up shopping several times at Berkeley’s two fantastic produce markets, the Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market.
We went out on Saturday night with a group of friends to Oliveto in Oakland and enjoyed some great food. Highly recommended are the scallops, bucatini alla carbonara, and especially the pear crostata. Overall, I ate very well this trip.
My visit to Stanford was good, too – I got a chance to meet with some of the faculty, I chatted with lots of students, I sat in on a few classes (including one with the inventor of the laptop), and saw what they had to offer. Overall, I was really impressed with the Joint Program in Design.
posted October 25, 2004 – 6:05 am
Though I happily arrived in California last night, my luggage did not. Apparently, 45 minutes isn’t long enough for a bag to switch planes (though I changed planes, too, the flight number remained the same). Also, it’s apparently difficult for the airlines to discern between Oakland and San Diego, as evidenced by my bag’s side trip there last night. They “hope” they’ll be able to get me my luggage today, as do I.
It’s nice to be out here, though, even sans bag. The weather was spectacular as we flew in an hour or two before sunset, and hanging out in Berkeley is always a trip.
posted October 17, 2004 – 10:27 am
I’m off to California tomorrow for a week in the Bay Area. I’m looking forward to some good eatin’, seeing lots of friends, a reunion with my old roommates who abandoned me for Berkeley (understandable, really), maybe some dancing, and a chance to look at the Joint Program in Design.
Anna, Danielle and I are going to check out the unfortunately named “Za” in Arlington tonight. Word is, aside from the bad moniker, it’s good eats. Boston’s missing a really good, inexpensive pizza place – let’s hope Za fills the gap.
posted October 15, 2004 – 2:28 pm
I went out to Devens this weekend to watch some of the NE Regionals ultimate tournament. Congrats to all the folks on 6 Trained Monkeys (including Simone, who hasn’t updated her website in a year) for kickin’ some butt!
I got a bunch of portfolio work done this weekend – Sunday night was spent taking pictures and I made quite a bit of progress on the piano bench yesterday. It’s coming along…
For the first time in about a year (if not longer – I can’t really remember), I went dancing last night at practice session and had a good time. Interestingly, muscle memory was a lot stronger than my regular memory, so I’d start to do dance moves on impulse and not really remember how they were “supposed” to go. Accomodating partners made it all easier, and I might even do it again (maybe in SF or Seattle).
posted October 12, 2004 – 10:34 am
Alright – here come the photos…
First, some B&W; ones from the annual Brandeis University Physics Department Eric Jensen Memorial picnic – check ’em out here.
Next up, more/updated color pictures from the Rolleiflex from around Boston last weekend – they’re here.
Still en route are pictures from camping as well as Dan and my adventures last weekend.
posted October 8, 2004 – 10:21 pm