Friday's Alive...Again!

May 13, 2006

Most of us were deeply saddened by the news that our favorite race track in San Mateo, Bay Meadows, will be eventually closing to make room for housing developments, but still no official word on when that's happening. So, thankfully, the spring/summer series of Friday's Alive has been resurrected and we all get to enjoy the good times of live horseracing for six more weeks. I was introduced to Friday's Alive a couple years ago and it's a great idea for a Friday night. It's $1 entry (under 30), and there's a sweet menu of $1 hot dogs, $1-2 beers and $1-2 bets. If you don't have plans for the next 5 Fridays, you should check it out.

Coincidentally, our good friends, Adam and Arissa, were in town from Montreal for a weekend of frivolity as well, so kudos to them for their sweet timing.

Adam & Arissa check out the racing program for the first race
















At the end of the night, there weren't any standout big winners. I managed to get some money back by picking a win on one race and a quinella (top two horses in any order) for another one.

So the night's tally for me is:
Entry fee = $1
3 hot dogs = $3
3 beer = $4
1 bag of popcorn = $2.25
8 races of betting = $80
Winnings = $57
Total spent for 4 hours of pure fun and entertainment = $33.25
(not quite priceless, but good enough for me!)

The Louting Continues

May 12, 2006

Last night was Thursday and that means we played Kickball last night in the Golden Gate WAKA league. Our team, the Lager Louts, remains undefeated, as we added another win with a score of 9-3. Once again, we had a great first inning, going ahead 5-0, and were able to hold off the other team in slightly lighter blue (our shirts are navy blue). I finally got on base in the first inning and made the judgement call to layout (hands forward) slide into second base. This was a good idea to avoid getting out, but a very bad idea because I was wearing a belt and I WAKA'd my pelvic bone. (Lesson Learned for next week: Don't wear a belt). Oy!








Shaun as the referee for the late game

After the late game ended, we headed over to Zona Rosa for some burrito-sustenance (an easy lesson-learned from last week: must eat before drink)





From Zona Rosa, we headed to the sponsor bar, Kezar Pub, which was still bustling, but not as obnoxious as the week before. The green team had challenged us to a series of flip-cup, so of course, we obliged. We lost 2-1 and were smart enough to leave the table (and specifically, NOT play ourselves; lesson learned #2 from last week).








And then we escaped Kezar Pub and joined the rest of our teammates at Finnegan's Wake in Cole Valley, a much mellower and wiser choice for an after-game beer. Will and I played darts against Wendy and Carl, and realized that we're not very good at darts. You're supposed to get the pointy part to stick into the round thing, right? Yeah...not so good at that.



In the end, Will and I called it a night and headed home a little after 11 pm like good adults do...after all, it is a school night.

The only question on all of our minds last night for the fourth week of kickball in a row was: Where's Sandy?

Dude, are you ever going to play?

225 Club

May 8, 2006

It's Monday night and it's been a fantastic one...

I had headed to the gym in Daly City after work and got pumped up on endorphins after the workout...so much so that I bowled my best game and best series EVER!

225 - 157 - 125 = 507

So, I've figured out the winning factors that contributed to my big game:
- Will has to be in Atlanta for work
- must go to the gym and do 45 minutes on the elliptical machine
- have to pound some blue Gatorade
- bowl faster than 14 mph

Bowling is fun again.

Dragonfly

May 6, 2006

After two big nights out on the town, nothing is more unwelcome than a 4 hour frisbee practice, but such is life. Our team had its last tryout practice at the Beach Chalet fields in GG Park. It was a lovely weekend in the city, and not a bad place to be. After the practice, Will and I headed home to chill out and eat dinner prior to going to the Gallery Lounge in SOMA for an art show. Our old teammate, Will Tams, had an opening for some new (and older) works that he had been working on. You can see some of his work at Dragonfly Galleries, which are available as fine art giclée prints on canvas or watercolors.













Lots of frisbee folks were on hand for some good times. But, at least I knew better than to stay out late three nights in a row...

Quatro de Mayo?

May 5, 2006


Today is Cinqo de Mayo, a date that is celebrated by Mexicans as the day that Mexican people exhibited great courage and determination to defend themselves against a major colonial European power by fighting a battle and winning against all odds - thereby eventually securing their right to self-rule. The day is symbolic of Mexican pride, unity and patriotism.

It's also a day where most people take advantage of the festive nature and consume burritos and many, many Tequila-laced drinks or Coronas.

Unfortunately for me and several of my fellow Kickball teammates, we had a very festive Quatro de Mayo that almost sabatoged any Cinqo de Mayo festivities. Our team, the Lager Louts, played our game in GG Park on Thursday night (May 4), and it was Will's first Kickball game since the season started. Our first inning was demoralizing for the other team, as we went ahead 6-2 from the get-go. Will's bowling arm came in handy as he pitched really well. The cooler full of Tecates were disappearing at an alarming rate, but thankfully, our team's skills put away a point in the Win column in quick fashion. We were so pumped after our 8-3 win, we headed over to the sponsor bar, Kezar Pub, for after-win drinks and free food (we had a coupon). Not even the fact that one of my teammates, from 10 feet away, beaned me on the side of my head with a Kickball and my ears had finally stopped ringing, could stop me from going.

The scene at Kezar Pub on a Thursday night after Kickball league can be a scary one, as it reminds me of a frat party, or my favorite college bar. Everyone is still wearing their Kickball t-shirts, so you can easily distinguish what team they're on. You're temped to ask everyone: "What's your favorite greek letter?". In the backroom, there are massive wood planks that cover the two pool tables so that teams can play the infamous drinking game, Flipcup. Needless to say, our team wasn't very successful at winning against other teams, but we were foolish enough to try playing against eachother. However, I've discovered that I'm actually quite skilled at Flipcup, I can flip the cup on the first try almost all the time. Thankfully, I started playing later than the rest of the crew, so I was in much better shape than everyone else, but I was still a pretty shady baseline. Three hours later, it was time to stumble home and fall into a very deep sleep.

Friday was painful, particularly for Will, Ashley, Shaun and Woody. I had a couple tough morning meetings, and held on until the I could escape from work and get a pedicure with Wendy in Noe Valley. I went home and chilled out briefly, and then Abe, Will and I headed down to the Mission to get some sushi at Yo-Yo Sushi. I know that a sushi dinner doesn't really coincide with Cinqo de Mayo, but all the same, I was jonesing for some raw fish.

After dinner, we were joined by Anna and Wendy, and we rallied to go meet a bunch of friends...at a bar. We stopped along the way at Blondie's Bar and No Grill, the infamous $10 ginormous martini place where Katharine works the door on Friday nights.




From there, we strolled 6 blocks down Valencia towards our destination, the Latin America Club. We were meeting up with our good friends, Trent & Shelly, and a bunch of peeps in town that used to make up the bulk of the Rumpshaker crew (known for dj-ing the Cole-To-Breakers party): Brian Stein, Ali and The Roge.

Trent & Shelly

Shelly's jello shots

Ali & The Roge


Bea & Stein

Many other folks rolled into Latin America Club and joined us, namely the big frisbee drinkers: Pete, Woody, Ron, JonZ...trouble. The Latin America Club is one of the first San Francisco bars that I ever went to, and in 5.5 years, it has not changed at all, particularly in the manner in which they make their super-strength drinks (uhh...can I get some Coke with my Captain Morgan's????). I was successful in nursing my Capt'n & Coke for most of the night, with the exception of when Woody would notice and "refresh" my drink. Woody taught us the fine art of "yurting" and all of a sudden, it's last call. From there, we headed to meet up with some folks who went dancing at Beauty Bar, and then went in search of a taqueria on Mission street that wasn't swimming with drunk people at 2 am. We finally ended up at some taqueria at Mission and 17th, where Wendy and I split a very yummy torta.







So although I was a good girl, and could actually walk in a straight line, it was still late o'clock, and Woody was shocked to see us out so late two nights in a row...

Between Meals

April 4, 2006

Clue #21 that I am a Foodie:
I got really excited when I found out that the Executive Food & Wine editor & restaurant critic for the SF Chronicle, Michael Bauer, started his own food blog called "Between Meals".

Who is Michael Bauer and why do I care?
Michael Bauer, whose journalism career spans more than 25 years, is the Executive Food and Wine Editor of The Chronicle. He began his career writing behavioral science features for the Kansas City Star and then was the restaurant critic and wine editor of the Dallas Times Herald. A member of the James Beard restaurant awards committee, Bauer has studied with Madeleine Kamman. He is the originating author of "Access San Francisco Restaurants," co-editor of "The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook, Volume 2" (2001), "The Secrets of Success Cookbook" (2000) and "The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook, Volume 1" (1997). He has been nominated for a Beard award three times for his restaurant review and has won the top award for restaurant criticism by the Association of Food Journalists. In 2004 he was induced into the James Beard's Foundations Who's Who of American Food and Beverage.

As most of you know, I love the entire dining experience and living in SF is an overwhelming but amazing way to cultivate that love affair. In case you're interested as to what sources I use to choose new places and great food, here they are:

- Michael Bauer's annual Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants list
- San Francisco Citysearch's "New and Notable" list
- 7x7 Magazine
- San Francisco Magazine
- restaurant reviews and "Fresh Eats" by SF Weekly



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Where In The World Is Frodo Update:
- Frodo is currently in Sydney, Australia until Tuesday (5/9)
- Fly to Melbourne, pick up a rental car and drive the coast for 3 days
- Stay in Melbourne for 4-5 days to see a friend and check out the town
- One night back in sydney before flying to bangkok for the big asian adventure.

Olivia's Place

May 1, 2006

On Sunday afternoon, I escaped the second 4-hour frisbee practice in a row early, as I headed down to San Jose to see my very prego sister and niece, Olivia.

Angie is about 6 months pregnant with twins (a baby girl and boy), and she's livin' large, she looks like she's going to pop soon. Her most recent ultrasound reveals that the little girl is weighing in at a hefty 2.5 pounds, while the boy is 2 pounds and 5 ounces. She's officially on leave from work, and is hoping to hold on for another 8 weeks until either they babies decide to come, or they decide to make them come. Yowza!

And Olivia, who's growing up to be quite the little girl, has no idea what's going to hit her. She talks about the babies coming, but I doubt she really understands what that means. Poor little Olivia will get quite the wake-up call when two little babies disrupts her life as a princess, the house as her castle, and the rest of us as her minions.