26 November 2007

Well, more Trouble in Paradise. This time, I’m certain of the cause (and it’s not me). Whether or not help will be sought is not my decision. I hope it will be, and soon.

Work has had me very busy. I’ve worked 20 of the last 22 days. Busy as a little bee, that’s me.

On the to-do list: find a new doctor, find a tansu to replace my grandfather’s sideboard (which I gave to my little sister), find new glasses, take a quick little trip somewhere, clear out the closets of old clothes and shoes, get some rest, and so on.

17 November 2007

I am happy to report that I was one of the 56% of takers who passed the July California Bar.  Phew. It’s a huge relief. I was on pins & needles all week. And on Friday I was glad to have such a very busy day that I could not think about the Bar (except during lunch).  The results were available on the Web at 6 p.m. I did not get home until 6:07.  I saw the cryptic message “the name above appears on the pass list for the July 2007 California Bar Examination.” I made my phone calls. After I threw out all my flashcards and study materials, I went out and bought a nice bottle of Champagne to celebrate.

Today’s plans included the farmers’ market (done), a nap (done), and bill paying (done). They also include cleaning out the closet, (not done), picking up the laundry (not done), celebratory shoe-shopping (not done either), and the gym (not done neither). The plans did not include a fight with the editor, but that occurred also. What can you do?

Farmers’ market report: Brussels sprouts and caultiflower (for a Thanksgiving gratin with onion and anchovy), parsley, Romano beans, fat carrots, cranberry beans, mustard greens, chrysanthemums, and a glass of sparkling rosé at the wine bar (much to the consternation/admiration/condemnation of the milling tourists).

14 November 2007

Work is kicking my butt. I’m learning lots. Keeping my head above water, but just barely.

And I’m still looking for a muse. There are a few candidates, but no one I see regularly enough to fill the position. Applications now being accepted.

11 November 2007

Armistice Day. Lots to be grateful for.

Farmers’ market report: chard, Chantenay carrots, beef, apples (Winter Pearmain and Splendour), Beurre Hardy pears (haven't tried them yet), Bariani olive oil, and lilies.

Working very hard on a long project. Wish I were closer to being done.

I had dinner with the family. I cooked the chard (blanched the leaves, chopped and sautéed the stems separately with a bit of garlic, and then re-heated them both together at serving time) and baked a Richard-Olney-inspired carrot gratin (grate the carrots and cook them for about 10 minutes, uncovered, with a pat of butter and salt to taste; then spread in a buttered gratin dish, drizzle with a little cream, and pop in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes until bubbling and browning a bit. Tip: do not pack the carrots into the gratin dish. Just spread them out loosely, and not too thick.)

8 November 2007

How could I have missed the penultimate palindromic date of the year yesterday?  Busy busy busy. The tyranny of the billable hour.

Dinner tonight with favorite aunt and uncle.

I just read “The Devil Wears Prada” on the recommendation of my co-worker. We share the same assistant. I felt compelled to warn her that things might be a bit different now, and that I expected her there at 7 a.m., that I needed her personal cell phone number, and that I would have a glass of filtered water and a cup of freshly brewed Darjeeling on my desk every morning before I got there. That’s all.

4 November 2007

Pleasant weekend in Sonoma. It was our last time at my friend’s house – he sold it (selfishly, and without any apparent concern for our needs). I shall post a few pictures. It was bittersweet – we have had so many wonderful days and nights there. I made dinner on Saturday (leg of lamb stuffed with herbs, lemon zest, garlic, and anchovy), roasted tomatoes, Romano beans, and a potato salad, and then an apple-quince clafouti.

The good news is that we may be renting the neighbor’s cottage a few weeks a year. A country place to call my own (even sort of!). It’s about time. We went to speak to the neighbors about the cottage after lunch and came home with sacks full of their own quince, apples, Asian pears, and pineapple guavas. They took us to their little orchard so that we could pick as much as we wanted.

And trouble in paradise may be abating. Keep your fingers crossed for me. We’re still walking on eggshells.

Farmer’s market report: leg of lamb, apples, quince, Romano beans, tomatoes, beef, and lilies.

31 October 2007

Happy Hallowe’en.  We’re about half-way through autumn now. Hard to believe, isn’t it?

I made a huge bread pudding (with apple, quince, and white raisins, Acme bread, caramel on the bottom, and a glaze made from the peels of the apples and quince) for our office potluck.  I decided that I haven’t been there long enough to sport a French maid’s costume. Maybe next year.

Mild earthquake last night while I was washing the dishes. The shaking lasted forever. I hope it doesn’t portend a bigger one on the Hayward fault, for which we are years overdue now.

28 October 2007

Well, lots of changes in the air around here.  Things with the editor are up in the air, so to speak. I remain optimistic.

Anyhow: I finished A Modern Comedy, the second of Galsworthy’s Forsyte trilogies.  Very enjoyable, although so much more topical than the first trilogy that many of the period references are now impenetrable. I’ve been reading the nicely printed Nobel Prize Edition from Charles Scribner's Sons (1934). It lacks a modern editor’s footnotes.

Farmers’ market report (not much to report, as I was out of sorts. See Item 1, above): parsnips, apples (Braeburn and one other), quince, a loaf of Acme pain au levain for a Hallowe’en apple & quince bread pudding, a Kuri squash, and clandestine bacon.

I spent most of the day (after an awkward encounter at the gym with the BF; see Item 1, above) reading for work, reading the Sunday papers, and painting out some un-picturesque and jejune graffiti on a neighbor’s wall. It’s so imaginative to paint your initials, isn’t it? What derring do! Keepin’ it Real! An Artist must express his Soul!

Toujours gai, toujours gai.

21 October 2007

Farmers’ market report: acorn squash, beef short ribs, Muscat de Alexandria grapes, apples of various sorts, white Flemish pears, tomatoes, an eggplant, parsley, clandestine bacon, hard cider (in an unmarked bottle), and a little melon.

Weekend report: 

• I saw the Joseph Cornell exhibit again at the SF Museum of Modern Art. Just as disappointing this time. It does not include many of Cornell’s best pieces, and the explanatory captions were stupefyingly wince-inducing: viz., “Transparent and reflective surfaces reveal things as they are and promote a sense of magic and illusion.” I wish I had brought a Sharpie pen with me to blot out all the twaddle.
• And speaking of twaddle, we also took in the Olafur Eliasson exhibit upstairs. More crap. It was like going to the Exploratorium, but with higher production values.  
• We watched Lights Out San Francisco from the edtior's deck high above the city. Hard to see much difference, but the thought was charming. Maybe next time.
• Brunch with friends from trade school this morning, followed by a reading of the papers in the sun on the couch.
• After much procrastination, my big accomplishment was vaccuming the entire 450-square-foot apartment.  Hurrah!
• I started braising the short ribs tonight. I’ll finish them off tomorrow or Tuesday when the editor comes over.

19 October 2007

We so far survived the anniversary of the 1989 earthquake. And today is the birthday of my best friend in high school.

I made my coworkers laugh or groan at happy hour last night when they asked how the first six weeks at work had been. I said that I was enjoying it, but I also had a little sign on my desk that said “239.” That’s how many months I have to go until I retire (20 years, less one month). It makes it all seem worthwhile, somehow.

And no, I am not going to be late yet again.

15 October 2007

Only two and a half months to go. This year has gone by quickly.

Farmers’ market report: quince, Spitzenberg apples, Roxbury russet apples, pork, small turnips with their greens, two small melons (Charentais?), and dahlias.

7 October 2007

It has been a long weekend. Lots of emotional drama, and let’s just leave it at that. A couple of pressing issues need resolving. Send good vibes our way.

Mercury has gone retrograde. Perhaps that’s it.

Farmers’ market report: salmon (the local season ends next week), tomatoes, a Kuri squash, more peppers, quince (!), and several varieties of apples.  We’re at a liminal stage between summer and fall in the fruit and vegetable world.

Castro Street Faire today. Lots of sun. The only interesting section was Sugar Valley, where one could find the drag queens, the hula-hoopists, and those with a bit of creative spark. The rest (of the booths) were stained-glass rainbow’n’zodiac medallions, banks, and car companies.

And speaking of Sugar Valley, I went briefly to a show of artists inspired by Jerome Caja (Cleveland native). Lots of old timers from that era attended, not a few of whom have since joined (or rejoined) the bourgeoisie. 

3 October 2007

Busy. Long days. Learning lots. Trying to go to the gym in the mornings instead of the evenings.

Gotta remember to move the car tomorrow morning before heading out (street sweeping).

I've been continuing on with the Forsyte Chronicles. I'm in the middle of A Modern Comedy and I'm loving it.

I can do this.

30 September 2007

Let’s see. Where were we? Another month gone by.  Another paycheck come and gone.

Farmers’ market report: grass-fed beef (rib-eye steaks), a flat of Early Girl tomatoes, dates (two new varieties: Kasrawi(?) and Precioso), Comice pears, red peppers, and more lilies.

I turned my half of the tomatoes into 3.5 liters of tomato sauce. It’s now in the freezer and will get me through the winter. I think I made sauce about this time last year. The tomatoes aren’t going to get any sweeter.

Folsom Street Faire: a pleasant enough day. Hung out with friends. Laughed. Had a beer. Saw more than one wardrobe miscalculation (and more than one Jesus). I made the right choice and went home long before the afternoon was over. I made cornbread and finished off the Sunday papers.

27 September 2007

On Saturday I was thinking of relighting the heater. Today I wish I had an air conditioner. Whew. Heat wave. It feels like Earthquake Weather in the evenings.

I’ve joined a new gym. It’s swanky. It’s convenient. I’m not sure if I’ll love it. I’m hoping to get re-inspired and lose some flabbbbb.

25 September 2007

I have been working very hard. Already. But it’s good.

The editor gave me an honest-to-gosh typewriter. I cannot wait to put it to good use.

I am thinking of joining a fancy gym downtown. It’s close to work.  It’s not crowded. It doesn’t feature loud gay dance music. In other words, it’s very bourgeois. Maybe I should just get used to it.

And I’m going to be late for work again if I don’t hurry and shave my whiskers.

23 September 2007

It’s the first day of autumn. Marcel Marceau has died. It feels like the seasons have changed here. Shorter days. A different kind of fog, and yesterday: rain! The first real rain since May (I don’t count the episode of warm, wet fog in the middle of the summer).

Off to work today: yes, it’s Sunday, but it’s the only way I can get everything done.

I am still curious (or obsessed) with changing my first name to the singular of my last name, like Dosso Dossi, or Galileo Galilei.

Farmers’ market report: local rock cod (line-caught), French butter pears, dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes, corn, eggplant, fresh Barhi dates, Italian butter beans (dried), bacon, and lilies.

16 September 2007

Farmers’ market report: pork belly, Bartlett pears, apples (Ozark Gold, Pink Pearl, and Ashmead’s Kernel), tat soi, romano beans, very mature small green beans (over grown haricots verts, I think), yellow wax beans, red peppers of  various sorts, two kinds of dry-farmed tomatoes, and a bunch of gladiola.

Family reunion yesterday. It all went well. The editor was introduced to the clan and was well received. The food was good, natch.

Plans afoot for this week: lots of work, a quick business trip to the capital of our Midwest states, a nice dinner for the editor to celebrate the arrival of my first paycheck, and a program of specific, measurable steps to combat personal girth.

14 September 2007

It’s Friday already. So here’s a photo of the new Puente de la Mujer in Buenos Aires. It’s a Santiago Calatrava design that pivots to allow ships to pass through the channel.  No cars, so it's delightful to walk across.

12 September 2007

I hope you celebrated Patriot Day yesterday with the appropriate fervor and decorum.

Oh yes, work: that means getting ready to go each morning. I’ve got to put it on my to-do list so that I don’t forget.

Thanks to the editor’s push, I am moving technologically forward: I have a new LCD monitor to replace the giant Sony Trinitron E400 that covered the entire surface of my desk, and I have a new mini hi-fi to replace the antique receiver and CD player Steve bought around 1992. And work should be providing me with a late-model Blackberry. The mind reels.

9 September 2007

Even though it has been partly foggy this weekend, it seems that autumn is nearly upon us. The light is changing. The cold ocean winds have died down. The taste of the Pink Pearl apples I got yesterday at the farmers’ market reinforced that autumn feeling. I also got peaches, dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes, eggplants, several kinds of red peppers, okra, white corn, pork, and more lilies.

I’ve been quite lazy all weekend (even though I did go in to work for a few hours on Saturday). I’ve been planning a feng-shui cure of my new office space. I think I can do it without spending a fortune. I just need something red for the space opposite the door.

I’ve been reading A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World by Gregory Clark. Very thought-provoking. He attempts to explain the causes of economic explosion associated with the Industrial Revolution and why it started on a small island off the coast of Europe.

I’ve now read today’s papers. It’s time for a Sunday-afternoon nap.

2 September 2007

I’m back from my tour of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Lots of fun. Great food. Until I regain my figure, I shall subsist on a diet of nothing but capers and tepid mineral water.

Work starts on Tuesday. I can’t believe it.

18 August 2007

I’ll be gone for a while, 6,500 miles away, where they speak a dialect of a language I haven’t studied since high school. The editor is coming with me – our first vacation together. I’ll try to keep you updated.

This marks the end of one phase of my life. School is over. Cooking professionally is over. The little three-day quiz of last month is over. After this vacation, I start working at a new firm, at a new job, doing new tasks, earning a new kind of wages, and paying off new kinds of loans. A fresh new edifice on a good foundation, god willing. Thank you for your support these last few years.

16 August 2007

Happy Madonna’s Birthday. Let’s see, what else I have missed? The 60th Anniversary of the Partition of India and Pakistan (in which my family there lost everything, including a son), V-J Day, and someone’s theatrical triumph. And tomorrow is Sean Penn’s birthday, so we all have something to look forward to.

I have managed to clean and tromp through most of my scattered files. Only one cabinet left. I think I will also dispose of my stereo before I go on my trip. I almost recycled my diploma yesterday (and I had to fish two rented DVDs out of the recycling bin downstairs). Ooops.

Yesterday I had a chance encounter with someone I met years ago and had a big crush on. He inspired me, when I first met him, to get serious at the gym again. The last time we talked, at Black Sands Beach a few years ago, he was still muscular, but a bit soft around the middle. At the time, I wasn’t yet a proto-bear, so I felt not a little schadenfreude at his girth. Yesterday, however, he was fit and trim and looking more youthful than ever. Has he had work done? Probably not surgery, but he may very well have beBotoxed himself, as he lives in L.A. Of course, I had to go home and Google him. A website and a long C.V. of all the films and productions he has made or worked on. Our brief chat was awkward. I don’t understand why someone I’m not interested in has such as effect on me.

13 August 2007

Sloth continues. It’s all I can do each day to read the paper, feed myself, and bathe.

Farmers’ market report: a pork shoulder, dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes, romano beans, cranberry shelling beans, O’Henry peaches, curly cress, a faggot of mixed fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage), a big bunch of parsley, and some pinkish lilies.

9 August 2007

I have fallen into a wide swath of torpor and indolence. So far, this morning, I have managed to run the dishwasher and eat breakfast. It will be noon soon. Perhaps I ought to get dressed.

6 August 2007

I’m back from my trip to the Baby-Boomer New Age paradise, Esalen. I had a good time, for the most part. The baths were amazing. Imagine natural hot springs cantilevered fifty feet over the pounding surf. A shower room also open to the sights and sounds of the ocean. They’re open to guests twenty-four hours a day, so I went as often as I could. I saw more naked Baby Boomers than I could ever have imagined. And some cute young massage students. And a few squirrels.

No farmers’ market report, as I did not go this weekend. I did however cook for my sister and her new family last night: skirt steak with a chanterelle sauce, roasted potatoes, a little salad, and a blueberry cobbler.

On the agenda for the rest of the week: visiting my other sister and her family, catching up with the editor and planning our trip to the Antipodes, and the gym.

30 July 2007

I’m back from a quick trip to Palm Springs. It was hot (108°, 102°, 111°). I spent a lot of time by two pools (but in the shade). I swam in warm swimming pools. I got out of the fog. I ate nothing memorable (not that I looked for it). 

I even managed to read a book, Kevin Bentley’s Wild Animals I Have Known. It’s entries from 1977 to 1996 from his sexcapade and search-for-love-in-San-Francisco diary. I loved it, though I can’t imagine how people did all those drugs and still functioned. It's more real, more immediate, and more acutely observed than Tales of the City (not that that's a big leap). Bentley is less than a decade older than me, but he’s really a generation older.

27 July 2007

Well. The long journey is done. At least I hope it is. I don’t know whether I passed the Bar (and won’t until nearly Thanksgiving), but I don’t have a sinking feeling in my gut. I am trying to rid my mind of all the crap that I had to memorize for the exam (e.g., the three-ways of validating a pour-over provision in a testamentary instrument: acts of independent significance, incorporation by reference, and UTATA, the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trust Act).  My brain is still too full to allow me to read anything in the paper more complex than the headlines and the funnies.

I felt the best last night when I finally realized that no matter what happens with the Bar exam results, I will never, ever, ever have to go to law school again. Ever. I might have to take the exam again (and I might want to take it in a different state), but it’s only three days of hell, and not three years of hell.

Now it’s time to clean up the apartment and relax and catch up on my sleep, and detox from all the caffeine I’ve sucked down this week. A fellow classmate said that her goal was to make her apartment look as if a law student had never lived there. 

18 July 2007

I think my brain filled up at about 11 a.m. this morning. I could no longer study, so I spent the next nine hours finishing up a project I’ve had around my neck like a millstone since last Fall. It feels good to have it behind me (or almost behind me: I have to send it by Express Mail tomorrow).

Finishing the project also meant that I had to delve yet even further into my personal archives. I unearthed reams more crap and shredded over five pounds of old, unneeded papers.

I'm almost there. I keep telling myself , “I can do this. I can do this.”

16 July 2007

I have been turning my apartment upside down looking for a very important (and small) piece of paper – it’s documentation of a lawsuit I was in (and got dismissed) some twenty years ago. Nowhere to be found, but I did go through many old files and made a nice big pile for the shredder and an even bigger one for the recycling bin. I do not need to keep maintenance records for cars I no longer own, do I?

This is part of my plan to have a massive decluttering to mark the end of this period of my life. Old clothes, old books, old crap, old stereo, old CDs, old rugs, old shoes: it’s all going.

My brain was so full this afternoon that I could not remember my PIN number. I’ve had the same card, same bank, and same number for over a decade. I got frustrated at the ATM, went to lunch, and came back, hoping that my present recollection would be refreshed. Alas, nothing. I did not want to keep trying lest the bank seize my card to prevent fraud.

12 July 2007

Trying not to FREAK Out! So much to learn. So little time.

The editor is being wonderful.

6 July 2007

Today’s tip: if you ever have to argue for the validity of a pour-over provision in a will, remember to try all three of the following: incorporation by reference, facts of independent significance, and the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act (found at Cal. Probate Code sections 6300-6303).  Look for a  trust that was in existence at the time of will execution.

Yes, I’m obsessed. These were my first thoughts upon waking this morning.

P.S. I am officially out of the doghouse but not quite back on the pedestal. I’ve made it up to the plinth, perhaps.

4 July 2007

Happy Independence Day!

As for the doghouse, I’ve decided not to be in it.

2 July 2007 8:12 a.m.

I am sure you enjoyed the anniversary of Princess Diana’s birth yesterday as much as I did. I was shocked to learn that she was only a few years older than I.

Weekend report: I saw Once with the editor. He loved it; I liked it. He had not warned me that it was musical. I had a thorough nap on Saturday afternoon.

I studied and cleaned on Sunday and braised 16 pounds of beef short ribs for tonight’s potluck. In the process of cleaning, I found a very important piece of paper that has been missing for months. Phew. My housekeeping skills could use a brush-up.

And to violate the taboo in blogging against talking about how much you make (as opposed to regular updates on how little you earn), I will just say that I got a wee raise on Friday.