7.29.2012

Tea, Brownies, and Album Parties

Past few days have been busy... and tiring. We made pizza on Thursday...

Mmm. Many things on pizza...

Friday was a HUGELY busy day. I walked in to the restaurant before my shift so I could read for a little bit, settle into the groove, get a handle on how busy we were... I needed to clock in early to make sandwiches. We were out of everything. Everything, I tell you. It was a little ridiculous. Then there was this war in which everyone was trying to get Junior to do different things. Sandwiches first guys, we're not "The American Lemonade Kitchen"... although that would be pretty hysterical. But when we reopened for the ball game shift, I was on register. Hooooorah. While working register, people tend to ask for beer recommendations. Being under the age of 21, I can't really do that. I told someone that and he said, "NO. You can't be that young!" It honestly took 3 minutes of me responding, "But I am. But I really am." I don't think he took me seriously. Later that evening, after we closed, there were a couple of young woman still sitting at the bar, finishing their sandos. It was one of their birthdays, so I decided to do something nice, but I needed to make sure they were over 21 first... sensible, right? I asked for their IDs and they said, "Only if you show us yours!" ... "I'm 18, I'm not going to show you my ID." It was another five minutes before they believed me. (They were over 21, I split a pint of beer (on me) between them. They were very excited.) They proceeded to ask me all sorts of questions, delighting in my youth and the fact they could call me "Junior". I think she had a good birthday.

Today, I decided that I needed to get out and about on my last day off... see the world through tourists' eyes. So I went to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. I made a friend on the bus and we talked about the bus lines we hated most, the token crazies (on the bus), and camp counselors going absolutely wild after the campers leave. 
Shakespeare Garden -- Every Plant He Mentions in His Works 
I think this sign of the ground explains the above...

BUDDHA -- In The Tea Garden 
Very Pretty

Doesn't it look hella zen?

Totally zen.

The pond.

HUGE KOI. HE WAS SO HUGE. HUUUUGE
I had a lovely time walking around the garden. I eventually went to lunch at their tourist tea house, but I didn't mind. I read a book and drank my tea quietly. (I hate going out to eat alone... I never feel right reading a book in a restaurant.) From the tea house, I decided it was time to walk back so I could take the dogs for walkies! Yayyy walkies.

Walked by the Conservatory of Flowers on my way back.
I finally got to Panhandle Park and I see some familiar dogs in the distance. Heidi had gotten back from her class early and decided to take the girlies for a jog. Stella was very excited to see me so I said all the hellos to her and Tilly. Heidi and I talked about work and she made to continue her jog. Stella gave me a painful look and decided she wouldn't go anywhere without me. I was very touched, actually. She really used to not care if I went on walks or not, but she came trotting up to me, insisting I kill myself jogging with her. Every time I go for a jog with Stella I'm wearing jeans. Jogging in jeans suck, but Heidi and I had a good time. After our outing, I was left alone with the puppies and decided to bake some brownies, because brownies rock. I actually used the bailey's brownie recipe from an earlier post (no, I don't know which one). and substituted Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur for the Baileys. They turns out much, much better this time. 

We had a party tonight because Sex With No Hands finally finished their album! Hooray! We listened to it all the way through and had a raucous time. I was told that I must eventually have children in order to perpetuate my awesomeness. I think it was meant as a compliment. And on such a compliment, I must head to bed before I die opening tomorrow.

Love,
Henna


7.26.2012

Not Your Bubbe's Matzoballs

I slept late for the first time in a while. It was incredibly nice. Aaaah, sleep. I've missed you. You know, a good night sleep can be hard to find. You get all restless, fidget-y... thirsty... but I digress. A little bit.

I hitched a ride into the Mission with Heidi so I could wander around a bit. Valencia has some interesting little stores and a great Italian deli, Lucca's. Heidi and I are planning on making pizza tomorrow night, so I had to pick up a few things. Mainly, whole canned tomatoes, pecorino cheese and fresh mozzarella. I also got anchovies because we love each other. Mmmm.... little dead fishies. But I got a little distracted on my walk by a comic book store... *sigh*... I love comic books. I bought Neil Gaiman's Sandman #1 and proceeded to read it in a coffee place called La Boheme. I might have read all of it in one go. It's so fantastic... Gaiman has such style.

So I sat in the cafe for a good hour and a half. Reading a book. I'm so adventurous in this city. (I should really go to museums or something... but that takes a little planning, no?)

Early in the day, we decided that we were going to meet at Wise Sons Deli for lunch. Oh my god. It was delicious. I had an egg cream, their club sandwich and I tried pickles for the first time. Noooot bad. Not bad at all. I could get used to it. And did I mention the babka? Straight out of my childhood, seriously. We stuffed ourselves and had massive food comas on the way back to the car. (We found more 'poisonfruit trees', which I scaled to retrieve the treasures (aka poisonfruit) at the tippy-top.

We assembled some pretty fabulous pizza dough tonight while Nate was at band practice. After throwing it in the fridge to rise, we put on True Romance. The cast was fantastic, the whole thing was great. I love Christian Slater. I'm loving everything today... I'm so stuffed with food.

Love,
Henna


7.25.2012

Traffic Falafel & Dead Birds

Monday night, traffic out of the restaurant was terrible. Absolutely terrible. Nate and I drove four blocks and suddenly we were caught in standstill, bumper-to-bumper traffic. So we did the obvious thing and called the falafel place, Oasis Grill, a block away and placed a take-out order. I called, jumped out of the car (unmoving traffic, remember) and sprinted the block to the falafel place. By the time I got back with our two orders of Deluxe Falafel, we had barely moved... but I had learned the cause. We were in four lanes of traffic, which were reduced to two lanes then one without warning. Damn subway construction. But we finally got home and decided to set up the new surround sound stereo system Nate had gotten. It was, of course, 11:30 at night. We didn't go to bed until 12:30 because stereo systems are that much cooler than sleep.

Yesterday was pretty chill. I stayed in back during the lunch rush and made sandwiches. During the ball game rush, someone asked me to recommend a beer. "Sorry, I'm under 21, I have no idea what it tastes like." He winked and me and said, "But I bet you do..." I had no response. Nate and I skedaddled out of there when he got back from a catering event and we decided to cook dinner for Heidi. So I made a salad and roasted a whole chicken. An entire chicken.

Everyone had gone to bed by the time it came out of the oven. So I managed to wrangle it into a couple of tupperware containers and went to bed myself. So the dinner became breakfast.

*sigh*

Love,
Henna

ps. I realize all I do is eat, work and walk dogs... but all I want to do after work is eat. and sleep. pttthhhbt.

7.22.2012

Psychosomatic Love and Puppies

Hooboy. I'm sleepy. I'm always sleepy. Work was pretty typical, I gave people food... there were a lot of gluten free orders today. etc. And one dad brought his two year old (I'm guessing on age here) to order a mousetrap sandwich. She had a huge gash on her face and the women sitting behind him looked very concerned. One woman leaned over and asked, "Excuse me, what happened to her face?" She turned right around and explained, "I fell out of my stroller!" She talked to me for a bit about the scab on her face, falling out of the stroller, being hungry for her sandwich... then she knocked over her cup of water. So I gave her a to-go cup and she thanked me. I enjoyed her very much.

I went over to Jeremy's because they were having a 70% off sale on swim suits. Isn't that nice? So I got half of a swim suit for 1.80. COOL RIGHT? MONEY SAVED AND STUFF. After I got back to the restaurant to wait for a ride home, I decided to sit outside to cool off. One of the people who live in the park walked by with their dogs. He had a beautiful white snowball that was probably still a puppy. She stopped her owner and came over to look at me. I moved to pet her, so she jumped a foot in the air. "Would you mind terribly if I let her get to know you? I want to her to meet more people." How am I supposed to turn down an offer to meet a puppy? So I sat there as she tried to eat all of the cheese off my clothes until she put her paw in my hand, sat down, and insisted I pet her. It was adorable.

Heidi and I came home to some dogs desperate for walkies. So we took them down to the BofA and Divisadero. As we were walking, there was a massive crashing noise. I have no idea what happened, but two cars were absolutely decimated... one was thrown back on the sidewalk. No one seemed hurt, but they blocked traffic for a good couple of hours. So we trotted around the spectators (and the thousands of dogs stopped to watch) and plodded up Divisadero. (Do you like my adjectives for "walk"? I'm trying to practice being a thesaurus.) We had a grand ol' time avoiding snack sized pups until we walked into a group of four people.

First of all, one was English. From London.

"Oh. My. God. I love pitbulls! Can I pet her?" As he bent down to pet Stella, the two ladies and the other gentleman descended upon us to shower love upon the dogs. Stella gave everyone's face a thorough cleaning as the girls squealed and took pictures to send to their friends. They wanted to know Tilly's breed ("dog") and were thrilled that they were both rescues, which led to more doggie kisses. Right in the middle of this dog love fest, a man walked up to all of us and asked for a bit of our time (that's a bad way to start any story). He entered a contest for KMEL106 R&B Radio for their Home Turf competition. He was one of the finalists and if his song wins, they play it on the radio on Friday. He showed me how I could vote on my phone. (Link here. Vote for "Psychosomatic Love" by Alejandro Adam) I hope he wins. He was very earnest.

The dog loving crew continued to thank us for adopting the dogs and letting them shower Tilly and Stella with love after Alejandro walked off.. I assume they were bartenders/waiters at the bar we were standing in front of. "Just so you guys know, this bar is very dog friendly, sometimes we have more dogs than people!" Of course, dog friendly means we can't bring ours near there. Shoot. But the British bartender hugged both of us and there was another round of thank yous.

Lots of hugging and dog love tonight.

Love,
Henna

7.21.2012

Donuts, Glitter and Visas, OH MY

MY VISA ARRIVED HOME TODAY. YAY! I'm all ready to go to new places and such. HOORAH.

Today was another day off for me, so I decided to do what my mother has been suggesting. I went to Dynamo Donut & Coffee for fun times! It was an adventure because I took two new buses (24 and 48) and went to a part of town I was ENTIRELY unfamiliar with. Which was pretty cool. I almost walked right past Dynamo... but doubled around quickly when I realized I was leaving fantastic donuts behind me. There were happy birthday signs everywhere! I came on the right day for their 4th anniversary/birthday thingymajigger. I ordered two donuts (Maple-Bacon-Apple and Ginger-Orange) and was pleasantly surprised when the guy gave me an extra (Apricot Cardamom) to celebrate their birthday. He told me I should go enjoy this beautiful day on the patio so I did.

It was absolutely charming on their back porch/patio/garden. And I paced myself, so it wouldn't feel like I ate three donuts by myself (even though I did, but whatever). SO I DECIDED TO BRING MORE DONUTS HOME.
I asked the guy to pick me an assortment of four. He gave me six. I love birthdays. (I also bought Tilly and Stella a doggie donut. OM NOM NOM)

When I came home, we gave the dogs their donut and I walked them down Page until Golden Gate Park. There were SO MANY DOGS. It was kind of annoying because Stella and Tilly do not play well with others. It was an ordeal.

We decided that we needed to get out. Except everywhere fun in San Francisco (apparently) is 21+. Ptthhhhbt. But we got an invite to go play some dominos out in the Richmond District with some of Nate's friends. SO AWAY WE WENT. We stopped to get dinner first at Tia Margarita, which was yummy. Then we walked over to Nate's friend's house. (His name is Nate as well.)

Heidi and I found the best thing ever. Well, things to be precise.

Sitting on the sidewalk were never before worn gold flats. GLITTER. SO MUCH GLITTER. And they were sitting next to a book entitled "The New Feminist Agenda". Score. They were just my size. How freakishly awesome is that?

I suck at Dominos.


TODAAAAY (Saturday) was a slow day. It was very slow. But at least I wore my pretty new shoes. Heidi made risotto (corn, zucchini & asparagus) and I prepared the salad (mango, butter lettuce, radicchio, avocado and cucumber). We watched The Artist. It was absolutely lovely. After, we noshed on the plum-cardamom upside-down cake Heidi made.

A good night.

Love,
Henna

7.20.2012

Del Popolo!

PIZZZAAAAA. OM NOMNOMNOMONOM.

Last night, THE AMERICAN had a special event, "Pitchers & Pizzas" with the Del Popolo food truck. It was insane. We were in charge of drinks and the truck was in charge of food. But just to show you how crazy things were. Del Popolo had a line wrapped around the corner for almost the ENTIRE four hours. We sold almost ALL of the beer we had (12 kegs). In four hours. I was manning the inside taps and non-alcoholic beverages. So much beer.

The pizza is fantastic. Eat it up. We finished cleaning up inside the restaurant around 10:30 and Nate and I drove Melanie home to Sunset. Then we got Micky D's. It was surprisingly awesome at 12:30 in the morning.

I woke up late. I was so tired.

Love,
Henna

7.17.2012

I'll Dream of You

Heidi and Nate got back all safe and sound last night. I was very worried because I hadn't gotten any texts from them (turns out my phone had been hoarding 30-odd texts and send them tonight). So I was getting a bit worried and decided to stay up, cook dinner, and furiously read my book (1Q84).

I made catfish.

Mmm. Chewy.
Today was a typical day at work. Food. Served it and all that jazz. Until 2:53 (or something)... anyway. Hella close to when we close.

A couple of dudes, older dudes. They ordered their food and the younger dude (still old) told me I was beautiful. Whatever, that's cool and all. He comes in later to bus some cups from his table and called me "a beautiful thing". Ooooh, thank you. I'm a creature now. 

THEN. AND THEN. He brought one last thing in, told me I was so beautiful (third time's the charm, I guess...) and then told me that he'd dream of me. (eyaaaaaaaagh). Then he gave me twenty dollars. "This is just for you sweetheart, for you and your smile."

Well, first thought was ew. But hey, money is money.

Heidi and I ordered take out from the new Chinese place in the Lower Haight, Wonderland. It was some pretty decent food.

And now we're watching True Blood. Hoorah

Love,
Henna

7.15.2012

Fingerprints?

I have cuts all over my fingers. I don't know how they got there, but they're there. And there's a cut on my wrist. From my watch. Another gash thing in the crook of my arm because I dragged the sharp end of the cheddar bin (20 lbs of cheddar). Good thing I've already been fingerprinted, amiright?

Today was so much nicer than the two-marathon-plus-baseball-game-crowd-line-out-the-door-all-day. Mostly, I think, because it was a Sunday. People are so much nicer on Sundays. Or maybe I'm making that up because I'm so gosh darned tired from yesterday that someone could have been yelling at me and I would have just seen daisies everywhere instead. Or something. A man told me I had an infectious smile. "When you smile, it makes me smile. It is very nice." Then another guy told me I had pretty eyes... but I'm pretty sure he stumbled in from the bar across the street... so.

I spent most of the day on register, which I enjoy because I get to smile and be generally pleasant all day. Then I can go home and feel justified in my cynicism and general hatred for the people around me. Ahhh, it's so nice when that happens. There was a very lovely family that came in to the restaurant. They were visiting from Virginia and had found the restaurant featured on a website all about what to do if you only had one day in San Francisco. Another couple came in and ordered a couple sandwiches. They were totally adorable in their preppy, pastel clothing. Pastel is such a nice change from the orange and black sea that is the Giants Crowd. I translated the couple's name tag slogan from the French correctly and they were very surprised. "YOU SPEAK GERMAN?" Wait. That makes no sense. I totally meant French. But the sentiment is the same. I mean. preserve our hearts is NOT difficult. But I got to look all impressive and stuff.

Dinner was good.
COOOOOKING.

Raw, Marinating Beef


Finished product!

Love,
Henna

I. Am. Exhausted.

You know those terrible days that are so busy you just want to curl up and hide underneath the register? Yea. That was today. A line starting at 10AM and not ending until we closed. And we were understaffed and hooof.

So I got home, walked the dog and made dinner. But the first picture is my breakfast.

Biscuit with a fried egg inside.


I found a good recipe for corn tonight. Put 1/4 cup of sugar into a pot of water, boil corn in it for 3 minutes. Voila.

Love,
Henna

7.13.2012

Candlelit Marshmallows

I didn't update last night because power went out on the entire block. And the park across the street, but I'm still trying to figure out what they needed to power over there.

Don't worry, Mom, I worked on Appendix 8 before the power went all wonky.

I cooked myself a lovely dinner last night, chicken legs and bok choy. Super delicious and very moist and COOKED ALL THE WAY THROUGH. All you have to do is set the oven for 375, rub salt and pepper (and garam masala if you're like me) and stick in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Simple, simple, SIMPLE! Cooking the bok choy was also very easy. Cut a head in half (lengthwise) and place several of these into a microwave safe bowl. Add several tablespoons of water and cover the bowl loosely in saran wrap. Microwave for 4-5 minutes. Voila. EASY DINNER.
Super easy.


What's dinner without dessert? I made BANANA S'MORES. (I do have pictures of all of this, they're just on my phone and such.) Right after I pulled my banana s'mores out of the oven, the power went kaput. Twice. The entire block.

So I finished my marshmallow confection in the dark.
I took this picture before the power went out.
I FINISHED MY VISA APPLICATION THIS MORNING. Yaaaaaay. And then I went to work. I took the 21 Hayes (again, to avoid that bus driver) and got in to work a couple hours early. So I stopped at a Starbucks, ordered a coffee and sat down to get into 1Q84 (refer to earlier post).

That book is getting interesting. It's totally unpredictable in a fabulous way. I can't wait to read it on the bus tomorrow.

Today, I was working the 3-9 closer shift. I walked into work, clocked in and started making sandwiches. Piglets and mousetraps were my game. And as soon as we opened, serving tons of booze to 22 year olds was the new game. Seriously, almost everyone ordered alcohol was no more than 22 tonight. I was getting those driver license that were still vertical. A lot of alcohol. So much was sold. Hooolllyyy crap.

Anyway. I walked to the bus after I got off work because none of the taxis driving by were open. The dogs were very happy to see me, insisting on food and dragging me several blocks around the Panhandle.

Thankfully, it's time to sleep for me.

Love,
Henna


7.11.2012

The Bus is Full of Crazies

All of them. And they take the buses I always take.

Work was long yesterday. We had a huge build... etc etc. There was a 40 sandwich order at the beginning of our lunch rush, so everything was backed up 35 minutes. It was somewhat stressful.
So I skedaddled as soon as I could and ran off with Nate, Heady and Handsome Dan to band practice.

Handsome Dan brought his dog, Morrison, so I had some good company. I hadn't eaten, so I left for a bit to find something (anything) to eat. Hello Chili Lemon Garlic Thai Cafe! Thank you for the pineapple fried rice.
Dark picture, but Morrison isn't any less cute.

Today was pretty uneventful... except for the pregnant woman on my bus trading cigarettes. It was. Wow.

I was on the bus headed into my biometrics appointment so they could TAKE MY FINGERPRINTS. But the 21 Hayes (which I took to avoid that bus driver on the 6 Parnassus) broke down on Market St, so everyone on the bus had to get on the second 21 Hayes behind us.

You'll be excited to know that when I got off the bus to walk to my appointment, I never got lost. I even got there 20 minutes early. I thought it would be kind of like the DMV, but they asked for my passport and appointment paper and as I was being given a number, they called my number.

The woman who fingerprinted me was super nice. She asked if I was going abroad to study, what I was studying... (Psychology and Statistics in case you were wondering) We proceeded to have a discussion about child psychology and how siblings interact. She made the whole thing very pleasant. Conversation (mostly) distracted me from noticing that I have scars on every single one of my fingers. I think. Yichh.

But I did some grocery shopping and tried to cobble together dinner. I'll probably buy some sort of meat tomorrow to go with my veggies, fruits and carbs. *sigh* And I even used the exercise bikes and did push ups and stuff. My body is going to haaaaate me tomorrow.

Work tomorrow and hopefully some jogging with the dogs!

Love,
Henna

7.09.2012

No, I'm Not Swiss

I have a pretty awesome sweatshirt. It's my dorm sweatshirt. It's a rip off of the lifeguard sweatshirt -- red, cross in the middle... etc.

I got on the bus to go to work this morning and the bus driver stops me by asking, "Where's your sweatshirt from?" And, as usual, I tried to lie except I hadn't had my coffee yet. So I told him it was my dorm sweatshirt.


Oh. My. God. There was absolutely no way I could get out of that conversation. It was too late to pretend I couldn't speak english and the other excellent excuses I have failed me.

When I was finally to 3rd and Market (one stop away from my stop), he asked for my email address so we could watch an improv show on Thursday.

...I might have given him a fake email and told him that I worked through every lunch shift known to man before I got off at my stop...

It was awkward.

I made poor man's bibimbop again! This time with carrots, zucchini, spinach and enoki... mmm good. I'll post pictures when my phone sends them to my computer.
Told you I'd post it.

Love,
Henna

A Problem


Heidi and I went for a walk with the dogs along Haight Street and decided to press our faces up against the Fluevog window. They're having a sale right now and they have purdy shoes. But as we were walking that direction, we passed by a kid. He couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old and was holding a sign that said, "I need money to buy a drink". How screwed up is that? He was so tiny, I could have picked him up under one arm and jogged like that. And yet, he was sitting outside a coffee shop, no parents in sight. I didn't even notice him until Stella almost mowed him down. Very pale kid in eyes, skin and hair, blended right in with the wall. We walked a couple of blocks away and called child protection services. They said they would send a cop car if the child was still there. I went back to check and that kid was long gone.

I'll be keeping my eye out for him whenever I'm up on the Haight. I'm calling someone the second I see him. 

The homeless problem in San Francisco is probably as it is in any other city... present. And usually we walk on buy, ignoring the signs trying to be clever and the haranguing that happens on the bus or in the subway. But this, today, really broke my heart. And not to say that Heidi and I are any better than everyone else who walked by. We went by this kid twice and then another block past before we decided to call. But six-year-olds shouldn't have to sit on the street to beg for money. I don't know where his parents were and frankly, I don't care. Maybe this is the only way they can provide for him. Maybe the kid is part of a very smooth scam. WHO KNOWS. It doesn't matter.

I have no idea how to solve the homelessness problem. It's an issue that is only present in the corner of my mind. But we, as humans and functioning adults, need to do something about these children. If you've ever seen What Would You Do, you know the typical set-up. A child is lost on the streets, etc etc and you could watch ages of footage with people averting their eyes and walking by.

At least... I don't know... look as you go by. Become educated through sight and experience. That man over there is homeless. Who knows why. But that man is a human, even if he doesn't bathe as often as we can or shave whenever there's a threat of a five o'clock shadow.

Observe, please. And maybe you can help a little kid.

It was serious today, I know. Tomorrow we'll return to our usual program.

Love,
Henna

7.08.2012

I Eat Blood

Tilly is a couch licker. No really, she was sitting on the couch, licking it for a good half hour. It was a bit excessive.

I didn't post last night because I didn't think my life was exciting enough. BUT WHO CARES. I DON'T. MUAHAHAHA.

I worked the late shift at the restaurant last night and got out around 7:00. And I was starving for food and literature. I've been reading a new book every few days and I just started 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. I'm only ninety pages in, but it's quite interesting. I've never read anything by a Japanese author before... I'm excited to do some style comparisons to other languages.

Dinner was on the mind so we went and got take out from Chile Pies (Sweet & Savory) and ate ALL THE FOOD. But it was really good.

Nate got back from Chicago today and declared that we should eat brunch. Because he was hungry.

Magnolia's does a pretty good brunch. No complaints about their steak and eggs.


Tonight we were hosting a baby shower at the restaurant. It was the big baby gender reveal, so everyone guessed when they got in and wore a sticker with either a mustache (boy) or a pair of lips (girl). However, one of the older gentlemen explained that the symbols on these stickers were silly because boys had lips and every woman gets a mustache as she grows older. It was a good time.

I was exhausted once it was finished. Very very tired. But I got to try a JALAPENO POPPER. It took me three summers. It's freaking awesome.

We drove around for a bit afterwards before finding a German place for dinner. The waitress was very sweet.

I asked her if she would recommend either the wild boar sausage or blood sausage.
"Do you like blood?"
HELL YEA I DO.

The blood sausage was bomb awesome.

Love,
Henna

7.05.2012

Driving....

We left our beautiful little cabin to return to San Francisco. We stopped at Ikeda's to let the dogs out for a second and buy some amazing fresh produce for the drive home.

After driving for 2 hours and trying desperately to find good music on the radio, we realized we were listening to hip hop that sampled some Native American music. It was terrible.

Upon returning to San Fran, I proceeded to rush to Alexander's Book Company to buy some more Neil Gaiman. I grabbed a copy of "The Graveyard Book" and read 2/3 in the Starbucks next door.

I fried some cod in butter and Heidi made zucchini bread with strawberries.


Lemon Garlic Alaska Cod

2 tablespoons butter*
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
2 6 ounces each Alaska cod fillets, thawed if necessary
lemon wedges

Melt butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Stir in garlic. Season cod fillets on both sides with lemon pepper.
Place fillets in pan and cook for 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until fish flakes when tested with a fork.
Flip fillets halfway through cooking to brown on both sides. Sprinkle with lemon juice before serving.
Makes 2 servings. Recipe may easily be doubled.
 
*If desired, olive oil may be substituted for butter. 

MMM DEAD FISH
Mmm. Yummy. And I finished the Neil Gaiman book... I should probably find a library instead of continuously buying new books.

Love,
Henna

7.04.2012

Happy Independence Day, Y'all!

Today was relaxing. Very relaxing. I woke up at nine to Heidi and Sharon leaving for rock climbing and Stella passed out on my feet. 

I, again, cooked myself some breakfast, turned on my relaxing playlist (first track is "Moonlight Serenade") and brought everything to the patio. I hooked the dogs up to some rope, dragged out the doggie beds and finished my book, "Anansi's Boys" by Neil Gaiman.

I had to investigate to find the other books in the house. I eventually settled on "Maskerade"by Terry Pratchett. So I lounged in the sun and read for 5 1/2 hours. And of course, walked the dogs every now and then. It was quite peaceful.
View on the Patio
Mmm, breakfast. Had to sweeten my coffee with honey.
Tilly being all shy and stuff. 
"Oh, don't look at me!" 
Stella trying to bake herself in the morning sun. 
Didn't even want to consider moving to the shade.

After reading my books and walking the dogs, the lovely rock climbing ladies returned home and we all climbed in the hot tub to relax and wait for our dinner reservations. We were going to a place that charged just one price for the meal (multiple courses), overlooked the lake and provided an excellent place to see the fireworks. Oh, and the waiter was very nice... and pretty. He was very pretty.

Our view... which conveniently includes a mini flag.
Starting the show. Ooooh. Ahhhh.
This one made a HUGE bang.

SMOKE EVERYWHERE.

Finale! 
FINALE ON BOAT!
Boom!
During our meal, there was a beautiful great dane who was sitting on the lawn outside the porch. He was a blue-gray color... which is probably why his name was "Blue". We fed him some scraps from our steak, which he veryyyy happily chomped away on. He was a familiar at the restaurant (Dockside 700), known for licking the waiters' faces off.

The fireworks were gorgeous and all in all, another successful 4th of July. Tahoe's been lovely. 

Tomorrow: Return to San Francisco!

Love,
Henna

Oh. And this, you might enjoy this.



7.03.2012

Kayaaaaak

I went KAYAKING todaaay! For an hour! My arms are gonna hurt tomorrow but whoooo cares? NOT ME.
Before Kayaking -- Drinking Coffee

The View Before We Went Out

UCDavis Fish Hatchery Research Center

YEA. HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE

Beaaautiful Poppies

It was so blue. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Again, No Justice is Done

Love,
Henna

Pardon My French... Eh Heh.


Pfft.. This little clip looks terrible. Whatever.

Love,
Henna

Ferry Adventure Time!

I worked from 11:40 to 3:00 so I could run to the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero!

This is what I saw on my adventures:

The Bay Bridge Going to Treasure Island

Sculpture: Cupid's Bow (I Think)

Cast of Dead Animal Fossils -- San Fran is Weird

ROCKET SHIP ROCKET SHIP
As you can see, this part of San Fran is sunny and different from the other parts. It was a fun walk. And when I got over to buy my ferry ticket, I realized that I could still pay the CHILD FEE! (10-18 I think) It was 4.50 instead of the 6.00 of just using my clipper card. SCOREEEE.

When I got off at Larkspur Landing, I realized I didn't know/remember what Heidi's friend, Sharon, looked like. But suddenly someone was yelling "HANNAH" and I figured it out quickly.

It took us four hours to drive to Lake Tahoe. But on the way, we got cheese and crackers, Starbucks, and a California MEGA MILLIONS TICKETS! Maybe I'll be able to pay for college, yea?

We got to the cabin at 10:30, ate our cheese and crackers and then decided that the hot tub out back was an excellent idea. And maaan, it was. There was a full moon and everything.

Love,
Henna

7.02.2012

CHALLAW

I slept kind of badly Saturday night. I kept on having dreams that I was late for rolling burritos and it would wake me up every half hour. BUT GOOD NEWS, I wasn't late for work! Yayyy.

It was a long day because there was a baseball game. Giants won! But when Heidi and I got out of work, it was time to cross the bridge to the outside world. That's right, gang, I left San Francisco for an night.

And I have absolutely no idea where we went. The only thing I could tell is that it wasn't foggy.
We ate Afghani foooood. It was very good. I ate beef and eggplant and it came with challaw.




Fine. Challaw is basmati rice. Not nearly as exciting as challaw.

Love,
Henna

6.30.2012

Always Check The Fridge

So I thought I had the day off. My computer schedule told me so, yea?

WROOOOOOONG.
I was supposed to opening. I woke up to a phone call at 9:45. "Junior, you're opening." BUT I WASN'T EXCEPT I WAS. And it was very stressful and upsetting and I will never trust my email again. Only the schedule on the fridge. ONLY.

It was all very upsetting. And today was a very very very very VERY busy day. Uy. We had all of the Giants traffic and it was a noon-ish game, therefore it just added to the lunch rush.

But as soon as Nate and I got off of work, we were able to skedaddle over to our area (the Panhandle) for a lovely french meal at Bistro Central Parc. We shared kobe beef tartare, french fries/frites and escargots. I ordered the cornish game hen, which was lovely and fried with bits of ham and potatoes. After a very long, leisurely, extended dinner, we decided that we would get dessert somewhere else. "Somewhere else" is also known as "The Corner Store" and dessert was ice cream sandwiches.

Absolutely awesome.

Love,
Henna


Dogs and Fingerprints

I no longer look like a shaggy dog. Thank the lord. Grasshopper cut my bangs and it's all awesome now.

Nate and I headed down to THE AMERICAN early on in the day so we could get loaded and such for a catering gig in the afternoon. We decided that we needed some Korean-Chinese-Mexican-American breakfast fusion so we made a stop at HRD Coffee Shop. Honestly, some of the best bibimbop I have ever had. It was a total dude, dive coffee shop. It's been in this guy's family for 50 odd years and he took over when his uncle retired. It was smokey with a line out the door (entirely dudes). AGAIN. SO. GOOD.

I was hanging out in South Park (around the restaurant area) reading my new Neil Gaiman book, Neverwhere when I realized I was sitting right next to Grasshopper (refer to earlier paragraph).

Catering gig was at a tech company valued at half a billion dollars. Their office was huge... and by office, I mean their kitchen space. There must have been a 1000sqft sky light.

WANNA KNOW SOMETHING COOL? I was the line cook and I grilled 130 sandos all by myself. Yay me! And I still have fingerprints aka didn't burn myself too badly. We were sprayed with champagne by the CEO (supposedly accidentally) at one point and I later learned that the CEO hails from New Hampshire. I found this out from one of the last guys grabbing a sandwich. Pretty cool people all around. Very polite.

Their dogs sat next to me for the last half hour and stared at the grill. It was a little ridiculous. All the women thought it was adorable while I worried about the German Shepherd accidentally burning her nose on the griddle. But no mishaps.

Love,
Henna 


6.28.2012

I HATE MY NOSE

I'm still sick. GRAAAAH.

I was on the 3-9 shift, so I left home around noon to pick up some intense cold/flu drugs from Walgreens. Apparently, I sound/look so bad that the woman ringing my drugs up said, "I hope you feel better, dear." Blurgh.

Shift went fine. Lots of beer sold (when the Giants are winning, more people get beer). And I got home at 9:30 ish.

All of the grocery stores in a walking radius are closed by nine, so we made do with whatever we had in the house. WE MADE BURGERS. Well, Heidi made burgers and I made Oven Roasted Broccoli. Mmm. Yummy.

It's almost midnight. Uyuyuy. I'm working a catering gig tomorrow afternoon/night.

Love,
Henna

6.27.2012

I'm Hunting Wabbits

I am so exhausted. What's new with that? I woke up early to hitch a ride in with Nate. We did one of those quick stops at a cool restaurant supply food store (oh my god tangent. It was so freakin' cool. Huge portions of LOTS OF FOOD. OMNOM.)

I clocked in. And worked. Hooboy. I worked from 10:30 to 7:00. Which isn't bad. But it's not fun to be the last person working because then you get all worried about things getting done. That is so... vague. Wow. I am so vague right now.

Some guy at the very very end of my shift gave me a chocolate bar. It had almonds in it. Yum. He was pretty drunk after the ballgame. (GO GIANTS).

I'm learning Spanish! I know how to count 1-10 and say soup. I'm so fluent, yea? Except not. But whatever. I'll get there.

We went to Magnolia for dinner and I ate a rabbit currywurst. It was fantastic. Very... rabbit-y? Anyway. I need to sleep.

Love,
Henna


6.26.2012

BLT Risotto

I'm feeling slightly better. Still a little stuffy, but hey, gotta get better somehow, yea?

So I continued with tea and Oblivion and dog walking today.

AND ATE RISOTTO. Heidi taught me how to properly dice and onion and turn it into a fabulous arugula, bacon, gouda, onion and shrimp risotto. There was more stuff than rice.

So what to do on a Tuesday night while eating good food? Watch an 80s movie.

Say hello to the trailer for HEATHERS

Oh yes. It was awesome, cheesy, ridiculous. And Christian Slater is hoooottttt.

Love,
Henna

6.25.2012

My Toes are Dragon Green

I've not been feeling too hot lately. My throat's a little sore so I've been drinking tea to help it and therefore not sleeping well.

ANYWAY.

I woke up late today to the sounds of Pippa visiting, hoorah! It was girl's day out in Japantown!

We done got our nails did. Well, toenails because you can't have nail polish on in a restaurant. It was very nice... and now my toes are a lovely gold/green. Then we went to lunch at a yummy noodle place and I ate udon. (SURPRISE SURPRISE.) OM NOM NOM.

And I'd just like to mention that every salon in San Francisco was unavailable to cut bangs today. All of them. So Heidi and I will continue to look like shaggy dogs for the foreseeable future. Unless we cry at Grasshopper tomorrow or during our lunch breaks.

Benkyodo had peanut butter mochi today, which ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF. Can I just mention that peanut butter makes everything better? I would like some peanut butter to be mixed with my bowl of chocolate chips, please. I need some of that salt so I don't remember that I'm eating a bowl of chocolate chips at 9:30 PM.

On our search for a hair salon, we took the dogs for a walk and found a tree of AWESOME. It had these yummy fruits on it, which Heidi and Nate have dubbed "poison berries". They tasted like seedy strawberries of ABSOLUTE AMAZING.

Mmm. Poison berries.
So yea. I played Oblivion for like... three hours. And I have the day off tomorrow. Rock on.

Love,
Henna

6.24.2012

How Many Cups of Tea?

How many cups of tea can one person drink in a night? LET'S FIND OUT. Two days ago, it was 6. I'm on cup number one of the evening.

Today was the Pride Parade in San Francisco so everyone was in the Castro. So today was pretty slow... mmm. Steady traffic through the place it seemed.

Came right home after work and ate some leftover BBQ brisket. Om nom nom.

Man, I need to go find a social life. Hopefully I won't die from this intake of tea (it's helping my throat).

Love,
Henna


6.23.2012

Bleurgh.

My throat hurts.

Work was fine.

I ate Little Chihuahua for dinner.

Om nom nom.

Love,
Henna

6.22.2012

I Have Marshmallow Stuck In My Teeth

I slept through my alarm... which sucked. I wanted to wake up at 8:30 so I could enjoy the day... but noooooo, I woke up at 11:30. Dammit.

So with half the day gone, I attempted to plan dinner.

When in doubt, make fried rice because it's very easy. It really should be called "Whatever You Feel Like" rice.

Henna's Surprised Fried Rice

Serves 4 big people

6 cups cooked rice
Half of an eggplant
peas
mushrooms
red bell pepper
soy sauce
1/2 lb of ground beef
green onions
2 eggs

COOK IT. OM NOM NOM.

I burned my finger doing this... so typing reallllly reallllly hurts right now.

We went for a walk to The Ice Cream Bar in Cole Valley. I had their bourbon peanut butter ice cream with cherries and marshmallow fluff.

I think my favorite part was the fluff. They toasted it.

Well, my finger is crying, so I'm calling it a night.

Love,
Henna

Happy Birthday, Daddio!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope it was fantastic and I'm sorry I missed it. Buuut, I made bibimbop for dinner in your honor.

Today work = same old, same old :)

Heidi and Nate were both going to be back late (around nine) so I decided to make dinner. TO MY PINTEREST BOARD!

I decided to make Spice Roasted Carrots and Cheap Korean Beef. So off to Falletti I went. They have nice cashiers. Yes, yes they do.

But anyway... instead of regaling you with tales of my cooking... I prepared, chopped and mixed all of the ingredients beforehand so I could pop everything into the oven when everyone got home.

Prepping the carrots and browning the meat

Mmm... cook that meat
MONSTER FACE
Frying the eggs and admiring the cooked carrots
Almost finished with Poor Man's Bibimbop

Finished Poor Man's Bibimbop
So, as you can see, I made bibimbop. Well, I wasn't planning on it. But I cooked the rice and the meat and such... Heidi took one look and said, "Excellent! Bibimbop for dinner!" Since the recipe I used was called cheap korean beef, I figured the "Poor Man" prefix worked quite well in this situation. Anyway. Threw a fried egg on top, used some Sriracha and we were set to go.

I promise I'll make you some when I get home, Dad.

Love,
Henna