the dreary dozenth

Okay, so "dozenth" may or may not be a real word, but it goes better with "dreary" than "twelfth" does. And last week, the twelfth week, was indeed dreary. It was cold, windy, and/or rainy pretty much every day. At least those of us in the city didn't really get the crazy flooding or mudslides of the Peninsula. We also didn't get several feet of cabin-burying snow, like the news from the Sierras showed. No, it was just bleak and rainy here for most of the week.


It started on Saturday, which was a work day for me anyway. When I got home, I went out with Steve to get some groceries. It was still raining as we trudged through the park, but Steve held the umbrella over my head while I took pictures of the flowering—and dripping—tree.

78/365 tree in the rain

Sunday offered a brief break from the wet weather, but of course, I had to spend the afternoon at work again. For lunch, Steve made a mushroom and fontina pizza with thyme, based on a Mario Batali recipe (with taleggio instead of fontina) from Molto Gusto. It was quite good, although the sudden appearance of the sun made the pictures come out a little too shiny.

79/365 mushroom pizza

For Monday, I had scheduled a little photo shoot for a friend of a friend. Lydia had seen the pictures I took for Marion's website and wanted me to take some of her acupuncture office. I shot quite a few pictures there, but my favorite was the one of ranunculus in front of her Chinese herbs.

80/365 flowers & herbs

On Tuesday, it was more intermittent rain. I had some errands I needed to run in Noe Valley, but the rain showers kept coming, even while the Weather Channel website's hourly forecast said there shouldn't be any. That was enough to make me not want to leave the house.

While I was making lunch, I took a quick picture of the robiola cheese that I was putting on my asparagus risotto leftovers. Not the most exciting picture, but the cheese knife and the textures of the parchment paper and cheese itself added some interest. Good enough!

81/365 delicious robiola

I did need to get my Noe Valley stuff done on Wednesday, though. Somehow, I managed to walk to Noe Valley and back between rainy spells. I've gone there so many times during each of my 365 projects that I tend not to take a whole bunch of pictures anymore when I go. This time, I took three: tulips by someone's house on the way, flowers in a planter, and signs in a bin in front of an antique shop. (Mind you, I still took multiple shots of each to make sure I got one that was in focus.) I decided that the antique signs were the most interesting, but I post the two flower pictures to Flickr as well.

82/365 bonjour

Thursday was the worst day for the rain; it was almost constant between about 6am and 5pm. I wandered the house a little in the morning, shooting a few things, but I didn't get any pictures I liked. In the afternoon, I went back and reused the concept from my day 11 picture: shoot through a rainy window, focusing on the water drops. I used the other side of the living room window, so at least the view was different this time. The guy walking down the alley at the moment didn't hurt either.

83/365 if the rain must fall

Finally, Friday seemed like it was going to stay dry for a while. I needed to get out of the house again, so I made my third attempt at reading Rick Steves' Italy while drinking coffee somewhere on Valencia Street. Four Barrel had been a zoo when I went in January, Ritual had been crowded when I tried in February, but Borderlands Cafe worked out rather well this time. Located next to a sci-fi bookstore, and owned by the same people, it doesn't have the hipster vibe of those other places. There's no Wi-Fi and no loud music. In fact, it was downright quiet when I was there. And most importantly, there were seats open. My mocha wasn't as good as the ones those other places make, but I would still go back to read some more. I just might try the chai instead.

After finishing my mocha and my chapter on Venice, I risked conspicuousness and took a couple pictures of the postcard rack. Good luck finding those at Ritual or Four Barrel.

84/365 the gay bandit of the border

Week 13 is looking much more promising in the weather department. Maybe real spring is arriving!
 

cue springtime

Week 11 of Project 365 began with more food related photos. I just can't stay away.


I didn't have to work on Saturday, but I couldn't think of anything very exciting that I wanted to do. I ended up just going with Steve to get ingredients for that night's dinner and Sunday's lunch. The main stop was at Sun Fat to get a couple Dungeness crabs. While Steve was paying for our two, I took a picture of this guy in the tank.

71/365 crab on crab action

We had carrot soup with crab for dinner on Saturday, but on Sunday we finally made the Crab & Asparagus Linguine from Jamie Oliver's Cook with Jamie. (Very similar recipe can be found here. The main difference is that ours had shaved fennel in it too.) I spent a while actually styling this plate, twirling pasta and asparagus around a fork and placing it in neat little nests; then topping the whole thing with more crab, peppers, and fennel tops. I also set up a more composed, vertical shot with some of those components in the background, but I liked the simplicity of this one better.

72/365 asparagus & crab linguine

On Monday, I spent some time making Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cookies. Thankfully, daylight savings time had begun the day before, so I wasn't in as much of a rush to finish them before dark. It took a while to bake and glaze them all, and I was still doing the last of the glazing when Steve got home from work. They turned out really well—kind of light and cakey like madeleines, but with a nice lemony flavor.

73/365 lemony snickets

The next day, I decided that it was time to try taking a picture of the blossoming tree across the street. I had noticed it for the first time during my 365 two years ago, but that day's picture ended up being one of a neighborhood cat who showed up while I was taking pictures of the tree. This time, a different neighborhood cat appeared. Of course, I went to pet her and attempted to take some pictures of her. Only one of those amounted to much, so I decided to go with the blossoms for this 365.

74/365 blossom time

Wednesday was one of our season ticket-mandated date nights. We went to see Rock of Ages at the Curran. The show itself was pretty cheesy, but at least it was entertaining. Dinner before that was at Gitane, and it was wonderful. We've been there a handful of times, usually before shows, and it's always good. They do kind of Basque-Mediterranean food. I took a few pictures inside, including of our bastilla (savory-sweet chicken in pastry) and our beignets, but my favorite shot was of their sign against the brick wall. I didn't have to crank up the ISO so much for that one.

75/365 gitane

St. Patrick's Day on Thursday was an easy one. I had been noting clover in various places around the neighborhood over the last few weeks, so I just had to find the most interesting spot. The park by the house had several of them, and we happened to be walking through it on the way to the Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas booksigning at Omnivore Books that evening. So I got my clover pictures, and we got to meet the chef and the managing partner of Alinea! I took a picture of them with Steve too; they seemed really cool.

76/365 st. patrick's day

Friday was mostly rainy. I took a picture in the morning of the dining room table in the gloomy light and didn't pick up my camera that afternoon, figuring I'd just use that. Then, Steve brought home some flowers, so I took some pictures of those to use instead.

77/365 freesia

It's sunny right now, but more rain is forecasted here for this week. I'm hoping it won't cramp my style too much.

the tenth week

Time again for another edition of the Project 365 weekly roundup.


We begin with last Saturday. I dragged Steve with me to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park to see the Garden Railway exhibit before it ended. As usual, I took lots and lots of pictures of flowers and of the little San Francisco landmarks in the train exhibit. More than a week later, there are still a few pictures I haven't posted to Flickr, but I'm not sure that's going to happen.

After that, we drove to the Richmond to check out Kamei Restaurant Supply. I had gotten the tip at the food photography workshop the week before that Kamei was a good place to get single pieces of dinnerware to use as props. We came away with several plates and utensils, as well as some things Steve needed, all for a pretty reasonable price. And with 4 minutes to spare on our parking meter.

But pictures of that stuff didn't happen until later. The official picture of the day is one of the few in-focus shots that I was able to get of the train in the Garden Railway exhibit, whilst it was moving.

64/365 garden railway

On Sunday, we had mini tiramisu for breakfast. That was our first time using our new Weck jars, and they worked really well for the single serving portions. Now I keep looking up recipes online for puddings, parfaits, and verrines so we can use them more.

65/365 tiramisu jars

Monday turned into a day of organizing. After Saturday's little spree, I had finally acquired enough props for food photography that I needed an official place to put them. So I cleaned out one of those big Rubbermaid tubs and piled in my linens, dishes, utensils, etc. From there, I got inspired to clean out our silverware drawer and get rid of things we never use. Then, I got the idea for my picture of the day, using the small wooden spoons and "whisklettes" that I had gotten on Saturday. I spent a while standing on a chair, leaning over the kitchen table, trying to get directly above my plate of utensils to take a straight shot. Once I was satisfied, it all got packed into the Rubbermaid with the rest of my stuff.

66/365 big spoon, little spoon, big whisk, little whisk

The next day was Fat Tuesday, and while I've never celebrated Lent, I figured it was a good day to get a donut. I arrived at Dynamo Donuts before 2:30pm, and I got the very last donut of the day. Luckily, Ginger Orange was one of the flavors I was hoping for. They gave it to me for $1, since it was the display donut, and I went on my merry way to eat it at the park/playground nearby.

67/365 fat tuesday

Ash Wednesday followed, and while other people were getting ash put on their foreheads, I went and got a facial. I didn't realize the irony until I was on the BART train on my way to Marion's spa. Anyway, my facial at Ensoma was lovely and relaxing, and I got my picture of the day in the form of the magazines laid out on the chaise lounge.

68/365 at ensoma

I didn't know what I was going to do for Thursday's picture, but then Carmen texted me and suggested that we do a little photo shoot. I had been wanting to take some pictures of her growing belly, as well as some of her with the cute umbrella Steve and I got her for her birthday. It was wet outside, but not actually raining much, so it turned out to be the perfect opportunity. We shot some pictures in the alley and in the park nearby, making good use of the umbrella and the swings in the park. The winner for the day, however, was Carmen's baby bump with cute shoes in the background. It even made Flickr's Explore!

69/365 niece in progress

Friday was pizza night, and Steve and I went out to Pi Bar. Steve got his favorite beer, Moonlight Death & Taxes, and I got my favorite pomegranate cider. After the news of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan the night before, everyone seemed glad to get out and chill. It got busy by the time we had finished eating, but with a few kids around, Pi Bar had a nice neighborhood feel that Friday evening.

70/365 death & taxes

Well, on to the next week. Let's hope that this one ends better than the last. No more natural disasters for a while, please.