Dearest Family and Friends57 Cumberland Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Phone Number: +1 415 738 2112
February Highlights
10:10
Becoming LocalvoresThe principle behind 10:10 is that everybody - whether as individuals, businesses or institutions – we can tackle climate change by cutting their carbon emissions by 10% this year.
As a result we have agreed, as a family, to implement certain changes in our lifestyle and habits for 2010. 
The most significant measure we have undertaken as part of 10:10 is to eat local food and drink local beverages only – to become LocalvoresAnd rather luckily we live in America’s most productive agricultural state, California!
And yes, that does mean that Colman has agreed to only buy Californian wines in 2010 – no small sacrifice on his part!This also means that we will be eating seasonally.
We Are What We Eat The more we looked into the realities of industrialised foodstuffs, the more disgusted we became.
In fact, not owning a car has proved to be a huge blessing when it comes to our diet.
We don’t go to the supermarket (literally we have been less than 10 times and have lived here for 3.5 yrs) because we can’t transport food home in any kind of bulk, so we don’t fall for the 3 for 2 special offers and stockpile food at home, which is either then thrown away or overeaten. And are not tempted by the (mostly engineered) 47,000 product lines in the average American supermarket.And thus we support small local businesses, who often buy from other small local businesses, so the product lines they stock are more homespun and interesting.
We Are Where You Eat
We have two good quality grocery shops near us - Bi-rite Market where our friend Liz (pictured here) is Assistant Manager and has given us good advice on becoming localvores - and Whole Foods Valencia (which is not part of the Whole Foods chain) – and between them we can pretty much get all we require, in what are in effect corner shops.
We don’t go to the Farmer’s Markets much because we find that we are so well served from these local shops and our weekly veg box that they are surplus to our requirements. Although the justly famous San Francisco Ferry Building Saturday morning market was a great stop off on our way to Sonoma to stockpile some delicious locally grown heirloom beans.And we therefore tend to eat food we create from commodities, from raw ingredients, rather than manufactured products and now need to step this up a gear - Michael Pollan of Omnivore’s Dilemma fame, sensibly advocates only buying foodstuffs with less than 4 ingredients on the label. Processed food is overpackaged too. So by going without, we reduce our waste.
For example, this year we have decided to make houmous rather than buy it – we have an excellent recipe which turns out nicer than the shop bought stuff, and it also handily reduces our plastic usage. The plan is to not buy dips this year unless they come in a compostable container and are from local ingredients.
As anybody who has seen the excellent and disturbing documentary Food Inc - required viewing! (click here for a discussion on the issues) – the faster we return to small-scale, artisanal production, wherever possible, the better the health of humans, animals and the planet will be. We only eat happy meat’ (free range) already.
The ChallengesShopping takes three times as long as I now need to peruse labels in detail. Food labelling is most certainly one of the Black Arts in the 21st century.
Over the past two months, we had an abundance of salad leaves in our veg box, followed by cauliflower and broccoli, and then butternut squash and carrots, and now with artichokes. I have been known to repeat dishes as a consequence…
And although the vast majority of our food and beverage requirements are grown, cultivated, harvested, processed, packaged, milked and slaughtered in California, most grains including wheat and barley, cocoa (so no chocolate), most sugar, spices, tropical fruits such as coconuts and bananas, most spirits, and the majority of tinned food, are not.Some of this we agreed was unrealistic. So a few compromises have been reached:
Colman has pleaded for spices to be exempt. In truth we will hardly need to buy spices this year given how long it takes to use up a sachet of turmeric, but salt and pepper, ginger and chillies, cinnamon and cumin have a higher turnover in the kitchen, and so I agreed we could buy spices. He points out these are not bulky items and are probably shipped not flown to the US.
Esme likes cereal for breakfast and I realised it was near impossible to source a Californian grown and produced cereal (plenty are made here but the ingredients are from outside the state), so we have gone for the easy option – Weetabix manufactured in Canada. I thought we could buy oats from California and have porridge as an alternative but it turns out these come from Oregon and Washington State. Rice is grown here in great quantities so we are eating lots of this carbohydrate, and the local company, Lundbergs, also make rice chips (corn chip substitute), brown rice syrup, rice pasta, rice cakes, rice flour etc.
I assumed blithely that whatever arrived in our veg box would be from California. We ate cucumbers from Mexico for 6 weeks. So now, every week, I customise my box and double-check on the provenance of each item they propose to send me, or I want to add in. Annoyingly, garlic was out of season for a few weeks, so I ‘borrowed’ a head from our neighbour, Tom, replacing it when they were back in season again!
Esme also LOVES bananas. And while the other fruits available to us will be seasonal and plentiful in 2010, I have succumbed and bought bananas on the odd occasion. 2 year old’s don’t understand the necessity of eating locally… So far in 2010 we have had kiwi fruit, pink grapefruit, oranges and tangerines. Apples are from Oregon at this time of year, although I bought a big bag from a farm shop when we went on our Anderson Valley expedition. But there are local apple sauces and apple juices available; I made a rather superior pudding using in season quince instead of apples, which worked really well.
I have to provide snacks and lunches on a rota for Esme’s school, so the amended rule is that pasta, crackers and bread can be purchased if created in the Bay Area, not within California.When eating at other people’s houses and eating out we are exempt from the localvore rules, and that includes wine!
For my birthday Colman took me to Fish and Farm which serves ‘New American seafood and artisan meats’ and sources most fish, meat and produce from within a 100 mile radius of San Francisco, and drinks from small organic and biodynamic producers. So we were surprised to see prime Scottish salmon on the menu! I had cauliflower soup with toasted almonds for starters with the swordfish on white bean ragout and black kale for main. For pudding it was the ricotta cheesecake in a jar with cranberry jam – yummo.
I took the time to contact California food companies such as Amy’s Kitchen and Aidell’s sausages and of course, most of their product lines use California ingredients when in season or available but couldn’t guarantee this to be the case year round. Tinned tomatoes, for example, in the shops we frequent, are mostly not from California, so I made the pleasing discovery of Happy Girl Kitchen – slogan ‘Preserving the local, organic harvest one jar at a time’ - whose heirloom tomatoes are bottled with herbs and seasoning. Although three times the price of normal tinned tomatoes, they really are thrice as flavoursome so I’m indeed a happy girl.
Certainly, food shopping this way can be more expensive, although great savings are made in cooking food from scratch rather than purchasing ready meals. But look at the costs as part of a bigger picture, and we feel it is worth it. Processed foods are made of the cheapest possible industrialised ingredients and play havoc with one’s health and the eco-system, 
requiring our taxes to expensively restore to good working order. We choose to eat really well and cook with excellent ingredients, and we’re buying much stuff – other than Colman’s recent purchase of a beard trimmer! And the bigger benefit to the environment and our wellbeing is incalculable.Nourishing high quality delicious food should be the most important thing in anybody’s life.
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Adventure of the Month
Boonville
Colman had long wanted to attend the annual Anderson Valley Wine Growers Alsace Festival, showcasing aromatic whites, in the Mendocino County Fairground in Boonville, about a 3hr drive N of San Francisco.
So we headed up the freeway and then over the hills into Mendocino Co through bucolic wooded valleys. We met up with Morgan and Margaret, and the three of them tasted, spat, and swallowed tinctures of the Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Muscat persuasion all afternoon, 
while Esme and I danced to the (actually rather good) 4 piece bandchowed down on the free food supplied by various local hostelries
and explored the rusting farm machinery outside.
Strangely, none of the 40 or so local wineries represented were allowed to sell their wares at the event, which meant a further shopping expedition along Highway 128 through the pastoral Anderson Valley to the Navarro and Greenwood Ridge Vineyards where Esme, Colman, Margaret and Morgan propped up the bar in the tasting room.We all enjoyed a most convivial early dinner at diner/family restaurant, Lauren’s, which splendidly had a kids corner that kept Esme more than happy,
before we bade Margaret fond farewell and drove as far as Cloverdale in Sonoma County. Colman had booked a double queen room at a motel to break up the journey home, so Morgan joined us three for a romantically early night – Esme was most excited!
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Birthdays
Festival of Nadine and Colman
February is our month. My birthday is the 13th, Valentine’s the 14th, we met on the 16th and Colman’s birthday is the 23rd. This year saw rather subdued celebrations – Colman was away twice for work – but we still cut a dash.
My birthday present to myself was to go on an Understanding Your Digital SLR course. Hopefully the pictures will improve from now on – no more leaving the camera on the auto setting. This picture of Alex and Esme was taken with the correct white balance, and the colours are softer.
On my actual birthday I took Esme (here sporting my present of a recycled plastic crocheted bag from Zambia from my sister) to a movement and dance class – in truth more of a running around in circles and wrapping herself up in the long curtains class - which she loved.
And then went to see Elton John and Billy Joel live with Paula, Ethan and Amy H in Oakland. Amy very kindly sorted out swanky cocktails and dinner at eco-gourmet restaurant Plant Café on the Embarcadero, with a Bayside table overlooking the water, prior to us heading over to the East Bay.We had such a convivial dinner that time slipped, so ended up missing the first 30 minutes of the show including the first duelling piano session – doh! – but did see the next 2 & ¾ hours from our excellent seats.
The highlight of Elton John’s set was a superb 10-minute rendition of Rocketman. It was a great gig – two old pros and their pianos – with an amusingly very different backing band for each showman highlighting their contrasting styles. The show finished with half an hour of the duelling pianos again, and with Candle in the Wind and Pianoman.
Colman
For Colman’s birthday I had bought tickets as a surprise to see Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle, on preview night, a play I’d never seen. In London theatre-going is very much a part of our leisure time, and here we never go. So I thought it would be good to do something different.
Amusingly, Colman confessed in the first interval that he’d also bought tickets to the play as a surprise for me in a few weeks time, also having felt the lack of theatre in our lives. Looks like we’re still on the same wavelength then!
And unexpectedly saw in the programme notes that Colman’s old friend, Jane Cox, was the lighting designer. And she was still in town from NYC, though sadly leaving the next morning. So we caught up with her for 5 minutes at the end of the show.Party
Our Festival finished with our annual joint birthday party.
People were asked to shake a tail feather and to wear feathers.I purloined a feather boa from Esme’s school for her outfit to go with her marvellously tasteful pink feather tiara.<
Colman was rather stumped on the feather front until first guests, Arne and Cati, left, as Cati generously donated her feather and wool boa to Colman’s cause.
And he wore it any number of ways through the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Adam had a lucky escape to his next party, managing to leave with his peacock-feathered hat, but I thought it suited my outfit far better.
Morgan was, er, resplendent in his Native American headdress.The family shift included Chris, Darcy, Bella and Zack who voyaged over from Alameda – Bella and Esme had the best time running round and around together.
Marcus found himself somewhat elbowed aside by Bella in the quest for Esme’s attention in the maelstrom.
Here all three are blowing raspberries to camera.
Neighbours, Nicole, Jon and Fin, were the last family tribe to leave. 
Red-be-feathered David and Sue, whom we had met at Burning Man, also made the big trip across from the East Bay, which was really great.
Akemi looked fantastic in her feather trimmed boat-necked slinky number...
while Danny was a worthy escort in his black boa.
All our downstairs neighbours made it.Tom brought a splash of colour to proceedings.
While Kim’s friend Lewis enlivened up the party by sheer force of personality!
Jason and Jim won the best looking couple award.
Esme went to bed relatively late, but willingly. Totally shattered!
Esme’s playhut saw most action – kids of all ages found amusement and solace within its purple and yellow walls.
The DLG kept the party going till late...Laura came up from Santa Cruz.
Michelle made a special guest appearance to show off her two buns in the oven.
Amy and Geri were the last to arrive.
We even – drum roll – pushed the coffee table back and had a little disco boogie! My my. Heady days.Thanks everybody for coming along!
EthanPaula had conspired to throw Ethan a small surprise 40th birthday party at their place. She knew it would be a surprise for him as he was adamant he was going to wait until 50 to celebrate and wasn’t planning on anything.
I helped her set up ahead of time. 
Armani also arrived early, and Marcus asked me where Esme was every 3 minutes – his wish finally granted when Colman and Esme arrived just before Ethan returned from a lunchtime drinking session with Geoff. And was duly surprised!
Great to meet Ethan’s parents and to see Marcus and Esme having so much fun together.
They chased each other up and down the corridor in a most gratifyingly exhausting fashion all afternoon.
Before catching up on important telephone calls.
Thanks to Paula for organising the party!
DLG
No fewer than four of the DLG have February birthdays. Including Sylvia who shares my birthday.
For Jen D’s birthday, she baked the MOST AMAZING hazelnut brown butter cake and hosted DLG.
And then the next day she drove Esme and I to the Legion of Honor to see the (literally) dazzling Cartier in America exhibition. 
We promised Esme necklaces, brooches and bracelets, these were there in abundance along with tiaras, pins, clocks and timepieces. Esme was enthralled by the fire of the diamonds (although puzzled they weren’t in diamond shape), learned how to recognise rubies, sapphires and emeralds, (the painted and varnished crones who were our fellow visitors cooing over Esme,
laughing that I was starting her young), but she was most drawn to the jewellery in the shape of animals such as leopards and birds (the snake rope necklace was a hit), preferring Wallis Simpson’s characterful jewels to some of the more classic shapes. One does have standards to maintain…
HilaryOur Visitors of the Month were Hilary and Will in town briefly on their way down the coast and onwards to a cruise around Baja California. Lovely to see them!
Pat and Niamh
Finally, many hearty congratulations to my in-laws whose Golden Wedding celebrations took place in Dublin this February. The Pittsburgh Stephensons composed this magnum opus to commemorate the occasion.
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Bird of the Month
Alas, no birding expeditions this month. But my bird of the month is our friendly neighbourhood, Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans, who perches on our neighbour’s rooftop at my immediate window level to the east.This species of flycatcher has a distinctive slate-grey breast and back with cream underparts. I see them on walks beside streams, in open fields, and also one frequents the local swimming pool. It constantly wags its tail while perched and then flies up in the air to catch insects, before returning to its perch. It has a lovely song, too, lifting my spirits while I’m ploughing through emails or wrestling with scheduling.
I often glance out of our dining room window while working, watching the sunrise, the rainshowers, steam rising off the buildings as the sun heats us up. I like to think it looks at me through the window, barely 4 metres away, and observes me, hunched over the computer, squinting at the screen, and wonders what I’m thinking, why that human is sitting there without moving, without soaring, without singing.Top
Mural of the Month
Stencil of the Month
Bumper Sticker of the Month
Ignorance of the Law of Karma Is No Excuse
