i've been sucked into lost.

and now i'm sitting here watching amy grant's three wishes.

yesterday, i put on my holey cowgirl creamery shirt and dragged myself out of the house with the idea of going to stinson, but once i got there, i just kept on going. through the beautiful point reyes national seashore, with its billowing, metallic waters, up into the town. i stopped over at brickmaiden breads and tomales bay foods, then got back into the car and drove down into inverness, where i stopped to get something to eat, and imagined that my wonderful old professor robert hass might stop by and we could sit there talking about poetry and life and beauty through the quiet afternoon.

that didn't exactly happen.

but it was lovely, nonetheless.

two weeks ago i made a wedding cake. ha! it was tiered and everything. chocolate with cream cheese frosting, if you're wondering.

i've been driving to bob's on fridays, and today i took a friend up there with me. we argued the entire way there about a certain ethical issue, and when we got there we invited bob and charlene into our conversation. it was hilarious!!! bob just went on and on about how if you go to grad school you'll suddenly find yourself one million dollars in debt, and all of this other crazy stuff. he was pretty great.

a book i contributed to is coming out soon!!! november, i think.

from an email i received today

"I had a really odd dream about you last night. You were getting ready
to run a marathon, and you kept on trying to convince me to run with
you. I've been sick the past week or so, meaning I've been out of
commission, and I said something like, "But I can only do a
half-marathon! By the time I finish the 13 miles, you'll already be
finished with the entire marathon route." And then afterwards, I
think we tried to find a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in a residential
area to go eat ramen. Unfortunately I woke up before we could sample
the ramen. The end."

pretty awesome, huh?
i am completely and utterly obsessed with lost. i've watched all of the shows on dvd from netflix, and now i even browse for spoilers and read the forums. what happened?

i'm limiting myself to one tv show at a time, because otherwise i'll be glued to the television around the clock. already, this show has taken up too much of my life. but what can i say? the people who write this are absolutely brilliant. i read the other day that they've already planned out the entire show--they already know all of the links and how it's going to end and who the hell desmond is and all the rest. i was hoping that was how they were doing all of this.

it's driving me nuts!
i love our dishwashers--they are amazing. they have great senses of humor, are incredibly hardworking, and put up with a lot of crap from all of us. i try to do my best for them, making sure they are never hungry, and get whatever they prefer to eat. i also try to speak spanish to them, but it mostly comes out as this weird spangtalian. usually, they catch my drift, and usually, i understand what they are trying to tell me.

recently, we hired a new dishwasher who speaks absolutely no english. i'm pretty good with him, and i think he's comfortable with me and gets what i'm trying to get across to him, most of the time. but i think he must think i am absolutely nuts because whenever i can't think of the correct spanish word, i just substitute "blah blah blah." for example, "puedes blah blah blah esta olla alli' por favor?"
i nearly cut my finger off today, making what i like to call "bacon soup" (really it was just potato and escarole soup with a lot of bacon in it), so i'll keep things short.

we went on a field trip to hangar one in ever-so-slightly freaky alameda today. i'm not exactly big into spirits, but i really liked the integrity of their entire operation. and the mandarin orange blossom vodka reminds me of picking sour orange blossoms with my grandmother in iran, and then making a simple distillation from them.

the copper stills are beautiful, and lance, who led us around, was extremely knowledgable, and all-around awesome. he even gave us some of his homemade absinthe.

i'll try to upload some photos to flickr...
adam gopnik's article in the food issue of the new yorker is just one of many beautiful pieces. but i love the way he writes about alain passard, the amazing three michelin star chef in paris, and some archaically poetic french traditions.

he tells how recently, passard bought a chateau in the countryside so he could start a potager, or organic vegetable garden for his restaurant:

"he bought it through a uniquely french practice, in which a younger person buys the property of an older one while the old person is still alive. this gives the older person a cash infusion, and the new buyer gets at least a little use of the property while he or she waits to get it all. the practice can create a situation as intensely delicate as a roman imperial adoption, since the buyer becomes nearly a son or daughter of the house as he begins to occupy it, or bits of it, while, by ancient french cynical conviction, the sudden onset of money combined with the power of spite extends the life of the older person out to the demoralizing edge of immortality."

passard talks about vegetables:

"one sincere action from the garden is worth six skilled actions in the kitchen. when i'm in my kitchen, i shut my eyes and think that i'm [in the garden]....the other day i made a plate of tomatoes--just these tomatoes, sliced the right thickness, salted, and with a dab of balsamic. it was perfect."

and his gardener replies:

"of course, one gesture on the plate demands a thousand acts here in the garden."
good news--i've gotten a few bakeries in town to pledge some baked goods for my bake sale next weekend:

lots of cupcakes from virginia bakery and love at first bite, banana bread and scones from bakesale betty, and a cake from sweet adeline. la farine shot me down, and i still have to talk to crixa and bittersweet.

things seem to be shaping up.
it looks like it might be time for another bake sale. i'm working at the yolo county land trust fundraiser next week at full belly farm, so i'm thinking about having it on SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBER, right before i go to philippe's farewell party.

write the date down, guys. i'll need any and all help to make this a success. the more baked goods the better. last time, the cinnamon rolls, cookies and brownies were the biggest sellers. just imagine how much it would suck if your hometown or state disappeared.

i believe in people, and that they want to give, but so many people just don't know how or where. last time we sent the money to americares, and this time i'm thinking second harvest might be a good choice.
alice came in for dinner the other night, and it was really nice to see and talk to her. she comes in often on sundays, when her own restaurant is closed, but this time, she was by herself and sat at the end of the bar so we could talk to her. i asked her what fanny was up to, having just finished at yale, and we launched into this discussion of young people and existential angst. obviously, fanny is in a bit of a different situation than i am--she has an extremely famous and opinionated mother for one thing (not that mine's not opnionated)--but it sounds like she's just as lost as i am. we all have to figure out who we are, apart from our parents and friends and everyone at some point, and it's a difficult, sometimes painful, thing to do. i'm sure fanny's disadvantages in this situation equal her advantages: yes, she's got the priveliges of being alice's daughter (and i'm sure there are many), but she also has to deal with the fact that alice waters is her mother, and what that means to her and for her life.

in the end, i was incredibly heartened by what alice had to say. she paraphrased something that her friend peter sellars talks about--that ultimately, life is about living every day consciously, and making every decision matter. it doesn't matter if you hate your job, another one will come one day. it doesn't matter if you struggle with your meaning in life constantly. just make every day count by living a conscious life.

she was much more eloquent than i.
i really liked this article about outstanding in the field.

what a great way to make everything come together.

i've been lucky enough to have quite a few special lunches and dinners on some of the very farms (and some which are even more special) where those guys do their thing, and it's true: there is just something magical about setting up long tables with ratty old linens and eating food that's fresh from the ground.