Western Bluebird

In the Bay Area this weekend for a really fun wedding (Congrats Kevin & Liz!), went on a little hike and saw two Western Bluebirds. I was surprised I didn't see more hawks since we saw at least two dozen mice scurrying about. The bluebirds were easily identifiable by their blue back and rust-orange "vest". Love!

Western Bluebird. Thanks Pinterest!

Ferry Building

Beautiful day to run the Embarcadero.

The Sunshine between the Showers

Finally getting much needed rain here in the Bay Area! Luckily, the skies cleared for Ab's first high school track meet. Yay! Captured this cool photo of her throwing the discus. 

Afterwards, headed back up to the city and had a wonderful urban hike. We always walk and walk and walk until we're starving! Mel's Diner hit the spot. I think I might be the only person who lives in San Francisco who really enjoys Pier 39. We found a secret walk with this beautiful view of the harbor and Coit Tower. And of course, the tulip festival is still going strong!

SOMA is growing on me, mostly because of this beautiful sparkling Bay Bridge at night!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Spent the day yesterday celebrating my Mom's Birthday. We started off at the De Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park of San Francisco. There was a fabulous traveling exhibit on Georgia O'Keefe. Her love of nature truly comes out in her paintings and her ability to capture colors and contrasts is phenomenal. Of course, no photos allowed in the exhibit, but we snuck a pic right outside.

After a nice museum cafe lunch (always my favorite), we walked next store to the Japanese Tea Garden and we enjoyed our cups of sencha and jasmine green tea. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful day in the city given that it rained the day before and the day after!

From there we picked Abs up from track practice (who made Varsity track what what!), and went to Bistro Vida for dinner!

 Happy Birthday Mom! Hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did!

Treasure Island ~ not just a famous novel

To celebrate the end of President's Day weekend, we drove across the Bay Bridge to Treasure Island and took a walk. Treasure Island is one of three islands in the SF Bay, I've been to Angel Island, but still haven't explored Alcatraz. Unlike the other two islands, Treasure Island is man-made, built for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, later used as a base for the U.S. Navy, often used for movie filming, and now the site of the popular Treasure Island Flea Market, which I previously enjoyed with my bff Shannon- it was great.

I hope you enjoy this shot from a beautiful sunset over the city yesterday. You can see the GG bridge on the right edge of the photo.

I spy a bobcat in Berkeley

Back in the Bay Area! Went for a really nice hike this weekend at Inspiration Point in Berkeley's Tilden Regional Park. The views of the Bay are amazing! In addition to the 360 views, the wildlife was phenomenal. Two hawks, a dozen wild turkeys, several blue jays, and a bobcat! The bobcat was about 50 yards away, at first we couldn't tell if it was a coyote or a cat, but with the help of a friendly hiker's binoculars, we confirmed it was definitely a bobcat. I didn't bring any cameras, so the photos below are taken from the web.

A Rant about Foodies

I was going to add a fifth reason to why I joined a CSA, but decided to make it a stand alone blog post. My fifth reason was going to about the whole environment and health part of joining a CSA. However, I have mixed feelings about this. I really don't like things that get overhyped, and there is something about the "locally grown" and "sustainable" trends that irks me. Yes me, the passionate outdoorswoman and environmentalist. I think what rubs be the wrong way is that people are such zealots around here.

I used to eat a lot of fastfood, it's tasty, on the way home, and affordable. I still do, especially when traveling, because $4 at Wendy's vs a vapid overpriced salad seems like a no brainer to me at times. And sometimes after a 10 mile hike what you really want is Carls Jr curly fries and a chocolate shake.  I have fond memories of always stopping at Panda Express on the way home from backpacking in Yosemite. Plus, there are so many people that would in theory love to eat well, but it is overpriced and no one knows how to cook these danged vegetables. I have certainly come a long way from my days of microwaved cheese quesadillas. Yes, I will still keep a stock of frozen vegetables and precut sweet potato fries in my freezer at all times. No I don't have a garden that I love spending hours in. I probably won't until I'm 80. If I'm lucky I'll have an herb garden in which all the herbs don't die in under two weeks. No I don't think brussel sprouts taste amazing and should be eaten raw. I have a giant sweet tooth and rank dulce de leche next to godliness. And yes I have never seen the giant orange/lemon fruit delivered in my box this week, and my giant purple cabbage has an uncertain future, I will try the recipe but will not hesitate to dump it if it tastes bad. Now stop judging me!

The "foodie" movement is overtaken by an air of "I'm better than you are because I eat dirt" that feels elitest and pretentious. When something seems overhyped, I tend to stay away. However, that doesn't mean that I don't agree with the values and principles. Especially in the great state of California, where we have a wonderful climate to grow and harvest delicious foods, I'm going to support our locally grown produce and join the charge against the big guys. I haven't read enough to feel that I can truly speak on the health effects of pesticide-free organic growing methods, but I will say that getting a giant box of any fruits and vegetables on my doorstep is going to be a good thing for my health!

CSA

2013 marks my first foray into the world of community supported agriculture (CSA). Luckily, I live in San Francisco, the mecca of such activities. I thought joining a CSA would be a good idea based on a few reasons. 

One, receiving weekly deliveries of food for the week on my doorstep cuts out a trip to the grocery store. I actually enjoy trips to the grocery store, but decided with my medical school schedule that I like real runs more than grocery store runs. 

Two, the weekly deliveries of food removes a lot of decision-making from my daily life. I don't plan meals based on the infinite amount of ingredients at the store, instead I receive my food supply in the box, with recipes included. Doctors, even those still in training, make hundreds of decisions every day, many very small, but still using the decision-making parts of our brains. Decision fatigue is a real thing. I just became less decision fatigued. 

Three, rutabegas delivered? I cook rutabegas. Doesn't matter that I didn't know what a rutabega looked like until I googled it. I have an easy recipe and 2lbs of rutabegas- it will be done. I like the fact that being part of a CSA forces me to try new things on a regular basis. I consider this a good thing. Change is good, a few years ago I wrote a post about inertia, and how it slowly and steadily overtakes us. I could detail perfectly my Trader Joes run, what I choose in the vegetable area, my route down the isles, and thus my fridge and food stay strikingly similar week to week. Don't get me wrong, I still love my Trader Joes, and will definitely continue to go there as needed. My new weekly CSA delivery is a system that fights against this inertia and builds in change to my week.

Four, my CSA box teaches me what fruits and vegetables grow in different seasons. I've been enjoying Farmer's Markets for several years now, you learn to appreciate the revolving cycle of food during the year. When summer rolls around my excitement grows for the plentiful amounts of zucchini and peaches. As winter nears, my stomach rumbles for sweet potatoes. On a psychological level, I  find there is something good for the soul about the sensory perception of time passing. California doesn't really have seasons, so sometimes you can't really feel the change in time. It's why I put away my summer clothes in the fall, and am happy to bring out my rain boots. I like that my food expresses to me the change in seasons and a CSA helps with this. 

In the end, I sorted through the vast numbers of CSAs in the Bay Area and decided to try LolaBee's Harvest. Lolabee's works as an online store that sends a weekly harvest box, a smorgasbord of fruits and vegetables, and also allows you to add other locally grown items to your order including meats, cheeses, eggs, herbs and other fruits and vegetables as you wish. Keep you posted!

Waiting for home runs

MLB World Series game 2

Angel Island!

20 mile bike ride, climbing Mt Livermore with Steph and Scott, now enjoying the ferry ride back to SF! What a day!

American College of Surgeons 98th Annual Meeting

Seasons

Living in Northern California the last 3 and half years, I've finally come to appreciate seasons. SoCal really never felt like 4 different seasons, Boston's winter was so scarring that I declared winter my arch nemesis. But here, in Menlo Park, I actually look forward to the rain, the change of leaves, the expected rainbow in the afternoon after a rainy day. I like that I hold my tea close and snuggle up under my blanket. I look forward to the verdent spring, green Stanford hills, and bright orange poppies filling the fields. Different seasons bring about different daily habits, different emotions, different wardrobes, and different meals. The selections at the Farmers Market has changed from summer squash to winter squash, from strawberries and peaches to sweet potatoes and root vegetables. I not only enjoy the seasonal change, but in a way I even look forward to it. I wouldn't even mind a little snow now and again, though I could do withouth the great Northeastern Blizzards I endured. Seasons are fun, in their own, unique way. With that said, I'll be spending Christmas at the beach. :)

SF MOMA

Yesterday I went to the SF MOMA with Amy and Hannibal to see the Ansel Adams and Georiga O'Keefe Exhibit, which was fabulous. Here is one of my favorite of Georgia O'Keefe's work that I had the pleasure of seeing first hand:

Really?

My parked car got side swiped by another car today while I was at work. There's a great indentation in the driver-side door now and nice white paint from the the other car. Whoever did this, they didn't have the respect to leave their contact information, so now it's a hit and run and I have to go to the police station and file a police report.

I cannot wait to leave San Francisco. First they slash my convertible roof, then a hit and run. To top it off, I'm paying through the roof for insurance but none of this will be covered because my deductible is so high. Unbelievable. My poor car.

Boleros for the Disenchanted

Last night I saw the play Boleros for the Disenchanted at the A.C.T. theater downtown with Abi and Amy. It was terrific, really funny, poignant, sad and heartfelt. Most of all I loved the set and the music.

From the A.C.T. website:
OBIE Award winner José Rivera (A.C.T.'s Brainpeople, Marisol), the Academy Award–nominated screenwriter of The Motorcycle Diaries, returns to his native Puerto Rico to explore the ineffable dreams of lovers. In one of his most personal works, passion and humor collide in an exuberant village in 1953, where Flora's search for true love follows an unexpected course. A bold, moving second act, set almost 40 years later in America, probes the darker mysteries of marriage.
This brilliant new work reverberates with the gorgeous sounds of Latin love songs, or boleros, written by master composer Fabian Obispo. Acclaimed actors Rachel Ticotin (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Total Recall, and Broadway's Macbeth) and Robert Beltran (Star Trek: Voyager, Big Love) star alongside the fresh new talents of Drew Cortese, Lela Loren, Dion Mucciacito, and Michele Vazquez in their A.C.T. debut.

Arif visits SF!

And Kevin now lives in the city! We had a great dinner at Nick's Crispy Tacos in Russian Hill.

Heat Wave

San Francisco set a new record: 92 degrees in April!

Talk about a sweaty run in the GGP....I LOVE this weather!

Southeast Health Ctr Breast Health Fair

Hannibal and me working the mammography and breast exam sign-in table.

Beginning to look like Spring in San Francisco

Update: A few minutes after this lovely photo of the blooming flowers, it started to rain. On me. So not quite spring time yet!

Wednesday Farmers Market

Caroline from work gave me a tour of the Farmers Market near our work
today. I learned what kale, rainbow shard, and collared greens look
like! Haha