Wrapping It All Up With a Neat Little Bow

Hello all! It’s that “recap” time of year again, where we recount the highlights of the year. This time, Jeremy and I each did our own top ten list (in no particular order), but of course there's quite a bit of crossover. (Also, since I’m the shutterbug of the family, all the links in my top ten list will bring you to related photos.)

Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday season.

DK Moment #1: Into the Wild

As most of you would probably expect, some of my favorite experiences of the year have been encounters with the Great Outdoors. My friend Tracie (a first-time backpacker!) and I went on an REI Adventures backpacking trip in Yosemite. It was gorgeous and we learned some off-trail orienteering with our amazing lady guides. 

Shortly after that, my friend Amy and I went on our own packing trip at Lassen Volcanic National Park (I got a little sick at the end, but we still had fun).  It’s an eerie place full of geysers, volcanic cones, and more.

JS Moment #1: Cutting Things

This year we bought two new pieces of sharp kitchen equipment, and I love them both. The first was a Japanese Mandolin slicer that we purchased at alocal restaurant supply store.  For those that don’t know what a mandolin is, it is a very sharp blade inset into a two piece flat surface. You can make nice, uniform cuts by passing your vegetable, fruit or finger (ask Diana about that one) across the front board into the blade and then onto the second board. You can vary slice thickness by using a screw to raise or lower the front board. There are also attachments that you can inset into the front of the blade to make things julienned (think hash browns). I love it because I can get super thin cuts done in a much shorter amount of time, and not have to worry about uneven or sloppy pieces.  Just a great piece of equipment, and I think it was only around 20 bucks.  

The other was the chef’s knife we bought from another restaurant supply store. We ran into a chef acquaintance of ours at this store and he showed us his favorite knife that he uses all of the time. Just a wooden handle with a 5-inch square blade that is super sharp. A quick tutorial from the chef showed us how to hold the knife with our thumb and finger holding the blade itself with the rest of the hand wrapped around the handle. This grip gives you superb handling and control. My dicing skills have never been so great: who knew that an eight-dollar knife and correct hand positioning could make such a difference? I’ve also recently received an illustrated knife skills book that I plan to put into more use in 2009 to help with my techniques even more.

DK Moment #2: Heading South

We explored a few southern regions of the country this year. Jeremy and I experienced the legendary "weirdness" of Austin, TX with my co-worker Amanda. It was a mercury-busting few days full of tasty BBQ, great concerts and general merriment. (See Jeremy's #2 entry for a lot more detail)

My sister and I went to Santa Fe, NM, over my birthday for a bit of relaxation, adobe style. We wandered the streets, looking at art and eating plenty of famous chile.

JS Moment #2: Austin, TX

We took a trip to Austin in May, and I must say, it was a heck of a town.  We met up with some friends from Texas and spent a long weekend there. Here are some highlights:

• We went to some fantastic bars. We loved The Mean Eyed Cat. Named after the Johnny Cash song, this place was a ton of fun. Located a bit off of the main strip/club area of town, it was set in an old hardware store/saw repair place. Cheap and cold beers, a crazy good jukebox (over 50% of which was Johnny Cash songs, which is to be expected, I guess), and a super-nice bartender (he gave us money to use on the aforementioned jukebox once he found out we were not from Austin).  
  
  The Casino El Camino was a rough-around-the-edges type of punk/metal/dive bar that served a great purpose before a night out. We placed ourselves in the back patio area and were treated gruffly yet friendly by the wait staff and served some great drinks. There was food available by walking up to the grill/kitchen area and placing your order yourself.  Once your food is done, they screamed your name for you to come and get it. Some killer burgers and some chili verde fries were the perfect stomach liner for a long evening.
  
  We went to The Red 7 to see one of the greatest live rock and roll acts of all time, The Riverboat Gamblers. If you’ve never seen these guys, make a concerted effort to do so, as their live intensity and showmanship will blow you away. The Red 7 was a really good venue, with a large open area to watch the band and an even larger back patio were you could take respites from the rocking. They had really cheap tall-boy Lone Stars and had two signs that were great, “No Popped Collars” and “We don’t serve any Budweiser products because we are Astros fans.  F*ck the Cardinals”. Awesome.

• We ate some killer food. We went to Maria’s Taco Xpress for a late breakfast/early lunch, and it was ridiculously good. The line was out the door at 11 in the morning. Everything was freshly homemade and my carnitas taco was amazinng.
  We had another brunch at Guero’s. Fantastic TexMex with huge portions and delicious bloody marys.
  
  You gotta eat BBQ when you go to Texas, right?  And if you are in Texas, you gotta have beef. Iron Works BBQ had unbelievably tender beef short ribs with beans, potato salad and a piece of plain white bread slapped onto a plate. I was filthy and smelled like a forest fire by the time I was done eating it, and I didn’t care.

• Other places of note include Lance Armstrong’s bicycle shop, Mellow Johnny’s.  The highlight of this was going to the coffee shop located in the store, which was named Juan Pelota’s. We couldn’t figure out who Juan Pelota was, so we tried looking it up on a BlackBerry once we left the place. It turns out that "pelota" is Spanish for “ball”. After manipulating “Juan” into “one”, it became obvious that Mr. Armstrong named the coffee shop after his cancer surgery removal. Gotta appreciate the sense of humor there.
  Barton Springs is a large natural cold spring fed reservoir that the citizens of Austin take dips in to cool off. It was very refreshing to take a dip in the freezing cold water while it was above 90, even before noon.

DK Moment#3: Five Years and Counting

Jeremy and I celebrated our five year anniversary (man, we’re getting old) in September. We channeled our inner tourist at a suave hotel in downtown San Francisco. But the real celebrating will come in February, when we take a delayed five-year anniversary trip to Thailand.

JS Moment #3: Thrillfest 2008

Put on by local record store/label Thrillhouse Records (yes, it is named after the Simpson’s reference), this was a weekend-long series of shows in late August across the Bay Area that featured a bunch of my favorite bands.  Nothington, Cobra Skulls, Off With Their Heads and Toys That Kill all played at various shows.  It was three long, fun days and it was my first foray into Berkley to visit the famed punk club Gilman St.  Highlights from that show included finding an old MPLS friend sleeping on one of the couches, almost decapitating a door man with a cymbal while helping the Cobra Skulls load out, sharing drinks in the Cobra Skulls van, and figuring out the confusing Berkley public transport situation to make sure we could get back to San Francisco before BART stopped. 

DK Moment#4: Learning the Lay of the Land

I had a chance to get a glimpse of a lot of great places in the greater Bay Area. From a girl’s weekend at a wine and chocolate festival in Lodi, CA to a few visits to Sonoma County and the Russian River Valley, I’ve learned a bit about how the best whites and reds are made. We’ve also explored some very cute rural towns like Occidental and Boonville, and hiked near Fairfax. 

Sorry, you Midwesterners who are buried under snow right now: it’s lovely out here!

JS Moment #4: Labor Day Weekend Visitors

My friends Tony Cool Pants, Joe and Ken all came out to visit over Labor Day this year. By the time I dropped Ken off at the airport the following week, it was best summed up by my telling him “I’ll miss you, but my liver sure won’t”. Highlights included going to see Hot Water Music during their reunion tour, sharing some pitchers at the outdoor patios at Zeitgeist, going to a Twins/A’s game in Oakland, buying plastic swords and bringing them to my friend’s house party, a Labor Day BBQ and taking Ken bowling with me during our league’s opening week.

DK Moment #5: Hotel Shmiwalsky

We were very glad to have hosted a record number of visitors this year – relatives (my parents, my sister and her boyfriend) to friends galore. We even  had three guys – hailing from New Zealand, Pittsburgh, PA and Minneapolis, respectively – staying with us at once. We’re happy for the visitors to keep on comin’, and Josie LOVED the extra pets she got from our houseguests.

JS Moment #5: October 18

This was an action packed day like no other. We started off having brunch at our friend Joe, Corrine and Anne’s apartment, then went down to Delores Park to watch the Red Bull Soap Box Derby races. Some of the crowd’s favorite vehicles included a frying pan, a Rubik’s Cube (which solved itself as it went down the course) and a Death Star. After the conclusion of the races, we went back to Golden Gate Park to watch a free concert by Mos Def.  The sound for this show was terrible, unfortunately, but good times were still had helped by the aid of sneaking a couple of twelve packs into the park. To conclude the day, we went over to the El Rio to watch La Plebe (Hispanic punk rock band with horns) play a killer set and send everyone home exhausted and happy.

DK Moment #6: Getting Inked

Yes, I got two tattoos this year (one was just completed on Dec. 26!). First, I got a dia de los muertos skull on my shoulder by our favorite tattooist. Then, when my sister was here over Thanksgiving, we got matching sisterly tattoos on our calves – a leaf pattern based on our favorite childhood wallpaper in our parents’ house. It’s been a good year for body beautification!

JS Moment #6: Bottom of the Hill

This is the venue that I’ve grown most to love over the course of our life here in San Francisco.  Bands/artists that I saw there this year include Sundowner, Mike Park, Kevin Seconds, Kepi Ghoulie, Dead to Me, Teenage Bottlerocket, Cobra Skulls, The Loved Ones, The Flatliners, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Mustard Plug, Mac Lethal, The Queers, Bomb the Music Industry, Chuck Ragan, Lucero, Nothington, La Plebe, Druglords of the Avenues and Jesse Michaels.  

DK Moment #7: Exploring Seattle

Part of my job this year has been to connect with people and build business in Seattle. That meant I’ve taken a number of trips there this year, staying downtown, exploring Pike Place Market, enjoying tasty food and more. I’ve met some great folks there, and would love to spend some more time in that great Pacific Northwest city.

JS Moment #7: Underdog's Sports Bar & Grill

My buddy’s sports bar has always been comfortable to me; cold beers, nice staff and great TVs showing most of the games or fights I wanted to see.  It took a step up this fall, however, when he brought in his friend Nick to revamp the bar menu and turn it into the best sports bar/taqueria combo I’ve ever been to (well, probably the only one).  Everything from the Baja fish tacos to the tortilla soup to the elote con queso (corn on the cob brushed with lime and cheese) has been a huge hit with me and with the neighborhood.  With this addition of a truly great Mexican joint in the Inner Sunset, my football Sundays have been that much better.  We also invented a new drink involving the agua fresca (fresh squeezed juice) of the day and a can of Sparks (RIP).  Concoctions included the Sparkleberry (Strawberry), WaterSparkle (Watermelon), Spango (Mango) and Sparkaloupe (Cantaloupe).  

DK Moment #8: Costuming

As usual, one of the greatest characteristics about San Francisco is its penchant for wacky public festivals that require creative costuming. We went to Bay to Breakers again this year, this time as a horde of pillaging Vikings. And, I made my first appearance at SantaCon in mid-Dec. It's a good-natured gathering of thousands of people dressed in their festive finest, traipsing around city bars, spreading their own unique brand of holiday cheer.

JS Moment #8: Pittsburgh, PA

Tony Cool Pants and his lovely new wife Angela had their wedding this fall, giving me another excuse to head to one of my favorite cities on earth.  We had a table covered in empty Yuengling bottles at Gooski’s for the Pant’s bachelor party.  We had sandwiches with french fries and cole slaw placed directly inside of them. We saw a Pirates game in the best ballpark in Major League Baseball (PNC Park).  We got to meet Angela’s sisters, affectionately dubbed “The Angelas” (shout out to Tony’s dad Don B. for that one).  Oh yeah, and the wedding was super fun too, easily in the top five of all time.  I made a new San Francisco friend all the way in Pittsburgh, as Angela’s cousin Danielle (who lives less than a mile from us) was at the wedding, so that was an added bonus.

DK Moment #9: Eating Our Veggies

This was our first full year of getting a weekly produce box from a nearby organic farm, Terra Firma Farms. While it’s definitely a challenge (how many ways can we cook kale?!), we absolutely love it – it makes us think creatively and seasonally, and helps us remember that it’s important to cook at home. I miss the piles of heirloom tomatoes we got all summer, but Jeremy loves the squash we’ve been getting recently.

JS Moment #9: My Own Ink

It had been a while since I had gotten some new tattoo work done.  I had my two large back pieces finished in early 2008.  One is of an angel looking down towards Hades, while the other is of a demoness looking up towards the heavens. Jeff, my artist, was a great find at the Idle Hands Tattoo Studio in the Lower Haight neighborhood (special thanks to Josie’s vet tech for the recommendation).  Unfortunately, Jeff decided to move halfway through the year, but at least I got my work done, along with other pieces for Diana and my friends Sixkiller and Stan. The search goes on for a new artist in 2009.

DK Moment #10: Music in the Park

We live two blocks from Golden Gate Park. While we’ve always appreciated our proximity, this summer made us even more appreciative. The Park’s been host to quite a few large music festivals this year. Radiohead, Manu Chao and many others played the first annual Outside Lands festival, and Gogol Bordello and Heavy Trash were on the lineup for the (free of charge!) Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in early October. It’s great to be able to walk to a concert and feel the sun on your face while you listen.

JS Moment #10: My Much Better Half

Diana is obviously my best friend, and we had a lot of great times together this year.  We rented a creekside cabin in Northern California in February with about an acre of fenced-in yard, which allowed Josie to run about to her heart’s content. We went back to Minnesota in April to become godparents to Zach and Amy’s new daughter (Hi Finley!).  We saw Atmosphere twice on back-to-back nights.  We made numerous dinners together, walked Josie together dozens of times, and laughed millions of times at "It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia."  She helped me out when I was feeling down and made things even more fun whenever I was feeling good.  We celebrated our five-year anniversary this year, and I hope to keep celebrating anniversaries for many, many years down the road.