SF Sips July Wine Tasting

This month it was my turn to host our monthly wine group, the SF Sips, and since I hosted, I also got to choose the featured wine. Well, I've been on the Rose bandwagon for some time now and this turned out to be a good excuse to have one of my favorites, the Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose. So that made it a night for sparkling wine.

For those not in the know, the Sips are a small rag tag group of misfits who play by their owns rules. Those rules being; meet monthly, everyone brings one bottle of the themed wine, keep the group small, the host chooses the wine, provides some snacks and gets to invite a few friends. So I invited Jesse and Chris - see 40th BDay party for more Jesse photos. Some of the other Sips to show up were Cindy and Fred (seen below) who put up a valiant effort to stay awake even though they just got back from a few weeks in London.



Andy made the scene (check out those pants). Jesse turned all pink and stumbled home with his pal Chris. Phillipa and Mallika, sorry, I didn't get a good photo of you guys (or the wonderful spread of food I made). Joe and Michelle, we'll see you next time.



OK, one last thing, a short story about the Laurent Perrier champagne. I remember so distinctly the first time I tried it. Kris had a friend who was working there at the time and we got a free bottle to try (it usually sells for about $70). Kris poured me a glass and after I tasted it I instinctively blurted out, "That's what champagne tastes like!" All I could think was that it tasted so different from every other champagne I had ever had. Not close or a bit better but WOW better. The bubbles were so small and the taste was so clean, it was like drinking air. It was an eye opening moment for sure.

You know you are in San Francisco when...

the server tells you that your fork is biodegradable. Check it out

My friend Nzingha and I went to lunch over at the fabulous El Primo (take that Jesse) and split an enormous milanesa de pescado torta. And then for desert we headed over to the new local cafe / pie shop, Mission Pie. We shared a slice of the amazingly awesome Peach pie. I cracked up when we were told about the fork but I guess this is one of those so VERY green places. I am in SF so you would think I would get used to it. Anyway, excellent pies. Check it out.

or for more info about Mission Pie's philosophy, go to http://www.pieranch.org/

But as for the fork, I plan to do a little testing of my own. Turns out I have a composter and I'll be putting the fork in it and digging it up ever few weeks to check it's progress. Check back here as we do a little validity testing. Will the excitement ever end!

PS, the fork was sitting on the counter waiting to go in the composter and Henderson came over to sniff it, and then start chewing on it. So maybe it would be easier to just grind them up and turn them into cat food? Is that green?

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

I would guess that he’s about 6 foot tall, close to 200 pounds, cut arms, old school tats all over, wearing a magenta front zip mini skirt, black studded leather cod piece and thigh high white patent leather boots with 4 inch fuck me heels.

I’m trying to describe Hedwig from tonight’s show at the 12 Galaxies, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”. If you haven’t seen the show or movie it is the story of an East German man who wants to come to the US so badly that he marries a US military officer and gets a sex change operation. Well the operation goes poorly and all he’s left with is an “angry inch”. Yeah, I get guy sympathy pains just writing about it. We then follow Hedwig as he finds a place for himself in the US and falls in love with a young military brat that he mentors and transforms into a rock star, Tommy Gnosis. It is not a complicated story; a person desperately looking for his other half, to complete himself, and in the end realizes that he was whole all along.

I saw the movie some time ago and have been waiting to catch the theater version for some time. Well I got my chance as I saw an ad today in the local weekly that it was playing a couple blocks away from me, tonight.

As some of you know, I got freakishly addicted to the soundtrack. I listened to it at least a dozen times a day for about 3 to 4 months straight. I am not exaggerating here. Straight up. I was really being to wonder if there was something wrong with me.

Anyway, the show didn’t disappoint. It was more explicit than the movie version and had a nice raw edge and energy. Lots of gender confusing costumes and Rock and Roll. So a few vodka and grapefruit juices into it, I was singing along with all the other freaks and losers there.

A night enjoyed by all.

Stinson Beach 40th Birthday Bash

So the week of my 40th birthday came and went and I somehow survived. We rallied the troops for a week of amazing weather, lots of booze, great food, late night Poker, early morning Poker, surfing, kayaking, hiking, Smores, hot tubbing, motorcycling, tide pooling, lounging around and general tomfoolery (how's that word for you cupcake!).

Thank you to everyone who showed up and made it happen. It means so much to me in my twilight years to have my friends near by to keep me drunk and happy. But seriously, I deeply believe that the most important thing we have in life is each other and I loved every minute with you guys and couldn't gotten a better present.

Mat's photos

Ben's photos

Vanessa's photos