sarah sosiak

Good Morning

Sunday morning with tea, a pecan bun from Arizmendi Bakery and the New Yorker.

well, that's one less unexploded ordnance in the neighbourhood

Photo by Jim Herd/SFCitizen (via SFist)

Now I know what happens when your neighbours find a live WWII mortar shell while cleaning their garage.

Full-on bomb squad, bomb-removal robot, police barricades, warnings to go inside and stay away from the windows, etc.

Bizarre.

self-portrait, with hoodie

Self-portrait from a grey stay-at-home-drinking-French-Press-coffee-listening-to-Wilco-and-reading-the-Times day back in February. A reminder to myself that as much as my apartment drives me mad at times, it's pretty perfect on days (and nights) when the fog's so thick I can barely see past the backyard and don't want to do anything more taxing than listen to music, read books, watch movies and cook. (Like...say...today.) Instant cocoon. ++.

weekend-ing

Another great weekend in the 415. Highlights:

Celebrated Krissy's birthday / return to SF at the office and Homestead. • Danced to Glitch Mob at Mighty. (Fun. Hadn't gone dancing in forever. Must remember to do that more often.) • Soaked up sun, caffeine and words on the deck at Reverie. (Read the latest Seed cover-to-cover, finally started in on The Omnivore's Dilemma.) • Got a ton of little errands taking care of. • Drove across the Bay Bridge with the sunroof open and Wilco singing about heavy metal drummers. • Enjoyed take-out Mexican and good conversation on the edge of Lake Merritt. • Watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. • Sourced Clover-made coffee at Coffee Bar USA. • Tended to the houseplants. • Finally got the bike.

Tonight: Prepping a batch of penne/spinach/smart-ground pasta for freezing while listening to This American Life podcasts and wrapping up the first season of Lost.

new steel

Finally! (Thinking: Beach and back tomorrow morning.)

roadside cherries

Headed out to Marin this morning for a hike (7mi loop around Kent Canyon). Buying bags of cherries and  pistachios from a roadside stand has me looking forward to Saturday morning bike rides to the Ferry Market.

the marrow

Went to The Alembic with Randy and Arsie last night for some post-tattoo (Randy's, not mine) dinner and drinks. Something about the Alembic (the whisky perhaps?) always has me feeling more adventurous than usual about food. This time, it was the bone marrow. Which wasn't what I expected. (Not sure what it was I had expected.) Taste and consistency of salty fat. Not...bad. But...not something I'll miss if I never had again.

Finished the night with a taste of a great microbrew -- Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, an ale brewed in tanks made of palo santo wood. Jaw-droppingly good. I suspect it will pair perfectly with their spiced fries. And that that suspicion will be tested this weekend...

cube dog bike

Beer tap at Gestalt Haus in the Mission. Speaking of bikes, I bought one this weekend. Looking forward to trading my morning gym workouts for rides through Golden Gate Park.

re: sundays in the presidio

See also: Last Sunday at Baker Beach. We barbequed from noon until the early evening fog.

a perfect sunday

Kicked Sunday off with brunch at Piccino with Randy, Garth & Jessica. Scones and espresso were fuel for an urban hike / photo hike from the Presidio parade square down to the Warming Hut and back. Wrapped up with take-out Mediterranean, Belgian beer, listening to Radio Lab and photo-editing. Wasn't feeling the camera, (witness: heavily edited results) but otherwise, a pretty perfect day.

next best thing to being a ninja*

Went to my first Parkour class tonight. The goal was to find a new sport that blends force and finesse, lets me measure progress, and starts off by kicking my ass. Mission accomplished. A great workout, I can see a clear path for progression, and was only just able to stick the easiest challenges. (I did, however, rock the equilibre de chat.) So, for now, working on a clean jump over the low wall. But, eventually...



* Quoth Graham.

crowd sourcing my weekend

I'm in New York City until mid-afternoon Sunday. Save for checking out the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit at the MOMA, doing a lot of walking (Urban Hike Sunday!), and taking a lot of photos I have no plans.

So. What should I do? I've seen next to none of the city. General travel likes: bookstores, coffee shops, architecture, modern design, neighbourhoods, public transit, things I can't get / see / experience at home. General travel dislikes: large flocks of tourists, standing in line.

Best suggestion wins a thank-you postcard!

hike: rodeo beach to muir beach (and back)

Via:  Coastal Trail

Distance: 17.7km | 11mi

Elevation Gain: 914m+ | 3000ft+

View Larger Map

Bi-weekly hiking Sunday is back! Randy and I kicked it back into gear last weekend with the 17.7km roundtrip between Rodeo Beach and Muir Beach on the Coastal Trail. Epic. Beautiful weather (18C and sunny with a slight breeze off the Pacific). Scenery straight out of a travel brochure. Two beaches. An abandoned military installation. Lizards. A snake. Some trailblazing and a few scrambles up piles of rock. A good dose of mud and bit blood from a slide down the trail. Great conversation. Lunch served on silver trays on the lawn of the Pelican Inn. Absolutely perfect.

Photoset here. Love this one. The shot betrays the scale, but it captures my favourite moment of any hike; when you look up and realize just how much there is left to climb.

photos from paris & london

Finally have the photos from Paris and London online. I really like how this set, from Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth at the Tate Modern turned out. (Flickr)

the new year

New Years Eve was bottles of champagne carried through cobblestone streets. Old friends and new friends. Good food. Good wine. Crowds of foreigners huddled against the rain under the Eiffel Tower. Ducking amature fireworks on the Champ de Mars. Text messages bouncing across the ocean.

New Years Day was waking as others went to bed to walk empty streets. Drinking coffee across from Roman Baths. Not settling on resolutions. Lazing instead. Dinner with a dog that looked like a cartoon.

Now, to decide what to do on the last day before I head across the Channel for part two...