Week 11: Battle Farmer's Market

I have an obsession with Food Network. Particularly, Iron Chef. For those that don't watch Iron Chef, basically the premise is that two world class chefs have one hour to make a 5 course meal & all of the courses have to contain the secret ingredient. The secret ingredient is usually something kind of weird and generally inedible like grouper fish or smelly cheese or coxcombs and the idea is that these chefs are so amazing that they'll actually make 5 tasty dishes out of it. A month or so ago, I was watching Iron Chef America and the battle was farmer's market. SNOOZE. I wish I could find The Soup clip where Joel McHale summarizes my feelings about this, but alas, internet, you have failed me. The chairman of Iron Chef is the best part of the show, he's serious about his food and can pull off a mean backflip - check out the clip below at around 3:55 - or don't, either way.

This week we headed down to the Palo Alto Farmer's Market on California Ave. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love Palo Alto. It reminds me a lot of Boulder, there's a mix between college kids, academics, high tech nerds, and hippies. Throw in a farmer's market and you've got a good Sunday. Like every farmer's market there was fresh produce and meats - but unlike farmer's markets I've been to, this one also had a band with an accordion and a man riding a bike from 1891 (he even has a website! www.bikeroute.com).

More on Flickr.

Week 10: Point Lobos

Can I start by saying: Any place who's official name ends with "-by-the-Sea" I automatically love. I mean, really, Carmel-by-the-Sea, how cute is that?

My other family, the Moreci's, invited us to join them on a day trip to Carmel (by-the-Sea) and to Point Lobos and we were happy to oblige. I kind of love the fact that California has no seasons... it rains here and there over the 'winter' months and then it becomes summer again. This means 70 degree beach days in March. WIN.

Anyway, the town of Carmel is adorable. There are all kinds of cute little restaurants and shops lining Ocean Ave - Cottage of Sweets? Doggie boutique? Don't mind if I do! Definitely going back.

We spent the majority of the afternoon at Point Lobos - I seriously cannot believe I'd never been there before - it's gorgeous. And, bonus, you don't have to hike too much to get around the park (for the non-hikers like myself). Aside from the incredible views and rock formations around the park, there is a TON of wild life. It was very National Geographic.

Pretty happy with the way that the photos came out - even thought my battery died toward the end of the trip (note to self: buy a second battery). I had some fun giving the ones below a retro-like feel.

And of course, there are more and more and more pictures on Flickr.

Miles and Miles of Stairs

Gosh, I just love this song.

Stairs to the Attic - The Antlers

Week 9: Tall Trees, California

I've lived in the Bay Area almost my entire life and I absolutely love it. Not having to battle cold or snow makes me feel very spoiled. I moved to Palo Alto - Spanish for "Tall Trees" - about a year ago (ALREADY?) so I thought it was appropriate to stay local this week.

I had the idea to take photos around the University area of Palo Alto at night and then again 12 hours later in the morning. I wanted to put the same photos side by side to show the different views of the city but I was feeling inspired to learn more about photoshop so I took it another direction. I'm really happy with what came out of this project - each group of photos is from a different place downtown.

Stanford Theatre:

Bryant St & Hawthorne Ave:

CalTrain Station - University Ave:

University Cafe:

Week 8: Bike Transformation

(Ok, I know it's not ACTUALLY week 8. I'm going to choose to humor myself though and say it is.)

Let's start with a little bit of "Fixie 101," shall we? Wikipedia defines a "fixie" (aka a "fixed-gear bicycle") as:

A fixed-gear bicycle (or fixed wheel bicycle) is a bicycle that has no freewheel, meaning it cannot coast — the pedals are always in motion when the bicycle is moving. The sprocket is screwed directly onto the hub. When the rear wheel turns, the pedals turn in the same direction. This allows a cyclist to stop without using a brake, by resisting the rotation of the cranks, and also to ride in reverse.

Easy enough right? Right! So it should also be noted that fixies are culturally associated with hipsters. Hipsters amuse me. Will, is by no means a hipster - I can't even get him to tolerate 5 seconds of Animal Collective - but he does have an unexplained fascination with fixies.

Will started transforming his road bike a few months back, and since then I've learned more about bikes than I ever thought there was to know. For example! A lock ring, is the piece of the bike that locks the cog to the rear hub. Impressive right?

So he got this new exciting frame and I decided it would be pretty neat to document the entire process end-to-end. These photos took place over a couple of days, and a lot of them were taken in our apartment - which is cramped and has miserable lighting and in no way can accomodate bike maintenance.

The entire process can be seen on my flickr - but here are the highlights.

Updating my blog!

Oh hey, blog!

To my four very precious readers, I have not forgotten about you. I have some very exciting things in store. TWO blogs coming this weekend - get ready, you fixie-riding hipsters.

Where have I been? Well - I was here:

Then I was here:

Next week, I'm going here:

But for now, I'm here. So that means only one thing - it's time to update my blog.

And I got a camera bag. It's no Marc Jacobs but it'll do. Big things.