Posts Tagged: postaday2011
Oakland Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile and House, Oakland, CA. 2011.
Sometimes when I’m working from home, I’ll go to a cafe and work. Today I met up with a programmer friend who also likes to work outside the house at a favorite cafe, Local123 in Berkeley. The trouble was that once we got there, there was nowhere at all to sit. This is the second time in a row that I have arrived there and had to move on. It’s a nice place and it is great for the owners that they are so busy, but it looks like I have to find somewhere else as a first-choice work spot. In any case, we headed down San Pablo Avenue to Actual Cafe in Oakland.
Actual is located in the neighborhood where I used to work and go for lunchtime photo walks. As soon as we turned off San Pablo to park, it all came back to me, and I remembered what a photographically rich area the neighborhood is. Everywhere I looked I saw a shot. It would have been very easy to get totally distracted and just go for a stroll, but I resisted the urge. Instead I just took a couple shots and headed into the cafe to get working. But I made some mental notes of things to come back for on the weekend.
More Duck Fat
Duck fat fried potatoes - © Neo Serafimidis, All Rights Reserved
It happened again. I came home from work and immediately started on dinner. I decided we’d have potatoes with the healthy turkey sausages. What would it be, baked with just a spot of butter and plenty of salt? Mashed with some 2% milk?
Then I heard it calling my name from the fridge: “neo, put me in the pan… let me lube your spuds… let me caress and envelop your earthy apples.…” That naughty duck fat!
Before I knew it, I was at it:
- peel and slice the pototoes
- steam them for just a few minutes, so they soften up a bit but are still a bit undercooked.
- remove potatoes to a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dried Greek oregano, then squeeze a half a lemon or so and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Toss gently to mix and coat being careful not break them up.
- Heat a couple tablespoons duck fat in a big skillet over high heat. throw ’em in. After they release from the initial stick, keep turning to brown as evenly as you can manage.
- Eat them hot and crispy.
Joy then Disappointment
Olives
Although getting last night’s post done kept me up super-late, once I shook off the rich food and wine hangover, I was still totally psyched about meeting Nancy Pelosi last evening, and I was sure it was going to be a great day.
Near the top of my list for the day was to finally harvest olives from Clara’s trees across the street. I spent more than a couple hours on a ladder out there and ended up with a 5-gallon bucket about two-thirds full. And I barely made a dent in the crop. Since the trees are right on Brighton, there were lots of passers-by and I met a couple people who live in the area.
I was very excited to score the olives and couldn’t wait to get to work prepping the and getting them soaking. At home I started sorting through what I had, tossing the sticks and leaves and obviously bad ones. That’s when my joy started to erode into disappointment. I had inspected some pretty closely last week when I went to ask Clara about picking some. They seemed to not be infested with the dreaded olive fly. But now, in my kitchen I could see that the crop was moderately infested. Total drag.
I have been wanting to cure olives for years, and I’ve been waiting for my own young trees to produce enough fruit to make the effort worthwhile. But even the first tiny crops had fly infestations. Now I am ready to totally throw in the towel on curing olives. It is just to much of a pain in the ass.
In the first place, picking olives doesn’t go as fast as one might wish, and there were a couple times I thought I would topple off the not-so-level ladder. Then, when I started sorting and realized that some, maybe 30% looked infested, the sorting and inspection process slowed dramatically. Just image facing a 5-gallon bucket of little nicoise-size olives and checking every single one carefully for signs of entry by fly larvae. God only knows how long it will take just to get through this step. And the result of the step is throwing out a third to half of the crop. And after that is the knowledge that you have surely missed some and will be getting a little extra protein here and there (although, I guess this is just a plain fact about purchased olives too).
So, I’ll sort a couple jars worth and forget the rest. I can use the time saved to get back to other things, like learning jQuery and ASP.NET, or just reminiscing about the time I shook Ms. Pelosi’s hand.
Kokkari Stars
crispy zucchini cakes with cucumber & mint-yogurt dressing - $8.75
Beet salad with dill
Grilled octopus with lemon, oregano & olive oil - $11.75
It turned out a little different than I had expected it would, than any of us expected it would. Not that I didn’t have high expectations. I did. I have been hoping to dine at Kokkari for a long time. We just never quite seemed to be able to get it together. But when we saw Jim and Kelly a couple weeks ago, we all talked about getting together soon in the new year, and I suggested Kokkari as a possibility.
That suggestion stuck with Kelly, and she made reservations only the day before. So, the earliest we could be seated was 8:15. What a fateful decision that was.
We arrived, waited a few moments for our table, and then were led through the restaurant and around to a round booth near another large table with a party of eight or so. After a few minutes we noticed something distinctive about the large party.
In the meantime we ordered and started drinking our first bottle of Greek wine. By the time the appetizers came, we were giddy. We started out with crispy zucchini cakes with cucumber & mint-yogurt dressing, oven-baked giant beans with tomato sauce, olive oil & herbed feta, grilled octopus with lemon, oregano & olive oil, and beet salad with olive oil and dill. They were all fantastic. The octopus was perfectly cooked, tender, delicately charred and nearly transcendent.
It is true that we had started with wine back at house, and wasted no time getting going at the restaurant. But that’s not exactly why we were giddy. Nor was it the appetizers. Rather, we determined that one of the people in the large party at the next table was Nancy Pelosi. She may not be the Speaker of the House at the moment, but her star power is utterly undiminished!
Nancy Pelosi at the table next door
But before our entrees arrived, someone else did: Gavin Newsom and wife stopped over for a brief hello with the Pelosi party.
Gavin Newsom
As the introductions went around we discovered that the gentleman sitting with his back to us was former Senator Christopher Dodd, chair of the Senate Banking Committee. By now we were beside ourselves.
Retired Senator Christopher Dodd
Grilled sea bass
Dry-aged rib-eye
That’s when the entrees came. Sarah and Kelly each had the Mediterranean sea bass. Jim had the dry-aged rib-eye. And I had the grilled lamp chops. I ordered them medium-rare and they came perfectly cooked. I managed to eat every bit, though all the portions, appetizers and entrees alike, were quite ample.
Lamb chops
Heavenly galatobouriko
Baked apple with mastica ice cream
Finally, we finished up by sharing a couple desserts: a spiced baked apple served with mastica ice cream, and galatobouriko, which was absolutely transcendent. The house brought us a round of muscat dessert wine from the island of Samos.
As we were finishing the politicos got up to leave and as they did, Chris Dodd, turned to us and said, “I hope weren’t raucous and bothersome.” That was all the opening we needed to engage him in conversation. We talked about his young children, and his trip here working on the financial reform. When I thanked him for his service, he said “that’s really nice to hear, thank you”, and seemed genuine and sincere. Ms. Pelosi shot us a smile and a wave, too.
Finally, as were leaving the restaurant, the group was still stuck at the entrance, and with the secret service detail thrown in, it was a traffic jam. I took the opportunity to say to Ms. Pelosi also, “thank you for your service and great work.” She thanked me and shook my hand. We burst out into the cold night air still giddy and more than satisfied with our selection of restaurant, the fabulous food, and the stunning star sighting.
Tape Music Festival
Building with Lights, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco CA.
This evening I managed to attend The San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2011. I enjoyed it immensely. There were some really wonderful pieces and an appreciative audience. Of course, many in the audience were probably participants waiting their turn on this or one of the next two nights–I recognize that this is not a hugely popular genre. Nonetheless, it was good to see a decent audience out for this kind of art. I myself would go fairly regularly to see and hear experimental music if I could, but life is different now than it was when I was in college with few real obligations and responsibilities.
In any case, the first half consisted of works by Adrian Moore, Mauricio Kagel, Paul Dresher, and bran(…)pos. It was a solid set that really showcased the power of electronic music experienced in a good venue with a terrific multi-channel sound system. The second half was more mixed with a piece by Christian Marclay being the standout. To be fair, by the time the second half began, my ears and brain were tired and I was surely not as receptive as I was earlier in the evening. The relative accessibility of the Marclay piece, with its turntablism aesthetic, gave it a leg up at this point in the evening.
The concert was at the Southside Theater at Fort Mason Center. I have never been to this particular space before, and had not been out to Fort Mason in a couple years, so wandering the foggy cold grounds for a bit after the show was a treat in itself. The Exploratorium has some installations along the water that focus on the nature of SF Bay, and they were interesting to see.
Beyond being a consumer, I was really inspired to again be a producer. Following on yesterday’s confessional post regarding picking up the guitar again, I’m now entertaining a commitment to using the gear that has been set up and dutifully standing by for years. It has sat here day after day as if any second I would just jump in and start working again at composing electronic.
I used to compose a lot, and even naively thought of it as a career track. I wish I had pursued it more rigorously and with determination. I’d love to have a job making experimental electronic music. And making fine art photographs. And perhaps putting the two together. Can’t I just have a patron?
Brain Re-wiring
Manny and the Gretsch
Recently, Sarah and I went back to Fresno to attend a loosely organized get-together of people from the arts and music scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s. At least that’s how I think of it, because we left town in 1993. In fact, many people live elsewhere now, but come back to town over Christmas break to visit the family.
This year also included a bonus: a reunion gig of The Miss Alans, a popular Fresno band that really nearly broke through, but not quite. The reunion gig really turned out to be the centerpiece of the weekend. I was not really part of the TMA scene back then, but was really looking forward to seeing the couple members of the band that are friends and to seeing them play. One of the great things about the show was having an opportunity to really work on taking concerts photos in the low-light and high-contrast conditions. I had never had much luck with this before. But with my D300s, I was able to get some shots I was really happy with.
Then an awkward thing happened. During the last song of the show, guitarist friend Manny hopped off the stage to get a beer or something, and suddenly one minute I was slugging beer and taking photos, and the next I had a live guitar in my hand with the band vamping, waiting for someone to do something with it. Unfortunately, long ago were the days when I played guitar almost at all, much less in front of lots of people, and my brain was no longer wired for serendipitous improvising. So, deer-in-headlights syndrome was the result.
Yes, I was a little embarrassed by the whole thing. Even writing about it now is cringey. And it made me wonder why I even still have instruments taking up space in the closet and next to the computer. I had the realization that it was really time to get rid of this clutter in the house and in my psyche, this part of my ancient past.
Then a funny thing happened. My climate scientist friend Bill is taking guitar lessons and insisted we get together to try to work on some kind of modal soloing ideas he was introduced to at his guitar lesson. I didn’t really want to do this, think about this, face this. But I did. So, tonight we did that. We traded twos and fours over some progressions, and it was hard, but we both really got into it and had a great time. We came away exhilarated. So now we are planning on jamming every week, figuring it out, and getting it down.
Yeah. Face the fears.
Forgotten Heirloom Project
The Forgotten Man
My father’s birthday is coming up in the next few days, and so I have been thinking about him a lot lately. One of the things I’ve been meaning to do is photograph everything I still have from him, and create a kind of catalog of evidence. Somehow I never get around to it, and periodically forget about it altogether. This seems like as good a time as any to actually start exploring the project.
One of the remarkable things about my father was his outsider art. He made pictures, sort of mosaics, out of cut up postage stamps. This is a part of one of his pieces devoted to FDR. He was also an FDR democrat. To the very end. Content-wise it’s quite unsophisticated, but what do you want from an uneducated Greek immigrant who survived the depression working menial food service jobs in NYC?
I still miss him after 16 years, but I’m glad that he is not around to see the current political climate in which Republicans are actively aiming to dismantle Social Security.
Second Guessing
Berkeley CA. 2010.
Predictably, I have problems with any creative activity I engage in. It usually boils down to two things, which ultimately are two forms of the same thing. First, a nagging feeling that if the work is not something totally novel, then it has little artistic merit. Call it the curse of modernism. Since pretty much everything has been done, or at least everything that a working parent might have time to do, that seals the deal on the possibility of artistic merit. And so every result feels inadequate.
Second, there’s a lack of commitment or willingness to see something through to its logical conclusion, to really try different variations and different approaches with a given idea until I have turned it round and round, and really analyzed it from every angle. I think that’s what good artists do. They don’t get bored with say, painting lemons, after painting 4 or 5 lemons. They are not done until they have made dozens and dozens of paintings and visualized lemons in every conceivable way. That kind of thing always impresses me.
But it’s hard for me to do.
On the other hand, I still seem to be making photos of partially cropped cars parked in suburban neighborhoods. It is not that I’m eagerly exploring new conceptual terrain in this theme. It’s just that it’s so easy to do. Old cars basically make the shot on their own, making my job easy. And there are so many of them around here that I can’t go a day without passing at least one or two worthy subjects. For the time being, I suppose I’ll keep going, as long as I don’t get into any fights in the process. If only I could turn a couple upside down and see the underside…
Everyday
Fire on a winter evening.
I may be headed for a train wreck, or at least another large public failure. I’ve noticed recently that I have really slacked off taking photos. I still have a few regular things I’m doing, but the maniacal, camera-always-in-hand behavior has been tapering steeply away. So, when Darren mentioned to me yesterday that he was joining a Project 365 group on flickr, I knew right away that I needed that, too. This is a group where one takes one picture and posts it every day for a year. It might sound easy, but it’s a tall order. I know there will be many, many days where I won’t feel inspired or energetic enough to shoot, process and post.
So today Darren sent me the link to the particular group he had in mind (there are several on flickr and elsewhere), and I joined. And being the anal retentive sort, I really wanted to start the project on January 1, so I scrambled to see what I had over the last couple days so that I could catch up and get going. By a stroke of sheer luck, I had something from the first two days of the year.
The first shot above is a totally random shot of the fire at a little New Year’s Eve dinner party of neighborhood parents who were not going to make it to any of the usual hipster spots in SF to celebrate. Ah, parenthood. Thanks Bea and Steve. It was fabulous to be included.
Bottling the 2008 Cabernet
The second shot is from a Sunday afternoon wine making session of our little winemaking group. That’s where Darren told me about his project 365 intentions. Thanks for the tip, Darren! And thanks for trading off corking the bottles; that’s hard on the lower back. Anyway, in this photo Sarah and Ruta’s arm are filling bottles with the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon that the group made before we joined.
Telephone Pole and Shopping Carts
Finally, the third shot is from a shoot I did for the albany.patch.com feature I get to do, “Where in Albany…“. I’d tell you more about this particular shot, but I’d end up giving away the answer to this week’s play. I can’t do that until someone has guessed it. All I can say is that I serendipitously ran into my friends Emily and Ken as they were leaving a restaurant and I was wandering the streets looking for inspiration. Ken and I ended up standing there talking for a bit, and after awhile some other people came out of the restaurant. Standing around with a largish camera on a tripod often invites questions (sometimes confrontational ones!) and that’s how I ended meeting a couple other working photographers, including Chris Fuzi.
But I haven’t yet said what the risk in all this is.
It’s this. Once I got home and finished processing some shots, posting my albany.patch shot, and my flickr Project 365 posts, I happened to read an article on Mashable about WordPress putting out a challenge to bloggers to commit to posting everyday (or every week) in 2011.
Well, I can tell you that the drop-off in my blog posts has been bothering me for longer than the drop-off in photographing. So, now I’m committed to blogging everyday. That’s TWO 365 commitments, which is nuts. Because if there is one thing you can count on, it’s that I have no follow through. Naturally, combining the two and posting on the blog about the photo of the day over on flickr has already occurred to me, and this post is essentially the first one to take that approach. But still…
So, there it is. Check in regularly so you know when to start berating me publicly for flaking out!
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