Your trash talking tuesday tip: Or else!
April Fools.
A Pep Talk from Kid President to You – YouTube
Because, “we’re all made to be AWESOME.”
Click here for A Pep Talk from Kid President to You – YouTube.
if you’re looking for a great gift idea. . .
Lots of ideas for a great gift (round up below) and if you’re looking for a fun afternoon of browsing, check out the Renegade Craft fair today if you’re in San Francsico, LA, Chicago, NYC or London. We’ re not huge fans of large retailers for gifts. We prefer giving (and receiving) something unique, handmade and best of all, local. Those gifts have heart. They might even be green. Keep your eyes peeled for artisans who explore REUSE in making their items rather than using virgin materials. Maybe they’re using recycled materials, too. How about food products, grown and packaged locally? If your vendor is local, you can be assured the carbon footprint in distribution is low.
So follow the link and learn more about the fair and if you can’t go, look for local artisans in your community… San Francisco Holiday Info « Renegade Craft Fair.
Here are some other ideas for you San Francisco folks:
Letter Press stationary, handmade cards and screen print dish cloths by
ink.paper.plate Press or Coffee n Cream Press
Beautiful hand cut wooden products, like cutting boards, stools, etc:
Local Honey grown by the busy bees at Hayes Valley Farm
HONEY!! **
(**note, this is a the last year for Hayes Valley Farm and their project, Project BEE – Cause. Get the last jar of honey from this amazing experiment in permaculture!)
Give a *Reusable bag* filled with *reusable stainless steel mug* and colorful *microfiber cloths*, make yourself a little gift that speaks Green; )
Support local certified SF Green Business , and baker, Mission Pie. Supporting them you’ll also be supporting their outreach to inner city kids, teaching them how to farm.
Get a basket of baked goods at our favorite bakery, Thorough Bread and Pastry. Supporting them supports the students of the San Francisco bread making institute.
Get some cheese to go with that bread: La Fromagerie (2425 3rd Street, SF). They have raw milk cheese!
And jars of amazing peanut brittle or handmade marshmallows at Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous.
your trash talking tuesday tip: Brought to you by Mitt Romney
Your Trash Talking Tuesday tip:
Nobody can talk trash like Mitt Romney, so today’s installment of Trash Talk is devoted to exclusively to him. Unwilling to let Fact get in the way of his run for the White House, he’s willing to mislead and lie in order to drum up a few more votes. Look no further than the ad he’s just run in Ohio, excoriating Obama for taking Detroit carmakers into Bankruptcy.
Thanks to the Washington Post factcheckers for giving that ad four Pinocchio’s for the fibs contained in that little ad.
Don’t waste your vote on Romney.
Waste Nothing.
4 Pinocchios for Mitt Romney’s misleading ad on Chrysler and China – The Washington Post.
Your Trash Talking Tuesday Tip: What’s wrong here?
Your Trash Talking Tuesday tip:
What’s wrong with this picture? This is the blue recycling bin and it’s for recyclable hard plastics, paper, glass and aluminum cans- NOT PLASTIC BAGS. Plastic film of any kind does NOT go in the Blue Bin. That means no plastic bags, celophane, plastic wrappers, shrink wrap, cling wrap and the like. Bags and film ruin the recycling machines and cost your city up to a million dollars a year in repairs. Take your plastic bags and films to your local grocery store where there are special collection points for bag recycling. Put BAGS where they belong, and recycle them in the right way…
waste nothing.
waste nothing!
Your trash talking tuesday tip: Not on the curb!
Don’t leave your trash on the curb. Break down your cardboard boxes and deposit them in the blue cart. Your garbage collector will be glad you did.
Waste nothing.
Your trash talking tuesday tip: Creative ReUse!
Your Tuesday Trash Talking tip:
Recycle and reuse your aluminum foil and other shiny bits- turn them into a suit and wear it at the Castro Street Fair!
Your Trash Talking Tuesday Tip: compost your supper
I was amazed by how much compostable stuff can be generated after making just one supper. Here you’ll see I filled nearly half a grocery bag after preparing and consuming one meal. So, save those scraps and put them to work. Put them in the Green Bin and divert them from wasting away in landfill. Waste nothing.
Sad French Kitty Wins ‘Best Cat Video on the Internet’
we love the ennui of Henri…
Sad French Kitty Wins ‘Best Cat Video on the Internet’.
trash talk tuesday, san francisco events strive for zero waste
In its fourth year, the San Francisco Street Food Festival has become an incredibly popular event. From 20th to 26th Streets, the most beautiful part of Folsom Street is shut down to cars to make room for around 100 food vendors, and 80,000 guests. Trash is a given. But thanks to the efforts of the event team La Cocina and their collaboration with Zero Waste experts at SF Environment, Recology , discarded material that would go to landfill is now diverted to compost and recycling channels. It’s great to see waste diversion front and center at local events, and great to see people participating in keeping this city clean and green. After all, almost nothing has to go to landfill, we have a viable alternative. Waste nothing.
Via Flickr:
at the 2012 San Francisco Street Food Fair on Folsom
Congratulations to them for striving to make this a zero waste event!
design project: signage for CityCycle program
SF Environment had a story to tell.
The transportation team of the Department of the Environment was instrumental in starting the City Cycle program, a bicycle sharing program available to City and County of San Francisco government employees. Check it out here. They needed a logo to identify the program.
This design is a poster that will designate reserved bicycle parking areas.
and, here’s a poster that will be used to advertise the program:
City Cycle information poster
Here’s a previous iteration of the image used for the poster:
concept logo for CityCycle, a SF Environment initiative
when you see your design out in the world…
…there’s always a little thrill when you see your design out in the world. And it’s especially gratifying when you know your design has the potential to make some positive impact. Our campaign focused on a neighborhood in San Francisco, the Richmond, with the aim to remind people why composting is such a simple and yet incredible idea. Check out our website to find out more about composting, and all the benefits that derive from doing it. Use the green bin!
your trash talking tuesday tip: Great Recycling Moments
San Francisco, what goes in the green bin? what goes in the blue? what goes in the black? and what about orange?
Check out the following website to find out: Great Recycling Moments.
this is the start of something, learning to farm in Petaluma
On my friend's farm in Petaluma. . .
Moving to San Francisco some 10 years ago changed my life. More to the point, it opened-up my life. I blossomed here.
My dad was a gardener by vocation, and avocation. Green was in my genes but I’d never tried gardening as a kid. . . I just didn’t know it yet. I loved to draw, though. . .
Moving to San Francisco, I discovered truly great food. Great ingredients. Now, I wanted to find out more about the source of my food. I wanted to make it myself. I became selective about the food I chose. I started going to farmers markets.
I also moved into an apartment with unused space in the lot behind. I took it over, with the blessing of the neighbors. I had the idea I’d start an ornamental garden. I taught myself to garden by digging in the dirt every day. I grew to understand the plants by watching them, season to season, year by year.
Understanding plants and developing an appreciation for food have become essential parts of my life. It’s only natural that I would want to explore the area in which they overlap and, that’s farming. Enter my dear friend T-.
We’re on a similar trajectory, T- and I. Having never had much experience either, he’s developed his passion for farming only within the past few years, and how quickly and easily he’s succumbed to it. A fellow San Francisco resident, he’s found a way to rent a plot in distant Petaluma, which he tends as often as he can get away, getting his plant-starts established in his kitchen growing station. He’s graciously invited me to help him in his grand endeavor, and now I have a new home away from home.
Stay tuned for more posts from the farm. This is the start of something. . .
Here’s a video I find inspiring. It neatly sums up the lure of the farm, and suggests why it is that so many people nowadays are going back to their roots, by learning how to grow their own food.
heirloom carrots!
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egyptian beets!
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egyptian beets!
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pumpkin!
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the Petaluma farm
we love trees! celebrate them at the Contemporary Jewish Museum now through 28 may…
MUS•e•YUM could not have been more pleased to attend the opening-night celebration of the new exhibition, Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) of San Francisco. The CJM always puts on extraordinary exhibitions (remember Gertrude Stein and Maurice Sendak of 2011?) and Do Not Destroy, which runs now through 28 May, is no exception. A blend of art and environmentalism, religion and whimsy, the exhibition is a celebration of the role trees play in our world, in our spirituality and specifically, in our imagination as evidenced in art. Moreover, experiencing Do Not Destroy challenges us to realize our own responsibility, both individual and collective, to protect the environment. Witnessing the beauty and fragility of the world around us makes us human, and protecting what we see makes us divinely hopeful.
Only some of the memorable pieces of art include:
- A round circle of sand on the floor at the beginning of the exhibition, planted with hundreds of small metal plants. Walk the circle a full 360 degrees for the full impact of the piece, and be sure to view it from floor level, too. You’ll be glad you did.
- A short film about students in Laos. Watch to the end as art students sketch a river from the decks of small boats, and leap into the water to swim to shore when they see a tree of special significance.
- Watch a video rendition of the Tony Bennet song, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon (’round the Old Oak Tree)” – the pairing with the multimedia piece to the right is hysterical!
- Write a prayer on a small piece of paper and leave it inside a piece of wood, the collection of prayers already inside is profound and moving.
While photography is not permitted inside the exhibition, here are some memories from the opening night party that kicks it it off.
The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco
- The Food. Simple and gorgeous, I’m reminded by how beautiful vegetables are in their own right.
Grand Lobby, Contemporary Jewish Museum
enjoying the party the CJM
I invite you to go to the exhibition at the Museum, or explore it online, for more information and a first-hand view of the amazing art you’ll find there.
Underground dining with the Wild Kitchen
…
Underground dining with the Wild Kitchen, a set on Flickr.
Part of the fun is the clandestine nature of it all. Sign up for a meal, get the location ‘day of’ in an email. Show up at a non descript location, staged for a one night only meal for 60 people.
Seated at one long communal table, you’ll have eight courses, each with a locally and sustainably foraged key ingredient. Founder Iso Rabins describes the adventure behind gathering each one. You’ll have a deeper understanding of how we’re all connected to, and with, our surroundings, and you’ll meet some fellow foodies, too!
San Francisco Travel Guide: In the Magazine : bonappetit.com
Here’s a great list of San Francisco restaurants to experience. We can vouch for Commonwealth, and we’re eager to try more on the list! Click here :
San Francisco Travel Guide: In the Magazine : bonappetit.com.
dharma talks | Insights, inspiration and information from your friends at Dharma Merchant Services
Perhaps you, like me, are concerned about the high levels of toxicity in our environment. And perhaps you, like me, have no idea what one person can do in the face of such an omnipresent problem. The article below, from Dharma Talks, provides some useful advice in this regard and reinforces the idea that if each one of us starts by (gradually) making simple changes at home, the long-term effect will be great, and you’ll have detoxified your life. Don’t forget to leave your own tips in the comments section at the bottom of the blog post!
Winning Green America’s “Green Business Leader of the Year” award in 2009 set us on a mission to constantly try to expand the ways in which we learn to reduce our footprint and support our community.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR THE FULL ARTICLE:
via dharma talks | Insights, inspiration and information from your friends at Dharma Merchant Services.
‘We Were Here’ review: AIDS’ horrific early years – SFGate
This is the only time we’ll recommend a film to you this year. Just see it.
‘We Were Here’ review: AIDS’ horrific early years – SFGate.
Best of 2010, a great meal at Commonwealth
A meal in pictures: happy birthday MUS•e•YUM, October 2010
Commonwealth Restaurant, the Mission, San Francisco
to start, house-made potato chips with vinegar 'foam'
potato chips and vinegar foam at Commonwealth
porcini churros, thyme, huckleberry jam: unbelievably good
...those were so good!
albacore tuna sushi with crushed hazlenut and wasabi
potato gnocchi, corn, maitake mushrooms, sage, parmesan reggiano, truffle oil
summer squash, chilled soup, fried squash blossoms, shaved salad, vadouvan
coconut milk poached halibut, sea beans, grapes, little gem lettuce, thai spices
perfectly-cooked marrow stuffed squid, tamarind pork, shelling beans, black gardlic, cilantro
dessert: cinnamon mille-fuille, caramom marshmallow, chocolate ganache, burnt honey ice cream
We cannot wait to go back.
Commonwealth
(between 18th St & 19th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
Neighborhood: Mission
(415) 355-1500
- Hours: Tue-Thu, Sun 5:30 pm – 10 pm + Fri-Sat 5:30 pm – 11 pm
Press:
2010′s top new Bay Area restaurants
Restaurant Experts Name the Top Newcomers of 2010
Best New Restaurants, Top Eats of 2010
New San Francisco restaurants that redefine fine dining
People’s perk, Affordable, innovative Commonwealth gives inventive cooking mass appeal.
Yes, We Can: Choose This Year’s Greatest Empire Builder
This Just In: The Top 5 New Restaurants in San Francisco
Commonwealth offers exciting, unusual dining
great look back at December 2010, thanks to our friend sfjeepboy;-)
Find the tunes here:
December 2010.
dj rackles
best of 2010, our favorite bakery is Thorough Bread and Pastry
breads at thorough bread and pastry, sf
It was a great year for bakeries in SF, with several notable openings. Yet despite the competition one bakery still holds the title of our favorite and that is Thorough Bread and Pastry.
Why we love it:
- beautifully prepared food, every item we’ve ever had there has been exquisite
- broad choice, from morning pastries and loaves of bread to small, beautifully decorated artisanal desserts, parisian macarons and even sandwich offerings at lunch
- the prices are very reasonable, and it’s a great value for your money
- the beautiful space, perfect for lingering. Not only is there ample seating indoors but check out the charming garden behind- it’s a great place to read over your coffe or, to take a special friend for lunch.
- they have a mission, and that is to train future bakers. This store is affiliated with the San Francisco Baking Institute and serves as a laboratory for the students.
- Babette
- friendly, quick service. It’s quite fun to shop here, and they’ll take good care of you.
Thorough Bread and Pastry
248 Church St (between Market St & 15th St)
San Francisco, CA 94114
Neighborhood: Castro
morning pastries at Thorough Bread and Pastry, Castro, SF
gift ideas, anyone?
plant lover's delight at Succulence, Cortland Street, Bernal Heights, SF
I don’t know about you, but as for me. . . Christmas time always brings the perennial gifting dilemma. Both to help you and to keep a running list going here, I’ve started to make a list of some interesting AND budget-friendly ideas I’ve discovered this year. And PLEASE, feel free to add your own ideas to the list via comments. And I want to make it very clear, this is my own list and I’ve made it for fun. I’ve not been approached by anyone to endorse these products in any way. I just like them.
• check the web for local gift fairs like this one in the Mission, San Francisco: La Cocina Gift Fair, 10 December 4-9pm, 2868 Mission St
• make a custom photo book online, given the delight your loved one will experience, this is always a super option. There are lots of services from which to choose.
• lots of japanese-branded gifts under $10 at Daiso, in Japantown
• Gama-Go for fun t-shirts, as well as cartoony accessories
• Hats at Goorin Brothers, there’s an awesome deal this weekend, 11-12 December mention “sample sale” in-store or online for 25% off your purchase. And if you go to the warehouse, where the actual sample sale is to be held, receive up to 75% off. Details here.
• Gift certificate Landmark Movie Theaters (the chain of independent movie theaters with several locations in the San Francisco Bay Area)
• set of two museum passes for the De Young, Costco
• Jar of Peanut Brittle, Mr and Mrs Miscellaneous, and while your there get lots of ice cream for yourself. Because you deserve it.
• Pack of parisian macarons, Thorough Bread and Pastry
• whoopie pies/gobs, Gobba Gobba Hey
• glass globe terrariums with tillandsia (air plants) or succulents Flora Grubb, Paxton Gate or make your own- the best price on empty glass globes is CB2
• succulents or specialty solar lighting for the gardener on your list, Succulence
• decorative objects made of barnacles. Ok, you just have to see them. Add tillandsia for a great centerpiece for your dining table
• carnivorous plants from Plant it Earth
• home-made gifts and other food “takehomeables” at the SF Underground Farmer’s Market, Saturday 18 December. You’ll need to sign up via this link to get more information because, well, it’s “underground” . Tantalizing? Good. Sign up and find out more.
san francisco public art, andy goldsworthy’s ‘spire’ and ‘faultline’
Great art inspires. . .
Spire, by Andy Goldsworthy, located in the Presidio, San Francisco
Last year my great friend Deena took me to a favorite spot of hers, a grove in the Presidio National Park where the forest opens to a beautiful panorama of San Francisco, right in front of you. It’s a spiritual spot, and a meditative one. It was easy to see why she brought me here. When it was decided that a monument to should be installed here, only one artist could do a place like this justice, celebrating but not changing it: Andy Goldsworthy.
So, in 2008, he built SPIRE. The amazing thing about this monumental sculpture, made of timber lashed together 90 feet high, is how effortlessly it has become part of the scene. It blends right in. This is a hallmark of Goldsworthy’s work, he incorporates natural materials from the site in which he’s working and from them he creates beautiful, fanciful and ephemeral art. Here, he took trees that would be felled (for the safety of the environment) and then used only that timber to make the sculpture. Part of the art is not only the finished state, but also the manner in which it is, in turn, reclaimed again by Nature. And will the sculpture last a minute? Two? Months? Years? That part is left to Nature, too.
Goldsworthy strives, “to make connections between what we call nature and what we call man-made.”
There is another Goldsworthy I want to tell you about, much more subtle than Spire. It’s the crack in the foundation of the de Young museum, Faultline, 2005. For this commission he created a zigzag crack in the hardscape outside the museum. The crack is a ‘path’ from the roadside to the entrance of the museum, but also serves as a subtle reminder of the seismic activity latent in the ground underneath, a characteristic of this place in the world. Unless your eyes are directed to it you might not see it but when it’s pointed out, the impact hits you immediately. Check out this great article about that piece, here.
I’ve since become a fan of his. I was so inspired after having seen Spire I created a mini-version in my backyard garden. For mine I reclaimed dead bamboo shoots from my friend’s garden, and the Hancock Spire was born!
my Spire, built in my back yard from reclaimed bamboo shoots
Not willing to stop here, I wanted to try another one. I had my opportunity when my neighbor knocked down their retaining wall and threw away the cobblestones. Thus, I gained ‘site-native’ materials for another project, and I built a zigzag ‘Faultline’ of my own by setting the stones directly into the ground, and emanating from my Spire!
my Faultline, a zigzag sculpture made from cobblestones in my back yard
My exploration of the public art in Hayes Valley, Ecstasy in Patricia’s Green, (link to post here) reminds me of the monumental and inspiring Spire. While the scale of both projects certainly inspires awe, simply by virtue of their height which forces the eye skyward, they also are partnered in my mind because of the artistic process behind them. While they differ in the sourcing of the materials, Ecstasy made from man-made objects while Spire is made from felled trees, both make from found materials sing. These monuments speak to how repurposing an everday object, even a discarded one, can imbue the art with an added significance and intrinsic beauty.
