tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59725792011-12-14T18:58:30.098-08:00A culture blog by Lauren Girardin, a San Francisco-based city girl who eats out and kicks about.LGnoreply@blogger.comBlogger421100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1162764555207590372006-09-14T14:02:00.000-07:002006-11-11T16:37:12.763-08:00

Hot. Cold. Salty. Earthy. Creamy. Crunchy. Stinky. Sweet. Bitter. Hammy. Gooey. Makes 4 servings.For the figs8 ripe figs (Mission figs here, with the near-black purple skin)4 oz blue cheese (the stinkier the better, Wikipedia can tell you all 'bout blue cheese)1/4 lb thin sliced parma prociutto (in SF, I shop at Lucca's Ravioli Co. for Italian products)For the rest 8 cups loosely packed baby

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1162680409778788042006-08-28T14:25:00.000-07:002006-11-05T13:23:45.426-08:00

Blessed New York pizza. The left is topped with eggplant Parmesan, which - for the uninitiated - is breaded and fried thin slices of eggplant, layered in a deep dish with tomato sauce, mozzarella and blobs of ricotta baked to bubbling.The right is buried under baked ziti, typically a casserole-like dish where ziti pasta tubes are tossed with tomato sauce, mixed with ricotta, topped with

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150569180494001502006-06-17T11:14:00.000-07:002006-09-10T18:58:08.023-07:00

While travelling around three Greek Islands in May with Todd, I documented nearly everymezes and meal we shared. I hope to also add stories about our Greece travels, so check back.The Mezes MatrixBreakfastLunchDinnerDay 1 Read Day 1 foodDay 2 Read Day 2 foodDay 3 skipped themost importantmeal of the day Read Day 3 foodDay 4 Read Day 4 foodDay 5 Read Day 5 foodDay 6 Read Day 6 foodDay 7

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150582597104500612006-05-24T14:42:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:49:36.986-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo. Breakfast:"Continental breakfast" was included at our hotel, which was bread, butter, jelly and American-style coffee or tea. They don't get butter and jelly in jail so it wasn't a complete disaster.Lunch: Since this was our last full day on a Greek island, we were committed to

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157940395262337922006-05-23T18:58:00.000-07:002006-09-10T19:42:30.116-07:00

"After many days and thousands of miles and multiple modes of transportation - trains to planes to tubes to feet to planes to buses to boats to cars to ATVs to more boats and more boats, we're a mite tired. We are not lazy travelers. We must see. Eat. Experience. Explore. Wear ourselves out essentially. So we force ourselves to schlep to the town of Perissa on the island of Thira on the island

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150580555127618802006-05-23T14:26:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:52:13.476-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo. Breakfast: Another day on the move as we bused from Karterados, the town where we stayed our first two nights on Santorini, to Perissa on the southeast coast, with black lava beaches. I'm eating a chocolate-filled croissant, a Greek favorite (Todd read that somewhere, I have no idea

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157942136682698952006-05-22T19:22:00.000-07:002006-09-10T19:41:39.906-07:00

"Today we enjoyed a sweat-making and hunger inducing day at "Boot Camp Santorini," a tourist package sold as a lovely day exploring the beauty of this Greek Island. The brochure touts a refreshing walk on the active volcano mini-island off the main island coast, an invigorating swim in a hot spring in the sea, a lunch time meander through a little town and a stunning sunset from another little

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150579596736170812006-05-22T14:13:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:52:59.793-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo. Breakfast: Before heading off on our tour of Santorini, we shared a savory, delicious tyropita, or cheese pie standing at the bus stop.Lunch: No photo yet. We ate simple lunches at a port cafeteria. Chicken souvlaki for Todd, fish souvlaki for me.Dinner: Instead of dinner, since we

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157945237532033762006-05-21T20:18:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:27:17.533-07:00

"'OH!! Wait!' I cry in my booming NY-best voice at the men folding up the stairs to the boat - our boat, our only boat for days and days. To go from Amorgos to our next island, Santorini. They pull the steps back down and we are on our way...just a couple of hours later the caldera - the cliffs making a stand on the inside curve of Santorini's main island's crescent moon - rises above our boat,

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150578801621563592006-05-21T14:03:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:54:26.106-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo. Breakfast: More yogurt with fruit, walnuts and honey and Greek coffee for me. Todd has a mixed fruit juice of kiwis, bananas, oranges and who knows what else. Not pictured is Todd's crepe which was forgotten by the nice restaurant owner and waiter. Waiting for the crepe almost made

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157944712056536822006-05-20T20:10:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:18:32.056-07:00

"May 19th...Amorgos keeps on giving...a little island, though the largest of the Little Cyclades, it retains a touch of calm composure, removed from the much trampled path of most tourists in Greece. Fueled by a wonderful lunch of eggplant and beet and watery Mythos beer, we wander around old, crumbling stone windmills with a fierce sea breeze cooling our sweaty selves......May 20th...Having had

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150578160422143472006-05-20T13:51:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:56:14.530-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo. Breakfast: Todd's overcrisped but oddly appealing ham omlette. After a few days of experimenting, I decided the best breakfast was yogurt topped with everything offered - fruit, nuts and honey. More Greek coffee.Lunch: We ate at a table right on the edge of the beach so it was more

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157944238491878452006-05-19T20:05:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:10:38.493-07:00

"We hiked 6 km - always up hill, and quite a hill at that - away from Katapolos, the port town in the middle of long, mountainous Amorgos Island, towards Hora, the main town at the tippy-top of the island's peaks. Hiked through wildflowers on a switchback road, with escalating views topped off by the sight of Hora. Hora's white buildings, blue touches of paint on doors and window shutters and

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150577432983617982006-05-19T13:31:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:58:21.586-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo. Breakfast: there's yogurt somewhere under the tremendous pile of bananas, kiwis and apple; greek coffee which I like metrios, a medium-brew with a teaspoon of sugar.Lunch: We hiked uphill for about an hour and a half so we were ravenous. On the average day, Todd and I don't like "

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157943890899189262006-05-18T19:57:00.000-07:002006-09-10T21:00:53.696-07:00

"Just this moment arrived in Amorgos, a long, thin island only ~20 miles long in the Greek Cyclades islands. As we stepped off our ferry, after a little more than six placid hours of saaaiiiiling, we were greeted by a dozen women holding up laminated books of their domatia (rooms in an old woman's house, usually cheaper) and cheap hotels. We waded through offerers that wouldn't be bargained below

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150576136904390382006-05-18T13:18:00.000-07:002006-09-10T20:59:49.936-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo. Not a stellar food day as Todd and I spent most of the day travelling from Naxos to Amorgos.Lunch: white wine and greasy spanakopita, spinach pie; Todd chowed on grilled Naxos sausage, which were very juicy and fully-flavored, probably made of lamb and perhaps veal; the french fries

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157943016824795392006-05-17T19:42:00.000-07:002006-09-10T21:30:49.503-07:00

"So, after two nights, three-ish jet-lagged days of accidental "ain't we lucky" tourism in London, Todd & I hopped a big ol' jet airliner to Athens, paused only briefly to find the express bus to the port and slept in sleeping bags on benches on the top deck in the open Aegean sea air overnight under fluorescents, of all things, to arrive at our first Greek Island - Naxos, also known as Nαξoς.

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150574956697554942006-05-17T13:00:00.000-07:002006-09-10T21:02:01.330-07:00

Focused on the food Breakfast: We hit the road early so we had a quick breakfast of bread, oranges peanuts, honey, a sour local greek fruit we never identified, and - of course - Greek yogurtLunch: bread; fresh orange juice; a Naxos-style Greek salad topped with soft Naxos cheese; pork stewed with potatoes in a tomato garlic sauce; chicken souvlaki and fries with the suprise of each piece of

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1157943359418159742006-05-16T19:50:00.000-07:002006-09-10T21:04:20.556-07:00

"A really big red sun just set on our first day at Naxos, a lovely Greek Isle known for its citron liquor and mythological origin stories. Just this a.m. we arrived from London, the land of heresy, to Greece, the land of hubris, and specifically to tourist-trodden Naxos, the land of hedonism - where Dionysus, a.k.a. Bacchus, a.k.a. the dude who drank a lot of that vino and sat around in the buff

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1150574382328163162006-05-16T12:33:00.000-07:002006-09-10T21:11:55.696-07:00

Focused on the food. All descriptions read left-most picture, from back to front, L to R, then to the next photo.Also, read below for "On the Significance of Discovering Cheese Fries in Greece" Breakfast: the first of many a.m. meals of fruit with yogurt, the high-fat Greek kind; in the back, Todd is eating eggs over easy with ham and toast.Lunch: bread; Ouzo, a licorice-flavored booze;

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1140406231135328352006-02-19T19:00:00.000-08:002006-02-21T21:01:07.723-08:00

What could be better than a mojito? A pitcher of mojitos, of course. Sipped while rocking gently in a hammock under a cloudless blue sky with hummingbirds and butterflies flitting about in the warm air...whoops, I got lost in a sunny day fantasy. Even if you've never made a mojito, this dish is a cinch. My marine biologist friend Crissy and the Monterey Bay Aquarium will both tell you that shrimp

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1136406730082213452006-01-03T22:37:00.000-08:002006-11-05T15:14:55.013-08:00

Yeah, you could just stuff your shells with cheese, but where's the fun in that? This one's all jazzed with high-fiber eggplant, sparkly with vitamintastic and convenient frozen spinach. Romano cheese gives it a little bit o'wow, though you could use parmesan (but do the world a favor and throw out your green canister of fakery and buy yourself a wedge of the real stuff and a microplane grater).

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1115852059289502522005-05-10T21:06:00.000-07:002005-05-12T10:40:50.953-07:00

The folks of Free Range Graphics spent many a sleepless night trolling the aisles of an East Bay grocery store wielding puppets made from slowly rotting foodstuff. All to produce the short movie Grocery Store Wars, which is already getting hits galore.The Free Range team, creators of the award-winning animated movie, The Meatrix, have used their socially-conscious creative talent to bop corporate

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1092774867145912722005-02-19T13:30:00.000-08:002005-02-20T00:48:25.546-08:00

India is like LSD. Sometimes it’s a good trip; sometimes it’s a bad trip. But it’s always a trip. At least, that’s what they say on the swarming, unpaved streets of Varanasi.As I traveled throughout India, I discovered the reality of that glib saying: the good was exceptionally peculiar, creative, enlightening, nourishing, culturally turbid, and floating-on-blue-lulling; the bad was relentless,

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1092454005361284282004-08-13T18:37:00.000-07:002004-08-27T12:54:33.730-07:00

My mother remembers a six-year old me up early every Saturday morning, curled in a brown-velour papasan chair, devotedly watching Julia Child make omelets and cassoulet and quiche and béchamel sauce. With sleep-weary eyes, I'd watch as Julia dropped food on the counter, dusted it off, and applied the universally accepted, if scientifically dubious, "5-second rule" of food safety. While downing a

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1092877544772565392004-08-11T17:27:00.000-07:002004-08-23T10:11:34.683-07:00

465 Grove St (@ Gough) San Francisco, CA 94114 415-503-1377 www.midorimushi.com partial menu - Tuesday-Saturday 6pm-10pm - believe not in Citysearch, Midori Mushi is far from closed - cash only There’s a seriously casual restaurant that grows out from the edge of the Days Inn in Hayes Valley. Midori Mushi, meaning “green bug,” serves up common and weird sushi with whimsical tongue-in-cheek.

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1108889070749691822004-02-01T00:32:00.000-08:002005-02-25T11:44:40.596-08:00

Brought to you by: In which coconuts and umbrellas play a vital role Sarah in a wedding sari. Photo by Sheri Holtzman. Click to enlarge.6 meters silk (minimum)1 choli1 petticoat or underskirt1 pin12 bangles, or to taste1 bindi Arrive late to wedding hall because you and boyfriend overslept. Despite time-induced-panic, follow orders to eat a leisurely thali. Change from comfortable jeans and

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1108875245018351922004-01-31T20:37:00.000-08:002005-03-11T14:55:21.230-08:00

Brought to you by: In which auspiciousness is ensured and thali is consumed“Go, eat! Eat! Eat!”The dictate to dine follows Sheri and I as we hustle through the wedding hall. Though we’re here this morning to get henna’d, we must first obey the munching orders issued by Raja’s maternal aunts. The wedding reception is tonight, followed tomorrow morning by the ceremony, which is traditional in many

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1093287060494236362004-01-30T11:43:00.000-08:002005-02-25T11:43:28.923-08:00

Brought to you by: Schlepping for saris and other mundane wondersPrimarily, Todd and I have come to India to behold – and graciously gawk at, if truth be told – the fanciful Hindu wedding of Raja, born of Indian parents who raised him in the Long Island suburbs, to Sarah, an adventurous Oregonian white girl. Since we’re also here for the food, we share a table at the hotel’s restaurant with the

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1092022022192546142004-01-29T20:17:00.000-08:002005-02-25T11:42:39.450-08:00

Brought to you by: The chakra starts its spinPlane to plane to plane. To India, to Tamil Nadu, to Chennai - for a wedding, to begin with. In the space just yesterday over-filled by a bon voyage San Francisco Mission burrito, there's now a yawning gap in my gut, carved out by the unknown potential of my first visit to a third-world country.The Chennai airport is small, stale and dimly dingy,

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1092948564665685432004-01-01T13:49:00.000-08:002004-08-19T14:22:08.606-07:00

Corporate Presentation: Title Slide Corporate Presentation: Slide 2 Corporate Presentation: Slide 3 Corporate Presentation: Slide 4 Corporate Presentation: Slide 5 Creative Presentation: Slide 1 Creative Presentation: Slide 2

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1068441942691147972003-10-25T21:16:00.000-07:002004-08-18T17:10:34.226-07:00

601 Hayes Street San Francisco, CA 415/252-9289 www.suppenkuche.com - 5-10 p.m daily - Visa, MasterCard and American Express - Some vegetarian options The slow-stewed and breaded meats, fried starches, fat and beer of German cuisine are unfriendly to waistlines, colons, arteries and kidneys. However, there’s no real harm in indulging in a comforting Hun-inspired feast now and again. Suppenküche

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1067585163068308502003-10-14T23:20:00.000-07:002004-08-12T15:03:34.210-07:00

Statewide Special Election (a.k.a. California’s Gubernatorial Recall) San Francisco, California 4:48 a.m. Tired of my snooze-button smacking, my boyfriend pushes me out of bed. I somehow shower, dress, eat some bread (Toast? No, I can’t handle toasting anything right now), and get myself ready all without completely waking up. Do some people really do this every day? 5:30 a.m. I’m not supposed

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1066763480924965672003-10-12T12:09:00.000-07:002004-08-12T15:10:28.400-07:00

3166 24th Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415/826-8199 Surrounded by the abundant taquerias and Salvadorian papuserias of the 24th Street corridor, Chili Lemon Garlic – a.k.a. CLG – brings dazzling Thai food to the Mission. A coffee counter for both espresso drinks and Thai iced tea abuts the front entrance. The decor is the same chintzy but oddly comforting style of many local Thai restaurants:

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1066762301780130452003-10-03T11:49:00.000-07:002004-08-12T15:12:56.760-07:00

Almost five years ago, I came to California on a romantic whim. A two-week road trip brought me and my boyfriend across I-80, from Long Island, New York to San Francisco. We moved to California with the naïve hope shared by hordes of westward trekkers – whether hope for gold or land, a dot-com fortune or a progressive community. Friends and family back east have often looked to me to explain the

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1066765556990718562003-05-09T12:35:00.000-07:002005-03-08T10:36:09.186-08:00

Brought to you by: Send Organic Flowers. Same Price, Better World!There is an idyllic image of organic food production, one where nutritious fruits and vegetables grown by Ma and Pa Farmer flourish with nary a pesticide in sight; fertilized with fresh manure from the beloved pet goat, watered with clean spring rains, cheerfully harvested by living-wage-paid workers, and sold locally to John and

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1066763298530511272003-04-12T12:07:00.000-07:002004-08-12T15:11:06.790-07:00

703 Columbus Street at Filbert, San Francisco 415/786-1285 juicediva@yahoo.com - Open 7 days a week, seasonal hours (generally 11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.) - Cash only - All organic, vegetarian, mostly vegan (limited use of bee-products or ghee) and raw Organic innovation makes Juicey Lucy's a healthy scene. Stepping into the fancifully decorated Juicey Lucy's café is a relief and a shock. It's both

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1066763111563924462003-04-12T12:02:00.000-07:002004-08-18T17:13:05.810-07:00

254 Fillmore Street at Haight, San Francisco 415/255-6701 faeries@urbanforage.com www.urbanforage.com - Open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. - Cash or credit card (Visa/Master Card/American Express/Discover) - All organic, vegetarian, mostly vegan (limited use of bee products) and raw Urban Forage's living foods are a perfect fit for the Lower

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1068452245013578082003-03-21T00:12:00.000-08:002004-08-18T17:22:59.320-07:00

An e-mail sent to everyone I know. My feet hurt. Since Wednesday at 5 p.m. PST, the end of Bush's 48-hour deadline for Saddam Hussein and his sons to get out of Dodge, I have marched in about seven hours of peaceful protests. I've marched during a chilly, rainy night and during a tank-top warm, blue-sky day; with friends and by myself (though surrounded by thousands); while loudly shouting for

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1066762813696796842002-01-30T11:55:00.000-08:002004-08-18T17:18:37.943-07:00

Published by Pittsburgh City Paper, the city's leading independent weekly, as part of cover story on 15 Steelers bars across the U.S. Volume 12, Issue 5, January 30-February 6, 2002. Shanghai Kelly’s Saloon 2064 Polk Street (at Broadway) San Francisco, CA Even at 9:30 on a bright Sunday morning, you can hear the chants of the Steelers fans at Shanghai Kelly’s Saloon from blocks away. This

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1067099477524507472000-09-01T09:24:00.000-07:002004-08-15T23:26:35.963-07:00

In early 2002, just as the dot-com boom was losing ground in San Francisco, I found this opinion piece written about my article for AlterNet.org. Luckily I saved it, as the hosting website - like so many others - is now defunct. Art vs. Real Life by Olga Gardner Galvin Liberzine.com September 1, 2000 I was deeply saddened to hear the San Francisco’s enclave of dancers and artists is being

LGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972579.post-1066766815514425372000-08-22T12:51:00.006-07:002004-08-18T17:17:26.556-07:00

Published by AlterNet, August 22, 2000, http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=9676 SAN FRANCISCO – On the night of August 15, the last class at Dancer's Group Footwork, one of West Coast's most respected venues for dance training and rehearsals, moved with jazzy, rhythmic emotion to the song "Givin' Up is Hard to Do." It was a remarkably tender moment during an evening that would conclude

LGnoreply@blogger.com