Glenda Joyce Hape: Artist in Residence

Popped up to the de Young Museum for their Friday night event series and had the fortune of catching Glenda Joyce Hape (from NZ of course) interacting with museum goers and teaching her art of weaving. Check it out.

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She spent October at the de Young and got to work on some artwork through a grant from Toi Maori (Maori arts commission).

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One of her works on display and a good example of the kinds of things that can be constructed from weaving.

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The highlight (other than the free hors d'oeuvres) was getting some hands on experience. Each visitor had a chance to grab some flax leaves and practice some weaving with tuition and guidance from Glenda. Not a bad job eh?

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Originally wanted to have dinner at Izakaya Sozai on Irving St in SF, but due to the extreme wait there, decided instead to try Kitchen Kura across the street. Turned out to be a great decision as they served some great food in a small, quiet environment. Opted for the 2 combo dinner with fried tofu and nanban chicken (garlic fried chicken in a really light, yummy batter). Not pictured is the appetizer plate of garlic edamame which was pretty flavourful too.

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Great getting up to the City again for some NZ art and great food. Win-win.

Tomato

Snippets of Summer's End

I had a post a while back about summer coming to an end, but we have been blessed with yet another weekend of lovely, warm weather. You can definitely feel the changing of the seasons in the air (have for several weeks now), but I'll not be complaining of 70-80˚F weather for as long as it cares to stay that way. Anyways, I've been a bit lazy with the posting so I'll share a few pics from the last several weeks.

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This comes from last month when Harrison came to town. At the suggestion of Ari, I decided to take Harrison to the Old Port Lobster Shack in Redwood City for some food. I tried the "Naked Lobster Roll", which was nothing more than buttered toast and lobster. And a side of garlic fries and drawn butter for good measure. Coincidentally, Ari happened to be dining there the same night I showed up for dinner too. What're the odds?! Thanks for the suggestion, it was quite tasty.

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Went to the UH v. SJSU football game a few weeks ago with Daniel, Julie & Richard. The photo above is of UH driving in the 3rd quarter (Miah Ostrowski scores a play or two later). Yet again, despite having a forgettable team, SJSU manages to challenge UH. Unlike previous occasions when I've been present, they managed to score in the final minute to win. How depressing that I've now seen both UH and USC lose to Bay Area teams in my presence.

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Tried yet another new Ramen place in San Mateo called Ramen Parlor with Nick & Diana. I think this is at least the 6th ramen place I've been to in San Mateo. Kinda ridiculous if you ask me. Thumbs up for the fried prawn, pork broth and bacon bits. However, they also add lobster oil to all their ramen and while it sounds great, it just made it taste kinda shell-fishy (in an odd way). The take home message is that I still like Ramen Dojo better I guess.

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Okay, so there we go. Nothing major planned coming up in the near future, but keep an eye out for the next update. Cheers!

2011 Rugby World Cup Champions!

So, after 24 long years since NZ last stood at the top of the rugby world, the All Blacks have once again conquered all to capture the William Webb Ellis Trophy in 2011. They faced a courageous and resolute French side eager to dispel the notion that they did not belong in the final. After a magnificent match of stout defence, the AB's truly deserved their victory. My hats off to Richie McCaw for his leadership and the rest of the boys for coming through and realising the dreams of a nation.

UA Family Day 2011

Another October and another Fleet Week in the Bay Area. That meant that I had an opportunity, thanks to Mum, to participate in United Airline's annual Family Day at the SFO maintenance facilities. Those of you who've been reading my posts the past few years will perhaps recognize that I've been to UA's Family Day before. This year, not only did the weather cooperate, but I had some company.

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Starting on an absolutely unrelated note, last month I made some homemade, organic yoghurt that turned out spectacularly. What a difference a digital cooking thermometer makes!!!

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Alright, back to the topic at hand. A Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter available for many eager folks to climb in for a peek.

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A fortuitous bonus: a departing Lufthansa Airbus A380 soared overhead (FRA or MCH bound no doubt). Due to the proximity of the maintenance sheds to the airport and, more specifically, the active runway, we had many planes pass by. This plane, of all the commercial jets passing, caused the most excitement. What a massive plane.

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The majestic Blue Angels flying by en route to their performance in San Francisco. I had a much better photo that unfortunately got tainted by a woman's stray purse (she held it up above head level to block the sunlight from her eyes). Dammit.

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Harrison & Mari standing in the center between the "throwback" painted Continental 737 and United A320.

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Mari & Harrison sitting in the comfortable Economy class seats of the United "Friend Ship" A320. Coincidentally, Harrison had just flown on this exact plane a few days earlier.

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Actual UA employees voted to select the livery for this commemorative plane. I cast a vote on behalf of Mum for the 1980's era livery like this one:



Obviously, that one didn't win...and, yes I'm a little bitter about it.

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We also had an opportunity to briefly tour the engine maintenance bay. I don't quite recall, but I believe we got to see a number of Pratt and Whitney PW4000 family engines (like this one) in open, serviceable configurations. Very cool to be able to take a peek at a side of the airline industry you don't see day to day.

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Me in the engine test bay. I'm glad they didn't have it running as I'm sure that would've destroyed my ear drums. I don't remember seeing a sign for this particular engine, but it also looks like a PW4000.

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The Blue Angels returned relatively quickly and I found out later that they actually didn't perform any stunts due to "poor conditions". My sources, Daniel & Karen, unfortunately braved San Francisco to watch the show but came back disappointed. At least they got to enjoy some beautiful weather up in the City.

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As I mentioned, we had great weather this weekend and I hope (probably beyond reason) that we might be blessed with a few more this month before it starts to get too cold and too rainy. Forecast says the next two days will be pretty brilliant (fingers crossed that will carry over to the weekend too) so I better enjoy it. Cheerio!

Esperanza Spalding

UPDATED: Esperanza Spalding at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, back out on stage for the encore performing a beautiful cover of Abbey Lincoln's "Throw it Away".

Photo by Daniel Chan of SFstation.com

Also posting a link to David Becker's (of examiner.com) review of last night's show. A good summary and a bit more detailed than what I could put together. Click on through here.

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So, this evening I had the fortune of experiencing the wonderful music of Esperanza Spalding. She played an amazing set from her recent, Grammy award winning album Chamber Music Society at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA. I am a bit at a loss for words to describe the talent of this amazing musician and singer. No photos allowed at the venue, and I forgot my camera anyways. However, if you haven't heard any of her music yet, check out the embedded song below. I encourage you all to give her a listen and, if you like what you hear, go find out more about her. Until next time, enjoy...