So here I am back in Berkeley, and I feel a little discombobulated. Do I finish up writing about what I baked down south before I left, or do I save that for another day and immediately begin waxing rhapsodic about the joys of the Bay Area? Do I get so distracted by all the wonderful happy things up here and by my old familiar neighborhood that I nearly forget about my blogging routine altogether? Or is that just an excuse for getting less and less gung-ho as NaBloPoMo wears on?

Or, as my mother called it tonight, when wondering why on earth I had to go write again, “NaBlahBlah.” At first I thought she said “NaBlobBlob,” and that made me laugh equally hard.

Now I’m getting ready to go see a transvestite karaoke singer (or something along those lines, I’ll be sure to report back later). Today I hit the Berkeley farmers’ market (and forgot to take photos of my favorite croissants ever of all time), and last night I met up with some friends late night at César on Shattuck. Tomorrow morning I’m getting up to head over to the Thai Buddhist Temple for Sunday brunch. Add that to the cookies I made before I left as a Thanksgiving gift for a certain someone’s dad, and there are clearly a million things to write about. Then why can’t I just pick up a thread and go?

Maybe too it’s because my mom and I were flipping through food magazines and talking about the endless stream of things to buy and recipes to make and how, my Lord, sometimes enough is enough. Food is amazing but let’s take a break! As much as I love food (and love having a blog devoted to food), I also love to talk about other things (which is probably why I have another blog for doing just that but, um, that’s not the point tonight).

Since I seem to be at such a loss for words tonight, at least about food, let me rely on some photos. Non-food related photos. Let me show you two things that makes me happy. First, a little proof that we do get a bit of autumn here in California.

Second, one of my favorite excuses for spending so much time in the Bay Area. Tell me those brown eyes don’t break your heart a little.

Food will be here. So will the Internet. I’ll still be loving (and occasionally hating) both tomorrow. But for today, I just want to be excited and in love with the world, and head back out into it. I hope you all are doing the same.

In the rush of getting ready to fly up to Berkeley (to see my parents, my dog, and some wonderful friends, and to do some research), I plum forgot to write anything. I’ll be back later tonight, or maybe tomorrow!

Mmm, Berkeley… and Oakland… and San Francisco.

Well I’ll be. It’s like someone reached in my brain and created this just for me!

If you asked me what my favorite alcoholic beverages were, when I was more of an alcoholic beverage partaker, I would have told you the following: Maker’s Mark, Hendrick’s, Lillet Rouge, and wine. If you knew me well, you’d also know that I love, love, love bitters, and in fact one of my favorite things in all the world to drink is still bitters and soda.

Imagine my delight, then, when reading this article about the neighborhood I once briefly called my own – both as a denizen and as a bartender – I came across the following:

“The ingredients in its signature $18 Bowery Cocktail, a slightly sweet, red number in a martini glass with a twist, are so confidential that neither the cocktail menu nor the coy waitresses will reveal them. So it’s lucky The Times’s Style section already printed the recipe: Hendrick’s Gin, Dubonnet Rouge, one rough-cut brown sugar cube and a dash of Angostura bitters, topped with Henriot Champagne and a lemon twist.”

OK, Dubonnet instead of Lillet, but that’s splitting hairs (there used to be only Lillet Blanc and Dubonnet Rouge, and then the companies eventually introduced a rouge and a blanc, respectively). But still! Look at that. They should have just gone ahead and called it the Salome.

So step up! Who’s taking me to New York? For what will clearly be one – and I mean one – very expensive, already high-priced Bowery Cocktail?

There is nothing to get a person motivated quite like a good-natured public kick in the ass. And when it’s delivered by the undeniably lovely Zuzu*Petals, herself a NaNoWriMo winner and adherent to the “less talk, more writing” mantra, it makes it all the more, well, motivating.

I haven’t updated my teeny little corner of the universe since July. I haven’t done a lot of things I’ve been meaning to do. But armed with this hot (seriously, have you seen her photos?) little fire under my behind, I’m feeling suddenly like getting something done. Know what I mean?

Since I do like to write lists to keep me organized, and since I wrote one on here before, why not post another? I might not get to all the points, but there are plenty of things I’d like to share. In no particular order:

• I went to Chicago with my fabulous beau and ate my weight plus some. Seriously, I have not eaten that much in such a short time ever. Three words for you: Alinea, Trotter’s, Moto. Three more words for you: Greatest culinary experience. (Ever.)
• Montréal, way back in August, was a delight. And yes, I ate me some food there too! Charlie Trotter would be disappointed though, as I made sure to get some foie gras in on my very first night.
• Recently, I’ve mastered the Zuni roast chicken (aka The Greatest Roast Chicken Recipe Ever); determined that, while I can make all sorts of difficult, complicated things on the first try, if something is idiot proof (like, say, Jim Lahey’s No-Knead bread) then I will find a way to not quite get it right and be disappointed; fallen in love with Orangette’s cranberry ginger chutney, which was nicknamed cranberry crack by Conrad; finally found a gorgeous chocolate pudding/pot de crème recipe; and cooked up a wide variety of other tasty items, such as the truly outstanding coconut rice vetted by the lovely Wednesday Chef.
• I’ve been working too, but that’s boring.
• Someone bought me the most beautiful pair of shoes ever ever ever (Costume National!!), but I’m not allowed to wear them yet. I had to share. Shoes!

I can’t wait to tell you all about the restaurants I visited on my two trips, because I’m still talking about them, weeks and even months later. Seriously, enough talk. More writing.

It’s been too long since I posted an entry here, and I’m feeling a terrible sense of guilt. Especially since I have so much to write about I don’t even know where to begin!

When in doubt, make a list. A list is particularly helpful given that I’m a bit of a space cadet – this way, if I meander off on some topic or other, I’ll be sure to attend to all the necessary business, if not in this post then in a future one. Because, I mean, heaven forfend I neglect something, as it’s bound to be deeply fascinating. Once I catch up, maybe I can go back to one topic per entry, like all those other, more grown-up blogs. These are the things to which I aspire.

Meanwhile, the list:

1. Rigatoni with swiss chard
2. A trip to Berkeley to visit my parents, where I ate at César and, of course, Gioia
3. The World Cup
4. Homemade caramel, two kinds, as well as David Lebovitz’s dulce de leche brownies
5. My band, which sounds very different these days and will be recording in August
6. I took a cooking class at Sur La Table, and it was fun, but it led me to buy a Shun knife, which is both good and bad
7. Luisa! Nicolette lent me Heat and I’m tearing through it…
8. So You Think You Can Dance
9. Debbie’s The Best Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Entire World, which I prefer to call Holy Fucking Shit These Are Good Chocolate Chip Cookies, as per her recipe
10. Plus, of course, more chocolate featherweight cookies, because who can get enough of those?

I feel there is much else, but I think it’s all wrapped up. In fact, all of these things sort of intertwine and are involved with one another so who knows how or when I’ll get to them. Ooh, the suspense. And now, without further ado…