The Magic of Ice Cube Trays

I’m a person that loves to have fresh everything on hand. The problem here is that I don’t run a commercial kitchen, so things go bad quickly in my two-person household. Luckily my need to not waste anything forces me to think of new ways to preserve ingredients that I know I will be glad I have at some point in the future. Freezing is a great way to preserve anything, as long as you do it properly. Lately, ice-cube trays have become my best friend.

I recently made a batch of lemon marmalade with the monstrous lemons my friend Karen brought over from the tree in her backyard, but the recipe only called for the meat and a small portion of the juice of the fruit, and the membranes and seeds for the pectin bag. But what about all that leftover juice?!? And the zesty peel? So I hunted around online and discovered the ice-cube tray method. Rather than waste a single morsel of those delicious, homegrown lemons, before I extracted the fruit and the juice I zested each lemon, coarsely chopped it the way I would if I were using it in a baked good, and filled an ice-cube tray with the zest. I filled my other ice-cube tray with the leftover lemon juice, first measuring so that when I use it later I know exactly how much juice I have in each cube. I also added lemon juice to the zest cubes, to help further preserve the lemony tartness.

Once the cubes were frozen, I popped them into a Ziploc bag and back into the freezer. If they don’t easily pop out, let them sit for no more than a few minutes and try again. If they still won’t pop out, put some warm water in a baking dish and immerse the bottom of the tray into it, quickly. You don’t want to melt the cubes, you just want to loosen them so they pop out.

They’ve come in so handy, we just love always having fresh lemon juice around. When I roast a chicken, I toss a zest cube into the pot to add a little kick. Whenever Mike makes a sauce or marinade, he uses a juice cube for the acidity. Fresh lemon juice is always better than the artificial stuff that comes in a plastic lemon, so why not take the time to keep it on hand?

When I made my pickled garlic recently, I had more than the 8 cups of peeled garlic cloves that I needed, and since garlic is one of my favorite ingredients, there was no way I was going to waste a single clove. Simply enough, I threw the leftover cloves in my food processor with a little drizzle of olive oil and chopped them up. I kept them chopped, not minced, since I can always mince them later for recipes that call for a finer consistency. Then I measured one tablespoon of the chopped garlic in oil into each cube of an ice-cube tray, and froze it. Now I have fresh, chopped garlic in a convenient little cube whenever I need it.

Next up: pesto cubes once I trim my basil plant!

Pickled Garlic

Garlic is one of my absolute favorite ingredients to work with. I’m a big fan of spicy foods, but constantly using hot sauces and chili peppers can make your dish taste more Mexican, Indian, South American, etc. than you’d like. Sometimes you just need a kick without changing the flavor profile so much. Enter: garlic. (Also good: fresh-cracked black pepper, horseradish, and red pepper flakes, all of which you can find in my kitchen on any given day.)

Garlic can be tough to keep on hand though. It spoils more quickly than you can use it, it’s a pain in the ass to peel and chop (when I’m not in need of whole cloves, I press the flat side of a kitchen knife down onto the garlic clove on a cutting board and the peel comes right off), and it’s very finicky about the temperature you keep it at. Sure, it’s easy enough to grab a jar of shelf-stable minced or chopped garlic from the grocery store, but I take issue with this for two reasons: 1) it’s swimming in oil, which changes the flavor of both the garlic and the food you put it in, and 2) fresh, raw garlic has an incredibly different taste than store-bought prepared garlic. Also, I will ALWAYS choose fresh ingredients over convenience. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Granted, garlic rarely goes bad in my house since Mike and I both love it and put it in/on everything (hot tip: spruce up your frozen cheese pizza with a little freshly chopped garlic and basil. And P.S., I started doing this well before the feature in the latest Real Simple), but I’m always on the lookout for new things to can and have been trying to pay special attention lately to ingredients that people will use. My Chinese plum sauce is delicious, but how many of you will actually cook up the Mu Shu Pork recipe I’ll be attaching to it in your Christmas basket? And how many of you will actually use a jar of garlic? Hence, pickled garlic.

Perhaps you’re wondering why I didn’t opt to can chopped garlic in oil like they stock in the grocery store. As I mentioned earlier, oil changes the flavor of the garlic, as does chopping it up before you use it. Keeping the garlic cloves whole reserves that strong, spicy flavor we all love, and pickling it with a vinegar-based solution changes the flavor without absorbing it, which it what oil does. Also, it’s not safe to can anything in oil at home. We regular Janes (and perhaps some Johns) don’t have the equipment to bring these products to safe temperatures, and even the grocery store garlic-in-oil products won’t keep nearly as long as a pickled product.

I actually bought my sleeve of garlic heads at Costco. Might seem weird, but Costco has pretty nice produce, if you can’t wait for the Farmer’s Market or get to a local produce stand. Since they buy in bulk, they get great prices and the highest chance of getting a quality product. It’s just math really – the more apples you buy, the higher the good:bad apple ratio will be. Truth be told, the reason I bought garlic at Costco this time was because we needed garlic and I really didn’t want to go to Safeway. I’m a Trader Joe’s/Sprouts kind of girl who gets her produce delivered from a CSA and buys meats at Mexican markets, so I generally avoid Safeway and Lucky’s anyways. Plus, I knew if I bought all that garlic I’d have to find some way to ensure I used it all, every last clove. So I started the process of finding a pickled garlic recipe.

Naturally I first turned to my two cookbooks on canning, because if it’s published, it’s legit. Maybe you read that sarcastically, but I’m 100% serious. Recipes in published cookbooks are tried and true, whereas anyone can publish on the internet (including me!). I was surprised that neither cookbook had a recipe. So I hit the internet. Hard. When I look for a recipe, I don’t just settle on one. I read about a dozen to make sure I understand the “why” of each ingredient and step in the process. This isn’t just me being a neurotic Type-A, it’s incredibly important to understand the effects of everything involved if you want to tinker with the recipe even a little bit, a lesson I learned when I first got into baking and have since applied to everything I do in the kitchen. If you don’t have Kosher salt and want to use table salt instead, you need to know how it’s going to change the final product so you can adjust cooking times and quantities of other ingredients. After some research (I just Google-ate “pickled garlic” and go from there, knowing the URLs that I trust based on experience: allrecipes.com, foodinjars.com, etc.) and math to adjust for the actual amount of garlic I had, I settled on a plan of attack.

Step One: Prepare cans for water bath canning

Guys, this is easy. Unscrew the lids and put just the cans in a large pot, making sure there is at least one inch of water covering them, and boil. All this is doing is sterilizing the cans. Once the water comes to a boil, keep the cans in there for, you know, awhile. I usually let them boil for at least 10-15 minutes. The longer the safer, which is why this is the first step. Put the lids in a bowl and set them aside. You don’t need to do anything with the can rings yet.

Step Two: Separate the cloves and peel the garlic

Can you say tedious??? Don’t worry, I found a few tricks. I used this YouTube video that a buddy posted on Facebook recently (thanks Rick!) to start with: How to Peel a Head of Garlic in 10 Seconds Separating the cloves was easy enough with this method, but the shake-the-Dickens-out-of-the-cloves-between-two-bowls part was not very successful. It worked for about half of the cloves in each round, but it was a noisy, awkward process, even after trying two different sets of bowls. Still, this method at least helped loosen the skin so I could manually peel the garlic faster. So I sat down in front of the ALCS game and peeled 8 cups of garlic cloves. It took me over an hour. Thank God for October baseball.

Step Three: Start boiling your pickling brine

I opted for a simple brine, 3 cups white vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 salt (Kosher salt is best). I had to do some serious math to get the quantities right here. I knew I had 8 cups of garlic cloves, which would fill 8 1/2 pint jars. But how much liquid would I need? I filled one of my 1/2 pint jars with the garlic, then covered it with water, and poured the water out into a measuring cup. Turns out you need about 1/2 cup of liquid in each 1/2 pint jar. I had 8 1/2 pint jars to fill, so that meant 4 cups of liquid in total.

Throw that in a pot on medium-low heat. Now you’ll add your pickling spice, which is a base of black and/or yellow mustard seeds, peppercorns, and dill seeds, with any of these additional spices you have on hand: allspice berries (crushed), whole cloves, dried red chile, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, bay leaves, coriander seeds, cardamom pods (crushed), star anise (crushed). Now why would one have these crazy spices on hand? If you’re a new cook looking for ways to make cooking easier, one of the best pieces of advice I can give is to always have lots of spices in your pantry. They keep for a long time and you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you actually DO have that Indian celery seed your recipe calls for. Not surprisingly, I don’t purchase spices at Safeway. Take the time to hit up Sprouts, where they sell lots of spices in bulk, so you can just grab and pay for what you’ll need.

When I’m adding spices to a brine, I don’t usually measure. If you need measurements to function in the kitchen, which I know many people do, add no more than 1 tsp of spice per cup of liquid. So for the 4-cup brine I made, all my spices combined totalled only about 4 tsp, with the majority of that being the main 3 spices (maybe 1 tsp of each of those and a pinch of 3 others). Once you’ve added the pickling spice, let the brine simmer on medium-low for 15-20 minutes. It will start to turn a brownish color and smell delicious.

Step Four: Can it all up

Once your jars are sterile, pull them out using a jar lifter (I do NOT recommend trying to use regular kitchen tongs or anything but a traditional jar lifter for this) and put them on a towel. Empty the hot water from one or two of the jars into the bowl with the lids, to sterilize them. Using a jar funnel (not necessary, but very helpful in reducing the mess), fill each jar with garlic cloves. I also added some chopped bell peppers. Really stuff the cloves in there, they can handle it, but leave 1/4 inch head space at the top. Then, ladle the brine into the jars, making sure you still have that 1/4 inch head space at the top. Wipe the edges of the jars with a clean, damp towel. Resist the temptation to “go green” and use a cloth towel here. Nothing is ever as sterile as a clean paper towel. And you can always toss it in your compost bin after, so you’re still green. (Hot tip: always dry your dishes with paper towels, not cloth. It’s the most hygienic.) Pour the water from the lid bowls back into the canning pot and fit the lids and rings onto each jar. Put the full jars back into the canning pot, making sure they are covered with at least inch of water, and boil for 20-30 minutes. Remove the jars and put them on a towel out of the way. Do not touch them for at least 12 hours. After about an hour, check each lid to make sure it has sealed. You should not be able to press down on it and hear a clicking noise. Best to let the garlic sit for at least a week before using it. Store in a cool, dry place, such as a basement, in the meantime. Once opened, refrigerate.

Voila! Pickled garlic. Canning really is quite simple, albeit time-consuming since you have to wait of water boil several times over. But it’s so satisfying to walk down the aisles of a grocery store and not put jam, garlic, or tomato sauce in my cart, because I stock them in my very own basement.

I doubt I’ll get too many of you to jump on my canning bandwagon, but just keep this in mind the next time you go grocery shopping: you can make that same product with fresher ingredients, for less money, and it will keep its flavor longer than any store-bought item full of preservatives. Eating healthy should start from the ground up, doing as much as you can from scratch with fresh ingredients. Ask my boyfriend, close friends, family, or personal trainer – I do not diet, I eat whatever I want without guilt, and I never skimp on the butter. My eating healthy strategy is why buy it when I can make it? If I want a sweetie at night, I can go to the closest store and buy a package of processed cookies, or I can whip up a batch of Snickerdoodles in 20 minutes using all-natural ingredients, while also saving myself $5. Controlling what goes into your food is the easiest way make healthy-eating stress-free. So what are you going to make for dinner tonight?

Jerks behind the wheel we should all avoid

Spending a minimum of two hours a day driving to and from work by yourself gives you a whole lot of time to think, all to yourself. If I were a more optimistic, cheery type I’d probably think about dreams and goals and rainbows and such, but instead, I’m me, so I spend that time identifying the various jerks driving around me. I’m certain my lengthy commute has made me a better driver, because I’ve gotten pretty good and picking these jerk-types out and staying the hell away from them. I recommend you do the same, or at least commiserate with me about that one time that one car did that totally irritating and unsafe thing on the way home from work. Traffic disobedience pisses everyone off, right?

The Tailgater

Simple enough. This jerk believes he can’t operate a car without being within two feet of another moving vehicle’s rear bumper, especially when on the freeway. Now nobody actually stays three car lengths behind the car in front of them at ALL times, but you know when you’re too close. The causes of Tailgating seem to be either blind stupidity or a strong desire for me to drive faster. The safe, nice thing to do when you meet a Tailgater, or any of these jerks, on the road is to just get out of their way. I, however, occasionally enjoy brake-checking Tailgaters. They don’t seem to enjoy it as much.

The Gas-Brake-Dipper

I’m not talking about E-40 style gas-brake-dipping, although for me that’s equally annoying. I’m talking about the jerk that can’t decide how fast they want to go, so they speed up, then hit the brakes, speed up, brakes. They tend to suffer from Tailgating as well, not due to impatience as is common in classic Tailgaters, but due to their need to constantly have their foot on either the accelerator or the brake.

Forgetful Fred

I’m surprised this jerk remembers where their keys are, because they sure as hellfire can’t remember which freeway exit they’re supposed to take. They’ll quickly swerve over 2-4 lanes of traffic, at times looking as though they’re actually making a right-hand turn, just to be sure they don’t miss their exit. unfortunately, forgetful Fred is nearly unavoidable. By the time you see him coming, he’s already on the off-ramp. At least he’ll no longer be roaming the same freeway as you.

The Classic Mid-Life Crisis

Need I even explain? This jerk doesn’t even have to do something vehicular to piss me off. One look at him in his mid-priced, sporty sedan provokes a stink-face. And it’s never the red Corvette, because that’s too cliché and obvious, it’s the sleek, black Miata or the yellow whatever-sporty-sedan-Kia-makes. There’s a big difference between sporty cars and sports cars, and The Mid-Life Crisis is just trying to pass one off as the other and convince himself that he’s ok going home to wifey every night for the rest of his remaining years cause he has a sports car. You don’t dude, you have a Kia. And it’s an eyesore, so move it out of my line of vision.

The Wannabee Nascar Driver

The Wannabee Nascar Driver does, in fact, drive a sports car. He treats highways like his own personal Indy 500, zooming in and out of traffic for no reason whatsoever, other than to see how well his car handles. What really ticks me off about this guy is that he sees other cars as mere obstacles, instead of moving death-traps with actual people inside them. He has no regard for the safety of others on the road, and severely overestimates his own driving abilities. I don’t care how “good” of a driver you are, cars have limits eventually and no gear shift or quick lane-change will stop a car from blowing up if you push it past its limits. I’ve watched more hours of Nascar than I care to remember, and trust me, even those dudes blow up. Pretty often.

Looky-Loos

Whenever traffic suddenly slows, you can bet there’s an accident nearby. Or worse, the accident is now on the shoulder of the road, and certain cars driving past feel the need to slow down to get a better look. Here’s the thing about accidents: if there’s anything good and gory to see, you’re probably going über slow anyways. Now, most people want to see an accident – it’s in our nature as drivers and curious beings. Where Looky-Loos become a major problem for me is when they slow down to see things that have nothing to do with driving or the road they’re on or anything else related to a car. Example: 580 East from Hayward during rodeo season. If you’re that interested (which, really, no one should be), pull off the freeway, buy a ticket, and go ride a bull. As long as you’re still on the road though, keep your eyes pointed the same direction as your wheels.

Sammy Hagar’s Nightmare

When Sammy sang of not being able to drive 55 (then 65), he was clearly suggesting that he has a lead foot and absolutely must go faster than the speed limit. His nightmare, then, is the jerk who finds it impossible to drive any faster than 10 MPH slower than the speed limit. You often find these Nightmares on freeways, in an inappropriate lane such as the far left, and they’re usually of a certain age demographic. It’s important to note that under-speeding is not just annoying, but illegal. Yes, you can actually get a ticket for driving too slowly. Just like any of the above offenders, Sammy Hagar’s Nightmares are a danger on the road and must be passed. Before they pass, if you know what I mean. (Too far? Meh.)

The Merge Protestor

I encounter several of these every day, as I’m sure everyone who takes a freeway to work does. These jerks either don’t understand how to merge or simply don’t believe in it. If you or someone you know may suffer from Merge Protesting, let me clear up the rules for you: it’s every other, like a zipper. When two lanes merge into one, guy from lane A goes, then guy from lane B, then guy from lane A, then…you get it, right? Need a simpler explanation? When your lane and another lane become one lane, you should never still be behind the person you were previously behind. But what if you’re in a real big hurry? Well, of course it’s ok to drive like a jerk if you’re in a hurry! NOT. Disrupting the order of a merge will slow you and everyone around you down. It’s just science.

The Two-Lane Highway Jerk

For some reason or another, this person was never taught two-lane highway etiquette. Or just didn’t pay attention in driver’s ed. Or just doesn’t care. The easiest way to educate this jerk is to clarify that the left-most lane is not actually called the “fast lane”; it’s called the “passing lane”. In theory, the only reason to be in the left-most lane of a highway is to pass another car. I have a strict policy not to appease the Two-Lane Highway Jerk. I will stay behind them and let traffic back up to try to coax them into moving into the right lane. It’s more important for them to know the rules than it is for me to drive faster. The worst variety of the Two-lane Highway Jerk will box you into your position behind him, allowing zero room for you to pass on the right because they’re directly next to another vehicle, pacing them at 40 MPH in a 65 zone. Again, driving too slowly is dangerous! Mostly because it pisses people off enough that they want to start playing car games with you, like cutting you off and brake-checking you, or swerving slightly into your lane just to scare you into paying attention to them. Keep up with the speed of traffic, or stay in the right lane.

Horn Addicts

Another self-explanatory one. For clarification, your horn is meant to be used in an emergency, to alert other drivers of your existence before they smash into you. It is not an outlet for your anger. Horn Addicts don’t understand this. They scowl and honk every time someone drives less than 70 on the freeway, or doesn’t let them into their lane even though they don’t have a blinker on and there’s no room in between you and the car in front of you. The only acceptable deviation from using the horn for its intended purpose, in my opinion, is to say what’s up to a homie you see on the streets. In that situation, you give it a quick, friendly ”toot toot” instead of the angry “tooooooooot toot toot tooooot” or the proper “toot”, which simply says “Hey, I’m here, too!” Like Sammy Hagar’s Nightmare, Horn Addicts can be cited for illegal use of their horn.

The Jerk Who Can’t Hear

Have you ever seen someone driving with ear buds in? I see it weekly, and I’m dumbfounded every time. How in the world do they think that’s safe, legal, normal, or anything but all wrong? Stay as far away from these jerks as possible, because there’s no avoiding a collision with them when they can’t hear anything but house music pumping through their eardrums. (I figure the house music addicts are the only ones who need music 24/7 so badly that they’re willing to disregard their own safety on the road.)

Obama/Osama 2011

I’m disappointed in the Facebook culture on the heels of Sunday night’s big announcement. Not because people are celebrating, or disappointed that others are celebrating, or because that MLK quote wasn’t actually from MLK (by the way, I don’t think the syntax changes much because of who wrote or spoke it), or even because some people want to see the body. I’m disappointed in the lack of depth to the contributions people are making to this whole debate. I understand that it’s only Facebook, and basically just a fluffy outlet for how we’re feeling right this second, but all the posts I’ve seen address one side of the issue or its opposite, when we all know that there are many sides to any issue, especially one so politically and emotionally charged.

Obviously people feel very strongly about Osama bin Laden’s death (or alleged death, if you’re on board with the Tupac-esque theories circulating), but there seems to be this implication that you should feel one way or another about it, when it’s just not that simple. Yes, any one death by the hands of another is tragic. Yes, this particular death was intended for the greater good. But these two thoughts aren’t mutually exclusive - and in fact, there are a billion other factors surrounding both that aren’t being considered amid the “Ding dong Osama’s gone” and MLK quote posts. Why not? If anything, Facebook, with its protective shield from live combat, should be an interface where people feel comfortable digging deeper into their thoughts and sharing them. So here I go.

I’m blessed to have had little experience with death thus far, so I may very likely have a jaded opinion on matters regarding it, but I don’t think there can be any question that Osama bin Laden’s death is symbolic, just as his life was. Whether you agree with the politics behind it or not, bin Laden was America’s personification of terrorism, and for those that strongly believed that his death would bring some peace to our country, I respect their right to celebrate. He was never human to them, and the same rules of mourning death can’t apply. You can debate for hours whether people should be happy that this man is dead, but the two major sides will never meet because their definition of  Osama “the man” is not the same. For me, that’s where the deeper argument lies – what did Osama mean to you? To America? How has his death changed his image for you? “Are you happy he’s dead?” just barely scratches the surface of what’s really charging this debate. If you’re truly interested in an opposing viewpoint, which you damn well should be, ask the tough questions and just listen.

Also symbolic and creating somewhat of a divide is President Obama’s speech announcing bin Laden’s death. I definitely picked up the few fumbles he worked through and felt that some parts were pushing the boundaries of government propaganda, but I’m willing to cut the man some slack. He had the pressure-ridden duty of reporting the biggest news since 9/11 to an anxious and frustrated American people who have been waiting a decade, to the day, to hear it. Whether you’re happy about his death or disgusted that people are happy, you’ve been waiting to hear about it. To say President Obama has the toughest job in the world is not just corny, but true. As a country, we lack the nationalism and unity that other countries display, and in fact it seems as though we are constantly at war with each other over something. I actually love this about America  – I want to hear all 27 unique opinions on one issue and feel my own brain swell with new thoughts that have stemmed from them, but what a nightmare this culture must be for a politician trying to do good by us. We are not an easy people to please, and when all’s said and done, whether we like it or not, whether we voted for him or not, at some point I think we have to trust in the person our country chose to make the tough decisions. I have to believe that Obama and those in close counsel with him are more intelligent than I am on political matters, and in some respect will always know better than I will.* You might call this blind faith, or even ignorance, but I just don’t see what other choice we have sometimes. I’m but one person, with one opinion that empties into the fishbowl of each election, while I cross my fingers and hope that enough of my fellow citizens feel the way I do, all the while knowing I can’t expect them to. (*Note: I would NOT be saying this if Bush were still in office. But he’s the exception, and to me, Obama personifies the rule.)

When I first heard that bin Laden had been pronounced dead, I was shocked. Mike actually told me not to follow the link on SFGate cause it was probably some phony website trying to get me to click on it. Although my faith in SFGate dwindles every day I read it (typos = unacceptable in journalism), I knew by the brevity and vagueness of the article that it was true. My initial reaction – holy shit, we’re living in a history textbook. How will future high-schoolers react to reading about this event? On a scale of walking on the moon to banning alcohol, just how big is this? To me it’s bigger than the current state of affairs between America and al-Qaeda or any controversy around the creator destroying his own creation. The thought I can’t get out of my head is: what will this mean when the era of now has passed?

To be intelligently critical of any argument, I think we need to look beyond our own beliefs and explore these larger implications. If we remove ourselves as individuals from the situation and think of ourself as part of a whole, giving every other person around us an equal share of that whole, I think we can better look at all sides of the story, listen to, respect, and understand each other, and learn something new about our own beliefs. Those are the kind of debates I want to be a part of. Instead of trumpeting your opinion, challenge my thoughts and ideas in a way that makes me look at them differently, and position yours so I can relate. You’re not likely to change my opinion, but you’re guaranteed to earn my respect and understanding of yours.

P.S. I tried to stay as impartial as possible here, since my overall opinion really wasn’t the point, and perhaps I failed a little at times, but for the record: Osama bin Laden’s life didn’t affect my ability to pursue happiness or protect my basic rights and liberties, and nor will his death. That’s all I can ask for from my government, and I’m not naive enough to expect any more.

The Daily Gripe

It’s no secret that I like to complain. It’s not a problem, it’s a pastime. Most of the time I’m genuinely confused about something because it just. doesn’t. make. sense. And now I’m going to use my blog here as an ongoing outlet for said confusions.

Driving

It is not necessary to always have a foot on one of the pedals. When you want to slow down from 70 mph on the freeway, if you simply remove your foot from the gas, miraculously, the car will still move forward, just at a slower pace. If you switch from the gas to the brake, causing the domino effect of brakelights and slowed speed also known as traffic, the angry twenty-something in the Fusion behind you will absolutely contemplate ramming your bumper. After all, she’s insured by a billion-dollar corporation. Worth it.

When you accidentally take the exit before the one you wanted, deal with it. Don’t try to skirt across the off-ramp to get back on the freeway. You big dumb idiot.

There is literally no reason to change lanes more than once on the bridge. It’s a bridge. Where are you planning on going?

Fast Food

How long do you really need to look at the menu in a fast food drive-thru? Is this your first time at Burger King? Or is the title of the restaurant so ambiguous that you can’t figure out what they serve? I know that I shouldn’t expect much from a fast food drive-thru, in any sense of the word “expectation”, but the one thing I will expect is the person in front of me to recognize that I’m in this line because I need/want food FAST. Hurry the eff up and decide. (P.S. Fast food is totally gross and bad for you, but sometimes necessary, namely when you’re suffering from what my grandma refers to as “polio”. Hint: it’s a vodka-induced disease.)

Speaking of fast food restaurants, I do not like having to recall whether “medium” means a 32 oz. medium (a la Jack in the Box) or a 21 oz. medium (a la McDonald’s). What is the point of having standardized size names if the actual sizes aren’t comparatively standard? 32 ounces is over 50% more than 21 – that’s a lot! Yet both sizes are “medium”. McDonaldize your soda sizes, Jack in the Box and Burger King. No one needs 32 ounces of soda anyway. Yucky.

Counting the A’s in “Stay in Oakland”

Thanks to the super-new FM radio station 95.7 Sports Radio, my daily commute just got a lot more opinionated. On today’s morning show: where do you stand on the Oakland Athletics moving to San Jose? My immediate reaction: there’s somewhere else to stand, besides above the right-field bleacher sign that screams “Keep our A’s in Oakland”? You don’t say.

The show hosts and several callers made some valid points for the move to the South Bay, though. I generally think that if you’re willing to wait on the phone for an unknown amount of time to make your point heard, you’re either extremely ignorant or quite well-educated about the issue, and I was pleased to find that it was the latter for the callers of 95.7. However, I grossly disagree with their consensus that Lew Wolff should just “get it done already” and make a deal for a new stadium in a city that actually wants them. And since I couldn’t locate my phone from the driver’s seat to dial in this morning, I’m putting my rally cry into “print” instead.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who’s been to McAfee Coliseum say that the A’s aren’t in serious need of a new ballpark. And not just for the sake of aesthetics – think about what new ballparks have done for low-budget teams such as Minnesota and Milwaukee. It doesn’t take a nod in Freakonomics to understand that new venues bring the big “M”s to a franchise: morale and money. Will the Athletics feel more confident about their game if their owner has entrusted them to win in a beautiful new stadium? Will people pay to see a team they barely follow just for the experience, and possibly become recurring customers, or even true fans? If you find yourself answering “doubtful” I’ve got to question your love for the game and all the magic that surrounds it. The ballpark is just as much a part of the franchise as the ace pitcher, 30+ home run hitter, and roar of the crowd as the wave swings by their section. Positively quintessential.

Oakland gets a lot of shit, especially from self-proclaimed rivals across the Bay, but there’s no dispute among actual baseball commentators and experts that we are and always have been a decent-to-good team. We’re not the Yankees, but we’re certainly not the Royals either. We may end the season with the fewest runs scored in the majors, but our pitchers will also finish with the lowest collective ERA. We’ve got the bullpen, the savvy management, the (generally) sharp defense, the hitting…potential – we need, and deserve, a new ballpark. But why uproot the A’s (again) and send them down to San Jose? Here’s what they’re saying.

It needs to get done, send them to the city where it’s going to get done fast.

Hold on there, tiger. This whole debate is moot if the Giants don’t relinquish the rights to the South Bay, which they’ve made clear they have no intention of doing. Is it really most efficient and in the best interest of the team to force a special election on the matter of the rights to San Jose? While I think San Francisco is being a little childish about the whole issue (there’s something to win and something to lose for everyone involved, but SF is willing to do neither), I don’t think that pressuring the city into a decision largely in favor of the A’s from a business point of view is a smart move. San Jose may seem like a quick fix, but there are years and layers of business politics beneath this city, and those won’t just go away because fans come forth and say they’re cool with moving to San Jose. Obviously a new ballpark anywhere will take massive amounts of time and involve head-spinning politics, but I think pushing to take San Jose away from the Giants will only add to the time suck this whole debate has already been.

San Jose wants the A’s – Oakland doesn’t.

The city of Oakland has been kind of an asshole about a new ballpark, that’s no secret. For whatever reason, the landowners and politicians aren’t interested in generating the multi-millions of dollars a new stadium could bring in. Perhaps they’re not lifelong baseball fans and don’t understand the aforementioned magic a ballpark holds. More likely, they know something the general public doesn’t and they’re not telling. Do I trust their reasoning? Absolutely not, they’re the government and I’m a borderline socialist. Whatever the reasons may be though, they’re sticking to them regarding the proposals for an Oakland site that have fallen onto their desks thus far.

But Oakland’s a decent-sized city, the 8th largest in the state. If Lew and co. really wanted a site in Oakland, couldn’t they find a way to make it happen? So maybe it’s not that Oakland doesn’t want the A’s, but the A’s don’t necessarily want Oakland. Consider the push for the rights to San Jose – why not redirect that time and effort into a push for Oakland? There would be far fewer hoops to jump through and people to piss off along the way. Although it breaks my heart a little, I’m inclined to believe that it’s the Athletics’ upper-management pushing us out of Oakland, not the city itself. Personally, I can’t get on board with a mutiny against the city that hosts the house that Rickey built. I’m not drinking that Kool-Aid, people. There’s always a laundry list of factors the public don’t know about and “Oakland doesn’t want us” is just too simple to accept.

Look at what the San Jose fan base has done for the Sharks – it can happen for the A’s, too.

Just like the ballpark itself, the fans of a sports team can be instrumental in the team’s success. We’ve seen it firsthand in the Bay Area year after year – the 2007 Warriors, the past 4 years for the Sharks, last year for the Giants, the A’s 20-game streak of 2002. The more support you have from the fans, the more likely you are to win games. Don’t let me take anything away from the Sharks and their fans – no doubt their growing popularity in San Jose helped hoist them into the playoffs for 4 years straight, but no way was that the driving factor. They first had to be a good team. It’s naive to think that you could take this year’s Athletics roster, throw them in San Jose, and expect them to contend for the pennant. Let’s think about what brings new fans to sporting events – a winning team, high-ticket players, and a beautiful stadium. It will be years before any new stadium can generate enough revenue and prestige for the A’s to purchase the kind of high-ticket players that will draw in new fans. Matsui’s doing a-ok bringing in the ticket-buyers this year, but I’ll bet my next paycheck he’s not on the roster next year. For the fan base to grow, we need staple players to act as the face of baseball for Oakland. It’s not enough to be a great ballplayer in Oakland (think Mark Ellis, Kurt Suzuki) – you won’t get your due recognition unless you’ve made a name for yourself in the MLB overall (think Nick Swisher, Rajai Davis). We can’t expect fans to jump on our bandwagon if we don’t dangle a power hitter in front of their noses.

While it’s inevitable that moving to San Jose would substantially grow the fan base of the Athletics, I’m concerned about the kind of team the A’s will become when the fan dynamic shifts. They’re a young, gritty team that will give up 12 runs in the 1st and 2nd then score 13 in the 3rd (saw that one firsthand last year). Constantly surprising, they adopted the motto “Green Collar Baseball” quite rightfully – no win goes without every ounce of effort and athleticism the team possesses. And we lifelong fans appreciate that style in a way no San Jose convert ever will. If you never saw Rajai steal multiple bases during one at-bat, or Street save his 23rd game of the season, or even saw the top of the lineup hit into a triple play, you just can’t understand what A’s baseball is all about. Without the history, you’re a different kind of fan, and that shift in the fan dynamic will produce a different team of ball players, in my opinion. New baseball fans are going to want home run hitters over of lights-out pitchers, and I fear for what the Oakland franchise will become if we appease the bandwagon.

Considering the commute fans currently make to the A’s games, San Jose really isn’t much farther.

I call bullshit on this one, for pure geographic reasons. The Oakland stadium is 10 minutes from the Heart of the Bay, centrally located so that no matter what Bay Area city you’re coming from, it’ll take you a maximum of 45 minutes to get to the game. It takes 45 minutes from Hayward to San Jose on a Wednesday at 2. Imagine what the Richmond-based A’s fans will have to endure to get to the new ballpark by 7. I can hear the devil’s advocates already: “True A’s fans will find a way to make it to the games.” No matter how diehard of an A’s fan I am, I can’t create time that doesn’t exist. We work 40 hours a week just like the rest of the world, and if our commute to the baseball game is doubled, or even tripled as it would be for me, there’s just no logistic way to make that work. The diehard fans want to see every pitch, and if I can’t get that at the live show I’d rather watch at home and play the Oakland A’s drinking game. (Copyright Main Street Mansion, 2010)

And dare we even touch on the fact that BART doesn’t run to San Jose? Sure, there are “plans” to extend it to San Jose., but all I’ve read lately is that those plans are being foiled by severe budget cuts and overlooked in favor of the bullet train to L.A. And if there’s no public transportation for us current fans, where the hell is everyone going to park? And how much money is a) the stadium going to lose when 1/4 of us have to drive and don’t buy beer, or b) the individual going to lose when they get a DUI leaving the ballpark? It’s not like San Jose’s known for over-eager cops or anything…

If they don’t go to San Jose, they might head even farther away.

Now this one actually spooks me. If the city of Oakland won’t cooperate, and the Giants won’t give back the rights to San Jose, what does the future hold for the A’s? There are plenty of Oakland-sized cities itching for a professional baseball team (Portland, San Antonio) – if a new stadium is pertinent to the future success of the A’s, which I wholeheartedly believe to be true, is there a possibility that it might be built out of California? I cringe at the idea. But, there’s some very real talk circulating about a change on the horizon, and not just in the team’s location.

The Dodgers have taken money mis-management to whole new level this year, and now that the MLB commissioner has stepped in, what are the chances that Bud Selig will ask his longtime friend and L.A. native Lew Wolff to take over the team? Slim, I’m sure. But sports gossip doesn’t appear out of thin air, and A’s fans need to consider the possibility that the team will undergoing new ownership – again. And what will those new owners want? Will they care about the history of the A’s in Oakland? Or are they more likely to see the business end of it and act as classic American consumers: where can I get the most bang for my buck? I assure you, the answer to that will never be Oakland. Unless by bang you mean the gunfire that helped rank Oakland the most murderous city in the country at one point. Yeah…not everyone’s stoked on the Town, and not every A’s fan can expect them to be.

It’s a scary year for A’s fans all-around. We’ve loyally stood by their side for decades while our team faltered and began the slow climb back to the top. We desperately want this to be “the year,” and not in the way every baseball fans wants to see their team go to the Series – we’ve been patient with our young team and supportive of BillyBall, and we yearn for some reciprocity for our good deeds. I understand the business behind moving to San Jose, and I get that it might be what’s best for the franchise overall and in the long run. But I can’t imagine my life without the feeling I get when I step off the BART train at 66th Ave/Coliseum. When you’re surrounded by fellow fans in green and gold, the crowd radiates with an insanely strong sense of community, because we know that it takes a special kind of baseball fan to love the A’s. We’re homegrown and just don’t know any better – they’re the Bay Area’s team that’s for locals only, and through winning streaks and serious slumps we’re by their side, supporting the constant roster changes and defining what it means to have faith in your team. 

If they take the A’s to San Jose, we’ll get over it, but I promise you a part of that amazing spirit that whispers through the crowd in the bottom of the 9th will die right there on the bridge from BART to the Coliseum, the gateway from our reality to the dreams our childhood built.

Last night a kettlebell saved my life

While some girls claim Cosmo as their “Bible”, I smile smugly (perhaps a little condescendingly, too) and read my Real Simple cover to cover every month. It was a match made in heaven – I was introduced to it at a friend’s house when I was scoffing Martha Stewart Living because she’s just too damn crafty and complicated: “I just want everything in my life to be real simple.” Boom – that month’s copy landed in my lap seconds later. And we’re in it for the long haul, the two of us.

Here’s why: February’s article “Your No-diet Diet for 2011.” I’m sure many of you have heard me write off diets as total bullshit. Well, here it is again – they don’t effing work. You know what works? Balance. In your life and on your plate. Before you dismiss my opinion because “it’s easy for me to say, I’m so thin” (which, by the way, doesn’t make me healthy or fit, it just makes me have to try harder), remember that I’m genuinely an average person. I don’t go to the gym (it’s pretty creepy there), I don’t count calories (math is stupid), I sure as shit don’t drink light beer (please), and I will never stop eating carbs or cheese (why eliminate happiness?). The closest I’ve been to a health nut is eating trail mix. But I’ve learned some key things lately that have really improved my physicality, diet, energy levels and overall satisfaction with myself and my life.

I’ve been checking in twice a week at my personal trainer (and very close friend’s) house in an effort to support her business and try a new way of incorporating exercise into my routine. I never thought it would rock my socks the way it has. When I was going to the gym 3 times a week, I stood 5’9″ and weighed 113 pounds. That’s just gross. But I didn’t know any better. I didn’t take the time to figure out what my body needed in order to stay strong and healthy and promote a balanced diet. Knowing damn well that I’m not the type of person who will research fitness (I’d end up on foodnetwork.com, guaranteed), I turned to my trainer and let her take the reins. She knows her shit, I trust her, and it’s working for me.

Just a couple of months into my new sporty lifestyle (I’ve also taken up golf and retrieved my tennis racket from an old roommate), I’ve noticed some major differences in my lifestyle. I drink more water. I require less sleep, giving me more productive hours in a day. I crave healthier foods, and the thought of Taco Bell grosses me out. None of these changes have required an extreme amount of effort on my part. When you’re good to your body, it returns the favor. So my first piece of advice to those serial dieters out there is to closely examine your exercise regiment. Is it right for you? In my experience, eating healthier came very naturally once I found a fitness routine that worked for me. And aside from the natural desire for nutrient-rich foods (which doesn’t happen if your body is basically asleep all day), exercising makes me want to eat healthier. I don’t want to waste my time and money on strengthening my body if I’m just going to feed it junk from a drive-through on the way home from a session.

Perhaps exercising properly doesn’t naturally change your eating habits the way it did for me. After all, we’re all built very differently. Well here’s the best-kept secret about eating healthy: it’s really not that difficult. You don’t need to cut out carbs or oils or sweeties, and you don’t need to steam every vegetable you eat and count calories. Just make sure there’s a good balance in all of your meals. Most people ensure this balance at dinner but not breakfast and lunch, which are arguably more important since those are the foods that keep your body running during the day when you’ve got things to accomplish. My new project is breakfast. It used to just be a Tiger’s Milk bar and a banana in the car on the way to work. Now I take the extra half an hour in the morning (which I have because my body needs a little less sleep now that it’s more active) and cook up some turkey sausages and eggs, slice an apple, toast half an English muffin and sit down and enjoy my meal. I always thought that eating a big breakfast would slow me down in the morning, but in reality it’s helped me stay energized longer throughout the day, which is very necessary in my job, where I’m literally walking all day long.

Speaking of turkey sausage – people on diets are always talking about what they don’t eat and what foods are bad for you, but I honestly think a lot of that is a myth. I eat the turkey version because I found a brand that tastes delicious (Jennie-O, yum), not because I feel the need to make every aspect of my plate as healthy as possible. I still put a little butter on my English muffin. Sure, you shouldn’t eat ice cream for breakfast, but that’s not because ice cream is bad for you – it’s because you need protein and fruits/veggies at the start of your day, not empty calories that will disappear after one flight of stairs and leave you running on your own stomach acids. In the aforementioned article, Real Simple lists the top 30 healthiest foods and there are a few that might surprise you: eggs, WITH the yolks – they yield vitamins B12 (whaddup ladies) and A; extra-virgin olive oil - you need fats in your diet, and EVOO is a great source of the good kind of fat (monounsaturated); avocados - an excellent source of fiber, and although they’re often shunned as fatty, it’s the good kind. If you cut out every food that may be “bad” for you in one sense, you’re ignoring all the good it can do for you in another. As long as it’s from the ground, off a tree, or cut from an animal and not out of a box packaged somewhere in Kentucky, there’s no such thing as “bad foods”.

I’ve been extremely motivated by my recent lifestyle change and I wanted to share in case it helps motivate someone else. Being healthy is awesome, and has taken less of a physical effort and more of a mental committment than I think most people realize. There’s a million excuses for not exercising and for eating processed and “fast” foods, but they really are just excuses, not reasons. Seriously – if I can change my attitude about all of this in a couple of months, you definitely can. Take it from me, I’m no expert, I’m just your average person.

In support of a cause – Walk MS

As a headstrong go-getter, I thrive on goals and measurable progress. Throughout high school, college, and the early years of your career goals are practically set for you - do well in high school to prepare for college, do well in college to prepare for the job you want, do well in your entry-level position to move up the ladder. You can measure your progress towards any of those goals every day, but what happens once you’ve graduated high school and college and obtained a career you love? I’ve blindly transitioned from waking up every day with a single goal that will in turn help me attain my larger goal to a life that is perfectly set in place – and it’s weird. It’s strange to not constantly have a major aspect of your life  you’re trying to improve.

Now that I’ve got the degree and the career (and a great relationship – barf, I know), I had to find other parts of life to set goals for. I’m working out with an amazing personal trainer (check her out – Lisa Patterson) and no longer eating fast food (yes, that includes Taco Bell, and no, it won’t be that difficult), I’m serving on the planning committee for my 10-year high school reunion, and I’ve created a team for the San Francisco chapter of Walk MS. I’m really excited about raising money for the National MS Society and being part of a movement that will change somebody’s life. Here’s why.

Why MS?

There are hundreds of causes to support, so why did I choose multiple sclerosis? My best friend’s mom was diagnosed with MS before I knew her, and I’ve seen the direct effects of the disease on her and her family. Although she is able to manage her symptoms and lead a perfectly normal life, people with MS can occasionally develop new symptoms, and symptoms can also “come and go,” changing as quickly as overnight. Imagine living with a disease and never knowing if you’re going to wake up tomorrow and it’s suddenly worse or different. It breaks my heart to think about the amount of stress and worry my friend’s mom and her family have had to cope with over the years. Even though the MS doesn’t always directly affect her every day, she and her family have had to develop a set of coping skills that most of us will never have to deal with, and I want to do my part to see that family sigh breaths of relief when a cure for MS is discovered.

About MS

I also want to help raise general awareness about MS, a disease that doesn’t get much face time. Here are some facts:

• Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, unpredictable disease of the central nervous system (the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord). It is thought to be an autoimmune disorder. This means the immune system incorrectly attacks the person’s healthy tissue.
• Approximately 400,000 Americans have MS, and every week about 200 people are diagnosed.
• There is no cure for MS. People living with it can take medication to manage the symptoms, modify the disease course, and treat exacerbations.
• MS is very difficult to diagnose because symptoms that might indicate any number of possible disorders come and go.
• The most common symptoms of MS are: fatigue, numbness, walking, balance and coordination problems, bladder dysfunction, bowel dysfunction, vision problems, dizziness and vertigo, sexual dysfunction, pain, cognitive function, emotional changes, depression, and spasticity
• While MS is not hereditary in a strict sense, having a first-degree relative such as a parent or sibling with MS increases an individual’s risk of developing the disease several-fold above the risk for the general population.

Team Cengage

Rather than registering as an individual, I created a team for this walk because my company, Cengage Learning, will match dollar for dollar what any employee donates for charity. Every year at our annual sales meeting we do a company-wide fundraiser and this past year we collectively raised $50,000 each for Community Partnership for Homeless and the Miami chapter of Teach For America. Not too shabby, huh? I’ll be recruiting every local employee I can for my cause to take advantage of this awesome program.

How can you help?

Walk with us: You don’t have to be an employee to join my team and walk with us. If you’d like to join and walk on May 1st, or join as a virtual walker and just fundraise, visit the Team Cengage Walk MS 2011 page. 

Donate your bucks: You can donate to my cause at the Team Cengage Walk MS 2011 page. Don’t forget to check and see if your employer has a similar matching program!

Donate your time: The San Francisco chapter is looking for people to volunteer their time and donate snacks. For more information, scroll to the bottom of the Walk MS 2011 – San Francisco page.

I appreciate any support, financial or otherwise, that you can offer. Let’s work together to find a cure for MS!

Kicking off awards show season with the Golden Globes

Missed the Golden Globes last night? Not to worry, I’m an awards show junkie. Here’s all you need to know about the 2011 Golden Globes: it’s not the Oscars.

In all seriousness, I appreciate the Globes as the awards show that: 1. recognizes comedic actors, who continue to be overlooked by the Academy, save Robert Downey Jr.’s 2009 nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Tropic Thunder); 2. combines the best in TV and movies to give viewers a “one-stop-shop” for ogling both James Franco and my new favorite red-beard, Michael C. Hall; and 3. will still let Ricky Gervais host. But the Hollywood Foreign Press Association falls short in supporting the little guy and introducing viewers to films, shows, and actors that aren’t already in our Google search history. They continually nominate the big guns, including those that may not deserve any positive reinforcement whatsoever, e.g. The Tourist. I have yet to see it, but I highly doubt that Angelina Jolie has front-manned an award-winning action flick. And speaking of The Tourist, is anyone else tired of seeing Johnny Depp get nominated for playing himself?

Supported by my love of the Oakland A’s, advocacy for state and community college education over private schools, and firm belief that Dodgeball is a great movie, I’m a fan of the underdog in life. The Golden Globes rarely showcase such underdogs from movies and television, and the conspiracy theorist in me tends to believe this tactic is simply a ploy to make money. If you can’t promise Brad Pitt, you’ll lose viewers, so how do you guarantee Brad Pitt? Nominate his wife.

However, this year the HFPA made some progress. It was the same ol’, same ol’ for the most part, but there were several pleasant surprises I’d like to highlight and comment on.

Best Motion Picture – Drama: The Social Network (Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The King’s Speech)

I would have put money on any of the other contenders before betting on The Social Network. Going head to head against Natalie Portman, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Colin Firth is practically a suicide mission, but The Social Network was not only as infectious as its topic, but a uniquely masterminded film. Getting the audience to develop affinity for characters while the plot twists between the present and the past is difficult to accomplish, and The Social Network did so beautifully, and at a faster pace than most movies require you to think. I don’t think expectations for this film were particularly high – people just wanted to know the story of Facebook and chuckle at the irony of “checking in” at the local Cinemark to watch The Social Network, but it was one of those rare movies that just works. It could have easily been trite or trendy, but the directors did a fabulous job focusing on the timeless themes that make any movie great – friendship, trust, loyalty, greed, success. I was quite pleased to see this movie so well-received and recognized last night.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Natalie Portman, Black Swan (Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice; Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole; Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone; Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine)

In case you missed my post-viewing status update, Black Swan is the creepiest movie since The Shining. You can’t achieve that without your leading lady doing a phenomenal job of screwing with your head for two hours. Natalie’s embodiment of dark versus light had me on the edge of my seat and reaching for my best friend’s hand at times. She was innocent and eerie, powerful and frantic, beautiful and grotesque. If you’re familiar with Swan Lake, believe this chick nailed it.

Best Original Score – Motion Picture: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network (Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech; Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland; A. R. Rahman, 127 Hours; Hans Zimmer, Inception)

Dude – Trent Reznor won a Golden Globe! How awesome is that? Wait, AND he beat out both Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer, two of the most acclaimed and well-known film composers, like, ever? Good for you, Trent. You’ve long been known as a brilliant musician to Nine Inch Nails fans, and now the masses will revel in your vast talent.

P.S. You clean up well, too.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama: Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy (Julianna Marguiles, The Good Wife; Elizabeth Moss, Mad Men; Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs; Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer)

Although not necessarily an underdog, Katey does the damn thing every week as the matriarch of a Northern California motorcycle club. The conviction with which she plays Gemma makes me uneasy, like I’m uncomfortable with the idea that a surly woman like her exists, even though she’s just a character. You get lost in her words and actions and she absolutely steals the show on every episode she’s in for more than 5 minutes. When I’m paying more attention to her than Charlie Hunnam, you better give her a golden prize of sorts.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Steve Carell, The Office; Thomas Jane, Hung; Matthew Morrison, Glee)

Sorry Alec and Steve, I love you both long time but Jim Parsons takes dry comedy to levels I only thought existed in my brain. And watching Kaley Cuoco read her costar’s name on the winner’s envelope was quite possibly the most adorable part of the entire night.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Clare Danes, Temple Grandin (Hayley Atwell, Pillars of the Earth; Judi Dench, Return to Cranford; Romola Garai, Emma; Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List)

If you haven’t seen Temple Grandin, do so immediately. Calling it “inspirational” almost seems condescending, because it truly transcends the art of movie-making and leaves you in a wistful state of mind where anything’s possible. The care Clare Danes took to ensure that she mastered Temple’s mannerisms enrich the message of the movie, which goes beyond the basic “you can do it” theme. She brings autism to the forefront of the American conscience and forces you to think about it in a way that affects your everyday life, not just your theoretical life. What Temple achieved wasn’t just “amazing for an autistic woman,” it was amazing for a person in general, and Clare was charged with the daunting task of getting the audience to understand this, and she rose to the occasion with grace and humility.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television: Chris Colfer, Glee (Scott Caan, Hawaii Five-O; Chris Noth, The Good Wife; Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family; David Strathairn, Temple Grandin)

How adorable was Chris’ reaction to his win? And how well-deserved, too. I just love to see a young newcomer rewarded for a job well-done, rather than dues paid. And no matter how hard I try to roll my eyes at Glee, I’ll admit it, I’m a fan. Corny, cheesy, and at times way too inappropriate for a high school-based plot, it’s just plain entertaining. When they’re not shoving the moral of the story down my throat, that is.

Now the countdown to the Academy Awards begins! I’m taking bets on the fright level of Joan Rivers’ face.

SF’s Dine About Town, 2011

I like food a lot. It’s delicious, makes me feel happy, and unites people everywhere. It’s even tastier when you’re getting an amazing deal, like the one you’ll get when you Dine About Town. This event takes place for two weeks every year, usually in January, and gives you an affordable option for dining at some of the best restaurants in San Francisco. I’m generally not a fan of prix fixe menus (I’m way to picky to have my meal mandated for me), but I am a big fan of getting the most bang for your buck, in any situation and especially at restaurants. Check out the restaurants and the menus, and try something new.

Need a hot tip? Here’s a list of the Top Ten Best New and Notable Restaurants in SF.

Looking for some more well-established places? Check out these Zagat-rated SF area restaurants.

Want to know what the most recommended places are? Here’s the Eater 38, the most essential restaurants in San Francisco. It’s updated frequently and comes out in a new “edition” every year.

Personally, I’ll be attempting a lunch reservation at Absinthe and finally trying the Cliff House. I’m ashamed that I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 27 years, one of which in San Francisco itself, and have never eaten at this historic restaurant. I’m a terrible foodie.

Enjoy the suggestions and go get your dine on. Oh, and if you use the term “foodie” in front of me, I hate you on principle.