Right.

I KNOW ALRIGHT?

I KNOW.

Any comments you various peanut galleries might have currently have the relevance of a cow's opinion.

They are moo.

HOWEVER, I would like to take the time to discuss with you all...the Bonfire. I was not fortunate enough to attend Saturday's game as I have in the past, so all I have to say regarding THAT is...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YEAH GO BEARS.

At least my absence meant that I did not have to sit through a performance of the Stanfurd Banned. Small blessings, I suppose.

Anyway, despite the rain on Friday, the Coz and I did manage to make it out to the Greek. I fought my way through campus - I couldn't even make it past Wheeler! I am hesitant to offer an opinion, but I must say that the Regents are dealing with a bad situation. The budget crisis is the reason for this mess, and really - slashing public education is so friggin' short sighted I can't even think straight.

RIGHT - moving on: there was FIRE and the University of California Marching Band and The UC Men's Octet (and the Golden Overtones too) and Tom Edwards and the Axe Cheer and FIRE and for once there was a funny sketch! There hasn't been a funny sketch in all my years of going.

It was awesome. To placate you I have pictures.

Before...

During...

And after...

Aaaaand then we left. Because it was pouring rain! And I've been to 6 bonfires. It was freezing, we went to La Burrito, went back to her place, made brownies, and eggnog, and watched Star Trek.

Awesome.

San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer's Market

Saturday was a happy happy day. Got to meet up with The Big for the first time in MONTHS. Honestly, the way medical school destroys relationships is almost offensive. An unexpected trip to the Bay just in time for the Game (49-17 GO BEARS) meant that we got to meet up for brekkers.

Being a genius, I volunteered the Farmer's Market as an excellent source of pre-game nourishment.

Instead of being smart and healthy young people, investing in our future with colorful veggies:

we instead opted for the delicious Golden Gate Breakfast Muffin. With Bacon. Duh.

We walked and chatted, and sat and chatted, and ate and chatted. When you go months without speaking to people, you tend to have a lot to catch up on.

Appropriately spirited flowers:

We both kind of wished we liked egg plant more after seeing the color on these puppies. But...they are gross! And kind of rubbery!

Tomatoes...I can get behind. However, at the end of the summer, you have had enough caprese to tide you over till the next June.

Instead, we have harvest season:

Side note - late season harvest was last week for Simi. Delicious.

I actually had an ulterior motive in dragging The Big to the farmer's market:

That's right. Apple Cider. Fresh apple cider. For Apple Cider Doughnuts.

THAT'S RIGHT.

I don't even need to say it. You already KNOW how sweet it is.

Ok So Here's What Happened

This post has multiple parts:

Thursday - Chez Panisse

Friday - ZOMBIELAND

Saturday - Alternative Press Expo

Sunday - Chaja

CLEARLY ITS BEEN A BUSY COUPLE DAYS.

So Thursday - it is the Man and my 1-year anniversary (balloons). I'll wait while you go throw up from emotional overload.

...

Although the two of us are both very bright, we are both very broke, so choosing to go to Chez Panisse was kind of a big deal. Luckily, Ms. Waters totes delivered. I had never been to this excessively fancy restaurant before, but I was well pleased. It's a very warm room - the lighting almost reddish, reflecting off the hammered copper lamp shades and sconces. We sat in the back corner against what looked like a mirrored wall, and the light shone off the sconces and lampshades and warm polished wood and made the food look amazing.

First was pate de campagne, with mustard and carrots and beets and green beans and cornichons. My experience with pate is...limited, and my palette is comically inadequate but it reminded me of the way you kind of always wished cured salumi would taste - wild, but softer.

I screwed up my courage and took pictures for the rest of the courses with my dinky lil point and shoot camera:

This was probably my favorite - 3 soups combined into one awesome party: spinach, corn, and pepper. Now, looking at that list o soups, you would think they would be all jostling for attention: corn is always sweet, and spinach is unmistakeable, and pepper is...pepper. Instead it was like they all came to the party and were like "hey, what's up..." and that was IT. They MELDED and as you swallowed they made themselves heard in different parts of your tongue. Also, HOORAY FOR MARBLING.

Ok, so main course: Grilled Sonoma Liberty duck breast au poivre with chanterelle mushrooms and gratin dauphinois. A fairly traditional way to do au poivre, but the duck was perfect. Melting meat is a curious sensation, but there you are. The potatoes were delicious - not heavy at all (quite the feat for gratin) and sort of tangy. It was awesome to have au poivre a different way, seeing as the Sinks usually rock the venison au poivre (only in our family its venison + black goop. Yeah.)

To finish up, a Tarte Tatin with the first Pink Ladies of the season, with a scoop of housemade creme fraiche ice cream.

Yum.

Dissecting a meal like this is definitely out of the ordinary for Sweetness (I am sooo not Ruth Reichl), but it was a special occasion.

This post is getting long, so I will leave you with these one liners:

Friday - ZOMBIELAND. Go see it. Rule #32 Yo.

Saturday - Alternative Press Expo. I got the BEST ART EVER. I love meeting creative people, even though this is how most of the conversations went:

Artist - Thanks for checking out my stuff! You guys artists too?

B - I draw on the side, but I mostly do a lot of writing.

F - Nope, just jealous.

I suppose I have baking. I have reasonable assertions that I'm pretty good at it, despite the incomprehensible messes.

Sunday - Chaja. Dad's birthday + Excuse for making DECADENT Brazilian dessert. Unfortunately, this is really not a dessert suited for photography. Like, at all. In the words of the Mav, it's a hot mess. But it has dulce de leche! And that is enough for me. Recipe will be posted after it has been translated from the odd blend of Portuguese and Spanish that is the peculiar language of the Fernandez-O'Keeffe's.

I love it when my life has the sweetness.

Re: The USC Game

Let's get down to brass tacks people.

When it comes to the Trojans, the Bears have a less than pristine record. In fact, it is almost uniformly DARK except for the one bright, shining spot in 2003.

*tear* Excuse me, I get emotional just thinking about that game. So beautiful.

Anyway, despite an awesome pregame first at The Ferry Building, and then at the Lair (exhibit A)

...we just couldn't get the act together. It was a mess. In the beginning, it looked like optimism would lead the Bears down the field, but this was closely followed by an interception. In the end zone. Best was held to under 50 yards and the Bears were demoralized almost from the start.

Heart Wrenching.

Also, have you ever tried to take the downtown Berkeley Bart after a game? MADNESS. It looked like a scene out of Independence Day, when the aliens drive everyone out of the city and traffic is INSANE. That's what the Bart station looked like. A solid mass of people. My shoulders were cringing, both from people-claustrophobia AND an irrational fear of an alien attack.

Those Sturdy Golden Bears

Team, there are few things that I enjoy more than a full day of football. Especially with a schedule as follows:

11am - Wake up

12:30 - Mosey over to Berkeley

12:45 - Hit up Cheese 'N' Stuff and devour a Thanksgiving sandwich (complete with Cranberry!)

2:30 - Stroll up to the stadium with a sense of purpose, saunter into the Young Alum section next to the band, and proceed to absolutely murder Eastern Washington.

I mean seriously:

59-7? Let's keep it real. Roll on You Bears. Especially you, Mr. Best. You keep it up. Any sort of action that can promote scenes like this are fine by me:

God, I love football. I especially love it when we win. Go Bears. I will leave you with this final image from my college graduation:

Now that's what I call the sweetness.