HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY SI!!!!!

Let's take it down a notch or ten from the $3500 for the WinePod. This little beauty is just as ingenous. It's called a Moka Pot (or Mokka or Muka) and it's the precursor to fancy espresso machines. I have never tasted coffee so delicious (except for a hundred years ago at the Flying Saucer in the Mission). The traditional pot is made of aluminum, but I have to say that I prefer the18/8 Stainless Steel version - it just feels more solid. What to put in to savor the exquisite mouthfeel (uh huh, I used that word....ya got a problem with that)? Fair Trade and/or Organic would be best. And freshly roasted - like Blue Bottle Coffee which puts beans in customer's hands 48 hours or less after roasting. And they're an Oakland company - Oaktown represents! And please, please, please don't sully this brew with anything other than Demerara sugar (see my Sept. 18 post). And if you can steam some milk to add, great....if not, a simple shot of cold milk works just fine.

Oh my gawd.....no seriously.....oh my gawd.....these are the best cupcakes ever. FINALLY - I baked cupcakes for a bake sale and got to use my Cupcake Courier for it's intended purpose! These S’mores Cupcakes are actually better than the original concept - and you don't have to get all dirty and buggy sitting around a campfire and sleeping on the cold hard ground somewhere in the wilderness. One of my very favorite food blogs (see 2.19.07 post) is Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit and she really created a spectacular recipe with this one. Honestly, I'm now adding her link to my sidebar.....or you can sign up for her e-mail (hmmm....sound familiar?) and get the new recipes as they come out. Here's a piece of advice for you though - don't start the recipe at 6 pm on Friday night when they need to be there at 8 am on Saturday morning. Especially if you've never done it before. And if you're math isn't very good when you're trying to make 36 cupcakes with a recipe for 15. And the 15 turns out to be 11 because you fill the papers a little full. And the graham cracker bottoms turn out to be 18....well, just because. So you have to make a whole new batch after you figure out that you only have 22 cupcakes.....huh? And you decide to use canned frosting because the demographic at the bake sale won't understand or appreciate Valrhona 61% cocoa ganache (and don't even get me started on return on investment - that's not really the point) but then you run out of frosting at 1:30 am and have to make some out of powdered sugar, butter and cocoa. And then you have to learn to fill and use the new culinary torch you bought specifically for the purpose of "roasting" the homemade marshmallows (see 12.3.06 post) without lighting your own hands on fire at 2 am. And you finally lay your head on the pillow at 2:45 am after your husband went to bed at 12:30 am without helping, saying "you made your Martha, now you lie in it" or something to that effect. And after all the effort did I even get to try it? Not until just now - and I never have to eat another dessert again - this is IT. Was it all worth it? Well, let's just say I now have a story to tell, which,when you think about it, really is better than a sharp stick in the eye. And guess what? I get to do it all again for Si's birthday on Wednesday. Sigh.

Do you imagine yourself to be a home winemaker? Do you think you can grow a few grapes, bring them into the kitchen, then stomp them a la Lucy-style, sieve them, then drink? Ah, but if only......Now you don't have to because you can purchase the WinePod, set it up in your kitchen, family room, wherever, and after appropriate fermenting, pressing and aging all in this one device, you'll have up to 60 bottles to start enjoying. It's only 4 feet tall by 2 feet, 2 inches wide! The WinePod company will even act as your vineyard manager and sell you grapes from established vineyards, in case your land isn't yet producing. For those of you trying to eat within your Food Shed, this will help you achieve your goal. So let's see.....at $3,500, your first batch of 60 bottles = $58.33 per bottle before grape costs (which would be free if you were growing them yourself)........so by the time you kick out around 25 batches, you've lowered your cost to right around the same as Two Buck Chuck. Sounds worth it to me!

Go directly to the San Francisco Symphony website right this minute and purchase your tickets to the July 6 or 7 performance with Pink Martini. I wrote a smidge about them in my September 15 post (my 2nd ever!) and now I'm thrilled they're coming back to SF. Directly from the SF Symphony press release: The sound: 1930’s Cuban dance orchestra, classical chamber ensemble, Brazilian street band, and Japanese film noir. The band: Pink Martini, an eclectic 12-member ensemble heard around the world. Part language lesson, part Hollywood musical, the Portland, Oregon-based “little orchestra” was created in 1994 by Harvard graduate and classically trained pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale to play at political fundraisers for progressive causes. The group made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival and in the years following went on to tour Europe, Turkey, Taiwan, Lebanon, and the United States. Equally at home performing its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and in smoky bars, Pink Martini draws a wildly diverse crowd. Scott and I will be going sans children....but only because of the 8pm start time....the concert is appropriate for all ages.

Also not to be missed as part of the same Summer in the City concert series - the inimitable Patti Lupone on July 28. I was not lucky enough to see her as Evita, but her voice is burned into my brain as the only true diva good enough to play Eva Peron. Don't even get me started on the Madonna debacle - although, truth be told, I'll take looking at Antonio Banderas as Che Guevara over Mandy Patinkin any time.

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Another reminder dear readers - sign up for e-mail. You know, if I really believed you were reading, I might work a little harder at this blogging thing. As it is, it's purely for my amusement. Which is okay. Sometimes. But mostly not. Sniff sniff whine whine. Now go.......sign up!

This is the solution to all my bicycle issues. What issues? Oh, the fact that we live in the hills and to go anywhere I need to put my bike in the car first. Or the fact that any bike ride I might want to go on with Scott is simply a warm-up for a "real" ride that he'll need to go on later. This is the newest Schwinn Electric Bike. In fact, I think it's Schwinn's entry into the electric bike market. There have been many other electric bikes before this one, but finally an electric that doesn't look all clunky and completely unattractive. Now mind you, this is not going to win any beauty contests either, and it's a tough choice between this and retro-fitting electric components to this sweet little Petro Zillia-designed bike, but I like the direction the market is going. I truly would go down to the village and pick up a few things on this. Or maybe even do a BART/bike combo on Bike to Work Day which is coming up this Thursday, May 17. I would pedal part of the time - I swear - but it would certainly put my mind at ease to know that I could rely on a little help, if necessary. Lest you think this is not, in fact, a better environmental solution - join the discussion in the comments area over at Treehugger.com. It makes for a lively debate.

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Don't forget to sign up for e-mail updates - see sidebar to the right!

Okay....now you really can EASILY subscribe to my blog. Just fill in your e-mail address on the right, do a quick sign-up, and then each time I update my blog you will get an e-mail with the first line or so of my entry and you can then click in. I have subscribed to others (especially my favorite cupcake blog) and it works like a charm. I highly recommend you do so in order to not miss any timely information....especially if you live in the bay area! It is coming up on the summer season, you know, and soon I'll be coming out with my famous calendar spreadsheet with free musical performances (and other types of performances) to catch from San Francisco to Concord and all points in between. So sign up Right this Minute!

On Sunday, May 6, the African Children’s Choir will be performing at 6:00 p.m. at the First Covenant Church, 4000 Redwood Rd. in Oakland. This is the same church where the elementary children performed in the Kodaly festival last Saturday. It's a beautiful venue and very easy to access for most of us.

If you're up for a trip into the City earlier in the day, be sure to check out the How Weird Street Faire from 11:11 to 5:55 the same day. It's on Howard St. between 10th and 11th and it's going all-green this year. All stages will be run with bio-diesel and there will be much sustainable technology education happening.

If jazz is more your [groove] thang, there's a free outdoor concert at Yerba Buena Gardens at 1:00 on Saturday. Harriet Tubman: Bound for the Promised Land is a world premiere jazz composition and will feature an orchestra and guest vocalists in an oratorio in honor of Ms. Tubman.

And of course, not to ignore my heritage, there is a Cinco de Mayo-inspired Spring Breakfast by the Bay at Pier 1 1/2 in SF at 9:30 am featuring spring's harvest from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Then you can take Muni up to Dolores Park to hang out at the Cinco de Mayo Festival from 11 am - 5 pm. Have a great weekend!