er..weekend

What's that you say? Its terribly lame of me to post weekend photos on Wednesday? Yes, I agree... What's that? You want fewer photos of produce? More photos of coffee, neon signs, and beautiful people under flattering lighting? Hrm, yes, I'll see what I can do.

Meanwhile, check out this batch; they're not bad.

From top:

• Slanted Door outpost @ Westfield Mall food court (nicest food court *ever*)
• fella / Britex Fabrics**
• shelves of plenty @ Britex
• Capsule Design Festival in Hayes Valley
• Capsule
• skyline

**Britex Fabrics is an amazing fabric store in downtown SF. If you really truly just want to browse, leave your wallet at home, lest you find yourself emerging two hours later with yards of random gauzy, shiny, stretchy fabric for "projects" that seemed like a good idea at the time...

happy birthday critical mass

Critical Mass celebrated its 15th birthday/anniversary this past Friday. CM is an "unorganized" group bike ride that happens once a month here in the Bay Area and in other cities around the country and world. Over the years the participant numbers have grown and its escalated into a monthly parade/demonstration that may include hundreds (or occasionally thousands) of riders. The rides' message is part advocacy, part protest: somewhat amorphic, but generally "for" biking, "against" automobile traffic (and, as related, global warming, etc). The party line is that the rides have no official leaders or organizing body, though there is a website (www.criticalmass.info) which states "CM is an idea and an event, not an organization."

While the vibe of the Critical Mass rides I witnessed in Boulder, CO seemed good-spirited, hipster/hippie-ish, rag-tag and focused on having fun, the San Francisco rides are more politically charged. In the Bay Area there's an incident almost every month involving a Critical Mass participant vs. car and driver, ranging from arguments in the street to assault and broken windshields, with blame falling on either/both sides. The traffic in SF is pretty bad to begin with; a free-form bike parade snarling downtown traffic on a Friday afternoon, no matter what message its promoting, will more than likely face a tough crowd.

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle below. Check the comments on each article for a sense of the community's response:

Critical Mass celebrating 15 years of free-form bicycle advocacy 

Just another wild ride at 15th anniversary of Critical Mass in S.F. 

bernal heights farmers market

Rumored to be the best in the city: lots of vendors, reasonable (non-tourist) prices.

From top:  

• veg  
• dancing-cat-puppet lady (she also plays the saw you see in the photo)  
• flower shopping  
• stalls in the arcade  
• japanese eggplant/dahlias  
• long day  
• dogs allowed

red bike velo rouge cafe...and afterhours dining

In celebration of nearly-autumnal weather and visiting friends and family, this week tranSFlant is featuring Places to Drink Coffee.

Behold the charming entrance to Velo Rouge Cafe.* VRC is a stone's throw from Golden Gate Park: a cute place to stop for some caffeine before strolling over to the deYoung (though our entire party agreed their coffee mugs were on the small side). Nice outdoor seating. Seems to be a neighborhood draw - many people walking or biking in. It was a little loud when we were there, so perhaps not a great place to try to work or study on the weekend... but lots of potential for people-watching.

Their website mentions that twice-weekly VRC is the venue for Radio Africa & Kitchen, "a nomadic restaurant" featuring Mediterranean, African and Californian-influenced cuisine. Seems to be more-or-less a one-man show. Read more in the SF Gate's article "Creating Radio Africa & Kitchen."

(*Thanks to Anne and Jason for directing us to this one!)

its a good friday

Quick visit with Beek this am as she swings through the Bay Area for the weekend. Ahhh, Boulange!

opera in the park

Free concert in Golden Gate Park this past Sunday.

I'd like it if they had all opera performances in the park.

why are these people smiling?

...because their tummies are full from a delicious and cheap Pakistani/Indian meal at Lahore Karahi in the Tenderloin.

Do not feel bad if the brusque elderly waiter lectures you about your dinner choices and not drinking enough water; he really only wants whats best for you.