liquidstar.org

I’ve been doing a lot of travelling lately about the West Coast. After a few lovely trips up to Portland, OR, wherein I was finally able to see a lot more of the city than just the airport, I was welcome to tag along on a friend’s driving odyssey from Portland to Flagstaff, AZ for a Grand Canyon rafting trip. Despite plenty of warning that it was going to be far from a luxurious excursion, I insisted on being fully capable of handling a rough road trip and was thoroughly excited by the prospect of going on an adventure!

What an adventure it was… A nice split between day and night driving interrupted by catnaps and brief rest stops east through Oregon, down through Idaho and Utah and into Arizona. The lush mountains of the Northwest were a lovely backdrop for the early sunrise we saw in eastern Oregon, our timing was perfect to enjoy the pass through Boise without suffering through rush hour traffic, and the views over the hills of northern Utah at sunset–through scattered showers over the landscape–were breathtaking. We passed through Salt Lake City at night, and I’d been napping. At least I don’t feel like I missed much, as it was dark and I’ve seen plenty of night-lit cities over the course of my life. I’d love to see it during the daytime at some point, though.

The two nights spent on the road were incredible. I’ve never seen so many stars in the sky in my life! It was absolutely splendid, and I found the Big Dipper in the night sky for the first time. The Milky Way was also visible and was quite a sight. My friend assured me that he’d be seeing even more stars in the sky during the rafting trip, and I was in complete awe at the thought of there being still more stars to see! This adventure was simply rife with sensory experiences that have left a lasting impression on me and will never be forgotten.

Expecting to be met with fairly dull desert in Arizona, I was thoroughly astonished by the views as we crossed the border and drove down to Flagstaff. The canyons, hills, and immense wide open expanses were unbelievably beautiful. I was surprised by the amount of vegetation there actually was, and after changing out of a polyester satin shirt and borrowing my friend’s t-shirt for a while, I wasn’t the least bit bothered by the heat as we crossed about 80 miles or so of sweeping land.

Flagstaff is a beautiful little city with a quaint airport I am currently killing time in, waiting to fly standby into Phoenix to connect home to San Fran. The prospect of another adventure for the return trip in a couple of weeks when I conveniently have a few days off again–this time along a different route via Las Vegas–will give me something to look forward to as I digest all the divine events of this trip.

Living life is good. Very good.

0 Comments Categories: No Photos · Travel

Thanks to some time off from work and a lazy day at my sister’s place today, I actually accomplished a lot with the updating around LiquidStar. Still, it isn’t finished, but at least it’s workable and I’m not using a free WordPress theme anymore. Nope, we are thankfully back to a custom, self-made design!

More fixing-up to come over the next week or so…

0 Comments Categories: No Photos · Site-Related

After my ever-generous friend and host Dan recently upgraded LiquidStar to a new server, I was finally able to update WordPress to the most-recent version. Of course, it’s so different from the previous version that my theme didn’t work anymore and I have to update a bunch of plugins.

While I do all that, very piecemeal due to my work schedule, please bear with me! I found a free template I can live with for now while I work on writing one of my own that will work with the new widgets feature and all.

Patience…

0 Comments Categories: No Photos · Site-Related

So I met these guys in a bar. No, wait, don’t stop reading yet–this is really going somewhere good, believe me. So, guys in a bar… Turns out they are some of the brains behind this insanely-good Internet sitcom titled Break a Leg. Picture the film editing feel of Goodfellas shaken up James Bond martini-style with well-timed sarcastic humor and a splash of ridiculous comedic moments à la Monty Python. Just the fact that I’m actually watching a sitcom for once since the days of Full House on TGIF should speak volumes of the quality of entertainment bestowed upon the Web by the Break a Leg team.

Go check it out, like, yesterday. Seriously! I’ve been thanking my lucky stars–as I sit on the BART going to and from work undoubtedly receiving curious and confused stares from other passengers observing me laughing at my iPod–I wasn’t so buzzed as to be oblivious to the site address scrawled on a piece of paper for me by these random guys at a bar. I promise it’ll prove stories that start out with “so I [...] in a bar…” aren’t invariably lame. ;D

0 Comments Categories: Linkage · No Photos

Despite the difficulties I’d been experiencing trying to find things to fit my lifestyle that were also gluten-free, I managed to stick to it for a week before giving in to some bread that I had been craving. I’d been feeling great, actually, so I was afraid I had just undone all the work of a week for several slices of carby heaven. Much to my delight, I continued feeling great despite the obviously glutenous mass of molecules I had consumed. Therefore, I have come to the self-assessed conclusion that my digestive and nutritive issues are purely IBS- and lactose-intolerance-related.

I can pretty much confirm the development of lactose intolerance from the fact that, having been able to stick to the no-milk thing, I’ve been feeling great. Then while in Reno on business a couple of days ago, I absentmindedly used some half-and-half in a cup of coffee only to be faced with tummy gurgles and bubbles not even half an hour later. So I am immensely thankful I can return to my general eating pattern aside from milk products. Sticking to soy I can definitely live with! I’ve actually grown to prefer it in my espresso drinks–a sugar-free caramel latte I had just earlier today was better with soy, in my opinion, than any I’d previously tasted thanks to the pleasant nuttiness to accompany the toasty sweetness.

Now, to savor my dinner of a tuna salad wrap–yum, gluten!! ;D

1 Comment Categories: Food Musings · No Photos

So I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently on the connections between IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, something I was diagnosed with 15 years ago–quite a feat of a disease for a nine-year-old to even have to think about undertaking managing, let alone actually doing it) and lactose-intolerance, gluten-intolerance, and thyroid disease. A couple of my other friends with digestive disease have been recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and it got me wondering if maybe I suffer from it as well.

Considering the already-diagnosed IBS and confirmed thyroid problems, along with other symptoms, I’ve become rather convinced that I do have Celiac, and as of early Saturday morning, I decided to give living not only mostly-free of insoluble fiber for my IBS but also moderately lactose-free (I don’t seem to have trouble with it, but considering the fact that I actually like soy milk, substituting it where it’s easy didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice–hell, I’m actually thinking I like my mochas better with soy!) and completely gluten-free a shot, at least for a few weeks to see how I feel. As soon as I get my health insurance sorted out, I’m going to bring up getting tested for Celiac at my first visit to a doctor, and until then, I’ll just monitor digestive health on my own. Seeing as it’s something I’ve been doing for a decade-and-a-half now, it’s almost second nature to me, sadly.

I’m sure some of you are already thinking, “GLUTEN-FREE?!?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS BAKED-GOODS-FIEND GOING TO EAT AND BLOG ABOUT NOW?!?! HOW WILL SHE EVEN LIVE WITHOUT SUCH THINGS AS BROWNIES AND COOKIES AND CUPCAKES?!?!” Well, those were some of my first thoughts upon making this decision as well.

It’s proving to be quite a task after even only two days of efforts to make my diet completely devoid of wheat, rye, barley, and spelt. Well, not that spelt was that much of an issue, but you get the idea. For instance, on my way home from seeing a movie today, I decided I was in the mood for soup for dinner, and you’d think that would be a reasonably easy task, even gluten-free. Oh, no. No no no. Let me tell you, of the selection of soups available in my local market, only two–TWO–were Celiac-safe. TWO! Obviously, the ones with barley and noodles were out-of-the-question, but that still left plenty to chose from, right? Wrong. If they didn’t have barley or noodles, almost all featured wheat in some form or another, most often wheat flour used to thicken the soup. So I officially get to chose from two soups now when I decide I’ve got a sudden craving for soup. Joy.

Unfortunately, I’ve become even less of a cook since moving here to San Francisco. Actually, even since working at the bakery, where it was so easy to just walk to a case or basket and take what I felt like eating at the time. I’ve really become embroiled in the habit of deciding what I feel like eating spontaneously and not planning at all. So grocery shopping has become impossible to do long-term–when I get hungry and know I won’t be eating out, I just walk down to the market and get what I feel like eating. If I even attempt to do some mass grocery-shopping, I wind up walking aimlessly through the store unable to pick anything to buy since I don’t feel like eating any of it at the time and can’t possibly know if I’d be in the mood for something using it in the near future. And seeing as things that I would need to make so many of the dishes I ate on a regular basis pre-gluten-free come in larger quantities that would bear the burden of needing to be used repeatedly, this is going to be a frustrating process for me. And even when I did a lot of cooking at home, I have never been much of a leftovers person. Whatever I didn’t finish, I left for my suitemates/housemates/family to eat when I cooked something.

So I figured maybe it would be a good idea to use this blog as an outlet for my new lifestyle–both of frustrations and pleasures. Right now, I’d love if anyone reading this has some advice to offer me: gluten-free recipes geared towards single-servings, sources for gluten-free products that come in small quantities, etc. If only it wasn’t just myself I had to feed, since I have managed to find dozens and dozens of resources for gluten-free recipes and products, they’re just all geared towards the larger quantities that the vast majority of people find useful and not the single-servings that I’d find useful.

I keep tea, coffee, and sweetener in my pantry. Bottled water and soda in my fridge. About the only other things I ever keep around the house are a few canned goods–tuna, mushrooms, maybe beans–and some frozen veggies. Anything else I buy on-the-spot to be used and consumed immediately. Help?

0 Comments Categories: Food Musings · No Photos

I’m officially naming this summer as The Summer Without Internet. Because that’s what it wound up being. Well, aside from lots of working at the bakery, some fun times with friends, a couple of BBQs here and there, and other such summery goodness, of course. But now I can add “cessation of my lack of connection to the world” to the list of events these past couple of months, thank the powers that be.

Understandably, I have so much to catch up on–e-mail, research I’ve been putting off, organizing, finances… So I can’t be bringing this site up to speed just yet, but expect some massive updating soon followed by the regularity I’ve been attempting to accomplish for ages.

It feels so good to be back!

11 Comments Categories: No Photos · Site-Related

Now this is why I really left my parents’ house for a place in Port Jeff…

Sitting in the shade on a bench near the harbor on a breezy, partly sunny, warm day while live music wafts between the zephyrs from a nearby restaurant second-floor patio. Thanks to wireless broadband access from the ferry, I can enjoy this gorgeous environment while updating my laptop and downloading some large files I wouldn’t dare attempt to download on dial-up at home.

The fact that I actually have off from work on a weekend day like this makes it even better, since the village is alive with people passing by, motorcycle groups gathering and riding around, and other signs of energetic, small town living.

Life is wonderful today. :)

I ate a goodie for Guilty Pleasure Sundays yesterday, knowing I had today off. That entry to come shortly… :]

16 Comments Categories: No Photos · Village Living

Well. I wound up working a double shift yesterday, so I actually wasn’t home at all to post for my first Guilty Pleasure Sundays, but I definitely did get to indulge in something absolutely guilt-ridden and pleasurable, oh my…

Fudge-Topped Brownie
One of the girls I work with over-heated a customer’s brownie yesterday, and the fudge topping go a little melty, so we treated ourselves to a little gooey brownie delectableness in the back room after she prepared a properly-warmed piece for the customer. Oh my gosh, was that brownie amazing.

I’m generally not much of a brownie person, but I’m generally not much of a many-things-my-bakery-makes person, and each of those things I’ve had so far has turned me into a I-like-x-but-only-from-my-bakery person. (Okay, that phrase and the hyphens have just reached their tolerance limit. ;P)

Our brownies are fudgey, as all good brownies are. I like cake. I like fudge. Brownies should be somewhere in between, but since they don’t get frosted like cake does, they must lean towards the fudgey side to be edible. The brownies we make have thick, chewy toothsomeness like fudge, but they still crumble a little with the slightest bit of cakey texture. The melted fudge on top of this supposed brownie failure really took it over-the-top, though. All of the incredibly deep and rich chocolate flavor combined with something to chew and liquidy love was obscenely delicious.

I have SO added a warmed La Bonne Boulangerie brownie coupled with icy-cold vanilla Häagen-Dazs ice cream to my list of “Foods Melody Must Eat in Order to Make Her Life Complete.”

4 Comments Categories: Chocolate · Desserts · Food Musings · Guilty Pleasure Sundays · No Photos

I don’t want to wind up spending my summer working at the bakery the same way I spent the summer a couple of years ago working at Blockbuster: putting in 30 or so hours at a place where I’m, in all honesty, not-so-well-versed in the product. While I most definitely enjoy seeing movies, the combination of not having much time outside work to make full use of my rental privilege of 5 free movies each week and the lack of someone to spend movie-watching time with made for a decidedly film-free few months of employment at an entertainment giant.

In order to encourage me to sample more of our options at the bakery, I’m declaring a new project that doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to myself. This idea will serve a multi-fold purpose: I’ll become knowledgeable about the tasty treats at my bakery, I’ll have something new to write about at least once each week, and I’ll encourage other people to be equally inquisitive with boulangerie-centered foodstuffs!

Guilty Pleasure Sundays will see it’s first entry on June 11, wherein I will describe at least one baked good sold by La Bonne Boulangerie that I have eaten that day. If I can possibly manage to try everything (that I’d actually like to try–and I’m not allergic to) by the end of the summer, I’ll consider it both a success and an invitation to switch it up to treats from other local eateries. :)

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a couple of reviews of things I’ve already tasted…

Banana Nut Muffin
Our muffins are the standard, generously-sized hunk of quickbread baked by most American bakeries. Where they deviate from the formula is with their yogurt-enriched batter base. The result is an incredibly flavorful and moist muffin, with a slight tanginess to balance out any breadiness and the sweetness. I think it also has the effect of enhancing the flavors of the particular muffins–even though this muffin only has a swirl of fresh banana purée in it instead of all throughout, the taste of banana permeates the entire muffin with rich, real fruit flavor.

One peeve of mine when it comes to any baked good featuring some sort of “add-in” is a too-generous hand with the addition. Nothing can ruin a banana nut muffin faster than the presence of too many walnuts. The name of the food is banana nut–not nut banana. ;P Since nuts in general tend to be very flavorful and can easily overpower any dish, the line between “enough” and “too much” is very fine. Somehow our baker has perfected the art of balance with our muffins because the every-few-bites presence of a perfect walnut was enough to have a pleasant nutty flavor in the muffin and an intermittent hunk to delight my teeth with something to chew down on without being the least bit stronger than the banana flavor.

Overall, I’m not exaggerating nor am I patronizing when I say that this was hands-down the best banana nut muffin I’ve ever had. Between the surprisingly intense moistness and the wonderfully natural and fresh flavors, it’ll be extremely hard to top.

Low-Fat/Grilled Veggie Wrap
Yes, you read that name correctly; my bakery actually sells wraps. We also have (all homemade of course!) soups, salads, fruit bowls, focaccia and croissant sandwiches, yogurt parfaits, dips, fresh mozzarella, and other market-type goodies. La Bonne is actually both an authentic European-style bakery and a café. :)

Of all the sandwiches we offer–and there’s actually quite a few!–the veggie wrap was of course the first to catch my eye and hold it long enough for me to drop the $6.99 to take it home. After popping open the package to discover a hulk of a halved wrap inside, I actually think that while it sounds a little overpriced for a simple sandwich, the amount of food is truly rather impressive. At this point I’ve already had this sandwich twice, and being famished the first time after not eating a bite all day, I did actually eat the entire thing at once, but the second time I bought it, I found it was absolutely plenty for two meals for me.

What inspired me to have this wrap twice within a two-week timeframe despite having the option of trying many other different sandwiches is the mind-blowingly-delicious quality of the veggies. Seriously, whomever devised the recipe for the marinade our owners use deserves an award and already has my undying love. On top of being infused with fabulous flavors, the veggies were perfectly grilled–the zucchini and summer squash weren’t at all too mushy, the asparagus was pleasantly crisp, and the red peppers had incredibly sweet, charred flavor.

Even something as seemingly insignificant as the wrap itself clearly receives the same level of intense attention as the vegetables. Thanks to its immenseness, the sandwich is as I said, a substantial portion. It also holds up incredibly well: even cold, it doesn’t crack, tear, or break but rather maintains a level of chewiness that is really quite enjoyable and nicely conducive to wrap-consumption without wrap-disassemblage.

All in all, I’m willing to bet this sandwich will be gracing my table again sometime soon and many times after. It’s flavorful, satisfying, and definitely well worth the expense!

2 Comments Categories: Breads · Breakfast Foods · Food Musings · Main Meals · No Photos · Vegetables