Tuesday, November 3, 2015

826 BVHM By The Numbers

Now in my 3rd year as a volunteer writing tutor for 826 Valencia at BVHM I still struggle with whether or not I'm actually making any difference. In the day to day of things it can be hard to tell, and sometimes, especially on those rough days, a little disheartening. It's nice to know that when you step back, we are actually making a difference.

Check out this post by Ashley Varady (Program Manager), Christina Perry (Program Director), Lauren Hall (Director of Evaluation), and Bita Nazarian (Executive Director) of 826 Valencia about what we've done for the kids.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

SMSW10 x ICHI

Back in 2005, when we didn't know any better, we used to finish the Supermarket Street Sweep at a bar on 16th Street. We used to have the food bank bring donation barrels to the bar that wouldn't come close to handling the amount of food we were bringing in. Even back then, at half the size of the race today, we were still breaking our backs (and butts) to bring in as much food as we could.

Skills

Across the street, a Mexican chef was hard at work honing the age-old craft of making sushi. At its height, Tokyo Go-Go was the place to spend your Web 1.0 dollars, and Tim Archuleta was there to feed you. But soon after we started, Tim would leave Tokyo Go-Go to to start a small catering business in Bernal Heights.

By 2011, The Lucky Cat Deli, would grow into Tim's first sushi bar, ICHI. Sustainability and a seasonal focus, along with Tim's modern and vibrant take on some of the world's oldest cuisine made ICHI an immediate neighborhood favorite. The old sushi bar on Godeus is now home to Tim's oyster bar, ICHI Kakiya, and the new, bigger ICHI + NI Bar further down the street is now a busy hub for those looking to eat some of the best fish that graces SF's shores.

Morsels

I stopped in to have a bite to eat and was lucky enough to get a spot at the bar with ICHI's chef de cuisine Erik Aplin. Erik is not just a skilled master of the craft, but when you're at the bar, he's also just great fun to watch and talk to. His wildly creative taste for everything is not just beautiful but tasty. With their seasonal focus this means you can go to ICHI over and over and always be surprised with what they're serving up. On this night it was a local anchovy, fried to perfection, eaten whole. It was, among the stable of other delights, a seasonal treat that I could have eaten a few dozen of.

Not The Average Anchovy

This is perhaps all just a long, tasty way of saying that the generous folks over at ICHI have given this year's SMSW10 WINNERS $200 worth of gift certificates to ICHI + NI Bar and $100 to ICHI Kakiya. Thank you Tim and Erin Archuleta!

ICHI TIME

Monday, October 5, 2015

SMSW 10

I can't believe I've been doing this for 10 years. This is longer than any job I've ever held down.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Cyber Vandalism: Why We Can't Have Nice Things

It's not that I necessarily think it was a good idea for Google to allow the public to mark their maps, but this feature underscores where we are as a society. Create something that can be used for good and be rest assured it will be used to do something awful. Sadly, I had always thought Cybervandalism would be far more interesting.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Happy Birthday to Me

I don't post very often, but when I do, I do about bicycles. I wanted to put a shout out to those of you who are supporting my latest crazy bike thing. Last week, the day before my birthday, I pulled my back getting out of a car. Sigh, older but still not wiser. I'd like to blame the car, but honestly it was the over-training last week that did me in. I'm trying to stay on the mend so I can make good on the generous support of my family and friends for their birthday wishes and donations to Oakland Public Schools! Thanks everyone.

Also thanks to Jess for making my birthday so awesome. Interviewing me for StoryCorps, much foods, some drinks, and just a great long weekend of R&R.