The other day, I was driving in the hills of San Francisco when I have seen this odd scene.
A driver of one of those "I'm-so-environment-friendly" Hybrid Honda, rolled down his window, took his arm out and .... shamelessly through out a half used, no so environment friendly, cigarette. God, I should have gotten a camera phone long time ago!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Organic Shmorganic
I went today to http://www.soupfreaks.com/ for the first time. Now for those of you who are not familiar with institution, let me just say this: This place is so "San Francisco" that if the city to hold the next Olympic games, this should be the official soup provider. This ain't the place you want to discuss your last visit to Mel's dinner, or someone can call the cops on you.
As I entered, I couldn't miss the big flat LCD screen, which serves as a menu, listing the soups dejour. Normally, you would choose your soup by its main ingredient (potato soap, cream of mushroom soap etc.), but remember? these are freaks! Instead of putting extra broth in their soup, they put an extra portion of creativity in naming their soups (yes, ever more than Jamba Juice).
Can you guess what does "Freakin’ Moody II" stands for? (hint: this is not the a new game for Sony Play Station III) , How about the guessing the kind of vegetables in "Veggie Shmeggie"? Is that a shortcut for Smushed Vegetables soup, like the kind you give for babies? mmm... not sure I would like that one.
Now, to be fair, every soup is followed by a short description that suppose to give you an idea of what's inside (in case you weren't able to figure it out from the name...). The description however, give you way more than that. Soup freaks make sure you know the life story of the chicken that was used for your soup ("...100% Natural, free range Rosie Chicken") , they also want you to know that the beans you are bout to eat, came all the way from Tuscany (..." Tuscan White Bean"). Mmm... For some reason, I was sure that Tuscany is famous for their wine. They even take care of the those of us who weren't lucky enough to have a sense of smell, telling us that one of the ingredients is a "fragrant vegetable stock".
No matter what kind of soup it is, at the very least, they make sure that at least one of the ingredients is either: "organic", "vegan", "free range", "natural", "fragrant" or all of the above. With all that organic-shmorganic going on, I was beginning to wonder whether they recycled my soup after I was done with it(I'm pretty sure I left some broth in my cup)...
As I entered, I couldn't miss the big flat LCD screen, which serves as a menu, listing the soups dejour. Normally, you would choose your soup by its main ingredient (potato soap, cream of mushroom soap etc.), but remember? these are freaks! Instead of putting extra broth in their soup, they put an extra portion of creativity in naming their soups (yes, ever more than Jamba Juice).
Can you guess what does "Freakin’ Moody II" stands for? (hint: this is not the a new game for Sony Play Station III) , How about the guessing the kind of vegetables in "Veggie Shmeggie"? Is that a shortcut for Smushed Vegetables soup, like the kind you give for babies? mmm... not sure I would like that one.
Now, to be fair, every soup is followed by a short description that suppose to give you an idea of what's inside (in case you weren't able to figure it out from the name...). The description however, give you way more than that. Soup freaks make sure you know the life story of the chicken that was used for your soup ("...100% Natural, free range Rosie Chicken") , they also want you to know that the beans you are bout to eat, came all the way from Tuscany (..." Tuscan White Bean"). Mmm... For some reason, I was sure that Tuscany is famous for their wine. They even take care of the those of us who weren't lucky enough to have a sense of smell, telling us that one of the ingredients is a "fragrant vegetable stock".
No matter what kind of soup it is, at the very least, they make sure that at least one of the ingredients is either: "organic", "vegan", "free range", "natural", "fragrant" or all of the above. With all that organic-shmorganic going on, I was beginning to wonder whether they recycled my soup after I was done with it(I'm pretty sure I left some broth in my cup)...
Free Public access space in San Francisco – Financial district
One of the most well kept secrets in San Francisco is the public access space. Many buildings in the financial district and downtown were forced to provide a communal area with public access. Needless to say, they didn’t do it voluntarily (who would…), therefore the property managers do not go out of their way to advertise that their property has a public access space.
A former colleague of mine has found out about that a while ago. She was trying to get a list of all public access places but was not able to find it on the web. Eventually, she contacted to the city’s chief engineer and after few emails back and forth, she was able to get a hold the list.
I’m working on getting this list again (I promise to publish it) but for the time being; take a look at this one: 323 Sansome St. San Francisco CA, on the 15 floor.
This open space has great views, a small garden and some tables with chairs. There are plenty of food options around this building so you can grab something to go and enjoy it while it’s still fresh. Way better than eating your lunch over the keyboard!
When you’re there, you’ll probably notice some other people. That’s because they either work in this building or they read my blog like you did…
Sunday, July 15, 2007
San Francisco - a different point of view
This blog was created for a single purpose: to collect my random thoughts regarding my life in the city. Yes, I know what you're gonna say. There are plenty of bloggers in the city, there are even blogs that specialize in San Francisco. That's all true BUT... I find that they are very similar in nature. At least for my taste. There is more in common between them than you would expect from a city which claims to be so diverse and multicultural.
This blog is going to challenge those common beliefs that many people, living in the city, seem to share, such as:
- ipod is the best thing happened to humankind
- Driving a hybrid (SUV?!?) makes you a better person
- Organic food is tastier and healthier
- iphone is (the 2nd) best thing happened to humankind
- The Chronicle is a great newspaper (or at least worth 50 cents)
- The farmers in the Embarcadero center are real farmers
- The list is long and I have to go to bed
Stay tuned...
This blog is going to challenge those common beliefs that many people, living in the city, seem to share, such as:
- ipod is the best thing happened to humankind
- Driving a hybrid (SUV?!?) makes you a better person
- Organic food is tastier and healthier
- iphone is (the 2nd) best thing happened to humankind
- The Chronicle is a great newspaper (or at least worth 50 cents)
- The farmers in the Embarcadero center are real farmers
- The list is long and I have to go to bed
Stay tuned...
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