This saturday is the next Chaos! We’re bringing DJ Alexander back to San Francisco for his first time at Chaos! Not only that, but it will be a double birthday celebration for my fellow Chaos crew – my bestie Tristan Jaxx and his boyfriend, my friend Cavin Knight. Yep, this weekend is both of their birthdays! If you’re in the area, you don’t want to miss this, every night is just amazing. You don’t have to take my word for it, because maybe i’m biased, but come see for yourself!

Chaos is this saturday May 19th at BeatBox at here in San Francisco. It’s from 10pm to LATE, free before 11, and $15 after!

Photos by myself, Cavin Knight, Louie Marco, Brad Lai and David Wong. See them all here.

Me & Louie

Steve, Tristan and Me

the club

Backshot of the DJ and the Club

Cavin & Tristan

Rainbow Lasers!

DJ Tristan Jaxx

Love those lasers

a Beam from Above

..

Me and Brad

the Chaos team!

Me, Tristan and Cavin

Cinco de mayo is a big (fake) holiday where people just use it as an excuse to drink a lot. I actually do like margaritas, but I don’t drink really anymore, and thinking of what the sugar would do to me, plus that I read they’re one of the worst drinks for you, that and pina coladas (which are not as tasty as margaritas anyway), the smidge of a maybe I should.. just floated away. I went the opposite route and was cultured. That Saturday was sunny and warm (yippee) and I met my friend Antonio for a tea brunch outside at Samovar downtown.

This is set outside in the Yerba Buena gardens, super pretty and perfect for a nice day. I had some ecstasy tea and quinoa waffles, then we headed across the street to the SF MoMA. This is one of my favorite museums because it’s easy to get to, has great architecture, and always has interesting exhibits. I never paid much attention to modern and contemporary art until college, but a combination of first visiting the Rose Art Museum, then working there, plus a super fun combo history/applied art course converted me over. It’s always a pleasure to look at their permanent collection, but there were plenty of things I had not seen before. One that spoke to me was Parra’s Weirded out exhibition, with his untitled work which I’m titling right now, alone. 

This is his first time in a US museum! But, he’s also worked with companies such as Nike. I like the idea that art doesn’t always have to be in a museum but can be spread through our everyday lives. There were a bunch of things this time by San Francisco artists, including The Utopian Impulse 

Too often we’re focusing outwardly and not recognizing the talent we have right here! The Photography in Mexico was definitely a highlight to me, given the day (no I didn’t plan that!)


Some of the older photographs I found a bit dull, but others were a bit even TOO exciting, like the ones showing dead people from real forensic photographs.  There were so many bright ones that I loved, and also photos of just modern mexico. I love photography! Rineke Dijkstra had one of the most germane exhibits to my life. She used two different mediums – one was photographing the same person over and over, throughout time, say, from a child to an adult, or before they went into the army and after. The other medium was video. She went to two different clubs. The first club, she videoed people without their knowledge. They’re just standing there, dancing, smoking (this was a few years ago), looking bored, happy, etc. I often watch people on the dancefloor so it was a little weird to see a bit of normal life in a museum. On the second time she went to a club, she let them know she was videoing them. There was a girl dancing to Mary J Blige’s Fine and singing along with it. So much more enthusiastically now that she was aware of the camera. This exhibit once again kind of spoke to the whole life as art thing. Overall, I think we both enjoyed our visit. It was even interactive, letting us draw a postcard of our visit (that’s me looking at the pictures and Antonio on his phone LOL)

and a clock that videoed us and projected us in a weird, time lapse thing onto a clock.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, then out to a club (making me revisit in my mind that exhibit). A perfect weekend day!

See all of the photos from the museum trip here!

Pineapple Cucumber Gazpacho Soup

Cucumber and Baby Pea Salad

Cookie

My Plate full of cookout food

San Francisco is in its second best weather time – the spring. Before we get down to the chilly summer, we generally have a spot of niceness, and it’s been warmer than usual the past few weeks. I’ll be posting a park blog up sometime soon. But let’s talk about food. I made a couple of cooling recipes this past week you might enjoy.  Too lazy to go over to the cold cuts grocery store while my roomie was away, i had no sandwiches for work lunch. So, i decided to try a soup recipe instead. I’m no great soup lover, but sometimes they can be good for a smaller meal like lunch. I chose pineapple cucumber gazpacho for a couple reasons – i love pineapple, i love cucumber, and it’s easy.  Picture me, in the kitchen on a work night, after midnite, stuffing ingredients into the blender. For all of you raw food people, there’s no cooking in this one…just blend it up, chill it, and eat. I got about three lunch sized servings out of this, and you can taste the jalepeno but not a lot. It wasn’t hot at all and besides the actual temperature, it tasted cool. This past weekend a couple friends invited me to a start of the weekend cookout at their house up the street. My roomie brought a double batch of the no sugar oatmeal raisin cookies we like, which everyone else scarfed right up, and i took a chance and tried a new recipe, Cucumber and Baby Pea Salad. I was looking for something with no mayo, since i’m not a fan, and that was easy. Greek yogurt and spices, plus more cucumber, and some yummy peas…mmm. I could not find basil leaves at the store, so i bought the tube of mashed up ones, which worked so well and gave it a pretty green color.  I got a lot of compliments at the party, everyone loved it! It just tasted refreshing, a perfect summer dish. Nevermind that by the evening of the cookout, the fog had rolled in and it was chilly, typical SF, but i still got to eat the burger i’d been craving – yum! My other new thing over the weekend is that I joined Instagram,  i’m getting kind of frustrated with uploading to flickr, and plus i saw that instagram will soon be upgrading so that it will upload to flickr, so i thought, why not? So.. you’ll be seeing some instagrammed photos on my blogs from now on. If you’re on there and want to be my instagram friend, i’m merrij.  I’m not sure how to do an actual link yet, so just search for me!

Salad on my plate

Pineapple Cucumber Gazpacho Soup

Me Atop the Mountain

In all the times I went to palm springs, I’d never been to the aerial tramway. I think it’s because you can’t walk there. This time, we were car-red up, from driving to PS, and I got to go! Brunch and we headed over. As I mentioned in my last vacation post, Palm Springs was hot. 90 degrees, no clouds, right up near the sun, no humidity. HOT. And yet, we were taking a tram up to — SNOW! So weird! Tristan, Cavin and I bought our tickets and got on the tram. There are a few and they run back and forth all the time. I was lucky enough on the way up to get a spot right near the window, and I made a video! Once you’re up there, there’s a little visitor’s space, an overpriced restaurant, some lookout points, and some trails. We didn’t have time or energy to go hiking through all of those trails, so we just walked around the lookout points and took photos. I took a lot of photos. Even though there was snow, it wasn’t cold. Maybe like a usual day in San Francisco, in the 50s or 60, I’m not sure. I don’t know how that snow didn’t melt. Here are a bunch of photos I took, and you can see all of the vacation photos here. Looking around didn’t take too long, and soon we were on a tram back down the mountain. That tram was pretty packed, and I wasn’t near the window. It was funny to be so packed in with all the tourists oohing and aahing to the soundtrack of Oye Como Va. I felt so..normal. Not something I feel very often. Take a look at the video, you can experience the tram, without having to travel to Palm Springs! Sadly, after that, vacation really was over. We drove back to San Diego, and the trip seemed to take way longer than it did to drive over in the first place. Then the plane was delayed. Tired and cold, we landed at SFO, it was yucky weather out, and too late for public transportation. A taxi and we’re home, time to go to bed and off to work in the morning to a mountain of work from the days I’d missed. Vacation!!! When is the next one!!! I love my time when I can forget I’m a cubicle drone and just live!!! Until June…Check out all of the vacation photos here!

Cavin & Tristan

Bottom of the Mountain

Half Tram, Half Outside

Inside the Tram

Visitor's Center

Snow! Even though it's 90 degrees in Palm Springs!

Even the Parking Lot is Pretty

The Finished Strawberry Shortcake

Due to technical difficulties on Flickr, the second and final part of my vacation blog has been delayed. Instead, enjoy this yummy food post. Strawberry shortcake has always been one of my favorite desserts. When I was a kid, sometimes my mother even let me eat it for breakfast! One of the best parts about living in new England is the fresh produce. Every year, my whole family would go out and pick fruit. It’s cheaper that way, and fresh. A couple hours picking in the field gives you a gazillion berries, and each June it was a strawberry feast. Here in san Francisco, the seasons don’t work normally. I can’t even figure out the seasons for most things.. I feel like strawberries seem to grow nearly year round? They still feel like a summer thing to me, only summer in SF is cold, so a warm spring will do. My family recipe for strawberry shortcake biscuits is made of bisquick. When we gave up sugar, we had to find a new way to make this yummy dessert. It took almost a year, but I came up with the idea to make my own bisquick! This lets you make it as healthy as you want to, and no preservatives either. I found this recipe, and changed it a little. Instead of flour, I used whole wheat flour, since we gave up cooking with white flour. Instead of sugar, I used splenda, but splenda’s not that good for you either so next time I may try coconut sugar instead. I halved the recipe, because I knew we’d never eat all that bisquick in time, particularly since my roommate was leaving town the next day. The bisquick was fast and easy! Right from making that, I used my mother’s strawberry shortcake recipe (ie she got it from the box lol) with the new mixture. Soon they were in the oven! And how did they taste? Yummy! Browner than normal, because of the flour, but they tasted otherwise the same to both of us. It makes six biscuits, so six shortcakes. I always use fresh whipping cream, not the already done gross stuff. And lots of strawberries! I stuck the rest of the bisquick in the fridge. Later on, that weekend, I decided to try the pancake recipe that was attached to this bisquick recipe. I made it with blackberries, and halved it. Using one cup of bisquick made four little pancakes, just enough for me. They were so puffy and very tasty! The following weekend I revisited that pancake recipe, but by then I only had 3/4 cup of bisquick mix left… I filled the rest in with flour, but it tasted a little too doughy. I’m very happy not to be at the mercy of the Bisquick company, and now I can make things whenever I want! I may try the cheesy biscuit recipe at some point too! Yum.

Shortcake Biscuits

Blackberry Pancakes and Tea

by the pool on the last day of vacation

It’s been a month since my vacation, and I haven’t posted about it yet. EEK! I’ve been SO BUSY since I’ve gotten back, that it feels like it was six months ago I went! I took a trip to San Diego and Palm Springs…so nice to get away and out of SF. I hadn’t been out of SF since I went to Muir Woods/Sausalito back at the end of September, and not out of the area for real since last August when I went to NH for my niece’s baptism. That’s a LONG TIME. What happens when you have no car. I arrived Wednesday night. The first couple of days, I spent living like I would if I had no job. I slept in a little, but not a lot, got ready and went to the gym. That Friday I went to my first yoga class in SO LONG, it felt good.. After the gym, I had more fun. On Thursday, my bff Tristan and I went and got mani/pedis (once in a blue moon I convince him to go with me). They were super deluxe or something cuz it lasted a couple hours. On Friday, we had a nice lunch outside in the sun with yummy smoothies, and then I practiced swimming in the pool for a bit back at my friend’s house. Yes, I’ve taken many lessons over the years, and no, I still can’t swim. I’m scared of the water…even with someone I trust holding me. I did manage to sorta get in a couple of strokes. At night when my friend Cavin came home from work, we all relaxed, ate and watched tv. So nice. Very vacation. Life would be perfect if I didn’t have to go to work each day!! Saturday, the three of us drove up to Palm Springs for the White Party. Tristan’s already written about it here in this online magazine. The other times I’ve gone to PS, I’ve flown directly there, so this was my chance to see some nice mountainous scenery. I love that about that city…no matter where you are, those mountains just LOOM on top of you. I made a little video of the scenery as we drove in. Our first stop was a pool party, which I also made a video of. I’d been to PS 3 other times, but it was never hot. Sometimes warm, the last time chilly, but never hot. This weekend, it was sunny, no clouds, just constant sun and dry heat. I’ve never in my life experienced that and I was a little unprepared! By the time we walked from the party to dinner, I was feeling super dehydrated!! But I rallied, in time for a hotel party, and a trip to Walmart (yes, the guys forgot to pack socks…Cavin was floored at being there), and the Nocturnal afterparty. That last party didn’t even begin till 4am so Saturday was a very full day. Did I mention that our hotel was super cute? It was. So many little nooks and crannies… I spent a few hours early Sunday out by the pool, in sunglasses, but unused to the elevation and the sun, my poor light colored eyes couldn’t take it and I got a very bad migraine. So bad, that I was sick in bed the entire day, and evening. I skipped the second pool party and almost didn’t make it out to the Sunday night closing party, but I did! Walking back to the hotel at 7 or 8am, the sun was coming up over the mountains, while the moon was still prominent in the lightening sky. So pretty… I took a few photos!! The three of us spent that whole day relaxing. By Tuesday morning, I was up early, reading by the pool, making the most of the last couple hours in Palm Springs.. I love being on vacation.. But wait, before I flew home that night, we had one more place to go. I took so many photos there, it deserves it’s own post, so this is TO BE CONTINUED.. and take a look at the vacation photos here.

winston, one of my san diego friends

kona, another san diego friend

by the pool in SD, after trying to swim

pit stop, almost to palm springs!

the pool at my hotel in PS

Tristan, Me, Giuseppe & Richard at the pool party

I wasn't ready yet! Tristan, me, Jerry & Rey

me and Nick on his balcony

pool party

Palm Springs - lots of mountains and palm trees

our hotel when we checked in

sun rising up after the club

sun and moon

Bff's at the pool party

oh no, last day of vacation!

I learned that back in time, banks had separate areas for women. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that women routinely carried pocketbook/bags. Before that, they’d tuck their money in places like their stockings. When they carried large amounts of money into the bank, it was a little weird for them to take their money out from under their dress right in line so they had curtained off ladies areas with chairs and women tellers, so they wouldn’t be embarrassed. I can relate to this because sometimes at a club, my clothes just don’t have enough pockets and I tuck things into my socks, shoes or the space between my waistband and my hips of my pants ur undies. I do feel a little weird or cramped trying to retrieve these things around tons of people… I can only imagine how the modest back in time ladies felt! Glad I have something in common with them, pocketbook bags can get annoying, I try not to use them except for when absolutely necessary. When hemlines got shorter, it became harder to carry their things in their clothes and that’s when they switched to their bags, and the women’s area stopped because there wasn’t such a need for it. Super interesting!

The other part of the exhibit was about stagecoaches. I’m sitting in the example stagecoach, but you can’t really tell lol. There was also an old real one which no one could go in. These reminded me of an old Disney show my family used to watch where they ran a stagecoach line, although that was in Australia I think.

A random spot of learning in an otherwise ordinary day – love!!