A New City

It is quite difficult to backtrack just a week in my life and try to remember those sensations and activities because they are so very different from what I'm facing at present.

I spent last weekend wading through my belongings, sorting and simplifying, until I was down to two suitcases and a small box of winter clothes that got shipped to my mom's garage for future convenience. I struggled to enjoy this process, knowing I was missing precious time with friends who I needed to share some indefinite goodbyes with on Tuesday.

Tuesday afternoon I arrived in San Francisco, which I am embracing as my new home for the three weeks that I am here. This city is entirely different from Abilene, Texas, and I really don't think that statement requires any elaboration. You understand what I mean, right? Where are the gas-guzzling Ford pickups? And where did all the ethnic restaurants come from? All in all, I love it. I love that I can use my own two feet and the sidewalk to do errands or simply get from place to place and have innumerable companions. I love that I constantly hear snippets of conversations in different languages and, like tonight, encounter a man in full pirate attire - a plastic handled sword and all - simply crossing the street with his ordinarily dressed friends.

There are so many small details of my time in just the past three days that I would love to share, but I mainly want to talk about food and then close my eyes and get some sleep. Hopefully I'll be able to update this blog frequently to share the little moments too, but tonight you simply get an overview, my friend.

Foodzie has been an incredible place to intern and earn my last three university credits. I get to shoot photographs of food and help artisan food producers make their products available online, and through all of this, work with an incredibly intelligent, fun team. My first photos posted on a producer's site were granola bars by Olympic Granola, and they were easy to shoot because of their naturally aesthetic appeal (check out the strip of chocolate in the middle of the Mocha Mint one!) and delightful to sample in their post-photo-shoot state. I'd love to have a stock on hand for those times when a snack or breakfast on-the-go is necessary.

The Foodzie team and I went out for a spontaneous dinner at Delfina last night and enjoyed sitting outside on a gorgeous evening with good wine and satisfying pizza (my favorite was the broccoli raab). We also stopped by an event hosted by 18 Reasons, where I got to meet some more food-loving people.



The night was concluded with famous Bi-Rite ice cream, and I couldn't resist trying Sam's Sundae: chocolate ice cream with bergamot olive oil and sea salt on top with a dollop of whipped cream.

This evening we concluded the workweek at the ferry building over Humphry Slocombe's Salt & Pepper and White Miso Peach ice creams. They were both delightful in my opinion, possessing plenty of intrigue without sacrificing a fresh, subtly sweet flavor.

Tomorrow I'm taking my ol' 35mm to the farmers market bright and early and hoping to build up some good multiple exposure shots from my two rolls begun last week in Abilene. Fresh local fruits and vegetables seem like the perfect glimpse of San Francisco to add to these rolls of film that are traveling with me for the next two months. Can't wait to share the results!

Un-sorry

I just read that readers find constantly apologetic bloggers annoying. So I am un-apologizing. I am retracting my sorry attitude and even being so bold as to venture into atypical territory in this blog entry.

Nothing dramatic. Just no recipe. No apologies. Still plenty of pictures.

I loved cooking and baking before I started this blog. However, I did not realize how much I loved taking pictures. I always enjoyed looking at photography and trying my hand at it while on vacations, but that was about as far as I got. It has been a joy to incorporate my camera lens into my (almost) daily life since One Hungry Soul began.

In the next month and a half there will continue to be pictures and stories posted on this blog, and while there may be stories about food, it will not be the central content. Without apologizing to you readers, who I very much appreciate, I will extend this question:

Do you mind? I hope not.

I'm doing a lot of traveling from here on out and simply won't have much time in a kitchen. Also, I need a break from pouring over recipes and from the immediacy mentality of our consumer culture, at least in food form. It is a constant desire of mine to find balance in aspects beyond this as well. But for now, I'm looking to eat simply and gratefully (not that a food blog cannot be maintained in such a manner) and will enjoy the jumping on and off planes I get to do until the end of July.

I've embarked on the first leg of my summer adventures, which means that I'm sitting at my aunt's computer in northern California. The crickets are creating a unified buzz outside (...or maybe that's the power lines) and the not-quite-full moon is shining down from an otherwise blank sky. I love this kind of weather. After a hot day, when windows are able to be kept wide open until 10:30, and the cool breeze is fully appreciated.

I did not find Washington in such conditions. Our windows remained shut during the two weeks I was there, and my mom and I spent several evenings curled up with blankets watching movies together. I began to feel like I had traveled too far north (or south) into winter.

The weather didn't keep the kids I babysat one afternoon from taking me to their mossy forest playground. They are sweet old family friends and easy faces to photograph.

Today was my first full day staying with family in California, and I was awakened by my little cousin who was likely sent in by my aunt when I still hadn't gotten out of bed by 8:30 (a late hour for this crowd). Only two things helped me get up: my alarm clock was still set to Central Time, so I thought it was 10:30, and my camera was within arm's reach so I couldn't resist using the morning sun to get some shots of my cousin, who, in all her cuteness, was alternating between jumping on top of me and tugging my sheets off the bed.

We went to the farmer's market this morning. Another sweet reminder of why it's nice to be on the West Coast. The fresh fruits and vegetables are so abundant. And my favorite Indian food stand was still there, so we left with samosas, raita, and two other sauces/dips.

I have two more days here before I fly to Hawaii. Oh. the pictures I will get to take there! I have missed my sweet Hawaii, but more on that later.