day 20: green party

Yep, it's as warm as it looks.

Began my day with coffee with Dad. We caught up and people watched. Our favorite was the haggard tranny in a leather minidress over yoga pants who was brushing her teeth on the sidewalk. Second favorite was the weirdo in line in Starbucks who overheard us talking about Wisconsin.

Dude: “Are you from Milwaukee?”
Me: “Yes. But I live here now. Are you?”
Dude: “No. But my boss is from there. But he just passed away.”
Me: “Oh…uh…sorry to hear.”
Dad and I got back to talking. Two minutes later.
Dude: “Do you know Alioto’s?”
Me: “Uh, yep.” (Quickly turn back to chat with Dad – avoiding conversation like the plague. I have no idea how this guy knew a random Italian restaurant in Milwaukee, and I really didn’t want to find out. Although a google search reveals there’s an Alioto’s here, so perhaps that’s the connection?).

Anyway, it was truly great to see my dad and I’m excited that my family is so close (but not close enough for the “pop in.”)

During coffee I quickly realized it was way too warm for my hoodie and vest. I had no idea though it’d end up to be HOT! It was toasty even in the shade when we headed over for tamale day.  I had leftover catfish from Tuesday’s excursion so I opted to just buy one tamale and combine the two. The sweet corn tamale combined fabulously with the fish over a bed of spring greens to get the veggies in there.

Went for a brief bike loop around the Mission after work to run a couple of errands. The heat really hit me and I had to pull over and take advantage of my “convertible” pants that button up into capris. At this point I had a craving for an iced cold beer. I had to grab something to bring to the cocktail party my host and hostess were holding this evening, so I swung into Bi-Rite to check the selection. I grabbed a Pliny and a Marin Mt. Tam Pale Ale and headed back to the condo to help before guests arrived.

Mmm...Pliny.

I chopped an industrial sized bag of spinach and sliced up a bunch of tomatoes as folks trickled in. No sweat though as my hosts have invested in a ridiculously awesome Japanese knife. I think that may be a future splurge purchase for myself. As I wrapped up and freshened up, I came out to quite the fête. The premise of the party is pretty simple…get a bunch of people who are thought leaders on environmental issues together without presentations or panels, add delicious food (I am going to miss Ritu’s cooking when I move on Friday!) and beers, and let them mingle and chat. I met some excellent folks, including a woman who is working with a program piloted in Racine, Wisconsin to build green initiatives through faith communities. I marveled with a guy who just moved here from Boston about San Francisco’s composting program. I met a woman who just wrapped up a development gig with the San Francisco Green Film Festival and another who is finishing a documentary on RAPtivism that just sounds fascinating. It’s just wonderful to meet these people and learn about cool projects that I may miss in the noise of everything else.

Unfortunately the evening got a little blurry for me later on, but I look forward to connecting with more groups like this in the future. Major thanks to my hosts for inviting me into this world. Once an environmental leader, always one!