The Silent "I"

Movie Review: Jobs

 

I finally went to see "Jobs" last night, mainly because it was playing down the street from me and I had some time to kill while my Candy Crush lives refilled. 

Unlike most people in Silicon Valley, I don't really have a preconceived notion of what Jobs was like in real life, whether he was a visionary or villain or something in between. The Valley seems to have a love-hate relationship with Jobs.  Nearly everyone I know has a "Steve Jobs was an jerk" or "Steve Jobs was a saint" story to share; sometimes one of each. I never met the man, so I am in no position to judge the accuracy of this movie or any other movie about him.  

"Jobs" is the movie that would result if you said "Siri, find me random anecdotes that Steve Jobs was an asshole" into your iPhone. Siri would likely say things like:

"Jobs denied stock options to most of the guys who helped build the Apple I in his parents' garage."

"Jobs initially denied that Lisa was his daughter, but named a computer after her anyway."

"Jobs was a fruitarian who didn't like to wear shoes." 

"Jobs lived in a palazzo in Woodside, while he made his parents lived in the same crappy tract house in Los Altos."

"Jobs had BO."

Conversely,  according to this movie, if you ask, "Siri, find me random anecdotes that Steve Jobs was a nice guy," you would get:

    "I don't understand your request. Try your search again."

Overall, the movie was mildly entertaining and had moments that were truly moving. There were a number of jumps in the script that didn't make much sense, or relied on the viewer to know something about Jobs to fill in the gaps.  Characters seemed to appear without much introduction or exposition and then just disappear. Since my only relationship to Apple is the Island of Misfit Macs located in my garage, I had no clue who most of these people were supposed to be.

The most fully realized relationship  in the movie was the one between Ashton Kutcher's Steve and Josh Gad's Woz.  To me, they were like Frodo and Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings, but instead of questing to save the Shire, they were on a quest to sell computers to the masses, most of whom could not operate blenders without injuring themselves.  Like LOTR, the real hero of the story, in my mind at least, was never Frodo, but the stalwart Sam.  Frodo may have been the chosen one, but he was nothing without the pure-hearted, portly Sam.  

When are they going to make "Woz: The Musical"? I'll be first in line on opening night. As for the upcoming Aaron Sorkin Jobs movie, I'll probably pass until it's available on iTunes.

If you'd like to know what I thought about Elysium, the Sci-Fi movie starring Matt Damon, check out my review on House of Prince. Thanks to Kim Tracy Prince for posting my Facebook ramblings in blog post form and inspiring me to dust off my blog and actually post something.

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California Girl

 

Beach at Laguna Niguel, California

My husband is fond of telling people that sixteen years ago, he dragged me to California "kicking and screaming". I don't remember kicking anyone, but I was pretty vocal about the fact that California was never on my wish-list of places to live, and that it would be a temporary stay. I made my husband swear a blood oath that if and when we ever had kids, we would move back to Austin to raise them.  I had family and friends and favorite haunts in Texas; California was a brave new world and I was sure I wasn't cut out for the lifestyle.

Growing up in the midwest, my impression of California was that it was a free-spirited, anything-goes kind of place, full of pot-smoking hippies, actors, and surfers.  I didn't know how I might fit in, even though I had previously made myself at home in Ohio, New York, Chicago, and Texas. I was willing, however, to try, as long as I had some assurance that if I hated it, the stay would be temporary.

Sixteen years and a house, a child, and a career later, I've grown to love California for its indescribable beauty and innovative spirit.  California is my home now, and I don't want to live anywhere else. I've been spoiled by the temperate climate, beautiful scenery, and opportunities around every bend in the road for some new adventure.

Pacific Sunset

I spent the past weekend in Southern California, and was struck by the beautiful beaches and serene, but glorious technicolor sunsets over the Pacific. The sky turned the colors of cotton candy, reflected in the waves of the Pacific, the beauty is enough to make you weep for no othe reason than you are there, and alive to witness something so glorious in its simple beauty. 

While Southern California can boast about its beaches, theme parks, and mountains, Northern California has its share of wonders as well. Where we live in the San Francisco Bay Area, we are no more than an hour from the beach, the mountains, or what I think is the most beautiful city in the world--San Francisco.  Lake Tahoe is a 3 hour drive, for gorgeous boating and hiking in the summer, or hitting the slopes in the winter. In Northern California, kids traditionally have a week off from school for "Ski Week", making up for the fact that there are no snow days due to the year-round mild weather.

I live in the town where Facebook, Google, and Pinterest all got their start, and every cafe is full of young men and women making deals, creating apps, writing code, and dreaming big dreams of making their mark on the internet and on the world. Palo Alto is a fun and exciting place to live and learn and dream. There is an iconic ad for Hewlett-Packard that shows the founders, (Bill and Dave to the locals) peering into a small garage in Palo Alto and seeing the whole world. In Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Francisco and all up and down the Peninsula, companies work hard to innovate and bring new ideas and products to the world.

I also love the diversity of our community here, where you can hear multiple languages on any street corner at any hour of the day. Children at my son's elementary school spoke 30 different languages at, the most common being Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Hebrew. People from all over the planet gravitate to the Bay Area for work and school, and some never leave. Each culture leaves an indelible mark, and we are all richer for the experience.

I really doubt that I will leave California now, and if I did, you'd better bet there would be kicking and screaming involved. I'm a California girl now.

 I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. Photos by Glennia Campbell, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Transit of Venus 2012

 

Transit of Venus

 

On June 5, North America got to witness a rare sight: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun.  This alignment of Venus falling between the earth and the sun shows up as a small dot traveling across the face of the sun.  This astronomical occurrence won't happen again until 2117.

My husband Frank was out with our local astronomy club and was able to capture the image above using his digital camera and a high-powered telescope.  He texted me several times that day to tell me to look outside at sun down so I could see it.  Unfortunately, I was on the East Coast, where giant storm clouds covered the sky most of the day.  I didn't get to see it for myself.  I was glad that he and Alex got a chance to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event.  It looked like a lovely sight.

"Venus favors the bold."
-Ovid

Photo Credit: Frank Schellenberg, used with permission. All Rights Reserved.

Holiday Entertaining with Fresh & Easy

This weekend, I was thrilled to host a house party for some of my blogger and work friends sponsored by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets.  The folks from Fresh & Easy brought in some of their best holiday fare for us to try out, including Brie & Cranberry Pastry Puffs, Mini Beef en Croutes, and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp appetizers. The appetizers are in the prepared foods section of the store, and are uncooked when you buy them. Just pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes, and you have tantalizing, decadent appetizers that seem like you've been slaving all day to prepare. I mean, seriously, how could you go wrong with brie cheese wrapped in butter pastry? Or anything at all involving bacon?

A few months ago, I went to an event in San Francisco to launch new Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California.  I had never heard of Fresh & Easy before that, and was delighted to learn that they offer fresh, wholesome foods at reasonable prices. Fresh & Easy is owned by the British supermarket chain Tesco.  They are in the middle of opening stores in California, Nevada, and Arizona. In addition to their own branded products, they also offer some of the top name-brand items and fresh bread from Il Fornaio bakery. 

Yahoo! Mother Board Summit: The Mother of All Conferences

Recently, sixty-five moms from all over the US and Canada descended on Palo Alto and Sunnyvale to attend the invitation-only Yahoo! Mother Board Summit.  The moms are a high-powered group of bloggers who are plugged in to all the latest trends in marketing and social media, and were invited to participate in a one-day conference at Yahoo! Headquarters in Sunnyvale. I was fortunate enough to be invited, and had a wonderful time connecting with old friends, and meeting some great new friends.  I was happy, for once, to not have to travel to a meeting.

I have been on the Mother Board for three years, from its inception.  At the beginning, we answered surveys and tested out new Yahoo! products and gave the marketing team feedback.  In the past year, it has grown into a community of 80 bloggers who support and advise each other through a Yahoo! group and on the pages of the Yodeling Mamas blog. 

The Mother Board Summit was a mix of practical advice for bloggers, marketing focus group for Yahoo! products and services, and socializing over great food and drinks.  The women on the Yahoo! marketing team and Voce Communications did a fabulous job of organizing the content, and shepherding the attendees from place to place.

World Cup: Where to Watch in Palo Alto/Stanford (San Francisco Peninsula)

My hometown of Palo Alto, California is a melting pot of cultures, and as international community as you are likely to find anywhere in the world.  Home to Stanford University, Palo Alto is an upscale mecca for students, entrepreneurs, and regular folks alike.  When the World Cup takes center stage every four years, Palo Altans and our neighbors from around the world gather to celebrate our national allegiances, and commiserate our losses to soccer powerhouses like Germany, Brazil and...Ghana?

This time around, I was determined to find a way to celebrate the event with other people, so I investigated where there were gatherings to watch the games being held in South Africa.  Although the HD TV in my house is just fine for viewing, it's more fun to watch with a group.

Here are some of the places I've watched these past few weeks, in case you're looking to watch the elimination games in Palo Alto or Stanford:

Pasta? Palo Alto: Pasta? as the name suggests is an Italian Restaurant in downtown Palo Alto on University Avenue.  The food is good, but the mood was somewhat subdued on the day I dragged my co-workers out for lunch to see the game. It was not nearly as exciting as some of the other venues, because I think the crowd was a mixture of soccer fans and people who just wandered in for lunch.  Pasta? is located at 326 University Avenue, Palo Alto, and is normally open from 10 am - 10 pm. 

Tresidder Student Union & Coffee House (CoHo): The Stanford Coffee House or CoHo as it's known on campus has two large HD TVs set up for game-viewing.  The day I was there, a group of Dutch students were lined up in front of one of the TVs like big orange birds on a wire wearing soccer ball hats, cheering on their team.  CoHo has not only coffee drinks, but also a great selection of salads and sandwiches.  It gets crowded at lunch time, so plan those 11:30 am games ahead of time.  I was also told that there are TVs set up in the lounges in Tresidder for viewing, but I didn't see where these were located.  CoHo is located at 459 Lagunita in the Tresidder Student Union, and is open 7 am - midnight weekdays and 9 am - midnight on weekends.

Restaurant Review: Piperade in San Francisco

I have been dying to try Chef Gerald Hirigoyen's Piperade Restaurant in San Franciso since hearing him speak at the Cooking for Solutions event in Monterey. I tried the Garlic Soup with bacon, egg and shrimp as the first course. The soup was tangy, but not overpowering with garlic flavor.  I would never have thought of putting shrimp, bacon, eggs and bread together in a soup.  It was like a sophisticated omelet soup. 

For the main course, I had a perfectly grilled halibut steak topped with crispy garlic and a spicy pepper on top.  The dish was flavorful, and the fish was buttery and delicious.  Frank had a tender duck that melted in your mouth.

I didn't know much about Basque cuisine going into the restaurant, but our friendly, cheerful Basque waitress was more than happy to explain things to us and make recommendations.  She recommended the Gateaux Basque for desert, a dense cake with a layer of cream and a compote of sherry-infused cherries.  I had a custardy mousse made of almonds, pistachios, and cream with sweet, crispy almonds on top that the waitress explained was a result of the Arab influence and history in Spain.  Wherever they came from, both were the perfect note to end the perfect meal.

I can't wait to go back to Piperade to find out what else Chef Hirigoyen has up his sleeve.  I bought a copy of his book, Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition at the Monterey event, and now that I have some reference to what it's supposed to taste like, I might have to try a few things.

I saw one older child in the restaurant of about 11 or 12, but I would not recommend this for kids. I don't think that kids would be unwelcome, I just don't think that you or the kids would be comfortable.  Our son was not with us, so I don't know if they have a child-friendly menu, but the flavors are probably a little too powerful for small fry. This is a great place for a date night or a special celebration with friends.

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May in California: Strawberry Fields Forever

It's May (well for a few more days at least) and in California, that means strawberries.  When we drove to Monterey a few weeks ago, we could see strawberry fields stretching across the terrain, red, ripe berries glistening in the sun.  There are dozens of fresh fruit stands along Highway 1, all beckoning with promises of ripe, fresh berries, jams, preserves, pies, and all sorts of strawberry concoctions.  I love this time of year.

Our local farmers' market had a special on strawberries a couple of weeks ago, $10 for a half flat, which is 6 of those little plastic baskets full. I was reluctant to take so many, since they tend to get fuzzy before we can eat them all.  The woman at the farmer's market stand told me the secret to keeping them fresh longer:  take a paper towel and place it on the bottom of an airtight plastic container.  Put the unwashed strawberries in the container, and place another paper towel on top.  Seal with a lid, and store in the refrigerator.  She said they would keep up to a week without turning bad. The key, she said, was not washing them until you are ready to eat them.

I tried it, and it worked like a charm.  We had fresh strawberries all week, and by the end of the week, only 2 had gotten a little fuzzy, but the rest were fine. 

When I was a kid, my mom would clean strawberries and put sugar on them, then put them in the refrigerator to marinate.  We used them for ice cream topping, shortcake, or just ate them by the bowlful.  The strawberries grown around here are so naturally sweet that I can't imagine putting sugar on them.  For a great treat, just add a little creme fraiche to the top. Perfection!

One of our family favorite desserts growing up was Strawberry Pie.  You can use a pre-packaged gel to make a pie, but it's just as easy to make it yourself.

Strawberry Pie

1 pie crust, pre-baked to golden brown
1.5 quarts fresh strawberries
1 c sugar
3 T cornstarch
3/4 water or ginger ale (for a little extra zip)

Clean strawberries by removing tops & cutting in half, then rinsing & drying.  Use about half of the berries to fill up the pie shell. 

Mash the remaining half with a potato masher & mix with sugar.  In a medium saucepan, heat over medium heat until it comes to a slow boil.  Stir frequently.

Mix together cornstarch and water or ginger ale in a separate bowl.  Add to the heated strawberries a little at a time until thickened but still pourable, stirring constantly. 

Pour mixture over the berries in the pie shell and refrigerate several hours.

Serve with whipped cream or dessert topping of your liking.

Celebrity Chefs Cook for Solutions in Monterey

This past weekend, I attended a great event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium called "Cooking for Solutions".  It's an annual event in its ninth year, featuring celebrity chefs doing cooking demonstrations and speaking on sustainable food efforts.  The events lasted all weekend, but I signed up for the cooking demonstrations on Saturday morning with chefs Anthony Fusco, Kevin Gillespie, and Gerald Hirigoyen. Each Chef presented a seafood-based recipe, answered questions, and spoke about their commitments to local and sustainable food sources in their respective restaurants.

Chef Anthony Fusco, formerly of Harbour Restaurant in New York City, was up first, and showed us how to make Scallops Crudo, an appetizer similar to ceviche using passion fruit vinaigrette instead of citrus to marinate the scallops.  Chef Fusco explained the various unusual ingredients in the dish and what they meant to the balance of flavors, such as adding cocoa nibs for an earthiness and shiro dashi for smokiness. 

Both he and Kevin Gillespie waxed poetic about the olive oils and vinegars from Katz & Company, a Napa Valley artisinal oil and vinegar company that supplies great restaurants throughout the country.  He emphasized that it is important to know where your food comes from, and who is making it.

I hadn't heard of Anthony Fusco before this event, and unfortunately, his restaurant, Harbour, closed in December. He is working on opening a new place in New York called Carmela's, scheduled to open at the end of the year.  Chef Fusco was very engaging, and spoke lovingly of growing up in an Italian family in Brooklyn where Sunday dinner lasted all day.  His father, a "Wall Street man", was sitting behind me in the audience, beaming with pride at his son.  He said their favorite dish was a simple pasta with garlic, anchovies, olive oil and red pepper flakes.

Aside from his love of seafood, Fusco seemed to hold a particular reverence for bacon.  "Popcorn cooked in bacon fat will change your life," he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd (and for me, the desire to go home and try it).  He invited everyone to come to Carmela's when it opens, and assured us that "there will be pork on the menu."

Sunset near Placerville, CA

Usually, phone camera photos are not that great, but if you can catch the light, you can get some nice effects. I have a G1 Android phone, and this was taken while we were driving home on Highway 50 from the Gold Country a few weeks ago. We visited the Gold Country because our fourth grader is studying California history this year, and it made for a nice day-trip from Palo Alto.

Not the best picture, but it caught the contemplative mood of our little trip, and the soft, gray descending twilight. 

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