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November 05, 2004
Road trip, homemade dinner
Want to hear God laugh? Make a plan.
The plan was to leave Heartwood at 8:30, immediately following a quick breakfast.
At 8:15 I saw Beverly, my trip accomplice, and said, "That whole 8:30 thing? Not gonna happen."
And in the end, I still didn't get to shower until San Francisco.
Once again my housing situation is in flux and, once again, I'll return to Heartwood to find a new person moved in. I'm beginning to feel irritated being the odd man out. At first I thought it was this: "The problem is that they don't have enough housing, but it should stay their problem; they shouldn't make it mine." But that's shifted and what I'd really prefer to see is more communication. Rather than just move people around and make plans before talking to people, involve us in the process.
The way it happened this time was: I heard about these changes from someone not even involved in or affected by them! Then I had to take the responsibility to seek out those in charge and find out "what the hell is going on?" That's not the way I would think a community would run best.
Anyway, at first I thought a brand new work study student would be moving in, which was a bit daunting. Instead, someone I know vaguely is moving in, and may only be in for a week and then into his own room somewhere else. My eyes are rolled firmly back in distant irritation.
So I packed most of my stuff to take anyway, left some notes for the old and new roommates (however temporary), got Beverly's stuff (and Beverly herself) in the car, and hit the road.
Nice leisurely trip. We had no deadlines. We stopped at a store called Mollywog's, didn't see anything we couldn't live with out, and continued. In Hopland, we stopped at The Solar Living Institute. Awesome place, entirely powered by renewable energy sources. And they sell a lot of neat stuff from Gaiam.
Beverly's never been to San Francisco before! It was so neat to be the person to drive her into the city. As we approached, she was busy with something, and I said "Look up." and out there was the Golden Gate Bridge, and then the city skyline. As we drove across the bridge, she rolled down the window and whooped at ocean.
Presidio, Lombard, Divisadero, Castro... she got to spy the Palace of Fine Arts, Harvey Milk Plaza and the flag, and who knows what else. Later when I drove her to where she's staying I took her down Castro and then 18th for a quick preview.
When we parked, we walked toward the apartment as Des was walking up in the other direction, just arriving from work. Perfect timing!
Went to Rainbow and got groceries. I'd never shopped there before, so I had the dual obstacles of finding my way around and not getting sidetracked by the huge selection.
The bulk section was first, and in the middle of it all I realize I'm having an issue with a lack of packages. I have all these plain bags of things. I recall Paul answering a question about reading ingredients lists with, "Well if you're reading a label, it's too late."
In the end I did purchase a few packaged items: tamari, soymilk, Naked orange juice (my favorite).
When I got home, I put everything out on the counter and folded up the bags. Des took one look at the array and said, "We're gonna have to have separate grocery lists." He was so impressed he had to take a photo:
Actually I think he just wanted proof of my weirdness. But then I made dinner: sweet potatoes; brown rice with warming spices, cilantro, green onion, and dulce; and collard greens with apple cider vinegar.
His first impression was: beautiful. The bottom line: he really enjoyed it. I was glad--first time I've done any of my own whole foods cooking. I basically copied one of my favorite meals from Heartwood.
So maybe we won't have to have such separate grocery lists.
Steve came in as I was cooking. "Hello" he said, a bit surprised (pleasantly we can only hope). Once again I've invaded :-)
We opted to stay in tonight. Des has been feeling a bit under the weather and I don't find myself with any desire tonight to go to any of the bars here. Next time?
Posted by Josh A. at November 5, 2004 09:52 PM