On Tuesday, August 14, 2007, after spending much of the day at an off-site for work at Menlo College, I headed to the San Mateo County Fair in the evening. I went to watch a performance by a band that a college roommate introduced me to, The Charlie Daniels Band.
It was a typical county fair: a combination of amusement park, carnival (games and such), hokey oddities (pay $1 to see a thousand-pound pig), festival (booths and all), local contests (kids baking cookies and cakes), and food concessions (more places selling hot dogs on a stick than I can count on one hand, plus the usual deep-fried foods and sugary treats such as funnel cakes and cotton candy). There's probably more--I didn't stay too longer before or after the show. I simply wasn't in the mood.
The concert was pretty good, though short (about 75 minutes). But, it was free, so I really can't complain. Because I own the band's best of CD, I recognized a number of the songs they played And even the songs I didn't recognize, I enjoyed. The story-telling aspect of this genre, folk rock, make songs interesting.
Charlie Daniels has been performing since the 50s and has had national fame since the 70s. Yet, many of the current band members (guitarists, keyboardist, drummer) are in their 30s and 40s. These musicians likely grew up listening to Charlie Daniels's music. It must be weird for them to perform with someone they listened to on the radio. They're probably playing songs they used to practice while learning their instruments.
The crowd at the concert was unusual for the bay area: some people wore cowboy hats, and the way the crowd cheered and reacted to Charlie Daniels's comments about Iraq, the troops, and gun control, made it clear the crowd was more conservative than the traditional bay area resident.
I had a pretty respectable gyro at the county fair for dinner: sliced lamb, tomato chunks, a little sliced white onion, tzatziki sauce, and a decent, chewy flat bread. After finishing it at the concert, as I crumpled up the remains, I spilled some sauce on my neighbor's jeans. Embarrassingly, she put her hand in it before I got a chance to point it out and offer her a napkin. She seemed to take it in stride though.
San Mateo Country Fair
Pistahan (Filipino) Festival and Indonesian Day Festival
Saturday, August 11, 2007, saw me return to Yerba Buena Gardens for the Pistahan (Filipino) Festival. I like living near a Caltrain station; it makes trips to certain parts of the city very easy.
Pistahan (Filipino) Festival
The Filipino Festival was fairly small, smaller even than last week's festival. I explored it in under an hour. As I explored, I took a few pictures. The festival's most appealing aspect to me was the wide, themed food selection: pancit, adobe, lumpia, palabok, menudo, sisig, halo-halo, and more. I'd never heard of most of these dishes. And I'd certainly never seen halo-halo before -- I'd have remembered it if I had.
First, I tried some sisig. It was simply good grilled meat, tossed with jalapenos, and served over (unnecessary) rice. It reminded me greatly of Mexican food.
Later, in the afternoon, I tried some pancit. Basically a Filipino version of spaghetti and tiny meatballs, it was decent and satisfying. There's minor differences between the American and Filipino versions of the dish: the Filipino meatballs are made from pork (American one are, I think, beef); and, the Filipino noodles were rice noodles and hence had a slightly different texture.
Even later, I grabbed a few lumpia (not photographed). A fried egg-roll-type dish served with sweet and sour sauce, these were, oddly, more greasy inside than out. Still, I called them good, They were filled with peas, carrots, corn. The contents surprised me because I don't normally think of these as Asian vegetables.
As for the non-culinary aspects of the festival, the ordinary booths were pretty boring. Some promoted tourism and culture. A number offered real estate opportunities or mortgages. Local bay area banks, utilities, police forces, and financial institutions (including those offering money transfers) also had tables. I suppose the festival is a good opportunity to reach out to this community.
As for retailers, they were all themed. Although there weren't many, I'm sure for anything you wanted that's usually sold at a fair, a booth or two carried it.
Also, one booth was devoted to Filipino and Filipino-American history. It displayed Filipino art, old coins, flags, weapons, letters, and military uniforms (for Filipino units in the US army and Filipino troops commanded by the US military in joint operations). Some items had little binders explaining their significant and role. I wish more festivals had museum-type exhibits like this.
Other observations:
- Interestingly, most of the performances (musical entertainment or dance) were in the rap and hip-hop vein.
- There were more cops than I've seen at other festivals. I wonder why.
- I learned pinoy is another term for Filipino.
Indonesian Day Festival
The Indonesian Day Festival was even tinier than the Filipino Festival. Located in Union Square, it had one musical stage and ten booths, half of which sold food and half sold items such as handbags, wooden sculptures, and drums. Since most of the Indonesian food for sale was heavy and I'd already had lunch, I decided to pass. Although I spent less than thirty minutes at the festival, it was a fun excursion--I got to see some Indonesian dancing and to read some interesting menus.
Aloha Festival in the Presidio
On Sunday, August 5, 2007, I fought traffic to get to the Presidio, paid for parking, then circled for twenty minutes looking for a space. After parking, I finally emerged from my car to explore San Francisco's Aloha Festival.
Although the Aloha Festival was themed as much as the Himalayan Festival, it didn't interest me as much. That's probably because the items on display at the Aloha Festival seemed less exotic to me. It could also be because the day was overcast, frequently misting, and therefore much less pleasant than the day I went to the Himalayan Festival. As such, I spent only a bit more than an hour exploring.
There wasn't much artwork on display. Only one booth, with photos of eye-catching skirt-wrapped women, caught my eye. Most booths sold clothing, hand bags, jewelry, jugs, or rugs. A few sold Hawaiian snacks and ingredients. Two booths sold ukuleles. There was even one booth that sold furniture.
The crowd mostly consisted of Asian Pacific Islanders. Judging by the clothes, Hawaiian shirts are for tourists, not natives. (I saw my first Hawaiian shirt only after I was halfway through the festival, and only two booths sold them.) Two people wore amusing t-shirts that reflect the style and culture of this festival:
- We don't skinny dip; we chunky dip.
- Sorry, I don't speak Spanish. I am Samoan.
- some kalua pork: moist. pretty good
- some lomi lomi salmon: I'd describe it as a tangy tomato salsa; I didn't notice any salmon.
- a sashimi salad with onions: lively; quite good; the best item.
- some macaroni salad with peas (!): bland and starchy and not good at all.
These pictures and movies capture moments and sights from the festival, some of which I didn't discuss above.
Presidio Officer's Club
After lunch and two-thirds of the way through exploring the festival, I knew I'd be done with the festival way too soon. (I had evening plans in the city and didn't want to have too much time to kill.) Hence, I decided to wander away, hunt for a real bathroom (not a porta-potty), and see what else was nearby. Eventually, I found myself at the Officer's Club/temporary Visitor's Center, an expansive Spanish colonial building.
After briefly wandering through the gift shop and the exhibits in hall about the Presidio's history, I found a special exhibit of Robert Cameron's photographs. The photographs are mostly of natural scenes, though some are of natural scenes corrupted by human structures. I really enjoyed the exhibit, partially because the prints were impressively large (often six feet by ten feet) and with good detail, and partially because upon entering we were given an interesting booklet. The booklet had commentary from the photographer about every picture. Yes, every picture. Sometimes he describes the message he tried to convey with the photograph; sometimes the text was simply an anecdote about something that happened to him in the process of attempting to take the picture.
One photo, taken where the Sacramento River flows into the bay, shows a neat effect: one can see a line across the water where the dirtier/siltier river water hits the clearer bay water.
He also has a good photo of climbers on El Capitan.
Some of the pictures are comments on the environment and consumerism: arrays of salt beds, abandoned old strip mines, piles of cars by a landfill, power plants with many smokestacks, and oases of lawns and golf greens in the middle of dessert (photographed in Los Angeles and Las Vegas). Mostly, however, the photographs are of the majesty of nature.
Alemany Farmers Market & Sutro Baths
On Saturday, August 4, 2007, a friend and I realized we needed ingredients for dinner. As it was early afternoon, most farmers markets were already closed. After a bit of research, I discovered the Alemany Farmers Market is open for most of Saturday. Hence, there we went.
The Alemany Farmers Market is a good size. Most in-season fruits or vegetables are carried by at least three or four stalls. The atmosphere, judging by when we went, is more relaxed than, say, the Ferry Building's or Mountain View's market. Perhaps it's the time of day we went. Perhaps it's that the market has fewer certificated organic farmers and thus attracts a smaller crowd. (The smaller crowd could also be because the fruit didn't seem as perfect as at other markets. I sampled many that seemed either under-ripe or over-ripe.) Perhaps it's the setting--the market is located in what appears to be an old bus parking lot. Perhaps it's the colorful murals of produce and of rural scenes on the walls behind each stand.
After the farmers market, we decided to spend some time along the coast. First, we re-acquainted ourselves with Sutro Baths, a cool old ruin I hadn't visited since a Game took me there many years ago. While at Sutro Baths, we discovered something new: puffy plants. On parts of the hills overlooking the baths, there were some bushes, three or four feet tall, with very soft leaves. They're so soft one can sit on them. It's like laying in an easy chair. No part of one's body touches the ground. The bushes are easy to grip, walk through, and climb, as long as one is comfortable taking a step without being able to see the ground due to the density of the branches. The bushes cushion each step, just as they do one's tush when sitting.
After being chased from our recliners by some bees, we finished exploring Sutro Baths, then took a walk along the beach, passing a huge number of resting birds and a small number of very active beach ultimate players.
Two BBQs -> No Weekend Street Fair
On both Saturday and Sunday, July 21 and 22, 2007, I attended friends' birthday barbecues, one in Palo Alto and the other at Pomponio State Beach along highway one. Both were a lot of fun. Hence, I didn't plan to attend any street fairs this weekend. Indeed, I didn't even bother to see what the schedule looked like. Thus, I was very surprised when I left my apartment on Sunday morning and found a street fair two blocks from my building! Funny, funny things. It might've been there to torment/tempt me. But it failed: I think barbecues with friends are more fun...
Palo Alto Promenade
On Friday evening, July 20, 2007, I went to the Palo Alto Promenade. It was a street fair only in the sense that they closed the street to traffic; otherwise, there wasn't much besides a smattering of stages. There were practically no booths.
When I arrived, I did an exploratory stroll down University. It's nice walking down University Avenue with no cars and seeing what's changed and what's remained the same. I have mixed feelings about change. One part of me says, "there are new places to explore/try!" Another part says, "oy, there are new places that need exploring."
Along my walk, I noticed two big stages, one small one, and two street musicians. None played music I like. By the time I returned to the first stage, it had a new act, Groovy Judy, that appealed to me. I stayed and listened and grooved. The lead singer/guitarist, Groovy Judy, was dressed a flamboyant feathery pink suit and pink top hat; she was fun to watch. Groovy Judy's web page has interesting explanations about what inspired each song. She clearly cares about her lyrics and message.
When a friend arrived, we did another loop. The other big stage had a better band this time, though not good enough to make us stop for long.
I then got the opportunity to try one of those new places I spotted for dinner! :) It was quite good.
After dinner, joined by yet another friend, we did another circuit. We spotted a film projected on a screen, but couldn't hear it because the speakers were so bad. The big stage now had a not bad hip hop band on it.
In the amusing t-shirt category, I spotted someone wearing "my hockey mom can beat up your soccer mom".
Not Everything With The Same Set Of Active Ingredients Is Equal
Last week I ran out of Listerine. While at the store, I compared labels and, due to no difference in the active ingredients or their quantities, bought the generic brand because it was cheaper.
This was a mistake. As I gargle, the smell from this mouthwash irritates my nose. The taste is different as well, but it's really the smell that I can't stand. It's unpleasant. I can't gargle with it as long. This just goes to show that there's more to the experience of using a health product that simply its medical impact on the body.
What am I going to do? I thought briefly about throwing the generic mouthwash away and going back to Listerine. In all likelihood, what'll actually happen is that I'll use mouthwash more regularly in an attempt to use this bottle up faster. In some sense, this less pleasant, chemically equivalent mouthwash will therefore end up being healthier for me. How funny is that?
Fillmore Street Jazz Festival
On Sunday, July 1, 2007, I drove to San Francisco for the Fillmore Street Jazz Festival. I mainly went for the music. In that regard, I was disappointed: there simply wasn't much of it. Most of the time I was out of earshot. A Berkeley festival a few years back had better jazz--the Berkeley Jazz School is great!--and enough musical stages, jazz or not, that I could hear music from anywhere.
Despite my complaints about the music, it was still a good festival. There were many exhibitors. I'd seen a good fraction of them at the past fairs (especially the Union Street Festival, which was run by the same organization). These duplicate (but cool) vendors included the metal souls sculpture people, the mondrian glass women (who I spoke to at the last festival), the greenies growing head booth, the recycled chopstick dude, the booth selling wooden thingamajigs that make noises like frogs, the bonsai seller, the metal suns guy, the modern art Game clue seller, Anne Xu's photography booth, and the flower painting person.
While exploring the festival on this crazy windy day, I took the opportunity to observe Fillmore Street itself. It has many boutiques and galleries, some neat cafes, and the like. One, Bittersweet, specializes in chocolate. It had many fancy chocolates and its desserts looked delicious.
As for the festival itself, aside from the aforementioned repeat vendors, it had the usual assortment of vendors of clothing, hats, jewelry, photographs, art, wood products, etc. Some artists stood out such as one who makes African art, another who takes weird photographs and artificially combines them in unusual ways, and a third who paints cityscapes, often with stadiums, and then prints those paintings onto jigsaw puzzles.
I'll comment on many noteworthy vendors either in the list below or, if they allowed photography, in the caption by the appropriate photograph in the collection of photos and movies I took.
Photography:
- Xavier Nuez photographs urban backwaters. I enjoyed browsing online through all his photos; many of them have interesting, suspenseful stories. He mostly displayed work from his collection of alleys. Read the overview at the bottom. This NPR interview provides another good overview of his work and experiences. These scary stories struck me:
- "This is where they dump the bodies."
- "This woman is truly a miracle – I gotta protect her.”
- "My boss thinks maybe you’re a terrorist."
- "This is epic. This is the roman coliseum; this is a modern American ruin.”
- "Stop where you are. This is the police!"
- "More than most locations I shoot, this is one where I can feel the ghosts of the past."
- Craig Fonarow, judging from his photographs, likes reflections.
- Lisa Kristine's photography simply made me write "wow" in my notes. I think perhaps it's the way she saturates her colors.
- Chris Honeysett's black and white photographs have crisp, clean lines.
- One booth sold photographs of animals. It had pictures of pengiuns and thus stood out from animal photography booths at other festivals.
- Edward Davis seemingly photographs only lighthouses, up and down the California coast.
- Michele Feder draws and paints many animals, plants, fruits, flowers, and other natural forms. Several years ago, she was commissioned to create drawings of 175 seashells for a hotel renovation. I chatted with her about it. A sizable task, she deserves respect for her devotion, commitment, and persistence. Also, I like the warmth and luminosity in her abstract paintings of clouds / balls of color.
- Leroy Parker has cool, abstract paintings.
- Smadar Livne makes paintings and mixed media wall hangings, some of which incorporate Hebrew texts, fabric swatches, and images of a keyboard. Bold, creative stuff; interesting to look at!
- Michael Phillips produces funky art. His pieces are made of oil, but their sheen makes them appear to be a more exotic material.
- Sakovich Studios has paintings, mostly of cars and car parts (especially fenders). The artist also paints graffiti and murals.
- Second City Arts sells night lights made from thin stone or wood. The wood ones are cut to make the outline of a plant or animal. The stone ones are done similarly, but with the stone cut so thinly that light can generally shine through it.
- I found one booth with pretty, painted bamboo bowls. Then I spotted two more booths selling bamboo bowls (!), although these weren't painted.
- One booth sold lamb slippers. If I didn't live in California, I'd buy a pair.
- One person sold posters of old-style advertisements.
- ArcTyp makes metal body casts of people. They're kind of mesmerizing because they allow one to stare at somebody's body, examining it with more intensity than would be possible and socially acceptable for a real person.
- Michael K: Accessories for the Interior makes simple, clean, thin glass vases.
- One stand sold mosaics made of very many tiles, all hand-made. Painted then glazed, they reflected light like glass.
- Chris Efstratis makes large, vaguely cubist, sculptures of heads and small "sideways face pots," somewhat similar to the face jugs I saw in the High Museum in Atlanta.
- Near the end of my trip, I walked by IMEX, a store selling Chinese embroidery, but was tired from the rest of the festival and so didn't stop to look.
On my way out of the festival, I crossed an intersection controlled by police officers. One female officer grooved to the festival's music as she told people when they could and couldn't cross. It made us all smile.
As for the food, there were the usual deep-fried and meat on a stick vendors. Some had slightly unusual takes on the traditional festival fair: garlic pesto fries and crab garlic fries. There were only two distinctive booths, one selling vegetarian/vegan Mexican food, and the other selling New Orleans Cajun cooking. I ended up eating a "Peking chicken wrap" from one of the usual stands. It was good, nicely balanced, not unlike mu shu chicken wrapped in a tortilla into a burrito shape. Later, I bought a cup of sangria from a restaurant selling them out of its front window. It was respectably tart.
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