Over a brilliant potato pizza birthday lunch at Forge, my friend tells me that we’re celebrating my Speed Limit Birthday. Later on I google the expression and see that there is no end to tacky “speed limit birthday” paraphernalia with a big old 55 on it. Silly road sign cake toppers aside, 55 feels significant. [...]
For Father’s Day I wrote a story about “man caves” for the Bay Area News Group. Did your father have a man cave? Does the man in your house? My dad had a small home office carved out of the back porch that was lined with book shelves filled with scriptures, Reader’s Digest Book-of-the-Month picks, [...]
I just dropped my son off at the airport and headed straight to In-N-Out burger. He’d hoped to do one last run before he got on the plane, but time was tight and traffic was bad. So he made his flight and I made one last stop on the “Eat Like A Twenty-Two Year Old” [...]
I spent much of Saturday walking on holy ground. First in the East Bay hills, next in another faith’s church, and finally, in a basketball gym. Sacred spaces all. I was up in the hills for a memorial service was held on a private ranch overlooking Contra Costa county. A dozen of us gathered to [...]
The summer movie season began officially for me last weekend when we took in The Great Gatsby at The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Built in 1926, just a year after Gatsby was first published, the Grand Lake boasts marvelous Art Deco interiors and some awfully sweet concessionaires. The story fell flat for me but the [...]
Speaking of birthdays. In a few days it will be my middle daughter’s birthday and that means it’s time to go hunting for a rose for Sydney Rose. Her dad picked out the very first birthday rose when she was a baby. ”Bewitched,” a beautiful clear-pink hybrid tea, captured this spellbinding strawberry-blonde daughter perfectly. Every [...]
Heath Ceramics has made iconic tableware and tile since 1948 and its popularity has seen a real resurgence of late. When my daughter registered for Heath tableware prior to her wedding this past December, a good friend let me know that she had also registered for Heath nearly fifty years ago when she got married. Today [...]
The night that Boston police were shooting it up with the Tsarnaev brothers, I was at our favorite restaurant Camino celebrating vegetables. Renowned cookbook author Deborah Madison was in town and Camino was hosting a dinner for Madison with a menu inspired by the recipes from her new cookbook Vegetable Literacy. I’d like to tell [...]
Look for an extensive overview of the San Francisco Decorator Showcase in the Bay Area News Group papers this Saturday, but in the meantime here’s a peak at design elements that felt fresh and noteworthy this year. Contemporary Art as Inspiration Check out the Cy Twombly inspired floors in Catherine Kwong’s living room, above. See those [...]
Like the pairing of a clever black cocktail dress with a custom strand of pearls, the 36th annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase is both sophisticated and provocative. This showcase speaks to those of us who crave less clutter and more meaningful design. After touring the disciplined and compelling rooms this morning, I’m excited to share [...]
