the Plucky Peasant: Winter Re-cap

It’s been a long time since my fingers hit the blogboard, so I will do my best to summarize my life since last post, if not for your sake then for mine. Between July and January I worked full time at Market Hall, a bustling hub of food commerce located across the street from the Rockridge Bart station in North Oakland. Having grown up in the neighborhood, I am rather familiar with Market Hall and their very good reputation. Working there was fun. Most of the employees were basically my age, and there was a general sense of ambition about the place. We all wanted to be good at our jobs. The only down side was being surrounded by delicious food all day, and not coincidentally eating a lot.

But my heart lies in the great outdoors. When I had days off, I would find myself hiking in the coastal range with my two beloved animal companions utterly blissed out on life for no reason other than the sights and smells of northern California. Of course it has been an unusually dry winter for us here, which is very disheartening for farmers and water-drinkers alike, but the teensy tiniest bit enjoyable for hikers, as the sun has been out every single day since April (that may be an exaggeration, forgive me).

Sometime around September I found Spannocchia on the internet and decided to apply for their spring farm internship on a whim. I even briefly posted about it on this here blog. Well, come December I found out that I was in! I gave notice at Market Hall, saying that I would work through the month of January (and the crazy holiday season—which was actually a lot of fun) and then take February for myself to do some west coast travelling and personal catching up.

December and January came and went simple as that. Christmas, New Years, work work work. Boy did we sell some cheese! It felt great to be efficient and knowledgeable at my job: to finally get into the flow of things.

The day after my last day at Market Hall, mom, dad and I flew to New York City to visit family and friends and catch up on some culture. Despite the frostbitten temperatures, it was a lovely trip during which I got to see my cousin Theo and his fiancé, my aunt Joanne, and some old friends from elementary school and college.

The highlight of the trip for me may have actually been all the delicious food. A meal at Café Sabarsky at the recommendation of a friend completely blew my mind (bratwurst, spicy mustard, roasted potatoes and sauerkraut—the food of my ancestors). We also saw some marvelous artworks, a Kandinsky show at the Neue Galerie and a recreation of the Armory Show at the New York Historical Society.

After New York, a few friends and I travelled down to L.A. in my big car to visit our other friends. What a blast it was to be surrounded by some of my favorite people. The weather was glorious and I could see once again why someone who live down there. Something about that sweet, smoggy morning air I found rather intoxicating.

Just a day or two upon returning from Los Angeles, I got back in the car, this time with my mutt in tow and we drove north to Portland to visit more dear friends. Portland was quite a distinct change from L.A. with it's murky coolness. It was great to be back in the town I called home once, and to visit all my favorite cozy spots. And to see Laura and D.

Now the pictures:

Clemmie Jane and her cowboy brother briefly rode through Oakland on their magical bicycles. Using her witch-craft, Clemmie was able to convince me to wear black lipstick and let her feel my tatas. She is my wife afterall.

Went on a pretty amazing backpacking trip with Mr. Sean here and his incredible food-saving moustache some time around October or November. We hiked to Sykes hotsprings with Roscoe, a 20-mile round trip that was definitely a challenge, as I had not hiked that far with a 40 pound pack in quite some time. Next time I will bring a pack goat.